~»i r --■ 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 ■^i^ 
 
 '^^^t' . •** 
 
 ^.- 

 
 ^■^ 
 
 ^ ',J>^: 
 
 i»" 
 
 ■^<^ >-^ 
 
 ./ 
 
 ^*^ 
 
 
 <n! 
 
 >5^- 
 
 n""': 
 
 
 ,>jc w, 
 
 -V-:<S. 
 
 
 
 
 t«^f. 
 
 
 
 'P^.i 
 
 // 
 
 1 / : 
 
 '^'^-^^.^ 
 
 "^^-ZZ: 
 
 m 
 
 
 %;^Mi 
 
 >1j 
 
 
 •^.?\- 
 
 "^~^' 
 
 '/?'v 
 
 "-^Ss 
 
 ■<? 
 
 
 ,x;^
 
 
 ■:>
 
 ^--- 
 
 
 '^^^W^-- 
 
 
 
 :iS^^^^ 
 
 MEBPEW': /I )B/
 
 Thrilling Incidents 
 
 ON 
 
 Sea and Land: 
 
 THE PRODIGAL'S RETURN. 
 
 SIXTH AND REVISED EDITION. 
 
 By GEORGE D. ZOLLERS. 
 
 Mount Morris. 111. 
 
 Kable Bros. & Rittenhouse Co. 
 
 1905.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1892, by 
 
 GEORGE D. ZOLLERS, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
 
 J 
 
 To 
 
 MY WIFE, 
 
 My Ever Faithful Help-Mate, 
 
 A Christian Woman, 
 
 Whose Sympathy and Fidelity have been a 
 
 Source of Consolation, 
 
 and to 
 
 MY CHILDREN, 
 
 For whose Welfare I have much Concern, 
 
 This Volume 
 
 Is Affectionately Dedicated.
 
 To Kirst, Second, Third and I^ourtli Hditioiis. 
 
 "Of making of many books there is no end," said tlie Vvi^e 
 man, and many, in glancing at this work, might be at a loss to 
 know why another volume should be added to the many al- 
 ready before the reading public. 
 
 There have been many books of travel published here- 
 tofore, — most of them pandering to the sensational desires 
 of man, without attempting to elevate the nobler qualities 
 of the soul. Feeling that something should be provided 
 that would be helpful to a higher, Christian life, I have 
 tried to measure the great responsibility of this undertak- 
 ing, and trust that the Spirit of God "has helped my infirm- 
 ities." The Brethren's Publishing Company, as well as 
 many other brethren and sisters, have placed me under ob- 
 ligations for favors shown me in the preparation of this 
 work, and efforts in the successful circulation of the same. 
 I hereby express to them my heart-felt thanks. 
 
 In preparing these pages it was my purpose to relate, 
 in a simple manner, the wanderings of my earlier years, em- 
 bracing my life in the army, and especially my experience 
 on the rolling deep. While these scenes are faithfully de- 
 picted, I have aimed to bring out the more important part 
 of my work, — the spiritual applications drawn from that 
 which I witnessed or experienced. If I have suffered, in
 
 Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 the days gone by, through my own folly and disobedience, 
 I am nevertheless glad that, by the lessons thus learned, I 
 am able to point out the reets and breakers on life's trou- 
 bled sea to others, and thus direct others to a hif;her and 
 better life. 
 
 How far I have succeeded in this, I leave others to 
 judge. It is enough for me, to have been an humble instru- 
 ment in the haiids of God, to cite my fellow-travelers to 
 that great school of discipline, in which we must all take 
 lessons, and in which the course of instruction will not be 
 finished until we receive our diploma from the Great Teach- 
 er. Written in letters of love and sealed by the atone- 
 ment of Calvary, we will indeed realize that our life has not 
 been in vain. 
 
 That this work may give vigor to the Christian pilgrim 
 and a nobler aim to life, is the wish of 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 Ml. Carroll, III., Aug. /, i8g2.
 
 To I'if'tit mill Sixth lirlitions^. 
 
 Thirteen years have elapsed since the first edition of this 
 work was sent out. Under the blessings of God it has met 
 with a reception that exceeded the expectations of the author. 
 Second, third, fourth and fifth editions were printed and dis- 
 posed of, and now this, the sixth edition, is sent out with the 
 hope that the work may continre to prove faithful in attract- 
 ing wanderers to the Light. 
 
 The purpose of the author in publishing the book is stat- 
 ed in the original preface. It is believed that this object in 
 at least a measure has been achieved. Many kind and com- 
 mendatory words have been received from readers o',f the 
 book, which lead the author to believe that his time and labor 
 have not been spent in vain. 
 
 This new edition is somewhat enlarged and revised. At 
 the end of the volume will be found a tract by my sailor- 
 brother. Rev. Geo. H. Wallace, whose residence at this 
 writing is in Bridgeport, Conn., but whose home at the time 
 with which this narrative deals was in the State of New 
 Hampshire. Rev. Wallace was one of the converts made dur- 
 ing the course of the meetings on board the Oriole. 
 
 The narrative as given by the author in Chapters XVI 
 and XVn makes it appear that public religious services were 
 held on board the ship before arrival at the Marquesas Islands. 
 Rev. Wallace states in his tract that the meetings began after 
 leaving the Marquesas Islands for Honolulu. This is correct. 
 The author, while laboring privately with his shipmates before
 
 PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION. 
 
 reaching the Islands, did not attain the cidminating point of 
 holding public services until after the ship departed for Hono- 
 lulu. This explanation is made so that the difference in the 
 two accounts may be understood by the reader. In our own ac- 
 count we aimed to give the main facts as contained in our 
 diary and remembered by us. Accordingly the time element 
 was not emphasized so particularly. The general agreement 
 of Rev. Wallace's account with that of our own, after a period 
 of nearly forty years, is remarkable. Each account was writ- 
 ten entirely without knowledge o;f the other's existence. 
 
 In addition to Rev. Wallace's tract, a number of minor 
 typographical corrections have been made. 
 
 We believe that this new edition, containing as it does 
 such strong testimony to the power of humble and devoted 
 service in the Lord's cause, will give the book an added inter- 
 est, and be an incentive to God's children to be faithful and 
 earnest in the work of their Master. 
 
 GEORGE D. ZOLLERS. 
 South Bend, Ind., April i, ipoj.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Our Happy Home. — A Loving Father Consigned to the Tomb. — 
 Among Strangers. — " No Place like Home." — Early Trials. — In- 
 fluence of Maternal Teachings. — A Serious Struggle. — A Terrible 
 Contest. — President Lincoln's Call for Volunteers. — Heart-rend- 
 ing Scenes in the Parting Hour. — A Last Farewell. — Departure 
 for Norristown. — Reception at Harrisburgh, Pa. — Military Drill at 
 Chambersburg, Pa. 
 
 Y birth-place was Skippack Township, Montgom- 
 ery Co., Pa. Of the seven children in the old 
 homestead, — four sons and three daughters, — I was 
 the fifth. My father was a farmer. He died before I had 
 reached my fourth year, and his decease caused a dark 
 cloud to rest upon our happy home. Though yet in the 
 tender years of childhood, when father's death occurred, it 
 is fixed on my memory to-day. The death scene in the 
 home circle is ever sad and impressive. Mother was weep- 
 ing bitterly and the neighbors were vainly endeavoring to 
 console her. Although my mind could not realize death's 
 separating power, I received an impression that will never 
 be forgotten. 
 
 The consignment of a loving father to the grave occa- 
 sioned the separation of our once happy and united family. 
 One by one all, with the exception of the youngest, left 
 the home circle to be reared in the homes of strangers. 
 
 As our dear father had not accumulated much of this 
 world's goods, my mother was necessitated to form habits 
 
 9
 
 10 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 of Strict economy. With her slender means she purchased 
 three acres of ground and on this small tract built a hum- 
 ble cot and earned her bread by the sweat of her face. On- 
 ly those who know of the dark and dismal way of poverty 
 can appreciate the situation of a widow bereft of her bos- 
 om companion. 
 
 In our dreary homes among strangers the thoughts of 
 home and its fond endearments often caused the tears to 
 start. When the day of reunion would draw near, the 
 gloomy shadows would leave the heart, and home, with all 
 its beauty and attractiveness, would rise before our youth- 
 ful vision. Sad experience taught us the force of those 
 beautiful words, " There's no place like home." 
 
 Many a time in the twilight, when the labors of the 
 day were ended, did I resort to an elevation from which I 
 could view my fondly-cherished home. Though less than 
 eight years of age I would gladly have wended my way 
 through the darkness of night to my home, there to receive 
 the solace for my aching heart, which that familiar spot 
 alone could afford. Then I would retire to my couch and 
 pray God to protect the dear inmates of my home. 
 
 At such times I experienced a relief by invoking God's 
 blessing upon everything that pertained to that cherished 
 spot; and, then, amid tears, and sobs, and heartaches, I 
 would seek to forget my grief in silent slumber. These 
 early trials were conducive to pious inclinations, and my 
 heart yearned after God. The precepts which my mother 
 inculcated, amid the woes and sorrows of her life, began 
 their silent influence at an early period of my life. Mother 
 taught us two prayers which we never forgot amid all the 
 vicissitudes of our career. One was, " Now I lay me down 
 to sleep," and the other, the " Lord's Prayer." These invo-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. II 
 
 cations were so indelibly fixed on my memory that, invari- 
 ably, I uttered these prayers before falling asleep. 
 
 Mothers should not grow weary in teaching their chil- 
 dren the ways of God. The seed they sow in tears may 
 not spring up and grow at once, it may not seem to flour- 
 ish in the sunshine of life, but the clouds that intervene and 
 the reverses that attend their journey will cause the seed, 
 that was sown in early years, to germinate. In maturer life 
 will recur to the mind the wooings of maternal love. The 
 good deeds, entreaties and prayers, in behalf of the son or 
 daughter, will be ratified and blessed by a faithful and lov- 
 ing God. 
 
 I formed an attachment for the Bible in the morning of 
 my life. It was my principal school-book. I read its won- 
 derful truths with pleasure. At the age of twelve years I 
 read the Bible with still greater regularity, and many se- 
 rious thoughts were awakened in my mind by the diligent 
 perusal of uod's Sacred Book. I became so absorbed in its 
 sublime truths that, when I was toiling through the day, I 
 could scarcely wait till the evening would arrive, so that 
 the longings of my soul might be satisfied by perusing my 
 cherished Bible. 
 
 How dear to my recollection is the golden period of 
 my youth! The Lord was very near me. My innocent 
 heart longed for my Creator. I prayed to him often. I 
 greatly admired his visible creation and gazed with fond- 
 ness at the murmuring stream, as its crystal waters reflect- 
 ed the image of groves, arrayed in their vernal foliage. 
 The song of the birds disclosed to me the Creator's love 
 and power. 
 
 Had I known just how to proceed in the service of my 
 Lord at that time, I would gladly have walked in his ways, .
 
 12 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 but I lacked the proper teaching. I was sincere, honest 
 and true, as far as I went, but I needed some human agen- 
 cy, by divine appointment, to teach and direct me, and ex- 
 plain to me the plan of salvation. When the eunuch was 
 perplexed as to the way of salvation, Philip came to his as- 
 sistance and preached unto him Jesus. The willing auditor 
 soon believed and was baptized, and went on his way re- 
 joicing. Oh, for more Philips to be thus instant in season! 
 
 In course of time my zeal and love began to relax. 
 By improper associations my hilarity and youthful glee 
 gradually suppressed my serious thoughts and, as a result, 
 I grew cold and indifferent. But notwithstanding my leth- 
 argy, I still formally uttered the prayers which my fond 
 mother had taught me. 
 
 At the age of seventeen I had a serious struggle under 
 the convicting power of Divine Truth. I was then laboring 
 for an aged brother whose heart and affections were ab- 
 sorbed in the work of God. His exemplary life, his fei- 
 vent prayers, and godly conversation had a powerful influ- 
 ence over me; but notwithstanding my strong convictions, 
 and contrition of heart, I found it needed a much stronger 
 will-power to conquer the opposing forces of sin than it 
 would have required when I felt the gentle wooings of the 
 Divine Spirit in earlier life. I was almost persuaded but, 
 sad to relate, I did not make the good choice. The longer 
 the work of grace is delayed, the more difficult it is to be- 
 come reconciled to God. Let the dear friends, young or 
 old, who peruse this book, profit by my sad experience. 
 Let them not slight the precious opportunities of grace, 
 lest they suffer a loss which can never be repaired. 
 
 I lived with this pious old brother about three months. 
 Then, for a number of years, I was thrown into the society
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. IJ 
 
 of non-professors, with the exception of about one year 
 when I served an apprenticeship at the plasterer's trade 
 with my cousin, who was a God-fearing man. His amiable 
 qualities and religious tendencies had their salutary influ- 
 ence upon me, but still the charms of the world were more 
 attractive, and the "strong man armed" was occupying the 
 palace of nn' heart. The terrible contest, in which the 
 Great Conqueror would dethrone the infernal antagonist 
 and assume the legal sway, was a matter for future devel- 
 opment. 
 
 In the year 1861 occurred the cruel war in the United 
 States which threw the entire country into commotion. I,^ 
 like others, was animated with the spirit of patriotism and, 
 when the call was made by President Lincoln for sixty 
 thousand soldiers, to defend the rights of the country, I re- 
 sponded and, in company with a number of my youthful 
 associates, entered the service of the Government at Nor- 
 ristown, Pa. Many heart-rending scenes were witnessed at 
 this time of our country's peril. I shall never forget the 
 dismal moaning of my own grief-stricken mother, when, at 
 the hour of midnight, I announced to her my intention of 
 taking my departure in the morning, for the scene of war 
 and carnage. It was a new phase in my youthful career, 
 and the painful beatings and gloomy emotions of my own 
 heart, in that lone and dreary night, are easier imagined 
 than described. At night the horrors of war arose before 
 my vision. The doleful thought impressed itself upon me 
 that, perhaps, I was about to bid farewell to home associa- 
 tions and endearments, and, that, from the scenes of blood- 
 shed and misery, and the din of battle, I might be hurled 
 into the gloom of eternity. 
 
 Morning came, but everything wore a dismal aspect 
 Mother's eyes were suffused by tears and her visage ap-
 
 14 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 peared troubled and sad. She entreated me not to go, but 
 I had given my comrades my word that I would meet them 
 that morning, and I felt too brave to break my promise. 
 
 I had to nerve myself for the parting scene, and utter 
 in a suppressed tone the sad farewell, but the severest task 
 was to say that saddest of all words to mother. Her part- 
 ing look was one of anxiety, her feeble response was ex- 
 pressed in a sad and burdened tone. 
 
 A dismal cloud rested on my heart, — a result of the 
 dreary parting scenes. Before me was a life of cruel con- 
 flicts, unpleasant exposures, and the hardships of the sol- 
 dier. As I journeyed along, I cast a lingering gaze at the 
 familiar scenes around me. As I passed the neighboring 
 houses, the friends came to take their leave, and in sadness 
 we thought that, perhaps, we should never see each other 
 again. In the spirit of sympathy they wished me success 
 in m}- prospective military life. 
 
 I met some of my comrades at their homes and wit- 
 nessed the same painful separation between mothers and 
 sons, and brothers and sisters, that I, a little while before, 
 had experienced at my own home. The spirit of war was 
 prevalent and the entire country seemed to be in an uproar. 
 The once tranquil homes of America were overshadowed 
 b}' the sable cloud. 
 
 At Norristown, Pa., — our rendezvous, — our names were 
 enrolled on the army-lists. Here there was a great com- 
 motion, and when the raw recruits, whose names were en- 
 tered upon the regimental rolls, were marched forth to 
 board the waiting train, parents, wives, and children, with 
 sad feelings, bade us farewell, lamenting over the painful 
 separation and the approaching desolations of war. It was 
 heart-rending to observe the last fond embraces of hus-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 1 5 
 
 bands and wives, fathers and children, brothers and sisters, 
 mothers and sons. At last all was in readiness and the 
 train slowly rolled away from the weeping crowd, and we 
 looked back to see the hundreds of white handkerchiefs, 
 waving the last farewell. We were soon borne away from 
 loving friends, but the ties of home endearments and amia- 
 ble associations were still entwined around our memories. 
 We were now hurrying on to Harrisburg. In a few hours 
 we reached our destination and met with a welcome recep- 
 tion by the citizens of Harrisburg. We were marched 
 through the city to the soldiers' quarters, where we. ob- 
 tained, for the first time, a slight idea of what the soldiers' 
 life in camp would be. Some of us occupied sheds, carpet- 
 ed with straw, others dwelt in tents. 
 
 Our experience soon proved to be a change from weal 
 to woe, from peaceful pursuits and the charms of home to a 
 life of hardships and the dismal forebodings of war. We 
 tried to accommodate ourselves to our new surroundings, 
 but the inuring process, though very gradual, was altogeth- 
 er incongenial. In spite of all our efforts to be of good 
 cheer an undercurrent of gloom and sadness pervaded our 
 hearts. The citizens treated us kindly and plenty of edi- 
 bles were brought to the camp for our sustenance. 
 
 To increase my dissatisfaction, I was separated from 
 my home companions. My name having been inscribed 
 near the close of the list, and the names having been taken 
 in the order of their enrollment, the company was formed 
 ere my name was reached. This pained the hearts of my 
 comrades, as well as my own. One of them pleaded with 
 me to return home, because of this sad disappointment. 
 I shall never forget his look of concern and anxiety as we 
 parted. I had seen the separation in his humble home.
 
 i6 
 
 THRILLING INCIDENTS. 
 
 near the waters of the Skippack. His mother wept, when 
 she exclaimed, " Farewell, my dear Harry." After kissing 
 his hand she turned aside and wept bitterly. This poor 
 mother's two sons were subsequently imprisoned at Libby 
 Prison and starved to death. 
 
 I did not follow the advice of my friend, but enlisted 
 in a Berks County Company, under Captain George Herbst, 
 and was incorporated into the Seventh Pennsylvania Regi- 
 ment, commanded by Col. Irvin. Having sworn allegiance 
 to the Government of the United States, we were conduct- 
 ed in military order to Chambersburg, Pa., where we were 
 brought under army discipline and accustomed to military 
 drills and regulations. We now had to adapt ourselves to 
 our surroundings, and make strong efforts to cultivate and 
 imbibe the spirit of war, — no matter how contrary to our 
 former training in an atmosphere of serenity and peace. 
 With all this, I could not fully counteract the undercur- 
 rent of Biblical training and culture. 
 
 €T3 
 
 :%
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 -^h- 
 
 •TV 
 
 The New Testament Teachings Opposed to War. ■ — God's Plans and 
 Dealings. — Christ's Example. — Reconciling Myself to the Life of 
 a Warrior. — "The Powers that Be." — Military Training and its 
 Results. ^ A Start for Old Virginia. — Long Marches. — " Nature's 
 Beverage." — Martial Music and its Effects. — Reclining by the 
 Wayside. — A Fluent Speaker. — Two Kingdoms. — At Williams- 
 port. — Rebel Picket Guard. — On to Martinsburg. — The De- 
 structiveness of War. — Charleston. — A Midnight March. — Gen- 
 eral Patterson's Failure. — Returning Home. — Arrival at Hagers- 
 town. 
 
 N honest Biblical student will not be slow to deter- 
 mine that the spirit of carnal warfare and the spirit 
 of the Gospel widely differ. Paul says that the 
 " weapons of the Christian's warfare are not carnal but 
 mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds, 
 casting down imaginations, and every high thing that ex- 
 alteth itself against the knowledge of God." But the ques- 
 tion arises, Did not God command his people in ancient 
 days to engage in war? Did he not bid them slay their 
 enemies with the edge of the sword? I answer. Yes. But 
 there is a marked contrast between the dispensation of Mo- 
 ses and the economy of grace. Even under the former dis- 
 pensation the Lord did not always destroy the enemies of 
 Israel solely by means of carnal weapons. He reveals to 
 us, by the various methods of showing his destructive pow- 
 er, that he can consult his own pleasure as to the means 
 and methods of carrying out his purposes. 
 
 17
 
 l8 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 Every Bible student remembers that simple and pecul- 
 iar procedure to effect the downfall of the massive walls 
 of Jericho. The Israelites were commanded to go around 
 the city, each day, with the utmost regularity in marching. 
 Never were military forces better controlled than when Je- 
 hovah himself moved in the van. Thee was no visible 
 manifestation of power, save the prompt and precise march 
 each day. No battering rams were used. There was no 
 manipulation of swords and bows, no effort to scale the 
 towering walls, but steady and timely was the march and 
 unceasing was the music discoursed by the simple rams' 
 horns. With the seventh day a change was made in the 
 order of marching. Instead of going around the city once, 
 they were commanded to march around it seven times. 
 Though the onward march of this peculiar. God-fearing 
 army was more continuous, the opposing forces discovered 
 no demonstrations of conquest; but God selects his own 
 time for the disclosures of his vengeance and destructive 
 power. When the seventh circuit was effected, the priests 
 were commanded to blow their rams' horns, and the whole 
 army of Israel was commanded to shout. No doubt the 
 welkin rang with the sound of their voices. After their 
 obedience to God had been shown, he brought into requisi- 
 tion his resistless power, and the mighty walls of Jericho 
 crumbled to the ground. » 
 
 No military skill or ingenuity can disclose the secret of 
 this divine force. " God moves in his own mysterious way 
 his wonders to perform." If his children are obedient, he 
 will grant them triumph over all their enemies. God's 
 power is in his word. The duty of his children is to be 
 submissive to his rule, and his conquering might will be 
 sure to follow their obedience. Under the New Covenant
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 1 9 
 
 there is a change from a secular to a spiritual kingdom. 
 Christ says, " If my kingdom were of this world, then would 
 my servants fight." It is a spiritual kingdom that admits 
 of spiritual culture and attainments, and the carnal weap- 
 ons can not perfect the more refined part of our being. 
 
 The prophet Isaiah understood the character of this 
 spiritual warfare when he said, " Every battle of the warrior 
 is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood;" but 
 Christ's kingdom he represents as a kingdom of peace, 
 Christ himself exemplified this peaceful spirit in his life. 
 "When he was reviled he reviled not again, when he was 
 persecuted he threatened not," and he exhibited a disposi- 
 tion of kindness to his most inveterate foes. He prayed 
 for his malignant persecutors and bore their cruel insults 
 with calm submission. He taught his followers to love their 
 enemies and pray for those who persecuted them, and then 
 enforced his instructions by his own hallowed example. 
 
 Now, although God controls the destinies of armies 
 and nations and consummates his vast designs through hu- 
 man hostilities and military achievements, yet he does de- 
 cidedly declare to his own children, under the present spir- 
 itual dispensation of mercy, that they shall not resist evil 
 or use the weapons of carnality for their defense. Accord- 
 ing to the teachings of Christ, as revealed in the Gospel, I 
 was not able to imitate his life and example and at the 
 same time serve the Government in a carnal warfare. Thus 
 I was compelled to consider my situation aright and make 
 the best of it. Others explained it differently, and chap- 
 lains, who were employed by the Government, endorsed 
 the carnal strife. So, by degrees, I was inured to war prin- 
 ciples and my tender sensibilities were gradually hardened. 
 Yet I would secretly read the Bible and pray God to spare 
 my life.
 
 20 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 As I had sworn allegiance to the United States Gov- 
 ernment, I endeavored to cultivate a spirit of bravery, wrest 
 my conscience into the current of popular Christianity and 
 thus educate myself to harmonize the two elements, — car- 
 nal warfare and spiritual salvation. I can readily discover 
 how thousands of professing Christians evade the cross of 
 Christ. I tried to lean on God's unbounded mercy, think- 
 ing that if I would show a little respect to the Lord by 
 reading his Word in secret and calling on his name occa- 
 sionally, his mercy might perchance prevail in the critical 
 hour; but while I endeavored to cultivate military valor I 
 was, in the Christian warfare, reconciling myself to a life of 
 timidity and cowardice. 
 
 It is impossible to be the friend of the world and the 
 friend of God at the same time. The Bible tells us that 
 plainly and I learned it, too, by my own experience. I 
 went the rounds of military discipline and army regulation. 
 I tried to be a soldier in reality. I respected my officers 
 and implicitly obeyed their commands, but I thank God 
 that the little spark of vitality, which may be compared to 
 the smoking flax, referred to in the Scripture, was not 
 quenched beneath the pressure of the strong carnal forces, 
 but that, in God's own good time, it was fanned into a 
 flame. 
 
 No person, however eminent and talented he be, can 
 persuade me that war and bloodshed do not have a tenden- 
 cy to demoralize our being. I believe that God is prepar- 
 ing his people, through the ordeals of spiritual renovation, 
 for the millennial age, when the swords shall be beaten into 
 plowshares, and the spears into pruninghooks. 
 
 The spiritual power with which his chosen people are 
 clothed is paramount to all the manifestations of military
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 21 
 
 prowess and grandeur; and in proportion as the Govern- 
 ment respects these peculiar, non-resistant people whom 
 God acknowledges to be the salt of the earth, it will pros- 
 per, and their humble prayers to God, in behalf of those in 
 authority, are indeed more acceptable with the Most High 
 than is commonly conceded. Their spiritual power is hid- 
 den from the world. Let the people, who value their se- 
 curity from the outpouring of divine vengeance, not de- 
 spise the few lights that the Lord still permits to shine up- 
 on this benighted world. 
 
 Had the kings of the earth known that Christ was the 
 Savior of the world, they would not have crucified the Lord 
 of glory. Their carnal prosperity and self-reliance, and 
 their confidence in their military resources blinded them 
 and concealed the superior power and glory from them. 
 Having elevated their human standard above the divinely- 
 appointed test or criterion, they effectually lost their lati- 
 tude and, as a result, ignored and crucified the purest and 
 most lovely Being that ever graced the earth. Christ's own 
 chosen people were removed from the doomed city of Jeru- 
 salem before its terrible desolation. The Savior had dis- 
 closed to them the signs of its approaching downfall. 
 They had no hand in defending its fortifications and they 
 knew by the prophetic announcements of their Master that 
 the renowned city was doomed to destruction. The be- 
 sieging forces, under Titus, revived the force of the pro- 
 phetic statement and in compliance with his divine com- 
 mand the Christians fled to the mountains and escaped the 
 overwhelming catastrophe. 
 
 The powers that be, are to be respected; they are or- 
 dained of God to protect the good and punish the evil, and 
 they bear not the sword in vain. To resist this power
 
 22 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 brings upon the offender the judgment of the sword. 
 Therefore let the magistrates, in their responsible posi- 
 tions, be honored and let their dues be rendered to them. 
 Let that divine principle — love — be the controlling charac- 
 teristic of God's peculiar people and let their life manifest 
 the superior spiritual power by which they are influenced! 
 May they be kept untainted by the fleshly power, and thus 
 continually have a salutary bearing upon those around 
 them. 
 
 But I must return to my military experience. Day 
 after day we practiced the manual of arms so as to become 
 expert and dexterous in the art of war. We made grand 
 displays in military tactics and so prompt and exact were 
 the army regulations and so constant the exercises in the 
 daily routine of duty, — the guard-mounting, stationing of 
 sentinels at their respective posts, exercise in drills, dress- 
 parade, etc., — that the mind was directed and educated in 
 this new and warlike channel. As the constant dropping 
 wears away stones, so the incessant training in this military 
 school suppressed gradually all former convictions, and by 
 degrees habituated us to our new life. 
 
 The method of training, alluded to, was continued at 
 Chambersburg, Pa., for about six weeks. Then we started 
 for Old Virginia. There were almost daily rumors of war, 
 and though we did not come in contact with the opposing 
 forces, we were obtaining experience in the more stern real- 
 ities of the soldier's life. We learned the tediousness of 
 long marches, bearing the luggage apportioned to each sol- 
 dier. This consisted of a knapsack, containing blanket for 
 bed and the actually necessary clothing, a haversack with 
 apportioned rations, and a canteen for water. " Nature's 
 beverage " is very useful to slake the soldier's burning
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 23 
 
 thirst, while sweltering beneath the heat of the noonday- 
 sun, and enduring the fatigue of the long marches. 
 
 Now and then the martial music would awaken energy 
 in the drooping soldier, by discoursing harmoniously the 
 national airs. During the marches some of the weaker 
 ones would become faint and discouraged. They would 
 drop from the ranks and recline along the highway, till ac- 
 costed by some officer in the rear, who would urge them to 
 continue the march to the destination. He would entreat 
 them ardently, but, if they would decline making the need- 
 ed effort, he would change the tone of his voice to the se- 
 verity of an imperative command. If marching was an im- 
 practicability, they were placed on the ambulance wagons 
 and conveyed to their destination. 
 
 Since I have become enlightened in the Christian war- 
 fare, I have been enabled to deduce many practical illustra- 
 tions from the incidents occurring in army life. How often 
 must weak professors of Christianity be entreated to activ- 
 ity, when they grow weary and faint on the spiritual march- 
 es, to repel the intrusions of their hostile enemies! The 
 unruly must needs be reproved sharply, while the helpless 
 and infirm must be tenderly supported by the strong. 
 
 The earnest singing of the redeemed of the Lord often 
 relieves the monotony of the journey, and revives their lan- 
 guishing spirits. The persistent zeal and perseverance of 
 the brave soldier should spur the Christian warrior to un- 
 tiring activity in the contest before him. 
 
 Col. Irvin, who commanded our regiment, was a com- 
 petent military commander, but Lieut. Col. Ripley was the 
 most fluent speaker, and whenever the troops were to be 
 entertained by an oration, the latter officer was appointed 
 to address the soldiers. On one occasion he delivered an
 
 24 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 address, when he tried, with all his power of eloquence, 
 to make a practical exposition of the two swords, spoken 
 of by Christ, near the time of his apprehension. His 
 purpose was to impress the minds of the soldiers, with the 
 idea that, by the selection of the two swords, Christ de- 
 signed the carnal warfare or military power. But we have 
 learned, in the course of life, that the most eloquent 
 speeches do not always afford the clearest expositions of 
 truth and that, through human weakness, we are inclined to 
 accommodate the evidences of truth to the support of our 
 favored enterprises. After Peter, by the sword, had sev- 
 ered the ear of the High-priest's servant, Christ, after hav- 
 ing healed the ear, commanded Peter to put up his sword 
 into the sheath, " for he that taketh the sword shall perish 
 with the sword." I am constrained, bv the influence of Di- 
 vine Truth, to deduce a practical illustration from this inci- 
 dent, and that is this: The command of Christ to Peter, to 
 put up the sword, reveals the fact thaf it should be put up 
 by all the followers of Christ, and hence their non-resistant 
 qualities are evinced and enforced by this memorable cir- 
 cumstance. But what became of the other sword? — for 
 there were two swords prepared. My conclusion is that the 
 latter may be the one assigned to the secular power, for the 
 punishment of evil doers. So, then, the manifest distinc- 
 tion of the two kingdoms can be observed at this juncture, 
 — the spiritual and the natural. These two kingdoms, 
 therefore, cannot blend, for Christ, the Savior of mankind, 
 has separated them, and they can only serve their appoint- 
 ment of God when they operate in their respective spheres. 
 We, at length, arrived at Williamsport, on the Potomac 
 River, and were then in close proximity to the enemy. 
 One morning, ere the dawn, as I was serving as sentinel in
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 25 
 
 the town of VVilliamsport, a regiment of soldiers passed me, 
 and soon after they fired a volley at the rebel picket-guards 
 on the opposite side of the river. At daybreak we re- 
 ceived marching orders and were soon at the riverside, and 
 commanded to wade across the water at the fording. 
 Soon the river was filled with the boys in blue. After we 
 had forded the Old Potomac, we were hurriedly advanced, 
 driving the rebel pickets before us, in the direction of Mar- 
 tinsburg, Virginia. Before reaching the town we anticipat- 
 ed a battle with the "boys in grey," as they were called, 
 and I remember, as the supposed crisis was drawing near, 
 that Lieutenant Colonel Ripley interrogated us as to our 
 willingness to meet them in mortal conflict. The soldiers 
 who marked his coolness and presence of mind on the 
 verge of a military contest, signified their readiness to fol- 
 low wheresoever their brave ofificers would lead them; but 
 no battle occurred. The rebels, feeling, I presume, inade- 
 quate to the forces coming upon them, fled, and left Mar- 
 tinsburg in our possession. We found the place consider- 
 ably damaged by our enemies. Among other deeds of de- 
 molition, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was torn up and 
 quite a number of locomotives destroyed. 
 
 We now began to discover the destructiveness of war 
 and were made to feel the reality of the hardships it impos- 
 es, rather than a presentation of it in theory and romance, 
 while sitting at ease by our comfortable firesides. Yet this 
 was only the beginning of sorrow. How terrible are the 
 desolations of war! Homes that were once in the glow of 
 prosperity, are now dilapidated and wear an aspect of 
 dreariness and gloom. War arrays man against man in 
 deadly strife and brands the human heart with hatred and 
 revenge. It hardens the finer sensibilities of our being, and
 
 26 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 gives vent and force to the baser propensities. We may 
 endeavor to conceal its hostile ravages by sanctimonious 
 efforts but it is war and bloodshed still, in all its horror, 
 ever resulting in the destruction of life and property. 
 
 In about two weeks from the time when we entered 
 Martinsburg, we again received marching orders, and our 
 next halt was at Charlestown, W. Va., where the radical, 
 enthusiastic John Brown was executed. Many things re- 
 volved in our mind as we entered the place where the dis- 
 mal and fatal tragedy was enacted, and we procured, as we 
 supposed at least, relics of the gallows upon which this 
 gallant champion was executed. 
 
 One night, as I was stationed on picket duty, I was, in 
 the midnight hour, summoned from my post, and conduct- 
 ed, under official orders, to the ranks of the regiment, in 
 readiness to march. We left Charlestown hastily, under 
 the cover of night, without any clear conception of what 
 we were wanted to do, but we marched along in the lone 
 and dismal night. Fatigued and burdened, hungry and 
 sleepy we trudged along the weary way, not knowing 
 whither we went, or what would be our destination. Some- 
 time, ere the dawn of day, we halted upon the side of a 
 high, but gradually-sloping, hill. Exhausted by our noc- 
 turnal march, we sank to the earth and were soon wrapped 
 in deep slumber, unconscious of the dangers to which we 
 might be exposed. I never slept a more profound sleep 
 than I did in that morning watch, and to the third hour of 
 the day. When I awoke I was lying in the heated rays of 
 a Southern sun. I could hardly comprehend the situation, 
 nor did I spend much time in contemplation, for the first 
 thing that taxed my somewhat recuperated energies was, to 
 satisfy the gnawings of hunger. Not far from the
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 2'] 
 
 place where we biv^ouaced, on the hill-side along the Shen- 
 andoah River, I found a mill, and there I purchased some 
 flour and corn meal for my breakfast. Never did I relish a 
 meal more than this one, and nature's wasted powers were 
 again recuperated. We learned afterwards that the purpose 
 of our being forwarded to this place was to arrest Gen- 
 eral Johnston and his army on the way from Winchester to 
 Bull Run. Having failed in the attempt, for some cause or 
 other, General Patterson was, I believe, severely censured 
 for the failure. At all events, our efforts were foiled. 
 
 The three months, for which time we were sworn in the 
 service of the Government, having expired, the matter of 
 returning to Hagerstown, Md., was taken under advise- 
 ment by the officials, that is after Col. Irvin had pleaded 
 with us to prolong our time, or enlist for a longer period; 
 but after three months' experience in army life, we were 
 yearning for at least a brief respite, and the privilege of 
 seeing our friends once more. The Colonel felt somewhat 
 chagrined at his regiment, for declining his earnest request, 
 but it now being the prerogative of the men to decide, 
 their almost unanimous decision was in favor of returning 
 home; so we began our homeward march in the direction of 
 Hagerstown. We arrived at our destination at about ten 
 o'clock the following night, exhausted in strength and 
 energy. We forded the Potomac near Shepherdstown 
 and the march, though a homeward one, was, in its taxa- 
 tions, severe enough throughout. Most of the soldiers 
 slept in the open air, and I, for one, had blistered feet. 
 We learned by experience that a soldier's life is not one 
 that is enjoyed on flowery beds of ease, and evidently the 
 Christian, who is engaged in a far superior enterprise, 
 should not expect to arrive at the terminus of his career
 
 28 THRILLING INCIDENTS. 
 
 without losses and crosses, turmoils and tribulations by the 
 way. If professors of the Christian religion would exhibit 
 the same comparative energy in their spiritual warfare, 
 that the natural soldier does in his carnal warfare, they 
 would be, to a larger extent, successful in conquering the 
 infernal powers. But how we squirm and recoil at the 
 cross of Christ, when a little more fortitude and courage 
 would bring about the achievement of great feats. The 
 martyrs of old suffered, and prior to the excruciating pains 
 of death, their feet were no doubt often blistered by long 
 and weary journeys. Often, no doubt, their bodies were 
 chilled by the dampness of the mountain caverns. O, 
 blessed martyrs, how noble your characters and how faith- 
 ful were you to your Commander! 
 
 Terrible Ravages of the War Fiend. 
 Plantation Ruins on James River.
 
 CHiLPXER III. 
 
 ^. 
 
 What Christian Soldiers Should Be. — More Devotion Needed. — En- 
 joyment of Home Associations After the Three Months' Campaign. 
 — Renewal of the Conflict. ~ Leaving Home Again. — Attached to 
 a Music Corps. — \N'inter Quarters at Camp Pierpont. — Rigors of 
 Army Life in Winter. — Benefits of Peace. — Routine of Camp 
 Life. — Martial Music. — Marching Orders. — Difficult Creek. — A 
 Fierce Encounter. — Scenes of Death and Carnage. — Return to 
 Place of Encampment. — " Halt, Boys, We Are Right Among 
 Them! " — A Pell-mell Retreat. — Ineffectual Command to Stand 
 LTp Bravely. — Effects of a False Alarm. 
 
 ATURAL soldiers in their warfare show a more de- 
 termined and resolute character than thousands of 
 professing Christians who claim to be marching un- 
 der the banner of the cross. If the zeal and courage shown 
 by the natural army were shown by the spiritual army, stu- 
 pendous indeed would be the achievements of "the spiritual 
 warriors. The church of Christ would appear as wonderful 
 and powerful as she is represented in the Volume of Truth, 
 " Fair as the moon, clear as the sun and terrible as an army 
 with banners." 
 
 There is nothing that appears more magnificent to 
 a trained military eye than a well-disciplined army, with 
 banners floating in the breeze over the deep columns of 
 soldiers, bearing the weapons of their warfare, and dex- 
 terously changing positions at the command of their ofifi- 
 cers. But how divinely fair to the experienced spiritual 
 
 warrior appears the church of Christ, achieving her spirit- 
 29
 
 30 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 ual conquests in the fear of God. No wonder that the po- 
 et, after having witnessed the decline of the power of the 
 church, intensely yearns to see her as she was when clothed 
 with celestial glory and power. 
 
 " I've seen thy glory and thy power, 
 Through all thy temple shine. 
 My God, repeat that heavenly hour. 
 That vision so divine." 
 
 The Jewish people, God's representative nation of 
 yore, forfeited their pre-eminence by affiliating with the 
 heathen nations. The divine appointment of the Jewish 
 nation, with all its peculiar characteristics and distinct 
 form of government, is a clear prefiguration of the church 
 of Christ, distinct from the governments of the world; and 
 in proportion as she retains her identity and progresses in 
 love, exhibiting her distinctive features in her external and 
 internal life, she will disclose her pre-eminence and reveal 
 herself as the illuminating power of the world. She will 
 move from conquest to conquest in her spiritual sphere, 
 bringing the weapons of her warfare to bear " against spir- 
 itual wickedness in high places," casting down " imagina- 
 tions, and every high thing that exalts itself against the 
 knowledge of God." But in proportion as the church sac- 
 rifices her immunities, and compromises with the world, she 
 will forfeit the power with which the God of heaven has 
 clothed her. Does not this mournful picture meet our 
 vision now? So indistinct and confused are the teachings 
 and examples in Christendom to-day that it is difficult to 
 discriminate between the world and the church. 
 
 I do not make these statements out of a feeling of prej- 
 udice or disrespect, but simply to evince my loyalty to 
 truth as it is revealed in God's Word. I believe that when
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 3I 
 
 Christ makes his second advent, the churches will have 
 lost their latitude as utterly as the Jews had lost theirs at 
 the time of his first coming. My testimonials will show 
 m}' life to have been loyal to the Government of the United 
 States in my military course before my spiritual vision was 
 fully unsealed; and now I trust that my attachment to 
 Christ's spiritual kingdom will be so great that I may ever 
 show allegiance to all its sacred rites and demands. 
 
 After our three months' campaign had expired, the 
 troops were conveyed to Harrisburg and mustered out of 
 service. We hurried home with light hearts to greet our 
 friends once more. I joyfully met my mother, brothers 
 and sisters again. Never did they seem dearer, and my 
 home more precious. I did not want a soft bed to repose 
 in but wanted to keep myself, to some extent, habituated to 
 hardships. I slept (and soundly too) for many nights in 
 succession on mother's carpeted floor. My military experi- 
 ence had to a considerable degree alienated my affections, 
 and military science and the spirit of war seemed to be the 
 leading characteristic. There were wars and rumors of 
 wars all over the country, and, though the three months 
 volunteers had returned, thousands were still offering their 
 services to the Government to crush the cruel rebellion, 
 which bid fair to continue longer than had at first been an- 
 ticipated. 
 
 Preparations w^ere now being made for a terrible con- 
 flict between the North and South. My friends enlisted 
 all around my native place. This filled me with uneasiness 
 and suggested to my mind the propriety of re-enlisting. 
 My band comrades had just tendered their services as mu- 
 sicians, and were pleading with me to come and unite with 
 them. I concluded that this opportunity was as suitable as
 
 32 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 any that would be offered me. I began to expostulate 
 with mother and the home inmates. I was hopeful, and 
 endeavored to bend the inclinations of my kindred so that 
 they would think as I did. I told them that if I declined 
 this privilege, I would be running the risk of being drafted; 
 and, thus pressed into service, I should be deprived of my 
 comrades, and besides have a smaller compensation for my 
 services, as musicians were given better wages by the Gov- 
 ernment than soldiers. 
 
 In the month of August, 1861, I again broke away 
 from home associations and started for the army. My sen- 
 sibilities were more callous at this period of my career, and 
 the second departure was not quite as difficult as the first, 
 but yet it required firmness of resolution, and bracing up of 
 the will-power. Instead, however, of shouldering the dead- 
 ly weapon, now I carried my musical instrument to animate 
 and cheer the soldiers. I met my comrades at Hights- 
 town, near Washington, D. C. We were in the Second 
 Regiment of the Pennsylvania Reserves, commanded by 
 Col. Mann; then in General McCall's division, and General 
 Banks' corps. We were rejoiced to meet. Under the dis- 
 mal aspect of affairs, we seemed to be more dear to each 
 other than ever before. There is nothing else in our jour- 
 ney through life that so endears friend to friend as suffering 
 the woes of life, and enduring special hardships together. 
 We were wrapped up in each other's welfare, the continu- 
 ance of life being more uncertain than it is in the absence 
 of mortal strife. We endeavored to accommodate ourselves 
 to the warlike element, and cultivated a spirit of hilarity 
 and merriment, however dark the hour. 
 
 Music lends enchantment, and disperses the gloom of 
 life, and music with us was a specialty. We were almost
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 33 
 
 constant!)' in the spirit of melody, but not in tuning our 
 hcarts and lips to sing the spiritual songs of Zion. Had 
 Zion's children been drawn into this uncongenial element, 
 they would have had to lament the digression from their 
 spiritual sphere; and, as of old, must have hung their harps 
 upon the willows. Instead of cultivating our vocal organs 
 in song, we made our horns the mediums of discoursing the 
 national airs and such strains as would best adapt us to the 
 life in which we were engaged. So we whiled away the 
 precious hours of our brief life, and passed through its 
 bright as well as dismal scenes. 
 
 Winter came on, and we took up our winter quarters at 
 Camp Pierpont, ten miles from Washington. This inured 
 us to the severer part of army life, so far as the rigors of 
 climate were concerned. We pitched our tents, and shaped 
 our camp for winter. We were near timber, and so felled 
 trees for fuel and constructed beds in our tents, so as to 
 raise ourselves from the dampness of the earth. On this 
 hard frame structure we had no chaff-tick or mattress, but 
 simply our blankets. Two or three of us would bunk to- 
 gether, and thus have blankets to lie upon, and to cover 
 ourselves with. The Government furnished us with small 
 sheet-iron stoves to keep us as comfortable as soldiers 
 needed to be kept. Thus we managed to survive the bleak 
 winds of winter. While we were passing through this most 
 dreary portion of the year, we often thought of the time in 
 our past lives when peace and plenty reigned. 
 
 We, as a rule, are inconsiderate, and often very un- 
 grateful in the time of peace and prosperity, and fail to ap- 
 preciate what we have until we are deprived of it. We en- 
 joy the blessings o,f the home circle; we gather in the fa- 
 miliar places ; we are nourished by the rich bounties which
 
 34 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 a merciful God provides for his dependent crei. ^res. 
 Think of these benefits in the time of peace; then contrast 
 this scene of serenity and plentitude with war and its terri- 
 ble ravages, its destruction by sword and flame, depopulat- 
 ed regions, desolated homes and sorrow-riven inmates. 
 And then ask the question, with the inspired James, 
 " From whence come wars and fightings? Come they not 
 even of your own lusts? " If we, as a nation, would try to 
 answer more fully the end and design of our creation, and 
 try to be humble rather than to aspire to fame, these ter- 
 rible hostilities would be done away with. When one of us 
 is becoming popular, another envies him; and when the 
 dross of our corrupt nature is compressed, it must explode, 
 and is poured out in storms of human passion. Streams of 
 blood must flow to correct us for our transgressions, for 
 our violation of that precious law of divine love which was 
 procured with blood that was purer and more precious 
 than human blood. 
 
 Let me illustrate farther. Scientific discoveries reveal 
 the fact that gases accumulate in the interior of the earth. 
 Terrible explosions occur, and the volcanic eruptions are 
 evidences of compressed matter that must have vent. In 
 that respect volcanoes may be regarded as the safety- 
 valves of the earth. So, when the carnal propensities pre- 
 dominate, and human passion burns in the heart and cir- 
 culates in the veins of humanity, war gives vent to the fire 
 of wrath. Many who fought in the cruel war of 1861, and 
 a few who held prominent positions in it, are among the 
 peaceful followers of Christ. Some are heralds of the 
 Lamb that was slain but liveth again. I know one to 
 whom I listened with pleasure while he enumerated the 
 distinctive characteristics of Christ's kingdom. He was
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 35 
 
 once absorbed in political issues, and was two or three 
 times in the legislature. He went with the secessionists 
 in the civil contest, and evinced his firmness and resolution 
 in many a battle. But ultimately he discovered the im- 
 propriety of such a course, laid down his carnal weapons, 
 and vowed allegiance to the government of Christ. I can 
 refer to Federals and Confederates who opposed each oth- 
 er in the deadly strife when the contending armies con- 
 fronted each other, but who have now yielded to the peace- 
 ful measures of the Christian economy. Their hearts have 
 been purified in obeying the truth; hatred and wrath have 
 been subdued; love to God and man now sways their 
 hearts and they are humble, loving, and inoffensive. 
 
 Here, again, we recognize the superior excellence of 
 the divine means in subduing enemies. In the carnal war- 
 fare they are subdued by physical force, and it is by supe- 
 rior power alone that they are kept in restraint. The feel- 
 ings of revenge may be deep and dire, and an opportunity 
 to transcend the authority and repel the physical power 
 that restrains, will disclose the retaliatory disposition in all 
 its violence. But divine love, that attribute of heaven, once 
 so beautifully exemplified in Christ, eradicates every ves- 
 tige of hatred and revenge, melts the human heart to deep 
 contrition, and moulds it after the example of Christ, " who 
 when he was reviled reviled not again, when he was perse- 
 cuted he threatened not," who loved his enemies, and 
 prayed for them that despitefuUy used him. They spit in 
 his face, they pierced his sacred temples with the crown of 
 thorns, they scourged him, they buffeted him, they mocked 
 him, and, in his excruciating agony on the cross, they 
 wagged their heads in scorn; and though the sun was 
 veiled, and the rocks were rent, and the earth quaked, yet
 
 36 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 the dying Son of God submitted to the opposing powers of 
 sin without a murmur, or feeling of resentment towards his 
 inveterate foes. Here is, indeed, a divine precedent which 
 should draw out our strongest efforts to imitate and follow. 
 Oh, to be a humble soldier of Christ, with courage and for- 
 titude to endure hardships and repel by his mild yet pow- 
 erful means, the forces of sin, is far more than to be a war- 
 rior in the carnal strife, wielding a sword of burnished steel, 
 parading in military pomp and splendor, and obtaining the 
 honor and renown attending military achievements. 
 
 The winter passed slowly by and the daily routine of 
 labor was performed. In the morning the bands were 
 heard in all directions, as the signal to rise from slumber 
 and begin the work of the day. The next thing in the or- 
 der of military regulation was guard-mounting, when the 
 bands were employed. During the greater portion of the 
 day the soldiers were usually exercised in drills. In the 
 evening we had dress parade, when the bands were all em- 
 ployed. After dress parade we all repaired to our tents 
 and ate the last meal of the day. About 9 o'clock at night 
 the bands again performed and made the camp resound 
 with theii harmonious airs. Then the entire camp was re- 
 plete with melody. This closed the program, and was 
 called the tattoo. After this all but the sentinels retired. 
 In this manner proceeded the daily routine of military du- 
 ties. Order and regulation must necessarily be kept up to 
 keep the men prompt and active. An air of vigilance is 
 everywhere present, so as to be in readiness for the sud- 
 den assaults of the enemy. The guards retain their posi- 
 tions and are on the alert, however dark the hour. Amid 
 falling snows and beating rains, in torrid or frigid climes, 
 however cold and bleak the storms of winter, the sentinel 
 walks his beat.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 37 
 
 On Dec. 20, 1861, two briijadcs received marching or- 
 ders; namely, the first and third. Our brigade, the first, 
 was commanded by General Reynolds; and the third, by 
 General Ord. The two brigades belonged to the Division 
 of Pennsylvania Reserves. The march was made in the di- 
 rection of Drainsville. At Difficult Creek our brigade halt- 
 ed and the third brigade advanced. About two hours after 
 their departure we heard sharp cannonading in the direc- 
 tion of Drainsville, and we received orders to re-inforce the 
 advance brigade in double-quick time. We began our hur- 
 ried march with the vivid prospect of an ardent engage- 
 ment with the opposing forces, who had secreted them- 
 selves in a pine woods in order to hold the vantage ground. 
 But notwithstanding their advantageous position they were 
 routed before we reached the scene of conflict. This was 
 our first sight of anything like a real battle. The shock 
 and storm of the engagement were over before we reached 
 the ground, but the bloody effects of it were visible. 
 
 The first sad spectacle that met our gaze was three of 
 our own men stained with blood, two of whom were dead; 
 the third had the top of his head terribly fractured, disclos- 
 ing his brains, and his life was almost extinct. We next re- 
 paired to a large farmhouse situated between the two con- 
 tending forces; and after the deadly missiles ceased to be 
 hurled, the wounded rebels were carried into this house. 
 Among the number of the boys in grey, who were writhing 
 in the throes of death, was a mortally-wounded rebel offi- 
 cer, who was lying upon a lounge. He was endeavoring to 
 make the best of his injuries, and his close proximity to 
 that dreaded and mysterious monster, — death. The loss of 
 blood awakened a burning thirst, and when he discovered 
 our canteens suspended by our sides, he pleaded for the
 
 38 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 cooling fluid to refresh his languishing powers. We gladly 
 complied with his dying request; but his wretched condi- 
 tion suggested painful thoughts concerning the misery and 
 burning anguish of the damned in the infernal regions, 
 where the request for but one drop of water to cool the 
 parched and burning tongue cannot be granted. 
 
 We next repaired to the pine timber where the show- 
 ers of bullets and the bursting bombs were, in the main, di- 
 rected; and there horrid and ghastly scenes met our' vision. 
 The effects of war could be seen in all their horrible as- 
 pect: mangled human forms could be observed in almost 
 any direction; from the youth in ruddy glow on through 
 the different stages of human life; bodies of those in whom 
 the life blood quickly flowed one hour before. But now 
 the complicated machinery had stopped and the soul had 
 taken its unknown flight. These were the first horrid 
 scenes of death and carnage that we had witnessed, and 
 they made deep impressions on our minds. 
 
 After the tumult was over we were ordered to return to 
 our place of encampment. We had about fifteen miles to 
 travel, and most of the march was made under cover of 
 night. Our minds were full of the day's terrible disasters, 
 and in our brains hundreds of thoughts revolved. When 
 we reached Difficult Creek, where our halt had been made 
 the same day, prior to the conflict, we were marching along 
 rather promiscuously. We had crossed the bridge and 
 were ascending a hill when, for some cause, one of the offi- 
 cers uttered a startling command. He must have been 
 startled, judging from the tone and character of his com- 
 mand: " Halt, boys! My God, here we are right among 
 them! " The order seemed to emanate from a terror- 
 stricken heart, and it sent a thrill of terror through the un-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 39 
 
 systematized ranks. To increase the confusion, there was 
 a gun fired by some soldier whose nerves were perhaps un- 
 strung; and that, together with the wild and eccentric com- 
 mand, was a sufficient basis for demoralization and a pell- 
 mell retreat. I, with a number of my comrades, rushed be- 
 neath the high embankment for protection from the ex- 
 pected assaults of our enemies and the volley of deadly 
 missiles that might be hurled into our confused ranks. I 
 frankly admit that I was frightened, and even the hairs of 
 my head were disturbed. I shall long remember the hor- 
 rid and hurried sounds of the retreating feet, down the ac- 
 clivity and over the bridge that spanned Difficult Creek. 
 The last command that I heard amid the consternation 
 was, "Don't run, boys; stand up to them!" But the run- 
 ning pressure was too great to effect a stand. 
 
 It was a false alarm. I never learned who the officer 
 was, or what occasioned his untimely orders. I concluded 
 that perhaps he had fallen asleep on his horse and these 
 terrible visions confronted him in the form of dreams. I 
 there learned the injurious results of a false alarm, and the 
 little service that can be expected of troops when not prop- 
 erly regulated and retained in orderly positions. Here let 
 me deduce an illustration to impress the necessity of good 
 discipline in the spiritual army. A church cannot prosper 
 without good government. God is a God of order and his 
 spiritual army must harmoniously respond to Christ the 
 Captain of their salvation. False alarms in the spiritual 
 ranks have occasioned great havoc and utterly incapacitat- 
 ed the soldiers for their spiritual conquests. No wonder an 
 eminent spiritual officer said: " For if the trumpet give an 
 uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for the battle?"
 
 CH^PTEI^ IV. 
 
 ^r- 
 
 Constant Vigilance Required. — Characteristics of the Lord's Army. 
 — Return to Camp Pierpont. — Advance Toward Manasses. — Ex- 
 . posed to the Fury of a Rain-storm. — My Confinement in the Hos- 
 pital in Alexandria. — My Ride, after Partial Recovery, to Manas- 
 ses, on the Tender of a Locomotive, unprotected from the Wintry 
 Blasts. — Some Reflections. 
 
 E have shown to you, by an experimental knowl- 
 edge, that the drills and manipulations of the nat- 
 ^^^^^ ural army must be prompt, accurate and timely. 
 If they are not similar in a spiritual army, how can 
 there be success? I have seen, comparatively speaking, 
 more looseness and inactivity in the spiritual army than 
 I discovered in the natural; and it is indeed mortify- 
 ing to see such relaxation in church government. It 
 ever indicates w^eakness and ultimate defeat. It requires 
 constant exercise of the spiritual weapons and incessant 
 vigilance upon the part of every soldier to retain zeal, 
 dexterity and tact in our spiritual achievements. The 
 cross is the criterion and the animating power of the 
 child of God. Every principle of religion and every man- 
 date in the economy of grace is permeated by the power of 
 the cross. It sometimes imposes long and weary marches, 
 night vigils, and fatiguing toil, exposure to inclement 
 weather, painful struggles in order to gain a conquest over 
 the malice, hatred, scorn and revenge of men and devils. 
 
 The opposition of these forces but spurs the live soldier of 
 40
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 4 1 
 
 the cross to earnest zeal and powerful diligence in the no- 
 ble and heaven-ratified feats of the spiritual warfare. 
 
 " Am I a soldier of the cross, 
 A follower of the Lamb, 
 And shall I fear to own his cause 
 Or blush to speak his name?" 
 
 But how must a confused, demoralized, and flesh-con- 
 quered spiritual army appear to the trained eye of its Great 
 Commander, Christ, who confronted the Arch-enemy him- 
 self in the gloomy trial in the desert, who withstood his 
 charges and subterfuges, and evinced his conquering 
 might by defeating the infernal designs of his antagonist? 
 He could impart to his followers no easier terms than he 
 himself met. He said, " In the world ye shall have tribula- 
 tion: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." 
 Therefore in his strength we should meet the storms of 
 battle and endure the hardships of our spiritual warfare, 
 being ever animated to active diligence in the heated con- 
 tests with the opposing powers. O wonderful army of the 
 Lord, as you value your spiritual conquest over earth and 
 hell and your glowing reception by the Divine Commander 
 and his celestial retinue at his bright appearing, retain 
 your equilibrium now by the power of faith, and your or- 
 derly positions in the spiritual ranks! Let there be no 
 false alarms, and no disgraceful retreats! Let there be no 
 carnal ease, or pandering to the unhallowed lusts of the 
 flesh, but endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, 
 and, like a well-disciplined army, imitating the life and 
 character of your worthy Commander, press your way so 
 that you may take part in the grand reunion in eternity, 
 and experience the effulgent manifestation in glory which 
 will surpass in excellence and beauty all military prowess
 
 42 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 and grandeur. But I must return again to the narrative of 
 my army life. 
 
 After the fright and confusion at Difficult Creek, we 
 were collected, in order to continue our march to Camp 
 Pierpont. We arrived in camp about the third watch of 
 the night, fatigued by the march and our minds absorbed 
 in the impressive scenes and experiences of the battle. 
 We now resumed the ordinary routine of camp life. There 
 was nothing notably unusual in our immediate line of op- 
 eration till the breaking up of our winter quarters. This 
 occurred about at the end of winter, and was an event 
 worthy of note in the military movements of the army of 
 the Potomac. The Confederates were occupying Manas- 
 ses, and the Union forces were advancing in the direction 
 of the enemy's lines. A laborious and hazardous march 
 was before us. Each soldier was furnished with a gum 
 blanket to protect him from the elements. And surely the 
 rains descended, and the storms beat upon us, and our 
 strength and endurance were tested to the utmost. I shall 
 never forget our long and weary day's march when the 
 rain was rapidly descending. We marched along, bearing 
 our luggage, which was heavy, for everything was saturat- 
 ed with rain. When night overtook us, we lodged in the 
 woods. The rain was still pouring down, and, amid the 
 damp and chill, we had nothing but our gum blankets to 
 shelter us. We were wet to the skin, and the rapid de- 
 scent of the rain made it impossible for us to kindle fires. 
 About midnight the rain ceased and it blew up cold. Fires 
 were then, with difficulty, kindled and we crowded so close 
 to them that we burned the stockings on our feet. 
 
 I caught a severe cold, which settled on my lungs. It 
 resulted in pneumonia, which almost ended my mortal
 
 ON SEA AMD LAND. 43 
 
 career. When we reached Alexandria I was confined to 
 the hospital for a time. My sickness made quite an in- 
 road on my constitution, and I did not recover from the 
 shock during my life in the army. I fought hard against 
 being prostrated by the malady, but with all my efforts to 
 overcome it, I failed. My inability to conquer disease was 
 manifest. It preyed upon my vitals, till I was rendered 
 weak and helpless, and my condition was pronounced 
 dangerous. But at the same time I did not feel much 
 alarmed, for the reason, perhaps, that I did not realize that 
 my case was critical. When I became convalescent I 
 urged my restoration to the regiment, but was decidedly 
 unfit. The doctor told me so, and even proposed to pro- 
 cure my discharge from army service. He knew more of 
 the injurious effects it would have upon my system than I 
 did, and had I taken his council I presume my health 
 would have been better in subsequent life. It was then 
 rumored that regimental bands would soon be dismissed 
 from the service by an act of Congress, and as I had al- 
 ready endured many hardships with them, I desired to 
 have the honor of returning home with them. 
 
 Our division was soon transferred from Alexandria to 
 Manasses. The day in which the transfer was effected I 
 shall not soon forget. My physician offered me convey- 
 ance in an ambulance, but I was so anxious to be with my 
 comrades that I was willing to assume the responsibility of 
 the trip. We were conveyed on the Orange and Alexan- 
 dria R. R. to Manasses. The day was very inclement, 
 rendered so by cold and sleet. My position was on the lo- 
 comotive tender, every available place in the cab being oc- 
 cupied by ofificers. I would far better have taken the doc- 
 tor's advice, and had a comfortable place in an ambulance.
 
 44 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 But because of my strong will in determining the course I 
 had, weak and indisposed as I was, I had to abide the con- 
 sequences. We arrived at night, and knew not but that 
 our night's lodging would be under the open canopy of 
 heaven. Fortunately for us, in this extremity, the rebels 
 had not succeeded in demolishing their winter habitations, 
 and we became the occupants. Never was shelter from 
 the storm more appreciated than by us soldiers at that 
 time. We were contented with our comforts, but did not 
 know how long we should enjoy them. 
 
 If soldiers in the natural army must undergo such se- 
 verities, and forego the comforts and pleasures of life, 
 what should the soldiers of the cross of Christ not be ready 
 to endure to gain an immortal crown? Christ never prom- 
 ised his followers ease and comfort in this life. To be a 
 soldier of Jesus Christ and march under the Christian ban 
 ner means reverses, disappointments, crosses, losses, but 
 also many joys and consolations. The b)rave soldier in 
 his life of hardships should cause the formal and flesh-in- 
 dulgent professor of religion to hide his face in shame. 
 How many thousands are there in our day and age who 
 say, Lord, Lord, but are far from obeying his commands? 
 It is one thing to present a crucified Christ in the glow of 
 oratory, and quite another to obey him and live as he did. 
 It is easier to theorize than to practice, and a large propor- 
 tion of the so-called Christian religion to-day, I fear, is 
 only theory — covenants without sacrifices, " having a form 
 of godliness but denying the power." But genuine relig- 
 ion, the kind that shows its fortitude in the shock of battle, 
 and stands undaunted when the infernal forces are raging 
 and combinations of human powers are charging in the 
 contest, is rare indeed and, I think, will ever be.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 45", 
 
 It is said that when a certain military officer read the 
 poem, "Why should the Spirit of Mortal be Proud?" he 
 was so impressed by the beautiful sentiment, that he said 
 he would rather be the author of that poem than to be the 
 famous conqueror of an army. That poem was also Presi- 
 dent Lincoln's favorite. But I say, in all sincerity, that I 
 would rather be a true, self-denying, and valiant soldier of 
 the cross than to be either the author of the poem, or the 
 world-renowned conqueror of an army with banners. True 
 and faithful warriors of the cross are not so plenty as per- 
 sons might conclude by giving the matter only a super- 
 ficial examination; but where they exist they are very pre- 
 cious in the eyes of the Lord. They will one day appear 
 in a splendor that all the grandeur of military display can- 
 not compare with, and I should like to be associated with 
 the Crucified One, that I might share the victor's crown. 
 
 The natural soldier is content with food and raiment 
 and a shelter from storm and rain. He asks for no man- 
 sion, beautified and adorned with costly materials and fitted 
 for the gratification of the flesh. Yet he lives in anticipa- 
 tion of the final conquest over his enemies, and talks and 
 sings of the time when the cruel war shall end. Being in- 
 ured to the hardships of this life, he contents himself with 
 his present inconveniences in the hope of future relief and 
 restoration to his friends and home, however much his 
 prospects may be involved in uncertainty. But look at 
 the professors of the religion of the humble, crucified Sav- 
 ior, the " man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," that 
 humble Jesus who laid aside his glory voluntarily, and 
 though he was rich, yet, for the purpose of redeeming the 
 lost, became poor, that they by his poverty might be made 
 rich, who exposed himself to the elements, observed vigils,.
 
 46 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 and wrestled with God in the night watches, labored amid 
 the bitter retorts, frowns, sneers and insults of his enemies, 
 bore the cruelties, and braved the hardships of this life, 
 and erected a standard by which sin, that bane of humani- 
 ty, is to be conquered by God's powerful means of grace. 
 How do the pomp, ostentation and ease of professing 
 Christians compare with the humble aspect and life of 
 Christ in his course of self-denial and trial? How does 
 their life of ease and prosperity, their gaudy attire, their 
 costly and magnificent edifices, reared for the purpose of 
 worship, compare with the life of the lowly Christ? Is 
 there any comparison? Can they reconcile the two ways 
 by any process of reasoning? I know these interrogations 
 will seem very impertinent, and my argument will grate 
 upon their finely-cultured ears; but it is true, nevertheless, 
 and with their polished arguments they cannot gainsay 
 it. If the dying thief were to afford a precedent for God's 
 mercy in the painful extremity of human life, I could see 
 more propriety in presenting it in the form of a solace to 
 the mangled, bleeding, dying soldier, regretting the errors 
 of his life, and pleading with God for mercy when about 
 crossing to the mysterious bourne, than to those who have 
 prayed and argued fluently through life. 
 
 I assert that, if the world was not so overstocked with 
 sham religion, the lusts and propensities of carnality would 
 not be so prevalent as they are, and as a result, there would 
 not be as much bloodshed and misery. It will be a won- 
 derful and awful judgment when all sins are traced to 
 their origin; and perchance many a sanctimonious religion- 
 ist will be disclosed as the person through whom great and 
 dire offences have come. "In the world there must needs 
 be offences, but woe unto that man through whom the of-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 47 
 
 fence cometh;" that is, the condition of the world is such, 
 since sin wields almost universal sway, that, as a result of 
 its prevalence, there will be offences; but woe to the man 
 who, to enhance his carnal interests and become famous, 
 will secure God-dishonored advantages, "having men's 
 persons in admiration because of advantage," and gild 
 them over with a form of religion, so as to conceal what 
 they really are. That man will be pointed out to his blind 
 adherents in the Judgment Day as being the notorious one 
 through whom the offence came, and by whose hell-con- 
 trolled influence they have been led to a miserable end, 
 and to endure punishment as God's justice may see fit to 
 measure to each one for his offences. In proportion as the 
 leaders in offensive channels occupy positions of promin- 
 ence and renown, so will they be rendered conspicuous in 
 enduring the greater punishment in the avenging day of 
 God Almighty. This world is a stupendous arena, and we 
 are all playing our respective parts. But there will be an 
 inspection in the future, when the character and deeds of 
 each wall be fully known. When I place before me the 
 grand and awful disclosures of that day, this world with all 
 its busy scenes of pomp and show wanes into insignifi- 
 cance; and though the almost dominant sway of a formal 
 religion seems to be beating back every humble and vital 
 effort of the Crucified, yet, with my cross-enlightened fac- 
 ulties I feel like utilizing all my ransomed powers in the 
 unpopular channel of self-crucifixion, where my Exemplar 
 trod life's lowly way, in prospect of the joy set before him, 
 so let all the votaries of the cross bear the shame and 
 hatred and revenge of the opposing forces of sin until re- 
 lieved at the crowning day.
 
 -^Ir 
 
 Description of War Scenes by Prof. Snyder. — A Visit to the Battle 
 Field of Bull Run. — Review of Troops by Pres. Lincoln. — The 
 Army of the Potomac. — Terrors of Peninsular Campaign. — Gen. 
 Reynolds amidst a Shower of Bullets. — Serious Reflections while 
 on the Field of Carnage. — Attacked by the Rebels at Gaines' Mill. 
 — Carrying away the Wounded. — Some Thoughts Suggested by 
 the many Dismal Scenes Connected with Carnal Warfare. 
 
 ^ ' X ' -0^'» 
 
 DIGRESSED from my description of our move- 
 ments in the army at our arrival at Manasses, and 
 I will now insert the description as given by Prof. 
 Snyder, of Oxford, Chester Co., Pa., who was 
 my true friend and associate during my connection 
 with the Band of the Second Pennsylvania Reserve 
 Regiment. We both played B-flat cornets. His de- 
 scription is as follows: "While encamped in the vicinity 
 of Manasses, a few of the Band one day visited the scene 
 of the first Bull Run battle field. We noted all the 
 points of interest, the place where Col. Cameron fell, 
 where the Rhode Island battery was charged upon, the 
 pike down which the army retreated, and the famous stone 
 bridge that caused so much confusion, the shallow graves 
 in many places, where, even then (less than a year after) 
 the bones of many protruded through the scanty earth 
 that covered them. All this we saw and returned to camp, 
 musing on the rude hand of war that caused the soil of the 
 ' Mother of Presidents ' to drink the blood of brothers and 
 48
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 49 
 
 citizens of our common country, who had now become ene- 
 mies. From the vicinity of Manasscs a series of move- 
 ments and marches followed until we found ourselves on 
 the north bank of the Rappahannock, near its source, and 
 opposite Fredericksburg. All the bridges here had been 
 burned, and steamboats too, the remains of which were 
 visible. We crossed the river on pontoons and occupied 
 the place for a short time. We were now in the command 
 of Gen. McDowell. It was while encamped here at Fred- 
 ericksburgh that our whole force was called together on 
 one occasion to be reviewed by President Lincoln. I can 
 see them yet as they rode down the line, Gen. McDowell 
 in full uniform, making a fine appearance, and the President 
 in citizen's dress, with pale and weary look, riding awk- 
 wardly along, seeming as if he did not feel at rest amid 
 the martial display. Along with the reviewing party and 
 in contrast to the bright uniforms of the staff ofificers, was 
 another citizen from our own State, Hon. Galusha A. 
 Grow; then speaker of the National House of Representa- 
 tives. 
 
 ' The last of Maj. McCall's Division, composed of 
 the Pennsylvania Reserves, were all placed on steam- 
 boats and taken to re-inforce McClellan's army before 
 Richmond. We landed at White on the Pamunky river, 
 marched to the extreme right of the Union lines and took 
 position at Mechanicsville, from which point we could see 
 the spires of Richmond. About the last of June, 1862, 
 Gen. Lee suddenly withdrew Stonewall Jackson from 
 McDowell's front and he threw himself with all his char- 
 acteristic vigor against McClellan's right v/ing, and that, of 
 course, struck the Pennsylvania Reserves. Mechanicsville, 
 Gaines' Mill, Charles City, Cross Roads and Malvern Hill
 
 50 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 followed in quick succession, which gave us some expe- 
 rience of the terribleness of war. This series of engage- 
 ments was known as the ' sev^en day's fight,' and doubtless 
 was not exceeded in hardship and endurance for the same 
 length of time, by any in the war. The sights, incidents, 
 and dangers of that memorable campaign will live in our 
 memories as long as life shall last. The 4th of July, 1862, 
 we spent at Harrison's Landing on the James River. In 
 the last of that month an order, in obedience to a recent 
 act of Congress, came to muster out all Regimental Bands, 
 and so we left the army just before its return to Alexan- 
 dria, to take part in the second battle of Bull Run. 
 Though returning home thus early in the contest, many 
 members of the Band re-entered the service of the Govern- 
 ment and served in various ways during the war." 
 
 This affords a condensed but correct description of 
 our various operations in the Army of the Potomac. But 
 if we were to give a detailed account of the terrible slaugh- 
 ter and horrid scenes of suffering during that campaign, it 
 would surely demonstrate, as Prof. Snyder indicates, that 
 we experienced the terribleness of war. The forces were 
 gradually concentrated, and the clouds were gathering for 
 the storm of battle. An uneasiness pervaded the hosts 
 prior to the outpourin-g of vengeance. There was a feeling 
 of dreadful suspense before the thunder of battle was 
 heard. One feels, to some extent, relief when the spell of 
 anxiety is broken by the explosion of the deadly storm 
 that is inevitable. The contending armies are ranged in 
 battle array. Soon the huge artillery introduces the direful 
 work of carnage and death. Cannon balls are hurled in ev- 
 ery direction. Bombs are bursting in the air over the charg- 
 ing columns of soldiers. Everywhere the scene is enlivened
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 5I 
 
 by active movements. Military skill and ingenuity are 
 taxed to the utmost, and death and sorrow reign. Amid 
 the din of battle, the shrieks of the wounded and dying are 
 heard. Mutilated and mangled forms are seen all around; 
 the blood oozes from the veins of the unfortunate victims, 
 and while one tries to rescue them he is all the time in the 
 storm of deadly missiles. There is no telling who will be 
 the next to agonize in death. One moment one's body is 
 unharmed and active, the next it is dreadfully lacerated, 
 and the blood is streaming from his veins. The adage, 
 " Death is no respecter of persons," is here verified. The 
 rich and poor, the wise and ignorant, fall alike under its re- 
 sistless sway. Oh what a scene of waste and desolation! 
 To a serious, candid thinker how awfui the thought of eter- 
 nity, and the possibility of being launched into it at any 
 moment! If we would prepare for death, let us do it be- 
 fore destruction comes as a whirlwind. How much better 
 to prepare when all is calm and serene than to do other- 
 wise! Man's period of probation is precious, so let him 
 not fail to utilize the means and opportunities of grace. A 
 " God save me " has but little influence with him who holds 
 the destinies of men, if there has been no effort made to 
 lay hold of the means of salvation. " Be ye therefore 
 ready," is a vitally important and pertinent command. 
 Let us heed the signals of warning in the acceptable time. 
 We musicians were employed in the ambulance corps and 
 our business was to secure the wounded while the battle 
 was raging, and bear them on stretchers to the surgeons. 
 The awful spectacles of bleeding misery that met our eyes, 
 and the piercing groans, filled us with horror. But we were 
 in it and must make the best of our situation. My 
 thoughts were serious, and prayerful too. I desired a
 
 52 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 prolongation of life, for I knew, by my early conceptions of 
 the Bible, that I was unprepared for a sudden departure to 
 the eternal world. In this time of desolation and jeopardy 
 I could vividly see my forfeited opportunities. How sweet 
 to learn truth in the time of our youth! It will guide us 
 safely through all the dangers of life, and save us when the 
 powers of earth are in strife. 
 
 The first day was one of sorrow and gloom, surpassing 
 any I had ever before witnessed. I saw Gen. Reynolds 
 in the midst of a spirited fire, when cannon balls on their 
 mission of death and destruction, were demolishing trees 
 and ploughing the earth in their fury, when musket balls 
 were incessantly whizzing by on their swift mission of 
 death: amid this furious storm of battle I saw the General 
 in the line of his duty, exhibiting courage before his men at 
 the very critical juncture when such a manifestation was re- 
 quired. A brave oflficer can wield great influence over his 
 men in such an hour of peril, by being self-possessed, com- 
 posed and courageous, and Gen. Reynolds evidently was 
 courageous, composed and self-possessed. He was an ex- 
 pert rider and a thoroughly-drilled soldier in every respect. 
 I shall never forget his calm and brave appearance at the 
 battle of Mechanicsville. I have thought of him many 
 times since he was killed at Gettysburg. He had trained 
 himself by an elevated military standard and there was a 
 natural influence wielded by his personal presence in the 
 storm of conflict. Such men, were they Christianized to 
 the same extent, could be utilized, by the grace of God, in 
 any and every emergency of the Christian conflict. They 
 would be prepared to meet the outbreaks of human malice 
 and revenge, and with their noble characteristics of endur- 
 ance and fortitude, they would meet the fate of imprison-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 53 
 
 ment and the most cruel torture of men to evince their loy- 
 alty to truth and equity. Such were the characteristics of 
 heroic Paul and Peter. Had their training been in the mil- 
 itary school they doubtless would have been in the van of 
 the army and would have evinced a spirit of bravery and 
 adroitness that would have served as a precedent for oth- 
 ers. But God recognized in them the proper constituents 
 of character to subserve his own righteous purpose, and 
 hence trained them to be leaders in his more refined and 
 superior army, the weapons of whose warfare are of a more 
 exquisite temper and grade, and operate upon the finer sen- 
 sibilities of man. The noble feats of this mighty warfare 
 are not accomplished in blood and the demolition of the 
 exterior organism, but the darts of death, which kill and 
 destroy sin in all its direful phases, are directed to the in- 
 terior or spiritual heart, in order to overthrow the Satanic 
 influence. 
 
 We digressed in our remarks from the battle scene at 
 Mechanicsville. Our object is to deduce some practical 
 illustrations from what we saw and experienced; for there 
 is nothing that can impress incidents so indelibly on the 
 mind as personal observation. That dark, tumultuous day 
 at Mechanicsville will impress our memories while life en- 
 dures. The Reserve Division, in all its burdened marches, 
 privations and military duties had never before been in 
 such a strain of anxiety as when engaged in the ardent con- 
 test of this dismal day. When the curtains of night were 
 lowered, the shrieks and groans of the wounded writhing in 
 the throes of death were still heard. 
 
 Many mothers' sons were crossing in intense agony to 
 -the mysterious bourne of death, and the dreary tidings, re- 
 luctantly borne to those bereaved mothers, caused their
 
 54 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 hearts and homes to be draped in mourning. Oh, who can 
 measure the grief a fond and affectionate mother must feel 
 at the reception of such tidings? The gloomy thought 
 that she shall see the visage of her darling boy no more in 
 this life, constantly pervades her mind. Oh, could she 
 have been there in the dying hour, to soothe his anguish by 
 her presence, and administer to his dying wants! She 
 could with her loving hands have given him the cooling 
 draught, so commonly pleaded for by the dying soldier, — 
 the draught needed to allay the thirst caused by the loss of 
 blood. She could have gently wiped the cold sweat from 
 his brow, and she would have been the last to linger and to 
 bend over him with intense anxiety, to see the flickering 
 light become extinct. She would, with all her maternal 
 sympathy and affection, have noticed the final effort of the 
 heaving lungs, the last pulsations of the fainting heart. 
 But in the absence of a mother's care and personal admin- 
 istration, how many a son in anguish died on the lone and 
 cruel field of contest! 
 
 The booming of cannon was heard during the night. 
 Now and then the darkness was dispelled by a fiery stream 
 that issued from the cannon's mouth. Amid all these 
 gloomy horrors we felt as though we were standing in 
 the presence of grim Death. I shall never forget my posi- 
 tion in a potato patch beneath an apple-tree, after dismal 
 and hurried toils of the day and night were over, when the 
 wounded and dying, so far as they could be procured, were 
 in the surgeon's care. My mind was active, and my 
 thoughts were serious. I felt as though I would like to be 
 a humble Christian and knew that I was not one. I felt 
 persuaded that I might have been one, had I obeyed my 
 early convictions of truth and right. But how to be a sol-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 55 
 
 dier and a Christian, I could not see. I never could recon- 
 cile the two warfares, as my sentiments all through this 
 work indicate. Hence my only wish and prayer would be 
 that the mercy of God might prevail in my behalf and that 
 I might be spared until a future opportunity might be af- 
 forded me to become reconciled to my Maker through his 
 own divinely-appointed means. If we would frankly con- 
 fess, we would be apprized of the fact that many serious 
 thoughts are in the human mind in such hours of peril. 
 
 The night of dismal anxiety passed away. Whether 
 the scenes of life be prosperous or adverse, time is ever on 
 the wing. The band members were commanded to assist 
 in caring for the wounded. We were not instructed as to 
 the military movements of the day, and when summoned 
 away on duty, some of us hung our instruments in an old 
 cabin, expecting to attend to loading the wounded in the 
 ambulances and then return and secure them. But we had 
 no occasion to return, for the rebels secured them for us. 
 
 We retreated to Gaines' Mill, where we were again at- 
 tacked by the Confederates. A hot engagement and great 
 slaughter followed. We were now experiencing the dread 
 realities of a soldier's life. It was one woeful contest after 
 another until everything seemed to be enveloped in the 
 dire calamities of war. There seemed to be comparative 
 stillness before the assault was made, but we were quickly 
 ushered into the storm and thunder of battle. We fol- 
 lowed the charging columns and in advance of us arose 
 dense columns of smoke. On stretchers we carried from 
 the field the wounded soldiers, lacerated and bleeding, to 
 the sur.geons, who might give them timely, surgical assist- 
 ance. It was only a repetition of the horrors of war; we 
 again witnessed some painful sights. Some were slightly,
 
 56 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 and others mortally wounded. There was no evading the 
 gloomy disaster, and at times our chances for surviving the 
 conflict seemed almost hopeless. We heard the shouts of 
 triumph as the charging hosts advanced in the storm of bat- 
 tle. To have a clear conception of the disastrous effects of 
 two contending forces in battle, it must be personally ob- 
 served. 
 
 It is not the design of this work to give a detailed ac- 
 count of the army movements in this series of engagements, 
 called the seven days' fight, but only some of the general 
 characteristics. I saw many terribly-mangled forms. I 
 helped to bear to the surgeons a lieutenant officer, who was 
 struck in the breast by a fragment of a bombshell. In re- 
 spiring, the air seemed to escape through the bleeding ap- 
 erture. In his zeal for conquest over the opposing forces 
 his eye seemed to scan the movements of his men, and he 
 appeared to be more interested in their attainments than in 
 his own life There was bravery in the highest degree. 
 Men, animated by the spirit of patriotism, sacrificed their 
 lives for the sake of their country. It showed their honesty 
 and loyalty to the Government, and their respect for the 
 oath of allegiance which they had taken. This suffering of- 
 ficer disclosed his integrity, too, in a dangerous crisis, when 
 it was done at the hazard of his life. This courage was oft- 
 en exhibited by men who had more respect for their coun- 
 trv than for God. Officers and soldiers, who would take 
 God's name in vain and violate the higher and purer laws of 
 heaven, would stand undaunted before the cannon's mouth 
 and curse their enemies in the storm of battle. I have 
 heard men speak of the brave spirit of the soldier in the 
 critical contest, as palliating all disloyal deeds in the sight 
 of their Maker, and make the sacrifice of their life a condi-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 57 
 
 tion of acceptance with God. Now, while I always admired 
 a spirit of bravery and loyalty to the Government, yet I 
 cannot endorse making that a ground of acceptance with 
 God. A soldier will only obtain the honor and the re- 
 nown incident to his life; and when he is used by the Al- 
 mighty as an agent to punish the lawless and disobedient, 
 he can only anticipate the glory and remuneration that ac- 
 crue in the line of his military achievements. But the sol- 
 dier of the cross should evince the same zeal in suffering 
 and the same self-sacrifice for the cause he has solemnly es- 
 poused and the allegiance he has promised to the superior 
 spiritual government, and retain his loyalty and faith even 
 to the sacrificing of his life. 
 
 Our sympathies often warp our judgment in the effort 
 to discriminate between these two elements, and if we had 
 no higher standard than our own mind, we might be excus- 
 able. But God has given us a criterion and the only real 
 assurance of acceptance with him is to be controlled by his 
 appointed means. When he says. Employ the carnal weap- 
 ons, do so; when he says, " Put up the sword into his sheath, 
 for he that taketh the sword shall perish with the sword," 
 do not try to make his command doubtful and appeal to 
 the authority of the law to justify your course. That would 
 be like King Ahab going to Ramoth-Gilead. He consulted 
 the three hundred false prophets and they ratified his 
 course. But Jehoshaphat, who was more God-fearing, de- 
 sired the predictions of a despised prophet of the Lord. 
 His testimony conflicted with the testimony of four hun- 
 dred prominent men, and the prophecy of the man of God 
 was rejected. But Ahab failed; the testimony of his four 
 hundred prophets was scattered to the winds and he per- 
 ished with the sword because he did not bear it in obedi-
 
 c;8 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 ence to the Divine command. And I say (with no feeling 
 of disrespect to the Government) that Christ says to his fol- 
 lowers, " My kingdom is not of this world, else would my 
 servants fight;" and it required much training by him to 
 give his disciples a clear conception of the spirituality of 
 his kingdom. Just prior to his ascension they questioned 
 him with reference to this matter. "Wilt thou at this time 
 restore the kingdom to Israel? ". They looked for the 
 restoration of a temporal kingdom. But they were fully es- 
 tablished on this question after the descent of the Holy 
 Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Then they looked at his 
 example and his instructions, relative to such a life from a 
 spiritual stand-point. No doubt Peter could see the pro- 
 priety and realize the force of the Savior's command to put 
 "up the sword in his sheath." Whoever endeavors to es- 
 tablish Christ's kingdom by the power of the sword, will 
 fail. 
 
 Night again came on and ended the day of weary con- 
 test. Many hundreds had taken hurried flight into the dis- 
 mal regions of death. O what a subject for thought for 
 the mind that has some degree of candor and seriousness! 
 Who can ever obliterate from memory these mortal ago- 
 nies? While the field is strewn with the ghastly dead, 
 others are continually crossing the turbid waters. We are 
 confronted on every side by the horrible prospect of 
 blood, pain, and death. This awful experience certainly 
 impresses on our minds the terribleness of war. 
 
 I saw a young soldier under the resistless power of 
 death, who dreaded very much to die. It was right in the 
 heat of the contest, when v/e were busy bearing the wound- 
 ed to the surgeons in the rear of the contending forces. 
 The jugular vein was severed and the blood was streaming
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 59 
 
 from his throat. His nearness to death threw him into con- 
 sternation and in his anxiety to live he cast his wistful eyes 
 toward the surgeons. Anijuish looked out of his eyes that 
 were darkening in the shades of death and his visage was 
 stained with the blood that was rapidly escaping from his 
 veins. While many mangled forms lay before me, this 
 young man, so reluctant to leave this life, arrested my at- 
 tention more particularly. But leaving him to meet his 
 gloomy fate, I had to go again into the smoke and storm 
 of battle to convey more of the wounded and helpless to 
 the rear for surgical assistance, thinking all the while that 
 I might soon be lying among the wounded or dying.
 
 CM^PXEI? VT. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Retreat from Charles City Cross Roads to Malvern Hills. — Fierce As- 
 sault by the Confederate Army. — End of the Peninsular Campaign. 
 — Musicians Mustered out at Harrison's Landing. — Sorrowful Sep- 
 aration from our Late Comrades. — Down the James River to Fort- 
 ress Monroe, and on to Baltimore. — Suffering from Disease Con- 
 tracted while in the Swampy Regions of the Peninsula. — Our De- 
 parture from Baltimore to the Perkiomen Bridge. — Music and its 
 Charms. — A Siege of Small-pox. — Attendance at Collegeville Sem- 
 inarv. — Determination to EnHst on a Man-of-War. 
 
 ■ UPERIOR numbers of the Confederates assaulted us 
 in the retreat at Charles City Cross Roads; another 
 fierce engagement followed and the same horrible as- 
 pect of blood and carnage met our gaze. Nearly every- 
 where we saw^ mutilated forms, all stained with blood, some 
 ghastly in death's cold embrace: men whose visages bore 
 the marks of intelligence, but they could no more utilize it 
 on earth; they could take no part in the things of this life. 
 Life was extinct and they were ready for the soldier's 
 grave. Night again came on and ended the bloody contest. 
 The army kept falling back to Malvern Hills, where 
 the Confederates gave us another fierce assault. We were 
 under the protection of the gunboats on the James River, 
 and their terrific bombardment threw consternation into the 
 enemy's ranks and held them at bay. We were held in re- 
 serve during this engagement. From the hilltops we ob- 
 served the armies advancing in battle array and saw the 
 60
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 6l 
 
 wounded carried back from the arena of cruel contest. 
 The soldiers entered the scene of battle fully equipped. 
 Regularly and orderly the columns poured into the shock 
 of bloody contest, bearing the flags of their respective regi- 
 ments. Those flags designate the nation's power, and nev- 
 er is there a stronger demonstration of this than in the 
 storm of battle. 
 
 Here another forcible illustration can be deduced to 
 impart instruction to the spiritual army and show the 
 strength of her equipments, when orderly retained in her 
 efforts to achieve her spiritual conquests. There evidently 
 should be a distinction in the external appearance of the 
 church and the world. The church should be known as 
 well' ds an army with banners. The church that appears as 
 gorgeously decorated as those who dwell in kings' palaces, 
 has lost her latitude. The Gospel prescribes modest appar- 
 el for Christians, and when these humble requirements of 
 the Gospel are discarded, the power of the church is weak- 
 ened. If she would conquer pride in others, she must be 
 humble. To be assured that we have Christian humility in 
 the heart, we must have the signs on the exterior. In this 
 respect the natural army is more precise than the so-called 
 spiritual army. It is more difficult to regulate spiritual 
 than secular government. The flesh incessantly wars 
 against the spirit, and by indulging its carnal desires for 
 show and worldly emolument the greater part of the so- 
 called Christian world is overcome. But if the distinct- 
 ive characteristics are retained, there will be good execu- 
 tion; and though the great work, ratified by heaven, is hid- 
 den from the wise and prudent, yet the result of her hum- 
 ble mission will be disclosed in the crowning day. 
 
 The battle of Malvern Hills ended this series of mili- 
 tary contests in the Peninsular Campaign. We, as musi-
 
 62 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 cians, were mustered out of service at Harrison's Landing 
 on the James River. After warfare rest was pleasant. The 
 prospect of seeing our friends and home, and of a respite 
 after cruel hardships was indeed an enjoyable one. But to 
 go and leave our friends, endeared to us by hardships and 
 adversities, was sad and painful. Our separation was ef- 
 fected at Harrison's Landing, and as our comrades came to 
 take their leave, we felt sad to think that scenes of horror 
 like those we had witnessed together in the past, were 
 awaiting them in the future. Many of our fellow-soldiers 
 had suffered such intolerable anguish that they desired 
 death as a relief from their woes, and it was probable that 
 some of our surviving comrades would share the same 
 gloomy fate. The prospects of this life are very uncertain 
 and especially when human hostilities rage. I had a spe- 
 cial concern for my brother younger than myself who had 
 taken quite an active part in the series of engagements, but, 
 like myself, had escaped from every bloody contest unin- 
 jured. I feared that I should never see his face again. It 
 was sad to think that I could return to the home so dear to 
 us both and see our mother and brother and sisters, who 
 were all so anxious for our welfare and the prolongation of 
 our lives, while he must be left behind, exposed to cruel 
 hostilities and the hardships incident to the life of a sol- 
 dier. With such feelings I left him. 
 
 We boarded the steam-boat and were carried down the 
 James River to Fortress Monroe, then across the Chesa- 
 peake Bay to the City of Baltimore. I returned worn and 
 emaciated by sickness and exposure, my constitution hav- 
 ing been shocked by the siege of pneumonia which I passed 
 through at Alexandria, which disease was contracted dur- 
 ing the tedious march from Camp Pierpont to the above-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 65 
 
 named place. In addition to this I had a severe attack of 
 diarrhoea during the Peninsular Campaign, occasioned by 
 drinking the surface water in that low and swampy region. 
 Many a poor soldier died of the disease in that gloomy, 
 sickly place, but I had so far escaped the grim monster, 
 death, and was crossing the Chesapeake on my homeward 
 trip. Not one of the number composing our band was 
 killed or wounded. A soldier selected from the military 
 ranks and employed in the band as drummer was taken 
 prisoner by the Confederates during the succession of bat- 
 tles but had been restored to Federal lines prior to our de- 
 parture; but was remanded to the company from which he 
 had been taken. Not having entered the Government serv- 
 ice as a musician, the act of Congress to release from the 
 United States service all regimental bands did not reach 
 him. Two of our number had been discharged because of 
 sickness, and the rest of us were all homeward bound. 
 Most of us had secured instruments again and were solicit- 
 ed to play our military strains as we journeyed toward 
 home. Having had one year's steady practice, we had be- 
 come somewhat proficient in the science and could perform 
 our parts well. 
 
 We went home with deep emotions, because we were 
 released from the woes of military life and had the pros- 
 pect of home associations. I might illustrate from this 
 event the entrance of the soldiers of the cross into the land 
 of rest. The Prophet Isaiah depicts the scene in triumph- 
 ant splendor: " Then shall the redeemed of the Lord re- 
 turn with singing and everlasting joy upon their heads; the 
 mountains shall break forth from before them into singing 
 and all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands." This 
 is a figurative representation of the universal joy that shall
 
 64 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 attend the triumphant admission of the victorious soldiers 
 of the army of Christ to the glory world. The strains that 
 will grace that celestial reunion must be learned amid the 
 hardships, self-denials, crosses, losses, disappointments and 
 ev'erything incidental to our spiritual warfare in this life. 
 He who does not experience the contests against sin in its 
 diversified operations and the Prince of the power of the air 
 wielding his Satanic wiles, will never know the thrills of ec- 
 static joy that shall permeate the souls of the redeemed 
 when Christ in his glory shall appear to release them from 
 the warfare. Martial music will animate the soldier in mil- 
 itary life, but it does not embolden the spiritual soldier in 
 his spiritual campaign. That requires music that is finer 
 and sweeter, — music that tends to inspire the spiritual sen- 
 ses. That music must be tuned from the world above. O 
 that the soldiers of the cross would learn the strains well! 
 Let there be no discord in the melodies. 
 
 We made the welkin resound with our national airs in 
 the City of Baltimore after the waters of the Chesapeake 
 were crossed. We were conveyed from there to Philadel- 
 phia by rail. At each prominent place we gave notice of 
 our arrival by the music of the band. I do not believe we 
 iver performed our parts more enthusiastically than when 
 'Ne were nearing our old familiar landscape. This was the 
 tecond tine that I was spared to return from the army. 
 At Norristown, the place of rendezvous of my first enlist- 
 ment, we were furnished with a stage coach drawn by four 
 horses and thus were escorted to the old familiar place 
 called Perkiomen Bridge, to the residence of Judge Long- 
 aker. Many of our friends were there to welcome our re- 
 turn and we saluted them with several of the choice airs 
 which we had frequently discoursed in the army service.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 65 
 
 If I could now interest the people with the Gospel trumpet 
 as we amused them then, it would afford me much consola- 
 tion. But finely-cultured musicians, just as finely-cultured 
 orators, have the preference in this world. It is much eas- 
 ier to stir up our passions by the artistic movements on an 
 instrument and impress the sentiment of some war-like or 
 romantic air than to thrill the soul and impress it with the 
 deep sense and spiritual meaning of the sacred songs that 
 are tuned from the world above. The senses of the soul 
 must be refined and purified before they can appreciate 
 the spiritual melody. 
 
 David, the sweet singer of Israel and an excellent 
 performer on stringed instruments, exclaims, " Blessed 
 are the people that hear the joyful sound." The joyful 
 sound alluded to does not have reference only to the ex- 
 ternal ear and its attraction to the melody of song, or 
 the harmonious accents of the finely-tuned instrument, 
 but it is the music of heaven, thrilling the soul through 
 this charming medium, thus renewing the spiritual life 
 and bringing it back to its normal faculties. Our music 
 had often made light and buoyant the hearts of the weary 
 soldiers, on their long and fatiguing marches, and dis- 
 pelled their gloom when the din and horrors of battle 
 were over. The divine music lends its sacred charms to 
 the soldiers of the cross amid hardships and perils, and , 
 animates them in their warfare against sin and the powers 
 of hell. Our band-master had an exquisite ear for music, 
 and was a good composer, so we had choice selections, and 
 under his competent teachings discoursed some good mu- 
 sic; we threw all our spirit into it on our return to the Key- 
 stone State. 
 
 Music has become the charm and attraction of the 
 popular churches of our age, and, in connection with ora-
 
 ^ THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 . tory and ostentation, is made a specialty. Unregenerated 
 persons, and even skeptics and infidels, are often employed 
 to do the singing and playing, and I am forced to the con- 
 clusion that spirituality is neglected. What a deep gloom 
 will be felt in Babylon when her downfall occurs, when her 
 traffic ceases, and her wealth, beauty, culture, magnificence 
 and fame are all swept away. It is then that the superior 
 music of heaven will be heard, the melodious song of the 
 redeemed, who were trained in the hardships of the spirit- 
 ual warfare, " and washed their robes and made them white 
 in the blood of the Lamb." That celestial music will sup- 
 ersede the music of earth, and lead the redeemed soul into 
 the higher strains of rapture and bliss. Oh that our hearts 
 may be tuned to sing that beautiful song of the redeemed 
 of the Lord in the land that is free from sorrow and death! 
 
 Well, we met our friends once more on the shores of 
 time. It was wonderful to reflect upon the past, to review 
 all our ups and downs in military life, the perils that at- 
 tended us, and then realize that we were home again. But, 
 although I was home with everything that seemed to aid 
 my consecration to the Lord, yet I was too prone to say, 
 like Felix of old, " Go thy way for this time, w4ien I have 
 a more convenient season I will call for thee." My jovial 
 disposition and attachment to friends absorbed my atten- 
 • tion, and the work of grace was still excluded. I, like 
 many others, respected religion in others but was not yet 
 willing to make the sacrifice required to obtain it. My 
 heart was hardened: military life and music seemed to hold 
 sway. O how our higher and native sensibilities can be fet- 
 tered down to flesh and sense! 
 
 I soon after passed through a siege of small-pox, which 
 disease was prevalent in our vicinity. Its ravages were
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 6f 
 
 loathsome, and it hurried many to eternity. This aroused 
 my thoughts and reminded me of the uncertainty of life 
 and my liability to leave the world unreconciled to God. 
 My constitution was considerably broken down by the dis- 
 ease. I attended the seminary for a time at Collegeville, 
 then under the supervision of Mr. Henry A. Hunsicker. 
 But I was restless and discontented. I was not satisfied 
 in the army and I was not satisfied out of it. 
 
 In the spring of 1863 I had quite a pleasant interview 
 with Bro. Isaac Kulp on religion. In the course of our con- 
 versation he observed that I had been thinking more on 
 that subject than he supposed, and I was much impressed 
 with his zeal for the cause, and his concern for me, a poor 
 wandering soul. But the burden with me was to start, and 
 I presume that is the burden that many have to contend 
 with. I went to live in Philadelphia, soon after this conver- 
 sation with Bro. Kulp, and there followed my trade. But 
 army intelligence, and the absence of many of my com- 
 rades in the war, filled me with uneasiness and discomfort. 
 I had no pleasure in anything. And no wonder I was rest- 
 less, knowing my duty to God and not doing it. That is 
 what makes many a soul uneasy and wretched. In this my 
 apparent extremity I concluded to enlist on a man-of-war.
 
 On the Dark Blue Sea. 
 
 The sailor boy, in our picture, has a fine view of his surroundings from his elevated 
 position on the mast-head. While many hardships fail to his lot, he has 
 
 also his happy hours, and we here see him in all his sjlorv. 
 68
 
 CHAPXEI^ VII. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Deciding to Enlist on a Whaler. — Breaking the News of my Determi- 
 nation to the Home Circle. — On to New York and later on, to Bed- 
 ford, Mass. Initiated to my new Duties on Board the "Oriole." — 
 My Feelings, as Expressed in a Poetic Effusion. — The Gulf 
 Stream. — A Wise Dispensation of Providence. 
 
 )^^J'|k NE morning I started to the wharf to carry out my 
 )^^i project; but I was interrupted in my course, and I 
 ^«^% subsequently regarded it as a divine interposition. 
 I accosted a recruiting officer who was mustering men for 
 the whale fishery. He spoke of his business and asked me 
 if I did not feel like taking a voyage over the dark blue sea. 
 At first I declined, not being willing to be turned from my 
 purpose of enlisting on board of the war-vessel. But he 
 persisted, as agents generally do, and thus drew my atten- 
 tion to his enterprise. I began to question him about the 
 business, and after receiving some information I placed be- 
 fore my vision the romantic part of the enterprise, its roving 
 character, novel features, and the great amount of knowl- 
 edge and experience to be obtained, and I concluded to 
 undertake the voyage. The agent tried to be sure of his 
 victim and entreated me to repair at once to New York 
 City at his expense; but I declined, intending to return 
 home and apprize my mother, brother and sisters of my 
 project. 
 
 I went home and was heartily welcomed by them all. 
 
 They all seemed as anxious as ever for my welfare and 
 69
 
 70 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 prosperity, and were joyous and happy with my presence 
 again in the circle of home. I was loath to mar their 
 peace, hence had not the courage to break to them the 
 doleful tidings of my early departure for the stormy ocean. 
 Night came on, and still the gloomy project was not di- 
 vulged. At last I disclosed the matter to my oldest broth- 
 er, John, and requested him to submit it to mother after I 
 had retired. Another troubled night was experienced. 
 When morning dawned I reluctantly arose to behold my 
 mother's countenance changed from joy to sorrow. Her 
 feelings were sadly disturbed, and her restless and discon- 
 tented son was the cause of it. The Prophet Isaiah says, 
 "The wicked are like the troubled sea which cannot rest." 
 I was truly in the sinful element of unrest and was des- 
 tined soon to learn by experience the force of the proph- 
 et's language in reference to the troubled sea. I felt that 
 I was the cause of the gloomy aspect of things at home, 
 and as a result soon took my leave. Mother did not say 
 much this time to have me change my purpose, for she 
 knew by sad experience that I was determined to execute 
 my projects when once they were fixed in my mind. I 
 bade them all adieu at home and left for Perkiomen Bridge, 
 where I took the stage-coach for Norristown. I sat on the 
 top of the stage and on the way played several lively airs 
 on the B-flat cornet, to dispel my gloom and drown my 
 sorrow. 
 
 I met the recruiting officer in Philadelphia and board- 
 ed the train in the evening for New York. I felt lonely 
 and sad as I swiftly rolled toward the famous city. This 
 was my third separation from home and friends to engage 
 in adventuresome enterprises; and no one could tell wheth- 
 er I would be permitted to return. We short-sighted
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 'J\ 
 
 creatures fail to measure the worth of privileges and bless- 
 ings till they are forfeited and gone. Many a poor mor- 
 tal is controlled and deceived by the power of sin and the 
 prospective pleasures of life, until death and separation 
 occur and leave him forlorn, his heart riven with anguish. 
 Then he would give worlds to be restored to the blessings 
 and golden opportunities of life once more. 
 
 I ate my breakfast in the City of New York the next 
 morning with a man to whom I had been directed by my 
 recruiting officer at Philadelphia. All faces were strange 
 to me now and as I wandered off, perhaps my feelings 
 were similar to those of the prodigal when he repaired to a 
 far country. But I had made my choice as he did his, and 
 I must abide the consequences. I could have repented 
 in New York and turned back from my rash undertaking, 
 but I was too resolute to do so. I left the great city in the 
 evening on a steamer, and was conveyed down Long Island 
 Sound on my way to Bedford, Mass.; from which port I ex- 
 pected to sail over the bosom of the great Atlantic. We 
 reached Bedford the next day and I was soon accosted by 
 men who appeared to be deeply interested in raw recruits. 
 They proposed to furnish me boarding, lodging, clothing 
 for the voyage, and, in short, the entire outfit. They 
 seemed to be willing to grant all these without money and 
 without price; but the money was expected out of the 
 proceeds of the trip, and the price, I judge, w^as fixed at 
 twice and, perhaps, three times the value of the goods. 
 
 I met many sons of the ocean here, and heard their 
 thrilling tales of ocean life. 1 soon learned that the ship 
 on which I was to sail was anchored in Buzzard's Bay, 
 and having signed the articles of agreement, the raw re- 
 cruits were all taken aboard the bark Oriole, anchored
 
 72 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 in the bay about one mile from shore. This introduced 
 us to a new life, and we were left to look and wonder. 
 
 We took an observation of our strange residence. The 
 existence of thirty-five men on such a limited craft seemed 
 hardly possible. But I had given myself up to nautical 
 authority, and it was not my prerogative to complain of 
 the size of the family or dimensions of our home on the 
 rolling deep. A colored man had charge of the ship rid- 
 ing at anchor, and we interrogated him in regard to the 
 character of the life we were about to begin. His delin- 
 eations were not very flattering, and we concluded that 
 experience would disclose more of the reality of ocean 
 life than ever we had learned by theory. We experiment- 
 ed on climbing the masts at our leisure, while the ship 
 was still anchored; for it was a question whether we could 
 effect a safe arrival at the top when our bark was liberated 
 from her cable and was tossing on the sea. We found 
 our floating home too unstable, even when stayed by the 
 anchor, to scale the masts to the royal yard; and in con- 
 sequence we had not much pride in our ability as seamen. 
 
 A few days after we went on board, the officers and 
 the remainder of the crew came. We were now afforded a 
 view of our whole family together. Different nationalities 
 were suddenly ushered into our midst: quite a number of 
 Portuguese and Americans, an Austrian, a German, a 
 Spaniard, etc. The captain's name was Mr. Jernigan, of 
 Martha's Vineyard; chief mate, Mr. Apes of New Lon- 
 don, Connecticut; second mate, Mr. March, of New Hamp- 
 shire; third mate, Mr. Ross, of New York; fourth mate, 
 Mr. Silvia, a Portuguese. This afforded an officer for 
 each whale-boat. There were four harpooners: one Amer- 
 ican, one Sandwich Islander, from Honolulu, Oahu Island,
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 73 
 
 and one Portuguese from l^runo Island, Cape Verde group; 
 he was black as jet, with sharp features and long, straight, 
 black hair; one white Portuguese, from the Azores Islands. 
 This completed the corps of harpooners. There was a 
 Spanish steward to wait on the officers, an African cook, 
 black as jet, full of antics and resembling a clown; a ship- 
 carpenter; a cooper, a German; a cabin-boy, about four- 
 teen years of age, to wait on cabin oflficers; a steerage boy, 
 to wait on harpooners, coopers and carpenters, who all 
 occupied the steerage. The rest of the crew served before 
 the mast. 
 
 We eyed our officers with much anxiety, for we knew 
 that they were the main factors in the government of the 
 floating craft. Nearly half of the men before the mast 
 were able seamen, and the others were men who had had 
 no experience in nautical life. The captain was an intelli- 
 gent-looking man, and his looks did not belie him. He 
 had an athletic movement, a commanding appearance, and 
 a quick and ready speech. Leonard Apes had a bold, 
 daring appearance; his eye was piercing, he had high cheek 
 bones; in short, he was of grim and resolute mien. To 
 become refractory under his rule and authority, indicated 
 a recantation of rebellious ideas or extinction of life. Mr. 
 March was a corpulent man; rather a pleasant-looking 
 fellow so long as his equilibrium was not disturbed; but if 
 his temper was ruffled, a storm of indignation was sure to 
 follow. Mr. Ross was rather inclined to be good-natured, 
 but long and continued familiarity with the rough usages 
 of a mariner's life, and the temptations to debauchery 
 surrounding him, tended to destroy his naturally good 
 traits and rendered him depraved. He was skeptical, 
 and would good-naturedly taunt and deride a professor
 
 74 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 of religion. Mr. Silvia was of a jovial disposition, but 
 firm and decisive in duty and straightforward in the line 
 of his duty. He was a full-blooded Portuguese and an 
 expert and able seaman. Ability in seamanship is charac- 
 teristic of the Portuguese race. 
 
 The officers and crew being aboard, all was animation 
 and business, and when orders were given by the officers, 
 the seamen having knowledge of the methods of opera- 
 tion, led off and the uneducated portion of the crew fol- 
 lowed, with the prospect that they might live and learn. 
 The first thing on the program was to heave the anchor. 
 This was effected by a large windlass around which was 
 wound the strong cable, attached to the anchor, sunk in 
 the earth at the bottom of the bay. The command being 
 given by the officer to heave the anchor, we worked vig- 
 orously, and soon the anchor began to slacken its firm hold 
 in the earth beneath, as the ship moved to a position di- 
 rectly over it, and the crew was at the windlass. The 
 heavy and powerful instrument rose, as the strength of the 
 crew continued to be applied. In this operation the main 
 dependence was on physical force, not on ingenuity. It 
 served as a fair introduction to nautical labor and im- 
 pressed us with the idea that our muscles must be firmly 
 adapted to hard toil. The anchor having been raised and 
 suspended at the bow of the ship, the steam tug-boat drew 
 us out through the channel, marked by buoys, into the 
 open sea. A pilot attended us through the difficult pas- 
 sage who was responsible, and not the captain, for the 
 safety of the vessel. Beacon lights along the shore illum- 
 inate the passage at night and guide the mariner from the 
 stormy main. 
 
 Once launched on the broad Atlantic, the steam tug 
 left us and returned to the harbor. We were on the briny
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 75 
 
 waters and the distance between us and the receding shore 
 kept getting greater. The experienced mariners ascended 
 the masts and went out upon the yard-arms to unfurl the 
 sails, while we unskilled fellows assisted in hauling home 
 the sheets, thus spreading the sails to the wind. We kept 
 looking back to get the last glimpse of the shore before 
 it disappeared from our vision and left us naught but the 
 watery waste and the firmament. How novel the scene 
 and how strange the experiences of this new life to which 
 we were about to be inured! We were about to experience 
 that which we knew by theory only, which we had read 
 about in our comfortable homes, " A life on the ocean 
 wave, a home on the rolling deep." The vessel moved 
 along over the disturbed element, yielding to the swell of 
 the sea. The unnatural motion began to make us lands- 
 men feel as though we had departed from our natural ele- 
 ment, and we had fearful apprehensions of suffering the 
 consequences of the transition. The heaving surges soon 
 made our stomachs heave, and we were rendered miserable 
 and sick. Our life surely was unstable as water, and fe- 
 licity, if any more there might be in reservation for us,, 
 was concealed behind the dismal clouds of the future. 
 
 In the prime of my life I wandered from home 
 
 About twenty-eight years ago, 
 To sail on the sea where the proud waves foam, 
 
 And the winds in their fury blow, 
 
 I soon was ploughing the wide-rolling deep, 
 
 Perchance to return never more. 
 I tell you, my friends, it makes a boy weep 
 
 To take his last look at the shore. 
 
 The golden sun set 'neath the far-swelling tide, 
 And the dark shades of night soon came on, 
 
 While the billows kept beating the ship on her side» 
 And I kept thinking of home.
 
 76 
 
 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 A landsman at best is awkward at sea 
 When the vessel is driven and tossed; 
 
 A surge from the vmdward will send him to lee, 
 And he's ever afraid he'll be lost. 
 
 Our lesson on ropes was a study so new, 
 And nautical phrases are strange: 
 
 Our words of address to the learned of the crew 
 Would doubtless admit of some change. 
 
 Unfurling the Sails. 
 
 My ascension at first to the top of the mast, 
 How I scaled the rope-ladder with care; 
 
 What a look of deep sadness my visage o'ercast, 
 As I tremblingly rose in the air. 
 
 In sorrow I sat on the fore-royal-yard; 
 
 My physical courage was low, 
 I thought, sure a mariner's life it is hard, 
 
 'Tis a life of peril and woe.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 'J'J 
 
 This poem expresses the sentiments of one thus for- 
 lorn and distressed, thrown into a Hfe and element new 
 and untried, and endeavoring to perform difficult labor, in 
 which he is unskilled. I had to be urged vehemently to 
 the mast-head, and I shall not soon forget the command 
 of the mate, and his angry frown as he scanned my un- 
 couth movements in my perplexed condition and extrem- 
 ity of woe. I finally gained the summit with much diffi- 
 culty, and to me it seemed to be a wonderful feat. 
 
 Had I tried as hard to counteract my carnal propen- 
 sities and avail myself of the grace of God for the culture 
 of the Christian traits of character, I might before then 
 have made considerable progress in the divine life. How 
 hard it is for us to learn the way of truth, especially in 
 the days of our youth! But we all must learn sometime, 
 that the yoke of the world is more galling, than the hum- 
 ble yoke of Christ. An acceptation of the yoke of Christ 
 would have obviated all these heavy woes, and though I 
 might have been contending against the opposing elements 
 without, yet I should have been free from these stings of 
 a guilty conscience within. We may rove over the earth 
 and traverse the trackless main from pole to pole in pur- 
 suit of worldly enjoyments or fame, but they impart no 
 peace to the mind or rest to the soul that is burdened 
 with guilty fears. But the yoke which Christ imposes 
 will afford the sure and solid peace and the glory which 
 the world can neither give nor take away. 
 
 I had to remain two hours at the mast-head to become 
 accustomed to the high position. When the time came 
 for me to descend to the deck, fears were in the way again. 
 In everything pertaining to ocean life and duties, I was 
 untutored and unskilled. We even could not walk and re-
 
 78 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 tain our equilibrium until we got our sea-legs on. It was 
 indeed sport for the trained mariners to behold the awk- 
 ward efforts of the raw recruits. We were born and 
 reared where the foundation under our feet was firm and 
 stationary; but to become accustomed to a foundation that 
 was incessantly moving was the lesson to be learned, and 
 it required much effort to adapt ourselves to the motion 
 of the ship so as to keep our equilibrium every time she 
 careened over either on the starboard or larboard side. 
 When the movements of our bodies were not adapted to 
 the movement of the ship, which was constantly rolling 
 from one side to the other, we would lose our balance and 
 the result was a ludicrous fall. 
 
 Every evening we received lessons on the ropes and 
 rigging of the ship. These were lessons almost similar to 
 learning Latin terms in school. Our task was assigned us 
 every evening by the mate, and the following evening we 
 were expected to recite, and be prepared to fix upon the 
 tablet of our memories the names of another new set of 
 ropes. Thus we went through the routine of study and 
 recitation until every rope was fixed on the mind. After 
 they were indelibly impressed on the memory in their 
 regular order, then we were required to discriminate. It 
 was like learning the scale in music: after we learn to run 
 the scale up and down, any one note in the scale is in- 
 cidentally referred to, and thus the human voice is trained 
 to give each note its exact sound. It is as necessary to be 
 familiar with the ropes on a ship as a skillful performer on 
 an instrument is with the different strings or keys of his 
 instrument. Every rope has its importance and wields its 
 power in the controlling of the ship. So, comparatively 
 speaking, every command of the Bible has its influence in
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 79 
 
 the saving of the soul. And any professed religious teach- 
 er who discredits the utility of any of the simple com- 
 mands of Christ, and argues before his congregation that 
 they are non-saving or obsolete, is just as inconsistent and 
 nonsensical as a man who professes to be an able seaman 
 and stands before nautical men and argues the non-utility 
 of any of the ropes that are so orderly and systematically 
 arranged. But he would not stand long before such in- 
 telligent beings and argue such nonsense, for they would 
 not believe it. Neither will a professed spiritual teacher 
 pursue such an unwise course before a spiritually intelli- 
 gent audience, because they will discredit his teaching. 
 God has not laid down a command in the Bible that is not 
 designed to impart spiritual life to the soul. Hence, to be 
 a genuine follower of Christ signifies to obey from the 
 heart the entire form of doctrine which he has delivered to 
 us in his revelation. It is without force, signification, or 
 reason, to cry Lord, Lord, and not do the things which he 
 commands. Christ means just what he says and we are 
 to do just what he says, if we would be saved. 
 
 Practice makes perfect, the olc^ adage says, and there 
 is truth in the expression. We experienced it in our life 
 at sea: the more we practiced the duties on board the 
 vessel, the more expert we became in their accomplish- 
 ment. But we had to accommodate ourselves to our con- 
 dition and circumstances, and manifest a disposition and 
 willingness to learn. Our awkward movements and blun- 
 dering efforts were in course of time overcome, and we 
 became more dexterous on the ropes and rigging. We 
 could ascend the masts with confidence, occasioned by our 
 improved ability. The fear that brought timidity was 
 gone, and we realized the apparent severity of our officers
 
 80 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 to have been proper in its time and place. But any person 
 with a reasonable amount of intelligence will not live long 
 on board a vessel before he discovers that there is much 
 to be learned in nautical science. 
 
 It is true that we find men in all the departments of 
 life that are wise in their own conceits, and they are a class 
 of people who are hard to instruct, for they always live in 
 blissful ignorance of many important things that they 
 might learn to their profit, if they were not afflicted with 
 the enlargement of the brain. All along the pathway of 
 Biblical times the truly wise and humble v/ere molested 
 more or less by this self-important class. Paul admonishes 
 the early Christians " not to be wise in their own conceits." 
 The wisdom alluded to has but a shallow foundation, is 
 generally self-supporting, and being reared on a superficial 
 conception of things, it falls of its own weight. 
 
 We passed along the stormy coast of Cape Hatteras 
 and opposite the West Indies crossed the marvelous Gulf 
 Stream and steered in the direction of the Cape Verde 
 Islands near the coast of Africa. The Gulf Stream, issuing 
 from the Gulf of Mexico and tending northward along the 
 coast of the United States, designates its current through 
 the deep by the warmth of its waters, and exerts a mod- 
 ifying influence upon the climate. 
 
 Here is one of the peculiar features of the Divine 
 arrangement in the creation and preservation of this world. 
 We need not advance far over this immense body of water 
 before its currents and tides excite our admiration and 
 wonder. There are many things a sailor docs not know- 
 about the land, and there are many things a landsman does 
 not know about the sea. Any cand'd and intelligent mind 
 is thoroughly convinced of the wisdom and power of an
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 8 1 
 
 overruling Providence. " They that go down to the sea in 
 ships, see God's wonders on the deep." The vast earth 
 with all its busy enterprises of civilization could not exist 
 and thrive without this great sea. It must have the warm 
 currents to modify its temperature. The vapor arising 
 from this mighty ocean is borne upon the wings of the 
 wind and deposited as refreshing showers over nearly all 
 the world, imparting moisture to the soil, and life and 
 growth to vegetation. In certain localities no doubt the 
 choicest flavor is imparted to fruits by the currents of air 
 from the tropics. All this evinces the unbounded wisdom 
 of our Creator, in the creation of the earth with all these 
 things for the comfort, sustenance and preservation of its 
 innumerable inhabitants. And as he has beautifully ar- 
 ranged his natural creation, so, in like manner, does he pre- 
 serve order and system in the spiritual realm, and if we 
 would share the benefits of the spiritual currents and tides 
 we must comply with the laws which bring us in contact 
 with this influence. If the laws, that regulate this natural 
 creation are so amazing, which only tend to the preserva- 
 tion of the natural lives of God's innumerable creatures, 
 what must be the magnitude and force and beauty of the 
 spiritual regulations which renovate and save the soul and 
 impart to it life eternal? Most human beings content 
 themselves with the natural elements of God's creation, tax 
 their ingenuity to effect more profound and extensive re- 
 searches into the mysterious operations of it, and so fail to 
 study and apply the spiritual laws for the purification and 
 salvation of the soul. 
 
 O thou restless, and rolling deep, what a subject for 
 thought are thy swelling waters and all the mysteries con- 
 cealed in thy unexplored depths! No human power can
 
 82 
 
 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 repel thy proud, foaming waves when, like a mighty giant, 
 thou art aroused to thy wild and furious spell. But thy 
 angry surges, by furious tempests driven, direct the candid 
 and believing mind to the Power that hath formed thy 
 amazing depths and controls thy threatening waves. Thou 
 art an evidence of his handiwork, of the unfathomable 
 depths of his wisdom and power which no finite intelligence 
 can ever explore. Thou, Oh my beneficent Creator, hast 
 directed me, I believe, to study thy greatness and omnip- 
 otence in this watery world. It is my school of discipline. 
 Thou, Oh Lord, wilt employ this raging element, with its 
 abrupt transitions from mildness to severity, as a correcting 
 influence, to wean me from the attractions of earth and the 
 powers of hell, which have long prevented my soul from 
 being united in humility and love to thee.
 
 CHAPTKI^ VIII. 
 
 The Cape Verde Islands. — Lessons at the Helm. — Bravo Island. — 
 The Torrid Zone. — Our first Attempt at Whale Capture. — Dis- 
 posing of the Blubber. — Some Facts about the Whale, its Size, 
 General Appearance, etc. — Our Stormy Passage around Cape 
 Horn. — My Lonely Watch on a Stormy Night. — Solemn Reflec- 
 tions and New Resolves. 
 
 J ROSSI NG the great Atlantic we came to the Cape 
 Verde Islands. On the voyage thither our expe- 
 rience in nautical labor was extended. It became 
 our duty to box the compass and learn to steer the vessel. 
 Each helmsman was obliged to take his position at the 
 helm for the space of two hours at a time, at the expiration 
 of which he tolled the bell suspended above the binnacle. 
 The tolling of the bell was a signal for relief after the two 
 hours had expired. The raw recruits or unskilled sailors 
 had to accompany an experienced mariner to the wheel and 
 take lessons in steering the ship. We watched him and 
 thus obtained the theoretical part first. Then we tried the 
 practical part while he stood by; and if the ship became un- 
 manageable in our hands, he helped us out of the difficulty 
 by seizing the helm and controlling it himself, thus afford- 
 ing us a better idea of its practicability both by precept and 
 example. 
 
 Thus we were by degrees trained in this art, and were 
 soon capable of controlling the helm. Good management 
 
 83
 
 84 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 at the helm greatly facilitates the passage of the ship 
 through the contending waves. It is all easy and natural 
 to the accomplished helmsman. Some, of course, have a 
 greater adaptability to the art than others. A very slight 
 movement of the helm will change the course of the vessel 
 on her swift flight through the yielding element. The apos- 
 tle James understood this when he drew his practical illus- 
 tration from it, to impress the character of the human 
 tongue. A ship in the wide, turbulent deep is much easier 
 to control than the tongue of man. The tongue is a diffi- 
 cult member of the body to control in this world of iniquity, 
 where the surges of sinful passion roll. Our nature is de- 
 praved and contaminated by sin, and the tongue, being " set 
 on fire of hell," sets ablaze " the whole course of nature;" 
 and in the storm of human passion and indignation the curs- 
 es and imprecations roll from the polluted lips of man. 
 When sinful passion is allayed and the storm is lulled, then 
 the tongue may be induced to bless God and pour out the 
 praises of the Creator's name. But the temptations of life 
 and the sad reverses in this campaign of sin and strife, 
 arouses its revengeful ire and leads it to curse man who is 
 " made in the similitude of God." 
 
 True religion will enable the human creature to control 
 the tongue and thus restrain the whole course of nature. 
 " But he that seemeth to be religious and bridleth not his 
 tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, that man's religion is 
 vain." The proper controlling of the tongue, then, that lit- 
 tle member, but the propelling power of the whole body, is 
 an evidence of genuine religion. The true votary of the 
 Christian religion will bless his enemies, not curse them. 
 They are made after the similitude of God, and amid their 
 bitter retorts, railings and abuses the power of redeeming
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 85 
 
 love predominates in his heart and portrays to his renewed 
 intelligence the worth and prcciousness of the immoital 
 soul, which to redeem and save Christ died. 
 
 " We hate the sin with all our heart, 
 But still the sinner love." 
 
 The Cape Verde Islands are a group of islands belong- 
 ing to Portugal, lying in latitude 14-17 degrees north and 
 longitude 22-25 degrees west, and distant about 320 miles 
 west of the Cape from which they take their name. The 
 principal islands are ten, viz.: Santiago, the largest and 
 most important; Fogo, Bravo, Maio, Boavista, San Nicolao, 
 San Antonio, San Vicenta, San Luzia and Sal. There are, 
 besides, four islets, barren and uninhabited. The islands are 
 all v^ery mountainous and owe their origin to the action of 
 submarine volcanoes. T'^e highest elevation is reached in 
 a volcanic peak 9,157 feet above the sea, on the island of 
 Fogo, and is still active. The climate is unhealthy during 
 the rainy season. Though water is deficient, vegetation is 
 luxuriant, yielding African and Southern European prod- 
 ucts. Sugar, cotton, coffee, tobacco and indigo are grown. 
 The inhabitants, w ho are mostly negroes, speak the Portu- 
 guese language. (Chamber's Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, page 
 
 247-) 
 
 We touched at Bravo Island in the Cape Verde group. 
 
 The captain went ashore only for the purpose of engaging 
 a few of the natives to serve in the capacity of whalemen. 
 The Islands are inhabited by Portuguese. The captain em- 
 ployed two men; one a small and very black fellow, and 
 the other a reasonably tall man of a yellowish brown color. 
 They seemed somewhat at a loss for a time, and their sepa- 
 ration from home and friends seemed to occasion a vacancy 
 and loneliness in their hearts. I wanted to go ashore and
 
 86 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 explore these islands in the sea, but of course I could not. 
 We soon left the islands far in the rear, and were plough- 
 ing the rolling deep again. 
 
 Our course was now directed toward Cape Horn, and 
 we had a long, tedious and perilous voyage. It is, indeed, 
 well for us that we do not know what kind of a future we 
 must experience, or we should ever be filled with anxious 
 fears. It was quite a novelty for us "green hands," as we 
 were sometimes called, to get within the limits of the Tor- 
 rid Zone. We found the weather very warm, although the 
 almost constant breezes of the ocean break the intense heat 
 and cool the atmosphere to quite an extent. Some days 
 the sun would pour down its burning rays and so heat the 
 deck that in passing over it bare-footed we did not feel in- 
 clined to tarry long in one spot, and the soles of our feet 
 were well coated with tar. We needed but little clothing 
 in the torrid regions. Within the belt of the trade winds, 
 which always blow in the same direction, we did not have 
 occasion to shift the sails as often as when we were in the 
 Gulf Stream, or some other regions. 
 
 The starboard and larboard watches effected their 
 changes with the same regularity as in other climes, — but 
 the watchman and the helmsman were the only persons 
 closely and constantly engaged. The rest of the crew 
 would sometimes converse, sing, dance and engage in dif- 
 ferent plays for amusement until fatigued, when they would 
 lie down on deck and sleep. My favorite position for re- 
 pose was beside the bowsprit, where I was gently rocked 
 to sleep by the vessel heaving with the swell of the sea; 
 and when the wind filled the expanded foresail, the current 
 of refreshing air would descend to fan me while calmly re- 
 posing during the nocturnal hours.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 8/ 
 
 It was here that we made our first attempt to capture 
 whales. This was to us, inexperienced sailors, a new and 
 wonderful undertaking. I will give a description of the 
 proceedings. In the first place there is a sailor stationed 
 at the mast-head all the day long; the watchman is relieved 
 every two hours. It is the duty of the mast-head's man to 
 speak of every object of any note that he descries, whether 
 it be a sail or a whale. He describes his object rather in 
 the form of a song, with a kind of melodious exercise of 
 the vocal organs, as, "There she b-l-o-\v-s! " "Where 
 away! " retorts the captain. " Four points on the lee-bow, 
 sir! " responds the man at the mast-head. I give this to 
 explain the mode of operation. Positions in the surround- 
 ing deep are designated by the points of the compass, 
 which the sailor takes by the measurement of his eye. The 
 captain then procures his telescope and, influenced by the 
 mast-head man's directions, peers into the distance to ex- 
 plore the monster of the deep. 
 
 The vessel is now steered in the direction of the dis- 
 covered whale. Everything on board the ship is aglow 
 with life and energy. The lines that suspend the whale- 
 boats from the davits are cleared away. Four boats are al- 
 ways in readiness. When yet a considerable distance from 
 the whale, the men are in pursuit of, the four boats are low- 
 ered, two on the starboard, and two on the larboard side. 
 Six men occupy each boat: one officer, one harpooner 
 and four oarsmen. If there is sufficient breeze and adapted 
 to the course to be pursued, they extend a sail and are thus 
 propelled by the force of the wind over the bosom of the 
 briny deep; but, if occasion demands, the oars are plied. 
 The green hands were not very expert in handling the oars. 
 There is a constant swell on the sea and the oars would
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 89 
 
 have to be adjusted to correspond with the variation of the 
 unstable element. Occasionally, in the wild exertion, one 
 would miss his expected purchase altogether, not calculat- 
 ing for the depression when the swell was gone. The ele- 
 ment above it, the air, not affording the expected resist- 
 ance, the oarsman was completely unbalanced in the boat. 
 The officer would frown upon him and curse him merciless- 
 ly. Any mishap on such an important occasion is de- 
 nounced in the most cruel terms. 
 
 As we approached nearer and nearer to the huge mon- 
 ster we were apprehensive of great danger; and the severest 
 trial seemed to be to approach our enemy with our backs 
 toward him. The officer and harpooner had to be eyes for 
 the entire crew. Everything is performed orderly and sys- 
 tematically. Before arriving within darting distance the 
 officer repairs-to the rear of the boat and plies the steering 
 oar, so as to successfully guide the boat to the side of the 
 prospective victim. When a reasonably good opportunity 
 is afforded to begin the battle, the officer commands the 
 harpooner to strike, and away goes the harpoon on its mis- 
 sion of death. Now the battle is begun. The whale, feel- 
 ing the sharp iron pierce his huge body, begins a terrible 
 uproar. He makes the deep boil with his rapid move- 
 ments, and in the flurry and hurry he is apt to repel ev- 
 ery obstacle in his reach. Then occurs the need of judi- 
 cious maneuvering. The first command likely to be given 
 after the whale is struck, is, " Stern all! " That indicates a 
 retreating movement, lest, in the frightful struggle of the 
 monster, the boat and crew be scattered in fragments in the 
 deep. 
 
 Next the whale begins a rapid descent. The line, 
 which is attached to the harpoon, inserted in the whale, is
 
 90 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 then rapidly taken out of the boat. The line is coiled nice- 
 ly in a large tub in the center of the boat; thence it is con- 
 ducted to the loggerhead, a round, short, upright post in 
 the stern of the boat. Several turns are effected around 
 the loggerhead and thence it proceeds on its swift course 
 through the central part of the boat between the oarsmen 
 who occupy their positions on either side. There is great 
 danger of the crew coming in contact with the line as it 
 proceeds posthaste into the chasm beneath. To fall foul of 
 the line means sudden dispatch of life. All the movements 
 are carried on by six men within a small space, and every 
 one must retain his position and make every effort count. 
 
 The whale exists in the two elements, — air and water. 
 It must have air to sustain its life while in the depths be- 
 neath, and when the air is exhausted it must rise to the sur- 
 face to take in a fresh supply. This affords the whaleman 
 a chance to resume the contest. I presume his hurried 
 flight also, and the immense pressure of the water has a 
 tendency to reduce his great strength and exhaust his pow- 
 ers. But like all created beings that have life imparted to 
 them by God, the Source and Fountain of all life, this pow- 
 erful monster of the ocean is extremely tenacious of that 
 vital principle. He is troubled and plunges deep into one 
 native element, and then rises to have the benefit of anoth- 
 er; but notwithstanding all his efforts to preserve his life, 
 he must succumb to the grim and resistless power of death. 
 His pursuers are on the alert and seek every opportunity to 
 dispatch him. They propel their boats to an advantageous 
 position, plunge the long sharp lances into his heart, and 
 the blood comes streaming from that organ until the dark 
 blue sea is dyed with the crimson tide. His muscular pow- 
 ers are active in the convulsive throes of death, and his
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. QI 
 
 ponderous tail strikes the swelling waters in the painful 
 ordeal; but at last life is extinct and the huge monster of 
 fifty tons weight lies motionless on the briny waters. 
 
 The lifeless whale is now fastened to the side of the 
 ship and a stage or platform is arranged along the bulwarks 
 or upper side of the vessel and lashed fast to the ship, so 
 as to afford the dissecting party a safe position while sev- 
 ering the oily blubber from the whale. They are supplied 
 with sharp spades with long handles which enables them to 
 make the proper incisions, and do good execution from the 
 stage. The blubber is readily separated from the flesh; it 
 is from ten to thirteen inches in thickness. It is raised on 
 board the ship by a windlass around which a thick rope is 
 turned; the rope is conducted aloft athwart the yard-arms, 
 thence to the waist of the ship and down to the floating 
 whale. There it is attached to a blanket-like piece of blub- 
 ber, about four feet in width, which the dissecting party 
 have partly severed from the carcass. A large iron eye at- 
 tached to the tackle block is thrust through the blubber 
 and secured by a round piece of wood which fills the eye, 
 and thus toggled the crew are commanded to ply the wind- 
 lass. They thus gradually turn the entire body of the 
 whale in the water, while the men with their spades keep 
 cutting the blubber loose from the flesh during the revolv- 
 ing process. 
 
 Heaving in the blubber is very hard work; the captain 
 keeps urging the men at the windlass to greater activity. 
 The large blanket pieces, as they are lifted aboard, are de- 
 posited in an apartment beneath the upper deck, called the 
 blubber room. When the heaving process is completed, 
 the trying works are put in operation. These are com- 
 posed of a brick hearth with two large iron pots enclosed
 
 92 THRILLING IN'CIDENTS 
 
 in the masonry. It is, of course, a stationary structure, and 
 when not in use is covered with a board roof. When the 
 blubber is ready to be rendered, the trying works are heat- 
 ed up and the scraps of the blubber, after the oil is extract- 
 ed, become the fuel. These scraps still have enough oil in 
 them to produce a very hot fire. Before throwing the blub- 
 ber into the trying pots, it is cut in long, slender pieces and 
 run through a mincing-machine, and thus cut in thin slices 
 which lop over as they come from under the knife, but the 
 entire piece remains connected at the bottom, so that it can 
 be conveniently handled with forks and thrown into the 
 trying pots. After the oil is rendered it is dipped into a 
 copper cooler and then put into casks and stored away in 
 the hold of the vessel. 
 
 The following are the dimensions of a large sperm 
 whale that yielded ninety-five barrels of oil, as given by 
 Captain Francis Post: "The whole length of the whale 
 from the end of the head to the end of the tail, was sixty- 
 two feet, circumference at the largest part of the body, 
 thirty-two feet; head, twenty feet long, and jaw sixteen 
 feet lonsj, and contained two rows of teeth with twenty-two 
 in each row (the upper jaw has seldom any teeth, and 
 ■ when it does they are very small). The tail was six feet 
 long and sixteen broad. The head usually yields about 
 one-third of the whole quantity of oil produced. The 
 tail of the whale, like that of all the cetaceous tribe, is 
 horizontal to the body; and wielded as it is by a great 
 number of sinews, some of which are as large as a man's 
 wrist, forces an irresistible blow, against which a cedar 
 whale-boat forms a puny shield." 
 
 The whale is sometimes greatly exaggerated by men 
 who have never ventured their lives to capture them. I
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 93 
 
 have heard of whales measuring considerably more than a 
 hundred feet in length, but at no time did any of such 
 prodigious length come under my observation. But con- 
 sider an animal as the one above described, and you have 
 an enormous monster before your eyes. The one above 
 described is a sperm whale. This whale, being supplied 
 with teeth, masticates its food. It is remarkable for pro- 
 ducing ambergris. The bowels of the whale are where 
 this singular, fragrant substance is generated; but this is 
 seldom found. Whales compare, in many respects, 
 with land animals, having in common with them warm, red 
 blood flowing through their system, though a certain 
 noted philosopher declared they were cold-blooded; which 
 goes to show that philosophers, too, have much to learn. 
 They have a heart through which this fluid passes, and is 
 propelled to the extremities of their huge body, and they 
 are supplied with respiratory organs. 
 
 The head of a small sperm whale is heaved on deck 
 entire, but that of a large one must be divided. The 
 head contains what sailors call the " case," which in a 
 large whale is supplied with twelve or fourteen barrels of 
 fluid which is dipped out of the case. A large whale can 
 be fried out in about thirty-six hours. 
 
 After all this experience in whale-capturing and pro- 
 curing oil, we sailed through the warm waters of the tropi- 
 cal regions, and crossed that wonderful imaginary line 
 called the equator. We had often studied about the 
 different zones and geographical lines in our books at 
 school, but now we were having a practical observation. 
 He who passes through all these varied phases of the 
 created world, and does not wonder at the wisdom and 
 power of the great Creator and Designer of all must be
 
 94 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 very depraved. Every day brings its new experiences in 
 this nautical school. 
 
 The next special place of interest in this watery world 
 was Cape Horn, the lower extremity of South America. 
 Here we had the most horrid experience of the entire 
 voyage. About thirty-six days were spent in these lower 
 dreary latitudes. The westerly winds sweep around the 
 Cape in fearful puffs and gales. One dark and dismal 
 night I was stationed as watchman in the ship's waist. I 
 looked over the foaming sea, while the spray of the wild 
 billows repeatedly dashed into my face and eyes, and 
 blinded my vision for a time. The vessel was almost in- 
 cessantly careening violently from the starboard to the 
 larboard side. I said that I was stationed in the waist of 
 the ship, but my position was not very stationary, for 
 scarcely had one billow passed by, before another came 
 rolling over the top of the bulwarks, submerging the en- 
 tire bow of the ship beneath the raging floods. The ship 
 had careened over and was lying on her side. She seemed 
 to be creaking at every joint, and the towering billow that 
 had reduced our precious Oriole to such a helpless condi- 
 tion had gone on its triumphant progress Avhile our trem- 
 bling ship was slowly righting herself again. Before she 
 had gained her upright position I beheld, amid the dark- 
 ness, a terrible wave approaching. I ran with all possible 
 speed to the after part of the ship. This part of a vesse' 
 is the most steady in a storm. 
 
 On the starboard side was the cook's galley, and on 
 the larboard side was a board enclosure in which was a 
 door that admitted one to the flight of stairs leading to 
 the cabin where the officers lived. The intervening 
 space, including the cook's galley, and cabin gangway
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 95 
 
 was Spanned by a water-tight roof. My purpose was to 
 seek refuge under that roof. But though nimble on my 
 feet, with every muscle strained to its utmost tension, my 
 aim was defeated. The towering, foam-crested wave in- 
 undated our floating home, and the Oriole was violently 
 precipitated into the cavity of the sea again. I was com- 
 pletely submerged by the billow and hurled against the 
 board partition just where it rounded off from the cabin 
 entrance and tended to the larboard bulwarks. Like the 
 Irishman, at first I thought I was killed The violent 
 collision of my head with the board partition caused the 
 blood to stream from my nostrils, and the lee bulwarks 
 were all that prevented me from being swept overboard. 
 I recovered as soon as practicable and sought protection 
 at the shaft of the helm, being faint and sick and cold and 
 wet. O puny man, do you boast of your strength? Do 
 you pride yourself in your wisdom, gaudy appearance, and 
 worldly attainments? Such overwhelming manifestations 
 of power, such horrid scenes amid the dismal darkness, 
 would teach your proud heart for once in your life that 
 you are poor and miserable and dependent upon the Being 
 who controls the winds and the waves. 
 
 One dreadful squall followed another in gloomy suc- 
 cession. I never saw the elements in greater commotion. 
 I never beheld anything that was so decidedly awful. The 
 terrific pressure of the storm caused the billows to roll 
 exceedingly high, and our helpless bark was continually 
 tossed from the foaming crests of the successive waves 
 down into the cavities of the restless sea. At times we 
 feared that we should be buried beneath the overwhelming 
 floods, and lie in the cold and mouldering sleep of death, 
 till "the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God" 
 would arouse us from the lone cavern of the deep.
 
 96 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 I trust that I received here indelible impressions of 
 God's unbounded power which may fill me with reveren- 
 tial awe whenever I revert to the scene. The orator may- 
 portray, with all the power of oratory, the terrific force of 
 the winds and waves, but the sailor's practical conception 
 is deeper and more vivid. Forlorn and dreary we were at 
 our wits' end: we sometimes trembled with fear. We were 
 at the mercy of our Creator by whose power the winds are 
 lulled and the proud waves are stayed. 
 
 In this terrible crisis I resolved to yield to his sov- 
 ereign control. O what a dreadful thing it would have 
 been to be lost in that lone watery waste! It appeared 
 like standing on the verge of time, ready to be hurled into 
 the abyss of eternity. What is the world to us then with 
 all its boasted honors? All earth's attractions vanish in 
 the hour of gloom and death. I was determined, if God 
 would rescue me from this state of jeopardy, that I would 
 no longer be restrained from his humble service, by the 
 world, the flesh and the devil, but that, amid frowns or 
 smiles, sneers or ridicule, I would endeavor to serve him 
 and obey his commandments. My heart was rendered 
 contrite and penitent and my purpose was to consecrate 
 myself wholly to the Lord. 
 
 May I ever remember this storm, whatever betide me, 
 as Elijah, no doubt, remembered the earthquake and the 
 storm as he stood in the cave with his mantle wrapped 
 about him at Mount Horeb. But it is said, in that in- 
 stance, that God was not in the earthquake or the storm, 
 but in the still small voice that followed these commo- 
 tions. Elijah had fled from the vile and wicked Jezebel, 
 after God had shown his protecting might, and escaped 
 to a secluded place. Here God asked his fugitive prophet,
 
 ON SEA AWD LAND. 97 
 
 when the convulsions ot the earth and atmosphere had 
 subsided, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" 
 
 Ah, yes, we get sometimes where the Lord has not 
 authorized us to go, and we must then make the best of 
 our situation, with the humble hope that God in his great 
 mercy will overrule our sorrows to our profit, and thus 
 teach us submission to his will. God could say to me — 
 and he did — amid the roaring elements at dreary Cape 
 Horn, What doest thou here, George? I long sought for 
 thee before the clouds of darkness and sorrow obscured 
 thy vision, before thy heart was yet corrupted by sin, and 
 while thy faculties were yet in their normal condition, but 
 thou heardest not my voice of mercy. When the storm 
 and thunder of battle were past, and thou hadst heard the 
 shrieks and groans of the unfortunate victims, I spoke to 
 thee again, and endeavored to save thee by the restraints 
 of my love; but thy heart was disobedient and wayward. 
 And now what doest thou here? 
 
 The storm, the earthquake, or the destructive billows 
 on the sea, may awaken the goadings of a guilty con- 
 science, but it is the still voice of mercy that instructs and 
 saves. Oh how wonderful and mysterious is our internal 
 being! Sin demoralizes our being, and renders our life 
 boisterous, but the still and wooing voice of God reduces 
 all to quietness and peace. " A meek and quiet spirit in 
 the sight of God is of great price." The commotion pro- 
 duced by the elements at war were figurative of the woe- 
 ful disturbances in my own soul. Oh what severe disci- 
 pline it requires, and years of divine forbearance, to sub- 
 due our stubborn will and bring us to humble submission 
 to God's moral and truthful government! I was conducted, 
 as it were, down to the gates of death, and amid the roar-
 
 •98 
 
 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 ing floods my heart was indelibly impressed with the final 
 doom of the impenitent. May the Lord from henceforth 
 keep me near his side and shelter me beneath his wings of 
 mercy, when the infernal powers rage and the surges of 
 human passion roll. 
 
 A STORM AT CAPE HORiN.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ~^*/- 
 
 In the Mighty Pacific Ocean. — Talcahuano. — The Guana Islands. — Jnan 
 Fernandez, the Reputed Home of Robinson Crusoe. — A Poem, 
 Composed by that Famous Hero of the Romancer's Pen. — A Visit 
 to the Island. — Two Deserters left to their Fate. — Varied E.x- 
 periences of my New, Spiritual Life. 
 
 iv^T last, the winds favoring us, we emerged from 
 ^^. this gloomy and desolate region, and were plough- 
 -•^^ ing the waters of the mighty Pacific Ocean. We 
 Louched at Talcahuano, a port on the coast of Chili, but only 
 the captain and a boat's crew went ashore while the vessel lay 
 off along the coast. It was pleasant for our eyes to be- 
 hold the elevated shore after such a long and dreary ex- 
 perience on the w-atery waste. How we longed to rest our 
 feet upon the land! But we had to forego this ardent de- 
 sire, and of course we could not learn much as to the con- 
 dition and customs of the people in Talcahuano, 
 
 We sailed along the coast of Peru and passed by the 
 island where guano is procured. Shiploads of this are 
 carried to the United States to invigorate the soil. It 
 yields a stench which is very offensive. I am told that 
 Chinamen are employed to load the vessels with this un- 
 pleasant cargo, their sense of smell not being as refined as 
 that of the American people, and they being more pliable 
 in this life of drudgery. It is said to be the excrement of 
 numerous birds which inhabit these small islands along 
 
 99
 
 100 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 the coast of South America. The offensive odor filled our 
 nostrils, when we were on the lee side of the islands, for a 
 considerable distance at sea. 
 
 After cruising about in these latitudes, we steered for 
 the island of Juan Fernandez, regarded as Robinson 
 Crusoe's island. Juan Fernandez is a rocky island in the 
 Pacific Ocean, about 400 miles off Valparaiso, on the coast 
 of Chili, to which it belongs, latitude 33 degrees south, 
 longitude about 79 degrees west. It is eighteen miles 
 long, six miles broad, and is for the most part covered 
 with rocky peaks, the highest of which. El Yunque, is 
 about 4,000 feet above sea-level. There are also numerous 
 and fertile valleys which yield oats, turnips, apples, straw- 
 berries, melons, peaches, figs, grapes, sandal wood, and 
 other varieties of timber. Numbers of wild goats wander 
 on the cliffs. — Chambers' Encyclopedia, page J22, Vol. 4. 
 
 Here our wishes, which were not gratified when at 
 Talca, in South America, were met; we were allowed to go 
 ashore. It seemed wonderful to explore with our eyes the 
 mountain slopes that the famous Robinson Crusoe had 
 looked upon and climbed. The following verses are 
 supposed to have been written by Robinson Crusoe during 
 his solitary abode on this island: 
 
 I am monarch of all 1 survey, 
 
 My right there is none to dispute, 
 From the center all round to the sea, 
 
 I am lord of the fowl and the brute. 
 
 Oh solitude! where are thy charms, 
 
 That sages have seen in thy face, 
 Better dwell in the midst of alarms 
 
 Than reign in this horrible place.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. lOI 
 
 I am out of humanity's reach; 
 
 I must finish my journey alone. 
 Never hear the sweet music of speech: 
 
 I start at the sound of my own. 
 
 The beasts that roam over the plain, 
 
 My form with indifference see. 
 They are so unacquainted with man, 
 
 Their tameness is shocking to me. 
 
 Society, friendship, and love, 
 
 Divinely bestowed upon man, 
 Oh, had I the wings of a dove, 
 
 How soon would I taste you again! 
 
 My sorrows I then might assuage 
 
 In the ways of religion and truth, 
 Might learn from the wisdom of age, 
 
 And be cheered by the sallies of youth. 
 
 Religion! what treasure untold 
 
 Resides in that heavenly word! 
 More precious than silver or gold. 
 
 Or all that this earth can afford. 
 
 But the sound of the church-going bell 
 
 These valleys and rocks never heard; 
 Ne'er sighed at the sound of a knell 
 
 Or smiled when a Sabbath appeared. 
 
 Ye winds that have made me your sport. 
 
 Convey to this desolate shore 
 Some cordial, endearing report 
 
 Of a land I shall visit no more. 
 
 My friends, do they now and then send 
 
 A wish or a thought after me? 
 O tell me I yet have a friend. 
 
 Though a friend I am never to see. 
 
 How fleet is a glance of the mind! 
 
 Compared with the speed of its flight 
 The tempest itself lags behind. 
 
 And the swift-winged arrows of light.
 
 102 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 When I think of my own native land. 
 
 In a moment I seem to be there: 
 But alas! recollection at hand 
 
 Soon hurries me back to despair. 
 
 But the sea-fowl has gone to her nest, 
 The beast is laid down in his lair: 
 
 Even here is a season of rest, 
 And I to my cabin repair. 
 
 There's mercy in every place. 
 
 And mercy — encouraging thought, 
 Gives even affliction a grace 
 
 And reconciles man to his lot. 
 
 This school of experience, this dreary and solitary- 
 dwelling-place, with all its dismal surroundings, drew out 
 the pathetic yearnings of his heart. It was here that his 
 heart, too, became penitent, especially when sickness as- 
 sailed him in his lone and sad condition. Then he ex- 
 claimed, " Lord, what a miserable sinner am I ! " Then 
 he thought of his father's good counsel, hitherto unheeded, 
 and the mercies of a kind Providence which never im- 
 pressed his mind so deeply till now in his forlorn and 
 isolated condition. He says: " Then I cried. Lord, save 
 me, for I am in great distress; " which, he asserts, was the 
 first prayer he had uttered for years. His conscience had 
 been asleep. Had he not been brought into this lonely 
 and afflicted condition, I presume his Bible would not 
 become so sweet and precious to his fainting soul, and he 
 would not have sought to find out God who, in his tender 
 mercy, had no doubt before sought him. His Bible was 
 stored away in his chest as a useless thing, but when the 
 dark hours of adversity came, its pages were fondly pe- 
 rused and its inspired words brought life and peace to his 
 soul.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. IO3 
 
 So there are many i3ibles at this time which are not 
 examined by those who have them in their possession until 
 the curtain of affliction falls upon their hilarity, and dark 
 desertion comes. I am thankful that I can call upon the 
 same God whom that penitent of old addressed in his lone 
 and distressed condition, when he shed tears of penitence 
 on this island, and implored God's saving power. May I 
 not hope that the same God who restored Crusoe to his 
 native land will also effect my restoration? 
 
 We had not time sufficient to explore very much of 
 the island, but we ascended the mountain slopes and saw 
 the wild goats leaping upon the tops of the mountains. A 
 few Spaniards lived on the island, whose appearance was 
 rude and untasty. "They subsist upon fish, which are 
 caught in greaL abundance here, and wild goat meat. I saw 
 a number of donkeys grazing upon the mountain sides. 
 The Spaniards used these beasts to draw their burdens and 
 they also rode on their backs. The only fruit that I re- 
 member seeing was peaches and figs, neither of which was 
 ripe, which gave us quite a disappointment. There was an 
 English man-of-war there at the same time we were, and 
 one of the marines tried to ride a donkey; but he jumped 
 up on one side and fell off on the other. He could retain 
 his balance better on the vessel than on the donkey. 
 
 I entered a cave which was dug out in the side of the 
 mountain and saw the names of sailors, from various places 
 of the wide world, cut in the rocks. We were told that 
 they had a prisoner confined there for a long time. I did 
 not engrave my name on the rocks within the cave on Cru- 
 soe's Island, but I trust that the scenes of sorrow and afflic- 
 tion in my wanderings may serve as an incentive to have it 
 recorded in heaven. The Spaniards lived in uncouth huts
 
 104 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 constructed of timber and their habitations were not very 
 inviting to refined persons. 
 
 Two of our men deserted the ship there and concealed 
 themselves in the mountains till after our departure. They 
 urged me to accompany them, which, I presume, I should 
 have done had I been prepared as they were with three 
 changes of apparel, but the announcement was made too 
 late for me to prepare, it being our last opportunity to visit 
 the shore and my clothes were all aboard the ship. The 
 one was named Brown, a native of Maryland, and the other 
 one was from Connecticut, whose name I have forgotten. 
 We never heard of them afterwards and I have often won- 
 dered whether the Spaniards treated them kindly or not. 
 They evidently assumed a great risk, but I presume at that 
 time I would have hazarded my life also, had I been pre- 
 pared, for we were all anxious to get rid of our severe dis- 
 cipline on the ship. 
 
 But I am glad to-day that I was kept from my purpose, 
 for the language of the apostle to the sailors attempting to 
 desert from the ship on which they had all been so severe- 
 ly tried, " Except these abide on the ship ye cannot be 
 saved," may also have been applicable in our case. But 
 another want would have been felt in Paul's disastrous voy- 
 age, I presume,— their lack of force to control the ship in 
 the storm. The weakening of our force was at once no- 
 ticed by our captain, and it threw him into a rage. He ve- 
 hemently denounced their rash and daring act, and no 
 doubt would have prescribed a penalty for their disobedi- 
 ence could they have been recovered. This ended our rov- 
 ings on the island: he would not run the risk of having any 
 more desertions, and we were commanded at once to heave 
 anchor and put to sea. As usual, we gazed at the receding
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. IO5 
 
 mountains till we could sec them no more, and we were 
 again launched on the watery waste. 
 
 Consecrating myself wholly to the service of the Lord 
 became the full purpose of my heart. I desired to possess 
 a religion that is permanent, that retains its identity as 
 well in the time of storm as in the time of fair weather. 
 The warring elements may have a tendency to arouse us to 
 a realization of our perilous condition in sin, but the won- 
 drous love of God must incite us to active obedience. I 
 knew by my conceptions of the Bible that God required 
 constant submission to his divine will. I humbly confessed 
 my sins to God in secret and the manner of my life was ma- 
 terially changed. My sins had arisen like mountains be- 
 fore me, and especially the great sin of procrastination; but 
 my penitence was real, my heart was humble before my 
 Maker, and I devoutly prayed for his mercy. 
 
 But the work of grace would not be concealed in my 
 own heart; its mysterious workings were demonstrated to 
 the crew. My situation was among a mixed assembly of 
 human beings whose hearts were steeped in sin and deprav- 
 ity; so I scarcely knew how to begin to act in a separate 
 spiritual capacity, and thus be a witness for Christ on our 
 floating home. " But God who commanded the light to 
 shine out of darkness," began to shine in my heart, and he 
 would now employ me as a light to those around me, how- 
 ever benighted the place. The crew and officers had all 
 discovered the external indications of a terrible tempest in 
 the heart, but there was no medium as yet by which they 
 might learn the character of the contention within. 
 
 Everything appeared to be against me. I stood alone, 
 and was not experienced in the work as was the heroic 
 Paul who advocated Christ's cause in the presence of the
 
 I06 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 officers and crew on his tempestuous voyage over the 
 Mediterranean Sea. One great impediment which I had 
 to contend against from my childhood was a spirit of diffi- 
 dence. My readers may be ready to conclude that one 
 who had roamed around the world as much as I had, 
 should bravely overcome bashfulness; but I reply that we 
 know how weak we are only when we are brought to the 
 test; and especially is this manifested in the work of grace. 
 It exhibits all the infirmities and defects in our consti- 
 tution, and proves to us our helplessness before God. I 
 had tried to inure myself to the bravery, characteristic of 
 the military spirit, and I had cultured myself to be cour- 
 ageous as a sailor; but in the divine life the creature must 
 sink to nothingness in himself, and wholly rely for strength 
 and support upon his Creator. This is the most difficult 
 lesson that we have to learn, but it is the best and most 
 important. 
 
 One night I conversed with two of my shipmates 
 about the Christian religion. The one was a Scotchman 
 and the other an Englishman. The Scotchman said that 
 he had once begun the religious life but made a failure of 
 it; and he seemed to make his statement with some feel- 
 ings of regret. This urged me to give vent to my sup- 
 pressed feelings, and I expressed my sorrow for his failure 
 in such an important work, a work that was occasioning 
 me so much anxiety and worrying me more or less all 
 throurrh mv life. I said that I considered the religion of 
 Christ an honorable and commendable work, and that it 
 had been my misfortune to delay my surrender to God 
 until that time, but by his help I meant to consecrate my 
 life to him, however unfavorable the situation which I oc- 
 cupied. This public confession opened the way. "With
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. lO/ 
 
 the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the 
 mouth confession is made unto salvation." It is wonder- 
 ful, indeed, how cowardly we are in acknowledging and 
 vindicating the truth of God before we are fully sanctified 
 by its power. 
 
 My auditors became the agents to announce this asser- 
 tion to those who heard it not; and thus the tidings were 
 soon circulated among the officers and crew. Some 
 frowned, others laughed and joked about it and said that it 
 would be folly to endeavor to execute such a work on 
 board a ship. I could distinctly discern the storms of op- 
 position arising, but by the help of God I meant to be firm 
 in carrying out my resolution. Hell and earth had pre- 
 vented me long enough; now the rolling deep was to hear 
 my vows to God. 
 
 From that time on I lived distinct from the officers 
 and crew of the Oriole, in a religious capacity, until the 
 grace of God induced others to join me in the divine work. 
 But while reproaches fell upon me because of my attach- 
 ment to the cross, 1 felt that it was my wisdom to remain 
 comparatively silent, for I could not expect them to have 
 confidence in my sincerity until, by the grace of God, I had 
 first established my character as a believer in the truth. I 
 knew that God would accomplish his own work in me if I 
 was called according to his purpose; and if I could be sub- 
 ject to his rule I need not consult consequences, for he 
 could even " make the wrath of man subserve his purpose, 
 and the remainder of wrath he was able to restrain." 
 
 I tried to conduct myself becomingly and to cultivate 
 a " meek and quiet spirit." Though I must give this testi- 
 mony relative to my own Christian life, yet I hope that I 
 am giving it in a humble way. I am fully convinced that
 
 lo8 THRILLING INCIDENTS. 
 
 actions and life, controlled by the power and guided by the 
 wisdom of God, have more to do in establishing Christian 
 character and silencing the scoffer and gainsayer than the 
 most fluent and pointed arguments without the life devoted 
 to God. 
 
 The ocean speaks with more eloquence than ever I 
 have heard from the tongue of the finest orator. Its storm- 
 driven billows produce arguments that the most competent 
 disputant in the world cannot refute. They show forth the 
 power of God more vividly than anything else that has ev- 
 er come under my observation. While they may strike ter- 
 ror to the heart of man and urge him in his fear and con- 
 sternation to call upon the God who controls the waves, it 
 requires divine love to melt the heart to penitence and 
 keep the Christian in God's humble path of life and duty.
 
 CH^PXEI? X. 
 
 '^ 
 
 The Marquesas Islands. — A Visit Ashore. — Getting Wood aboard un- 
 der Difficulties. — Assisted in Manual Labor by a King and Queen. 
 — Human Flesh still an Object of Strong Desire. — Our Experience 
 in Eating Candle-Nuts. — Descending a Steep Mountain-Side. — 
 Depravity of the Natives and the Ship's Crew, Necessitating a Bold 
 Stand for the Right on my Part. — Novel Mode of Sleeping. — Re- 
 flections Suggested by the Scenes Around me. — Departure for the 
 Sandwich Islands. 
 
 :^§^^~*^^^^^ — 
 
 ) T ,^ N course of time the Marquesas Islands appeared 
 Ki)/^^ to our anxious vision. " These are the southern 
 ^^^6 group of the Mentana Archipelago in Polynesia, the 
 northern group bearing the name of the Washington Isl- 
 ands; but the name is also applied to the whole Archipela- 
 go. The Marquesas Islands, in latitude 7° 3o'-io° 30'; south 
 longitude, 138^-140^ 20' west, were discovered by Mentana 
 de Neyra, a Spanish navigator, in 1596. They were named 
 after the viceroy of Peru, Marquesas de Mendoza. In 1842 
 they submitted to the French, and they are now governed 
 by independent chiefs under the protection of France." — 
 Chambers' Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, page zyd. We sailed along 
 between the islands of Nucahiver and Whitehoo, and effect- 
 ed an anchorage in a bay at the latter island. The moun- 
 tains, towering high, in some places approached the ocean 
 in bold relief; then again they presented a comparatively 
 gradual slope to where the ocean surf beat upon their base. 
 As we came in full sight of one of the fertile valleys, 
 
 lined with tropical fruit trees, and decked with verdure and 
 
 109
 
 no THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 beauty, we fired a salute from our signal gun, which excited 
 the natives and brought them hurriedly to the beach. An 
 escort met us in their rude canoes, conducted by one of the 
 chiefs. They boarded our vessel before we dropped an- 
 chor. Their appearance was so novel that we could scarce- 
 ly desist from staring at them, which occasioned some curs- 
 ing upon the part of our officers until we got the sails 
 furled and the ship anchored. They bore a strange and 
 savage mien and their yells were wild. Their bodies were 
 almost nude, and they were tattooed all over. Their step 
 was elastic and their movements were nimble and active. 
 Their hair was straight and black, and they could swim al- 
 most as well as aquatic animals. 
 
 Their canoes were tied to the Oriole while lying at an- 
 chor, and they seemed for the time being to be more con- 
 cerned about our stock of provisions than they were about 
 complimenting us. We sailors took pleasure in giving 
 them some of our hard-tack and meat, and they gorged it 
 quite lively. One large, wild-looking creature stole some 
 out of the forecastle, in addition to what we had given him. 
 Some of the boys pursued him and yelled at him, and he 
 leaped over the top of the ship's bulwarks, with eyes and 
 mouth open, into the sea, which comical scene created 
 much laughter among the officers and crew. 
 
 It was quite a treat to us sailors to have the privilege 
 of again going ashore. The watches were alternately grant- 
 ed liberty. We climbed the mountain slopes and sat be- 
 neath the cocoa and orange trees and ate to our fill the de- 
 licious tropical fruits. I felt interested in the poor idola- 
 trous heathens who worshiped wooden gods in their blind- 
 ness and ignorance. One day I was standing near one of 
 their idols, examining their helpless god who could neither
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. I I I 
 
 see, hear nor defend liimscif, and in my reverie I was eating 
 an orange, when a little heathen devotee approached me 
 hastily with extended eyes, contorted features, and earnest 
 gesticulations, saying, "Taboo." This meant that by cast- 
 ing my orange rinds on sacred ground I was violating one 
 of their religious tenets, one of the laws of Whitehoo. Of 
 course I desisted. I had been eating my delicious fruit in 
 blissful ignorance of any intrusion whatever, and my con- 
 science was perfectly at rest; but what is life and comfort 
 and peace to one, is sorrow and gloom and death to anoth- 
 er. 
 
 " From the selfsame quarter of the sky, 
 
 One saw a thousand angels smile, 
 
 Another saw as many devils frown." 
 
 It all depends on the training of that innate principle 
 of our being — the conscience. How blessed is he whose 
 conscience is enlightened and regulated by the divine cri- 
 terion, the Bible. The heathens observed my peculiarities 
 and my fondness for reading my Bible. 
 
 One day I was sitting beneath a shade tree near the 
 beach and perusing the sacred pages of the Book of God, 
 when presently I was surrounded by a number of the nat- 
 ives who seemed to look at me with intense interest. They 
 occasionally addressed each other in their native tongue, 
 and then gazed at me with seeming admiration. I pointed 
 to the heavens above as being the handiwork of the God 
 whom I adored. I also included in my signs and gesticula- 
 tions the mountains and the sea, whose foaming surf was 
 ■continually washing the shore. I found that I could speak 
 with considerable force without using my tongue much, but 
 I simply pointed earnestly to the works of nature to dis- 
 close nature's God.
 
 112 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 I LDmetimes think that even preachers depend too 
 much on their tongue. I believe that if the spirit of God 
 animates the heart, our gestures and general appearance 
 will preach. By pointing to God's wondrous works and 
 having life in our motions even those who speak an un- 
 known tongue will be interested and feel assured that some- 
 thing good is meant. Let us have life in our preaching if 
 we want to keep our hearers alive. 
 
 On the wings of thought I often go 
 
 To that distant sunny clime, 
 Where the fragrant breezes softly blow, 
 
 And the warmest sunbeams shine. 
 
 I formed a special attachment for one of the little 
 heathen boys who was amiable and kind, and always greet- 
 ed me with a smile. Poor little nude fellow, I shall never 
 forget him. He was not tattooed like the more mature of 
 his race and was rather good looking; but had he even been 
 homely his friendly disposition would have made him at- 
 tractive. It is not persons' looks so much as their ways 
 that render them attractive. He used to climb the cocoa 
 trees and get cocoanuts for me. I wish the boys in Amer- 
 ica could have seen him go up the tree. The cocoa tree 
 has a long trunk and is devoid of limbs till near the top of 
 the tree where the fruit is. This little heathen boy would 
 so adjust the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet to 
 the tree that he could rapidly ascend and then he would sit 
 up there and throw the cocoanuts down to me. The nat- 
 ives grease themselves all over with the oil of the fruit, 
 which protects their nude forms from the sun and keeps 
 their joints limber. They are about as nimble as show act- 
 ors. 
 
 Sometimes the little naked heathen boys would come 
 aboard our ship. It was quite amusing to see them climb
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. II3 
 
 the mast or ascend the rope ladder to the fore-yard, walk 
 erect out to the end of the yard arm, which even few sailors 
 would undertake, and then one after the other leap into the 
 sea. They would always strike the water with their feet, 
 their bodies beini^ in an upright position, and the force of 
 their rapid descent from the yard-arm would sink them 
 deep into the water. After a little time their black heads 
 would pop out of the sea here, there and all around, just 
 like so many aquatic animals. The distance from the yard- 
 arm to the water's edge was at least thirty feet. They can 
 beat the boys in America in jumping, swimming and climb- 
 ing trees. 
 
 We procured some wood on the island, and as the 
 boats could not get close to the shore, on account of the 
 breakers, each one of us had to take his piece of timber, lie 
 on the top of it and swim it to the boats. Sometimes a 
 wave would get the advantage of the navigator and his tim- 
 ber, and then he had to leave it or he would be carried 
 more swiftly toward the shore than he had advanced from 
 
 it. 
 
 Once I was advancing with a piece of wood toward the 
 boats; a breaker got the better of me, and I and the log re- 
 ceded to the shore, the live freight being almost as passive 
 as the dead. We were hurled upon a gradually-sloping, 
 rocky shore. I felt quite faint for a while, but soon gath- 
 ered up my piece of wood and tried it again, and the sec- 
 ond time succeeded in reaching the boats. The king and 
 queen assisted us in this somewhat dangerous employment. 
 We do not often have the privilege of associating with a 
 royal household in that kind of business. The natives ap- 
 peared to appreciate our presence and were much inclined 
 to traffic. We exchanged our edibles for some of their 
 tropical fruits.
 
 114 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 An old African negro lived here who claimed to have 
 been in Dr. Kane's expedition to the Polar Sea, and he re- 
 lated to us many strange things about the natives. He said 
 that sometimes the inhabitants of one island would wage 
 war with the inhabitants of another. The captives taken 
 would be sacrificed to their idols and the captors would 
 feed upon their flesh. The French missionaries have suc- 
 ceeded in modifying their tendency to cannibalism, but still 
 human life is not always secure in their hands, as the hank- 
 ering for human flesh is strong. 
 
 One day two of my ship-mates and I started out to ex- 
 plore the island. A path led over the mountain to another 
 fertile valley where dwelt another tribe. We entered the 
 forest and lost our way. We were fatigued by our weari- 
 some journey, rendered still more tiresome because we were 
 lost. We sat down to rest under a candle-nut tree. This 
 tree bears a fruit that is good to eat. The kernel is heart- 
 shaped; the shell is hard and about the size of a walnut. 
 They generally roast them before eating them, for in their 
 raw state they are apt to purge and produce colic. The 
 natives bore holes through the center, string them on rush- 
 es and hang them in their huts for lights; the oil in them 
 feeds the flame. The lampblack, used for tattooing, is ob- 
 tained from the candle-nut shell. 
 
 We were not posted as yet in regard to the effect that 
 these nuts in their raw state would have upon our systems. 
 We were hungry and tried eating them. They were 
 pleasant to the taste, but one of the party said, " Maybe 
 they arc poisonous." And sure enough, we paid dearly for 
 eating them, for they rendered us terribly sick and we were 
 seriously impressed with the thought that they might con- 
 tain poison in reality. This threw us into a state of stupid-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. II5 
 
 ity, and for a time rendered our farther progress almost im- 
 practicable. We finally met a few of the natives and inter- 
 rogated them with reference to the character of the nuts we 
 had eaten. We did this by signs, imitating the process of 
 mastication. We presented some of the fruit upon which 
 we ourselves, by sad experience, were ready to place an in- 
 terdict; they shook their heads, made many gestures in the 
 negative and exclaimed, " No good." 
 
 After the terrible revolutions in our systems had some- 
 what subsided, we began to recruit a little in strength, and 
 trudged on our weary way until we found ourselves stand- 
 ing high up the mountain-side, which position afforded us a 
 prospect of the fertile and fruitful valley for which we had 
 started in the morning. Our vision was met by an inlet of 
 the s_a. Our narrow way through the mountains was lost, 
 and to reach our destination would be verv difficult. Nig-ht 
 was fast approaching, and there was no time to be lost. I 
 planned a bold adventure, and expressed my willingness to 
 lead off in the perilous undertaking. It was to descend the 
 craggy steep in a zigzag course. We scanned, before pro- 
 ceeding, the possibly available places in the descent to the 
 ocean strand. We started, not knowing what might befall 
 us, and retained our equilibrium by holding to roots of 
 trees, mountain grass, or anything that presented a show of 
 security. We reached the base of the mountain in safety, 
 and the natives conveyed us across an indentation of the 
 sea W4th their canoes. They considered our descent on the 
 steeps of the mountain perilous and said, "You mocama- 
 iiia " (you die). 
 
 We reached the valley of the cannibal tribes as the 
 shades of night began to encircle us, and what our fate 
 might be before the morning would come we knew not.
 
 Il6 THRILLING INXIDENTS 
 
 They were given to licentiousness, and the sad misfortune 
 was that the entire crew were given to the same kind of life. 
 I saw the crisis and that I must stand alone in the vindica- 
 tion of my purity in the trial now before me. They might 
 be stirred with indignation at the position I sustained 
 against their indulgence in this crime, which the Book of 
 God denounces. I could say with Paul " that all men for- 
 sook me but the Lord stood by me " and blessed my feeble 
 efforts to teach my wild and untutored auditors, and exem- 
 plify by a practical demonstration my disapprobation of 
 their depraved and wicked actions. I pointed them to the 
 stars in the heavens, and referred them to the waves of the 
 sea and the mountain summits as manifestations of the 
 great and mighty God whom I feared and worshiped, and 
 tried to impress their minds with the idea that I dared not 
 sin against this Great Being. I believe that God was in 
 that little sermon, for they accepted my plea and appeared 
 to take no offence at my remonstrations, but conducted me 
 to their hut and bade me lie down between two stalwart 
 men; the indications of their visages were that they meant 
 me no harm. 
 
 I fell into a deep sleep, and was unconscious as to 
 what portion of the world I was in, or whether I was sur- 
 rounded by friends or foes. I did not awake till morning, 
 and my sleep was sweet and refreshing. I thanked my 
 God for preserving me, for how easily might those heath- 
 ens have plunged a dagger into my heart! A mat was 
 spread over the earth which only accommodated the upper 
 portion of our bodies, and along the foot of our bed large 
 round stones were placed to support the lower extremities 
 of our bodies. These stones were worn round and smooth 
 by the water. Although I did not comprehend the entire
 
 Q 
 Z 
 
 < 
 
 C/i 
 
 < 
 
 W 
 O 
 
 a 
 
 < 
 
 H 
 O 
 
 (A 
 W 
 
 > 
 
 I-H 
 
 H 
 
 <; 
 
 2
 
 Il8 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 philosophy of their method of sleeping, yet for once, I 
 adopted the custom in the evening. I do not now remem- 
 ber whether my legs were suspended over the rocks all 
 night or not. We had quite a soft pillow to rest our 
 heads upon, and, in fact, there seemed to be an entire re- 
 version of the Patriarch Jacob's method of sleeping in the 
 desert: he selected a stone for his pillow, but the stone in 
 this instance was used for our feet. They treated us 
 hospitably in the morning, and supplied us with food to 
 satisfy our appetites, after which they procured their ca- 
 noes and conveyed us to the ship. 
 
 They all began to look upon me now as a pious man, 
 and I strongly desired that I m:ght be in every sense 
 worthy of the name. It is true I was endeavoring to effect 
 a change in my life, and the yearnings of my heart were 
 to become wholly Christianized, but I felt as though much 
 yet remained to be done. They gave me the appellation 
 of missionary, which they pronounced, in their phraseolo- 
 gy, " misinar." They seemed to respect my pious incli- 
 nations, and. never essayed after my vindication of right 
 and truth, to decoy me from the path of virtue. My total 
 separation, in principle and practice, from the flagrant vic- 
 es in which the ship's crew and the natives so freely en- 
 gaged, had, to some extent, its beneficiary effect. They 
 would all have felt more at ease had I indulged in their 
 wicked practices; but true Christianity will counteract the 
 power of sin, and the lives of pious men wield a sacred in- 
 fluence that wicked men cannot resist with impunity. The 
 captain himself was a nominal professor; it would have 
 been my glory and joy had he been a genuine Christian, 
 He was an intelligent man and a competent navigator, but 
 he evidently needed conversion to make him a Christian.
 
 ON SEA ANn LAND. II9 
 
 I have seen so much sham religion in the world that it 
 makes my heart sick to think of it; to think of enlightened 
 people, with highly-cultured intellects and a little superfi- 
 cial religion to conceal their immoral ?cts and recommend 
 them in the refined and j)opular circles of society. Let me 
 assure my friends that the heathens, in the day of judg- 
 ment, will stand a far better chance of exemption from the 
 fearful wrath of God than such people. I always knew that 
 to lixe a Christian life in this wicked world was no small 
 task, and that one fact long caused me to hesitate to es- 
 pouse the cause. I have heard people say it is an easy mat- 
 ter to serve God. Well, there is only one way that renders 
 this service easy, and that is restraining and subjecting the 
 tongue and all the members of our body to his divine rule. 
 Bringing ourselves into that humble attitude and remaining 
 there, requires incessant vigilance and untiring effort. But 
 merely to assume a religious profession that only effects a 
 slight separation from the world in life, has little force or 
 significance, — onh- has a tendency to harden the sensibilities 
 of those who are under the controlling power of sin, and 
 leads them to ignore the principle and mock at the very 
 name of Christianity. 
 
 But I had now avowed my determination to devote my 
 life to the Lord, and, by the aid of his sovereign grace, I 
 meant this sacred resolution, though earth and hell oppose. 
 In severe tests and strong temptations is where the Lord is 
 pleased. God can sustain his servants in the darkest plac- 
 es of the world, and all that he demands is our implicit 
 trust in him. He can only use us to profit when we truly 
 confide in him and are obedient to his sovereign will. I 
 believe that our Christian character is mainlv formed in 
 God's furnace of temptation and affliction. At the very
 
 120 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 time that the officers were looking for me to drift into the 
 current of vice, and forfeit my religion; yes, " when all men 
 forsook me, the Lord stood by me, that by me his truth 
 might be made known." I really felt the force of his pres- 
 ence and directing providence, and I felt willing to " suffer 
 the loss of all things, that I might win Christ." 
 
 The old African negro invited us to visit him and share 
 in a social repast. He roasted one of the wild swine of the 
 island, and we steeped our pork in lime juice and relished 
 our meal. The limes are still more acid than lemons, and 
 we gathered them and squeezed out the juice in kegs that 
 we might share their medicinal properties when out at sea. 
 We also gathered cocoanuts, oranges and pine-apples, and 
 procured two of the native hogs for fresh meat aboard the 
 ship. We fed the hogs on the products of their native 
 soil — cocoanuts. We generally had hogs on board the ship, 
 but the officers consumed about all the fresh pork. We oc- 
 casionally had a couple of wild hogs, and it was amusing to 
 the sailors at times, to see them charge around the deck. 
 They would usually secrete themselves under the bow-sprit 
 until they were disturbed by some of the seamen, who 
 would occasionally give them a kick and arouse them so as 
 to have some sport. They would not stop for any one 
 when they got started, officers not excepted; and their lo- 
 comotion was post-haste, with bristles erect, elongated nos- 
 es, lengthy tusks and eyes aglow. Whoev^er obstructed 
 their passage was liable to be overthrown. We had a pen 
 constructed abaft of the try-works for the tame hogs, with 
 entrance and egress on the larboard side. They were ter- 
 ribly distressed in the time of a storm, when the ship would 
 careen violently from one side to the other. I have seen 
 them braced in single file at the egress of their unstable
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 121 
 
 home; when the ship would make a sudden and unexpected 
 lurch to the leeward, the entire dependence seemed to be 
 placed upon the first hog; he occupied the most responsible 
 position, as the entire pressure of the other hogs was upon 
 him. But away went the leading hog and every last one 
 after him, and all were precipitated in a confused pile against 
 the larboard bulwarks. 
 
 This might illustrate the weakness and absurdity of 
 persons leaning for support upon the weak and puny arm 
 of man, which will be found to be a very unsafe support in 
 the time of storm. We may fancy that we are secure when 
 the elements are all at rest, but the time of storm will dis- 
 close the genuineness of our faith in God. Let not man 
 with his usurped wisdom and power intercept the light be- 
 tween us and God, and boast in the day of prosperity of 
 imparting the security which the strong arm of God alone 
 can give, and which will be so seasonable in our woeful ex- 
 tremity. When we had procured our supplies of fruit and 
 water, we were ready to depart and try our future on the 
 rolling deep. We felt somewhat reluctant to leave the 
 place, — 
 
 Where the sun poured down his rays, 
 
 And the fruits delicious grew, 
 Where we learned the wild man's ways, 
 
 And his country traveled through. 
 
 The natives lingered about the ship in their canoes 
 while we were heaving the anchor and unbending the sails; 
 but when our faithful Oriole began to move off before the 
 breeze, the royal family and their subjects returned to their 
 island home. The distance soon widened between us and 
 the mountains towering above the sea, but for a long time 
 their lofty summits could be seen.
 
 122 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 Our next port was destined to be the Sandwich Is- 
 lands, in the North Pacific Ocean. Our routine of nautical 
 labor was again resumed, and our island roamings, beneath 
 the luxuriant trees, freighted with their tropical fruits, was 
 among the events of the past. So time speeds on its swift 
 wings, and brings its changes, bright and drear. The earth 
 with its attractions again disappeared from our vision. 
 Naught met our view but the canopy of heaven above and 
 the rolling deep beneath. The crew were degraded and 
 vile, and their corrupt intercourse with the heathens 
 seemed to have lowered them still deeper into sin and deg- 
 radation. It was terrible to live in such strife and pollu- 
 tion, and have my peace annoyed with the filthy conversa- 
 tion of the wicked. However, patience must have its 
 perfect work, for its virtue is evinced in temptation. So 
 righteous Lot was vexed of old when he dwelt among those 
 foul-mouthed and wicked inhabitants of the doomed cities. 
 The perpetration of crime vitiates the criminal more and 
 more, and sinks him deeper in the sloughs of iniquity, till 
 *' his throat becomes an open sepulcher, and the poison of 
 asps is under his lips." 
 
 The Bible says they that " go down to the sea in ships, 
 they see God's wonders in the deep." But the wonders of 
 the deep fail to attract the attention of the hr.rdened and 
 depraved sailor. I have more than once stopped my ears 
 when I was reading and meditating in God's Book, to ex- 
 clude from my thoughts the hard speeches of the ungodly 
 around me. But I had one great source of consolation, and 
 that was to hold sweet communion with one who is pure 
 and holy and separate from sinners, although he once lived 
 among them and bore their insults. 
 
 We were all presented with Bibles soon after we de- 
 parted from Bedford City, but mine was the only one used
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. I23 
 
 on board of the ship as far as I knew. That precious gift 
 of heaven, so dearly purchased, was stored away perhaps in 
 the bottom of the sailors' chests, as a thing of no value. 
 Some of the Portuguese concluded, because I read mine 
 regularly and tried to follow its instructions, that I was 
 growing insane. A jet black Portuguese, of Cape Verde Is- 
 lands, suggested that they throw my Bible over-board. I 
 presume they would have done it had it not been for the 
 captain's authority on board. 
 
 Righteousness and iniquity are as remotely severed as 
 light and darkness. The Ephesians thought that the apos- 
 tle Paul and his colleague were turning the world upside 
 down, when they were really turning it right side up. Sin 
 has rendered its votaries insane: the precious Bible will 
 cure their insanity and impart to them the mind of God. I 
 notice that wherever the apostles made a stir in the ranks 
 of Satan, they generally were instrumental in bringing 
 some out on the Lord's side. I hoped that this stir and 
 opposition on board our craft might bring about good re- 
 sults. 
 
 In these dark hours of temptation faith in God's Word 
 must be the regulating power. I cannot rely on feelings, 
 for I sometimes experience very gloomy sensations, when 
 the clouds obscure my spiritual horizon and I am tempted 
 and tried severely. But we may sometimes be nearest to 
 God in the darkest hours of life. Feelings alone can no 
 more give assurance of our acceptance with God than the 
 quiet or disturbed condition of the deep can designate our 
 whereabouts on its expansive waste. The competent mari- 
 ner has a more reliable system of pointing out his situation, 
 and the Christian has an infallible criterion, which is the 
 Word of God, The disciples were secure in the furious
 
 124 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 storm on Galilee because they were there by the directions 
 of Christ, although their feelings were as much disturbed 
 as the element through which they were trying in vain to 
 row. They did what they could, and that was all their 
 Master required of them. He did for them what they 
 could not do for themselves, and he would not leave them 
 alone in the woeful crisis. He came to rescue them, and 
 their extremity evinced his power to save and his supreme 
 control over the warring elements. He spake, and all was 
 still. Christ's entire control of the winds and waves proves 
 his ability to stay our fears and calm the commotions of 
 the soul. Oh! if our faith in Jesus could always be unwav- 
 ering, we should be just as secure on the sea as on land. It 
 is just as easy for Christ to control the mighty Pacific 
 Ocean as the Sea of Galilee, and if there are but few souls 
 out upon its troubled bosom, doing what little they can, he 
 will succor them as certainly as he saved his little toiling 
 band of yore in the perilous hour. 
 
 If we were necessitated to stand entirely alone in this 
 world, without an earthly friend to endorse our Christian 
 sentiments or sympathize with us in the woes and sorrows 
 of life, yet, having the assurance of the friendship of God 
 and his Christ, would outweigh the force and favor of the 
 whole world. When my faith can thus take hold upon 
 God, my heart is composed in the midst of my calamities 
 on this great and wide sea. When I lie down in my berth 
 to sleep, I can remember that Christ too slept on the sea, 
 and when I am roused from my slumber to perform my 
 duty when the tempest is roaring, I know that Christ had 
 the same experience and also left his slumber to perform 
 his duty, and knowing his power to still the winds I believe 
 and rest in him.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 — -^y- — 
 
 Arrival at Honolulu. — Becoming acquainted with Eld. Damon.. — Mv 
 First Attempt in Sermonizing a Failure. — Making some Pleasant 
 Acquaintances. — Reluctant Departure from our Cheerful Sur- 
 roundings. 
 
 Ire Sandwich Islands appeared to our view in 
 April, 1864. The steam tug came without the 
 reefs and conducted us into the harbor. We saw 
 ships lying at anchor here from various parts of the world, 
 and especially did we meet quite a number of whale ships, 
 as Honolulu is their principal resort when going to and 
 coming from the Arctic Ocean. They take in supplies, 
 and when partially laden with a cargo of oil they discharge 
 it and forward it to America on vessels that are bound 
 thither. 
 
 These islands, forming the kingdom of Hawaii, are so 
 called from the chief island, Lord Sandwich being the first 
 Lord of the Admiralty. They are a rich, beautiful and 
 interesting chain, eight in number, exclusive of one or two 
 small islets. The chain runs from south-east to north-west, 
 and lies in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, in latitude 
 19-22 degrees north, longitude 155-160 degrees west. 
 These islands form an oasis in the middle of a wide ocean 
 waste and offer convenient stations for the refreshment and 
 repair of merchantmen and whalers that traverse the Pa- 
 cific. They are of volcanic origin, and contain the largest 
 
 I2S
 
 126 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 volcanoes, both active and quiescent, in the world. The 
 most prominent physical features of the group are the two 
 lofty peaks of Hawaii, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, each 
 of which is 14,000 feet in height. — Chambers' Encyclopedia, 
 Vol. y. 
 
 We found several of the vessels here that left Bedford 
 City, Mass., at the same time we did. We had been scat- 
 tered on the broad ocean, though we were close to each 
 other for some time after leaving Bedford. When vessels 
 start out to try their chances on the deep, they, like per- 
 sons, when exposed to dangers, feel a security in each 
 other's presence. A vessel called the Congress was here. 
 She v.as near us for some time after we left the United 
 States, and afterwards had ill-success en route to this place. 
 She came near burning up at one time, we were informed. 
 It w'as thought the fire was kindled by some of the crew 
 who, as they were not far from an island, expected to es- 
 cape from their floating prison. The men who were sup- 
 posed to have done this daring act were put off on one of 
 the islands. 
 
 We were told also that the life of the mate of said ves- 
 sel was endangered at the Marquesas Islands. He was 
 seized by the natives on the island of Nucahiva, who were 
 bent upon dispatching him, and would, I presume, have 
 made a meal of him; but, assistance having been renderec', 
 he was taken from the clutches of the cannibals. Thus, 
 when vessels meet after long separation, they give an ac- 
 count of "thrilling incidents on sea and land." 
 
 Vessels starting out from port to encounter the perils 
 of the deep, are in many respects like persons starting out 
 to meet the ups and downs of life. It is uncertain what 
 kind of a voyage they will experience in either case.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 12/ 
 
 At the islands we obtained intelligence from the Unit- 
 ed States of America, which privilege we had been obliged 
 to forego for a long time. We learned that the cruel war 
 was still in progress which sad news darkened, like a cloud, 
 our vision, and filled the heart with sadness. If we were 
 ever so fortunate as to return to our native land, it was un- 
 certain who of our friends would survive till we arrived. 
 Doubtless many familiar ones would be seen by us no more 
 in this world. 
 
 But there was no use borrowing trouble, for our worry 
 could not effect any change. We had experienced our 
 dark hours of trial on the voyage and desired to obtain all 
 the consolation we could while here. 
 
 Honolulu was the attractive theme of every one on 
 board the Oriole. We all yearned to walk along the shady 
 streets and view the inhabitants from various countries pur- 
 suing their business. Merchant houses, dwelling houses, 
 and church edifices arose to our view, all of which lent a 
 sweeter charm than ever in life before. The gloom and 
 monotony of ocean life fully qualified us to enjoy the en- 
 chantments of the shore. The mountains, towering high 
 with their volcanic peaks, the verdant valleys far beneath 
 and the luxuriant trees, laden with tropical fruits, presented 
 a charming aspect to the sailor's eye. 
 
 These are the islands that we used to read and study 
 about when attending school, but we did not think then that 
 we should ever behold them with our eyes. They were dis- 
 covered by the famous Captain Cook in the year 1778. 
 History says that the natives received no favorable impres- 
 sion of Captain Cook. This great navigator, it is said, did 
 not treat them respectfully, and hence excited their preju- 
 dice against him and his party, which subsequently resulted
 
 128 
 
 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 in his death. We learn from this event the propriety of be- 
 ing loyal to truth and exhibiting a spirit of kindness and 
 friendship to all God's created beings. Vancouver, the fa- 
 mous navigator, also visited the islands and by his amiable 
 disposition ingratiated himself with the natives and made 
 
 ^■'f^'^'w^^'-^ 
 
 DEATH OF CAPTAIN COOK. 
 
 attempts to enlighten them. His instructions had a salu- 
 tary bearing on their minds, and they were thereby led to 
 destroy their idols. 
 
 The first missionaries, who visited the islands, came 
 from America in the year 1820. On their arrival they met 
 with a nation who had no religion and who, consequently, 
 were in a pretty fair condition to be instructed. When 
 once we have abolished our helpless gods, then there will 
 be hope of drawing our attention to the only true and living
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 129 
 
 God and his worship. And when we find people so honest 
 and susceptible of being taught the true worship, if we, of 
 superior intelligence, impose upon their credulity and hon- 
 esty, we may be sure there is a terrible doom awaiting us in 
 eternity. 
 
 When our affairs aboard of the Oriole were properly 
 adjusted, the officers and crew were granted liberty by the 
 captain to go ashore; the starboard watch one day, and the 
 larboard watch the following day, and so on alternately. 
 
 I went to see and form an acquaintance with Eld. Sam- 
 uel Damon, one of the principal missionaries from the Unit- 
 ed States. I met him in the Bethel church, as it was 
 called. He received me with courtesy and kindness and re- 
 quested me to give an account of my religious experience 
 on the deep. The abuses and ridicule endured from the 
 crew and some of the officers had rather reduced me to si- 
 lence. I had concluded that I had better cultivate " a meek 
 and quiet spirit," and allow my actions to speak rather than 
 my words. Having had but little experience in off-hand 
 speaking, I was afraid, as the sailor says, of being struck by 
 a head-wind and consequently declined to obey the elder. 
 Had I been commanded to haul home the sheets or help 
 hoist upon the top-sail halyards, I should not have hesitat- 
 ed, but to receive orders from an old, experienced mission- 
 ary to speak before an intelligent audience made me feel 
 inadequate to the task. Elder Damon, perceiving that I 
 was even more mute than Balaam's ass, did not urge me. 
 
 After services he gave me a mild reproof for my diffi- 
 dence and told me to be sure to give an account of myself 
 at the next meeting. I used to write out my compositions 
 in school, and I concluded that I had better give them a 
 written discourse in the Sandwich Islands. I had a bright
 
 130 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 memory then, so I wrote my message and memorized it. 
 The appointed time came and the inexperienced orator 
 from the deep appeared. If I had taken the course which 
 I afterwards saw the elder himself take, and many other 
 preachers since, that is, if I had held on to my paper, I 
 might have given a pretty fair report; but I put my paper 
 in my pocket and relied solely on my memory. The intel- 
 ligent-looking faces of my auditors threw me into confusion 
 and my prepared sermon forsook me. It might have been 
 said of me with more pertinency than it was of heroic Paul, 
 that if my letter would have been judged to have some 
 weight and power, yet my bodily presence was weak and 
 my speech contemptible. Having had this sad experience 
 in the commencement of my public efforts, I concluded 
 that I would never have anything to do with paper sermons 
 any more. 
 
 I was not upbraided, however, by my friends for my 
 very imperfect attempt at speaking, but was cordially in- 
 vited to meet them at their homes or at their meetings 
 whenever I could. When Sunday came a number of the 
 sailors, with myself, went to hear Eld. Damon preach. He 
 made us feel welcome in the sailors' Bethel, as he called it, 
 and said: " Boys, you can sit on the starboard or larboard 
 side." This signified that any part of the audience room 
 was free for the storm-driven mariner; the seats, not being 
 graded, were common to all. He, however, stuck close to 
 his paper when he preached and of course was not left at 
 sea as I was. 
 
 I was then radically opposed to written sermons and 
 imagined that the elder was setting a bad example. To 
 this very day I am partial to off-hand speaking, and believe 
 that the mind of the young speaker can be trained that
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. I3I 
 
 way; and if by entreaty and prayer he gains the presence of 
 the Divine Spirit to put life into his discourses and help his 
 infirmities, I believe that he will be much better prepared 
 for any and every occasion. Thus ran my first experience 
 in speaking and hearing in Honolulu, the capital of the 
 Sandwich Islands. 
 
 The next Sunday I repaired to quite a stylish church. 
 The minister's discourse was on the reign of Ben-hadad, 
 and his wars against Israel. I heard him at two different 
 times, and both times his subject was Ben-hadad. He had 
 oratorical attainments and ably presented the historical 
 events connected with that dynasty of old; but I was much 
 more interested in Jesus Christ and his mission into the 
 world to save the lost than I was in the Ben-hadad dynasty. 
 My chances were rare to hear preaching, and I desired to 
 be instructed in things that were more in harmony with my 
 practical life in the service of my God. Old Ben-hadad 
 and his successors were always molesting Israel; but I was 
 anxious to learn more of the love and humility of him who 
 descended to earth to save the lost. 
 
 I next found a very kind and God-fearing old lady who 
 was always ready to show hospitality to strangers. She 
 had resided in Honolulu about thirteen years. Her native 
 place was Maryland. Her husband was a naval ofificer and 
 had died on the sea. Sailors were made welcome in her 
 humble home, and we often gathered there to engage in 
 Christian devotion. There were seamen from different 
 countries who told of the perils through which they had 
 passed, and how the Lord had delivered them out of their 
 troubles. It appeared to be Mrs. Crabbe's whole delight 
 to talk of God and heaven, and encourage us poor sailor 
 boys to be steadfast in our trials and temptations on the
 
 132 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 deep. She stood like a beacon light to console the tossed 
 and tempest-driven mariner. 
 
 One day she urged me to accompany her to the prison 
 to visit the convicts. The jailer received us kindly. Our 
 visit seemed opportune. He conducted the prisoners to a 
 special room and granted us license to speak to them about 
 their salvation. Mrs. Crabbe addressed them very tender- 
 ly. At first the prisoners seemed to feel ashamed to ap- 
 pear before us, but as the aged lady continued her remarks 
 upon the love of God, they were attracted by the words of 
 life presented with so much pathos. Their feelings were 
 wrought upon and the tears of penitence flowed freely. We 
 looked v/ith pity upon these poor unfortunate beings, who 
 perhaps were once cared for by affectionate mothers. If 
 those mothers were still in existence, how much would they 
 be comforted to know that their sons were cared for b}' oth- 
 ers in a foreign land. The prison is designed to punish 
 criminals and reform their lives, and though men and wom- 
 en have fallen into criminal acts, yet Christians should have 
 a concern for them in their gloomy condition and urge them 
 to reform. The heart, even in prison, may be prepared for 
 the good seed. 
 
 The Catholic religion has been introduced on these isl- 
 ands, as well as many others in Polynesia, and the natives 
 seem to be very zealous in that worship. How many sects 
 and isms do we find in this broad sea and land, all of which 
 are claiming the power divine! I saw them bowing and 
 ejaculating their prayers in their native tongue and follow- 
 ing the choir with flute and song. The original heathen 
 worship is abolished, but other forms of idolatry are intro- 
 duced. The blind lead the blind till all fall in the ditch to- 
 gether.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 133 
 
 The patriarch Job says, " Oh that I knew where I 
 might find him." He means God, and it surely requires 
 quite an effort amid all this confusion in the world to find 
 God and his authorized plan of worship. But the truth of 
 God must be the Christian's guide through life, and we are 
 allowed to endorse the teachings of men only so far as their 
 instructions harmonize with God's unsullied truth. If we 
 sacrifice our honest conceptions of truth to please men, we 
 forfeit the friendship of God. The advocates of God and 
 his Word will find sympathizing hearts wherever they rove 
 on land or sea. 
 
 This is my conclusion, and with my divinely-enlight- 
 ened eyes I cannot see anything in this world more beauti- 
 ful and sublime than God's precious Word, and its noble 
 advocates. How consoling to realize that we may be do- 
 ing a little work for the Blessed Master who has done and 
 is doing so much for us! Just as soon as we are ready to 
 espouse his sacred cause and confess his name, many op- 
 portunities arise for our service to him, no matter in what 
 portion of the earth or sea we chance to be. Our light 
 should shine all the time, that the world in darkness may be 
 enlightened. Those who are brought to the light of truth 
 by our weak agency and God's power will rejoice for our 
 pious influence. 
 
 I formed the acquaintance of a very amiable English 
 family. My remembrance of them will always be pleasant. 
 I gathered them some pearly shells on Lower California 
 strand as a memento of their kindness. I also enjoyed very 
 pleasant religious intercourse with a German shepherd, who 
 was herding sheep on. the islands. He was humble and 
 zealous, and reminded me of the shepherds of old. I dis- 
 tinctly recollect Mr. Ingram, too, the president of the Col-
 
 134 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 lege at Honolulu. His learning did not elevate him above. 
 the common people, for he took much interest in my wel- 
 fare. May God bless all those dear people for their care 
 for one who was far away from home and friends. I was 
 treated very kindly by a family from Sacramento, Cal. 
 The wife and mother professed sinless perfection, and we 
 disagree to this day on that subject; but apart from that I 
 cherish their kindness and hospitality, and hope that she 
 has discovered her mistake. 
 
 Upon the whole, my first visit to the Sandwich Island-s 
 served as an incentive to my religious life. Most of the pi- 
 ous friends whom I met on the Island of Oahu seemed to 
 appreciate my circumstances and congratulated me on my 
 consecration to the service of God. They endeavored to 
 stay my somewhat disconsolate heart against the opposi- 
 tions of the depraved crew, and assured me that God would 
 give me strength as my days of trial and adversity would 
 require. The mountain scenery and verdant aspect of the 
 islands of Polynesia, and the tropical trees, laden with deli- 
 cious fruits, in connection with the spiritual comforts and 
 Biblical instructions, I never can forget while my mind is 
 normal and active. 
 
 As the magnificent scenes of the creation attracted my 
 anxious vision, as I measured their exquisite beauty and 
 consummate design I could, to some extent, grasp the un- 
 utterable power and infinite wisdom of the Great Df-signer. 
 If the external creation on land and sea so reveals the Cre- 
 ator's wisdom and power, what must the spiritual vision of 
 the redeemed and purified reveal! Under the withering 
 blight of sin our sensibilities are hardened and stupefied, 
 but the light of heaven illuminates the dismal chambers of 
 the soul, resurrects us from the grave of sin, and we are led
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 135 
 
 into a spiritual world to develop and mature; and according 
 to our several capacities we shall advance to the full stature 
 of manhood in Christ Jesus. Then shall we be qualified for 
 the superior glory of the celestial world. John, the in- 
 spired writer, says: " It doth not yet appear what we shall 
 be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be 
 like him, for we shall see him as he is." That is, when 
 Christ appears in his glory we shall see him in his glorious 
 attitude, and we shall experience a transition which will 
 be the sequel or consummation of the spiritual growth in 
 this life. This completion of our transformed condition 
 will prepare us for the vision of Christ's personal glory 
 and the existence in the immortal state. 
 
 The Scriptures first teach a resurrection to newness of 
 life; and, secondly, a resurrection from the physical death 
 and the mouldering grave to a state of immortality and 
 blessedness forever. The God who hath planted the 
 beautiful islands in the sea, clothed them with the charm- 
 ing robe of nature, and caused the tropical trees, arrayed 
 in their grand foliage, to spring out of the earth laden 
 with their luscious fruits, to comfort his creatures, is able 
 to bring from the mouldering domains of death the forms 
 of life and beauty to inhabit the celestial realm where the 
 scenes that appear to our immortal vision shall be trans- 
 cendentally fair. 
 
 Coming from the troubled ocean, where the elements 
 are often at war and the ship, the home of the sailor, is 
 tossed on the foaming crests of the rolling billows, and 
 buried beneath the floods, the towering mountains and the 
 green and fertile valleys are much more impressive than 
 to the landsman who is gazing upon such scenes, or has 
 the privilege of doing so continually; hence the illustra-
 
 136 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 tions drawn from such scenery may be deeper and more 
 permanently fixed upon the mind. In this light, then, I 
 regard the Sandwich Islands as a precious memento in the 
 early stage of my religious career. Their beautiful aspect 
 was attractive as it disclosed the Creator's wisdom and 
 power and bore my mind to the splendor of the heavenly 
 world. Even now, while writing this book, I soar on men- 
 tal wings to those sunny islands, and am impressed with 
 the reality of my rovings on their surf-beaten shores and 
 the charms of their scenery. 
 
 We reluctantly left the dear friends and their comfort- 
 able homes on the island to experience again the hard- 
 ships of ocean life. We were now bound for the frigid 
 regions of the north, a lone and untried locality to myself 
 and a number of the crew. About eleven months had 
 passed since we left our cherished homes in America, and 
 many weary days and nights of toil and woe must come 
 and go before our course would be again directed toward 
 our native land. But hope is a wonderful support amid 
 the dismal storms of life. The Apostle defines it as " an 
 anchor to the soul both sure and steadfast, and that enter- 
 eth into that within the veil." As our natural anchor stays 
 the vessel in the fury of the storm, so the spiritual anchor 
 within the veil holds the storm-tested spiritual mariner, 
 till the furious elements on the ocean of life shall be lulled 
 to peace. Mariners cannot often consult that which is 
 congenial to taste or feeling, and Christians may be fre- 
 quently deprived of this privilege also.
 
 CHAPXEI? XII. 
 
 ^j 
 
 To the Frigid North. — Escape of a Part of the Crew. — A Tedious 
 Voyage North. — The Portuguese, and their Music and Dancing. — 
 Christ, a Perfect Musician. 
 
 _3 i-^S^^^K^— 
 
 E sailed from the Sandwich Islands in the month of 
 ^^f May, 1864, e/i route for the Arctic Ocean. I felt 
 '^^^^ reluctant to start on what seemed to me a dreary 
 voyage. I would much rather have remained on the 
 islands and found a ship bound to the United States, but 
 that was out of the question. I had signed the ship's 
 articles which bound me for the voyage, and however loath 
 to see the cold and frigid north and experience hardships 
 among the icebergs, I was bound to go. 
 
 Some of our men had tried to escape, but were cap- 
 tured and brought back. Among them was a large negro 
 from the Island of Jamaica, in the West Indies, and a na- 
 tive of Austria. These two were captured, but three made 
 their escape: the one was an Englishman, entirely too del- 
 icate to be a whaleman; one was a native of Pennsylvania, 
 and the other was a native of the Tahiti Islands. I'his 
 vacancy made it necessary for the Captain to ship three 
 of the natives of the Sandwich Islands, in order to com- 
 plete the number requisite to capture the huge monsters of 
 the deep, and care for the oil. 
 
 The voyage north was long and tedious. There were 
 
 no changes to break the monotony; our vision was forever 
 
 bounded by the expansive deep and the vast canopy of 
 137
 
 138 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 heaven. The only deviation from sameness was the chang- 
 ing of the skies and the variations of the sea from its or- 
 dinary swell to its furious agitation by the force of the 
 winds. I had learned at the Sandwich Islands that the 
 war was still raging in the United States, but I >vas left in 
 suspense as to the existence of my friends, having had no 
 word from them. 
 
 Just at that juncture everything appeared to be 
 wrapped in gloom and uncertainty. My separation from 
 the dear friends on the islands, caused a deep vacancy in 
 my heart, for on board the ship I had no one whose senti- 
 ments coincided with my own, and all things just then 
 bore an aspect as gloomy as the domains of death. Oh, 
 could I have had just one Christian brother who could 
 have entered into full sympathy in the divine work! 
 But there was no one, and I was doomed to stand alone. 
 My feelings were deeper and sadder than I can describe. 
 
 Every duty in my maritime life seemed to be a burden, 
 and I scaled the masts many a day and night with a heavy 
 heart. But, after all, the activity requisite to perform our 
 duties on board the ship was beneficial to me; for had 
 there been time for me to brood over my lone condition 
 and seemingly unfavorable situation, the burden might 
 have been greater than I could bear. Labor is a great 
 modifier of sorrow, and God's injunction, "Thou shalt earn 
 thy bread by the sweat of thy face," shows his wisdom. 
 This command of the Almighty was given after the fall 
 of our first parents in Eden, and indicates that, since sin 
 has contaminated our being and imposed upon the race of 
 Adam the sorrows and woes of our mortal life, if it were 
 not for the counteracting force of labor, we would some- 
 times sink in despair. And we notice that in proportion
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 139 
 
 as this principle is ignored and despised, vice and crime,, 
 insanity and suicide increase. 
 
 This world, it is a world of woe, 
 
 And let us humbly through it go. 
 
 Our course is marked for the frigid zone, 
 
 Where winter reigns on his icy throne; 
 
 Again our home is the rolling deep, 
 
 Where storms and billows in fury sweep. 
 
 Our daily duties we perform 
 
 In rain or shine, in calm or storm. 
 
 How can the billows overwhelm, 
 
 While a kind Father holds the helm? 
 
 The ship that bore heroic Paul, 
 
 For whose dear sake were rescued all; 
 
 Though the ship was broken by the waves, 
 
 Yet all were saved from watery graves. 
 
 Amid the perils of the deep, 
 
 May the God of Paul, us safely keep. 
 
 Until the tedious years expire, 
 
 And then fulfill our fond desire. 
 
 To reach our native land in peace. 
 
 There furious storms no more shall sweep. 
 
 Nor surges fill the mind with dread, 
 
 Nor horrid visions of the deep. 
 
 There, sailor, rest thy weary head. 
 
 The Portuguese tried to while away the time in danc- 
 ing. Nearly every evening when leisure time was afford- 
 ed them they were on deck. Their movements were not 
 very elastic and the music was not very charming, but I 
 presume it was with them as with some speakers to whom 
 I have listened: they were more interested in their own 
 discourse than in their audience. A very black native of 
 the Cape Verde Islands, played the guitar. He, like his 
 music, was homely; he had an exceedingly long nose, and 
 his busy manipulations on the strings of his instrument 
 presented a comical aspect. The dancers responded very 
 energetically at least, if their movements were not so
 
 140 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 graceful. They seemed to throw all their spirit into the 
 work, and thus interested themselves, whether others were 
 interested or not. 
 
 The Savior makes a forcible comparison from mu- 
 sicians, Matt. 17: " We have piped unto you, and ye have 
 not danced; we have mourned unto you and ye have not 
 lamented." The children in the market failed to attract 
 the passers-by. I would conclude that a market would be 
 a poor place to charm with music, for the minds of the 
 people are absorbed in their traffic. But the performers 
 were interested in their music, as they generally are. I 
 presume the children in the market played some lively 
 airs, but their music did not thrill the passers-by sufficient- 
 ly to excite the responsive dance. And then they would 
 change to a mournful tune, and throw all their energy into 
 that The performers on instruments were, in those days, 
 employed on funeral occasions to excite the spirit of 
 mourning: and there was, no doubt, a close imitation of 
 the real spirit of sorrow. 
 
 Christ played the true celestial strains in the presence 
 of the people. There was no affectation in the music 
 which he produced; it emanated from the depth of his infi- 
 nite heart, but comparatively few were attracted by the har- 
 monious strains. It was the purest and sweetest music 
 that ever was played in this world, but the hearts of the 
 people did not vibrate at the joyful and mournful accents 
 that fell from the lips of the heavenly performer. The 
 soul must be tuned in order to be thrilled by the divine 
 music. Sin has demoralized our being, and our faculties 
 are all out of tune; consequently the celestial music lends 
 no charm. Men are too much engaged in earthly pur- 
 suits. In the midst of their confused noise and bustle
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 14' 
 
 they criticise spiritual performers and condemn the music 
 because it does not harmonize with their business enter- 
 prises, or with their creeds and modes of worship. 
 
 So we observe that Christ himself, a perfect musician, 
 who never threw out one discord in all his strains, whether 
 of a joyful or mournful character, could not attract the 
 people in general, because their hearts were not prepared 
 for the music divine. Their hearts being untuned, their 
 criticisms were rash and indiscreet; they threw reflections 
 on the pure and spotless character of Jesus, and also dis- 
 carded the holy and devoted life of his authorized servant, 
 John the Baptist. So the music from the world above 
 lends but little enchantment to the world at large and to 
 self-righteous people, who are absorbed in the music com- 
 posed and performed by their own skill. 
 
 But I know that the music of heaven has a sweet 
 sound for me, and whether the strains be mournful or joy- 
 ful, I hope my poor heart will ever beat responsive to the 
 sound. Perhaps I was only learning the scale while on 
 the dark blue sea, but I want to learn it correctly, so as to 
 give no uncertain sound. I was once interested in martial 
 music, and I practiced vigorously, so as to be able to per- 
 form my part well in concert with my fellow-musicians; 
 and I am just as earnest now, if not more so, to be expert 
 in playing on the divine instrument. I want to charm as 
 many people as I possibly can with the music of heaven. 
 But I have learned by experience that we must not become 
 weary in playing. 
 
 The Portuguese dancers were not weary of their 
 amusement, and their actions proved that they threw all 
 their energies into the sport. They paused not to inquire 
 whether it interested others or not. Their playing only
 
 142 
 
 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 gave present relief to the tedium of ocean life and excited 
 their carnal passions. But the music of heaven, that vi- 
 brates through the spiritual senses of my soul, will ever 
 fill me with comfort; and the charming influence will not 
 be transient; the strains will never die. The music will 
 ever interest the ears of Christ and the angels, whether the 
 performers play in sunny or frigid climes. 
 
 Sailors in the Forecastle.
 
 CHA^PTER XIII. 
 
 Kamtschatka —The Natives and their Dogs. — At Behring Strait, a 
 Distance of 20,000 Miles away from Home. — Blockaded in the Ice 
 for three Weeks. -The Scenes Around us. — -A Dreadful Expe- 
 rience during a Collision with a Floe of Ice. 
 
 r 
 N our voyage north, arriving in the Kamtschatka 
 
 fSea, we met the Kamtschadales, natives of those 
 northern shores. " The Peninsula of Kamtschatka 
 forms the South-east extremity of Siberia, from which it 
 stretches southward, extended between 51 and 60 degrees 
 north latitude, and in longitude 155-165 degrees east. It 
 is 725 miles long, and averages 190 miles in breadth. It is 
 of volcanic origin. Agriculture is much hindered by un- 
 timely frosts, periodical rains, and sometimes by multi- 
 tudes of mice and rats. The most valuable domestic ani- 
 mal is a peculiar kind of dog which never barks. The 
 Kamtschadales are small in stature, with a large head, 
 black hair, small eyes and broad shoulders." They are 
 dressed in skin suits, and their features are not attractive. 
 They are filthy and rude in their habits, but they appear 
 to be full of energy, and seem happy. After the tedious- 
 ness and gloom of our voyage from the Sandwich Islands 
 to this place, it was a pleasure, to me at least, to meet 
 them and be in their company. They came to our ship in 
 their skin canoes and seemed to appreciate our arrival. 
 
 I had met a son of one of these women in the Torrid 
 
 Zone. A sea captain who had admired this Kamtschatka 
 
 143
 
 144 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 boy took him to America with the view of educating him: 
 but the youth, in the ruddy glow of health, longed to re- 
 turn to his own country, thus showing his attachment to 
 the land of his nativity. When I told the mother of her 
 son whom I had met in the sunny clime, she burst into 
 tears and bemoaned his absence. 
 
 O the beauty of maternal love, 
 That follows us where'er we rove, 
 No frigid clime can chill its power, 
 It lives, however dark the hour. 
 
 The natives were amiable and full of vigor, and they 
 were humorous and sociable. One day I was ascending 
 the stairway which led from the forecastle to the deck, and 
 hailed a Kamtschadale who stood at the top of the stairs. 
 He seemed to be brimful of good humor, and was singing 
 an English song, which he, no doubt, had learned of some 
 of the sailors. I do not know who was most amused, the 
 singer or his auditor. It was not the melody that lured 
 me, but the sanguine exertions of the vocalist in delivering 
 his favorite air. I concluded that Christians might learn 
 of this inhabitant of the North, and sing the songs of Zion 
 with more spirit and energy than they are sometimes wont 
 to do. 
 
 The dogs appeared to be just as lively and ready for 
 business as their masters, and seemed to attach just as 
 "nuch importance to their respective vocations as we do 
 in the more refined pursuits of life. The dogs consumed a 
 large amount of whale meat, and it was laughable to see 
 them gorge it. Their masters were not far behind them in 
 taking in nourishment, as to bulk and hurried mastica- 
 tion. What they did they seemed to do with their might; 
 and to observe the eating process, one would be ready to
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. I45 
 
 conclude that there would be no dan<jcr of starvation, as 
 long as they had recourse to sea and land for provisions, 
 and were blessed with good appetites. 
 
 Well, it is pleasant to behold the smiles of content- 
 ment and love, and as indicated by the old adage, " Home 
 is home, be it ever so homely." It is better to live in the 
 rudest cot, and in an out-of-the-way part of the world, 
 than to dwell where strife, scandal and slander are rife. 
 But it would require some training and patient endurance 
 for a citizen of the civilized world to become accustomed 
 to this climate and mode of life. 
 
 In June, 1864, we passed through Behring Strait, and 
 were then twenty thousand miles from home, by way of 
 Cape Horn. We had experienced one year's changes in 
 our floating home. We had twice crossed the equator and 
 had felt the burning rays of a vertical sun, but were now 
 merging into the regions of frost and chill, where it was 
 best to meet hardships with a resolute will. 
 
 Extensive floes of ice were encountered on our pass- 
 age through the Arctic Ocean. We entered a large field 
 of ice and were blockaded for three weeks. It seemed 
 strange to take up our abode in a world of ice. Every- 
 where as far as the eye could explore, there was ice, with 
 open spaces or channels winding through the extensive 
 body. Several vessels, composing the whaling fleet, were 
 enclosed in the same field. This afforded us sailors much 
 recreation. We would leave our circumscribed home and 
 make use of more territory. Some of the boys, I presume, 
 wandered at least a mile from the ship. 
 
 It seemed wonderful to walk over the ocean. Some- 
 times we were necessitated to step across the small open 
 spaces, and once a Portuguese slipped into the sea.
 
 146 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 Had he Keen alone he might hav^e drowned, but he soon ob- 
 tained assistance and was rescued. It was sport for the 
 boys to roam about, and the exercise and novelty of the ex- 
 perience were good for our health. When the children of 
 Israel crossed the Red Sea, the Lord opened the passage to 
 the bottom and congealed the waters, or at least piled them 
 up, on either side of the channel; but in this instance our 
 passage was on top of the sea, and we did not feel like ven- 
 turing too far away from our faithful Oriole, our only place 
 of security in many a threatening gale. The ice might 
 break away and the return be prevented. 
 
 A ship is a fair representation of the church of Christ: 
 it is the only place of safety in this world of sin. It is best 
 not to venture outside of its limits as we have no promise 
 of safety. The awful depth of eternity is beneath us, and 
 we know not how soon the brittle thread that holds this 
 flickering life will give way and let us sink into the awful 
 chasm of eternity. I have known people to wander away 
 from the church and never again return. They floated 
 awhile upon a flimsy support that was in reality no safer 
 than the floating ice in the Arctic Ocean, and they kept 
 drifting and drifting, till at last they were lost in the ele- 
 ment of the world, the flesh and the devil. 
 
 Amid all our terrible experience our only safe place 
 was the ship. We did all we could to control and regulate 
 her amid the pressure of the storm, so that our lives might 
 be preserved; and I trust that I shall ever have grace and 
 wisdom from above to help control the Gospel ship in fu- 
 rious storms, so that the spiritual lives of God's dear chil- 
 dren may be preserved. We cannot think of quitting the 
 natural ship till she has conveyed us through the element 
 for which she is constructed; neither should we think of
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 147 
 
 leaving the church of Christ in her militant state, for Christ 
 has built the church to save his people out of the world 
 that lies in wickedness and under the condemnation of God. 
 We have no license from God to leave her until he himself 
 shall effect the transfer to the church triumphant. 
 
 The ice kept separating more and more, and afforded 
 our Oriole more room to float in her native element. 
 Whales were seen in the open spaces in the expansive field 
 of floating ice, but the obstructions were too great to cap- 
 ture them. I believe one or two were procured by the fleet. 
 They were killed almost instantaneously by shooting, from 
 a short, heavy gun, a lance filled with explosive material. 
 We were finally freed from the ice and began our pursuit of 
 the sea-monsters in good earnest. 
 
 I was now exercising in a new department of my prac- 
 tical school. I was taken up higher, at least so far as prox- 
 imity to the North Pole is concerned, but I trust it did oc- 
 casion a descent in point of Christian humility. I felt glad 
 that my constitution, which had been injured through ex- 
 posure in military life, was rapidly regaining its normal 
 condition, so that I was able to endure the hardships of the 
 North. Change of climate, regularity in coarse, wholesome 
 diet, and climbing and exercising on the ropes facilitated a 
 cure of my diseased lungs. My ocean school, I trust, has 
 afforded me a life-time lesson, and given me the incentive 
 to stem the storms of life, to gain the country where the 
 extremes of heat and cold are unknown. 
 
 One of the wonders of this Arctic Region is the ap- 
 pearance of the natural sun above the horizon for weeks. 
 I never before lived in a country where there was no night. 
 We read that in the heavenly country there will be no 
 night, and even the sun that gives light by day will not be
 
 148 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 needed in the other world. But here the sun appears to 
 pass around the horizon and keeps above it for a long 
 time. It rises toward the zenith, then lowers toward the 
 sea. It descends more and more till at last it dips its 
 golden disk beneath the deep, but does not leave us with- 
 out its presence long. Each time it descends, it remains 
 longer, and the nights keep increasing to the time of the 
 equinox, when the days and nights are equal all over the 
 world. Then the light of day decreases, and the nights 
 increase until the light of the sun disappears entirely from 
 the Arctic world and darkness reigns supreme. 
 
 We see great structures of ice with turrets towering 
 high, and to our curious eyes, they present a very impos- 
 ing aspect. It is wonderful to see a city of ice in a frozen 
 world. The crystallized fabrics rise above the sea with 
 varied forms of beauty, surpassing the works of art, all 
 of which are devised by the skillful hand of nature. O 
 how grand it is to know and love the God of nature, and 
 thus be able to see him and admire his wisdom in all his 
 wondrous works! But after viewing these scenes of 
 grandeur in the Arctic world I v/ould prefer living where 
 night regularly follows the setting sun. Being where the 
 light of day was constant, our physical powers were often 
 taxed to excess. 
 
 Our ship was often endangered by the floating ice. 
 We met with solitary pieces and were frequently in danger 
 of a collision. Even fragments of ice that had no formid- 
 able appearance gave the ship a heavy jar, as ice sinks 
 deep beneath the surface of the water. An offlcer some- 
 times took his position on the bow and motioned to the 
 helmsman to turn the ship from the approaching ice. The 
 helmsman held a responsible position. This should teach 
 us a spiritual lesson.
 
 ON SEA AND I,AND. 149 
 
 During midsummer here the sun has quite an in- 
 fluence; though its rays fall obliquely. In the middle of 
 the day it melts the ice considerably. There are cold, 
 frozen hearts that can be melted by the Gospel sun. Its 
 rays may seem to fall long upon those hearts, and we may 
 think that we discover no yielding; but at length the heat 
 becomes too great, the frigidness is overcome, and that 
 once frozen heart is melted to penitence. 
 
 We sometimes exchanged visits with officers and crews 
 of other vessels, and we thus became acquainted with per- 
 sons from every quarter of the globe. There were always 
 quite a number of whale ships in the Arctic during the 
 summer season; and they seemed to all be doing their 
 best to kill the sea monsters and gather the oil and bone. 
 
 There is a pureness in the atmosphere in this Arctic 
 Region which produces health and vitality. The air is 
 bracing, and we possessed more energy than we did in the 
 Torrid Zone. The clearness of the air renders objects at 
 a distance perceptible; and the vessel that bore us over 
 the water, was at times reflected beneath the transparent 
 bosom of the deep. Sound is heard at a great distance, 
 it having free course in this pure atmosphere. 
 
 Every living thing is aglow with energy and life. 
 Seals and walruses are visible, with their curious forms 
 ranged along the floating ice, and ready to plunge and 
 hide beneath the clear, yielding element, at some startling 
 sound or appearance of a human form. Numerous aquatic 
 birds are either soaring on the wing, or skillfully plying 
 their webbed feet, which comprise the motive power in 
 the unstable element beneath. Thus everything seems to 
 lend its influence to cheer and beautify this frozen world, 
 that through a great part of the year is excluded from the
 
 150 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 light of day. To listen to the many voices of animals and 
 birds, and to view the many scenes of beauty that greet 
 the vision on a clear calm day in the Arctic world, is ad- 
 mirable, and cannot fail to cheer even a disconsolate 
 mind. 
 
 But physical labor scarcely knows any respite in this 
 region of constant day. Whales are numerous here, and 
 we are nearly always chasing them, if we do not always 
 succeed in their capture. It is similar to the huntsman in 
 quest of game; he is ever upon the alert and in pursuit of 
 his favorite prey, though his expectations are not always 
 realized. Sometimes we would have quite a streak of 
 good luck, and the valuable oil is kept flowing for quite a 
 while. I have labored for thirty hours without any res- 
 pite, and my physical energies would be so much reduced 
 from the constant strain and loss of sleep, that if I would 
 stand still, I would almost fall asleep upon my feet. At 
 such times all the beauties of nature would lose their 
 charms, and all the faculties of my being were suing for 
 rest in sleep. I presume when we pass through the throes 
 of death, and our powers become exhausted in the final or- 
 deal, " and desire fails" we shall long for the last sleep. 
 
 The poor sailors, I often pity them. There are no 
 human creatures in existence, I presume, that toil harder, 
 and endure greater hardships than they; at least during 
 some periods of their lives. Often they are hurled in- 
 stantly out of life, without any one to care for their 
 souls. But I was deeply interested in their welfare, and 
 was glad that some of them began to realize it. They 
 sometimes, when we experienced a little leisure, interro- 
 gated me on Scriptural topics. 
 
 The wise man of old said, " Cast thy bread upon the 
 waters, and thou shalt find it again after many days."
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. I5I 
 
 Doubtless his figure was drawn from the scattering of 
 seeds in the river Nile, while its waters had overflowed its 
 banks. The product of their labor was realized after the 
 floods had abated, and the rich soil had grown and ma- 
 tured the seed. But I was trying to disseminate the seeds 
 of Gospel truth, amid toil and adversities, sunshine and 
 shadow, in human hearts, upon the waters of the dark blue 
 sea. 
 
 Some of our sailor boys had not seen their homes for 
 many years. The ship carpenter (an Englishman) had 
 not seen his parents and home for sixteen years. A very 
 active and expert seaman, whose native place was Austria, 
 deserted his home when he was about twelve years of age, 
 and had been sailing over the deep ever since that time. 
 He told me that he had forgotten how to converse in his 
 original language. He could speak the English, Spanish 
 and Portuguese languages, but could not speak his own 
 mother tongue. He had strayed afar in the wilds of sin, 
 but deep down in his depraved heart there appeared to be 
 a tender spot, and he might yet be susceptible of religious 
 teaching and influence. How sad to think of the wander- 
 ing and the lost for whom Christ died! We may think, 
 in our periods of sorrow and gloom, that our peculiar and 
 old-fashioned religion has no bearing upon human hearts, 
 but truth in its native simplicity, exemplified in the lives 
 of its votaries, gradually penetrates, as do the oblique rays 
 of the Arctic on the congealed icebergs. 
 
 The long Arctic day at length was interrupted by the 
 shadows of night, and then the moon furnished us light. 
 That wonderful orb reflected beautifully its borrowed 
 light, and appeared like a great body suspended in the 
 heavens. All these varied scenes and new phases lent 
 their charm to us sailors in our practical Arctic school.
 
 KAMTSCHADALES
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 1 53 
 
 The Aurora Boreal is shone in its beauty. The heav- 
 ens were brightened with a flickering light. This lumin- 
 ous phenomenon dispels the darkness of the Polar night. 
 How dismal would be the winter's gloom without its 
 streams of light, when the bright orb of day has dis- 
 appeared. In these high latitudes the Aurora makes a 
 grand display. It appears in the north above the horizon 
 in the form of an arch, and spreads its brightness to the 
 east and west. It has a fluttering motion, and rises and 
 lowers, and its bright rays occasionally dart toward the 
 zenith like the lightning's glare. It sometimes separates 
 at one place, and concentrates at another, and upon the 
 whole presents an imposing aspect. It displays its beau- 
 ties, and performs its wonders above the horizon for sev- 
 eral hours, and then gradually declines. It greatly diverted 
 the minds of the sailors, and reminded me of the light and 
 glory that shall burst upon this world of sin and darkness 
 when our Savior shall appear. The prophet Daniel says 
 that " a fiery stream issued and came from before him." 
 And the Apostle Paul says that he shall exterminate sin 
 with the breath of his mouth and the brightness of his 
 coming. May every phenomenon in God's created uni- 
 verse teach us his divine wisdom and power, and urge our 
 preparation for the great and notable day of his coming. 
 
 Many thoughts revolved in the mind when in the frigid 
 region of the north. We thought of the exploring parties 
 who had encountered the perils of this frozen sea, many 
 of whom had sacrificed their precious lives. Some of 
 them wintered amid these weird and desolate scenes where 
 the stern and piercing winds of winter moan. O, how 
 dreary must have been this howling waste where the em- 
 pire of night holds sway, and the golden disk of the sun
 
 154 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 is not visible for months! In this bleak and gloomy re- 
 gion Dr. Franklin and his men were lost. He and his 
 hardy crew no doubt sank into the lone and ghastly sleep, 
 where the stupendous icebergs bind and cover their wast- 
 ing bodies that, perchance, were with anguish riven before 
 they were forced to yield to the grim and fatal grasp of 
 death. 
 
 What sanguine efforts have been made by brave and 
 renowned men to learn the mysteries of the Arctic world, 
 and yet but comparatively little is known. Even these 
 caverns of the deep shall give up their dead when the 
 Archangel's voice and the trump of God shall sound. 
 And while great adventures have been made in this frigid 
 world we must ask ourselves the question, Who is willing 
 to suffer loss and bear the Cross to gain a world of immor- 
 tal beauty, where the extremes of heat and cold are un- 
 known? 
 
 No winds of winter there shall moan, 
 
 Nor anguish-riven hearts shall groan; 
 
 No shades of night shall there prevail. 
 
 Death cannot come within the veil. 
 
 During our first visit to the Arctic we had a dreadful 
 experience, one night, in a gale. During the dense fog 
 and darkness we ran into a floe of ice, and suddenly 
 huge masses of broken ice were charging upon our help- 
 less ship. The alarm was given, but too late to escape the 
 shock. The Oriole had plunged, as it were, into the jaws 
 of death, and was quivering from bow to stern. We were 
 left in awful suspense, and were obliged to surrender to the 
 congealed masses colliding against our ship. Oh, what a 
 dreadful hour when fluctuating between life and death! 
 
 We awaited, in trembling attitude and with pale faces, 
 the result of the strife. Every human effort to relieve our-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. I55 
 
 selves was in vain. We looked over the bulwarks on ac- 
 cumulated heaps of ice, that were threatening the total de- 
 struction of all on board. The captain moved hurriedly, 
 with visage pale, upon the quarter-deck. His voice and 
 mien showed that he feared our bark would founder. Had 
 the ship been crushed, our lives could not have been saved. 
 The boats could not have been lowered, and broken pieces 
 of the ship would not have benefited us, as did those of the 
 ship upon which Paul sailed when it stuck fast in the sand 
 bar. I had witnessed the direful contest in the shock of 
 battle, but when the weaker force was overwhelmed the re- 
 treating movement could be effected; not so in this terrible 
 disaster, — from the congealed masses we could not fly. If 
 death was to be our fate we must stand and die. 
 
 But at last the congealed body slackened its frigid 
 grip and our gallant Oriole was again released, and like a 
 bird liberated from the cage spread her white wings and 
 moved along in her native element. We were graciously 
 favored with an open space and the precious light of day. 
 This was a wonderful salvation, but it only faintly repre- 
 sents our rescue from outer darkness and the regions of 
 despair. Let sinners think of the hour of dissolution when 
 their soul must be agonizing in the grim and dismal dark- 
 ness of death, when the horrible phantoms of death will 
 confront them, and there will be no escape. Let them try 
 to train their obdurate hearts to appreciate the means of 
 grace and salvation in time. For that purpose I draw illus- 
 trations from these horrid and thrilling incidents on the 
 deep.
 
 CHAPXRJ^ XIV. 
 
 '^ — 
 
 Return to the Sandwich Islands. — Pleasant Greetings. — A Letter to my 
 Mother. — Our Departure for the Torrid Zone. — Lessons from the 
 Scenes around us. — At Lower California. 
 
 -^„Js^T length the time came for us to leave the Polar Sea 
 v4^'- and return to the Sandwich Islands. But some of 
 ■ ^-^ the whaling vessels were bound for San Francisco, 
 Cal. Quite a number of the whaling fleet had spent the 
 summer in the Okhotsk Sea, north of the Empire of Japan. 
 We left near the autumnal equinox. If we had left later 
 than that time we should have run the risk of meeting 
 blockades of ice. We were all glad when the tihie arrived 
 to leave the frigid clime where the long night of gloom was 
 coming on. 
 
 Time brings on the changes of life, from heat to cold, 
 and from cold to heat. Now we are under the cloud of ad- 
 versity and gloom, and again we are allowed to bask in the 
 sunny clime of prosperity. It will be a blessed exit at last 
 from this cold, dreary world of sin to the immortal clime, 
 that will need no sun, or moon, or sea. But the crystal riv- 
 er shall spring from the throne, and the luxuriant trees 
 shall yield their monthly fruit. 
 
 We arrived at the Sandwich Islands again about the 
 
 last of October, 1864. It was an entertaining sight to see 
 
 the many vessels at rest again within the coral reefs at 
 
 Honolulu, Oahu Island. Our bark Oriole was drawn by the 
 156
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 157 
 
 Steam tug into the pleasant harbor, to be moored and re- 
 lieved of her cargo of oil which had been procured in the 
 Arctic region. The towering mountains, the tropical trees, 
 and the fertile landscape showed their charming aspects to 
 our eyes again. Quite a contrast between these and the 
 congealed masses in the Frigid Zone. Pleasant greetings 
 were given us by our friends, whose amiable presence the 
 hardships of our voyage had made doubly dear. 
 
 We had now had nearly seventeen months experience 
 in the marine life, and during the greater portion of that 
 time I had endeavored, in my weakness, to devote myself 
 as best I could to the Christian cause. It was pleasant to 
 remember that I had tried to reverence and adore my 
 Creator in every Zone; however, that would have but 
 little significance, if my heart did not have the proper tem- 
 perature. I trust that God's wisdom and power may ever 
 inspire me to activity in his blessed cause of truth. 
 
 Elijah of old was preserved at the brook Cherith till 
 his appointed time. Moses was held in seclusion before 
 he was sent to Pharaoh. John the Baptist was in the 
 wilderness till the day of his showing unto Israel. The 
 Apostle Paul dwelt in seclusion in Arabia after his appre- 
 hension by Christ. And so I trusted that God would pre- 
 serve and discipline me in my isolated floating prison, and 
 prepare me for usefulness in the sphere and capacity for 
 which he designed me. A college course may place men 
 before the world in a more polished and refined attitude, 
 but to be corrected and disciplined in seclusion, amid the 
 woes and hardships of life, is perhaps better designed to 
 mould our character for endurance. But if we could have 
 the two elements combined, and then be controlled by the 
 Divine Spirit, we would no doubt be better adapted for the 
 service of God,
 
 158 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 Well, we were at the islands once more enjoying the 
 society of our friends, who feared the Lord and kindly re- 
 ceived us into their houses to worship around their family 
 altars. They informed us that the cruel war in America 
 was still raging. We had fondly hoped that, by this time, 
 hostilities would have ceased; and to have received the in- 
 telligence of their cessation, would have afforded us much 
 consolation indeed. But in these islands we heard not the 
 booming of cannon, nor gazed upon the desolations of 
 war. We realized the force and propriety of God's com- 
 mand to his people, "To pray for kings and rulers, that 
 they may lead a quiet and peaceable life." 
 
 These islands were once unsafe on account of the bar- 
 barous condition of their inhabitants. But the wild man's 
 nature has been modified, and his cannibal tendencies sub- 
 dued by the sway of civilization and the Bible. Could we 
 have had a church of our choice in this place, we would 
 have greatly enjoyed being taken into church relationship, 
 but, as this was not the case, we were necessitated to forego 
 this fond desire till our return to our native home. We 
 were ready to acquiesce in all which the Bible enjoins, as 
 observed by the kind and God-fearing people on the isl- 
 ands, but there were other requirements that we wished 
 to observe in order to receive a clear title, and " the an- 
 swer of a good conscience toward God." 
 
 I will here insert my first letter, written to my dear 
 mother, after my departure from home. 
 
 Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, Nov. 5, 1864. 
 Dear Affectionate Mother: 
 
 I am addressing these lines to you, but as to 
 whether you are alive to receive them or not, I have no 
 means of knowing at this time; but I hope and pray that
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 1 59 
 
 you are still in existence. More than seventeen months 
 have elapsed since I took my leave of you and brothers 
 and sisters and friends in America. You have been left in 
 suspense so long as to my whereabouts, that I presume, by 
 this time, you have wellnigh despaired of ever hearing from 
 me again. But if your life is prolonged to receive this in- 
 telligence from your roving son, it will no doubt, afford 
 you comfort to learn that he is still alive. 
 
 I learn, since I have arrived at the Sandwich Islands, 
 that the cruel war is still continued in the United States, 
 without any indications of its cessation in the hear future, 
 at least. How I would like to know as to whether my 
 brother Daniel is alive, who experienced, like myself, 
 many ups and downs in the hostile movements of the 
 army. But until I obtain intelligence from home, I am 
 destined to live in uncertainty, in reference to these anx- 
 ieties of my mind. But my fervent wish and prayer is, that 
 God may preserve us all to meet again. 
 
 Dear mother, the best news that I have to communi- 
 cate to you is, that my heart has become penitent and 
 humble, and that I am endeavoring, in my weakness, to 
 serve the Lord. My submission to Christ has afforded me 
 much consolation, and the longings of my heart are that 
 we may all be united in the bonds of Christian peace. The 
 Lord has been my preserver in all my temptations and per- 
 ils on the rolling deep. 
 
 If John Detwiler and Isaac Kulp, our dear Christian 
 neighbors, are still alive, tell them that I thank them for 
 the religious instructions, which they imparted to me, near 
 the time of my departure. Their timely advice has had a 
 salutary bearing upon my mind. May the Lord make 
 them instrumental in doing much good! 
 
 I presume you will be interested to learn our course 
 of sailing on the great oceans. After leaving Bedford,
 
 IGO THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 Mass., we sailed across the Atlantic to Cape Verde Islands, 
 near the coast of Africa; thence our course was directed 
 toward the eastern coast of South America. We cruised 
 for some time nearly opposite the mouth of the great Rio 
 de la Plata. From there we steered to Cape Horn, where we 
 were held in dread suspense for thirty-six days, being baf- 
 fled by furious storms. After doubling Cape Horn we sailed 
 off the coast of Patagonia, Chili and Peru. We touched 
 at Talcahuano, a port m Chili. Thence we sailed to the Is- 
 land of Juan Fernandez, in the Pacific Ocean; thence to the 
 Marquesas Islands; thence to the Sandwich Islands. From 
 the Sandwich Islands we sailed to the Arctic Ocean and 
 have now returned to the Sandwich Islands again. In a 
 few days we expect to sail to the coast of Lower Califor- 
 nia, and, after a cruise of about three months, we will re- 
 turn to the Sandwich Islands again, en route for the Polar 
 Sea. So you observe that I have sailed many thousand 
 miles over the rolling deep since I left home. 
 
 I must now conclude my letter with the anxious pros- 
 pect of a reply, when we return to Honolulu from the 
 coast of California. Address me, Whaling Bark Oriole, of 
 New Bedford, Mass., Honolulu, Sandwich Islands. 
 
 Give my love to my friends and neighbors, and inform 
 them that I have begun to serve the Lord, and that my 
 humble prayer is, that we may all serve him in his appoint- 
 ed way. May God in his mercy preserve us all to meet 
 again, is the wish and prayer of your absent and wandering 
 son. Affectionately, 
 
 George D. Zollers. 
 
 The time came again, when the course of recreation 
 and personal associations with our island friends had to be 
 broken; and we were necessitated to nerve ourselves for 
 the turmoils and hardships of the rolling deep. Sailors
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. l6l 
 
 are destined to be on the move, and their pleasant visits in 
 the quiet haven are of short duration. We hove anchor 
 and were drawn by the steam tugboat without the Coral 
 Reefs, on the broad, heaving bosom of the great Pacific 
 Ocean. Our sails were unfurled and spread to the winds, 
 and we watched the dim, receding shore, until the moun- 
 tain peaks entirely disappeared from our vision. 
 
 We were now left to cope with the rising floods again, 
 and, amid the reverses of ocean life, reflect on the conso- 
 lations that attended our brief visit on the Islands. Our 
 dismal separation may, in some sense, be compared to the 
 gloomy hour of dissolution, when we shall all have to cross 
 the turbid waters of death. How sad may be the last 
 farewells, and how lonely, for many, at least, will be the 
 entrance into the dark shadows and the voyage across the 
 troubled deep, to lie with the mouldering dead, away from 
 earth and time and all the business under the sun. Let 
 these impressive incidents, of our mortal life, fix indelibly 
 upon our minds the gloomy event of death and our final 
 separation from all that we hold dear on earth. 
 
 We resumed the active toils of ocean life as we 
 ploughed the tepid waters in the Torrid Zone. The 
 breezes, heated by the vertical rays of the sun, wafted us 
 over the foaming waters and we flew through space with- 
 out any visible motive power. " The wind bloweth where 
 it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not 
 tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every 
 one that is born of the Spirit." The treasures of the Spirit 
 are similar to the treasures of the wind, so far as their pro- 
 found depth and quantity are concerned. They are alike 
 immeasurable and are hidden in the depth of infinitude. 
 We cannot comprehend the mystery of their source or
 
 l62 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 ending, but there are overt manifestations of their respect- 
 ive powers. 
 
 Our flying ship evinced the force of the wind, and 
 nautical science utilized this hidden force. Without a 
 system reduced to practical use there could be no benefit 
 derived from this powerful element, the wind. Though 
 navigation has been made a matter of profound research 
 by those who are especially interested in that department 
 of science, yet there is still much room for improvement. 
 A more perfect knowledge of the currents of air is now ac- 
 quired, and the fixed reliable winds, called the "trade 
 winds,'' are used to a decided advantage in navigation. 
 This is the outgrowth of human investigation of this won- 
 derful, mystical element, the wind. 
 
 May we not, then, reason by comparison, and illustrate 
 from the wind the wonderful manifestations of that Divine 
 Power called in the Bible, the Spirit? Faith discloses the 
 power of the Spirit and reduces it to practical use. God's 
 Word opens the way for discovery, and conveys a knowl- 
 edge of its influence and bearings. The individual who is 
 born of the water and of the Spirit is completely controlled 
 by its influence, just as the vessel is under the controlling 
 power of the wind. But shall the child of faith or spirit- 
 ual mariner sail at random? Nay, we reply, the science of 
 Christianity teaches us to employ the perfect system 
 which God through Christ, who is at the head of spiritual 
 navigation, has transmitted to the human family. He 
 must take daily observations of his spiritual sun — Christ — 
 and thus define his course in the spiritual realm, gain a 
 knowledge of the favorable breezes and use them to ad- 
 vantage, to bear his valuable freight to the haven of unend- 
 ing rest. His aptness in utilizing the power of the Spirit,
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. l6 
 
 J 
 
 and his success in spiritual navigation are what will rec- 
 ommend him to all candid thinkers and honest hearts. It 
 is the good, systematic control of a vessel, and her steady 
 and successful voyages, bearing her valuable freight to 
 remote portions of the world, and enriching and consoling 
 the recipients of her commodities that afford her worthy 
 captain and crew a wide-spread influence and a reward of 
 merit. So I remark that the spiritual navigator is reward- 
 ed for his diligent application in the spiritual life, the good 
 control of his character by the divine system of faith, 
 which is designed to regulate and balance him. The 
 spirit in this divinely-regulated character manifests its 
 fruits in " love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, 
 goodness, faith, meekness, temperance," and bears these 
 richest of all treasures to thousands of the human race. 
 Thus, as we sail over life's tempestuous seas, may we draw 
 many lessons from the Book of Nature to impress indeli- 
 bly upon our hearts the more refined and superior lessons 
 of Divine Revelation, or the spiritual Book of God, 
 
 In the latter part of December, 1864, we arrived at the 
 coast of Lower California, our destined whaling ground, 
 and began active operations in pursuit of the great sea 
 monsters. The captains of the different whaling vessels 
 selected the quiet bays for safe anchorage and the security 
 of their ships. This refuge from the storms on the open 
 sea we held as a safe retreat, and when the winds were 
 sufficiently allayed, we effected our exit from the bays to 
 the open bosom of the Pacific to secure the valuable prize 
 of our pursuits — the whale. Along these barren shores we 
 must now take up our residence for quite a period of time, 
 where our energies must be applied. 
 
 I kept a diary of the daily proceedings. By reading 
 this the reader may contemplate the many unpleasant
 
 164 
 
 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 things attending a seaman's life. I will commence Jan. i, 
 1865; that year is memorable for the close of the civil war in 
 the United States of America. While the American people 
 were rejoicing over the cessation of hostilities which, for 
 four successive years, had thrown the country into a com- 
 motion I, with others of her citizens, was confined in this 
 lone part of her extreme borders, where the acclamations 
 of her victorious sons could not be heard. Already had 
 the shouts of victory measurably abated before the intelli- 
 gence of the discontinuance of the war was borne to us in 
 these isolated and barren shores of the Republic. We had 
 experienced her storms of battle, but we saw not the 
 homeward march of her surviving troops. 
 
 A Bay in Lower California.
 
 % 
 
 My Diary. — New Year's Day and Its Experiences. — The Disgrace of 
 a Harpooner. — The Drudgery of a Seaman's Life. — A Portugese 
 Finds a Grave beneath the Foamy Waters. — Abusive Officers, Etc. 
 
 "^y^^^ ^"'"^^^^" ^* Sunday, Jan. i, 1865. 
 
 "^EW YEAR'S DAY, 1865, found us anchored along 
 the coast of Lower California, in Margarita Bay. 
 I awoke as day began to dawn. A dense vapor ob- 
 scured the morning sun and we could not view the glory 
 of its rising beams. Our watch below were wrapt in slum- 
 ber; I awoke them from their sleep, and wished them all 
 a happy New Year. Solemn sensations stirred our bosoms 
 when we again heard that old familiar sentence, freighted 
 with sweet memories of the past, so often uttered in our 
 homes beyond the rolling deep. But here no children's 
 voices rang, though it would cheer our hearts to hear them 
 sing a pleasant New Year's song. Anchored in this lone 
 dreary bay we are far from home and friends across the 
 rolling sea. 
 
 My guest that day was once a Virginian slave, who ex- 
 perienced much ill treatment, and fled to the sea for re- 
 fuge. He, of course, became inured to another form of 
 slavery. I tried to teach him the divine law of liberty, 
 which frees the soul, though the body be bound. Paul was 
 bound with a chain, but his soul, impregnable to human 
 force, was concealed in Christ and could not be bound. 
 
 Ships from the frigid North to the sunny South, pro- 
 pelled by gales across the rolling deep, find a retreat in 
 
 i6s
 
 l66 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 this quiet bay, where no tempests rage and no waves of 
 desolation beat. Shall we view them coming from life's 
 stormy sea, and finding a safe retreat in the celestial coun- 
 try? The light of New Year's Day is waning; the shadows 
 of the night appear. The old eventful year is gone — a 
 thought that is serious, solemn and significant. Our mor- 
 tal years are borne on the wings of time, which with the 
 rolling tide moves ever on. Let us work for God ere our 
 period of probation is forever past. 
 
 Monday, Jan. 2, 1865. 
 
 All hands were signaled at four o'clock A. M. Break- 
 fast was served, the boats were lowered and launched. 
 The sailors impelled them hurriedly from the vessel's side, 
 and were beyond the bounds of vision before the break of 
 day. We paused and hearkened to the splashing of the 
 oars as the whaling fleet advanced to engage in the ocean 
 contest. Poor sailors! their lives are in jeopardy. Per- 
 chance before night some of the toiling crew may be en- 
 closed in death's cold arms beneath the sea. 
 
 An Austrian seaman and I remained aboard when the 
 boats had departed, and the curtains of night were still 
 suspended. The time till dawn, when we took up the cares 
 and burdens of the day, I spent in reading the Bible. 
 I read the Patriarch Jacob's blessings upon his twelve sons 
 before he died. O may the counsels of the just direct my 
 spirit! Many centuries have fled since that ancient worthy 
 passed away; but his words of wisdom still retain force, 
 and are much admired. They yield sweetest consolation 
 on land and sea. His prophetic vision of Shiloh is dear 
 to me.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 167 
 
 That day I toiled on board with busy hands and aching 
 heart. My feelings were pierced with many a pang. The 
 Austrian's imposition fully tested my submission. While 
 his angry passions like the billows rolled, I could scarcely 
 keep my temper. The boats returned at four o'clock P. M. 
 The fourth mate's harpooner was deposed from his posi- 
 tion and the poor, unfortunate man is held in derision. He 
 poised and darted his harpoon but missed the whale, and 
 here they forfeit honor who come short of their duty. He 
 leaves his post of honor under the captain's frown, and 
 another gains his title. So moves the world; so many rise 
 and fall; they toil for wealth and fame then lose them both. 
 But I would find my pleasure in religion's lowly path and 
 secure a lasting treasure beyond this waning world. 
 
 O may I not behold my Captain's frown, 
 And see another take my heavenly crown. 
 
 Tuesday, Jan. 3, 1865. 
 
 All hands were wakened from slumber before dawn. 
 The boats were launched and made their exit from the bay. 
 I searched the Book, given by Inspiration, to guide the 
 Christian on his way to heaven. Its living counsels are 
 food to my spirit, and yield sweet comfort when the waves 
 of sorrow roll. I peruse its pages with eagerness while the 
 light is breaking in the morning skies. Two sailors 
 wrangled in a fit of rage; the whole course of nature was 
 set on fire. Anathemas were hurled in their frantic wrath, 
 their tongues seemed set on fire of hell. 
 
 The captain with a boat and crew boarded the ship 
 Fabius. I washed the forecastle, and cleansed seashells 
 for myself and the sailor boys. We were collecting them
 
 l68 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 for our distant friends. We hoped to cheer them in the 
 future with these trophies of the deep. 
 
 A cloud of darkness veils my heart, 
 
 may the truth its light impart, 
 And anon repel the gloom. 
 
 1 am a wanderer far from home. 
 This floating prison is my home: 
 When will my freedom come? 
 
 A whale was captured by the larboard crew. It was 
 midnight ere they came with their ponderous victim to 
 the vessel's side. When the prize was thus secured, and 
 the enthusiasm was over, then all was quiet save the con- 
 stant swelling of the deep. The harpooners were chosen 
 to keep the watch while the rest were ordered to their 
 berths to sleep, 
 
 Wednesday, Jan. 4, 1865. 
 
 The beams of the morning broke over the sea; the 
 watchman's voice addressed us, and each obeyed the call 
 though against his will. The monotonous meal was served: 
 meagre coffee, hard-tack and pork. The usual stir and bus- 
 tle prevailed upon the deck. Profanity knows no limit 
 among sailors; it sears the conscience and destroys the 
 soul. 
 
 The fire is lighted and the flames arise in the early 
 dawn. The blubber is put in the pots and the oil extract- 
 ed. The larboard boat's crew furnish the help needed to 
 cut and hoist the blubber on board. Their task achieved, 
 they steer for the rolling main to meet the other crews. 
 Across the swelling sea they swiftly go, nor do they heed 
 the motion of the foaming tide. So w-e are rowing on 
 the sea of life; we are swiftly going to the eternal shores.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 169 
 
 What a graphic picture of our course through this world is 
 ocean navigation with its cares and strife! 
 
 The weary scenes of the day are ended and night 
 brightens the blazing fire. Humility is gained in affliction's 
 school. May I be inured to heaven's discipline! I want a 
 truth-molded and divinely-tested character. 
 
 Thursday, Jan. 5, 1865. 
 
 The watchman's call was made at 5 A. M., and aroused 
 the wearied men from quiet sleep. Our rest was short and 
 we were still fatigued and worried. In an evil mood we 
 were hurried from our sleep. Surely the strong man armed 
 maintains his infernal sway, and any balanced mind would 
 call this the devil's school. 
 
 Contrast this infernal scene of wild commotion with 
 the calm of a Christian home. This is a whaleman's life, — 
 a life of wretched labor, his hands, face, and garments 
 steeped in oil; a life of frowns, curses, and abuse, where all 
 man's vilest passions are set free. Some manned the boats, 
 some toiled at the furnace. All grave and sacred thoughts 
 seemed for the moment crushed. I cut myself with the 
 blubber knife, and oil and blood were mingled. There was 
 no pause to bind the bleeding wound, no relaxation. With- 
 in the bay the tide is in commotion, evincing that the ocean 
 without is disturbed. 
 
 The ship Fabius' crew towed in a whale. The boats 
 were two days absent from the ship, exposed to damp and 
 chill upon their perilous trip. Three whales were to-day 
 captured by the fleet. We greet their return with a noc- 
 turnal fire blazing in the furnace. The crew on the Oriole 
 have ceased their noise and for the present we enjoy a more
 
 170 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 modified life. It is like the calm when ocean tempests and 
 the furious waves are lulled to rest. 
 
 O blest domain where sin shall ne'er molest, 
 " Where the wicked cease from troubling 
 And the weary are at rest." 
 
 The Bible says there will be no sea in the new world, 
 and hence no confinements on ships or nautical adversity. 
 But I see here alternate storms and calms; daily ups and 
 downs among the crew. This is a floating prison, this 
 dreary home where thunders roar and winds of desolation 
 sweep. May I know again the freedom of my native land, 
 beyond the rolling sea! I will cherish its liberty more than 
 ever till I quit its bounds to dwell in bliss. 
 
 Friday, Jan. 6, 1865. 
 
 All hands were early summoned on the deck. The 
 coarse meal was served without any dainties. The fact is, 
 we eat to live, we do not live to eat. The boats betimes 
 were impelled athwart the bay, to chase spouting monsters. 
 
 The captain gave us tidings relating to our country's 
 civil war. Still hostilities were raging and battle fields 
 were being stained with human blood. It brings to mem- 
 ory scenes of blood once viewed when we stood amid the 
 slaughtered hosts. When shall human strife and carnage 
 and all those hostile storms be lulled to peace? We hope 
 the cruel warfare will be over when we reach our native 
 shore again. 
 
 To-day a pig was killed but the official board monopo- 
 lized it all. I essayed to advocate the cause of truth while 
 opposition and error confronted me. It is difficult to aid 
 the blind who think they see, or conduct the flesh-indulgent
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. I7I 
 
 into true liberty. I read the blessed Bible with thrills of 
 joy but ribald jokes annoyed my peaceful houis. 
 
 Saturday, Jan. 7, 1865. 
 
 The crews proceeded early to their dismal labors. We 
 helped the German cooper to hoop the casks. The cap- 
 tain's carnal passions were all at liberty and the wisdom 
 from beneath controlled his tongue. "The tongue," says 
 the inspired James, "no man can tame." It hurls its anath- 
 emas along life's way and stirs its thousands to relentless 
 wrath. Pure religion will restrain the tongue as the horse 
 is governed by his bit and rein, or as the ship is guided by 
 the helm. 
 
 It is sad, indeed, when he who has control loses his 
 balance and acts the fool. He murmured at our ill success 
 and vented on us his rage because the deep would not }'ield 
 up more of its treasure and grant him rivers of oil. Anon 
 his eyes look athwart the ocean, and, lo, the boats are all 
 approaching near, with a black sea monster floating behind 
 them. The welcome scene dispersed the captain's anger 
 and gave his agitated soul relief. He truly paid his hom- 
 age to the whale. We launched our boat and helped the 
 crews to draw the ponderous victim to the vessel. A life- 
 less cow and calf were floating side by side; the pangs of 
 death could not separate them. 
 
 The ship Onward left the bay for the open sea, to be 
 more convenient to the chase. The Fabius' crew fastened 
 to two whales, but one, with bleeding wounds, escaped. 
 With harpoon inserted it darted through the water, leaving 
 its foaming wake all stained with blood. It headed toward 
 the breakers; they should have cut the line, but still they
 
 1/2 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 braved the danger and hoped to gain their prize. " Cut the 
 line," shouted the mate while the boat was flying in the 
 very jaws of death. Soon the rash and reckless crew were 
 struggling in the spray. A Portuguese from the Cape 
 Verde Islands sank beneath the foaming waters and rose no 
 more; the others of the crew were saved from death, but the 
 boat was lost. Rashness and impetuosity made all that 
 trouble. Man, in the height of frenzy, loses control of him- 
 self and often destroys both his body and his soul. 
 
 I would learn a lesson from this rash and reckless crew: 
 let calmness rule me when I am in dangerous places. May 
 faith in God be my support whatever happens; amid the 
 raging seas and stormy skies the Lord will guide my boat. 
 When thunders peal and breakers roar, his word can still 
 the storm and bring my tempest-driven boat safe to land. 
 
 Sunday, Jan. 8, 1865. 
 
 We are without the Bay sailing before the wind. We 
 encountered a strong breeze and rough sea, which drove us 
 back into the quiet bay for shelter from the storm. Again 
 the ship is anchored and the furnace started. The crew 
 are hard at work as in other dreary days. The captain is 
 rejoicing over the returns; he is always in a pleasant mood 
 when we have a copious yield of oil. 
 
 Over my heart hangs a dismal cloud. My external ap- 
 pearance is that of a greasy slave, but my heart is not much 
 attached to whale oil. I would much prefer worshiping 
 in God's church to being left in this unpleasant place while 
 saints are bowing round the altar. I hope the day will 
 come when I can mingle with kindred spirits and pay my 
 homage to God with the pure in heart on the Sabbath day.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 1 73 
 
 Monday, Jan. 9, 1865. 
 
 The boats were lowered early to cruise for whales; 
 one boat's crew was left to care for the rendered oil. The 
 captain exercised his muscles in the toil and scolded ve- 
 hemently. He imprecated me in his frantic spell, but I 
 answered softly and tried to overcome his rage. My pas- 
 sions though, were somewhat stirred, for he acted unwise- 
 ly. A sorry specimen is the life of a Christian, involved in 
 such strife. Such sham religion is by the mariner ab- 
 horred, his heart cannot be right in the sight of God. A 
 man in the full blaze of carnal passion, rolling polluted 
 language from his lips; surely I pity his soul and desire the 
 grace of God may control my captain He was a man of 
 highly-cultured intellect in nautical science and astronomy, 
 who could define his position in the sea from the sun and 
 stars, and yet disregarded the God who rules these mighty 
 orbs. Men may boast of their birth, genius or fame, yet 
 their actions disclose them for just what they are worth. 
 We performed our unpleasant duty till noon; it was ren- 
 dered more unpleasant by the actions of the captain. 
 Nothing else worthy to record occurred, save that the 
 fourth mate fell overboard. 
 
 Tuesday, Jan. 10, 1865. 
 
 The boats were launched early: The crews must take 
 their daily trip. We laboriously lowered through the main 
 hatch-way, cask after cask of rendered oil. But my heart 
 was tuned by grace divine, and sweetly communed with 
 its Author. May he direct our bark across the sea and 
 moor us again in Columbia's port. There shall my ocean 
 thralldom cease, and this life of turmoil, pain and sorrow 
 end.
 
 174 THRILLING INCIDENTS. 
 
 The captain of the Governor Troop came on board the 
 Oriole, to interview our captain in regard to the whaling 
 enterprise. Ned, the colored boy, was one among the 
 crew who was proficient in witticisms, but tender-hearted 
 too. He sang his comic airs, showed his quaint antics 
 and danced to amuse the boys. I talked with him on re- 
 ligion, and struck a sympathetic chord that lay buried be- 
 neath the animal propensities, but should be drawn out 
 and utilized. The few words uttered seemed to find fruit- 
 ful soil, and were seemingly employed by the Divine Spirit 
 to awaken the latent sensibilities, the development of 
 which will be mentioned farther on in this work. 
 
 Wednesday, Jan. ii, 1865. 
 
 The boats departed as usual. I had a little time for 
 Bible research. I swept the deck, adjusted casks in the 
 hold, and ballasted with salt water. The captain clamored 
 in revengeful mood. He stirred my wrath but I quenched 
 it, for a Christian's anger should soon expire. We went 
 ashore in the evening to procure some sand for ballasting 
 the ship. It awakens joyful sensations to gain even this 
 barren strand. No wonder Christopher Columbus kissed 
 the earth, when released from ocean toil. The land was 
 never more dear to me than when I stood on the soil of 
 Lower California. My eyes were weary of the agitated 
 ocean. 
 
 In the evening we discovered a steamer bound from 
 Panama to San Francisco. We exercised our skill and 
 muscular power in rowing to come up with her, but urged 
 by two invisible forces — steam and wind — she was going 
 too swiftly, so we desisted from the chase. We longed
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 1 75 
 
 for tidings from our native country, which was highly 
 cherished in our isolated home upon the sea. As we re- 
 turned to our floating craft, the moon was sending her 
 silvery beams over the bosom of the swelling deep. How 
 grand was the scene! As we plied our oars, we mused on 
 the power and wisdom of him who created the sun, moon 
 and stars, the earth and sea, whose presence fills immen- 
 sity, all of whose judgments are unsearchable, and whose 
 ways are past finding out. The boats were all safe aboard 
 at night. The chief mate hailed the steamer and procured 
 news from our native land. Thus ended the occurrences 
 of one more fleeting day. 
 
 Thursday, Jan. 12, 1865. 
 
 The boats, at early dawn, pulled from the vessel's 
 side. A brief period remained for Bible reading before 
 we began the toils and turmoils of the day. We scrubbed 
 the deck with lye and cinders, it being saturated with oil. 
 The crew were furnished with molasses to-day, and though 
 but a common grade, it was esteemed a luxury. 
 
 We rowed the captain to the Governor Troop. Nich- 
 olas, the Austrian, was commanded to accompany us, but 
 remonstrated against the captain's order; the captain heard 
 his murmuring tones, and for once allowed his subject 
 to have his way. The boats and crews of the Governor 
 Troop were absent in the open sea after whales. Only the 
 ship-keepers were left to associate with. We found them 
 eating their noonday repast, prepared and served in sailor 
 style, without distinction to rank or nationality. I spent 
 most of the time in the forecastle, reading, as I could not 
 affiliate with the boys in their wild career. "The world
 
 176 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 knoweth us not, for it knew him not." A little rain fell 
 this evening which is rather unusual, I am told. 
 
 Friday, Jan. 13, 1865. 
 
 Cloudy this morning. Ere yet the watch was called, I 
 rose. I had slept in sweet repose beneath my Father's 
 guardian eye. When I awoke my thoughts were in a 
 Scriptural channel. I welcome the Bible day and night, 
 for it yields the sweetest comforts in my distant, lone re- 
 treat. I ascended to the deck to survey my Creator's hand- 
 iwork, but the clouds obscured the beauty of the sky. I 
 retired to my berth till signaled by the watchman, then we 
 ate our morning meal and the boats proceeded on their dai- 
 ly errand. Nicholas, the German cooper, and I hoisted 
 shucks from the fore-peak to set up whale-oil casks. 
 
 I washed clothes for myself, the cook (an African), St. 
 George (Portuguese), and the cabin boy, for accommoda- 
 tion. The cook rewarded me with a piece of pumpkin pie, 
 and the cabin boy gave me a piece of wheat bread, which 
 kind of diet was a rarity with sailors before the mast, but 
 nothing unusual for the officers. I simply say that I rel- 
 ished the food. And this day will be remembered as one 
 bringing gifts and comforts on the sea, which may afford a 
 pleasant reminiscence in the future. 
 
 Saturday, Jan. 14, 1865. 
 
 At an early hour I was awakened by severe physical 
 pain. A tortured body stupefies the brain. In weal or woe 
 it is best to serve the Lord in the glov/ of health. I retired 
 to my berth to rest my wearied frame, for I must needs try
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. I// 
 
 to regain my precious health. The crew were hurried to 
 their labor early, beneath ofificial frowns and curves. The 
 captain scolded constantly; our lives were worried and 
 spent unpleasantly. But soon the boats appeared with an 
 oily monster. The captain hurried over the deck with nerv- 
 ous rapidity, yelled, and hurried up the boys. The blood- 
 stained corpses were a mother and her offspring, over 
 which floating victims the sailors cursed and sang. A fatal 
 lance had pierced the vital parts and side by side they lay 
 in death's convulsive throes. Two boats' crews remained 
 to cut and hoist the whale, the rest steered for the open 
 sea. 
 
 A jet black Portuguese poised and darted his iron but 
 it failed to fulfill its mission. They branded him as a dupe, 
 deprived of skill. Hence the poor, colored Portuguese, of 
 Bravo Island, forfeited his fame as a harpooner. I wish 
 that I could convince him of a more honorable life than 
 whaling, urge him to employ his talents in the service of 
 more judicious and merciful officers, and depict before his 
 spiritual vision the prospect of gaining a more valuable 
 prize. I would gladly console him in his dishonored plight, 
 and do him good for injuries already done to me. I re- 
 member his hatred of my religion, because of his attach- 
 ment to Catholicism. He once wreaked his revenge on me 
 and, like a ferocious beast sank his devouring teeth in my 
 flesh. I had done him no injury, but he did me an injury. 
 But the grace of God supported me and disclosed to me, 
 through this act of suffering, the calm submission of the 
 blessed Christ. It was he, too, who encouraged the crew to 
 deposit my Bible in the sea, signifying that it would drive 
 me to insanity, for the reason that it was in opposition to 
 his own Catholic teaching. But the Lord has preserved
 
 178 
 
 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 my Bible and me, and is teaching me from its sacred pages 
 love instead of hatred and revenge. Reverses in life some- 
 times bring about a humble ^oirit in proud and obstinate 
 
 FLYING FISH, AS SEEN ON THE ROLLING DEEP. 
 
 men, and I still hope they may have had this tendency on 
 the native of the Cape Verde Islands. 
 
 Sunday, Jan. 15, 1865. 
 
 We were signaled early by the loud, shrill call of the 
 third mate. Physical toil they never underrate, nor call the 
 men too late from sweet repose. Well, our eyes from sleep
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 1 79 
 
 unsealed; no use to worry. We are doomed to hardships 
 and must arise and hasten. Within the heated pots we hear 
 the blubber boil, the compensation for our labor; for a 
 whaleman's wealth all emanates from oil. I long to be 
 where Brethren meet and bow around the mercy-seat. But 
 far away in this lone place, I must spend in sorrow this 
 precious Sabbath. 
 
 The captain's heart swells with i^lad emotion; it is firm- 
 ly fixed on these treasures of the sea, and he never speaks 
 of a treasure in the other world. It is quite difificult to pro- 
 cure his treasures from the sea, and I presume he concludes 
 that it is more difificult to procure it in the other country; 
 and it cannot be procured by carnal means. But I respect 
 him in his responsible position as captain of our ship, and I 
 pray God to make me instrumental in enlightening him and 
 his crew spiritually. He rescued me from the vengeance of 
 his officers, I believe, by God's directing power. Having 
 been raised to strictly abstain from Sunday labor, I refused, 
 from a conscientious standpoint, to work. The Mates and 
 part of the crew were ready to brand me for stubbornness; 
 but the captain was more judicious in his decision, and pro- 
 tested against rashness and abuse, averring that a little for- 
 bearance would induce me without punishment to submit to 
 the rules of nautical government. The captain, in this in- 
 stance, was made God's agent of mercy to me. 
 
 I confess it was an erroneous design, considering my 
 situation. Had they demanded a recantation of my simple 
 service to God, a discontinuance of prayer and the study of 
 the Bible, then my refusal to obey might have been perse- 
 vered in; but merely to protest against their method of pro- 
 curing their prey on the Sabbath day, when no binding rule 
 is disclosed in the New Testament, did not seem to me,
 
 l80 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 after due deliberation, to be demanded by the Lord. Were 
 the day and its attending duties specified as they were 
 under the Jewish economy, then I would have been justified 
 in my non-continuance in nautical labor on that day; but as 
 I can see no such restrictions in the New Testament im- 
 posed on one in my condition, I gave the captain credit for 
 his prudent course in setting me right. Though I am giv- 
 ing an unbiased account of the daily occurrences on board 
 of our craft, I do it with merciful feelings to the officers 
 and crew, and can pray God all the while to save them 
 from their lost estate. 
 
 The starboard boat dispatched a whale, but they had 
 to see him sink to the bottom of the sea. They taxed their 
 brain, and plied their strength to keep their prize, but de- 
 spite of all it sank. They cursed and almost wept. So 
 sink all earthly treasures from our grasp, and leave us to 
 groan at death and gasp for life's most cherished breath. 
 Vain man, release your fond desires from earth and sea 
 whose glory soon passes away. 
 
 Strong breeze this morning but toward noon it de- 
 creased in power. Though darkness veil the skies and tem- 
 pests roar, we will trust in the God who rules the winds 
 and waves. 
 
 Monday, Jan. i6, 1865. 
 
 We were early signaled to resume our tasks. The boats 
 sailed off to their ocean labor and we were left to render 
 out the oil. Wc hailed the J. L. Stephens and obtained in- 
 telligence from our native country. Such news is cherished 
 on the lonely sea. The waist boat was stove by a whale, 
 but the crew escaped unhurt, and were rescued by the other
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. l8l 
 
 boats. The larboard boat's crew fastened to the monster 
 first; he was dispatched and then sank in the sea. 
 
 Friday, Jan. 20, 1865. 
 
 Roused from slumber we viewed the beautiful, bright 
 morning. The boats again went away. A light breeze was 
 blowing. I spent my watch last night in musing. The sea, 
 illumined by the moon, is truly grand. Our God is great 
 and good and wise; we view his power and wisdom on sea 
 and land. His power controls this vast expansive sea, and 
 the rolling planets in their swift motion. O what delicate 
 balancing of forces, as these worlds revolve in their distant 
 crbits! It humbles any soul to view His majesty. 
 
 The boats with their white sails appeared at twilight. 
 The officers reported the recovery of the sunken whales 
 doubtful. Even putrid whales are sought with eager eyes. 
 Their prize procured they are merry, and use their mus- 
 cles to extract the oil. But Jesus sought those lost in sin, 
 and bore their sins and sorrows on that woeful day. No 
 one can know His burdens when He crossed the deep to 
 ransom fallen man, condemned and lost. He raised him 
 out of the horrible pit and consumes the dross by his refin- 
 ing fire. O that men would contemplate the love disclosed 
 by his condescension! 
 
 A tumult among the boys in the forecastle troubled 
 my peace. 
 
 Saturday, Jan. 21, 1865. 
 
 The moon shed its silvery light, adorning both the az- 
 ure sky and the dark blue sea. After launching the boats 
 on the troubled waters I retired to the forecastle and read
 
 l82 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 the pathetic narrative of the meeting of Moses and Jethro, 
 his father-in-law. Blessed tidings to cheer the Christian 
 amid ocean tumults where waves of sorrow roll. That 
 meek Prophet, Moses, saw much woe and strife, and bore 
 great burdens till he stood on Mt. Pisgah's height, exempt 
 from toil, and viewed old Canaan's shore. There he who 
 was the type of Christ expired and left this world of sin 
 and strife to share a purer, sweeter rest than Canaan's shore. 
 
 The ship Martha's Vineyard left the bay to go on a 
 sperm whale cruise. While adjusting the blubber machine, 
 the captain and an Austrian sailor wrangled in a fit of 
 wrath. No latitude excludes the bane of sin. Its hellish 
 power intrudes on earth and sea. I told the Austrian to 
 quell his wrath and save his polluted soul. The boats tow- 
 ed in a fish, portending sorrow, as the devil means to make 
 us violate the Sabbath. However well disposed to hallow 
 it, I must toil in this abominable grease. I am confined to 
 this prison, a drudge and a slave; I must brave the hard- 
 ships and waves of the sea Again I view the twinkling 
 stars peering down to solace my poor, broken heart. My 
 God, remember me. 
 
 Sunday, Jan. 22, 1865. 
 
 All hands were aroused ere the break of day, not with 
 thrills of gladness but forlorn. To hear cursing instead of 
 praise and idle stories, pursuing whales instead of meeting 
 with the saints. Gospel privileges once slighted are now 
 fondly cherished while out on the sea. So they of first 
 choice are oft doomed to be last, to wail when the season 
 of harvest is past. The impenitent sinner feels no anxiety 
 till he quails in the shock of the avenging storm.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. I83 
 
 Well, we started betimes with more clamor than 
 rhymes, more darkness than light, and more care than 
 prayer. But with my humble appeal to my Creator I will 
 submit to the scourge of his chastening rod till he plants 
 my feet on the earth that my feet trod in childhood, I as- 
 sisted the carpenter this forenoon, and then the cooper in 
 the blubber room. Though toiling against my will, 
 my heart is fixed in heaven. The Austrian is more do- 
 cile since the reprimand. Love's reproofs are effectual to 
 my friend. God bless him! Clamorous voices and ribald 
 jokes annoy my soul, and swearing is so prevalent among 
 the boys. Poor mortals! They brave the terrors of the sea 
 but know not Christ who died on Calvary. The pain our 
 blessed Savior felt should melt the hearts of the seamen. 
 O, could these tongues that curse and swear, be used to tell 
 his sufferings! O could our songs in concert ascend to God 
 who rules the sea and skies. A New Hampshire sailor had 
 vowed to live a Christian life; but vows are soon made and 
 broken by an unstable mind, and the profession is soon for- 
 gotten. I like to see the child of God stand fast, as the an- 
 chor holds in the storm. Before I retired to my berth I 
 gazed and wondered at the works of God. 
 
 Monday, Jan. 23, 1865. 
 
 The boats were launched to stem the swelling flood. 
 The fourth mate's crew was kept on board to help extract 
 the oil. I filled my greasy station and by hurrying we fin- 
 ished our task by noon. While my hands were active, my 
 thoughts were also busy, and I had a grand review of God's 
 saving mercy. We dissected and rendered the hump-back 
 whale. Fifteen barrels our victim of the deep supplied.
 
 l84 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 The Governor Troop came sailing in to-day. The Onward 
 hove her anchor, spread her sails, and is now exposed to 
 ocean gales. So vessels meet and sever on the ocean; some 
 are foundered and appear no more. A world of changes on 
 land and sea— all moving onward to eternity. No rest for 
 mortals until the final repose; in the earth we moulder or in 
 the restless deep. 
 
 My misdemeanor now troubles my heart. Ah my fool- 
 ish jesting with the boys! Our carnal propensities are hard 
 to overcome, and their indulgence produces sorrow. The 
 Book of Inspiration ascribes no wrong to the man who 
 rightly regulates his tongue. Exempt from condemnation 
 is he who fully yields himself to God's control. But when 
 bound to this sin-indulgent crew, it is hard to meet the 
 Scriptural model. Grace is our cherished theme, no Sinai's 
 gloom or thunder. Grace does not crush its subjects for 
 each defect. It hears the voice of penitence, respects the 
 mourner's tears, forgives his failures and quells his fears. 
 Grace wields its benign influence over earth and sea, hence 
 in my isolated state there is grace for me. Thus end the 
 proceedings of another day. One truth is learned by me, 
 that time is passing away. 
 
 Tuesday, Jan. 24, 1865. 
 
 There is hurrying, the usual noise to lower the whale- 
 boats and dismiss the sailors. Each one seizes his accus- 
 tomed oar and dextrously impels the boat. The sailor's life 
 is one of toil and woe, and they must meet great hardships 
 and perils. No landsman knows the burden of a seaman's 
 life. John, the Portuguese, and I are in the blubber room. 
 A landsman would be diverted at our costume when scoop-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 185 
 
 ing up the oil collected in the hold. The try-works are 
 blazing, the boys must toil to fill the pots with blubber. 
 Nicholas is on the sick-list, retired from duty; a mild form 
 of sickness affords relief. 
 
 The Cammilla anchored and abides with the fleet. This 
 is a safe shelter from ocean storms. We hailed her as she 
 passed our stern and the Captain and a boat's crew went 
 aboard. The chief mate and boat's crew of said ship board- 
 ed us to exchange compliments and discuss nautical 
 themes. Two seamen trod the barren coast in sorrow. 
 They proved to be deserters from the ship Nimrod. The 
 ship Cammilla now affords them a home. They had starv- 
 ed and perished had they been left to wander. The boats 
 came early from their cruising expedition and we raised 
 them to the davits of our gallant ship. I was grieved at 
 the surly and petulant crevvs. So hard are their hearts and 
 polluted their mouths that they pour out disgraceful tor- 
 rents of oaths. 
 
 The sky at sunset wears a crimson hue and reflects its 
 tints on the ocean. The grand display fills my soul with 
 awe. How majestic the scenes of God's nature! I greatly 
 admire his wonders on the sea, and wonder at man's future 
 destiny. We boast of the splendors of human art and 
 man's device, but God can eclipse all human displays of 
 grandeur. And if the beauties of his eternal creation so 
 much exceed man's imperfect efforts, what will personal ap- 
 pearance and the manifestation of the celestial world be? 
 Let us not go through this \\orld blind, and think we see. 
 
 Wednesday, Jan. 25, 1865. 
 
 All hands signaled at break of day. The Cammilla 
 and Oriole have weighed anchor and sailed out, heading S.
 
 l86 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 S. East. We hailed the steamer " Golden Age," moving 
 post-haste. She gave us tidings from our native country to 
 cheer us in our solitary state. I would gladly scale her as 
 she glides over the sea and, with the pleasant passengers 
 aboard, be restored to my native land. I would embrace 
 my Christian friends, speak with rapture face to face, and all 
 these gloomy hours forget. But it cannot be. Be patient 
 till the appointed time and thou shalt reach thy native 
 shore. 
 
 We espied a hump-back whale along the coast, but it is 
 best to count the cost before a battle. The breaking surges 
 and the flying spray warn us to let the monster be. The 
 men to-day are not so ill-disposed, and our nautical govern- 
 ment is more tranquil. We are standing our regular sea- 
 watches again. Oft, when billows overwhelm, the helmsman 
 must still hold his post. It is one o'clock A. M. The re- 
 lief is designated by the bell. The winds are lulled, the 
 waters gently beat, and the stars above greet our yearning 
 vision. Two hours more to keep our watch this night, and 
 we shall have access to our berths to sleep. When toil is 
 over, it is sweet to rest, where no pain intrudes nor sorrow 
 heaves the breast. Let the weary sweetly sleep; let naught 
 disturb. 
 
 Thursday, Jan. 26, 1865. 
 
 Dead calm this morning. Heading S. E. by south. 
 To-day I hope to place a guard before my mouth. On duty 
 on the larboard from 7 to 1 1 A. M., adjusting casks, ballast- 
 ing, — ship-work for every man. A large shoal of black fish 
 were seen; they were chased, and one captured by the Cam- 
 milla's crew. A whale or fish cannot escape the whaleman's 
 sight, and if at all available, it must die.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 187 
 
 It is past meridian; our watch is retired from duty. 
 Relief from toil is ever much desired. So when the toils 
 and woes of life are past, may we enjoy the calm repose 
 where no cares annoy, no sorrows pierce the breast, 
 
 "Where the wicked cease from troubling. 
 And the weary are at rest." 
 
 I conversed with my shipmates upon my private theme, sal- 
 vation, that unspeakable gift of God. Steering south-east; 
 propelled by noble breezes, with towering masts and sails 
 unfurled, we plowed the foaming seas. Now on the star- 
 board then on the larboard side see her careen. Lo, see her 
 bravely stem the rising surge! A ship with extended sails 
 is a grand sight. When tossed and driven through the rest- 
 less, foaming deep, agitation animates the crew. We retain 
 our equilibrium as the ship rolls in the sea, and we are re- 
 peatedly drenched by the flying spray. 
 
 Friday, Jan. 27, 1865. 
 
 Our watch was called at 3 o'clock, A. M. I arose, and 
 till break of day controlled the helm. The usual deck ab- 
 lution then became our duty, more for health and cleanli- 
 ness than for beauty. The sun appears crimson and tinges 
 the swelling element of blue. No mountain tops, or forest 
 trees obstruct our view. Again, O brilliant orb, thy beauty 
 is revealed, thy pure, celestial light awakens and animates 
 the world. Thy swift daily race is now begun, thou dost 
 run thy course with great precision. Shining orb, disclosing 
 thy Creator's might, and teaching his unbounded wisdom 
 every hour. Thou dost guide the mariner across the main, 
 whose position is uncertain when thy beams fail.
 
 l88 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 The cooper was irritable, the crew were profane; some- 
 times I reason to have them cease. I try to appease their 
 anger and get them calm, but they are like the troubled sea 
 which cannot have peace, while sin, the fire of hell, disturbs 
 their breasts. The night is fair, and beautiful and bright; 
 the numerous stars are shedding forth their light. It is no 
 great task to keep our watch at night when all is tranquil 
 on the swelling deep; but we tremble in the furious storm. 
 The dreadful aspect fills us with alarm, when clouds of dark- 
 ness veil the light, and foaming billows are rolling high. 
 A sailor's life is a life of trouble when surges* beat and 
 angry tempests blow. 
 
 O home eternal, fair and serene. 
 
 Where no tempests sweep, no clouds shall intervene; 
 
 All sinful passions shall forev^er cease; 
 
 Naught in that heavenly clime shall mar our peace. 
 
 Saturday, Jan. 28, 1865. 
 I plied the helm in the middle watch last night. With 
 my eyes upon the compass I knew my course was right. 
 So with my eye of faith fi.xed on the Book of God, I shall 
 be guided to his divine abode. When our four hours on 
 duty had expired, I read the sacred volume of truth till I 
 went to rest. I laid aside my ocean cares, consigned my all 
 to God, and sought repose. At 5 P. M. my refreshing 
 slumber came to an end, and I heard the murmuring deep 
 as I awoke; a sound that startles not, for all is well, only 
 the vessel's rise and fall. But my sleep was broken by the 
 winds at war, when I heard the waves and tempest roar; 
 and a scene terrific burst on our waking eyes — a foaming 
 ocean and sable skies, with forked lightning playing through 
 the air, and sharp thunder. If the final judgment portrays
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. I89 
 
 a deeper darkness, then only God can know the sinner's 
 doom. Our changes at sea are from weal to woe, from a 
 charming sunset to a furious storm, from a view of the 
 stars to thunder peals and a sable night. Can we rest se- 
 cure in this changing world, when we may be hurled from 
 the summit of pleasure into endless deeps amid the dark- 
 ness of death? 
 
 Steering south-east by east, with noble breeze, our bark 
 glides swiftly on. The Cammilla, with sails extended, is 
 left quite a distance behind. Of Christ's second advent I 
 am reading now, and commenting thereon to my shipmates. 
 The same Christ who walked on the sea and stilled the 
 proud waves, shall come; the dead shall arise from their 
 graves, and the saints shall meet and repair to the haven 
 which is eternally fair. 
 
 Perchance far down in the briny deep 
 
 Some have mouldered away in their ghastly sleep, 
 
 But shall arise when he comes, their reward to reap. 
 
 Sunday, Jan. 29, 1865. 
 The sun arose in beauty this morning, and shed his 
 golden beams upon the sea. We have no special duty to 
 perform to-day, only to control the ship upon her course. 
 I spent my leisure time in the perusal of the Bible. The 
 weather was pleasant, and a light breeze prevailed. The 
 sun set in splendor; it was truly the emblem of peace. The 
 moon and stars shine in beauty. O that my exit from the 
 shores of time may be as lovely and serene as the setting 
 sun to-night! It prefigured to me the peace of God in the 
 soul, the light of the Christian displayed in his course of 
 life, and his final, peaceful retirement in the shadows of 
 death.
 
 igO THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 Monday, Jan. 30, 1865. 
 
 A lovely morning, so calm that our vision is cheered 
 with the beautiful sight. The captain himself ascended to 
 the masthead and performed the duty of a watchman; the 
 chief mate is regulating the work on deck, mending sails, 
 etc. The captain discovered a shoal of black fish. A boat 
 was lowered and went in pursuit of them. Four times the 
 harpooner darted but failed to secure any. Again he 
 strikes, and the harpoon penetrates the heart, and the vic- 
 tim is secured. Three more boats were sent to their assist- 
 ance, and they towed the fish alongside the ship. I read to 
 J. Nolan from a pious book. I was ridiculed by Wallace, 
 who, when I rebuked him, acknowledged his wrong. The 
 night is beautiful and I am steering east south-east. 
 
 Tuesday, Jan. 31, 1865. 
 
 The larboard watch, ten in number, were aroused at 
 3 A. M. From then till 5 A. M. I stood on guard, peering 
 through the darkness, over the rising flood, till the night 
 was lost in the dawn of day, and the sun arose on the dark 
 blue sea, and another bright day was begun. I gazed with 
 cheerful vision on the scene, and thought of God who rules 
 the darkness and the light. So shall this night of sin de- 
 part, and a golden day be ushered in; sorrow, vigilance and 
 care will be past, and the saints shall rest in endless light. 
 I am steering south-east by east, before a gentle breeze. 
 The weather is warm; we lie on deck and sleep at night.
 
 CHAPTEI? XVI. 
 
 — ~^h- 
 
 Our Departure from Lower California. — Our Meetings in the Forecas- 
 tle. — Our Invitation to the Captain and Ofificers, to Share in the 
 Benefits of the Meeting. — Crossing the Equator. — Thoughts of 
 Home. 
 
 NOUGH, 1 presume, has been recorded in the form 
 of a diary, giving an account of the daily occur- 
 rences on shipboard, and I now proceed with the 
 general characteristics of my maritime life. As the close 
 of my diary indicates, we had left the coast of Lower Cali- 
 fornia, and were steering in the direction of the Marquesas 
 Islands. On our voyage to the latter place, I was wielding 
 my influence under the divine direction, to inculcate the 
 principles of religion among my shipmates. I had now 
 been with them a sufificient length of time to demonstrate 
 my sincerity in the divine life, and my anxiety for their 
 salvation, as well as my own. 
 
 George Wallace, the New Hampshire boy, and John 
 Nolan, of New York City, began to be my warm adherents, 
 and were apparently candid and earnest inquirers after 
 truth. John Nolan was reared in the Catholic faith, but 
 my fervency and untiring perseverance in the Christian 
 cause, which I, by God's help, maintained, proved an in- 
 centive to farther investigation of the Scriptures. They 
 appeared to sincerely and humbly confess their sinful de- 
 pravity, and solicited my prayers in their behalf; and 
 
 Nolan, being very sanguine in his penitential ordeal, 
 191
 
 192 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 opened the way to effect our religious exercises more pub- 
 licly than I had before been accustomed to hold them. I 
 was naturally inclined to be reserved, but he, being of a 
 more impulsive and forward disposition, urged me to ad- 
 vance and publicly advocate such a pure and holy religion. 
 Our meetings were conducted in the forecastle, mostly 
 during dog-watch, which is a broken watch between the 
 regular day and night watches, during which time the two 
 watches eat the last meal of the day. Our method of con- 
 ducting our meetings was plain and simple, but God moved 
 upon our hearts, and our little, unassuming service was in- 
 teresting and attractive. The sailors before the mast espe- 
 cially attended, and one of the Portuguese from the Azores 
 Islands — a Catholic by profession — was wrought upon, and 
 could not resist the divine influence. He seemed to see 
 more beauty and sacredness in our humble method of wor- 
 shiping God than in anything he had ever witnessed be- 
 fore. He appeared to appreciate our devotional exercises, 
 and his demeanor portended a penitent heart; but, of 
 course, the Catholic element protested against his accept- 
 ance of such a religion, and ultimately succeeded in sup- 
 pressing his honest convictions and quieting his mind by 
 making him contented with his parental training. 
 
 Nicholas, the Austrian, to whom I referred earlier in this 
 work, was also much disturbed. He had deserted the pa- 
 rental roof in his youthful career, and lost the use of his 
 native language. He spoke the Spanish, Portuguese and 
 English languages. He was an expert in marine duty and 
 possessed a strong constitution, and was much esteemed by 
 the officers and sailors. O how we yearned and prayed for 
 a breaking down of the tempter's power, and a thorough 
 conversion, if possible, of the entire crew.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 193 
 
 We had now merged into the shock of battle, and we 
 endeavored to hold up the ensign of the cross. The cabin 
 boy, who was a pet of the ofificers for his humorous antics, 
 witticisms, and aptness in nautical duties, became deeply- 
 impressed, and experienced, perhaps, the first wooings of 
 the Divine Spirit. It was a rule on board our ship, that 
 cabin and steerage boys should not mingle too much with 
 the seamen before the mast; but the cabin boy was under 
 the convicting power of God, and knowing the restrictions 
 of nautical rules, he pleaded with the captain, with tears, 
 for permission to attend our little meetings in the tore- 
 castle. And the captain, who was a professor himself, 
 would not withstand the earnest entreaties of his youthful 
 servant. The result, then, was that he came, by the con- 
 sent of the captain, to our meetings and appeared to enjoy 
 our Bible reading, prayer, singing, and plain and simple 
 talks of the Savior's love and condescension to redeem and 
 save the lost. 
 
 Thus, while some laughed and made sport of our hum- 
 ble, religious proceedings, others became seriously con- 
 cerned about the salvation of their souls. The captain 
 would not permit any disturbance of our peace. O how I 
 longed for the captain's full consecration to God! He who 
 rules the heavens and earth and sea, knows the yearn- 
 ings of my heart. But though I was not privileged to see 
 his humble surrender to God then, yet I sincerely hope 
 that he may reap some of the benefits of the seed sown on 
 the floating bark under his command. His heart was bent, 
 at least, to ratify our humble and heaven-approved course, 
 I struggled one whole night to overcome my own diflfidence 
 to solicit him and the officials to attend our meetings in 
 the forecastle. My new associates in religious ties urged
 
 194 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 me to muster up fortitude. But the infernal adversary 
 argued that if I obtained the consent of the of^cers to at- 
 tend, we should be too puny and weak to entertain them. 
 I presume that was about their reason for not coming. 
 
 It is quite a condescension on the part of the great and 
 eminent to affiliate with the common and lowly persons 
 on land or sea; but this is God's rule and order, the ignored 
 and downtrodden shall be raised up, and the famous and 
 exalted must be lowered to the plane of the Gospel. 
 The humble Jesus, when in the meek and lowly walks of 
 human life, could not, by his exemplary life, and pure and 
 wise teachings, influence the proud and exalted inhabitants 
 of Capernaum to condescend to the humble plane which he 
 occupied. But their non-acceptance of his proposals was 
 no reason that he should not offer them mercy on his own 
 divine and equitable terms. God uses us as his agents to 
 offer salvation to the low and high, but we are not licensed 
 to accommodate the unsullied and blood-purchased relig- 
 ion of Christ to the carnal inclinations of depraved hu- 
 manity. 
 
 The divine power seemed to urge me to appear before 
 the captain and officers, and invite them to worship with 
 us; and I was impressed with the idea that it was the ap- 
 propriate time for me to clear myself of their blood, at 
 least, if I could not accomplish any more. And after much 
 hesitation and prayer to God to prepare me for the event, 
 I braced myself up for the occasion and started on my 
 errand, perhaps with feelings somewhat similar to Jonah's, 
 en his way to Nineveh. I was soon ushered into the pres- 
 ence of those who had authority and superior intelligence. 
 The shades of night were beginning to gather, and the cap- 
 tain and chief mate were walking back and forth on the
 
 ON SEA AN[) LAND. I95 
 
 •quarter-deck, conversing together as they were often wont 
 to do. I approached them with affability and Christian 
 courtesy, removing my sailor's cap from my head, — as 
 nautical discipline in the presence of an officer required, — 
 and in a humble, solemn manner, presented my request. I 
 asserted to them my prayerful anxiety for their religious 
 welfare and that of the entire crew; that I was pressed to 
 humbly solicit the presence of the captain and his officers 
 to unite with us in our devotions to God, and lend their in- 
 fluence to a work so momentous and divine. 
 
 The captain replied with courtesy and kindness, and 
 said: " George, go on with yoi:\r religious work, and no one 
 shall interrupt your services, and if we see proper to at- 
 tend, we will do so." I politely thanked him, and returned 
 to my place before the mast, with the consciousness that I 
 had performed my duty, and that the Lord would take 
 care of the little message I had communicated with meek- 
 ness and godly fear. Whatever the result of my labors 
 might be, I was happy in the thought that I was doing all 
 to the glory of God, and for the good of my officers and 
 crew. I had long with patience borne the insolence and 
 abuses of some of the officers and crew, but now the Lord 
 was affording me spiritual influence, and the fact that the 
 opposing influence was, to a considerable extent, over- 
 come, corroborated the evidence in my soul that the Lord, 
 who controlled the sea, was blessing the work. And if 
 those who began the Christian work with me, according to 
 God's Word, failed to continue, still the work would be 
 valid. The ten lepers were healed by the power of Christ, 
 but only one of the number returned to give him glory. 
 So many devils may be driven out of the human heart by 
 the power of God in repentance, and yet afterwards it may
 
 196 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 not continue in his service till it reaches the full stature of 
 manhood in Christ. 
 
 I wish that I, with all who have repented and be- 
 lieved on Christ, might now pass through the baptismal 
 grave and experience the divine relationship in full, and 
 fellowship with the people of God. But I can proceed no 
 farther at present, neither can I lead those any farther, 
 who are under my spiritual guidance. Yet the Lord will 
 open the way for all things, if we trust him. We held our 
 meetings regularly, save when our marine labors interfered 
 with our appointments, and I truly felt much encouraged 
 that I had sympathizers and helpers in the divine work. 
 Withal I realized that my responsibilities were increasing, 
 and that I must needs exercise a vigilant care over those 
 who had less experience in the work, and be ready to im- 
 part to them seasonable instruction, so as to keep them 
 fortified against the wiles of the devil and the baneful bab- 
 blings of skeptics and infidels, who were swayed and 
 prompted by infernal spirits, to quell our influence and de- 
 stroy our peace in Christ. 
 
 It is one thing to prepare the human heart for the re- 
 ception of the incorruptible seed, and another thing to 
 nourish and cultivate it after it has been deposited. We 
 learn in Divine Revelation of churches having been estab- 
 lished by apostolic authority, that promised a vital, spirit- 
 ual growth, but were hindered in their advancement and 
 rendered abortive by Satanic influence. Thus the com- 
 mands in the Scriptures, to watch and pray, are very sig- 
 nificant; and though we be ever so vigilant ourselves, it is 
 even then difficult to keep those governed and regulated 
 under our care and supervision. We must bear in mind 
 that while our religious efforts were being put forth we
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. I97 
 
 met with many rebuffs, scoffs and sneers by some of the 
 depraved skeptics and infidels among the officers and crew; 
 but physical violence the captain would have prohibited. 
 
 The devil frowns and sneers when the cause of Christ 
 advances, and this frowning and sneering is accomplished 
 by merging his infernal spirit into his agents. The more 
 men are calloused in sin, the more effectually do they carry 
 out the work of the devil. They become despisers of them 
 that are good, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than 
 lovers of God. It is still worse when they come with the 
 form of godliness, but deny the power. 
 
 One of our officers, who was very vile and abusive, 
 molested me often, and I patiently endured his curses, 
 sneers and abuses for a long time; but one evening I was 
 passing from the after-part of the ship, — from duty, I pre- 
 sume, — to my proper place before the mast. When I 
 reached the main hatchway, where he and the second mate 
 were standing, he addressed me with insolence and cast re- 
 flections on my Christian profession, and, as a certain poet 
 declares, "The Lord's appointment is the servant's hour," 
 I felt that it was God's time for me to reply. I did, and 
 God gave me the power. I vindicated the religion I had 
 espoused, and apprised him of the fact that I was fervently 
 attached to it, that all the impositions and abuses to which 
 my adherence to it had subjected me, had not lessened my 
 love for it; and that he could not deny that I suffered much 
 abuse from him, but, to my knowledge, I had never given 
 him an unkind word. 
 
 This was about the tenor of my reply, but not all of it. 
 The second mate, who had more respect for religion, sanc- 
 tioned my reply and gave me credit for the life I was living 
 right in presence of the mate who was opposing me. The
 
 igS THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 latter colored and held his peace, and from that time on, to 
 the end of the voyage, I am pleased to say that he treated 
 me with more respect. May God have mercy upon him, is 
 my prayer. 
 
 I asserted in the closing of my diary that we steered 
 in a south-easterly direction soon after leaving Margarita 
 Bay, and yet I said we were bound to the Marquesas Isl- 
 ands. This would seem to be contradictory, as we were 
 steering in the wrong direction. But I would reconcile the 
 matter by stating that we were still cruising for whales after 
 leaving the coast, and hence sailed in a south-easterly direc- 
 tion at times, and sometimes we adjusted our ship to the 
 wind and were not regulated by the compass at all. 
 
 Steering as close as practicable to the wind is more 
 difficult for the helmsman than to steer by a given point of 
 the compass. I have often controlled the helm with much 
 displeasure under the frowns and curses of an officer who 
 was watching every defect, to criticise the helmsman. I 
 have been so discouraged under such circumstances that I 
 was almost ready to despair. With an agitated sea it was 
 with great difficulty that we kept the ship either from com- 
 ing too close, or suddenly escaping too far from the wind. 
 Each digression would bring forth rash and unmerciful 
 criticism. It is much easier to criticise than to perform. 
 We often rashly condenm others, when, under like circum- 
 stances, we should do no better, and perhaps not as well. 
 Christians are often criticised for their mistakes in life, 
 when, if those, who are ever ready to find fault, would know 
 by experience the temptations which they coped with and 
 the trials to which they were subjected, they would be more 
 slow and ruthful in their criticism. How often, in this 
 checkered life, must critics bear the weight of their own se-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND, I99 
 
 vere criticisms! Christ himself declares that the judgment 
 dealt out to others shall be meted back. It is lawful and 
 proper to judge, providing we make use of righteous judg- 
 ment. 
 
 On the twentieth day of February, 1865, we crossed the 
 equator en route for the Marquesas Islands. Here the great- 
 est heat of the sun is experienced. It is difficult to realize 
 that we are just mid-way between the North and South 
 poles, where the rays of the sun are vertical and the days 
 and nights are equal. Here the ocean and the atmosphere 
 are incessantly heated by the fiery sun. The heat is very 
 oppressive, and there is a dense, close air which occasions a 
 feeling of dullness and lassitude. I would not like to take 
 up my abode in this region of intense heat, and frequent 
 calms. This seems to impress one with the idea that it is 
 the vast reservoir of the world. No doubt the heat is gen- 
 erated in such copiousness as to influence and modify the 
 conditions of all other zones on earth and sea. 
 
 It is a great region for water supplies. The peculiar 
 and stupendous work of evaporation is amazingly carried on, 
 occasioned by the co-operation of the burning sun, the 
 ocean and the atmosphere. What an intimacy and har- 
 mony exists in the mystical workings of these different 
 elements and forces! The clouds above are the receivers of 
 the immense volumes of water thus elevated from the sea, 
 and the strong winds become the propelling power to urge 
 them onward with their waters above the firmament, which 
 are precipitated in the form of rain drops, and thus utilized 
 to moisten the earth, and produce her timely vegetation for 
 the sustenance of her millions of inhabitants. The mighty 
 rivers whose courses are inclined to the sea are formed on 
 the earth and though they are constantly depositing their
 
 200 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 vast volumes of water in this expansive reservoir, yet it is 
 never full to overflowing. "All the rivers run into the sea; 
 yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the riv- 
 ers come, thither they return again." — Eccl. i : 7. 
 
 The trade winds digress from their regular course 
 over the surface of the deep, and are upward inclined, to 
 constitute another current in the upper regions of the at- 
 mosphere. God has most wonderfully balanced these 
 forces in the universe, and controls them in their mystical 
 operations with the greatest regularity. In the beginning 
 he reduced all things from a state of chaos to order and 
 harmony. He separated the land and water, and arranged 
 the firmament above to divide the waters from the waters; 
 that is " to divide the waters which were under the firma- 
 ment from the waters which were above the firmament: and 
 it was so." Thus all things are wonderfully made and the 
 exquisite design discloses the infinite wisdom and power of 
 the Designer. 
 
 That heart must be steeped in sin, darkness and ignor- 
 ance that cannot see the beauty and propriety of fearing 
 and serving such a wonderful Being, whose presence fills 
 immensity and whose power and wisdom are displayed in 
 the handiwork of his creation. It can be observed that ev- 
 erything in the great universe of God fulfills its purpose and 
 design with the greatest accuracy; but man is an exception 
 to the rule. He is also " fearfully and wonderfully made" 
 and we are not obliged to wend our way over foaming bil- 
 lows to the equatorial regions to study the wonders of 
 the creation of God; we can discover them right in the com- 
 plicated machinery and intricate structure of man. But sin 
 has demoralized his being and wrenched him out of his as- 
 signed place in the creation, and the redemptive process is 
 far more difficult than the creative.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 201 
 
 Since man's will power was consulted in the fall, it 
 must be consulted in his restoration; and he being rendered 
 abnormal by sin— that poison in Adam's posterity — the 
 blindness of his vision prevents his admission into the spir- 
 itual atmosphere, to recognize and appreciate the force and 
 beauty of the Redeemer's sacrifice. God's spiritual laws 
 are organized and established with as much symmetry and 
 harmony as the natural laws which govern the universe; 
 and the change from our polluted condition in sin to the 
 new element or spiritual sphere, is so vast that we must ac- 
 tually be "born again." And what then will the resurrec- 
 tion from the physical death be, when body and soul shall 
 be fitted for the new heavens and the new earth? when this 
 great sea shall give up her dead? And how many millions 
 have been received with anguish into her amazing depths 
 whose forms have wasted and vanished from human vision, 
 and are now concealed in the deeps of eternity! But the 
 power of his resurrection shall bring them forth, to bask in 
 the sunshine of celestial bliss forever, or to wail in the in- 
 fernal regions of woe. O may the contemplation of God's 
 wisdom and majesty, and our accountability to him " for all 
 the deeds done in the body " have the salutary tendency to 
 keep us humble on land and sea! Let us diligently study 
 the disclosures of his great wisdom and power in the books 
 of revelation and nature; and may the knowledge we obtain 
 be controlled and regulated by divine wisdom, so as to re- 
 veal our insignificance and entire dependence upon God for 
 even the breath of life which we breathe. 
 
 I am perusing, in my leisure hours, a book on the sea, 
 entitled, " Disca Mori," — learn to die. It aims to impress 
 the mind with a constant preparation for the event of death 
 and our exit to the other world. Death should evidently
 
 202 
 
 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 impress a seaman's mind, for his yawning grave is ever vis- 
 ible. I recently was wrapped in slumber on the deep, and 
 in dreams I soared to Columbia's land. I saw my sister 
 Mary's pallid form in death's cold sleep. How lonely and 
 dismal and sad was the scene, and how anxious I was to 
 know whether it was only a dream. The tidings that she 
 had landed in the deeps of eternity would sadden my heart 
 on the sea. In the cherished home circle I would greet her 
 once more. If the Lord will restore this prodigal I'd re- 
 joice like the Biblical wanderer who from poverty's wreck 
 was restored to the fold. 
 
 Bread-fruiL
 
 CHAPXEI^ XVII. 
 
 -^^r 
 
 How I Lost my Wearing Apparel. — Replacing the Lost Goods at a 
 Disadvantage. — An Interruption in our Repast. — Reflections Sug- 
 gested by our Duties at the Helm. — An Imperative Command. — 
 Our Arrival at the Marquesas Islands. — Depravity of the Na- 
 tives. — The Abundant Supply of Fresh, Pure Water. — The Folly 
 of Idol Worship, Contrasted with the Beauties of True Religion. — 
 Deplorable Laxity of Matrimonial Life among the Natives. — Some 
 Reflections. 
 
 M^Tm ^ February 21, 1865, while floating in the torrid re- 
 )/-^^^ gion near the equator, provisions and clothing were 
 >^^ distributed on our craft. I had recently lost several 
 pieces of wearable goods and blankets, and consequently 
 stood in need of another supply. After I had given them a 
 thorough ablution, I attached la rope to them and fastened 
 them to the ship and towed them in the sea to completely 
 cleanse and rinse them. A defective place in the copper 
 lining of the ship's exterior cut the strands of my tow-line 
 and deposited my entire washing in the ocean. The pro- 
 prietors hold the vantage ground; their trade is not exten- 
 sive, but quite expensive. There is no competition, and in 
 the emergency the consumer is obliged to purchase at any 
 price. Patch upon patch is usually characteristic of a sail- 
 or's garb, until the original goods are barely discernible. 
 So you discover that the loss of my clothing was quit? a re- 
 duction on the income of my voyage. 
 
 To give my readers a sample of some of our ups and 
 
 downs in the dining process, I wi'l relate a circumstance. 
 203
 
 204 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 We had a native of New York State, who had been reared 
 and cultured on the Erie Canal. He was clumsy and ill- 
 starred, and was incessantly meeting with misfortunes. 
 One day some of us were eating our meal, which consisted 
 of hash, hard-tack and coffee, in the forecastle. Presently 
 we descried large bare feet descending the stair-way with a 
 heavy coat of tar on the soles. It being in the Torrid 
 Zone, we nearly all worked barefooted. Some one suggest- 
 ed that the hash-dish had better be removed, as the un- 
 fortunate New Yorker was descending; but we were all too 
 busy taking in our coarse diet, and we paid little attention 
 to the precaution. Finally he landed from the stair-way in 
 the forecastle, and charged with one of his tar-coated feet 
 right square into our hash-kit. Of course we were stuck on 
 that meal. At another time it became the New Yorker's 
 duty to return the hash-kit to the cook's galley, and when 
 he reached the waist of the ship he essayed to deposit in 
 the ocean a few crumbs that remained in the kit, and, in 
 the attempt, threw the whole outfit into the sea. Having 
 dispensed with more freight than he had designed, he was 
 left with a feeling of dread suspense. The captain and 
 mate, who were walking on the quarter-deck, got a glimpse 
 of his startled mien, and were enabled by their quickness 
 of perception to take in the bearings without any verbal 
 explanation. The entire proceeding, in connection with 
 the startled look, occasioned loud laughter. 
 
 On Feb. 22 we were in south latitude four degrees and 
 thirty-five minutes, with a strong breeze all day, heading 
 west south-west. On Feb. 23 my diary describes us as fly- 
 ing before the wind, still steering in the same direction. 
 We had now come under the influence of the south-east 
 trade winds, and the atmosphere was more bracing and ex-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 2O5 
 
 hilarating again. Our dullness and stupidness of feeling 
 had vanished, and we were buoyant with life and cheerful- 
 ness. The nights were bright and starlight. Our Oriole 
 Hew before the wind, now raised on a billow's foaming 
 crest, then down in the cavity of the deep. With her white 
 sails extended, how grand the scene, as the gale wafts her 
 over the ocean at night! 
 
 Impel, ye winds, the Oriole, 
 And o'er the billows let her roll, 
 While thrills of joy pervade my soul! 
 
 So occur the changes of life on the dark blue sea. 
 Sometimes I am stationed at the helm to guide our flying 
 bark, as she raises and lowers over the foaming surges, and 
 at other times I retain my responsible position as watch- 
 man, to discover and signalize any object that may chance 
 to appear on the agitated deep. The watchman's position 
 is truly responsible. On him, to a large extent, is depend- 
 ent the safety of the ship and all on board. It is his duty, 
 therefore, to be on the alert. For two hours he must cast 
 his watchful eyes over the troubled ocean, and at the ex- 
 piration of that time, he is relieved by another watchman. 
 So I remark that the old ship Zion must ever be supplied 
 with watchmen. She, too, is sailing over a troubled ocean. 
 God supplies her with officers and crews, who succeed each 
 other in the order of their generations. The very compe- 
 tent and experienced Captain has the whole affair under 
 his supervision. The voyage is one of the highest moment. 
 Terrific storms are encountered. Pirates are sailing over 
 this tempestuous sea of life to perpetrate their cruel deeds 
 of plunder and death. We must look out. Our safety de- 
 pends upon our vigilance and prayerful mood. If we in- 
 dulge in ease and comfort on our responsible posts of duty,.
 
 206 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 our inteiests in this wonderful cause will be lost. We mvist 
 shake off dull sloth and arise to action. We will have this 
 care and responsibility as long as life endures. When 
 death ends our career, another will relieve us. So the ship 
 Zion must be guarded and supplied with trusty seamen, 
 who will have fortitude to brave the perils of the deep, and 
 whose fidelity to the Great Captain will never waver. 
 
 Often when we were relieved from our responsible 
 stations on the Oriole, we were so fatigued that we heard 
 with pleasure the relief signal, and soon were wrapt in deep 
 sleep. So, when the woes and burdens of life are ended, we 
 may gladly await the summons from the world above, to 
 break the spell of care and sorrow, and hurry us away to 
 lone and quiet repose in the domains of death. 
 
 One night, as I was plying the helm, a storm arose, and 
 the rain was precipitated from the dark clouds in torrents 
 (for in this torrid region the rain descends in torrents), the 
 order from the mate was given to shorten sail. About all, 
 save the watchman, were asleep on deck, it being more 
 pleasant to repose on deck than below in this warm belt of 
 the world. The officer was necessitated to repeat the com- 
 mand. It was thundered the second time with a severely 
 imperative tone, accompanied by the most violent oaths. 
 The sailors sprang to their feet and ascended the masts 
 with hurried flight. They slipped along the yard-arms with 
 dextrous movements, and soon the order given in wrath 
 and harshness, was carried out by the boys. 
 
 I was relieved from my station at the helm in the midst 
 of the storm, my two hours having expired. Everything 
 moves on with regularity there, in storm or shine. Being 
 relieved of my responsible task, I divested myself of my 
 thin garments and bathed in the floods that were descend-
 
 ON SEA ANO LAND. 20/ 
 
 ing from the clouds. This was a refreshing bath in this ev- 
 er-heated clime; sailors are regular water ducks at any rate. 
 
 We still have our religious meetings as we are sailing 
 on the wings of the wind over the rolling billows. We read 
 the Bible and talk of its saving power. Sometimes we pe- 
 ruse the Old Testament and at other times the New. We 
 read recently of the Syrians' defeat under the power of 
 Elisha's God. They went with an army to secure one man, 
 and he, by the wisdom giv^en him from above, deceived and 
 conquered the entire host. How easily he controlled them! 
 He would not allow them to be abused either, when the 
 king of Israel came out and requested his decision in the 
 matter of life or death. If we would ever keep before us 
 the blindness and helplessness of our adversaries under the 
 Gospel economy, we would not use rashness either. Their 
 defeat is often shameful enough without submitting them 
 to the secular power. "If they hunger, feed them, and if 
 they thirst give them drink, for by so doing thou shalt heap 
 coals of fire on their heads." Rom. 12: 20. The Syrians 
 ate that meal in a very unexpected and critical place. I 
 presume they were astonished. They certainly must have 
 been at their wits' end. I would rather be a sailor on a 
 pent-up floating craft than a Syrian fooled that way. Men 
 of God are not always to be trifled with. When their time 
 comes to gain the conquest, they are backed up by a host 
 of re-inforcements. Take courage, my soul, Elisha's God 
 controls the sea. No one knows what he may do for thee. 
 
 On Feb, 28, about 11 o'clock A. M., we dropped our 
 anchor in Whitehoo Bay at the Marquesas Islands. As we 
 entered the bay we fired two salutes from our signal gun 
 and two canoe loads of the natives came aboard before we 
 anchored. A number of the native women are aboard this
 
 208 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 evening for licentious purposes. I can measure the force 
 and pertinency of that old missionary hymn we were wont 
 to sing in our youthful glee in Sunday-school: 
 
 " What though the spicy breezes 
 Blow soft o'er Ceylon's isle;' 
 Though every prospect pleases, 
 And only man is vile." 
 
 O the joy and blessedness that will follow the renova- 
 tion of this sin-polluted earth. Every nook and corner of 
 it is contaminated by the destructive bane. Our eyes must 
 continually view with abhorrence its ravages on sea and 
 land. The mild and persuasive methods of the Gospel can 
 never quell its withering blights which are so universal. It 
 will require the personal presence of a conquering Christ to 
 stay its baleful power and wipe it out of his own created 
 world. "He will destroy it with the spirit of his mouth and 
 the brightness of his coming." 
 
 We take in a supply of fresh water at these islands. It 
 flows in a perennial stream out of the crevices of the huge, 
 solid rocks, reminding one of Israel's supply of old in a 
 weary land. The lofty summits of these mountains attract 
 the dense clouds, freighted with water, secured by evapora- 
 tion on the deep; it is deposited in the form of rain upon 
 the mountain tops, and thence penetrates the earth and the 
 crevices of the rocks and becomes cooled and purified and 
 fitted to slake the thirst of man and beast in this torrid re- 
 gion where the intense heat creates a burning thirst. So 
 wonderful are the provisions of our beneficent Creator. 
 But notwithstanding all his goodness and mercy in supply- 
 ing all the needs of his creatures, man is ungrateful for his 
 benefits and disregards his guardian care and love.
 
 t/p^cv.ifi^saA'ysr 
 
 209 
 
 A SCENE ON THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS.
 
 210 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 We presented the chief of the tribe with some of our 
 edibles and were permitted in return to partake of the de- 
 licious fruits of the islands. These islands in the sea are 
 similar, I presume, to the oases on the bleak and barren des- 
 erts, where the weary caravans are refreshed on their long 
 and tedious marches. It is, indeed, refreshing to eat of the 
 fruits of these fertile valleys, where the wild man roams 
 and where the sun pours down his intense heat, to be shel- 
 tered beneath the cocoa's shade and lave at pleasure in the 
 rolling waves of the sea that break in these safe retreats on 
 a mild and gently-sloping shore. 
 
 We read the Bible and worship the universal God in a 
 country where the inferior gods of wood are adored. The 
 words of the prophets of the Lord, spoken long ago, deep- 
 ly impress us when they earnestly remonstrated against 
 idolatry. Isaiah declared that they cut down a tree and 
 burned part of the tree in the fire to prepare a roast, and 
 warm themselves v/hen fire is required for that purpose, 
 and from the stalk or trunk they manufactured their gods. 
 Isa. 44. Poor Israel of old had become the devotee of 
 such wooden gods; and after utilizing the tree for the va- 
 rious purposes alluded to by the prophet, they still imag- 
 ined that the trunk of the same tree which they had carved 
 into the shape and figure of a man, was a god. Their 
 hearts were woefully deceived; and notwithstanding these 
 plain disclosures of their sins and follies they would still 
 adhere to their foolish, senseless, dead idols. 
 
 Any fool ought to note the deficiency of such a god, 
 particularly when it is pointed out by a person of such sa- 
 cred mien and profound intelligence as the inspired Isaiah 
 of old. If the life, virtue and attributes of a god were in 
 the trunk of a tree to deliver the mechanics who carved and
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 211 
 
 polished it, as well as the king and all the subjects of his 
 dominion, the remainder of the tree would undoubtedly re- 
 coil, and, with the force of a god, resist such unmerciful 
 treatment. But consider, too, the ignorance of the Dagon 
 worshippers of yore. That god, who had neither life nor 
 brains, confronted the ark of God and fell over on his face. 
 When his devotees came early in the morning (they had 
 much more respect for him than he had for them) they 
 found him in a helpless condition: he could fall, but he 
 could not get up alone. They helped old Dagon up again. 
 Perhaps they thought that he was in rather a sad predica- 
 ment; but then they had always been educated to believe 
 that he was really a god. It is difficult to change the 
 mind that has always been trained in idolatrous worship, 
 and likely the Philistines concluded that Dagon was a god 
 and they would make him stand. But he fell over the sec- 
 ond time before the ark of the Lord. The last time he 
 must have been precipitated with more violence than the 
 first, for the shock knocked his hands and head off. As a 
 judgment from the Lord they were smitten with emerods, 
 and their decision, amid judgment and pain, was to replace 
 the ark of God where it belonged, with the conviction that 
 it was hard on them and their god. 
 
 The Philistines should have discovered that Dagon was 
 not able to help himself, let alone the people. But there 
 are religious worshipers in this enlightened age of the 
 world who, perhaps, are as badly deceived as the Pagan 
 worshipers and the transgressing Israelites were. 
 
 We are born of the will of the flesh, and of blood and 
 of man, and we may hold fast to the respective beliefs as 
 tenaciously as they of old did. Our conscience may be at 
 times reproved and the god of our affections be injured, but
 
 212 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 yet, because the heart has been fortified by early religious 
 training in that course, we are reluctant to discard it. Some 
 eminent, intelligent man may steal the affections of our 
 hearts as the learned Jewish rabbis deceived the people, ev- 
 en in the days of Christ's personal teachings and display of 
 miraculous power, and thus we may be born of the will of 
 man. And if thousands of human beings were mistaught 
 and deceived by men with the advantage of Christ's person- 
 al teachings and disclosures of power, nxay we not, with 
 good reason, conclude that many will be misled now by 
 human teaching and influence, even though they have ac- 
 cess to his Written Word? 
 
 Men of intellect and culture will become a power for 
 good or evil in this world, therefore each for himself 
 should study and examine the living words of Christ and 
 his inspired apostles. They are the only safe-guard against 
 deception, and the detective power to discriminate between 
 truth and error. Blood relationship has a prominent bear- 
 ing on our profession, especially if we have not experi- 
 enced the genuine new birth, or birth of God. Christ says, 
 " He that loveth father and mother more than me, is not 
 worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more 
 than me, is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not up 
 his cross and followeth after me, is not worthy of me," 
 Father and mother have a deep seat in our affections, and 
 it is right that they should have, but not to the extent that 
 should mislead in the doctrines of Christianity. By virtue 
 of the ties of natural relationship we should always respect 
 them, but we should not allow an influence as close as 
 theirs to warp our judgment with regard to Christ and his 
 superior teachings. 
 
 The spiritual ties of relationship, experienced by vir- 
 tue of our union with Christ, are far above the natural.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 213 
 
 The newly-born child of God is completely controlled by 
 this new bond of union; and we can only love father and 
 mother, son and daughter in a superior sense, in the sense 
 in which Christ has loved us all, and laid down his life for 
 us. There has been many a family thrown into a commo- 
 tion because of a separation of carnal fellowship and union 
 with Christ; but unless this separation is effected in its 
 Scriptural significance, we can never exert the pure Chris- 
 tian influence, in its purity, over our blood relatives. By 
 accepting Christ by the faith of the Gospel, we may be 
 made the instruments in his hands, of bringing our own re- 
 lations to the light; and if they have been erroneously 
 taught, and have misconceptions of the Word of God, the 
 Lord will enable us, in the home circle and among our re- 
 lations, to counteract their spurious teachings. By being 
 living examples of the truth, as it is in Jesus, we may be- 
 come the agents in God's hand of leading them into the 
 divine relationship, whose bonds of union shall endure 
 forever. 
 
 To be " born of the will of the flesh," is to be flesh-in- 
 dulgent and pursue all the avenues of carnal interest. It 
 may be under the guise of religion, but the gratification of 
 the carnal propensities is the leading characteristic. How 
 many religious entertainments come under this head, v/here 
 the love of money is the ruling element, and pomp and 
 ostentation, style and gaudy attire follow in the course of 
 sacrilege? This kind of religious worship, I am fully per- 
 suaded, is quite prevalent all over the civilized world. It 
 is not prejudice, but a love for Christ and his pure, un- 
 sullied religion that induces me to protest against it. It 
 .will evidently be found connected with the spiritual Baby- 
 lon, whose terrible downfall is depicted in the Apocalypse.
 
 214 
 
 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 They who are bent upon flesh indulgence, will have it, pos- 
 sibly to the full; but their climax of pleasure will be 
 reached at perhaps no very great distance in the future; 
 Babylon, with all her wealth, fame and ostentation, will go 
 down with a fearful crash. Her opulence, including all the 
 
 '^^iVS^dd ^tJCM^^t^^bJ^ii. 
 
 APPROACHING ONE OF THE ISLANDS. 
 
 varied costly commodities, enumerated by John the Reve- 
 lator, extends over and enriches the greater portion of the 
 world, and the sudden and unexpected decline of her glory 
 will be lamented over land and sea. 
 
 Paul told the wise but perverted Athenians of old, 
 after they had reached their extremity in manufacturing 
 gods, as signified by their own inscription, "To the Un- 
 known God," "whom yon ignorantly worship, him declare
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 21 5 
 
 I unto you." He told them that in this God, whom he de- 
 clared, we live, move, and have our being, and that he had 
 made of one blood all nations, and had fixed the bounds of 
 their habitations. Paul's God is the great omniscient, om- 
 nipresent and omnipotent God; his foreknowledge took in 
 the situations and locations of all nationalities, and I can 
 conceive, as I look upon these heathen people, bowing 
 down to stocks and stones, that God has fixed the bounds 
 of their habitation in these remote islands of the great 
 ocean, and I am convinced that they greatly err in their 
 judgment of the living and true God. But the Athenians, 
 with all their refinement and proficiency in the arts and 
 sciences, knew no more about him, and I must conclude 
 that many of the popular and intelligent in this nineteenth 
 century, arrayed in the popular garb of religion, have but 
 little more knowledge, practically, of the crucified life and 
 the vital power of the cross than the Athenians or these 
 islanders. 
 
 Pandering to the flesh wars against the soul, finally 
 extinguishes the spiritual life of the once live believer, and 
 he recedes into the formal life, devoid of spiritual power. 
 The Jews, who were instructed in their code of laws, enact- 
 ed and transmitted to them by the God of heaven, ceased 
 to be guided by them, and apostatized into the popular re- 
 ligion of their day, which was idolatry. The prophets of 
 the Lord disclosed the foolishness and utter impropriety 
 of their service; but, animated by heathen fame and pop- 
 ularity, and wholly given up to such a service, they recoiled 
 at the representations of the true God and his service; the 
 great chasm of separation became wider and deeper be- 
 tween them and God's faithful prophets, and their words of 
 truth and power became to them as idle tales. Like the
 
 2l6 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 Sodomites of old, they were ripe for destruction; and the 
 wrath of him, whose supreme delight it was to bless, was 
 poured out upon them. 
 
 The apostle John says, " Little children, keep your- 
 selves from idols." He evidently does not have reference 
 alone to the gods constructed of wood and stons, which 
 these South Sea islanders adore. There are other idols 
 which are more likely to steal the affections of a refined 
 and cultured heart, such as the idol of wealth, or the idol 
 of fame, or of pomp and show, pride, love of self. All 
 these indulged and pandered to are included in tne idola- 
 trous channel alluded to by the inspired writer, and it re- 
 quires close examination and scrutinizing care to escape 
 the pollutions of these baneful influences. We are too apt 
 to locate idolatry among the heathen people and overlook 
 the fact that our own civilized world is rife with it. 
 
 The Bible is a very close reckoner and Christendom 
 itself, I fear, is too superficial in her observations. It re- 
 minds me of the story I used to hear about a faithful 
 preacher. His preaching was too strict and searching for 
 his congregation. He preached against pride, and they 
 took exceptions to it. He preached against covetousness, 
 and they did not like it. He condemned their union with 
 the world and its customs and maxims, and they were 
 offended. Feeling somewhat disheartened, he said, " What 
 shall I preach?" They said, "Preach aoDut the Jews." 
 So, I remark, when the minister is loyal to his divine ap- 
 pointment, and discloses the restrictive discipline of God's 
 Word, which discards and severs all the fashionable idola- 
 try in the civilized world, the people are ready to shift the 
 entire responsibility on to the untutored heathen; and if he 
 preaches about idolatry at all, they would rather have him
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 2iy 
 
 confine it to the heathen world where the devotees bow 
 down to stocks and stones. 
 
 Let me relate some more about the natives of the 
 Marquesas Islands. They appear to remember us distinct- 
 ly, from our acquaintance at the first arrival, when we ex- 
 perienced some trials and adventures among them, as 
 already recorded. They still recognize me as the mission- 
 ary, because of my adherence to the Great God of the heav- 
 ens and earth and sea, to whom I had, by gestures and 
 signs, cited them before. I feel rejoiced at the thought 
 that I am leaving impressions on the minds of these poor, 
 deluded idolaters that I will not have occasion to regret 
 when I appear before God in the other world. We are 
 responsible for our lives and actions, wherever we go in 
 this world; and although I cannot, through the medium of 
 their own tongue, communicate to them a knowledge of the 
 condescending Christ and his dying love for the whole 
 world, yet my demeanor, as a follower of that humble, 
 self-sacrificing and loving Jesus, should be known and read 
 of all men, the wild man not excepted. 
 
 Their customs and modes of life are singular. There 
 does not appear to be much tenacity in wedlock, or mat- 
 rimonial life. The marriage ceremony is of a very crude 
 and eccentric order. I am told that the parents of the 
 bridegroom secure one of the hogs that run wild over the 
 island, of slender form, long, with long bristles, elongated 
 noses, and large tusks. It is dispatched and roasted, and 
 the friends of the groom and bride, including the parties 
 engaged to be married, share the repast, and marriage is 
 consummated. But from what inform.ation I could gather, 
 the bond of union simply connected is often disconnected, 
 perchance without any ceremony at all.
 
 2l8 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 Some of the civilized nations also have a bad record on 
 the marriage question. It is surprising to notice the dis- 
 solutions of the matrimonial bonds in the United States. 
 There is commonly much style and ostentation in the nup- 
 tial ceremony and feast, but perhaps the cohesiveness, as 
 to duration of time, is nearly similar to that of the wild, 
 untutored parties of the islands in the sea. Let me tell 
 the young people of America, that the marriage union is 
 one of grave solemnity. In hundreds of instances it is too 
 loosely entered into by the giddy, light and gay. God, in 
 the beginning, instituted wedlock, and rendered it legiti- 
 mate by giving it his own divine sanction. It was regarded 
 as a grave subject by our ancient worthies, and they were 
 cautious in making selections for their sons and daughters. 
 If more precaution and sober thought were exercised in 
 this age of the world, we might show a better example to 
 the heathens. 
 
 In proportion as the religious world relaxes its moral 
 restraints, in about the same proportion, I conclude, will be 
 the declension of virtue and fidelity in marriage. Every- 
 thing will be known by its own fruits at last, and the cen- 
 sure will be located by the righteous Judge where it justly 
 belongs. Lightness and frivolity in religion begets the 
 same spirit in marriage. Cheerfulness, fidelity, honesty, 
 sincerity, gravity and humility will wield their salutary in- 
 fluences over connubial ties. If this spirit of laxity and li- 
 cense to the flesh continues in the churches and the world, 
 what will be the magnitude of their atrocities in the aveng- 
 ing day? 
 
 " Let him that namcth the name of Christ, depart from 
 iniquity." That is one of the seals of the genuine Chris- 
 tian; and the other is, "The Lord knoweth them that are
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 
 
 219 
 
 his. Christ never countenanced or ratified sin in any of its 
 phases, neither can the Christian; and his separation from 
 it will evince to all his integrity and attachment to Christ. 
 " The Lord knoweth them that are his," and it matters not 
 whether those whose consciences are defiled by sin know it 
 or not, the Lord is the great and just Being with whom we 
 will have to deal at last, and it will be worth more than all 
 the fame and wealth of the world to be known and identi- 
 fied as his. Let us descend low into the vale of humility 
 that we may learn the real mind and character of Christ, so 
 as to obtain his mercy in the great day of final accounts.
 
 CHiLPXEl? XVIII. 
 
 ©ti, 
 
 Habits of the Marquesas Natives. — Intoxicants and Tobacco, their 
 Great Curse. — How I got rid of the Tobacco Habit. — Serious 
 Thoughts. — A Native Dinner. — Eating in Primitive Simplicity. — 
 Music among the Natives. —My Experience with a Bamboo Fife. — 
 The Bread-Fruit Tree. — The Restraining Power of a Godly Life. 
 
 T i^^' our island roamings in nearly any direction we can 
 see the almost nude forms of the dark-skinned na- 
 ives. Some are stretched in lazy attitude beneath 
 the cocoa shade; others, with rapid gesticulations and 
 quaint antics, are conversing in their strange tongue, un- 
 known to us; some are sitting composedly in a cross-legged 
 posture in their rude and uncouth huts, while others are at 
 intervals bathing in the sea. 
 
 They have their social entertainments and drunken rev- 
 els. Even in these remote islands intoxicants are manufac- 
 tured. The traffic is not so extensive, nor is it systematized 
 as in the civilized world. They ha\'e no signs suspended 
 designating saloons where the special traffic in the abomi- 
 nable poison is carried on, and thousands are hurried along 
 the drunkard's path to ruin. They indulge in an intoxicat- 
 ing drink, manufactured from the juice of the kava root. I 
 am informed that they chew it and spit the juice in a wood- 
 en bowl, and then, after diluting it with water, strain and 
 drink it. Their brain is uncultured when in its normal con- 
 dition, but who would wish to risk his life among them 
 when intoxicants have crazed it? Oh, ye tipplers and ine- 
 
 220
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 
 
 221 
 
 briates of the civilized world, will you imitate the heathen 
 in their drunkenness and debauchery? Ye, who have all 
 the facilities for the culture of brain and intellect, and mod- 
 esty and decency of character, will you allow the destruct- 
 ive intoxicants and the demon alcohol to dethrone your 
 
 METHOD OF THE NATIVES IN KINDLING FIRE. 
 
 reason and deprave and waste your God-given faculties un- 
 til you become forlorn and desolate wrecks, reeling and tot- 
 tering on the verge of grim death, with the dark forebod- 
 ings of the drunkard's doom in hell? 
 
 Tobacco is also voraciously devoured. Their systems 
 must be entirely saturated with this narcotic. They even 
 swallow the juice, and their whole organism must be
 
 222 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 affected by its excessive use. They smoke vigorously, and 
 it does not seem to concern them where it enters the sys- 
 tem or finds its egress, or whether it escapes the precincts 
 of the body at all. They apparently swallow an occasional 
 whiff, and a portion of the smoke is forced out through 
 their nostrils, part of it through their large mouths, and 
 some, I presume, descends into the interior of the demoral- 
 ized system. That Vv^e may call heathenish. But the civ- 
 ilized man furnishes the wild, uncultured men with the 
 tobacco. That looks bad. He chews and smokes with him 
 too. So far as the traffic and habit are concerned, you 
 might take them all to be heathens; and in many other bad 
 traits besides, you would be driven to the same conclusion. 
 
 I was once a tobacco-chewer myself. I still continued 
 the habit in the commencement of my religious career. 
 My eyes had not been opened yet to observe that it was an 
 unbecoming habit for me, who professed godliness. A vile 
 officer with a Jehu spirit, was the agent for my reproof. 
 One day the crew were encircling the booby hatchway. 
 The captain had a tobacco cask opened, and was issuing 
 the large, black plugs to the officers and crew. I stood in 
 the class of receivers. Plug after plug was handed out, 
 and finally a long, broad and thick navy-plug was present- 
 ed to me by the captain. I good-humoredly received it, 
 intending to chew it as I had been wont to do. Presently 
 the officer in the Jehu lineage looked into my eyes with a 
 taunting smile, and said, "That looks nice for a Chris- 
 tian." He had evidently hailed me in the very act, and re- 
 proved me before all, not that others might fear, but that I 
 might be made a gazing-stock, a reproach and by-word. 
 
 It was an unexpected reprimand, and it came from a 
 source unlooked for; yet there was a bearing of propriety
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 223 
 
 in it. There was a sarcastical smile accompanying the iron- 
 ical remark, and I was left before that laughing assembly 
 in an awkward position, with the heaviest plug of tobacco 
 that I ever before handled. I studied the tobacco question 
 and the propriety of a Christian using it. I was habituated 
 to its use, and to break the fleshly charm would require a 
 resolute will; but I did not want the use of it to reflect 
 upon my Christian character, and so I vowed before God 
 and my shipmates that I would discontinue its use. 
 
 One of my shipmates rejoined, "If you quit it, George, 
 I will quit it too." And we together hurled our plugs 
 overboard, into the great Pacific Ocean. My colleague in 
 this self-sacrifice was afterwards overcome by his hanker- 
 ing appetite and resumed its use again, but, by God's help, 
 I have not used tobacco since the year 1864. I am glad 
 this day for the mate's reproof, and my abandonment of 
 the unbecoming habit, I hope, has convinced him of my 
 sincerity in the Christian cause and my full desire to deny 
 myself of anything that might prevent the free course of 
 God's Word. 
 
 An aged minister of the Gospel once said: "A Chris- 
 tian ought to retain his balance, for God watches him; he 
 should watch himself; the world watches him, and the dev- 
 il watches him. They all watch for their respective pur- 
 poses; but though the watching is prompted by various 
 motives, it should keep the Christian straight." 
 
 Some of the civilians and unbalanced professors may 
 conclude that my illustrations, drawn from heathen prac- 
 tices to reprove them, are uncharitable; but I remark that 
 Christian reproof, received and given, is a means appointed 
 of God to reform and save us, and we should have love
 
 224 
 
 THRILLING INXIDENTS 
 
 enough and stamina enough to correct each other. "An 
 open rebuke is better than secret love." 
 
 " Sin is sin where'er 'tis found, 
 On Christian or on heathen ground." 
 
 I am in the school of discipline myself, and I am daily 
 Deing bettered by the buffetings of the devil, and the re 
 
 A CABIN BOY ATTACKED BY NATIVES. 
 
 straints and wooings of divine love; and I will not admit to 
 any one that I am a peculiar creature for nothing, — it is 
 the correcting influence of God that makes me so. I have 
 quit the pursuit of worldly pleasure, and must remain in 
 the crucible to reflect the image of the refiner. The refin- 
 ing process to myself is often painful to the flesh, and you 
 flesh-indulgers need not look for ease and comfort from
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 22$ 
 
 me, for I can impart only the kind of treatment to you that 
 I get myself. The smelting furnace of God's Word has 
 extracted some of my preconceived ideas, and it continues 
 to cast off the dross and alloy each day. 
 
 This renovating ordeal induces me to endorse all the 
 good qualit.cs of my parents, and blood relatives, and dis- 
 card the bad. Truth is a wonderful balancer, and Christ 
 must be honored above father and mother. Whatever 
 principles have been instilled into our being, by their 
 influences, that do not harmonize with God's perfect criter- 
 ion, must be consumed in the purifying furnace. 
 
 I nexer had a more tender feeling for my mother than 
 during my long and dismal absence on the deep; and I oft- 
 en portrayed to my vision her lonely attitude, her sighs and 
 prayers and tears, but, notwithstanding all these maternal 
 qualities, my mother was not prepared, in my youthful ca- 
 reer, to teach us the system of faith, in full, which effects 
 our separation from the world, and moulds our will-power 
 to a full consecration to the divine service. Hence, in 
 these things, I was constrained, by divine love, to take is- 
 sue with mother. 
 
 One day, while I was roaming leisurely over the island, 
 I accosted about four of the natives in the act of dining. 
 They were sitting ■^ oss-legged on the ground in a circle, 
 around a large wooden dish, which was filled with boiled 
 tara roots, of about the consistency of boiled mush. It 
 reminded me, somewhat, of the mush-pots of America; but 
 the eating process was altogether different. They were not 
 supplied with spoons, but each thrust his fingers into the 
 nutritious substance, and there appeared to be no time lost. 
 They gave me a cordial invitation to participate in their 
 uncouth repast. I did not hesitate to seat myself in the
 
 226 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 circle, and, if one had judged from my method of taking in 
 nourishment, he might have concluded just then that I had 
 been raised on the islands. But while dipping my finger 
 into the dish, I endeavored to keep to my own side, and if 
 I did not eat heartily, I went through the motions at any 
 rate. 
 
 It is good, in some things, when we are in Rome, to do 
 as Rome does; but that rule will not hold out in every par- 
 ticular. Paul said that when he was among the Jews, he 
 became a Jew. I presume that feature, in any of their cus- 
 toms, did not militate against the Gospel. And we will 
 find, if we travel much, that it is not best to be too radical 
 in our own peculiar customs, unless we have direct Script- 
 ure authority. If we have, we need not consult conse- 
 quences. 
 
 The inhabitants of the Marquesas Islands, like nearly 
 all other human beings, are fond of music; but their musi- 
 cal instruments are not very finely graded, and their science 
 of music is not in a high state of culture. All the instru- 
 ment that I saw was a rudely-carved, oblong, flat box, hol- 
 low, with a string spanned tightly over it. At the end 
 they would place their mouth over the string, and then 
 manipulate, with their finger, over the hollow place. Dif- 
 ferent sounds would thus be produced by the action of 
 their mouths, something on the principle of performing on 
 a Jew's harp. They seemed to be quite elated at their pro- 
 ficiency in the uncouth art, and charmed themselves more 
 than they did us. We thought, " When ignorance is bliss, 
 'tis folly to be wise." I felt just then tha^ if I had my 
 cornet, upon which I used to discourse some sweet music, ] 
 would summon them together with the accents of my horn, 
 and afford them some idea of America's culture in the sci-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 22/ 
 
 ence of music. Perhaps there was a little pride lurking 
 somewhere in me. 
 
 I went and procured me a nice, straight piece of bam- 
 boo, and manufactured a fife, which instrument I also 
 played in my military career. It was indeed amusing to 
 see the attraction. They came together from all direc- 
 tions, and regarded me as some supernatural being, and 
 even the sailors themselves wondered that I had kept my 
 musical talent a secret. I was repeatedly called upon to 
 perform, and I found, eventually, that it lent a greater 
 charm than my religion. Seeing that it began to disturb 
 the sailors' feet, and fearing that it might grant license to 
 the f]esh, and intrude upon the sacredness and solemnity of 
 my Christian profession, I treated my instrument as I did 
 my tobacco, I threw it overboard. 
 
 I would not say, on account of this circumstance, that 
 any and all musical instruments are forbidden to a profes- 
 sor of religion, but I would say, at least, that whenever we 
 see that they are detracting from our spiritual influence, we 
 should evidently abandon the use of them. The Bible af- 
 fords many incidents, of the performers on instruments, in 
 olden times, and some excellent musicians were found 
 among God's own people. But Christ, who could have 
 played all instruments to perfection, as far as we know, 
 never gave us one example, and never said that his disci- 
 ples should use this awakening method to inculcate the di- 
 vine music of the Gospel. All the Christian's license in the 
 science of music must be sought for in the performers of 
 old. 
 
 The bread fruit tree bears very valuable fruit and com- 
 prises one of the staple articles of food. The inner bark is 
 tough and pliable, and is manufactured into clothing. But
 
 228 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 little clothing, however, is required, as the natives go al- 
 most nude. The cloth is produced by pounding the bark, 
 with a round piece of wood, on a large, smooth stone. The 
 tree is of fair size, about forty to fifty feet high, and devoid 
 of branches till quite a distance up the tree. The leaves 
 are from twelve to fifteen inches long, and are dark green 
 in color. The fruit is roundish, and rough on the exterior. 
 When it is fully ripe it is yellow, but it is gathered for use 
 before it is fully ripe. The pulp is then white, and nearly 
 of the consistency of fresh bread. The natives dig a hole 
 in the earth, and place therein heated stones. These are 
 covered with green leaves, then a layer of fruit, then stones 
 again, next leaves, and so on alternately until the hole is 
 nearly full; after which the hole is filled with leaves and 
 earth. In less than an hour the bread fruit is baked. It is 
 very nutritious, and answers for bread. 
 
 The time is drawing near, when we must again lea\-e 
 these islands, and take our chances on the unstable ocean. 
 We have enjoyed this pleasant recreation, and cannot help 
 but feel a degree of reluctance to effect our departure. 
 Truly we could not think of settling permanently with these 
 wild inhabitants of the islands; but to reflect on our many 
 days of gloom, in the past, on the troubled ocean, and then 
 of the enjoyment of this respite, and the great comfort, af- 
 forded by the delicious fruits, makes it seem hard to shape 
 ourselves to the old channel of hardships again. I have 
 tried to deduce all the instruction I could with my limited 
 conception of things, and ability to make an application of 
 the knowledge, and I desire to utilize my experience for 
 the benefit of others, religiously, since I have been benefit- 
 ed myself.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 
 
 229 
 
 Our grave decorum and pious mien was a restraint 
 upon the sinful indulgences of officers and crew. They 
 could not sin with as much ease and freedom as they could 
 have done, had there been no moral and religious counter- 
 action. Hence they would demur against us, and we 
 would defend our position from the Bible, and reprove 
 their wickedness.
 
 CH^PXEI? XIX. 
 
 Departure from the Marquesas Islands. — Thoughts Suggested by our 
 Onward Movement. — Difference between Paul and Jonah. — The 
 Power of a Godly Life. — Arrival at Hawaii Island. — Value of 
 Good Anchorage. — Bro. Robert Jones' Recital of his Experience in 
 the English Channel. — Some Incidents while in the Bay of Hawaii 
 Island. — Departure for Honolulu. 
 
 ARCH 14 we took oiir leave of the natives, hove 
 the anchor, and set sail for the bosom of the ever- 
 rolling deep. We took our lingering look at the 
 natives and their island home in the sea, believing that we 
 should never see their brown faces any more in this world. 
 We watched the lofty mountain peaks, until, in the dim dis- 
 tance, they were lost from our vision. So we had merged 
 again into the old element of the sea-faring life. 
 
 But the spell of gloom was, in a great measure, broken 
 by the religious meetings which continued. O how much 
 religious exercises break and modify the irksomeness of 
 life's hardships and woes! We can have no greater pleas- 
 ure in this world than these exercises, and we should apply 
 our Christian energies to influence others to have the same 
 pleasure in them. The love of God is very pure and unself- 
 ish; and when the child of grace is controlled by this divine 
 principle — love — he cannot seek to enhance his interests 
 alone, but the interests of others. It is, in reality, by for- 
 warding the interests of his fellow-men that he advances 
 his own. Hence, the way to be happy ourselves, is to make 
 230
 
 ON SKA AND LAND. 23 1 
 
 others happy. I endeavored to cany out this principle to 
 the best of my ability, and I sincerely hope that not one of 
 the ofiflcers and crew can arise in the judgment and say that 
 I did not free myself of their precious blood, if they are so 
 unfortunate as not to be rescued and saved after all these 
 evidences and entreaties of the Divine Spirit. 
 
 We are all performing our respective parts in the great 
 arena of time, and we are operating either for weal or for 
 woe. Eternity alone will disclose the full magnitude and 
 responsibility of our existence in this world. God holds 
 our destinies and will mete out the judgments for our diso- 
 bedience, and reward us for our compliance with the in- 
 structions his Son has given us. So great is the contrast 
 between time and eternity and so terrible will be the wail- 
 ings of the lost and doomed that the crosses and opposi- 
 tions, encountered by the Christian, will be so little in com- 
 parison with the misery of the damned, that the Christian, 
 who is enlightened in God's Word, should stand for the 
 right though all the world oppose and men forsake him. 
 
 Paul, when a prisoner on the Mediterranean Sea, on his 
 way to Rome to appear before Caesar, admonished the sea- 
 men, but they did not heed, at least not all his admoni- 
 tions. They might have saved themselves much sorrow 
 and hard experience, had they heeded his words of wisdom, 
 influenced and suggested by the Divine Spirit. But be- 
 cause they refused his instructions, Paul did not say, " Do 
 as you please, then, and I will not try to instruct you any 
 more." He pitied them still, though he knew that he must 
 suffer adversity with them. That hero of the cross was so 
 accustomed to opposition that it seemed immaterial to him 
 whether he endured it on sea or land. He prayed that God
 
 232 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 would preserve their lives and obtained the assurance that 
 he would, though the ship was doomed to be lost. 
 
 I imagine I can see that ship of yore "driven up and 
 down in Adria," with the disheartened seamen aboard, save 
 the renowned prisoner who was undaunted by the roar of 
 the tempest and the dashing of the foaming waves. He 
 knew more than the captain did about their fate, and so the 
 children of God could often forewarn people how to escape 
 danger and sorrow in this life, but their judicious admoni- 
 tions are regarded as being insignificant, and they are left 
 to suffer for their own disrespect and heedlessness. They 
 must have been in great distress, as they had not eaten for 
 fourteen days, and Paul broke the long-continued fast by 
 blessing the bread and meat which they ate. This serves 
 as a remarkable instance to give an idea of what sailors en- 
 dure when struggling between life and death. The needed 
 comforts of life are all forgotten in the spell of gloom and 
 sorrow. How those comparatively small ships in that age 
 of time must have been overwhelmed in the cavities of the 
 furious sea! The seamen must have been continually 
 drenched, and in terror and jeopardy day and night. 
 
 O could they but have realized what a jewel they had on 
 board. He was no fugitive Jonah, soliciting them to plunge 
 him in the deep for his misdemeanor; but it was heroic Paul 
 absorbed in the element of divine " love that casteth out 
 fear." Let the reader think of the difference between flee- 
 ing from the presence of the Lord and being bound with a 
 chain for adherence to his cause, — in the line of duty and 
 out of it. Let him look at the serenity on the one hand 
 and the terror and dread on the other. Jonah conceals him- 
 self from the mariners in the hold of the ship; and, loaded 
 down with the burden of his guilt, he tries to forget his sor-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 
 
 233 
 
 rows and woes in sleep. Ah, what an insecure sleep! The 
 seamen are astonished at his drowsiness in such a perilous 
 hour. The black clouds lowering, the tempest in fury 
 sweeping, and the destructive billows beating mercilessly 
 upon the helpless ship, and the prophet of the Lord asleep! 
 The captain himself was obliged to awaken him out of his 
 stupid, guilty slumber. Hear his memorable words in that 
 woeful night: "What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call 
 
 A SHIP IN THE STORM! -CHRISTIAN MARINER ON LIFE'S TROUBLED 
 OCEAN, HOW IS IT WITH THEE? 
 
 upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that 
 we perish not." Jonah i: 6. 
 
 Let the careless, drowsy professor remember fugitive 
 Jonah. Is he evading duty? Is he trying to escape the
 
 234 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 restrictions of the Lord? Is he evading the cross of Christ? 
 Has he relapsed into dull, heedless and guilty slumber? 
 Can he sleep while the storms of sin are raging and thou- 
 sands are perishing around him? Even the unconverted 
 are startled at his stupidity and wonder at his lethargy, 
 while the winds of desolation sweep. 
 
 The two disasters occurred on the Mediterranean Sea. 
 But observe the vigilant eye of Paul. The captain does not 
 need to arouse him; he is wide awake. No occasion for an 
 unbeliever to tell him to call upon his God; he made a busi- 
 ness of that In gloom or shine, in storm or calm. He had 
 already consulted the Lord as to their fate and destiny, and 
 the Lord assured him that not a man should be lost. He 
 was in the line of his duty, he needed not to fear the sea or 
 be ashamed of his chain, for he was a prisoner for Christ's 
 sake. Let them extend the main-sail and let the ship drive 
 before the wind, there was no danger of foundering on the 
 rocks in the dark night. The wreck must take place where 
 the seamen can make their escape. Paul prayed for the 
 safety of the crew. 
 
 Let reckless sons and daughters of pious fathers and 
 mothers think how many prayers are offered for them, when 
 storms are raging and dangers are threatening on every 
 hand, when they are in danger of the physical death, but 
 much more of the horrors of the second death. Perhaps, 
 in many disasters of life, their lives are spared through the 
 earnest pleadings for mercy of their pious parents. God 
 loves them for their obedience to him, and hence hears 
 their prayers in their children's behalf. Let them, think of 
 it solemnly before they reach :: disastrous scene that will 
 prove fatal and they are hurled into eternity beyond the 
 reach of prayer. Pious parents are a great blessing; let
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 235 
 
 their children think of their value and heed their precious 
 counsels. 
 
 God's people should be greatly admired and esteemed. 
 They are the salt of the earth and their prayers and relig- 
 ious influence have a preserving quality. They save the 
 erring when they are not aware of it. I conclude that it is 
 a precious thing that God places here and there a grain of 
 salt among the demoralized seamen on the rolling deep. 
 But for the salt there would be a mass of corruption. I 
 presume that all on board the ill-fated ship on the Mediter- 
 ranean would have been lost, had it not been for that one 
 man whom God honored. Because he had influence with 
 the God of the sea and the storm, and pleaded for the safe- 
 ty of the rest, God had mercy and saved them. I meet now 
 and then a man on the sea who fears God. They are few 
 and far between, but God raises up some in whom he has 
 delight, and makes them a preserving power to others; I 
 mean in the sense already alluded to, through their prayers 
 and Christian influence. 
 
 Abraham prayed for the preservation of Sodom and 
 Gomorrah. He began with forty and ended with ten; and 
 God promised to save the cities if ten righteous Avere found 
 in them; but those cities did not contain the specified num- 
 ber, and consequently could not be saved from the burning 
 flames. That faithful man of God went to the full extent 
 with his pleadings. He knew that his God was terrible in 
 judgment when once his vengeance was aroused. He dread- 
 ed the impending gloom, the sable cloud that hung over 
 the doomed cities. There was not a sufficiency of salt, and 
 the storm of wrath could not be stayed. But not one grain 
 of the precious material will God permit to be lost in the 
 fatal disaster.
 
 236 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 When the time of probation is over, then will all men 
 know how God discriminates between the righteous and the 
 wicked. When the wicked are intoxicated with the pleas- 
 ures of this world, they may regard the righteous as the off- 
 scouring of the world; but when their cup of iniquity is full 
 and the wrath of God is poured out without mixture into 
 the cup of his indignation, then shall the wicked know that 
 the righteous people, whom they often ignored and de- 
 spised, were the preserving power of the earth. The saving 
 of the righteous will even be a sacred work. So precious 
 and costly was the blood that was shed to save us, so pure 
 and unsullied was the sin-atoning victim that was sacrificed 
 on the cross, so terrible is the counteracting force of sin 
 and so adhesive to this corrupt flesh is sin that even the im- 
 purities that remain in God's people must be eradicated ere 
 they can be rendered meet for the pure and spotless clime. 
 " Lot's wife looked back and became a pillar of salt." 
 In a fleshly sense there were attractions. They had hur- 
 riedly left their home in the city, where they had often 
 been grieved, it is true, because of the gross crimes perpe- 
 trated by those wicked inhabitants, and the baleful influ- 
 ence that was exerted by them over their own sons-in-law. 
 They had borne their insults and had been vexed for years 
 in succession; but still fleshly ties had a strong hold upon 
 them, and it was a moment of deepest trial when the hour 
 of their anguish was near and the revengeful storm was 
 threatening. We must set our faces straight forward and 
 flee from the spot we have so long occupied and from the 
 faces that were so familiar to us. But when God withdraws 
 his help, we can do no more for our friends or kindred. 
 All communication may as well be cut off then, and our 
 presence be speedily withdrawn, for the day of his wrath is 
 here, and the time of their wailing in anguish has come.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 237 
 
 I never realized the force of this command so much as 
 when in the hazardous contest with the monsters of the 
 deep. The oarsmen who impelled the boat were obliged to 
 enter the battle with their backs toward the enemy; and it 
 required the strictest vigilance and the most cautious re- 
 straint to keep from turning our heads to survey our 
 dangerous plight. But the harpooner in the bow of the 
 boat, and mate in the rear, or stern, had to be eyes for us, 
 and our vision had to be thrown directly opposite to the 
 scene of slaughter and death. And when the whale was 
 quivering beneath the harpooner's blows, and striking his 
 ponderous tail on the surface of the deep, and the vehe- 
 ment and imperative command was uttered by the Mate, 
 " Stern all," every instinctive impulse of nature had to be 
 counteracted to prevent our heads from turning and looking 
 back. 
 
 This only serves to illustrate how difficult it sometimes 
 is to overcome our natural sinful propensities and the sur- 
 rounding pressure of the world, brought to bear upon us, 
 and fulfill the command of God. We are too apt to take 
 hold of the Gospel plough and look back to the world, and 
 so render ourselves unfit for the kingdom of God. The con- 
 test between the flesh and the spirit is so strong that it is 
 very difficult sometimes to perform the things that we 
 would. 
 
 In navigation we have what seamen term lee-way; it is 
 the drifting of the vessel lee-ward by the under-current of 
 the sea. It is by the daily observation of the sun, whose 
 altitude is designated by the reflecting glass of the sextant 
 (with an imaginary line drawn from the center of the earth, 
 to the center of the sun, which forms the basis of the intri- 
 cate problem), that the variation of the ship from her direct
 
 238 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 course can be corrected, and her exact whereabouts in the 
 deep be plainly pointed out. So I remark that the daily 
 'observations of the child of God should be taken on the 
 ocean of time, where sin is rife and its pressure is brought 
 to bear against him, often causing him to drift from his di- 
 rect course heavenward. We must take the Bible, which is 
 our sextant, and peer into the pure and shining disk of the 
 Sun of Righteousness, view his lineaments, and reflect his 
 image upon us, so that we may discover our drifting, and 
 regain our position on the way to the desired haven of 
 sweet and unending rest. 
 
 Thus we describe life's wonderful voyage to be difficult 
 and often dangerous, and it requires nice government and 
 engineering to urge our way through all obstructions. But 
 if we are as vigilant and sagacious as officers and seamen 
 are in the natural enterprise of navigation, I have no doubt 
 but we shall ultimately reach the harbor. Every department 
 of business in this life requires close attention, persevering 
 energy, and often, fatiguing toil. If natural enterprises re- 
 quire constant exertion and an exercise of these respective 
 traits, do we not justly conclude that the spiritual enter- 
 prise will require the same? The more interest we manifest 
 in our sacred cause, the more success will we meet with; 
 and the more God's servant hath, the more he will receive. 
 God loves to help those that help themselves, and he giv- 
 eth more grace to those who utilize what they have. 
 
 Well, my time is being so absorbed in the religious 
 work that I almost forget to inform my readers of the fact 
 that we are rapidly nearing the Sandwich Islands, where 
 the monotonous spell of the seafaring life will be broken 
 and new courage imparted, particularly in the divine life. 
 I am longing for intelligence from home, and expect a re-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 239 
 
 ply to my letter, written to mother from the Islands on our 
 way from the Arctic region, en route for Lower California. 
 All these expectations, if realized, will afford a new incent- 
 ive to my wandering life, I trust, especially if the letter in- 
 dicates that my cherished friends are still alive. We have 
 had, since we left the Marquesas Islands, the usual ups and 
 do\\'ns that characterize nautical life, of which, by this time, 
 my readers have a pretty fair insight. 
 
 We have been keeping up our meetings as regularly as 
 practicable on shipboard. Some of my adherents are still 
 sanguine in the work, but some are exhibiting a feeling of 
 lassitude and I have unpleasant apprehensions of their fall- 
 ing into sin again. But I cannot do any more to prevent 
 it, that I can discover at present. I expostulate with them, 
 both privately, and when our little number is assembled, 
 and we pay our tribute to the Lord. I feel just as deep an 
 interest now in keeping our little band of seamen together 
 in the Christian work, as I used to feel in keeping my com- 
 rades together when engaged in the sportive element of 
 sin; but I had much more success then than now. That was 
 more easy, natural and congenial to our carnal propensities. 
 But the divine life requires a constant repelling of the car- 
 nal tide, and that, as already explained in this work, is dif- 
 ficult to do, especially on board of a ship where our range 
 of territory is so small, and we are obliged to meet our op- 
 posers all the time. 
 
 I am obtaining some experience in religious govern- 
 ment, and finding out practically what it is to keep myself 
 balanced and help balance others. When I was young and 
 irrepressible I used to harness myself, and do as I pleased, 
 apparently; but now another has harnessed me and leads 
 me whither my carnal inclinaiiions would not go. I find it
 
 240 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 much easier to go with the current of nature than to 
 restrain our passions by grace, and counteract that course 
 which was indulged in so long and became so natural. 
 When I was arrayed in my regalia, and was marching to the 
 timely beating of a drum, with my associates of the band to 
 which I pertained, and we were discoursing the harmonious 
 strains of music, until the welkin was made to resound with 
 the melody— well, that was friendship, and sociability, 
 and enjoyment in the carnal element, but I cannot be liberal 
 enough to call it religion. I love my old comrades in a 
 higher and purer sense now than I did then; but my love 
 now comprehends their eternal good. When operating 
 simply in the social ties of friendship, my love for their 
 welfare was only confined to this mortal and mundane 
 sphere. 
 
 When I see them again, if God permits me to live and 
 enjoy this privilege, I want my life to evidence my carnal 
 separation from our former sportive element, in which I 
 performed my part vigorously, and evince my initiation in- 
 to the new, divine element, which, if persevered in, can bring 
 no regrets, and will ultimately merge me into a sphere ot 
 immortal blessedness. I would much rather employ my 
 time and talent in a work whose character is of endless 
 duration, than to be gratifying my animal emotions in an 
 enterprise, the results of which are only mortal. I conclude 
 that in so many instances the old Adamic nature is just 
 covered over with a little religion, and it is not long till old 
 Adam tears the cover and gets to the top. The only way to 
 keep him down is to strike the death-blow in the start, and 
 never allow him to be resurrected again. If we begin to 
 pander to the old, carnal passions that he controlled, and 
 humored us with so long, you may come to the conclusion
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 24 1 
 
 that our religion will become a mixed affair. That i.s the 
 trouble to-day, — things are too much mixed. Old Adam has 
 become a brother right among us, and he is a very sensitive 
 old man, too, and is soon offended if you do not humor him 
 on the religious plane. You might just as well humor the 
 devil, too, as to humor him; and the only way to get rid of 
 him and the de\'il is to place yourself on the true, 
 Christian basis, clothe yourself with the armor of God, drill 
 until you become dextrous in the art, and wield the 
 Sword of the Spirit effectively, and then cut to kill. Don't 
 merely go through with the manipulations, and after all do 
 no executing. 
 
 This is a wonderful warfare, the most stupendous that I 
 ever engaged in, and we must fight to kill, or there is no use 
 in fighting at all. We want to be sure that we ha\'e the 
 Adamic element well subdued in ourselves first before 
 we attack others, or our religion will suffer severely from 
 the darts of the repelling force. 
 
 On the night of March 27, 1S65, we departed from our 
 direct course by the compass a id hauled our fl>'ing bark 
 close on the wind. We were in close proximity with the 
 Hawaii Island, an island pertaining to the Sandwich group. 
 We stood off till morning, when the captain was escorted 
 by a boat's crew to the shore, and in the evening they re- 
 turned with the pilot. We were conducted within the bay, 
 and there cast anchor. A number of ships were anchored 
 in the bay, among them the Canton Packet, Bartholomew 
 Goslin, and John Honlin. 
 
 We held our little meeting on the evening of March 28, 
 in the quiet bay; while resting at anchor. This is significant 
 in a figurati\-e sense. I wish that all our anchors were 
 properly inserted within the veil, " whither Jesus, the fore-
 
 242 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 runner, is gone." The ship's anchor is a potent instrument 
 and the sole dependence of the mariner in a wasting storm. 
 So I remark that the Christian's anchor is an unquestion- 
 ably sure support in the time of storm, and contains even 
 a much firmer hold within the veil, than the mariner's an- 
 chor in terra firma. The one holds fast in heaven, but 
 the other merely on the earth. If we could only by faith 
 discover the superior strength and grandeur of the spiritual 
 means and measures of the Gospel of Christ! But, while 
 the mariner's anchor is a strong and powerful instrument, 
 he does not, at all times, have safe anchorage. This is the 
 case along some portions of the Sandwich Islands. On 
 March 29 we were struck by a severe gale while anchored 
 in the bay, and the pressure of the storm caused the ships 
 to drag their anchors, and we were in danger of colliding. 
 So we were necessitated to heave our anchors and put to 
 the open sea where the vessels had plenty of sea room to be 
 tossed and driven by the furious elements. 
 
 I wish those of my readers who have never seen a ship 
 laboring in a storm could have the privilege of seeing it, 
 and I would guarantee them a deeper impression on their 
 minds than the description given even by an experienced 
 seaman. The Psalmist David says the ship mounts up to 
 the heavens, and then descends again in the cavity of the 
 sea. This is a fair description. It is wonderful to see the 
 ship rear up, like a frightened horse, over the top of a 
 towering, foam-crested billow; her bow is directed toward 
 the heavens, while she is hurled abruptly upon her beam 
 ends. The previous billow makes its escape, and down she 
 is precipitated, and her bow, or fore part, is buried in the 
 cavity of the sea. Our fore-top-sail was rent in twain by 
 the storm, and as soon as the wind abated sufficiently we
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 243 
 
 bent on a new one. We kept tacking ship occasionally, so 
 as not to be driven too far out to sea, as we intended to en- 
 ter the bay again as soon as the warring elements were 
 pacified. 
 
 But lest my readers should conclude that anchoring is 
 an unsafe process at any time, let me here counterbalance 
 our experience in anchoring at the Hawaiian Island, where 
 the anchoring ground was unsafe, by that of a ship anchored 
 in a terrific storm in the Irish Channel. Bro. Robert Jones, 
 of Whiteside County, Illinois, a native of Ireland, and now 
 a Christian mariner, relates the following thrilling incident: 
 " Our ship was drawn out from Liverpool by a steam-tug. 
 When we reached Ramsey's Bay, in the Irish Channel, the 
 furious billows overtook us from the broad Atlantic, driven 
 by a terrible storm that came suddenly upon us. The 
 steam-tug, in order to make her escape, cut the large haw- 
 ser to free herself from our ship, and hurriedly receded to 
 Liverpool, borne by the powerful waves. We were left to 
 the mercy of the storm, and the captain was driven to his 
 wits' end. He crowded on all her canvas to keep her from 
 being dashed to pieces upon the rocks; but, unable to ac- 
 complish his purpose, his last resort was to the anchor. At 
 first she dragged her anchor, and kept nearing the craggy 
 rocks till the strong fluke of the anchor was sunk into the 
 earth beneath and held her secure. The ledges of rocks 
 projected over the foaming sea, and rose to the height of 
 300 feet. In the rear was Holyhead Light-house, which 
 could not be seen by the ill-fated mariners for the towering 
 rocks. In this woeful plight we remained amid the terrific 
 roaring of the tempest, and the furious dashing of the 
 waves. At times the ship was entirely inundated by the 
 pressure of the storm and sea; but still the faithful anchor
 
 244 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 held fast. The storm raged in all its fury for forty-eight 
 hours and held the sailors and passengers in dread suspense. 
 The third morning the sun arose fair and beautiful; but 
 though the storm had abated, the sea still raged in all its 
 fury." 
 
 The readers may see the propriet}-, then, of the Apos- 
 tle's illustration of the Christian's hope, deduced from this 
 powerful instrument, the mariner's anchor. 
 
 We saw the great volcano, and the melted lava in the 
 form of cinders, which had been hurled down her steep 
 slopes, and were heaped up to a considerable height at the 
 base, showing that during its active operations it had 
 ejected the fiery material through its crater. How wonder- 
 ful indeed are these volcanoes! They are supposed by 
 scientists to be the safety-valves of the earth; and did not 
 the interior of the earth have relief from the accumulations 
 of gas, and intensity of heat, it would necessitate terrific 
 explosions. Here, again, we notice the great wisdom of our 
 Creator, in making these necessary provisions to remove 
 the surplus .matter, even in the heart of the earth. Nature 
 performs her functions admirably in all the departments of 
 her complicated system, because actuated and controlled 
 by the God of nature. In like manner the renovating pro- 
 cess is kept up in the consummation of our spiritual char- 
 acter. The Word of God is compared to a fire, which puri- 
 fies our being; and in the smelting process, or renovating 
 ordeal, the alloy is cast off. 
 
 We remained outside of the bay until the morning of 
 March 30. We kept adjusting our ship as the gale in- 
 creased or decreased, now extending more sail, and then 
 shortening again. But on the morning of the thirtieth the 
 wind abated and we returned within the bay and dropped
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 245 
 
 anchor again. Six vessels are swinging at anchor in the 
 bay this morning. The captain and a boat's crew are 
 ashore all day. The mate, with a boat's crew, intended to 
 board the ship Florida, but was insulted by the mate of said 
 vessel, antl hence he refused to board her; so we pulled him 
 back to our own ship again. 
 The Christian says: 
 
 " When for some little insult given, 
 My angry passions rise, 
 rU think how Jesus came from heaven 
 And bore his injuries. 
 
 " He was insulted every day 
 
 Although his words were kind, 
 
 But nothing men could do or say 
 
 Disturbed his heavenly mind." 
 
 April 2, — Sunday, — finds us still anchored in the bay, 
 and the boats going from the several ships loaded with 
 their respective officers and crews, to visit each other. Sev- 
 eral itrange seamen are aboard of our craft. Among them 
 is a native of the City of Philadelphia. It is a pleasure to 
 meet one from so near our own native place. 
 
 We held a meeting on board our ship this evening and 
 were favored with the presence of several of our visitors. 
 We had good order and attention, which is a source of 
 great satisfaction and comfort to us. It was consoling to 
 have spent the day thus in trying to save ourselves and 
 those who heard us. But the great misfortune is that some 
 who started with us in this noble work are beginning to lag. 
 This leaves a bad impression upon others and renders the 
 way more difficult for us who are endeavoring to act our re- 
 spective parts. If we could only keep all, who name the 
 name of Christ, aloof from iniquity, infidelity would soon be 
 obliged to stop her mouth; but the nominal professor dis-
 
 246 THRILLING INCIDENTS. 
 
 graces the church more than the wicked who perpetrate 
 their unlawful deeds outside of her limits. 
 
 I have paid my vows to God in the anguish of my soul, 
 and though deserted by friends in whom I have confided, 
 and though I be scandalized by them in common with those 
 who have never known the way, yet will I endeavor to hold 
 fast to the covenant I have made with him who will never 
 leave nor forsake me. I have been severely tried in this 
 floating prison on the deep, but my choice, made after 
 counting the cost, has as yet brought no regrets, and I hope 
 that my confidence may be steadfast unto the end. 
 
 At 2 A. M., April 5, all hands were aroused to heave an- 
 chor and set sail, to leave the bay. We designed making 
 our exit the day previous, but the wind was not favorable. 
 As soon as the wind blew fair in the night we took advan- 
 tage of the earliest opportunity to leave. The captain pur- 
 chased fifty barrels of potatoes for our subsistence, and we 
 loaded them before leaving the bay. We are bound for the 
 island of Oahu, on which the capital, Honolulu, is built. 
 
 Hi'
 
 CHAPXEI? XX. 
 
 ^ — . — 
 
 At Honolulu once more. — Letters from Home. — A Letter to my Moth- 
 er. — Departure for the Polar Sea. — Experiences while Traveling 
 Northward. 
 
 VJg^URING the night of April 5 we lay off from the har- 
 '"^t^Jf^ bor of Honolulu, and on the morning of the 6th we 
 **^^'^ anchored outside the Reefs. We immediately went 
 to discharging the cargo of oil and depositing it upon the 
 wharf. It will be loaded on a merchant vessel and con- 
 veyed to Bedford, Massachusetts. I received two letters 
 from my native country: one from my brother, John D. Zol- 
 lers, and one from Isaac Kulp, a member of the German 
 Baptist or Brethren church. I was quite overjoyed to re- 
 ceive the intelligence from the cherished land of my nativ- 
 ity, that mother and brothers and sisters were still alive, 
 save one brother whose whereabouts was not known since 
 the year i860, when he was in Charleston, South Carolina. 
 The rebellion cut off communication, and he has not been 
 heard from since then. They received my letter, writ- 
 ten from this place last Autumn, and the tone of the letters 
 received indicate great thankfulness for my preservation, 
 and particularly for the consecration of my life to the Lord. 
 Though we are almost seventeen thousand miles apart, via 
 Cape Horn, yet our spirits can blend in sweetest union, and 
 our prayers ascend to our Creator and Preserver for his fur- 
 ther care and protection, till we, by his kind pleasure, may, 
 247
 
 248 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 we sincerely hope, meet again. My sister has consecrated 
 her life to the Lord; so writes my brother John, and the 
 precious tidings bring the sweetest consolation across the 
 waters. I trust that the good work will progress until our 
 entire family is devoted to the service of God. 
 
 Bro. Isaac Kulp's letter I read with rapture, as he man- 
 ifested such an interest in my welfare spiritually and tem- 
 porally when I was, as yet, roaming in the wilds of sin. I 
 thank God and him for his Christian kindness, and sincere- 
 ly pray that he may be wielded as a chosen instrument in 
 the hands of the Lord, to arrest many more wanderers upon 
 sin's destructive course. Bro. Isaac was a successful mer- 
 chant, but his heart was not absorbed in his merchandise, 
 for it was athwart the counter that we held our Christian 
 interview before my departure, which impressed me deeply 
 and yielded a forcible incentive to my blessed change from 
 darkness to light. 
 
 To-day I was chosen one of a boat's crew to pull ashore 
 and assist the cooper in hooping the oil casks. I took with 
 me some handsome seashells, which I had gathered on old 
 California's coast for Mr. Weight, the English gentleman, 
 who so kindly and courteously received me into his home 
 circle, and permitted me to share his hospitality, and that 
 of his family, when I was at Honolulu before. But I 
 learned that he had removed from Oahu Island, and I gave 
 my pearly memento into the care of a friend of his, who 
 will forward them to him. Only the officers obtain liberty 
 to go ashore to visit and explore: the crew are deprived of 
 the longed-for privilege this time, and are kept busy a good 
 portion of the time at some labor or other aboard. \Vc are 
 anchored at some distance from the wharf, and our cargo of
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 249 
 
 oil is taken ashore on flat-boats and placed aboard of the 
 ship Asia, to be conveyed to the United States of America. 
 
 We have a strong desire to meet with God-fearing peo- 
 ple in the city of Honolulu, but we must be content to fore- 
 go the privilege this time. Our letters received from home, 
 however, give us untold consolation and we look forward 
 wistfully to the time when we shall meet our friends in our 
 native land, where our associations will not be prevented by 
 maritime restrictions. I am responding, during my leisure 
 hours, to the dear ones who have written to me. Although 
 verbal intercourse has been long cut off by force of circum- 
 stances, yet pen and ink is the blessed medium of commu- 
 nication. I forward two letters from this place — one to my 
 brother in the flesh, the other to my brother in the spirit — • 
 giving them instructions to address me at San Francisco, 
 Cal., next autumn, on our return from the Arctic Sea. 
 These are the orders received from the captain, whose pur- 
 pose is so to do. 
 
 It was my good fortune to be one of the crew at differ- 
 ent times when the whale-boat was employed to convey one 
 officer or another ashore, and bv that means I ^^•as favored 
 with short interviews with my island friends. I met Mr. Bo- 
 ner, a warm Christian professor, who earnestly admonished 
 me to continue in the noble cause which I had begun, sig- 
 nifying that they had heard on the islands of the progress 
 we were making in the divine work. I was informed that 
 the captain himself even gave it his endorsement; and they 
 together seemed to credit the idea that God was blessing 
 our religious work on the sea. 
 
 On April 10 the captain purchased two mattresses, one 
 for myself, and another for my shipmate. This will add to 
 the comfort of our sleeping berths. One of my religious
 
 250 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 adherents became very angry to-day, but bitterly repented 
 after the paroxysm of wrath had subsided. The poor boys 
 are at times severely tried. We hove anchor, and got the 
 ship under way this evening, and I stood watch all night. 
 The wind blew hard, and the sea was very rough. 
 
 . In the afternoon of April 12, we arrived at Hawaii, and 
 the captain went ashore and purchased some potatoes and 
 wood. While others were thus employed, I took advantage 
 of the opportunity afforded by some leisure time, and wrote 
 a letter to my mother. The captain has recalled his inten- 
 tion to sail to San Francisco from the Arctic next fall, and 
 says now that he will return to the Sandwich Islands. 
 Hence my letters from America will be misdirected, unless 
 I can inform them, through mother's letters, of the change. 
 We are still laying in a store of provisions and water for 
 our subsistence in the frigid North. I will here insert my 
 letter to mother from the Island of Hawaii: 
 
 Sandwich Islands, April 12, 1865. 
 Dear, Affectmiate Mother: 
 
 Ere we sail to the frozen region of the North, I will 
 seize my leisure moments, amid the week of preparation, to 
 pen you a brief letter. The best tidings that I can commu- 
 nicate to you are that I am still trying to serve my Creator, 
 God, and others of my shipmates, to my great satisfaction, 
 have become my assistants in the noble work. I thought 
 that we would remain at Honolulu only two or three days, 
 but as it happened, we remained nearly one week, which af- 
 fords me more time to write and mail letters. I was quite 
 overjoyed to receive those letters from my brother John, 
 and Bro. Isaac Kulp. I was glad beyond measure, too, to 
 learn of my sister Kate's union with the church and with
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 25 1 
 
 the Lord. Oh, that I might be with her just one golden 
 hour, and converse about the Savior's dying love. But I 
 must forego this blessed privilege until the Lord's appoint- 
 ed time. 
 
 Mother, I am earnestly praying for you. Tell sister 
 Mary that I often think of her, and much desire her admis- 
 sion into the peaceful fold of Christ. How precious will it 
 be for her to find this refuge in the golden period of her 
 youth! The pleasures of earth soon fade away, and in ma- 
 turer life we are left forlorn and dreary. 
 
 I replied to the letters which I received at Honolulu, 
 and directed the receivers to address me at San Francisco, 
 California, as the captain had given such directions; but he 
 has since changed his purpose, and now says that we will 
 return to the Sandwich Islands from the Arctic Ocean. 
 Please inform them of the change, and tell them to address 
 me at Honolulu, Sandwich Islands. 
 
 We anchored quite a distance from the wharf at Hono- 
 lulu, and in consequence I had but little time to see my 
 friends in that city; but having been employed as one of the 
 boat's crew, to escort the captain and the mates to the 
 wharf, I had a brief opportunity to chat a little with one or 
 two of my friends. I have some warm friends in Honolulu, 
 and I longed much to visit them, but sailors are deprived of 
 many an enjoyable time. 
 
 I received a letter from Samuel C. Damon, the princi- 
 pal missionary of Oahu Island, giving me words of encour- 
 agement in my religious life. He also sent me books and 
 tracts by the captain, to be distributed among the crew. 
 
 I am in good health. Please forgive errors of the past. 
 
 From your roving son, 
 
 George D. Zollers.
 
 252 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 After our provisions were gotten aboard, we extended 
 our canvas to the wind, and set out for our long, and, in 
 some respects, dreary voyage to the Polar Sea. Our only 
 real enjoyment was found in the perusal of the Bible, and 
 our devotional exercises aboard. My main stand-by now 
 was my friend, George Wallace, of New Hampshire. John 
 Nolan, who was quite earnest in the start, had fallen to the 
 rear, and with all our persuasions, he would no more take 
 an active part witli us, his excuse being that it was too dif- 
 ficult to live the life of a Christian on ship-board; the oppo- 
 sitions to a character of humility and gentleness were too 
 difficult to be overcome. 
 
 We had succeeded in making our cherished cause at- 
 tractive to several of the Portuguese, one of whom became 
 penitent and prayerful. The greatest work that we have to 
 achieve in this world is to keep alive spiritually. I have 
 read the account of exploring parties who wintered in the 
 Arctic; and who were obliged to have recourse to methods 
 to awaken the senses of those who became stupefied on ac- 
 count of the cold. The severest of any of these methods 
 was to reprimand and even buffet the stupid and lagging to 
 keep them from being frozen to death. If it required such 
 rigorous measures to preserve the natural life, we must cer- 
 tainly be equally persistent, if not more so, in endeavoring 
 to save the spiritual life. The spiritual existence is the fi- 
 nest part of our being, and its beauty and vital importance 
 are too frequently obscured by that ^\•hich is natural and 
 tangible. 
 
 It seeems to me that if I am able, by the grace of God, 
 to hold my integrity to God and his cause here, I ought to 
 be able to retain it when dismissed from this floating craft. 
 Our thinking powers are all brought into requisition when
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 253 
 
 some vital principle which we hold most clear is at stake. 
 Paul stood undaunted before the tyrannical Nero, when all 
 men forsook him; but in that hour of human desertion the 
 Lord stood by him, and delivered him out of the mouth of 
 the lion. We cannot expect to have a great train of at- 
 tendants and defendants in redemption's cause, from the 
 fact that, in its pure and genuine character, it never became 
 a popular subject. Christ himself did not long command 
 the voice of the populace. While in a spell of impulsive 
 approbation they would take " him by force and make him 
 a king," they soon cried out again with pitiless clamor, 
 " Crucify him, crucify him." But it should be sufficient for 
 the votaries of truth to know that their cause is just and 
 heaven-approved; and though we are discountenanced and 
 forsaken by friends in this world, we shall still have some 
 friends on earth, and not an enemy among the shining 
 throng in heaven. 
 
 "Jesus, I my cross have taken, 
 All to leave and follow thee; 
 Naked, poor, despised, forsaken, 
 Thou, from hence, my all shalt be. 
 Perish every fond ambition. 
 All I've sought, or hoped, or known, 
 Yet how rich is my condition, 
 God and heaven are still my own." 
 
 Every day we are penetrating the higher latitudes, and 
 experiencing a cooler atmosphere than we have been wont 
 to feel; by degrees we must become acclimated. We have 
 been furnished with warmer clothing, to meet the require- 
 ments of the change. Our principal employment on our 
 voyage North is mending sails and repairing the rigging of 
 the ship throughout, so as to have the unstable house, in 
 which we live, in proper condition when we reach the whal-
 
 254 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 ing grounds. We shall then have to give entire attention 
 to that business. We constructed our canvas enclosure on 
 the Royal cross-trees, the Royal being the highest sail on 
 the main-mast or fore-mast. This renders the man on the 
 lookout quite conspicuous, and affords him a commanding 
 view over the sea, which is absolutely necessary. This can- 
 vas enclosure reaches about to the shoulders of the man on 
 the watch, and protects his body from the piercing winds. 
 The position of the watchman is not very enviable, especi- 
 ally when the cold and raw winds are blowing. He is not 
 obliged to remain there when the winds and sea are too 
 boisterous, as on such occasions they could not capture 
 whales at any rate. We experience various conditions of 
 the weather — sometimes rainy, then foggy, then a gale of 
 wind, etc.
 
 CHi^PXEI? XXI. 
 
 "^ 
 
 Doleful Tidings. — Our Flight to Escape from the Privateer "Shenan- 
 doah." — The Advantage of our Retreating Movement. — Capture 
 of a Large Whale, and some Particulars Regarding these Monsters 
 of the Deep. 
 
 %W- STRONG gale arose on the night of May 3, and 
 4^^- t)lew hard all the next day. A heavy sea struck 
 
 ' ^:^, our ship on the evening of May 4, injuring the 
 waist-boat, when swung on the davits. We did some 
 cruising, and captured several whales before reaching Beh- 
 ring Strait. When near the mouth of the Strait we were 
 busily engaged on Sunday morning, with a blazing furnace 
 and seething pots, rendering out the oil. We had our sails 
 furled, save a sufficient amount of canvas to steady the ship 
 while we were operating with the blubber and oil. A ship 
 on the windward side of us bore down upon us, being pro- 
 pelled by a good, stiff breeze. Her approach seemed to 
 create some uneasiness and anxiety on board our craft. 
 The captain appeared anxious to receive any tidings she 
 had to communicate. She proved to be a German vessel, 
 and her commander had gloomy and unwelcome tidings to 
 transmit to our captain. She had come in contact with a 
 large gun-boat, which was favored with a double propelling 
 power, — steam and sail. Her mission was to burn and de- 
 stroy. She was a Confederate gunboat, fitted up while hos- 
 tilities were still raging in our native country, and we were 
 pained at the thought, that even in the distant North we
 
 256 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 must be exposed to the cruel ravages of war. She held the 
 vantage ground in every respect. In the first place, being 
 propelled by steam; and, secondly, she had invaded an un- 
 armed and defenseless fleet. With her large guns pointing 
 from her port-holes she was able to bid defiance to the 
 harmless fleet of whalers, and in a short time she could 
 have pierced their hulls with her destructive missiles, and 
 sunk them beneath the sea. If she came in sight of them, 
 they were obliged to surrender and give their cruel maraud- 
 ers full control. 
 
 It was evidently a severe trial for those competent 
 commanders of whale ships who had conducted with their 
 skill and seamanship through many a threatening gale, and 
 who felt such a deep interest in their floating property. 
 Oh, how they longed for a conquering Monitor in this woful 
 crisis, as she appeared in the hour of emergency at Fortress 
 Monroe. But no Monitor came; they could not repel their 
 formidable antagonist, and hence had to surrender. Some- 
 times she would pounce, as it were, upon four or five ves- 
 sels, floating near each other, and thus capture them all to- 
 gether. She would reserve one or two, perhaps, out of the 
 entire number destroyed, place the officers and crews 
 aboard these reserved ships, and permit them to navigate 
 themselves into whatever port they desired, while the vacat- 
 ed vessels were burned to the water's edge. If my infor- 
 mation is correct, some twenty or more vessels were de- 
 stroyed by this invading foe. It was, however, still well 
 that the lives of her captives were preserved. Had they 
 been attacked by cruel pirates, their lives would have been 
 ruthlessly taken. But it was a hard scene to witness, and 
 the approach of the disaster was very sudden and unex- 
 pected.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 257 
 
 But let US return to the account of our own craft. Aft- 
 er the intelligence was given by the humane German cap- 
 tain, our commander ordered the try-works to be cooled 
 down, the rendering process to be discontinued, and every 
 sail to be unfurled and extended to the breeze, so that we 
 might make our escape before the piercing eyes of the in- 
 vaders would chance to fall upon us. At the same time we 
 saw two vessels to the windward of us, making their escape. 
 May I hope that providence favored us with a strong breeze,, 
 accommodated to our needs in this great emergency, and 
 our Clipper Oriole, with her white wings spread, was soon 
 swiftly flying before the wind in the direction of Fox Isl- 
 ands. 
 
 Our flight reminds me of God's non-resistant people 
 who are commanded by Christ that when they are " per- 
 secuted in one city to flee to the next." They have a legal 
 license to save their property and their lives, if it is possi- 
 ble for them to do so, and make their escape. But in 
 the instance of the destruction of Jerusalem they had to let 
 their property go, and flee to the mountains to save their 
 lives. Our property is inferior to our natural life, and our 
 natural life is inferior to our spiritual life. Hence Chris- 
 tians had better sacrifice their property rather than their 
 natural life, and their natural life rather than their spiritual 
 life. 
 
 These defenseless whaling vessels made their escape, 
 first, because they were not equipped to effect a defense; it 
 was not the kind of warfare in which they were engaged; 
 and, secondly, it would have been rash and unwise for them 
 to expose themselves to the destructive power of this 
 armed invader, whose mission it was to destroy 
 property without retrieve. Hence their commanders acted
 
 258 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 judiciously in making their escape, where this was practica- 
 ble; and those who were captured did wisely in surrender- 
 ing to their tyrannical sway, rather than trying to resist, 
 when they would have lost their lives. 
 
 By parity of reasoning, I contend that God's people 
 are engaged in a spiritual warfare and are not equipped and 
 trained for the natural warfare; hence are divinely author- 
 ized to make their escape from their pursuers, if possible. 
 Should escape be impossible, they should retain their integ- 
 rity and make their spiritual life the first and highest con- 
 sideration, in the event of their apprehension, and sacrifice 
 property and life rather than sacrifice their spiritual and 
 eternal interests. Does this not comport with the teachings 
 and example of Christ? If not, how are we to understand 
 his instructions, and how can we reconcile our lives with his 
 own? Says Christ: " Fear not them that kill the body, 
 and after that have no more that they can do." That ex- 
 quisite part of our being termed the soul, the enemies of 
 Christianity cannot reach: it is beyond the reach of men 
 and devils. The Christian's God has the control of both 
 body and soul; and, although God may allow the killing of 
 the body, by sword, or flame, or piercing bullet, for the ad- 
 vancement of his cause and the glory of his name; yet he is 
 able to resurrect the body and place it in unison with the 
 soul again, in the most perfect attitude in celestial glory, or, 
 if we despise his Word, he is able to cast both body and 
 soul into hell. 
 
 Our last thought deduced from this marine disaster is, 
 that we must all, without discrimination, at last succumb to 
 the tyrant, death. This fatal enemy may pounce upon us 
 just as surprisingly as the " Shenandoah " came upon the 
 •whaling fleet; and we will have to surrender both our prop-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 259 
 
 erty and our life. There will be no possibility of fleeing 
 from his cold and ruthless grasp; and all our fame and 
 wealth will have an end, so tar as our interest in 
 them is concerned. This cruel monster is effecting 
 his ravages on land and sea. Let us be wise, and prepare 
 for the land of bliss and immortality. 
 
 I will now refer to our retreating Oriole again, and 
 disclose to my readers the fact that our apparent misfor- 
 tune was no misfortune after all, I mean so far as being 
 compensated with oil was concerned; for the formidable 
 enemy, whose approach we so much dreaded, ran us right 
 into a streak of good luck. 
 
 When near the Aleutian Islands, we lingered and 
 cruised, until we supposed the danger was over and our 
 dreaded foe had left the North. We spent about two weeks 
 as fugitives, and while in this line of operation we captured 
 the largest whale of the entire voyage. It was a large right 
 whale, and produced one hundred and seventy-three bar- 
 rels of oil. 
 
 The northern whale is about sixty-five feet in length, 
 and forty feet in circumference. From the head to the tail 
 it is round in formation. The jaw-bones are from twenty 
 to twenty-five feet in length, and are curved. The upper 
 jaw contains the whale-bone. The plates vary in length, 
 the longest being between the center of the series and the 
 throat; thence they taper toward each end of the mouth. 
 Each side of the mouth contains about 200 blades. The 
 largest laminae are from ten to fourteen feet long, and 
 about one foot in width, where they enter the jaw. On the 
 upper portion of the head are two spout-holes. Their ex- 
 ternal openings form an acute angle. Through these open- 
 ings the animal breathes. The eyes are not larger than the
 
 26o 
 
 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 eyes of an ox; but they are quick-sighted. The hearing 
 seems to be dull. The throat is small. The fins are from 
 four to five feet broad and from eight to ten feet long; they 
 
 MODE OF BUILDING HOUSES AxMONG THE INHABITANTS 
 OF NORTHERN CLIMES. 
 
 serve to direct the course of the whale when locomotion is 
 produced by the tail. The tail is horizontal, and about 
 twenty feet wide. In this huge appendage is located the
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 
 
 261 
 
 Strength of the monster. The color is black, interspersed 
 with gray and white. The skin is about an inch in thick- 
 ness. Below the skin is the blubber, varying from ten to 
 fifteen inches in thickness. Some whales, like some hogs, 
 are fatter than others. The whale, as a general thing, re- 
 mains under water from twenty to thirty minutes. The 
 maternal affection of the whale is remarkable. The young 
 one is often struck first for the sake of procuring the 
 mother, which will come close to it and encourage it to 
 make its escape, by taking it under its fins. However in- 
 tense her sufferings, she will not forsake it, even amid the 
 throes of death.
 
 CH^PXEI^ XXII. 
 
 A Disastrous Attack. — In the Arctic once more. — Jonah's Experience 
 with a Whale. — How the " Would-be " Scientist is Puzzled about 
 the Lord's Doings. — A Reasonable Conclusion. — The Lord's 
 School of Discipline. — The Power of the Almighty, as Shown in 
 His Wonderful Works. 
 
 N the act of capturing this huge monster, referred to 
 in our last chapter, one of our boats was stove by 
 
 riiC- him and so badly demolished that it was lost. The 
 great whale thrust his huge fin through the thin cedar 
 boards (of which material whale-boats are constructed) and 
 the boat, in an instant, was rendered useless. You should 
 have seen the crew scramble to the rear of the boat, and 
 overboard, for the security of their lives. They were soon 
 rescued by the other boats, and there was no let up to our 
 fatal darts and incisions to secure our victim, that could be 
 valued, at the least calculation, I think, at three thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 Our captain felt quite mortified when the privateer pre- 
 vented him from entering the Arctic at the time he desired^ 
 but now he feels as though he had not suffered any loss in 
 our retreating movement. Our clipper Oriole is good on a 
 retreat at any rate, if she cannot do much execution in bat- 
 tle. We have nothing in the form of war implements 
 aboard, save a signal-gun, to be used in times of distress; 
 
 and we used it also at the Marquesas Islands, to surprise 
 262
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 263 
 
 the natives, I presume, more than anything else. We did 
 not undertake to surprise the Shenandoah. 
 
 At the expiration of about two weeks we returned to 
 the mouth of the Strait, feeling our way cautiously, like 
 some timid animal returning to its prey after having been 
 severely chased. We met a few vessels that had been scat- 
 tered during the consternation. The general impression of 
 seamen seemed to be that the disturber of their peace was 
 gone. 
 
 On our voyage out from America we were suspicious of 
 meeting the Alabama, but she having been destroyed, an- 
 other succeeded her in the molestation and plunder of ships 
 on the great waters. So the schemes of sin and the devil 
 are carried on throughout the successive generations; one 
 famous marauder disappears from his active pursuits in 
 sin's destructixe way and another is ready to take his place. 
 The rumor was here that one of the officers of the Alabama 
 was commanding the Shenandoah. 
 
 Well, we passed through the Strait safely and floated 
 in the Arctic once more. It seemed natural to be among 
 the floating ice again, cautiously steering our ship to avoid 
 these barriers as we proceeded. We had quite an experi- 
 ence in another Arctic term. I sincerely hoped that this 
 term would complete the course of discipline in this por- 
 tion of the world. I should have been extremely glad to 
 reach the terminus of my nautical life, for I was tired of be- 
 ing driven and tossed on the sea. I knew one thing, and 
 that was that I was not sufficiently interested in the whal- 
 ing prospect to make it the pursuit of my life; it stuck to 
 me much closer than I was inclined to stick to it. As soon 
 as my contract for this voyage was filled, it was doubtful 
 whether I should be found chasing these big sea-monsters
 
 264 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 any more. If I helped to catch anything I hoped it would 
 be men. That is a prospect of higher moment, but there 
 are also dangers and hardships connected with that. 
 
 The Savior told his disciples that he would send them 
 forth as sheep in the midst of wolves, and charged them to 
 be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. Peter was 
 an old expert fisherman, and he had splendid tact for catch- 
 ing men. He m-ade an excellent haul on the day of Pente- 
 cost. 
 
 The prophet Jonah had more experience, I presume, — 
 not in the matter of catching whales, but being caught by a 
 whale — than any other herald of the Lord, and it made him 
 quite successful in catching men. But he did not seem to 
 approve heartily of the Lord's method of securing the Nin- 
 evites; he seemed to be a sensitive creature; like some more 
 of us, he had much to learn. I scarcely ever helped to dis- 
 sect a whale without thinking of the fugitive prophet and 
 wondering as to the whereabouts of his miserable location. 
 The New Testament says in the "a\ bale's belly," and Jonah 
 himself, in his bitter prayer, terms it " the belly of hell." I 
 have never been in the interior of a whale's abdomen, as we 
 seldom open it for the oil upon the entrails, but I have 
 more than once traversed and dodged around in the interior 
 of its huge mouth, and I have concluded that there would 
 be sufficient room in there for quite a number of Jonahs. 
 
 The throat of the right whale is small, and that is one 
 of the exceptions the skeptic makes to the veracity of the 
 narrative. But God has performed things, alluded to in the 
 Bible, just as wonderful as the preservation of his sensitive 
 and dissatisfied Jonah. The congealing of the waters of 
 the Red Sea, and the march of his people through the dry 
 passage is just as wonderful, and related with as much sim-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 265 
 
 plicity of style as the miraculous preservation of the fugi- 
 tive prophet. The opening of the earth's mouth and swal- 
 lowing only those famous rcvolters in Israel and all their 
 adherents, and preserving the remainder, who refused to 
 sympathize with them, is another marvelous tragedy. And 
 so we might go on and multiply incidents. 
 
 But to return to the skeptic's weak argument. If he 
 wants to make the smallness of the throat his leading ob- 
 jectionable feature, it is evident that he failed to post him- 
 self in the history of the formation of whales before he be- 
 gan his argument, for there are different species of whales, 
 and they are differently formed and constituted. The sperm 
 whale has a gullet sufficiently large to swallow a man, but 
 the right whale, we admit, according to nature, has not. 
 The sperm whales are supplied with teeth to serve them in 
 the process of mastication, but the right whales are not sup- 
 plied with teeth. The right whales, instead of being fur- 
 nished with teeth, have the baleen, or whale-bone, orderly 
 arranged in plates in the upper jaw, which are clothed on 
 the inner edge with a long fringe, suspended in their huge 
 mouth. This fringe aids in the retention of their food, 
 which consists of small nutritious substances that mav be 
 admitted through their small throats. 
 
 If the Greek word for abdomen, or the belly of the 
 whale, will admit of the definition cavity, as I was told by 
 one person, w4io seemed to be assured that it would admit 
 of that rendering, then I would be about ready to conclude 
 that Jonah was entrapped by the right whale and found his 
 temporary lodging-place in the first cavity, — the mouth. 
 The long fringe hanging in the interior of the whale's 
 mouth would seem to harmonize with Jonah's prayer, " I 
 cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he
 
 266 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heard- 
 est my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the 
 midst of the seas; and th)^ floods compassed me about, all 
 thy bilious and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I 
 am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy 
 holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the 
 soul; the depths closed me round about, the weeds were 
 wrapped about my head." 
 
 Notice the last expression in his prayer, I mean the 
 last which I have quoted, " the weeds were wrapped about 
 my head." That would be precisely the sensation pro- 
 duced upon a man's head in the mouth of a right whale. 
 The fringe, already alluded to, suspended from the whale- 
 bone, would naturally encircle itself about the head. Jo- 
 nah would also receive the benefit of the air which the 
 whale inhaled. After descending, it arises as soon as res- 
 piration is required to take in a fresh supply of air. The 
 contracted condition of the throat, and the inability to 
 sv/allow such a large and unnatural object, would very like- 
 ly provoke the huge monster to vomit him out; for he was 
 continually coming in contact with that little throat, and 
 the whale was not able to get rid of him, and he was even 
 in the way of his taking in his natural food, adapted to the 
 passage of his small gullet; and so I conclude that they 
 were both eager to separate. The whale was about as tired 
 of Jonah's presence as Jonah was of his situation in the 
 whale's mouth, or cavity. The process of vomiting must 
 have taken place in close proximity to the land, in order 
 for the fugitive to travel on his way to Nineveh, Whales 
 have been known to be left by the ebbing tide without a 
 sufficient depth of water to return to the sea. 
 
 Now we have opposed the skeptic's argument almost 
 from a basis of nature, but would say in conclusion that we
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 267 
 
 are fixed upon a surer and firmer basis, which is faith in 
 God's Word. Occupying that safe position it matters not 
 to us, who believe in the power of God, whether his servant 
 Jonah was in the cavity of a right whale or the belly of a 
 sperm whale. That God, in whom we believe, was able to 
 preserv^e him, and have his own created monster to dis- 
 charge his captive whenever he saw that his heart was 
 moulded to obedience. 
 
 It is a grand thing that a deserter from duty could have 
 this temporary refuge afforded him. Although he was dis- 
 obedient to God, God was merciful to him, and it was far 
 better for the prophet to be thus arrested, and severely dis- 
 ciplined and humbled, than to perish in the deep, without 
 retrieve, and to be hurled into the deeps of eternity to wail 
 in misery for his disobedience. And not only he himself 
 was in danger of being lost, but the thousands at Nineveh 
 whom God chose to save by his preaching. 
 
 Here we may discover the mercy of God in correcting 
 his children, that they may be saved and become instru- 
 ments in the salvation of others. I am ready to believe that 
 my severe schooling among whales is good for me. 
 Though I have never been as unfortunate as Jonah, never 
 been incarcerated in the interior of a living whale, yet I 
 have been all around them, and even on the back of a live 
 whale, when in the terrible contest to dispatch them. Some 
 may think that this is only a big fish story, but it occurred 
 while attacking them, while the sea was quite rough, and 
 we were rendered helpless, in a measure, by the powerful 
 waves that beat against us, and carried our boat on the 
 monster's back; but his ponderous weight lowered in the 
 yielding element, and relieved us from our dangerous posi- 
 tion. I feel assured that the Lord has corrected, and is
 
 268 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 still correcting my life, and though the discipline of his 
 mercy be severe, 
 
 " Yet I yield, I bow, I kiss the rod. 
 That saves thy servant, O, my God." 
 
 God would have, no doubt, taught me his discipline in a 
 milder form, had I improved my knowledge of him on the 
 land, but having been insubordinate to his will, he has al- 
 lowed me at least to repair, like the fugitive of old, to the 
 sea in a ship, the only difference being that Jonah paid his 
 fare, and I must work my way. Guilt would more than 
 once have driven me to the hold of the ship, to sleep in the 
 darkness when the storm was raging, but I had to scale the 
 masts with the seamen, and with them share the exposure 
 to the fury of the blast. I trust that my practical schooling 
 will serve as an incentive through life, to aid in regulating 
 my character, and that I may be faithful to herald the dis- 
 pleasure of God against sin, whether found in high places 
 or low, whether great or mean men confront me, for it is 
 only the faithful disclosure of his Word. 
 
 In the gloom of dark desertion, when sorrow and woe 
 dissolve the heart in penitence, then we turn wistfully to- 
 ward the divinely-sacred place, and wish ourselves in the 
 sacred enclosures once more. God will not always, even 
 by affliction, humble the human heart, as many, in the 
 deepest throes of anguish, pass beyond this mortal sphere 
 with a deep and thrilling sense of neglected duty, who are 
 not permitted, under the strokes of the correcting rod, to 
 return and redeem the time which their prayers implore 
 him to grant. 
 
 As Jonah found mercy of the Lord in turning the vision 
 of his soul toward the beautiful temple of the Lord and was
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 
 
 269 
 
 liberated from his gloomy prison, so let me turn my whole 
 soul towards God's temple, — the church, — and worship as 
 best I can in my floating prison, which is sometimes buried 
 in the floods, until the same God who guided the monster 
 that bore his contrite and fugitive prophet of old, shall di- 
 rect our floating bark to the land of my nativity, when my 
 heart, I trust, shall be fulh' moulded to do his righteous, 
 will and pleasure in the temple. 
 
 A SCENE IN THE POLAR SEA. 
 
 Thus I am rejoiced to recognize that the Bible contains 
 a cure for every disease, while mercy predominates, and in 
 whatever direction our afflictions may tend, we may find a 
 corresponding incident to counterpoise our hearts in the 
 trying ordeal. 
 
 The golden sun again shows itself in his oblique rays, 
 in this frigid clime where the empire of night, but a short time
 
 2/0 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 ago, held the entire sway, but it evidently must be a source 
 of great consolation to the inhabitants of this northern 
 region, to see his bright visage appear again above the 
 horizon, after his long absence, during which time they 
 were merged in the gloom of night. 
 
 The weather during the short summer is sometimes 
 quite agreeable; though the sun's rays fall obliquely, yet 
 their constant descent without any intervention of night, for 
 a time evinces some force of heat in the melting of ice, etc. 
 The atmosphere being pure and bracing, it is conducive of 
 health and activity; our emotional tide sometimes runs 
 high, but the physical taxation is greater than the mental, 
 and w4ien the physical strain subsides, we require all 
 our leisure hours for rest to recruit the exhausted state of 
 the system. In a peculiar world like this, where the day is 
 constant, we are always in danger of having our hours of re- 
 pose intruded upon, as a large, spouting monster may oc- 
 casion our disturbance at any time. If it were my lot to 
 spend much of my time in this world of almost constant 
 day, I would be pleased to have our labor more systemat- 
 ized, so as to afford us more regular repose and recupera- 
 tion of physical and mental force. 
 
 Perhaps I may unconsciously repeat some things which 
 I have already said, but my visit being repeated to the same 
 place, may naturally bring about such an occurrence. 
 
 The Arctic region, for many years in the past, has been 
 the occasion of much adventure and research. Eminent 
 navigators have taxed their skill and hazarded their lives in 
 trying to gain a knowledge of the condition of the sea in 
 closer proximity to the North Pole. The wonderful circu- 
 lations, occasioned by ocean currents, have been a matter of 
 profound investigation by men of scientific attainments.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 2/1 
 
 The Gulf Stream, which flows north, with its deep blue cur- 
 rent, distinguishable from the great body of water through 
 which it passes, both by its deeper tinge and tepid condi- 
 tion, modifies the air on sea and land as it traverses the 
 mighty deep, and by some it is conjectured, to wield a mod- 
 ifying influence even in the supposed open sea near the ex- 
 tremity of the North Pole. The influx of the great rivers 
 into the Arctic Sea, and the tendency northward of the 
 numerous birds in the higher latitudes of the north, all con- 
 tribute to strengthen the view of a more modified climate, 
 and a polynial sea, or sea free of ice. But many of God's 
 mystical works in nature are past finding out, yet so sym- 
 metrical and precise are the operations of nature's laws, that, 
 when the leading principles are comprehended, we may 
 proceed in our reasonings from cause to effect, and from 
 effect to cause. No telling, indeed, as to what future years 
 of Arctic explorations will disclose. Repeated experiments 
 and scientific development may yet bring about new discov- 
 eries in the Arctic world, for I verily believe that the age of 
 wonderful disclosures is here, and God gives the wisdom to 
 men that his prophets have spoken of remotely in the past. 
 The wise Daniel's prophecy purports that "in the latter 
 days knowledge shall increase, and they shall run to and 
 fro over the earth." I presume this language will also ad- 
 mit of voyages on the sea, and the wisdom or knowledge, 
 utilized in the scientific disclosures of ocean currents, at- 
 mospheric circulations, their striking phenomena and won- 
 derful results. It is wonderful to think of mighty currents 
 of surprising width, maintaining a regular flow at consider- 
 able velocity, and pouring their vast volumes of water on- 
 ward through the expansive deep. 
 
 Then let us turn our eyes upward and survey the at- 
 mospheric region, and contemplate the regular and irregu-
 
 272 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 lar currents of air. What a mighty engine, of immense 
 motive power, is the atmosphere above us! 
 
 But while these disclosures of the scientists are stupen- 
 dous and grand, they remind the child of faith that the 
 knowledge transmitted to man by the Great Creator is 
 suggestive of the latter days, and I would infer that, accord- 
 ing to prophecy, we are very near the millennial age; when 
 a domain of royal grandeur shall open up. that will be far 
 more atti active, and interesting, than this frozen Arctic Sea. 
 We can resort to no quarter of the earth or sea, as indicated 
 and pointed out by that wonderful instrument,— the marin- 
 er's compass,— that is not polluted by sin, the bane of the 
 world; but when the triumphant age of the millennium shall 
 appear, that baneful power, that mars the beauty of all 
 earthly things, shall be subdued, and we will enjoy a cli- 
 mate that will not vary from intense heat, to extreme cold. 
 We listen, with interest and admiration, to the explana- 
 tions of scientists, philosophers and astronomers, as to the 
 sublime and wonderful movements, results, and influences, 
 in their various fields of explorations and research, and ap- 
 propriate all that will aid us in our researches spiritually, 
 and that may aid in the enlargement of our vision of faith, 
 relative to the manifestation of celestial splendor and glory 
 at the personal appearance of Christ. 
 
 My special work, wherever I go, seems to be to exert a 
 religious influence over my fellow-men; and I must needs 
 post myself, as much as possible, in the blessed Bible, for 
 my own comfort and edification, as well as to instruct the 
 tractable and piously inclined, and withstand the spurious 
 arguments of the gainsayer.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 --^1^- 
 
 The Colored Boy and the Great Change in his Character. — My Part in 
 that Work amid the Displeasure of the Crew. — Our last Look at 
 the Arctic. --"Just a Little More," the Desire ot the Wordling. — 
 On the Way South again. ^ Hardships of the Mariner. 
 
 ^'*' \ the rolling deep I met with etll kinds of disposi- 
 l^^^to tions. I presume my readers recollect the colored 
 >jis^s>% boy to whom I have already referred in my work. 
 He had a special talent to divert, and interest the sail- 
 ors by his comic antics. I also mentioned of having 
 introduced to him the religion of Christ, and the deep im- 
 pression it seemed to produce upon his mind. In this Arc- 
 tic region I learned that the seed sown in his heart has not 
 been lost, but that he is deeply interested in the religious 
 work, and is trying to execute his part of the work aboard 
 the ship, where he lives and operates as a sailor. His life 
 is producing quite a sensation among his officers and crew, 
 and some of them are censuring me for having inoculated 
 the leading factor in the line of carnal amusement with so 
 grave and solemn a spirit as that of the Christian religion. 
 The humorous and sportive spirit having been cast out b\' 
 the divine power, the hope of their gains is gone, and now 
 they are ready to wreak out their vengeance upon me, as 
 having been the cause. 
 
 So Paul and Silas were maltreated of yore, when the 
 spirit of divination was driven out of that noted damsel. 
 
 273
 
 274 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 I have not as yet resisted unto the blood, striving against 
 sin, but I have resisted against frowns and sneers, and bitter 
 retorts, and scandals. But it is evident, that wherever 
 Christ's power is revealed in casting out devils, and saving 
 souls, there the devil begins to wield his infernal power, to 
 counteract the good work of the Lord, which is disclosed 
 by the strife of tongues, and the slanderous efforts of his 
 agents. Even our own cook, of African descent, with skin 
 as black as jet, and hair suspended in graceful curls, could 
 roll up the white of his large eyes, and utter his ludicrous 
 phrases, accompanied w^ith his naturally quaint antics, to 
 vie with the best trained clown of the circus. He, too, felt 
 chagrined that his colleague in humoristic efforts, had 
 ceased his efforts in that line. His eyes glared with anger, 
 and the tone of his voice denoted vengeance, while his 
 words, like poisoned arrows, were hurled. But 
 
 "A poisoned arrow cannot wound 
 A conscience pure and clear." 
 
 God gave me the ability to vindicate his cause and re- 
 pel the darts of the adversary with the unconquerable ar- 
 guments of his Truth, but the poor colored boy's mind 
 was not strong enough, seemingly, to endure the opposi- 
 tion, and the reflection was cast into my teeth by some that 
 I was the main cause of his insanity. There was, however, 
 nothing dangerous about him so as to necessitate binding 
 or confinement. He was all the while permitted to run at 
 large on the ship and still performed his part as a seaman, 
 as he was wont to do, before his mental aberration. I 
 heard at one time that, under the cover of night he descend- 
 ed into the cabin and preached to the officers, and warned 
 them all to desist from their evil ways or they would be 
 turned into hell with the nations that forget God.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 275 
 
 It was told me b\' our cook that it would not go well 
 with me if the crew could apprehend me, but I felt no alarm 
 about that, as I knew that my work was divinely ratified, 
 and "if God be for us who can be against us?" God is 
 able to take care of his own work, and those, too, who are 
 his agents in carrying on that work, and if they receive per- 
 sonal injuries by the enemies of truth, or even death itself 
 be their fate, all will be well. Christ says, " Fear not them 
 which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but 
 rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body 
 in hell." If we could always measure the magnitude and 
 importance of our spiritual interests, we would press onward 
 in our vindications in the cause of truth and salvation, 
 through slander, reproach, peril and blood. 
 
 I will tell the reader still more about my colored con- 
 vert when we get to the Sandwich Islands for the last time 
 on our homeward voyage. Meanwhile let us take our last 
 look at the Arctic, for we never expect to return to give a 
 description of its scenery, hardships, and adventures. The 
 ships that escaped the destructive clutches of the "Shen- 
 andoah" are making good use of their short season in the 
 Polar Sea, and most of them are having good success in se- 
 curing whale oil and bone. At the expiration of the sea- 
 son, the ship " Onward," we are told, had secured 6,000 
 barrels for the voyage from June 1863 to September, 1865; 
 that is doing extraordinarily well. The Oriole, during that 
 time, has taken in just the half of that amount, or 3,000 bar- 
 rels; other vessels, during the same length of time, have 
 been less fortunate. The decision of the captain is, that 
 our ship will be directed toward our native land after leav- 
 ing the Arctic Region. We all hope that he will not change 
 his mind, for " home, sweet home," in these high latitudes
 
 276 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 has a very musical sound. But some captains expressed 
 their intention to remain and engage in the dangerous pur- 
 suit of catching whales. Even the captain of the " On- 
 ward," successful as he has been, says he must have more 
 oil before he can consent to return. It is hard, indeed, for 
 a rich man to get enough of the riches of this world; the 
 more he gets, the more he wants. The rich man, who was 
 asked as to what amount of wealth would satiate the mind 
 in pursuit of it, said, "Just a little more." Just a little more 
 opulence at the sacrifice of home comforts and endear- 
 ments; just a little more at the sacrifice of health, and the 
 endurance of hardships in this world; just a little more, un- 
 til friends, health, life, and the interests of the soul are all 
 gone. 
 
 Gain is a great god in our affections; " some people sup- 
 pose that gain is godliness." That is a misconception; but 
 godliness with contentment is great gain whether we are 
 poor or rich, and as we can neither bring anything into the 
 world or carry anything out, we ought to be wise and sensi- 
 ble enough to labor for the spirit of contentment with more 
 godliness than we do for gain pecuniarily. I hope I will be 
 as ready to leave this cold world of sorrow when the time 
 of my departure comes, as I am to leave this frozen world 
 of the north, and though the passage lies through a domain 
 that appears dark and dismal to us, yet the way has been 
 paved and graced by the presence of the Redeemer him- 
 self. Christ himself will accompany us through the dark 
 valley, and conduct us safely to the realm of joy and bless- 
 edness forever. 
 
 But think of a twenty thousand miles' voyage, in which 
 every zone that encircles the earth must be crossed, save 
 the Frigid Zone within the Antarctic circle. Though diffi-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 277 
 
 culties might attend our way, I thanked the Lord that I 
 was enabled to begin this long voyage with a brighter vis- 
 ion before me, and with sensations more buoyant than I ex- 
 perienced on my dismal passage from my country toward 
 this dreary region in the Polar Sea. I have now become in- 
 ured to the life of a sailor and have outweathered many a 
 threatening gale; I have toiled beneath a burning sun in the 
 torrid belt, and I have felt the keenness of the atmosphere 
 in the Frigid Zone. But we rejoice in anticipation of meet- 
 ing the loved ones at home. 
 
 Some of our shipmates, from the Cape Verde Islands, 
 toward the coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean, were sad 
 because a famine had prevailed on their native islands dur- 
 ing their absence on this long voyage, and many of their 
 friends had died of hunger. The blood that circulated be- 
 neath their dark skin caused the emotional tide to rise and 
 beat in their hearts, as well as ours, at the thought of home 
 and its connectmg charms. But the horrid thought of 
 friends having been reduced to starvation and misery, cast 
 a gloom over the sensations of joy. We sympathized with 
 .them, not knowing what tidings might reach us, ere we, by 
 God's providential guidance, might be permitted to return. 
 
 Along about Sept. 20, 1865, we directed our course 
 toward the egress from the Arctic Sea, — Behring Strait. 
 From Sept. 15 to 20 the whaling fleet are effecting their 
 outward passage to the warmer latitudes of the South. Our 
 progress was not hindered by the formidable " Shenando- 
 ah," but we had to think of the unfortunate vessels that 
 had fallen victims to her cruelty, and could not now return 
 with us. So, in hazardous enterprises, long voyages, and 
 military campaigns, many sad vacancies are felt. Disap- 
 pointments fill our career of mortality. The boys were full
 
 278 
 
 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 of good cheer, believing that the greatest burdens of the 
 voyage were over, and were happy in the prospect of soon 
 reaching home again. 
 
 We have not had the benefit of artificial heat since we 
 left our native land, — I mean we sailors before the mast. 
 
 MODE OF TRAVELLING IN NORTHERN CLIMES. 
 
 Many a dismal night, when the piercing cold benumbed our 
 systems, did wc hurriedly pace the deck, striking our hands 
 around our shoulders to keep our blood in rapid circulation, 
 and I have never lived so nearly upon a level with the brute 
 creation, so far as deprivation of the comforts of life is con- 
 cerned, and coping with the rigidness of the weather. Yet 
 withal my health has been preserved, and I am very certain 
 that the severities of life have a tendency to keep us more 
 humble than to be faring sumptuously every day. Howev-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 
 
 279 
 
 er, I am anxious for a change, not to fare sumptuously, but 
 a condition of comfort, both bodily and spiritually, in our 
 own beloved America. Wc could not help but anticipate 
 the tidings of the death of many whom we knew, so there 
 is no country on this rolling sphere of ours, where grim 
 death is not, in some shape or form, hurling his victims in- 
 to his mouldering receptacle, the grave. But "time and 
 tide wait for no man," — so says the old adage. Our time 
 on earth is short, and all the comforts and conveniences 
 that may spring from affluence, conjugal relationship, filial 
 and parental ties, as well as the tears that may be shed at 
 the loss and forfeiture of all these joys and sorrows, pleas- 
 ures and woes, will soon be borne down the rapid stream of 
 life, and God's children will bask in the joys of celestial 
 bliss while the endless ages roll.
 
 CH^PXEI? XXIV. 
 
 ^9j-- 
 
 Once More at the Sandwich Islands. — Kind Reception by our Friends 
 — Some Thoughts about Noah and his Mission. — Hospitality a 
 Blessing to both Giver and Receiver. 
 
 i^^/E arrived at the Sandwich Islands soon after the 
 f%M^^ middle of October, 1865, and this time we entered 
 -^-^^ the harbor to enjoy quite a lengthy meeting with 
 our friends. Many vessels were lying at anchor in this 
 peaceful haven, and the scene of their tranquility after toss- 
 ings and agitation on the deep is quite agreeable. Ships 
 from various portions of the world are seen in this harbor, 
 and thrilling adventures are related by sailors who have 
 long hazarded their precious lives on the troubled deep. 
 Some of them, in shocking tempests, became humbled, and 
 prayed God for his mercy in their deliverance; and when he 
 guided them to the desired haven, they forsook the God 
 who had protected and taken care of them. The Psalmist 
 David speaks of this class of sailors, when enlarging upon 
 the mercy and goodness of God. But now and then one 
 retains his integrity to God when the storm is over, and 
 forgets not the vows which his soul in anguish made. 
 
 How beautiful it is to have the mountains and fertile 
 landscape greet our vision once more! What a striking 
 contrast between these scenes within the tropics, and the 
 
 weird and frozen scenes in the frigid belt! Our ship re- 
 
 280
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 28l 
 
 minds one of the birds on the wing, soaring from a colder 
 to a warmer climate. 
 
 Our Christian friends, on the Island of Oahu, who soon 
 learned of the arrival of the " Oriole," made inquiry as to 
 the welfare of the crew, knowing that religious efforts were 
 being made on board of her. We are indeed mortified that 
 we cannot announce every proselyte in good standing, but 
 at the same time we do not feel any sense of condemnation 
 in reference to delinquency upon our part. We tried to 
 urge and admonish them to the best of our ability, but they 
 who will not help themselves cannot be helped. Though I 
 did not see the progress I so much desired to see, yet I feel 
 that I was greatly strengthened and encouraged during the 
 reviving season. But how much of the good seed only 
 falls upon stony places, or where the thorns will spoil, is 
 known only to him whose eye scrutinizes the secrets of ev- 
 ery human heart. " Noah had very poor success in proselyt- 
 ing the antediluvians, and when the deluge inundated the 
 earth, he only had seven to accompany him into the ark. I 
 presume some of his cotcmporaries thought that it was a 
 difficult matter to live as strict and peculiar as that aged 
 devoted man and his household did, and concluded, per- 
 haps, that his alarming apprehensions about the flood were 
 only a myth, and hence they might safely forego the re- 
 strictions and responsibilities of such a godly life. But 
 God's people are living for a grander purpose than the 
 populace give them credit for. If they strictly adhere to 
 the requisitions of heaven, they understand their business 
 well, and when the confidence of the world is put to shame, 
 their cause and profession shall be magnified. 
 
 Noah's construction of the ark was divinely authorized, 
 and it was God's appointed means of salvation, It had to
 
 282 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 be built just as firm and strong and roomy for eight per- 
 sons, as if eight thousand had been going to occupy it. Its 
 proportions were designated, and its dimensions given. 
 Noah was instructed as to the specifications, and command- 
 ed to build accordingly, without any license to yield to the 
 suggestions of the people, or to be moved from God's pur- 
 pose by threatenings or reward. The wise and competent 
 master-builders, appointed of the Lord, were always 
 charged to build precisely according to God's directions. 
 The building of the ark, no doubt, became a very common 
 affair, but its beauty and adaptability and saving power on- 
 ly became overt in the great emergency, when the roaring 
 floods were breaking in upon the inhabitants of the antedi- 
 luvian world. 
 
 The vessels, moored in the Harbor at Honolulu, and 
 anchored within the secure enclosures of the reefs, have be- 
 come an every-day occurrence to the citizens of these isl- 
 ands, but if, by some terrific convulsion of nature, these isl- 
 ands were to be gradually sunk into the great ocean that 
 surrounds them, these vessels, adapted to their native ele- 
 ment, would become the most precious structures to draw 
 the attention of the perishing inhabitants, because they 
 would be the only buildings that would present any show 
 of salvation. Think, then, of the perishing multitudes in 
 sight of the ark, and the hearts with anguish riven, longing 
 for admission when their entreaties could not be granted. 
 So it will be precisely with the ark of salvation, whose 
 beauty and power is lost to the vision and conception of 
 those who are hardened in sin, and those who were once 
 moved with godly fear, but again apostatized into their 
 carnal element. As long as they can retain any foot- 
 hold at all in this world, they will feel secure and firm, and
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 283 
 
 even become the scoffers, alluded to in the Scriptures, thus 
 filling up the catalogue of prophecy, and becoming ripe for 
 destruction on the avenging day. Noah had no commis- 
 sion to preach to those antediluvians, excepting at the prop- 
 er time, appointed by God. Had the preaching continued, 
 and the opportunity been granted to rescue, the ark would 
 have been filled to its utmost capacity, but God does not 
 propose to save people at the time his judgments are being 
 fulfilled. 
 
 Noah had no hand in closing the door; God did that; 
 and when once Mercy, the darling attribute of God, falls to 
 the rear, and Justice leads the van, God will be inexorable, 
 though the pitiful cries for relief and safety rend the air. 
 
 So, when the Master of the house has arisen and shut 
 the door, the unfaithful shall stand outside and knock, say- 
 ing, " Lord, Lord, open unto us, but he shall say. Verily, 
 verily, I say unto you, I know you not." That interdict of 
 Christ will debar all entrance, and every sneer of the scof- 
 fer, and every reproachful sentence of the vile and sinful 
 will return to burden and fill with remorse and anguish its 
 own perpetrator. 
 
 That is the way, my readers, in which I measure this 
 short, frail, transient life, upon which salvation or destruc- 
 tion are consequent. I am elected to stand with the few in 
 number if I maintain my position on the Lord's side, 
 but that is the only safe side, and my eyes have been 
 open to see it. If I fail to live separate from the world, 
 I dissolve my union with Christ. I cannot live in the 
 two elements, Christianity and the world. I must either 
 choose one or the other. 
 
 I believe that many are trying to live in the two ele- 
 ments, but I certainly believe that they are trying but to
 
 284 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 fail. Some lived to try the experiment before our intelli- 
 gent age, and the trial was a failure, and history only re- 
 peats itself. If I have not resolution and stamina sufficient 
 to accept and put on a whole Christ, I do not know that it 
 will better my condition to accept him in part. I do not 
 want to be an agent for the devil one day, and wear the liv- 
 ery of a Christian the next. If I want to do that way, I 
 might just as well do as some of my shipmates have 
 done, — turn back and serve the Lord no more, and 
 say with them that the life is too difficult to live on board 
 of a ship. Christ tells us the way is difficult, — " straight is 
 the gate, and narrow is the way," — but that is no reason 
 why we should not pursue it. It is the divine way; it is 
 heaven-approved and ratified, and because the world and a 
 nominal religion oppose it, does not invalidate it in any 
 particular. 
 
 This world is a busy arena, where many are playing 
 their respective parts. I am only a little atom in this vast 
 sphere, but I can only be something as I am associated with 
 him whom the whole world will acknowledge afterwhile. 
 Therefore, let all mock on if they choose, let them frown or 
 smile just as they like; I am not, as yet, deterred in the 
 least, and" though I cannot, as heroic Paul of yore, show you 
 the scars on my physical body, to demonstrate my faithful- 
 ness to the Truth, I can produce the testimonials of a se- 
 vere trial of my faith and attachment to Christ, and I feel 
 that, by a voluntary consent of my mind, I am fully rooted 
 and grounded in the purpose of my heart to do his will. I 
 am glad that the Lord has disciplined and tested me, and 
 brought me thus far upon my way, and I think I can raise 
 at the Sandwich Islands my Ebenezer and say, like good 
 old Samuel of old, " Thus far the Lord hath helped me, and
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 285 
 
 having begun the work, he is able to complete it till the day 
 of Christ." 
 
 It is, indeed, pleasant to have leisure time enough at 
 this landing to visit friends and share their hospitality. 
 Our tables aboard of our ship are very primitive affairs; 
 they are composed of our chests, which are thus made to 
 answer a double purpose. In the interior are placed our 
 wearable goods and the top is used to place our edibles up- 
 on, when we dine. We have no china ware or silver knives 
 and forks, nor have we polished utensils for style or show% 
 but we have plain cups and plates, all manufactured of tin. 
 This kind of furniture is best adapted to our unstable home, 
 for it is very uncertain sometimes as to whether they will 
 long remain where we place them, when we prepare the ta- 
 ble. We have little strips of boards nailed around the edg- 
 es, so as to assist us in keeping our furniture and victuals 
 on the table at all during rough weather, but sometimes, 
 with all this precaution, — re-inforced by our dextrous move- 
 ments to save our edibles while we are in the act of eating, 
 — the careening of the ship causes the whole outfit to be 
 precipitated on the deck. When the sailors are thus baf- 
 fled, a wild scene of confusion follows. But to dine with 
 friends on a solid foundation again, where courtesy and af- 
 fability have a controlling influence, is certainly enjoyable. 
 When we have, for a long time, been surrounded by that 
 which is degrading and distasteful, we know how to appre- 
 ciate taste, system, and decorum. The contrast is so great 
 that we are all the while impressed with a feeling of our un- 
 worthiness. 
 
 The people of Honolulu seem to take in our situation 
 fully, and take special pains to make us welcome. I am 
 sure that they will never lose their reward. Hospitality is
 
 286 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 a noble trait. It is beautifully incorporated in the Chris- 
 tian system and it should ever shine prominently in the 
 Christian life. What a cheering light does it reflect along 
 the pathway of life, and many a drooping and disconsolate 
 wanderer is revived by its sacred influence. The Bible says 
 that we shall " use hospitality without grudging." Grudg- 
 ing mars its influence and destroys its beauty, and will have 
 a tendency to cripple our Christian profession woefully. 
 
 Hospitality is, by no means, all that comprises the 
 Christian religion, but it is, indeed, a very essential part of 
 it. Glowing oratory, melodious singing, and beautiful 
 prayers are all empty and lifeless without the exercise of 
 this divine trait, — hospitality. The Bible again says, " Be 
 not forgetful to entertain strangers, for some have enter- 
 tained angels thereby unawares." There is many a true and 
 honest heart that beats beneath a faded garment, and there 
 is many a dishonest heart beneath an elegant exterior. We 
 should not, therefore, allow our judgment to be biased by 
 the appearance of things. 
 
 Sometimes, when we use hospitality without grudging 
 to some person of unassuming mien, who has been unfortu- 
 nate and is leading the life of a lonely v/anderer, the sequel 
 may prove that our act of benevolence was richly compen- 
 sated by the presence of the Lord in the presence of our 
 guest, and by his instrumentality divine instruction may be 
 imparted to the host, to stay the heart in trouble and ease 
 the burdens of life. 
 
 We cannot measure the responsibilities of our lives, 
 neither can we discern how far one simple act of hospitality 
 may reach. We may entertain a mother's wandering son, 
 for whom that mother has cared, and wept, and prayed; 
 whose heart was broken in the hour of separation, and for
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 28/ 
 
 whom she is burdened w ith <;rief and spends many lone and 
 sleepless nights. During the roving years of his absence, 
 that mother has wrestled at a throne of mercy and bears the 
 son of her love and sympathy to the Savior who suffered 
 and died to save the wandering and the lost. When, in 
 some remote, foreign home, he is entertained by another 
 whose heart is swayed by maternal influence and who is 
 concerned for the roving sons of mothers in general, a chord 
 of sympathy is awakened that reaches beyond the briny 
 waters, to the old fireside at home. 
 
 Some of the mothers in Honolulu are fully awake to 
 their duty in this respect. They have entertained so many 
 sailors who have wandered far from home, and listened to 
 their tales of sorrow and of woe, that they have been in- 
 duced to make it a specialty, to make everything as pleasant 
 as possible for them during their stay on the islands, so as 
 to modify their woes and burdens, and impart consolation 
 to the sorrow-riven hearts of their absent parents, brothers 
 and sisters. 
 
 I shall always remember these people for their friend- 
 ship and hospitality, and I pray God that we may all be en- 
 tirely consecrated to his divine service. I was much im- 
 pressed by Mr. Ingram's amiable qualities as well as his 
 hospitality. He was the President of the College in Hono- 
 lulu, but he now lies in the moldering tomb on these remote 
 islands of the sea, where he was once so active and earnest 
 in the intellectual culture of both the white and native stu- 
 dents. May God remember him in his coming and king- 
 dom!
 
 CHAPTEI? XXV. 
 
 '^ 
 
 The Peaceful Home of Mrs. Crabbe, and her Work among the Sailors. 
 — Extemporaneous Speaking and Its Advantages. — A Visit to the 
 Colored Youth at the Insane Asylum. — His Melodious and Impres- 
 sive Singing. —Visit to Eld. Damon. — How we may Reach the 
 Masses and Give them a True Standard of Moral Conduct.— Keep 
 Your Reckonings Right. 
 
 Ire quiet and peaceful home of that aged lady, 
 Mother Crabbe, of Maryland, afforded me much 
 comfort. The fact that we once lived comparative- 
 ly near each other in the United States, has in it an ele- 
 ment of familiarity, and occasions a home-like sensation. 
 She truly exercised a maternal care over me. How gladly 
 would I reciprocate the hospitality if we would ever be 
 privileged to meet in the United States! Her home was, 
 at our last visit, still open for devotional exercises, and my 
 New Hampshire convert, and I, as well as other religious 
 sailors, still met there for worship. Hers was the home of 
 the wanderer, where the tempted and tried might find a ref- 
 uge from the storms of life, and the temptations of wicked 
 men. We were consoled by her admonitions of peace, her 
 warm congratulations in our Christian warfare, and com- 
 forted and blessed in this land of sunshine, fruits and flow- 
 ers. 
 
 Mrs. Crabbe was sometimes overjoyed at hearing some 
 
 of the sailors speak in the meetings. Some of them are flu- 
 288
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 289 
 
 ent talkers. The ocean, in its changing aspects, indel- 
 ibly fixed on the tablets of their memory, affords quite an 
 incentive to those who are naturally gifted in oratory. The 
 ocean is a practical school, whose lessons are not nearly so 
 polished and systematic, as those taught in elocution in the 
 refined and graded schools, but sailors are sanguine and 
 active, and when they merge into the spirit of oratory, their 
 native ability enables them to keep pace fairly well with 
 the classical student. If people are not too highly cultured 
 and abnormally refined in their tastes, they can, perhaps, be 
 just as much edified by the sailor from the stormy sea, as 
 by the cultured orator who has completed his collegiate 
 course. 
 
 I have always been somewhat partial to extemporane- 
 ous discourses. I fear that too much exactness in the ar- 
 rangement of a discourse tends to make the human part 
 too prominent. If the discourse is animated and ren- 
 dered attractive by the spirit of grace, the off-hand speech 
 of the Bible student and Gospel minister will be fully 
 adapted to the time and place, and the various dispositions 
 of those who compose the audience. Peter's extemporane- 
 ous discourse on the Day of Pentecost cannot be excelled 
 by any revivalist. Its simplicity, logic, oratory, convict- 
 ing force, and his aptness and readiness to answer his con- 
 victed auditors, are admirable. 
 
 Peter's prayer, uttered at the impulse of the moment, 
 when sinking in the deep, should permeate all our prayers 
 in time, and it will be an excellent model to pass into eter- 
 nity with. Its sincerity and freedom from alloy is self-evi- 
 dent, and it is the kind of prayer that all God's people will 
 want to utter when they are about to sink into the dark 
 shades of death.
 
 290 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 If I were so unfortunate as to suffer shipwreck, with 
 the ship's entire crew aboard, and I were influenced by the 
 Divine Spirit to address them, and pray with them, before 
 we would all sink into the deep together, I believe my im- 
 promptu speech would be precisely adapted to the occa- 
 sion; if ever I would lose sight of self entirely, it would be 
 then. The more we study, seriously and prayerfully, the 
 Scriptures, and imbibe the spirit of inspiration in them, the 
 better agents we will be, in the hands of the Lord, to recite 
 the messages of the Bible. And whether learned or un- 
 learned, if our hearts are pure and humble, God can use us 
 to profit. 
 
 Let not ministers try to enlarge self in the pulpit, or 
 out of it. The ministerial calling is one of grave solemni- 
 ty, and it requires gravity of character and deportment to 
 fill this responsible calling. Let humility and love be the 
 favorite mottoes of Gospel ministers through life, and their 
 watchwords at the gate of death; for our preaching in 
 tone and character will be reflected in the other world. 
 We should talk for God, and not for men, and not be 
 moved by human applause or derision. Truth must be our 
 theme, and God our support. 
 
 The colored young man, of whom I have been telling 
 my readers at different times in my work, is now at the 
 Sandwich Islands, and he has been placed in the asylum. 
 His mind is deranged upon the question of religion. He 
 manifests no disposition to injure any one, but is so ab- 
 sorbed in the theme of Christianity that he dwells upon it 
 almost constantly. I have conversed with some of the 
 crew of his vessel, and have seen the officers, and I find 
 that they do not appear to hold any grudge against me now. 
 Rumors of wars are sometimes more prevalent than wars in
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 29I 
 
 reality. After relating the circumstance of his remarkable 
 change from the darkness of sin to the religious element, to 
 Mrs. Crabbe, she expressed an intense desire to see him and 
 proposed that I accompany her to the asylum. According- 
 ly we appointed a day and went to visit him. We interro- 
 gated the officer relative to his condition, and he pro- 
 nounced him harmless. He spoke of him as being a very 
 religious man and a noble singer. Often he cheered them 
 with his sacred songs, rendered with so much freedom and 
 gracefulness by his musical voice. He opened his cell-door 
 and bade him come forth and enjoy our presence. His 
 eyes immediately fell upon me, and he grasped me warmly 
 and affectionately by the hand, and said: "George, I am 
 glad to see you." I gave him an introduction to Mrs. Crab- 
 be, of whom I probably had told him before. He meekly 
 bowed and gave her a hearty hand-shaking. He told me 
 that God had wonderfully blessed him and that he cher- 
 ished and respected the advice and counsel which I had 
 given him, and that the dark cloud that obscured his men- 
 tal horizon would be graciously withdrawn by the Lord, and 
 all would be well. He did not appear to us like an insane 
 person, and we felt as if we were listening to good, whole- 
 some, and well-digested religious thought. We could not 
 help but give credence to his simple, grave and solemn 
 message, and were impressed with the idea that his pro- 
 phetic utterance was controlled and prompted by the Spir- 
 it of Truth. 
 
 God unfolds many of his wonders through very humble 
 and unassuming agencies. Mrs. Crabbe had a strong de- 
 sire to hear him sing one of Zion's beautiful songs, and 
 urged me to make the request. I did so and he assented 
 with pleasure, and his musical voice soon threw its soft and
 
 292 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 melodious accents into the balmy air, and his hearers were 
 charmed with the humble attitude of the singer, and the 
 beauty and sacredness of his song. His harmonious sounds 
 were not indicative of a captive singing one of the songs of 
 Zion in a strange land, for the sweet singer seemed to be at 
 home in the native element of his song. He gave us, by the 
 divine medium of praise, the very purest emotions of his 
 soul. There appeared to be no disposition upon his part to 
 hang his harp upon the willow, as expressed by the cap- 
 tives of yore, for his musical abilities were in the full blaze 
 of passionate joy, solemnity and composure. He repined 
 not at his situation, and his humble mien seemed to bespeak 
 no regrets. The joyful sensations of our souls were stirred 
 and all eyes were fixed on God's humble, sweet singer. 
 The hymn was this: 
 
 "Jesus, my all, to heaven is gone, 
 He whom I fix my hopes upon, 
 His track I see and I'll pursue 
 The narrow way till him I view. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 " Happy day, happy day, 
 When Jesus washed my sins away! 
 He taught me how to watch and pray, 
 And live rejoicing every day, 
 Happy day, happy day, 
 When Jesus washed my sins away! " 
 
 In the days of my life in the carnal element, I listened 
 to the trained voices of theatrical singers, which elevated 
 the emotional tide of carnality, but I do not know that I 
 ever listened to sacred song that had a more charming in- 
 fluence on my heart and feelings than the sacred song by 
 the colored sailor boy in Honolulu. The circumstances, 
 connected with the event, had much to do with the sweet-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 293 
 
 ness of the song and the charm it wielded, especially upon 
 my own heart. 
 
 When the last sweet accents of his song had died away, 
 he arose from his humble posture on the green-carpeted 
 earth and receded to his cell, and half closing the door he 
 beckoned me to follow him. I responded to his signal, and 
 found that he desired to take his affectionate leave of me, as 
 he felt assured that we should never meet again on earth. 
 I really felt that the divine blessing rested upon us, as he 
 invoked the benediction of the Lord upon me, and interced- 
 ed for my future prosperity. In conclusion of his humble 
 and affectionate ceremony of parting, he asked me as to 
 whether I was willing to kiss a colored man. In accord- 
 ance with that desire, we gave each other the salutation of 
 love, and he remained in his cell, while I rejoined Mrs. 
 Crabbe, to return to our abode. 
 
 But how strange was the occurrence throughout! He 
 was brought under Christian influence by my weak instru- 
 mentality and the divine blessing, and by his agency I was 
 brought to recognize the outward token of charity, five 
 times recorded in the New Testament and thus enjoined by 
 Christ upon his followers. The first time I ever complied 
 with this Divine injunction, in a religious capacity, was as 
 above related. God shows himself in the humble walks of 
 life, and he reveals himself in the most condescending and 
 unassuming manner. 
 
 I shall never forget this peculiar event, and sincerely 
 hope that I may meet my colored friend in the better land. 
 God knows where the good seed of his Word has been sown 
 in our wanderings on land and sea, amid heart-aches and 
 sorrows and cares, and he can keep it flourishing until it 
 produces the ripened fruit and the sheaves will be gathered
 
 294 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 from many lands and climes and withal from the caverns of 
 the sea, in the great rewarding day. 
 
 Mrs. Crabbe was much moved by this visit to the asy- 
 lum, and she greatly sympathized with the unfortunate col- 
 ored boy and regarded him as an object of God's favor and 
 mercy. 
 
 We also visited Eld. Samuel Damon and heard him 
 preach again. He always manifested an interest in the 
 welfare of seamen and we all appreciated his kindness and 
 sociability. It requires a person who is amiable and conde- 
 scending to wield an influence over common people. 
 
 The difficulty of to-day is, that there is too great a gulf 
 between popular Christianity and the common people. 
 Christ's meek and lowly life made him welcome among 
 publicans and sinners. He ate and drank in their houses, 
 and never was the life and salvation taught plainer than by 
 the personal ministry of Christ, and his followers cannot 
 expect to be successful unless they imitate his humble life, 
 and present to the people the system of faith which he has 
 given. 
 
 When the Savior condescended to seek and save the 
 lost, the Jewish nation, with their God-given code of laws, 
 were like the ship at sea with her chart and compass, but 
 without that proper adjustment, brought about by daily ob- 
 servations, to designate her whereabouts by the natural sun 
 in the heavens. They were furnished with an inspired rec- 
 ord of Christ's life of humiliation. Their chart pointed 
 that fact, as well as his exaltation, but their human creeds 
 and commandments of men had caused them to drift from 
 the authorized standard of God, and with their own stand- 
 ard of righteousness established, they were left at sea, in 
 blissful ignorance of God's amazing love, disclosed in hum-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 295 
 
 ble attitude to a lost aiul helpless world. The common 
 people could get but little sympathy from these sancti- 
 monious circles, and when the humble Jesus accommodated 
 his life to their necessities, they felt at home in his pres- 
 ence, and heard " him gladly." 
 
 The Jewish rulers, and the nation as well, could not 
 grasp the reason for Christ's humble attitude and common 
 life, and they do not fully understand it to this day; but 
 through their fall the Gentile world has been admitted. 
 
 Let the eminent professors of Christianity beware, lest 
 the same thing befall them. We may have the Chart and 
 Compass of the Gospel, but if our daily reckonings are not 
 made by Christ, our spiritual Sun, w-e, too, will lose our 
 bearings, and be as self-confident in our digression and 
 blindness as were they. 
 
 It is a very important thing for a navigator to keep his 
 reckonings right, and learn the driftings of his vessel at ev- 
 ery available period, when a correct observation may be 
 taken from the heavenly bodies. The navigator being baf- 
 fled at times by fogs and storms, he finds himself drifted 
 where he would rather not be from choice, but when an ob- 
 servation is afforded from the sun, he regains what has been 
 lost in drifting, and then pursues his proper course. Chris- 
 tian professors are just as liable to lose their way spiritual- 
 ly, and they do often drift and need re-adjustment, as well 
 as the mariner at sea. 
 
 We are especially in danger of drifting from the self- 
 denying, cross-bearing way through which the humble Sav- 
 ior passed. And as it is much easier for the navigator to 
 muse over the beauties and comforts of the haven to which 
 he is tending than to encounter the warring elements to 
 reach his destination, so it is easier for Christians to con-
 
 296 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 verse, and preach, and sing of the Land of Beulah than to 
 stem the storms and floods, and keep their heaven-directed 
 course in reaching the desired haven of rest. The Jew 
 could see the Glorified Christ, but not the Crucified Christ, 
 and we, as Christians may make the same mistake. 
 
 Let us, then, be conversant and familiar with every 
 humble characteristic of Christ's life. Every humble act 
 which he performed has its bearing upon our lives, and 
 must be exemplified in us. He has given us "a form of 
 doctrine" which we must obey from the heart." And we 
 cannot afford to lose sight of the form nor the spirit that 
 animates the form. If we do, we will be left at sea without 
 a knowledge of our bearings.
 
 CHAPXEI? XXVI. 
 
 -^ 
 
 Confusion in the Religious World. — Our Last Farewell to the Friends 
 on the Sandwich Islands. — Thoughts of Home, as we Start on our 
 Long Voyage. — Our Eternal Home and Its Joys. — Polynesia. — 
 The Native from the Society Islands. — Our Short Stop at the 
 Friendly Islands. — Kindness of the Natives. 
 
 one doubts that in the close of the Gospel age the 
 economy of grace will compare in the diminution of 
 power with the Mosaic economy. The Jews, in a 
 national capacity, had forfeited the essence and vitality of 
 the Mosaic code and were confused as to the import of the 
 prophecies, while comparatively few conceived the vital 
 current and were prepared to recognize and receive the un- 
 speakable gift of God. So the condition of Christendom 
 indicates confusion now. They say, " Lo here and lo there 
 is Christ." Their religious tenets vary; their ideas are in- 
 correct; their conceptions of Christ's vital words are no 
 clearer than the Jews' comprehension of the prophecies. 
 They use his name and preach its divine merits with as 
 much zeal and enthusiasm as the Jew recited the declara- 
 tions of Moses and the prophets, but the perfectly-enacted 
 system is marred by the devices of man, and the beautiful 
 image of Christ is hidden underneath. "When the Son of 
 man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" The lati- 
 tude of many of the churches is lost; their distinguishing 
 
 features, to separate them from the body of the world, have 
 
 297
 
 298 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 been obliterated, and if there is no retracing action to re- 
 gain the humble element, how can they escape the condem- 
 nation that is pronounced upon such work? The Jews suf- 
 fered severely, and will the Gentiles fare any better? Did 
 Christ accept their nominal profession of Moses? Did he 
 ratify the actions of their representative men? Did he 
 heed their polished prayers and eloquent discourses on the 
 law? How many of those learned doctors knew him? 
 
 These are all pertinent questions and every unpreju- 
 diced and honest heart will agree with this. I make these 
 investigations with feelings of solemnity and pity. I do it 
 because they occur to my mind in the inditement of this 
 work and because they are my honest conceptions of divine 
 revelation. I must write what I believe, or I had better not 
 write at all. I write these things plainly but kindly. 
 
 These incidents of my voyage on the sea, and visits on 
 the islands, lead me out into the spiritual course, to impress 
 upon the minds of the readers of this book spiritual truths 
 relative to the interests of our spiritual journey. I never in 
 my life had anything to impress my mind so profoundly as 
 my long and adventurous voyage, nearly around the world. 
 It seems to bear many resemblances to our momentous 
 journey through life, which is a journey that we all travel 
 but once. 
 
 Our visits on the islands, and associations with amiable 
 friends were congenial to our social feelings, afforded us 
 recreation and comfort, and gave relief to the constant 
 strain of toil and monotony of ocean life. I shall retain in 
 memory the incidents of this eventful voyage and make 
 comparisons, and deduce illustrations to facilitate my pas- 
 sage through this mortal world.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 299 
 
 The time came again to bid farewell to our sociable 
 friends on the islands, and proceed on our long voyage of 
 nearly seventeen thousand miles to the United States of 
 America. We should, perhaps, never see their faces again 
 in this world, and that thought filled us with sadness; but 
 this is a world of changes, and while some friendly faces 
 disappear, to be seen no more upon the fleeting shores of 
 time, new ties of friendship are formed, and we become 
 familiar with new visages as we journey on towards 
 the domains of death and the spirit world. The 
 sweet thought of maternal smiles and greetings, and dear 
 associations with brothers and sisters in the old familiar cir- 
 cle of home, thrilled us with glad emotions, and modified 
 the tedium of the voyage before us. We had the cordial 
 wishes of our friends and their earnest prayers for a safe 
 passage and secure arrival at our homes. The little plain 
 home of my childhood, with all its familiar apartments and 
 surroundings, and more especially the dear inmates, arose 
 before my vision often and lent their enchantments, while 
 far from me. The thoughts would oft occur to my mind. 
 Shall I meet them all again? Shall my eyes survey all the 
 scenes of home, and shall I again see the smiles, and hear 
 the cheering words of those I love? But to experience 
 these scenes and be gratified with these cherished realities, 
 we must start. Though the voyage be long and hazardous, 
 it must be carried into execution, to experience the joys 
 and pleasures of its terminus. So is the journey of life. 
 Our citizenship is in heaven if we have formed a union with 
 the Godhead through Jesus Christ. 
 
 We have many friends in the better land, many of 
 whom have passed through the shades of death before us, 
 and are -awaiting our arrival on the other shore. Thousands
 
 300 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 we shall meet there whose personal forms we have never 
 seen but we shall view them there with our glorified vision, 
 if we reach that happy place. 
 
 To enjoy those celestial greetings and those enraptured 
 scenes, and the unending bliss of that bright home, we must 
 push on in the spiritual journey, though many sorrows and 
 adversities may attend. We are pilgrims and strangers, as 
 our fathers were, and like them we must journey to the 
 promised land. We ought to be willing to venture through 
 a thousand storms to see the faces of the loved ones gone 
 before, the illustrious vision of Christ, and the glory of the 
 Father. However perilous the journey and dismal the 
 temptations by the way, let us brave the gloomy trials for 
 the felicity and glad fruition that shall crown our hope at 
 the end. 
 
 All necessary preparations having been made for our 
 homeward bound voyage, we took our final leave of our 
 friends in Honolulu, and tendered our heartfelt thanks for 
 all their kindness and sympathy. Although we prayed in 
 their homes, yet they did not follow us to the ship, as they 
 did Paul of old, with wives and children, and, like them, 
 kneel upon the shore at the water's edge, and invoke the 
 divine blessing. This would have been very nice and im- 
 pressive, but it was our part to ply the windlass and heave 
 the anchor, with our emotional feelings animated with 
 thoughts of home, and as we were towed out of the harbor 
 by the steam tug, and cast our lingering look upon the City 
 of Honolulu, built on the fertile landscape by the sea, and 
 the mountains that towered in the rear, we felt that it would 
 most likely be our last glimpse of the attractive scenery. 
 We felt that we would no more eat the delicious fruits upon 
 the green and fertile shores, and that we would no more
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 3OI 
 
 roam through the mountains nor through the streets of the 
 city. No more would wc enter the dwelling-places of 
 those whom we cherished. 
 
 Sail after sail was unfurled as we emerged from the 
 harbor, and were traversing the expansive ocean again. 
 Soon our canvas extended to the wind, and under its forci- 
 ble pressure we were urged along over the bosom of the 
 deep. 
 
 We left the Sandwich Islands about the close of No- 
 vember 1865. Our long voyage began in the evening and 
 after the ship was brought under good headway, and the 
 course on the compass was assigned the helmsman, I took 
 my seat upon the bow and was soon lost in a reverie of 
 thought. I drew before my mental vision the wonderful 
 voyage we were just beginning, and the dangers that might 
 attend the four months' voyage. My thoughts were sol- 
 emn as the shades of night deepened on the sea, and the 
 towering mountains grew dimmer in the rear. Our faithful 
 Oriole had outweathered many a furious gale, and we trust- 
 ed that she might prove sea-worthy to the end of the voy- 
 age and that God would be our protector as he had been 
 thus far. What will it be when the last farewells have been 
 uttered to our friends in this world, and we are about to 
 launch into endless deeps, where endless ages roll! Will 
 our souls still be conscious when the ordeal of dissolution is 
 past, and will we be wafted through space into the expan- 
 sive and mysterious spiritual realm? Shall we rest in the 
 fair, elysian fields, and dwell in ecstasy with departed spir- 
 its who have passed on before? If so, how wonderful will 
 be the flight of the spirit! 
 
 The reality will only disclose the beauty and grandeur 
 of the spirit's soaring flight, and in some respects there is a.
 
 302 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 resemblance in our floating bark, bearing its living freight 
 over the bosom of the deep. We spoke the last farewell to 
 our friends in this world. We have lost sight of their 
 friendly visages, so lately seen, and the distance is becom- 
 ing greater between us. The great ocean is unstable and we 
 are moving onward all the time. The towering mountains 
 become dimmer and are receding from our vision until they 
 v.ill be lost in the distance, and naught but the firmament 
 above us will be seen, and the restless, heaving ocean be- 
 neath. It occurs to my mind that there is no experience in 
 this life that can bring our departure from this mortal 
 sphere more clearly before our vision, and being apprised 
 of the fact that this wonderful experience of death and dis- 
 solution must be the experience of every one, how should 
 we strive to be ready for the solemn event! If our spirit 
 must, then, soar to a region of darkness and gloom, when 
 the convulsive throes of death are past and the last groan 
 has escaped the body, and it lies still, and helpless, and 
 pallid in the cold grasp of death, oh how dreary and lone 
 must be the flight of that disembodied spirit! The very 
 thought makes us shudder and long for safety in Christ. 
 
 Our future destiny for weal or woe will be the result of 
 our thoughts and actions in this world, while the body is 
 the home of the soul. It is well to illustrate death by im- 
 pressive scenes in this mortal life, and portary the event of 
 dissolution as graphically and vividly to the mind as we 
 possibly can. The more we contemplate the event which 
 must occur to all, the better our lives will be fitted and ad- 
 justed to the occasion. Life is but brief, and death is one 
 of the inevitable things, and we cannot afford to meet that 
 last triumphant enemy without considering his approach, 
 the character of his gloomy mission, and the certainty of 
 our final surrender.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 3O3 
 
 Let the scenes of parting on this mortal shore, the ver- 
 dure, grass and blooming flowers, all combine to teach us 
 the short duration of life and the certainty and reality of 
 death. Had my voyage been misspent, and my school of 
 discipline unimproved, had divine mercy still prolonged 
 m}' days in the ways of iniquity, I should now be sailing to- 
 ward the land of my nativity more calloused, and deeply 
 dyed with sin than ever, but my submission to his correct- 
 ing influence has inclined my heart to measure and appreci- 
 ate the sober realities of life, and to study the final destiny 
 of the soul. Consequently, all my faculties and ransomed 
 powers urged me to a peaceful departure, and a serene and 
 tranquil destiny in the eternal world. Divine truth is ready 
 to mould and purify our hearts, but if we evade the smelting 
 furnace, and the cleansing process in this life, we shall 
 have to meet the direful disclosures of judgment and de- 
 nunciations of wrath in the other world. Hence it is our 
 wisdom to do right and obey our Creator in this world, and 
 fit ourselves for the next. 
 
 After the charming city, with its inhabitants, aglow 
 with life, had all disappeared in the dim distance, the sub- 
 lime and familiar aspect of the heavens above, and the 
 swelling waters beneath were presented to our vision again. 
 The warm breezes of the equatorial regions wafted us on- 
 ward, and we were fanned and refreshed in the circulating 
 current, but as we near the equator we merge into the in- 
 tensely heated atmosphere, and suffer its oppressive heat at 
 times. 
 
 We are now sailing through Polynesia, — the many isl- 
 ands in the Pacific Ocean, — and I should like to visit many 
 of these islands if I could, while I am so near them. I used 
 to be much interested in the study of them when I attend-
 
 304 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 ed school, but I did not think at that time that I should be 
 privileged to visit as many as I have already, and come in 
 close proximity to so many more, about which I used to 
 study in my lessons in geography. 
 
 It would not take us far out of our course to visit the 
 Society Islands. We had a native from these islands on 
 board of the ship at one time, and I think that I have al- 
 ready referred to him in my work. He had more than or- 
 dinary natural abilities, and he was an excellent seaman. 
 He deserted our ship at Honolulu and. the officers would 
 have given quite a prize to have recovered him. I spent 
 many a pleasant hour with him and through him I obtained 
 considerable information in reference to the idolatrous prac- 
 tices of the heathen and their vile und atrocious deeds, al- 
 luded to in the first chapter of the Book of Romans. He 
 was well posted in Scripture and had a very bright intel- 
 lect. However perilous our situation, he seemed undaunt- 
 ed and was ready to obey any command with pleasure, 
 though it endangered his life. 
 
 At one time I remember we were pursuing a whale, to 
 which our boat was fastened, and the waves bore us right 
 alongside of the huge sea monster, against our wills, of 
 course. The captain, who did not often command a whale- 
 boat, was controlling ours that day, and in our perilous situ- 
 ation, I believe that he felt more nervous than the rest of 
 us. To show his coolness, this brave inhabitant of the 
 Society Islands reached forth his hand and violently 
 patted the frightened monster on his large smooth bach. 
 "You, Kanacka," said the captain, " will you stop? " 
 
 The Navigators' Islands, lying north of the Friendly 
 Islands in south latitude 13° 30" to 40° 30"; longitude 168° 
 to 173^ west, I should like to visit, and view their lofty
 
 Q 
 
 z 
 
 'J 
 
 o 
 tJ 
 
 u 
 
 <
 
 306 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 mountains, fertile soil, and rich vegetation, and feast on the 
 delicious tropical fruits, and take an observation of the well- 
 formed, ingenious and affectionate inhabitants, and if I 
 were controlling our craft, I presume I would gratify my 
 desires, and visit quite a number of the South Sea Islands, 
 for I would much rather do it, than catch whales. 
 
 We made a short stop at the Friendly Islands, within 
 the torrid belt. They lie south-east of the Fiji Islands and 
 are, I believe, considered a part of them. The Wesleyan 
 Methodists became the active missionaries in 1827, and suc- 
 ceeded in subduing the paganism of the inhabitants. The 
 natives are courteous, benevolent, and friendly. They have 
 good conceptions of God, and are piously inclined. Some 
 of them can speak English fairly well. Our coming seemed 
 to be very opportune. 
 
 They had just been visited by a terrible hurricane, 
 which hurled the spray from the ocean billows over the isl- 
 ands, and in the fearful shock of the storm the natives 
 were greatly terrified. They welcomed our arrival and ap- 
 peared to feel a sense of security in our presence. Their 
 hearts seemed to have been greatly humbled by the dread- 
 ful visitation of the tempest. We had also felt the force of 
 the hurricane to some extent, but did not encounter it in its 
 wildest fury. We procured some tropical fruits, — cocoanuts, 
 oranges and pineapples, to comfort us upon our homeward 
 bound voyage. The natives were, indeed, very hospitable, 
 and they seemed to experience great delight in furnishing 
 us with the precious products of their island home. The 
 soil appeared to be very productive. 
 
 I shall never forget the kindness of the islanders. 
 They seemed to greatly desire that our stay among them 
 might be prolonged, and I would gladly have spent some
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 3O7 
 
 time with them. I presume their feelings toward us were 
 somewhat similar to the feelings of the inhabitants of the 
 Island of Melita were toward the apostle Paul and his as- 
 sociates, after they had escaped the destructive storm 
 which resulted in the foundering of their ship. They re- 
 ceived them kindly and kindled a fire for their comfort, be- 
 cause of the rain and cold. But we had not been ship- 
 wrecked, neither had we any need of artificial heat, for the 
 vertical rays of the tropical sun produced all the heat that 
 was necessary. We really felt that it was good to be there, 
 and I much desired to have spent some time with these 
 well-disposed people in religious conversation, Bible read- 
 ing and prayer. The fury of the hurricane had rendered 
 them particularly humble and they could not desist, seem- 
 ingly, from alluding to its destructive power. They seemed 
 to reverence the great and universal God, whose power can 
 restrain the winds and the waves. I felt that it might have 
 been in season to have labored among them spiritually. 
 
 It is our misfortune to attempt this great work so often 
 out of season, that it affords our aching hearts great relief 
 and pleasure to engage in the work when all things are 
 made ready to our hand. The soil of the human heart 
 must first be broken up, and that may be accomplished in 
 various ways, by the roaring elements, the thunder's peal 
 and the lightning's glare, or the sad reverses of human life 
 that occur in the form of loss, pain, sickness, bereavement, 
 etc. Israel of old was humbled by the sable cloud, and 
 dreadful thunder and lightning, — the burning mountain and 
 the quaking earth. Martin Luther was humbled and 
 thrown into a condition of penitence by a terrific thunder 
 storm, during which the lightning struck and killed his 
 friend. This thrilling incident became the incentive to self-
 
 308 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 sacrifice, and a profound investigation of the Bible, by 
 which effort he was convinced of his erroneous ideas, and 
 induced to renounce Catholicism. We require first a shak- 
 ing up to render the heart susceptible of the seeds of life, 
 and then, if the true seed is sown at the seasonable time, 
 we may anticipate a vigorous, spiritual growth and a fruit- 
 ful harvest. Not only is earnest work required in the com- 
 mencement of the spiritual life, but it is needed all along, to 
 complete the growth. 
 
 A Christian yearns for seasonable opportunities and 
 feels mortified when he is hindered in their improvement. 
 No matter as to what our vocations may be, or in what de- 
 partment of life we may be exercising our mental and phys- 
 ical strength, even for financial gain, we admire seasons 
 that are opportune, when large incomes may be realized, 
 but much more is this the case when the pious heart is on 
 the alert and absorbed in the spiritual interests of the soul. 
 We greatly delight in being ushered into the presence of 
 people who are humble, and in season for the reception of 
 the pure words of life.
 
 CH^PTEI? XXVII. 
 
 -^ 
 
 Ploughing the Ocean Once More. — At Cape Horn. — Thoughts of My 
 Former Experience at this Point. — Pernambuco. — A Severe 
 Storm at the West India Islands. — Approaching the United 
 States. — At Anchor in Buzzard's Bay. — " Land-Sharks." — A Con- 
 soling Thought Regarding Our Landing on the "Other Shore." 
 
 -^0- '^ ' & • -*" 
 
 'OW much benefit those people may have received 
 from the few Christian remarks that I made in the 
 spirit of meekness and love, I am not able to say, 
 but I have not suffered any compunctions of conscience for 
 not having endeavored to use to advantage the brief period 
 of time allotted to me during our short stay at these pleas- 
 ant islands. I did what I could, and Christ ratified the act 
 of the woman who broke the alabaster box and anointed 
 him unto his burial by saying, " She hath done what she 
 could." Christ is deeply concerned for his created beings 
 everywhere, and he wants his people to do what they can 
 to bring them to his " grace, which hath appeared unto all 
 men." His people are fearfully responsible to exert this 
 religious influence wherever they go in this world. If in 
 civilized or heathen lands we roam, let us save the exile 
 and guide the wanderer home. Our stay at the islands, 
 with our heathen friends, was short. Soon we prepared to 
 adjust our faithful Oriole to the pressure of the wind again, 
 The natives surveyed our movements, and our departure 
 seemed to fill them with sadness. Soon we were under way 
 309
 
 310 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 again, leaving the amiable inhabitants, with all their deli- 
 cious fruits, in the rear, and our thoughts would again soar 
 on mental wings to our native home, with all its charms 
 and attractions. Those only, who have experienced the 
 long separation, with all the sorrows and adversities that 
 have intervened, can know the thrills of joy in the soul, as 
 we are daily drawing nearer to our home. There will be 
 very few stops made on our long voyage over the seas, and 
 if the breezes are favorable we will be daily and hourly 
 shortening the distance, for a ship that flies before a strong 
 wind, and is incessantly moving, day and night, is cutting 
 down the miles of a long voyage quite rapidly. 
 
 I would often be lost in a solemn current of thought 
 as we flew before the wind. It seemed wonderful to be re- 
 tracing our course around the great continent of South 
 America again, and I would draw the contrast between our 
 thoughts on the outward passage and on our homeward 
 bound voyage. When we were crossing the great waters, 
 on our voyage from home, we were filled with grief and sor- 
 row, but being homeward bound, our hearts were filled with 
 joyful emotions, and the hope, ere long to be liberated 
 from our thralldom, made us feel happy indeed. 
 
 In the month of January, 1866, we reached Cape Horn 
 again, and were solemnly and impressively reminded of our 
 gloomy continuance there, for almost thirty-six days on 
 our voyage out from home. I reviewed our terrible school- 
 ing, and could thank my God with renewed fervor for his 
 kind preservation and care over us, and that he brought us 
 out of that dreary and dangerous region. Withal I felt 
 glad for the rigid experience and its salutary effect. It 
 humbled my heart greatly to ponder over all this again, 
 and thus receive a second benefit.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 311 
 
 I shall never forget dreary Cape Horn, the struggle of 
 my soul, my vows to my Creator, and the yielding of my 
 troubled heart to his sovereign will. It was a great source 
 of pleasure and comfort to me to remember that I had en- 
 deavored to keep my vows, and that I had tried, in great 
 weakness, to serve the Lord during my long and tedious 
 voyage. Before I had made vows in the hour of peril, but 
 had broken them again, but this time I executed them, 
 which has greatly eased my conscience and given my soul 
 sweet relief. 
 
 The distance was now about half made, — or nearly so, 
 — from the Sandwich Islands, and our detention at the dan- 
 gerous Cape was not long this time, as the wind was in our 
 favor, and we soon doubled the Horn and entered into the 
 waters of the great Atlantic again. It is tedious to be ne- 
 cessitated to sail nearly around the globe to reach home, 
 but this is the only recourse of a ship. Our course is now 
 directed toward the equator again. I have already crossed 
 it once in the Atlantic, and four times in the Pacific, and 
 crossing it once more on my home-bound trip, will make 
 the sixth time. I call to remembrance our voyage south 
 through this great ocean and our experiments in whale 
 catching, when as yet we had no experience, but repeated 
 struggles and contests with the monsters of the deep has 
 rendered us more proficient, and we are not so apt to be 
 thrown into confusion as then. 
 
 One of the most pleasant things in the decline of life 
 will be that we have kept God's Word, and thus filled our 
 obligations to him and performed our duties to our fellow- 
 men. We will, no doubt, discover then that many of our 
 labors will have been achieved in great weakness and im- 
 perfectness, but if only the motive, that prompted the ac-
 
 312 THRILLING IN'CIDENTS 
 
 tion, was pure, and our sincere aim and effort was to please 
 the Lord, many of our imperfections will, through the in- 
 tercession of Christ and the mercy of God, be forgiven. 
 
 Our proximity to death will cast a powerful reflection 
 upon our past life and bring it almost in panoramic form 
 before us. To launch into the great abyss of eternity with 
 guilty fears, will be terrible beyond description. It pays 
 well to live right in this world, so as to entertain a hope of 
 our acceptance with God in the end of our life. 
 
 God has given me ample time to think and to amend 
 my ways on this long and eventful voyage on the troubled 
 deep. Eternity, with all its amazing consequences, has 
 been vividly portrayed to my vision by my maritime life 
 and its awful surroundings, and I trust that the impressions 
 may be deep and lasting and that my service to the Lord 
 may bring no regrets in the parting hour. I have learned 
 to love him, and all the varied conditions of ocean life have 
 had a tendency to draw me nearer to the cross of Christ. I 
 think I can often refer to the school of my discipline amid 
 the roaring elements and the perils of the sea, and employ 
 it as an incentive to urge me onward in the race of life to 
 the celestial home of joy and blessedness forever. I hope 
 that my training among the disturbed elements will gender 
 a persistence and constancy in the life of Christianity, what- 
 ever opposition may yet be brought forth: and I hope that 
 I may be a servant indeed, adapted for the most humble 
 avocations in the Master's employ, and serve him with true 
 fidelity. 
 
 Noah had much time to think while the floods pre- 
 vailed of yore, and he was riding over the dominant ele- 
 ment that covered the mountains and the trees, and inun- 
 dated the entire earth. He had been much annoyed, no
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 313 
 
 doubt, by the insults and impositions of the wicked, but 
 they had all been swept away by the deluge. He, being a 
 righteous man, had, no doubt, exercised a patient spirit 
 while many of them had hurled their imprecations at him 
 and ridiculed his foolishness in building such a peculiar 
 craft, adapted to float on the undulating element. But the 
 faith which God has capacitated man to exercise in his sov- 
 ereign power, and the reverential fear which is coupled with 
 it, stayed this man of God amid all the oppositions of the 
 antediluvians until the great ark was reared before their 
 eyes, and he and his house were saved and the selected ani- 
 mal creation. 
 
 All these wonderful events in which water is the lead- 
 ing characteristic, revolve in the mind in our meditative 
 moments on the deep. Water is a powerful element for 
 destruction or preservation, and Noah's separation from the 
 wicked, and preservation by the same element that de- 
 stroyed his cotemporaries, affords a figure of the Christian's 
 separation from sin, and salvation by the divinely-author- 
 ized baptism, instituted and enforced by the example of its 
 Author, — Christ. 
 
 Let the people of the Gospel age beware lest this valid 
 and heaven-ratified rite be misconstrued and ignored as was 
 the saving power and separation by the ark, and they be 
 left to perish in their own gainsaying when the saving rites, 
 incorporated in the economy of grace are withdrawn by the 
 same power that arranged and placed them, with all their 
 cleansing efficacy, in the redemptive plan. God only pro- 
 poses to save by his own means and the populace, as a rule, 
 have ever disputed the propriety and authenticity of the di- 
 vine arrangement in any and every age. Let the world and 
 professed Christendom consider solemnly the end and aw-
 
 314 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 ful issue, which will, undoubtedly, as in every closing dis- 
 pensation, only be clearly comprehended by the minority. 
 After righteous Noah had been severely tested in the build- 
 ing of the ark and the oppositions which it encountered, 
 and the breath of all animated creation was quelled and si- 
 lenced by the conquering flood, and he, with his family, 
 were floating securely over the bosom of the deep, there 
 was a seasonable opportunity to meditate upon the power 
 and wisdom of that God in whom they believed. Then 
 they could form their resolutions that when the earth 
 should be populated again, they would exert their influence 
 for its sanctity and purity before God, by strictly fearing 
 and revering the name of the Lord. Notwithstanding all 
 these supposed solemn deliberations when the deluge dis- 
 appeared and they proceeded in the cultivation of the earth, 
 its increase made them prosperous and wealthy. Noah 
 sinned by drinking to excess the intoxicating cup, and his 
 digression from rectitude gave an occasion for a stigma to 
 fall upon his posterity. 
 
 So with all God's discipline, to correct our lives. 
 While sin and temptation are prevalent in the world, it is 
 difficult for the righteous at all times to retain their equi- 
 librium, but when they are called according to the purpose 
 of God, even though they lose their balance at times, they 
 may be rectified by his discipline again, though injury may 
 result to posterity, by the offense committed. 
 
 A man of influence in the service of God evidently oc- 
 cupies a responsible position, and God generally tests such 
 severely before raising them to responsible positions in his 
 divine service. But age brings on its infirmities in the most 
 eminent men and that should lend its influence in our de- 
 cisions, lest they be rash and unwise. The customs, influ-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 3I5 
 
 ences, and surroundings of the respective ages and dispen- 
 sations in which good men have lived, have differed mater- 
 ially. 
 
 We pause in our homeward course at Pernambuco on 
 the coast of Brazil, South America, but our ship was not 
 conducted into the port. Only the captain with a boat and 
 crew entered. A whale ship has not the opportunity to en- 
 ter as many ports, and visit as many cities, as a merchant 
 vessel has. However, we have seen enough of the world 
 for once, and are ready and willing to speed our way on- 
 ward as rapidly as the winds and currents of the ocean will 
 bear us toward our cherished land. Wc soon had our ship 
 Oriole under way again and were on our flight toward the 
 more familiar coast of North America. 
 
 While sailing abreast of the West India Islands, though 
 far out at sea, we encountered a severe gale about the mid- 
 night hour. This occasioned a reversion of feeling and 
 drew out our nerves again to their utmost tension. A sail- 
 or's nervous system is often shocked and that is the reason, 
 no doubt, that the average duration of the lives of seamen 
 is so short. It is a life of excitement, of agitation and com- 
 motion, and strains the constitution. The contending ele- 
 ments undoubtedly diminish the strength and firmness of 
 the vessel. 
 
 The chief-mate is seldom on deck at night, unless in a 
 time of emergency, and this being such an occasion, he 
 sprang from his berth and assumed the responsibility of 
 controlling the ship amid the fury of the storm. The storm 
 struck us suddenly, which rendered the furling of the sails a 
 difficult task. A scene of wild confusion ensued. The 
 mate's imperative tone in command was raised to the high- 
 est key.
 
 3l6 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 Some of the men were stirred with wrath, the tempest 
 roared wildly, and swept with fearful velocity through the 
 rigging, while the ship was careening from one side to the 
 other, as the foaming billows were hurled, by the force of 
 the tempest, against her side. All the unpleasant features 
 of maritime life confronted us again, and lowered the emo- 
 tional feelings which the prospect of our nearing home had 
 elevated nearly to the climax of joy. We were destined to 
 experience at least one more backset on ou»r voyage, — one 
 more furious contest and shock of the turbulent elements. 
 Once more we had to face the frowns of human ire and hear 
 the hard speeches, hurled from polluted human lips. We 
 hoped it might be the closing tragedy. It served as a re- 
 capitulation of our storm-tested voyage, of our school of 
 severity and rigorous nautical discipline, and, perchance, 
 stamped upon the minds of the candid and considerate, the 
 tenor and character of the three years' tuition and practi- 
 cal training on the sea. " All things shall work together 
 for good to them that love the Lord; to them that are called 
 according to his purpose." 
 
 I accept it in this light and fondly hope that is the 
 graduating period. One of the able and expert seamen 
 gave the mate an insolent reply in the frenzy of the mo- 
 ment, which, I feared, would end in a bloody contest, but 
 the high temperature of wrath had somewhat subsided, till 
 the sturdy and resolute sailor descended from the yard-arm. 
 
 When the shock of the storm was over and our nerves 
 were settled again, we increased our spread of canvas, ad- 
 justed our faithful Oriole to her course, and were wafted by 
 the winds of heaven toward our home. The soldier shud- 
 ders at the thought of a bloody battle on his journey home, 
 and the storm-tried mariner dreads more than ever the rag-
 
 317 
 
 CHRIST STILLING THE TEMPEST.
 
 3l8 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 ing tempest, when nearing his native land, but when the 
 disturbance is over and the unwelcome trial has been en- 
 dured, our longings for the tranquil home of peace are in- 
 creased. 
 
 In a few days subsequent to the ferocious storm we 
 came in sight of the United States' coast, and were slowly 
 and surely sailing on the wings of the wind toward our des- 
 tined harbor at New Bedford, Mass. O reader, how charm- 
 ing was the vision! Our longing hearts were solaced. The 
 long voyage, with all its checkered experiences of sunshine 
 and shadows, sorrows, turmoils, weal and woe, was past, 
 and soon, by God's kind permission, we could again tread 
 the peaceful shores of the United States of America, — our 
 own dear native country, over which the gloomy cloud of 
 civil war was hanging when we left its borders, three years 
 before. Now hostilities had subsided, and we could survey 
 her rocks, hills and dales, and traverse her cherished land- 
 scape, without the dread of destructive, hostile raids. If 
 the landing of the mariner abounds with thrills of joy in 
 this world, what w'ill the landing be in the celestial coun- 
 try? It will evidently be an experience which our finite 
 minds are unable to measure. 
 
 We dropped our anchor in Buzzard's Bay, from which 
 memorable place we hove it nearly three years before, 
 when some of us were yet entirely inexperienced in the 
 work. Now we had returned with all the advantages of 
 practical discipline and training on the tempestuous ocean. 
 We did not return with all our original crew. Some had 
 deserted us on the islands of the sea and we heard of them 
 no more. Some of them had deserted, but were arrested 
 and brought aboard, and are now safely landed in Bedford
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 3I9 
 
 City, They arc i,dad that they were rescued and have now 
 safely arrived at their longed-for destination. 
 
 This suggests to the candid mind an important 
 thought. How many will be missing when the Gospel ship 
 lands at the eternal shores! How many will have deserted 
 and will have lost their way in the meshes of sin and the 
 labyrinths of this world! 
 
 Some will have made the attempt to desert but, 
 through the superior prudence of the officers, will have 
 been rescued and saved. How their hearts will swell with 
 gratitude, as they call to remembrance the fact that, though 
 their feet were almost gone, still they were rescued and 
 guided by " God's counsels, and afterwards received into 
 glory." 
 
 The ship Zion will not land with all her original crew. 
 Some will faint at the burdens and trials of the voyage, and 
 will experience the feelings of anguish and remorse which 
 sad desertion brings. What a pity it is that some become 
 weary in well doing and repine at the hardships that must 
 necessarily attend a voyage over life's boisterous sea, and 
 finally become hardened and rebel against the government 
 of God, and forfeit their interest in the eternal inheritance! 
 When all the tempest-driven, well-disciplined and loyal 
 mariners of the old Gospel ship arrive at the celestial land- 
 ing, they will be liberated forever of the burdens, fatigues, 
 aches and pains of the soul, which they experience amid 
 the roaring storms and the opposing elements of strife. 
 These faltering ones must be excluded from the grand es- 
 cort, by angel bands, through the gates of the magnificent 
 city, where their eyes shall behold the King in his beauty, 
 and their rest shall be long and sweet in the land that is far 
 off. That time will come, just as the end of our long, ad-
 
 320 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 venturesome and toilsome voyage has come. In the midst 
 of our perils and painful anxieties, the hours, and days, 
 and weeks, and months, and years rolled slowly by, but 
 since the desired end is reached, we can hardly conceive 
 the reality of our arrival. So the pleasurable and victorious 
 end of God's toiling people will come, and the woes and 
 calamities and disappointments of the dim and gloomy past 
 will be lost in the thrills of ecstatic joy, occasioned by the 
 home reception in the land of rest. 
 
 Having anchored the Oriole, we cast our last, lingering 
 look at our floating home. She had outweathered many a 
 furious gale, and withstood the pressure of ice in the Polar 
 Sea. She had carried us safely through nearly every zone 
 of the world, and finally landed us safely in Columbia's 
 land. We could see her careening movement in the storm, 
 and her hurried flight on the wings of the wind; we admired 
 her attractive mien under free-bent sail, and, in short, every 
 attitude of the faithful Oriole was familiar to us, and it 
 would be stamped upon our memories in the future, no 
 doubt to the end of life. But we now disembarked, to see 
 her with our natural eyes no more. 
 
 When ready to depart we were met by a large band of 
 very cheerful, amiable and smiling merchants, who met us 
 and took us all aboard of their schooner and we were con- 
 veyed ashore. They seemed to be greatly concerned about 
 us, and acted as if they were especially looking after our 
 welfare. They proposed to procure us choice boarding 
 places, and sell us a complete outfit of wearing apparel at 
 very reduced figures. The sailors call them " sharks." 
 They were in the habit of stealing the march upon the 
 sailor-boys, and we were cautioned by some genuine friends 
 to keep our eyes open, and guard against their wily tricks.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 321 
 
 This requires a chancre of tactics, as our vigilance had been 
 drawn out in a different channel altogether, and we had al- 
 most forgotten how to watch and counteract polished, 
 genteel-looking fellows, with glib tongues, fair speeches, 
 and apparently benevolent designs. Mariners are tempting 
 objects to these land sharks, who, in their appearance, ex- 
 hibit a striking contrast to the sailor, in his suit of patched 
 clothing. 
 
 It is the pecuniary gain that the affections of these pol- 
 lished gentlemen rest on, and not the welfare of the poor, 
 storm-tested seamen, in their patched garments. They 
 would cheat them out of every hard-earned dollar, before 
 their departure for home and friends, if they could bring 
 their treacherous schemes to bear upon them. They meet 
 the care-worn and patched seaman just about like the devil 
 met the Savior in the wilderness of Judea, but the only 
 thing they aim to cheat him out of is his money, while there 
 are thousands now-a-days who have stolen the livery of 
 heaven to serve the devil in, who are ready to cheat you out 
 of your religion and your money too. They talk like angels, 
 but they deceive like devils. They live in the city of Bab- 
 ylon where all kinds of traffic is carried on in costly goods 
 and commodities, up to making merchandise of the souls of 
 men. 
 
 I am fully convinced that this world is a wonderful 
 arena for playing tricks and shams, and if a man sees the 
 appearance of an angel, let him probe and scrutinize by the 
 Criterion of Truth and see if he does not turn up to be a 
 devil. 
 
 The thought is grand and consoling that, if we are so 
 fortunate and happy as to effect a landing on the eternal 
 shores, we need not fear deception; we shall there see the
 
 322 
 
 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 angels in their native purity, and their true celestial mien, 
 and there will be no sham movements to impose upon our 
 credence. No devil will ever traverse that pure and unsul- 
 lied landscape, neither will any of his ministers be there. 
 It is the land of the pure and holy, and naught that defileth 
 can enter therein. I would not desire to exchange worlds 
 for an abode so much purer and better than this.
 
 CH^PXEI? XXVIII. 
 
 -^^ — 
 
 Our Stay at New Bedford City. — Why We were Known as Sailors.— 
 Attending a Religious Gathering. — Slow Growth Essential to Per- 
 manency. — Obtaining Our Pay for the Wearisome Voyage. — De- 
 parture for New York. — Approaching the Old Homestead. — A 
 Look Through the Windows. — My Welcome by the Dear Ones at 
 Home. 
 
 3- * > -:>^Sr-"- 
 
 N my mortal career there is no event that makes me 
 think more forcibly of my arrival in the celestial 
 world beyond, than our landing on Columbia's land 
 after our turmoils on the sea. We met with some very 
 warm and true friends in New Bedford City, and we spent 
 nearly two weeks among them, as it required about that 
 time until our ship discharged her cargo, and a proper dis- 
 tribution made of the respective interests of the ofificers 
 and crew. During the time of settlement we had our sever- 
 al boarding places, and visited among religious friends, who 
 regeived us very courteously and kindly into their houses. 
 We also attended their places of public worship, and lis- 
 tened to several good discourses upon religious topics. 
 We worshipped with sailors and many other fellow-mortals, 
 who had come there from different parts of the world. 
 
 The sailors made a respectable appearance, after hav^- 
 ing divested themselves of their old, patched garments, and 
 being arrayed once more in citizen's apparel, but we could 
 easily be detected as sailors, by our tawny complexion 
 
 323
 
 324 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 and unsteady locomotion, — a result of the careening of 
 the ship and our unstable home on the deep. It required 
 quite a length of time to once more adapt ourselves to 
 terra firma. 
 
 It needed considerable practice to adapt ourselves to 
 the unstableness of the sea, when first introduced to mari- 
 time life, but now it required practice again to walk easily 
 and gracefully on land. To be expert and proficient in any 
 thing in this life, we n^Qd practice ; even to walk, or talk, or 
 in the achievement of mental or physical labor. All these, 
 in their respective turns, need the practice and use of mus- 
 cle and brain. 
 
 Gracefulness and adaptability in any useful undertak- 
 ing is commendable. When I was practiced in military 
 drills and marches, my step was elastic and precise, and my 
 body was in a graceful and erect posture, but the rolling 
 deep has thrown me out of that systematic way, and my 
 friends on land will have to make the best of my unsteady 
 gait, until, by practice, I become again habituated to life en. 
 the shore. 
 
 We attended a meeting in New Bedford City, where a 
 large concourse of professors of religion had met, and we 
 listened to the testimony of many different persons. There 
 were some interesting messages delivered, by apparently 
 modest, unassuming and God-fearing persons. One young 
 man claimed the blessing of sanctification as an instantane- 
 ous work. His testimony I could not endorse. I have 
 always regarded Christianity as affording a gradual devel- 
 opment of character, and not disclosing its spiritual growth 
 in sudden, abrupt transitions from one degree, or stage of 
 character, to another.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 325 
 
 It is possible to work up to a IiIljIi pitch of feeling, but 
 I fear it is too frequently more sensational and imaginary, 
 than a genuine leap from one stage of Christian character 
 to another. I am inclined to give credence to an orderly 
 gradation of the Christian life to full stature of manhood in 
 Christ. This view comports with God's arrangement in 
 nature also, and there are many illustrations deduced from 
 nature, to describe the spiritual growth. Christ's own life 
 is an example of gradual development, and he had an ex- 
 perience of about thirty years, ere he reached the climax of 
 his power. 
 
 The Scriptures teach us that Christ went to Nazareth 
 and was subject to his parents, and that " he increased in 
 wisdom and power, and was in favor with God and men." 
 Christ's illustrations of the natural seed, deposited in the 
 earth, is demonstrative of this systematic and orderly 
 growth. It " springs up and brings forth first the blade, 
 then the ear, then the full corn in the ear." The parable is 
 employed to delineate the Christian character, and the in- 
 cessant growth and gradual development, until it arrives at 
 its consummate stage. Of course there are periods when the 
 growth of nature is more rapid. Gentle showers and genial 
 sunshine will greatly facilitate advancement to maturity, 
 while cold and storm may retard the progress, but the 
 principle is indicative of gradual increase toward comple- 
 tion. 
 
 In nature, a comparatively slow but sure growth is 
 usually more sturdy and solid. Look at the oak in the for- 
 est, the cedars upon the mountain slopes! They are indic- 
 ative of strength, firmness, and durability. Their roots 
 penetrate deep into the earth, and their solid growth and 
 formation capacitate them to withstand the pressure of the
 
 326 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 howling blasts. The mushroom is of a sudden growth, but 
 the strength is meager, the formation flimsy, and the dura- 
 tion short. Jonah's gourd was rapid in its formation, but it 
 withered and died when the prophet needed it most. Thus 
 I favor constancy and regularity in Christian progress, 
 to bring about maturity of character. 
 
 Some Christian professors, in sudden outbursts of joy, 
 testify to strong things, and make large promises, but it 
 bears a resemblance to the imprudent mariner, boasting of 
 his ability when the elements are undisturbed, and the soft 
 and gentle breezes blow. " Tribulation," says the very 
 competent and experienced apostle Paul, "worketh pa- 
 tience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and 
 hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed 
 abroad in our hearts." 
 
 Storms and reverses, in the sea-faring life, habituate 
 the sailor's mind to a life of endurance. So, by compari- 
 son, I reason that the Christian's mind and heart should be- 
 come molded to the divine pattern by adversities, distress- 
 es and afflictions. The mariner's trials give experience 
 in nautical life, and develop his character. The same, com- 
 paratively speaking, prevails in the spiritual element. The 
 anchor is the sure stay of the mariner in the furious storm, 
 and its firm grasp in the earth does not disappoint him. 
 Thus, Jiope is the Christian's anchor to the soul, and enter- 
 eth within the veil (in heaven). If all the essential ele- 
 ments are utilized in the make-up of his character, and the 
 love of God is in his heart and controlling his actions, he 
 need not be ashamed when relying on hope, his sure an- 
 chor. 
 
 Whenever our mind reverts to New Bedford, in future 
 years, we shall think of the kindness and hospitable charac-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 32/ 
 
 ter of our friends of this city. Many of them heartily con- 
 gratulated us upon our safe return thus far, after Uie long 
 endurance of trials and hardships, and wished us a secure 
 and happy arri\al at our homes. 
 
 We were at length summoned to appear before the 
 Whaling Company, — known by the name of Jones and Com- 
 pany, — to draw our shares of the cargo, — whale-oil and 
 whalebone, — which we had all labored hard to procure 
 during the long and checkered voyage. My amount was 
 easily counted. Until all the expenditures, which had oc- 
 cured during the voyage, were deducted, there was but a 
 meager compensation left. We had to pay dearly for our 
 clothing, and all that we purchased, on board the ship, and 
 of course all the tobacco that I purchased for a year or 
 more, including the last, memorable plug which I flung into 
 the Pacific Ocean, was charged to my account. I do not 
 know as to what the sum of it was, but I hope that there 
 will no bills be charged to my account hereafter, for that 
 noxious weed. 
 
 I received an order on the bank, in payment of the 
 amount due me, and one of the polished gentlemen, who 
 assisted in escorting us into the city from the ship, after 
 our arrival, proposed to count the money for me, but I re- 
 fused his proffered service, as I did not think it was an 
 amount of sufficient magnitude, to justify me in employing 
 his aid. I had $315, after my expenses were deducted, in- 
 cluding my board bill in New Bedford City. I took the 
 first available train, after I received my pay, and in com- 
 pany with John Nolan, my shipmate, started for New York 
 City. The mournful sound of the steamer's whistle dis- 
 turbed my sleep several times during the night, as we were 
 ploughing the waters of Long Island Sound, and thrills of
 
 328 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 joy pervaded my heart at the thought of the home recep- 
 tion. 
 
 Next morning we were landed in the City of New 
 York, and, after spending the day with my friend Nolan, in 
 promenading the streets and viewing some of the grand 
 sights of the city, I took the train in the evening for the 
 City of Philadelphia. My heart was buoyant, when the 
 swiftly-revolving wheels of the train were stopped within 
 the limits of the old, familiar City of Brotherly Love. I 
 spent the remainder. of the night and the next day in the 
 City, and purposely detained myself, so as to reach home 
 in the evening, when the shades of night would have fallen. 
 
 I had written home from the Sandwich Islands before 
 leaving there, that I would probably be home in the month 
 of June, Providence permitting. I located the time for my 
 arrival far enough in advance so as to occasion no disap- 
 pointment, hence they were not expecting me for at least 
 six weeks later, for I arrived April 13, 1866, but I meant to 
 surprise them and I accomplished my design. 
 
 I aimed to reach home without any one knowing it in 
 my neighborhood, but this scheme was defeated. The 
 shades of night were not deep enough when I first landed 
 in its familiar precinct, and, despite of my rolling motion on 
 foot, I was detected by the scrutinizing eyes of Mrs. Garret 
 Hunsicker, who just then was passing from her garden 
 across the road to the house. Perhaps she would not have 
 recognized me had I not passed the usual greeting, but the 
 human voice is remembered even after many years, and 
 when once familiarly known to a retentive mind, is scarcely 
 ever forgotten. Mrs. Hunsicker recognized my voice, and 
 then the greeting was ratified in good earnest, by a hearty 
 hand-shake.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 329 
 
 The event of my return reminds me of the charge, giv- 
 en by Christ to his disciples, on a certain occasion, to " sa- 
 lute no man by the way." They were to press their way 
 onward, without delay, to their destination, their duties be- 
 ing very urgent and important. The methods of salutation 
 then being very ceremonious and protracted, it would con- 
 sume too much of their precious time. But this single in- 
 stance was the only salutation performed that evening, un- 
 til the affectionate greetings in the home circle. 
 
 Many solemn thoughts revolved in my mind as I 
 trudged along on the old, familiar road. I thought of my 
 tramps, to and fro, during almost every nocturnal hour in 
 the years that were past, when, in the golden period of 
 youth, my feet ran into the ways of sin. Still the prodigal' 
 was rescued, and the return was made after many clouded 
 skies, and storms, and beating rains. I was drawing nearer 
 home, and the quickly-beating pulses and fervent emotions 
 of the heart are only known and appreciated fully by prodi- 
 gals returning home. 
 
 Soon the familiar buildings were dimly seen. If the 
 light of day would have rendered me visible, to the loving 
 inmates of home, I presume I would have been met on tie 
 way, for I would have been, no doubt, identified like the re- 
 turning wanderer of old. 
 
 A few more steps will cover the remote distance of 
 twenty thousand miles from the Arctic Ocean! Is it 
 a reality? It is, perhaps, no miracle like Peter's liberation 
 from prison, but it is a marvelous thing. Once more I can 
 survey the canopy of heaven above, studded with the beau- 
 tiful stars, that I used to gaze at in my innocent childhood, 
 when home, with all its attractions, was sweet beyond all 
 else, and mother's care and presence was such a dear de-
 
 330 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 light. Then my feet were not inclined to roam, and I knew 
 not the woes of separation, and the sorrows of a roving- 
 prodigal's heart. Jesus says we must be converted and be- 
 come as little children, ere we can enter the kingdom of 
 heaven. That mild and innocent demeanor must return, 
 and the self-important air, which is the result of sin, must 
 be eradicated by the law of grace and the love of God. 
 Pride, that poisonous influence that corrupts the soul, must 
 be banished, and the heart must be purified, and reduced to 
 simplicity and child-like trustfulness again. These scenes, 
 alluded to, never looked more pure, beautiful and attractive 
 to me than now, on my arrival home. They appeared just as 
 they did in my childhood days. I was profoundly interest- 
 ed in every feature of my home, and I lingered, and ob- 
 served, and pondered. Such an occasion gives wings to our 
 thoughts, and the incidents and events of past years seem 
 to be brought vividly before us. 
 
 At last I approached the window which afforded me a 
 view of the precious inmates of the home circle. My 
 mother and two sisters were there. A scene greeted my vis- 
 ion now that I had longed to behold for years. Could they 
 have known that the roving son and brother stood without, 
 how quickly would the door have been opened to welcome 
 him in, but he could no longer remain outside. I must en- 
 ter so that we might all rejoice together. I knocked at the 
 door. Mother came to open, thinking that it was my 
 youngest brother, but what a surprise! What a scene of 
 joy and gladness ensued! The long absent one had re- 
 turned! The roving son and brother was safe at home! 
 
 Our hearts were full to overflowing. Maternal love, in 
 all its pathos and beauty, beamed in mother's countenance. 
 My sisters' hearts were full of joy, and the meeting and
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 33 1 
 
 greeting, on that occasion, will be remembered all along 
 the journey of life. Our hearts were too full for utterance. 
 My sensations were too much stirred to sit still. I trav- 
 ersed the familiar room of my dear home, and my mother 
 followed me, tapping me on the shoulder and saying, 
 "Well, George, are you at home again? " 
 
 Poor mother! How deep was the grief that had often 
 weighed down her heart! What sad and lonely hours had 
 she experienced during the years that rolled slowly by 
 while her boy was absent! Often, when she retired at night, 
 did her grief-stricken mind ask again and again: " Where is 
 my boy to-night? " Often did the absent and roving son, 
 who had occasioned much of her sorrow and anxiety, think 
 of that maternal heart that was burdened with sorrow and 
 care. But God's mercy abounded, and restored him to the 
 home circle again, and the meeting and greeting is a sufifi- 
 cient compensation for the long and aching void, and the 
 years of grief and turmoil that have intervened. Let the 
 sorrows and burdens of the past no more disturb our hearts, 
 for the time of gladness and rejoicing is come. 
 
 A meal was prepared for the wanderer returned, and 
 once more, as of yore, but with more joyful emotions than 
 ever before, could I sit and partake of the social repast, 
 which the kind hands of mother and sisters had prepared. 
 My sister (the eldest) was a member of the Brethren 
 church, as my work elsewhere indicates, and had been en- 
 deavoring, in her weakness, to conduct the religious exer- 
 cises at home. Now, that another member of the family 
 had come to join in and assist her in the grand and noble 
 work, it was a great solace to her. We could both exercise 
 now, around the family shrine, and wield our influence for 
 the consecration of all, to the service of the Lord. How
 
 332 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 sweet was the season of prayer that night! Ere we retired 
 we had thanked God for the preservation of all during our 
 long separation. Having realized his compassionate an- 
 swer to our prayers, we felt his blessing upon us. 
 
 Every-where, within the enclosures of home, serious 
 thoughts were awakened. When we retired, late at night, 
 we still had much to think about, and hours rolled by ere 
 we could gently sink into soft and refreshing sleep. My 
 sleep had often been disturbed by the roar of the tempest, 
 and the beating of the furious waves. I had slept in peril- 
 ous situations, in distant heathen lands, but now the storms 
 of my perilous voyage were all over, and all danger of in- 
 trusion upon our peace was allayed. I had been solaced 
 with the smiles of fond greetings in the home circle, and 
 under the auspices of a kind Providence, I had retired to 
 my bed of repose. Free from guilty fears and thegoadings 
 of conscience, I could lie down to rest. One blessed night 
 under such favorable circumstances is worth more than 
 years of carnal pleasure in the wild and giddy rounds of 
 sin. 
 
 In this very bed I had tried to sleep away my feelings 
 of condemnation when I had returned from my midnight 
 "revellings, and banquetings, and abominable idolatries." 
 While I was intoxicated with those sinful and fleshly enter- 
 tainments, I imagined I had pleasure, but they were fleeting 
 as " the dream when one awaketh," and I always awoke 
 with a guilty sensation, and when the deadly stupor, oc- 
 casioned by the indulgence of the carnal propensities, had 
 in a measure subsided, there would have to be a repetition 
 of the same carnal enthusiasm to suppress the nati\'e long- 
 ings of the soul. O what a life of thralldom! How abnor- 
 mal the element! Surely the "wicked are like the troubled
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 333 
 
 sea that cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." 
 But the long, and dark, and guilty course of sin is trodden 
 and God has turned my feet from forbidden paths of error, 
 and now I can rest beneath his smiles of peace to-night. 
 
 Morning dawned and I awoke from my slumbers, and 
 saw the golden sun arise in his beauty, to perform with un- 
 tiring energy, his diurnal work. The same sun I had gazed 
 upon in childish glee, in that innocent period when my 
 heart was free from care. Having been restored, by God's 
 amazing grace, to that mild and pure condition again, I 
 could view God's great luminary with the same child-like 
 joy. All through my wanderings in the wilds of sin, that 
 mighty orb of day had been filling the Creator's command, 
 and had I considered his punctuality and unwearied toil, 
 when my heart was so prone to be wayward, it might have 
 had a salutary effect. That same sun guided us on our 
 dangerous voyage over the troubled deep, and had theie 
 been one failure in his timely work, we should have failed 
 in our reckoning; and have lost our way on the rolling deep. 
 O how wonderful are the works of God! How marvelous it 
 is to see them, too, in their true light! 
 
 How pleasant it was to arise and be with the loved 
 ones at home, and bow around the family altar, and offer 
 our morning oblation to God! My arrival was soon made 
 known among my friends, and my two brothers, upon re- 
 ceiving the tidings, came home. My youngest brother had 
 remained in military service till the close of the war. I had 
 not seen him since I left him at Harrison's Landing, in Vir- 
 ginia, when we, as musicians, were mustered out of the 
 Government service. I had often wondered, in my home on 
 the sea, while hostilities still raged, as to whether we should 
 live to meet again.
 
 CHAPXER XXIX. 
 
 % 
 
 A Pressing Invitation by Bro. Isaac Kulp. — Sanctuary Privileges. — A 
 Visit at Bro. John Detwiler's. — True Method of Bringing About 
 Gospel Conversion. — Admitted to the Fold of Christ. — My Stay at 
 Home During One Year. — Trip to Illinois. — Attending the Funer- 
 al of my Brother in Norristovvn, Pa. — Return to Illinois, Accom- 
 panied by my Youngest Brother. — Marriage to Sarah M. Ritten- 
 house. — Election to the Ministry in the Hickory Grove Church, and 
 my Ideas of the Great Responsibility of the Work, 
 
 '^:<^yj 
 
 Ij^pJ^LLof us had now met in our dear home with the 
 ^^%. exception of the second-oldest brother, whose place 
 M of abode was unknown to us all. The enjoyment 
 of social and endearing intercourse with those who were 
 dear to us through the ties of consanguinity, was much ap- 
 preciated, but the fullness of joy and fellowship, which can 
 only be realized through divine relationship, was not com- 
 prehended by all. I now longed for that more hallowed 
 union with the church. 
 
 Bro. Isaac Kulp, of whom mention was made in my let- 
 ter to my mother, from the Sandwich Islands, heard of my 
 arrival, and sent me a pressing invitation to come and make 
 him a long visit. As he was engaged in mercantile pur- 
 suits, he was kept confined to his business, and as I had 
 more leisure time than he, I accepted the invitation, for I 
 desired to have the benefit of his longer experience and su- 
 perior intelligence in the Christian work, which I knew 
 would prove conducive to the perfecting of my religious in- 
 terest. I assisted him what little I could in his store, — in 
 
 334
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 335 
 
 the identical store where he tendered to me his religious 
 counsel, i)ri()r to my entrance into maritime life. My \isit 
 with him and his pleasant family is a sweet and precious 
 memento in my Christian career. I was especially desirous 
 to see the church assembled, and to hear the Word of God 
 declared, for I wished to realize all the benefits of the 
 church, by being admitted into her fraternal bonds of union 
 and fellowship. This was the longing purpose of my heart, 
 and had been seriously meditated upon in my penitential 
 school on the ocean. I desired to find the church that 
 would afford me the full privilege of obeying all the com- 
 mandments of the Bible, as my desire was to put on a 
 whole Christ. 
 
 At the first appointment in the house of worship that I 
 had occasionally attended while in my wild- career, I resort- 
 ed thither, in company with my sister, whom I esteemed 
 highly for her Christian piety. I can never forget the pe- 
 culiar sensation which I experienced when I entered the 
 door of that sacred place, and viewed the members in their 
 meek and humble attitude. I had seen them before, but 
 never in such sacred mien, as my eyes were never before so 
 adapted to the vision. The very sight of the church, in her 
 divine aspect, melts the human heart, and especially when 
 the separation from her hallowed influence has been long 
 and painful. My heart was deeply impressed, and my eye 
 were melted to tears. The Word of God was simply and 
 earnestly declared to the comfort and edification of my 
 soul. 
 
 After meeting I visited at old Bro. John Detwiler's res- 
 idence, who was a notable pilgrim, journeying to the celes- 
 tial world. He visited at our home when I was a little boy, 
 and always showed an interest in the welfare of myself, and
 
 336 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 brothers, and sisters. He would talk to us about God and 
 religion in such a simple manner that it attracted our atten- 
 tion. My father labored much for him when I was quite 
 small, and after father's death, he showed himself a true 
 Christian to my widowed mother and her children. 
 
 While at his pleasant home, all his kindness during the 
 days of our childhood, and mother's bereavement was 
 brought to mind. A number of brethren and sisters were 
 gathered there, all of which lent its influence to make our 
 visit especially pleasant. They all manifested a deep con- 
 cern for my spiritual welfare, and we sang and prayed to- 
 gether, and the old and experienced brother would select 
 portions of Scripture, — such Scriptures as were particularly 
 adapted to my condition at that juncture, — and employed 
 me to read them audibly for the edification of all present, 
 but especially for my instruction, so as to be governed by 
 the Divine Mind, by the testimony of the Bible, as to what I 
 must do to be saved. 
 
 1 his was far better than to have given his experience in 
 the matter, and simply exciting my sensations, without the 
 solid instructions of the Bible, as to how I should proceed. 
 
 The hearts of all were moved by the simple reading of 
 the Scriptures, and especially did Bro. Detwilcr shed many 
 tears. All the circumstances, connected with the occasion, 
 were solemn and impressive. 
 
 I learned a permanent lesson there, of the proper way 
 to teach those whose hearts are penitent and humble, and 
 in a proper condition to learn the way of life, — to teach 
 them the mind of God, instead of having recourse to our 
 own feelings in the matter. Whatever comments we 
 may be influenced by the Divine Spirit to make, let them 
 harmonize with the solid Words of Life, so that all our
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 337 
 
 preaching may be substantiated by the testimonies of the 
 Bible. I believ^e that many iiKiuircrs are misled by not giv- 
 ing them the proper Scriptural instructions seasonably, as to 
 what they must do to be saved. This Biblical testimony, 
 produced by the instrumentality of those who feared God 
 and kept his commandments, served to strengthen the con- 
 ceptions I had already received in the school of my disci- 
 pline, when my heart was penitent, and with anguish riven. 
 
 It is comforting when, after enduring divine discipline, 
 we are found to be of one mind and one judgment, relative 
 to the blood-purchased plan of salvation. My dear readers, 
 trutii has made me what I am, and my willingness to con- 
 form to its purging influence and not a mere external pre- 
 ference to the denomination with which I am identified, for 
 other sects with which I came in contact, in my checkered 
 life, had more opportunities to mould my sentiments and 
 arrest the decision of my mind than the sect to which I be- 
 long. It was truth, however, that I endeavored to reach in 
 my humble researches, rather than sectarianism, and my 
 lonely and retired investigations of the Bible have led me 
 into the body with which I am connected, and my choice, 
 as yet, has known no regrets. 
 
 After meeting with the brethren, and learning more of 
 their simplicity, meekness and humility, and their wisdom 
 in the Scriptures, and withal, their hospitality without 
 grudging, I plead for admission into their number. I longed 
 to be where the altar burned with love diyine, and spend 
 with them my toiling years, and sow life's seed in joy and 
 tears, until the harvest day would appear. 
 
 The day was at length appointed for the church to 
 come together to receive me into full fellowship. There 
 never was a grander scene portrayed to my faith-enlight
 
 338 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 ened eyes than the church on her divine mission that day 
 Love seemed to beam in every countenance, as in humble 
 attitude the church proceeded in her heaven-ratified work 
 of rescuing the prodigal. Christ came to "seek and to save 
 that which was lost," and during his absence with the Fa- 
 ther, he employs the church as the medium through which 
 the perishing are rescued and brought to themselves. A 
 church to be the church of Christ must bear the lineaments 
 of his character and life. She must be possessed of the 
 spiritual gifts v/hich he imparted to her, and the divinely 
 beautiful traits, which adorned his life during his earthly 
 mission, must beautify the church, and thus she can be easi- 
 ly discriminated from the world, and her sympathy, and 
 love, and power to rescue the lost will be greatly admired 
 by the returning prodigals. 
 
 When her concentrated power is thus revealed to peni- 
 tent and broken hearts, through the wisdom, righteousness 
 and sanctification, transmitted by Christ, the Author and 
 Finisher of her faith, she moves in the element of her pow- 
 er and the shining beauty of her love, and becomes " fair as 
 the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with 
 banners." 
 
 I have seen the natural army, in all the pomp and 
 splendor of military array, moving in compact columns, 
 with the destructive implements of war, and banners float- 
 ing in the breeze, and, to a trained, military eye, it presents 
 an imposing sight; but the church of Christ, in her celestial 
 habiliments, presents a far more attractive view to the lost 
 but rescued prodigals. 
 
 These were the deep impressions, dear reader, that the 
 appearance and orderly actions of the church made upon 
 my contrite and broken heart. Together we proceeded to
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 339 
 
 the water-side, where I was " buried with Christ by baptism, 
 and raised to walk in newness of life." I now experienced 
 the fullness of the relationship of the Father, Son, and 
 Holy Ghost, and the complete fellowship of the church, — 
 the body of Christ. O that the church of Christ might ever 
 retain her Christian identity, and continue to be assimilated 
 to Christ! What a powerful influence she can wield over 
 the world, and how many forlorn and grief-stricken wander- 
 ers could be rescued from the wrecks of time! 
 
 God had now answered my prayers, even beyond my 
 anticipations, and my long and anxious wish was complete- 
 ly crowned. He placed me where my heart could be forti- 
 fied against the raging waves of sin, and the wiles of the 
 devil, — within the sacred walls of his church I can rest secure 
 when the furies of hell shall rage against her battlements. 
 May the vows that I have made, and the crowning baptismal 
 covenant be distinctly remembered and kept, however se- 
 verely I may yet be tempted and tried within the sacred 
 borders of the church. I am now fully separated from the 
 element of the world in which I once lived and was active, 
 and my old, Adamic nature has been buried in the liquid 
 grave. I trust that nature will never gain the ascendency, 
 but that the spirit may rule and predominate through all 
 my future life. I would labor fervently to redeem the time 
 that may yet be assigned me to live, and I would work for 
 Christ, for much of my precious time has been wasted in 
 sin. 
 
 I remained at home one year, with my mother and sis- 
 ters, and that precious year was diligently occupied in at- 
 tending the school of Christ, — the church. I had many im- 
 portant spiritual lessons to learn, and my entire consecra- 
 tion to the Lord disclosed to my mind, how little I knew
 
 340 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 and how very much I had to learn. I saw others far in ad- 
 vance of myself in spiritual knowledge, and I greatly appre- 
 ciated their wise instructions and pious influence. My 
 heart was deeply absorbed in the interest of the church, 
 and no place upon earth was so dear as her sacred inclos- 
 ures. I wished that all might see her beauty and be at- 
 tracted by the wisdom that adorned her from above, I sin- 
 cerely desired to labor in unison with her, that our united 
 influence, by the grace of God, might win and save many 
 more prodigals, and, if possible, persuade the young to en- 
 ter the borders of the church, ere their feet would roam so 
 far astray over the dark mountains of sin. 
 
 In the spring of 1867 I concluded to go to Illinois, not 
 knowing as to whether I should be permanently located 
 there or not. I had a desire to visit a portion of the West, 
 and ascertain what my prospects might be, by forming an 
 acquaintance with the people in that part of the United 
 States. My mother and sisters tried to persuade me to 
 stay with them, as they were loath to be separated from 
 me again, but I finally agreed that I would, by the Lord's 
 permission, make the trip. If things appeared to open to 
 my spiritual and temporal interest, I would remain, and if 
 not, I would again return. This promise seemed to satisfy 
 their minds, and they seemed to desire that the will of the 
 Lord might be done. I accordingly came to Mt. Carroll, 
 Carroll County, Illinois, May, 1867. 
 
 I was pleased with the aspect of the country, and with 
 the amiable and friendly dispositions of the people, and 
 concluded, after inspection, that I might, perhaps, pursue 
 my occupation to a better advantage, and also labor in the 
 spiritual field equally as well as in my native country in the 
 East, and so I concluded to locate. I handed my certificate
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 34I 
 
 of membership to the little church at Hickory Grove, where 
 I met with a warm and loving reception, and after I became 
 acquainted with the dear members, the attachment was very 
 strong. I soon became acquainted in the vicinity, and 
 much admired the social tendency of the neighbors. I re- 
 ceived an extensive patronage at my occupation (plaster- 
 ing), and felt quite at home, and could not see but what 
 the Lord might have directed me to this congenial spot. 
 
 Mt. Carroll is the County-seat of Carroll County, and 
 contains a population of nearly two thousand. I soon 
 learned to know many of the citizens, and have ever enter- 
 tained an humble and prayerful desire for their eternal wel- 
 fare. 
 
 In less then ten months after I came to Illinois, my 
 oldest brother died of diabetes, which occasioned a dismal 
 cloud to rest upon our hearts. His death was quite unex- 
 pected to me. I had known that he was sick, but did not 
 think that his disease was fatal. One night, as I was about 
 to retire, I received a telegram, bearing the sad tidings, 
 " Your brother John is dying. Can you come home?" 
 
 I replied that I would come. This event opened up a 
 serious train of reflections. I had talked with him on the 
 subject of religion, and he told me of his convictions in the 
 earlier years of his life, but, like myself, had not yielded, 
 and now it required a strong effort upon his part to become 
 reconciled to the Lord. This we advised him to do, as his 
 condition, away from God, was very insecure. He congrat- 
 ulated me in my consecration to the Lord, but still sadly 
 neglected his own precious soul. 
 
 How difficult it is to break off from the associations of 
 the wo'"ld, when its bands and fetters are so tightly en- 
 twined about us! How many there are like my own poor
 
 342 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 brother, who can see a beauty in others serving the Lord, 
 but have not the stamina and fortitude to execute the work 
 in themselves! My heart was sadly pained at the tidings, 
 and I felt mortified that I did not urge the matter of his 
 conversion still stronger. Perhaps, by having prayed more 
 earnestly and having employed more persuasive means, he 
 might, after all, have been rescued before he became the 
 victim of death. 
 
 He was so concerned about my journey west, that he 
 accompanied me to the City of Philadelphia, and when I 
 boarded the train and we gave each other the parting hand, 
 I besought him to give his heart to the Lord. " Well," he 
 replied, " I'll see," but, alas, he delayed too long and now 
 he is gone. 
 
 The next morning after having received the message, I 
 boarded the train at Morrison, Whiteside Co., 111., and 
 when I reached Norristown, Pa., the funeral services had al- 
 ready commenced. I beheld with sorrow the countenance 
 that, less than one year before, was lit up with smiles. My 
 dear mother, sisters and brother, sat, as mourners, around 
 the coffin, and I seated myself among them with a sad and 
 heavy heart. He was buried in the Lutheran cemetery, in 
 which persuasion father held his membership when he died, 
 and where mother still held her membership. My brother's 
 decease caused a sorrowful vacancy in the family. He being 
 the eldest when father died, the greater responsibility fell 
 upon him to see after the welfare of mother, and his young- 
 er brothers and sisters. This care having fallen upon him 
 at the age of twelve years, he became experienced in that 
 line, and was ever looked to for counsel and advice. His 
 absence, in the cold arms of death, was greatly lamented, 
 but in this sore dispensation of Divine Providence we had
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 343 
 
 to say with aching heart, " Thy will be done." Dear read- 
 er, let this sad event impress your mind with the uncertain- 
 ty of life, and urge you to make a preparation to meet the 
 grim monster, Death, if you have not as yet made that prep- 
 aration. Death sometimes delays his entrance into our 
 dear homes for a long time. Many dangers are passed 
 through and still we live, but he is sure to come at last and 
 cause the sad and painful vacuum. 
 
 When I returned west from my brother's funeral, my 
 youngest brother accompanied me, and he, too, settled in 
 Illinois. A year after I returned to my native land. In 
 January, 1869, I was married to Sarah M., daughter of Abra- 
 ham Rittenhouse, of Montgomery County, Pa. In Febru- 
 ary we came to Illinois, and March 6, I was elected to the 
 ministry in the Hickory Grove church, Carroll County, 111. 
 
 This placed upon me new and greater responsibilities, 
 and I felt myself, in a great measure, at least, inadequate to 
 the momentous task, but tried to resign myself to the will 
 of God as best I could. Although the way was difficult to 
 travel, I did what little I could, under the care and tuition 
 of my senior brother and able minister, Michael Sisler, who 
 was the elder of our church. 
 
 I had never urged myself to the front in public speak- 
 ing. Having been annoyed by a spirit of diffidence from 
 my childhood, I would only speak when circumstances 
 seemed to press me into it. On the sea I endeavored, in 
 my feeble way, to comment on the Scriptures, but now the 
 preaching of the Gospel was to be made the prominent bus 
 iness of my life, and it seemed to impress my mind as being 
 a great undertaking. I felt as if it required a new consecra 
 tion to the Lord, in order to be successful in such a solemn 
 and responsible worl^:.
 
 344 THRILLING INCIDKXTS 
 
 A certain writer says, 
 
 " No other post affords a place, 
 For equal honor or disgrace." 
 
 I had been called by the Lord, through the medium of 
 the church, as I had reason to believe, and I decided that I 
 would search and obtain a knowledge of his Word, that he 
 would give me the wisdom to apply it, and that, by a prac- 
 tical effort, he would enlarge my utterance, so that I might 
 communicate his Word to the people. Thus I labored on 
 in the ministry as the Lord would grant me ability. Paul 
 says, "Woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel. If I 
 do it willingly, I have a reward, but if against my will, a dis- 
 pensation of the Gospel is upon me." I felt that it was my 
 duty to labor for the suppression of all reluctance, diffi- 
 dence and embarrassment, and endeavor to be armed with 
 fortitude and humble boldness in the execution of the min- 
 isterial work, and do it willingly under the divine sanction, 
 and so anticipate a reward, for the work being enjoined up- 
 on me by divine authority, I would have to discharge the 
 obligation at any rate, whether reluctant or willing. 
 
 •^•N^^^<-
 
 CH^PTEI? XXX. 
 
 'ir 
 
 True Relationship of the Church towards her Ministers. — Marriage of 
 my Sister, Katie, to Eld. John J. Emmert. — My Mother Identifying 
 herself with the People of God. — Death of my Youngest, and also 
 my Older Sister. — The Declining Days of my Mother, and her De- 
 parture for the Better Land. — My Second-oldest Brother Heard 
 from, but his Present Whereabouts Unknown. 
 
 «-^N>- - X - 
 
 EMPORALLY I had not much accumulated for our 
 support, therefore I was necessitated to labor hard 
 with my own hands and preach the Gospel as best I 
 could besides. This strain on my mental and physical en- 
 ergies was severe at times, and has worn on mv constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 1 have ever felt as though I would like to follow the 
 example of the apostle Paul, who labored with his hands to 
 support himself, and some of his cc-laborers, I presume, 
 who had need of pecuniary support. At least he says that 
 he labored for those who were with him. " These hands 
 have ministered to my necessities, and to them that were 
 with me." Acts 20: 34. But I do not conclude that the in- 
 spired apostle labored constantly for his temporal support. 
 There were times, no doubt, when he was so busily engaged 
 in the spiritual field that he could not spend any time to 
 labor with his hands, and we conclude, from his writings, 
 that there were seasons when his temporal necessities were 
 supplied by the churches. While I have always thrown my 
 
 34S
 
 34^ THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 influence, by example, upon the side of self-support, yet I 
 believe that there should be a plane of moderation recog- 
 nized by the church in the ministerial work. The abuse of 
 this principle, of the church supporting her ministers, has 
 in some instances, made the church too reserved in looking 
 after the temporal needs of her faithful ministers, but 
 though a valid principle may be abused by some, the abuse 
 of it should not prevent the proper use of it. 
 
 We, however, admit that great caution is requisite upon 
 the part of the church, to supervise this part of her v/ork, 
 but at the same time she should not be too cautious. God 
 has promised to give her wisdom to carry out her mission 
 in every particular, and the ministry is an important part of 
 it. While the church might withhold from her faithful min- 
 ister that which is justly due him, she may indirectly grant 
 license to some of her wealthy members to indulge their 
 carnal desires in their many opportunities to accumulate 
 wealth, and while they may be adding farm to farm, and be 
 laying up treasures in this world, the minister, who was ap- 
 pointed to preach the Gospel to them, may be toiling hard 
 to support himself and family, and forego many opportuni- 
 ties of doing good, because the support which the Gospel 
 authorizes, is withheld by the rich. There are two ex- 
 tremes in thir, as well as many other things, and the church 
 of Christ is in danger of running to either of these ex- 
 tremes. 
 
 My severe training in military and nautical discipline 
 inured me to hardships and endurance, and now being in 
 the service of the Lord, I have felt to do all, and bear all, 
 that may be requisite in this sacred and responsible calling. 
 As my deliverance has been great, I feel that I owe my life
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 347 
 
 and my all to God and his church, which Christ has pur- 
 chased with his own precious blood. 
 
 Since my election to the ministry my labors have been, 
 in a large measure, restricted to the little church at Hick- 
 ory Grove, although I have made ministerial tours to vari- 
 ous portions of our beloved Fraternity. 
 
 During the winter season I have devoted nearly all my 
 time to the ministry, but during the summer, family cares, 
 and the demands for the little church in which I have, for 
 twenty-four years, held my membership, have demanded 
 my labors, in unison with that of my dear co-laborers in the 
 ministry. Upon the whole my years of ministerial work 
 have been pleasantly spent, and I trust that I can say we 
 worked in love and harmony together. We have not en- 
 larged our borders as much as some of the churches in our 
 Fraternity, but if our cords have not been lengthened, yet I 
 hope that our stakes have been strengthened. Some of our 
 worthy members have changed locations, and some dear 
 and earnest workers have fallen asleep in Jesus. Bro. 
 Christian Hope and wife, and his wife's parents and sister, 
 were here received into church fellowship, the memory of 
 which union is ever cherished and dear. When the great 
 day of reunion takes place in the celestial world, and the 
 laborers who have sown the seed in tears, will come bring- 
 ing their sheaves with rejoicing, from many lands and 
 climes, I sincerely hope that the prodigal, rescued with the 
 few that the Lord may have given him, may be represented 
 among the number to swell the songs of redeeming love, 
 and share the great harvest of rejoicing. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1870, my sister Kate was 
 married to Eld. John J. Emmert, of Mt. Carroll, 111., and her 
 location in the West was the result of this union. Soon aft-
 
 348 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 er this occurrence my youngest sister, Mary, united with 
 the Brethren church in Pennsylvania, and we were made to 
 rejoice greatly that she began the Christian work in the 
 golden period of her youth. In 1873 my wife and I paid a 
 visit to our relations, brethren and friends in the State of 
 Pennsylvania, and when we returned to Illinois, my mother 
 and youngest sister accompanied us. 
 
 During their visit among us, my mother united with 
 the church of the Brethren. In the sixty-sixth year of her 
 age she felt the necessity of this ever-blessed union and fel- 
 lowship with our people, having counted the cost and 
 weighed the responsibility of a change of church relation- 
 ship. Mother was always cool and deliberate in her decis- 
 ions. Amid all the reverses of life and the chastisements 
 and corrections of a loving Providence, four of our family 
 were now representatives of the church of our choice. This 
 was the good effect and the fruitful result of the painful 
 years of divine discipline, and we could say with the Psalm- 
 ist David of old, that " before I was afflicted I went astray 
 but now have I kept thy word." 
 
 My mother and sister subsequently returned to our nat- 
 ive borough in the State of Pennsylvania, but in 1876 they 
 returned to Illinois to spend the remainder of their days. 
 My youngest sister was then sorely afflicted with scrofula, 
 which occasioned her death after years of extreme suffer- 
 ing. The wasting malady preyed upon her vitals, and her 
 anguish in the paroxyms of pain was heart-rending to wit- 
 ness, but she showed much patience, and was refined and 
 purified through suffering, and her conceptions could grasp 
 the deep and mournful utterances of the suffering just, in 
 their hours of anguish and pain. She was particularly at- 
 tached to the book of Job, who alludes to the bitterness of
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 349 
 
 his life and the loathsomeness of his disease and who de- 
 scribes his emaciated condition " by his flesh cleaving to 
 his bones, his yearning for his couch to ease his complaint, 
 and his tossings to and fro till the breaking of the day." 
 
 All these painful features, which the devouring malady 
 brings, she experienced, and her form was reduced to a 
 mere skeleton, when the lamp of life flickered and went out. 
 
 Again we all merged into the shadows of death, to 
 weep and reflect, as mourners only can, when their loved 
 ones have gone to moulder in its dismal domains. During 
 her long and painful illness my aged mother kept close by 
 her darling daughter, and applied the ioothing ointment to 
 her wasting frame. Many lone nights did she linger by her 
 couch of suffering and keep painful vigils, to comfort her 
 suffering child in her agonizing periods. 
 
 May her dark hours of pain. 
 
 So long with patience borne, 
 Incite her friends the crown to gain 
 
 In the celestial morn. 
 
 May blessings ever flow, 
 
 And love adorn the home, 
 Whose inmates all her anguish saw 
 
 And heard her weep and groan. 
 
 God bless my mother dear, 
 
 Whose life was meek and mild, 
 Who toiled 'mid tears and grief and care 
 
 To solace her poor child. 
 
 We hope to meet again, 
 
 In that pure, healthful clime, 
 Where none shall ever groan in pain 
 
 Nor health nor life decline. 
 
 The next to cross the turbid waters of death was my 
 dear sister Kate, the wife of Bro. John J. Emmert. My
 
 350 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 mother now had her home with her only surviving daugh- 
 ter, and when her health began to decline, her maternal care 
 was again exerted and her helping hands administered to 
 her necessities. My sister and her husband were workers 
 in the church, he being the elder of the Arnold's Grove 
 church, Carroll County, 111. My sister Kate possessed a 
 cheerful temperament and the bright things of life seemed 
 to preponderate in her heart. She led the van into our be- 
 loved Fraternity, and was ever a cheerful, willing, and earn- 
 est w^orker in the Master's cause. Even when her faculties 
 began to decline, under the wasting power of disease, the 
 smile of hope and filial submission to a compassionate God, 
 who doeth all things well, beamed in her fading counte- 
 nance. Our hearts were saddened to think that another 
 dear one had bidden farewell to loved ones. We must all 
 become the ghastly victims, at length, to that last cruel en- 
 emy, — Death. She died of consumption March 24, 1882, 
 aged about forty-four years. She left us in the prime of 
 life and apparently in the height of her usefulness. But 
 her energy in the cause of Christianity and her words of 
 cheer, and prayers, and smiles, and tears will be retained to 
 profit while her body moulders in the dark and silent grave. 
 She left a Christian husband, a daughter about ten years of 
 age, an aged mother and two surviving brothers. 
 
 Thus ended the bright and useful Christian career of 
 one who was cherished and dear. "We all do fade as a 
 leaf." Isa. 64: 6. 
 
 The sun in his clima.x of glory we've seen, 
 When nature was smiling and forests were green, 
 And birds in the woodland were warbling their songs. 
 All lending the charm which to summer belongs.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 351 
 
 Those beauties of nature that come with the spring, 
 All fade from our vision on time's rapid wing. 
 The soft tints decay in the autumn's cool shade, 
 The beautiful leaves of the forest all fade. 
 
 How apt the resemblance of old by the seer, 
 
 Of nature's decline at the close of the year, 
 
 And man's sudden exit from life to the tomb. 
 
 Our time, oh how fleeting! How transient our home! 
 
 We follow our friends to the grave in deep grief. 
 To us, oh how dear, but they fade as a leaf; 
 They shone like the stars in the fair azure dome. 
 To solace our spirits and brighten our home. 
 
 The memories so solemn now soften the heart. 
 When friends fondly cherished in paleness depart; 
 Their smiles in life's sunshine, their tears in its gloom. 
 Recur to the mind as we march to the tomb. 
 
 The husband in sadness laments for his wife. 
 Who shared in the comforts and sorrows of life; 
 The daughter was weeping in loneliness there. 
 The mother's delight and her subject of prayer. 
 
 So lately her languishing sighs we still heard. 
 To-day her pale form in the grave was interred; 
 We thought 'mid our tears and our swellings of grief, 
 The friends in our circle " all fade as a leaf." 
 
 The herald of Truth did sweet solace afford, 
 'Twas "blessed are the dead which die in the Lord;" 
 They rest from their labors, their sorrows are o'er. 
 Their works follow them to that beautiful shore. 
 
 So friend after friend leaves this grief-stricken vale. 
 They fade as the leaf and are lifeless and pale; 
 They moulder to dust in death's gloomy domain, 
 But God shall restore them in beauty again. 
 
 Come, mourners, and rest in the promise divine. 
 
 We'll meet them again in that glorified clime; 
 
 There death's withering blight shall the bounds not invade. 
 
 No ties shall be broken, no beauty shall fade.
 
 352 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 Some time after my sister Kate's death, my aged and 
 care-worn mother came to take up her abode at my place 
 of residence, and, after so many deaths in our home, and 
 the many long and painful separations of those yet living, 
 it was pleasant to dwell again with mother, amid the joys of 
 family life. I felt glad that her once roving but rescued 
 son could possess a little home for her welcome reception, 
 when her long, weary and toilsome journey was drawing to 
 a close. What cares, and heart-aches, and dismal vacancies 
 in bereavement had mother known and felt! It was meet 
 that she should experience a brief respite ere her sun would 
 sink beneath the horizon, to rise no more in this world. 
 
 Like the prophet of yore, in his cherished home, pro- 
 vided for him, our mother occupied her little chamber, and 
 we were happy in the thought that we could dwell with 
 each other, for a few years at least. The children looked 
 upon her as a member of the family, and spent many hours 
 of pleasantness in their grandmother's little chamber. Es- 
 pecially attached to grandmother was my youngest daugh- 
 ter, she having been nursed and fondled by that dear one 
 from infancy, and also a namesake of hers. The two Ma- 
 ria's often dined, and sweetly conversed together, and the 
 junior seemed to greatly solace the senior in the decrepi- 
 tude of old age. Her constitution was remarkably vigorous 
 till the close of her life, and she would often lend a helping 
 hand when my wife was pressed with cares and burdens. 
 Mother's presence and help would cheer the hours of sep- 
 aration during the winter season, especially when I was ab- 
 sent on long, ministerial tours. 
 
 But there must be an end to all that we hold dear in 
 this life, and our fondly-cherished friends are destined to 
 leave us, one by one. So mother's appointed time came
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 353 
 
 when the deep shades of death must conceal her from our 
 mortal vision. She had often wished, if the Lord's will 
 might be so, that she might quickly depart, without a lin- 
 gering illness to burden her friends, — as she herself ex- 
 pressed it. Mother deserved the best of attention and care, 
 for she had been so self-sacrificing and untiring in her per- 
 severance to wait upon her children, when they were pros- 
 trated with lingering and fatal maladies. Her wish, how- 
 ever, was granted. Her illness was of short duration, but 
 very severe. She died of inflammatory rheumatism, which 
 suddenly struck a defective limb, that had occasioned con- 
 siderable pain and trouble for several years. From there it 
 penetrated to the heart, and soon set forever at rest the 
 heart, that had continued in active operation so long, amid 
 sunshine and shadow, smiles and tears, weal and woe. We 
 summoned all the children to her dying bed in the early 
 morning, and we all mourned and wept as she gently passed 
 away. It appeared inexpressibly sad to see that familiar 
 face so cold and pale in death, — the face that we were 
 wont to see in the glow and activity of life and health so 
 long. Her death occurred Nov. i, 1890, in the eighty-third 
 year of her age. 
 
 Thus another impressive event was recoided upon the 
 tablets of our hearts. The end of mother's career was cer- 
 tainly very touching to us all. Her acts of kindness, her 
 fortitude and courage, — all arose before our mental vision 
 as we viewed her familiar, physical form in the cold em- 
 brace of death. 
 
 Children, remember the worth and precic usness of a 
 mother's presence, and the care and anxiety for your wel- 
 fare and prosperity! There is no love within the circle of 
 home so pure, so deep and anxious, as m^aternal love. It is
 
 354 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 the first, in our infantile state, to lend its fostering care; and 
 its vigilance, through all the meanderings of life, is untir- 
 ing. When woes oppress and sorrows rend the heart, that 
 love is nearest to console. When pain and sickness waste 
 our mortal frame, that loving care is all aglow, by day and 
 night. Her prayers for the wayward child are incessant, 
 and maternal love, ignited by heaven's immortal flame, will 
 wrestle and plead, without fainting, for the lost and wan- 
 dering child. 
 
 What is home without a mother? And what a sacred 
 and endearing place is home with the cheering presence of 
 a fond. Christian mother! But all maternal and fraternal 
 ties, so far as their domestic and mortal union is concerned, 
 must pass away, and our only prospect, when we cast our 
 last, lingering look at the grave, are the celestial greetings 
 on the other shore, and the immortal bands that will unite 
 us in joy and blessedness forever. Let us labor, then, while 
 we may be aided by each other's influence and sympathies, 
 to secure together the love and friendship that is immortal, 
 that when all, that is visible and tangible in this mortal 
 sphere, shall vanish from our sight, we may anticipate the 
 grand reunion on the other shore. 
 
 My youngest brother and I are now the only two 
 known survivors of the family, to which reference has been 
 made so frequently in this work. I already alluded to my 
 second-oldest brother's final departure from home in i860, 
 the year prior to the commencement of the Civil War. He 
 went to Charleston, South Carolina, and when the war be- 
 gan, all communication having been cut off, his whereabouts 
 was lost sight of, and his existence was involved in uncer- 
 tainty till the year 1867, when I came to Illinois.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND, 
 
 355 
 
 I boarded a steam-boat one day, and took passage to 
 Burlington, Iowa, where my brother was, at one time, in bus- 
 iness, and where he had formed many acquaintances. I 
 there ascertained that he was still living in 1866, — that he 
 was then in Charleston, South Carolina, and expected 
 soon to go to Europe. That was the last intelligence we 
 ever received concerning him.
 
 CH.^PXER 
 
 -'9^' 
 
 Reflections on Temporal and Spiritual Warfare. — The Christian Mar- 
 iner, and the Points he must Watch. — Fidelity to the Cross of 
 Christ. — "New Wine should be put into New Bottles." — If God 
 Commands, we should Go. 
 
 r^— €^'4^« 
 
 EAR readers, I have carried you on my mental 
 wings through the long and checkered journey of 
 my mortal career. I have portrayed to you espec- 
 ially the most prominent incidents of my life. I have de- 
 scribed to you my early, pious inclinations, and the long- 
 ings of my heart after God in the glowing period of my 
 youth. I have shown you how those pious emotions, in the 
 morning of life, were subsequently suppressed by indul- 
 gence of the carnal propensities. I gave you my experi- 
 ence in military life, and the effect that it had to harden 
 my sensibilities, quench the sympathies, and prevent the de- 
 velopment of the inner man, or spn'itual being. I have 
 shown the force of military regulation and government, as 
 being necessary to military achievements and conquests. I 
 have deduced illustrations from military system and order, 
 to teach and impress Christian regulation and government, 
 demonstrating, by way of comparison, that, without orderly 
 and methodical procedure, in the spiritual army, there can 
 be no success. 
 
 I have taken the spirit of zeal, endurance and courage, 
 as shown by the natural soldier in his line of military life, 
 
 3S6
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 357 
 
 to urge the necessity of endurance, fortitude and zeal in the 
 spiritual army. I have presented the natural army, with its 
 banners waving in the air, and moving in compact columns, 
 with glittering swords and burnished steel, and all the for- 
 midable weapons of war, as presenting an imposing scene 
 and occasioning havoc, bloodshed and death. I have shown 
 the spiritual army to be superior, although, to the natural 
 eye the scene is not so imposing. The contention against 
 spiritual wickedness in high places, requires spiritual force 
 instead of carnal. This divine force, utilized in mighty, 
 spiritual conquests, is only clearly understood by the regen- 
 erateci heart and the trained, spiritual eye, and the spiritual 
 conquests of the church of Christ are far superior to the 
 conquests by military power. " He that ruleth his own 
 spirit is greater than he that taketh a city." Christ taught 
 and exemplified it in his condescending life of humility, self- 
 sacrifice, love, meekness, humility, non-resistance, and pa- 
 tience. These are the divine characteristics for conquering 
 opposing humanity and the powers of hell. His people are 
 commanded to adjust variances by arbitration, and in pro- 
 portion as the nations become conversant with the spiritual 
 system, which he taught and enforced by his sacred exam- 
 ple, they will adopt his method. In the millennial age the 
 " swords will be beaten into ploughshares, and the spears 
 into pruninghooks." In his spiritual kingdom they al- 
 ready imbibe that spirit, and exemplify the principles. 
 " But the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, 
 neither indeed can be." If the princes of this world had 
 known the wisdom of God and could have discerned the 
 spiritual character of Christ's kingdom, they would not 
 have crucified the Lord of glory.
 
 358 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 "Christ was crucified in great weakness but he was 
 raised in glory." The crucifixion of our carnal nature is in- 
 dicative of great weakness, but the result is powerful, and 
 will tend to spiritual conquest and exaltation with Christ. 
 The spiritual army will be far more imposing than the nat- 
 ural, in its glorious attitude and celestial array, when Christ 
 comes in triumph. 
 
 Reader, do you see how the indulgence of carnal pre 
 ferment and glory impairs the vision and all the senses of 
 our being, for the view and the conception of the spiritual 
 grandeur and power? " Ye must be born again," and ye 
 must be born of water and of the spirit to enter the king- 
 dom. 
 
 My purpose in this work is to be honest and candid in 
 reasoning, by way of comparison, and employing the hard- 
 earned lessons of my experience in the perils and advent- 
 ures of my life, to impress the superior duties of the spirit- 
 ual life upon the human mind. Christ himself affords 
 many examples of impressing spiritual instruction in this 
 way, and if I can make the experience of my life subserv- 
 ient to this end, I shall be well paid for the inditement of 
 this work. I have endeavored to draw many illustrations 
 from maritime life, and to freight them with the burdens of 
 my experience, while passing under the correcting rod of 
 divine discipline; and while I was rendered contrite and 
 humble by these sore chastisements, I aim, by the help of 
 God to transmit their beneficial influences to others, to in- 
 duce them to yield meekly to the God whom I love and 
 adore. I have spoken plainly, and at times severely, but I 
 trust that love for God and man has predominated in all 
 my arguments. Military men and seamen are taught to 
 speak in plain language, and to the purpose, for the obliga-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 359 
 
 tions of their respective vocations are attended with seri- 
 ous responsibilities. And is there any calling so serious 
 and responsible as that of the servant of God? 
 
 Life is a journey that we pursue but once, and it is a 
 grave and momentous thing to live and pass through this 
 sin-polluted world, and " free ourselves of the blood of all 
 men." When the situation of the mariner is perilous, and 
 his life is endangered, he carries the burden and anxiety of 
 the moment in his movements, gestures, and the tone of 
 his voice. So, I remark, that public speakers and writers, — 
 when exploring the magnitude of sin and its deceptive in- 
 fluence, and the ultimate anguish and remorse which it will 
 entail upon its vassals, — are moved to clearness and plain- 
 ness in their discriminations, and show no quarters to sin, 
 however specious and angelic its appearance, lest they 
 should fail to exert themselves to the utmost to rescue oth- 
 ers, and so fall under the same condemnation themselves. 
 The Christian life requires moral courage and fortitude. It 
 demands impartiality and strict honesty of heart. We can 
 spare sin no more under the guise or semblance of religion, 
 than in the overt actions of degradation and depravity. 
 
 Sin, in all its forms and phases is discountenanced by 
 God, and it must be discarded and reproved by his servants. 
 Christians must make themselves thoroughly acquainted 
 with the thoughts and mind of God, and then become the 
 sincere and honest agents in communicating his mind to 
 the children of men. "They are bought with a price," and 
 cannot be the servants of sin. 
 
 The Purest Being that ever graced the earth with his 
 sacred presence offended many during his pilgrimage 
 through it, and yet, with respect to force and pertinency, 
 " he spake as never man spake," He uttered the truth in
 
 360 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 all its vital force and acuteness, and the sham professions 
 of his day could not endure his piercing words. The long- 
 er he lived, the more his reputation was repudiated by the 
 populace, till, at last, they cried out, " Crucify him, crucify 
 him. Let his blood be upon us and upon our children." 
 O how many luminous stars have been extinguished from 
 this vile world, by men whose eyes, and ears, and hearts 
 were uncircumcised and could not bear their valid and 
 truthful messages! Sin and false religion only effect a rep- 
 etition of the same dismal scenes, and repel the pure argu- 
 ments of the just, until they fall upon them as a savor of 
 " death unto death." But the beloved Christ changed not 
 his voice, though his reputation was well nigh gone, neither 
 can we. 
 
 The Lord tested me by many painful ordeals. He 
 proved me in the smelting furnace, and if I smooth my 
 tongue and soften his inspired words against " spiritual 
 wickedness in high places," I shall incur his displeasure, 
 and his judgments inflicted upon me, will be deep and pain- 
 ful. I must shine bv the light of the humble Christ, who is 
 my spiritual sun, and I must determine my spiritual reck- 
 onings by the methodical process of the Bible, and thus 
 progress on the ocean of time. I must teach this science 
 in its purity and genuineness to others. 
 
 Human creeds and systems will not answer to consum- 
 mate the responsible voyage of life. The pleasing sensations, 
 produced by them, and the wild raptures of the mind, are 
 not sufficient testimony to prove the divine authenticity of 
 the work. 
 
 The storms and reverses of the voyage will sometimes 
 cloud the vision, and disturb the glad and joyful current of 
 the mind, but in this hour of dark temptation, a divine
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 36I 
 
 hope, based upon God's Word, will be our sure support. A 
 Christian's motto is, Christ and him crucified, in sorrow or 
 joy, in pain or pleasure. 
 
 The strongest evidences of our veracity and fidelity to 
 
 the cross of Christ will be in the time of adversity and 
 
 gloom. The religion of Jesus Christ does not consist in 
 
 sudden outbursts of joy amid the glow of prosperity, and a 
 
 relaxation into inactivity when the emotional impulses are 
 
 over, and the dense fogs and storms intervene. It indicates 
 
 progressio7i and perseverance all the time, in glad or dismal 
 
 days. 
 
 " A single, steady aim, 
 Unmoved by threatening or reward." 
 
 There is too much religion in the world that is too 
 cheap to be good. It may be compared to some of the 
 cheap clothing that we sometimes purchase, — it won't wear. 
 There is not a proper preparation of the heart, and the joy, 
 connected with the first reception of the Truth, is too super- 
 ficial. The separation from sin and the world is not effect- 
 ual. Sober and candid thinkers, who are unchristianized, 
 can discover its inefificiency. The Savior shows this by the 
 seed that falls upon the rock, "As soon as it springs up, it 
 withers away, because it lacks moisture." "They, on the 
 rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the Word 
 with joy, and these have no root, which, for awhile, believe, 
 and, in time of temptation, fall away." It is a poor stock 
 of religion, and yet it is quite prevalent, and generally has 
 the preference, because of the rapidity of germination and 
 growth. But, then, such sudden growth often comes to an 
 end before the seed, which is deposited in well-prepared 
 soil, obtains a good start. A heart that is not melted to
 
 362 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 penitence and contrition, partakes too much of the nature 
 of the rock, so that the seed cannot grow and thrive. 
 
 There is nothing like preparing the soil well, before de- 
 positing the seed. Serving God too easy is like farming 
 too easy. The result will prove a failure. Seed that 
 springs up too quickly, amid wild acclamations, and raptur- 
 ous joy, indicates danger of sudden blight and declension. 
 It is the thinness of the soil that occasions the seed to 
 spring up sooner. The germination below the soil, and the 
 growth above, in fact all, — is deficient and short-lived. It 
 is a serious and solemn thing to begin the work of grace in 
 the heart. More sober thoughts should be given the mo- 
 mentous subject. Teachers should be more intent upon 
 teaching the Word of God. By being too relax in the 
 start, the work is rendered futile and abortive. 
 
 If the Adamic nature is not killed, the growth in grace 
 will be a failure. Old bottles are not the place for new 
 wine. The heart must be made new before the new wine of 
 the Gospel can be admitted. In the Adamic hearts it will 
 soon burst in the course of fermentation. The wine will be 
 spilled, and the bottles rendered useless. 
 
 How many bottles are spoiled by this untimely pro- 
 cess! This might all be obviated by a proper and judicious 
 preparation of the heart, and the pure and genuine wine of 
 the Gospel, inserted in due course of time, as the Word of 
 God directs! God will not reverse his work, though men 
 may do so. His scheme and methods of salvation were 
 maturely deliberated upon before being presented in their 
 pure and perfect character to the fallen race of Adam, and 
 there will be no recantation upon the part of Divinity. His 
 measures must be accepted, or the direful loss sustained.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 363 
 
 Devils are sometimes driven out of the human heart, by 
 the sincerity and contrition of the one who becomes truly 
 penitent, but while the Satanic power is dethroned, the 
 heart is left too naked and defenseless, and is not fortified 
 by obedience to the Truth. When a military force defeats 
 and conquers a garrison, owing to a superior, military force, 
 or skill and dexterity, the army, in defense of the fortifica- 
 tions, is compelled to retire, but the conquerors, proficient 
 in military attainments, will observe the necessity of 
 strengthening and securing every part of the garrison, in 
 order to hold their position. By comparison, I would ar- 
 gue, that when "the evil spirit is gone out of a man," that 
 heart must be fortified by the divine means of grace, and re- 
 ceive the Holy Spirit as an occupant in the heart. He is 
 appointed to lead us into all truth, and so we shall be thor- 
 oughly equipped to hold the infernal forces at bay, and, se- 
 cured within the impregnable walls of the church, built up- 
 on the " Rock of Ages, against which the gates of hell 
 cannot prevail." 
 
 God has given us a record of his Divine Will. In legi- 
 ble characters it is inscribed on the sacred pages of the Bi- 
 ble. The Living Word, animated by the Spirit of God, pen- 
 etrates the honest heart of the candid peruser, till the vital 
 force of all the words of life exert their saving power. This 
 Written Word, this Transcript of the Divine Mind, is repre- 
 sented as the " Sword of the Spirit." It is employed as the 
 instrument to slay and subdue with the correcting argu- 
 ments the lusts of the flesh, and instruct and guide, by its 
 counsels and commandments, the soul to life eternal. The 
 Spirit does not operate in an abstract sense; it employs the 
 Vvord to wield its sacred influence upon the human heart. 
 The Words of Christ, and all the words of Inspiration
 
 364 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 are written for our learning, and they who are called and 
 chosen of God are commanded to teach all " the words of 
 this life." 
 
 John, the inspired evangelist, informs us in his Gospel, 
 "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the 
 which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that 
 even the world itself could not contain the books that 
 should be written. Amen." There never w'as a life lived 
 that was so " pure, holy, undefiled, and separate from sin- 
 ners," and so perfect and full of meaning, as the life of Je- 
 sus Christ on this earth. There never was an experience, 
 fraught with such mighty import, power and love, and yet 
 the wisdom of God deemed it necessary to withhold the ac- 
 count of some of his wonderful deeds from the knowledge 
 of his creature, man, for in his finite condition it would be 
 more than he could contain to profit. Therefore the infi- 
 nite mind of God, that could fully measure the condition 
 and character of man, had just enough written to melt his 
 heart to penitence, to test his integrity, and "guide him to 
 glory." 
 
 It is pitiful to behold that there is even too much writ- 
 ten now, for many, who profess the name of Christ, to 
 contain. They say, " Lord, Lord," but they do not the 
 things which he says, and even in the great day of reckon- 
 ing they will recommend their own work to Christ, and say, 
 " Have we not cast out devils in thy name, and in thy name 
 done many wonderful works? " But Christ will reply, " De- 
 part from me, ye workers of iniquity, I never knew }'ou." 
 Do you think that I am telling too much truth to be wise? 
 
 I do not want to be wise above that which is written. I 
 have been punished severely enough by the rod of God's 
 discipline, I trust, to make me humble enough, and faithful
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 365 
 
 enough to believe and try to do, at least, all that God says. 
 Every sentence in the military code bore its express and 
 definite meaning, and was obligatory whether averse to our 
 feelings or not. The imperative signification was obey, or 
 suffer the penalty annexed to military law. Maritime law 
 was equally binding, and our only security was to obey ev- 
 ery command in the line and order of nautical duty. En- 
 tering the school of Christ, — to experience liis training and 
 discipline, — would it be reasonable to expect exemption 
 from duty? Could I hope to be exonerated if I failed to 
 obey his commands? You reply, "Only believe and you 
 shall be saved." All right, but the misfortune is, we take 
 issue upon the meaning of faith. 
 
 1 adopt the language of the inspired James, to state my 
 position, "Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will 
 show thee my faith by my works." Faith is expressive of 
 action, and implies obedience to God. Abraham had faith 
 in God, and obeyed God's most trying command to offer 
 his own son, in whom the promise was located. Enoch had 
 faith in God, and walked with him, and it requires correct 
 walking to walk with God. Abel had faith in God, and was 
 not baffled or influenced by the offering of his brother 
 Cain's sacrifice, but offered to God a more excellent one, 
 which met the divine acceptation, and he was justified. 
 Noah had faith in God and verified it by his loyal actions, 
 in the building of the ark, by virtue of God's command, and 
 thus " condemned the world, and became heir of the right- 
 eousness which is by faith." Moses had faith in God and 
 chose the divine honor, although it inculcated humble dis- 
 cipline, aid affliction with the people of God, rather than 
 to be called the son of a renowned king's daughter, " es-
 
 366 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 teeming the reproaches of Christ greater riches than all the 
 treasures of Egypt." 
 
 If we are men of faith, it is not our business to question 
 the propriety or impropriety of God's commands; we 
 should implicitly obey them, as did the ancient worthies, 
 and then we will have what they possessed, — faith in God. 
 
 If God commands me, I nev^er need pause to consult 
 consequences. When God commanded the children of Is- 
 rael to cross the Red Sea, he opened the passage. When 
 he commanded them, under the supervision of his servant, 
 Joshua, to execute their daily marches around the walls of 
 Jericho for seven days, and obey his directions, even to the 
 blowing of rams' horns and shouting, his own power over- 
 threw the walls when their obedience was fulfilled. 
 
 The colored man was right when he said that if God 
 commanded him to jump through a stone wall, it was his 
 place to jump, and it was God's place to make the hole. 
 That is what I would term Biblical faith, and I do not con- 
 sider that it is so plentiful in the world. Christ says, 
 *' When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the 
 earth?" 
 
 We are sometimes told that the interrogative form of 
 expression is the strongest. I consider this a vital question, 
 and one with profound meaning, and it should prove an in- 
 centive to every one who names his name, to depart from 
 iniquity, and have the mind of the ancient worthies, to fore- 
 go the honors and emoluments of this perishable world, 
 and endeavor to gain and retain that wonderful, saving and 
 heaven-approved principle of genuine faith in God. 
 
 True faith in God will be the infallible support to his 
 humble and unassuming children amid all the oppositions 
 that may attend their mortal life. To strengthen their
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 
 
 367 
 
 trust in the divine protection, the Savior alludes to many 
 things in nature, such as the beautiful growth of the lilies, 
 with their natural splendor surpassing the glory of King 
 Solomon. He speaks of the birds that have neither store- 
 houses nor barns, and yet provisions are made for their sus- 
 tenance by a kind and beneficent Father in heaven. Not 
 one sparrow escapes his scrutinizing eye. His children are 
 of more value than many of these.
 
 '^ 
 
 God's Care for the Little Flock. — What our Life should be. — The Mil- 
 lennial Age. — An Outlook into the Prophecies of the Futuie.— 
 Parting Words to the Reader. — Formation af an Elevated Chris- 
 tian Character, the Chief Aim of this Work. 
 
 OD'S care for the minutest thing in his creation 
 Ns^ corroborates the unquestionable truth, that he will 
 
 recognize and supply the spiritual and temporal 
 needs of his children, who exercise a filial trust in his Word. 
 To consummate their unspeakable joy, he will finally con- 
 duct them to his home in glory, that they may behold him 
 in all his celestial splendor. " Fear not little flock: for it is 
 your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." 
 
 O what a promise! How that little flock must have 
 hearkened, with breathless interest, to the gracious words 
 that fell from the lips of the blessed Jesus, to think that 
 they, who were selected from the common and lower ranks 
 of society, should be joint-heirs with Christ of such a glori- 
 ous inheritance! How apt and significant the figure! He 
 does not bring down from the celestial world some pro- 
 found principle; to effect a comparison, he takes something 
 with which they were all familiar,— a flock of sheep. The 
 attachmxent between the shepherd and his flock, in the ori- 
 ental country, is very strong. The sheep hear the Shep- 
 herd's voice. He goes before and leads them, and they fol- 
 low after. He conducts them into green pastures, on the 
 
 hill slopes and valleys, and to the still waters. 
 368
 
 ON SKA AM) LAND. 
 
 369 
 
 The Psalmist David deduced the grand and pathetic il- 
 lustrations from the natural scene of a shepherd and his 
 
 flock. The natural shep- 
 herd has a responsible 
 charge. He has the care 
 of the sheep, and must 
 administer to their neces- 
 sities. He must protect 
 them from danger, while 
 he himself is exposed to 
 the damp and chill of 
 night, and the heat of the 
 sun by day. He must 
 guard his flock from the 
 assaults of the ferocious 
 beasts, that prowl around 
 at night, in quest of prey. 
 The sheep are timid ani- 
 mals; they fly to the shep- 
 herd for protection. 
 
 David, the good and 
 faithful shepherd of old, 
 slew a lion and a bear, to 
 save his sheep from their 
 destructive clutches. The 
 disciples of Christ are 
 compared to sheep, as already indicated, and there must 
 necessarily be points of resemblance. They are innocent 
 and harmless like sheep. They are attentive to their shep- 
 herd's voice. They will not hear the voice of strangers. 
 They rely upon their shepherd for support and protection 
 from destructive foes. They fly confidentially to their
 
 370 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 shepherd, when foes are near. They will not rely upon 
 their own strength: they are non-combative and timid con- 
 cerning evil, and wholly rely upon the shepherd, to avenge 
 them of their enemies. 
 
 But while faith is coupled with a divine and reverential 
 fear, it is not possessed of a slavish fear. It does not fear 
 the prowling wolves and lions. Men often partake of the 
 nature of ferocious beasts, and are intent upon devouring 
 Christ's little flock, but he vouches his protecting might. 
 They cannot harm them any farther than the shepherd per- 
 mits. The hairs of their heads are all numbered. He sees 
 the injuries which they have to suffer from those who hate 
 them, but their patience must be tried like that of the Great 
 Shepherd and Bishop of their souls. Their life may be tak- 
 en, like that of the Shepherd, but they are told not to fear 
 them that kill the body and afterward have no more that 
 they can do. Men can only reach the natural life, the spir- 
 itual, which is far superior, is beyond the assaults of men 
 and devils. The Great Shepherd, who gave his natural life 
 for the sheep, has that in his care, and the evil one cannot 
 touch it. " Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good 
 pleasure to give you the kingdom." Oh, how different are 
 the characteristics of this kingdom, compared to earthly 
 kingdoms and secular rule! 
 
 In this work we have given the nature and character of 
 military life and conquest, which are carried on by the use 
 of carnal weapons amid feats of daring bravery, manifesta- 
 tions of human vengeance, and streams of blood; but the 
 soldiers of Christ, who partake of the harmless nature of 
 sheep, do not kill and destroy by sword or flame. The 
 Christian commits the subject of vengeance solely to him
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 371 
 
 who hath conquered hell and the grave. They partake of 
 his disposition. 
 
 Christ was compared to a " lamb without blemish, and 
 as a sheep dumb before her shearers so he opened not his 
 mouth." He could have called for twelve legions of angels 
 to have come to his defense, but, then, how could the 
 Scriptures have been fulfilled? That would have been con- 
 trary to all the predictions of prophecy. God's plans were 
 laid and his purposes fixed, and now, when the awful crisis 
 is come, and the painful shock must be felt, and the scorn, 
 and ignominy, and shame be realized by the Great Sacrifi- 
 cial Victim for sin, he would not flinch from the long-pre- 
 paratory arrangement, although he must drink the bitter 
 cup to its very dregs. In his intense mental agony he 
 prayed that if it were possible the Father should let this 
 cup pass from him, " but not my will, but thine be done.' 
 In his human nature he suffered untold pain and anguish. 
 " He was bruised and mangled for our sins, and the chas- 
 tisement of our peace is upon him, and with his stripes we 
 are healed." This is characteristic of the cross, and all his 
 sheep partake of his self-sacrificing nature, and suffer with 
 him in the flesh. Self-crucifixion permeates his entire life 
 of humiliation, and is characteristic of all his words of spir- 
 itual life. Had he brought his physical power into requisi- 
 tion, the combined forces would have fallen before him, but 
 the time for the disclosure of his vindictive ire had not yet 
 come. It will be displayed in all its conquering force when 
 he comes, without a sin-offering, unto salvation. Hence, 
 the humble Christian's time is now here, to conquer the 
 flesh and the devil, — not by the use of carnal weapons, but 
 spiritual.
 
 372 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 Like the meek and suffering Savior, the Christian 
 must suffer the sneers, and scoffs, and scorns of men, and if 
 the vindication of truth require it, yield up his own life also 
 and expire, in great weakness, as did the humble Christ, 
 but, like him, he shall be raised in glory. This is the man- 
 ner in which this wonderful and glorious kingdom is to be 
 gained, and no wonder the flock is pronounced to be small, 
 for it is evident that few will recognize this humble and 
 self-sacrificing method of being saved. 
 
 How many thousands of professing Christians fail to 
 know this humiliating and condescending life by practical 
 experience in the crucified channel! It is only daily con- 
 tact with the cross that saves, and this is the practical con- 
 fession that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, when we suf- 
 fer in the flesh with him. " It is only when the nations 
 shall learn war no more," that they will fulfill that part of 
 Christ's teachings. Only then they show the spirit which 
 his followers imbibe, when they pass through the purifying 
 process of the new birth, and are partakers of this element 
 of non-resistance, as exemplified by the humble, self-deny- 
 ing Jesus. • It was the purpose of his life of humilia- 
 tion, to inure us to the same humble sphere, and assimi- 
 late us to his life. Our life must be similar to his, for " As 
 he is, so are we in this world." Christ did not conquer 
 with the sword, neither can his followers. I am glad that 
 my eyes have been opened to discover this wonderful life, 
 which is preparatory to an immortal state of felicity in our 
 Father's kingdom. It required much training and severe 
 discipline to induce me to an acceptation of this humble 
 life, so diametrically opposite to the carnal element, but at 
 last I became willing to become a soldier of the cross of 
 Christ, and as I, after successive years of turmoil, came out
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 3/3 
 
 of military and maritime life, so I hope, eventually, to real- 
 ize a transition from this life of trials to a life of exaltation 
 in glory w ith Christ, providing I am steadfast to the end of 
 my cross-bearing life. 
 
 " It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the 
 kingdom." This kingdom, in all its celestial grandeur and 
 glory, will not be given reluctantly by the Father; it will 
 not be a gift that will be grudgingly tendered to his humble 
 and believing flock, but it will be given with pleasure. 
 Christ has merited the kingdom and all those who have fol- 
 lowed him in his humiliation shall share the immortal bene- 
 fits of the kingdom. 
 
 This kingdom will transcend every other kingdom. 
 "All other thrones will be cast down," as indicated in the 
 glowing vision of the prophet Daniel, and this kingdom 
 will have the universal sway. Nebuchadnezzar's image, 
 representing the different successive kingdoms, was finally 
 demolished by the stone that was cut out of the mountain 
 without hands, and smote it upon the feet, and all the king- 
 doms, comprised and prefigured by this image, were sup- 
 erseded by this glorious kingdom, which shall be inherited 
 through Christ, the king of glory, and enjoyed in its mag- 
 nificence and beauty forever, by the little flock. The first 
 phase of this kingdom, beyond the present economy of 
 grace, will be the millennium or thousand years' reign. 
 " Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrec- 
 tion; on such the second death hath no power, but they 
 shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with 
 him a thousand years." Rev. 20: 6. 
 
 At the ushering in of this wonderful dispensation, the 
 angel will descend with a great chain in his hand, and will 
 lay hold upon the devil and bind him, and place him in the
 
 374 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 bottomless pit, and place a seal upon him, " that he shall 
 deceive the nations no more till the thousand years shall be 
 fulfilled; and after that he must be loosed a little season." 
 
 What joy will thrill the hearts of the " little flock," 
 when they unite with the vast multitude, that shall be 
 gathered all along the line of Adam's posterity, to be con- 
 centrated in the millennial age and enjoy the felicity, at- 
 tending the personal reign of Christ! Although the num- 
 ber of believers were few, and the flock was small through- 
 out the successive ages and dispensations of time, yet, 
 when all shall meet together, they will constitute a large 
 concourse of saints, and they will reign in a superior grada- 
 tion from the nations, who niust experience the test at the 
 close, or expiration, of the millennial age, when the devil 
 shall be loosed for a little season out of his prison, " and 
 shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four 
 quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them to- 
 gether to battle." The number of them will be as the sand 
 of the sea. " And they went up on the breadth of the earth, 
 and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the be- 
 loved city, and fire came down from God out of heaven, and 
 devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was 
 cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and 
 the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night 
 for ever and ever." Rev. 20. Read the entire chapter in 
 order to obtain a clearer conception of its meaning. 
 
 This purports that an immense army will be deceived 
 by the Satanic power, which has been so effectual in the art 
 of deception ever since Adam and Eve were created, and 
 occupied the Garden of Eden in their primeval condition. 
 This will be the last effort of Satan and his innumerable
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 375 
 
 army. He will then be plunged into the lake of fire, like 
 Pharaoh and his hosts were plunged in the depth of the sea. 
 
 These hosts will encompass the camp of the saints. 
 This discloses the beautiful and transcendent dwelling-place 
 of Christ and his resurrected saints, during the millennial 
 age. Satan ever wages his malicious warfare against Christ 
 and his people, and, when extricated from a thousand 
 years' confinement, he persists in his infernal project with 
 consummated rage and malice. But the loving apostle 
 John informs us, that Christ came into the world to *' de- 
 stroy the works of the devil," and this will be the comple- 
 tion of the inspired prediction. We learn in this stupend- 
 ous tragedy also, that none can be admitted to dwell in 
 eternal blessedness without purification through the testing 
 ordeals of an overruling Providence. But the camp of the 
 the saints cannot be invaded by this hostile army. "They 
 had come up out of much tribulation, and made their robes 
 white in the blood of the lamb," and they can no longer be 
 assaulted, when clothed in their resurrected bodies, and ar- 
 rayed in their celestial habiliments. They are freed from 
 temptations and infernal raids, and this daring charge of 
 their assailants shall end the war, and consummate all the 
 artful and treacherous maneuvers of the great arch-enemy. 
 
 The rush and collapse of the immense volumes of wa- 
 ter in the Red Sea settled the dispute with the Supreme 
 Ruler of the universe and Pharaoh; and this dreadful confla- 
 gration will settle the controversy between Christ, the Re- 
 deemer of the world, and his great antagonist, who carried 
 on his first personal dispute with the Savior in the wilder- 
 ness of Judea, but it will terminate in this disclosure of his 
 vindictive ire. " Fire came down from God out of heaven, 
 and devoured them." This is the terrific destruction to
 
 376 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 which the inspired apostle Peter alludes, when he says, 
 " The heavens and the earth shall pass away with a great 
 noise, and all the elements shall melt with ferv^ent heat. 
 The earth and all the works that are therein shall be 
 burned up." 
 
 The prophet Micah also refers to it, " Behold the day 
 Cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, 
 and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that 
 Cometh shall burn them up, .... it shall leave them 
 neither root nor branch." 
 
 The revelator continues to record the events, after this 
 dreadful conflagration, as follows: "And I saw a great white 
 throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth 
 and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for 
 them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before 
 God; and the books were opened: and another book was 
 opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged 
 out of those things which were written in the books, ac- 
 cording to their works. And the sea gave up the dead 
 which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead 
 which were in them: and they were judged every man ac- 
 cording to their works. And death and hell were cast into 
 the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever 
 was not found written in the book of life was cast into the 
 lake of fire." 
 
 Then follows John's sublime vision of the new heaven 
 and the new earth, after " the first heaven and the first 
 earth have passed away, and there will be no more sea." 
 All things are made new and the New Jerusalem descends, 
 arrayed in celestial splendor, with pearly gates and jasper 
 walls, and streets of transparent gold. Too dazzling and 
 beautiful for mortal eyes to behold, we can only be capaci-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 377 
 
 tated for this ultimate disclosure of beauty by the Lord's 
 refining process. In that elysian clime the soul can exult 
 in an untarnished atmosphere, and dwell in ecstatic /cj/ for- 
 ever. Its raptures will be unsullied and pure, and the vis- 
 ion of the immortal home will ever be imposing and bril- 
 liant. This is the awful judgment that the prophet Daniel 
 saw in his grand and sublime vision. He says, " I beheld 
 till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did 
 sit, whose garment ivas white as snow, and the hair of his 
 head like the pure wool: his throne zuas like the fiery flame, 
 ^//<af his wheels c7.y burning fire. A fiery stream issued and 
 came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered 
 unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before 
 him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened." 
 Dan. 7: 9, 10. 
 
 We here have a description given that is sublime and 
 awful, and harmonizes with John, the Revelator's delinea- 
 tion of this grand and notable event. Daniel presents the 
 demolition of the thrones, the cessation of all secular rule, 
 and the throne of God in all its celestial grandeur appearing 
 with the eternal, self-existing Deity in regal splendor, and 
 celestial array. Multitudes composed the retinue of attend- 
 ants, and the immense concourse which stood before him, 
 in exact numerical reckoning, would number one hundred 
 millions, but, no doubt, his representation of this vast 
 throng would indicate an innumerable multitude. Daniel 
 mentions the opening of the books, and so does the Revela- 
 tor John. John portrays the dead, small and great, stand- 
 ing before God, who had come from the caverns of the 
 sea, and the dark domains of death and hell. John por- 
 trays the effulgent face of the Universal King, on his mag- 
 nificent throne, from whom the heavens and the earth fled
 
 378 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 away, and Daniel describes the shining and fiery display of 
 his presence with hair and garments of pure white, repre- 
 senting his unsullied condition and exquisite purity. Christ 
 appeared thus on the Mount of Transfiguration, which atti- 
 tude was a figure of the immortal condition of celestial pur- 
 ity. 
 
 Whether the "books," in the plural, refers to the hearts 
 and consciences of the innumerable assembly or not, is a 
 question to be deliberated upon and decided by the studious 
 and candid mind, but this is the best conclusion at which I 
 can arrive at this time. Millions of human hearts, in the 
 time of probation, are susceptible of right and just decis- 
 ions, ere they are calloused by sin, or deluded by false rapt- 
 ures of the mind. The very turning point and digression 
 from this normal judgment, and the lack of will-power to 
 yield submission to the Divine Criterion of judgment, will 
 be reproduced in all its unwelcome reality. The goadings 
 of conscience will be renewed, and remorse and anguish will 
 fill the soul. 
 
 Another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. 
 That is undoubtedly the Book of the New Testament, 
 which was sealed with the pure blood of Christ. Although 
 Christ himself will be seated in regal splendor upon the 
 dazzling throne, yet he will judge no man, " but the words 
 that I have spoken, shall judge you in the last day." Oh, 
 what intense anxiety will there be then, to know as to 
 whether our " names will be written in the Lamb's Book of 
 Life!" 
 
 There will be an unerring susceptibility then, of the 
 "savor of life unto life, or the savor of death unto death." 
 The books must harmonize, and all the vital words of In- 
 spiration, for weal or for woe, recorded in that Book of Life,
 
 ON SEA AND LAND, 379 
 
 will appear in their native purity and power, and the fine- 
 spun argument of the disputer will be removed. The hu- 
 man creeds, established and proclaimed by the eloquent 
 tongue, under which the image of Christ, and his words of 
 spirit and life were hidden, shall then be scattered to the 
 winds, and Christ's pure and holy Law, retaining its untar- 
 nished identity, shall be revealed. 
 
 Oh what consolation will it afford the7i, if 07ir book and 
 the Book of Life harmonize! It may be said then, " Bless- 
 ed are they that do his commandments, that they may have 
 right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates 
 into the city." Rev. 22: 14. 
 
 That will be the great day of accounts, when men shall 
 be judged according to their works. Then the righteous 
 shall hear the welcome applaudit of the King on his throne 
 of glory, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the king- 
 dom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." 
 Matt. 25: 34. Then shall the wicked hear the awful denun- 
 ciation, " Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, 
 prepared for the devil and his angels." Matt. 25: 41. 
 " These shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the 
 righteous into life eternal." Matt. 25: 46. 
 
 Now, dear readers, as we are approaching the end of 
 this work, we hope that all the various incidents and perti- 
 nent illustrations may have their salutary bearing. Our 
 purpose has been to make the incidents of our adventure- 
 some life conducive to the welfare of others, in the sense of 
 reflecting the mercy of God to the wayward and the lost. 
 If, through the infirmities of the flesh, we might have failed, 
 in some instances, to present our comparisons as clearly and 
 methodically as we should have done, we hope that the
 
 380 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 leading sentiment and intent of the book may be a sufficient 
 apology for some defects in the style and arrangement. 
 
 I have aimed to show that there is a vacancy in the 
 roving heart of man that the world, with its charms and 
 pleasures, can never fill; that there is no rest in the wayward 
 course of sin, and that privation and sorrow may arouse the 
 normal flame and restore the native force of kind words 
 " that can never die," that lie beneath the rubbish of carnal 
 joy and pleasure, deep down in the human heart. Oh 
 that, by the divine blessing, it may fall into the hands of 
 the wayward, and effect a recurrence of pious instructions 
 in the youthful period of life, and, though remote within 
 the barren wastes of prodigality and woe, the return may 
 yet be effected to the Father's house. 
 
 In this wide world, where sin and sorrow reign, there is 
 much to do for those whose spirits yearn for the gathering 
 in of the lost. We live to execute the labors of life but 
 once, and the serious thought, freighted with responsibility, 
 should set our hearts aflame. First, the Truth of God must 
 be evidenced in us, by strict tenacity to his words of life, 
 and thus we will declare plainly our purification by its pow- 
 er, and that we seek a country that is heavenly and divine. 
 
 We should impress upon others, by every available 
 means, these pure truths, whose efficacy we have applied to 
 our own hearts. We should urge a welcome reception of 
 the Truth upon their hearts, that they may be purified by 
 obeying the same. He who is engaged in rescuing the per- 
 ishing, is engaged in a work that meets the divine approval, 
 and, if he braves the opposition, and continues in the self- 
 sacrificing course to the end of life, he will evidently be 
 richly remunerated for all the privations, temptations and 
 toil, incidental to such a life.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 38I 
 
 When we think of the rovin^^ prodigals amid the howl- 
 ing wastes of sin, rescued and brought back to the Father's 
 house, and their zealous work afterwards in the Master's 
 employ, to save others, and then portray to the vision of 
 faith the ultimate gathering in eternity, when they shall 
 come with rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them, 
 the trials and adversities, the sorrow and tears will sink into 
 insignificance, when compared with the " exceeding great 
 and eternal weight of glory." We will only then discover 
 to perfection what it is to labor for Christ, to convince men 
 and women of sin and show them how to escape and be 
 saved by the power of God's Word. 
 
 I have made many efforts in my public preaching to 
 entreat the wayward to believe and obey the Gospel. I 
 have conversed with many privately and presented to them 
 this sublime subject of religion. For at least twenty-seven 
 years this has been my employ, and at this advanced stage 
 of life I can still avow that it is my favorite theme, and one 
 which I feel safe in recommending to others. Through the 
 agency of the pen I hope to be enabled to reach a greater 
 number than by my verbal communication. I hope that 
 my own prodigal life will have a tendency to convince oth- 
 er prodigals that the pursuits of worldly amusements and 
 carnal gratifications can never satisfy the native longings of 
 the soul, and that the most solid enjoyment and comfort 
 can only be obtained when Christ is formed within us " the 
 hope of glory." 
 
 I feel assured that the divine discipline and correction, 
 under the supervision of a merciful Providence, have raised 
 me out of the miry clay and the horrible pit, and placed my 
 feet upon the rock. God has put a new song into my 
 mouth, which is purer and sweeter than any song I had ev-
 
 382 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 er learned to sing before, and I hope the melody of this 
 new song will cheer me to the end of life. I will try, in my 
 weakness, to sing it to others. 
 
 I have given you the extent of my wanderings and my 
 rescue from the dark and stormy way, and I have endeav- 
 ored to show the mercy of God in this my great deliver- 
 ance. It is my sincere desire that this work may have its 
 salutary bearing upon those who may chance to peruse it. 
 The growth and perfection of Christian character is a mo- 
 mentous work. It demands close attention and strict scru- 
 tiny. I do not claim the perfection of Christian character, 
 but avow that I am endeavoring to progress toward the 
 " full stature of manhood in Christ Jesus." The more the 
 faculties of our being expand in this divine growth, the 
 more we realize our own weakness, and it requires much dis- 
 cipline and training ere many of us, who have named the 
 name of Christ, can give ourselves unreservedly into his 
 protecting care. It requires severe discipline to urge many 
 of us to espouse the cause of Christ. Often an application 
 of the correcting rod is demanded to keep us balanced and 
 advancing in the growth of Christianity, when in the church 
 of Christ. Christian professors are ofttimes censured just- 
 ly for their tardiness and indifference in the Christian work, 
 and they are sometimes rashly and unmercifully criticised, 
 when they are laboring hard in the divine work. 
 
 A proper balancing of Christian character is just as sig- 
 nificant as the delicate balancing of forces in the universe, 
 to which we have cited attention in this work. The in- 
 spired apostle says, "Add to your faith, virtue, and to vir- 
 tue, knowledge, and to knowledge, temperance, and to tem- 
 perance, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, 
 and to brotherly kindness, charity." These noble and di-
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 383 
 
 vine traits are all comprised in the Christian character and 
 constitute its perfection. It requires a single, steady aim 
 in the child of God to secure these attainments, and our life- 
 time is required for the completion of the work. Let the 
 candid and active mind consider each of these important 
 elements, that constitute the Christian character, and por- 
 tray them in his own life. He will then come to the con- 
 clusion that it is the work of a life-time. 
 
 This formation of our Christian characters, I believe, 
 occupies the infinite mind of God more than the balancing 
 of forces in his natural creation, because all these forces are, 
 or have been, put in operation by his wisdom and power, 
 and they obey implicitly their natural laws, but the human 
 creature is tainted and demoralized by sin, and it requires 
 much correction and discipline to balance him by the divine 
 means and methods of God, in his beautiful economy of 
 grace. Love for God subdues the carnal will or mind of 
 man, and inclines his heart to obedience to the sovereign 
 will of God. 
 
 God has enjoined many commandments, to test our in- 
 tegrity and fidelity to him. Obedience to the commands 
 of God, in faith and love, will mould the character after the 
 divine mind and bring about the ultimate bliss and felicity 
 in heaven, which God designs. The Prophet Isaiah ex- 
 claims: " Oh that ye had hearkened to my commandments, 
 for now should your peace have been as a river, and your 
 righteousness as the waves of the sea." 
 
 God required his children to be obedient under every 
 dispensation of his Providence, and it is the only life that 
 brings men into the divine favor. We need not pause to 
 explain this principle any further here, as we have illustrat- 
 ed it fully in the various incidents in military and maritime
 
 384 THRILLING INCIDENTS 
 
 life, but we will allude more particularly to the sequel or re- 
 sult of obedience. First: "Thy peace shall be as a river." 
 The river here is employed as an emblem of peace, and it 
 is a very apt and beautiful comparison. We might say 
 much in reference to the beauty and utility of a river, but 
 will try to be brief in carrying out this illustration. We 
 have observed the tranquil flow of the beautiful river in its 
 channel, its waters clear and transparent and scarcely a rip- 
 ple on its placid bosom. In the glow of sunset, when the 
 golden hues of the orb of day tinge the clear blue sky, and 
 both the tranquil bosom of the river, and the glory of the 
 heavens above, lend their united charms to beautify the 
 scene, — can you think of a more graphic figure to impress 
 the thought of Christian peace in the perfection of its beau- 
 ty upon the mind? The full peace of God "which passeth 
 all understanding," can only be experienced to perfection 
 when our obedience to the commandments of God is ful- 
 filled. 
 
 The peace, then, is deep, and constant, and permanent. 
 It is a peace that has been tested by severe trials and is 
 genuine. It is consummated and ready to effect the transi- 
 tion into a new world, where peace unsullied reigns. So 
 our fathers and mothers in Israel passed away when their 
 characters had been proved through obedience to God; 
 their hearts were tranquil and composed, and they longed 
 to be on that ocean of peace, " where the wicked cease from 
 troubling and the weary are at rest." Christ says, " My 
 peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth." Christ's 
 peace is given upon his own equitable terms, — the terms of 
 righteousness, obedience to his commandments. The world 
 offers peace upon her own proposed plans, but that peace 
 is not a divine peace, it originates in the world, is proffered
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 385 
 
 by usurped authority and is not reliable. It is confined to 
 this world and has no virtue or power to stay the soul in 
 adversity, ar yield serenity and composure in the trying 
 hour of death. But the peace which Christ gives will en- 
 dure the tests of persecution in the line of duty and obedi- 
 ence, and the more severely it is tested, the deeper will its 
 power be felt in the soul. 
 
 "And your righteousness as the waves of the sea." 
 This discloses the strength and firmness of character that is 
 consummated in the course of God's righteousness. There 
 is naught in this world tliat can equal the solidity of Chris- 
 tian character; it is far above military power and eminence, 
 and surpasses the attainments of the learned who have 
 passed through the refined courses of the arts and sciences, 
 and who have built up characters that are famous and re- 
 nowned in the world. The Christian character, moulded 
 and formed in the righteousness of God, is compared to the 
 waves of the sea. 
 
 How great and wonderful the comparison! We have 
 frequently portrayed to our readers the irresistible and ov- 
 erwhelming aspect of the v/aves of the sea. All the com- 
 bined military forces of earth could not impede their on- 
 ward progress in the deep. There is no power that can con- 
 trol and stay them but the power of God. Christ, the Son 
 of God, gave an evidence of his overruling power when he 
 stilled the raging waves on Galilee. Christian character, 
 formed in God's righteousness, overcomes the world, and 
 this overcoming force may well be designated by the waves 
 of the sea. The reward of fidelity to God, and adherence 
 to his righteous requirements, will be unconquerable 
 strength of character and peace, which cannot be intruded 
 upon or disturbed.
 
 ON SEA AND LAND. 387 
 
 Dear readers, is this not a rich compensation for our 
 service to him who hath formed the placid rivers, and stays 
 the proud and foaming waves of the deep? Surely, we 
 could not wish a more glorious end than is designated in 
 our closing text, which, it appears to me, brings to a focus 
 all the aims and efforts of this work and depicts to our vis- 
 ion the closing scene in the great arena of this life. O how 
 wonderful is the import of our apprehension by the mercy 
 of God and how unspeakably great is the ultimate design 
 of his love! O that his power, operating through our weak 
 agency might have its longed-for effect! Having experi- 
 enced his saving and purifying power in our own soul, we 
 are eager and anxious to show to others his wondrous pow- 
 er to save.
 
 ^iPiPiBiNrnDix:. 
 
 Poems from the Author's Collection 
 
 Once 3Iore on the RoUukj Deep. 
 
 388 
 
 /J GAIN on mental wings I soar 
 /^ Where ocean billows rise and roar, 
 V.'here tempests wild in anger sweep, 
 And spend their fury on the deep. 
 
 Once more I merge in ocean life, 
 And \ievv the elements of strife; 
 Once more the sailor's burdens bear, 
 And all his midnight perils share. 
 
 Those nights of darkness on the deep, 
 I ever shall in mem'ry keep, 
 To aid me on the sea of time, 
 Till moored within the port divine. 
 
 Of Zion's ship I am aboard; 
 Her Captain's name is Christ the Lord, 
 We hope to land on Canaan's shore. 
 Where foaming surges beat no more. 
 
 How many similar things there be, 
 On this and on the natural sea; 
 Which similar points I will unfold. 
 Ere yet my ocean story 's told.
 
 APPENDIX. 3^9 
 
 We meet the weather foul and fair, 
 And cahns and storms, as well are there; 
 By furious winds we, too, are driven, 
 While steering on our way to heaven. 
 
 Can I a solace thus afford, 
 To some poor drooping hearts aboaid. 
 Till we've outlived this ocean strife 
 And reached the port of endless life? 
 
 Shall veteran sailors on the sea 
 Encounter storms with bravery? 
 And will the Christian mariner sleep, 
 Where sin's destructive billows sweep? 
 
 O Christian, wake, no rest for thee! 
 Dark clouds are lowering o'er the sea; 
 The lightnings flash, the thunders rod, 
 Stretch every nerve to save thy soul! 
 
 In Manor y of Mother, 
 
 I IF"E is sad and home is dreary, 
 ^ Since maternal love is flown, 
 All around seems lone and weary 
 Since the cherished form is gone. 
 
 Life was sweet when in the radiance 
 Of her cheering smile we lived, 
 
 But those years of rich experience 
 Now are fled, and we are grieved. 
 
 Mother's life we fondly cherish, 
 While she moulders in the Lomb: 
 
 May her living counsels flourish, 
 Till we meet in yonder home.
 
 390 APPENDIX. 
 
 Mortal pleasures soon must vanish; 
 
 Earthly comforts fade and die, 
 But no cloud our light shall banish 
 
 In the cloudless home on hig-h 
 
 Let us hail God's sovereign power, 
 Let us yield to His control, 
 
 Then, however dark the hour, 
 All will tend to save the soul. 
 
 Friendship, then, by death though riven, 
 Dark and lone the path we tread. 
 
 Friends shall be restored in heaven, 
 God will raise them from the dead. 
 
 Jonah on the Sea. 
 
 LIE slept; ah he slept in that terrible nign:. 
 When the heavens in darkness were veiled. 
 
 And the Lord was propelling the storm by his might, 
 While the seaman his anger bewailed. 
 
 The call 'mid the elements' deafening- roar. 
 
 Woke the fugitive Prophet from sleep, 
 But his burden of guilt was oppressing him sore, 
 
 And he asked to be plunged in the deeo. 
 
 How dismal his refuge far down in the sea. 
 Where he drank of the wormwood and gall; 
 
 Till his spirit was moulded God's Word to obey, 
 And prophesy Nineveh's fall. 
 
 A warning to all, who endeavor to flee 
 
 Away from God's All-seeing eye. 
 We cannot escape him on land or on sea, 
 
 And we all must surrender or die.
 
 APPENDIX. 391 
 
 We are only secure when his Word we obey 
 
 And bow to his sovereign will; 
 He will save from the terrors of midnight or day, 
 
 For his power the tempest can still. 
 
 31 If Voyage on the Sea. 
 
 ONCE o'er the stormy sea I sailed 
 'Mid nights so lone and drear, 
 In deep distress my spirit wailed, 
 I called on God in prayer. 
 
 The winds w^ere roaring o'er the sea, 
 
 The weaves were raging wild, 
 Alas! thought I, no hope for me, 
 
 I am a ruined child. 
 
 But in an awful night of gloom 
 
 A lucid star arose, 
 It shone to guide me to my home 
 
 And mitigate my woes. 
 
 The clouds dispersed, the tempest lulled, 
 
 The waves their fury ceased, 
 By that Bright Star of hope controlled 
 
 All was reduced to peace. 
 
 'Mid gentle gales and threatening storms 
 
 Life's sea I since have rode, 
 But safe in my dear Savior's arms 
 
 I fear not storm or flood. 
 
 And when these wild commotions cease 
 And all life's storms are o'er, 
 
 Oh may I gain the port of peace 
 And rest on Canaan's shore.
 
 392 APPENDIX. 
 
 Weighed and Found Wanting. 
 
 XHE merry laughter ceased, and condemnation 
 
 Seized on the mighty in the banquet hall, 
 Belshazzar quailed, and saw with consternation 
 The hand inscribe his doom upon the wall. 
 
 Wise men were called to interpret the forebodings 
 That veiled in gloom the monarch's troubled heart 
 But vainly do they scan the dismal tidings — 
 No sage in the realm their meaning can impart. 
 
 Where's Daniel now, the man of true devotion, 
 Who prayed to his God despite of jealous foes? 
 Soon comes he to the scene of their commotion 
 And he alone the writing can disclose. 
 
 Daniel declares it with a heart undaunting-, 
 "It is thy doom, oh King; thy doom is sealed. 
 Weighed art thou in the balance and found wanting, 
 Who didst not heed the word that God revealed." 
 
 Truth is the balance that weighs all our actions. 
 And tests the thoughts of every human heart. 
 Just are the weights and right are the exactions 
 Nor can sin screen its vile, deceptive art. 
 
 Men still will violate the laws of heaven 
 To enforce instead their meager human creeds, 
 But how their souls will be with anguish riven 
 When in the balance weighed to test their deeds! 
 
 They now indulge in ease and sensual pleasure 
 Laughing and feasting in their temples gay 
 But, oh, their woe no human mind can measure 
 When weighed in the balance at the judgment day.
 
 APPENDIX. 393 
 
 Now, while wc live in mercy's dispensation, 
 Let us the Gospel Balances apply, 
 Or like the King, in trembling condemnation 
 We must sink beneath the frown of God and die. 
 
 In 3Iemovy of a Hifsbaiid and Father, 
 
 j IFE still bore its even tenor 
 ^ And no omen dark was seen, 
 All the inmates of our circle 
 Wore a countenance serene. 
 'Mid the bleak and frigid winter 
 Bravely had we toiled along, 
 Hoping for the vernal season 
 With its sunshine and its song. 
 
 But how soon our prospects vanish 
 And dark sorrows intervene; 
 Ties of friendship soon are riven 
 Mortal life is but a dream. 
 Suddenly the dark-winged angel 
 Of grim death came swooping down. 
 Now our home is veiled in mourning 
 And our cheerfulness is gone. 
 
 Precious husband, loving father, 
 Vacant are our hearts and lone 
 Since thy cheering form is absent; 
 Since thy smile of love is gone. 
 Thou the leader of our household, 
 To direct, advise and plan 
 'Mid life's changes bright or dreary 
 Thou wast ever in the van.
 
 394 APPENDIX. 
 
 Cherished as a friend and neighbor 
 
 In thine own dear neighborhood, 
 
 Courteous, kind, humane and loving, 
 
 Ever in a helpful mood. 
 
 But the hands that kindly aided 
 
 And the heart of sympathy, 
 
 Now in death have ceased their action, 
 
 ]n the dismal grave they lie. 
 
 Oh that God would be our helper 
 In this time of sore distress. 
 And control our lonely spirits 
 Through this gloomy wilderness; 
 Transient are earth's consolations, 
 Fading all the joys of time; 
 But in Christ are solid comforts 
 Comforts that will ne'er decline. 
 
 TJie Seasons. 
 
 OTERN winter will soon cease to reign, 
 "^ The bleak, piercing winds will be o'er. 
 And spring will be welcomed again, 
 
 To cheer drooping nature once more. 
 
 The fields that are shrouded in gloom, 
 Surrender to winter's cold sway 
 
 In verdure and beauty shall bloom. 
 
 And triumph 'mid spring's genial ray.. 
 
 Sweet thoughts nature's changes suggest 
 
 To solace the children of God, 
 Inciting their hope of sweet rest, 
 When life's weary journey is trod.
 
 APPENDIX. 39S 
 
 While meetini^ their sorrows in time, 
 
 Enduring the winter's rude blast, 
 They yearn for the country sublime 
 
 Where spring shall eternally last. 
 
 Oh welcome the bright, gladsome day! 
 
 When friends long divided shall co.ir.e 
 Jmd meet in celestial array, 
 
 To praise God forever at home. 
 
 Awaiting the Train. 
 
 ^nriS near the midnight hour, 
 
 * The moon in beauty shines, 
 I think of God's great power 
 While I indite these lines; 
 Our weary eyes from sleep refrain; 
 To watch the coming of the train. 
 
 As watchmen of the Lord 
 
 The Gospel news we bear 
 And we in sweet accord 
 
 These midnight vigils share. 
 We hope to gain a rich reward 
 Which God doth promise in his Word. 
 
 Oh may our tongues proclaim. 
 
 Salvation's joyful news. 
 May we in Jesus' name 
 
 The heavenly light diffuse; 
 Oh Lord, attend us on this tour. 
 And clothe us with thy Spirit's power!
 
 iisriDEx: 
 
 — «/ — 
 
 Abusive Officers, 173 
 
 A Consoling- Thought 321 
 
 A Disastrous Attack, 262 
 
 A Dreadful Experience in an Ice-floe 145 
 
 Advance toward Manasses, 42 
 
 A Fierce Encounter, 37 
 
 A Fluent Speaker, 23 
 
 A Last Farewell 14 
 
 A Letter to My Mother 158, 250 
 
 A Look through the Window, 330 
 
 A Loving Father Consigned to the Tomb g 
 
 A M idnight March 26 
 
 Among Strangers, 9 
 
 A Native Dinner, 225 
 
 An Imperative Command 206 
 
 An Interruption in our Repast, 203 
 
 A Pell-mell Retreat 39 
 
 A Poem, 100 
 
 A Portuguese Drowned, 172 
 
 Appendix. Poems from the Author's Collection, 388 
 
 Approaching the Old Homestead, 330 
 
 Approaching the United States, 318 
 
 A Pressing Invitation by Bro. Isaac Culp 334 
 
 Arrival ? * Hagerstown 27 
 
 Arrival at Hawaii Island 241 
 
 Arrival at Honolulu, 125 
 
 A Serious Struggle 12 
 
 A Severe Storm at the West Indies 315 
 
 A Siege of Small-pox 66 
 
 Assisted in Manual Labor by a King and Queen, 113 
 
 A Start for Old Virginia, 22 
 
 At Anchcr in Buzzard's Bay, 318 
 
 At Behring Strait, 145 
 
 At Cape Horn, 310 
 
 396
 
 INDEX. 397 
 
 A Tedious Voyage North 1 37 
 
 A Terrible Contest, 13 
 
 At Honolulu Once More 247 
 
 At Lower California 163 
 
 Attached to a Music Corps, 32 
 
 Attacked by Rebels at Gaines' Mills 55 
 
 Attendance at CoUegevillc Seminary 67 
 
 At Williamsport, 24 
 
 A Visit at Bro. John Detwiler's, 335 
 
 A Visit to the Battle-field of Bull Run 48 
 
 A Visit to the Colored Youth at the Asylum, 2go 
 
 A Visit to the Island of Juan Fernandez, 103 
 
 A Wise Dispensation of Providence, 80 
 
 Becoming Acquainted with Eld. Damon, 1 29 
 
 Blockaded in the Ice, I45 
 
 Bravo Island, 85 
 
 Bro. Robert Jones' Experience in the English Channel, 243 
 
 Capture of Whales, and Particulars Regarding these Monsters 259 
 
 Carrying away the Wounded, 55 
 
 Christ's Example, 19 
 
 Constant Vigilance Required, 40 
 
 Crossing the Equator, 199 
 
 Death of My Sisters, 348 
 
 Deciding to Enlist on a Whaler, 6q 
 
 Departure for Honolulu, 246 
 
 Departure for New York, y-1 
 
 Departure for Norristown, 13 
 
 Departure for the Polar Sea, 252 
 
 Departure for the Sandwich Islands 122 
 
 Departure from Marquesas Islands, 230 
 
 Deplorable Laxity of Matrimonial Life among the Natives, 217 
 
 Depravity of Natives and Crew, n6 
 
 Description of War Scenes by Prof. Snyder, 48 
 
 Difficult Creek 37 
 
 Disposing of the Blubber, 9" 
 
 Doleful Tidings, 255 
 
 Down James River to Fortress Monroe, 62 
 
 Early Trials 1° 
 
 Effects of False Alarm, • • • • 39
 
 39^ INDEX. 
 
 Election to the Ministry, 344 
 
 Ind of Peninusalar Campaign 61 
 
 Enjoyment of Home Associations after Three Months' Campaign,. . . 31 
 
 Escape of Part of the Crew 137 
 
 Experiences while Traveling Northward, 253 
 
 Exposed to the Fury of a Rain-Storm 42 
 
 Extemporaneous Speaking and Its Advantages, 289 
 
 Fierce Assaults by Rebels 61 
 
 Formation of an Elevated Christian Character, 368 
 
 Gen. Reynolds amidst a Shower of Bullets, 52 
 
 Getting Wood Aboard under Difficulties, 113 
 
 Habits of the Marquesas Natives, 220 
 
 " Halt Boysl We're Right among Them," 38 
 
 Hardships of the Mariner, 277 
 
 Heart-rending Scenes in the Parting Hour, 13 
 
 Home of Robinson Crusoe, 100 
 
 Hospitality a Blessing to both Giver and Receiver, 285 
 
 How I Got Rid of the Tobacco Habit, 222 
 
 How I Lost My Wearing Apparel 203 
 
 How the Scientist is Puzzled about the Lord's Doings, 265 
 
 How to Reach the Masses, 294 
 
 Human Flesh Eaters, 114 
 
 Ineffectual Commands 39 
 
 Influence of Maternal Teachings 11 
 
 Initiated on Board the Oriole 72 
 
 In the Arctic Once More, 263 
 
 In the Pacific, 99 
 
 Jonah's Experience with a Whale, 264 
 
 Kamtschatka, 143 
 
 Kindness of the Natives, 306 
 
 Kind Reception by Friends, 280 
 
 Land-Sharks, 320 
 
 Leaving Home Again, 32 
 
 Lessons at the Helm, 83 
 
 Letters from Home, 247 
 
 Long Marches 22 
 
 Marriage of my Sister Katie to Eld. J. John Emmert, 347 
 
 Marriage to Sarah Rittenhouse, 343
 
 INDEX. 399 
 
 Martial Music and Its Effects 23 
 
 Military Training and Its Results 22 
 
 Music among the Natives 226 
 
 Musicians Mustered Out at Harrison's Landing 62 
 
 My Confinement in the Hospital at Alexandria 43 
 
 My Diary 165 
 
 My Feelings, as Expressed in a Poetic Effusion 75 
 
 My First Attempt at Sermonizing a Failure 1 2q 
 
 My Lonely Watch on a Stormy Night 94 
 
 My Mother Identifying Herself with the People of God, 348 
 
 My Ride to Manasses, Unprotected from the Elements, 43 
 
 My Second-Oldest Brother Heard from, 3^4 
 
 My Welcome by the Dear Ones at Home, ... 330 
 
 Nature's Beverage 22 
 
 New Wine in New Bottles, 362 
 
 New Year's Day and Its Experience 165 
 
 " No Place Like Home," lo 
 
 Novel Mode of Sleeping 116 
 
 Obtaining Our Pay for the Voyage 327 
 
 Once More on the Sandwich Islands 280 
 
 On the Way South Again 277 
 
 On to Martinsburg, 25 
 
 0;i to New York, and to Bedford, Mass., 71 
 
 Our Arrival at the Marquesas Islands 207 
 
 Our Experience in Eating Candle-Nuts 114 
 
 Our First Attempt at Whale Capture, 87 
 
 Our Flight from the " Shenandoah," 257 
 
 Our Invitations to Officers to the Meeting, ig4 
 
 Our Last Farewell to Friends on the Sandwich Islands, 299 
 
 Our Last Look at the Arctic 275 
 
 Our Meetings in the Forecastle 192 
 
 Our Stay at New Bedford City 323 
 
 Our Stormy Passage around Cape Horn, 94 
 
 Pernambuco 315 
 
 Plowing the Ocean Once More 309 
 
 President Lincoln's Call for Volunteers, 13 
 
 Rebel Picket Guard 25 
 
 Reception at Harrisburg, Pa 15 
 
 Reclining by the Way-side 23
 
 400 INDEX. 
 
 Reconciling Myself to the Life of a Warrior, Iq 
 
 Reflections on Temporal and Spiritual Warfare, 356 
 
 Reluctant Departure from Cheerful Surroundings, 136 
 
 Renewal of the Conflict, -31 
 
 Replacing Lost Goods at a Disadvantage 203 
 
 Retreat from Charles City Cross Roads to Malvern Hills 60 
 
 Return to Camp Pierpont 42 
 
 Return to Illinois, Accompanied by My Youngest Brother 243 
 
 Return to Place of Encampment 38 
 
 Return to Sandwich Islands, 156 
 
 Rigors of Army Life in the Winter, 33 
 
 Routine of Camp Life, 3,5 
 
 Scenes of Death and Carnage, 37 
 
 Some Facts about the Whale, . 02 
 
 Some Incidents of the Hawaii Islands 245 
 
 Terrors of the Peninsular Campaign, cq 
 
 The Bread-Fruit Tree, 227 
 
 Tlie Colored Boy -.-^t 
 
 Tlie Declining Days and Death of My Mother 332 
 
 The Disgrace of a Harpooner. 167 
 
 The Drudgery of a Seaman's Life, i6g 
 
 The Guano Islands, ng 
 
 The Marquesas Islands, log 
 
 The Portuguese and Their Music and Dancing 139 
 
 Trip to Illinois 34^ 
 
 Two Deserters Left to Their Fate, 104 
 
 Value of Good Anchorage, 24 1 
 
 Visit to Eld. Damon . .204 
 
 Why We Were Known as Sailors 323 
 
 Winter Quarters at Camp Pierpont, 38
 
 The Sequel. 
 
 Since the lung, latent friendship is revived, so tried and true 
 amid the burdened years of toil and hardship on the stormy seas, 
 the long ago scenes confront my vision, and thrilling events that 
 slumbered in the memory awake to lend their somewhat romantic 
 charm, from the turbulent deep. My dear shipmate of maritime 
 birth and cherished fraternal relationship, is yet in existence, and 
 in the arena of time appears as a witness of the religious eflforts 
 aboard the memorable Bark Oriole. 
 
 Beyond the meridian of our human career we can revert to the 
 joys and sorrows of the stormy years. What precious reminis- 
 cences amid the perils of the sea, comprising the weal and woe of 
 our early life! The penitential period with guilty goadings of 
 conscience, and the final merging into an atmosphere of liberty 
 and joy! Like the tossed and careening bark 'neath sable clouds 
 and furious storms, emerges from the gloom at last, when the 
 bow of peace spans the grim and dismal background. 
 
 Bro. Wallace and I experienced many a solace in our devotion- 
 al seasons on our floating home and on the sunny islands in the 
 sea. In our retrospecting in these late years and camparing of 
 religious tenants and sentiment, may the inspired Book of God be 
 the criterion to adjust all variations and unify our sea-born faith 
 in the Son of God, whose triumphant advent may we hail with glad- 
 ness and mutually participate in the unending joys of His kingdom. 
 
 Bro. Wallace's account of our religious experience on the 
 ocean reached me in the form of a i6-page tract, procured by 
 Elder D. Dierdorff in California and kindly sent to me in May, 
 1903. The reader can imagine the feelings of joy with which I 
 learned that my old friend and co-laborer of nearly forty years ago 
 was still alive and an active servant of God's vineyard. 
 
 It was in 1866 that we parted in New Bedford, ^Massachusetts, 
 at the close of the voyage of the Oriole. Since that time we nei- 
 ther heard nor saw anything of each other. The renewing of our
 
 friendship under these auspices has brought to each of us no little 
 joy. May God continue to use to His honor and glory, and to the 
 furtherance of His kingdom, is the earnest wish and prayer of His 
 devoted servant, 
 
 GEORGE DEHAVEN ZOLLERS. 
 
 CONVERTED ON A WHALING SHIP IN THE 
 PACIFIC OCEAN. 
 
 By Rev. 0. H. Wallace. 
 
 Having related the circumstances of my conversion to God 
 before a few friends, it was thought by some of them, that if a 
 brief statement of the principal features of the case could 
 be put into print and circulated amongst those who "go down to 
 the sea in ships," the effort might encourage mission enterprise 
 for that class of people. H this story of the grace of God shall 
 result in the conversion of another of Neptune's sons, then surely 
 this effort shall be abundantly compensated. 
 
 The incidents of this narrative commence in the winter of 
 1862-63. The writer, then sixteen years of age, was living away 
 from home for reasons which need not be given here. The Civil 
 War was at its height, and every drop of patriotic blood in the 
 country was stirred. The 2nd Regiment of my native state— New 
 Hampshire— had suffered much in the early battles of the war, and 
 was furloughed home that winter for rest and recruiting purposes. 
 
 My brother-in-law, Geo. Slade, of Charleston, N. H., was a 
 member of that regiment. My blood was up and I wrote home to 
 my father for permission to enlist as a recruit in the 2d New Hamp- 
 shire. He came at once to see me, and induced me to go home 
 with him, by holding out to me encouragement that he would sign 
 the enlistment papers so that I would count in the quota for our 
 own town. Whether his better judgment, or providence overruled 
 this matter, the reader may judge. I have had reason to believe 
 the latter theory. The regiment returned to the front in the spring 
 of 1863, and engaged in the heavy battles of that year. My broth- 
 er-in-law was captured and languished in Andersonville Prison, 
 until exchanged, and he died the next day after the exchange.
 
 Shipped on a Whaler. 
 
 Finding myself thwarted in the matter of enlistment, it was im- 
 possible for me to settle down again, while boys no older or strong- 
 er were going to the service for which the country was at that 
 time calling so loudly. I tried to enlist independently of my father, 
 but this failed, and then in a sullen frame of mind I quietly, and 
 without the knowledge of my parents, went to New Bedford, Mass., 
 and had but little difficulty in shipping for a long Pacific and Arctic 
 Ocean voyage in the whale fishery. 
 
 The space of this article forbids indulging the reader in a 
 narrative of events and experiences during the three years of that 
 voyage. I must confine myself to the most important event of 
 my life; viz., my conversion to God. 
 
 On the morning of June 3, 1863, our crew for the Bark "Oriole," 
 commanded by Capt. Jared Jernegan, was made up. It was a cur- 
 ious medley, constituted of several nationalities, and various de- 
 grees of intelligence, principles, and color. Many a deserter from 
 the army in those times found refuge with the whaling companies. 
 We had several of them in our crew, two of whom would doubt- 
 less have been shot by courtmartial had they been captured and 
 returned to the proper authorities. Among the men was a bright, 
 well-educated young German from Pennsylvania by the name of 
 Geo. D. Zollers. He had seen service as a musician among the 
 three months' men; was with Gen. McClellan, in the famous Penin- 
 sular campaign, and was honorably discharged at the expiration of 
 his time. He was, to me at least, the most interesting man in the 
 crew. 
 
 Bibles on a Whaler. 
 
 We sailed from the home-port on Wednesday, June 3, 1863. By 
 Sunday morning things had got pretty well settled on shipboard. 
 We were getting used to the four-hour change of watches by day 
 and night, and also the messes that came from the little cooking 
 galley, that we had to learn to like. On that first Sunday morning 
 out, the captain surprised the crew by coming forward among us 
 with an armful of Bibles, which had been placed on board by a 
 mission society. It seemed as though the good Book was sadly 
 out of place among us. Every man got a Bible, of good generous 
 size, firmly bound, clear type and good paper. Probably no more 
 than half the number could read a word of English, if at all in their 
 own language. Perhaps not half of those who could read ever
 
 read a chapter in their Bible received that morning. The society 
 had furnished the need, the captain had sown it; will it take root? 
 We shall see. 
 
 There was plenty of reading matter amongst us, and we were 
 but a few days out. The writer's Bible was laid aside, and nothing 
 was heard from the others. But little, if any, thought was given 
 the subject save by one person in tliat crew. 
 
 The First Conversion. 
 
 Later in the voyage, Zollers, who had been a great favorite in 
 the crew for months, began to grow silent and reserved. This indi- 
 cated homesickness, a sickness quite common among young men 
 on whaleships who have left good homes. I will not speak of the 
 treatment such patients sometimes received at the hands of their 
 shipmates, by way of rallying them out of the blues. Suffice it 
 to say that sometimes it is laughable. Nothing afifected this case, 
 however. It went from bad to worse. The pensive, downcast ex- 
 pression, and the heavy sigh, often told plainly those nearest him 
 that there was pent up in his heart a sorrow which he could not 
 tell. But it all came out one day, when he was discovered in prayer. 
 There was no one on that vessel to whom he could tell his grief, 
 and he had taken it to the Lord in prayer. 
 
 Precious boy! To that fact, and as I now believe in answer 
 of my godly mother's prayers which followed me incessantly, I 
 owe to a great extent my own salvation from a life of sin. From 
 that time he openly confessed himself a Christian. 
 
 Passing over about a year, during which he was liked by some, 
 hated by others, and misunderstood by all, we come to the inter- 
 esting part of this narrative, and the part which we trust God will 
 bless to the good of Christian seamen, and sanctify to the salvation 
 of some of the boys who in carelessness of God and in thought- 
 lessness of eternity, sing in their merriment, as the writer did,— 
 
 "A life on the ocean wave. 
 
 And a home on the rolling deep: 
 Where the stormy waters rave. 
 And the winds their revels keep." 
 
 If this shall be the case the writer will ask no more. 
 At the Marquesas Islands. 
 
 It was in the spring of u^'65, and in the vicinity of the Mar- 
 quesas Islands, as we had but the day before left our anchorage
 
 on 
 
 •-' 3 
 
 O r 
 N o 
 
 Q -^ 
 
 o -^ 
 
 w - 
 o = 
 
 <u 
 bo 
 rt 
 >^ 
 O 
 
 > 
 
 J3 
 
 .^.3^
 
 Kfi 
 
 
 K 
 
 
 W 
 
 
 A 
 
 
 hI 
 
 
 O 
 
 Ifl 
 
 N 
 
 1-. 
 
 
 OJ 
 
 
 OJ 
 
 Q 
 
 >^ 
 
 W 
 
 -4-» 
 
 O 
 
 p 
 
 K 
 
 t-^ 
 
 O 
 
 <— * 
 
 w 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 <u 
 
 
 (fl 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 rt 
 
 
 J
 
 at one of those islands, tliat the writer stood leani-ng over the star- 
 board rail, watching a magnificent ocean sunset in the tropics, and 
 thinking of friends far away. While musing thus, Zollers, for 
 whom the writer had always maintained the highest regard, quiet- 
 ly stole up by our side, and without speaking, stood in silence, and 
 thus both men were lost in reverie of that beautiful sunset scene. 
 Neither spoke until it began to grow dark, and the stars began to 
 appear, when the following conversation took place: 
 
 "I am burdened for the men of this crew," said Zollers. "and 
 when I think that I am the only Christian person within hundreds 
 of miles of them, and perhaps the only Christian that some of 
 them will ever come in contact with, there comes upon me an over- 
 whelming sense of my responsibility to God for these souls. I 
 have quietly lived among them as a Christian man, and God has 
 given me their confidence as such; but I feel that he would have 
 me do more than merely live as a Christian among them." 
 
 He paused. The writer replied by asking the question with 
 doubtless a little shading of sarcasm in the tone, "Well, what do 
 you propose doing?" 
 
 There flitted instantly before the mind the vision of the path 
 trodden by this faithful servant of God, in the midst of that crew, 
 to reach the position of respect that as a Christian man he occupied 
 at that time. But that vision was disturbed by this reply: "I think 
 God wants me to hold a meeting in the forecastle — a prayer meet- 
 ing — and if possible save some of these men." 
 
 The writer will never be able to half express the feeling of sur- 
 prise and anger which the apparent folly of that reply arousd in 
 his heart. I replied with the only feeling of bitterness that I re- 
 member of ever expressing toward that dear fellow, by asking him 
 whom he thought would constitute his prayer meeting, and who 
 would do the praying. 
 
 The look he gave me, and the pensive sorrow of his tone lin- 
 gers with me yet, as he replied, "I hope you will for one." 
 
 I turned away from that look, but replied in resolute tone, 
 which was intended to terminate the disagreeable subject, "You 
 may be sure that nothing of the kind will happen." 
 
 I then proceeded to call to his remembrance some of the 
 many disagreeable things that had happened, and what seemed to 
 me the terrible experiences of the past year, through which he 
 had passed. We advised him now that the crew had become used 
 to his religious oddities to preserve a calm quiet, until the home-
 
 port should be reached, and then let his religious fervor loose, and 
 join a church, and possibly become a deacon. This foolish sarcasm 
 was inet by the astounding declaration, which seemed to me at 
 that time to be a great stretch of truth, that God had so blessed 
 him in suffering for His sake, that he had been happy all through 
 it after coming out openly as a Christian among the crew. I looked 
 at him in silence, while for a few moments my mind reviewed that 
 year of the openly confessed descipleship of this Christian man. I 
 could not recall anything that would contradict that statment. I 
 remembered in those few moments of staring silence, his quiet 
 manner, sweet smile, gentle words, and the musical murmur of 
 some hymn that I had heard many times at home, but had not 
 learned to love. At that moment I felt, as never before, the great 
 distance that lay between us, in point of condition. I could not 
 have wished that he were back to my condition in sin, and I had 
 not yet come to feel a desire to be out where I felt in my heart 
 that he was. From that time onward until my own conversion, I 
 felt that we were separated by indeed a great gulf. No one else in 
 the crew could take his place in my affections, and a sense of lone- 
 liness that can not be easily described came over me. I was not 
 homesick, but it was a heartsickness that can not be described. It 
 seemed that I was alone in the midst of the great Pacific Ocean. 
 
 Forecastle Prayer Meeting. 
 
 The next morning following the conversation on the evening 
 referred to, announcement was made to the men that in the dog- 
 watch of that day — a short watch from 5 to 7 P. M. — a religious 
 meeting would be held in the forecastle, to which all who could 
 attend were invited. Perhaps we should explain, that in the short 
 watch referred to, the two watches of the crew ate supper. All 
 hands were supposed to be awake. We were allowed all the noise 
 and fun we cared for. The supper in the warm latitude was eaten 
 hastily, and the most of the time of this watch was usuallj' spent 
 in deck sports, in which the writer had become a leading spirit. 
 But all this was to be changed. During the day upon which the 
 first meeting was to be held on the good Bark Oriole, which was 
 to result so gloriously, the men joked each other about going to 
 church. 
 
 The dog-watch came. Supper was eaten. My heart was sad. 
 There was no room for doubt in my mind but wiiat at the expense 
 of the dear fellow I loved so much, there would be a regular lark
 
 among the men in the forecastle. Nothing could dissuade him 
 from what seemed his mad purpose. I told him plainly that I 
 should have no hand in it, as I was to take the wheel for that watch. 
 After taking my place at the wheel, I could see all that was trans- 
 piring on the deck, where usually on those beautiful tropical even- 
 ings the athletic sports were indulged to an enjoyable degree. 
 
 That evening, however, the fore-deck was literally deserted 
 during the hour that was usually given up to sport. The watch 
 came to the close, and we rang the usual eight bells. One man only 
 came up from the forecastle, the man whose duty it was to relieve 
 the wheel. After giving him steering directions, the writer went to 
 his place on the fore-deck. It was the time for the deck-watch to 
 come on duty, and the watch off duty to turn in for sleep. But not 
 a man appeared, and not a sound awoke the silence. What 
 could keep them so still, down in that hot forecastle so long? The 
 curiosity of the writer was up. Stealing down the scuttle, under 
 cover of the Samson post, and looking into the after part of the 
 forecastle, there met my astonished gaze, a sight which beggars 
 description. Having arranged the seamen's chests in a semicircle, 
 upon which were seated the men — eighteen of them — and one chest 
 in the opening upon which Zollers was sitting with his Bible open, 
 from which he had finished his reading, and was just closing his 
 talk to his little audience which had foregone the usual pleasure 
 of the deck, and in that hot climate the open air at that time in the 
 day was a luxury. That scene was a picture, which, until reason 
 fails, the writer will carry in memory. The joy that lighted up 
 that loving face was heavenly in expression, as he talked to the 
 very men wdio had in the beginning of his religious life insulted 
 and abused him, and w'ho later had laughed and joked and jeered 
 him. The intense interest of those faces I shall never forget, as 
 they actually leaned forward to get every word and gesture of em- 
 phasis. Oh, vvhat a picture! Probably there was not a church 
 within a thousand miles of that faithful soul who was holding his 
 little congregation spellbound. 
 
 But the officer of the deck will be looking after the men of his 
 watch in a minute. Zollers knelt in prayer, and the men reverently 
 bowed their heads. I hastily stole on deck. Oh, how sad my heart 
 was! I was alone ten thousand miles from home. The difference 
 between myself and Zollers was widening every minute. It had not 
 occurred to me that the difference was possible. I knew that he 
 would never come back to me; it had not occurred to me that I 
 could ever cross over the chasin to him.
 
 When he came on deck a few minutes later, instead of being 
 followed by the men in a noisy uproar, there was a subdued silence 
 that seemed wonderfully in keeping with my own sad heart. I 
 would not have him read my feelings. I stood in my accustomed 
 place at that quiet evening hour, with the labor of the day done, in 
 the commencement of the first night-watch, leaning over the rail, 
 watching the fading out of the day and the rapid appearing stars; 
 for in the tropics the twilight is extremely brief. 
 
 Zollers came and stood by my side. Oh, so happy! A mighty 
 victory had been gained over that crew. God had given him the 
 heart of every man in the forecastle. I do not mean that they were 
 converted, but they were silenced. Like the lions in the den, their 
 mouths were shut. They were literally speechless. Oh, how that 
 dear fellow rejoiced in spirit! It would not do for them to get the 
 idea that he felt he had gained a victory over them and our 
 conversation was low-toned upon that subject. I felt that night my 
 first desire to be a Christian, or rather a wish that I were like Zol- 
 lers. How little did I think how that feeling was going to grow in 
 my heart, until in an agony of mind. I would forget about the men 
 around me, and would on my knees, regardless of them, cry to 
 God for the forgiveness of my sins, and for the same salvation that 
 I had seen so beautifully illustrated in the man, who, under God 
 was to teach me the way to life and salvation. 
 
 Praying and Chasing Whales. 
 
 Days and weeks passed, while the longing of my heart in- 
 creased. The meeting was held daily. From the time it was start- 
 ed until the Oriole dropped anchor in the home-port, a year later, 
 that meeting was held unless interfered with by the whale chase. 
 For about a month I stood out, and not even once had I been be- 
 low to the meeting. 
 
 Six souls had confessed faith in Christ. The cabin boy, the 
 steward boy, and four men in the forecastle. Oh, how happy they 
 were! I could hear them sjng and pray. Oh, how miserable I feltl 
 It seemed as though the more happy those converts were the more 
 unhappy I felt. 
 
 I wished that I had what Zollers had. Oh, how I wanted to 
 be like him! I had not even thought of Jesus. The thought had 
 not even occurred to me, that I could give my heart to God through
 
 Jrsus Clirist, and become in His name a Christian. Zoiiers had 
 told me that often, but as yet I had not heard. 
 
 My Conversion. 
 
 There came a day, a dead cahn, and a terribly hot day. The 
 men had chased their meeting and had come on deck. My watch 
 was off duty. But it was too hot in the forecastle to sleep, and 
 after my usual sunset reverie, I cast myself down at the foot of the 
 foremast upon the deck. I sometimes slept there on such a night 
 as that. Zollers came and sat down by my side. We were alone, 
 and after a little he remarked in his quiet, yet decisive manner, 
 "George, you are very unhappy. You will feel no better until you 
 submit to God." 
 
 To God! I had not even thought of God in connection with 
 all my miserable feelings. I had not even thought beyond Zollers, 
 although he had talked so much to me of God, and of His Son Je- 
 sus Christ, I had not heard. But as he talked to me that night, I 
 heard. I caught glimpses of the glory of God which greatly in- 
 creased my misery. He told me of the love of God. I heard, but 
 it increased my sense of guilt. The more I saw of the glory, and 
 heard of the love of God, the more guilty and wretched did my con- 
 dition appear. Zollers saw my distress. He proposed going down 
 into the forecastle to pray together. I passively submitted. I did 
 not even think of the ten men down there, some of whom had 
 turned into their bunks. 
 
 I knelt. Zollers prayed. I tried to pray but could get no help 
 or relief. Zollers was happy. I was on my knees. It seemed to me 
 to be wicked and I got up aiid w-ent on deck and he followed. He 
 tried to encourage me, but oh the misery which for two weeks I 
 endured! I was practically good for nothing. Fortunately we were 
 not on a whaling ground, and were working along under light 
 breezes at night, dead calms bj' day, and with but little to do. But 
 there came a day when I lost sight of Zollers, and of myself, and of 
 the crew. I saw Jesus only. Peace came with a flood of tears. 
 The witness of sins forgiven was mine. Jesus said, "Thy sins which 
 are many are forgiven. Go in peace and sin no m'ore." 
 
 A Preacher of the Gospel. 
 
 Nearly thirty-five years have passed since this event which 
 changed the current of my life. Whether Zollers is living or dead 
 I cannot tell. We lost each other years ago. At that time he was
 
 in Illinois, and I was in New Hampshire. But I have confidence 
 to believe that in "the sweet by and by," we shall find each other 
 in the kingdom of God. A happy surprise may await us both. By 
 the Grace of God after the loss of two years in ecclesiastical con- 
 fusion, the joy of His salvation was restored to me, and the light 
 of Bible truth shone clearly in my heart, and God said, "Go preach 
 it to others." We have seen hundreds of souls converted, and 
 have baptized them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
 of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 The mission-spirited may know that Bibles, tracts, and Chris- 
 tian reading put on the ships, and distributed everywhere among 
 the neglected classes, will not all be lost. Sow the seed "beside all 
 waters;" in the end there will be a gathering of sheaves in great 
 joy. Let the men of the ship, the mines, and of the army know that 
 they are remembered. Let them know that Jesus Christ died for 
 them; that God cares for them. There may be a Zollers among 
 them. Who knows?
 
 1^ 
 
 ^^^^ 
 
 ^^::-l 
 
 1 
 
 ^ 
 
 >^^- 
 ^^. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 :jOm-7,'68(J1895s4) — C-1'20 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^:^W-Wtf 
 
 > 
 
 ^'' 
 
 ^ 
 
 r'l 
 
 I ir fl^:. 
 
 ^-^^M 
 
 
 
 k- 
 
 l«i 
 
 
 !h 
 
 ^ Ml 
 
 "^Bk 
 
 i^i^ 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 A1B>== 
 
 
 *-■*■. 
 
 ^^V'V 
 
 -,*-• s- 
 
 ^>- 
 
 T^Ov"^ 
 
 V 
 

 
 ^\ 
 
 UC SOUTHERN RtGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 000 154 350 3 
 
 A 
 
 
 ■^ 
 
 ;^r^ 
 
 71V 
 
 ]f-i 
 
 Ml 
 
 ♦ir. 
 
 >^^i 
 
 m 
 
 ^i.>- 
 
 *:^- 
 
 
 .^%• 
 
 
 >^1? 
 
 sT it 
 
 ■^if 
 
 ^"N 
 
 T'^^ 
 
 ^i 
 
 'i*^!'" 
 
 ■rf 
 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 v*^.ti. 
 
 •^«^>^.-:^: 
 
 .^: 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^/-&
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 "1 
 
 1 
 
 ■ 
 
 lihllill.l.ll,! , r