UC-NRLF 
 
 SB ME 
 
 r^ 
 co 
 
 vD 
 O 
 C\J 
 
 o 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 GIF N T OF" 
 THE FAMILY OF REV. DR. GEORGE MOOAR 
 
 Class 
 
MEMORIALS 
 
 OF 
 
 PETER SMITH 
 
 It 
 
 BORN, BRECHIN, SCOTLAND, SEPT. 21, 1802 
 DIED, ANDOVER, MASS., JULY 6, 1880 
 
 CAMBRIDGE 
 Printed at t&e Etterfiitre 
 
 1881 
 
e. / z; 
 S .s-s- 
 
 Copyright, 1881, 
 BY C. L. MILLS. 
 
PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 THIS Autobiography and Biography of a long 
 and well-spent life are brought together, in this 
 " Memorial Volume," for the children and grand- 
 children of a dearly-loved father and grandfather, 
 with the hope that valuable lessons may be 
 learned. 
 
 123152 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY i 
 
 II. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE AND HOME LIFE 45 
 
 III. 
 TESTIMONIALS 75 
 
 IV. 
 PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS loi 
 
 V. 
 LAST DAYS AND FUNERAL SERVICES 119 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 
 
MEMORIALS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 
 
 I WAS born in the city of Brechin, Forfar- 
 shire, Scotland, in the month of September, 
 1802. My father was a carpenter by trade. His 
 name was Peter Smith. My mother's maiden 
 name was Janet Middleton. They had five 
 children, James, John, David, Peter, and Mary. 
 David died when about eight years old. 
 
 The first incident noticeable in regard to 
 myself, and which has often recurred to my 
 mind, was the saving of the life of my sister 
 when she was about three years old, which oc- 
 curred on a Sabbath afternoon. 
 
 My father and mother both went to the kirk 
 to hear some celebrated preacher, and left me at 
 home to take care of my sister. A little girl, 
 
one of the neighbors' children, younger than 
 myself, came in, and we wandered out into the 
 vegetable garden, where was a spring of water, 
 built up like a well, two feet in diameter. My 
 sister went too near the edge and fell in. When 
 the little girl who was with us saw this, she ran 
 
 % 
 
 to tell what had happened. I was frightened 
 and ran some distance, but turned back ; as the 
 buoyancy of my sister's clothing kept her from 
 sinking, when she floated to the side where I 
 could reach . her, I took hold of her clothes and 
 pulled her out. If I had not turned back she 
 would have been drowned, as it was some dis- 
 tance from any help. I was then in my sixth 
 year. I have often looked back to the event as 
 one of those wonderful providences of God that 
 has marked my eventful life, and to Him be all 
 the praise. 
 
 My father died in the month of August, 1810. 
 I was in my eighth year, attending school. In 
 the following spring I had the small-pox very 
 severely ; was blind about ten days. It was the 
 end of summer before I entirely recovered. 
 
 The death of my father and then my sick- 
 
ness brought my mother into rather straitened 
 circumstances. My brother James was the only 
 help she had, except her own hands, which she 
 plied with great diligence at the spinning-wheel. 
 
 Afiout this time, my brother John was bound 
 
 as an apprentice to the trade of millwright. 
 
 This cost a good deal in those days, as cloth- 
 
 .ing and a certain portion of tools had to be 
 
 provided. 
 
 * During the harvest season of this year, as 
 things were going pretty hard with my mother, 
 she went with me to a farmer where my brother 
 John had lived, to see if he could give me em- 
 ployment for my board. He heard her story, 
 looked at me, and said I was a very small boy 
 for what he had to do, but if I was as good a 
 boy as my brother John he would try me a while. 
 
 I was employed, during the harvest, watching 
 the horses in the pasture, when they were not at 
 work, and doing such things as I was able to do. 
 As the season advanced and white frosts made 
 their appearance on the grass in the mornings, I 
 took cold in my feet and legs ; sores broke out 
 upon them, so that I had to be carried home to 
 
6 
 
 my mother, and was lame all winter from what 
 was supposed to be the effects of small-pox. 
 
 After recovering from my lameness, I was 
 sent to school for a short time. It was the last 
 of my schooling, except what I got at a later 
 period of my life by attending evening schools. 
 
 About this time provisions were very high, 
 which made it hard for my mother to get the 
 necessaries of life. By rising early and sitting 
 up late, plying her spinning-wheel, she endeav- 
 ored, as she used to say, " to make the two ends 
 meet; " for she had great dread of running into 
 debt, and gave us many a lecture on that sub- 
 ject. 
 
 About this time I was sent to work in a flax- 
 spinning mill, but did not like it, and tried to 
 get my mother to go out to some farmer in 
 the neighborhood, and see if he would not take 
 me as a herd-boy. 
 
 One day we started off together, but were un- 
 successful, farmers preferring to employ coun- 
 try boys than to take one from town. At last, 
 through the influence of a friend, I got a place, 
 where I lived for one year. The family con- 
 
sisted of an aged couple and a grown-up son 
 and daughter. They were very kind to me and 
 I had a good home, but got nothing for my 
 services except my food. As I was only about 
 two miles from my mother's house, she often 
 came out to see me, in the summer months, on 
 Sabbath afternoons, and hear me say my cate- 
 chism, psalms, and hymns, and gave me much 
 good advice to be sure and not be an eye-servant. 
 My next place of service was with Captain 
 A , who had purchased a farm in the neigh- 
 borhood, and was building a mansion-house on 
 the grounds. I went myself and made applica- 
 iton for the place. He asked me my name, said 
 he knew my mother, told me to call again, 
 that he would talk with the man who had charge 
 of his cows, and let me know. I went home and 
 told my mother, who was surprised to think that 
 I should have the courage to go myself, so 
 small a boy, and speak to such a gentleman as 
 
 Captain A . I had then formed the idea 
 
 that if anything was to be accomplished it must 
 be attended to at once, and this has been my ex- 
 perience in all my subsequent life. My mother 
 
8 
 
 called upon Captain A , to find out how 
 
 matters stood, and was told her boy would get 
 the place, and what his duties would be ; that I 
 would have to live on meal and milk. That 
 meant that I was to do my own cooking. I had 
 a certain allowance of meal ; what I did not use 
 went with my wages, which was a great help 
 to my mother in those times of scarcity. I re- 
 mained with Captain A through the sum- 
 mer months, and was pleased with my place. I 
 went daily into Brechin with milk to Captain 
 A 's family and Provost M 's, his father- 
 in-law. As the winter approached, my services 
 were not required; this was in 1812, a hard 
 year for poor people ; but I got a place in a 
 baker's shop, which I did not like. 
 
 In the spring, I got a chance on a farm near 
 Catterthun, a good place. The people were 
 kind to me ; they kept a number of servants, 
 male and female. 
 
 In the fall of this year, 1813, the linen trade 
 was quite brisk. My brother James, being a 
 weaver, was anxious that I should come home 
 and learn the trade. I felt very reluctant to go 
 
9 
 
 to the loom, as I thought, if I did, I should have 
 to be a weaver all my days. I had then a great 
 desire for some mechanical trade ; but the glow- 
 ing colors in which my brother placed the thing 
 before me that I could make so much money 
 for a while, and then I could go to a trade after- 
 wards induced me to leave my place, and 
 commence to learn the art of weaving brown 
 linen. Everything went on well for a short time : 
 but the year 1815 came, and the end of the 
 French war ; with it the fall of the linen trade, 
 nothing but destitution on every side. There 
 was a complete breaking up of the business 
 for a number of years, a period of great suffer- 
 ing, many families being reduced to want. 
 
 At this time my brother James went to 
 Glasgow, and engaged in cotton weaving, leav- 
 ing my sister and me at home with my mother. 
 I occasionally obtained work from an Aberdeen 
 agency that was established in the place, but 
 mother thought I did not try hard enough. As 
 she knew I did not like the weaving business, 
 she thought there might be blame on my part 
 for not getting work, which caused me to say 
 
10 
 
 some unpleasant words to her ; the only time I 
 ever did so, and afterwards it caused me much 
 grief, for I had a dearly beloved mother. The 
 feeling that I had done wrong grew upon me, 
 so that I had no happiness in my mind, and 
 resolved to leave my home. 
 
 As the agency of the linen-weaving was at 
 Aberdeen, and some of the people of the town 
 had gone there after work, I thought I would 
 go also. I told my sister I was going away 
 to Aberdeen, but she advised me not to do so. 
 Feeling so unhappy, and having nothing to 
 do, I was determined upon it. All the available 
 funds I had for the journey of forty miles was 
 just one penny, that my sister gave me, when 
 she followed me a short distance from the house 
 to bid me good-by. 
 
 I was then in my fourteenth year, my sister 
 four years younger. I have often thought of 
 this circumstance, it being our first parting ; so 
 tender were my feelings that I almost broke 
 down. The maple-tree at the foot of which we 
 parted, and my little sister Mary, as she gave 
 me the penny, are as fresh in my remembrance 
 as if it were only yesterday. 
 
1 1 
 
 Arriving at Aberdeen, I found a Brechin man 
 at the head of one of the large manufacturing 
 companies of the place, and told him that I 
 could not get work. He looked at me with 
 some distrust in regard to my statement, but, 
 
 being an old schoolmate of my elder brother, 
 
 t 
 
 James, and having some knowledge of the fam- 
 ily, he gave me work. From this place I wrote 
 my first letter to my mother, which rather aston- 
 ished her, as she thought I had gone to visit my 
 uncles, about ten miles distant. 
 
 I remained in Aberdeen about six weeks, and 
 got along very well with my work ; but, being a 
 young and forward boy, I made some acquaint- 
 ances of a very doubtful character, and found 
 myself in danger of being drawn into bad com- 
 pany; so I resolved to leave the place, and re- 
 turn to my mother's house. I felt that I had 
 done wrong in leaving my home. 
 
 I have often looked back upon my leaving 
 Aberdeen and returning to my mother as one 
 of those deliverances which God, in His mercy, 
 wrought out in my behalf; for it has seemed to 
 me, that had I remained longer in the place, I 
 
12 
 
 should have been a ruined boy. How often have 
 I thanked my God for turning the thoughts of 
 my heart homeward, for thereby I escaped the 
 snares of the tempter ! 
 
 Having rode part of the way, I arrived at 
 Brechin after dark. I was unwilling to be seen 
 by my boy acquaintances, as they would laugh 
 at me for returning home so soon, and call me 
 " a runaway come back of his own accord." I 
 was even ashamed, after I reached my mother's 
 house, to go in, and lingered about the vicinity 
 unobserved, thinking what I should do, and to 
 make sure nobody was in the house but my 
 mother and sister. I knew that they had no ex- 
 pectations of my being so near at hand, as I had 
 received a bundle from home a few days before 
 I left Aberdeen. I felt grieved that I should 
 have said any unpleasant word to my mother ; 
 yet I knew, from her kind and forgiving dispo- 
 sition, that she would overlook what I had said 
 and done, and receive me as a repenting and 
 erring child. I accordingly mustered up cour- 
 age to go in, just as mother and sister were 
 preparing to retire for the night. Both of them 
 
'3 
 
 were very much astonished at my appearance, 
 thinking I was in Aberdeen. 
 
 I very soon got work at weaving, beside a 
 godly, praying man, who did all he could to 
 guide me in the right way by his counsel and 
 holy life. In after years he became the husband 
 of one of my cousins, whose family and my own 
 have been so intimately connected, as will here- 
 after appear. 
 
 During this year my brother John sailed for, 
 America, which was a great trial to my mother, 
 as she thought that she would never see her boy 
 again. It was many days before she could be 
 comforted or reconciled to it. 
 
 In the month of February, 1817, being short 
 of work, I took it into my head to go to Glas- 
 gow to see my brother James, and perhaps get 
 work there. I told my mother that I thought 
 of going to brother James. She said, " it was 
 a silly notion and only boy's talk," as Glasgow 
 was over one hundred miles from Brechin, and 
 that I never would attempt that journey on foot. 
 But, boy as I was, 1 had made up my mind to 
 try it. 
 
H 
 
 My sister accompanied me a short distance, 
 bade me good-by, and went home and told 
 mother, who was unwilling to believe I had un- 
 dertaken such a journey; as my uncles' resi- 
 dences lay in the same direction, she thought I 
 had gone there. I passed by in sight of their 
 houses, where I had spent many happy hours 
 with my cousins ; but I had started on a journey 
 I knew they would oppose. Being on a road 
 at some distance, I passed unobserved, traveling 
 that first day eighteen miles, and got lodging for 
 the night in a small inn. When I awoke in the 
 morning, there was a hard rain-storm. I paid 
 for my lodging and breakfast, which took nearly 
 all the funds I had, not knowing what would be 
 the expenses of a tavern. However, I had de- 
 termined not to turn back, so I faced the storm 
 and traveled on, until about three in the after- 
 noon, when my strength and courage began to 
 fail. My limbs became much chafed and sore ; 
 I was as wet as I could be had I been taken 
 out of a river. 
 
 I resolved to go to the first farm-house on 
 the roadside and ask for lodging. I inquired 
 
for the master. A man with a kindly look came 
 to the door; when I told him what I wanted, I 
 fairly broke down, my words choking in my 
 mouth. He probably saw that there was noth- 
 ing very bad abcnit me, spoke kindly, and in- 
 quired about my parents. I told him I had a 
 mother, where I was from, and where I was go- 
 ing ; that I had a brother in Glasgow and other 
 relations. He seemed to think it strange to see 
 such a small boy on such a long journey, at that 
 season of the year. He said I must have left 
 my home without the knowledge of my friends ; 
 that he had no place for me to sleep but his 
 barn. I told him I would be glad of that, if he 
 would let me stay all* night. He asked me to 
 come in, dry myself, and get something to eat; 
 I felt truly thankful, and accepted the invitation. 
 There was a good fire in the kitchen ; I got my 
 clothes dry, with the exception of that portion 
 around the middle of my body. In that condi- 
 tion I went out to the barn with the men when 
 they went to feed their horses for the night ; laid 
 down on some bundles of straw with a covering 
 of canvas bags, and asked the men to call me 
 
i6 
 
 early in the morning, as I wanted to be on my 
 way. It so happened that I did not need to be 
 called, for it seemed to me the longest night I 
 ever experienced; I longed for the break of day. 
 Being near the highway and about two miles 
 from Perth, I could hear teams passing during 
 the night. As soon as day began to appear I 
 looked out and found the ground covered with 
 snow, and it was still snowing. The rain of 
 the past day had changed into damp snow. I 
 thought that I could not wait until the men 
 came out to feed the horses, so I started on, and 
 traveled all day in the slush and snow. In the 
 afternoon it cleared away and began to freeze. 
 I traveled that day to Vithin a few miles of 
 Dumblane. I stopped at a small house, had a 
 very good night's rest, and after paying for it I 
 had just one penny left to carry me some thirty 
 miles. I started on without breakfast. When 
 about one mile from Stirling I began to feel the 
 cravings of hunger, and made up my mind to go 
 and beg for bread. I thought I would go to the 
 first house anpl ask for a drink, and perhaps they 
 would give me something to eat. I knocked at 
 
17 
 
 the door; while waiting my courage failed me, 
 or, rather, my proud spirit rebelled against ask- 
 ing. If any one had come to the door, I could 
 not have told what I wanted, and accordingly 
 left. 
 
 This was the nearest I ever came to asking 
 for bread. 
 
 In passing through Stirling, I spent my last 
 penny, twenty-eight miles from Glasgow. 
 
 To cross the Muir of " Take-me-down," which 
 is a little way from Stirling, would make my 
 journey four miles less ; as I was getting tired 
 and sore, it seemed to me a long distance to 
 save. 
 
 I therefore left the highway and took the 
 Muir road, which was used only for travelers on 
 foot or horseback, principally by drovers in driv- 
 ing cattle to -and from market. After entering 
 on the Muir road, I called at a house to make 
 inquiries about the way, and was strongly ad- 
 vised against taking that road, as I should get 
 lost. There were a few houses on the road. It 
 grew cold and the snow began to drift, but I had 
 made up my mind to try it and so started on. I 
 
i8 
 
 had traveled two thirds the distance across the 
 Muir, when I became very tired; my courage 
 and strength began to fail me. Sitting down 
 on the top of a snow-drift, I thought over my 
 life ; it seemed as if every wrong thing that I 
 had done came up before me. I wondered how 
 my poor mother would feel, if she knew my 
 condition. I leaned my head on my hand, and 
 thought here I was to die, with no one to care 
 for me. How I did wish I had stayed at home 1 
 After this, it came to my mind to try it once 
 more. I came in sight of a house soon, and 
 felt new courage come into my heart. When I 
 reached the house, I asked the good woman if 
 she would let me come in and warm myself. 
 She seemed very kind, and had a fine fire of 
 peat ; told me to sit down ; inquired about my 
 parents and where I was going ; asked me to 
 take some dinner, "it was after their dinner 
 hour, but there was some left." She encouraged 
 me with the hope that after I got to Kilagath I 
 would have company all the way to Glasgow ; 
 as there were always teams on the road ; per- 
 haps I might get a ride. I started off, being 
 
19 
 
 refreshed with food and kind words, arrived in 
 Glasgow after work hours and found my brother 
 James, who was astonished to see me. The first 
 salutation I got was, " You have run away from 
 home, i Mother never would have let you come." 
 He inquired how in the world I ever got there, 
 which has been a wonder to myself many a time 
 since. 
 
 It was only by perseverance and the kind 
 providence of my Heavenly Father, who had 
 other duties for me to perform before I should 
 be called to the account of my stewardship. 
 
 I remained in Glasgow about one year ; got 
 work at weaving beside a good Christian man, 
 who took a great fancy to me and gave me good 
 counsel. He had a fine library, and encouraged 
 me in reading, of which I was always fond, al- 
 though up to this time the books had been of 
 the lighter sort, such as were common among 
 country servants. Here I got a better class of 
 books. I also attended an evening school for a 
 short time, kept by a student, who afterwards 
 became a missionary. 
 
 He was a good man; I have often thought 
 
20 
 
 that, amidst all my wanderings, my lot was al- 
 ways cast among good people. I remember no 
 time when I was treated unkindly. The good 
 man whom I worked beside often talked with 
 my brother James about finding some other 
 business for me, for I was not born to be a 
 weaver. 
 
 At length, my brother James wrote to my 
 father's brother, " Uncle John," as we used to 
 call him, who got me a place as an apprentice 
 to the wheelwright trade, in Kerrimuir. 
 
 I left Glasgow in high spirits, and traveled 
 back to Brechin on foot, but had means to sup- 
 port myself on the way. 
 
 My first night was at Stirling, my second at 
 Perth, and my third at my uncle's, ten miles from 
 Brechin. I reached home the next day, to the 
 great joy of my mother and sister, as they had 
 been anxiously looking for me. 
 
 After a few days in Brechin in getting my 
 clothes mended and some additions made to my 
 scanty wardrobe, in which my mother and sister 
 engaged with all their energy, I started for my 
 new home in Kerrimuir, where I was to remain 
 
21 
 
 four years, as an apprentice with my new master 
 in learning the trade of wheelwright. 
 
 The first two years were without any particu- 
 lar incident. I had formed the acquaintance of 
 several young lads of my own age ; a good deal 
 of our time was spent, when the day's work was 
 done, in foolishness, without any profit either to 
 body or mind. 
 
 During the third year of my time a great 
 change came over me. There was quite a relig- 
 ious interest in the town : prayer meetings were 
 held in different places. I, with my young com- 
 panions, commenced attending these meetings ; 
 soon we were all very much interested. They 
 were conducted by a few very godly, praying 
 men, and their labors were not in vain. 
 
 At this time my thoughts were turned to the 
 salvation of my soul. I began to see my folly 
 and sin. I had been a regular attendant at the 
 kirk on the Sabbath, and the Sabbath-school, but 
 more from the habit of my early training than 
 from any desire to get personal good. The 
 Lord led me in a wonderful way to seek salva- 
 tion, and to make a personal application of the 
 truth of His Word. 
 
22 
 
 I read my Bible with an interest such as I 
 had not felt before I became much interested in 
 attending the prayer meetings. Soon a young 
 men's prayer meeting was established on Sab- 
 bath mornings, in which I took an active part. 
 
 I was invited to take a class of boys in the 
 Sabbath-school, and entered on the work with a 
 good degree of interest It was a rule in the 
 school that the teachers should close the lessons 
 with prayer. When it came my turn, I was in 
 dread of performing my part ; great fear came 
 upon me, so that I had to stop in the service. 
 After school was dismissed, a good man came 
 and spoke to me ; encouraged me to persevere, 
 and I would get over being afraid to hear my 
 own voice. 
 
 About this time I made my mother a visit. 
 It was her custom to request me to read the 
 Scriptures before retiring for the night. On 
 this occasion, after reading a portion of God's 
 Word, I kneeled down in prayer, at which my 
 mother's heart was filled with gratitude to God, 
 who had, in any measure, opened my heart to 
 receive the truth. She seemed to feel like good 
 
23 
 
 old Simeon, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant 
 depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy sal- 
 vation." 
 
 From this time I became rnore interested in 
 spiritual things, and joined the class that at- 
 tended at the manse to be examined, prepara- 
 tory to uniting with the parish kirk at the com- 
 munion season, which was observed once a year, 
 in the month of June. 
 
 It was a parish of great extent, and at such 
 times there were large gatherings. After at- 
 tending for a few weeks at the manse, with some 
 eighteen others, who had offered themselves as 
 candidates, I had great trouble in my mind about 
 going forward : I seemed to have such a sense 
 of my own unworthiness that I almost decided 
 not to go. On Saturday night preceding the 
 communion, I mentioned my case to the gentle- 
 man, who was superintendent of the Sabbath- 
 school ; he encouraged me to go forward, which 
 I did with fear and trembling. 
 
 At our shop we did all kinds of carpenter's 
 work ; often we made coffins for the dead, which 
 were usually carried by two of us, on our shoul- 
 
24 
 
 ders, to the house where the dead lay. On such 
 occasions, the family and friends of the deceased 
 were called in to see the body " coffined," as 
 we called it. After the friends had taken the 
 last look of the corpse, we screwed down the lid ; 
 then a portion of Scripture was read. 
 
 As I was considered a good reader, I was 
 often asked to read, when my master was not 
 present. I usually did so, selecting on such oc- 
 casions the fifteenth chapter of the first Epistle 
 to the Corinthians. Sometimes, I ventured to 
 make a few remarks to those present on the ne- 
 cessity of a preparation for such an event, as was 
 sure to come to all. 
 
 This gave me freedom in speaking on relig- 
 ious subjects. Because of my own experience 
 of the great change I had passed through, I was 
 invited to address Sabbath-schools. On one oc- 
 casion, which I can never forget, I was invited 
 to go to a place, some four or five miles distant, 
 to address what I supposed to be a Sabbath- 
 school ; but, upon reaching the place, I found 
 the house filled with people of all ages. This 
 was more than I had bargained for, and I told 
 
25 
 
 the man who had invited me that I could not 
 take charge of such a meeting. I was then a 
 young lad in my eighteenth year; there were 
 present old men and women, young men and 
 maidens, all classes that composed the neigh- 
 borhood. When they were assembled and I 
 looked upon them, the thought came into my 
 mind, How can I speak to these people ? Then, 
 again, How can I go away and not say a word ? 
 So I resolved, the Lord helping me, to do what 
 I could to interest them. I was afterwards care- 
 ful not to accept invitations, except where there 
 were others to help me sustain the meeting. 
 
 I had formed the acquaintance of some 
 Christian men, who invited me, often, to visit 
 with them the sick and dying. On such occa- 
 sions the conversation was very profitable to 
 me, for their confessions were, generally, of their 
 misspent time and neglected privileges. 
 
 I kept up my attendance at the young men's 
 prayer meetings and other means of grace. 
 
 Entering on the last year of my engage- 
 ment, I had written my brother John, who was 
 in America, that I had a great desire to go out 
 
26 
 
 to him. I seemed to have a desire to emigrate 
 at a very early period of my life. 
 
 In the latter part of May, 1822, I received 
 a letter from my brother John, saying that he 
 had formed a partnership with two men ; that 
 they were to commence the building of cotton 
 machinery at Plymouth, Mass. If I was still in- 
 clined to come out to America, he had made 
 arrangements with Captain Lewis for my pas- 
 sage in the ship Champion, of Boston. A 
 letter was also received from Captain Lewis, 
 saying he would sail the last of July. 
 
 I showed the letters to my employer, who 
 thought that it was a good chance for me, and 
 kindly consented to let me go. In two hours 
 after I received the letters, I was on my way to 
 my mother's to prepare for my journey. 
 
 I left Brechin for Liverpool by way of Glas- 
 gow, as my brother James and family and some 
 other relatives resided there ; spent a few days 
 with them, and took steamboat for Liverpool. 
 
 I found the ship in Queen's Dock, and heard 
 that I would have to pass the custom-house 
 examination before I could go on board. I had 
 
27 
 
 to take lodgings, and was told that I would have 
 to employ a broker to get me through the 
 custom-house. I was rather limited in funds, 
 and did not see how I could employ any one 
 to do this business for me. As the ship was 
 still taking in cargo, I was in the habit of going 
 to the custom-house daily, to see how things 
 were done. 
 
 As it was then against the law to let mechan- 
 ics leave without a permit from some govern- 
 ment official, I was careful not to say I had a 
 trade. When asked where I was going and 
 what was my business, I said that I had herded 
 cattle, and that I was going out to my brother. 
 I suppose that my appearance (being clothed in 
 a suit of corduroy, which was common for coun- 
 try lads in Scotland to wear when at work) con- 
 firmed my statement. 
 
 I accordingly got a permit to go on board, 
 without costing me anything, but the delay took 
 all the money I had to pay for lodgings. I 
 sailed from Queen's Dock on the ist day of 
 August, 1822, without a penny in my pocket. 
 Not having means to buy a mattress on which 
 
28 
 
 to sleep, I slept among the spare sails that were 
 stowed in the hold of the ship, and never had my 
 clothes off my back except when I changed them 
 on Sabbath mornings. 
 
 There were seven passengers in the steerage ; 
 they were all English people, and a very good 
 company, going out to friends on business. 
 
 I kept a daily journal of the passage and 
 what occurred on board that seemed of inter- 
 est to me. In after years, I often read it to 
 my oldest children with great delight, as it 
 served to keep alive in my mind the many 
 strange scenes through which I had passed ; to 
 remind me to thank my Heavenly Father for his 
 preserving care over me, and for the kindness 
 I uniformly received from those with whom I 
 made acquaintance. 
 
 My journal was lost or destroyed, for which I 
 have always felt great regret. 
 
 We made land on the American coast on the 
 second day of September ; and on the third I 
 landed in Boston with just one cent in my 
 pocket, that was given to me by a fellow-pas- 
 senger on board, and was the first American 
 coin I had seen. 
 
2Q 
 
 I wrote my brother John at Plymouth that I 
 had arrived in Boston. 
 
 When the ship was made fast to the wharf, a 
 great many people came on board to get the 
 news from England, as there was no telegraph 
 in those days. As we had made rather a short 
 passage for a sailing-ship, we had the latest 
 news. 
 
 I stepped on shore about three o'clock in the 
 afternoon, at the end of India Wharf. It was 
 quite warm, and being very thirsty, from the 
 eating of salt meat, I walked up the wharf in 
 search of a well, where I could quench my thirst, 
 for it was getting to be intolerable. I could 
 find none. Under the terrible craving for 
 water, I spent my keepsake cent for a glass of 
 ginger-beer, so that I was then in the same con- 
 dition for funds that I was when I left Liver- 
 pool. 
 
 I had expected to remain on board until my 
 brother John should arrive from Plymouth, but 
 was told that no passengers were allowed to re- 
 main after the ship was made fast to the wharf. 
 This put me in a sad plight, as I knew no one 
 
30 
 
 in Boston, and had no money for lodgings. My 
 case became rather a hard one. Some Scotch- 
 men happened to come on board. As they were 
 making inquiries about the old country, they at 
 once became interested in me. I told them my 
 condition ; that I had to stay so long in Liver- 
 pool, after leaving my home, before the vessel 
 sailed that I had spent all my money, and had 
 nothing to pay for lodgings. They kindly told 
 me they would take me to a house where I could 
 stay until my brother came. I was thankful, and 
 accepted their offer. They accordingly intro- 
 duced me to the landlady of the then called 
 " Burns' Tavern," which was kept by a Mr. Nich- 
 olson and wife, a Scotch man and woman. I 
 suppose that all the Scotchmen that were then 
 about Boston called to see me and get the news 
 from Scotland. I was feasted as if I were some 
 great character. In the midst of it all I began 
 to think there was too much whiskey used. 
 The landlady was very winning in her way ; 
 her house was quite a resort, as she used the 
 broad Scotch dialect, which had an attractive in- 
 fluence on those who had been many years from 
 their native land. 
 
I often look back with thankfulness to God 
 that I was preserved from the temptation to 
 drink, which was freely offered to me. I was 
 then in my twentieth year, and, with the excite- 
 ment of landing on a foreign shore, I was in a 
 condition to become an easy prey to the temp- 
 tation of strong drink ; but, thanks be to God, 
 I was saved ! 
 
 In two days after my arrival, my brother met 
 me in Boston, and it was a meeting of much joy 
 to us both. 
 
 My first Sabbath in America I spent in Wal- 
 tham with my brother, who went to call upon 
 some friends, whose acquaintance he had made 
 while at work there some years before. He was 
 received with expressions of great kindness by 
 his old friends, to whom I was introduced 
 as "My brother, just arrived from Scotland." 
 Everything seemed new and strange. 
 
 We left Boston for Plymouth, where we ar- 
 rived on the Qth of September, 1822, when I let 
 myself for one year to the firm of John Smith 
 & Co., machinists, at the rate of eight dollars 
 per month, board and washing included. 
 
32 
 
 While here, there sprang up quite a revival of 
 religion, in which I took an active part, previous 
 to which my spiritual feelings had become very 
 cold and dead. I humbled myself before God, 
 and made confession of all my sins. He was 
 graciously pleased to give me great evidence of 
 His forgiving grace. From that time I had 
 much comfort while laboring in His service, 
 both private and public, so that it was suggested 
 to me, by some good Christian people, that I 
 should study for the ministry. 
 
 My brother John, although not a Christian at 
 that time, offered to send me to college. I took 
 the subject into prayerful consideration, and 
 spent many hours in prayer, desiring to know 
 what was my duty, but could never obtain satis- 
 factory evidence that I was called to that service. 
 
 During this time I had made the acquaint- 
 ance of Miss Rebecca Bartlett, with whom I con- 
 ferred on this subject. She was a devoted Chris- 
 tian girl, and said that any partial. engagement I 
 had made with her should not stand in the way 
 of my duty, for she willingly released me from 
 all engagement. It was a trying time to us both, 
 
33 
 
 for I sincerely believe we tried to find out what 
 the will of God was on the subject. I kept it be- 
 fore my mind for months; but as I could find 
 no more evidence that I was called to that work 
 I gave it up, thinking that the Lord had other 
 service for me in His vineyard. I have always 
 felt satisfied that my decision was right. 
 
 On the 24th of August, 1824, I married 
 Miss Bartlett, and on the ist of May, 1825, we 
 moved from Plymouth to Andover. Here a new 
 field was opened for my religious improvement, 
 under the preaching and religious instruction of 
 the Rev. Dr. Justin Edwards, who at this time 
 had a third service, Sabbath evenings, a Bible 
 class, which was very fully attended by the 
 adult members of his congregation and by many 
 of the students from the Theological Seminary. 
 His expositions of Scripture were so interesting 
 to me that I longed for the Sabbath to return ; 
 and although more than forty years have passed, 
 they seem still fresh in my mind. 
 
 I was in the habit of attending the weekly 
 prayer meeting of the church, where I formed 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 the acquaintance of many godly, praying men 
 and women. I was often called upon to take 
 part in this service. I was very timid at first, 
 but as I became more acquainted with the 
 brethren and sisters of the church I gathered 
 more courage, and felt that they would overlook 
 any imperfections in my speech, if my daily life 
 was " such as becometh the Gospel of Christ." 
 
 Deacon Newman seemed to take great in- 
 terest in me. I was in the habit of often calling 
 at his bookstore, where I received much good 
 from his conversations. 
 
 In 1826, Dr. Edwards commenced his more 
 public labors on the subject of intemperance, 
 which made quite a stir all over the town. As 
 there was only one church or society, at that 
 time, in the place, all the people who went to 
 meeting had to hear what he had to say on the 
 subject. Many were filled with indignation at 
 his plainness of speech. 
 
 My brother John and myself took an active 
 part in the reform, as it was then called. 
 
 In the latter part of this year, the West 
 
35 
 
 Parish church was formed as a colony from the 
 South. As my residence was within the bound- 
 ary line, I could not think it to be my duty to 
 leave the valuable instructions of Dr. Edwards. 
 But, in 1828, I left the South and joined the 
 West church, then under the pastoral care of 
 Rev. Samuel C. Jackson, a young man of great 
 promise and a good preacher. 
 
 In 1829, I was asked by my brother John if 
 I would not like to go to Scotland and see my 
 mother. He had a double object in view, hav- 
 ing been there the year previous and renewed 
 his acquaintance with a 'Miss Ferguson, of Glas- 
 gow, and by correspondence had proposed the 
 subject of marriage to her. He offered to pay 
 all my expenses and take the- charge of my fam- 
 ily while I was absent, which consisted of my 
 wife and three little children. My wife very 
 readily consented to have me go. 
 
 On the ist of May, 1829, I sailed for Liver- 
 pool in the ship Boston, Captain Mackay, and 
 returned in the same ship, arriving in Boston on 
 the ist of August. The people in the town were 
 very much surprised, on my arrival, to find that 
 
36 
 
 I had brought over a lady for my brother's wife. 
 They were married in the West Parish church, 
 in the month of October, 1829. 
 
 Just after their return from their wedding 
 tour, Mr. Warren Richardson, one of my 
 brother's partners, died very suddenly, and in 
 1831 his other partner died; so my brother 
 bought out the entire interest, and put me in 
 charge of the machine-shop. It was rather try- 
 ing at first, as there were many workmen in the 
 shop of more experience than myself. It was 
 hard for me to give orders and oversee those 
 with whom I had worked* as a journeyman. How- 
 ever, things all went on smoothly. 
 
 In 1831 and 1832 there was a great religious 
 interest all over the country. It was the time of 
 protracted meetings of from three to four days 
 at a time. The first held in Andover was at 
 the South church, then under the charge of 
 Rev. Mr. Badger. About twenty-five of the 
 men in the shop banded themselves together to 
 attend all of the meetings, out of a spirit of op- 
 position more than from a desire to be spirit- 
 ually benefited. 
 
37 
 
 As the hearts of all men are in the hands of 
 God, He was pleased, in great mercy, to make 
 these means the instrumentality of the conver- 
 sion of many of those men. I thank God that 
 their record has been an honor to themselves 
 and to the church of Christ. I gathered them 
 together in an upper chamber of my house, and 
 gave them some religious instruction, encour- 
 aging them to take a part in the weekly prayer 
 meeting I had started very soon after coming 
 to Andover. 
 
 About this time, my brother James and fam- 
 ily arrived from Scotland. He was a good man 
 and a great help to our meetings, for he was 
 well acquainted with the Scriptures and had an 
 excellent memory. 
 
 My brother John now also became interested 
 in the subject of personal religion. I was most 
 pleasantly situated, having the enjoyment and 
 comfort of the precious promises of the gospel, 
 and doing what I could to advance the interests 
 of my Saviour's kingdom. 
 
 My cup of joy seemed to be running over, but 
 a sad affliction was just before me. On the 2Oth 
 
38 
 
 of May, 1833, the Lord was pleased to remove 
 from me my dearly beloved wife. This was a 
 great loss to me and my five little children, the 
 youngest only twenty-four hours old. 
 
 I was so overwhelmed and prostrated at the 
 loss that I scarcely knew what to do with my- 
 self. She was a direct descendant, on the ma- 
 ternal side, of the Mayflower Pilgrims, a very 
 pious, good woman, and a great help to me in 
 my Christian life. 
 
 After the death of my wife, my friends ex- 
 tended to me their sympathy and prayers, more 
 particularly the wife of my brother John, a most 
 excellent woman, with a large Christian heart. 
 She took my babe, and nursed it for a while as 
 her own. 
 
 As time passed on, I began to take fresh 
 courage for the battles of life, and to do what 
 was my wife's last request, to take good care 
 of the children. I lived in single life for more 
 than two years. On the 5th of June, 1835, I 
 married Esther H. Ward, who was living in the 
 neighborhood with her married sister, Mrs. War- 
 ren Richardson, and who was well acquainted 
 with my family previous to my wife's death. 
 
39 
 
 It was during the fall of 1834 that I entered 
 into a partnership with my old friend, Mr. John 
 Dove, with whom, when a boy, I worked in one 
 of the flax-mills of Brechin. He had come 
 with his family to America, and had forwarded 
 his address in New York to my brother John, 
 who, having occasion to be in that city, accord- 
 ing to my request, called upon my old friend, 
 and brought him to Andover. We had not 
 seen each other for twelve years, and of course 
 had both changed very much in looks, as in 
 that time we had passed from boyhood to man- 
 hood. 
 
 Mr. Dove being a machinist, my brother John 
 engaged him to work for him in his shop, and 
 he removed his farrlily to Andover. 
 
 Mr. Dove proposed to me to build a machine 
 for making chalk lines. After he gave me a 
 sketch of the same, I told him that I would ad- 
 vance five hundred dollars to pay for the mate- 
 rial and the support of his family while he was 
 doing the work ; that I would retain the charge 
 of my brother's shop, which I would not give up 
 for an uncertainty. He agreed to these terms ; 
 
40 
 
 and went to work and built the machine. The 
 agreement was that I should have half the prof- 
 its from patent or production. 
 
 I wrote to the Patent Office in Washington, 
 making inquiry if there had been any patent is- 
 sued for a machine of that kind. I received a 
 reply stating that a model would be required, in 
 order that an examination might be made. On 
 reflection, I thought there was so much trouble 
 about procuring patents and taking care of 
 them, I was in doubt what to do, when brother 
 John proposed to unite with us, which was a 
 very timely offer, as he had the means to assist 
 in starting a new enterprise. 
 
 The making of machine twine from cotton 
 yarns seemed to be rather a small business for 
 three machinists to enter into. 
 
 It was suggested to go into the manufacture 
 of yarn, and was proposed that brother John 
 should erect a building, on the opposite side 
 of the river from his machine-shop, and rent 
 it to the firm, which had taken the name of 
 Smith, Dove & Co. 
 
 The subject of flax spinning was talked over ; 
 
as we were from a flax-spinning district in Scot- 
 land, and when boys had worked in the mill, the 
 thing looked feasible. We accordingly sent Mr. 
 Dove to Scotland to obtain plans and informa- 
 tion about the kind of machinery needed. Mr. 
 Dove returned, after being absent a few months, 
 with plans for flax machinery. We commenced 
 on the same as soon as the patterns were made, 
 and spun our first yarn in the month of August, 
 1836. 
 
 I have been particular in giving an account of 
 the formation of the firm of Smith, Dove & Co., 
 which afterward became the Smith and Dove 
 Manufacturing Company, which has been so 
 successfully carried on. 
 
 I have digressed somewhat from my personal 
 narrative to speak of the business in which my 
 brother, Mr. John Dove, and myself were equal 
 partners : brother John taking charge of the 
 books and finance department; Mr. Dove of the 
 machinery ; my part being the charge of all 
 the operatives, looking after the raw material, 
 the manufacture of goods, and all mill sup- 
 plies. 
 
42 
 
 We thus worked in our different positions 
 with harmony and success, often riding nights, 
 through winter's cold and summer's heat, spend- 
 ing days in cities and towns, trying to get our 
 goods introduced to the market, as we had now 
 become the manufacturers of shoe thread. We 
 met with much opposition, at first, from import- 
 ing houses, as that class of goods was all im- 
 ported from England. It was thought by the 
 trade that shoe thread could not be made in 
 America. 
 
 I would here notice the first sale of shoe 
 thread that I carried to market, making a bundle 
 of thirteen pounds. I started in ths stage-coach 
 for Boston ; made several attempts to expose the 
 goods for sale, but without success. 
 
 I was getting somewhat discouraged, when, 
 entering a store, I saw behind the counter a 
 kindly looking man, and, watching the opportu- 
 nity when he was not engaged, I went up, 
 opened my bundle, and asked him to examine 
 the thread. 
 
 He pronounced it strong, but not very well 
 finished ; but said, that if I could make it as 
 
43 
 
 good as that he had from Leeds, in England, I 
 could do well. 
 
 Thus, being encouraged, I went into other 
 stores, and sold my package, this being the first 
 sale, so far as we know, of shoe thread, made by 
 machinery, in the United States. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE AND HOME 
 LIFE. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE AND HOME LIFE. 
 
 FROM the date 1836, at which the Autobiog- 
 raphy of Mr. Smith closes, for the next seven- 
 teen or eighteen years, he devoted himself most 
 assiduously to the establishment of his business, 
 which, though attended with discouragements, 
 was crowned at last with success. 
 
 It was during this period that he selected the 
 site for his new home at Forest Hill, which he 
 occupied until his recent decease. With a keen 
 appreciation of beauty, both in nature and art, 
 every hour that could be spared from his busi- 
 ness he devoted to planning and arranging his 
 grounds, taking the first steps toward the ful- 
 fillment of his ideas, which he lived to see, in a 
 good degree, realized. His love for nature and 
 his desire that the exterior as well as interior of 
 his house should bespeak refinement and cult- 
 ure were among his prominent characteristics. 
 
4 8 
 
 Whether at home or abroad, he was ever plan- 
 ning a new attraction. 
 
 By the increasing demands and pressure of 
 business, the care of a large family, and the anx- 
 iety of settling in new quarters, the mental and 
 physical taxation of these times proved too much 
 for even his sturdy constitution. An entire re- 
 laxation from all perplexing questions became 
 a necessity ; therefore, he resolved to gratify the 
 desire of his heart to revisit his native land. 
 This privilege he was permitted to enjoy, not 
 only once, but repeatedly ; taking with him on 
 every trip one or more of his family, until nine 
 of his children and three of his grandchildren 
 had been his traveling companions. 
 
 The bracing sea air and the sailor life, which 
 were always rather fascinating to him, proved a 
 panacea for all his infirmities. Every day only 
 added new vigor to his worn-out body and mind ; 
 as he expressed it, " It seems the harder the ves- 
 sel heaves the better I feel." When, amidst the 
 fury of the winds and waves, most passengers 
 were driven to cabin or state-rooms, he remained 
 on deck, his whole soul awed and his mind filled 
 
49 
 
 with thoughts of Him " Who maketh the clouds 
 his chariot ; who walketh upon the wings of the 
 wind." " He maketh the storm a calm, so that 
 the waves thereof are still." 
 
 His correspondence during these seasons of 
 travel shows plainly the depth and firmness of 
 his Christian character ; the affection for his 
 family and home; the interest in the church and 
 Sabbath-school, of which he was a member ; and 
 also the yearnings of his soul for nearer com- 
 munion with God. 
 
 He never tired of wandering about the haunts 
 of his boyhood, and allowing the varied scenes 
 of his life to pass, panorama-like, vividly before 
 him. In 1854, he writes: 
 
 " It is with feelings of no ordinary kind that I 
 date a letter from the town of my nativity, where 
 it is my desire to enjoy for a few days the soci- 
 ety of kindred who still remain upon the earth. 
 The town of Brechin looks beautifully : its spires 
 and churches, standing among the trees clothed 
 in foliage, present a scene of great beauty for the 
 eye to behold ; the streets and dwellings, many 
 4 
 
50 
 
 of them remain the same as in my early days, 
 but the inhabitants are greatly changed." 
 
 In the same year, after a season of sight-see- 
 ing in London, and a visit to the graves of cele- 
 brated men, he writes : 
 
 " We have stood by the graves of those who 
 have moved the world by their power, made 
 kings tremble on their thrones, and, like slaves, 
 bow down before them. It is but a small space 
 they now occupy. How applicable the words of 
 the poet: 
 
 ' Princes, this clay must be your bed, 
 In spite of all your powers.' 
 
 We have stood by the graves of Wesley, Bun- 
 yan, and Watts. How different are the aspira- 
 tions which dawn on the mind when contem- 
 plating the lives and characters of these good 
 men, who blessed the world, while they lived in 
 it, by their works of labor and love, and who, 
 through the divine influence of the Holy Ghost, 
 are now preparing many who shall shine as stars 
 in the kingdom of our God forever and ever ! " 
 
5' 
 
 It was in 1860 that Mr. Smith first went to 
 Italy. His impressions he gives in the follow- 
 ing letter to his wife : 
 
 " Here we are in the great city of Rome ! We 
 entered its gates on the evening of the I5th. 
 After passing through many of its narrow streets, 
 with turns to right and left, we at length arrived 
 at Hotel de 1'Europe, after a tiresome journey, 
 by sea and land, from Naples. It is really vexa- 
 tious, the obstructions that are placed in the way 
 of travelers, the police, custom-house, pass- 
 port regulations, and beggars, whose name is 
 legion, from the priest to the blind fiddler, who 
 meet you at every landing or public gate, with 
 such importunity as none but Italian beggars 
 know how to exercise. Our first day in Rome 
 happened to be one of the high days, being that 
 of Ascension. We accordingly started with our 
 courier for the church of St. John Lateran, 
 where the ceremonies of the day were to be per- 
 formed. Immense crowds of people were gath- 
 ering to the place. Soon after we entered the 
 square, the approach of the Pope was announced 
 
52 
 
 by a troop of horsemen, with drawn swords ; 
 then came horses and carriages in the most 
 gaudy style, with Pope, cardinals, and bishops, 
 ambassadors of foreign courts, and other digni- 
 taries (who seemed to be innumerable) ; priests 
 with all shades of color for clothing, monks in 
 their mean attire, and citizens and peasants from 
 the country, made up the great multitude. 
 
 " We had a good place to see the proceedings 
 in the church. A line of soldiers was drawn up 
 on either side, from the high altar to the door, 
 with swords drawn, guns and bayonets fixed. 
 Now entered priests, bishops, and cardinals ; 
 then came the Pope, carried on the shoulders of 
 four men, in a large arm-chair, his subjects all 
 kneeling. 
 
 " In front of the high altar is a tabernacle, said 
 to contain the heads of the Apostles Peter and 
 Paul. After high mass was over, the people all 
 repaired to the front of the palace to receive the 
 Pope's blessing. He was carried to the front of 
 the balcony, where he offered a short prayer; 
 then he waved his hand to the multitude, as a 
 signal of his blessing, which was received amidst 
 
53 
 
 the roar of cannon and the din of martial mu- 
 sic. The second day we drove to what is called 
 * Pincian Hill.' This is a beautiful place, well 
 laid out for promenades and drives, and is much 
 frequented, giving to those who ascend the hill 
 a partial view of the city. We took a drive 
 outside the walls, through the grounds of an 
 old Roman villa, which are much used by the 
 nobility for carriage drives, and are laid out in 
 fine taste. Roads and walks are kept in fine 
 order, and here one may drive in shade or sun- 
 shine, by fountain or statuary. 
 
 " We also visited St. Peter's church, and some 
 others celebrated for their fine paintings and 
 statuary ; also the Coliseum, that great pile of 
 brick and mortar, the larger part of which still 
 remains in good repair. 
 
 " The Triumphal Arch of Constantine stands 
 near this building, and in its day must have 
 been admired for its magnificence in architect- 
 ure and sculpture. All the figures are of the 
 most chaste character ; after the lapse of so 
 many centuries, with the all-destroying hand of 
 time upon them, they fill, even now, the mind of 
 the beholder with the greatest admiration. 
 
54 
 
 " We visited a picture-gallery on this day, thus 
 mingling our sight-seeing with different objects 
 of interest. In order that the eye might not 
 become weary in looking at the ruins of the 
 past, we spent some time in studying the works 
 of modern genius as portrayed on the canvas. 
 On the holy Sabbath, a very wet day, we at- 
 tended service at the English chapel : as the 
 clergyman was about leaving his charge, he 
 preached a farewell sermon. While I sat there, 
 I thought of the closing chapter of the Acts of 
 the Apostles. May the Holy Ghost, as of old, 
 descend upon some faithful ministers of the 
 Word, who shall preach Christ and Him cruci- 
 fied as the only way of salvation for lost men. 
 The hearts of this people, are waxed gross ; it is 
 astonishing to see the papal darkness that envel- 
 ops the mind. 
 
 " On Monday, after visiting the Vatican, we 
 drove out to Villa Doria. This is a most beau- 
 tiful place, with fine gardens, in richness of foli- 
 age presenting to the eye the fancied picture 
 of the garden of Eden. 
 
 " I find that in making an attempt to describe 
 
55 
 
 the beauties of nature or of art, in and around 
 this interesting city, it requires the pen to be 
 wielded by a master hand. One must see them 
 in order to draw in the inspiring influences 
 which this ancient city and its surroundings are 
 calculated to produce. Whether in the Forum 
 or the field, the history of the past covers this 
 place with scenes of interest. Here, in this city, 
 the Apostle Paul wrote some of those Epistles 
 which are so full of comfort and instruction to 
 the Christian disciple, as to the triumph over 
 the power of sin and of faith in Christ. He 
 could exclaim, ' God forbid that I should glory, 
 save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, by 
 whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto 
 the world.' " 
 
 In the year 1865, a sad affliction came upon 
 Mr. Smith, as God called from that happy home 
 one of his dear children ; the first link in the 
 chain was broken. 
 
 His daughter Lucretia having been out of 
 health for some time, he resolved, after consult- 
 ing the physicians, to try the effect of a sea 
 
56 
 
 voyage, hoping for a happy and successful re- 
 sult. 
 
 i 
 
 The following extracts from a journal, will tell 
 the sad history of the next six weeks : 
 
 December 6th. Left my home with two of 
 my daughters, Jennette and Lucretia, on a voy- 
 age to Europe. Sailed from Boston, in the 
 steamship China. All well and in good spir- 
 its, with the exception of Lucretia, who has 
 slight cold, with cough. 
 
 December i6th. Custom-house officers came 
 on board at daylight. After going through ex- 
 aminations we landed. Took the train for Edin- 
 burgh. Lucretia quite tired. 
 
 December i8th. Left in the early train for 
 Brechin. Found my friends all well. They 
 wanted me to make their house my home while 
 I stayed in Scotland. I shall never forget their 
 kindness. 
 
 December 2ist. Called Dr. Outline to see 
 Lucretia. He said she was quite sick. 
 
 December 23d. Writing to America. Sent 
 a private note to my son that Lucretia was sick 
 
57 
 
 with a fever ; but I was in hope she would get 
 over it. The latter part of the day she grew 
 much worse. Dr. Guthrie sent for. Very sad 
 thoughts concerning my dear child. 
 
 December 24th. Lucretia much worse, and 
 sinking fast. I seem to feel that the hand of 
 God is laid upon me in no common way. Far 
 from the home circle, who know not the bitter 
 cup my Heavenly Father gives me now to drink; 
 but blessed be His name that I am in the midst 
 of dear friends, whose attentions have been all 
 that could be desired ; whose prayers and sym- 
 pathies seem to impart to me new courage, to 
 strengthen my faith in all the purposes and deal- 
 ings of God with me and mine. How much has 
 He blessed me in time past! Why should I not 
 have faith in Him now ? 
 
 December 25th. Lucretia kept sinking, until 
 at twenty minutes before eight she breathed her 
 last. Farewell, dear child, until the morning of 
 the resurrection, when I hope to meet you, a 
 glorified spirit! The battle is fought, the vic- 
 tory won. Thou art relieved from all thy pain 
 and feebleness ! My heart is filled with the 
 
58 
 
 deepest sorrow. We receive all the kind sym- 
 pathy of our friends; their Christian conversa- 
 tion and prayers are a great comfort to us in 
 this our time of need. 
 
 " Oh for an overcoming faith 
 
 To look within the veil, 
 And credit what my Saviour saith, 
 Whose word can never fail." 
 
 December 27th. Making preparation for re- 
 turn to America. The kindness of these 
 Brechin friends is beyond the power of language 
 to express. They seemed to take us up in the 
 arms of their Christian sympathy and affection, 
 and carry us through our sore trial with many 
 prayers, commending us to God. I took my 
 last farewell of my dear child's remains ; im- 
 pressed the last kiss on that lovely face, cold and 
 white as marble. 
 
 December 29th. Two weeks ago to-night we 
 arrived at Liverpool, all happy at the joyful 
 prospect before us. But, oh, how changed is 
 our condition! It is hard to realize, but so it is. 
 We are on our way back to a sorrowful home. 
 My tears are all dried up with grief. O my 
 
59 
 
 God, help me to cast all my care on Thee, who 
 hath said that not a sparrow falleth to the ground 
 without thy notice ! 
 
 January nth. At eleven in the morning a 
 New York pilot came on board. I was very 
 anxious to hear if the steamer had arrived 
 which had the letter containing the sad news. 
 On learning that it had not my feelings were 
 unutterable. 
 
 How can I go home to my family, and be the 
 bearer of such heavy tidings! Oh, the anguish 
 of my heart ! How can I do it ! May thy grace 
 be sufficient for me, for my strength faileth. 
 
 Five weeks later the precious remains arrived. 
 Appropriate services were held at the home, at 
 Forest Hill. Two years after, the family lot 
 at the cemetery was prepared according to Mr. 
 Smith's own taste and under his supervision. 
 A monument of Aberdeen granite was erected 
 to the memory of the beloved Lucretia. 
 
 Although traveling was always a delight to 
 Mr. Smith, whose keen appreciation of the 
 grand and the beautiful, the sublime and the 
 
6o 
 
 exquisite, enabled him to value privileges of this 
 nature to the highest degree, yet he never was 
 so happy as when among the heather-covered 
 hills of the land of his nativity. He never failed 
 to visit the Highlands of Scotland. He thus 
 describes a day spent in that region : 
 
 " We are enjoying the scenery in the north 
 of Scotland very much. We visited Staffa and 
 lona. The former is one of the most wonder- 
 ful works of God. It was on a fine day that we 
 sailed into the inside of Fingal's Cave ; there 
 were about one hundred persons present. While 
 in the cave they sang the tune of Old Hundred, 
 which had such an effect on the hearts of many 
 present that the tears were to be seen trickling 
 down their cheeks. 
 
 " While the voice was giving praise for His 
 greatness, the eye was looking with delight on 
 the evidence of His power." 
 
 The enjoyment of this trip was mingled with 
 sadness, on account of the associations of the 
 loved one now no more. 
 
6i 
 
 " I am sadly reminded," he writes, "of our 
 dear Lucretia in revisiting these places, in which 
 she took so much delight ; I am also .reminded 
 that these earthly lights will soon pass away. 
 While God, in His providence, permits us to 
 enjoy seen objects, may we be enabled to look 
 up to Him and 3ay, My Father made them all." 
 
 Notwithstanding the repeated trips which he 
 made across the water, he always enjoyed the 
 enthusiasm and interest of his children and 
 grandchildren, to whom foreign sights were a 
 novelty ; he entered as much into their excite- 
 ment as if a novice himself. It was a sweet and 
 sacred pleasure to him to recall the visits made 
 in former years, when the associations would 
 come to him so vividly, especially if connected 
 with those who had already passed on to the 
 better land. 
 
 On the thirty-second anniversary of his mar- 
 riage he was in Venice, but that event, though 
 he was among foreign scenes, did not escape 
 his mind. 
 
 In a retrospective glance at the past, of which 
 he is writing to his far-away wife, he says : 
 
62 
 
 " God has very greatly blessed us in the things 
 of this world, filling our cup to overflowing with 
 plenty ; giving us a pleasant home, with all that 
 is needful for the life that now is. He has also 
 given us many dear friends to love, whose hap- 
 piness seems to be mingled with our own, 
 friends dear because they are the friends of the 
 Saviour, whom I trust we love and try to serve 
 from day to day. 
 
 " During these thirty-two years, many changes 
 have taken place in the circle of our acquaint- 
 ance. Just as they have occurred in time past, 
 they will occur in time to come ; nothing is sta- 
 tionary on earth. Some of those changes have 
 filled our hearts with great joy, some of them 
 with the deepest sorrow. Seven years ago to- 
 day, when in this city I wrote to you, our dear 
 Lucretia sat by my side. How I love to think 
 of her ways while here in the body ; to visit 
 those places where she loved to linger and feast 
 on the beauty of nature or of art ! They seem 
 to have an interest to me now which they did 
 not possess then. But what is the love of nat- 
 ure or of art to the love of the redeemed soul 
 
6 3 
 
 in glory ? ' Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
 neither have entered into the heart of man, the 
 things which God hath prepared for them that 
 love Him.' May it be the purpose of our 
 hearts to spend the few remaining days we may 
 have on earth in preparation for our heavenly 
 home, where the mysterious dealings of God, 
 in His providence, will be no longer veiled in 
 mystery." 
 
 In all these years his heart was continually 
 going out to his Maker in gratitude for the bless- 
 ings which He bestowed upon him. " When I 
 look at the greatness of the works around me," 
 referring to the grandeur of the scenery at 
 Interlaken, " and the greater kindness of His 
 providence which has been meted out to me 
 and mine, I have reason to say, ' Bless the Lord, 
 O my soul, and forget not all His benefits,' 
 whose loving kindness is new every morning 
 and repeated every night." 
 
 In 1876 he writes thus to his wife from Brechin 
 on the anniversary of his landing in Boston : 
 
6 4 
 
 " Fifty-four years ago to-day since I first landed 
 in Boston ! In looking back over these years, I 
 see how many mercies my Heavenly Father has 
 been bestowing upon me. Now and then a dark 
 cloud has come over my earthly hopes and fan- 
 cied enjoyments, just as if it were to teach me 
 that here we have no continuing city nor abid- 
 ing place. The golden chain of love that bound 
 us has been broken ; link after link has dropped 
 out. While, with sorrowing hearts, we have 
 looked at each broken link, as we have laid it 
 away in the grave, have we not heard our Sav- 
 iour say, * I am the Resurrection and the Life ; 
 he that- believeth on me, though he were dead, 
 yet shall he live.' .... 
 
 " God has spanned the heavens with His bow 
 of promise, and planted Hope on its keystone, 
 and bids Faith look up, while He says, ' They 
 that trust in me shall not want any good thing.' " 
 
 With this feeling of gratitude came an over- 
 whelming sense of his own unworthiness : 
 
 " I feel myself unworthy to receive such man- 
 ifestations of His goodness to such a sinner as I 
 must appear in His sight, who is infinite in holi- 
 ness. 
 
65 
 
 " My thoughts, for the two or three days that 
 are past, have been much engaged upon the 
 passing events of the year that is just drawing 
 to a close. In looking back, I can see many 
 things left undone which ought to have been 
 done, and much done which ought not to have 
 been done. It has been a year of great anxiety 
 to me as regards the business of this life : I have 
 been often perplexed to know what would be best 
 to do ; yet this has been the lot of all- business 
 men. But all men are not made to bear with 
 equal ease the burden. Some Christians need 
 more grace than others to help them in the path 
 of duty. Their passions are stronger, and their 
 wills more uncontrollable ; they need a larger 
 measure of divine influence to subdue and melt 
 them into the love of Christ. The Christian, 
 when reviewing the past with all its mistakes, is 
 encouraged to look forward to the future only 
 by laying hold on the promise, * My grace is suf- 
 ficient for thee.' This is all my hope, that the 
 remnant of my days may be spent more to the 
 glory of God than the time that is past. I shall 
 not be with you to-morrow, when you meet with 
 5 
 
66 
 
 the Christian brothers and sisters at the table of 
 our Lord, but hope my spirit may be with you. 
 From henceforth may we have, a mutual quick- 
 ening, so that our hereafter may be like the ris- 
 ing sun, which 'shineth more and more unto the 
 perfect day.' " 
 
 Of all Mr. Smith's reminiscences, none were 
 more touching than those associated with 
 Brechin,and Plymouth. 
 
 Writing from Brechin, he says : 
 " I have just returned from the church where 
 I went with my parents when a child, and sat in 
 the same seat ; then a little boy, now an old man. 
 How many thoughts passed in rapid succession 
 before my mind, thoughts of those who once 
 filled those seats : they have all passed away ! 
 There was not one present that I could remem- 
 ber having seen before. All my youthful asso- 
 ciates are gone, or have become so enfeebled by 
 age as not to be able to recognize me. It is a 
 mournful pleasure for me to walk the streets 
 of Brechin, and to remember the names of those 
 good men and women who have left their influ- 
 
6 7 
 
 ence on the generations that have come after 
 them. I feel that I have been in some measure 
 a sharer of this influence, and often ask myself, 
 * Shall my influence for good descend upon those 
 I leave behind ? ' It is said that the memory 
 of the righteous shall be held in everlasting re- 
 membrance, but the memory of the wicked shall 
 perish." 
 
 Every year, a visit to Plymouth was one of 
 the plans for the summer. There he loved to 
 wander from street to street, and linger about 
 the spot, the sight of which carried him back 
 to his first experiences in America: he saw 
 himself again a stalwart fellow of twenty, as 
 he worked at his bench by the window. That 
 was a reality; the prosperous man of seventy 
 seemed a dream. 
 
 But in order to appreciate the character of this 
 noble man, he must be seen in his own home. 
 A man singularly fond of, and devoted to, his 
 family. The following extract from a letter, 
 written to one of his daughters during her school- 
 days away from home, will show his great desire 
 
68 
 
 that his children should improve their advan- 
 tages for their own intellectual and spiritual de- 
 velopment, as well as for future usefulness in the 
 world ; also his anxiety to know frequently of 
 their welfare : 
 
 ANDOVER, February 13, 1852. 
 
 MY DEAR CHILD, I have been expecting a 
 letter from you for some time past. I cannot 
 believe that you have forgotten your father. I 
 am rather inclined to think that you do not like 
 to write letters. You had better try and over- 
 come that feeling ; three or four letters every 
 week would not be too much. Let your 
 thoughts be well chosen ; write only about 
 things that will be profitable to your own mind 
 to communicate, and for those with whom you 
 may correspond to receive. 
 
 I hope you are enjoying yourself, and im- 
 proving your time in mental and moral culture- 
 Your school-days are fast passing away ; the 
 opportunities you now have of cultivating your 
 intellectual powers will soon be gone. 
 
 As a Christian, the question ought to come 
 home to your heart, " Am I improving my 
 
6 9 
 
 time and advantages that God may be glorified, 
 and others, who are less favored than myself, 
 be blessed by my influence and example ? " 
 My dear child, let it be the great object for 
 which you live, to be the means of doing good 
 to others ; for that is the great end which the 
 Christian ought to have in view, while in this 
 world of sin and . suffering. I hope you are 
 growing spiritually, improving all the opportu- 
 nities you have of obtaining a knowledge of your 
 duty to your God and Saviour, for that is the 
 height of all true knowledge. When you write, 
 please give me an account of your feelings, 
 and tell me how you are getting along in your 
 
 spiritual life 
 
 I hope you will take courage and pay up your 
 debt in letter-writing, before it gets to be so 
 large that you will be afraid to begin. From 
 your affectionate FATHER. 
 
 At another time he writes : 
 
 " It has always been my chief desire that my 
 children should feel an interest in one another, 
 and I hope that my labors have not been in 
 
 vain." 
 
70 
 
 It was a severe trial when any inroads were 
 made upon his abundant share of daughters, that 
 new homes might be formed. A terrible strug- 
 gle, always, was waged within himself, before he 
 could give his consent to the breaking up of 
 the old home for the formation of new ones. 
 
 In a recent letter to one of his daughters, he 
 says : 
 
 " I go occasionally into the different rooms 
 and chambers, and think of those who used to 
 occupy them. Some have gone to the heavenly 
 home ; some have made themselves homes 
 among the children of men. How thankful I 
 am that they are all so pleasantly situated in 
 this life ; and much more so when I have the 
 evidence that they are united to those who have 
 given themselves to the service of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ ! I never shall cease to thank God, 
 every day of my life, for this unspeakable bless- 
 ing, and to hope that we shall all meet, an un- 
 broken family, in heaven." 
 
 During the latter part of his life, when all of 
 his loving band of twelve children, with one ex- 
 
ception, had been taken from him either by mar- 
 riage or death, he looked forward to the period- 
 ical visits of the surviving ones with joy. Never 
 was he happier than when, with business set 
 aside, he sat in his easy-chair, in the quiet hours 
 of the evening, with the scattered members of 
 his family laughing and talking affectionately and 
 merrily together, either of the joys of the present, 
 the scenes of the past, or the hopes of the future. 
 
 On the festive days, when all members and 
 branches of the family came together, no coun- 
 tenance glowed so intensely, no eye sparkled so 
 brightly, no laugh was so hearty, as his, the 
 father and grandfather of the merry circle that 
 he so fondly loved. 
 
 With such deep, passionate affection, the giv- 
 ing up submissively of the dear ones whom the 
 Master had called to Himself was a sore trial ; 
 the conflict raged long and fiercely, but in 
 every instance he was, at last, enabled to say, 
 " Thy will be done." 
 
 The following extracts from letters written 
 to his wife, one on board the steamer Parthia, 
 the other from London, will show the strength 
 
72 
 
 of his affection, the depth of his sorrow, and the 
 calm submission to the successive bereavements 
 in his home circle: 
 
 " How many thoughts come to mind in look- 
 ing over these years that are past! Our Heav- 
 enly Father has been pleased to give us much 
 health and strength; prospering us greatly in 
 the things of this life, also increasing us in 
 numbers, as Jacob of old; and for so many years 
 did suffer us to remain a happy and unbroken 
 circle. But this was not always to be so. 
 
 " The beloved Lucretia was the first to be 
 taken from us, the memory of whom has often 
 refreshed my weary spirit. Then our dear Jen- 
 nette, the first-born, who was like sunlight in the 
 family, ever ready to help when help was needed. 
 She made friends wherever she went, blessed of 
 God with those traits of character for which she 
 was loved at home and abroad ; whose spirit had 
 been disciplined by the trials through which 
 God, in His providence, called her to pass. 
 The next whom God was pleased to take was 
 our dear and youngest daughter, the pride and 
 joy of her father's heart. Often, when tired and 
 
73 
 
 weary with the cares of the day or the week, 
 would she cheer my spirits with the melodies of 
 my native land. The next that followed was 
 our Annie, who, after a few years of wedded 
 life, was called to leave the pleasant home she 
 had made, with the words, * Simply to thy cross 
 I cling.' " 
 
 " LONDON, July 30, 1876. 
 
 . ..." I have just returned from Rev. Mr. 
 Spurgeon's church, where we had a fine sermon 
 from Genesis v. 22. 'And Enoch walked with 
 God, and he was not, for God took him.' His 
 illustrations were very fine : some of them took 
 strong hold of my feelings, as, for instance, 
 when he said that God was kind to those who 
 walked with Him ; like an earthly father walk- 
 ing with a child, who, when he comes to a bad 
 place in the road, takes it up in his arms and 
 carries it, so God carries His children along 
 in this life, when they come to places of temp- 
 tation and trial, and the deep gullies of af- 
 fliction. I was then reminded of our experi- 
 ence as a family, of the deep, deep gully He 
 carried us through, when He was pleased to 
 
74 
 
 take from us our dear Lucretia. Oh, how sore 
 was the trial, and yet it was a Father's hand that 
 did it ! Then our dear Jennette, who was always 
 ready to do for others' good, was removed from 
 the sore trials which were the mixture of her 
 earthly cup to the world where there is no 
 mpre sorrow nor crying, and where all tears are 
 wiped from every eye. 
 
 " It seemed to us that this was enough, but it 
 did not seem so to God, for He was pleased 
 to lay the hand, of disease upon the fair flower. 
 God took her, and she was able to say, ' Yea, 
 though I walk through the valley of the shadow 
 of death I will fear no evil ; for thou art with me.' 
 Then our dear Annie, who was so loving, and 
 had delight in everything that was lovely in 
 nature, one year ago began to realize that her 
 time on earth was to be short. With composure 
 she distributed her earthly goods, that she might 
 have nothing to clog her upward flight. 
 
 " These and many other scenes of my life 
 passed before my mind, and I could truly say, 
 God, my Heavenly Father, has taken my hand, 
 and led me over the hard places and through 
 the deep waters." 
 
TESTIMONIALS. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 TESTIMONIALS. 
 
 AFTER this notice of Mr. Smith's home life, it 
 seems natural to speak next of his connection 
 with the West Parish church and society. They 
 were dear and precious to him. Associated with 
 the church almost from its beginning, and as 
 one of its deacons, he constantly gave his tal- 
 ents, his energy, and his means toward promot- 
 ing its welfare. Whenever the ocean separated 
 him from his sanctuary, when surrounded by 
 the bustle and festivity of the Continental Sab- 
 bath, his thoughts were ever with the band of 
 disciples in the West Parish church. Many 
 times in his correspondence he mentions his 
 solicitude and anxiety lest the weekly prayer 
 meeting should diminish, in either numbers or 
 interest ; inquires affectionately for his pastor, 
 and any that may be stricken by disease or cast 
 down by sorrow. 
 
The following testimonial of his valuable serv- 
 ices to the church, and of the estimation of 
 his Christian character, is from his pastor, Rev. 
 Mr. Merrill, who knew him better than any one 
 else outside of his circle of family friends : 
 
 My acquaintance with Deacon Smith ex- 
 tended over a period of about twenty-four years. 
 For several reasons it was quite intimate. He 
 was more immediately instrumental of my going 
 to the West Parish than any other member of 
 the church, and I went directly to his house at 
 the first. I always counseled with him in mat- 
 ters affecting the interests of religion in the 
 
 parish His deficient early education he 
 
 always greatly lamented. That he knew so little 
 of grammar and rhetoric was not only a dis- 
 tress to him, but often restrained him from ac- 
 cepting positions for which he was better quali- 
 fied than most men of a liberal education. 
 
 It surprised me often, when occasions roused 
 him and made him forget his limited learning, 
 to listen to such appeals, arguments, and illustra- 
 tions of important truths as would have done 
 
79 
 
 honor to men of the largest opportunities. Dea- 
 con Smith educated himself by reading; by in- 
 tercourse with thinking men ; by speech and 
 labor for the kingdom of Christ; and by the 
 great efforts he necessarily put forth in the con- 
 duct of his extensive business. If his learning 
 was limited, his education was large. 
 
 During the four years of the civil war, Dea- 
 con Smith's desire for the maintenance of the 
 government and for the extinction of slavery 
 was intense. He was earnest in prayer, some- 
 times eloquent in speech, and, from the very 
 outset, prompt to incur large pecuniary risks for 
 those objects. He was among the very first to 
 invest largely in the government bonds, which 
 were issued to carry on the war. This, when 
 the prospect was dark, and many men prophe- 
 sying defeat, and few men of means were will- 
 ing to put their property at such a hazard. 
 
 [Mr. Merrill omits to say that he gave not 
 only money but men ; two of his sons having 
 served in the war, one of them until nearly the 
 close of it] 
 
8o 
 
 For several years after I went to Andover (as 
 well as many years before), until he declined fur- 
 ther election, Deacon Smith was superintendent 
 of the Sabbath-school. In this work he was 
 greatly interested and very successful. He took 
 special pains to induce the children to com- 
 mit to memory large portions of the Scriptures 
 and the Assembly's Shorter Catechism. 
 
 So long as his age and health allowed he was 
 constant in his attendance on the stated prayer 
 meetings of the church. The calls of business 
 very seldom prevented. His business affairs, 
 often very pressing, were arranged with a view 
 to these meetings. 
 
 When he rose to speak, as he often did, one 
 would not conjecture that business, involving 
 values that most men would consider a fortune, 
 waited his attention at his factories, or on the 
 wharves, or at the custom-house in Boston. In 
 this power of commanding his mind and exclud- 
 ing the world at the call of religion, he was a 
 remarkable man. 
 
 He took a special interest, always, in the mis- 
 sionary concerts, and often brought to them 
 
8i 
 
 intelligence which he had gathered from the 
 secular papers, or from intercourse with business 
 men. 
 
 In the matter of benevolent giving, he acted 
 from principle, seldom from impulse. To the 
 church and parish he frequently offered as much 
 as all others would raise. 
 
 There was nothing which seemed to give him 
 greater satisfaction than private conversation on 
 matters of Christian experience, or matters relat- 
 ing to Christ's kingdom. 
 
 Never did he seem to break through his 
 natural exclusiveness to such a degree as in the 
 somewhat frequent private conversations which 
 he sought with me, and I so greatly enjoyed 
 with him, in my study. In these conversations, 
 Christ, religious truth, Christ's kingdom at 
 home and abroad, and Christian experience, 
 were the common themes. If at any time the 
 conversation drifted away from these themes, 
 and fell, as perhaps at the time seemed unavoid- 
 able, upon any secular subjects, however impor- 
 6 
 
82 
 
 tant, he seldom left me without expressions of 
 regret. 
 
 It certainly was by these, even more than by 
 all his many gifts and other acts of kindness to 
 me and my family, which we shall always re- 
 member with gratitude, that I was drawn to him, 
 and led to regard him with affection. 
 
 On Mr. Smith's return from his last European 
 tour, the congregation of the West Parish had 
 arranged a reception for him, in order to express 
 their congratulations on his prosperous voyage 
 and safe return ; also as a token of their respect 
 and esteem. 
 
 A severe cold prevented his attendance ; 
 therefore, the following resolutions were drawn 
 up and presented to him : 
 
 Resolved, That we greatly regret the illness 
 which prevents our much-esteemed friend, Dea- 
 con Smith, from meeting with us this evening, 
 to receive our congratulations upon his safe re- 
 turn from Europe. 
 
 Resolved, That we heartily reciprocate the kind 
 
83 
 
 feelings toward us expressed in the note received 
 from him at this time. 
 
 Resolved^ That in the grateful recollection of 
 his faithful Christian services among us, as a 
 people, for almost fifty years, and of the great 
 assistance he has so freely given in maintaining 
 religious ordinances, we earnestly desire that he 
 may soon be restored to health, and may be per- 
 mitted long to dwell amongst us, enjoying, as 
 heretofore, the blessing of God. 
 
 As we have lifted the veil which hid from the 
 world his more quiet life in the parish and his 
 family, as we have even penetrated into the 
 sanctity of his meditations, let us* now look at 
 him in his wider sphere of usefulness and in- 
 fluence. 
 
 From the outset of his business life, he re- 
 solved to maintain an integrity and uprightness 
 in all his dealings, and to stand firm in his de- 
 fense of the right. His wisdom and keen judg- 
 ment were highly prized by all who knew him 
 in mercantile life. 
 
84 
 
 The following resolutions, drawn up by the 
 corporation with which he was so long con- 
 nected, will show the estimation in which he 
 was held : 
 
 Whereas, in the providence of God, Deacon 
 Peter Smith, one of the original members of the 
 firm of Smith, Dove & Co., and the Treasurer 
 of the Smith & Dove Manufacturing Co. from 
 1864 to 1876, has been removed by death, we 
 are constrained to recognize the event as a 
 source of affliction to us, both in our corporate 
 and in our individual capacity ; therefore, 
 
 Resolved, that in his long and useful services, 
 in his superior business judgment, in his devo- 
 tion to the interests of this community and to 
 his adopted country, and in his unexcelled in- 
 tegrity of character, he has placed us under last- 
 ing obligations. We commend his example to 
 those upon whom will devolve the responsibili- 
 ties from which he has been finally called. 
 
 Mr. Smith was not a man who coveted the 
 favor of the world, or who sought for public 
 offices, yet he held positioris of trust and honor, 
 
85 
 
 especially during the last twenty years of his 
 life. He was a corporate member of the 
 American Board, to which he contributed 
 largely. The annual meetings, which he always 
 planned to attend, he felt to be a great source 
 of enjoyment and spiritual profit. 
 
 In 1863 and 1864, he was a member of the 
 Legislature, and at the time of his death was 
 connected with various railroad corporations and 
 banking institutions. 
 
 At a meeting of the Directors of the Law- 
 rence National Bank, held July 6, 1880, 
 
 Resolved, That the decease of Deacon Peter 
 Smith, of Andover, one of our number, and Vice- 
 President of this bank, impels us to give public 
 expression to our feelings on the loss of one 
 who has been our associate since the formation 
 of the bank ; one whom we have ever found a 
 most agreeable companion, a wise and judicious 
 counselor, a valued friend, and a true type of 
 the Christian gentleman. 
 
 Of all the beauties of the natural world, per- 
 
86 
 
 haps there was nothing which excited more ad- 
 miration in Mr. Smith, or awakened greater en- 
 thusiasm, than a floral display. It was always 
 one of his desires, when abroad, to transport 
 from foreign lands some rare specimen to add 
 to the beauty of his own grounds, thereby gath- 
 ering an unusual collection of rare and exquisite 
 plants. 
 
 He was a warm advocate and patron of the 
 Massachusetts Horticultural Society, always at- 
 tending their annual exhibitions, and sending 
 contributions from his own grounds. That his 
 membership was regarded as valuable to the 
 society the following summary of the estima- 
 tion of him as a man and a Christian will show : 
 
 " Mr. Smith has held a high position as an in- 
 telligent and successful manufacturer and mer- 
 chant. He was a man of remarkable integrity 
 and high-minded purposes, and in all his ac- 
 tions secured the implicit confidence of every 
 one. His rare wisdom and accurate judgment in 
 business affairs will be missed by those who so 
 often sought his advice. He was a benevolent 
 
87 
 
 man ; his benefactions were many and in large 
 amount. Possessing abundant means, he con- 
 tributed liberally and cheerfully to such objects, 
 public and private, as commended themselves to 
 his judgment. His charities were carefully and 
 judiciously bestowed, and he will be remembered 
 with gratitude and affection by the numerous 
 recipients of his kindness and bounty. 
 
 " He was very fond of horticulture. His love 
 of flowers amounted almost to a passion. He 
 delighted to see them and to talk about them. 
 The choicest varieties of flowers and fruits blos- 
 somed and ripened in his garden and green- 
 houses. 
 
 " In all the relations of life, as the head of a 
 family, a citizen, and a Christian, he was univer- 
 sally respected and beloved." 
 
 Another society greatly enlisted the sympa- 
 thy and interest of Mr. Smith. Though so loyal 
 an American, so benevolent a contributor to her 
 educational and religious institutions and soci- 
 eties, he was ever ready to lend a helping hand 
 to anything that pertained to his native land. 
 
88 
 
 On the record of the " Scots Charitable Society " 
 of Boston stands his name ; his death called forth 
 a touching tribute : 
 
 " In the death of Mr. Peter Smith this society 
 has lost one of its most valued members ; one 
 who, uniting in his person business sagacity and 
 enterprise, noble generosity, and Christian char- 
 acter, has left behind him an example his coun- 
 trymen may well emulate, and a memory they 
 will most profoundly cherish." 
 
 While he was casting his bread on many 
 waters, the town of Andover was not forgotten. 
 It will bear lasting memorials of his interest in 
 her welfare, of his pride in her progress. Dur- 
 ing his life, the cause of education was greatly 
 forwarded by his influence and his means. 
 Though not what would be termed an educated 
 man, he was a zealous friend to those institu- 
 tions whose aim it has been to fit men and 
 women to battle with the world. 
 
 To both of the seminaries and Phillips Acad- 
 emy he, in conjunction with his brother and Mr. 
 Dove, was a liberal donor. Brechin Hall, Me- 
 
8 9 
 
 morial Hall, Smith Hall, and Phillips Academy 
 all stand as noble monuments to their gener- 
 osity. 
 
 The following letters from Rev. Mr. Furber, 
 then Secretary of the Alumni of the Theologi- 
 cal Seminary, acknowledging the gift of Brechin 
 Hall, and from Mr. Alpheus Hardy, President 
 of the Trustees, after receipt of his last donation, 
 in 1879, serve as witnesses that these gifts were 
 appreciated : 
 
 ANDOVER, August i, 1866. 
 
 MESSRS. JOHN SMITH, Peter Smith, and John 
 Dove, having given to the Theological Semi- 
 nary, Andover, the sum of thirty thousand dol- 
 lars for the erection of a Library Building, and 
 more recently the additional sum of thirty thou- 
 sand dollars to complete it, maintain it in repair, 
 and replenish the Library : 
 
 At a meeting of the Alumni of the institution, 
 this day held, the following minute was passed 
 by a unanimous vote : 
 
 We recognize in this gift of the Messrs. Smith 
 and Dove an act of noble Christian charity. 
 
 The largeness of the gift, its timeliness, and 
 
9 o 
 
 the surpassing importance of its object, alike 
 commend it. 
 
 We regard it as a most fitting testimony on 
 the part of these gentlemen to the value of 
 sound theological learning, as well as a token 
 of confidence and affection towards this insti- 
 tution. 
 
 At the same time, it seems to us peculiarly 
 appropriate that this Brechin Hall should owe 
 its erection, and the Library its endowment, to 
 men who, born on Scottish soil and nourished 
 in their youth under the sacred influences which 
 pervade that land, have adopted our country as 
 their country, and this town of Andover as their 
 home. 
 
 The donation they have thus made, however, 
 we consider not as a gift to any one institution, 
 country, or place, but to the whole ministry of 
 our denomination, and to all the churches of 
 Christ himself, for whose glory our churches, 
 our institutions, and ourselves exist. 
 
 Most heartily do the Alumni of this Seminary 
 express their thanks to these gentlemen. And 
 most sincerely would we record our thanksgiv- 
 
ings to God, who put it into their hearts to do 
 this so important and necessary work. 
 
 May this beautiful hall stand to coming gen- 
 erations as an enduring monument of an en- 
 lightened Christian forecast and Christian liber- 
 ality, and both the building and the fund pro- 
 vided to replenish the Library evermore be to 
 the glory of the grace of God. Yours, with re- 
 spect, D. L. FURBER. 
 
 BOSTON, November 24, 1879. 
 
 DEAR SIR, At a recent meeting of the 
 Board of Trustees of Phillips Academy at An- 
 dover, the Treasurer informed the Board that 
 you had paid your subscription of twenty thou- 
 sand dollars to the Centennial Endowment Fund 
 for Phillips Academy, to be applied to the 
 " Peter Smith Byers " foundation, to endow the 
 chair of the principal of the Academy ; where- 
 upon it was voted that the President and clerk 
 be authorized and instructed to express to you 
 their deep-felt gratitude and high appreciation 
 of your noble gift. This and other donations 
 so frequently repeated by you, the Trustees 
 
92 
 
 fully esteem, and they also gratefully recognize 
 your potent influence with others from whom 
 the Academy and the Theological Seminary 
 have received liberal and timely aid. 
 
 These benefactions are not alone to your 
 neighbors, nor yet to the present generation, but 
 the distant and future ones are to be benefited 
 and blessed. 
 
 It is a rich privilege to reaffirm the wisdom of 
 the founders of these institutions in the words 
 that " knowledge and goodness united form the 
 noblest character, and lay the surest foundation 
 of usefulness to mankind. With esteem and re- 
 spect, cordially yours, ALPHEUS HARDY. 
 
 For some time Mr. Smith filled the office of 
 President of the Trustees of Abbott Academy ; 
 as member of the Trustee Board of Phillips 
 Academy and Theological Seminary, he was 
 active even to the last year of his life. 
 
 Since his death Mr. Hardy thus writes : 
 
 " The life and character of Peter Smith should 
 not be allowed to fade into the forgotten or for- 
 
93 
 
 getting past There should be a record of it, 
 not merely to honor his memory, but to aid us 
 who remain, who may profit by his consistent 
 walk and conversation among his fellows. 
 
 " Few men have furnished so much fitting ma- 
 terial as he, out of which can be so easily cast a 
 noble example for the consideration of business 
 men, old and young. On my first acquaintance 
 with him, I was impressed by his Nathanael-like 
 character and bearing. His faith in God and in 
 His Word was implicit; his confidence in his 
 Redeemer can best be expressed in the words of 
 the disciple referred to, * Thou art the Son of 
 God.' 
 
 " His manner, apparently reserved, was but 
 the expression of his humble, modest simplicity. 
 The more I saw of him the more I regarded him 
 as a valued friend, a wise counselor, a Christian 
 brother. He, more than all others, led me to 
 accept a position I shrank from assuming. 
 
 "In his business relations he was strict in keep- 
 ing the lines of justice and generosity apart; 
 that he was generous no one can deny ; that he 
 was just all who ever had dealings with him will 
 
94 
 
 admit. His generosity was the outgrowth of his 
 own deliberate thought. 
 
 " As a Trustee of Phillips Academy and The- 
 ological Seminary at Andover, he carefully 
 marked out his line of duty : where he thought 
 he could be useful and helpful, he acted ; when 
 he felt he could not be, he wisely abstained. 
 His practical suggestions and business habit 
 of thought were valuable to these institutions 
 in many ways ; often he advanced a wise hint, 
 with good effect, upon subjects outside of his 
 line of training. 
 
 " But for a rule established by the founders and 
 practiced by the early guardians of the Acad- 
 emy and Seminary, the Trustees would have 
 expressed by specific resolutions their high ap- 
 preciation of his services, and their admiration 
 of his manly Christian character. His gifts, and 
 those which were secured by his influence to the 
 Seminary and Academy, were numerous and 
 timely. 
 
 " Brechin Hall is a monument to him, to his 
 brother John, and to his partner John Dove. In 
 other ways they supplied deficiencies, thereby 
 
95 
 
 enhancing the usefulness and increasing the 
 vigor of both schools. 
 
 " Peter Smith was a stranger to pride ; posi- 
 tions of trust and responsibility he valued only 
 as the means of greater usefulness*" 
 
 In the encouragement and aid he gave to the 
 cause of education in America, he did not forget 
 his obligations to Scotland. His obituary in a 
 Brechin paper thus speaks of him : 
 
 " Mr. Smith was one of those natives of 
 Brechin who have shed a lustre on the ancient 
 city. He was a true Scotsman of the best type, 
 and his long life of nearly eighty years has been 
 marked by independence, energy, industry, and 
 uprightness, qualities which have raised him to 
 a position of influence in his adopted country, 
 and have gained for him the respect and esteem 
 of all with whom he came in contact." 
 
 From one of his intimate Scottish friends 
 comes this additional testimonial : 
 
9 6 
 
 " Any memorial of our dear friend, Mr. Peter 
 Smith, would be sadly incomplete without some 
 allusion to the frequent visits he made to his na- 
 tive town, Brechin, Scotland, and to the interest, 
 the deep and warm interest, he took in every 
 movement connected with the temporal and 
 spiritual welfare of its inhabitants. 
 
 " His friends in America know well how his 
 heart bounded with joy, how his face lit up and 
 shone with gladness, when Brechin or his 
 Brechin friends formed the subject of thought 
 and conversation. They know, also, how his 
 mind wandered back to boyhood's days ; how he 
 lived them over and over again in the land of 
 his adoption. 
 
 " Every visit he made, he seemed to enjoy it 
 more and more. Only on one occasion, during 
 all these years, did anything occur to mar the 
 pleasure of his journey : that was the death of 
 his daughter, in 1865. 
 
 " During one of his first visits, an excursion 
 was made with Brechin friends and his daughter, 
 
97 
 
 who accompanied him from America, to Catter 
 Thun, a hill, famous for the remains of a Roman 
 encampment, being the nearest of the Grampian 
 range. How happy he was to get us all settled 
 at the top among the heather, facing the North, 
 looking down on the beautiful vale of Lethnot 1 
 He then pointed out to us the farm where he 
 had once lived ; the fields where he, as a * herd 
 laddie,' tended the cows. We were treated to 
 story after story of what took place in those old 
 days ; of the people with whom he came in con- 
 tact ; of the church he attended ; of the catechis- 
 ing by the minister, at the farm-house, when the 
 family and servants were all gathered in to have 
 their questions * speered.' 
 
 " No family has done more for the educational 
 interest of their native town than the Smith 
 family; for this their name will be mentioned 
 and honored in the Annals of Brechin for gen- 
 erations to come. 
 
 "About midsummer, 1856, Mr. John Smith, 
 who still survives his brother, wrote a letter to 
 the then Provost of Brechin, launching a scheme 
 
98 
 
 to build school-rooms, one for boys, one for girls, 
 along with a teacher's house for the head teacher. 
 His brother, Mr. Peter Smith, and his partner, 
 Mr. John Dove, materially aided the movement, 
 and gave largely of their means towards its ac- 
 complishment. 
 
 " The schools, a very handsome and commo- 
 dious building, with teacher's house, tower, bell, 
 and illuminated clock, were erected on the Up- 
 per Hill Butts, now called Andover Hill, in honor 
 of their founders, that being the name of their 
 American home. They were opened in the year 
 1859, and have ever since proved a great success. 
 Several years after the opening, they were found 
 to be getting too small for the growing wants of 
 the community. Messrs. John and Peter Smith 
 again agreed, at their own expense, to have them 
 enlarged, which was done. Upwards of five 
 hundred children have been regularly getting 
 instruction within these buildings. 
 
 "Shortly after Mr. Smith's last visit, in the 
 summer of 1876, owing to what he had per- 
 sonally seen and learned regarding the benefi- 
 cial working of the ' Scotch Education Act,' 
 
99 
 
 and after consultation with his brother, on his 
 return to America, they both agreed that it was 
 the right thing to do to hand over the buildings 
 to the Burgh School Board of Brechin. This 
 was accordingly done, with the reservation of 
 ,1,000, with which to form the nucleus of a 
 Bursary Fund. Very shortly after this, these 
 two brothers, still desirous to do something fur- 
 ther for Brechin, transmitted 1,000 each, so as 
 to increase the fund to 3,000. The yearly in- 
 terest of this money is now under the control 
 of the Brechin School Board, and is called the 
 * Smith Brothers Bursary Fund.' This has al- 
 ready been, and will largely continue to be, a 
 stimulus to the education in Brechin. 
 
 "The Public Park, a place of recreation for the 
 working classes, received also a handsome dona- 
 tion at our friend's hands. The Young Men's 
 Christian Association was not forgotten, when 
 he was applied to for a subscription to aid in 
 building that institution in town. He was a 
 yearly contributor to our ' Coal Fund ; ' and 
 in many other cases did he show his warm at- 
 tachment to Brechin by giving of his means 
 when occasion required. 
 
100 
 
 " Without exception, in all his periodical visits, 
 he delighted to worship in the church of his an- 
 cestors, and to sit in his father's old pew. The 
 burying-ground, in the old church-yard, was a 
 revered spot to him, and was regularly visited. 
 His brother and he, "some time ago, erected a 
 granite head-stone to mark the place where their 
 father lies. He delighted to walk the streets 
 and look upon the old place, and have a * crack ' 
 with the friends of his youth, although these 
 friends, of later years, were getting fewer and 
 fewer. He used to visit the house where he was 
 born, and the school-room in the Lower Tene- 
 ments, near River Street, where, under his teacher, 
 Davie Mollison, he learned his * A B C's.' 
 
 " His Brechin home was at Esk Park, with his 
 dear old friend David Duke. These two were 
 like very brothers. They often together visited 
 Tarfside and Lochlee, and had many a pleasant 
 ramble. They kept up a close correspondence, 
 and had much enjoyment in each other's com- 
 pany. Now they are reunited in the better 
 land." 
 
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 
 
 MORE of such testimony might be given, but 
 this is enough, too much, perhaps, to be in 
 keeping with the modesty of the man. 
 
 Our friend was not one of them " who seek 
 honor one of another." So far from praising 
 himself, he hardly assented to Solomon's say- 
 ing, " Let another man praise thee." 
 
 We were present in the public assembly when 
 the speakers showered compliments upon him, 
 and ingeniously endeavored to bring him to his 
 feet by way of replies, while he, with a bowed 
 head, covering his face with his hand, "answered 
 them not a word." In this connection, as well 
 as in any other, it may be well to answer a 
 question which will probably arise. How comes 
 it to pass that a man of such marked modesty 
 has so much to say of himself? All the way 
 through his history, from first to last, he seems 
 
104 
 
 to have had a shrinking back from anything 
 that would bring himself to the front ; to avoid 
 " the very appearance " of anything like " vain- 
 glorying." It was his way not to talk of his own 
 affairs ; if ever there was a reticent man, Mr. 
 Smith was that man. It was as if he had al- 
 ways before him the Master's saying, " He that 
 speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory." 
 
 Who of all his children and grandchildren 
 that were with him abroad or in this country, at 
 the summer resorts among the mountains or at 
 the sea-side, ever heard him speak of himself as 
 if he were a " man of affairs," had become 
 "rich and increased in goods ? " Let the stran- 
 gers who have fallen in with him in these jour- 
 neyings say whether they saw anything in him, 
 or heard anything from him, to indicate in any 
 degree his own consequence. Reticent, rather 
 than loquacious, on all themes, he was most of 
 all reticent in matters pertaining to himself. 
 
 How did one who thus hid himself away 
 consent, in his Autobiography, to bring himself 
 out? 
 
 His pastor, the Rev. Mr. Merrill, knowing 
 
105 
 
 something of the romance of his early life, per- 
 suaded him to write it. If he could only have 
 gone through the last half of his history as he 
 did through the first, what an inheritance would 
 this volume be for those who come after him ! 
 
 Some of us remember with the tenderest in- 
 terest the time, some five or six years ago, when, 
 at the close of one of the annual Thanksgiving 
 festivals at his house, he read the narrative 
 which marked his wonderful way to the middle 
 of his life. We remember what he said when 
 we asked him to go on till the end should come : 
 " I leave that to those who come after me." 
 
 Would it be possible for any hand to write a 
 biography which the autobiography would not 
 leave out of sight ? 
 
 " Who is sufficient for these things ? " 
 
 To make the falling off less abrupt, if not less 
 apparent, a search was made among the family 
 friends for such letters, in the correspondence of 
 Mr. Smith in all his later years, as might supply 
 the links to the chain. With what success the 
 search met these friends must judge. 
 
 Very thankful, we are sure, they must be that 
 
io6 
 
 the letters are of such a nature and in such 
 number as to make good the inscription on the 
 monument at his grave, " He, being dead, yet 
 speaketh." 
 
 So far as we speak of him, our aim is to hold 
 ourselves in, rather than to let ourselves out, in 
 the disposition to magnify the excellences of our 
 dear good friend. At least, we do not so far 
 forget ourselves as to say, " Mark the perfect 
 man," for his imperfections were to him a mat- 
 ter for confession and for lamentation, up to the 
 time of his latest breath. 
 
 " You ask me," Webster's eulogist said, " if he 
 had no faults, and I answer, He was a man." 
 Yes, Peter Smith was a man, and " there is not 
 a just man upon earth that doeth good and sin- 
 neth not." 
 
 Leaving the marks against him to be washed 
 away in that Fountain in which he trusted while 
 he lived, and whose praises he celebrated most of 
 all when he came to die, we pass now to notice 
 four traits of character, in which he leaves an 
 example to his children and his children's chil- 
 dren, that they should follow in his steps. 
 
Of what, being dead, does he speak ? Some- 
 body has said, " When the name of Plutarch is 
 mentioned the Echo answers, Philosophy ! " 
 What does the Echo answer when the name of 
 Peter Smith is mentioned ? Industry Energy 
 Integrity Piety. 
 
 INDUSTRY. 
 
 What in the beginning was matter of neces- 
 sity became at the end matter of choice ; so 
 that when the opportunity was before him, in 
 advanced age, to retire from the battle of life he 
 preferred to keep on his armor : after only the 
 briefest and most painful experiment at putting 
 it off, he took it up again, and kept it on until 
 life was ended. 
 
 " Rising up a great while before day " in the 
 winter, and with the rising of the sun in sum- 
 mer, he was all the day giving himself to his 
 work. Even after his days were three-score 
 years and ten, and by reason of strength almost 
 four-score years, instead of sleeping, lying down, 
 loving to slumber, he was doing with his might 
 what his hand found to do, in his own private 
 
io8 
 
 affairs, or in those public trusts which were com- 
 mitted to his hands. 
 
 The Echo of Mr. Smith's name is something 
 more than Industry. Many a man is his equal 
 in gathering up the fragments of time, that noth- 
 ing be lost, who knows little of his 
 
 ENERGY. 
 
 Most men are subservient to circumstances, 
 instead of making circumstances subservient to 
 them. If they are not appalled by difficulties, 
 they are, at least, deterred. 
 
 Something there was in our friend which 
 made him accomplish his purposes, though 
 " the Alps or the ocean lay in his way." You 
 seemed, all the while, to hear him say, " Should 
 such a man as I flee ? " Was ever boy more 
 plucky ? David Copperfield's courage in his 
 journey from London to Dover, what enthu- 
 siastic praise it has enlisted, and from how 
 many thousands of sympathizing hearts ! The 
 mountains of difficulties he climbed up and the 
 " Sloughs of Despond " he waded through were 
 
109 
 
 all in the novelist's eye. But a stern reality 
 they were to " the small boy," as his mother 
 called him, who braved all, over the one hun- 
 dred miles from this mother's home, in Brechin, 
 to his oldest brother's, in Glasgow; in this, "the 
 boy was father to the man." That indomitable 
 force which carried the mere child through the 
 terrible trials of that journey led the young 
 man, " without a penny in his pocket," to take 
 his voyage across " the great and wide sea," to 
 seek his fortune in this new world. 
 
 From the day of his landing on our shores, 
 through middle life, and until " gray hairs were 
 thick upon him," " his eye was not dim and his 
 force was not abated." 
 
 Of a higher grade than Energy is his 
 
 INTEGRITY. 
 
 When the Psalmist asks, " Lord, who shall 
 abide in thy tabernacle ? who shall dwell in 
 thy holy hill ? " his answer is, " He that walketh 
 uprightly and worketh righteousness." 
 
 In these days, when defaulters are so multi- 
 
110 
 
 plied and the defalcations are so glaring, even 
 of those from whom better things might be ex- 
 pected on the score of their profession, we have 
 special occasion to emphasize Pope's saying, 
 " An honest man is the noblest work of God." 
 
 In the manufacturing corporation, of which 
 this honest man was for many years, a leading 
 member, never was any business done in any 
 other way than " on the square." No pains and 
 no expense were spared to make honest goods, 
 such as might challenge inspection. 
 
 It was the nature of Mr. Smith to give a wide 
 berth to anything that savored of shams, and to 
 all dishonest or dishonorable deeds. 
 
 One of the business men of New York, after 
 his decease, said, " For forty years I have been 
 connected with Mr. Smith in business, and have 
 never known him to do a mean or a dishonest 
 thing." 
 
 Advancing now on the scale of virtues, we 
 leave morality, and come to 
 
I II 
 
 PIETY. 
 
 Morality looks round, piety looks up. Happy 
 is the man whose morality and piety meet to- 
 gether and embrace each other ; who exercises 
 himself to have a conscience void of offense to- 
 ward Go4 and toward men ; who pays respect to 
 his fellow-creatures and to the great Creator. 
 
 Peter Smith remembered his Creator. He re- 
 membered Him " in the days of his youth." 
 
 The " Scottish laddie " in the early days of 
 his apprenticeship " sought the Lord." There it 
 was that those religious principles were adopted 
 which " brought forth fruit in old age." What 
 are these benevolent offerings but the fruit of 
 religious principle ? It was not natural for one 
 so schooled in economy to give by the thou- 
 sands and tens of thousands for the support of 
 educational and religious institutions. It re- 
 quired the powerful exercise of grace to triumph 
 over nature ; to give out with such a free hand 
 that which had come in by the hardest. 
 
 It was not natural for one so reticent and so 
 diffident " to cause his voice to be heard " in the 
 
I 12 
 
 public assembly in defense of the faith, " once de- 
 livered to the saints." 
 
 It was the inspiration of the Almighty that 
 made him lift up his voice like a trumpet in 
 honor of the Lord's day, insisting upon it that 
 our ecclesiastical bodies and our railroad cor- 
 porations should " remember the Sabbath-day 
 to keep it holy ; " going against the " Sunday 
 trains," in the meetings of the Board of Direc- 
 tors, when they went for them, and that with a 
 kind of determination which seemed to say, " I 
 shall fight it out on this line if it takes all my 
 life." Yet it was the exception rather than the 
 rule for him to strive, or cry, or cause his voice 
 to be heard. 
 
 While he was careful to let his light shine out 
 far and wide on all the great questions involving 
 the interests of morality and religion, it was in 
 the privacies of every-day home life that the evi- 
 dences of his piety were most unmistakably rec- 
 ognized. 
 
 Those who knew him best saw most clearly 
 in him " the marks of the Lord Jesus." His 
 children will always recall with interest his rev- 
 
erence for sacred things ; for the holy Sabbath, 
 the Divine Word, the family altar, and for the 
 secret place of prayer. As if it were not enough 
 to have the household devotions, he must also 
 " enter the closet and pray." 
 
 " In secret silence of the mind 
 
 My heaven, and there my God, I find."> 
 
 How touching that call of his, just before his 
 death, to be wheeled in his chair into that little 
 room, whose walls and ceilings could testify to 
 many an hour of communion with Heaven ! 
 What an influence in making him what he was 
 those silent hours had ! 
 
 " When one that holds communion with the skies 
 Has filled his urn where living waters rise, 
 And, once more mingles with us meaner things, 
 'T is e'en as if an angel shook his wings ; 
 Immortal fragrance fills the region wide, 
 And tells us whence his treasures are supplied." 
 
 Just what was the making of Mr. Smith we 
 do not know. " Secret things belong to God." 
 Let us be looking to the time when, in another 
 country, that is a heavenly, he may tell us, in 
 the new light gathered, what ways God adopted 
 
H4 
 
 to bring back his soul from the pit, and to be 
 enlightened with the light of the living. 
 
 In part, the question is answered in his Auto- 
 biography. To the praise of the glory of God's 
 grace he ascribes it that in all the changes to 
 which he was subject, in early life he was 
 brought under the influence of good men. He 
 was under special obligation to that good man 
 by whose side he worked when learning his 
 trade, and who improved the opportunity to 
 say, " Behold the Lamb of God." 
 
 What a new meaning there must be, now, to 
 that good man in the saying, " He that convert- 
 eth a sinner shall save a soul from death ! " Of 
 another good man, whose influence made our 
 friend what he was, we cannot now particularly 
 speak. 
 
 When the still surviving senior member of the 
 firm Smith, Dove & Co. shall have gone the way 
 of all the earth, we may say how much he did 
 for his younger brother Peter : encouraging him 
 to come to America ; paying his passage across 
 the water ; setting him up in business ; taking 
 him as a partner, and leading him on in wis- 
 
"5 
 
 dom's ways. Blessed be he of the Lord that 
 hath not left off to show kindness to the living 
 and to the dead." 
 
 After all, it may be questioned whether it is 
 the influence of the good men which is to be 
 magnified so much as that of the good women : 
 of the good wives, " one of whom is taken and 
 the other left ; " of the good sister Mary, who, 
 like some of the Marys of the Gospels, has left 
 such fragrant memories ; and especially of the 
 mother, whose children " rise up and call her 
 blessed." 
 
 What an undertaking for that mother! A 
 widow, with no other resources than such as 
 were divine, attempting to fit a family of four 
 young children for this world and the world be- 
 yond, and three of them boys ! 
 
 We have heard of this poor widow's anxieties 
 for her trio of sons, her Peter, James, and John ; 
 especially as to what was to become of Peter, 
 his tendencies being those of the wild ass's colt. 
 
 Did ever a troubled sea more truly subside 
 than when that mother, on reaching this coun- 
 
n6 
 
 try, found these three sons to be the sons of 
 God ? What a prayer meeting that was to her 
 to which she went, soon after her arrival, where 
 her Peter, James, and John, as if in "the apos- 
 tolic succession," were the leaders. 
 
 One of these sons has said, " It was the proud- 
 est day of my life when I walked up the aisle of 
 the West Parish church with my mother on 
 my arm." 
 
 Let the widows who trust in God take cour- 
 age. To them are the " exceeding great and 
 precious promises." Let all Christian mothers 
 take courage. The promise is to them and to 
 their children. If, with an holy trust in God, 
 they are training these children in the way they 
 should go, when they are old they will not de- 
 part from it. When the vote is taken among 
 our theological students as to the influence 
 which makes them what they are, with great 
 unanimity the mother's influence is exalted. 
 One of our notable metropolitan ministers has 
 recently said that " it is the hand of the mother 
 of the Wesleys that is ringing all the Methodist 
 church-bells of the land and of the world." 
 
Whatever doubt there may be as to the forma- 
 tive causes in the character of Mr. Smith, there 
 can be no doubt that he was a " man of mark," 
 and that his influence everywhere was felt. He 
 would not say, as Job said, " When I went out 
 to the gate through the city, the young men saw 
 me, and hid themselves, and the aged arose and 
 stood up ; " but he could say with Job, " When 
 the ear heard me, then it blessed me, and when 
 the eye saw me, it gave witness to me." 
 
 In the family, he was looked up to with little 
 less than reverence. In the factories, where it 
 was his peculiar province to manage the opera- 
 tives, there was never a " strike," and hardly as 
 much as a murmuring word. 
 
 In the educational and religious institutions 
 to whose boards he belonged, his words were so 
 "few and well ordered," and were with such 
 wisdom, that men " gave ear, and waited, and 
 kept silence," at his counsel. 
 
 Who of his descendants, for whose sake these 
 memorials are gathered, will be like him ? To 
 equal him we can hardly expect, but let us re- 
 
n8 
 
 member that " he who aims his arrow at the 
 sun shoots higher than he whose aim is lower." 
 
 Strictly speaking, there is in the moral world 
 only one sun, " the Sun of Righteousness." 
 
 " One is your Master, even Christ," and His 
 command is, " Follow me." But we may follow 
 Mr. Smith so far as he followed Christ. 
 
 Under this restriction, our prayer is that " the 
 shadow of Peter, passing by, may overshadow 
 some of us ; " that his mantle may fall on us all ; 
 that we may live the life of the righteous, and 
 ' die the death of the righteous, and our last 
 end be like his.' 
 
LAST DAYS AND FUNERAL 
 SERVICES. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 LAST DAYS AND FUNERAL SERVICES. 
 
 ON the 23d of May, while in his full strength, 
 Mr. Smith was suddenly stricken with paralysis. 
 Having rallied a little, he resumed, for a short 
 time, his daily occupations to some extent, but 
 the progress of the disease was so rapid that 
 only two or three weeks sufficed to show that 
 the end was near. 
 
 During his sickness, he was constantly sur- 
 rounded by the members of his immediate family 
 and its various branches. Not to his children 
 only, but also to his grandchildren, numbering 
 nearly a score, he gave most affectionate and 
 memorable farewells. Around those weeks will 
 ever cluster, in the minds of all, precious mem- 
 ories. It seemed as if God dealt the blow just 
 as gently as possible ; amid the deep sorrow 
 there was much cause for gratitude. 
 
122 
 
 One Sunday, about two weeks before he died, 
 when he seemed for the first time to realize fully 
 that he was to bid farewell to all his earthly 
 associations, his friends, his beautiful home, his 
 family, there was evidently a sharp conflict 
 within. He said little, but asked to be rolled in 
 his invalid's chair to the top of the hill, that he 
 might look for the last time upon the house of 
 God, where he had been so strengthened and 
 helped for the battle of life; that he might enter 
 once more the grove where, in the early morn- 
 ing, he had had so many communings with his 
 Maker; that he might again behold the fields 
 waving with corn, the fragrant flowers and beau- 
 tiful trees, the fruit of his industry. The con- 
 flict was soon over, the victory won, and he could 
 leave all for the better land beyond. 
 
 One morning, as he sat by the window and 
 heard the singing of the birds, he said, " This is 
 a beautiful day ; but how much more beautiful 
 it is in the land where I am going, where the 
 streets are paved with gold ! " At another time, 
 when listening to the expressions of affection 
 from one of the family, he said, " Ah, yes, I 
 
123 
 
 know you all love me ; but my Father calls me. 
 My life is over, and you must n't try to keep me." 
 He requested to have read, and he himself 
 repeated, many times, the old familiar psalms 
 and hymns, especially this one : 
 
 " Give me the wings of faith, to rise 
 Within the vail, and see 
 The saints above, how great their joys, 
 How bright their glories be." 
 
 There were no more touching scenes than 
 those between the two brothers. These aged 
 disciples conversed together of the heavenly 
 joys in store for them, as they strengthened and 
 encouraged each other ; the one about to enter 
 the valley of the Shadow of Death, the other to 
 remain a little longer on this side of the river. 
 
 On one of the last days, too feeble to respond, 
 or scarcely to recognize any one, being asked, 
 " Do you know me, brother ? " he replied, "I 
 know that hand." 
 
 Yes, that hand that had been taken so many 
 times. A beautiful testimony it was to broth- 
 erly unity and affection that, amid the toils and 
 vexations of so many years of business life, there 
 
I2 4 
 
 had never been any trouble so serious that, in 
 parting at night, they could n't shake hands. 
 
 In all these closing days, it seemed to be 
 much on his mind that, while he was to be 
 taken, she who had been the companion of his 
 life was to be left He dwelt much upon the 
 loneliness which would come upon her when 
 he should be gone, expressed great solicitude 
 for her increasing infirmities, and repeatedly 
 commended her to the care of his children, that 
 everything should be done for her comfort. 
 
 When all supposed the last words had been 
 spoken, rousing himself, he called for his wife 
 and family, who immediately gathered about him. 
 He assured them of his affection and of his 
 appreciation of their devotion. As he looked 
 about and saw their tears, and heard a sup- 
 pressed sob, that occasionally broke the solemn 
 stillness, he said, in a calm voice, " Be still, and 
 know that I am God." He told them not to 
 mourn, assuring them he was happy, saying, 
 " It is all sunlight on the other side." Then 
 
125 
 
 taking the hand of his wife, who sat beside him, 
 he repeated these words': " My grace is sufficient 
 for thee." 
 
 In the early morning hours of July 6, 1880, 
 this life came to an end ; gently, peacefully, and 
 gradually the spirit returned to God, who gave 
 it. 
 
 " It was a fit end for such a life as his had 
 been. He was a" man into the four corners of 
 whose house there had shined, through the 
 years of his pilgrimage, the light of the glory 
 of God. Like Enoch, he had walked with God, 
 and was not, for God took him." 
 
 On the 8th of July the tokens of respect were 
 paid to the departed one. The remains, for an 
 hour before the services, were seen by the opera- 
 tives, who came to look on that face whose 
 kindly eye and pleasant word were always so 
 welcome. Simplicity, on such occasions, had al- 
 ways been the preference of Mr. Smith ; there- 
 fore, those arranging his obsequies kept that in 
 view. 
 
 The spacious rooms were filled with delegates 
 
126 
 
 from various business, banking, and railroad cor- 
 porations with which the deceased was con- 
 nected ; also with representatives from religious 
 and educational institutions which he had be- 
 friended. 
 
 All these came to weep with those that wept ; 
 though they had no claim to kinship or even in- 
 timate acquaintance, they yet felt a sense of per- 
 sonal loss. 
 
 The services were under the charge of Rev. 
 Charles Smith ; he was assisted by Mr. Burr, 
 present pastor of the West Parish church, who 
 read appropriate selections of Scripture ; also by 
 Professor Park, who made the following address : 
 
 It was the desire of our departed friend that 
 he should not be praised at his obsequies. Such 
 a desire ought to be respected. It is difficult, 
 however, to check the impulses of nature at an 
 hour like this. 
 
 When the woman who " was full of good 
 works and alms-deeds which she did " had been 
 called away from her life of charity, all the wid- 
 
127 
 
 ows lingered in the chamber of death, and 
 showed " the coats and garments which Dorcas 
 made while she was with them." They could 
 not repress the reminiscences of her good life. 
 In like manner, assembled as we are in this 
 house of mourning, it is impossible for us to for- 
 get that many widows are in Israel whom our 
 friend has made glad ; many orphans has he 
 comforted ; many young men have been saved 
 by his wise counsels ; many indigent students 
 have been relieved by his thoughtful generosity ; 
 there has been a well-worn pathway from our 
 Western colleges to his residence. 
 
 On the island of his birth, our friend had 
 stood in the cathedral of St. Paul, and admired 
 the inscription over the tomb of its architect : 
 " Do you inquire for his monument ? Look 
 around." As we walk around the homestead of 
 the man who has now been summoned to his 
 better home, we need not ask for tablets to his 
 memory. The edifice in which he worshiped 
 from Sabbath to Sabbath is a monument to him. 
 The building for the Library on the Seminary 
 hill, the spires of the two chapels there, are 
 
128 
 
 monuments to him and to his generous partners 
 in business. Our Abbot Academy and our Me- 
 morial Hall are among his other monuments. 
 We cannot cross the railroad in our village with- 
 out recalling his efforts to prevent its being des- 
 ecrated on the Sabbath. When we remember 
 his benefactions to our town, we must also re- 
 member that he was not indebted to it as the 
 home of his ancestors ; he was not trained in 
 our schools ; his early friends lie buried in a 
 far-off land.; his gifts were those of a foreigner, 
 who " loved our nation, and built for us a syna- 
 gogue." 
 
 As we reflect upon his fruitful life we are re- 
 minded of his early consecration to the God of 
 his fathers. For sixty years he has been an 
 earnest follower of Him who went about doing 
 good. His thoughts were in heaven. His men- 
 tal habits were run in the right mould. There- 
 fore, when he was called to leave the world he 
 was tranquil. He knew whom he believed, and 
 was persuaded that his faith would not fail him. 
 He went from this life to the next, as if he were 
 going from one room to a better in his Father's 
 house. 
 
129 
 
 We are also reminded that his religion had a 
 practical character. It was not merely contem- 
 plative. It was not confined to the sanctuary 
 nor to the prayer meeting, both of which he 
 loved. What good cause was he not glad to 
 aid? He was a pioneer in the temperance ref- 
 ormation. He moved among the foremost in 
 securing the freedom of the slave. He loved his 
 adopted land as if he were a native of it. Our 
 country needs such an example as his among 
 men of business. He was a man of honest 
 speech. Who ever suspected him of malfea- 
 sance in office ? Who ever doubted his probity 
 in the smaller or the greater affairs of life ? 
 
 The secret of his prosperous career lay in the 
 fact that he regarded himself as a servant of 
 God. He ascribed all his success to God. As 
 a manufacturer he meant to be a truthful man 
 and a Christian. He often expressed his obliga- 
 tion to his mother, a woman of strong mind and 
 an earnest spirit ; but, above all, he felt grateful 
 to God for giving him so devout a mother. He 
 loved his father, and the instructors of his boy- 
 hood, and the pastors to whom he listened in his 
 9 
 
1 3 o 
 
 early days ; but he ascribed their influence over 
 him to God. This was the tendency of his 
 mind. The lesson which he has left us is that 
 we should live for the glory of our Redeemer. 
 Our friend has gone from us, but he still lives 
 with us. We know what he would say if he 
 were now among us. His past life is his present 
 counsel to us. 
 
 The day on which he died was the same day 
 on which Rev. Dr. Sears, the superintendent of 
 the Peabody Fund for the benefit of our South- 
 ern States, was called from life. Dr. Sears was 
 the intimate friend of Rev. Dr. Jackson, who was 
 for many years the beloved pastor of him whose 
 remains now lie before us. That pastor now in 
 heaven welcomed his two companions both at 
 once. This thought suggests the blissful re- 
 unions which await us. Let us not think of our 
 pious friends as torn from us, but rather as wait- 
 ing to receive us. Let us not think of their 
 graves, but rather of their companionship with 
 the angels. Our friend has rejoined his godly 
 ancestors, his devout children ; but, more than 
 all, he has met his Redeemer, and so, as we 
 trust, will be " ever with the Lord." 
 
A large body of mourners attended the re- 
 mains to their last resting-place, the West 
 Parish church-yard. 
 
 There, by the side of the wife and children 
 who had preceded him to the heavenly inherit- 
 ance, we laid him away till the morning of the 
 resurrection. 
 
 " I am the resurrection and the life; he that 
 believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall 
 he live ; and whosoever liveth and believeth in 
 me shall never die." 
 
YC 29637