CI. 
 
 Bk. 
 
 THE ETHEL CARR PEACOCK 
 
 MEMORIAL COLLECTION 
 
 Matris atnori monumentum 
 
 TRINITY COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 
 DURHAM, N. C. 
 1903 
 
 Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Drcd Peacock 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2013 
 
 http://archive.org/details/mrsfrancesmbumpaOObump 
 
mnfrdt)ce$lt1J)Uitp$$ 
 
 / 
 
 Autobiography and Journal 
 
THE ETHEL CARR PEACOCK 
 
 Matris amori monumentum. 
 
 R EADING ROOM 
 

MRS. FRANCES M. BUMPASS. 
 
MRS. FRANCES M. BUMPASS. 
 
 Autobiography and Journal. 
 
 % 
 
 COMPILED BY 
 
 MISS EUGENIA H. BUMPASS. 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 MRS. F. A. BUTLER. 
 
 % 
 
 Nashville, Tenn. 
 
 Publishing House M. E. Church, South. 
 
 1899. 
 
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 V - r ; :4-i"E 
 
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 1 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 t/ 
 
 There is genuine pleasure aside from 
 any considerations of interest or affection 
 in tracing the life and contemplating the 
 character of one so eminently good and 
 pure as Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 The little service, therefore, of reading 
 the proof sheets of this small volume has 
 been "counted all joy." 
 
 In the unstudied pages of her journal 
 and autobiography an anxious search 
 after the truth as it is in Jesus is constant- 
 ly apparent, with such close scrunity of 
 her own heart in its desires, purposes, 
 and expectations — and all expressed in 
 language of such quaint simplicity — that 
 one is reminded of Carvosso, Hester Ann 
 Rogers, or Kitty Trevelyan. Like those 
 devoted Christians, her character " shines 
 with heavenly luster." 
 
 The reader will see that Mrs. Bumpass 
 made no compromises with her own soul ; 
 in her dealings with God she was honest, 
 without mental reservations or illusions, 
 and dared to look at Self with open eye ; 
 she solved the deep problems of life by 
 living and doing the work nearest her 
 hand, without striving to evade it or 
 dreaming of something better. The bet- 
 ter and best always came to her expectant 
 
 382154 
 
4 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 soul. In the words of another, she was 
 able to keep herself unspotted by the 
 world ; she could walk in white through 
 the stained thoroughfares of men ; she 
 could touch the vile and polluted ones of 
 earth and keep her garments pure ; she 
 could come in contact with the sinful, and 
 herself remain undefiled. 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose that serenity 
 and equipoise of mind are in proportion 
 to the deficiency of will power. It is well 
 known that those who exert the strongest 
 force of will in ruling their own spirits or 
 commanding others are the most tranquil, 
 the most " obedient to the heavenly vi- 
 sion ; " and those only who are longing 
 and listening for such visions and voices 
 are able to see and to hear at all times 
 the call to duty. 
 
 Mrs. Bumpass was not a sentimental- 
 ist ; she was an active doer of God's 
 word, subjecting implicitly her own to 
 his will and going straight forward in 
 the path of life indicated by his provi- 
 dences. Sometimes her path was bounded 
 on every side by perplexities, but with 
 lifted heart and bended knee she still re- 
 joiced, until, to her select spirit, " the 
 shadows vanished in the Light of Light." 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Introduction 3 
 
 Mrs. Frances Moore Webb Bumpass. 7 
 
 Autobiography 29 
 
 Extracts from Journal 40 
 
 Sketch by a Friend 64 
 
 Tribute of Mrs. Brooks 71 
 
 Tributes from Societies 77 
 
Mrs. Frances Moore Webb Bumpass. 
 
 Back of every life there lie countless 
 and varied ancestral traits and influences 
 which go to make up the sum total of in- 
 dividual character. The appreciation of 
 this fact led Dr. Holmes, when asked, 
 "How early should the training of a child 
 begin?" to make the wise and witty re- 
 ply : "A hundred years before it is born." 
 Recognizing the truth of this great prin- 
 ciple, when we see a life of rare sweet- 
 ness and loveliness crowning some long 
 ancestral line, like the final burst of glo- 
 rious bloom which attests the slow but 
 rich growth through long years of the 
 century plant, we instinctively desire to 
 seek the hidden sources of such a con- 
 summation. 
 
 The writer of this sketch, in searching 
 the genealogical table of the paternal an- 
 cestry of Mrs. Bumpass, was not sur- 
 prised to find the following testimony 
 from the compiler of the family history : 
 "In this long and numerous line of an- 
 cestry I have found no one who has dis- 
 graced the high stand they have main- 
 tained in every community in which they 
 have lived. I have not found one who 
 
S Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 has been convicted of any crime involv- 
 ing moral turpitude. They have one and 
 all been men of good character; honest, 
 upright, sincere, and of undoubted integ- 
 rity ; and while they have not been seek- 
 ers after office or position, their strong, 
 independent minds have made them lead- 
 ars of thought and action on all impor- 
 tant questions involving the interests of 
 the communities in which they have 
 lived. As women they have been gentle, 
 kind, and self-sacrificing. As wives, 
 mothers, and sisters, loving and lovely, 
 and ever looking well to the interests of 
 their households." 
 
 This long and honorable ancestry 
 traces its source to one Henry Webbe, 
 of Dorset, a shire on the southern coast 
 of Wales. This gentleman was a member 
 of the household of Catharine Parr, last 
 queen of Henry VIII. , and mention of 
 him is made in connection with some 
 grants and privileges, under the hand and 
 signet of Catherine, then Queen Regent, 
 in 1544. The settlement of the family in 
 this country is connected with the ear- 
 liest colonial times. In 1640 to 1650 two 
 Webb brothers came from Wales to set- 
 tle in America. One of these, Christo- 
 pher, settled at Baintree, Mass., and from 
 him is descended the New England 
 branch of the family, which has num- 
 bered among its members many distin- 
 guished individuals. 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 9 
 
 Another brother settled about the same 
 time in Isle of Wight County, Va., and is 
 the ancestor of the Southern branch of 
 the family. It is to this branch that Isaac 
 Webb, the father of Mrs. Bumpass, be- 
 longed. 
 
 On the maternal side the ancestry is 
 equally honorable and noteworthy, but a 
 complete record is not accessible to the 
 writer. Robert Dickens, the founder of 
 the family in this country, was a colonel 
 in a cavalry regiment in the Continental 
 Army. His eldest son, Jesse Dickens, 
 married Frances Moore, a daughter of 
 Gen. Stephen Moore, of Revolutionary 
 fame, having come gallantly to the de- 
 fense of his country when the Southern 
 colonies were invaded by the British in 
 1779, and having been taken prisoner at 
 the battle of Camden. From this union 
 was born Harriet Dickens, the mother 
 of the subject of this sketch. 
 
 Mrs. Bumpass, second child and eldest 
 daughter of Isaac Webb and Harriet 
 Webb (nee Dickens), was born in Meck- 
 lenburg County, Va., September 26, 
 1819. In her early childhood her parents 
 removed to Person County, N. C, and 
 here, in the simple, wholesome atmos- 
 phere of the farm life of seventy years 
 ago in the South, in the midst of a large 
 and affectionate group of brothers and 
 sisters, her childhood and young woman- 
 
io Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 hood were passed. Though Virginia was 
 the State of her birth, she has through a 
 long and useful life been so identified 
 with the religious, educational, and social 
 life of the State of her adoption that from 
 one end of North Carolina to the other 
 her name is honored and revered as that 
 of few women has been. 
 
 From her earliest years she breathed 
 the atmosphere of refined, religious cul- 
 ture. Her home, with the hospitality of 
 the time and section, was ever open to 
 receive the faithful men of God, who as 
 evangels of the gospel traveled through 
 the land on their mission of love, and oft- 
 en tarried in this "preachers' home." 
 
 The family life in her home was almost 
 ideal ; and it could scarcely have been 
 otherwise under the firm but tender 
 guidance of such a father and mother. 
 The latter was a woman of decided char- 
 acter and of great intelligence, having 
 naturally a strong mind, disciplined by 
 study, and well stored through much 
 reading. Like the model woman of the 
 Scriptures, she might have received the 
 commendation : "She looketh well to the 
 ways of her household, and eateth not the 
 bread of idleness." She gave her daugh- 
 ters careful domestic training, and indus- 
 try was one of the laws of the household. 
 
 The head of the family was one of the 
 best of men. Christian erace illumined 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 1 1 
 
 his countenance, and it was said of him 
 by one of the leading men of his day : 
 "If there is any truth in the human face, 
 Isaac Webb is a good man." He was 
 a man deeply interested in the moral and 
 intellectual welfare of his community. 
 and was highly respected and trusted by 
 his neighbors, to whom he was ever 
 ready to extend a brotherly hand of sym- 
 pathy and assistance. In those days of 
 sparsely settled neighborhoods, when 
 physicians were few in number and lived 
 at great distances, it was not unusual for 
 some man of good judgment to be ap- 
 plied to as a substitute for the doctor ; 
 and one of his daughter's most vivid rec- 
 ollections of her father is of his weigh- 
 ing out medicine with the little scales in 
 use at that time for some friend or neigh- 
 bor who, in committing his health if not 
 his life for the time being into his hands, 
 manifested extreme confidence in his 
 good will and common sense. On the 
 temperance question he was in advance 
 of the sentiment of his day, for at a time 
 when nearly every family of position kept 
 the decanter on the sideboard and re- 
 garded it almost as a breach of hospital- 
 ity not to offer liquor in some form to the 
 visitors at the house, Mr. Webb said to 
 his wife; "I fear some of our neighbors 
 drop in a little oftener on account of the 
 wine upon our sideboard and take more 
 
12 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 than is best for them." From that time 
 these Christian people banished the 
 tempter from their home, thus obeying 
 the grand Pauline principle: "If meat 
 make my brother to offend, I will eat no 
 flesh while the world standeth." Could 
 such home influence fail to produce 
 strong Christian character in the inmates 
 of the household? 
 
 The excellent home training was fur- 
 ther enforced by the frequent visits which 
 Frances paid to her paternal grandmoth- 
 er, Mrs. Amy Webb, a godly woman 
 whose chief desire and daily prayer 
 was that her descendants, to the 
 latest generation, might be saved. This 
 prayer has been answered to a re- 
 markable degree, and her posterity 
 have been, so far as known, charac- 
 terized by a high type of Christian living. 
 The little Frances often sat by the bed- 
 side of the invalid grandmother, receiv- 
 ing instruction from her lips that made 
 in the plastic nature of childhood deep 
 and lasting impressions. Near the bed 
 hung a scroll on which was printed this 
 passage of Scripture : "The eyes of the 
 Lord are in every place, beholding the 
 evil and the good." Also the following 
 little stanza : 
 
 "I'm not too young for God to see; 
 
 He knows my name and nature too, 
 And all day long he looks at me, 
 
 And sees my actions through and through. " 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 13 
 
 Such thoughts made a profound influ- 
 ence upon the mind and heart of the 
 child, and in speaking of her early life 
 Mrs. Bumpass says : "I began early to 
 seek religion, being impressed with its 
 importance and its power to enable me 
 to perform my life work aright." She 
 was converted at a camp meeting in Per- 
 son County at the age of fifteen, and her 
 conversion was of that clear and definite 
 nature so much insisted upon in the 
 preaching of the early Methodists, whose 
 doctrine of experimental religion has 
 gone far to revolutionize the religious 
 teaching of the world. Her own words 
 with reference to her conversion are : 
 "Realizing I was lost unless God saved 
 me, I retired to an upper room to pray, 
 in order to get assurance whether the 
 change experienced was conversion. 
 The distinct impression upon my mind 
 was : 'God is my Father, and I am his 
 child.' " Was not this clearly the witness 
 of the Spirit, to which St. Paul refers 
 when he says : "The Spirit itself beareth 
 witness with our spirit that we are the 
 children of God?" "After such a clear 
 manifestation," she says, "I should never 
 have doubted my acceptance with God; 
 and yet I did suffer the tempter to insin- 
 uate doubts into my mind, losing at times 
 the perfect peace and joy which it is the 
 privilege of God's children to enjoy." 
 
14 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 Though she may have been troubled for 
 a season, it was not in the nature of such 
 earnest, sincere piety as hers to permit 
 any cloud long to obscure from the 
 eye of faith her precious Savior, and we 
 find her soon recovering her crown of 
 rejoicing and entering upon a calm, 
 trustful, even Christian experience, 
 which has been characteristic of her 
 through life. 
 
 Soon after her conversion she was re- 
 ceived into the Methodist Church by 
 Rev. R. O. Burton, at Bethlehem, a 
 church built mainly through the liberal- 
 ity of her father, about six miles east of 
 Roxboro, Person County. It was not in 
 accordance with her active, earnest spirit 
 to remain idle in her Master's vineyard ; 
 and feeling, as she said, that God had 
 some work for his child to do, she turned, 
 as was her custom, to the duty nearest at 
 hand. She gathered into a Sunday 
 school the younger brothers and sisters 
 in her home with the children of the 
 neighborhood ; she gave religious in- 
 struction also to the servants on her fa- 
 ther's plantation. 
 
 In educational advantages she was as 
 fortunate as in her home training, for her 
 parents had a high appreciation of the 
 importance of education in fitting one for 
 the highest duties of life. According to 
 the custom of the day, she attended pri- 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 15 
 
 vate, or family schools, it being before 
 the era of colleges for girls or the agita- 
 tion of the question of "higher educa- 
 tion" for women. Yet the children of 
 intelligent parents were not deprived of 
 the opportunity for intellectual culture, 
 as the well-stored and well-disciplined 
 mind of the subject of our sketch fully at- 
 tests. After the usual home instruction, 
 she attended school in the family of her 
 grandmother, under the instruction of 
 Miss Caroline Patillo, a woman of fine 
 culture and pronounced piety. Later she 
 made her home with her aunts in Gran- 
 ville County, and attended school. Her 
 last days in school were spent under the 
 tutelage of Rev. D. G. Doak, a Presbyte- 
 rian minister, in Orange County. Here, 
 as a resident in his family, she enjoyed 
 advantages of mental training and disci- 
 pline which tended greatly to broaden 
 her mind and develop analytical power 
 which she regarded as of special value 
 and helpfulness in the editorial work to 
 which she was called in later life. 
 
 In all these schools she was under the 
 best moral and intellectual influences, 
 and being in the plastic, formative stage 
 of youth, when the character is peculiarly 
 sensitive to the impress of individual in- 
 fluence, she received from these instruct- 
 ors a bent of mind which must of neces- 
 sity have contributed largely to the de- 
 
1 6 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 velopment of that marked piety which has 
 characterized every period of her life. 
 
 She began teaching soon after her own 
 school days came to an end. Her life 
 as a teacher, at this period, covered four 
 years, and was spent wholly in Granville 
 County, first in the family of her aunts, 
 and later at the home of Mr. Nathaniel 
 Daniel, near Oak Hill. She felt these to 
 be years of improvement that strength- 
 ened her character and increased her de- 
 sire to accomplish the life work appointed 
 by the Master. 
 
 Thus glided away the happy, active 
 season of girlhood and young woman- 
 hood. But that event which marks an 
 epoch in woman's life, widening and 
 deepening her happiness and influence if 
 entered upon wisely and with a pure and 
 holy love, was approaching to open to 
 the young teacher a broader field of work 
 as the companion of an itinerant preach- 
 er. In December, 1842, she was happily 
 married to Rev. Sidney Bumpass, of the 
 North Carolina Conference. This union 
 was entered into after a long acquaint- 
 ance, and with no undue haste. Indeed, 
 Mr. Bumpass acknowledged that the 
 "first impression," the importance of 
 which we all understand so well, was 
 made while Frances was still a school- 
 girl, on the occasion of a school examina- 
 tion. Ah ! who that has passed through 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 17 
 
 the ordeal of a public oral examination 
 (a usual experience in days agone) does 
 not recall the nervous dread and shrink- 
 ing timidity with which the average pupil 
 faced the examiner — feeling much as a 
 culprit might in facing a judge? But 
 with that clear grasp of mind and even 
 poise of character which are among her 
 distinguishing traits, she answered so 
 clearly and correctly the questions 
 propounded in natural philosophy and 
 chemistry that the scholarly young 
 preacher, acting in the capacity of exam- 
 iner, received an impression that never 
 faded from his mind, but deepened as the 
 years went by. And now, dear girls, 
 would you like a peep into at least one 
 courtship of fifty years ago? Methinks 
 there is a perfect chorus of assent, for 
 when did a girl ever fail to feel an inter- 
 est in the vital questions of love and 
 courtship, for "the whole world loves a 
 lover?" Well, you shall have, in confi- 
 dence, the sweet secret which has come 
 to the writer through the inestimable 
 privilege of long and intimate association 
 in the family. When the young preacher 
 received that "first impression," albeit it 
 was only philosophical and chemical, it 
 proved to be charged with the powerful 
 alchemy of love, and after the lapse of a 
 few years he felt he must put the mat- 
 ter to a test, so Miss Fannie received 
 2 
 
1 8 Mrs. Frances M. Bump ass. 
 
 from him a token in the form of a Refer- 
 ence Bible, in which there were some in- 
 nocent-looking little slips of white paper 
 on which were marked certain passages 
 from the Second Epistle of John. On 
 reference to the passages indicated they 
 were found to consist of the following 
 quotations : "The elder unto the elect 
 lady, whom I love in the truth, for the 
 truth's sake, which dwelleth in me ;" and 
 "Now I beseech thee, lady, that we love 
 one another ;" also "This is love, that we 
 walk after his commandments." This 
 was the first intimation that she had of 
 having awakened an interest in his mind 
 and heart, and at first she did not find a 
 response in her heart to the sentiments 
 thus declared. However, as she pon- 
 dered them in her heart, the words "for 
 the truth's sake" commended themselves 
 more and more unto her, and gradually 
 she realized that such a life companion- 
 ship would conduce to her happiness 
 through their very congeniality of reli- 
 gious sentiment. 
 
 Now does this seem a little quaint and 
 old-fashioned, and out of line with the 
 modern methods of courtship? Well, if 
 so, just contrast the deep, sweet content 
 and happy companionship of that union 
 based on love to God, as well as on mu- 
 tual regard, with very many of the unions 
 of these days which, entered upon in 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 19 
 
 haste, are repented of at leisure, and result 
 in years of unhappiness and disunion, if 
 the unhappy partners do not eventually 
 find themselves suing for a dissolution of 
 their galling bonds in the divorce courts. 
 
 At the time of their marriage Mr. 
 Bumpass was stationed in Raleigh. 
 Here his young bride was warmly re- 
 ceived by his flock, and entered heartily 
 upon the varied social and religious du- 
 ties which the Church everywhere feels 
 at liberty to impose upon that long-suf- 
 fering woman, the pastor's wife. But the 
 duties of the position were in perfect con- 
 sonance with the young wife's high ideals 
 of an active, useful, Christian life, and she 
 assumed them with heartiness and pleas- 
 ure. Upon no period of her life does she 
 look back with more pleasant memories 
 than upon the nine years which she spent 
 in the itinerancy, sharing with her noble 
 husband its labors and rewards. During 
 those nine years Mr. Bumpass served 
 successively as pastor Raleigh, Pitts- 
 boro, Tar River Circuit, and New Berne. 
 Jn 1846 he removed to Greensboro, hav- 
 ing been appointed presiding elder on 
 the Greensboro District. 
 
 Space will not admit, in this brief 
 sketch, of detailed mention of her life 
 at these various places. Suffice it to say 
 that everywhere she bore the same con- 
 sistent testimony in her "daily walk and 
 
20 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 conversation" to the power of divine 
 grace to enable one to perform even the 
 difficult and delicate duties of life with 
 cheerfulness and courage. 
 
 The first year of their life in Greens- 
 boro was spent within the walls of 
 Greensboro Female College. Mr. 
 Bumpass was a man of progressive ideas, 
 and, being himself possessed of fine intel- 
 lectual culture, he was especially and 
 deeply interested in the promotion of 
 education. He was among the first in 
 this section to espouse the cause of bet- 
 ter educational opportunities for girls, 
 and was a liberal contributor toward the 
 establishment of Greensboro Female 
 College ; wherever he went in the dis- 
 charge of his duties he earnestly recom- 
 mended girls to avail themselves of the 
 advantages offered by that institution, 
 the second of its kind chartered in the 
 South for the liberal education of girls. 
 
 The year of Mrs. Bumpass's residence 
 in college was during the presidency of 
 Rev. Solomon Lea, and while Rev. Ben- 
 nett T. Blake was steward. She often 
 speaks of the pleasure she derived from 
 mingling with the pupils and teachers in 
 their social and religious life — a pleasure 
 which was kept up even after she had re- 
 moved from the college to her own home, 
 for she often participated in the college 
 prayer meetings* as well as in gracibus 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 21 
 
 revival seasons with which the inmates 
 of college have been visited from time to 
 time. 
 
 Mrs. Bumpass and her husband were 
 among those who helped largely to 
 broaden and deepen the foundations of 
 Methodism in the community in which 
 they had come to live. When they re- 
 moved to Greensboro the Methodists, a 
 devoted little band, worshiped in a small 
 edifice on South Elm Street, where she 
 was a regular attendant upon the preach- 
 ing of that grand, good man of God and 
 pioneer of Methodism in this region, 
 Rev. Peter Doub. Here Mrs. Bumpass 
 Was active in Christian work, participa- 
 ting with fervent zest in all the spiritual 
 exercises of the Church. Those were the 
 days when that institution peculiar to 
 Methodism, the class meeting, was re- 
 garded as an essential means of grace, 
 and the gifts and graces of this devout 
 woman naturally led to her appointment 
 as class leader, a position for which she 
 was eminently fitted, both on account of 
 her intelligence and consecration. Her 
 home was through many years thrown 
 open for these religious meetings, and, in- 
 deed, her doors ever stood wide to wel- 
 come all that was good ; abounding in the 
 grace of hospitality, she made her home 
 the center of refined, Christian influence, 
 and a blessing to all who sojourned 
 
22 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 therein. In the midst of this happiness 
 and usefulness there came a heavy cloud 
 of affliction and bereavement to over- 
 shadow and envelop in its dark folds this 
 happy home. Rarely has it been the lot 
 of one of God's children to receive such 
 heavy strokes of affliction as came at one 
 time upon this faithful heart. In 1851, 
 while attending Conference at Salisbury, 
 the beloved husband was stricken with 
 typhoid fever, and the anxious wife, di- 
 vided between the sacred duties of wife 
 and mother, herself scarcely recovered 
 from serious illness, was detained from 
 him by the critical illness of her elder 
 son, Terrelius. After days of anxious 
 watching, the little one "was not, for 
 God took him;" and the sorrowing 
 mother, turning from the new-made 
 mound which covered her darling's form 
 from her sight, and leaving another pre- 
 cious little one in sickness, hastened to 
 the bedside of her husband, reaching 
 him only in time for the sad farewell. 
 
 The human heart must have been 
 crushed beneath such a heavy blow, had 
 it not been for the sustaining grace of the 
 Heavenly Father; but the widowed heart 
 clung more closely than ever to that 
 only Refuge in time of trouble. Being 
 tempted in her first crushing grief to 
 feel that God had been with her during 
 her husband's life for his sake, but had 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 23 
 
 now withdrawn his favor, she cried in her 
 anguish, "I cannot live without my 
 God !" and, falling upon her knees, she 
 poured out her soul in prayer to Him 
 who promises to hear the cry of his suf- 
 fering children ; and soon there came to 
 her heart, like a soft whisper of love, "I 
 will never leave thee nor forsake thee.'' 
 Satisfied and comforted with this blessed 
 promise, she felt she could still live and 
 discharge life's duties, sustained and 
 guided by her Father's hand. 
 
 Returning to her bereaved home, and 
 to her three children still left to claim her 
 loving care, she took up the work which 
 now seemed required at her hands — a 
 work dear to the heart of both her hus- 
 band and herself. Shortly before his 
 death, Mr. Bumpass, feeling upon his 
 mind the impress of the Spirit, saying 
 unto him, "Write," had begun the publi- 
 cation of a religious paper, The Weekly 
 Message, there being at that time no other 
 Methodist paper published in the State. 
 Complying with the earnest request of 
 her husband, and trusting thereby to ex- 
 ert an influence for good, Mrs. Bumpass 
 undertook the work of editing this paper ; 
 and for twenty years, with the exception 
 of one year about the close of the civil 
 war, she continued this "labor of love," 
 having from time to time, from various 
 sources, the assurance that she was ac- 
 
24 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 complishing good with her pen. In the 
 meantime the publication of the North 
 Carolina Advocate had been begun, and 
 Mrs. Bumpass discontinued her paper in 
 1872. 
 
 She now resumed the duties of teach- 
 ing, conducting in her own home for a 
 number of years a prosperous day school. 
 Teaching was a beloved occupation ; and 
 in her day school, as well as in the Sab- 
 bath school, she delighted in pointing 
 youthful minds and hearts to God, and 
 in guiding little feet in the way everlast- 
 ing. In this congenial employment, in- 
 terrupted only by tender ministrations to 
 the sick and in responding to all claims 
 demanding her help and sympathy, a 
 number of years glided quickly away 
 without noteworthy incident. 
 
 In 1878 Providence again led her out 
 into a wider sphere of activity. In May 
 of that year the Woman's Foreign Mis- 
 sionary Society of the Southern Metho- 
 dist Church was inaugurated by the Gen- 
 eral Conference, then in session in At- 
 lanta, Ga. Mrs. Bumpass was appointed 
 Corresponding Secretary of the Wom- 
 an's Missionary Society of the North 
 Carolina Conference, and through this 
 office she became a member of the Wom- 
 an's Board of Foreign Missions. The 
 position of Secretary in this Conference 
 Society was held until 1890, when, after 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 25 
 
 the division of the Conference, she was 
 elected Secretary of the Western North 
 Carolina Conference Society, a position 
 which she still holds. 
 
 Mrs. Bumpass is most earnest and 
 zealous in her advocacy of missions, and 
 has ever been devoted and faithful in dis- 
 charging the obligations devolving on 
 her through her office. For seventeen 
 years she has never failed to fill her place 
 on the Woman's Board, though the meet- 
 ings have frequently been held at great 
 distance from her home ; in the same 
 length of time she has missed only one 
 of the annual meetings of the Conference 
 Society. Her coworkers in the two so- 
 cieties which she has so faithfully served 
 resolved a few years ago to establish a 
 lectureship in the Kansas City Training 
 School as a testimonial of their apprecia- 
 tion of her work, as well as of their affec- 
 tionate regard for her. This work has 
 been accomplshed, and it is hoped that 
 the "Frances Bumpass Lectureship'' 
 shall long serve to perpetuate the name 
 of one whose sacrificing devotion to the 
 cause makes it eminently proper that she 
 should be remembered by such a memo- 
 rial, having for its object the multiplica- 
 tion of laborers in the vineyard of the 
 Master. 
 
 It is related of Mary of old that she 
 took ointment of spikenard, very costly, 
 
26 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 and anointed the feet of Jesus ; and the 
 house was filled with the odor of the 
 ointment. So a pure and saintly life, like 
 precious "ointment poured forth," sweet- 
 ens and blesses all who come within the 
 radius of its influence, and is as accepta- 
 ble to the blessed Savior as was that cost- 
 ly offering made by Mary so long ago. 
 Who that has followed the narrative of 
 this consecrated life from youth to matu- 
 rity does not see therein the same devo- 
 tion to our Lord, the same self-sacrificing 
 principle that prompted the breaking of 
 the box of ointment in token of love? 
 
 The keynote to which this life has been 
 attuned is love — a strong, never waver- 
 ing love which feels and recognizes a 
 Father's care in every event of life, there- 
 by engendering such unfaltering trust 
 that the most perfect serenity of mind and 
 heart shines forth from the countenance, 
 illumining the features with a mild and 
 gentle light like the mellow radiance 
 from an alabaster lamp. From the same 
 spirit of love flows the ever-ready sym- 
 pathy which is so quick to respond in 
 helpful kindness and wise counsel to 
 every burdened heart. 
 
 The influence of such a life, who can 
 estimate? No life can be strong, gentle, 
 pure, and good without the world being 
 better for it, without somebody being 
 helped and comforted by the very exist- 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 27 
 
 ence of that goodness. How vast, then, 
 must be the influence for good emana- 
 ting from a character in which the purest 
 and loftiest motives prevail over all that 
 is low and earth-born ; in which self is 
 forgotten in the greater good of human- 
 ity, and the soul rises ever higher and 
 higher on wings of aspiration toward the 
 eternal soul of love ! 
 
 Mrs. Lucy H. Robertson, 
 
 In College Message, May, 1S96. 
 
The following sketch of the life of 
 Mrs. Bumpass was found among her 
 papers, in her own handwriting, evi- 
 dently intended for her immediate fam- 
 ily. 
 
A UTOBIO GRAPH T. 
 
 Frances Moore Webb was born Sep- 
 tember 26, 1819, in Halifax, Va., of hon- 
 orable and upright parents. In her child- 
 hood they moved to Person County, N. 
 C. There, in the quietness of a country 
 home, and with a number of brothers and 
 sisters, she was trained to habits of in- 
 dustry. "In books and work and health- 
 ful play" her earliest years were spent. 
 
 She was early impressed with the idea 
 that the ordinary duties of domestic life 
 were not to occupy her time, but that 
 when her school days were ended she 
 should train the minds and instruct the 
 souls of others. 
 
 She cannot date her earliest convic- 
 tions of sin. Daily did her father gather 
 his children at the family altar, read, 
 sing, and pray; and when the preacher 
 came, often did they sit, with eager, 
 grasping minds, to gather whatever of 
 interest might drop from the lips of par- 
 ents and visiting ministers in conversa- 
 tion around the fireside. 
 
 Often troubled with a sense of her sins, 
 Frances sought long by works, instead 
 of by faith, to get access to the rich and 
 free mercy of God in Christ Jesus. Al- 
 
30 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 though at times much distressed, it was 
 not until she had entered her fifteenth 
 year that she realized that all she did 
 availed naught, and that unless the Lord 
 came to her relief she was lost. Instant- 
 ly, on leaving the work to God, peace 
 possessed her soul. She realized that 
 the Lord had done something for her — 
 but was this conversion? The more she 
 prayed and conversed with Christians 
 the better she felt. For years she lived 
 too much by feeling, instead of by faith. 
 When there was light and peace there 
 was confidence, but when the enemy 
 suggested that this change was not gen- 
 uine conversion doubt and fear dis- 
 turbed her. She was regular in her de- 
 votions, four times daily bowing in silent 
 prayer. 
 
 On Sunday afternoon she would gath- 
 er her brothers and sisters around her to 
 study the Bible, and often she would en- 
 ter the cabin where her father's servants 
 lived to read to them the Book of books. 
 The colored children on the plantation 
 also shared her care and instruction. 
 
 Once, on a sacramental occasion, 
 Frances sat by an older professor and 
 waited to accompany her to the altar un- 
 til too late, the other not going; and thus 
 she too failed to commemorate the 
 Lord's Supper. Then followed a strong 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 31 
 
 temptation to relinquish the hope that 
 she had ever been converted, lest it might 
 be a false hope, and to seek until there 
 should be a certainty that she was a child 
 of God. She yielded, thinking she would 
 keep it to herself. Instantly as great 
 darkness shrouded her spiritual horizon 
 as would enshroud this world if the sun 
 were suddenly blotted from the heavens. 
 She knew not how much light her hope 
 in Christ had brought into her soul until 
 this act of unbelief severed the connec- 
 tion between her soul and Christ. Long 
 she wept and prayed, while none but the 
 Omnipresent One knew the misery of 
 her soul. She concluded it was wrong to 
 live as a professed Christian while in such 
 darkness, and requested that her name 
 be erased from the Church roll. Her 
 grieved father, instead of having this 
 done, carried her to a camp meeting. 
 After a struggle, she again bowed at the 
 altar of prayer, and found peace in believ- 
 ing — no ecstacy, but peace. She con- 
 cluded that this was the kind of religion 
 for her nature, and that she must culti- 
 vate the mustard seed. 
 
 For several years she taught school, 
 which proved a good discipline, teach- 
 ing her patience and meekness. At first, 
 amid the worries of the schoolroom, she 
 would feel her face flush with excitement. 
 
32 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 Night after night she would repent of 
 this, until she so learned to rely on the 
 grace of God as to teach hour after hour 
 in sweet calmness, whatever the annoy- 
 ance or need of discipline. Then her 
 work became pleasanter. 
 
 At times she so realized the love of 
 God as to think she never could doubt 
 the union of her soul with the Divine ; 
 but again, in viewing her imperfections 
 in the light of the Word, and striving to 
 keep her heart right, instead of looking 
 from self to Jesus and depending on him 
 to make and keep her right, she would 
 yield to doubt. At one time, after many 
 precious manifestations of grace had, 
 from time to time, been granted her, she 
 was reading of the richer manifestations 
 to others, and feared she may have 
 stopped short of saving faith, and again 
 she plunged into the vortex of unbelief, 
 not daring for months to look confidently 
 to Jesus. Yet as she sought in deep hu- 
 miliation his pardoning love, the blessed 
 Savior appeared to her vision, hanging 
 on the cross. Every fear and doubt 
 fled, and she thought : "Surely I can 
 never doubt again." Joyous seasons fol- 
 lowed ; not, however, free from tempta- 
 tion, but she fought the fight of faith. 
 
 The choice reading of Frances was 
 books on experimental religion. By 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 33 
 
 some of these she was strengthened, by 
 others discouraged, by the comparison 
 of other experiences with her own. Be- 
 ing of a quiet, comparatively even tem- 
 perament, not demonstrative, the ecsta- 
 sies and shouts of others led to question- 
 ings of herself. Much excitement around 
 her quieted every emotion. She often 
 wondered why. 
 
 In December, 1842, Frances was united 
 in marriage to Rev. Sidney D. Bumpass, 
 of the North Carolina Conference, and 
 for about nine years, amid the changes 
 of the itinerancy, spent as happy a time 
 as she was capable of enjoying ; having 
 a contented disposition, and all the kind- 
 ness and attention that one of the most 
 devoted and affectionate of husbands 
 could bestow. Two daughters and two 
 sons were given them. 
 
 The first year of this itinerant life was 
 spent happily in Raleigh, amid great 
 kindness from all the people. The young 
 wife was received and treated as a sister. 
 
 The next year was spent in Pittsboro. 
 The Raleigh church had been so en- 
 larged and built up by the labors of Mr. 
 Bumpass during the two previous years 
 that it was hoped the Pittsboro church 
 would also be enlarged. A revival was 
 enjoyed, and the membership increased, 
 but not by hundreds, as on the former 
 3 
 
34 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 station. Pleasant homes were enjoyed 
 among a kind people. 
 
 The next year was spent in and near 
 Louisburg, where, as in former stations, 
 the pastor and his companion thought 
 they had the place best for them, just 
 where they should be, amidst pleasant 
 surroundings. 
 
 The fourth year Mr. Bumpass was sta- 
 tioned in New Berne; and, as in previous 
 years, happy results to the church fol- 
 lowed, and great kindness was shown to 
 the pastor and his family. A serious at- 
 tack of pneumonia brought Mr. Bumpass 
 near the grave. At the close of that year 
 he told Bishop Capers that he was not 
 able to take an appointment ; but the 
 Bishop, who was with him during the 
 Conference, which convened in that place, 
 noticed his daily improvement, and ap- 
 pointed him to the Greensboro District, 
 saying that if he could not preach he 
 could go around and hold the Quarterly 
 Conferences. 
 
 When he reached the Piedmont sec- 
 tion his health rapidly improved, and he 
 was soon able to preach and attend to 
 all the duties of a presiding elder. He 
 placed his wife and children as boarders 
 in Greensboro Female College, where 
 they could be well cared for until he 
 could make other arrangements. He 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 35 
 
 soon decided that Greensboro must be 
 his home, and arranged for building. 
 
 For four years he traveled the Greens- 
 boro District, and was then appointed 
 to the Danville District, which he trav- 
 eled one year. The long rides on the 
 district enfeebled him, so that he thought 
 he might serve his generation better in 
 another way. He had long contemplated 
 undertaking something that might con- 
 tinue to save souls when his work on 
 earth should be closed — publishing ser- 
 mons or pamphlets. When traveling he 
 had noticed the great need of a paper to 
 suit the masses, and he thought a week- 
 ly message to them from the press would 
 accomplish much. He therefore ar- 
 ranged for the publication of a paper, 
 saying that he would commit the con- 
 tinuance of its publication to his wife 
 if he should be taken. 
 
 Near the close of 185 1 Mrs. Bumpass 
 was laid very low by a long attack of ty- 
 phoid fever, during which she was most 
 tenderly nursed by her devoted husband. 
 As she was recovering the Lord mani- 
 fested his goodness to her, and there 
 glided across the walls of her room a 
 panorama of her past life, in which she 
 saw herself held tenderly by the hand of 
 her Heavenly Father, and once, when 
 she was falling, he stood holding her up. 
 
36 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 Such views of his guiding providence 
 were given her that she realized how near 
 he had always been, upholding and lead- 
 ing. This was a tender mercy to pre- 
 pare her for the great sorrow in her path. 
 
 As she recovered Annual Conference 
 met in Salisbury, and her husband, fee- 
 ble from watching day and night by her 
 sick bed, went to Conference, was caught 
 in a rain, took a chill, and was taken from 
 his buggy to the room assigned him, and 
 was never able to leave it. On the same 
 day two of her children were stricken 
 with fever, and during the night watches 
 by their bed was the sad reflection that 
 others were watching by him. 
 
 The eldest son, aged four years and 
 two months, died ; and as kind friends 
 bore his remains to the grave Mrs. 
 Bumpass hastened to her husband's bed 
 of death. She watched him about a day 
 and a half before his happy spirit fled to 
 the realms of bliss. He recognized her, 
 and expressed his pleasure at seeing her, 
 but was too weak for conversation. 
 
 His remains were brought to Greens- 
 boro and laid by those of his little son. 
 How sad the home ! How desolate ! 
 What a gloom settled over everything 
 earthy ! But what a joyful recognition 
 must there have been in heaven when the 
 father was welcomed amid rejoicing an- 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 37 
 
 gels by the bright little boy he had left a 
 short time previous so playful in his 
 earthly home! How happy they in the 
 smile of the Savior ! For nine or ten 
 months the aching void in the widowed 
 heart was such as is known by those only 
 who have experienced a similar bereave- 
 ment. But as earth looked darker, 
 heaven looked brighter. 
 
 In the fall of 1852 Mrs. Bumpass, 
 with her children, was invited to make a 
 visit to Mrs. Mock, a friend who enjoyed 
 that fullness of peace which comes to the 
 soul that rests in Jesus for full salvation. 
 There was also visiting her a minister 
 who rejoiced in that perfect love which 
 casteth out all fear. As they talked of the 
 privilege of claiming the promise and 
 resting on that, a river of peace poured 
 into the stricken heart of Mrs. Bumpass 
 and chased away all sadness. There was 
 a fullness of joy which left no room for 
 sorrow, with the assurance : "I am whol- 
 ly the Lord's, and he is mine." 
 
 From that day she was a happier wom- 
 an. She would awake with rejoicings. 
 "Jesus all the day long was her joy and 
 her song." She was as quiet and un- 
 demonstrative as before ; only her tongue 
 was loosened to speak forth praises, and 
 she ever wanted to talk of the goodness 
 of the Lord. She felt, after being thus 
 
38 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 blessed, that Jesus was to her all that she 
 needed. Her sense of loneliness had 
 fled. He had become her Husband, 
 Brother, Friend, and satisfied all the 
 wants of her nature, and she has ever 
 found in her covenant-keeping God a 
 readiness to forgive and bless as she had 
 need. 
 
 She taught school during the first year 
 after her bereavement. Near the close 
 of 1852 she took charge of the Weekly 
 Message, commenced by her husband, 
 and felt assured of the Lord's approval 
 and of his presence. This work she con- 
 tinued until 1872, when there seemed no 
 longer a demand for it. 
 
 The paper proved, during its exist- 
 ence, a great blessing, and was instru- 
 mental in the conversion and upbuild- 
 ing of many precious souls ; but its ed- 
 itor believed that, like herself, it had 
 only in part accomplished its work — that 
 if she had in all things lived fully up to 
 the light given it might have accom- 
 plished much more for the Master. Be- 
 ing troubled lest she had fallen short of 
 privilege and duty, she felt unworthy to 
 be intrusted with any other work in the 
 vineyard. But ere long a prosperous 
 school filled her hands and mind, and she 
 was privileged to train souls for useful- 
 ness here and for glory hereafter. 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 39 
 
 Then, O wondrous privilege ! in 1878, 
 she was called to a more extended field 
 of usefulness by being appointed Cor- 
 responding Secretary of the Woman's 
 Foreign Missionary Society of the North 
 Carolina Conference. On the division of 
 the Conference, in 1890, she was appointed 
 Corresponding Secretary for the West- 
 ern North Carolina Conference Society. 
 This appointment took her annually, for 
 nineteen years, to some distant city to 
 attend the deeply interesting and spir- 
 itual meetings of the Woman's Board of 
 Foreign Missions, at which she was much 
 blessed. 
 
 Let praises to our God ascend that 
 this society, commenced in timidity, yet 
 with holy courage, has been so blessed 
 of the Lord, so increased in numbers, so 
 multiplied in good works, and so en- 
 larged in its mission fields. 
 
 Surely goodness and mercy have fol- 
 lowed the writer in all the vicissitudes of 
 life. At times there have been cares and 
 perplexities, but the covenant-keeping 
 God was ever near to guide and to re- 
 lieve. Often have special answers been 
 given to prayer. The many deliverances 
 thus granted need not here be enumer- 
 ated, if they could be, for the promise 
 stands, "Whatsoever ye ask," and a 
 blessed realization all may have who rest 
 on His Word. 
 
EXTRA C TS FR OM JO URNAL. 
 
 February 5, 1852. — My heart delights 
 to dwell on the loved ones removed 
 from earth, though often sadly depressed 
 on account of bereavements. The Lord 
 gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; 
 blessed be his holy name. May the afflic- 
 tion be sanctified to my good ! May I 
 learn the lesson which I should, and not 
 suffer so much in vain ! May I trust in 
 the Lord, and continue in supplications 
 and prayers night and day ! May I be so 
 exercised that these trials may yield the 
 peaceable fruits of righteousness ! May 
 the Lord condescend to direct me in all 
 things and to make every path of duty 
 straight and plain ! Lord, I desire to be 
 in thy hands. 
 
 April 4. — I have been much tempted, 
 perplexed, and discouraged for several 
 days; but kept looking to the Lord for 
 relief, and all praise be given him for his 
 gracious help. He has all power; to him 
 we may look at all times and under all 
 circumstances; he can cast down imagi- 
 nations and everything that molests and 
 hinders the free course of his love. 
 Whom shall I fear, since he is so gra- 
 cious? 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 41 
 
 August 28. — Never before have I felt 
 such an abiding sense of my emptiness 
 and the fullness of Christ, and I rest in 
 him at all times. 
 
 August 30. — I was privileged to attend 
 church yesterday, and to speak in class 
 meeting of the great goodness of the 
 Lord to my soul ; but, when I ceased to 
 speak, I felt that I had not expressed the 
 half of what I desired to say. May I 
 daily experience more of the fullness, 
 and drink deeper from the wells of sal- 
 vation ! Such sweet peace I enjoy this 
 evening in trusting Christ and relying 
 on him ! 
 
 September p. — My soul exults in God, 
 and rejoices with joy unspeakable. I at- 
 tended a camp meeting where the Lord 
 feasted my soul on the riches of his 
 grace. Glory to my God ! He has led 
 me to cast all my care on him who careth 
 for me. I feel no anxious care for the 
 future ; I have committed my way unto 
 the Lord, and he will direct my steps. 
 If any disappointments, afflictions, or 
 trials befall me, it will be for my good, 
 to keep his erring child from going 
 astray. It is heaven on earth begun. 
 What shall I do to extend his glorious 
 knowledge? O that all might feast on 
 the riches of his grace ! 
 
 September 21. — The Lord is precious 
 
42 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 to my soul. Our woman's prayer meet- 
 ing began last Saturday. Six were pres- 
 ent. I desired to have the meeting, but 
 felt like shrinking from leading, should 
 many attend ; but trusted in the Lord to 
 aid me as I had need. O that I may be 
 useful ! 
 
 September jo.- — I was sent for to at- 
 tend a young ladies' prayer meeting. I 
 left myself in the hands of the Lord, 
 praying that if it was my duty to speak 
 I might be enabled calmly to do so. I 
 knew that my natural diffidence would 
 prevent me, and that, unless assisted, I 
 should be too much agitated to profit 
 others. I prayed the Lord to assist me 
 this time, and I would endeavor in fu- 
 ture always to look to him for strength 
 to do what I could not do by nature. 
 Praise be to his name that he heard the 
 prayer of his feeble servant, and enabled 
 me with confidence and ea!se — yea, with 
 joy — to speak of his goodness and invite 
 others to trust in the Lord. I opened 
 my mouth, and it was filled. O that I 
 may never shrink from duty. Can I ever 
 doubt the goodness of my Heavenly Fa- 
 ther? Surely none ever trusted in vain. 
 
 October 22. — When school closed I 
 sought retirement, that I might examine 
 and pray and learn if my heart had de- 
 parted from the Lord, so as to sin amidst 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 43 
 
 the perplexities and temptations of this 
 week. A servant has been very trying, 
 but may this work for my good ! May 
 the Lord lead me, and may I teach by 
 meek example and learn to govern 
 aright ! Seal me unto the day of redemp- 
 tion. 
 
 November 16. — I have been praying 
 the Lord to direct me what to do with 
 the Message [the religious paper edited 
 by Mr. Bumpass] — whether to attend to 
 it myself or give it up to others. It 
 seemed clear that I ought to offer it to 
 the Conference. The members did not 
 think best to adopt it, and it seems prov- 
 identially left in my hands a second time. 
 It does not more than pay expenses, and 
 friends think the prospect gloomy; but 
 He has all hearts in His hands, and can 
 prosper. It does seem that I ought to 
 take charge of it. I fear I should do 
 wrong not to do so. I believe He will 
 make my efforts succeed. I awoke one 
 morning with this passage impressed on 
 my mind : "Beloved, think it not strange 
 concerning the fiery trial which is to try 
 you." One trial had succeeded another 
 until it sometimes seemed that my faith 
 would almost fail. Was not this prepara- 
 tion for future work? If the Lord be for 
 me, who can be against me? 
 
 November 16. — I felt disappointed 
 
44 Mrs. Frances M. Bump ass. 
 
 about an opportunity I thought would 
 be for my spiritual good ; went to the 
 Lord and found it far better, and re- 
 joiced in the disappointment. Do with 
 me as thou wilt. 
 
 March 4, 1853. — I commenced editing 
 the paper amid discouragements from 
 without, but with comfort and confidence 
 within. At first I felt almost alone, with 
 none but the Lord on my side. I have 
 been conducting it for several months, 
 and, praise be to the Lord ! he gives it 
 favor in the eyes of the people. Sub- 
 scribers increase almost daily. The Lord 
 helps me and strengthens my weakness. 
 I am his, and he is mine. May he do 
 with me and the paper as he knoweth is 
 best ! He makes all things work together 
 for my good. Although I have diffi- 
 culties, I am learning lessons in the 
 school of grace. 
 
 December 51. — Another year's mer- 
 cies are closing, for another year's 
 goodness to commence. Much might I 
 record of the goodness of the Lord, es- 
 pecially of his great mercy shown in ban- 
 ishing doubts of my spiritual state, in 
 enabling me to enjoy that love which 
 casts out all fear. His comforts increas- 
 ingly delight my soul. He enables me 
 to love those who most oppose me. 
 Le&d me, O Lord, through whatever tri- 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 45 
 
 als thou seest best ; only do thou be with 
 me, and all shall be well. 
 
 January 29, 1854. — Friends have arisen 
 for the Message at the time needed. The 
 Lord is good, and, whatever opposers 
 may say, may faith mount cheeringly 
 above all and rejoice in the will of the 
 Lord, whether prosperous or adverse ! 
 May his love continually fill my soul ! 
 
 March 10.— Much tempted. Felt that 
 my only hope was in His sweet word of 
 promise that He would not forsake those 
 who trusted in Him, and would keep 
 them in perfect peace whose minds were 
 stayed on Him. The tempter fled as I 
 trusted. 
 
 August. — Through encouragements 
 from above and discouragements below 
 the Lord has gently led me on and 
 cleared my way, enabling me to glorify 
 his name by attending to the beloved 
 employment left me by my dear husband. 
 He has blessed me in the work. 
 
 September. — While I was disposed to 
 shrink from the cross my path was 
 doubtful ; when I became willing to do 
 anything the Lord required the path was 
 made plain. How sweet to go at the bid- 
 ding of the Spirit ! 
 
 December jj, 1889. — Unnumbered and 
 great have been the mercies of the 
 year. Besides home and social enjoy 
 
46 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 merits, unusual religious privileges have 
 been given. A sweet commingling with 
 the sisters of the Woman's Board of For- 
 eign Missions at Little Rock, then two 
 series of revival services, our annual 
 missionary meeting, and our Annual 
 Conference — each occasion was owned 
 and blessed of God. A year of blessings, 
 after which there should be much good 
 fruit. What can I do for Him who has 
 done so much for me? I have mingled 
 with the beloved branches of my family, 
 and close the year in comparative health. 
 This morning a tearfulness came over me, 
 and my thoughts turned to absent loved 
 ones. I called upon the Lord, and felt 
 there was help in him. At different times, 
 when absent members of my family have 
 needed divine help, my soul has been 
 drawn out in prayer for them, and after- 
 wards I have learned of their spiritual 
 need. 
 
 January 1, 1880. — For nearly seventy 
 years I have had cause for thanksgiving 
 and praise, never for complaint or distrust 
 of my Father's love ; yet abundant cause 
 for penitence, humiliation, and confes- 
 sion. How wondrous, thou God of love, 
 has been thy tender compassion toward 
 thy unworthy child. "The lines have 
 fallen to me in pleasant places," and I 
 will praise thee, O God. I will look for 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 47 
 
 fullness of joy as I pass through the in- 
 firmities of age. My children are blessed 
 of God. May my grandchildren inherit 
 the promises ! For thirty-eight years my 
 husband and son have been enjoying the 
 bliss of the redeemed; and it cannot be 
 long until I, another redeemed sinner, 
 may join in the everlasting song of praise 
 and glory unto Him who redeemed us 
 from all iniquity. May my last days be 
 my holiest and most useful ! 
 
 January 2. — This morning I awoke 
 before day with heart burdened for 
 one I love. I committed all to God, and 
 was lightened. I rejoiced that it is good 
 to leave all to God. I have to-day seen 
 two anxious ones to comfort with the 
 same comfort with which I was com- 
 forted. 
 
 January 10. — An old family servant 
 has been very anxious lest she should 
 lose her home, as there is a mortgage on 
 it and it is advertised for sale. I have 
 been committing it to the Lord and ad- 
 vising her to have wise counsel, and was 
 impressed with the words : "I have laid 
 help upon One who is mighty." To-day 
 I learn that two small lots of hers near 
 the house sold for enough to cover the 
 debt. A striking Providence this to the 
 faithful laborer, as the crisis occurs just 
 as land has risen in value. 
 
48 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 February 20. — I still record the loving- 
 kindness of my God. La grippe pros- 
 trated me; but the Lord raised me up, 
 and by his mercy I am now in health and 
 activity. I have received many favors 
 and kind attentions, for which I give 
 thanks. I have enjoyed the privilege of 
 having two ministers call and bow in 
 prayer, besides pleasant intercourse with 
 other Christian friends. As our pastor 
 pleaded for the Holy Spirit, the question 
 arose in my mind : "Why is not more of 
 His power realized when He has so often 
 promised and is so often entreated?" 
 The reason must be that there is some 
 carnality lurking within which hinders 
 His operations ; and these remains of the 
 carnal mind must be attributed to a de- 
 ficiency of faith or failure to live in a 
 state of full consecration. All must be 
 yielded, with full reliance on the all- 
 cleansing blood of Christ, and, when 
 cleansed within, the power of the Spirit 
 is unlimited. O for this fullness of 
 power ! 
 
 March 31. — Another month of mercies, 
 with its cares to cast on the Lord and the 
 privilege of finding him ever near to re- 
 lieve. How good to know that he has 
 power over all hearts, and, if our ways 
 please him, he can turn any heart to lov- 
 ingf-kindness. 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 49 
 
 April 8. — Whither shall my footsteps 
 tend the best to glorify God? I await 
 thy guidance, kind Father. Thou hast 
 promised to instruct and teach me in the 
 way I should go. Let me clearly discern 
 the guidance of thine eye. 
 
 June 19. — Since my last record I have 
 been to St. Louis to General Conference 
 and to attend the meeting of the Wom- 
 an's Board of Foreign Missions. I have 
 received unnumbered mercies, health, 
 kind entertainment, and loving atten- 
 tions. How sweet the love of friends ! 
 Yet the presence, love, and guidance of 
 the God of love is infinitely more pre- 
 cious. If trials come, let the memory of 
 these brighten the pathway ! Jesus is 
 ever near. 
 
 January I, 1885. — "Watchman, what 
 of the night?" "The morning cometh." 
 (Isa. xxi. 11, 12.) The morning cometh 
 to the child of God. It is "not by works 
 of righteousness that we are saved." 
 Great is the privilege of having Christ 
 Jesus for "our righteousness" and hav- 
 ing his "Peace be unto you." May my 
 life hereafter be one song of thanksgiv- 
 ing for the innumerable favors, temporal 
 and spiritual, bestowed on an unprofit- 
 able servant, an unworthy child ! Mercy 
 and peace to me is given. A minister 
 and his wife and other pleasant friends 
 4 
 
50 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 came this afternoon. It was specially re- 
 freshing, as for two Sundays I have not 
 had Christian fellowship at church, being 
 housed by the weather. The minister 
 was just from a new neighbor's, and re- 
 lated interesting events connected with 
 her life. She had superintended a Sun- 
 day school for twelve years, and when 
 she moved away a man addicted to 
 strong drink was elected superintendent. 
 He met with the scholars and talked to 
 them about being good. He heard a boy 
 back of him say : "Why don't you do bet- 
 ter?" These words struck him as an ar- 
 row, and he was convicted. Not long 
 after, our minister was traveling near the 
 home of the new Sunday school superin- 
 tendent, and a brother said to him : 
 "There is a drunkard near; let's go and 
 stay a night with him." They went and 
 prayed. The next morning the man pro- 
 posed to go with the minister to his quar- 
 terly meeting. They went, came back, 
 and again he wished to go with him to 
 talk about his soul. They rode together 
 for some time, when he surrendered him- 
 self to God, and afterwards became a 
 very active, zealous Christian, gained 
 much influence, and did much good. 
 
 January 3. — "He that tilleth his land 
 shall be satisfied with bread." (Prov. 
 xii. 11.) Found it good to-day to take 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 51 
 
 fresh hold of God's word and stand on 
 his promises. On Thee my soul shall 
 rest. My eyes are too weak to read or 
 sew much ; I write with closed eyes. 
 Find it good to trust my loving Father 
 for all needed temporal and spiritual 
 good. Spent the day alone, mostly, busy 
 in various ways. How good to be in 
 health ! 
 
 January 8. — One who is not a Chris- 
 tian has spent some days with me. My 
 great concern has been for him to be 
 good. I committed him to the Lord, and 
 feel encouraged, and have faith to lay 
 him on His loving breast and leave him 
 thus, not, Thomaslike, waiting to see 
 ere I believe. Whatever is asked in faith, 
 believing, is received. This afternoon 
 had a severe storm of wind, rain, thun- 
 der, and lightning. 
 
 January 16. — Great is the satisfaction 
 of rejoicing in the righteousness which 
 is by faith in Christ as we look away 
 from unworthy self and feel that Jesus is 
 near and know that we are his. 
 
 January 23. — "Jesus, only Jesus." He 
 is our peace, and hath made us both one 
 and broken down the middle wall of par- 
 tition. Praise be to his name ! "Sweet 
 the moments, rich in blessing, which be- 
 fore the cross I spend." What a privi- 
 lege to lose all sin at the foot of the cross 
 
52 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 and rejoice in Jesus for salvation ! O 
 that all would receive this Savior, that 
 their song and their joy might be the 
 same ! 
 
 January 29. — Quietly, serenely, my 
 days are gliding by amid the blessings 
 of a kind Providence, peace, plenty, and 
 friendship — housed, yet not a sufferer. 
 Last Sunday I hoped to meet with the 
 Lord and his people in his house; but 
 in loving-kindness he forbade, and 
 said : "I'll be with thee." Profitably the 
 hours passed in studying God's Word. 
 May the Lord give me words in season 
 to help troubled hearts seeking comfort ! 
 
 February 4. — How sweet the promise, 
 "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee !" 
 Another Sunday at home ; weather cold. 
 Our good pastor favored me with a visit, 
 and offered prayer. How profitable is 
 Christian fellowship ! How sweet to 
 realize God is here ! 
 
 February 5. — The day glides sweet- 
 ly, made up of peace and rest in God. 
 Tis good to feel that He is near. Daily 
 I am alone with God, and swiftly the day 
 passes in reading, sewing, writing, etc. 
 
 February 12. — Mercies every hour new. 
 How good to look away from self and 
 fix the mind on Jesus and his atoning 
 sacrifice ! 'Tis here I rest in his won- 
 drous love, and find a bliss which noth- 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 53 
 
 ing earthly gives or can destroy. When 
 tempted and tried it is good to find a 
 resting place and leave all to God. 
 
 February 13. — "Thou art the sea of 
 love" so often is running in my mind ; 
 and this morning is given me such a 
 sweet realization that all is on the altar, 
 Christ Jesus, and he accepts the offering, 
 as he promises. What more could I ask 
 for myself but a full anointing for useful- 
 ness? Low I would lie at the feet of 
 Jesus, and say : "Do with me as thou 
 seest best ; thou dost love me too well to 
 afflict me. If thou seest trials best, thy 
 grace all-sufficient shall be my supply. 
 I've nothing to fear with thee for my God 
 and Guide. 'Bless the Lord, O my soul, 
 and all that is within me praise his holy 
 name.' " 
 
 February 16. — An unusually severe 
 winter; snowing every few days, one 
 snow on another, and very cold. How 
 good is our Father to provide all things 
 needful for us, physically and spiritually ! 
 Redeemed from the curse of the law for 
 our past transgressions, so that, being in 
 Christ Jesus, and led by the Spirit, we 
 are freed from condemnation. Praise 
 the Lord ! 
 
 February 19. — "Put on the whole ar- 
 mor of God." This is my text for to- 
 day. I'll watch and trust for victory 
 
54 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 through Christ. I feel his peace within. 
 His atonement is sufficient. "Bless the 
 Lord, O my soul : and all that is within 
 me, hless his holy name." 
 
 February 22. — "The lines have fallen 
 unto me in pleasant places." What 
 more could I ask of earthly good? What 
 more than is provided of spiritual? I 
 present myself to be accepted. Ask, and 
 receive all things needful. 'Tis good to 
 rest in Jesus. I was long wakeful last 
 night. When I thought, "He giveth his 
 beloved sleep," I asked as oft before, 
 and sweet sleep came. Praise the Lord! 
 How sweet to leave all to God; to know 
 he gives what is best, and depend on him 
 for all needed grace, purifying, keeping! 
 Jesus, my trust, my way! The soul is 
 safe for time and eternity, resting on the 
 atonement, sufficiency for pardon and 
 sanctification in him. 
 
 March 6. — Calendar verse for to-day : 
 "If any man serve me, let him follow me." 
 How great the privilege to follow one 
 who is all light, love, and wisdom ! 
 How good to know that He SO' loves as 
 ever to choose what is best for us ! How 
 good to ask each day, "What wouldst 
 thou have me do?" to have the will sub- 
 missive, and sweetly follow on as He 
 leads ! That is heaven begun on earth. 
 In the heart of man what worry, what 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 55 
 
 anxiety, what care, what perplexities, 
 what fears of every kind! — why is this? 
 Ah, because all do not realize that a God 
 of love has this world in hand, and none 
 are subject to mere chance, for he holds 
 the reins of government and guides safe- 
 ly all who will be led. A friend, last even- 
 ing, spoke of the long resistance of one 
 who was called to the ministry, and the 
 final yielding and happiness following. 
 How wonderful the long-suffering of 
 God to his doubting, shrinking, and oft- 
 rebellious children ! Surely he is a God 
 of love and mercy. What a mercy that 
 he calls us to do anything for him, when 
 he could speak and it would be done ! 
 
 March 8. — A writer expresses a wish 
 that in Israel some giant would arise to 
 banish the questions so disturbing about 
 being wholly sanctified and the "second 
 blessing." Did not an all-wise Teacher 
 arise eighteen hundred and ninety-five 
 years ago who taught as plainly as words 
 and example can teach? What more can 
 we ask than grace to take him at his 
 word and rest on that? Jesus says: 
 "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst 
 after righteousness : for they shall be 
 filled;" "Be ye therefore perfect, even as 
 your Father in heaven is perfect ;" "Ask 
 and ye shall receive ;" "All things what- 
 soever ye ask in faith, ye shall receive ;" 
 
56 Mrs. Frances M. Bum pass. 
 
 "My grace is sufficient for you." What 
 more could he say? 
 
 March 16. — When Moses, the highly 
 favored servant of God, was called to ap- 
 pear before God with Aaron, Nadab, 
 Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel in the 
 mount, he first built an altar upon the 
 hill and offered burnt offerings and peace 
 offerings, read the book of the covenant, 
 and sprinkled the blood of the covenant 
 on the people. They were then ready to 
 be in communion with God. They saw 
 something of his glory, and did eat and 
 drink ; and, while apparently so near, it 
 is stated that they worshiped God afar 
 off. Then Moses went up into the mount 
 to be with God, yet but dimly beholding 
 his glory, for the mount on which he 
 stood was encompassed with a cloud six 
 days, which was doubtless needed to pre- 
 pare him for the greater glory to be re- 
 vealed ; and God called Moses out of the 
 cloud, and he went up into the midst of 
 the cloud. What a privilege ! What 
 bliss to be there with God forty days, 
 growing more and more like him, and 
 being prepared for his trying work of 
 leading with so much meekness and pa- 
 tience the oft-rebellious Israelites for 
 forty years in the wilderness ! Each la- 
 borer in the vineyard needs to heed the 
 command of the risen Savior and tarry 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 57 
 
 until endued with power. A neglect of 
 this leads to failure. As without this we 
 can do nothing, we should carefully pre- 
 pare our hearts and minds, that we may 
 be ready for the descent of His power. 
 
 March 20. — ''Kept by the power of 
 God unto salvation." Consoling truth 
 that we are kept, for we cannot keep our- 
 selves. We are to present our bodies: 
 and, laid on the altar — Christ Jesus — 
 they are kept holy. It is by faith, and ac- 
 cording to faith. If the reliance is not en- 
 tire, the soul is not complete in Christ. 
 There must be faith in the promise : "I 
 will receive you." 
 
 August 22. — Interesting events since 
 my last record here. I have been privi- 
 leged to attend the seventeenth meeting 
 of the Woman's Board of Foreign Mis- 
 sions in Meridian, Miss., amidst many fa- 
 vors of friendship and a merciful Father. 
 Although feeble, I was at the annual 
 meeting of our Conference Society at 
 Reidsville. A good meeting, a cordial 
 reception. 
 
 August 24. — Great peace possesses my 
 soul from day to day. I am resting in 
 Jesus, and looking to him to rule me and 
 mine. 
 
 September 5. — Visited eight families to- 
 day. I found it pleasant to mingle with 
 the sisters, and I trust it was to the glory 
 
58 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 of God. How good to cast all our care 
 on Him who careth for us ! 
 
 September 15. — Our good pastor has 
 been well instructing us in the ways of 
 usefulness and paths of duty. I have 
 been praying for more, and was glad yes- 
 terday when he preached clearly on 
 Christian perfection, teaching that Jesus 
 can keep from sin the soul that is trusting 
 in him. "Teach me thy ways, O God." 
 "Bow my whole soul to thy commands." 
 "Make every path of duty plain." "De- 
 liver me from all evil." If this cup of 
 self-denial and sacrifice may not pass, not 
 my will, but Thine, with the promised 
 sufficiency of grace. 
 
 September 25. — Unnumbered mercies 
 and comforts are given. I am not strong, 
 but hearty and active. 
 
 September 26. — To-day seventy-six 
 years of age. The verse on my calendar 
 for the day is : "Thou art my hiding place, 
 thou shalt preserve me from trouble." 
 How sweet to rest on the promises of a 
 loving Father ! The morning lesson was 
 forbidding care for the morrow. 
 
 " If our faith were but more simple, 
 We should take him at his word; 
 And our lives would be all sunshine 
 In the sweetness of our Lord." 
 
 Only by leaving our failures to be 
 covered by the atonement and looking 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 59 
 
 away to His mercy and love can we re- 
 joice evermore. How can we doubt the 
 God of love and mercy? Forgive, we 
 pray. Let everything that hath breath 
 praise Him. 
 
 February 25, 1896. — How good to sub- 
 mit ignorant, short-sighted self, with all 
 its plans to the God of wisdom, thus leav- 
 ing all. What when first presented 
 seemed a duty, appeared most objection- 
 able, is made acceptable, though a cross — ■ 
 yea, to some extent, desirable. The privi- 
 lege is great of laying all on the altar, 
 Christ Jesus, with the knowledge that the 
 altar sanctifies the gift, and that if in any- 
 thing we be otherwise minded God re- 
 veals it to us, so that we may take God at 
 his word and reckon ourselves dead to 
 sin, through Jesus Christ, and realize the 
 truth of his promise : "I will receive you." 
 
 January 23, 189J. — How cheering the 
 knowledge that the God of love rules 
 the children of men and is especially 
 mindful of his trustful ones. The past 
 few months have required especial trust. 
 Yet I praise the Lord for his sufficiency 
 of grace, which has kept my heart stayed 
 on him in great peace, and for the knowl- 
 edge that all things work together for 
 good to them that love God. O that all 
 would praise the Lord for his goodness ! 
 
 January 24. — It is good to remember 
 
60 Mrs. Frances M. Bwnpass. 
 
 the words of our Lord, "Be ready," for 
 we know not how suddenly he may come. 
 
 May. — What a lovely evening! All 
 creation around in the natural world, as 
 it arises to new life, seems emblematic 
 of the resurrection. How cheering to 
 the old, the afflicted, to know it is but 
 a little while and we shall arise in newness 
 of life and enjoy a glad resurrection 
 morn ! Now we can do little — feel al- 
 most useless, only resting, and trying to 
 live as best we can, chatting and looking 
 around, trying to speak some words in 
 season to a child or some one who is 
 ready to hear, waiting, longing for im- 
 mortality. Father, help us to wait pa- 
 tiently and do something for thee. Thou 
 canst use and let us rest. Thy will be 
 done. Thou canst work in love with us, 
 not afflicting willingly. May we rejoice 
 in thy love, and not grieve because we 
 feel so useless, but learn to live one min- 
 ute at a time and leave the future to 
 thee. 
 
 October 15. — While others speak the 
 praises of the Lord in the Wednesday 
 evening prayer meeting, being too feeble 
 to go, I pen a little in my room. With 
 the right use of physical and mental pow- 
 ers, and all things needful for life and 
 godliness, I praise the Lord for his good- 
 ness to me and mine. To-day a good 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 61 
 
 sister enjoying the peace which passeth 
 understanding, the love which worketh 
 for the Master, came in. How sweet the 
 fellowship as we talked of the sweet sat- 
 isfaction of God's grace ! This evening 
 one of God's dear children poured forth 
 her heart's grief, and asked my prayers. 
 Her family trials are sore. Lord, help 
 her. Thou wilt. 
 
 October 14. — A sister who has long 
 served God heartily and has had severe 
 afflictions, called this evening, and it was 
 a privilege to talk with her of God's kind 
 dealings and tender providences. 
 
 October 75. — Often waked last night, 
 free from pain and cough ; and it was 
 good, in reviewing the past, to know 
 "there is no condemnation to them who 
 are in Christ." 
 
 November 2. — The clay tenement tot- 
 ters as rheumatism reaches different 
 parts of the "earthly tabernacle," causing 
 a tired rather than a painful sensation. 
 My Savior, the command is : "Be ye also 
 ready." I look to thee to search me, 
 show me if aught is lacking, and prepare 
 me fully for thyself. My trust is in thy 
 work in me, as thou art "the Light, the 
 Truth, the Way." My hope, my confi- 
 dence is in thy work, not mine. 
 
 November 15. — Yesterday evening our 
 pastor came to my room with a few sis- 
 
62 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 ters and administered the sacrament. It 
 was a privileged occasion to thus com- 
 mune in sweet Christian fellowship, after 
 being kept long from church. 
 
 November 22. — A goodly number of 
 sisters met in my room to hold the first 
 of a series of daily prayer meetings for 
 the Week of Prayer. The God of love 
 met with us, and there was much prayer 
 and weeping and rejoicing, and we were 
 encouraged to appoint a weekly prayer 
 meeting. May our God make these 
 meetings a power for good ! 
 
 January, 1898. — Enfeebled by rheuma- 
 tism. May I glorify God in the fires, and 
 obtain the "exceeding weight of glory!" 
 My prayer has been for usefulness. It 
 may be answered by affliction. 
 
 January 20. — Stiff and weak in knees ; 
 restless oft at night ; yet amid mercies of 
 all needed good. Weekly prayer meet- 
 ings in my room refreshing. May a bap- 
 tism of power not be hindered by a lack 
 of consecration ! 
 
 January 51. — Last Monday my eyes 
 fell on the verse closing, "How shall he 
 not with him freely give us all things," 
 and I trusted for all needed good for the 
 week. It was filled with loving-kindness 
 from the Lord of mercy and from his 
 children. Choice spiritual visitors came, 
 and a goodly number met with us in our 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 63 
 
 weekly prayer meeting. I am still af- 
 flicted with rheumatism and depending 
 on God to heal or to sanctify for good. 
 
 February. — My mind dwells this morn- 
 ing on the meeting of the Board, four 
 months hence, with thoughts of once 
 more mingling with the sisters ; but 1 
 may cross over ere that time. My trust 
 is in Jesus to cleanse and keep from spot. 
 How clear the way when faith relies on 
 him alone ! Yet, how misty, when I try 
 to get myself ready ! How good to de- 
 pend on God to work it all right ! What 
 comfort and mercy he bestows ! 
 
 April 22. — Still stiff; rest better at 
 night ; hope soon to be out at Board 
 meeting. Resting in the Lord, waiting 
 with patience his will. O for grace to do 
 his will in all things ! 
 
SKETCH BY A FRIEND. 
 
 The following sketch of the last years 
 of Mrs. Bumpass is added by one who, 
 being closely associated with her, knew 
 intimately her home life : 
 
 In the winter of 1881 Mrs. Bumpass 
 was brought very near the grave by pneu- 
 monia. God was merciful and raised her 
 up, and those who loved her felt that her 
 life had been prolonged for their "further- 
 ance and joy of faith." Each added 
 day of her life proved a benediction to 
 all who came within the circle of her in- 
 fluence and to the many who received the 
 blessing of her prayers. 
 
 She had an ardent love for souls, and 
 that fervent zeal for the Master which 
 led her to breathe a prayer for and to 
 speak some words which showed an in- 
 terest in the soul of every one with whom 
 she came in contact. The weary agent 
 who called at her door did not leave with- 
 out a word of cheer ; the child was ten- 
 derly told of the love of the All-Father ; 
 the errand boy and the marketman heard 
 some inquiry as to the welfare of his soul. 
 The beggar never left without some sub- 
 stantial aid, always accompanied by the 
 greater gift of sympathy and a kindly in- 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 65 
 
 terest in his spiritual welfare. Even the 
 tramp who received food from her hand 
 received with it a gentle reminder of the 
 proffered Bread of Life, and more than 
 once has some youthful wanderer given 
 her a promise that he would return to 
 his father's house and walk in the better 
 way. 
 
 Not only in spiritual but in temporal 
 things did she feel that every opportu- 
 nity to do a kindness for another was a 
 privilege to herself ; so that by a hand al- 
 ways ready for service, as well as by ten- 
 der sympathy, loving prayer, and wise 
 advice, she proved to be indeed "a suc- 
 corer of many." 
 
 Her cheerful spirit, loving smile, and 
 warm sympathy made her especially at- 
 tractive to the young, and many a joy 
 was made brighter for them because she 
 shared it and many a heartache was re- 
 lieved by her loving touch. 
 
 A friend, when writing to a member 
 of her family, said : "I was present once 
 when some gay young people at the ta- 
 ble were discussing races and other things 
 of the world. Your mother listened 
 awhile, making a few quiet, pleasant re- 
 marks; then, in her own sweet way, she 
 turned the conversation to a more prof- 
 itable theme. I never knew how it was 
 done, her tact was so winning; but in a 
 short time those young people were lis- 
 5 
 
66 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 tening to her with rapt attention. After 
 dinner one young man followed her to 
 the parlor to continue the conversation. 
 I noticed at other times, among the 
 young and thoughtless, that she turned 
 the light conversation to their future in- 
 terest, and they would seem interested 
 and surprised, as if the theme were new. 
 They seemed to be deeply impressed. 
 She used so much tact that she never 
 gave offense, a gift that I have never seen 
 equaled." 
 
 During all the days of her life His 
 Word was the man of her counsel, for she 
 early learned to carry everything to God 
 in prayer and supplication, thus receiv- 
 ing the fulfillment of the promise : "The 
 secret of the Lord is with them that fear 
 him." Often persons in difficulties and 
 perplexities sought help through her en- 
 lightened judgment, and those in sorrow 
 or in spiritual darkness went to her home 
 for prayer and for a renewal of their faith. 
 
 Thus it was that, although for the last 
 seventeen years of her life she was feeble 
 in body and during the winter months 
 was kept almost constantly within the 
 precincts of her own home, her life was 
 constantly an inspiration and a benedic- 
 tion, its influence radiating wherever her 
 name was known. 
 
 In the summer of 1897 Mrs. Bumpass 
 was feebler than usual, and when 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 67 
 
 autumn came she was attacked by in- 
 flammatory rheumatism. Throughout 
 the winter she was so cheerful and bright 
 that few thought of her as a constant suf- 
 ferer. She still made her life a blessing 
 to others by every tender ministry which 
 lay in her power. She continued to write, 
 chiefly in connection with the missionary 
 cause, which lay nearest her heart, until 
 she could no longer hold pen or pencil. 
 The Bible was still her constant compan- 
 ion ; but one April day she laid down the 
 precious volume, saying, with a sweet, 
 patient smile : "Even this has grown too 
 heavy for my hands." 
 
 In November, when the Woman's For- 
 eign Missionary Society observed the 
 Week of Prayer, its first service — one of 
 peculiar sweetness and power — was held 
 at the home of Mrs. Bumpass. This was 
 followed by weekly prayer meetings 
 through the winter. Mrs. John R. 
 Brooks, writing for the Woman's Mis- 
 sionary Advocate, said : 
 
 "As Mrs. Bumpass has been unable to 
 attend church for some months, several 
 of her friends and neighbors, at her re- 
 quest, meet at her home every Friday 
 afternoon for a service of prayer, to take 
 counsel of one who has been a 'succorer 
 of many,' and who, despite her bodily 
 afflictions, is the same bright, joyous 
 Christian whose life has been an inspira- 
 
68 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 tion to all who know her. I wish your 
 readers could see her as we do, reclining 
 in her easy-chair. A sweet spirit of calm 
 trust and patient waiting that comes from 
 a life 'hid with Christ in God' seems to 
 hover about her like a halo of heavenly 
 light. There is never a word of com- 
 plaint — no doubts, no clouds obscuring 
 the promise of a Comforter, whom we 
 feel abides with her continually." 
 
 At one of the services earnest prayer 
 was made that the precious life should be 
 spared until after the meeting of the 
 Woman's Board of Foreign Missions, 
 which would convene in Greensboro in 
 June. After bidding her guests good-by, 
 she said, in a cheerful tone: "I did not 
 join in that prayer." With surprise she 
 was questioned why she did not ask for 
 life. "Because I wish the Lord's will to 
 be done," was the characteristic reply. 
 
 However, her heart went out after the 
 expected and beloved guests, and she 
 thought of and planned for their coming, 
 trying in the sunshine of the early spring 
 days to gain strength to meet the Board. 
 But disease tightened its chains until she 
 said she felt her earthly tabernacle fail- 
 ing, and, while life was very pleasant, it 
 would be sweet to die. There was no 
 murmur. "It is all for some good," was 
 the reiterated reply to those who grieved 
 at her sufferings. She quoted Romans 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 69 
 
 viii. 18 and 2 Corinthians iv. 17, dwelling 
 on the "exceeding and eternal weight of 
 glory." 
 
 On Sunday, May 8, 1898, she sweetly 
 fell asleep in Jesus. In life the soul of 
 our dear one impressed itself with an un- 
 usual degree of spirituality on her pure 
 face. After death the "light that never 
 was on land or sea" irradiated the sleep- 
 ing countenance. It was a signal light 
 from the other shore, and we knew that 
 our saint had been translated, that He 
 who made the seven stars and Orion had 
 for her turned the shadow of death into 
 the morning of eternal life. (Amos v. 8.) 
 
 " Calm on the bosom of thy God, 
 Fair spirit, rest thee now. 
 E'en while with us thy footsteps trod 
 His seal was on my brow. 
 
 Dust, to thy narrow house beneath; 
 
 Soul, to thy place on high, 
 They that have seen thy look in death, 
 
 No more may fear to die." 
 
 Her funeral service was conducted at 
 West Market Street Church on Monday 
 afternoon by Rev. S. H. Hilliard, who 
 came to render this last tribute of honor 
 and love to her whom he had learned to 
 appreciate so fully during his pastorate 
 in Greensboro a few years ago. His ten- 
 der and beautiful remarks were based on 
 the text, "She hath been a succorer of 
 many, and of myself also ;" and there 
 
70 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 were few in that large audience that did 
 not feel that dear "Aunt Bumpass" had 
 indeed been a helper to them by her 
 prayers, her influence, and, in many cases. 
 her words of counsel and cheer. 
 
 At the close of the tender and impress- 
 ive service a long - train of sorrowing 
 friends followed her remains to Green 
 Hill Cemetery, where we left her beneath 
 the flower-heaped mound, under the soft 
 blue sky of May, to await that glorious 
 resurrection morn which shall give to her 
 and "all who love His appearing" the full 
 fruition of an unfaltering faith. 
 
TRIBUTE OR MRS. BROOKS. 
 
 For nearly twentyyears there has been 
 in attendance at the annual meetings of 
 the Woman's Foreign Missionary So- 
 cieties in our State, a sweet-faced, mod- 
 est, motherly little woman, spare built, 
 and frail in appearance. And, although 
 the bright brown eyes could sparkle with 
 intelligent interest, the expression of the 
 face was all peace and serenity. Her 
 voice was seldom heard in the discus- 
 sions ; but, just as the silent forces of na- 
 ture accomplish the most in carrying out 
 the laws that govern this grand world of 
 ours, just so this modest, gentle woman, 
 with the mighty forces of prayer and 
 faith, did a work for her Master the mag- 
 nitude of which eternity alone can reveal. 
 Such was our sainted Frances M. 
 Bumpass, in memory of whom we are 
 met this evening. 
 
 Mrs. Bumpass was born September 26, 
 1819, in Mecklenburg County, Va., the 
 daughter of Isaac and Harriet Webb. 
 They, however, early in life removed to 
 Person County, N. C, where her child- 
 hood was spent. 
 
 Reared under the kindliest of Christian 
 influences, with a mind early trained to 
 receive such instruction as would best fit 
 
72 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 her for the important duties of life, she 
 bloomed into womanhood, retaining 
 throughout her long life that forgetful- 
 ness of self, that modesty, that was one of 
 her chief characteristics. "Grace was in 
 all her steps ; heaven in her eye ; in every 
 gesture dignity and love." 
 
 Happily married in 1842 to Rev. Sid- 
 ney B. Bumpass, of the North Carolina 
 Conference, she took upon herself joy- 
 fully all the joys and sorrows, all the 
 lights and shadows of an itinerant 
 preacher's life. 
 
 For nine years she walked by the side 
 of her noble husband, a helpmeet indeed, 
 proving herself a blessing to the people 
 wherever their lot was cast. 
 
 But the crucial test that was to bring 
 out the true gold of her character was 
 now to be applied. Just recovering from 
 a severe attack of illness, a child very 
 sick, and a dear little boy of two years 
 still in death, the message came from 
 Salisbury, where the session of the 
 North Carolina Conference was being 
 held : "Come quickly ; your husband 
 is very ill." Turning from the open 
 grave of her darling boy, she was 
 conveyed as rapidly as possible to the 
 bedside of her dying husband, in time 
 to catch only a look of recognition, when, 
 borne by angels, he was carried to the 
 "better land" to await her coming. 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 73 
 
 But the true gold of her character 
 came out of this crucible, shining bright- 
 er as the years went by. Years of toil 
 and care, of struggle to educate her chil- 
 dren amid the many trials, privations, 
 and responsibilities that for many years 
 attended her, no murmur against her 
 Heavenly Father was ever heard. With 
 perfect obedience to His will, and child- 
 like trust, she yielded herself to her Fa- 
 ther's care, to be guided and directed by 
 him. Through "faith's sheltering bars" 
 she could look on each to-morrow, feel- 
 ing sure it was all for the best, "whether 
 joy or sorrow." 
 
 In addition to the many burdens de- 
 volving upon her by the death of her hus- 
 band, she edited a weekly paper called the 
 Message, the only one then published by 
 the Methodist Church in North Carolina. 
 
 But God had other work for his hand- 
 maiden to do; and when, in 1878, he 
 moved the hearts of the women of South- 
 ern Methodism to organize the Woman's 
 Foreign Missionary Society, she was 
 called to fill the ofhee of Corresponding 
 Secretary of the North Carolina Confer- 
 ence Society, which office she held until 
 the division of the Conference, in 1890, 
 when she was called to fill the same office 
 in the Western North Carolina Confer- 
 ence Society, which office she held until 
 her death. 
 
74 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 For nearly twenty years she had been 
 a regular attendant at every meeting of 
 the Woman's Board of Foreign Mis- 
 sions. 
 
 Never a very strong woman physically, 
 her friends often thought the long trips 
 to the Board too perilous an undertaking 
 for her. To those who would seek to de- 
 tain her she would reply : "I am waiting 
 to know what is my Father's will." And, 
 however feeble she might be in body, 
 when he said "Go" she went, trusting 
 him to keep her, and the trust was never 
 misplaced. She evinced the same spirit 
 as our founder of Methodism, of whom 
 it was said that when his brother Charles 
 once remarked, "Brother, if the Lord 
 would give me wings, I would fly," our 
 leader responded, "If the Lord were to 
 tell me, brother Charles, to fly, I would 
 do it, trusting him to give the wings." 
 
 To look into the face of this sainted 
 woman, around which a halo of peace 
 seemed always to rest, was like looking 
 upon one of our sun-kissed mountains. 
 At its feet the clouds may roll, the waves 
 and billows dash themselves in storm- 
 driven fury, but unmoved it stands, 
 turned heavenward, while the sunshine 
 of heaven rests upon it in a beauty not of 
 earth. And as you gaze upon it what a 
 feeling of rest, of undisturbed repose, 
 comes over you ! Just so it was to those 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 75 
 
 whose happy privilege it was to look 
 upon the face of our "Aunt Bumpass." 
 The thoughtless schoolgirl felt it ; the 
 young men, "caring for none of these 
 things ;" while the man of business, trav- 
 eling with her, said, "I have seen a wom- 
 an whose face was like an angel's." A 
 stranger, on seeing her for the first time, 
 said : "And Moses wist not that his face 
 shone." 
 
 For seven months or more she was 
 confined to the house, much of the time 
 to her room, with a very painful attack of 
 rheumatism. She told her loved ones 
 who ministered unceasingly at her bed- 
 side that she did not wish them to have 
 any sign of mourning after her death, 
 either on their persons, in the house, or 
 church. "Let it all be bright and joy- 
 ous," she would say. And, like our 
 mother in Methodism, she would ex- 
 claim : "Children, as soon as I am re- 
 leased, sing a song of praise to God !" 
 She too could say, 
 
 " Sunset and evening star and one clear light 
 for me, 
 Let there be no moaning at the bar 
 When I put out to sea." 
 
 For well she knew she would 
 
 " Meet her Pilot face to face 
 When she had crossed the bar." 
 
 Just as the sun reached the meridian 
 of its splendor on a typical Sunday in 
 
76 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 May a bright convoy of angels hovered 
 for a while over that home, the "abode of 
 peace," and swiftly bore to heaven's 
 pearly gates the soul of God's trusting, 
 tried, and patient saint, Frances Bumpass. 
 And we, on whose hearts a burden of 
 grief at her loss has fallen, would lift the 
 veil that hides that heavenly world from 
 ours, and catch a glimpse of her as "pass- 
 ing through the amber air she caught its 
 glowing dust upon her, and was changed, 
 the livid to the radiant." 
 
 Could we call her back to earth again? 
 We cannot call her "dead," for we hear 
 a voice from heaven saying: "Write, 
 blessed are the dead which die in the Lord 
 from henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit, 
 that they may rest from their labors ; and 
 their works do follow them." 
 
 " Our old saints are gathering home; 
 
 One by one they pass away; 
 Every year we're losing some, 
 
 Yet we would not bid them stay. 
 Sin and sorrow left behind, 
 
 Joy and gladness all before; 
 This each sainted soul shall find 
 
 When they reach the better shore. 
 O, the glad reunions there! 
 
 O, the songs that never cease! 
 Happy saints are gathering where 
 
 Naught can mar the perfect peace." 
 
TRIBUTES FROM SOCIETIES. 
 
 Immediately after the news was re- 
 ceived in Nashville that Mrs. Bumpass 
 had passed away from the sight of those 
 who loved her, the local committee of the 
 Woman's Board held a meeting that re- 
 sulted in the following action : 
 
 "A sweeter, gentler spirit than dear 
 Sister F. M. Bumpass never 'fell on 
 sleep: For twenty years she was con- 
 nected with the Woman's Board of For- 
 eign Missions of our Church. To see her 
 at the annual meetings was an inspira- 
 tion, and the sure fact that daily her 
 prayers for the success of the cause of mis- 
 sions went up to God strengthened many 
 whose fears pointed to failure, though 
 their efforts and hopes were for success. 
 
 "Our sainted sister and friend has 
 passed into the unseen and heavenly, 
 where she finds 'faith lost in sight,' and 
 'hope in full fruition.' The fitting, beau- 
 tiful May time witnessed her translation, 
 and only thanksgiving for her exaltation 
 fills our hearts. We shall miss her sad- 
 ly — miss the gentle presence, the loving 
 heart, always a benediction at the gath- 
 erings for the Lord's work ; but we shall 
 one day join her in the kingdom above, 
 where she is forever with her Lord. 
 
jS Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 "Resolved: i. That the cause she loved 
 and to which she gave her prayers and 
 efforts, shall continue the object of our 
 lives, the highest motive of our loving 
 efforts, until the establishment of the Re- 
 deemer's kingdom in all lands. 
 
 "2. That, like the incense of sweet 
 spices, her memory will be ever fragrant, 
 her useful- life ever like the Rose of 
 Sharon in beauty. 
 
 "3. That the above be spread upon the 
 records of the Board, and a copy sent to 
 her bereaved family. 
 
 Mrs. S. C. Trueheart. Sec.; 
 
 Mrs. J. D. Hamilton, Rec. Sec; 
 
 Mrs. W. G. E. Cunnyngham, 
 
 Mrs. H. N. McTyeire, 
 
 Mrs. I. G. John." 
 
 Soon after, at the meeting of the West- 
 ern North Carolina Conference Society, 
 the following resolutions were passed : 
 
 "Whereas, since the sad tidings went 
 abroad, on May 8, that our beloved and 
 venerable Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. 
 F. M. Bumpass, had been called from la- 
 bor to reward, this Conference Foreign 
 Missionary Society has felt deeply be- 
 reaved, as by the death of a mother be- 
 loved, and desiring as a Society to give 
 this public expression to our deep sense 
 of loss, as well as to our personal love for 
 her who has gone from among us, and 
 
Autobiography and Journal. 79 
 
 our appreciation of her exalted virtues 
 and beautiful Christian character ; 
 
 "Resolved: 1. That in this, the first 
 annual meeting since our organization 
 that she has not been with us, we miss 
 her gentle presence, her sweet counte- 
 nance in which beamed the light of love 
 and trust, and her prayers and wise coun- 
 sels, which were ever a source of strength 
 in our deliberations. 
 
 "2. That her holy life and example 
 having ever been a blessed influence in 
 our lives, we will cherish her memory 
 fondly, and ever strive to follow her as 
 she followed Christ, embalming in our 
 hearts her gentle, holy influence, and 
 seeking to embody in our lives the prin- 
 ciples by which she ordered her life. 
 
 "3. That these resolutions be pub- 
 lished in our annual minutes, and that a 
 copy be sent by the Secretary to the be- 
 reaved family, with sincere and loving 
 sympathy from this Society. 
 
 Mrs. L. H. Robertson, Prcs.; 
 
 Mrs. Jno. R. Brooks, Rec. Sec.; 
 
 Mrs. L. W. Crawford, Cor. Sec; 
 
 Mrs. J. W. Alspaugh, Trcas.; 
 
 Mrs. J. H. Weaver." 
 
 The auxiliary society of West Market 
 Street Church, in Greensboro, N. C, of 
 which she was a member, manifested 
 their love and esteem as follows : 
 
So Mrs. Frances M. Bnmpass. 
 
 "The Woman's Foreign Missionary 
 Society of West Market Street Church, 
 feeling with profound sorrow the deep 
 bereavement sustained by the death of 
 Mrs. F. M. Bumpass, desire to give 
 some expression to their loving appre- 
 ciation of her beautiful life and charac- 
 ter, as well as to their sense of personal 
 loss in her death. Therefore, 
 
 "Resolved: i. That this society, plant- 
 ed by her agency and nurtured by her 
 prayers, having enjoyed for twenty years 
 the privilege of her godly example, is 
 sadly and sorely bereft by her removal. 
 Through all these years in the foreign 
 missionary society and through many 
 more in the Church, she has ever been 
 a help and inspiration to all who came 
 within the sphere of her Christian influ- 
 ence. Ever a source of strength and 
 comfort, she was constantly sought by 
 many in sorrow, doubt, or perplexity, 
 who invariably found that she adminis- 
 tered consolation and helped others to 
 find that peace and joy which seemed 
 ever to abide with her. 
 
 "2. That the memory of such a life 
 should never fade from our hearts, but 
 should be cherished with fond love and 
 ardent emulation of the virtues which 
 like a halo encircled her brow, that be- 
 ing dead she may yet speak to our hearts 
 and draw us onward and upward by 
 
Autobiography and Journal. Si 
 
 the magnetism of a pure and holy ex- 
 ample. 
 
 "3. That we tender our deepest sym- 
 pathy and love to her family, and pray 
 that the Comforter may impart to them 
 the consolation which she, their loved 
 one, ever found through unfaltering- 
 trust in the Father's love. 
 
 "4. That a copy of these resolutions 
 be spread upon the minutes of the so- 
 ciety, that a copy be sent her family, 
 and that they be furnished to the North 
 Carolina Christian Advocate, and to the 
 city papers for publication." 
 
 There were many other loving trib- 
 utes to her memory. Among them res- 
 olutions were adopted by the society of 
 Centenary Church, in Greensboro, N. 
 C, and by Grace Auxiliary- in Wilming- 
 ton, N. C. We have not space in this 
 small volume to give all the comments 
 on her beautiful life and character. 
 
 The following verses were read at a 
 memorial service held by the Woman's 
 Christian Temperance Union Conven- 
 tion of North Carolina, in loving remem- 
 brance of Mrs. F. M. Bumpass : 
 
 A mother in Israel has passed away, 
 
 We shall see her face no more; 
 A saintly soul, from its house of clay, 
 
 Has escaped to the golden shore. 
 6 
 
§2 Mrs. Frances M. Bumpass. 
 
 We shall miss her low, sweet voice in prayer, 
 And the smile on her placid face, 
 
 As the fervent words, through the ambient air, 
 Rose up to the throne of grace. 
 
 But we know she dwells in a happier clime, 
 
 In a cloudless land of love; 
 She has floated beyond the heights sublime, 
 
 To the radiant courts above. 
 Over the shining crystal sea, 
 
 Up through the silvery light, 
 By the stars where many mansions be, 
 
 She has taken her heavenly flight. 
 
 And now she beholds the city of gold, 
 
 Jerusalem, brilliant and fair, 
 While the beautiful story, the story of old, 
 
 Is sung by the angels there. 
 We follow her track with longing eyes, 
 
 Ablaze on the upward road, 
 A brightening line through the vaulted skies, 
 
 That touches the palace of God. 
 
 No nobler, sweeter spirit has flown, 
 
 None nearer the love divine, 
 To the home where the Savior claims his own, 
 
 Where glories ineffable shine. 
 She lies in dreamless sleep mid the flowers, 
 Where the violets exhale their perfume, 
 Where the willows weep through the golden 
 hours, 
 And the midsummer roses bloom. 
 
 In the bosom of God, in the haven of rest, 
 
 Afar from all turmoil and strife, 
 In the amaranth bowers, immortal above, 
 
 She has entered eternal life. 
 We shall miss her here, but find her there, 
 
 When earth and its sorrows have fled, 
 Like the benediction that comes after prayer 
 
 In the land of the deathless dead. 
 
 E. D. Hundley. 
 

 
 
 
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