il ) Cornell University Library Dthaca, New York FHE-GIEILOE Gavvett Bi blveal lweli tute. In @xe hange. ‘ornell University Libra BX8495.T48 T48 “i WS SK ‘ aN SN Sy VAS Ce, ie i Ye Le Yh Ze ee, Ue EE Ee BEE EY), ef LER), Le tye Yyy by ED ee YEE ELE ie LIFE OF EDWARD THOMSON, D.D.,LL.D., Late a Bishop of the Methodist Wpiscopal Church. By HIS SON REV. EDWARD THOMSON, M. A. CINCINNATI: CRANSTON & STOWE, NEW YORK: PHILLIPS & HUNT. 1885. Ss Copyright by CRANSTON & STOW, 1888. PREFACE. OR over twelve years I waited for some com- petent person to write the life of my beloved father. Bishop Gilbert Haven, one of his greatest admirers, intended to do it, but his unexpected and premature death prevented the consummation. My step-mother undertook the work, but had gathered together only a few materials when the voice of the Master called her to heavenly employments. Two years ago some friends suggested the pro- priety of my embalming the memory of Bishop Thomson. I acknowledged that the work ought to be done, yet I deemed myself incompetent for such an undertaking. All who consider the subject will see that it is a very delicate matter for a son to write “the life” of his father, even though he may be pos- sessed of more facts worthy of record than any other living person; and after undertaking this work, I shrank from it time and again. What my heart wanted to utter I could not say, fearing it would be regarded as too eulogistic. To prevent the raising of such an objection to the book, I have aimed to do three things: First. To avoid extravagant panegyric, to hold my pen from rhetorical display, and to make a sim- ple, brief, and clear statement of facts. 3 4 PREFACE. Secondly. I have made my estimates of Bishop Thomson’s excellencies after having learned what others thought of him, and have advanced no opinion which has not been sanctioned by good authority, and in many instances I have quoted the language of those most competent to judge. Thirdly. Instead of reporting my own belief only as to my father’s sentiments on various questions, I have in most instances given his own words, as found in his published and unissued works. I ought perhaps to have omitted from the letters which appear in this volume all reference to myself, but a friend, in whose judgment I have confidence, insisted that they should not be mutilated, since they exhibited so beautifully the father’s love for his child. Therefore, I have omitted only the opening or closing of the letters to avoid too much repetition, and occa- sionally have left out a statement of purely personal character, which could be of no possible interest to the public. : I take pleasure in acknowledging my obligations to various persons who have assisted me in collecting materials for this work, whose names are mentioned in connection with the favors extended; but I must especially mention the great kindness of my old college mate and my father’s former pupil, in preparing the able chapter with which we close the volume. E. T. M. FE. Cottece or NEBRASKA, York, Neb., March, 1885. } CONTENTS. * CHAPTER I. BOYHOOD, Birth—Brothers and Sisters—The English Home of the Thomson Family—Scenery about Portsmouth—An Historic City—Benjamin Thomson loses his Fortune and moves his Family to France, and thence to America—Settles in Wooster, Ohio—Disadvantages to the Early Settlers at that Time—En- gages in the Drug Business—School Advantages—Edward Thomson becomes the First in his Class—Love of Books— Merry Rambles with his School-mates. .....+.. Page 13. CHAPTER II. EARLY MANHOOD. A Medical Student—A Physician—A Skeptic—Hears Bige- low preach at Camp-meeting—Decomes deeply convicted— Determines to be a Christian—Puts it off more than Two Years— Conversion—Joins the Methodists—His Parents dislike his Choice—Called to Preach—Becomes an Exhorter—Baptized by Immersion—H. O. Sheldon his Spiritual Father. . . Page 20, CHAPTER III. FIRST CIRCUIT. Licensed to Preach—Preaches his First Sermon—The Effect of it—Decides to give up the Practice of Medicine—Opposed in this Determination by his Father—Starts on Horseback to the Seat of the Ohio Conference—Picture of him at that time—Ad- mitted on Trial—His Class-mates—Appointed Junior Preacher on Norwalk Circuit—Lights and Shadows of the First Day’s Itinerancy—The Circuit—Prophecy of Rev. William Gurley— Hard Work and Small Salary—His Pulpit Preparations—Re- flection—Abstraction—Economy of Time—The Books which hesréad) sees % KG GRRE SEE Sa ew Ss Page 27. 6 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. FIRST YEARS IN THE MINISTRY. Stationed at Sandusky—At Cincinnati—Attends the “ Cin- cinnati Medical College,” and graduates M. D.—Always in- terested in Medical Science—His Presiding Elder—Popularity of Thomson—His Father dies—And he goes to Wooster for a Year—Stationed at Detroit—He lays aside his Peculiar Suit — His Oratory—Revivals—He marries Maria Louisa Bartley, of Ohio—The Lady described—Her Father and Brother—The Bride a Great Help to her Husband in his Early Ministry 2. 6 0 ee eee ee ee et ee Page 36. CHAPTER Y. AT NORWALK SEMINARY. Thomson begins his Educational Work—Is Himself a Model Student—Especially fond of Belles-Lettres, Psychology, and History—History of Norwalk Seminary—Jonathan E. Chap- lin—Burning of the Old Building—Description of the New One— Re-opening of the School—Opening of the Ladies’ Department— Prosperity of the Seminary—Assistants employed—Alexander Nelson resigns at Norwalk—Holden Dwight—Tuition Fees at this Time—Societies Organized—Thomson becomes the first Secretary of the North Ohio Conference—Ohio Wesleyan Uni- versity Chartered—Thomson elected President—But still re- mains at Norwalk—Financial Condition of the Seminary—Leads the Delegation from his Conference to the General Conference of 1844—His Attachment to Ohio—Receives Fine Offers from other Institutions—Elected Editor of the Ladies’ Repository— Estimation in which Thomson was held at Norwalk—Testimony of one of his Students, the Rev. John Burgess—Holden Dwight elected Principal—After Hard Work to save it, the Seminary is given up to Creditors—The Grand Work done by the Seminary during its Existence... 6. 6 6 eee ee eee ee Page 42. CHAPTER VI. EDITOR AND COLLEGE PRESIDENT. Editor of the Ladies’ Repository—Resigns—Dr. B. F. Tefft his Successor—College Honors—Qualifications as College Presi- dent—History of Ohio Wesleyan University—Origin—Adam Poe—Ohio and North Ohio Conferences join in the Enterprise— CONTENTS. 7 The First Faculty—Professors subsequently appointed during Dr. Thomson’s Presidency—Herman M. Johnson—Solomon Howard—William G. Williams—E. G. Dial—Lorenzo D. Mc- Cabe—Frederick Merrick—William L. Harris—The Tutors connected with the Faculty; Edward C. Merrick—William D. Godman—Thomas D. Crow—Owen T. Reeves—Saimuel W. Williams—George F. W. Willey—Tullius C. O’Kane—William F. King—Hiram M. Perkins—William O. Semans—William F. Whitlock—The Result of Dr. Thomson’s Presidency—Material Condition of the University—The Campus—Buildings—En- dowment—Numbers of Students—Elements which combined to bring about this Success—Just Views of the Work—Ability as Lecturer and Writer—Believed in a Religious Education— Advocated the most Liberal Culture—Government by Love— Inspiration of his Presence—Testimony of Dr. T. J. Scott—A College Lecturer—Opinion of Dr. George L. Taylor—Of Oliver BUIgeSSs 8 ee eR Ee Page 55. s CHAPTER VII. CONFERENCE RECORD. A Rising Man in his Conference—Not Talkative, but Ready on Important Occasions—On Educational Committees—Regu- lar Attendance—Continuous Delegate for Twenty Years—At the General Conference of 1848—Letter to his Wife—Acting Presiding Elder—General Conference of 1852—Candidate for the Episcopacy—Letter to the Ohio Delegates—The Men Chosen—Letter written immediately after the Election— Letter to his Son—Romanism—General Conference of 1856— Declines to become Editor—Missionary Sermon—Lay Delega- tion—Death of James B. Finley. ......-... Page 75. CHAPTER VIII. ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENTS. On the Side of the Oppressed—Dr. Aydelott—Thomson’s Arguments—The Perversion of Government—Who are Human Beings?—Equal Rights—Oppression can not cancel Rights— Report to the North Ohio Conference in 1852—In Favor of Colonization—The Nebraska Bill—Fugitive Slave Law—A Stockholder in Underground Railway ........ Page 84, 8 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. . A EUROPEAN TRAVELER. First Trip to Europe in 1854—Object of the Voyage—The Sights in and about London—The South of England—France and Switzerland—French Politeness—French Aisthetics. ; Page 92. CHAPTER X. SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. Object of his Trip—Letters from Abroad: 1. Cork; Irish Graeffenburgh; Blarney—2. Killarney and its Lakes—3. Sabbath at Killarney; Arbutus; Ross Island—4. Dublin—5. London— 6. Mr. Spurgeon... 2. 1 ee ee ee ee ee Page 99. CHAPTER XI. IN DELAWARE AND NEW YORK. The Family Home—Birth and Death of Children—Acrostie Lines on the Death of Elizabeth Maria, his first-born child— Recreations of the Family—Objections to moving to New York—Editor of Christian Advocate and Journal—State of the Church at the Time of his Election—His Feelings on taking the Position—His Salutatory—The Storm of Opposition—Spirit of the Strong Minority of Eastern Methodism—The Methodist started—Abusive Letters—Men at the Head of The Methodist— Thomson a Man for the Place and for the Times—His Labors in the Office—The Methodist an Administration Organ—The Great Advocate of Lay Delegation—Thomson’s Opposition—Extract from one of his Editorials—Thomson’s Assistants—Dr. Strick- land—George L. Taylor—Stephen B. Wickens—Thomson’s Con- tributors—Statement of Dr. Taylor concerning Thomson’s MGitOrships cae ee eos A a . « « Page 138, CHAPTER XII. LETTERS FROM NEW YORK. The Family left in Delaware—Letters to his Son—Camp Scott—Oregon—Counsels—Patriotic Sentiment—General Hun- ter—Spending Money—Proofs of Regeneration—Singing—Mar- riage of Tom Thumb—Interview with Archbishop Hughes— Visits in the City—Lectures—Costs of the War—Calls at the Office—Engagements—A Father’s Prayer—At the Police Sta- tion—Visit to Concord—Anecdotes—General Sigel—Elocution ASAD ATE 2.02 iG. dye Var Ar ae aie hel go ahs OS Page 153. CONTENTS. 9 CHAPTER XIII. DEATH OF MRS. THOMSON. Mrs. Thomson’s Last Sickness—Friendly Ministrations— An Assistant to her Husband—Interested in the War—Her Address in Presenting a Flag to the 121st O. V. I1.—Extract from the Funeral Discourse by Dr. J. M. Trimble—Testimony of Oliver Burgess—Resolution of the University Faculty—Verses Written by Bishop Thomson. ........... Page 175. CHAPTER XIV. AS A BISHOP. Elected Bishop—General Character of his Episcopal Work— Table of his Conferences—As an Executive Officer—Statement of Dr. G. L. Taylor—Dr. C. C. Stratton—Rev. E. A. Manning— North Ohio Conference—Bishop Ames—Rev. I. C. Pershing describes the Bishop at the Pittsburg Conference—Dr. Allyn decribes him at the Central Illinois Conference—Statement of Dr. W. H. Sutherland, of the Cincinnati Conference—A Model Bishop—As a Preacher—Orthodox in his Views—Outline of a Sermon on the Divine Call to the Ministry—Address to the Deacons at the New York Conference. ....... Page 182. CHAPTER XV. HIS ORIENTAL TOUR. Remark of Dr. Durbin—Letters to his Cnildren: From Liverpool, England—From Marseilles, France—From Egypt, written on the Tigre on her way to India—From Ceylon—From Calecutta—From Shajehanpore—From Calcutta—On the way from Fuhchau to Hongkong—From Ceylon—From Suez—From Alexandria—From Constantinople—From Sunbury, England— Effect of the Bishop’s Visit in India—Dr. T. J. Scott’s Estimate— In China—Letter of.a Native Chinese—The Bishop’s Sympathy with Mission Work—His Theories of Missionary Effort—Ad- dress before the India Mission Conference ..... Page 208. CHAPTER XVI. WORK IN THE SOUTH. Letters: From Galveston, Texas—From New Orleans—Or- ganization of a Colored Conference—Sketch by Dr. J. C. Hart- zell—Friend of the Freedmen—Extract from one of his Ad- 10 CONTENTS. dresses—Marriage of the Bishop—His Bride—Removal to Evanston, Il].—Birth of his son Paul Morris—Verses by Mrs. Thomson on “Baby Paul”-..-...-.2---- Page 235. CHAPTER XVIL WORK ON THE PACIFIC COAST. Goes to the Pacific Coast via Panama—Letter before Em- barking—Letter from San Francisco—Preaches and Lectures in that City—Goes to Oregon—Letter from Portland—The Oregon Conference—His work in Oregon—Letter from Salem—Returns to California—Goes to Nevada—The Nevada Conference— Letter from Santa Clara—The California Conference—Resolu- tions of the Conference—Elegant Presents—Return to New VYork: soe & © See -ee) Bae eS Se ee ees Page 246. CHAPTER XVIII. AMONG THE CONFERENCES. Letters to his son: From Menomonee, Wis.—From St. Paul, Minn.—From New York—From Baltimore—From Wil- liamsport, Pa.—From Roscoe, O.—From Ripley, O.—From New York—From St. Louis—Letter to his wife from St. Louis— Letters to his son: From Lawrence, Kan.—Peru, Neb.—Dela- ware, O.—Boston, Mass.—Letters to his wife: From Boston— From Lowell's.) 632 «Ge @ is WO Ae we Gee Page 256. CHAPTER XIX. THE BISHOP’S LAST CONFERENCE. Visit to his Brother James—Attends the Lexington Con- ference—Goes to West Virginia Conference—Opening Address— His Last Letter to his Son, from Charleston, W. Va.—His Last Sermon—Narrative of Rev. W. M. Mullenix—Resolutions of the Preachers at Wheeling. ............ Page 268. CHAPTER XX. CLOSING SCENES OF HIS LIFE. How he Contracted his Fatal Illness—On the Steamboat— Taken ill aboard the Boat—Arrives at Wheeling—Goes to the Grant House—A Physician Called—Is better, and writes a Number of Letters and an Article for the Zion’s Herald—Pros- trated—Kindly Ministrations—In Prospect of Death—Wast CONTENTS. 11 Words—Death—Obsequies at Wheeling—Arrangements for the Funeral—Body taken to Delaware—The Funeral Ceremonies— Address of Dr. Leonard B. Gurley—Address of Dr. William D. Godman—Sketch of Life and Address by President F. Mer- rick—Services at the Grave... .... 2-252 e Page 274. CHAPTER XXI. CHARACTER AND TRAITS. Estimate of the Bishop by Gilbert Haven—By W. D. God- man—By Dr. George Lansing Taylor—By Rev. B. P. Aydelott, D. D.—Elements of his Character—Catholic Spirit—Happy Dis- position—Devotional Spirit—Affectionate Nature—Looking on the Bright Side—Modesty—Benevolence—Patriotism—Pulpit Oratory—“ The Chrysostom of American Methodism”—What Dr. Taylor says of Him—Style of his Discourses—Dr. L. B. Gurley’s Estimate—Oliver Burgess—At Conference in Wooster— Style as a Writer—Dr. Edward Eggleston—Dr. Taylor—Oliver Burgess—How he came to issue a Volume—List of Works. Page 293. CHAPTER XXII. Epwarp THomson A REPRESENTATIVE Man. .... Page 309. “ Here was a unique blending of the strong and. the gentle, the mystical and the practical, the dreamer and the thinker, the speaker and the writer.” JAMES M. BUCKLEY. The ranks thin below, but thicken above. The Master does not require long service for everlasting rewards. Among the multitudes that gather at His feet, none will gaze with more devout delight upon that divine countenance, none sink in more adoring awe, none rise in more rapt and unutterable peace. GILBERT HAVEN. Like the morning star’s, his spirit’s course was steadily upward, still glowing with its own peculiar effulgence, till lost in the glories of the opening day. In the fullness of his activities, with body, mind, and heart all occupied in the Lord’s work, without protracted sickness, feebleness or suffering, he laid him down to die. The Master said, “It is enough,” and he passed at oncé from labor to recompense. DANIEL CURRY. THE LIFE OF BISHOP “THOMSON. CHAPTER I. BOYHOOD. DWARD THOMSON, the subject of this biog- raphy, was born on Friday, October 12, 1810. His parents were Benjamin and Eliza (Moore) Thom- son. He was the fourth of thirteen children, of whom seven were boys. Four children died in childhood or infancy. Three sons and two daughters are still living,—James Thomson, of Princeton, Illinois ; Ben- jamin Thomson, a farmer, near Malcolm, Iowa; Henry A. Thomson, a farmer, near Topeka, Kansas ; Mrs. Matilda McGugin, of Ironton, Ohio; and Mrs. Selina Richmond, of Dover, Illinois. His father was reared in the Baptist faith. His mother was a devout adherent to the Church of Eng- land; but after her marriage, that there might be no schism in the family, and desiring that the chil- dren might be brought up in one faith, she dissolved her connection with the Church of her childhood, and became a Dissenter with her husband. Benjamin Thomson was a kind-hearted husband and a generous 14 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. friend. He was always good-natured, and ready to aid any who might seek his assistance. His wife had received as elaborate a culture as was afforded to women at that time in England. Her mother died when she was a babe; but her father had her trained under the best instructors that could be found in the realm. When Edward was born the family lived in a large brick house, on the corner of Queen Street and Southampton Row, in what was then called Portsea, a suburban town of Portsmouth, England, a bridge con- necting it with that city. From the windows of the upper story of this house Edward saw the ships-of every nation sailing in and out of that important En- glish port; and over the waters he could view Gosport, Newport, Cowes, Spithead, and the Isle of Wight, “that beautiful gem, that looks like the last of earth or the first of heaven.” Green fields were seen in all these localities, and the landscape was most enchant- ing, looking like a picture in the sky. Portsmouth is, perhaps, the most historic city on the southern coast of England. Here are old fort- resses, erected mainly by the Romans. The castle was built partly in the reign of Claudius, and partly in that of Vespasian. The dock-yard was used by Carusius in 286 A.D. After the defeat of Waterloo, Napoleon I, being forced to abdicate the throne of France, and unable to escape to America, surrendered to Captain Maitland, the commander of the English man-of-war Bellerophon. This vessel lay several days in the harbor of Portsmouth, while the English Par- liament was determining what to do with the great enemy of Europe, whom all the crowned heads feared BOYHOOD. 15 more than the tempest or the pestilence. Edward, then five years old, saw the great warrior, with his gray coat and cocked hat, pacing the deck from day to day, and one afternoon, going on board with his father and a few others, who were acquainted with Captain Maitland, was introduced to that greatest of all Frenchmen. In 1817 his father, Benjamin Thomson, who had been carrying on a large retail trade in dry goods for a number of years, concluded to remove with his fam- ily to another country. His ample fortune had been largely depleted by going security for his friends. He was one of those men who could never say “ No” to a relative or intimate acquaintance. Thus, in the course of years, he was obliged to pay large sums of money on account of the reckless business speculations of others, to whom he sustained the relation of surety ; and he wisely decided to go some place where his friends would not be continually seeking his financial assistance. Accordingly, he moved to the south of France. ‘ He was delighted with the climate and confident concerning the political prospects of the land. He could see before him a most enviable opening for business, but could not persuade himself, strong Prot- estant as he was, to raise his children in a Catholic country. Hence, on April 28, 1818, he sailed with his family, consisting of his wife, his daughters Jane and Elizabeth, and his sons James, Edward, and Benjamin, from Havre de Grace for New York. After tarrying a few weeks in New York, Phila- delphia, and Pittsburg, and thoroughly considering the matter of location, he crossed the Alleghany 16 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. Mountains in the Fall of the same year, and made a permanent home for his family in Wooster, Ohio. This town is the county seat of Wayne County, and at that time it contained but a few hundred people. Situated among hills of moderate altitude, which were covered to their summits with noble forests, and wa- tered by a placid stream whose banks were shaded with lofty trees and pendant vines, it was a charming and romantic home for the early settlers. But, in the midst of all this, they were forced to endure many trials and disadvantages, which are not incident to early settlements of new States and Terri- tories at the present day. The intercommunication now is greatly facilitated by steam, on railroads, riy- ers, and canals, and the benefits of civilization, edu- cation, science, and arts are more rapidly disseminated than in former years. The serious want of roads was a matter which subjected the growing population to many discomforts. Communication was had with available markets only by teams, over mud_ roads. Up to 1823 only a few harbors had been opened along the southern shore of Lake Erie, and to those points the farmers and merchants within a radius of seventy to one hundred miles in the interior transported their produce by wagons, and brought return loads of goods and merchandise. This long wagon transportation greatly decreased the value of home products, and increased the price of articles of merchandise and consumption. Wheat, which would sell at port on Lake Erie at 60 or 70 cents a bushel, would gener- ally cost from 25 to 30 cents a bushel to transport by wagons, so as to leave only from 30 to 45 cents for the home value. Merchandise was regularly wagoned BOYHOOD. 17 from Baltimore and Philadelphia over the Alleghany Mountains, in Pennsylvania, by six and eight horse teams, at a cost of ten dollars a hundred pounds. The completion of the Erie Canal through the State of New York, and of the Ohio Canal from Cleveland to Portsmouth, connecting the lake with the Ohio River, relieved the people from some of these disad- vantages. Facilities which were then thought very fine were opened, and access by canal to Northern, Eastern, and Southern markets was offered. Journeys and pleasure excursions were then made in canal pal- aces, at the rate of four miles an hour, and canal freights were transported at the slow speed of twenty- five or thirty miles in twenty-four hours. Stage- coaches on most of the public highways seemed to be the successful rivals of canal travel; yet the mer- chants were fortunate if by these public carriers they accomplished their annual visits to Eastern cities after merchandise in less than three or four weeks. When Benjamin Thomson arrived at Wooster he purchased lots and erected a building, a part of which he occupied as a residence, using the other part for the drug business, in which he was quite successful. After his death, which occurred in 1834, at the age of sixty-two, his wife and younger children continued the business for a number of years, at the old stand. Among the inhabitants of this village were sev- eral families of intelligence and refinement, and there was a demand among them for the best of schools. Teachers who had been educated in European schools and in the best colleges of the Eastern States occa- sionally came West, and taught private schools. The oldest boys, James and Edward, were soon sent to the 2 18 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. best masters that could be found. They were taught the common branches by a Mr. Whitehead, and the languages and higher mathematics by the Rev. Mr. Irvin. Edward immediately manifested a fondness for study, and Mr. Whitehead is reported to have said that he was the best scholar in the school. Mr. Irvin said: “Edward Thomson has a fine texture of brain, and I predict for him a brilliant future, no matter what profession he may enter.” He was very ener- getic, persevering, and industrious, always employing his time in some useful manner. He never had any fondness for games or plays of any kind. Books were his delight. Indeed, he did not take enough bodily exercise to develop a very strong physique. Yet he was always happy in disposition, and some- times would join in a merry ramble with his play- mates ; and when he did, he was as bright and cheerful as any of the company, as is evident from his recorded recollections of those days. “My mind rushes back,” he wrote, “ to my earlier and better days—to the scenes of my youthful gam- bols; the school-house on the village green; the church where we held our moot-court and rude de- bate; the old haw-tree, through whose branches, on the Summer eve, the noisy prattle and loud laugh of joyous innocence rose up to heaven; the winding banks of the Kilbuck, on which, with our sisters, we gathered walnuts and crab-apples and plums; the spring, three miles in the woods, from which the friend of my better days brought clear, cold draughts, in the depths of Winter, to cool my parched tongue, when he thought I was dying; the sugar-camp, where BOYHOOD. 19 we stole sweet kisses from rosy lips, which we shall see no more till we look for them in the choirs of the upper sanctuary; and the old grave-yard, without a vault or a monument, where we read on plain head- stones the names of the loved ones that we buried and the simple ‘annals of the poor.’ ” 20 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. CHAPTER II. EARLY MANHOOD. ENJAMIN THOMSON determined to educate one of his boys for the medical profession, and, entertaining English ideas about primogeniture, offered the opportunity first to his eldest son. But James preferred business to professional life, and cheerfully gave up his chance to his brother Edward, who, thirst- ing for knowledge, readily accepted a proposition that would enable him to secure a thorough education. He accordingly went to Philadelphia in the Fall of 1828, and entered the Jefferson Medical College. This in- stitution was then regarded as the finest school of the kind in the Jand. The future bishop was at this time a sedate and mature-looking youth, who usually was thought to be twenty-two or twenty-three years old; and there was, indeed, a mental growth far beyond one of his years, that spoke from the pensive brow and thoughtful eyes. The elaborate notes which he took of the lectures he heard in the Winter of 1828-9 he copied carefully into a large blank book, which he preserved as long as he lived. He had made such progress in his med- ical studies and acquitted himself so well in his Spring examinations that he was granted a diploma to en- gage in medical practice. He soon after returned to Ohio, and opened an EARLY MANHOOD. 21 office in Jeromeville, a small town near Wooster. In a brief time he met with success in the treatment of his patients; but he was not well adapted to the prac- tice. He possessed too sensitive a nature to enjoy surgical operations, did not even like the looks of sick people, and his sympathies were so great that he would sooner get down and pray for them than ad- minister nauseous drugs. He was so generous that he did not charge what his services were worth, and would not collect even what he charged, unless his patients insisted on paying their debts. Nevertheless, in the course of a year he built up a paying practice. He was often called to the county seat for consulta- tion, and to assist in surgical operations; for it was said he could use the knife most skillfully. But he loved not these things; and God was pre- paring his mind for higher, nobler offices. It has often been stated that Dr. Thomson was at this time an infidel. Mr. James Thomson strongly denies this charge. He says: “T was sorry to read in the obituary published in a New York newspaper that my brother Edward was at one time an infidel. This is too sweeping a charge, and unjust. The truth of the matter is simply this: When he commenced the study of medicine he was very young. He went to Pennsylvania, and studied with a celebrated physician, who, we learned after- ward, was an avowed infidel, When my brother re- turned home he seemed to be blinded or befogged on the subject of religion. But my father and mother, who understood him well, had no fears of their son’s ever embracing such pernicious doctrine. Knowing his investigating turn of mind, they believed that he 22 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. . would never entertain wrong views on any subject, especially on that of religion, but would make a thorough and prayerful investigation of the matter. The result was as they had anticipated, his firm and abiding belief in Christianity.” Dr. Thomson himself ascribes the occasion of his awakening to a sermon delivered by the Rev. Russel Bigelow, the unrivaled orator of Ohio Methodism. The young physician had been called to make a pro- fessional visit to a camp-meeting in progress three miles south of Wooster, late in the Summer of 1829. The horn blew for preaching just as he was about to leave the ground ; but the urgent and polite invitation of friends in whose families he was physician con- strained him to remain for one service. Three preach- ers sat in the stand—Adam Poe, Henry Colclazer, and Russel Bigelow. The doctor was in hope that either one of the first named would preach; for he had long dreaded the power of Bigelow’s logic and the melting pathos of his appeals. But Bigelow arose. The doctor thus describes the occasion: “ All was stillness and attention when the presid- ing elder stepped forward. His text was, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ As he commenced I determined to watch for his faults; but before he had closed his in- troduction I concluded that his words were pure and well chosen, his accents never displaced, his sentences grammatical, artistically constructed, and well ar- ranged, both for harmony and effect; and when he entered fully upon his subject I was disposed to re- sign myself to the argument, and leave the speaker in the hands of more skillful critics. EARLY MANHOOD. 23 “ Having stated and illustrated his position clearly, he laid broad the foundation of his argument, and piled stone upon stone, hewed and polished, till he stood upon a majestic pyramid, with heaven’s own light around him, pointing the astonished multitude to a brighter home beyond the sun, and bidding de- fiance to the enemy to move one fragment of the rock on which his feet were planted. His argument being completed, his peroration commenced. This was grand beyond description. The whole universe seemed ani- mated by its Creator to aid him in persuading the sinner to return to God, and the angels commissioned to open heaven and come down to strengthen him. “Now he opens the mouth of the pit, and takes us through its gloomy avenues, while the bolts retreat, aud the doors of damnation burst open, and the wail of the lost enters our ears; and now he opens heaven, transports us to the flowery plains, stands us amid the armies of the blest, to sweep, with celestial fingers, angelic harps, and join the eternal chorus, ‘ Worthy, worthy is the Lamb!’ As he closed his discourse, every energy of body and mind was stretched to the utmost power of tension. His soul appeared too great for its tenement, and every moment ready to burst through and soar away as an eagle toward heaven. His lungs labored, his arms rose, the perspiration flowed in a steady stream upon the floor, and every thing about him seemed to say, ‘Oh that my head were waters ! “But the audience thought not of the struggling body, nor even of the giant mind within; for they were paralyzed beneath the avalanche of thought that descended upon them.” 24 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. Dr. Leonard B. Gurley, who also was present, says: “T listened with profound interest to the sermon. It was one of that great man’s great discourses. In its range it swept the whole zodiac of theology. The introduction was exegetical, the body of the ser- mon was ‘logic on fire,’ and the peroration tempest, sunshine, and shower mingled together.” The effect on the mind of Dr. Thomson was such that he left the place convinced of the truth of the Bible, while his heart cried out, “O that I were a Christian.” The doctor rode immediately to his office, and determined there that he would seek religion. But he had a vast amount of reading on some pro- fessional subjects which had been laid out for some months, and this would take up all the time he had at command. Yet he said to himself, “On the first day of the next year I will seek the Lord.” And fearing he might forget the day thus fixed he con- cluded to write it in his note-book. Not finding any _ ink he took out his lancet, opened a vein in his own arm, and dipping his quill in the blood, wrote his determination in red letters on the page of his pocket memorandum. The time came, but he had lost the feelings of deep concern which he had when he made the bloody entry in his book. Thus he put off the period of seeking his salvation from month to month for more than two years. Finally, on the morning of Sunday, December 11, 1831, he was reading in the Epistle of James, when he came to the words, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given » EARLY MANHOOD. 25 him,” he fell upon his knees and asked in faith. Nor did he arise till his soul was renewed in the divine likeness. The evening of the next day he attended a class-meeting in Wooster, at the house of C. Eyster, and made a public acknowledgment of his trust in Christ. On Friday evening, the 16th, he attended a prayer-meeting in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Wooster, and when the opportunity was offered, he united with the Methodist society at that place, then served by the Rev. Henry O. Sheldon. His union with the Methodists was very distaste- ful to his parents, and particularly to his father, who threatened to disinherit him for the act. Methodism in Ohio, at that time, had no fine churches or wealthy adherents, being mostly the faith of the poor and the less intelligent classes; and Benjamin Thomson felt that it was a great step downward socially and intel- lectually, and almost a disgrace to the family name, for one of his children, particularly the most promis- ing of all, to ally himself with the despised people. But Edward felt, as he says in his essay “On Meth- odism,” that “it was in these societies that the un- watchful were warned, the erring reproved, the igno- rant instructed, the vicious reclaimed, the mourner com- forted, the fainting encouraged, and all blessed and built up in the most holy faith ; while affection cemented each to the other, and revived those scenes of primi- tive Christianity which made the enemies of Jesus say, ‘See how these Christians love.’ ” Often afterwards he said that he “joined the Meth- odists because they made a business of religion.” Before his six months of probation expired the young doctor received a call from God to preach the Gospel. 3 26 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. But he told it to no one. Others, however, felt that his prayers were so spiritual, his talks in class-meet- ing so thoughtful, his manner of speech so impressive, that surely he must be a chosen vessel of the Lord. On one occasion Mr. Sheldon, his pastor, questioned him quite closely on the subject. .And immediately thereafter this clergyman gave him a license to exhort, which bears the date April 30, 1832. The day prior to this date he had been baptized by his pastor, by immersion, in Kilbuck Creek. For several months he retained something of the Baptist prejudice toward this mode of administering this ordinance, and also against infant baptism. But thor-- ough investigation convinced him of his error. From this time Mr. Sheldon gave much attention to the young exhorter, and took him with him frequently in the rounds of the Wooster Circuit. Many deprecated the association of the polished convert with this peculiar pioneer preacher. Henry O. Sheldon had many eccentricities, yet he was well posted in the history, doctrine, and usages of the Church, and was a zealous and useful minister. He was a fine penman, and for several years served the Ohio Conference as secretary. He was a wise coun- selor in the things of God, and could appreciate the genius and promise of the young doctor; and in after years Edward Thomson was his fast friend, and often assisted him in various ways, never forgetting the service Mr, Sheldon had rendered him as a spiritual adviser at the time when he was inquiring the way of the Lord. FIRST CIRCUIT. 27 CHAPTER III. FIRST CIRCUIT. N July 1, 1832, Edward Thomson was licensed to preach, and recommended by the quarterly conference of Wooster Circuit, for admission on trial into the Ohio Annual Conference. Two days after receiving his license he preached his first sermon in a grove near Wooster. The effect of it was such that, at its close, sixty-five penitents presented themselves at the altar for prayers, and forty-five of them joined the Church. Dr. Thomson now concluded that he must give up the practice of medicine and devote his whole time to the work of the ministry. As soon as this decision was announced at home his father was deeply grieved, and said, “You are very foolish to abandon the profession of medicine, for which you have been educated, and in the practice of which you have been successful, and to enter another for which you are not qualified. Heretofore I have cherished strong hopes for you, but such vacillation does not augur well for the future ; but if you persist in refusing to follow the advice of your father in this matter, and are determined to be a clergyman, do not think of joining a Methodist Conference. They will put you on a large circuit. You will have hard work and poor pay, and, above all, the poorest social and literary advantages. If you 28 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. feel that you can not enter the ministry of the Church in which you have been reared, go to the Presbyte- rians or the Episcopalians, and let your association be with a cultured denomination. Then I shall have, no cause to be ashamed of you.” __ The doctor’s mother remonstrated with her hus- band, and said, “Let us not say too much for fear we may be found fighting against the Lord.” But Edward could go nowhere and be happy except among the Methodists, and, in after years, both his parents became reconciled to their son’s action. On the first Monday of September the young local preacher, who was now nearly twenty-two years old, started on horseback for Dayton, where the Ohio Conference was to convene on the 19th of that month. The doctor had been, prior to his conversion, a fashionable young man, and dressed according to his rank in society. Now finger-rings, breastpins, and ruffled shirts were laid aside, and he put on the peculiar garb of a Methodist preacher—a broad- brimmed hat, round-breasted coat, and close-cut pan- taloons, all of somber drab shade, with no vest, cra- vat, or other adornments. It was a wonderful change for him. Look at him as he dismounts at the door of the Dayton church. He is five feet six inches high, and weighs one hundred and twenty pounds. His features, however, are attractive; forehead full, dark gray eyes, nose large and straight, mouth large and lips well made, chin slightly projecting, com- plexion a fine brunette, with dark brown hair, neatly parted on the left side, and combed behind his ears. At this time the Ohio Conference embraced nearly the whole of the State of Ohio, the peninsula of Mich- FIRST CIRCUIT. 29 igan, and a part of Virginia. Various candidates for admission from different parts of this large field pre- _ sented themselves at Dayton. Of them the following were admitted on trial: Obadiah Johnson, F. A. Tim- ~ mons, L. L. Hamline, D. G. Deeter, John Kinnear, L. D. Whitney, Daniel Poe, Robert Cheney, 8. G. Patterson, Joseph M. McDowell, Edward Thomson, M. Swift, E. Zimmerman, P. Sharp, David Reed, E. D. Roe, H. M. Shaffer, John Hasty, A. Dixon, W. Westlake, Hugh Dodds, George Smith, A. B. El- liot, Zachariah Games, W. P. Strickland, B. Ellis, and W.S. Thornburg. Nearly all of this large class reached the rank of elder in four years, and some afterwards attained eminence in the Church. Most prominent of these was L. L. Hamline, who, in 1841, became editor of the Ladies’ Repository, and, in 1844, a bishop. Dr. Thomson remained on trial in the Ohio Conference three years, and was ordained deacon in 1835. In 1837 he was ordained elder, being then a member of the Michigan Conference. At the close of thissession (1832), Bishop Emory, who presided, read ont the name of Dr. Thomson in connection with Norwalk Circuit, H. O. Sheldon being senior preacher, and W. B. Christie, one of the great pulpit orators of that time, presiding elder. The bishop’s own description of his start in the itinerant life is as follows: “Riding up to the door of my spiritual father, I awaited instructions. ‘ Now,’ said the senior minister, ‘call on , a merchant at N. Stay with P. all night, etc.” ‘Nay, I can not take such liberties.’ ‘But,’ responded the senior, ‘the Church pays not 30 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. unnecessary expenses. Moreover, if you avoid the brethren, you will be considered proud, and that will bar access to the people’s hearts.’ ‘Well, I’ll try.’” The bishop then describes himself in the third person. “With fear and trembling, and many distracting doubts of his call to the ministry, and many depress- ing thoughts of his deficiencies, he rode out twenty miles through the woods, whose howling winds and falling and fading leaves were in harmony with his melancholy feelings, when he emerged into the beau- tiful village of N. In a hesitating manner he rode up to the door of Brother Unpleasant were his feelings as he saw the merchant carelessly eying him through his store window while he hitched his horse to the post. Entering the store with all the confidence he could command, he introduced himself as the colleague of Brother S., and stated that he had called by request to present his friend’s regards. Hav- ing asked and answered a few questions concerning his circuit and colleague, he seated himself in a chair by the stove, where, after he had ‘ mused till the fire burned,’ he rose to depart. As he passed out, the merchant dryly asked him if he would stay to dinner, but the young man thanked him and said he would - go a little farther. As he mounted his horse he found it difficult to dam up his tears or press down the feelings which choked him. Seated in his saddle, he said within himself, ‘This is the ‘first and last Meth- odist tavern I call at.’ So, spurring his pony, he moved in a direct line toward a sign-post. “On his way to it, as he passed with averted face the store of another Methodist merchant, whom he knew no better than the first, he heard a voice calling FIRST CIRCUIT. 31 him. Turning around, he saw this merchant moving toward him, and by the time he could stop his horse, he found one hand of his new friend on the bridle- rein, and the five fingers of the other feeling for his own right hand, which was destined to a painful squeeze. ‘Dismount, dismount,’ said the merchant, “no excuses.’ “Soon the young captive was ushered through the store to the parlor, and before he could be fairly seated, he saw through the back window his little bay nag trotting towards the stable. He was asked noth- ing about dinner except to say grace when it was ready.” This was his first day of itinerant experience, and in it he saw something of the lights and shadows of itinerant life. ; His first field of labor was a large four weeks’ cir- cuit, bordering on Lake Erie, and had for its chief town Norwalk, the seat of the seminary, of which, a few years later, he became principal. The country embraced was comparatively new, and most of the religious meetings were held in school-houses and private dwellings. The late Rev. Leonard B. Gurley writes of him at this time: “In personal appearance he was so del- icate and diffident that at first sight the sympathy and fears of the people were awakened lest he should fail in his attempts to preach. But when he opened his lips, apparently without effort, beautiful thoughts clothed in golden words fell on the charmed ears of the audience. Among the preachers’ homes on this circuit was the residence of my father, the Rev. Will- iam Gurley, a local elder. As he was a veteran, 32 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. who received his first license to preach from Mr. Wesley himself in Ireland, the doctor was delighted with his company and conversation. After hearing Thomson preach, my father said: ‘He is a small man, but, mark my word, he will yet become a great one.’ The words were truly prophetic.” Concerning the result of his first year’s ministry, Dr. Thomson writes: “Sometimes sweltering undera July sun, and some- times almost frozen,-I rode over the prairies. . . . I received seventy-five dollars for my labor, and shortly after gave a subscription of fifty dollars for the first Methodist seminary of learning in Ohio; but I have nothing but thanks for the kindness of my first circuit.” As to pulpit preparations, Dr. Thomson was care- ful from the beginning. Frequently he wrote his sermons in full, but rarely used manuscript in the pulpit. He always loved to write, and to him thinking was not a task, but a pleasure. In youth he formed habits of reflection. By this first year of intellectual work he illustrated his own words: “Reflection is more important than reading; as in the physical, so in the moral world, industry must be incorporated with our treasures to give them value. Reflection is the mint which selects, refines, classifies, appropriates, and stamps our knowledge, and fills the mouth with golden words; without it knowledge is rubbish, and study a weariness of the flesh.” He sought to cultivate the memory, the imagina- tion, and especially the reasoning powers. He en- deavored to abstract himself from surrounding objects, that he might study more thoroughly the mysteries of the inner world. For well he knew that “habitual FIRST CIRCUIT. 33 inattention to the outer world greatly promotes atten- tion to the inner. The more we live the life of sen- sation, the less we do the life of reflection.” Dr. Thomson’s so-called absent-mindedness, which was sometimes a cause of worry to his friends, must be attributed to this desire of his soul to study grand and glorious spiritual things rather than be attracted by the trivial incidents that were going on around him. He was economical of time. Thus he became a scholar whose researches were extended over a wide range. He did just what he advised others to do: “Take no more time for any object than is nec- essary for its accomplishment. Let the time for a given labor be fully consumed therein, while the full energies of your souls are brought to bear upon it with all the requisite advantages; such as silence, books, physical comfort. Do every thing by system. .Divide the day, and assign to each duty its metes and bounds. In a life thus regulated the whole com- munity of sciences may dwell in harmony, and derive mutual advantages from their very neighborhood. As, however, the customs of society will not allow you to make such a division with exactness, it is nec- essary that you acquire the habit of using fragments of time. Fortunes have been made from the shavings of horn. Time is money, and who shall duly esti- mate the value of its clippings?” He was at this time, as ever after, a great reader. But he read not all books. He was as careful of his mental food as a dyspeptic of his diet. He read’ nothing out of curiosity, but always with a desire that he might grow better and wiser. And from his own experience he gives this advice: 34 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. “ Books are indispensable for instruction, amuse- ment, the formation of style, and the supply of mental stimulus; they must, however, be selected with cau- tion. The press, by the power of steam, is wheeling off cart-loads every moment ; yet the world, like the grave in a pestilence, stands with its mouth wide open, and cries not, It is enough. That this mass is all to be rejected, ’t were madness to affirm. Much of the periodical literature of the day and many of its books are rich and instructive; but the precious must be separated from the vile, and the greater the prepon- derance of the latter over the former, the more difficult the task. A few hints only will be given. Old works are better than new. Old writers, like the bottles of old doctors, generally contain multum in parvo; but many of the mental quacks of our day compose ac- cording to the following receipt: Take of words, one hogshead ; of understanding, one drop; of human depravity and coloring matter, a sufficient quantity. Mix, and filter through green or yellow paper. And although they get certificates of the clergy, on whom they practice gratuitously, it is perfectly safe to let their ‘ eye-waters’ alone. “The contempt I have for the novels of the time is not indiscriminate. The pages of Sir Walter Scott, I doubt not, are enchanting, although I have never felt their power; but I have yet to learn who has been made better or wiser by their perusal, while I suppose that their tendency is the reverse of mental discipline—to relax the energies, intoxicate the reason, and fill the fancy with dreams of rapture and of an- guish. It may be asked how I know their effects, never having felt them. Just as I know the proper- FIRST CIRCUIT. 35 ties of arsenic without ever having tasted it. What need we of the literature of a superficial and hurried age, when we have at command the works of Greece, Rome, and England, elaborated respectively in -the Homeric, the Augustan, and Elizabethan periods ?— above all, the oldest of all writings, which, blending philosophy and poetry in union, and affording mingled instruction and delight in forms ever varying, with ever-increasing charms, gleams at every re-perusal with new glimpses of the mind of God ?” The Bible, Milton, Shakspeare, and the classic authors were the books which he mainly read and studied at this time. And thus, as he rode over his large .circuit, he coined the golden ore dug out of them into the current coin of his own mintage. 36 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. CHAPTER IV. FIRST YEARS IN THE MINISTRY, T the session of the Ohio Conference held in Cin- cinnati in 1833, Edward Thomson was stationed at Sandusky City, then, as now, an important place on the shores of Lake Erie. Here he was thrown again into the constant society of his old friend Shel- don, who was now the presiding elder of Portland District, of which Sandusky was the leading station. In this field of labor he sustained himself so ably and his usefulness and eloquence became so well known that at the next conference, held at Circleville in 1834, he was sent to Cincinnati, where the best talent was demanded. Joseph M. Trimble was his senior colleague. Mr. Trimble was of tall, wiry frame, classic features, and noble bearing. He was one of the finest. pulpit ora- tors of that time, a few years the senior of Thomson, both in years and in conference rank, and a watueble and inspiring associate. The intimacy which now began between these two ministers was most sweet and brotherly, and grew in depth and tenderness till death severed the tie. Mr. Trimble rose to prominence, filling high posi- tions in the pastorate and presiding over districts. He was for several years secretary of the Ohio Con- ference, and afterwards served in the same capacity FIRST YEARS IN THE MINISTRY. 37 in the General Conference. From 1860 to 1864 he was one of the missionary secretaries. Many years ago he became a Doctor of Divinity. He has been highly honored by the Ohio Conference, and has con- ferred honor upon it, having been elected by that body a delegate eleven times to the General Confer- ence. Mr. Trimble being the preacher in charge in Cincinnati, Dr. Thomson was relieved of many cares that he had borne at Sandusky, and this gave him time to pursue again his medical studies, for which he still retained a fondness. He took a full course of lectures at the Cincinnati College of Medicine, and received the degree of M. D. from that institution. At this time the faculty was small but abie. Daniel Drake was dean and professor of theory and practice ; 8. D. Gross, who afterwards became the most skillful surgeon of the country, was professor of anatomy; Joseph N. McDowell, of chemistry ; Horatio G. Jam- eson, of surgery; Landon C. Rives, of obstetrics; James B. Rogers, of pharmacy; and John P. Har- rison, of Materia Medica. He never regretted the time spent in association with these men, and within the walls of that college. Though he reviewed the various systems of medicine, he was a confirmed believer in the old-school practice. In after years he permitted the practice of homeopathy in his family ; yet he often laughed about it, saying, “ Little pills are good for children, or for old women, when there is nothing the matter.” But for himself, his favorite remedy was the “blue mass.” It was from this early and thorough study of medicine that he was led to think so much on scien- tific subjects, and use so many beautiful illustrations 38 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. drawn from chemistry, physiology, and anatomy in his lectures and sermons. While Dr. Thomson was in Cincinnati the pre- siding elder of the district was Leroy Swormstedt, one of the “sons of thunder,” and one of the best business men of the Church. His superior talents as a manager of Church interests were properly esteemed when he became chief agent of the Western Method- ist Book Concern. In this metropolis of Ohio Dr. Thomson was very popular, drawing large crowds to his services; and he was appreciated by men of the world as well as by members of the Church. It was hoped that he would be returned the next year; but, his father hav- ing died a few weeks before conference, it was desired by his mother that he come to Wooster, and assist her in the administration of the estate. Hence, at his request, he was sent, at the conference in 1835, to his old home, with William Runnels, a nde hearted, strong-minded man, as senior preacher, and Adam Poe, afterward, for many years, one of the book agents at Cincinnati, as presiding elder. The next year (1836) the Michigan Conference was set off from the Ohio, and Edward Thomson fell into the northern division. He was stationed at De- troit, with William Herr as presiding elder. Detroit was then the capital as well as metropolis of Michi- gan, and the most important station in the conference. It was also a seat of fashion; and when the young minister appeared in the peculiar garb of a Methodist preacher, many of the good sisters were ashamed of him. When they heard his first sermon, their shame was turned to pride. But they determined that he FIRST YEARS IN THE MINISTRY. 39 should no longer be disfigured by the odd-looking coat and homely hat, and before a second Sunday they made him a present of a fine broadcloth suit, of fashionable cut, and gently suggested that they did not like the appearance of the old one. The dactor could, of course, do nothing but accept and use their present. Here his power of oratory was displayed in its best style. He had a highly cultured auditory to please, and he rose equal to the demand. The dis- tinguished Lewis Cass, Governor Brown, and others of intelligence and culture, were among his auditors. Here he wrote some of his best discourses, and deliv- ered them in his best style; so that his popularity was unbounded. He had a silvery tongue, a mag- netic eye, and an impassioned delivery. Sometimes he would so charm an audience as to take it appar- ently beyond the range of time and sense, while he drew the most brilliant pictures of the imagination, carrying his hearers to the pearly gates, through the golden streets, and seating them on the banks of the river, under the shade of the tree of life; or, with equal artistic power, he would lead them to the abodes of the lost, and ask them to listen to the groans of agony, the yells of madness, and the cries of despair. The impressions made were not merely temporary ; for blessed revival influences attended his ministry. At the conference of 1837, held at Detroit, he was reappointed to that station, and thus remained two years, at that time the limit of the pastoral term. Great was the regret of his congregation when obliged to part with him. The people of Detroit have ever 40 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. since held him in the highest estimation; and the recollection of his work among them was always to him a source of pleasure. While he was pastor here he was married, and, in the ‘Summer of the first year, led to the parsonage his young and interesting bride. He had made the acquaintance of Maria Louisa Bartley while he was on Wooster Circuit, having been introduced to her by his presiding elder, at a camp-meeting held near Mans- field in the Summer of 1836. Miss Bartley was then a flaxen-haired, blue-eyed, laughing girl of sixteen years. Yet she was religious, and was an ardent Methodist. Her father, Hon. Mordecai Bartley, was a man of wealth and political influence. He was a Virginian by birth, and possessed an excellent English education. For eight years he had been a member of Congress, representing the Thirteenth Ohio District, which then included the large and important counties of Cuyahoga, Lorain, Medina, Huron, Seneca, San- dusky, and Richland. He was a good public speaker, and an excellent writer. His political documents were among the ablest prepared at that time in the Buckeye State. In 1842 he was elected governor of Ohio on the Whig ticket. The triumph of Mr. Bart- ley over his Democratic opponent was regarded as a compliment to his popularity and ability as a political manager. His son, Thomas W. Bartley, was at this time the acting governor of the State, and, although only thirty years of age, was one of the leading men of the Democratic party. Wilson Shannon, who was chosen governor at the previous election, had resigned his office to become United States minister to Brazil, and this left the gubernatorial chair to the younger FIRST YEARS IN THE MINISTRY. 41 Bartley, who was speaker of the State Senate, and as such empowered to act as governor. When the inau- guration of Mordecai Bartley as governor took place the son gracefully vacated the chair of State for his father. Maria Bartley, being the youngest of the family, was the pet of all. Her childhood life was spent ona farm. When she was thirteen her father moved to Mansfield to give the younger members of the family the benefit of the school at that place. In a year’s time she went through the studies as far as the classes were taken, and she was then sent to Norwalk Seminary, where she became a good scholar in higher English, French, music, painting, and drawing. Here and elsewhere aie was ever after much in society and was remarkable for her sprightliness and vivacity. At Mansfield and at Norwalk she listened to the Gospel truth as presented by such able men as Bige- low, Christie, and Adam Poe, and before she was fifteen years old she was led to Christ, and united with the Methodist Church. Within a year thereafter she was instrumental in bringing her father, mother, and other members of the family into the Church. On July 4, 1837, she was married to Dr. Thomson. She knew what she was likely to undergo in consenting to become the wife of a Methodist preacher ; yet, after fully counting the cost, she freely gave herself up to the itinerancy, with all its toils and privations. Nor did she ever regret making this choice, but with a true Christian spirit cheerfully endured all for Christ’s sake. Her pleasant face, attractive manners, intelli- gence, culture, and social standing were of great help to her husband in his early ministry. 4 42 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. CHAPTER V. AT NORWALK SEMINARY. T the Conference of 1838, held in Tiffin, Ohio, Edward Thomson was appointed principal of Norwalk Seminary. Here he began his literary ca- reer and his work as an educator, for which he seems to have been especially fitted by nature and by grace, and in which he was destined to achieve such brill- iant success. Some of his friends felt that he ought not to leave the pastorate, and that he was not qualified for the place, since he had never been a teacher of youth. He, however, entered upon the duties of the position with a modest, yet cheerful, confidence in his ability to achieve success. He knew, perhaps, better than any one else what he lacked of the requisite qualifications, and applied himself diligently to the study of those branches of learning with which he was not sufficiently familiar ; and with his close thought, quick perception, retentive memory, and untiring application he became well rounded in all the departments of scholastic knowl- edge. And thus he pursued his studies, ever adding to his stock of literary and scientific acquisitions, and never forgetting what he learned. He made himself proficient in belles-lettres and psychology, two de- partments in which he was specially interested ; but whatever he studied he mastered. AT NORWALK SEMINARY. 43 He was an attentive reader of history, and wherever he traveled in after years he called up with pleasure and with ease the various associations of places and of men and the incidents connected with them. When he was at the great city of the Turks his mind re- viewed its entire history. Thus he writes: ““What a crowd of historical associations arise as we survey Constantinople, the Byzantine, Roman, and Latin empires, of which it has successively been the seat; the councils of the Church held within its walls; the earthquake which, in the fifth century, shook its foundations; the plague which, in the ninth, swept away three hundred thousand of its inhabitants; the storming of its gates in the fifteenth, which trans- ferred it to the Turks; and the eagerness with which it has been watched and the zeal with which it has been fought over in later years by the great nations of the earth! Its very name brings before us one of the greatest characters of history, who reared the Cross over the Roman legions, and con- structed a government and court that have been the model for all modern European monarchies.” It was late in the Autumn of 1838 that Dr. Thom- son went to Norwalk. Alexander Nelson, afterwards a traveling preacher, and now an honored member of the North Ohio Conference, worthily bearing the title of Doctor of Divinity, accompanied him as assistant teacher. _ To Dr. Nelson the author is indebted for many facts, hereafter stated, relative to the seminary. The opening of the school had been delayed because the new building was not ready for occu- pancy. From 1833 to 1836 a school, called the Nor- walk Seminary, had been kept here under the prin- 44 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. cipalship of Rev. Jonathan E. Chaplin, a gentleman of fine parts, who for several years had been a mem- ber of the bar, but was then a minister and an edu- cator. He was aided by a select number of com- petent teachers, and good, efficient work was done during those years. But on the night of the 26th of February, 1836, the building in which the classes met for instruction took fire and was reduced to ashes, including school books, library, and apparatus. The loss was three thousand dollars, and there was no insurance. This was a severe blow to the institution, as it had no endowment, and it was considered doubt- ful whether an edifice of sufficient dimensions and such as the times demanded, could now be erected. But the friends of education thought it too great an enterprise to be allowed to fail without proper effort to rebuild. Hence with commendable zeal the work was undertaken and in due time accomplished. The new building was forty by eighty feet, three stories high. The two sections on the lower floor contained each a school-room and two recitation- rooms. In the second story were two large rooms, one for chapel purposes, the other for the ladies’ classes. The third story was divided into dormitories. When the new teachers arrived the seminary build- ing was only inclosed ; hence the school term had to be opened in a private dwelling. The pupils at first were twenty or twenty-five boys from the village of Norwalk. In the course of two months the school-room in the west wing and two recitation-rooms were finished and furnished, and the school was transferred to the new building. By the end of the year the entire edifice was completed and occupied. In the Autumn of 1839 the AT NORWALK SEMINARY. 45 ladies’ department was opened with Mrs. A. Nelson as preceptress, and Miss A. E. Morrison, her sister, as assistant—ladies of superior qualifications, who had had experience in teaching in the Eastern States, The seminary, which had been increasing in num- bers and popularity, now took advanced ground, and became more generally known and patronized. The Catalogue of 1842 sums up the number of 265 male and 126 female students, making the total number for the year 391. The departments of teaching at first took a wide range, all the branches of study being attended to by the two first instructors. But after-- wards, as teachers were added, the number of classes to each was reduced. Hence, at first, Dr. Thomson’s department -was belles-lettres, physics, and Latin ; Mr. Nelson’s was mathematics, natural science, and Greek. Thomas J. Pope, an advanced scholar, sub- sequently a member of the North Ohio Conference, was engaged to teach some classes, and afterwards James Mitchell, an adept in mathematics, was em- ployed, and E. W. Done was made assistant in the lower English branches. H. S. Bradley was soon secured to occupy the east room on the lower floor. He subsequently entered the ministry, and rose to great usefulness in the Central Ohio Conference. A Mr. Sayre, a graduate of Kenyon College, was employed, but after a few months he took a fever and died. Then a Mr. Olney, a graduate of the Ohio University, at Athens, Ohio, was engaged. After a short time he resigned, to prepare .himself for the ‘ministry at Lane Seminary, Cincinnati; but he died before he was able to enter upon his ministerial duties. Shortly after this, Rev. Holden Dwight and 46 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. lady, Eastern teachers, came to Norwalk, and were added to the teaching force at the seminary. In the Fall of 1842 Mr. Nelson and wife received an urgent call from the trustees of Worthington Fe- male Seminary to come and take charge of that insti- tution, which was under the supervision of the Ohio Conference. After due deliberation, they accepted the invitation, tendered their resignation to the trus- tees of Norwalk Seminary, and their connection with the latter was dissolved. In after years Mr. Nelson entered the ministry, and became a popular pastor on the most important stations. He was twice a dele- gate to the General Conference, and wherever he was placed was a useful instrament in the hands of God. Holden Dwight and wife took the places of Mr. and Mrs. Nelson when they departed for Worthington. For a few months Mrs. Thomson, the wife of the principal, acted as preceptress and teacher of French. The trustees at this time were Timothy Baker, Platt Benedict, A. E. Sutton, D. Squire, Thos. Dunn, and Walter Osburn. Tuition in the primary depart- ment was $2.00 a quarter; higher English, $4.00; mathematics, $5.00; Latin and Greek, $5.00; French, Spanish, and Italian, $5.00; ornamental branches, $5.00; music on piano, $10.00. A historical and geological society was established in April, 1842, with A. Nelson, president, and H. Dwight, secretary. A literary association, known as the “ Athenian Society,” was formed among the stu- dents, and for a series of years was continued with great profit to those who took part in its exercises. Among those who composed it we find the names of L. A. Hine, L. B. Otis, W. H. Hopkins, and others AT NORWALK SEMINARY. 47 7 who subsequently made their mark upon the world as men of mind and worth. In 1840 the North Ohio Conference was organ- ized, and Edward Thomson was elected its first sec- retary. He was well qualified for such a position, Accurate, careful, and an excellent penman, all his minutes were well kept. He held the place four years, and then declined a re-election. In 1842 the Ohio Wesleyan University was char- tered by the Legislature, and was located in Dela- ware, near the center of the State. At the first meeting for business of the Board of Trustees Dr. Thomson was elected president of the institution. But as nothing was contemplated for the present except a preparatory school, the services of the doctor were not immediately required ; hence he continued as prin- cipal at Norwalk for a time longer. The finances of the seminary were at this time in a bad condition. The debts of the old building, to- gether with those of the new, became so oppressive that the minds of the trustees were filled with appre- hension. For the purpose of aiding the trustees to meet their pressing demands, a society was organized in the Autumn of 1842, known as the Norwalk Edu- cation Society, the object of which was to raise funds for the liquidation of the debt of the seminary. Rev. Adam Poe was elected president, and other officers and agents were appointed: But the funds came in tardily and in small amounts, and the debts still re- mained, growing more and more burdensome. In the Fall of 1843 the North Ohio Conference elected its first delegates to the General Conference, and Edward Thomson, the youngest member of the 48 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. delegation, was the first chosen. The other delegates were elected in this order: John H. Power, Adam Poe, Elmore Yocum, and William Runnells; reserve delegates, H. M. Shaffer and L. B. Gurley. The attachment of Dr. Thomson to Ohio and to his conference was very decided. It is, perhaps, not gen- erally known that two very tempting offers were made him while at Norwalk, either of which, if accepted, would have deprived the Ohio Conference of his in- estimable services. Transylvania University and the State University of Michigan both invited him to fill the highest chairs they had to offer; namely, the presidency of the former and the chancellor’s position in the latter. His salary at Norwalk at that time was but six hundred dollars, while either of the places offered would have given two or three times that sum at least. Dr. L. B. Gurley says: “JT was his near neighbor at Norwalk and his presiding elder. He showed me the first invitation, and asked my advice. I referred to the condition of the South. The slave question was then being agi- tated. I dreaded the influence of a residence in a slave State, and urged him to give a prompt refusal, which he did. The proposal from Michigan came not long after. He was very much inclined to ac- cept ; but the General Conference was to meet in the following May, and I advised him to wait until it was over, and to say that, unless the General Confer- ence disposed of his services otherwise, he would accept.” At the General Conference of 1844, L. L. Ham- line, editor of the Ladies’ Repository, was elected one of the bishops of the Church, and the friends of Dr. AT NORWALK SEMINARY. 49 Thomson in the delegation from the North Ohio Con- ference immediately put him in nomination for the chair which was thus vacated. The doctor was al- ready known as a good writer. He had contributed articles to the Church periodicals, and one or two of his addresses had been printed and circulated in pamphlet form. In the East he was then but little known; but as he was named for the editorship by Ohio delegates, and Ohio was then as now strong in strong men, Dr. Thomson was elected. At the close of the academic year he tendered his resignation of the principalship, with great regret on the part of all. A gentleman of Norwalk, well versed in all matters pertaining to educational interests, and especially to Norwalk Seminary, speaking of Dr. Thomson, says: “ He was a man of fine literary at- tainments, of ripe scholarship, of pleasing address, of refined and gentlemanly manners, and of purity of life and character.” Referring to this opinion, Dr. A. Nelson says: ‘“ He also might have added, for management of scholars and power over youth, exer- cised with prudence and skill, he was rarely ever equaled, and never excelled.” The Rev. John Burgess, M. D., of Keokuk, Iowa, furnishes a description of the doctor at Norwalk: “In 1839 I entered the Norwalk Seminary in Huron County, Ohio, under the presidency of Dr. Edward Thomson. Never can I forget the noble re- ception and kindly welcome I received, when I handed him a letter from my father, committing me to his special care. No parent could have shown more in- terest for my physical, intellectual, and spiritual ad- vancement than did he during all the time of my 5 50 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. attendance at school. He and his amiable wife cor- dially received me at their house and to their table. The doctor, in addition to all my regular class ad- vantages, took me under his private instruction, and at extra hours heard me recite to him; so that, at a much earlier date, he advanced me to higher classes than I otherwise would have reached. Never did I know any person more attentive to the welfare and progress of all his students. “During these years, as he influenced hundreds of youthful minds, his own intellect was visibly ex- panding, and all seemed to see him rise in his mental powers toward the heights he afterward attained. He was a fluent and mighty writer, and an unsurpassed, if ever equaled, governor and instructor of the young. At times the doctor, in his ardent search after knowl- edge—for he was always a diligent student—appeared so engrossed that it was intimated by some he would eventually lose his mind. At times when pursuing a thought, or, as he once remarked, ‘adding thought to thought,’ he would apparently forget almost every thing else. We give two or three instances. Once our class in Latin was reciting. Each of us five had read and interpreted his part. When the last had finished we were all in silence, perhaps for five min- utes. The long pause seemed heavy to us; then, all at once, the doctor lifted his eyes, and said: ‘ Gentle- men, why do you not proceed? Whose turn is next?’ We all replied that we had gone through with our parts. Hesmilingly said: ‘O, excuse me, gentlemen ; I was following the writer’s thoughts. Please read it over. We all, with him, had a merry laugh over the matter. At another time, after we had recited to him AT NORWALK SEMINARY. 51 in his private room, as our hour was from 11 A. M. to 12 M., the bell began ringing for noon; and then, without his saying to us, as was his ctstom, ‘You may retire, gentlemen,’ he rose up, took his hat, walked to the door, passed out, turned the key, and left us in the study—so intensely was he engaged in pursuing the subject of his thoughts. His excellent wife was often amused at his mental abstractions, from his in- cessant application and‘ deep searchings after knowl- edge. He was exceedingly prompt and exact to pay all his little debts ; so,as he passed from the seminary to his home, on one occasion, he saw a farmer passing, whom he owed for a load of hay, and he hastened to get his money and go back and settle the debt. He went into his house, and opened the bureau where he kept his purse ; then, taking it out, he carefully placed his hat in the drawer, and with the purse in his hand went to the door, and out on the step, where, missing his hat, he instantly recovered his thoughts, and at- tended to the matter he had in hand. “For three years or more I sat at his feet, and gathered knowledge and learned wisdom from his lips in the blessed path of humility. His lessons have been to me a glorious barricade, and a perfect delight all my life. I roomed with Rev. Thomas Cooper, of whom the doctor, in his ‘ Biographical Sketches,’ wrote a beautiful and life-like history. He was a young man of estimable character, and the doctor loved and appreciated him. He visited our room often, and on one occasion he dined with us, as we boarded ourselves, and said to us: ‘Gentlemen, I will depend upon you more than any others to see that all things are well regulated in this institution, and that 52 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. good order is kept. Your religious attitude will be to me of great value in conducting the school. I will look to you for assistance.’ “One Sunday, in addressing our class in the sanc- tuary on ‘ Close Thought,’ a lecture which was after- ward published in the Ladies’ Repository, he unfolded those rich thoughts which we recall with delight. He said: ‘ Christianity is supreme love to God in the soul, and it will out. It will make itself manifest in all places, at all times, under all circumstances in pros- perity or adversity, or even at the stake. We can not retain the Jove of God in our souls for selfish pur- poses ; it will out. If we try to hold it within our- selves, our light will be smothered and go out, our profession will be vain. Love dwelling within our souls magnifies God to the world. The world will realize the results of what we feel in our hearts. The holy reflections of divine favor will be seen in all our lives. Can you place powder in that stove, upon the live coals, without an explosion? Neither can you have the love of God in your hearts without its com- ing out of your eyes, out of your mouths. It will be seen in the countenance of every one who possesses it. As the human soul filled with God’s love emits the heavenly sparks, and as we seek the happiness of our fellow-beings, the rainbow of divine promise spans over us as an inspiration to love God and live for heaven.’ “A more gentle-spirited, kind-hearted, transpar- ent, and God-fearing man I never knew, and, outside of our own household, I loved him next to God. If Moses was the meekest man, I think the doctor was second to him in that grace. He always mani- AT NORWALK SEMINARY. 53 fested the simplicity and sweetness of a child in the presence of all, and the wisdom and nobleness of a royal saint. All who had pure intentions were at perfect ease in his presence. “Tn our weekly prayer-meetings, which he always attended, his invocations and remarks were in the sweetness of Christian humility, showing deep expe- rience in the things of God. I have often seen him cross the street to take the hand of a student, and say a pleasant, passing word of encouragement, and never one passed him without the notice of his eye. In him was a mighty power of attraction and of inspiration for all with whom he mingled. He always called me ‘his boy,’ by way of kindly appreciation, and urged me to make my mark high in life. Could I help lov- ing him? At my house, years after I entered the ministry, he spent a night. His talk to, and his prayers for, my little family encouraged us as if an angel had entered our humble home. Years elapsed, and I met him next in Iowa, as a member of his con- ference cabinet. I acted as his private secretary, filling in the names and dates in all his ordination parch- ments. Then, in social counsel alone with him, I enjoyed his precious company, talked over much of the past, and received from him words of inspiration and advice, words of comfort, never to be forgotten. “ Tn the institution of learning he was assisted by three of the choice men of earth, as faithfnl, compe- tent teachers,—Alexander Nelson, Holden Dwight, and Horatio S. Bradley. The doctor there left im- perishable impressions for good upon hundreds of youthful minds and hearts, which are now, and will be for all time, developing for human happiness. He 54 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. touched chords in our hearts which are still vibrating, and will continue through endless ages. Eternity only will circumscribe the gracious influences then set in motion by that holy man of God. O, what gems will sparkle in his crown of rejoicing !” Rev. Holden Dwight, a man of education and scholarly ability, succeeded Dr. Thomson as principal of the Norwalk Seminary; but the claims of the creditors became so pressing and their demands so urgent that nothing would satisfy them but money or the institution itself. Hence, the building was sold for the benefit of the creditors, and Norwalk Semi- nary ceased to exist. Very few, if any, institutions of this grade and length of duration ever turned out more eminent young men or more discreet and well- educated young ladies than did this institution. Every department of society in Ohio, as well as in other States, has been benefited by those who received their training in Norwalk Seminary. Some became statesmen, and entered Congress and the State legis- lative halls. Hon. Charles Foster, late governor of Ohio, obtained all his school education at Norwalk Seminary. Indeed, it was one of the most useful in- stitutions of its day, and accomplished a grand mission. s EDITOR AND COLLEGE PBESIDENT. 55 CHAPTER VI. EDITOR AND COLLEGE PRESIDENT. HEN Dr. Thomson assumed the editorial chair he exhibited the same characteristics of dili- gence and perseverance which he had manifested in other positions. His fondness for writing, his own cultured style of composition, and his excellent liter- ary taste made his career as editor successful. Under his direction the magazine became more popular than before, and at the same time he made himself more widely known as a literary man. But he had served the Church scarcely two years as editor when the trustees of the Ohio Wesleyan University called for his removal to Delaware, to take full charge of that prosperous young institution, of which he had been nominal president for four years. Hence, with the consent of his conference and that of the bishops, he resigned the editorial chair, and B. F. Tefft, D. D., was chosen his successor. Soon after Dr. Thomson’s appointment to the ed- itorship of the Repository, he received the title of Doctor of Divinity from Augusta College, Ken- tucky, and from the Indiana Asbury University. In 1855 the degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by the Wesleyan University, at Middletown, Conn. Allacknowledged that Dr. Thomson possessed supe- rior qualifications for the position of university presi- 56 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. dent. He had been successful as an instructor and school manager at Norwalk. He wasa fine scholar, and had not merely a book acquaintance with the various departments of literature, ethics, and philosophy, but he wasalso a thinker. Above all, he was persevering. He illustrated in himself at Delaware what he thus expresses : “There is scarce any difficulty that can not be overcome by perseverance. Trace any great mind to its culmination, and you will find that its ascent was slow and by natural laws, and that its difficulties were such only as ordinary minds can surmount. Great results, whether physical or moral, are not often the offspring of giant powers. Genius is more frequently a curse than a blessing. Its possessor, relying on his extraordinary gifts, generally falls into habits of indolence and fails to collect the materials which are requisite to useful and magnificent effort. But there is something which is sure of success; it is the determination which, having entered upon a career with full conviction that it is right, pursues it in calm defiance of all opposition. With such a feeling a man can not but be mighty. Toil does not weary, pain does not arrest him. Carrying a compass in his heart which always points to one bright star, he allows no footstep to be taken which does not tend in’ that direction. Neither the heaving earthquake, nor the yawning gulf, nor the burning mountain can terrify him from his course, and if the heavens should fall the shattered ruins would strike him on his way to his object. Show me the man who has this principle, and T care not to measure his blood nor his brains; I ask not his name nor his nation: I pronounce that EDITOR AND COLLEGE PRESIDENT. 57 his hand will be felt upon his generation, and his mind enstamped upon succeeding ages. “This attribute is godlike. It may be traced throughout the universe. It has descended from the skies—it is the great charm of angelic natures. It is hardly to be contemplated even in the demon without admiration. It is this which gives to the warrior his crown, and encircles his brow with a halo that, in the estimation of a misjudging world, neither darkness, nor lust, nor blasphemy, nor blood can obscure.” As so many years of Dr. Thomson’s life were spent in Delaware, it may be well to give here a brief account of the institution with which he was con- nected. In the year 1841 Rev. Adam Poe—then stationed at Delaware—addressed letters to several of his brethren in the North Ohio Conference, stating that the “ White Sulphur Spring property,” adjoining that village, and consisting of a mansion and beau- tiful grounds, tastefully laid out with graveled walks and appropriate shade trees and shrubbery was in mar- ket; and that, if encouraged, the people of Delaware would purchase it and present it to the Methodist Episcopal Church for a seminary or academy. Dr. Thomson responded to Mr. Poe’s letter, saying that the location—so central, so accessible,.and so health- ful—was suitable for a college or university, and that, if the Ohio Conference would unite with the North Ohio, such an institution could be organized, en- dowed, and well sustained. The hint was taken, and the citizens contracted for the purchase of the prop- erty, upon condition that the North Ohio Conference would establish the school, and appointed a committee to present the matter to the conference. The North 58 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. Ohio Conference received the committee with favor, and proposed to the Ohio Conference to become a joint partner with her in the enterprise. Commis- sioners were also appointed to co-operate with sim- ilar commissioners from the Ohio Conference, in case she did. The latter wisely took the precaution of sending a committee to view the property before coming to any conclusion. This committee consisted of Drs. Charles Elliott, W. P. Strickland, and others; their report was favorable, and, having been ably sustained by the chairman, was, with considerable unanimity, adopted. A commission was then appointed with power to negotiate, in conjunction with the commis- sioners of the North Ohio Conference, a transfer of the property. The joint commission, consisting of Jacob Young, Charles Elliott, Joseph M. Trimble, and Edmund W. Sehon, of the Ohio Conference, and John H. Power, Adam Poe, Edward Thomson, Will- iam S, Morrow, and James Brewster, of the North Ohio Conference, met October 13, 1841, and exchanged the necessary papers. They also purchased some ad- joining ground at a cost of five thousand five hun- dred dollars. In’ March, 1842, a charter was obtained from the General Assembly of the State incorporating the “Trustees of the Ohio Wesleyan University,” and securing the institution to the Methodist Episcopal Church by giving perpetuating and visitorial powers to the patronizing conferences. The board met at Ham- ilton, Ohio, on the Ist of October, 1842 ; and having or- ganized by electing ex-Governor Trimble, president, and George B. Arnold secretary, authorized and estab- EDITOR AND COLLEGE PRESIDENT. 59 lished a preparatory school, and elected Dr. E. Thom- son president of the University, and Rev. Solomon Howard principal of the preparatory department, which was at once organized by Mr. Howard. At the third meeting of the board, held in Septem- ber, 1844, Rev. H..M. Johnson was appointed pro- fessor of ancient languages; Rev. Solomon Howard, professor of mathematics ; William G. Williams, prin- cipal of the preparatory department; and Enoch G. Dial, assistant. The salaries paid, or rather promised, to these’ men were gauged by the resources which the board hoped to have at their command at the end of the year. The president’s salary was fixed at $800, the professors were to be paid $600 each, and the teachers in the preparatory department $400 and $350, respectively ; but it was many years before even these meager sala- ries were paid as they became due. Herman M. Johnson, was a graduate of Wesleyan University, Connecticut, and before coming to Dela- ware had held the chair of ancient languages in St. Charles College, Missouri, and in Augusta College, Kentucky. Professor Johnson had abilities as an in- structor of the first order. His mind was analytic, and he had remarkable talent to explain and illus- trate the subject that he taught; his scholarship was broad and thorough. After six years’ service here he accepted the professorship of philosophy in Dick- inson College, and was afterward raised to the presi- dency. In this office he died in 1868. Solomon Howard held the office for only one year. He was subsequently, for some years, principal of the Springfield Female College, and in 1852 be- 60 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. came president of the Ohio University, at Athens. He died in California in 1873. William G. Williams was graduated at Woodward College, in Cincinnati, in 1844, and elected principal of the preparatory department in the university the same year. In 1847 he was promoted to the adjunct pro- fessorship of ancient languages, and in 1850 to the full chair of Greek and Latin languages. This appointment he held until 1864, when his chair was divided, and he became professor of Greek language and literature. In 1856 he became a member of the Central Ohio Conference, of which body he has for twenty-five years acted as secretary, and which he has represented in the General Conference. Enoch G. Dial remained in connection with the institution only a single year. Lorenzo D. McCabe came into the faculty as the successor of Professor Howard. He was born in Ma- rietta in 1818, and graduated at the Ohio University in 1848. He then became a member of the Ohio - Conference, and preached one year; but in the year 1844 he was appointed to the chair of mathematics and mechanical philosophy in his Alma Mater. This place he held one year. In 1845 he was called to the same chair in the Ohio Wesleyan University, and in 1860 was transferred to the chair of Biblical litera- ture and moral science. In 1864, by a rearrangement of the college work, his chair was named that of “ Philosophy.” To this department he has since given his entire services, except in the years 1873 to 1875, during which he was also acting president. Dr. McCabe is a fine orator and an able writer, his best works being the “ Foreknowledge of God” and “ Di- EDITOR AND COLLEGE PRESIDENT. 61 vine Nescience.” He is a member of the Cincinnati Conference, and represented that body in the General Conference of 1864, Frederick Merrick was born in the year 1810, in the State of Connecticut, and was educated at the Wesleyan University, at Middletown. In 1836 he became principal of Amenia Seminary, in New York, and in 1838 professor of natural science in Ohio University, Athens, and a member of the Ohio Con- ference. For one year (1842-3) he was pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Marietta. The next year his conference appointed him financial agent of the institution. In 1845 he was made professor of natural science, and was acting president till Dr. Thomson was inaugurated in 1846. Subsequently (1851) he was transferred to the chair of moral phi- losophy, which he held till 1864, when he sticceeded Dr. Thomson as .president. He retained this office until 1873, when he resigned the presidency, and was appointed lecturer on natural and revealed theology. This relation he still sustains to the institution. Pro- fessor Merrick was offered the honorary degrees of D. D. and LL. D., but declined them both. He has represented his conference in the General Conference, is a fine speaker on the platform and in the pulpit, and is a terse and vigorous writer. During the last few years he has written much and forcibly on moral questions, and, being a thorough prohibitionist, has ably advocated that cause both by pen and speech. William L. Harris was educated at Norwalk Sem- inary, and joined the North Ohio Conference in 1840. He was stationed at Delaware in 1845-6, and here he first became connected with the university as one of 62 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. the teachers of the preparatory department. He taught, however, but one year. After preaching two years at Toledo, he accepted the principalship of Baldwin Institute, at Berea. In 1851 he was recalled to Delaware, as principal of the academica]l depart- ment, and was the next year appointed professor of natural sciences. In this chair he remained eight years, till 1860, when, by the appointment of the General Conference, he became one of the secretaries of the Methodist Missionary Society. He was a member of the General Conference from 1856 to 1872, and was the secretary of that body five terms. In 1872 he was made a bishop, and has become one of the ablest administrators of ecclesiastical affairs. In 1873-4 he made a tour around the world, visiting all the foreign missions of the Church. These professors were assisted by several superior tutors. Edward Clinton Merrick served in this ca- pacity from 1846 to 1849, and again in 1857-8. William D. Godman, the first classical graduate of the institution, taught in the college in 1849 and 1850. Mr. Godman afterward became president of Worth- ington Female-College, professor in the North-west- ern University, professor at Ohio Wesleyan Univer- sity, president of Baldwin University, and of the New Orleans University. Thomas D. Crow, after- wards a prominent Ohio lawyer, was tutor from 1850 to 1852; and Owen T. Reeves in 1850-51. Mr. Reeves also became a practitioner of law after having served two years as principal of Baldwin Institute. In 1877 he became judge of the Eleventh Judicial District of Tliinois and professor of law in Illinois Wesleyan University. In 1878 Monmouth College EDITOR AND COLLEGE PRESIDENT. 63 conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. Samuel W. Williams, a graduate of the university, became tutor in 1851, and remained six years. He after- wards became, under Bishop (then Dr.) Clark, assist- ant editor of the Ladies’ Repository, and continued in that position as long as the magazine was published. He acquired an enviable reputation as a facile writer and painstaking editor. George F. W. Willey, after- wards professor in the Iowa Wesleyan University, was tutor one year, 1851-52; Tullius C. O’Kane, the most brilliant Sunday-school music composer of our Church, from 1852 to 1857; and John Ogden, the great normal specialist, from 1853 to 1855. William F. King, Hiram M. Perkins, and William O. Semans were appointed tutors of mathematics, nat- ural science, and languages respectively, immediately after their graduation in 1857. Mr. King left in 1862, to take a professorship in Cornell College, Iowa. Soon thereafter he became vice-president, and afterwards (1863) the president of the institution. He was made a D. D. by Illinois Wesleyan Univer- sity in 1870. He is a fine speaker and writer. By his able administration he has made Cornell the first college of the State. Tutor Perkins served in this relation for five years, having entire charge of a de- partment one year, during the absence of the pro- fessor. In 1865 he was appointed adjunct professor in mathematics, and in 1867 was promoted to the full chair of mathematics and astronomy, which he has since occupied. Professor Perkins is a member of the Central Ohio Conference. Tutor Semans served for two years, and then entered into business in the West. In 1862 he was appointed professor of natural sci- 64 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. ences in the Ohio Wesleyan Female College. In 1865 / he was invited to a place in the university as adjunct professor. of chemistry, and in 1867 promoted to a full professorship in the same department. In this ‘position he yet remains. In 1875 he was elected mayor of the city of Delaware on the citizens’ ticket, and served two years in this office. William F. Whitlock was graduated in 1859, and was immediately appointed tutor of languages. In 1864 he was promoted to an adjunct professorship of Latin; and in 1866 was made a full professor. When the Ohio Wesleyan Female College was united with the university, he became dean of the ladies’ department in the college. He was made a D. D. by Baldwin University in 1878. He is a member of the North Ohio Conference, and served as a delegate from that body to the General Conference of 1884. He married a sister of Bishop Thomson’s second wife. He_is one of the ablest speakers and best scholars connected with the institution. These are the men who labored with Dr. Thom- son during his presidency to make the Ohio Wesleyan University what it was when he left it, and what it is now. When -he closed his work as president, the institution had been built up to a condition of perma- nence and prosperity, and it had acquired such a rep- utation and obtained such a position among the col- leges that it was regarded among the foremost in the land. It must forever be an educational center of great power and usefulness. Let us look at the material condition of the uni- versity when Dr. Thomson resigned the presidency. The campus is a beautiful grove of twenty acres, in EDITOR AND COLLEGE PRESIDENT. 65 which is a sulphur spring. The chapel building, of Grecian-Doric architecture is of brick and stone— eighty-eight feet by fifty-five, with two stories and a basement. The stories are high and rooms well ar- ranged, The basement story is nine feet high, and is furnished with conveniences for the chemical and physical laboratories. The second story is occupied by recitation-rooms. The third story is the chapel proper, a beautiful room, seventy-one feet by fifty—exclusive of the vestibule—and twenty-three feet high, with an orchestra of ten feet at one extremity and a platform at the other. The entire building bears the name “Thomson Chapel.” On the north side of this building is one of sub- stantial frame, and on the south one of brick, each sixty-two feet by fifty-two, and of the same style and nearly the same height as the central structure. In the rear, east of these, is another brick building not so large, called Morris Hall, and used as a dormitory for those students who wish to board themselves. The library at this time was worth not less than twelve thousand dollars; the museum, including the Prescott and Mann cabinets, about the same amount; and the philosophical and chemical apparatus about half that figure. The total property, aside from endowment, was then valued at eighty-two thousand dollars, and the endowment fund was one hundred and sixteen thousand dollars. There were five professors, three tutors, and five hundred students. But what were the elements of Dr. Thomson’s success ? First, he entertained just views of his position: “The post of college instructor,” he says, “is by no 6 66 IJFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. means an enviable one. The compensation, small; the honors, after death ; the labors, arduous and inces- sant. I know no employment more _heart-trying, spirit-wasting, health-destroying. Were all students amiable, talented, and pious, they would reconcile pro- fessors to their lot; but alas! in this land children are rarely trained by parents in the way that they should go; still we welcome them with hope; we spurn not, without trial, the surly, proud, self-willed youth.” He went into the position fully knowing what he was undertaking, and he entered it with a determination to succeed. Secondly, he devoted all his abilities as a lecturer and as a writer to the institution. His discourses de- livered all over the State, for he traveled in all direc- tions and almost incessantly during vacations, as well as his able articles, appearing in nearly all the newspapers and magazines of the Church, naturally attracted great attention to the institution over which he presided. Many students were thus drawn and friends made for the university. Thirdly, he devoutly believed in a religious educa- tion, and had no confidence in that which was purely secular. He said: “ You may educate your soul without religion, but you will only refine your misery. You may polish your speech without grace, but will only sweeten the food of the undying worm. You may render brilliant the flames that burn within your bosom, but it will be only to add brilliancy to the conflagrations of earth and hell. Am I challenged to a comparison of educated and uneducated states? I accept the challenge. Admitting, for argument’s sake, that some cities of antiquity, where refinement EDITOR AND COLLEGE PRESIDENT. 67 was found, were free from grosser vices, it may be asked, Was not their superiority in moral character owing to their religion? For though paganism is false it has a substratum of truth, and its influences in restraining the multitude are potent. But we challenge Athens or Corinth or Rome, in her atten- uated refinement to escape from the charge of crimi- nality as brutal as disgraced the darkest barbarism that ever found a place on earth. “God has given you a son with all the elements of aman. Day by day you watch and pray over his unfolding powers, and rejoice especially to mark the ideas of right and duty and gratitude, the feeling after God, the aspiration after a better state. How painful would it be to see the light of his fine eye go out, or the power to guide his feet or stretch his arms fail, and then to see the light of reason and imagina- tion and memory slowly extinguished, leaving him an idiot in your arms! But still you could carry him with tenderness if only there were left the idea of right, the power to love the good, to be grateful for your kindness and to breathe after a higher life. But O, to see the light of conscience go out, and though the form of man be left, though the intellect blaze forth with celestial brilliancy, yet the power of self-government and the power of being loved, and the connection with good men and angels, and the sympathy with God is gone! Let us have ‘blue laws,’ puritanical strictness, any thing rather than unedu- cated, neglected, put-out consciences.” Thus entertaining the highest views of the value of the soul he inculcated the proper kind of truth, and insisted on the culture of the whole man. One 68 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. term he felt such a deep responsibility for the souls of his students that he had arrangements made for his classes, and he gave his whole time to the work of pastor, visiting his pupils and praying with them in their rooms. From this grew a wonderful revi- val, in which most of the students who were not already professors of religion, were converted. Fourthly, he was an advocate of the most liberal culture. Young men who went to Delaware expect- ing to stay one year, under his influence were per- suaded to remain until they graduated in the classical course; and they, in turn, became enthusiasts for a thorough education. Dr. T. J. Scott, one of our missionaries in India, and a graduate of the university, says: “ His reputation as an educator and most admira- ble man drew me to the Ohio Wesleyan University in 1856. My first interview with him was with the object of settling a doubt I had as to the propriety of completing the classical course of the university rather than taking the shorter Biblical course in view of gaining time, and thus sooner entering the min- istry. He advised the longer course, and ended by saying, ‘If you were about to set in for a day’s sawing you would gain time and make better work if you would sharpen your saw well before beginning.’ ” Dr. Scott now finds practical use for all the cul- ture and discipline he acquired as he labors in the theological seminary, preparing the minds who are to herald the Gospel through the valleys and over the mountains of that fertile and densely populated peninsula. President Thomson believed that all men should EDITOR AND COLLEGE PRESIDENT. 69 be well educated, but especially the man of God. He says: “ Providence seems to have trained his chief instru- -ments for religious purposes by an elegant education. Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyp- tians. Paul was versed not only in Jewish history and law, but in heathen poets, ene of whom he quotes with fine effect on Mars’ hill. Did not-his educa- tion give him influence at Jerusalem, at Athens, and at Rome, and qualify him to plead his Master’s cause in the imperial city, and did it not also help him before Agrippa and the Areopagus? “When darkness and vice had overspread Chris- tendom, on whom did God fix to bring in the light? Luther was a professor in the University of Witten- burg, Knox a graduate of St. Andrews, Melancthon a professor of Greek, Calvin, Beza, Zuinglius, and their coadjutors were among the eminent classical scholars of their age. When, at a subsequent period, the English Church sunk into lethargy, who roused her from her slumbers? Wesley and Fletcher were pro- found scholars and distinguished linguists.” Dr. Thomson gave not the least credence to the hypothesis that a liberal education, especially the study of natural science, would have a tendency to weaken faith in revelation: “ According to my obser- vation,” he says, “true knowledge has a favorable effect on faith. Revivals of religion are as frequent, as powerful, and as permanent in colleges and semi- naries as in any of our Churches. Thousands of the brightest ornaments of Zion were converted to God in institutions of learning. I have seen much of Chris- tian character in all its forms. . . . I have wit- 70 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. nessed it in the negro’s hut, the sailor’s hammock, the Indian’s wigwam, the convict’s cell, and the rich man’s mansion. I have seen it in the ocean’s storm, the chamber of sickness, the pillow of the dying, and house of the dead; but never have I witnessed a more triumphant faith, nor a more lovely exemplifi- cation of all the graces that adorn the Christian char- acter than I have witnessed within the halls of learning. I have never yet known a man to enter a seminary a Christian and depart an infidel, but many have I known to enter the hall of learning infidels, who are now stars in the firmament of the Church.” Fifthly, his government was through love. He felt a real affection for all his students, and they seemed to know it. They feared to do wrong lest his great and paternal heart would be grieved. He was a great student of the face. When mischief had been done, he would refer to it in chapel, and watch the countenances of the students, and rarely failed to detect the offender. When reproof was necessary he gave it. He would set forth the nature of the offense and its inexcusableness, the sorrow of his heart, the grief that must come to the friends of the offender when they heard of his disgrace and the inevitable tendency of a course of folly in such a light that the student was nearly always melted to tears and awak- ened to a new life. He expresses his own method of reformation when he says: “We throw around him arms of love, pour into his ears the voice of entreaty, and bedew his cheeks with the tears of fraternal sympathy; we read to him the commandments of God, preach to him Jesus and the resurrection, bear his name to the EDITOR AND COLLEGE PRESIDENT. 71 throne of grace, and often, in watches of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon man, we see the terrible vision of his danger, and our pillows can not bear up our aching head.” ‘His love, though deep and apparent, was manifested with dignity. He was sociable, and endeavored to treat all with courtesy, yet he was not familiar. Professor S. W. Williams describes accurately this element of his nature: “Tn addition to his usual Commencement levees it was his custom to give special entertainments at his own table to the members of the senior class and, upon occasion, to others. Of the trouble and ex- pense neither he nor Mrs. Thomson made any ac- count. Here he laid aside not his dignity but his mastership. Not as president but as friend he received his pupils. He was not now instructor sitting in the lecture-room, but elder brother and companion rather; and, like Plato, sitting among his disciples in familiar discourse, as the easy question and the humorous response, the witty statement or the sportive answer went back and forth, all felt at ease. If the students ‘had heretofore only admired their president, they were henceforth to love him. He had learned well the lesson of old Polonius, and no one knew better than he where lay the border-line between friendli- ness and familiarity. He never strained a point toward either extreme of austerity or intimacy. He knew how to make a student feel at perfect ease in ‘his company without inviting familiarity, and herein lay one secret of his power.” Sixthly, there was an inspiration about his pres- ence which it is almost impossible to explain. It 72 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. was, doubtless, owing largely to his constant walk with God. Dr. T. J. Scott says: “Perhaps Bishop Thomson’s power in the uni- versity, as an educator, was far greater in the stimu- lating and molding character of his presence and general influence than in his work as a teacher of text-books or mere science. Quiet and gentle as the most refined lady, yet he had a powerful and most impressive personality. The literary style of his lec- tures and Sunday afternoon sermons shaped many a student’s pen and molded his thoughts. I have often heard students remark, ‘Dr. Thomson’s presence makes one feel like being a better man.’ Years after- ward, when he visited the India Mission, I heard a lady remark, ‘ After being in Bishop Thomson’s pres- ence one feels like being a better person.’ “‘T remember that while I was at the university he was suddenly stricken down, and was nigh unto death from a sharp attack of inflammation of the bowels. He was so low that he had to be lifted as a child. L. J. Powell, since professor in the Willamette University, was one of the students detailed to nurse him. Powell remarked that at the very gates of death the bishop was as serene as in his calmest- daily mood, and that he was sweet and holy as an angel. All deeply regretted his removal from the university to the editorial chair. I recall that often afterwards, in reading his editorials, tears would start in my eyes. This was more from the image and tender memory of the man I carried in my heart than from the mat- ter I was reading. The purity and guileless spirit of the writer re-enforced with great power what he wrote, for any one who knew him.” EDITOR AND COLLEGE PRESIDENT, 73 Another element of Dr. Thomson’s power at the university is referred to by Dr. George L. Taylor, one of his pupils: “The throne of his glory was in that peculiar and difficult thing to make popular, the college lecture- sermon. In this it is questionable if any American college ever boasted his peer. Never, for years, on any tolerable Sabbath, would the spacious chapel accommodate his audiences. Perhaps there was no other so cultivated auditory in the State. It com- prised the faculties and students of two, and much of the time three colleges, the county bar, the medical corps, the clergy of ten Churches, and many other educated minds. No other interest could attract a hearing at three o’clock P. M. The students by scores were often crowded out of their seats by strangers stay- ing in town over Sabbath to hear Dr. Thomson, whose pulpit was the Mecca of the State. No other in the country has ever had a more mesmeric power. His lectures were generally delivered from manuscript, and Chalmers never made his manuscripts glow and burn more than did Thomson. Often his audiences were completely electrified, and the toughest veterans among his hearers were bathed in tears and fairly lifted from their seats. His Commencement Bacca- laureates were things of anticipation for weeks, and of admiration for months. But every lecture, year after year, seemed better than the last.” The Rev. O. Burgess, referring to the same things, says: “Though small in person he often impressed oth- ers with the greatness of his soul. On one occasion, after he had delivered one of his wonderful bacca- he x 74 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. laureate discourses at Delaware, I was walking with several ministers, one of whom was a very large man, weighing about three hundred pounds, who said, in a doleful tone, ‘ Well, I am dissatisfied with the ways of Providence.’ ‘Why Brother B.,’ one asked, ‘ what is the matter now? The brother answered, ‘The Lord has made some men all body and no soul, and -others all soul and no body. I am discouraged, and feel, after hearing that sermon, that I ought never to enter the pulpit again’—so impressed was he with Thomson’s greatness and his own littleness. But that man was then, and is yet, prominent in the Church.” CONFERENCE RECORD. 75 CHAPTER VII. CONFERENCE RECORD. URING the time that Dr. Thomson was at the university he was constantly growing in repu- tation in his conference. He was not talkative, nor did he seek in any way to make himself prominent on the floor of the conference; but he was an earnest worker on the committees to which he was assigned; and when the time came for a great debate on some vital question he was ready with an elaborate argu- ment. He was a member of the committee on edu- cation from the organization of the conference till the time of his election as bishop, and was chairman almost every year. He was present at every confer- ence session from the time he joined on probation, except in 1854, when he was in Europe purchasing books for the Sturges library of the university. He represented the North Ohio Conference in the General Conference from the organization of the con- ference till he was elected bishop. In 1848 the as- sociate delegates were John H. Power, Leonard B. Gurley, Adam Poe, John Quigley, and James Mc- Mahon. The reserve delegates were Henry White- man and Hiram M. Shaffer. At this quadrennial convention Dr. Thomson was strongly talked of as an editor of one of the Church papers. But he had so recently taken the presidential chair at Delaware, 76 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. that the Ohio delegations felt that he must remain there for some time to come. And the doctor’s wife was very loath to leave her native State again, in which all her relatives were located, and the associ- ations so agreeable. Following is a letter which was written to her from the seat of the General Confer- ence: “PitTsBuRG, Penn., May 22, 1848. ‘““My Dear Wirs,—I have been looking for a letter from you for some days past, but in vain. However, I write to you regularly on Monday. I hear no news of interest except what you find in the Daily Advocate I send you. Business in conference progresses slowly. To-day the committee on the state of the Church made a report, which will be the order of the day for Wednesday next. It recommends a disregard of the line established by the ‘plan of separation,’ and the submission of a proposition to the annual conference to arbitrate the property ques- tion. The prospect is that the report will be adopted with great unanimity. “T have just returned from Beaver, where I spent the Sabbath very pleasantly. I was entertained by a lawyer, whose name is Agnew, and whose lady is a connection of the Christmas family. My health has not been very good for the past week. I am just recovering from a very se- vere cold. Brother Tefft is my room-mate, and a very pleasant one he is. “‘The weather has been remarkably unfavorable for me. I walk nearly a mile, if not quite, to the conference, and very frequently all the way in the rain. We have had more or less rain almost every day since I entered Pittsburg. - “You must endeavor to be cheerful and contented a little while longer. I hope we shall adjourn in the course of ten days. Please tell me in your next what you want me to buy for you here. CONFERENCE RECORD. 77 “Dr. Dixon, the delegate from England has left, so also the delegates from Canada, except Brother Green. The commissioners from the South are still here, together with Drs. Early, Lee, and Parsons, and, I believe, Bishop Soule. They announced last Friday that they had given up the idea of obtaining their claim; had employed Daniel Webster as chief counselor, and several assistants; and had determined, at the rising of this conference, to com- mence suit simultaneously at New York, Cincinnati, and Philadelphia; but I believe we generally disregard their threats. Brother Power is well, as much so, I believe, as ever—so also the other delegates from the State of Ohio _except Brother Young, who appears to be feeble. “‘I am becoming more and more impatient to return home. You need not be informed how I love you and your dear babe, and how solicitous I am to render you happy. Give my regards to all, and believe me ‘‘Your affectionate husband, ‘‘K. THomson.” “P. S8.—At a caucus last night the following nomina- tions were made: Editors of Christian Advocate and Journal, G. Peck and M. Simpson; editor of the Western Christian Advocate, C. Elliott. The caucus adjourned to meet next Wednesday. I have been urged by brethren here to be editor of the Pittsburg Christian Advocate. The Erie and Pittsburg delegations operated against my nomination else- where with a view to this. I could come here, I feel sat- isfied, if I would consent, but I would prefer to remain where Iam. What say you to Pittsburg?” John H. Power, who had charge of Delaware District, was made a book agent at this conference, and Dr. Thomson was appointed the presiding elder of Delaware District by Bishop Janes, and served in this capacity the remainder of the conference year— from June to September. As most of this time was 78 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. during the Summer vacation given by the university the doctor was enabled to perform the work without interfering with his duties as president; and thus he had the honor of serving in this important, trying, and responsible position of itinerant life. In 1852 the delegation from the North Ohio Con- ference to the General Conference was-as follows: E. Thomson, John H. Power, H. Whiteman, Thomas Barkdull, John Quigley, Adam Poe, and H. M. Shaf- fer—with L. B. Gurley and W. L. Harris as reserves. The General Conference was held that year in Bos- ton, and it was, in some respects, the most important session yet convened in the history of the Church. It was decided that four new men be added to the board of bishops, and Dr. Thomson was urged by some of his friends as an appropriate man for epis- copal honors. Indeed, no other man from Ohio was put forward. But he declined, very persistently at first, to have his name mentioned in connection with the office. Three days before the election the Ohio men addressed him a letter urging him not to decline, and assuring him that they were confident of his election if he would consent to be a candidate. This is his reply: “Boston, May 24, 1852. “To the Delegates of the Ohio and North Ohio Conferences : ‘Dear BRETHREN,—I have always been an obedient son in the Gospel, and I always will be. I dare not say that I will not serve in any post which the Church may assign me, more especially if that post be one of toil and danger; but I am at liberty to say that I feel a strong disinclination to the office for which you have named me. This arises partly from a desire to remain with my -brethren in Delaware, to whom I am greatly attached, CONFERENCE RECORD. 79 partly from a fondness for retirement and domestic happi- ness, but chiefly, I think, from a deep sense of my unfit- ness for the office of a superintendent. I do not wish it. I go farther; I respectfully, but earnestly, request that you will not nominate me for it. “‘T can not close this note without expressing my pro- found sense of gratitude for the honor you have done me. Next to the love of God there is nothing that so over- whelms me as the confidence of my brethren, and I pray God that I may never be put into any situation in which I can not fulfill their just expectations—this were a bur- den too heavy to be borne by your brother in Christ, “i. THomson.” There were four other prominent candidates: Dr. Simpson, editor of the Western Christian Advocate ; Dr. Scott, one of the Book Agents at New York; Professor Baker, of New England, and Edward R. Ames, a prominent presiding elder from Indiana. It was conceded that two men must come from the East and two from the West. When the result of the elec- tion was announced these four were chosen—Edward Thomson having failed of an election by seven votes. He now writes to his wife: ‘Boston, May 27, 1852. “My Dear Wire,—So the election is over, and your ‘husband is not elected. Bless God that he has escaped such heavy responsibilities and arduous duties. It is a wonder to me that I received so many votes as I did. The elements were deeply agitated on the day before the elec- tion. It was stated that I was sickly, somewhat hard of hearing, inexperienced in the itinerancy, necessary to the college, and that I had declined being a candidate—all true; though some of my Ohio brethren felt themselves at liberty to deny the last statement. In spite of all I received sixty-eight votes; which, I suppose, came from 80 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. the following sources: Erie Conference, 7; Ohio, 12; North Ohio, 7; Michigan, 6; Baltimore, 12; Rock River, 3; New Jersey, 5; West Virginia, 2. East Genesee gave me several votes through Dr. Tefft, I suppose. The rest were scattering. Only two or three from New England, which was arrayed against me on account of a report that I would not be tolerant to pewed churches. ‘‘We are now progressing rapidly with the business of the conference. This morning we ordain the new bishops. ‘We shall probably adjourn by next Tuesday, and you may look for me on Friday or Saturday of next week. “Yours, affectionately, “E. Tuomson.” The same day he writes a letter to his little son, then nearly four years old. “Boston, May 24, 1852. ‘‘ My Drar Son,—Pa sends you a kiss, fresh and warm from his heart. I thought of you the other day, when I saw a poor man in the streets with a hand-organ, playing for a few coppers which were thrown from the windows. Usually such strolling players take a monkey with them, who sits on the instrument or dances below while his mas- ter plays the music; but this poor man had a little boy instead of a monkey. He was a pretty little boy, not as old as you, I judge. He wore a straw hat with a broad brim. He appeared very feeble and sorry, but quite good natured. O, thought I, how happy I am that my dear little son is better off than that poor boy; so, to show my gratitude to God, I gave the little fellow some money on your account. “To-day I dined with Dr. Elliott. In the company was Brother Lyon, who told some strange stories about a Methodist preacher in Virginia, called ‘Billy Cravens.’ One of them was this: He compared Christians to wheat; ‘Sometimes,’ he said, ‘you see wheat that looks very well, but it does not weigh sixty-five pounds to the bushel. And CONFERENCE RECORD, 81 what is the reason? You take a grain and press it be- tween your fingers, and out jumps a weevil. So take many a Christian, he looks well, but press him between the law and the Gospel, and out jumps a negro.’ Tell that story to Brother McCabe. ‘‘Be a very good boy; do not get angry with anybody. The other day, when two senators here got angry with each other and said naughty words to each other, a third sena- tor made them both ashamed of themselves by telling the following story: ‘In Japan it is said to be very warm, so that when legislators sit long to deliberate, they are im- mersed in cold water up to the chin. Now, if senators on this floor can not keep their temper,*I shall move to put them in similar legislative coolness.’ Would not this be a good way to punish bad boys when they get angry? “‘T hope you are a good boy. You know how to be— love and obey your mother. ‘«When pa comes home you must get him some flowers. I trust you have pretty garden, and that you do not pull any thing when mamma. forbids you. “The little boys here seem to be very good. They do not run in the streets, but ride their little stick horses at home. They go to Sabbath-school and meeting, and sing out of their hymn-books. Many of them pray to God to bless them, and he makes them very happy. “The people here are not allowed to drink whisky, and this is a very good thing. The men that drink are very bad men. You ought to pray for them that God would make them quit drinking. I want you to be a good temperance boy, and when you get old enough you can talk to the people about ‘living righteously and soberly,’ so that they may finally get to heaven. Pray for your affectionate Papa.” In 1853 Dr. Thomson, with several others, was appointed to prepare a report on Romanism, which subject was then attracting much attention, and the 82 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. report was presented at the next session. At the General Conference of 1856 Dr. Thomson was spoken of for an editorial position, but he positively declined the use of his name for any place, preferring to remain at Delaware, in the post that was so agreeable to him- self and family and where he was almost worshiped by students and citizens. At the session of the doctor’s conference in 1857, he preached the Missionary Sermon, which was a su- perior effort, and which the conference requested to be published with the minutes of the session, but he modestly declined to comply with the request. At the same session (1857) W.B. Disbro presented the following resolution, which was adopted, namely: “Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed to take into consideration the propriety of introducing a form of lay delegation into our annual conferences, according to the provisions of the last General Con- ference.” : The committee were, E. Thomson, W. B. Disbro, T. Barkdull, G. W. Breckenridge, and T. Thompson. The committee reported, and their report was adopted and ordered to be published. Also, at the same session, Adam Poe announced the death of Rev. James B. Finley, of the Cincinnati Conference; whereupon E. Thomson, A. Poe, James McMahon, and Jacob Rothweiler, were appointed a committee to draft resolutions expressive of the feel- ings of this conference on the receipt of the sad in- telligence. The report was prepared by Dr. Thomson, and in it he makes a beautiful tribute to one of the pioneer itinerants, whose life is familiar to many: “Tn the death of James B. Finley the Methodist CONFERENCE RECORD. 83 Episcopal Church has lost an able, eloquent, and faith- ful minister, and an interesting, useful, and successful author ; one whom we have long been accustomed to venerate for his age, his services, and his public and private virtues; one, whose molding hand has been felt on the institutions of our State, in which he was a pioneer; whose eloquent voice was cheerfully raised in all the great interests of philanthropy, and whose purse was ever open to the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed, of whatever name, nation, or color; one who will long be remembered with respect alike by the sons of the forest, who once roamed over our plains, and the cultivated inhabitants, who have suc- ceeded them, to both of whom he preached Chrtst crucified with intense earnestness.” The delegates, in 1856, from the North Ohio to the General Conference, besides Dr. Thomson, were W. L. Harris, J. H. Power, James Wheeler, William B. Disbro, Adam Poe, Henry E. Pilcher, and George W. Breckenridge, with L. B. Gurley and H. M. Shaf- fer as reserve delegates. In 1860 the delegation stood: E. Thomson, Nicholas Nuhfer, A. Poe, John T. Kel- lam, and H. Whiteman. The reserve delegates were W. B. Disbro and W. ©. Peirce. In 1864 E. Thom- son, Jacob Rothweiler, A. Poe, G. W. Breckenridge, and H. Whiteman, with W. C. Peirce and E. R. Jewett as reserve delegates. These were his promi- nent and able associates in those years. 84 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. CHAPTER VIII. ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENTS. HOUGH conservative on many subjects, where no vital principle was at stake, Dr. Thomson was always radical in defense of truth. A man of his tender sympathies could not be otherwise than on the side of the oppressed. On the floor of his own conference, and in the highest legislative body of the Church, he was an anti-slavery man. Dr. Aydelott, one of the early abolitionists of Ohio, says: “I never knew Dr. Thomson to do but one, as I feared, impru- dent thing. Many years since, at a Commencement of the university in Delaware, I found myself stand- ing up before a large and crowded audience, address- ing it in behalf of a students’ missionary society. Though in the days of strong pro-slavery hate, I did not hesitate—as I felt called—to declare my intense abhorrence of oppression in all its forms, its vile, unchristian character, its ultimate destruction of the freedom of the Church and our republican govern- ment. The instant I stopped, Dr. Thomson started from the back part of the platform and hastily com- ing to the front grasped me by the hand and ex- claimed, ‘I do, my dear brother, cordially approve every word you have uttered!’ ‘You have, thought I, my good friend, voluntarily brought down upon your ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENTS. 85 own head an enormous load of odium!” But he cared not for odium; he was not a policy man; he would not wink at iniquity, but he dared to meet it boldly in the name of God. To show how he felt, and what he thought on the subject of human freedom, we give the following extract from one of his arguments on the relation of government to, slavery: “But suppose, owing to the weakness of human reason and the strength of human depravity, that government is perverted? The question may arise, When is government perverted? The answer is, I think, simple. 1. When it fails to protect its sub- jects in the enjoyment of their rights; or, 2. When it requires its subjects to do wrong. But who are the subjects of government? Human beings, of course; and who are human beings? They who possess the essential attributes of humanity. What are these? -They are not to be found in color or feature, or flesh or blood—they are reason, affection, conscience. These confer the capacities of comprehending, loving, serv- ing God, and lift the being possessing them aloft above the mere animal creation. He who is capable of obeying God is accountable to God, and he who is accountable to God has the rights of man. What are the rights of man? We hold these truths to be revealed, that all men are sprung from the same father, plunged in the same ruin, and redeemed by the same Savior. A natural inference is that all have equal rights. Our revolutionary fathers held this to be self-evident, that among these rights—natural and in- alienable—are ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- ness.’ Inferiority does not extinguish rights. If you 86 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. claim control over another because of your supe- riority, another may claim you by the same title. Such a claim is, indeed, rarely set up. It is not the infe- riority of the slave, but his status, on which the master rests; the more the slave improves, the whiter his skin becomes, the greater the infusion of Anglo- Saxon blood that floats in his veins, the tighter does the master hold him. Oppression does not cancel rights. If aman buys property of a thief, he gets a thief’s title; if he sells it, he conveys a thief’s title ; if he bequeaths it, he bequeaths a thief’s title. Ill gotten property may, in time, be rightfully acquired by possession, provided the original owner can not be found; but in man there is always a soul—an origi- nal owner; so that, however many ancestors of the slave may have been sold, the present master has no better title than the original man-stealer. “Law can not destroy human rights; it is the province of law to confirm rights, not to annihilate them. The alleged incapacity of certain men for liberty, does not destroy their inalienable rights. How did such incapacity originate? Do you say it is natural? It were a paradox to say that God would perpetuate a race of human beings incapable of lib- erty. What rank would they hold in the scale of beings? What would be their position at the last day and beyond it? It were a libel both upon man and God. If the alleged incapacity is produced by our oppression, can this give us a title to the subjects of this oppression? Such a claim could be set up in favor of any tyrant. It goes to this point, that a man’s rights over another are in proportion to the wrongs he commits upon him, and hence that the ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENTS. 87 Jonger a man suffers wrong the less he is entitled to relief, until at length protracted oppression utterly extinguishes all his rights. “Some rivet the chains upon the slave because he is content with his condition. If it be true that a man is satisfied with the condition of a slave, why is it true? Because slavery has embruted him. If a surgeon, by pressure upon your brain, were so to impair your reasoning powers as to make you satisfied to be his slave, would that insure him a valid title to what was left of you?” In 1852 the North Ohio Conference appointed Edward Thomson, John H. Power, William B. Dis- bro, Henry Whiteman, and William L. Harris, a committee on slavery, and at the next session of that body Dr. Thomson, as chairman of the committee, presented the following report: “WHEREAS, slavery exists in the United States of America; and, WHEREAS, it is destructive of human rights, contrary to natural conscience, and condemned by the written Word of God, and blighting in its effects both upon the slaveholder and the enslaved ; and, WHEREAS, there has been a steady encroachment of the slave power upon the government, and an exten- sion of slavery within our boundaries ; and, WHEREAS, under the circumstances we can not be silent or in- active; therefore, “1, Resolved, That the system of American slavery is a great evil, moral, social, and political, and the disgrace of the age. “9. Resolved, That it is our duty to labor with untiring zeal, and in the use of all ecclesiastical, polit- ical, and commercial influences, but in the calm, con- 88 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. siderate, and benevolent spirit of Christianity, for its abolition. “3, Resolved, That the Church should bar from her communion all who hold slaves for the sake of gain. “4, Resolved, That we rejoice in the establishment and prospects of the republic of Liberia, which, open- ing a home of freedom to thousands of emancipated slaves, demonstrating the capability of Africans for self-government, banishing the slave trade along the coast of Africa from the Gallinas to the San Pedro, and kindling up the light of civilization in a favor- able position to illuminate both the border and the interior of Africa, has been of immense service to the cause of humanity. “5, Resolved, That our government acts in a man- ner unworthy of herself in failing to recognize the independence of Liberia, and that we recommend our people to petition Congress on that subject.” Dr. Thomson was strongly in hope that some peace- able mode of emancipation might be devised, and that the Africans in America might be transported to Li- beria; thence to work through the great continent in all directions, carrying the lamp of Christian civilization. When the Nebraska bill was under discussion in the halls of Congress, Dr. Thomson gave utterance to his views in a public lecture. He said: “Tn view of these things, many clergymen have spoken out against a certain pending public measure. For this they have been denounced in very high places and very low ones. For myself I have no apology. The question of slavery in the States is a difficult one—it is not simple, but complex—not ab- stract, but concrete; it relates not to a new evil, but ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENTS. 89 an old one; one which has come down by the sin of both the British and American governments from the ages of darkness; it is inwoven with the institutions of the South, social, political, and religious. It has polluted her literature; it has shaped her manners, and fixed her prejudices, and bound itself up with her interests. We have been accustomed to pity and extenuate, and though we might still bear with the slaveholder, and wait for the truth to dissolve the chains of the slave as the south wind does the snow, yet we can think of no apology for the Nebraska bill. The question it presents is simple, abstract, novel. It proposes to render virgin soil liable to pollution; to render a surface of the map, already white, by law of peculiar force and solemnity, likely to be black- ened; to open the way to indorse and imitate the in- iquity of the past. It proposes, so far as a certain oppressed people are concerned, to submit the ques- tion of liberty—the fundamental purpose of govern- ment—the protection of society—to popular mercy, excluding from the polls, however, the oppressed people, and admitting to them those whose interests or prejudices may incline them to vote against their rights. And yet men tell us we don’t understand it. Strange bill, that after being discussed for months, can not be understood! It has, however, a bright side, for however enigmatical to the North, it is clear to the South. It would be clear to all if Germans or Catholics were substituted for an oppressed race. I believe in popular sovereignty. Do you be- lieve in liberty? Let us never, then, put it in jeop- ardy in regard to either black or white, Protestant or Catholic.” 8 90 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. He attacked the Fugitive Slave law, which com- pelled, under heavy penalties, every citizen of a free State to act as a slave-catcher, if called upon by a United States marshal to track the runaway : “A government may not only deprive its subjects of rights, but require them to do wrong. ‘ Who is to be judge when a government does so? For what may appear wrong to one man may appear right to another.’ To a certain extent this is true. But there is a limit within which all is clear. To love God, to love man, for example, are duties which all must ac- knowledge. Cruelty, adultery, fraud, and theft, are condemned by every sane mind. If the legislature of Ohio should pass a law requiring us to chase down every man not more than five feet six inches high who should be trying to get his wheat to the Canada market, and enjoining us to distribute his wheat among his neighbors, and all this because he was not any taller, we should all agree that it was wrong. ; “That over which a government has power it may regulate. It can stamp its image on weights, and scales, and landmarks, and flags; it may, therefore, issue its decrees to mark boundaries, and regulate commerce, and measures, and fortifications, but when it comes to the human soul it finds another image there, and hears another voice: ‘Render unto God the things that are God’s.’ Lift up your eye to the heavens ; try to efface God’s image from the sky and stamp your own there before you attempt to turn the human soul into gold and run it in your die. Stop the revolving earth with a stamp of your foot, or stay the sun in his course with your curse, before you pre- scribe the course of human thought, and feeling, and ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENTS. 91 will. Bring on your chains! Kindle up your fires! “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.’” And it was not with any inconsistency that he was a stockholder in the celebrated “ underground railway.” Many a poor fellow was assisted by him on his route to Canada and to freedom. He felt that the Fugitive Slave Law was unjust and inhuman, and he braved its penalties in his daring to help his unfortunate brother in black. 92 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. CHAPTER IX FIRST TRIP TO EUROPE. R. THOMSON never took a tour for pleasure. His traveling was for the good of others, and his first long trip was in the interest of the univer- sity. In the Spring of 1854 Mr. William Sturges, of Putnam, Ohio, made a generous donation of ten thousand dollars for the purchase of a library for the university, and President Thomson was authorized by the trustees to go abroad and buy the books in London and Paris. Immediately after Commence- ment that year he set sail from New York. On his tour not only excellent bargains were made, but he was enabled to see some of the great objects of inter- est in the old world. He was present in the British Parliament when the queen opened it, and heard her address on the occasion. He visited Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s, the British Museum, the great parks, the Crystal Palace, the London Tower, ete. He also visited the south of England, viewing again his birthplace and the scenes of his childhood. Then he went to France and Switzerland, and looked upon the pleasant vales and the snow-clad Alps. He won- dered at the opulence and grandeur of London, was charmed by the rich landscapes of Switzerland, and was delighted especially with the manners of the French. FIRST TRIP TO EUROPE. 93 “Take a letter of introduction,” he says, “to an English gentleman and he will carefully read it, as if determined to settle the question of its genuine- ness, and, if satisfied, will formally bow to you once or twice across the room, and as formally after pre- senting you wine, authorize you to command his services if they are needed, and then bow you grace- fully out. Go, under like circumstances, to a French gentleman, and rising to receive your introductory note, after giving it a mere glance, he will approach you with smiles, offer you his warm hand with all its fingers, and, perhaps, apply his other hand, that he may more closely grasp your own, and looking you in the face, with a countenance beaming with pleasure and benignity, will say, ‘Welcome to France, welcome to Paris, welcome to my home, welcome for my friend’s sake, welcome for your own.’ Then inquiring concern- ing your health, your family, your country, your voy- age, and your -impressions of France, he will seat you in his own chair, and ask you to excuse him till he can direct his clerks in regard to the business of the day, and returning, gracefully announce that it will be his pleasure to devote himself to yours. It is vain for you to beg him not to encroach upon his time or impede his business for your sake. Ordering a carriage he will seat you by his side, and then request you to name the objects or scenes that you would first witness; and when the hour for dinner arrives he will land you at his own door. After meal, he may replace you in the carriage, and perhaps say, ‘The only limit to our excursions and sight-seeing must be your inclinations, your engagements, or your ap- proaching fatigue.’ 94 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. “Tf an Englishman were to proffer like attentions you would find it easy to pay the expenses—and, surely, in this there were nothing wrong; butthe Frenchman will pay all expenses and pay all fees, so speedily, so artfully, that you shall have no opportunity to share them, and as to negotiating concerning them his coun- tenance banishes the thought. Not content. with his own attentions, perhaps he sends to you next morning a polite clerk to say that he has been commissioned to be your pioneer in any direction that you may desire to go. He takes you to Versailles, to St. Cloud, to Fontainebleau ; he guides you, he tickets you, he feasts you, and when you go to pay the bills, you find them all canceled. If you remonstrate with him he will say, “Tdoas I am charged, I must refer you to your friend, whose commission I fulfill.’ If, oppressed by this gen- erosity, you make bold to speak to that friend, or to place some napoleons in his hand, he will say, ‘O, we must settle these things, not in France,-but in America. Wait till I visit you at your own home.’ “But how shall I describe a French gentleman? He is more than civil, more than affable, more than cour- teous ; he is polite, polished, refined. He respects your judgment, defers to your taste, recognizes your preten- sions, appreciates your merits, anticipates your wants ; he is solicitous for your comforts, studious of your wishes, condescending to your infirmities, forgetful of your foibles, tolerant of your errors, ready to make sac- rifices for your enjoyment and to seek his own pleasure in your delight. His accomplishment is not the mere grace which may be acquired in the dancing-school, it implies the absence of every thing offensive in language, manners, and deportment, and the uniform possession FIRST TRIP TO EUROPE. 95 of an easy, agreeable, and fascinating address, his charms are not merely exterior, not the automatic move- ments of one governed by artificial rules, they pre- suppose a skillful analysis of human character and human life, a keen observation of men and circum- stances, a vivid perception of the influences which the most delicate attentions may exert upon their object, a facility of adaptation to the humors of men, a uni- form flow of genial feeling, a perfect self-command, a kind and gentle heart, and an acquaintance with the forms of refined society. “You may call this an art, but it is one of the liberal arts, and the complement of those arts which refine a cultivated people; it is a fine art, and the very finest of the fine. There is no painting or statue in the Louvre so pleasing to the stranger as the countenance of a friend beaming with unexpected benignity ; there is no band in the Tuileries whose mu- sic is so delicious as that of the tongue of choice silver, no fountain in Parnassus so sweet as that mouth which is a well of kindness, nothing so softening and hu- manizing as the manners of a perfect gentleman.” All this greatly delighted Dr. Thomson, because it was congenial to his own tastes and habits—he was a perfect gentleman himself, and could appreciate gentility in others. He admired very warmly French esthetics, thus expressing his views: * Beauty seems to charm all classes, and display itself in their dress, their habitations, their gardens, and their paths. In Summer seasons the ladies, as they enter the railroad cars, and the sweet children, as they follow their pretty mothers, are loaded with 96 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. nosegays and wreaths, so that you ride even over their paths of iron in the midst of beauty and fragrance. English mansions and castles may display more sump- tuousness than French chateaus, but far less elegance ; and English country houses may have equal neatness, but certainly not equal beauty with those of corre- sponding rank in France. The land isa land of flow- ers. England cultivates flowers as well as France, but I think her soil and climate are not equally fav- orable to them, for I really believe the aster of France is as large and lustrous as the dahlia of England. Their public promenades, which are visited almost daily by the wealthy, and weekly and semi-weekly by the poorer classes, are well calculated to excite and cultivate the love of beauty. Here ornamental balus- trades, terminating in basements, from which rise colossal statuary, inclose the areas; rostral columns, bearing lamps, line the balustrades; and decorated lamp-posts border the carriage ways; while groups of statues on lofty pedestals adorned with historic em- blems, meet the eye in every direction. Circular basins, supported by cylindrical shafts, and embellished with foliage, stand aloft on hexagonal bases; figures seated around them with their feet on the prows of vessels are separated by spouting dolphins; larger dolphins, held by tritons and nereids, sport in the ampler basins below; and upright figures of. winged children, standing on inverted shells, look down upon swans spouting water at their feet. Here are parallel avenues of lime and chestnut trees, there, beds of roses and carnations; here are mounds commanding exten- sive views and crowned with cedars, there, labyrinths with intricate and enticing paths, leading to pavilions, FIRST TRIP TO EUROPE. 97 which afford shelter and seats, where the weary traveler can look over the thronged city and the distant land- scape; while ever and anon there arises before you some august monument of the past, such as the obelisk of Luxor, or the column of July, or some memorial of a distant land, as a palm from Sicily, a plant from the Cape of Good Hope, a buckeye from the banks of the Ohio, or a cedar from the summit of Lebanon. “Evening and morning, as you walk the delicious shades, enrapturing music breaks upon your ear. Often in the Garden of the Tuileries, enjoying the fragrance of its gay parterres, or the shade of its majestic elms, or promenading in its alley of oranges, or gazing from its terraces upon the Seine, or reposing in its em- bowered seats, I have been overcome. The colossal statuary, the goodly palace—rich in animating asso- ciations, the enlivening strains of military bands, the delicious fragrance, the children swarming like bees around the flower beds, and the old men rejoicing on their crutches, were too much for me. But even the captivating gardens and walks of Paris are less beau- tiful than the places of resort in the vicinity, to which the whole population are wont to throng on Sunday or gala day, such as St. Cloud, Versailles, and Fon- tainebleau, where, in parks and palaces, in gardens and courts, in cascades and streams, in pavilions and ter- races, art and nature seem to vie with each other in a doubtful contest; while within the buildings are grand vestibules adorned with statuary, marble stair- cases decorated with pilasters, and ceilings arched with gold and pierced with skylights; chambers, whose walls are sculptured with trophies, whose chimney pieces are portraits, whose ceilings—divided into com- 9 98 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. partments by mythological paintings—are hung with chandeliers ornamented with flowers; spacious saloons of statues and saloons of cabinets, saloons of Venus and saloons of Mars, saloons of Mercury and saloons of Aurora, saloons for feasting and saloons for sport; long galleries of paintings and galleries of antiquities, libraries with double tiers of loaded alcoves, chambers hung with tapestry containing copies of the richest paintings, and theaters and churches which my pen dare not attempt to describe. You must see for your- self the ample arches, the sculptured spandrels, the imposing painting of sacred story, the marble pave- ment wrought in mosaic, the balustrades of gilded bronze, the lofty columns, the architrave and cornice ripe from the richest chisels, the vaulted ceilings glow- ing from the noblest pencils, in the chapel of Ver- sailles.” His volume of “ Letters from Europe,” published in 1856, and included among his works, contains an interesting account of this tour. To that volume we refer the reader for details. SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 99 CHAPTER X. SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. D* THOMSON made a second trip across the Atlantic in 1859. In the Fall of the previous year his mother died at Princeton, Illinois (whither she had moved to advance the financial interests of her younger children). She reached the advanced age of seventy-seven years; having been a widow twenty- three years. A part of her estate consisted of prop- erty in England, and the heirs requested their brother Edward to go thither in their interest, and attend to the sale and transmission of their title. Hence, in the Summer vacation of 1859 he set sail again for his native country. He landed at Cork, and made the tour of Ireland before entering England. The letters written home during that Summer abroad con- tain so much information, and are so characteristic of the author’s style that we insert some of them here. They were contributed to one of our Church papers, but none of them has ever appeared in book form: I. CORK—IRISH GRAEFFENBURGH—BLARNEY. Although in my early morning walks in Cork I met with no beggars, it was otherwise in the latter part of the day; it seems that beggars are not early risers. From the door of the hotel to the outermost 100 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. wanderings, men, women, and children asking alms beset the stranger. Their eloquence is proverbial ; they flatter you, pray for you, bless you, and coax you in all ways. They are often profane, using the name of God on every occasion. Usually the beggars are women and “ widders” with twelve or thirteen “childer,” and sometimes they show you one at the breast, tugging away as though it understood its busi- ness—perhaps it was borrowed for the occasion. These alms-takers are, however, easily put off—a penny or two is all they expect; and though they ask it “for the love of God,” it is to be feared it often goes to gratify the love of whisky. Two things are not a little provoking—they cleave to the stranger, and especially the American, while they allow hundreds of the denizens to pass without the least molestation, and they are particularly clamorous when you mount the vehicle to depart. Cork is a tolerably pretty city of about ninety thou- sand inhabitants. It is situated on both sides of the Lee. Some streets run up the adjacent summits, as they do about the hills surrounding the Queen City. Some of the public edifices are very fine, particularly Queen’s College, the lunatic asylum, and the city and county jails. The commerce of Cork is considerable, it exports about fifteen millions of dollars annually. Many of the stores are very rich and attractive, and trade seems to be brisk. The Imperial Hotel is the best I have seen in the kingdom. But we must take a jaunting car and go out to Blar- ney Castle and the Irish Graeffenburgh. The open jaunting car is a singular vehicle. Just at the horse’s tail sits the driver ; backward from his seat runs a long SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 101 box, in which you may put your overcoat and um- brella—articles always wanted in this watery island—- and upon which you may place a cushion and have a seat, or find a place for luggage; on each side of this box is a seat calculated for two or three persons; the passengers sit back to back, facing op- posite sides of the street. When there is but one the driver sits opposite to him to balance the vehicle, which, resting upon only two wheels, might other- wise easily be overset; below each seat is a platform for the feet, which are protected at the sides by a board; below is an iron step by which you mount. Crack goes the whip and on we rush, pursued by the beggars, till the speed of the car becomes too great for them. Soon we are in St. Patrick’s Street—the principal one—irregular, but business like, and, at cer- tain points picturesque. And now we reach the Grand Parade; next through Great George’s Street to the Western Road. Onward we rush passing the Con- vent of Mercy, the Cathedral of St. Finbar, etc., turning to the right we come to a double row of magnificent elm trees, whose tops intermingle to form a green canopy over a broad graveled walk more than a mile in length. “What is that, driver?” “Tt is the Mardyke; there the queen, when in Ireland, walked as straight as an arrow.” On the left we find the imposing structures of Queen’s College and the county jail ; on the right, beyond the Mardyke, Blair’s Castle and numerous beautiful villas. From the end of the Mardyke we see to the right, on an elevated summit, an immense pile of new build- ings whose pinnacles rise above the trees, in which a 102 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. choir of birds make melody. Alas! it is the lunatic asylum. Onward we career over magnificent roads, between stone walls, varying in height from five to “twenty feet, crowned with ornamental hedges, now of privet, then of blackthorn, then of furze, then of a mixture of all, interwoven with the rose and the honeysuckle, and bordered below with the foxglove’s purple bells. Generally the hedges are neatly trimmed, and sometimes portions are allowed to rise above the general level, to be cut into pyramids and other geometrical figures. Here, on one side, from the lofty walls rise precipitous heights, covered densely with an intermixture of pine, larch, fir, holly, and laurel up to their summits; on the other side, a vast expanse of cultivated fields separated by hedgerows and laden with barley, wheat, and oats, stretches out before you as far as the eye can reach. Here and there the wall is curved and pierced to allow an entrance, which is closed by a massive and lofty ornamented gate, through whose gratings you can see the graveled carriage- ways, with their bordering of aloes, rhododendrons, and arbutus, winding in graceful curves to the splen- did mansion embosomed in fragrant shrubbery. And now, on a hill-top, we pause to take an ex- tended view of the charming valley of the Lee. The entrance to Cork was like the entrance to paradise— this is like paradise itself. “What is that castellated building yonder, rising from that rock ?” : “Tt is Carrigrohan Castle, recently restored and occupied by Mr. McSweeny.” Onward we go, still guarded on each side by mas- sive masonry, charmed on every hand by some new SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 103 and pleasing object and the song or twitter of the birds. Nothing to mar the pleasure, but now and then a mud-walled hut by the roadside or a beggar stretching out to you his imploring hat. And now we reach the Irish Graeffenburgh. This hydropathic establishment is at St. Ann’s Hill, about seven miles from Cork. To the right of the road to Tower Bridge, on the summit of an eminence com- manding a magnificent prospect, stands the house and its surrounding cottages. A spring of fine water sup- plies both the house and the baths. A wood, with nu- merous walks, stretches northward and westward for two miles. In other directions are beautiful views of cultivated fields, amid which is Blarney Castle and -its famous grove. It is curious to observe the use made of sticks in building covered ways, summer- houses and their furniture. We saw a row of cot- tages built of turf and plastered inside and out—the cost was fifty dollars a room. Here there are water baths, vapor baths, vapor chambers, etc. In addition to all these the Turkish baths. These are to give a temperature to the body higher than can be given to it by other means. You can not use water at a higher temperature than 103°, Fahrenheit, nor vapor higher than 105°, but in this Turkish bath you can raise the air to 200° or 300° without inconvenience. A man can not remain in a vapor bath over ten minutes; he may remain in the Turkish bath for hours. This bath is, indeed, a suc- cession of baths; water is poured over the patient from time to time at a temperature most agreeable to his feelings. We were taken into the Turkish bath, and found the rooms most admirably and elegantly . 104 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. = furnished. There is, first, the tepidarium, or warm room; then the sudatorium, or hot room; then the divan, or cooling room, where the patient, reposing on luxurious couches, undergoes the process of shampoo- ing. The whole arrangement is sumptuous. Splen- did carpets cover the floor; colored glass in the win- dows soften and enrich the light; while artificial fountains play in the center. Of course, we had not the privilege of seeing a gentleman enjoying his luxury, but we. were permitted to enter one of the heated chambers; we did not advance beyond 130°, which perfectly satisfied us. We were permitted to look upon a horse that had advanced beyond this, for it is used for the cure of inferior animals. I thought, however, that he enjoyed the opening of the window through which we looked upon him, more than’ the temperature of the chamber. The terms in this establishment vary from £2 7s. to £3 5s. per week, £1 1s. consultation fee entrance, and fires extra; blanket for packing, sheets and towels for bedroom use and for bathing purposes furnished by the patient; private sitting-room, £1 7s. 6d. per week extra; Turkish baths, 3s. extra; and oxygen in- halation, 4s. extra. The expenses are, I suppose, about twenty-five dollars a week, without servants. Hydrop- pathy as a system of sanitation will have its run, and run out, Up, now, for Blarney. Well known is the spot. In the park around the castle is an old woman, well dressed and civil, who furnishes you with a key to the castle. You ascend to the top and walk upon the walls, looking for your footing. A sense of security is given by the matting of ivy on each side. The view SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 105 must be seen to be appreciated. The hills, groves, and lake are all immortal; but “There is a stone there That whoever kisses O, he never misses To grow eloquent. ’T is he may clamber To a lady’s chamber, Or become a member Of Parliament. A clever spouter He ’Il soon turn, or An out-and-outer To be let alone. Don’t hope to hinder him Or to bewilder him, Sure he’s a pilgrim From the Blarney Stone.” On the top of the wall you must lie down, and, taking hold of an iron clasp that supports the stone— for it is broken and would else fall—while a friendly party holds your feet, you must crawl forward and put your head down to the talismanic slab. The ladies merely kiss at it, that is, kiss the hand. It is amusing to see the intense desire to kiss this stone. How the kisses smack alike from American Demo- crats and Irish Tories. “Did you kiss it?” Yes, indeed. So look out for me. Il. KILLARNEY. From Cork we proceed to Mallow by rail. Here we make a short stay to glance at one of the best country towns in this part of Ireland. It is well sit- uated on the Blackwater, and was once a resort for fashionables, on account of its mineral waters. It is 106 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. said to have a large retail trade. .To us it wears a gloomy aspect. It is approached through a long walled lane; its streets are narrow; its houses nearly all alike in shape and color, stuccoed or slated, and without ornament; beggars sit at the public places; a policeman is seen at every turn; artillerists throng the street or gather around the drinking-houses; and ill-clad children encumber you as you pass. Looking through the cross streets up to the old portions of the town, you see low, thatched-roofed dwellings, indica- tive of any thing but thrift and comfort. From Mallow we proceed, by Lombardston, Mill- street, Kanturk, Shinnagh, and Headford, to Kil- larney. The country is much less charming than that we have seen; beautiful prospects of hill and valley, with hedgerows and woodland, open before us, but the land is rich and less cultivated, in some places overgrown with furze, in others, presenting extensive peat bogs. These last look like overgrown brick- yards ; the turf extends in some cases to the depth of eight or ten feet; it is cut into the shape of bricks, and piled up in regular rows. It is burned in grates like coal, and makes a beautiful fire, with a bright blaze, without smoke, and radiating great heat. I asked the price of the turf on a new-made kitchen fire that I saw brightly burning, and was answered, a penny. About £100 are expended annually in turf to furnish the Royal Hotel at Killarney. Turf is a great mercy to Ireland. The town of Killarney is about a mile from the shore of the lower lake, and contains many excellent inns; but, owing to its de- pressed situation and the intervention of the woods of Lord Kenmare’s estate, it commands no view of the SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 107 enchanting waters. We, therefore, take carriage and drive out one mile and a half to the Royal Victoria Hotel, within whose spacious gates we pass before we get a glimpse of the lake. At first view I was dis- appointed; the lake is so small compared with our great lakes that I felt a little contempt for it, and was disposed to ask, “ Why have you made so much ado in the world?” and to say within myself, we need not go beyond America to see the works of nature. Look- ing up to the mountains and wandering along the beach, the feeling of disappointment was followed by admiration, and as the quiet moonbeams lighted up the woodlands and played upon the waters, I lingered, delighted and filled with gratitude and praise, till a late hour at night. Arrangements must now be made for the morrow. We hire a jaunting car, a four-oared boat, and a guide. At the waterside we inquired of a boatman who was the best guide. The elder Spillane was mentioned, and the boatman added, “O, he is a swate-speaking man.” And so we found him. The day dawns brightly, and a good breakfast awaits us in the coffee-room; on go- ing out we are beset at the door by a man selling arbutus canes, and by several women at the garden sell- ing various articles, chiefly manufactured from the same wood or from the bog oak. Mounting the-ve- hicle we were surrounded by beggars, chiefly girls, with various articles for sale. The driver cracks his whip, but they follow till, at length, in mercy, we promise to buy or give on our return. The boat having proceeded with a good supply of sandwiches, rolls, etc., for Juncheon, we drive round to meet it at the upper lake, passing on the right by the ruins of 108 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. Aghadoe, the estates of Lady Headly, and Mr. James O’Connell—brother to Daniel O’Connell—and on the left by the seat of Mr. Mahoney. Not the least in- teresting object in the drive is Dunloe Castle. At length we arrive at the famous “Gap of Dunloe.” At the approach to it is a roadside posada kept by a descendant of Kate Kearney, who, as we drive up, comes out to sell us goat’s milk and mountain dew. A slight pause, and we drive till the path is inacces- sible to the carriage, when dismounting, instead of taking a pony, we resolved to walk. Advancing, we come midway of the gap to the house of “ fighting Paul,” and entering it find only a few goats and a donkey. At different points in the gap are fine echoes, which are awakened by the bugle of the guide and by the firing of cannon, which had been provided in anticipation of our coming. The guide, “ guessing correctly,” played with exquisite taste, at the first echo, “ Hail Columbia.” You can not imagine my feelings as I sat upon a fragment of rock, and, yield- ing to the spirit of romance, looked up to the cloud- capped mountain and listened to it playing our na- tional air, and to the three cannon fired in succession afterward, each calling from the mountain four dis- tinct reverberations from as many different peaks. At the center of the gap we ascend an elevated point and look each way; the distance from mount- ain-top to mountain-top is probably sixty English miles. O, what a charming sight! It seems as though an angel had torn the mountains asunder here to give us the goodly vision. Just now our feelings are disturbed by a Scotch gentleman of American ideas, who cried out, “ What a fine sheep pasture! I would SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 109 take this at once.” ‘ No,” said the guide, “sheep have been tried here; but the green plant at the foot of the mountain destroys them. They like it, and it brings on the dropsy—anasarca—of which they are sure to die in a year or two; but look up to the summits of the mountains—the Reeks—they are not birds that you see. Yonder are sheep, those are cows. Alas! one often gets entangled in the clefts of the mountains and perishes of hunger.” Reaching the termination of the gap, the Corn a Dhuv, or Black Valley, breaks suddenly upon the view. The contrast between the gloomy scenery of the gap and the cheerful prospects of the glen heightens greatly the effect of the latter’s matchless beauty. Pursuing the winding road we come to Lord Brandon’s cottage, now occupied, and passing round it we soon come to the point on the upper lake where we meet our boat. Seated at the base of a beauti- ful holly, boatman, guide, and travelers all engaged heartily in devouring the “substances and fluids” which had been prepared to nourish the wearied sys- tem and revive the exhausted spirits, or rather keep up the exhilarated spirits. Nothing sweeter, thought I, than those sandwiches since I left my mother’s breast. Luncheon over, we embark to view the lakes. The upper, though the smallest, is the gem. Sur- rounded by mountains and full of islands, it is a diamond set in emeralds. We stopped to visit Ro- naney’s island, the most interesting of this water. After coasting numerous bays we proceed to the Long Range, which is a narrow channel that leads to the middle lake. It presents a variety of charming 110 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. scenery, but its most interesting object is the perpen- dicular cliff, in which is contained the eagle’s nest. You come upon it suddenly by reason of a turn in the channel. Here the boat stops, and the guide landing proceeds some distance below the cliff, and con- cealing himself, plays his bugle. All listen breath- less for the echo. At first we seem to hear only the original notes; at length we discover that it is only the reverberated ones that greet our ear, and “load the trembling air” with rich and various melody. A mile further and we come to the old wire bridge, consisting of two arches, which so confine the chan- nel as tg render its passage dangerous at times. A short distance below is the “meeting of the waters.” Here the channel divides, one branch leading to Glena Bay, the other to the middle lake. We take the latter. We stop to view Dinis Cottage, the cot- tage of Mr. Herbert, M. P., a lineal descendant of a hero who was knighted by Henry VY, and the owner of large estates in this quarter. Proceeding to Glena Bay, we land to view the sweet little cottage of Lord Castleross, son of the earl of Kenmare, which it will be a pleasure to me some day to describe to you, as it affords many hints on cottage building in America. lt is just finished. From this point we proceed to the Island of Innis- fallen, pronounced by Arthur Young the most beau- tiful spot in Europe. It is famous not only for its natural beauty but for its historical interest. It was chosen by some monks, twelve centuries ago, as the site of a monastery, whose ruins are not the least attraction of the traveler. Fancy an island indented with most graceful bays, creeks, and hollows; en- SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 111 compassed with dense woods—oak, beech, elm, holly, sycamore, in their most magnificent proportions and interiorly molded into the most pleasing forms of hill, valley, dell, glen, adorned with myrrh, myrtle, furze, purple heather, daisy, buttercup, dandelion, rose, and honeysuckle, woven in a surface of shamrock; while the ruins of one of the noblest convents of the olden time stand before you, reminding you that light shone . upon that sacred spot when there was darkness upon the continent ; that here prayers were offered and treas- ures preserved, praises chanted, philosophy studied, and history written through many ages, and you have an idea of Innisfallen. There is somewhat peculiar in the soil or the atmosphere which makes: vegetation flourish here. We measured an ivy that was holding up an arch in the abbey, and found it twenty-eight inches in circumference; a holly, and found it twelve feet; and yew, thirteen to fourteen feet. Consider- ing the slowness with which these trees grow, we may say with a distinguished botanist, the age of these trees is to be estimated by centuries, or even by thousands of years. The island is unoccupied save as a pasture. The proprietor hired a daring Scotchman to plow the graveyard ; his assistant soon ran off, terrified by the frightful sounds—he himself soon followed in great alarm, declaring that no price could hire him to complete the work. He still lives, and declares he is not feigning. He lost his place by not fulfilling his task. No wonder imagination should have power in this charmed spot, and shall we complain that she guards its sacred precincts? I cut some shamrock for the editor (a native of Ireland), but found I could not carry it. 112 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. Next day we proceeded through the grounds of Mr. Herbert to Muckross Abbey. This consists chiefly of the ruins of a church and convent of the Franciscan friars, who are supposed to have erected it in 1440, though the beautiful site has been occupied for religious uses from a much earlier period. ‘The original abbey is said to have been consumed by fire in A. D. 1190. Luxuriant vegetation encompasses these interesting relics of antiquity, still beautiful in their decay, so that the stranger is quite near them before they strike his eye. This was the favorite place of burial for many of Ireland’s ancient chiefs, whose tombstones may still be seen in various stages of decay. The architecture of the building is much admired—a visitor observing the elegant paneled and ivy-encom- passed doorway which forms the entrance, remarks: “We have not improved in architecture for ages.” In the center of the cloisters a yew-tree, thirteen feet in circumference, lifts its venerable head, on which the sun has probably looked down as long as on the abbey itself. Wandering among the tombs I copied some of the inscriptions, such as “ Dum spiro spero,” “‘ Mea gloria fides,” and, ascending to the top of the wall, surveyed the surrounding scenes. Il. SABBATH AT KILLARNEY—ARBUTUS—ROSS ISLAND. Having on Saturday introduced myself to Mr. Higgins, pastor of the Wesleyan Chapel in this place, I received from him a kind invitation to preach the next day, which I accepted. In the morning I set out from the hotel on foot. Killarney is a town of about ten thousand inhabitants, containing some neat SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 113 buildings, but generally structures of the old, gloomy style, stuccoed or slated, and arranged on narrow and irregular streets. It has no manufactures, except those of articles made of arbutus wood, and but a small trade, mostly retail. The place has grown up chiefly within the last century ; for it is said that in 1747 it had only thirty or forty thatched cottages and a few slated houses, in the midst of which stood the residence of the earl. It has a few good hotels, but no public buildings worthy of notice, except the new Roman Catholic cathedral. Before leaving the place I passed through this edifice, and was delighted with its beauty. A priest, of gentlemanly manners and an appearance in- dicative of good habits, was polite enough to inform me that $100,000 had been expended upon it, and that $85,000 more was needed to complete it, the tower not having been yet carried much above the roof. “Where,” said I, “do you get so much money ?” “The late bishop subscribed $20,000 out of his revenue; the earl of Kenmare, $10,000; the Ameri- cans have sent us $10,000; the rest has been obtained from the people of the diocese.” As I passed through the town on my way to church, a crowd of boys surrounded me, each crying, “Give us a penny, sir!” “What do you want a penny for?” Some cried, “To buy bread ;” others, “To buy a book.” “ What do you want a book for?” “To get our lesson, sir.” “Go home and say your prayers; I can not give a penny to boys that beg on Sabbath.” Some cried, “ We have said our prayers.” A sort of leader among then said, “ Let the gentle- 114 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. man alone; we will see him Monday morning ;” whereupon they all left me. At the end of the street, and fronting on the first cross street, is the market space. Here are the mar- ket women, selling vegetables, as briskly as on any week-day, and the streets are. crowded with merry idlers as on a gala-day. Behind the market space is a remarkable building, doubtless intended for public uses—perhaps for meat-market, town hall, ete. The front part of the upper story has fallen, or been taken down. On the wall of the back part is a good place to stick bills, and it has been used for this purpose. Covering all others is an immense yellow bill, with the words, “The American Circus is Coming,” in flaming capitals. The lower story, which still stands, with house-leek growing above it, is divided by an archway into two apartments, in both of which the windows, having had their glass knocked out, are protected by loose boards. Over the one are the words, “ National Evening School ;” over the other, “Temperance Hall.” Turning to the left, and ad- vancing a square or two, we find close to the police barracks the Wesleyan chapel. It stands in the back yard of the parsonage. The premises, both chapel and parsonage, are owned by one of the members of the Church, and rented to the society for ninety dol- lars a year. The parsonage is a comfortable but humble dwelling ; the chapel is about twenty feet by forty, painted white outside, and slate color inside ; the seats and pulpit are oaked. The light comes through semicircular windows on one side. The pulpit is a semi-octagonal box, supported by a single column. It is quite deep, concealing most of the SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 115 preacher’s person, and is not large enough to admit any one else. There are no pews, but families sit together in their appointed seats. The order of wor- ship is singing, prayer, reading the Scripture, singing, preaching, singing, prayer, closed by benediction, without any interval between it and the prayer. I supposed that the Common Prayer of the Church of England was used; but the pastor tells me that among the Irish Wesleyans it is used only in the cities. In prayer the minister stands, the people sit. Tn singing, the hymn is repeated in couplets, or, as we say, lined. There is no instrument of music or choir. The congregation consisted in the morning of thirteen persons; in the evening of nine. Four per- sons followed me in the morning from the hotel, out of politeness, I suppose ; but they did not attend the evening service. Mr. Higgins invited me to preach in the evening, remarking the Sabbath was his last, and his people were expecting a farewell sermon from him, but adding that he would preach that after my evening discourse. Of course I declined, wondering at the extreme clerical courtesy which induced him to make such a proposition’ I, however, attended the service, and heard a good sermon, founded on the words of Paul’s farewell discourse to the Church of Ephesus. At the close of the services the congregation, at the suggestion of the pastor, stepped into the parson- age, with myself, when I was introduced to them sev- erally. We had a very pleasant conversation of an hour, in the course of which I learned a few things that it may not be uninteresting for you to know or 116 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. for me-to report. The Wesleyan mission was com- menced here about six years ago. The first mission- ary preached in the streets, but was driven away by violent persecution. Another was sent, who, by pru- dent management, laid a foundation. He was suc- ‘ceeded by the present pastor, who has just closed his third year, and, therefore, must depart. His people seemed very sorry to lose him. He has preached twice every Sunday and once every Thursday, held-a prayer-meeting every Tuesday, and visited during the other days of the week eight other appointments, as occasion offered ; some weekly, some fortnightly, etc. The membership in Killarney is 12; the congregation rarely exceeds 20. This little band is closely united. They seem to be very intelligent and pious. On en- tering the church they all reverently kneel, and dur- ing the service seem profoundly attentive. They suffer no little persecution. One of Mr. Higgins’s children was severely beaten in the street the other day for no other reason than that he was a Protestant. His father brought the case before the magistrate, who, I believe, inflicted no punishment on the offender, but bound him to keep the peace in future. Men are afraid to join lest they should lose their business or suffer otherwise. The whole number of Protestants in the place is about a hundred. Such of them as are not Wesleyans attend the parish church. This did nothing till the Wesleyan mission was commenced. For many years the congregation consisted of the cu- rate, the sexton, and a Methodist local preacher. Of late they have made more exertion, and have gathered in a congregation of thirty or forty. Lord Kenmare nominates the rector, and, as he is a devoted Cath- SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 117 olic, it can not be expected that he will select one very active in the cause of Protestantism ; nor can it be supposed that a rector so appointed will feel any very great obligation to oppose the papacy. The pres- ent rector, it is said, spends most of his time in Eng- land, leaving the parish in the hands of the curate, who, instead of co-operating with the Wesleyans, op- poses them. Mr. Higgins has changed his hours of worship at different times; but the curate has made corresponding changes, so as to prevent him from de- riving any advantage from it. This is a pity, and it is to be hoped that, in this forlorn hope of Protest- antism, Protestants will learn that union is strength. The Wesleyans could not worship without the pro- tection of the police. A policeman is regularly de- tailed to guard them whenever they hold service. The people here all profess to be religious. No won- der ; for the Roman Church is powerful at this point, having the aristocracy, the magistracy, the business, every thing in their hands. But it is pretty evident, as might be expected, that there is a deep under- current of skepticism. The salary of Mr. Higgins is £54, exclusive of house-rent and fuel. His wife does not seem satisfied, and sometimes hints to her hus- band the propriety of seeking in America or elsewhere higher attainments pecuniarily ; but the good man admonishes her to guard against worldly motives. At a late hour I returned to the hotel accompanied by the pastor, and charmed with the beauty of mount- ain and lake, of art and nature, which presented itself on all sides, under the beams of a bright moon. Can we be surprised that men should cleave, even in pov- erty and persecution, to a land so charming, or forget 118 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. to pray that its moral charms may correspond to its material ? Before I parted with Brother Higgins he informed me that he was distressed about a debt of fifteen or twenty dollars that had been incurred by the Church for painting. Have you no subscriber in- terested in our work on this island that would take pleasure in sending this amount to the little strug- gling Church ? Before I leave Killarney I must mention more particularly the arbutus, as it is one of the beauties of the scenery, and one of the sources of the revenues of this region. It is a tree-shrub, Arbutus unedo, whose leaves, of a peculiarly bright green, give a rich variety to the foliage of the forest, and whose scarlet berries and clusters of flowers adorn these mountains and islands in the autumnal season. It is uncertain whether it is indigenous, though it grows all over Ireland, but nowhere with the luxuriance it exhibits around this enchanted spot. Its wood is of great beauty and durability, and the root, the trunk, and the branches, having different colors, it is molded into the most beautiful forms of useful and ornamental articles, such as paper-folders, card-cases, needle-cases, checker and_ chess-boards, writing-desks, tables, etc. I visited the principal fac- tory in company with a traveler, who bought articles to a large amount. The proprietor showed us a table similar to the one purchased by the Prince of Wales during his visit last year, and the price of which, if my recollection serves me, was $500. While in the establishment, I took occasion to ask the proprietor what wages he gave the workmen who made such SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 119 exquisitely beautiful furniture. He said, I believe, from six to: eight dollars a week. Ross Island, which afforded me much pleasure, I think I forgot to mention. We sailed to it the first day, but did not land. Near the landing and beneath the castle is the celebrated echo of Paddy Blake, to whom one of our boatmen paid his respects, and from whom we received the usual attention. On a subse- quent day, we visited the island by land. Here are graveled walks, and flower gardens, and seats placed in positions to command the finest views. But the castle is the chief attraction. It is surrounded by a lofty iron railing, painted green, which incloses a spot around the castle that is in most perfect order, both as to its green slopes, and its graveled walks and terraces. The noble old ruin is a massive square building that rises from a limestone rock, and is supported landward by strong buttresses; it is covered with ivy, and is a very picturesque object of the lower lake. Its historical associations add to its charms. It was the stronghold of the O’Donoghue family, and held out resolutely against the forces of Cromwell, but at length yielded under the siege of Ludlow and Waller in 1652. Many legends, with which some of your readers must be familiar, add to its interest. Ascending by a spiral stone stairway the round tower of Ross Castle, and walking upon the crum- bling walls, you have the most beautiful prospect I ever beheld. The varied colors of the mountains, the silver surface of the lakes, and the long vistas of cul- tivated fields interspersed with woodland, the modern palaces, and the crumbling ruins, form such a mixture 120 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. of sublimity and sweetness, of rising beauty and de- caying grandeur, as the earth rarely presents. I lin- gered, not without danger, on the walls, and looked through all the windows of the tower as I descended. Iv. DUBLIN. We must take a ride through the city. Off we go in a jaunting car. All at once we are stopped; the street is full of wagons, carts, and cars, and as it is now narrowed in consequence of repairs which are in progress, we can not pass; our driver permits sev- eral to go by him while he stands, but seeing the ad- vancing procession interminable, he occupies the way and they are brought to a dead halt. And now he begins to remonstrate, but in vain; the driver of the vanguard of this opposing host makes no reply, but seems to say, “I can stand still as long as you can,” and the long train behind appeared to draw up to endure with patience a long siege. This is all the more provoking to our excited driver, and what might have happened we can not tell, but luckily a police officer arrived and prevented violence. Commanding the first driver opposed to us to pass us, he forbade the others to advance, and so left an avenue for us. We wanted our driver to take another route when he found his way blocked up, even though it were longer, but he was obstinate. “Here,” said our Irish friend who played the cicerone, “are the four courts—Court of Exchequer, Court of Common Pleas, Court of Queen’s Bench, and Court of Chancery. As to the Courts of Exche- quer and Common Pleas, they might as well be called SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 121 the devil’s courts.” Onward to the Phcenix Park, said to contain 1,000 acres, and to surpass any park of London. Here is the Wellington memorial, on which are inscribed the victories from Assaye to Waterloo, and which George IV called an overgrown millstone. “ Here is the Royal and Military Hospital of Kilmainham, established in 1675, on the site of a priory founded by Strongbow; there the commander of the forces and some other old fogies live. Here is the vice-regal lodge, where the Lord Lieutenant lives in Summer, and where the queen was entertained on her late visit. His salary is $100,000 a year, and what he can steal.” “But you don’t have stealing among your officials, I hope.” “QO, yes, indeed ; it is easy enough to get five hundred by giving a thou- sand.” “But you will not accuse your newly appointed lord lieutenant of such a wickedness.” “Well, I believe he is among our purest officials.” Here is the Pheenix Column, with the rising phoenix on its summit. Opposite the lodge is the “ fifteen acres,” where Daniel O’Connell shot Mr. D’Esterre, a member of the corporation. Happily, dueling is now frowned down, alike by English and Irish nobil- ity. We are just in time to witness on this spot, which is the usual place of parade, a grand review under Lord Seaton. The troops are of all arms, and about six thousand in number, and the evolutions are admirable. It is difficult to say which is best, artil- lery, cavalry, or infantry. The music, the marching, the rattle of musketry, the booming of cannon, as you may well judge, were inspiring. I called in question the perfection of the horses, but was assured that they were all carefully selected and the best in the world; 11 122 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. their long bodies and heavy tails did not, however, strike me as beautiful. After the troops were dis- missed, Lord Seaton and staff passed within a few feet of us, giving us a fine opportunity to mark him. He is a well-made, good-looking old gentleman, with hair and whiskers white as snow. His face is not unlike Wellington’s, and his attitude and manners indicate a calm and self-possessed spirit. He rides a very large gray steed—white seems to be a favorite color with generals. The troops leave the field in order—a thing which seems to be very natural and easy, yet Welling- ton once said there were but few men in England that could take ten thousand men into Hyde Park and lead them out again without disorder. Riding along one of the regiments as it was going to quarters, I remarked a great want of precision in marching, but was told that the soldiers were not then considered as marching—that it was deemed too fatiguing after field exercise to exact precision of step in going to barracks. There has been quite a war panic in the United Kingdom, which everywhere shows its indications to the stranger’s eye. The militia are called out twice a year for three weeks’ drill, when they are uniformed, and lodged, and furnished with arms by the govern- ment, and receive about twenty-five cents a day. As the drill, though daily, is not exhaustive, and as the pay—133 pence per diem—is equivalent to ordi- nary wages on farms—mechanics only get ten shill- ings a week in Winter, and twelve in Summer; farm laborers only nine, usually—they do not grumble when under orders; but this year, as they were called out generally in the middle of hay harvest, when wages are high, they would have had cause to com- SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 123 plain but for the excited feeling of the country. People now begin to think that there was no occasion for the alarm, and as they are to be called on to pay four pence in the pound extra income tax before Christ- mas for their extra military expenses, they feel rather sore. The news that France is about to reduce her army and navy to a peace footing with all convenient dispatch, is most welcome and refreshing. Men breathe more freely in every English home; yet still there are lingering doubts of Napoleon’s honesty. Now and then you hear an Englishman say, “I hope Napoleon will make war upon us, we shall soon be ready for him; we might suffer at first, but he would soon kill off our old fogies, which would be a great blessing to us, and would call forth competent men to fill their places.” Nevertheless, there may be some mistake in this. Positions in army and navy are still bought and sold. We traveled with a captain who had been wounded at the Crimea, and who had just sold his commission for $10,000. Even in the militia this system prevails. The colonel of a militia regiment is a well-qualified officer, and he is generally taken from the regular army, and there are a few other officers of skill and energy associated with him; but the rest are usually young men, sons of the wealthy, who have money to buy commissions. When will wars cease? Mr. Bright suggests that by interweaving commercial ties more closely between England and France, gov- ernment is to perpetuate the peace between them, and he is right. If the destruction of London would be as ruinous to French pockets as to English, it would not be done by French cannon. I mean no offense to the English by this allusion; they generally think « 124 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. the idea of invasion ridiculous, and the encampment of a French army in a London park utterly impossible. The peace between Austria and Italy has taken Great Britain by surprise. Both the mode and the matter of the treaty are the subjects of severe ani- madversion. It is deemed most unnatural and un- fortunate that the peace of Europe should depend upon the will of two emperors, who draw the sword and sheathe it without consultation with others, and even without the intervention of responsible ministers. The results of the war are not likely to be satis- factory to any party, and to be most distasteful to some. After the loss of one hundred thousand men, and perhaps one hundred million of treasure, Italy, to say the least, is in statu quo. Never was an enter- prise more “ bloated in the promise,” more “ lank in the performance,” than Louis Napoleon’s Italian cam- paign. Instead of planting the flag of Italian inde- pendence on the shores of the Adriatic, he has planted the flag of Italian subjugation on the fortresses of the quadrangle. Austria, by entering the Italian confed- eration, virtually extends her power over the whole peninsula, There is no more hope of a free state entering this confederacy than fear of a monarchy en- tering ours. The exaltation of the pope to a nominal presidency must give a temporary check to his de- clining influence. Who, then, can be pleased with the issue? Not Austria, disgracefully beaten and forbidden to restore by force the expelled Italian dukes, although she knows they can not be restored without it. Not France, reduced in men and means, and compensated only by a little military glory, which is a poor offset $ SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 125 to the moral disgrace of disappointing the excited hopes of Hungary and Italy. Not Sardinia, though enlarged somewhat in her territories, yet crippled in her influence. Not Protestants; for the Pope has been exalted. Not Papists; for the most devoted and powerful support to the pope has been beaten and humbled. Perhaps Napoleon alone is satisfied. His life is said to be devoted to three things,—the restoration of his dynasty, the revision of the treaty of 1815, and the revenge of Waterloo. This war accomplishes the second step of this programme. There is much discussion as to whether the British will take any part in the settlement of the details of the treaty whose bases were laid at Villafranca. The John Bull feeling is, “ You have got into a bad fix without consulting me; get out of it as well as you can.” But perhaps better counsels may prevail, and something be done for the Italians. What a mystery is Napoleon! Who can fathom him? A year or two hence he may land an army in Kent. The British are slow and persistent; the French are quick and enthusiastic. The former could not be beaten in a protracted war, but would de- velop increasing energies with the advancing conflict. But the sudden landing of Napoleon might possibly occur. This, by breaking the charm of British pres- tige, would answer Napoleon’s end, and thereupon he might offer a generous peace. But I did not intend to write of current news, as you get that by telegraph. The business of Dublin, though small compared with that of London, is, nevertheless, large. A com- mercial friend introduced us to one of the principal houses, that of Pym Brothers, Quakers, who politely 126 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. showed us through the different departments, in which they employ daily two hundred and forty clerks and $750,000 capital, realizing, probably, a profit of $150,000 per annum. We must not forget the castle. It stands on an elevated point in the southern part of the city, and, you know, is rich in historical associations. But little of the ancient structure is left, and, with the exception of the Birmingham tower, it is said, the original shape of the castle has been altered. It contains at present two parts—one for the public offices, and the other for the apartments of state of the lord lieuten- ant. Numerous soldiers appear to be quartered in it, whom you may see early in the morning marching and countermarching in the court and adjoining av- enues and streets. The chapel of the castle is new and exquisitely beautiful. The interior is oak carv- ing; around the gallery is carved the coat-of-arms of every nobleman who has served in the capacity of lord lieutenant. The pews of the lord lieutenant are in the center of one of the side galleries, and those of the bishop directly opposite. The other gallery seats are for the officers of state and their families. Below are a few open seats for visitors. The pulpit rests upon a single ornamental shaft—the column of faith, surmounted by the heads of the four Evangel- ists, each bearing his own Gospel. Opposite the . pulpit shines the grand organ, with its enameled pipes, while the effect of the whole is heightened by the light from the stained windows. The sight is worth the shilling you give to the pleasant Irish girl who shows you through. The evening before leaving I called at the castle, SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 127 to pay my respects to the lord lieutenant, to whom I bore a letter of introduction from a common and much-esteemed friend. Unfortunately for me, he had not yet reached the city, though he had been hourly expected for some time. I left my letter, and a few days afterward received a complimentary note from his lordship, inclosing a ticket of admission to the gallery of the House of Lords. Early in the morning we bid farewell to Dublin, intending to take breakfast at Kingston, and spend a little time in observing the beautiful port before set- ting sail. Kingston, formerly known by another name, was thus called in honor of George TV, when he visited the island. Its large rows of splendid houses and the heavy shipping in the port indicate activity, comfort, and thrift. Great improvements are in progress to-make the harbor more secure. Here we take leave of Irish railroads. The Irish boast of their railway king, Mr. Dargen, a man of great talents, energy, and generosity. He was the chief instrument in getting up the late exhibition at Dublin. When the subscription was found inade- quate, he subscribed the deficit. He was visited by the queen quite unexpectedly, and offered knight- hood, which he declined, preferring to be called Mr. Dargen. “ Why, sir,” cries a friend, “Mr. Dargen can tell you at a glance the height of a mountain, and how long it will take and what it will cost to carry a railroad round or through it.” He has, per- haps, been poorly paid for his services ; for, although reputed wealthy, his means consist chiefly in railroad stocks, which, in this country as in ours, are fluctu- ating and precarious, and he is often close pressed for 128 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. a thousand dollars. It is said he is now getting fond of the bottle—tarries long at the wine. We hope not. We have seen Ireland to great advantage. The weather has been most charming. With the excep- tion of the shower that fell upon us in the cove of Cork, we have had nothing but sunshine. Every thing has contributed to our comfort, health, and de- light,—sunbeams within and sunbeams without. “Bless the Lord, O my soul !” Vv. LONDON. In many respects English usages and customs dif- fer from ours. These differences are generally inter- esting to us. I am not unwilling to give you details, because they are just what books do not give, and what, after all, throw the best light upon the life and character of the people. Having been charged with a little secular busi- ness by some American friends I learned somewhat of English law practice. All deeds and other evidences of property in England are registered at Somerset House, London, where they are examined very critically, and re- jected if defective or informal. Married ladies sign- ing deeds must be examined apart from their hus- bands by two commissioners appointed by court for that special purpose. Among the papers committed to me was the acknowledgment of a lady; in the papers containing this acknowledgment her name, by unpardonable carelessness, is spelled three different ways; once correctly, namely, in the commission. In consequence of this discrepancy it is rejected at the reg- SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 129 istrar’s office. What is to bedone? If sent back it will require two months nearly to replace it. The commissioners may be absent, the lady may be absent, the papers may be miscarried. Learning that in case of an error not deemed vital, the court might order the document to be filed, I came up to London to make application to a judge to order the acknowl- edgment referred to to be put on file. To Lincoln’s Inn Field, where the lawyers con- gregate. The process is very simple and inexpensive, though by no means sure to be successful. I state the case. The attorney drafts an affidavit, and directs me to call at such a day that it may be examined, then to call another day when he will attend me to one of the commissioners, before whom I may swear. The affidavit being sworn and papers referred to pro- duced and certified by the commissioners, the judge is applied to for an order, and it is granted. The charges of lawyers in this country are more specific than those made on the other side. This case, for example: Ss dad To examine you with a view to ascertain what affidavit you could make,.. . 6 eee ee eee te eee 6 8 To take instructions for affidavit, i os «8 6 @ «we @ ees 6 8 Drawing affidavit, . 2... ee eee ee ee ee 18 0 Attending your reading Over draft): ¢ js ess «ee 4 6 8 ERSTOSSiING, apo Se we SSS SS RE Rw BS 6 0 Attending you to get sworn, -..----++-- eee 6 8 Preparing five exhibits, ..-.---.. ee. ese ee ee 5 0 Oaths and exhibits, . . . 6. eee ee eee ee ee 7 0 Attending judge praying order to register certificate, . . 6 0 Attendance to draw up order and attending registrar as to “form in which it should be drawn, .... 1... 6 8 At judge’s chambers thereon order and filing affidavit,. . 6 0 Copy to keep,.. ..-...-- SS BR ee eA aS 20 Attending to filing Certificate, . <2 24% @ 6 6 Oba oS 6 8 PAG, o $. 28 Ae ag OS SA es Boks Heke S i Bh le Gk OR es 5 0 Paid on AMNNGOTAER: et ee A A Sa 2 0 ‘Attendance to obtain office COPY as ay ae ee a BE 6 8 130 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. Walking to the court, I said, “ How many lawyers have you in the city?” “About fourteen hundred solicitors do the business; then we have barristers very numerous. As to those admitted to practice they are innumerable. Thousands of them are sup- ported by their friends or by private fortunes.” The judges are all on circuit except Baron Mar-. tin, who, the solicitor remarks, is considered one of the best and purest, and who is now sitting at cham- bers. He is a fine-looking old gentleman—patient, thoughtful, and grayheaded, without the John Bull ruddiness and rotundity. Lawyers here have the same character for shrewd- ness that they have with us. They tell a good story of a miserly merchant who invited a lawyer to din- ner, and when he had well drunk, indirectly popped a legal question and received a satisfactory answer. The lawyer a few days after sent him his bill for advice. The merchant sent to him a bill for his dinner, specifying the different courses and the different wines of which he had partaken. The lawyer sent him notice that unless he withdrew it he would prosecute him for selling wine without a license. This is a city of magnificent distances. The om- nibuses are counted by thousands, and are usually built to carry twelve inside and as many outside. Many, however, are much larger, and are called barges. Seats run along the center above, and three passengers may be accommodated by the side of the driver. Omnibuses are generally drawn by two horses, though often by three or four; they are driven with speed, and in the principal thoroughfares are so numerous as to arrest each other and intercept the SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 131 passage. It is dangerous for a stranger to cross Cheapside, Threadneedle Street, Fleet, the Strand, Oxford Street, ete. If you wait for a clear passage, as strangers sometimes do, you may wait a great while. You must thread your way through. Irish jaunting-cars would not answer here; a man mounted on one would soon find his heels tripped up. Cabs, flies, and hansoms are the private conveyances of strangers. The last is the favorite. In this you are comfortably shut up; the driver is behind you and the horse before; and in the midst of the jam and confusion and whirl you may go to sleep, as many do, after a night’s debauch, when on their way to lodg- ings in the morning. The conveyances are all numbered and licensed and under the strictest regulations; the drivers claim that they are the best in the world. All those whose numbers are above ten thousand are Sabbath-keeping conveyances. The omnibuses are owned hy compa- nies, of which there are many. An idea of this business may be found from the fact that one com- pany realizes from sixty thousand to one hundred thousand dollars a week. A gentleman’s cab is somewhat larger and neater than the ordinary one, and is called a brougham. It is four-wheeled, and drawn by a single horse. They are common vehicles for the families in moderate cir- cumstances. The. rich have their splendid carriages, a great collection of which may be seen in Hyde Park every evening, and they are a sight worth see- ing, especially to one who can admire fine horses. The common people, when they take their Mon- day excursion, ride in vehicles called vans, very large 132 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. and high, such as on ordinary occasions are used to transport furniture. In these multitudes of women and children may be stowed. Sometimes you may see a string of forty or fifty of these vans, filled with poor, but happy people, on their way to Epping For- est or Hampstead Heath, decked with gay ribbons and holding little flags, their countenances indicating the utmost delight. It is Sunday morning, and I must go to hear Mr. Spurgeon. “How far is it to Surrey Gardens, where Mr. Spurgeon preaches.” ‘Seven miles.” Perhaps I did wrong, but I hired a carriage and started. By Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, through several toll-gates, along streets built up with most spacious, tasteful, and even extravagant houses, we drove mile after mile, reaching the Gardens just in time. A policeman meets the carriage and tells the driver where to post himself, and where he is to be found after service. At the door another policeman asks you if you have a ticket, and if you have not, he di- rects you to the lower part of the house. VI. MR. SPURGEON. The great music hall at Surrey Gardens was filled when I entered. All seats, both in the galleries and below, were filled, and there was scarce standing for another person in the side aisles. I was lame and weary, but determined to hear; so, pressing my way to one of the columns that support the lower gallery, I leaned against it till the close of the service. Mr. Spurgeon was reading the 44th Psalm, and making expository remarks upon it so extensive that SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 133 I was at a loss to know whether he intended them for his sermon or not. Some of these remarks were strongly Calvinistic. At this I took no offense. When I hear a Calvinistic preacher, I expect to hear a Calvinistic doctrine, and to hear it proclaimed as if the speaker believed it—distinctly, boldly, emphat- ically, and without apology—and thus does Mr. Spur- geon preach it. Having gone through the psalm, he gave out the hymn, “Come, Holy Spirit,” etc., stanza by stanza, and thus it was sung by the whole audience, a gentleman beneath the pulpit leading. Now and then there was some confusion, different parts of the house sending in their contributions of music at differ- ent times; but before the singing of the hymn was concluded, Mr. Spurgeon, by dint of exhortation, suc- ceeded in getting pretty good time. Then came prayer. Mr. Spurgeon’s sermons are usually reported and published; his prayers are not. I may be allowed, therefore, to say that he prays like a humble, earnest, believing Christian; his petitions being carefully composed, and distinctly, clearly, and powerfully uttered. Some of them I recollect, as they struck me as peculiar: “O, God, hear us! Thou knowest that we feel; if we never were in earnest before, we are in earnest this morning. We can not let thee go unless thou bless us. O, God of St. Paul, God of Chrysostom, hear us! God of Luther, hear us! God of Whitefield and Wesley, hear us!” After prayer another hymn was sung in the same manner as the first. The text was Psalm xliv, 1-3. The skeleton, as I sketched it, is as follows: Introduction: How contemptible our nursery tales! How different were those of ancient times! 134 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. I. The marvelous stories which our fathers have told us of the olden times, such as the flood, the cross- ing of the Red Sea, the smiting of the Amorites, the expulsion of the Canaanites, the overthrow of Jabin, the triumphs of David, the destruction of Sennacherib, the planting of the Gospel, the day of Pentecost, and the fall of idols. Have you never heard of more recent wonders—the success of Chrysostom, the up- rising of Luther, the labors of Zwingle, and of Calvin, and of Wiclif, and of Wesley, and of Whitefield? The passage in relation to these last, as it shows Mr. Spurgeon’s liberality, I give in full: “The Churches were all asleep; irreligion was the rule of the day; the very streets seemed to run with iniquity. Up rose Whitefield and Wesley, men whose hearts the Lord had touched, and they dared to preach the Gospel of the grace of God. Suddenly, as in a moment, there was heard the rush of wings, and the Church said, ‘Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as doves to their windows? They come! they come! numberless as the birds of heaven, with a rushing like mighty winds that are not to be withstood.’ Within a few years, from the preaching of these two men, England was permeated with evangelical truth. The Word of God was known in every town, and there was scarce a hamlet into which the Methodists had not penetrated. In those days of the slow coach, when Christianity seemed to have bought up the old wagons in which our fathers once traveled—where business runs with steam, there oftentimes religion creeps along with its belly on the earth; we are as- tonished at these tales, and we think them wondrous.” Observe, God works, 1. Suddenly; 2. By feeble SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 135 instrumentalities; 3. By men of faith; 4. By men of prayer. II. The disadvantages under which these stories labor. Men set aside their force by saying, 1. They occurred long ago; 2. Under peculiar circumstances; 3. Their like does not occur now. III. The inferences to be drawn—l. We should be led to gratitude and praise; 2. We should be led out of our self-dependence; 8. Incited to earnest prayer. Application—1. To saints, pray ; 2. To backsliders, return; 3. To sinners, repent. In the last exhorta- tion he stated his Calvinism, and yet seemed to burst through it. “It will come to this yet—God the Holy Spirit will have you. Give way now, but remember that if you succeed in quenching the Spirit you are lost.” Mr. Spurgeon is a well-proportioned man, of me- dium height, youthful appearance, and a pleasant countenance. He has a voice of tenor key, great compass, and flute-like melody, which he sends out distinctly, with all his mutes and semi-vowels, to every one of the twenty thousand ears that are uplifted to catch them. His tones and attitudes and utterance, all indicate humility and sincerity. I could but thank God, as I heard him, that his amazing popularity had not turned his head. He speaks boldly, confidently, and -as one who speaks what he believes, and feels that he is right. He rarely argues, but speaks as one having authority, regarding religion as a matter of faith, and not of reason. He is untrammeled. Little cares he what the Times may say, or the mob or the ministry. What 136 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. comes uppermost with him comes out, as if it were from God. Hence he utters a great many silly things and a great many strange and uncouth things, but a great many bold, strong, effective things also, which but for this ultraism he would restrain. Put together these elements—a pleasing person and address, a melodious voice, a distinct utterance, a novel doctrine (for such is Calvinism in the pulpit now), an earnest manner, an unbounded confidence, and an untrammeled mind—and you have an expla- nation of his success. That he is an orator I would as soon doubt as I would doubt that Napoleon was a warrior. A man that can gather ten thousand hearers in the center of London, and hold them year after year, must be an orator; for the center of London is a region of dark- ness, though it is encompassed by a region of light. That city is like pandemonium surrounded by paradise. “ How do you like Mr. Spurgeon?” said some of my London friends to me. “Well, very well. Nor did I see any extrava- gance or eccentricity in him. Throughout he spoke like a sensible and holy man.” “O, but you should hear him in his own chapel at Park Street, where he indulges himself freely.” “ Are not the reports we hear about his bitterness and bigotry and eccentricity apocryphal ?” “Some of them may be; but I know some that are authentic. For example, he said, speaking of Ar- minians, ‘I would not worship such a bread-and- butter God as yours.’ Again: ‘Your Lamb is not like ours. Ours is like a good leg of mutton; you can cut and come again all the year round.’ ” SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP. 137 Well, we must not deal harshly with one of those honest, outspoken men. If they say improper things they repent of them. I wish we had a thousand Spurgeons. I have no doubt they would grow wiser and better, though less popular, with every year’s experience. Mr. Spurgeon’s great chapel is a great mistake, though it may do for him; but what will become of his successor in a wilderness of empty pews? 12 138 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. CHAPTER XI. IN DELAWARE AND NEW YORK. HE house of Dr. Thomson at Delaware, which the family occupied for a dozen years, was a pleasant and attractive one. It was a two-story brick building, of modern style, with a double porch in front, and two long verandas on the east. It occu- pied a commanding position on the north side of the street, leading directly west from the university grounds, and its upper windows overlooked the town. Grapevines, honeysuckles, the English ivy, and climb- ing roses were trained up the walls on all sides, and shaded the verandas. In the front yard were flower- beds of various shapes, in which bloomed flowers of almost every shade and variety. There were also or- namental shrubs and trees,—the flowering almond, mountain ash, horse-chestnut, arbor-vite, larch, hem- lock, fir, pine, and spruce. Immediately back of the house was the garden, in which Dr. Thomson took his regular morning and evening exercise. And in the rear of this was a northern slope, containing nearly an acre of orchard-ground and lawn. Both the doctor and Mrs. Thomson took great delight in the adornment of their home, and they loved to- gather the flowers, the berries, and the larger fruits which grew in their grounds. While in Delaware, four children were born to them,—Elizabeth Maria, in 1846; Edward, in 1848; IN DELAWARE AND NEW YORK. 139 Eliza Selina (now the wife of Hon. Thos. E. Powell, of Delaware, Ohio), in 1852; and Louisa Matilda, in 1854. The oldest and youngest died in infancy, Maria in 1850, and Louisa in 1856. When the first- born died, Dr. Thomson wrote in the family Bible: “Every hour of her life she was a blessing to us, and we trust her death has been sanctified. How sweetly did she sing God’s praise, and pray to her heavenly Father! How gently did she suffer her last sickness, and how calmly she fell asleep in Jesus !” When he recorded the death of Louisa he added: “She passed gently away to heaven, after having en- deared herself to us on earth. Deeply we grieve, but say, ‘Thy will, O God, be done!’ ” 5 To Maria he dedicated the following acrostic lines: “ Every hour I seem to hear Lost Maria, fresh and fair, In her little elbow chair, Singing in a voice so clear: Angel sounds, from regions blest, Break upon my midnight rest, Ever saying, ‘ Papa, list! There is Jesus, here is love; Happy I in realms above.’ Many eyes their waters shed At thy gentle cradle bed ; Rested not this weary head In the day the weepers said, ‘Angels come—Maria’s dead !’ Throned in light—by faith I see thee, Happy in redeeming love ; On the temple’s threshold mark thee, Mingling with the throng above. Soar, my child, with seraph’s wing, Onward in those realms of light, Never more to cease thy flight.” 140 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. The children were a source of great joy and com- fort to their parents. In their tender years they al- ways expected papa to kiss them in the morning, before he started to college; and at noon and even- ing they often watched a full hour for him to return, and when they caught the first glimpse of his smiling face, ran with glee to meet him and receive his fond embrace. After supper the whole family adjourned to the sitting-room, and for an hour or more all were children. They played “blind-man’s buff,’ ‘“ pussy wants a corner,” or wrestled and romped, with noise and laughter. Then followed an hour of historical tales. There were various courses,—the English kings, the French dynasties, the Christian fathers, the holy martyrs; and the pictures thus painted by Dr. Thomson can now be recalled with vividness by his children. Next came the solemn hour of prayer, and the children, kissing each other and their parents, retired for the night. On Sunday, instead of the playing and history, the catechism was taken up, re- ited, and explained. Thus the children were made familiar.with their parents, and trained to love and fear the Lord. ‘When, in 1860, Dr. Thomson became editor of the Christian Advocate and Journal, at New York, it was very hard for the family to leave their pleasant home and take up their residence in a crowded city. The students and citizens of Delaware felt that the presi- dent of the university must not move. As soon as the news of his nomination to the editorial chair of the Advocate was telegraphed from Buffalo, the seat of the conference, the mayor and others called a public meeting. At a very short notice the largest IN DELAWARE AND NEW YORK. 141 hall in the town was filled with interested citizens, and resolutions deprecating the removal of the doctor from the presidency of the university, and urging him to remain, were unanimously passed, and telegraphed to him. But the Church had for him new duties to perform, and to him its voice was the voice of God. On the day of his return from Buffalo, a com- mitee of thirteen ladies waited upon him at his resi- dence, and presented a petition signed by themselves and four hundred and fifty others, beseeching him to continue to make his home in Delaware. However gratifying it would have been to his own feelings to remain, and he was deeply affected by all these ex- pressions of regard, he hesitated not to undertake the labor or perform the duty imposed upon him. In matters of reform the Church is always ahead of the State. From 1844 the antislavery sentiment of the Church in the North grew stronger year by year. There were, however, two parties, one radical and the other conservative in views. The latter, for a long time, held the most prominent positions. But before the country was ready to elect an anti-slavery President, the Church said that these positions must be filled by radicals. At the General Conference held in May, 1860, it was determined that strong and out- spoken anti-slavery men must be put in all the edito- rial chairs; and Edward Thomson was selected to conduct the leading organ of Methodism. He desired not the position ; but when it was thrust upon him, at this critical time in political and ecclesiastical his- tory, he felt that he could not decline. His saluta- tory expresses the feelings of his mind in accepting this new field of labor, and we here reproduce it. 142 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. “The new editor offers Christian salutations to his readers. He comes from a quiet village to a crowded metropolis, and from a life of comparative ease and tranquillity to one of turmoil and anxiety. He comes at the sacrifice at once of feeling and of interest, and with reluctance, regret, even grief. A sedentary life has impaired his health, and he had fondly antici- pated, erelong, a season of relaxation and retirement, or at least a return to the healthful, inspiring labors of the regular itinerancy. “ But the Church calls, and as ‘a son in the Gos- pel’ he obeys. This implicit obedience, against both one’s judgment and feeling, may be deemed the mark of a mean or superstitious mind; but he can not help thinking that the voice of the Church is to him the voice of God, and he yields his judgment in this instance, as well as others, to that of his brethren, without accusing them of cruelty, or even of unkindness. “The post assigned him calls for a mind in the freshness of its faculties and the fullness of its strength. It is associated with some of the most illustrious names in the Church. Dr. Bangs, Dr. Samuel Luckey, and Dr. George Peck still linger among us, and their labors and praises are in all the Churches. Dr. Bond, a man of noble intellect and generous heart, rich in the means that convince, nor wanting in those that charm, gentle as the Summer breeze to the friends of Zion, terrible as the wintry storm to her foes, though now ‘with God and his angels,’ is still fresh in the memory of our Church. Dr. Stevens, the astute tac- -tician, the ready writer, the glowing historian, has left the impression of his mind full upon us. If the IN DELAWARE AND NEW YORK. 143 new editor be found wanting, let the readers remem- ber that he is tried by no mean standard. “The crisis is a painful one. Our Church is agi- tated, discordant, distracted. Brother meets brother, and force meets force, in hostile array. Happily, our conflicts are of policy rather than of principle, and are indicative of vitality and ominous of good. Your editor comes with no new principles or new contro- versies; he needs make no declaration of opinions. A ministerial life of nearly thirty years has given him a record. His views, whether right or wrong, have been clearly conceived and boldly declared, and they are in harmony with those of the great body of the Church. On the ‘vexed question’ his position has been deliberately taken, and will be jirmly and fearlessly held. He has no wish to enter the arena of controversy; and if he must, he hopes to do so with that charity which ‘thinketh no evil.’ “We all know with what difficulty error is avoided and truth secured; with what slowness sin is for- saken and righteousness attained. It is his fixed purpose to avoid all personalities; to treat all oppo- nents with respect ; to assign no bad motive where a good one can be found; to dip his pen not in a brother’s blood, but in the milk of human kindness ; and when reviled, to revile not again. This may entail weakness, for men are stronger in depravity than in righteousness; it may involve difficulty, for it is easier to descend with nature than to rise with grace; but let us sit at the feet of Him that was ‘meek and lowly,’ and learn how, while we are weak in ourselves, we may become ‘strong in the Lord.’ “There is no harm in controversy if it be not 144 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. attended with bitterness, and there is great good in it; it is God’s ordained path of progress. We must exchange thought for thought, argument for argument, opinion for opinion, if we would enlighten others or be ourselves enlightened. When this process is prop- erly conducted it brings both parties under obliga- tion, and should increase their respect for each other. Still, the editor hopes that it will not be necessary to appropriate much space to controverted points, and he is determined that his paper shall not be de- voted to one idea, however grand that idea may be. He will make his sheet, as heretofore it has been, a well-balanced one, symmetrical in doctrine and pre- cept. Still may it go forth the herald of news, the messenger of the Churches, the medium of communi- cation between distant parts of our common Meth- odism! Still may it be the friend of the family, the admonisher of the sinner, the monitor of the saint, breathing in all its pages, ‘Peace on earth, good-will to men, and glory to God in the highest!’ May it never bear the sad tidings of disunion, or the more disastrous news that righteousness has been sacrificed to peace. “Our illustrious predecessor closed his labors with an allusion to an evil prediction of his own, and a prayer that it might not be fulfilled. We begin ours with a contradictory prophecy, and shall hope and work up to it. The head and heart of the Church are sound, and will radiate a genial influence and pump a healthful blood into its extremities Earnestly asking your prayers, the editor will firmly pursue his path with an eye upon the tomb to which he hastens, and the retributions which must follow, reposing his IN DELAWARE AND NEW YORK. 145 head, in every trial, on the bosom of ‘Our Father,’ whose providence has strangely called him to unex- pected and unwelcome duties.” He was called to this position in the most critical period of our national history, and conducted the mother of Advocates through her most trying quadren- nium, When he took his seat a storm of opposition was raised by-a respectable minority throughout a large part of the patronizing territory of the paper, and after the election of Lincoln, matters became still more complicated. As indicative of the spirit of the pro-slavery mem- bers in certain localities, and particularly in New York City and vicinity, we might state that a document was presented to the New York East Conference at its session in 1860, just before that-body proceeded to the election of delegates to the General Conference, soon to convene in Buffalo, in which the preachers of that conference were implored “by your love for us to vote for no one, whatever may be your personal regard for him, who you are not morally certain will, if elected, stand in the General Conference as a rock against any change of the General Rule on Slavery.” And this was signed by many prominent and wealthy laymen of New York City and suburban towns. The “ Laymen’s Union” made great exertions to secure the election of delegates who would be opposed to the much feared alteration in the Discipline. It sent up to the seat of the General Conference a strong force, which held meetings, and attracted so much at- tention as to have its debates reported in the New York Herald. It threatened that if Dr. Stevens were not re-elected to the Advocate an opposition paper 13 146 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. would be started in New York. The same party car- ried out its threat, and the Methodist came into life as an organ of the border, pleading for the repeal of the new rule on slavery. The most abusive letters were written to Dr. Thomson by laymen and ministers in Northern and border States, censuring him for espousing the cause of the oppressed, and denouncing him for having as- ‘sisted in the election of Abraham Lincoln, and thus bringing war and probably ruin to the nation. Sub- scribers withdrew by hundreds and gave their sup- port to the opposition paper, and it managed to have the backing of nearly all the wealthy laymen of the great city, and drew to its columns much of the most able talent of the Church. George R. Crooks, John McClintock, Abel Stevens, and others of equal ability, gave their powers to the building up of the Methodist. Many supposed that the Advocate was doomed, and that its editor was so timid and sensitive that he must surely resign his place in a few months. But they found that he possessed all the elements of power, and that a great ordeal only developed them. One of his associates in the university, who knew him well, said of him: “All that was most gentle, and lovely, and pure in our holy religion, his heart clung to with af- fection; any thing the opposite of this, he shrank from as a timid child, except when the voice of duty commanded; then the lamb was a lion. Neither favor nor fear could affect his life-long fidelity and his great ability. Straight forward he moved in the conduct of the paper, which had never before been so full of thoughtful, charming editorials. In this new position his great qualities were equally exhibited—unweary- IN DELAWARE AND NEW YORK. 147 ing industry, large resources, and unfailing zeal. A single instance of his capacity for work, of his fertil- ity, is given in a passing remark made in a private note to one of his friends, that he had that week, be- sides other editorial labor, written eleven columns for the Advocate.” The Methodist, however, scarcely got an oppor- tunity to open out on the slavery question. The war came on. The country wasall excitement. The great mass of the people in the North demanded the pres- ervation of the Union, and the new paper became, very wisely, a supporter of the administration. Thus when, by the shock of war, its occupation was gone, it dropped the slavery question and became the great advocate of lay delegation. Dr. Thomson was, at heart, favorable to lay dele- gation, and felt that just as soon as the laymen in the Church should, by a fair majority, express a desire for representation it would be wise to grant it. As far back as 1856 he was moving in a prominent way in his own conference towards measures favorable to that end. But since the opposition paper had taken up the cause and was claiming that the vote expressed by the membership was not the real sentiment of the Church, he felt called upon to answer on behalf of the party that had placed him in his position. Many of his editorials on this question might be given, and they would still be read with interest. We merely extract a brief answer to a committee of the laymen’s con- vention held at St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church, in New York City, in 1863. Those of our readers who remember something of the agitation will appre- ciate the points thus strongly made: 148 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. “The committee has both failed to show that lay delegation is expedient, and to devise a satisfactory plan. At either of these points we might have stopped, but let us see how they meet objections. The agitation of the Church by elections they do not touch, because their plan obviates it. The objection that the laity is not represented in their plan they remove by saying, Let a more popular plan be adopted. If this is not reasoning in a circle, what is? “Surely one with but half an eye can see that if the plan is restricted the second objection stands; if it is popularized, the first objection. But one or the other must be done in case of lay delegation; there- fore either one or the other objection stands in all its force. And here we must say that the committee de- parts from Christian charity by imputing to the editor of the Quarterly Review a want of candor. He can speak for himself. For ourselves we say, on our conscience, that if we are to have lay representation we hope every male member may be permitted to vote for the representative. We honestly believe that the Church will be safer in the hands of the whole membership than in the hands of a part. There is certainly as much spirituality, zeal, and attachment to the Church in the hearts of the masses as in that of the stewardship. “The answer to the objection arising from the vote is a curiosity. Let us suppose that in the State of New York the clergy were not eligible to a seat in the Legislature ; that the question of a representa- tion of the clergy, as a class, had been agitated since the organization of the government; that a failure to get it had occasioned frequent migrations; that IN DELAWARE AND NEW YORK. 149 twelve years ago a new party arose, and after agitat- ing the cities by the various methods adopted for such purposes, had petitioned the Legislature, power being possessed by it, to grant the request for such repre- sentation; that in 1860 that body had kindly resolved that they were willing to admit the clergy if the people favored it, and submitted to the citizens, lay and clerical, two years from that time, the question of so altering the constitution as to provide for it; that of the people one hundred and fifty thousand should vote against it and fifty thousand in its favor, and of the clergy in their conventions about two to one should vote against it; and suppose that a party should maintain that this adverse vote did not estop the Legislature. If by this they meant that it would not diminish their constitutional power, we might assent ; but if they meant that it did not present any moral reason, any political propriety against the change, we should certainly think they were wild. Any legislature that would run athwart the public will, legally solicited and expressed in regard to a fundamental principle of the constitution, would be doomed. “The committee go further, and say that the vote does not express the wishes of the Church ; and why ? Because it had not been reasonably discussed, owing to the shortness of time between the General Confer- ence and the taking of the vote, and owing to the condition of the public mind. But our people have been called on to make up their mind on political questions in a much shorter period, in the same con- dition of ‘the public mind. “Tf the subject was not reasonably discussed it was 150 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. not the fault of lay delegationists, for they had the discussions all to themselves. Suppose the vote had been two to one of the laity and three to one of the clergy in favor of the change, and a party issue cir- culars, get up conventions, appoint committees, and draft addresses to convince the General Conference that the ‘enlightened and reliable judgment of the Church’ was against lay representation; in other words, that the majority were ignorant people that did not understand their business, and the minority the ‘enlightened and reliable’ people, and express their opinion that, ‘on this appearing,’ the General Con- ference ‘will accept their judgment’ and act ‘judi- ciously,’ that is, not admit lay delegates, would their committee find access to The Methodist? Would the gentlemen of the committee compliment them on their wisdom and propriety? Would the political world imitate their bright example and oust candidates elected by majorities, because the votes of the mi- nority express the ‘enlightened and reliable judgment’ of the country ?” Dr. Thomson had as his assistant editor, for the first year, the Rev. W. P. Strickland, D. D., a Meth- odist author, and one well qualified for the place. Soon after the great war broke out, he was in such deep sympathy with the cause of the Union, that he resigned his position, and became a chaplain in the army. The Rev. George Lansing Taylor, A. B., the brilliant poet, then a young graduate of Columbia College, was employed as the successor of Dr. Strick- land. Mr. Taylor left the place in about two years to enter upon active service in the itinerant ministry. He has since become a distinguished preacher, and IN DELAWARE AND NEW YORK. 151 has received the degree of doctor of divinity. Then Mr. Stephen B. Wickens, who had been connected with the office for many years as a proof-reader, and had acted as assistant to Dr. Thomas E. Bond during a part of his long and able editorship, took Mr. Tay- lor’s place, and labored with Dr. Thomson till the close of his term of service. The correspondents which Dr. Thomson employed were not, at that time, so distinguished as the dozen brilliant names emblazoned on the first page of The Methodist as its “Special Contributors.” Scarcely any of them had attained prominent position; nearly all were in the pastorate, and had not then reached the first places in this line of work. Some of the best talent of the East was arrayed against The Advocate. Still, many of the men who assisted the editor in making his paper one of excellence were strong and polished writers. He allowed no inferior communi- cation to enter his columns, and encouraged the able men, some of whom were young and almost unknown, to write frequently; and thus The Advocate was, all the time, at least the equal of The Methodist. Among Dr. Thomson’s contributors may be men- tioned Gilbert Haven, Daniel Curry, Daniel Dor- chester, George W. Woodruff, Robert Allyn, Henry W. Warren, and James M. Buckley, now historical names. Dr. George L. Taylor, well acquainted with all the facts, sums up Thomson’s services during this quadrennium : “Conscious of the trials of the position, he ac- cepted the editorial chair as a duty he owed to the progress of the Church in the great reform of human 152 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. liberty. A rival sheet was sure to be started by the party defeated at the General Conference, and with capital and talent to support it. Confident expecta- tions were entertained that the organ of the Church would be d deserted craft, a foundering concern in a twelvemonth. The conservative society of New York received the unpretentious and, externally perhaps, unprepossessing radical with a coldness that sorely wounded his sensitive nature. Many who in the later years of his life were ambitious to bask in the honor of his acquaintance then treated him with unchristian bitterness. But it was only of a piece with the lot of reformers and warriors for the truth before him, and he bore it in meekness and silence. The paper be- came at once a classic in the grace and elegance of its editorials, which were widely quoted. The strong- est radical minds of the Church rallied to its columns. Although forced into distasteful and harassing con- troversies, no braver or knightlier pen than his was ever lifted against an antagonist. His ability and suavity made friends by hundreds from the ranks of those who began as his enemies; and he brought the paper through his term of office, in spite of the cru- sade against him and the ravages of war, with a larger subscription list than he found. The paper was among the most patriotic of the day, and an editorial in the New York Tribune justly remarks that ‘ few religious journals in the land did the country better service during the war for the Union than The Christian Ad- vocate.’ In all respects Dr. Thomson’s editorship was a fine success, that could only have improved with continuation.” LETTERS FROM NEW YORK. 153 CHAPTER XII. LETTERS FROM NEW YORK. HEN Dr. Thomson was appointed to the editor- ship of the Advocate, the condition of his wife’s health was such that she could not safely take up her residence continuously in the city. The dampness of the sea-breeze seemed to intensify her affliction, which was a complication of inflammatory rheumatism and heart disease. Hence, most of the time she remained with the children at the family home at Delaware, spending only a few months each year with her hus- band in New York. He was willing even to deny himself home comforts, if thereby he might render his family happier and at the same time serve the Church to which he had devoted his life. Many letters passed between him and the family during the months of separation. His letters to his son, who was then just entering the most important period of youth, embody much of the wisdom which he had gathered in the training of the young; and as they were written during a most interesting time of our national history, some of them are here given. The address and subscription of each letter are omit- ted, as not necessary; only the date is given. “New Yorks, July 15, 1861. “The city is still alive with military display. On “Saturday the Ninth Massachusetts Regiment passed through. There are now about three or four thousand at 154 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON. Camp Scott. The tents make a beautiful sight. I should like you to see them. In looking into one the other day, I was pleased to see Bibles on the shelves. I hope every soldier will carry his Bible, and do his duty in the fear of God. I hope and pray that when you are a man, there may be no more war, so that you may never feel it your duty to bear arms against your fellow-man. I want you to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. “It is said that when Origen, one of the great lights of the early Church, was a boy, he used to read the Scripture to his father, asking him to explain not merely its literal but its spiritual meaning. The father felt proud of his son, though he never told him so. Often, when the boy was sleeping, the father would go to his bed, and, raising the covering, kiss the breast of his son reverently, as a temple in which the Holy Spirit was about to fix his dwelling ; then, raising his weeping eyes to heaven, he would thank God for so great a treasure. ‘With much solicitude and prayer does your father look upon you. May you become a holy man, that, after a happy life here, you may find an eternal crown!” “New York, April 23, 1862. “On arriving from Troy last Monday, I found your letter, and was much pleased to read it, although it was not writ- ten with sufficient care. You must bear in mind what my father used often to say to me, ‘ Whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well.’ “Accept my thanks for the beautiful flowers you send. “Do not engage in any quarrel with your neighbors. Speak kindly to young 8. His dog, I trust, will not do much damage to your yard. When I return home I will talk to his father, who isa kind man, and will do any thing reasonable. All through life we may expect more or less trouble; but kind words and a gentle spirit will carry us through. ‘Tn regard to your studies, I have only to say that you LETTERS FROM NEW YORK. 155 should be advised by your teachers. I wish you to under- stand thoroughly every thing you study, and therefore I am not anxious that you should take advanced classes. If there is a commencing class in Latin, you should enter it; for it is time you began your classical studies. I want you to have enough to engage your attention, but not enough to imperil your health. ‘“‘Be very kind and unassuming, both to your fellow- pupils and your professors. The president and his associates are your friends. They labor for the good of their students. You must always be found on their side, sustaining the gov- ernment, reverencing their persons and respecting their instruction. ‘Pray to God daily. I hope you will soon be a Christian. It would rejoice me to hear you had joined the Church. ““P. S. I send you a part of the white flag sent from Fort Pulaski when it surrendered. Dr. Strickland sent it to me.” “New Yorks, April 30, 1862. “‘T am satisfied with your arrangement for study; but I beg you will not forget your private spelling, nor omit to practice penmanship. It is very important to learn how to spell correctly and write plainly. It seems to me that mamma should arrange some regular hours for a short spelling lesson and writing exercise every day or every other day. «You must be very kind and obedient to your mother. Boys of your age often think too much of themselves. I hope you will not be so silly. Never set up your judg- ment in opposition to ma’s. I trust you will never leave the house, or enter into any company, or engage in any enterprise, without your mother’s consent. ‘Be punctual at prayers and at Church, and behave not merely like a gentleman, but like a Christian. Set the example of kneeling in the house of God, and seek his blessing on all your studies and enjoyments.” 156 LIFE OF BISHOP THOMSON, “New York, May 7, 1862. “You have done well to commence the Latin. You will find it-easy, as you advance, and I hope you will con- tinue till you become a fine scholar in that language. The languages should be acquired early in life, as the faculty which they chiefly tax is the memory, and that is more re- tentive in youth than in later periods. It is not so with the mathematics; they strain the reasoning powers, which are imperfectly developed in youth, and ripen with ad- vancing years.” “New Yorx, September 17, 1862. “You seem to be entirely too much excited about the war. You are too young to take any part in it yet, though if the contest be long protracted, you may. I trust, however, that God, in his kind providence, will soon bring the conflict to a close, and give us a righteous and lasting peace. War is a dreadful calamity, and a source of demoralization to a people. “You do well, however, to cherish the most lively pa- triotic attachments. Respect the flag, which is the emblem of our national life; respect the ruler whom Providence appoints over us; and be ready whenever the government may call upon you to defend the nation. At present you can best serve your country by a close and diligent atten- tion to your studies. “T presume you will get along with languages well; but you must not neglect the lower branches. Study arithmetic until you master it; seek to be thorough in geography ; spell every evening, and read to your mother once or twice a week. Show yourself a gentleman in all your intercourse with others, and shun rude or vulgar company. “‘T inclose you a picture on paper made out of rice, which Brother Nathan Sites sends to you from China. All well at Mrs. Belden’s. Among the boarders is the poet, N. P. Willis.” LETTERS FROM NEW YORK. 157 “New York, September 24, 1862. “Yours of 20th was received to-day. I am glad that you are at your books. The time with you is precious; you ought to improve every hour. Try to make yourself agreeable at your boarding-place; do not expect to have every thing to suit you. Learn to be contented in every situation in which Providence places you. Be very kind and attentive to your mother and affectionate to your sister. “T send you an autograph of General Hunter, which Dr. Strickland sent me from Port Royal. It is attached to a form of certificate which is issued to the colored persons who are made free by coming within the military lines. I hope you will preserve it as a curiosity. ‘‘ Endeavor to master whatever you study. . Be careful to show proper respect to your teachers, and treat all your fellow-students kindly. Do not neglect your Bible or your prayers; but give your heart to God, and seek a place early among his people.” “New York, October 30, 1862. “Yours of the 26th, which was duly received, was very carefully and prettily written. If you continue to improve as you have done the last month, you will soon have an ex- cellent penmanship. You are right in reading your com- mentaries; but I hope you will not go too rapidly.