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diff --git a/15693-8.txt b/15693-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..28de12e --- /dev/null +++ b/15693-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13804 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of T. De Witt Talmage +by T. De Witt Talmage +Mrs. T. De Witt Talmage + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: T. De Witt Talmage + As I Knew Him + +Author: T. De Witt Talmage +Mrs. T. De Witt Talmage + +Release Date: April 23, 2005 [EBook #15693] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK T. DE WITT TALMAGE *** + + + + +Produced by David Newman, Melissa Er-Raqabi, Jeannie Howse and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +T. DE WITT TALMAGE +AS I KNEW HIM + +BY THE LATE +T. DE WITT TALMAGE, D.D. + +WITH CONCLUDING CHAPTERS BY +MRS. T. DE WITT TALMAGE + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS + +NEW YORK: +E.P. DUTTON AND COMPANY +1912 + + + + +CONTENTS + +FIRST MILESTONE +SECOND MILESTONE +THIRD MILESTONE +FOURTH MILESTONE +FIFTH MILESTONE +SIXTH MILESTONE +SEVENTH MILESTONE +EIGHTH MILESTONE +NINTH MILESTONE +TENTH MILESTONE +ELEVENTH MILESTONE +TWELFTH MILESTONE +THIRTEENTH MILESTONE +FOURTEENTH MILESTONE +FIFTEENTH MILESTONE +SIXTEENTH MILESTONE +SEVENTEENTH MILESTONE +BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HIS LAST MILESTONES-- + FIRST MILESTONE + SECOND MILESTONE + THIRD MILESTONE + LAST MILESTONE + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +THE REV. T. DE WITT TALMAGE, D.D. +DAVID AND CATHERINE TALMAGE--PARENTS OF DR. T. DE WITT TALMAGE +DR. TALMAGE IN HIS FIRST CHURCH, BELLEVILLE, NEW JERSEY +DR. TALMAGE AS CHAPLAIN OF THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT OF NEW YORK +THE THIRD BROOKLYN TABERNACLE +THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, WASHINGTON, D.C. +DR. AND MRS. T. DE WITT TALMAGE +FACSIMILE OF PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S LETTER + + + + +PREFACE + +I write this story of my life, first of all for my children. How much +would I now give for a full account of my father's life written by his +own hand! That which merely goes from lip to ear is apt to be soon +forgotten. The generations move on so rapidly that events become +confused. I said to my son, "Do you remember that time in Philadelphia, +during the war, when I received a telegram saying several hundred +wounded soldiers would arrive next day, and we suddenly extemporised a +hospital and all turned in to the help of the suffering soldiers?" My +son's reply was, "My memory of that occurrence is not very distinct, as +it took place six years before I was born." The fact is that we think +our children know many things concerning which they know nothing at all. + +But, outside my own family, I am sure that there are many who would like +to read about what I have been doing, thinking, enjoying, and hoping all +these years; for through the publication of my entire Sermons, as has +again and again been demonstrated, I have been brought into contact with +the minds of more people, and for a longer time, than most men. This I +mean not in boast, but as a reason for thinking that this autobiography +may have some attention outside of my own circle, and I mention it also +in gratitude to God, Who has for so long a time given me this unlimited +and almost miraculous opportunity. + +Each life is different from every other life. God never repeats Himself, +and He never intended two men to be alike, or two women to be alike, or +two children to be alike. This infinite variety of character and +experience makes the story of any life interesting, if that story be +clearly and accurately told. + +I am now in the full play of my faculties, and without any apprehension +of early departure, not having had any portents, nor seen the moon over +my left shoulder, nor had a salt-cellar upset, nor seen a bat fly into +the window, nor heard a cricket chirp from the hearth, nor been one of +thirteen persons at a table. But my common sense, and the family record, +and the almanac tell me it must be "towards evening." + + + + +T. DE WITT TALMAGE + +AS I KNEW HIM + + + + +FIRST MILESTONE + +1832-1845 + + +Our family Bible, in the record just between the Old and the New +Testaments, has this entry: "Thomas DeWitt, Born January 7, 1832." I was +the youngest of a family of twelve children, all of whom lived to grow +up except the first, and she was an invalid child. + +I was the child of old age. My nativity, I am told, was not heartily +welcomed, for the family was already within one of a dozen, and the +means of support were not superabundant. I arrived at Middlebrook, New +Jersey, while my father kept the toll-gate, at which business the older +children helped him, but I was too small to be of service. I have no +memory of residence there, except the day of departure, and that only +emphasised by the fact that we left an old cat which had purred her way +into my affections, and separation from her was my first sorrow, so far +as I can remember. + +In that home at Middlebrook, and in the few years after, I went through +the entire curriculum of infantile ailments. The first of these was +scarlet fever, which so nearly consummated its fell work on me that I +was given up by the doctors as doomed to die, and, according to custom +in those times in such a case, my grave clothes were completed, the +neighbours gathering for that purpose. During those early years I took +such a large share of epidemics that I have never been sick since with +anything worthy of being called illness. I never knew or heard of anyone +who has had such remarkable and unvarying health as I have had, and I +mention it with gratitude to God, in whose "hand our breath is, and all +our ways." + +The "grippe," as it is called, touched me at Vienna when on my way from +the Holy Land, but I felt it only half a day, and never again since. + +I often wonder what has become of our old cradle in which all of us +children were rocked! We were a large family, and that old cradle was +going a good many years. I remember just how it looked. It was +old-fashioned and had no tapestry. Its two sides and canopy were of +plain wood, but there was a great deal of sound sleeping in that cradle, +and many aches and pains were soothed in it. Most vividly I remember +that the rockers, which came out from under the cradle, were on the top +and side very smooth, so smooth that they actually glistened. But it +went right on and rocked for Phoebe the first, and for DeWitt the last. + +There were no lords or baronets or princes in our ancestral line. None +wore stars, cockade, or crest. There was once a family coat-of-arms, but +we were none of us wise enough to tell its meaning. Do our best, we +cannot find anything about our forerunners except that they behaved +well, came over from Wales or Holland a good while ago, and died when +their time came. Some of them may have had fine equipages and +postilions, but the most of them were sure only of footmen. My father +started in life belonging to the aristocracy of hard knuckles and +homespun, but had this high honour that no one could despise: he was the +son of a father who loved God and kept His commandments. Two eyes, two +hands, and two feet were the capital my father started with. + +Benignity, kindness, keen humour, broad common sense and industry +characterised my mother. The Reverend Dr. Chambers was for many years +her pastor. He had fifty years of pastorate service, in Somerville, +N.J., and the Collegiate Church, New York. He said, in an address at the +dedication of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, that my mother was the most +consecrated Christian person he had ever known. My mother worked very +hard, and when we would come in and sit down at the table at noon, I +remember how she used to look. There were beads of perspiration along +the line of her grey hair, and sometimes she would sit down at the +table, and put her head against her wrinkled hand and say, "Well, the +fact is, I'm too tired to eat." + +My father was a religious, hard-working, honest man. Every day began and +closed with family worship, led by my father, or, in case of his +absence, by Mother. That which was evidently uppermost in the minds of +my parents, and that which was the most pervading principle in their +lives, was the Christian religion. The family Bible held a perfect +fascination for me, not a page that was not discoloured either with time +or tears. My parents read out of it as long as I can remember. When my +brother Van Nest died in a foreign land, and the news came to our +country home, that night they read the eternal consolations out of the +old book. When my brother David died that book comforted the old people +in their trouble. My father in mid-life, fifteen years an invalid, out +of that book read of the ravens that fed Elijah all through the hard +struggle for bread. When my mother died that book illumined the dark +valley. In the years that followed of loneliness, it comforted my father +with the thought of reunion, which took place afterward in Heaven. + +To the wonderful conversion of my grandfather and grandmother, in those +grand old days of our declaration of independence, I trace the whole +purpose, trend, and energies of my life. I have told the story of the +conversion of my grandfather and grandmother before. I repeat it here, +for my children. + +My grandfather and grandmother went from Somerville to Baskenridge to +attend revival meetings under the ministry of Dr. Finney. They were so +impressed with the meetings that when they came back to Somerville they +were seized upon by a great desire for the salvation of their children. +That evening the children were going off for a gay party, and my +grandmother said to the children, "When you get all ready for the +entertainment, come into my room; I have something very important to +tell you." After they were all ready they came into my grandmother's +room, and she said to them, "Go and have a good time, but while you are +gone I want you to know I am praying for you and will do nothing but +pray for you until you get back." They did not enjoy the entertainment +much because they thought all the time of the fact that Mother was +praying for them. The evening passed. The next day my grandparents heard +sobbing and crying in the daughter's room, and they went in and found +her praying for the salvation of God, and her daughter Phoebe said, "I +wish you would go to the barn and to the waggon-house for Jehiel and +David (the brothers) are under powerful conviction of sin." My +grandparent went to the barn, and Jehiel, who afterward became a useful +minister of the Gospel, was imploring the mercy of Christ; and then, +having first knelt with him and commended his soul to Christ, they went +to the waggon-house, and there was David crying for the salvation of his +soul--David, who afterward became my father. David could not keep the +story to himself, and he crossed the fields to a farmhouse and told one +to whom he had been affianced the story of his own salvation, and she +yielded her heart to God. The story of the converted household went all +through the neighbourhood. In a few weeks two hundred souls stood up in +the plain meeting house at Somerville to profess faith in Christ, among +them David and Catherine, afterward my parents. + +[Illustration: DAVID TALMAGE. CATHERINE TALMAGE. (_The Parents of Dr. T. +DeWitt Talmage_)] + +My mother, impressed with that, in after life, when she had a large +family of children gathered around her, made a covenant with three +neighbours, three mothers. They would meet once a week to pray for the +salvation of their children until all their children were +converted--this incident was not known until after my mother's death, +the covenant then being revealed by one of the survivors. We used to +say: "Mother, where are you going?" and she would say, "I am just going +out a little while; going over to the neighbours." They kept on in that +covenant until all their families were brought into the kingdom of God, +myself the last, and I trace that line of results back to that evening +when my grandmother commended our family to Christ, the tide of +influence going on until this hour, and it will never cease. + +My mother died in her seventy-sixth year. Through a long life of +vicissitude she lived harmlessly and usefully, and came to her end in +peace. We had often heard her, when leading family prayers in the +absence of my father, say, "O Lord, I ask not for my children wealth or +honour, but I do ask that they all may be the subjects of Thy converting +grace." Her eleven children brought into the kingdom of God, she had but +one more wish, and that was that she might see her long-absent +missionary son, and when the ship from China anchored in New York +harbour, and the long-absent one passed over the threshold of his +paternal home, she said, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in +peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." The prayer was soon +answered. + +My father, as long as I can remember, was an elder in churches. He +conducted prayer-meetings in the country, when he was sometimes the only +man to take part, giving out a hymn and leading the singing; then +reading the Scriptures and offering prayer; then giving out another hymn +and leading in that; and then praying again; and so continuing the +meeting for the usual length of time, and with no lack of interest. + +When the church choir would break down, everybody looked around to see +if he were not ready with "Woodstock," "Mount Pisgah" or "Uxbridge." And +when all his familiar tunes failed to express the joy of his soul, he +would take up his own pen, draw five long lines across the sheet, put in +the notes, and then to the tune he called "Bound Brook," begin to sing: + + As when the weary traveller gains + The height of some o'erlooking hill, + His heart revives if 'cross the plains + He eyes his home, though distant still; + + Thus, when the Christian pilgrim views, + By faith, his mansion in the skies, + The sight his fainting strength renews, + And wings his speed to reach the prize. + + 'Tis there, he says, I am to dwell + With Jesus in the realms of day; + There I shall bid my cares farewell + And He will wipe my tears away. + +He knew about all the cheerful tunes that were ever printed in old "New +Brunswick Collection," and the "Shunway," and the sweetest melodies that +Thomas Hastings ever composed. He took the pitch of sacred song on +Sabbath morning, and kept it through all the week. + +My father was the only person whom I ever knew without any element of +fear. I do not believe he understood the sensation. + +Seated in a waggon one day during a runaway that every moment threatened +our demolition, he was perfectly calm. He turned around to me, a boy of +seven years, and said, "DeWitt, what are you crying about? I guess we +can ride as fast as they can run." + +There was one scene I remember, that showed his poise and courage as +nothing else could. He was Sheriff of Somerset County, N.J., and we +lived in the court house, attached to which was the County Jail. During +my father's absence one day a prisoner got playing the maniac, dashing +things to pieces, vociferating horribly, and flourishing a knife with +which he had threatened to carve any one who came near the wicket of his +prison, Constables were called in to quell this real or dramatised +maniac, but they fell back in terror from the door of the prison. Their +show of firearms made no impression upon the demented wretch. After +awhile my father returned and was told of the trouble, and indeed he +heard it before he reached home. The whole family implored him not to +go near the man who was cursing, and armed with a knife. But father +could not be deterred. He did not stand outside the door and at a safe +distance, but took the key and opened the door, and without any weapon +of defence came upon the man, thundering at him, "Sit down and give me +that knife!" The tragedy was ended. I never remember to have heard him +make a gloomy remark. This was not because he had no perception of the +pollutions of society. I once said to my father, "Are people so much +worse now than they used to-be?" He made no answer for a minute, for the +old people do not like to confess much to the boys. But after awhile his +eye twinkled and he said: "Well, DeWitt, the fact is that people were +never any better than they ought to be." + +Ours was an industrious home. I was brought up to regard laziness as an +abominable disease. Though we were some years of age before we heard the +trill of a piano, we knew well all about the song of "The +Spinning-Wheel." + +Through how many thrilling scenes my father had passed! He stood, at +Morristown, in the choir that chanted when George Washington was buried; +talked with young men whose fathers he had held on his knee; watched the +progress of John Adams's administration; denounced, at the time, Aaron +Burr's infamy; heard the guns that celebrated the New Orleans victory; +voted against Jackson, but lived long enough to wish we had another just +like him; remembered when the first steamer struck the North river with +its wheel-buckets; was startled by the birth of telegraphy; saw the +United States grow from a speck on the world's map till all nations dip +their flag at our passing merchantmen. He was born while the +Revolutionary cannon were coming home from Yorktown, and lived to hear +the tramp of troops returning from the war of the great Rebellion. He +lived to speak the names of eighty children, grand-children and +great-grand-children. He died just three years from the day when my +mother sped on. + +When my father lay dying the old country minister said to him, "Mr. +Talmage, how do you feel now as you are about to pass the Jordan of +death?" He replied--and it was the last thing he ever said--"I feel +well; I feel very well; all is well"--lifting his hand in a benediction, +a speechless benediction, which I pray God may go down through all the +generations--"It is well!" + +Four of his sons became ministers of the Gospel: Reverend James R. +Talmage, D.D., who was preaching before I was born, and who died in +1879; Reverend John Van Nest Talmage, D.D., who spent his life as a +missionary in China, and died in the summer of 1892; Reverend Goyn +Talmage, D.D., who after doing a great work for God, died in 1891. But +all my brothers and sisters were decidedly Christian, lived usefully and +died peacefully. + +I rejoice to remember that though my father lived in a plain house the +most of his days, he died in a mansion provided by the filial piety of +his son who had achieved a fortune. + +The house at Gateville, near Bound Brook, in which I was born, has gone +down. Not one stone has been left upon another. I one day picked up a +fragment of the chimney, or wall, and carried it home. But the home that +I associate with my childhood was about three miles from Somerville, +N.J. The house, the waggon-shed, the barn, are now just as I remember +them from childhood days. It was called "Uncle John's Place" from the +fact that my mother's uncle, John Van Nest, owned it, and from him my +father rented it "on shares." Here I rode the horse to brook. Here I +hunted for and captured Easter eggs. Here the natural world made its +deepest impression on me. Here I learned some of the fatigues and +hardships of the farmer's life--not as I felt them, but as my father and +mother endured them. Here my brother Daniel brought home his bride. From +here I went to the country school. Here in the evening the family were +gathered, mother knitting or sewing, father vehemently talking politics +or religion with some neighbour not right on the subject of the tariff, +or baptism, and the rest of us reading or listening. All the group are +gone except my sister Catherine and myself. + +My childhood, as I look back upon it, is to me a mystery. While I always +possessed a keen sense of the ludicrous, and a hearty appreciation of +fun of all sorts, there was a sedate side of my nature that demonstrated +itself to the older members of the family, and of which they often +spoke. For half days, or whole days, at a time I remember sitting on a +small footstool beside an ordinary chair on which lay open "Scott's +Commentaries on the Bible." I not only read the Scriptures out of this +book, but long discourses of Thomas Scott, and passages adjoining. I +could not have understood much of these profound and elaborate +commentaries. They were not written or printed for children, but they +had for my childish mind a fascination that kept me from play, and from +the ordinary occupations of persons of my years. + +So, also, it was with the religious literature of the old-fashioned +kind, with which some of the tables of my father's house were piled. +Indeed, when afterwards I was living at my brothers' house, he a +clergyman, I read through and through and through the four or five +volumes of Dwight's "Theology," which must have been a wading-in far +beyond my depth. I think if I had not possessed an unusual resiliency of +temperament, the reading and thinking so much of things pertaining to +the soul and a future state would have made me morbid and unnatural. +This tendency to read and think in sacred directions was not a case of +early piety. I do not know what it was. I suppose in all natures there +are things inexplicable. How strange is the phenomenon of childhood days +to an old man! + +How well I remember Sanderson's stage coach, running from New Brunswick +to Easton, as he drove through Somerville, New Jersey, turning up to the +post-office and dropping the mail-bags with ten letters and two or three +newspapers! On the box Sanderson himself, six feet two inches, and well +proportioned, long lash-whip in one hand, the reins of six horses in the +other, the "leaders" lathered along the lines of the traces, foam +dripping from the bits! It was the event of the day when the stage came. +It was our highest ambition to become a stage-driver. Some of the boys +climbed on the great leathern boot of the stage, and those of us who +could not get on shouted "Cut behind!" I saw the old stage-driver not +long ago, and I expressed to him my surprise that one around whose head +I had seen a halo of glory in my boyhood time was only a man like the +rest of us. Between Sanderson's stage-coach and a Chicago express train, +what a difference! + +And I shall always marvel at our family doctor. Dear old Dr. Skillman! +My father's doctor, my mother's doctor, in the village home! He carried +all the confidences of all the families for ten miles around. We all +felt better as soon as we saw him enter the house. His face pronounced a +beatitude before he said a word. He welcomed all of us children into +life, and he closed the old people's eyes. + + + + +THE SECOND MILESTONE + +1845-1869 + + +When moving out of a house I have always been in the habit, after +everything was gone, of going into each room and bidding it a mute +farewell. There are the rooms named after the different members of the +family. I suppose it is so in all households. It was so in mine; we +named the rooms after the persons who occupied them. I moved from the +house of my boyhood with a sort of mute affection for its remembrances +that are most vivid in its hours of crisis and meditation. Through all +the years that have intervened there is no holier sanctuary to me than +the memory of my mother's vacant chair. I remember it well. It made a +creaking noise as it moved. It was just high enough to allow us children +to put our heads into her lap. That was the bank where we deposited all +our hurts and worries. + +Some time ago, in an express train, I shot past that old homestead. I +looked out of the window and tried to peer through the darkness. While I +was doing so, one of my old schoolmates, whom I had not seen for many +years, tapped me on the shoulder, and said: "DeWitt, I see you are +looking out at the scenes of your boyhood." + +"Oh, yes," I replied, "I was looking out at the old place where my +mother lived and died." + +I pass over the boyhood days and the country school. The first real +breath of life is in young manhood, when, with the strength of the +unknown, he dares to choose a career. I first studied for the law, at +the New York University. + +New York in 1850 was a small place compared to the New York of to-day, +but it had all the effervescence and glitter of the entire country even +then. I shall never forget the excitement when on September 1st, 1850, +Jenny Lind landed from the steamer "Atlantic." Not merely because of her +reputation as a singer, but because of her fame for generosity and +kindness were the people aroused to welcome her. The first $10,000 she +earned in America she devoted to charity, and in all the cities of +America she poured forth her benefactions. Castle Garden was then the +great concert hall of New York, and I shall never forget the night of +her first appearance. I was a college boy, and Jenny Lind was the first +great singer I ever heard. There were certain cadences in her voice that +overwhelmed the audience with emotion. I remember a clergyman sitting +near me who was so overcome that he was obliged to leave the auditorium. +The school of suffering and sorrow had done as much for her voice as the +Academy of Stockholm. + +The woman who had her in charge when a child used to lock her in a room +when she went off to the daily work. There by the hour Jenny would sit +at the window, her only amusement singing, while she stroked her cat on +her lap. But sitting there by the window her voice fell on a listener in +the street. The listener called a music master to stand by the same +window, and he was fascinated and amazed, and took the child to the +director of the Royal Opera, asking for her the advantages of musical +education, and the director roughly said: "What shall we do with that +ugly thing? See what feet she has. And, then, her face; she will never +be presentable. No, we can't take her. Away with her!" But God had +decreed for this child of nature a grand career, and all those sorrows +were woven into her faculty of song. She never could have been what she +became, royally arrayed on the platforms of Berlin and Vienna and Paris +and London and New York, had she not first been the poor girl in the +garret at Stockholm. She had been perfected through suffering. That she +was genuinely Christian I prove not more from her charities than from +these words which she wrote in an album during her triumphal American +tour: + + In vain I seek for rest + In all created good; + It leaves me still unblest + And makes me cry for God. + And safe at rest I cannot be + Until my heart finds rest in Thee. + +There never was anyone who could equal Jenny Lind in the warble. Some +said it was like a lark, but she surpassed the lark. Oh, what a warble! +I hear it yet. All who heard it thirty-five years ago are hearing it +yet. + +I should probably have been a lawyer, except for the prayers of my +mother and father that I should preach the Gospel. Later, I entered the +New Brunswick Theological Seminary. Why I ever thought of any other work +in the world than that which I have done, is another mystery of my +youth. Everything in my heredity and in my heart indicated my career as +a preacher. And yet, in the days of my infancy I was carried by +Christian parents to the house of God, and consecrated in baptism to the +Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost; but that did not save me. In +after time I was taught to kneel at the Christian family altar with +father and mother and brothers and sisters. In after time I read +Doddridge's "Rise and Progress," and Baxter's "Call to the Unconverted," +and all the religious books around my father's household; but that did +not save me. But one day the voice of Christ came into my heart saying, +"Repent, repent; believe, believe," and I accepted the offer of mercy. + +It happened this way: Truman Osborne, one of the evangelists who went +through this country some years ago, had a wonderful art in the right +direction. He came to my father's house one day, and while we were all +seated in the room, he said: "Mr. Talmage, are all your children +Christians?" Father said: "Yes, all but De Witt." Then Truman Osborne +looked down into the fireplace, and began to tell a story of a storm +that came on the mountains, and all the sheep were in the fold; but +there was one lamb outside that perished in the storm. Had he looked me +in the eye, I should have been angered when he told me that story; but +he looked into the fireplace, and it was so pathetically and beautifully +done that I never found any peace until I was inside the fold, where the +other sheep are. + +When I was a lad a book came out entitled "Dow Junior's Patent Sermons"; +it made a great stir, a very wide laugh all over the country, that book +did. It was a caricature of the Christian ministry and of the Word of +God and of the Day of Judgment. Oh, we had a great laugh! The commentary +on the whole thing is that the author of that book died in poverty, +shame, debauchery, kicked out of society. + +I have no doubt that derision kept many people out of the ark. The +world laughed to see a man go in, and said, "Here is a man starting for +the ark. Why, there will be no deluge. If there is one, that miserable +ship will not weather it. Aha! going into the ark! Well, that is too +good to keep. Here, fellows, have you heard the news? This man is going +into the ark." Under this artillery of scorn the man's good resolution +perished. + +I was the youngest of a large family of children. My parents were +neither rich nor poor; four of the sons wanted collegiate education, and +four obtained it, but not without great home-struggle. The day I left +our country home to look after myself we rode across the country, and my +father was driving. He began to tell how good the Lord had been to him, +in sickness and in health, and when times of hardship came how +Providence had always provided the means of livelihood for the large +household; and he wound up by saying, "De Witt, I have always found it +safe to trust the Lord." I have felt the mighty impetus of that lesson +in the farm waggon. It has been fulfilled in my own life and in the +lives of many consecrated men and women I have known. + +In the minister's house where I prepared for college there worked a man +by the name of Peter Croy. He could neither read nor write, but he was a +man of God. Often theologians would stop in the house--grave +theologians--and at family prayer Peter Croy would be called upon to +lead; and all those wise men sat around, wonder-struck at his religious +efficiency. + +In the church at Somerville, New Jersey, where I was afterwards pastor, +John Vredenburgh preached for a great many years. He felt that his +ministry was a failure, and others felt so, although he was a faithful +minister preaching the Gospel all the time. He died, and died amid some +discouragements, and went home to God; for no one ever doubted that John +Vredenburgh was a good Christian minister. A little while after his +death there came a great awakening in Somerville, and one Sabbath two +hundred souls stood up at the Christian altar espousing the cause of +Christ, among them my own father and mother. And what was peculiar in +regard to nearly all of those two hundred souls was that they dated +their religious impressions from the ministry of John Vredenburgh. + +I had no more confidence in my own powers when I was studying for the +ministry than John Vredenburgh. I was often very discouraged. "DeWitt," +said a man to me as we were walking the fields at the time I was in the +theological school, "DeWitt, if you don't change your style of thought +and expression, you will never get a call to any church in Christendom +as long as you live." "Well," I replied, "if I cannot preach the Gospel +in America, then I will go to heathen lands and preach it." I thought I +might be useful on heathen ground, if I could ever learn the language of +the Chinese, about which I had many forebodings. The foreign tongue +became to me more and more an obstacle and a horror, until I resolved if +I could get an invitation to preach in the English language, I would +accept it. So one day, finding Rev. Dr. Van Vranken, one of our +theological professors (blessed be his memory), sauntering in the campus +of Rutgers College, I asked him, with much trepidation, if he would by +letter introduce me to some officer of the Reformed Church at +Belleville, N.J., the pulpit of which was then vacant. With an outburst +of heartiness he replied: "Come right into my house, and I will give you +the letter now." It was a most generous introduction of me to Dr. +Samuel Ward, a venerable elder of the Belleville church. I sent the +letter to the elder, and within a week received an invitation to occupy +the vacant pulpit. + +I had been skirmishing here and there as a preacher, now in the basement +of churches at week-night religious meetings, and now in school-houses +on Sunday afternoons, and here and there in pulpits with brave pastors +who dared risk having an inexperienced theological student preach to +their people. + +But the first sermon with any considerable responsibility resting upon +it was the sermon preached as a candidate for a pastoral call in the +Reformed Church at Belleville, N.J. I was about to graduate from the New +Brunswick Theological Seminary, and wanted a Gospel field in which to +work. I had already written to my brother John, a missionary at Amoy, +China, telling him that I expected to come out there. + +I was met by Dr. Ward at Newark, New Jersey, and taken to his house. +Sabbath morning came. With one of my two sermons, which made up my +entire stock of pulpit resources, I tremblingly entered the pulpit of +that brown stone village church, which stands in my memory as one of the +most sacred places of all the earth, where I formed associations which I +expect to resume in Heaven. + +The sermon was fully written, and was on the weird battle between the +Gideonites and Midianites, my text being in Judges vii. 20, 21: "The +three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the +lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow +withal; and they cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. And they +stood every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host ran, +and cried, and fled." A brave text, but a very timid man to handle it. +I did not feel at all that hour either like blowing Gideon's trumpet, or +holding up the Gospel lamp; but if I had, like any of the Gideonites, +held a pitcher, I think I would have dropped it and broken that lamp. I +felt as the moment approached for delivering my sermon more like the +Midianites, who, according to my text, "ran, and cried, and fled." I had +placed the manuscript of my sermon on the pulpit sofa beside where I +sat. Looking around to put my hand on the manuscript, lo! it was gone. +But where had it gone? My excitement knew no bound. Within three minutes +of the greatest ordeal of my life, and the sermon on which so much +depended mysteriously vanished! How much disquietude and catastrophe +were crowded into those three minutes it would be impossible to depict. +Then I noticed for the first time that between the upper and lower parts +of the sofa there was an opening about the width of three +finger-breadths, and I immediately suspected that through that opening +the manuscript of my sermon had disappeared. But how could I recover it, +and in so short a time? I bent over and reached under as far as I could. +But the sofa was low, and I could not touch the lost discourse. The +congregation were singing the last verse of the hymn, and I was reduced +to a desperate effort. I got down on my hands and knees, and then down +flat, and crawled under the sofa and clutched the prize. Fortunately, +the pulpit front was wide, and hid the sprawling attitude I was +compelled to take. When I arose to preach a moment after, the fugitive +manuscript before me on the Bible, it is easy to understand why I felt +more like the Midianites than I did like Gideon. + +This and other mishaps with manuscripts helped me after a while to +strike for entire emancipation from such bondage, and for about a +quarter of a century I have preached without notes--only a sketch of the +sermon pinned in my Bible, and that sketch seldom referred to. + +When I entered the ministry I looked very pale for years, for four or +five years, many times I was asked if I had consumption; and, passing +through the room, I would sometimes hear people sigh and say, "A-ah! not +long for this world!" I resolved in those times that I never, in any +conversation, would say anything depressing, and by the help of God I +have kept the resolution. + +The day for my final examination for a licence to preach the Gospel for +ordination by the laying on of hands, and for installation as pastor for +the Reformed Church of Belleville, N.J., had arrived. The examination as +to my qualifications was to take place in the morning, and if the way +proved clear, the ordination and installation were to be solemnised in +the afternoon of the same day. The embarrassing thought was that members +of the congregation were to be present in the morning, as well as the +afternoon. If I made a mistake or failure under the severe scrutiny of +the Ecclesiastical Court, I would ever after be at a great disadvantage +in preaching to those good people. + +It so happened, however, that the Classis, as the body of clergy were +called, was made up mostly of genial, consecrated persons, and no honest +young man would suffer anything at their hands. Although I was +exceedingly nervous, and did not do myself justice, and no doubt +appeared to know less than I really did know, all went well until a +clergyman, to whom I shall give the fictitious name of "Dr. Hardman," +took me in hand. This "Dr. Hardman" had a dislike for me. He had once +wanted me to do something for him and take his advice in matters of a +pastoral settlement, which I had, for good reasons, declined to take. I +will not go further into the reasons of this man's antipathy, lest +someone should know whom I mean. One thing was certain to all present, +and that was his wish to defeat my installation as pastor of that +church, or make it to me a disagreeable experience. + +As soon as he opened upon me a fire of interrogations, what little +spirit I had in me dropped. In the agitation I could not answer the +simplest questions. But he assailed me with puzzlers. He wanted to know, +among other things, if Christ's atonement availed for other worlds; to +which I replied that I did not know, as I had never studied theology in +any world but this. He hooked me with the horns of a dilemma. A Turkish +bath, with the thermometer up to 113, is cool compared to the +perspiration into which he threw me. At this point Rev. James W. Scott, +D.D. (that was his real name, and not fictitious) arose. Dr. Scott was a +Scotchman of about 65 years of age. He had been a classmate of the +remarkable Scottish poet, Robert Pollock. The Doctor was pastor of a +church at Newark, N.J. He was the impersonation of kindness, and +generosity, and helpfulness. The Gospel shone from every feature. I +never saw him under any circumstances without a smile on his face. He +had been on the Mount of Transfiguration, and the glory had never left +his countenance. + +I calculate the value of the soul by its capacity for happiness. How +much joy it can get in this world--out of friendships, out of books, out +of clouds, out of the sea, out of flowers, out of ten thousand things! +Yet all the joy it has here does not test its capacity. + +As Dr. Scott rose that day he said, "Mr. President, I think this +examination has gone on long enough, and I move it be stopped, and that +the examination be pronounced satisfactory, and that this young man be +licensed to preach the Gospel, and that this afternoon we proceed to his +ordination and installation." The motion was put and carried, and I was +released from a Protestant purgatory. + +But the work was not yet done. By rule of that excellent denomination, +of which I was then a member, the call of a church must be read and +approved before it can be lawfully accepted. The call from that dear old +church at Belleville was read, and in it I was provided with a month's +summer vacation. Dr. Hardman rose, and said that he thought that a month +was too long a vacation, and he proposed two weeks. Then Dr. Scott arose +and said, if any change were made he would have the vacation six weeks; +"For," said he, "that young man does not look very strong physically, +and I believe he should have a good long rest every summer." But the +call was left as it originally read, promising me a month of +recuperation each year. + +At the close of that meeting of Classis, Dr. Scott came up to me, took +my right hand in both his hands, and said, "I congratulate you on the +opportunity that opens here. Do your best, and God will see you through; +and if some Saturday night you find yourself short of a sermon, send +down to Newark, only three miles, and I will come up and preach for +you." Can anyone imagine the difference of my appreciation of Dr. +Hardman and Dr. Scott? + +Only a few weeks passed on, and the crisis that Dr. Scott foresaw in my +history occurred, and Saturday night saw me short of a sermon. So I sent +a messenger to Dr. Scott. He said to the messenger, "I am very tired; +have been holding a long series of special services in my church, but +that young Talmage must be helped, and I will preach for him to-morrow +night." He arrived in time, and preached a glowing and rousing sermon on +the text, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost?" As I sat behind him in the +pulpit and looked upon him I thought, "What a magnificent soul you are! +Tired out with your own work, and yet come up here to help a young man +to whom you are under no obligation!" Well, that was the last sermon he +ever preached. The very next Saturday he dropped dead in his house. +Outside of his own family no one was more broken-hearted at his +obsequies than myself, to whom he had, until the meeting of Classis, +been a total stranger. + +I stood at his funeral in the crowd beside a poor woman with a faded +shawl and worn-out hat, who was struggling up to get one look at the +dear old face in the coffin. She was being crowded back. I said, "Follow +me, and you shall see him." So I pushed the way up for her as well as +myself, and when we got up to the silent form she burst out crying, and +said, "That is the last friend I had in the world." + +Dr. Hardman lived on. He lived to write a letter when I was called to +Syracuse, N.Y., a letter telling a prominent officer of the Syracuse +Church that I would never do at all for their pastor. He lived on until +I was called to Philadelphia, and wrote a letter to a prominent officer +in the Philadelphia Church telling them not to call me. Years ago he +went to his rest. But the two men will always stand in my memory as +opposites in character. The one taught me a lesson never to be forgotten +about how to treat a young man, and the other a lesson about how not to +treat a young man. Dr. Scott and Dr. Hardman, the antipodes! + +So my first settlement as pastor was in the village of Belleville, N.J. +My salary was eight hundred dollars and a parsonage. The amount seemed +enormous to me. I said to myself: "What! all this for one year?" I was +afraid of getting worldly under so much prosperity! I resolved to invite +all the congregation to my house in groups of twenty-five each. We [A] +began, and as they were the best congregation in all the world, and we +felt nothing was too good for them, we piled all the luxuries on the +table. I never completed the undertaking. At the end of six months I was +in financial despair. I found that we not only had not the surplus of +luxuries, but we had a struggle to get the necessaries. + + [A] _While at Belleville Dr. Talmage married Miss Mary + Avery, of Brooklyn, N.Y., by whom he had two children--a + son, Thomas De Witt, and a daughter, Jessie. Mrs. Talmage + was accidentally drowned in the Schuylkill River while Dr. + Talmage was pastor of the Second Reformed Church of + Philadelphia._ + +Although the first call I ever had was to Piermont, N.Y., my first real +work began in the Reformed Church of Belleville, N.J. I preached at +Piermont in the morning, and at the Congregational meeting held in the +afternoon of the same day it was resolved to invite me to become pastor. +But for the very high hill on which the parsonage was situated I should +probably have accepted. I was delighted with the congregation, and with +the grand scenery of that region. + +I was ordained to the Gospel Ministry and installed as pastor July 29th, +1856, my brother Goyn preaching the sermon from the text, First +Corinthians iii. 12, 13. Reverend Dr. Benjamin C. Taylor, the oldest +minister present, offered the ordaining prayer, and about twenty hands +were laid upon my head. All these facts are obtained from a memorandum +made by a hand that long since forgot its cunning and kindness. The +three years passed in Belleville were years of hard work. The hardest +work in a clergyman's lifetime is during the first three years. No other +occupation or profession puts such strain upon one's nerves and brain. +Two sermons and a lecture per week are an appalling demand to make upon +a young man. Most of the ministers never get over that first three +years. They leave upon one's digestion or nervous system a mark that +nothing but death can remove. It is not only the amount of mental +product required of a young minister, but the draft upon his sympathies +and the novelty of all that he undertakes; his first sermon; his first +baptism; his first communion season; his first pastoral visitation; his +first wedding; his first funeral. + +My first baptism was of Lily Webster, a black-eyed baby, who grew up to +be as beautiful a woman as she was a child. + +I baptised her. Rev. Dr. John Dowling, of the Baptist Church, New York, +preached for me and my church his great sermon on, "I saw a great +multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and +people, and tongues, clothed in white robes." In my verdancy I feared +that the Doctor, who did not believe in the baptism of infants, might +take it for a personal affront that I had chosen that evening for this +my first baptism. + +[Illustration: DR. TALMAGE IN HIS FIRST CHURCH, BELLEVILLE, NEW JERSEY.] + +Sometimes at the baptism of children, while I have held up one hand in +prayer, I have held up the other in amazement that the parents should +have weighted the babe with such a dissonant and repulsive nomenclature. +I have not so much wondered that some children should cry out at the +Christening font, as that others with such smiling faces should take a +title that will be the burden of their lifetime. It is no excuse +because they are Scriptural names to call a child Jehoiakim, or Tiglath +Pileser. I baptised one by the name of Bathsheba. Why, under all the +circumambient heaven, any parent should want to give a child the name of +that loose creature of Scripture times, I cannot imagine. I have often +felt at the baptismal altar when names were announced somewhat like +saying, as did the Rev. Dr. Richards, of Morristown, New Jersey, when a +child was handed to him for baptism, and the names given, "Hadn't you +better call it something else?" + +On this occasion I had adopted the theory, which I long since abandoned, +that an officiating clergyman at baptism should take the child in his +arms. Now, there are many ministers who do not know how to hold a baby, +and they frighten the child and increase the anxiety of the mother, and +may create a riot all along the line if there be other infants waiting +for the ceremony. + +After reading the somewhat prolonged liturgy of the dear old Reformed +Church, I came down from the pulpit and took the child in my arms. She +was, however, far more composed than myself, and made no resistance; but +the overpowering sensation attached to the first application of the holy +chrism is a vivid and everlasting memory. + +Then, the first pastoral visitation! With me it was at the house of a +man suffering from dropsy in the leg. He unbandaged the limb and +insisted upon my looking at the fearful malady. I never could with any +composure look at pain, and the last profession in all the world suited +to me would have been surgery. After praying with the man and offering +him Scriptural condolence, I started for home. + +My wife met me with anxious countenance, and said, "How did you get +hurt, and what is the matter?" The sight of the lame leg had made my leg +lame, and unconsciously I was limping on the way home. + +But I had quite another experience with a parishioner. He was a queer +man, and in bad odour in the community. Some time previously his wife +had died, and although a man of plenty of means, in order to economise +on funeral expenses, he had wheeled his wife to the grave on a +wheelbarrow. This economy of his had not led the village to any higher +appreciation of the man's character. Having been told of his inexpensive +eccentricities, I was ready for him when one morning he called at the +parsonage. As he entered he began by saying: "I came in to say that I +don't like you." "Well," I said, "that is a strange coincidence, for I +cannot bear the sight of you. I hear that you are the meanest man in +town, and that your neighbours despise you. I hear that you wheeled your +wife on a wheelbarrow to the graveyard." To say the least, our +conversation that day was unique and spirited, and it led to his +becoming a most ardent friend and admirer. I have had multitudes of +friends, but I have found in my own experience that God so arranged it +that the greatest opportunities of usefulness that have been opened +before me were opened by enemies. And when, years ago, they conspired +against me, their assault opened all Christendom to me as a field in +which to preach the Gospel. So you may harness your antagonists to your +best interests and compel them to draw you on to better work. He allowed +me to officiate at his second marriage, did this mine enemy. All the +town was awake that night. They had somehow heard that this economist at +obsequies was to be remarried. Well, I was inside his house trying, +under adverse circumstances, to make the twain one flesh. There were +outside demonstrations most extraordinary, and all in consideration of +what the bridegroom had been to that community. Horns, trumpets, +accordions, fiddles, fire-crackers, tin pans, howls, screeches, huzzas, +halloos, missiles striking the front door, and bedlam let loose! Matters +grew worse as the night advanced, until the town authorities read the +Riot Act, and caused the only cannon belonging to the village to be +hauled out on the street and loaded, threatening death to the mob if +they did not disperse. Glad am I to say that it was only a farce, and no +tragedy. My mode of first meeting this queer man was a case in which it +is best to fight fire with fire. I remember also the first funeral. It +nearly killed me. A splendid young man skating on the Passaic River in +front of my house had broken through the ice, and his body after many +hours had been grappled from the water and taken home to his distracted +parents. To be the chief consoler in such a calamity was something for +which I felt completely incompetent. When in the old but beautiful +church the silent form of the young man whom we all loved rested beneath +the pulpit, it was a pull upon my emotions I shall never forget. On the +way to the grave, in the same carriage with the eminent Reverend Dr. +Fish, who helped in the services, I said, "This is awful. One more +funeral like this will be the end of us." He replied, "You will learn +after awhile to be calm under such circumstances. You cannot console +others unless you preserve your own equipoise." + +Those years at Belleville were to me memorable. No vacation, but three +times a day I took a row on the river. Those old families in my +congregation I can never forget--the Van Rensselaers, the Stevenses, +the Wards. These families took us under their wing. At Mr. Van +Rensselaer's we dined every Monday. It had been the habit of my +predecessors in the pulpit. Grand old family! Their name not more a +synonym for wealth than for piety. Mrs. Van Rensselaer was one of the +saints clear up in the heaven of one's appreciation. + +Wm. Stevens was an embodiment of generosity. He could not pray in +public, or make a speech; but he could give money, and when he had +plenty of it he gave in large sums, and when monetary disaster came, his +grief was that he had nothing to give. I saw him go right through all +the perturbations of business life. He was faithful to God. I saw him +one day worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. I saw him the next day +and he was not worth a farthing. Stevens! How plainly he comes before me +as I think of the night in 1857 after the New York banks had gone down, +and he had lost everything except his faith in God, and he was at the +prayer meeting to lead the singing as usual! And, not noticing that from +the fatigues of that awful financial panic he had fallen asleep, I arose +and gave out the hymn, "My drowsy powers, why sleep ye so?" His wife +wakened him, and he started the hymn at too high a pitch, and stopped, +saying, "That is too high"; then started it at too low a pitch, and +stopped, saying, "That is too low." It is the only mistake I ever heard +him make. But the only wonder is that amid the circumstances of broken +fortunes he could sing at all. + +Dr. Samuel Ward! He was the angel of health for the neighbourhood. +Before anyone else was up any morning, passing along his house you would +see him in his office reading. He presided at the first nativity in my +household. He it was that met me at the railroad station when I went to +preach my first sermon as candidate, at Belleville. He medicated for +many years nearly all the wounds for body and mind in that region. An +elder in the Church, he could administer to the soul as well as to the +perishable nature of his patients. + +And the Duncans! Broad Scotch as they were in speech! I was so much with +them that I got unconsciously some of the Scottish brogue in my own +utterance. William, cautious and prudent; John, bold and +venturesome--both so high in my affections! Among the first ones that I +ask for in Heaven will be John and William Duncan. + +Gasherie De Witt! He embodied a large part of the enterprise and +enthusiasm of the place. He had his head full of railroads long before +the first spike was driven for an iron pathway to the village. We were +much together and ardently attached; went fishing together on long +summer days, he catching the fish, and I watching the process. When we +dedicated the first Brooklyn Tabernacle, he was present, and gave the +money for building a baptistry in the pulpit, and gave besides $100 for +his wife and each one of his children. When we parted from each other at +Oxford, England, he to go to Geneva, Switzerland, to die, and I to come +back to America, much of sweet acquaintanceship and complete confidence +ended for this world, only to be taken up under celestial auspices. + +But time and space would fail to tell of the noble men and women that +stood around me in those early years of my ministry. They are all gone, +and their personality makes up a large part of my anticipation of the +world to come. + + + + +THE THIRD MILESTONE + +1856-1862 + + +My first sermons were to me the most tremendous endeavours of my life, +because I felt the awful responsibility of standing in a pulpit, knowing +that a great many people would be influenced by what I said concerning +God, or the soul, or the great future. + +When I first began to preach, I was very cautious lest I should be +misrepresented, and guarded the subject on all sides. I got beyond that +point. I found that I got on better when, without regard to +consequences, I threw myself upon the hearts and consciences of my +hearers. + +In those early days of my pastoral experience I saw how men reason +themselves into scepticism. I knew what it was to have a hundred nights +poured into one hour. + +I remember one infidel book in the possession of my student companion. +He said, "DeWitt, would you like to read that book?" "Well," said I, "I +would like to look at it." I read it a little while. I said to him, "I +dare not read that book; you had better destroy it. I give you my +advice, you had better destroy it. I dare not read that book. I have +read enough of it." "Oh," he said, "haven't you a stronger mind than +that? Can't you read a book you don't exactly believe, and not be +affected by it?" I said, "You had better destroy it." He kept it. He +read it until he gave up the Bible; his belief in the existence of a +God, his good morals; until body, mind and soul were ruined--and he went +into the insane asylum. I read too much of it. I read about fifteen or +twenty pages of it. I wish I had never read it. It never did me any +good; it did me harm. I have often struggled with what I read in that +book. I rejected it, I denounced it, I cast it out with infinite scorn, +I hated it; yet sometimes its caricature of good and its eulogium of +evil have troubled me. + +With supreme gratitude, therefore, I remember the wonderful impression +made upon me, when I was a young man, of the presence of a consecrated +human being in the pulpit. + +It was a Sabbath evening in spring at "The Trinity Methodist Church," +Jersey City. Rev. William P. Corbit, the pastor of that church, in +compliment to my relatives, who attended upon his services, invited me +to preach for him. I had only a few months before entered the Gospel +ministry, and had come in from my village settlement to occupy a place +in the pulpit of the great Methodist orator. In much trepidation on my +part I entered the church with Mr. Corbit, and sat trembling in the +corner of the "sacred desk," waiting for the moment to begin the +service. A crowded audience had assembled to hear the pastor of that +church preach, and the disappointment I was about to create added to my +embarrassment. + +The service opened, and the time came to offer the prayer before sermon. +I turned to Mr. Corbit and said, "I wish you would lead in prayer." He +replied, "No! sharpen your own knife!" The whole occasion was to me +memorable for its agitations. But there began an acquaintanceship that +became more and more endearing and ardent as the years went by. After he +ceased, through the coming on of the infirmities of age, to occupy a +pulpit of his own, he frequented my church on the Sabbaths, and our +prayer-meetings during the week. He was the most powerful exhorter I +ever heard. Whatever might be the intensity of interest in a revival +service, he would in a ten minute address augment it. I never heard him +deliver a sermon except on two occasions, and those during my boyhood; +but they made lasting impressions upon me. I do not remember the texts +or the ideas, but they demonstrated the tremendous reality of spiritual +and eternal things, and showed possibilities in religious address that I +had never known or imagined. + +He was so unique in manners, in pulpit oratory, and in the entire type +of his nature, that no one will ever be able to describe what he was. +Those who saw and heard him the last ten or fifteen years of his +decadence can have no idea of his former power as a preacher of the +Gospel. + +There he is, as I first saw him! Eye like a hawk's. Hair long and +straight as a Chippewa Indian's. He was not straight as an arrow, for +that suggests something too fragile and short, but more like a +column--not only straight, but tall and majestic, and capable of holding +any weight, and without fatigue or exertion. When he put his foot down, +either literally of figuratively, it was down. Vacillation, or fear, or +incertitude, or indecision, were strangers to whom he would never be +introduced. When he entered a room you were, to use a New Testament +phrase, "exceedingly filled with his company." + +He was as affectionate as a woman to those whom he liked, and cold as +Greenland to those whose principles were an affront. He was not only a +mighty speaker, but a mighty listener. I do not know how any man could +speak upon any important theme, standing in his presence, without being +set on fire by his alert sympathy. + +But he has vanished from mortal sight. What the resurrection will do for +him I cannot say. If those who have only ordinary stature and +unimpressive physique in this world are at the last to have bodies +resplendent and of supernal potency, what will the unusual corporiety of +William P. Corbit become? In his case the resurrection will have unusual +material to start with. If a sculptor can mould a handsome form out of +clay, what can he not put out of Parian marble? If the blast of the +trumpet which wakes the dead rouses life-long invalidism and emaciation +into athletic celestialism, what will be the transfiguration when the +sound of final reanimation touches the ear of those sleeping giants +among the trees and fountains of Greenwood? + +Good-bye, great and good and splendid soul! Good-bye, till we meet +again! I will look around for you as soon as I come, if through the +pardoning grace of Christ I am so happy as to reach the place of your +destination. Meet me at the gate of the city; or under the tree of life +on the bank of the river; or just inside of the door of the House of +Many Mansions; or in the hall of the Temple which has no need of stellar +or lunar or solar illumination, "For the Lamb is the Light thereof." + +After three years of grace and happiness at Belleville I accepted a call +to a church in Syracuse. My pastorate there, in the very midst of its +most uplifting crisis, was interrupted, as I believe, by Divine orders. +The ordeal of deciding anything important in my life has always been a +desperate period of anxiety. I never have really decided for myself. God +has told me what to do. The first great crisis of this sort came to me +in Syracuse. While living there I received a pastoral call from the +Second Reformed Church of Philadelphia. Six weeks of agony followed. + +I was about 30 years of age. The thick shock of hair with which I had +been supplied, in those six weeks was thinned out to its present +scarcity. My church in Syracuse was made up of as delightful people as +ever came together; but I felt that the climate of Philadelphia would be +better adapted to my health, and so I was very anxious to go. But a +recent revival in my Syracuse Church, and a movement at that time on +foot for extensive repairs of our building, made the question of my +leaving for another pastorate very doubtful. Six weeks of sleeplessness +followed. Every morning I combed out handfuls of hair as the result of +the nervous agitation. Then I decided to stay, and never expected to +leave those kind parishioners of Syracuse. + +A year afterward the call from Philadelphia was repeated, and all the +circumstances having changed, I went. But I learned, during those six +weeks of uncertainty about going from Syracuse to Philadelphia, a lesson +I shall never forget, and a lesson that might be useful to others in +like crisis: namely, that it is one's duty to stay where you are until +God makes it evident that you should move. + +In all my life I never had one streak of good luck. But I have had a +good God watching and guiding me. + +While I was living in Syracuse I delivered my first lecture. It was a +literary lecture. My ideas of a literary lecture are very much changed +from what they used to be. I used to think that a lecture ought to be +something very profound. I began with three or four lectures of that +kind in stock. My first lecture audience was in a patient community of +the town of Hudson, N.Y. All my addresses previously had been literary. +I had made speeches on literature and patriotism, and sometimes filled +the gaps when in lecture courses speakers announced failed to arrive. + +But the first paid lecture was at Hudson. The fifty dollars which I +received for it seemed immense. Indeed it was the extreme price paid +anyone in those days. It was some years later in life that I got into +the lecturing field. It was always, however, subordinate to my chief +work of preaching the Gospel. + +Syracuse in 1859 was the West. I felt there all the influences that are +now western. Now there is no West left. They have chased it into the +Pacific Ocean. + +In 1862 I accepted a call to the Second Reformed Church of Philadelphia. + +What remembrances come to me, looking backward to this period of our +terrific national carnalism! I shall never forget the first time I ever +saw Abraham Lincoln. We followed into his room, at the White House, a +committee that had come to Washington to tell the President how to +conduct the war. The saddest-looking man I ever saw was Abraham Lincoln. +He had a far-away look while he stood listening to an address being made +to him by one of the committee, as though beyond and far and wide he +could see the battlefields and hospitals and conflagrations of national +bereavement. One of our party asked for his autograph; he cheerfully +gave it, asking, "Is that all I can do for you?" He was at that time +the most abused man in America. + +I remember the alarm in Philadelphia when General Lee's army invaded +Pennsylvania. Merchants sent their goods quietly to New York. Residents +hid their valuables. A request for arms was made at the arsenals, and +military companies were organised. Preachers appealed to the men in +their congregations, organised companies, engaged a drill sergeant, and +carried on daily drills in the yards adjoining their churches. + +In the regiment I joined for a short time there were many clergymen. It +was the most awkward squad of men ever got together. We drilled a week +or two, and then disbanded. Whether General Lee heard of the formation +of our regiment or not I cannot say, but he immediately retreated across +the Potomac. + +There were in Philadelphia and its vicinity many camps of prisoners of +war, hospitals for the sick and wounded. Waggon trains of supplies for +the soldiers were constantly passing through the streets. I was +privileged to be of some service in the field to the Christian +Commission. With Dr. Brainerd and Samuel B. Falls I often performed some +duty at the Cooper shop; while with George H. Stuart and George T. +Merigens I invited other cities to make appeals for money to forward the +great work of the Secretary and Christian Commissions. In our churches +we were constantly busy getting up entertainments and fairs to help +those rendered destitute by the loss of fathers and brothers in the +field. + +Just before the battle of Gettysburg a long procession of clergymen, +headed by Dr. Brainerd, marched to Fairmount Park with spades over their +shoulders to throw up entrenchments. The victory of the Federal troops +at Vicksburg and Gettysburg rendered those earthworks unnecessary. + +A distinguished gentleman of the Civil War told me that Abraham Lincoln +proposed to avoid our civil conflict by purchasing the slaves of the +South and setting them free. He calculated what would be a reasonable +price for them, and when the number of millions of dollars that would be +required for such a purpose was announced the proposition was scouted, +and the North would not have made the offer, and the South would not +have accepted it, if made. + +"But," said my military friend, "the war went on, and just the number of +million dollars that Mr. Lincoln calculated would have been enough to +make a reasonable purchase of all the slaves were spent in war, besides +all the precious lives that were hurled away in 250 battles." + +There ought to be some other way for men to settle their controversies +without wholesale butchering. + +It was due partly to the national gloom that overspread the people +during the Civil War that I took to the lecture platform actively. I +entered fully into the lecturing field when I went to Philadelphia, +where DeWitt Moore, officer in my church and a most intimate friend, +asked me to lecture for the benefit of a Ball Club to which he belonged. +That lecture in a hall in Locust Street, Philadelphia, opened the way +for more than I could do as lecturer. + +I have always made such engagements subordinate to my chief work of +preaching the Gospel. Excepting two long journeys a year, causing each +an absence of two Sundays, I have taken no lecturing engagements, except +one a week, generally Thursdays. Lecturing has saved my life and +prolonged my work. It has taken me from an ever-ringing door-bell, and +freshened me for work, railroad travelling being to me a recuperation. + +I have lectured in nearly all the cities of the United States, Canada, +England, Ireland and Scotland, and in most of them many times. The +prices paid me have seemed too large, but my arrangements have generally +been made through bureaus, and almost invariably local committees have +cleared money. The lecture platform seemed to me to offer greater +opportunity for usefulness. Things that could not be said in the pulpit, +but which ought to be said, may be said on the lyceum platform. And +there was so much that had to be said then, to encourage, to cheer, to +brighten, to illumine the sorrow and bereavement. From the first I +regarded my lecture tours as an annex to my church. The lecture platform +has been to me a pastoral visitation. It has given me an opportunity of +meeting hundreds of thousands of people to whom, through the press, I +have for many years administered the Gospel. + +People have often asked me how much money I received for my lectures. +The amounts have been a great surprise to me, often. + +For many years I have been paid from $400 to $1,000 a lecture. The +longer the journey the bigger the fee usually. The average remuneration +was about $500 a night. In Cleveland and in Cincinnati I received $750. +In Chicago, $1,000. Later I was offered $6,000 for six lectures in +Chicago, to be delivered one a month, during the World's Fair, but I +declined them. + +My expenses in many directions have been enormous, and without a large +income for lectures I could not have done many things which I felt it +important to do. I have always been under obligation to the press. +Sometimes it has not intended to help me, but it has, being hard pressed +for news. + +During the Civil War, when news was sufficiently exciting for the most +ambitious journalist, they used to come to my church for a copy of my +Sermons. News in those days was pretty accurate, but it sometimes went +wrong. + +On a Sabbath night, at the close of a preaching service in Philadelphia, +a reporter of one of the prominent newspapers came into my study +adjoining the pulpit and asked of me a sketch of the sermon just +delivered, as he had been sent to take it, but had been unavoidably +detained. His mind did not seem to be very clear, but I dictated to him +about a column of my sermon. He had during the afternoon or evening been +attending a meeting of the Christian Commission for raising funds for +the hospitals, and ex-Governor Pollock had been making a speech. The +reporter had that speech of the ex-Governor of Pennsylvania in his hand, +and had the sketch of my sermon in the same bundle of reportorial notes. +He opened the door to depart and said, "Good evening," and I responded, +"Good evening." The way out from my study to the street was through a +dark alley across which a pump handle projected to an unreasonable +extent. "Look out for that pump handle," I said, "or you may get hurt." +But the warning did not come soon enough. I heard the collision and then +a hard fall, and a rustle of papers, and a scramble, and then some words +of objurgation at the sudden overthrow. + +There was no portable light that I could take to his assistance. Beside +that, I was as much upset with cruel laughter as the reporter had been +by the pump handle. In this state of helplessness I shut the door. But +the next morning newspaper proved how utter had been the discomfiture +and demoralisation of my journalistic friend. He put my sermon under the +name of ex-Governor Pollock at the meeting of the Christian Commission, +and he made my discourse begin with the words, "When I was Governor of +Pennsylvania." + +Never since John Gutenberg invented the art of printing was there such a +riot of types or such mixing up of occasions. Philadelphia went into a +brown study as to what it all meant, and the more the people read of +ex-Governor Pollock's speech and of my sermon of the night before, the +more they were stunned by the stroke of that pump handle. + +But it was soon forgotten--everything is. The memory of man is poor. All +the talk about the country never forgetting those who fought for it is +an untruth. It does forget. Picture how veterans of the war sometimes +had to turn the hand-organs on the streets of Philadelphia to get a +living for their families! How ruthlessly many of them have been turned +out of office that some bloat of a politician might take their place! +The fact is, there is not a man or woman under thirty years of age, who, +born before the war, has any full appreciation of the four years +martyrdom of 1861 to 1865, inclusive. I can scarcely remember, and yet I +still feel the pressure of domestic calamity that overshadowed the +nation then. + +Since things have been hardened, as was the guardsman in the Crimean War +who heartlessly wrote home to his mother: "I do not want to see any more +crying letters come to the Crimea from you. Those I have received I have +put into my rifle, after loading it, and have fired them at the +Russians, because you appear to have a strong dislike of them. If you +had seen as many killed as I have you would not have as many weak ideas +as you now have." + +After the War came a period of great national rejoicing. I shall never +forget, in the summer of 1869, a great national peace jubilee was held +in Boston, and DeWitt Moore, an elder of my church, had been honoured by +the selection of some of his music to be rendered on that occasion. I +accompanied him to the jubilee. Forty thousand people sat and stood in +the great Colosseum erected for that purpose. Thousands of wind and +stringed instruments; twelve thousand trained voices! The masterpieces +of all ages rendered, hour after hour, and day after day--Handel's +"Judas Maccabæus," Spohr's "Last Judgment," Beethoven's "Mount of +Olives," Haydn's "Creation," Mendelssohn's "Elijah," Meyerbeer's +"Coronation March," rolling on and up in surges that billowed against +the heavens! The mighty cadences within were accompanied on the outside +by the ringing of the bells of the city, and cannon on the common, in +exact time with the music, discharged by electricity, thundering their +awful bars of a harmony that astounded all nations. Sometimes I bowed my +head and wept. Sometimes I stood up in the enchantment, and sometimes +the effect was so overpowering I felt I could not endure it. + +When all the voices were in full chorus, and all the batons in full +wave, and all the orchestra in full triumph, and a hundred anvils under +mighty hammers were in full clang, and all the towers of the city rolled +in their majestic sweetness, and the whole building quaked with the boom +of thirty cannon, Parepa Rosa, with a voice that will never again be +equalled on earth until the archangelic voice proclaims that time shall +be no longer, rose above all other sounds in her rendering of our +national air, the "Star Spangled Banner." It was too much for a mortal, +and quite enough for an immortal, to hear: and while some fainted, one +womanly spirit, released under its power, sped away to be with God. It +was a marvel of human emotion in patriotic frenzy. + +Immediately following the Civil War there was a great wave of +intemperance, and bribery swept over our land. The temptation to +intemperance in public places grew more and more terrific. Of the men +who were prominent in political circles but few died respectably. The +majority among them died of delirium tremens. The doctor usually fixed +up the case for the newspapers, and in his report to them it was usually +gout, or rheumatism, or obstruction of the liver, or exhaustion from +patriotic services--but we all knew it was whiskey. That which smote the +villain in the dark alley smote down the great orator and the great +legislator. The one you wrapped in a rough cloth, and pushed into a +rough coffin, and carried out in a box waggon, and let him down into a +pauper's grave, without a prayer or a benediction. Around the other +gathered the pomp of the land; and lordly men walked with uncovered +heads beside the hearse tossing with plumes on the way to a grave to be +adorned with a white marble shaft, all four sides covered with eulogium. +The one man was killed by logwood rum at two cents a glass, the other by +a beverage three dollars a bottle. I write both their epitaphs. I write +the one epitaph with my lead pencil on the shingle over the pauper's +grave; I write the other epitaph with a chisel, cutting on the white +marble of the senator: "Slain by strong drink." The time came when +dissipation was no longer a hindrance to office in this country. Did we +not at one time have a Secretary of the United States carried home dead +drunk? Did we not have a Vice-President sworn in so intoxicated the +whole land hid its head in shame? Judges and jurors and attorneys +sometimes tried important cases by day, and by night caroused together +in iniquity. + +During the war whiskey had done its share in disgracing manhood. What +was it that defeated the armies sometimes in the late war? Drunkenness +in the saddle! What mean those graves on the heights of Fredericksburg? +As you go to Richmond you see them. Drunkenness in the saddle. In place +of the bloodshed of war, came the deformations of character, +libertinism! + +Again and again it was demonstrated that impurity walked under the +chandeliers of the mansion, and dozed on damask upholstery. In Albany, +in Harrisburg, in Trenton, in Washington, intemperance was rife in +public places. + +The two political parties remained silent on the question. Hand in hand +with intemperance went the crime of bribery by money--by proffered +office. + +For many years after the war had been almost forgotten, in many of the +legislatures it was impossible to get a bill through unless it had +financial consideration. + +The question was asked softly, sometimes very softly, in regard to a +bill: "Is there any money in it?" And the lobbies of the Legislatures +and the National Capitol were crowded with railroad men and +manufacturers and contractors. The iniquity became so great that +sometimes reformers and philanthropists have been laughed out of +Harrisburg, and Albany, and Trenton, and Washington, because they came +empty-handed. "You vote for this bill, and I'll vote for that bill." +"You favour that monopoly of a moneyed institution, and I'll favour the +other monopoly of another institution." And here is a bill that is going +to be very hard to get through the Legislature, and some friends met +together at a midnight banquet, and while intoxicated promised to vote +the same way. Here are $5,000 for prudent distribution in this +direction, and here are $1,000 for prudent distribution in that +direction. Now, we are within four votes of having enough. $5,000 to +that intelligent member from Westchester, and $2,000 to that stupid +member from Ulster, and now we are within two votes of having it. Give +$500 to this member, who will be sick and stay at home, and $300 to this +member, who will go to see his great-aunt languishing in her last +sickness. The day has come for the passing of the bill. The Speaker's +gavel strikes. "Senators, are you ready for the question? All in favour +of voting away these thousands of millions of dollars will say, 'Ay.'" +"Ay! Ay! Ay! Ay!" "The Ays have it." It was a merciful thing that all +this corruption went on under a republican form of government. Any other +style of government would have been consumed by it long ago. There were +enough national swindles enacted in this country after the war--yes, +thirty years afterwards--to swamp three monarchies. + +The Democratic party filled its cup of iniquity as it went out of power, +before the war. Then the Republican party came along and it filled its +cup of iniquity a little sooner; and there they lie, the Democratic +party and the Republican party, side by side, great loathsome carcasses +of iniquity, each one worse than the other. + +These are reminiscences of more than thirty years ago, and yet it seems +that I have never ceased to fight the same sort of human temptations and +frailties to this very day. + + + + +THE FOURTH MILESTONE + +1862-1877 + + +I spent seven of the most delightful years of my life in Philadelphia. +What wonderful Gospel men were round me in the City of Brotherly Love at +this time--such men as Rev. Alfred Barnes, Rev. Dr. Boardman, Rev. Dr. +Berg, Rev. Charles Wadsworth, and many others equally distinguished. I +should probably never have left Philadelphia except that I was afraid I +would get too lazy. Being naturally indolent I wanted to get somewhere +where I would be compelled to work. I have sometimes felt that I was +naturally the laziest man ever born. I am afraid of indolence--as afraid +of indolence as any reformed inebriate is afraid of the wine cup. He +knows if he shall take one glass he will be flung back into inebriety. I +am afraid, if I should take one long pull of nothing to do, I should +stop forever. + +My church in Philadelphia was a large one, and it was crowded with +lovely people. All that a congregation could do for a pastor's happiness +they were doing, and always had done. + +We ministers living in Philadelphia at this time may have felt the need +for combating indolence, for we had a ministerial ball club, and twice a +week the clergymen of all denominations went out to the suburbs of the +city and played baseball. We went back to our pulpits, spirits +lightened, theology improved, and able to do better service for the +cause of God than we could have done without that healthful shaking up. + +The reason so many ministers think everything is going to ruin is +because their circulation is lethargic, or their lungs are in need of +inflection by outdoor exercise. I have often wished since that this +splendid idea among the ministers in Philadelphia could have been +emulated elsewhere. Every big city should have its ministerial ball +club. We want this glorious game rescued from the roughs and put into +the hands of those who will employ it in recuperation. + +My life in Philadelphia was so busy that I must have had very little +time for keeping any record or note-books. Most of my warmest and +life-long friendships were made in Philadelphia, however, and in the +retrospect of the years since I left there I have sometimes wondered how +I ever found courage to say good-bye. + +I was amazed and gratified one day at receiving a call from four of the +most prominent churches at that time in America: Calvary Church of +Chicago, the Union Church of Boston, the First Presbyterian Church of +San Francisco, and the Central Church of Brooklyn. These invitations all +came simultaneously in February, 1869. The committees from these various +churches called upon me at my house in Philadelphia. It was a period of +anxious uncertainty with me. One morning, I remember, a committee from +Chicago was in one room, a committee from Brooklyn in another room of my +house, and a committee from my Philadelphia church in another room. My +wife [B] passed from room to room entertaining them to keep the three +committees from meeting. It would have been unpleasant for them to meet. + + [B] _In 1863, Dr. Talmage married his second wife, Miss + Susan C. Whittemore, of Greenport, N.Y. They had five + children: May, Edith, Frank, Maud, and Daisy._ + +At this point my Syracuse remembrance of perplexity returned, and I +resolved to stay in Philadelphia unless God made it very plain that I +was to go and where I was to go. An engagement to speak that night in +Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, took me to the depot. I got on the train, my +mind full of the arguments of the three committees, and all a +bewilderment. I stretched myself out upon the seats for a sound sleep, +saying, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? Make it plain to me when I +wake up." When I awoke I was entering Harrisburg, and as plainly as +though the voice had been audible God said to me, "Go to Brooklyn." I +went, and never have doubted that I did right to go. It is always best +to stay where you are until God gives you marching orders, and then move +on. + +I succeeded the Rev. J.E. Rockwell in the Brooklyn Church, who resigned +only a month or so before I accepted the call. Mr. Charles Cravat +Converse, LL.D., an elder of the Church, presented the call to me, being +appointed to do so by the Board of Trustees and the Session, after I had +been unanimously elected by the congregation at a special meeting for +that purpose held on February 16, 1869. The salary fixed was $7,000, +payable monthly. + +In looking over an old note-book I carried in that year I find, under +date of March 22, 1869, the word "installed" written in my own +handwriting. It was written in pencil after the service of installation +held in the church that Monday evening. The event is recorded in the +minutes of the regular meetings of the church as follows: + +"Monday evening, March 22, the Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage having been +received as a member of the Presbytery of Nassau, was this evening +installed pastor of this church. The Rev. C.S. Pomeroy preached the +sermon and proposed the constitutional questions. Rev. Mr. Oakley +delivered the charge to the pastor, and Rev. Henry Van Dyke, D.D., +delivered the charge to the people; and the services were closed with +the benediction by the pastor, and a cordial shaking of hands by the +people with their new pastor." + +The old church stood on Schemerhorn Street, between Nevins and Power +Streets. It was a much smaller church community than the one I had left +in Philadelphia, but there was a glorious opportunity for work in it. I +remember hearing a minister of a small congregation complain to a +minister of a large congregation about the sparseness of attendance at +his church. "Oh," said the one of large audience, "my son, you will find +in the day of judgment that you had quite enough people for whom to be +held accountable." + +My church in Brooklyn prospered. In about three months from the date of +my installation it was too small to hold the people who came there to +worship. This came about, not through any special demonstration of my +own superior gifts, but by the help of God and the persecution of +others. + +During my pastorate in Brooklyn a certain group of preachers began to +slander me and to say all manner of lies about me; I suppose because +they were jealous of my success. These calumnies were published in every +important newspaper in the country. The result was that the New York +correspondents of the leading papers in the chief cities of the United +States came to my church on Sundays, expecting I would make counter +attacks, which would be good news. I never said a word in reply, with +the exception of a single paragraph. + +The correspondents were after news, and, failing to get the sensational +charges, they took down the sermons and sent them to the newspaper. + +Many times have I been maligned and my work misrepresented; but all such +falsehood and persecution have turned out for my advantage and enlarged +my work. + +Whoever did escape it? + +I was one summer in the pulpit of John Wesley, in London--a pulpit where +he stood one day and said: "I have been charged with all the crimes in +the calendar except one--that of drunkenness," and his wife arose in the +audience and said: "You know you were drunk last night." + +I saw in a foreign journal a report of one of George Whitefield's +sermons--a sermon preached a hundred and twenty or thirty years ago. It +seemed that the reporter stood to take the sermon, and his chief idea +was to caricature it, and these are some of the reportorial interlinings +of the sermon of George Whitefield. After calling him by a nickname +indicative of a physical defect in the eye, it goes on to say: "Here the +preacher clasps his chin on the pulpit cushion. Here he elevates his +voice. Here he lowers his voice. Holds his arms extended. Bawls aloud. +Stands trembling. Makes a frightful face. Turns up the whites of his +eyes. Clasps his hands behind him. Clasps his arms around him, and hugs +himself. Roars aloud. Holloas. Jumps. Cries. Changes from crying. +Holloas and jumps again." + +One would have thought that if any man ought to have been free from +persecution it was George Whitefield, bringing great masses of the +people into the kingdom of God, wearing himself out for Christ's sake: +and yet the learned Dr. Johnson called him a mountebank. Robert Hall +preached about the glories of heaven as no uninspired man ever preached +about them, and it was said when he preached about heaven his face shone +like an angel's, and yet good Christian John Foster writes of Robert +Hall, saying: "Robert Hall is a mere actor, and when he talks about +heaven the smile on his face is the reflection of his own vanity." John +Wesley stirred all England with reform, and yet he was caricatured by +all the small wits of his day. He was pictorialised, history says, on +the board fences of London, and everywhere he was the target for the +punsters; yet John Wesley stands to-day before all Christendom, his name +mighty. I have preached a Gospel that is not only appropriate to the +home circle, but is appropriate to Wall Street, to Broadway, to Fulton +Street, to Montague Street, to Atlantic Street, to every street--not +only a religion that is good for half past ten o'clock Sunday morning, +but good for half past ten o'clock any morning. This was one of the +considerations in my work as a preacher of the Gospel that extended its +usefulness. A practical religion is what we all need. In my previous +work at Belleville, N.J., and in Syracuse, I had absorbed other +considerations of necessity in the business of uniting the human +character with the church character. + +Although the Central Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn of which I was +pastor was one of the largest buildings in that city then, it did not +represent my ideal of a church. + +I learned in my village pastorates that the Church ought to be a great +home circle of fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. That would be a +very strange home circle where the brothers and sisters did not know +each other, and where the parents were characterised by frigidity and +heartlessness. The Church must be a great family group--the pulpit the +fireplace, the people all gathered around it. I think we sometimes can +tell the people to stay out by our church architecture. People come in +and find things angular and cold and stiff, and they go away never again +to come; when the church ought to be a great home circle. + +I knew a minister of religion who had his fourth settlement. His first +two churches became extinct as a result of his ministry, the third +church was hopelessly crippled, and the fourth was saved simply by the +fact that he departed this life. On the other hand, I have seen +pastorates which continued year after year, all the time strengthening, +and I have heard of instances where the pastoral relation continued +twenty years, thirty years, forty years, and all the time the confidence +and the love were on the increase. So it was with the pastorate of old +Dr. Spencer, so it was with the pastorate of old Dr. Gardiner Spring, so +it was with the pastorate of a great many of those old ministers of +Jesus Christ, of whom the world was not worthy. + +I saw an opportunity to establish in Brooklyn just such a church as I +had in my mind's eye--a Tabernacle, where all the people who wanted to +hear the Gospel preached could come in and be comfortable. I projected, +designed, and successfully established the Brooklyn Tabernacle within a +little over a year after preaching my first sermon in Brooklyn. The +church seated 3,500 people, and yet we were compelled to use the old +church to take care of all our active Christian work besides. + +The first Brooklyn Tabernacle was, I believe, the most buoyant +expression of my work that I ever enjoyed. It drew upon all my energies +and resources, and as the sacred walls grew up towards the skies, I +prayed God that I might have the strength and spiritual energy to grow +with it. + +Prayer always meets the emergency, no matter how difficult it may be. + +That was the substantial backing of the first Brooklyn +Tabernacle--prayer. Prayer furnished the means as well as the faith that +was behind them. I was merely the promoter, the agent, of a company +organised in Heaven to perpetuate the Gospel of Christ. It was +considered a great thing to have done, and many were the reasons +whispered by the worldly and the envious and the orthodox, for its +success. Some said it was due to magnetism. + +As a cord or rope can bind bodies together, there may be an invisible +cord binding souls. A magnetic man throws it over others as a hunter +throws a lasso. Some men are surcharged with this influence, and have +employed it for patriotism and Christianity and elevated purposes. + +It is always a surprise to a great majority of people how churches are +built, how money for which the world has so many other uses can be +obtained to build churches. There are names of men and women whom I have +only to mention and they suggest at once not only great wealth, but +religion, generosity, philanthropy, such as Amos Laurence, James Lennox, +Peter Cooper, William E. Dodge, Miss Wolfe, Mrs. William Astor. A good +moral character can be accompanied by affluent circumstances. + +In the '70's and '80's in Brooklyn and in New York there were merchants +who had prospered, but by Christian methods--merchants who took their +religion into everyday life. I became accustomed, Sabbath after Sabbath, +to stand before an audience of bargain-makers. Men in all +occupations--yet the vast majority of them, I am very well aware, were +engaged from Monday morning to Saturday night in the store. In many of +the families of my congregations across the breakfast table and the tea +table were discussed questions of loss and gain. "What is the value of +this? What is the value of that?" They would not think of giving +something of greater value for that which is of lesser value. They would +not think of selling that which cost ten dollars for five dollars. If +they had a property that was worth $15,000, they would not sell it for +$4,000. All were intelligent in matters of bargain-making. + +But these were not the sort of men who made generous investments for +God's House. There was one that sort, however, among my earliest +remembrances, Arthur Tappen. There were many differences of opinion +about his politics, but no one who ever knew Arthur Tappen, and knew him +well, doubted his being an earnest Christian. Arthur Tappen was derided +in his day because he established that system by which we come to find +out the commercial standing of business men. He started that entire +system, was derided for it then; I knew him well, in moral character A1. +Monday mornings he invited to a room in the top of his storehouse in New +York the clerks of his establishment. He would ask them about their +worldly interests and their spiritual interests, then giving out a hymn +and leading in prayer he would give them a few words of good advice, +asking them what church they attended on the Sabbath, what the text was, +whether they had any especial troubles of their own. + +Arthur Tappen, I have never heard his eulogy pronounced. I pronounce it +now. There were other merchants just as good--William E. Dodge in the +iron business, Moses H. Grinnell in the shipping business, Peter Cooper +in the glue business, and scores of men just as good as they were. + +I began my work of enlarging and improving the Brooklyn Church almost +the week following my installation. My first vacation, a month, began on +June 25, 1869, the trustees of the church having signified and ordered +repairs, alterations and improvements at a meeting held that day, and +further suspending Sabbath services for four weeks. I spent part of my +vacation at East Hampton, L.I., going from there for two or three short +lecturing trips. I find that I can never rest over two weeks. More than +that wearies me. Of all the places I have ever known East Hampton is the +best place for quiet and recuperation. + +I became acquainted with it through my brother-in-law, Rev. S.L. +Mershon. His first pastorate was at the Presbyterian Church in East +Hampton, where, as a young man, I preached some of my first sermons. +East Hampton is always home to me. When a boy in grammar-school and +college I used to visit my brother-in-law and his wife, my sister Mary. +Later in life I established a summer home there myself. I particularly +recall one incident of this month's vacation that has affected my whole +life. One day while resting at Sharon Springs, New York, walking in the +Park of that place, I found myself asking the question: "I wonder if +there is any special mission for me to execute in this world? If there +is, may God show it to me!" + +There soon came upon me a great desire to preach the Gospel through the +secular printing-press. I realised that the vast majority of people, +even in Christian lands, never enter a church, and that it would be an +opportunity of usefulness infinite if that door of publication were +opened. And so I recorded that prayer in a blank book, and offered the +prayer day in and day out until the answer came, though in a way +different from that which I had expected, for it came through the +misrepresentation and persecution of enemies; and I have to record it +for the encouragement of all ministers of the Gospel who are +misrepresented, that if the misrepresentation be virulent enough and +bitter enough and continuous enough, there is nothing that so widens +one's field of usefulness as hostile attack, if you are really doing the +Lord's work. The bigger the lie told about me the bigger the demand to +see and hear what I really was doing. From one stage of sermonic +publication to another the work has gone on, until week by week, and for +about twenty-three years, I have had the world for my audience as no man +ever had. The syndicates inform me that my sermons go now to about +twenty-five millions of people in all lands. I mention this not in vain +boast, but as a testimony to the fact that God answers prayer. Would God +I had better occupied the field and been more consecrated to the work! + +The following summer, or rather early spring, I requested an extension +of my vacation time, in order to carry out a plan to visit the "Old +World." As the trustees of the church considered that the trip might be +of value to the church as well as to myself, I was given "leave of +absence from pastoral duties" for three months' duty from June 18, 1870. +All that I could do had been done in the plans in constructing the new +Tabernacle. I could do nothing by staying at home. + +I have crossed the Atlantic so often that the recollections of this +first trip to Europe are, at this writing, merely general. I think the +most terrific impression I received was my first sight of the ocean the +morning after we sailed, the most instructive were the ruins of church +and abbey and palaces. I walked up and down the stairs of Holyrood +Palace, once upon a time considered one of the wonders of the world, and +I marvelled that so little was left of such a wonderful place. Ruins +should be rebuilt. + +The most spiritual impression I received was from the music of church +organs in the old world. + +I stopped one nightfall at Freyburg, Switzerland, to hear the organ of +world-wide celebrity in that place. I went into the cathedral at +nightfall. All the accessories were favourable. There was only one light +in all the cathedral, and that a faint taper on the altar. I looked up +into the venerable arches and saw the shadows of centuries; and when the +organ awoke the cathedral awoke, and all the arches seemed to lift and +quiver as the music came under them. That instrument did not seem to be +made out of wood and metal, but out of human hearts, so wonderfully did +it pulsate with every emotion; now laughing like a child, now sobbing +like a tempest. At one moment the music would die away until you could +hear the cricket chirp outside the wall, and then it would roll up until +it seemed as if the surge of the sea and the crash of an avalanche had +struck the organ-pipes at the same moment. At one time that night it +seemed as if a squadron of saddened spirits going up from earth had met +a squadron of descending angels whose glory beat back the woe. + +In Edinburgh I met Dr. John Brown, author of the celebrated "Rab and his +Friends." That one treatise gave him immortality and fame, and yet he +was taken at his own request to the insane asylum and died insane. + +"What are you writing now, Dr. Brown?" I said to him in his study in +Edinburgh. + +"Oh, nothing," he replied, "I never could write. I shall never try +again." + +I saw on his face and heard in his voice that melancholy that so often +unhorsed him. + +I went to Paris for the first time in this summer of 1870. It was during +the Franco-German war. I stood studying the exquisite sculpturing of the +gate of the Tuileries. Lost in admiration of the wonderful art of that +gate I knew not that I was exciting suspicion. Lowering my eyes to the +crowds of people I found myself being closely inspected by government +officials, who from my complexion judged me to be a German, and that for +some belligerent purpose I might be examining the gates of the palace. +My explanations in very poor French did not satisfy them, and they +followed me long distances until I reached my hotel, and were not +satisfied until from my landlord they found that I was only an +inoffensive American. Inoffensive Americans were quite as welcome in +Europe in 1870 as they are now. I was not curious of the signs I found +anywhere about me of aristocratic grandeur, of the deference paid to +lineage and ancient family name. I know in America some people look back +on the family line, and they are proud to see that they are descended +from the Puritans or the Huguenots, and they rejoice in that as though +their ancestors had accomplished a great thing to repudiate a Catholic +aristocracy. + +I look back on my family line, and I see there such a mingling and +mixture of the blood of all nationalities that I feel akin to all the +world. I returned from my first visit to Europe more thankful than ever +for the mercy of having been born in America. The trip did me +immeasurable good. It strengthened my faith in the breadth and +simplicity of a broadminded religion. We must take care how we extend +our invitation to the Church, that it be understandable to everyone. +People don't want the scientific study of religion. + +On Sunday morning, September 25, 1870, the new Tabernacle erected on +Schemerhorn Street was dedicated to the worship of Almighty God. It was +to my mind a common-sense church, as I had planned it to be. In many of +our churches we want more light, more room, more ventilation, more +comfort. Vast sums of money are expended on ecclesiastical structures, +and men sit down in them, and you ask a man how he likes the church: he +says, "I like it very well, but I can't hear." The voice of the preacher +dashes against the pillars. Men sit down under the shadows of the Gothic +arches and shiver, and feel they must be getting religion, or something +else, they feel so uncomfortable. + +We want more common sense in the rearing of churches. There is no excuse +for lack of light when the heavens are full of it, no excuse for lack of +fresh air when the world swims in it. It ought to be an expression, not +only of our spiritual happiness, but of our physical comfort, when we +say: "How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord God of Hosts! A day in +Thy courts is better than a thousand." + +My dedication sermon was from Luke xiv. 23, "And the Lord said unto the +servants, go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come +in that my house may be filled." The Rev. T.G. Butter, D.D., offered the +dedicatory prayer. Other clergymen, whose names I do not recall, were +present and assisted at the services. The congregation in attendance was +very large, and at the close of the services a subscription and +collection were taken up amounting to $13,000, towards defraying the +expenses and cost of the church. + +In less than a year later the congregation had grown so large and the +attendance of strangers so pressing that the new church was enlarged +again, and on September 10, 1871, the Tabernacle was rededicated with +impressive services. The sermon was preached by my friend the Rev. +Stephen H. Tyng, D.D. He was a great worker, and suffered, as many of us +in the pulpit do, from insomnia. He was the consecrated champion of +everything good, a constant sufferer from the lash of active work. He +often told me that the only encouragement he had to think he would sleep +at night was the fact that he had not slept the night before. Insomnia +may be only a big word for those who do not understand its effect. It +has stimulated intellectuality, and exhausted it. One of the greatest +English clergymen had a gas jet on each side of his bed, so that he +might read at nights when he could not sleep. Horace Greeley told me he +had not had a sound sleep in fifteen years. Charles Dickens understood +London by night better than any other writer, because not being able to +sleep he spent that time in exploring the city. + +I preached at the evening service from the text in Luke xvi. 5: "How +much owest thou unto my Lord?" It was a wonderful day for us all. Enough +money was taken in by collections and subscriptions at the morning and +evening services to pay the floating debt of the church. We received +that one day $21,000. + +I quote the following resolution made at a meeting in my study the next +Thursday evening of the Session, from the records of the Tabernacle: + +"In regard to the payment of the floating debt of this church and +congregation, the Session adopted the following resolution, viz.:-- + +"In view of the manifest instance that God has heard the supplications +of this people regarding the floating debt of the Church, and so +directed their hearts as to accomplish the object, it is therefore +resolved that we set apart next Wednesday evening as a special season of +religious thanksgiving to God for his great goodness to us as a Church, +in granting unto us this deliverance." + +I reverently and solemnly believe the new Tabernacle was built by +prayer. + +My congregation with great munificence provided for all my wants, and so +I can speak without any embarrassment on the subject while I denounce +the niggardliness of many of the churches of Jesus Christ, keeping some +men, who are very apostles for piety and consecration, in circumstances +where they are always apologetic, and have not that courage which they +would have could they stand in the presence of people whom they knew +were faithful in the discharge of their financial duties to the +Christian Church. Alas, for those men of whom the world is not worthy! +In the United States to-day the salary of ministers averages less than +six hundred dollars, and when you consider that some of the salaries are +very large, see to what straits many of God's noblest servants are this +day reduced! A live church will look after all its financial interests +and be as prompt in the meeting of those obligations as any bank in any +city. + +My church in Brooklyn prospered because it was a soul-saving church. It +has always been the ambition of my own church that it should be a +soul-saving church. Pardon for all sin! Comfort for all trouble! Eternal +life for all the dead! + +Moral conditions in the cities of New York and Brooklyn were deplorably +bad during the first few years I went there to preach. There was an +onslaught of bad literature and stage immorality. For instance, there +was a lady who came forth as an authoress under the assumed name of +George Sand. She smoked cigars. She dressed like a man. She wrote in +style ardent and eloquent, mighty in its gloom, terrible in its +unchastity, vivid in its portraiture, damnable in its influence, putting +forth an evil which has never relaxed, but has hundreds of copyists. Yet +so much worse were many French books that came to America than anything +George Sand ever wrote, that if she were alive now she might be thought +almost a reformer. What an importation of unclean theatrical stuff was +brought to our shores at that time! And yet professors of religion +patronised such things. I remember particularly the arrival of a foreign +actress of base morals. She came intending to make a tour of the States, +but the remaining decency of our cities rose up and cancelled her +contracts, and drove her back from the American stage, a woman fit for +neither continent. I hope I was instrumental to some degree in her +banishment. We were crude in our morals then. I hope we are not merely +civilised in them to-day. I hope we understand how to live better than +we did then. + +Scarcely a year after the final dedication of our Tabernacle in 1871 it +was completely burned, just before a morning Sabbath service in +December, 1872. + +I remember that Sabbath morning. I was coming to the church, when I saw +the smoke against the sky. I was living in an outlying section of the +city. I had been absent for three weeks, and, as I saw that smoke, I +said to my wife: "I should not wonder if that is the Tabernacle"; at the +same time, this was said in pleasantry and not in earnest. As we came on +nearer where the church stood, I said quite seriously: "I shouldn't +wonder if it is the Tabernacle." + +When I came within a few blocks, and I saw a good many people in +distress running across the street, I said: "It is the Tabernacle"; and +when we stood together in front of the burning house of God, it was an +awfully sad time. We had stood together through all the crises of +suffering, and we must needs build a church in the very hardest of +times. + +To put up a structure in those days, and so large a structure and so +firm a structure as we needed, was a very great demand upon our +energies. The fact that we had to make that struggle in the worst +financial period was doubly hard. + +It was a merciful providence that none of the congregation was in the +church at the time. It was an appalling situation. In spite of the best +efforts of the fire department, the building was in ruins in a few +hours. My congregation was in despair, but, in the face of trial, God +has always given me all but superhuman strength. In a thousand ways I +had been blessed; the Gospel I had preached could not stop then, I +knew, and while my people were completely discouraged I immediately +planned for a newer, larger, more complete Tabernacle. We needed more +room for the increasing attendance, and I realised that opportunity +again was mine. + +We continued our services in the Academy of Music, in Brooklyn, while +the new Tabernacle was being built. Not for a minute did I relax my +energies to keep up the work of a practical religion. There were 300,000 +people in Brooklyn who had never heard the Gospel preached, an army +worthy of Christian interest. There was room for these 300,000 people in +the churches of the city. + +There was plenty of room in heaven for them. + +An ingenious statistician, taking the statement made in Revelation xxi. +that the heavenly Jerusalem was measured and found to be twelve thousand +furlongs, and that the length and height and breadth of it are equal, +says that would make heaven in size nine hundred and forty-eight +sextillion, nine hundred and eighty-eight quintillion cubic feet; and +then reserving a certain portion for the court of heaven and the +streets, and estimating that the world may last a hundred thousand +years, he ciphers out that there are over five trillion rooms, each room +seventeen feet long, sixteen feet wide, fifteen feet high. But I have no +faith in the accuracy of that calculation. He makes the rooms too small. +From all I can read the rooms will be palatial, and those who have not +had enough room in this world will have plenty of room at the last. The +fact is that most people in this world are crowded, and though out on a +vast prairie or in a mountain district people may have more room than +they want, in most cases it is house built close to house, and the +streets are crowded, and the cradle is crowded by other cradles, and the +graves crowded in the cemetery by other graves; and one of the richest +luxuries of many people in getting out of this world will be the gaining +of unhindered and uncramped room. And I should not wonder if, instead of +the room that the statistician ciphered out as only seventeen feet by +sixteen, it should be larger than any of the rooms at Berlin, St. James, +or Winter Palace. + +So we built an exceedingly large church. The new Tabernacle seated +comfortably 5,000 people. It was open on February 22, 1874, for worship, +and completed a few months later. + + + + +THE FIFTH MILESTONE + +1877-1879 + + +Without boast it may be said that I was among those men who with eager +and persistent vigilance made the heart of Brooklyn feel the Christian +purpose of the pulpit, and the utility of religion in everyday life. The +fifteen years following the dedication of the new Tabernacle in 1872 +mark the most active milestone of my career as a preacher. + +A minister's recollections are confined to his interpretation of the +life about him; the men he knows, the events he sees, the good and the +bad of his environment and his period become the loose leaves that +litter his study table. + +I was in the prime of life, just forty years of age. From my private +note-books and other sources I begin recollections of the most +significant years in Brooklyn, preceding the local elections in 1877. +New York and Brooklyn were playmates then, seeming rivals, but by +predestined fate bound to grow closer together. I said then that we need +not wait for the three bridges which would certainly bind them together. +The ferry-boat then touching either side was only the thump of one great +municipal heart. It was plain to me that this greater Metropolis, +standing at the gate of this continent, would have to decide the moral +and political destinies of the whole country. + +Prior to the November Elections in 1877, the only cheering phase of +politics in Brooklyn and New York was that there were no lower political +depths to reach. + +There was in New York at that time political infamy greater than the +height of Trinity Church steeple, more stupendous in finance than the +$10,000,000 spent in building their new Court House. It was a fact that +the most notorious gambler in the United States was to get the +nomination for the high office of State Senator. Both Democrats and +Republicans struggled for his election--John Morrisey, hailed as a +reformer! On behalf of all the respectable homes of Brooklyn and New +York I protested against his election. He had been indicted for +burglary, indicted for assault and battery with intent to kill, indicted +eighteen times for maintaining gambling places in different parts of the +country. He almost made gambling respectable. Tweed trafficked in +contracts, Morrisey in the bodies and souls of young men. The District +Attorney of New York advocated him, and prominent Democrats talked +themselves hoarse for him. This nomination was a determined effort of +the slums of New York to get representation in the State Government. It +was argued that he had _reformed_. The police of New York knew better. + +In Brooklyn the highest local offices in 1877, those of the Collector, +Police Commissioners, Fire Commission, Treasurer, and the City Works +Commissioners, were under the control of one Patrick Shannon, owner of +two gin mills. Wearing the mask of reformers the most astute and +villainous politicians piloted themselves into power. They were all +elected, and it was necessary. It was necessary that New York should +elect the foremost gambler of the United States for State Senator, +before the people of New York could realise the depths of degradation to +which the politics of that time could sink. If Tweed had stolen only +half as much as he did, investigation and discovery and reform would +have been impossible. The re-election of Morrisey was necessary. He was +elected not by the vote of his old partisans alone, but by Republicans. +Hamilton Fish, General Grant's secretary, voted for him. Peter Cooper, +the friend of education and the founder of a great institute, voted for +him. The brown-stone-fronts voted for him. The Fifth Avenue equipage +voted for him. Murray Hill voted for him. Meanwhile gambling was made +honourable. And so the law-breaker became the law-maker. + +Among a large and genteel community in Brooklyn there was a feeling that +they were independent of politics. No one can be so. It was felt in the +home and in the business offices. It was an influence that poisoned all +the foundations of public and private virtue in Brooklyn and New York. +The conditions of municipal immorality and wickedness were the worst at +this time that ever confronted the pulpits of the City of Churches, as +Brooklyn was called. + +There was one bright spot in the dark horizon of life around me then, +however, which I greeted with much pleasure and amusement. + +In the early part of November, 1877, President Hayes offered to Colonel +Robert Ingersoll the appointment of Minister to Germany. The President +was a Methodist, and perhaps he thought that was a grand solution of +Ingersollism. It was a mirthful event of the hour--the joke of the +administration. Germany was the birthplace of what was then modern +infidelity, Colonel Ingersoll had been filling the land with belated +infidelism. + +On the stage of the Academy of Music in Brooklyn he had attacked the +memory of Tom Paine, assaulted the character of Rev. Dr. Prime, one of +my neighbours, the Nestor of religious journalism, and on that same +stage expressed his opinion that God was a great Ghost. This action of +President Hayes kept me smiling for a week--I appreciated the joke among +others. + +During this month the American Stage suffered the loss of three +celebrities: Edwin Adams, George L. Fox, and E.L. Davenport. While the +Theatre never interested me, and I never entered one, I cannot criticise +the dead. Four years before in the Tabernacle I preached a sermon +against the Theatre. I saw there these men, sitting in pews in front of +me, and that was the only time. They were taking notes of my discourse, +to which they made public replies on the stage of the Chestnut Street +Theatre, Philadelphia, and on other stages at the close of their +performances. Whatever they may have said of me, I stood uncovered in +the presence of the dead, while the curtain of the great future went up +on them. My sympathy was with the destitute households left behind. +Public benefits relieved this. I would to God clergymen were as liberal +to the families of deceased clergymen as play-actors to the families of +dead play-actors. What a toilsome life, the play-actor's! On the 25th of +March, 1833, Edmund Kean, sick and exhausted, trembled on to the English +stage for the last time, when he acted in the character of Othello. The +audience rose and cheered, and the waving of hats and handkerchiefs was +bewildering, and when he came to the expression, "Farewell! Othello's +occupation's gone!" his chin fell on his breast, and he turned to his +son and said: "O God, I am dying! speak to them Charles," and the +audience in sympathy cried, "Take him off! take him off!" and he was +carried away to die. Poor Edmund Kean! When Schiller, the famous +comedian, was tormented with toothache, some one offered to draw the +tooth. "No," said he, "but on the 10th of June, when the house closes, +you may draw the tooth, for then I shall have nothing to eat with it." +The impersonation of character is often the means of destroying health. +Molière, the comedian, acted the sick man until it proved fatal to him. +Madame Clarion accounts for her premature old age by the fact that she +had been obliged so often on the stage to enact the griefs and +distresses of others. Mr. Bond threw so much earnestness into the +tragedy of "Zarah," that he fainted and died. The life of the actor and +actress is wearing and full of privation and annoyance, as is any life +that depends upon the whims of the public for success. + +One of the events in Church matters, towards the close of this year, was +a pastoral letter of the Episcopal Bishops against Church fairs. So many +churches were holding fairs then, they were a recognised social +attribute of the Church family. This letter aroused the question as to +whether it was right or wrong to have Church fairs, and the newspapers +became very fretful about it. I defended the Church fairs, because I +felt that if they were conducted on Christian principles they were the +means of an universal sociality and spiritual strength. So far as I had +been acquainted with them, they had made the Church purer, better. Some +fairs may end in a fight; they are badly managed, perhaps. A Church +fair, officered by Christian women, held within Christian hours, +conducted on Christian plans, I approved, the pastoral letter of the +Episcopal Bishops notwithstanding. + +Just when we were in the midst of this religious tempest of small +finances, the will of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt came up in the +court for discussion. The whole world was anxious then to know if the +Vanderbilt will could be broken. After battling half a century with +diseases enough to kill ten men, Mr. Vanderbilt died, an octogenarian, +leaving over $100,000,000--$95,000,000 to his eldest son--$5,000,000 to +his wife, and the remainder to his other children and relations, with +here and there a slight recognition of some humane or religious +institution. I said then that the will could not be broken, because +$95,000,000 in this country seemed too mighty for $5,000,000. It was a +strange will, and if Mr. Vanderbilt had been his own executor of it, +without lawyers' interference, I believe it would have been different. +It suggests a comparison with George Peabody, who executed the +distribution of his property without legal talent. Peabody gave $250,000 +for a library in his own town in Massachusetts, and in his will left +$10,000 to the Baltimore Institute, $20,000 to the poor of London, +$10,000 to Harvard, $150,000 to Yale, $50,000 to Salem, Massachusetts, +and $3,000,000 to the education of the people of the South in this +country. No wonder he refused a baronetcy which the Queen of England +offered him, he was a king--the king of human benefaction. That +Vanderbilt will was the seven days wonder of its time. + +It made way only for the President's message issued the first week in +December, 1877. It was, in fact, Mr. Hayes's repudiation of a dishonest +measure prepared by members of Congress to pay off our national debt in +silver instead of in gold as had been promised. + +The newspapers received the President's message with indifferent +opinion. "It is disappointing," said one. "As a piece of composition it +is terse and well written," said another. "The President used a good +many big words to say very little," said another. "President Hayes will +secure a respectful hearing by the ability and character of this +document," said another. "Leaving out his bragging over his policy of +pacification and concerning things he claims to have done, the space +remaining will be very small," said another. + +But all who read the message carefully realised that in it the President +promised the people to put an end to the dishonour of thieving politics. +There was something in the air in Washington that seemed to afflict the +men who went there with moral distemper. I was told that Coates Ames was +almost a Christian in Massachusetts, while in Washington, from his +house, was born that monster--The Credit Mobilier. Congressmen who in +their own homes would insist upon paying their private obligations, +dollar for dollar, forgot this standard of business honour when they +advocated a swindling policy for the Government of the United States. In +its day of trouble the Government was glad to promise gold to the people +who had confidence in them, and just as gladly the Government proposed +to swindle them by a silver falsehood in 1877. But the Nation was just +recovering from a four years' drunk; Mr. Hayes undertook to steady us, +during the aftereffects of our war-spree. Why should we neglect to pay +in full the price of our four years' unrighteousness? As a nation we +had so often been relieved from financial depression up to that time, +but, we were just entering a period of unlicensed ethics, not merely in +public life, but in all our private standards of morality. + +It seems to me, as I recall the character of Brooklyn life at this time, +there never was a period in its history when it was so intolerably +wicked. And yet, we had 276 churches. One night about Christmas time, in +1877, Brooklyn Heights was startled by a pistol shot that set everyone +in New York and Brooklyn to moralising. It was the Johnson tragedy. A +young husband shot his young wife, with intent to kill. She was +seriously wounded. He went to prison. There was a child, and for the +sake of that child, who is now probably grown up, I will not relate the +details. In all my experience of life I have heard many stories of +domestic failure, but there are always two sides. Those who moralised +about it said, "That's what comes of marrying too young!" Others, +moralising too, said, "That's what comes of not controlling one's +temper." Who does control his temper, always? + +To my mind the chief lesson was in the fact that the young men of +Brooklyn had taken too much of a notion to carry firearms. There was a +puppyism sprang up in Brooklyn that felt they couldn't live unless they +were armed. Young boys went about their daily occupations armed to the +teeth, as if Fulton Street were an ambush for Indians. I mention this, +because it was a singular phase of the social restlessness and tremor of +the times. + +In commercial evolution there was the same indistinctness of standards. +The case of Dr. Lambert--the Life Insurance fraud--had no sooner been +disposed of, and Lambert sent to Sing-Sing, than the sudden failure of +Bonner & Co., brokers in Wall Street, presented us with the problem of +business "rehypothecation." + +In my opinion a man has as much right to fail in business as he has to +get sick and die. In most cases it is more honourable to fail than to go +on. Every insolvent is not necessarily a scoundrel. The greatest crime +is to fail rich. John Bonner & Co., as brokers, had loaned money on +deposited collaterals, and then borrowed still larger sums on the same +collaterals. Their creditors were duped to the extent of from one to +three millions of dollars. It was the first crime of "rehypothecation." +It was not a Wall Street theft; it was a new use for an almost unknown +word in Noah Webster's dictionary. It was a new word in the rogue's +vocabulary. It was one of the first attempts made, in my knowledge, to +soften the aspect of crime by baptising it in that way. Crime in this +country will always be excused in proportion to how great it is. But +even in the face of Wall Street tricksters there were signs that the +days were gone when the Jay Goulds and the Jim Fisks could hold the +nation at their mercy. + +The comedy of life is sometimes quite as instructive as a tragedy. There +was a flagrant disposition in America, in the late 'seventies, to +display family affairs in the newspapers. It became an epidemic of +notoriety. What a delicious literature it was! The private affairs of +the household printed by the million copies. Chief among these +novelettes of family life was the Hicks-Lord case. The world was +informed one morning in February, 1878, that a Mr. Lord, a millionaire, +had united his fortune with a Mrs. Hicks. The children of the former +were offended at the second marriage of the latter, more especially so +as the new reunion might change the direction of the property. The +father was accused of being insane by his children, and incapable of +managing his own affairs. The Courts were invoked. One thing was made +plain to all the world, though, that Mr. Lord at eighty knew more than +his children did at thirty or forty. The happy pair were compelled to +remain in long seclusion because of murderous threats against them, the +children having proposed a corpse instead of a bride. The absorbing +question of weeks, "Where is Mr. Lord?" was answered. He was in the +newspapers--and the children? they were across the old man's knee, where +they belonged. Mr. Lord was right. Mrs. Hicks was right. It was nobody's +business but their own. Brooklyn and New York were exceeding busy-bodies +in the late 'seventies. It was a relief to turn one's back upon them +occasionally, in the pulpit, and search the furthest horizon of Europe. + +Scarcely had Victor Emmanuel been entombed when on Feb. 7th a tired old +man, eighty-four years of age, died in the Vatican, Pius IX., a kind and +forgiving man. His trust was not wholly in the crucifix, but something +beyond the crucifix; and yet, how small a man is when measured by the +length of his coffin! Events in Europe marshalled themselves into a +formula of new problems at the beginning of 1878. The complete defeat of +Turkey by the Russians left England and the United States--allies in the +great causes of civilisation and Christianity--aghast. It was the most +intense political movement in Europe of my lifetime. I was glad the +Turkish Empire had perished, but I had no admiration then for Russia, +once one of the world's greatest oppressors. + +My deepest sympathies at that time were with England. When England is +humiliated the Christian standards of the world are humiliated. Her +throne during Queen Victoria's reign was the purest throne in all the +world. Remember the girl Victoria, kneeling with her ecclesiastical +adviser in prayer the night before her coronation, making religious +vows, not one of which were broken. I urged then that all our American +churches throughout the land unite with the cathedrals and churches in +England in shouting "God Save the Queen." England held the balance of +the world's power for Christianity in this crisis abroad. + +About this time, in February, 1878, Senator Pierce presented a Bill +before the Legislature in Albany for a new city charter for Brooklyn. In +its reform movement it meant that in three years at the most Brooklyn +and New York would be legally married. Instead of Brooklyn being +depressed by New York, New York was to be elevated by Brooklyn. Already +we felt at that time, in the light of Senator Pierce's efforts, that +Brooklyn would become a reformed New York; it would be--New York with +its cares set aside, New York with its arms folded at rest, New York +playing with the children, New York at the tea table, New York gone to +prayer-meeting. Nine-tenths of the Brooklynites then were spending their +days in New York, and their nights in Brooklyn. In the year 1877, +80,000,000 of people crossed the Brooklyn ferries. Paris is France, +London is England, why not New York the United States? + +The new charter recommended by Senator Pierce urged other reforms in a +local government that was too costly by far. Under right administration +who could tell what our beloved city is to be? Prospect Park, the +geographical centre, a beautiful picture set in a great frame of +architectural affluence. The boulevards reaching to the sea, their +sides lined the whole distance with luxurious homes and academies of +art. Our united city a hundred Brightons in one, and the inland +populations coming down here to summer and battle in the surf. The great +American London built by a continent on which all the people are free; +her vast populations redeemed; her churches thronged with worshipful +auditories! Before that time we may have fallen asleep amid the long +grass of the valleys, but our children will enjoy the brightness and the +honour of residence in the great Christian city of the continent and of +the world. + +It was this era of optimism in the civic life of Brooklyn that helped to +defeat the Lafayette Avenue railroad. + +It was a scheme of New York speculators to deface one of the finest +avenues in Brooklyn. The most profitable business activity in this +country is to invest other people's money. It seemed to me that the +Lafayette railroad deal was only a sort of blackmailing institution to +compel the property holders to pay for the discontinuance of the +enterprise, or the company would sell out to some other company; and as +the original company paid nothing all they get is clear gain; and +whether the railroad is built or not, the people for years, all along +the beautiful route, would be kept in suspense. There was no more need +of a car track along Lafayette avenue than there was need of one from +the top of Trinity Church steeple to the moon! The greater facility of +travel, the greater prosperity! But I am opposed to all railroads, the +depot for which is an unprincipled speculator's pocket. + +It was only a few weeks later that I had to condemn a much greater +matter, a national event. + +On March 1, 1878, the Silver Bill was passed in Washington, +notwithstanding the President's veto. The House passed it by a vote of +196 against 73, and the Senate agreed with a vote of 46 against 10. It +would be asking too much to expect anyone to believe that the 196 men in +Congress were bought up. So far as I knew the men, they were as honest +on one side of the vote as on the other. Senator Conkling, that giant of +integrity, opposed it. Alexander H. Stephens voted for it. I talked with +Mr. Stephens about it, and he said to me at the time, "Unless the Silver +Bill pass, in the next six months there will not be two hundred business +houses in New York able to stand." Still, the Silver Bill seemed like +the first step towards repudiation of our national obligation, but I +believe that at least 190 out of those 196 men who voted for it would +have sacrificed their lives rather than repudiate our national debt. + +I had an opportunity to comprehend the political explosion of the +passage of this Bill all over the country, for it so happened I made a +lecturing trip through the South and South-west during the month of +March, 1878. + +There is one word that described the whole feeling in the South at this +time, and that was "hope." The most cheerful city, I found, was New +Orleans. She was rejoicing in the release from years of unrighteous +government. Just how the State of Louisiana had been badgered, and her +every idea of self-government insulted, can be appreciated only by those +who come face to face with the facts. While some of the best patriots of +the North went down with the right motives to mingle in the +reconstruction of the State governments of the South, many of these +pilgrimists were the cast-off and thieving politicians of the North, +who, after being stoned out of Northern waters, crawled up on the beach +at the South to sun themselves. The Southern States had enough dishonest +men of their own without any importation. The day of trouble passed. +Louisiana and South Carolina for the most part are free. Governor +Nichols of the one, and Governor Wade Hampton of the other, had the +confidence of the great masses of the people. + +It was my opinion then that the largest fortunes were yet to be made in +the South, because there was more room to make them there. During my two +weeks in the South, at that time, mingling with all classes of people, I +never heard an unkind word against the North, and that only a little +over ten years since the close of the war. Congressional politicians +were still enlarging upon the belligerency of the South, but they had +personal designs at President making. There was no more use for Federal +military in New Orleans than there was need of them in Brooklyn. I was +the guest in New Orleans of the Hon. E.J. Ellis, many years in Congress, +and I had a taste of real Southern hospitality. It was everywhere. The +spirit of fraternity was in the South long before it reached the North. +Up to this time I had echoed Horace Greeley's advice, "Go West." For +years afterwards I changed it. In my advice to young men I said to all, +"Go South." + +In the spring of 1878, however, things in Brooklyn began to look more +promising for young men and young women. I remember after closely +examining Mayor Howell's report and the Police Commissioner's report I +was much pleased. Mayor Howell was one of the most courteous and genial +men I ever knew, and Superintendent Campbell was a good police officer. +These two men, by their individual interest in Brooklyn reforms, had +gained the confidence of our tax-payers and our philanthropists. The +police force was too small for a city of 5,000,000 people. The taxes +were not big enough to afford an adequate equipment. There was a +constant depreciation of our police and excise officials in the +churches. City officials should not be caricatured--they should be +respected, or dismissed. It was about this time a mounted police +department was started in Brooklyn, and though small it was needed. What +the miscreant community of Brooklyn most needed at this time was not +sermons or lessons in the common schools, but a police club--and they +got it. + +There was a political avarice in Brooklyn in the management of our +public taxes which handicapped the local government. For a long while I +had been thinking about some way of presenting this sin to my people, +when one day a woman, Barbara Allen by name, dropping in fatal illness, +was picked up at the Fulton Ferry House, and died in the ambulance. On +her arm was a basket of cold victuals she had lugged from house to +house. In the rags of her clothing were found deposit slips in the +savings banks of Brooklyn--for $20,000. The case was unique at that +time, because in those days great wealth was unknown, even in New York, +and the houses in Brooklyn were homes--not museums. Twenty thousand +dollars was a fortune. It was a precedent that established miserliness +as an actual sin, a dissipation just as deadly as that of the +spendthrift. It was a tragic scene from the drama of life, and its +surprise was avarice. The whole country read about Barbara Allen, and +wondered what new strange disease this was that could scourge a human +soul with a madness for accumulating money without spending it. The +people of the United States suffered from quite a different idea of +money. They were just beginning to feel the great American fever for +spending more of it than they could get. This was a serious phase of +social conditions then, and I remember how keenly I felt the menace of +it at the time. Those who couldn't get enough to spend became envious, +jealous, hateful of those who could and these envious ones were the +American masses. + +In the spring of 1878, in May, there was a tiger sprang out of this +jungle of discontent, and, crouching, threatened to spring upon American +Society. + +It was--Communism. Its theory was that what could not be obtained +lawfully, under the pressure of circumstances, you could take anyhow. +Communism meant no individual rights in property. If wages were not +adequate to the luxurious appetite, then the wage-earner claimed the +right to knock his employer down and take what he wanted. "Bread or +blood" was the motto. It all came from across the Atlantic, and it +spread rapidly. In Brooklyn, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, it was +evident that Communism was organising, that its executive desperadoes +met in rooms, formed lodges, invented grips and pass-words. + +In the eighth ward of New York an organisation was unearthed at this +time, consisting of 800 men, all armed with muskets and revolvers. These +organisations described themselves as working-men's parties, and so +tried to ally themselves with the interests of trade unions. + +Twenty American newspapers advocated this shocking creed. Tens of +thousands adopted this theory. I said then, in response to the opinion +that Communism was impossible in this country, that there were just as +many cut-throats along the East River and the Hudson as there were +along the Seine or the Thames. There was only one thing that prevented +revolution in our cities in this memorable spring of 1878, and that was +the police and the military guard. + +Through dissatisfaction about wages, or from any cause, men have a right +to stop work, and to stop in bands and bodies until their labour shall +be appreciated; but when by violence, as in the summer of 1877, they +compel others to stop, or hinder substitutes from taking the places, +then the act is Communistic, and ought to be riven of the lightnings of +public condemnation. What was the matter in Pittsburg that summer? What +fired the long line of cars that made night hideous? What lifted the +wild howl in Chicago? Why, coming toward that city, were we obliged to +dismount from the cars and take carriages through the back streets? Why, +when one night the Michigan Central train left Chicago, were there but +three passengers on board a train of eight cars? What forced three rail +trains from the tracks and shot down engineers with their hands on the +valves? Communism. For hundreds of miles along the track leading from +the great West I saw stretched out and coiled up the great reptile +which, after crushing the free locomotive of passengers and trade, would +have twisted itself around our republican institutions, and left them in +strangulation and blood along the pathway of nations. The governors of +States and the President of the United States did well in planting the +loaded cannon at the head of streets blocked up by desperadoes. I felt +the inspiration of giving warning, and I did. + +But the summer came, August came, and after a lecture tour through the +far West I was amazed and delighted to find there a tremendous harvest +in the grain fields. I had seen immense crops there about to start on +their way to the Eastern sea-boundary of our continent. I saw then that +our prosperity as a nation would depend upon our agriculture. It didn't +make any difference what the Greenback party, or the Republican and +Democratic parties, or the Communists were croaking about; the immense +harvests of the West indicated that nothing was the matter. What we +needed in the fall of 1878 was some cheerful talk. + +During this summer two of the world's celebrities died: Charles Mathews, +the famous comedian, and the great American poet, William Cullen Bryant. +Charles Mathews was an illustrious actor. He was born to make the world +laugh, but he had a sad life of struggle. + +While Charles Mathews was performing in London before immense audiences, +one day a worn-out and gloomy man came into a doctor's shop, saying, +"Doctor, what can you do for me?" The doctor examined his case and said, +"My advice is that you go and see Charles Mathews." "Alas! Alas!" said +the man, "I myself am Charles Mathews." + +In the loss of William Cullen Bryant I felt it as a personal bereavement +of a close friend. Nowhere have I seen the following incident of his +life recorded, an incident which I still remember as one of the great +events in my life. + +In the days of my boyhood I attended a meeting at Tripler Hall, held as +a memorial of Fenimore Cooper, who at that time had just died. +Washington Irving stepped out on the speaker's platform first, +trembling, and in evident misery. After stammering and blushing and +bowing, he completely broke down in his effort to make a speech, and +briefly introduced the presiding officer of the meeting, Daniel +Webster. Rising like a huge mountain from a plain this great orator +introduced another orator--the orator of the day--William Cullen Bryant. +In that memorable oration, lasting an hour and a half, the speaker told +lovingly the story of the life and death of the author of "Leather +Stocking" and "The Last of the Mohicans." + +George W. Bethune followed him, thundering out in that marvellous flow +of ideas, with an eloquence that made him the pulpit orator of his +generation in the South. Bryant's hair was then just touched with grey. +The last time I saw him was in my house on Oxford Street, two years ago, +in a company of literary people. I said: "Mr. Bryant, will you read for +us 'Thanatopsis'?" He blushed like a girl, and put his hands over his +face and said: "I would rather read anything than my own production; but +if it will give you pleasure I will do anything you say." Then at 82 +years of age, and without spectacles, he stood up and with most pathetic +tenderness read the famous poem of his boyhood days, and from a score of +lips burst forth the exclamation, "What a wonderful old man!" What made +all the land and all the world feel so badly when William Cullen Bryant +was laid down at Roslyn? Because he was a great poet who had died? No; +there have been greater poets. Because he was so able an editor? No; +there have been abler editors. Because he was so very old? No; some have +attained more years. It was because a spotless and noble character +irradiated all he wrote and said and did. + +These great men of America, how much they were to me, in their example +of doing and living! + +Probably there are many still living who remember what a disorderly +place Brooklyn once was. Gangs of loafers hung around our street +corners, insulting and threatening men and women. Carriages were held up +in the streets, the occupants robbed, and the vehicles stolen. +Kidnapping was known. Behind all this outrage of civil rights was +political outrage. The politicians were afraid to offend the criminals, +because they might need their votes in future elections. They were +immune, because they were useful material in case of a new governor or +President. It was a reign of terror that spread also in other large +cities. The farmers of Ohio and Pennsylvania were threatened if they did +not stop buying labour-saving machinery. They were not the threats of +the working-man, but of the lazy, criminal loafers of the country. It is +worth mentioning, because it was a convulsion of an American period, a +national growing pain, which I then saw and talked about. The nation was +under the cloud of political ambition and office-seeking that unsettled +business conditions. Every one was occupied in President-making, +although we were two years from the Presidential election. There was +plenty of money, but people held on to it. + +The yellow fever scourge came down upon the South during the late summer +of 1878, and softened the hearts of some. There was some money +contributed from the North, but not as much as there ought to have been. +In the Brooklyn Tabernacle we did the best we could; New York city had +been ravaged by yellow fever in 1832, the year I was born, but the +memory of that horror was not keen enough to influence the collection +plate. What with this suffering of our neighbours in the South, and the +troubles of political jealousies local and national, there were cares +enough for our church to consider. Still, the summer of 1878 was almost +through, and many predictions of disaster had failed. We had been +threatened with general riots. It was predicted that on June 27 all the +cars and railroad stations would be burned, because of a general strike +order. We were threatened with a fruit famine. It was said that the +Maryland and New Jersey peach crop was a failure. I never saw or ate so +many peaches any summer before. + +Then there was the Patten investigation committee, determined to send +Mr. Tilden down to Washington to drive the President out of the White +House. None of these things happened, yet it is interesting to recall +this phase of American nerves in 1878. + +There was one event that aroused my disgust, however, much more than the +croakers had done--Ben Butler was nominated for Governor of +Massachusetts. That was when politics touched bottom. There was no lower +depths of infamy for them to reach. Ben Butler was the chief demagogue +of the land. The Republican party was to be congratulated that it got +rid of him. His election was a cross put upon the State of Massachusetts +for something it had done we knew not of. Fortunately there were men +like Roscoe Conkling in politics to counterbalance other kinds. + +Backed up by unscrupulous politicians, the equally irresponsible +railroad promoter began his invasion of city streets with his noisy +scheme. I opposed him, but the problem of transportation then was not as +it is now. Just as the year 1879 had begun, a gigantic political +promoting scheme for an elevated railroad in Brooklyn was attempted. +From Boston came the promoters with a proposition to build the road, +without paying a cent of indemnity to property holders. I suggested +that an appeal be made to Brooklynites to subscribe to a company for the +agricultural improvements of Boston Common. It was a parallel absurdity. +Mayor Howell, of Brooklyn, courageously opposed an elevated road +franchise, unless property holders were paid according to the damage to +the property. This was one of many inspired grafts of political +Brooklyn, years ago. + +A great event in the world was the announcement in November, 1878, that +Professor Thomas Edison had applied for a patent for the discovery of +the incandescent electric light. He harnessed the flame of a thunderbolt +to fit in a candlestick. I hope he made millions of dollars out of it. +In direct contradiction to this progress in daily life there came, at +the same time, from the Philadelphia clergy a protest against printing +their sermons in the secular press. It was an injustice to them, they +declared, because the sermons were not always fully reported. I did not +share these opinions. If a minister's gospel is not fit for fifty +thousand people, then it is not fit for the few hundred members of his +congregation. My own sermons were being published in the secular press +then, as they had been when I was in Philadelphia. + +Almost at the close of the year 1878 the loss of the S.S. "Pomerania," +in collision in the English Channel, was a disaster of the sea that I +denounced as nothing short of murder. It was shown at the trial that +there was no fog at the time, that the two vessels saw each other for +ten minutes before the collision. If such gross negligence as this was +possible, I advised those people who bought a ticket for Europe on the +White Star, the Cunard, the Hamburg, or other steamship lines, to secure +at the same time a ticket for Heaven. What a difference in the ocean +ferry-boat of to-day! + +Scarcely had the submarine telegraph closed this chapter of sea horror +than it clicked the information that the beautiful Princess Alice had +died in Germany. Only a few days later, in America, we were in mood of +mourning for Bayard Taylor, our Minister Plenipotentiary to Germany. In +the death of Princess Alice we felt chiefly a sympathy for Queen +Victoria, who had not then, and never did, overcome her grief at the +loss of Prince Albert. In the decease of Bayard Taylor we remembered +with pride that he was a self-made gentleman of a school for which there +is no known system of education. Regarded as a dreamy, unpractical boy, +nothing much was ever expected of him. When he was seventeen he set type +in a printing office in Westchester. It was Bayard Taylor who exploded +the idea that only the rich could afford to go to Europe, when on less +than a thousand dollars he spent two years amid the palaces and temples, +telling of his adventures in a way that contributed classic literature +to our book-shelves. He worked hard--wrote thirty-five books. There is +genius in hard work alone. I have often thought that women pursue more +of it than men. They work night and day, year in and year out, from +kitchen to parlour, from parlour to kitchen. + +There was some strong legislative effort made in our country about this +time to exclude the Chinese. I opposed this legislation with all the +voice and ability I had, because I felt not merely the injustice of such +contradiction of all our national institutions, but I saw its political +folly. I saw that the nation that would be the most friendly to China, +and could get on the inside track of her commerce, would be the first +nation of the world. The legislature seemed particularly angry with the +Chinese immigrants in this country because they would not allow +themselves to be buried here. They were angry with the Chinese then +because they would not intermarry. They were angry with the Chinese +because they invested their money in China. They did not think they were +handsome enough for this country. We even wanted a monopoly of good +looks in those days. + +I was particularly friendly to the Chinese. My brother, John Van Nest +Talmage, devoted his life to them. I believed, as my brother did, that +they were a great nation. + +When he went, my last brother went. Stunned was I until I staggered +through the corridors of the hotel in London, England, when the news +came that John was dead. If I should say all that I felt I would declare +that since Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles a more faithful or +consecrated man has not lifted his voice in the dark places of +heathenism. I said it while he was alive, and might as well say it now +that he is dead. He was the hero of our family. He did not go to China +to spend his days because no one in America wanted to hear him preach. +At the time of his first going to China he had a call to succeed in +Brooklyn, N.Y., the Rev. Dr. Broadhead, the Chrysostom of the American +pulpit, a call at a large salary; and there would have been nothing +impossible to my brother in the way of religious work or Christian +achievement had he tarried in his native land. But nothing could detain +him from the work to which God called him long before he became a +Christian. + +My reason for writing that anomalous statement is that, when a small boy +in Sabbath-school, he read a library book, "The Life of Henry Martin." +He said to my mother, "I am going to be a missionary." The remark at the +time made no special impression. Years after that passed on before his +conversion; but when the grace of God appeared to him, and he had +entered his studies for the Gospel ministry, he said one day, "Mother, +do you remember that years ago I said, 'I am going to be a missionary'?" +She replied, "Yes, I remember it." "Well," said he, "I am going to keep +my promise." How well he kept it millions of souls on earth and in +Heaven have long since heard. When the roll of martyrs is called before +the throne, the name of John Van Nest Talmage will be called. He worked +himself to death in the cause of the world's evangelisation. His heart, +his brain, his hand, his voice, his muscles, his nerves could do no +more. He sleeps in the cemetery of Somerville, N.J., so near his father +and mother that he will face them when he arises in the resurrection of +the just, and, amid a crowd of his kindred now sleeping on the right of +them and on the left of them, will feel the thrill of the trumpet that +wakes the dead. + +You could get nothing from my brother at all. Ask him a question to +evoke what he had done for God and the Church, and his lips were as +tightly shut as though they had never been opened. Indeed, his reticence +was at times something remarkable. I took him to see President Grant at +Long Branch, and though they had both been great warriors, the one +fighting the battles of the Lord and the other the battles of his +country, they had little to say, and there was, I thought, at the time, +more silence crowded together than I ever noticed in the same amount of +space before. + +But the story of my brother's work has already been told in the Heavens +by those who, through his instrumentality, have already reached the City +of Raptures. However, his chief work is yet to come. We get our +chronology so twisted that we come to believe that the white marble of +the tomb is the milestone at which the good man stops, when it is only a +milestone on a journey, the most of the miles of which are yet to be +travelled. The Chinese Dictionary which my brother prepared during more +than two decades of study; the religious literature he transferred from +English into Chinese; the hymns he wrote for others to sing, although he +himself could not sing at all (he and I monopolising the musical +incapacity of a family in which all the rest could sing well); the +missionary stations he planted; the life he lived, will widen out and +deepen and intensify through all time and all eternity. + +Never in the character of a Chinaman was there the trait of commercial +fraud that assailed our American cities in 1879. It got into our food +finally--the very bread we ate was proven to be an adulteration of +impure stuff. What an extravagance of imagination had crept into our +daily life! We pretended even to eat what we knew we were not eating. +Except for the reminder which old books written in byegone simpler days +gave us, we should have insisted that the world should believe us if we +said black was white. Still, among us there were some who were genuine, +but they seemed to be passing away. It was in this year that the oldest +author in America died, Richard Henry Dana. He was born in 1788, when +literature in this country was just beginning. His death stirred the +tenderest emotions. Authorship was a new thing in America when Mr. Dana +began to write, and it required endurance and persistence. The +atmosphere was chilling to literature then, there was little applause +for poetic or literary skill. There were no encouragements when +Washington Irving wrote as "Knickerbocker," when Richard Henry Dana +wrote "The Buccaneer," "The Idle Man," and "The Dying Raven." There was +something cracking in his wit, exalted in his culture. He was so gentle +in his conversation, so pure in his life, it was hard to spare him. He +seemed like a man who had never been forced into the battle of the +world, he was so unscarred and hallowed. + +It was just about this time that our Tabernacle in Brooklyn became the +storm centre of a law-suit which threatened to undermine us. It was +based upon a theory, a technicality of law, which declared that the +subscriptions of married women were not legal subscriptions. Our +attorneys were Mr. Freeman and Judge Tenney. Theirs was a battle for God +and the Church. There were only two sides to the case. Those against the +Church and those with the Church. In the preceding eight years, whether +against fire or against foe, the Tabernacle had risen to a higher plane +of useful Christian work. I was not alarmed. During the two weeks of +persecution, the days were to me days of the most complete peace I had +felt since I entered the Christian life. Again and again I remember +remarking in my home, to my family, what a supernatural peace was upon +me. My faith was in God, who managed my life and the affairs of the +Church. My work was still before me, there was too much to be done in +the Tabernacle yet. The disapproval of our methods before the Brooklyn +Presbytery was formulated in a series of charges against the pastor. I +was told my enthusiasm was sinful, that it was unorthodox for me to be +so. My utterances were described as inaccurate. My editorial work was +offensively criticised. The Presbytery listened patiently, and after a +careful consideration dismissed the charges. Once more the unjust +oppression of enemies had seemed to extend the strength and scope of the +Gospel. A few days later my congregation presented me with a token of +confidence in their pastor. I was so happy at the time that I was ready +to shake hands even with the reporters who had abused me. How kind they +were, how well they understood me, how magnificently they took care of +me, my people of the Brooklyn Tabernacle! + + + + +THE SIXTH MILESTONE + +1879-1881 + + +In the spring of 1879 I made a Gospel tour of England, Ireland, and +Scotland. On a previous visit I had given a series of private lectures, +under the management of Major Pond, and I had been more or less +criticised for the amount of money charged the people to hear me. As I +had nothing whatever to do with the prices of tickets to my lectures, +which went to the managers who arranged the tour, this was something +beyond my control. My personal arrangement with Major Pond was for a +certain fixed sum. They said in Europe that I charged too much to be +heard, that as a preacher of the Gospel I should have been more +moderate. If the management had been my own I should not have been so +greedy. + +Because of this recollection and the regret it gave me, I decided to +make another tour at my own expense, and preach without price in all the +places I had previously visited as a lecturer. It was the most +exhausting, exciting, remarkable demonstration of religious enthusiasm I +have ever witnessed. It was an evangelistic yearning that could not be +repeated in another life-time. + +The entire summer was a round of Gospel meetings, overflow meetings, +open-air meetings, a succession of scenes of blessing. From the time I +arrived in Liverpool, where that same night I addressed two large +assemblages, till I got through after a monster gathering at Edinburgh, +I missed but three Gospel appointments, and those because I was too +tired to stand up. I preached ninety-eight times in ninety-three days. + +With nothing but Gospel themes I confronted multitudes. A collection was +always taken up at these gatherings for the benefit of local charities, +feeble churches, orphan asylums and other institutions. My services were +gratuitous. + +It was the most wonderful summer of evangelical work I was ever +privileged to enjoy. There must have been much praying for me and my +welfare, or no mortal could have got through with the work. In every +city I went to, messages were passed into my ears for families in +America. The collection taken for the benefit of the Y.M.C.A. at Leeds +was about $6,000. During this visit I preached in Scenery Chapel, +London, in the pulpit where such consecrated souls as Rowland Hill and +Newman Hall and James Sherman had preached. I visited the "Red Horse +Hotel," of Stratford-on-Avon, where the chair and table used by +Washington Irving were as interesting to me as anything in Shakespeare's +cottage. The church where the poet is buried is over seven hundred years +old. + +The most interesting place around London to me is in Chelsea, where, on +a narrow street, I entered the house of Thomas Carlyle. This great +author was away from London at the time. Entering a narrow hall, on the +left is the literary workshop, where some of the strongest thunderbolts +of the world's literature have been forged. In the room, which has two +front windows shaded from the prying street by two little red calico +curtains, is a lounge that looks as though it had been made by an author +unaccustomed to saw or hammer. On the wall were a few woodcuts in plain +frames or pinned on the wall. Here was a photograph of Carlyle, taken +one day, as a member of his family told me, when he had a violent +toothache and could attend to nothing else, and yet posterity regards it +as a favourite picture. There are only three copies of this photograph +in existence. One was given to Carlyle, the other was kept by the +photographer, and the third belongs to me. In long rough shelves was the +library of the renowned thinker. The books were well worn with reading. +Many of them were books I never heard of. American literature was almost +ignored; they were chiefly books written by Germans. There was an +absence of theological books, excepting those of Thomas Chalmers, whose +genius he worshipped. The carpets were old and worn and faded. He wished +them to be so, as a perpetual protest against the world's sham. It did +not appeal to me as a place of inspiration for a writer. + +I returned to America impressed with the over-crowding of the British +Isles, and the unsettled regions of our own country. + +"Tell the United States we want to send her five million population this +year, and five million population next year," said a prominent +Englishman to me. I urged a mutual arrangement between the two +governments, to people the West with these populations. Great Britain +was the workshop of the world; we needed workers. The trouble in the +United States at this time was that when there was one garment needed +there were three people anxious to manufacture it, and five people +anxious to sell it. We needed to evoke more harvests and fruits to feed +the populations of the world, and more flax and wool for the clothing. +The cities in England are so close together that there is a cloud from +smokestacks the length and width of the island. The Canon of York +Minster showed me how the stone of that great cathedral was crumbling +under the chemical corrosion of the atmosphere, wafted from neighbouring +factories. + +America was not yet discovered then. Those who had gone West twenty +years back, in 1859, were, in 1879, the leading men of Chicago, and +Omaha, and Denver, and Minneapolis, and Dubuque. When I left, England +was still suffering from the effects of the long-continued panic in +America. + +Brooklyn had improved; still, we were threatened with a tremendous +influx of people. The new bridge at Fulton Ferry across the East River +would soon be opened. It looked as though there was to be another bridge +at South Ferry, and another at Peck Slip Ferry. Montauk Point was to be +purchased by some enterprising Americans, and a railroad was to connect +it with Brooklyn. Steamers from Europe were to find wharfage in some of +the bays of Long Island, and the passage across the Atlantic reduced to +six days! Passengers six days out of Queenstown would pass into +Brooklyn. This was the Brooklyn to be, as was seen in its prospectus, +its evolution in 1879-80. + +Our local elections had resulted in a better local government. With the +exception of an unsuccessful attempt by the Board of Canvassers to +deprive Frederick A. Schroeder of his seat in the Senate, because some +of the voters had left out the middle initial in his name in their +ballots, all was better with us politically than it had been. To the +credit of our local press, the two political rivals, the _Brooklyn +Eagle_ and the _Times_, united in their efforts to support Senator +Schroeder's claim. + +There was one man in Brooklyn at this time who was much abused and +caricatured for doing a great work--Professor Bergh, the deliverer of +dumb animals. He was constantly in the courts in defence of a lame horse +or a stray cat. I supported and encouraged him. I always hoped that he +would induce legislation that would give the poor car-horses of Brooklyn +more oats, and fewer passengers to haul in one car. He was one of the +first men to fight earnestly against vivisection--which was a great +work. + +Just after we had settled down to a more comfortable and hopeful state +of mind Mr. Thomas Kinsella, one of our prominent citizens, startled us +by showing us, in a published interview, how little we had any right to +feel that way. He told us that our Brooklyn debt was $17,000,000, with a +tax area of only three million and a half acres. It was disturbing. But +we had prospects, energies. We had to depend in this predicament upon +the quickened prosperity of our property holders, upon future examiners +to be scrupulous at the ballot box, on the increase of our population, +which would help to carry our burdens, and on the revenue from our great +bridge. These were local affairs of interest to us all, but in December, +1879, we had a more serious problem of our own to consider. This +concerned the future of the new Tabernacle. + +In consequence of perpetual and long-continued outrages committed by +neighbouring clergymen against the peace of our church, the Board of +Trustees of the Tabernacle addressed a letter to the congregation +suggesting our withdrawal from the denomination. I regretted this, +because I felt that the time would soon come when all denominations +should be helpful to each other. There would be enough people in +Brooklyn, I was sure, when all the churches could be crowded. I +positively refused to believe the things that my fellow ministers said +about me, or to notice them. I was perfectly satisfied with the +Christian outlook of our church. I urged the same spirit of calm upon my +church neighbours, by example and precept. It was a long while before +they realised the value of this advice. In the spring of 1879 my friend +Dr. Crosby, pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church at the corner of +Clinton and Fulton Streets, was undergoing an ecclesiastical trial, and +an enterprising newsboy invaded the steps of the church, as the most +interested market for the sale of the last news about the trial. He was +ignominiously pushed off the church steps by the church officers. I was +indignant about it. (I saw it from a distance, as I was coming down the +street.) I thought it was a row between Brooklyn ministers, however, and +turned the corner to avoid such a shocking sight. My suspicions were not +groundless, because there was even then anything but brotherly love +between some of the churches there. + +A synodical trial by the Synod of Long Island was finally held at +Jamaica, L.I., to ascertain if there was not some way of inducing church +harmony in Brooklyn. After several days at Jamaica, in which the +ministers of Long Island took us ministers of Brooklyn across their +knees and applied the ecclesiastical slipper, we were sent home with a +benediction. A lot of us went down there looking hungry, and they sent +us back all fed up. Even some of the church elders were hungry and came +back to Brooklyn strengthened. + +It looked for awhile after this as though all clerical antagonisms in +Brooklyn would expire. I even foresaw a time coming when Brothers +Speare, Van Dyke, Crosby and Talmage would sing Moody and Sankey hymns +together out of the same hymn-book. + +The year 1880 began with an outbreak in Maine, a sort of miniature +revolution, caused by a political appointment of my friend Governor +Garcelon contrary to the opinions of the people of his State. Garcelon I +knew personally, and regarded him as a man of honour and pure political +motives, whether he did his duty or not; whatever he did he believed was +the right and conscientious thing to do. The election had gone against +the Democrats. In a neat address Mr. Lincoln Robinson, Democrat, handed +over the keys of New York State to Mr. Carroll, the Republican Governor. +Antagonists though they had been at the ballot-box, the surrender was +conducted with a dignity that I trust will always surround the +gubernatorial chair of the State of New York, once graced by such men as +DeWitt Clinton, Silas Wright, William H. Seward, and John A. Dix. + +In January, 1880, Frank Leslie, the pioneer of pictorial journalism in +America, died. I met him only once, when he took me through his immense +establishment. I was impressed with him then, as a man of much elegance +of manner and suavity of feeling. He was very much beloved by his +employees, which, in those days of discord between capital and labour, +was a distinction. + +The arrival of Mr. Parnell in New York was an event of the period. We +knew he was an orator, and we were anxious to hear him. There was some +uncertainty as to whether he came to America to obtain bayonets to stick +the English with, or whether he came for bread for the starving in +Ireland. We did not understand the political problem between England and +Ireland so well--but we did understand the meaning of a loaf of bread. +Mr. Parnell was welcome. + +The failure of the harvest crops in Europe made the question of the hour +at the beginning of 1880--bread. The grain speculator appeared, with his +greedy web spun around the world. Europe was short 200,000,000 bushels +of wheat. The American speculator cornered the market, stacked the +warehouses, and demanded fifty cents a bushel. Europe was compelled to +retaliate, by purchasing grain in Russia, British India, New Zealand, +South America, and Australia. In one week the markets of the American +North-west purchased over 15,000,000 bushels, of which only 4,000,000 +bushels were exported. Meanwhile the cry of the world's hunger grew +louder, and the bolts on the grain cribs were locked tighter than ever. +American finances could have been straightened out on this one product, +except for the American speculator, who demanded more for it than it was +worth. The United States had a surplus of 18,000,000 bushels of grain +for export, in 1880. But the kings of the wheat market said to Europe, +"Bow down before us, and starve." + +Suddenly we in America were surprised to learn that flour in London was +two dollars cheaper a barrel than it was in New York. Our grain blockade +of the world was reacting upon us. Lying idle at the wharves of New York +and Brooklyn were 102 ships, 439 barques, 87 brigs, 178 schooners, and +47 steamers. Six or seven hundred of these vessels were waiting for +cargoes. The gates of our harbour were closed in the grip of the grain +gambler. The thrift of the speculator was the menace of our national +prosperity. The octopus of speculative ugliness was growing to its full +size, and threatened to smother us utterly. There was a "corner" on +everything. + +We were busy trying to pick out our next President. There was great +agitation over the Republican candidates: Grant, Blaine, Cameron, +Conkling, Sherman. Greatness in a man is sometimes a hindrance to the +Presidency. Such was the case with Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Thomas H. +Benton, and William C. Preston. We were only on the edge of the +whirlpool of a presidential election. In England the election storm was +just beginning. The first thunderbolt was the sudden dissolution of +Parliament by Lord Beaconsfield. The two mightiest men in England then +were antagonists, Disraeli and Gladstone. + +What a magnificent body of men are those Members of Parliament. They +meet and go about without the ostentation of some of our men in +Congress. Men of great position in England are born to it; they are not +so afraid of losing it as our celebrated Republicans and Democrats. Even +the man who comes up into political power from the masses in England is +more likely to hold his position than if he had triumphed in American +politics. + +In the spring and summer of 1880 I took a long and exhaustive trip +across our continent, and completely lost the common dread of emigration +that was then being talked about. There was room enough for fifty new +nations between Omaha and Cheyenne, room for more still between Cheyenne +and Ogden, from Salt Lake City to Sacramento. + +An unpretentious youth, Carey by name, whom I had known in Philadelphia, +went West in '67. I found him in Cheyenne a leading citizen. He had +been District Attorney, then judge of one of the courts, owned a city +block, a cattle ranch, and was worth about $500,000. There wasn't room +enough for him in Philadelphia. Senator Hill of Colorado told me, while +in Denver, about a man who came out there from the East to be a miner. +He began digging under a tree because it was shady. People passed by and +laughed at him. He kept on digging. After a while he sent a waggon load +of the dust to be assayed, and there was $9,000 worth of metal in it. He +retired with a fortune. + +A man with $3,000 and good health could have gone West in 1880, invested +it in cattle, and made a fortune. San Francisco was only forty-five +years old then, Denver thirty-five, Leadville sixteen, Kansas City +thirty-five. They looked a hundred at least. Leadville was then a place +of palatial hotels, elegant churches, boulevards and streets. The West +was just aching to show how fast it could build cities. Leadville was +the most lied about. It was reported that I explored Leadville till long +after midnight, looking at its wickedness. I didn't. All the exploring I +did in Leadville was in about six minutes, from the wide open doors of +the gambling houses on two of the main streets; but the next day it was +telegraphed all over the United States. There were more telephones in +Leadville in 1880 than in any other city in the United States, to its +population. Some of the best people of Brooklyn and New York lived +there. The newspaper correspondents lost money in the gambling houses +there, and so they didn't like Leadville, and told the world it was a +bad place, which was a misrepresentation. It is a well known law of +human nature that a man usually hates a place where he did not behave +well. I found perfect order there, to my surprise. There was a vigilance +committee in Leadville composed of bankers and merchants. It was their +business to give a too cumbrous law a boost. The week before I got to +Leadville this committee hanged two men. The next day eighty scoundrels +took the hint and left Leadville. A great institution was the vigilance +committee of those early Western days. They saved San Francisco, and +Cheyenne, and Leadville. I wish they had been in Brooklyn when I was +there. The West was not slow to assimilate the elegancies of life +either. There were beautiful picture galleries in Omaha, and Denver, and +Sacramento, and San Francisco. There was more elaboration and +advancement of dress in the West than there was in the East in 1880. The +cravats of the young men in Cheyenne were quite as surprising, and the +young ladies of Cheyenne went down the street with the elbow wabble, +then fashionable in New York. San Francisco was Chicago intensified, and +yet then it was a mere boy of a city, living in a garden of Eden, called +California. On my return came Mr. Garfield's election. It was quietly +and peaceably effected, but there followed that exposure of political +outrages concerning his election, the Morey forgeries. I hoped then that +this villainy would split the Republican and Democratic parties into new +fields, that it would spilt the North and the South into a different +sectional feeling. I hoped that there would be a complete upheaval, a +renewed and cleaner political system as a consequence. But the reform +movement is always slower than any other. + +I remember the harsh things that were said in our denomination of +Lucretia Mott, the quakeress, the reformer, the world-renowned woman +preacher of the day. She was well nigh as old as the nation, +eighty-eight years old, when she died. Her voice has never died in the +plain meeting-houses of this country and England. I don't know that she +was always right, but she always meant to be right. In Philadelphia, +where she preached, I lived among people for years who could not mention +her name without tears of gratitude for what she had done for them. +There was great opposition to her because she was the first woman +preacher, but all who heard her speak knew she had a divine right of +utterance. + +In November, 1880, Disraeli's great novel, "Endymion" was published by +an American firm, Appleton & Co., a London publisher paying the author +the largest cash price ever paid for a manuscript up to that +time--$50,000. Noah Webster made that much in royalties on his spelling +book, but less on one of the greatest works given to the human race, his +dictionary. There was a great literary impulse in American life, +inspired by such American publishing houses as Appleton's, the Harper +Bros., the Dodds, the Randolphs, and the Scribners. It was the brightest +moment in American literature; far brighter than the day Victor Hugo, in +youth, long anxious to enter the French Academy, applied to Callard for +his vote. He pretended never to have heard of him. "Will you accept a +copy of my books?" asked Victor Hugo. "No thank you," replied the other; +"I never read new books." Riley offered to sell his "Universal +Philosophy" for $500. The offer was refused. Great and wise authors have +often been without food and shelter. Sometimes governments helped them, +as when President Pierce appointed Nathaniel Hawthorne to office, and +Locke was made Commissioner of Appeals, and Steele State Commissioner of +Stamps by the British Government. Oliver Goldsmith said: "I have been +years struggling with a wretched being, with all that contempt which +indigence brings with it, with all those strong passions which make +contempt insupportable." Mr. Payne, the author of "Home, Sweet Home," +had no home, and was inspired to the writing of his immortal song by a +walk through the streets one slushy night, and hearing music and +laughter inside a comfortable dwelling. The world-renowned Sheridan +said: "Mrs. Sheridan and I were often obliged to keep writing for our +daily shoulder of mutton; otherwise we should have had no dinner." +Mitford, while he was writing his most celebrated book, lived in the +fields, making his bed of grass and nettles, while two-pennyworth of +bread and cheese with an onion was his daily food. I know of no more +refreshing reading than the books of William Hazlitt. I take down from +my shelf one of his many volumes, and I know not when to stop reading. +So fresh and yet so old! But through all the volumes there comes a +melancholy, accounted for by the fact that he had an awful struggle for +bread. On his dying couch he had a friend write for him the following +letter to Francis Jeffrey:-- + + "Dear Sir,--I am at the last gasp. Please send me a hundred + pounds.--Yours truly, + + "WILLIAM HAZLITT." + +The money arrived the day after his death. Poor fellow! I wish he had +during his lifetime some of the tens of thousands of dollars that have +since been paid in purchase of his books. He said on one occasion to a +friend: "I have carried a volcano in my bosom up and down Paternoster +Row for a good two hours and a half. Can you lend me a shilling? I have +been without food these two days." My readers, to-day the struggle of a +good many literary people goes on. To be editor of a newspaper as I have +been, and see the number of unavailable manuscripts that come in, crying +out for five dollars, or anything to appease hunger and pay rent and get +fuel! Oh, it is heartbreaking! After you have given all the money you +can spare you will come out of your editorial rooms crying. + +Disraeli was seventy-five when "Endymion" was published. Disraeli's +"Endymion" came at a time when books in America were greater than they +ever were before or have been since. A flood of magazines came +afterwards, and swamped them. Before this time new books were rarely +made. Rich men began to endow them. It was a glorious way of spending +money. Men sometimes give their money away because they have to give it +up anyhow. Such men rarely give it to book-building. + +In January, 1881, Mr. George L. Seavey, a prominent Brooklyn man at that +time, gave $50,000 to the library of the Historical Society of New York. +Attending a reception one night in Brooklyn, I was shown his check, made +out for that purpose. It was a great gift, one of the first given for +the intellectual food of future bookworms. + +Most of the rich men of this time were devoting their means to making +Senators. The legislatures were manufacturing a new brand, and turning +them out made to order. Many of us were surprised at how little timber, +and what poor quality, was needed to make a Senator in 1881. The nation +used to make them out of stout, tall oaks. Many of those new ones were +made of willow, and others out of crooked sticks. In most cases the +strong men defeated each other, and weak substitutes were put in. The +forthcoming Congress was to be one of commonplace men. The strong men +had to stay at home, and the accidents took their places in the +government. Still there were leaders, North and South. + +My old friend Senator Brown of Georgia was one of the leaders of the +South. He spoke vehemently in Congress in the cause of education. Only a +few months before he had given, out of his private purse, forty thousand +dollars to a Baptist college. He was a man who talked and urged a hearty +union of feeling between the North and the South. He always hoped to +abolish sectional feeling by one grand movement for the financial, +educational, and moral welfare of the Nation. It was my urgent wish that +President Garfield should invite Senator Brown to a place in his +Cabinet, although the Senator would probably have refused the honour, +for there was no better place to serve the American people than in the +American Senate. + +During the first week in February, 1881, the world hovered over the +death-bed of Thomas Carlyle. He was the great enemy of all sorts of +cant, philosophical or religious. He was for half a century the great +literary iconoclast. Daily bulletins of the sick-bed were published +world-wide. There was no easy chair in his study, no soft divans. It was +just a place to work, and to stay at work. I once saw a private letter, +written by Carlyle to Thomas Chalmers. The first part of it was devoted +to a eulogy of Chalmers, the latter part descriptive of his own +religious doubts. He never wrote anything finer. It was beautiful, +grand, glorious, melancholy. + +Thomas Carlyle started with the idea that the intellect was all, the +body nothing but an adjunct, an appendage. He would spur the intellect +to costly energies, and send the body supperless to bed. After years of +doubts and fears I learned that towards the end he returned to the +simplicities of the Gospel. + +While this great thinker of the whole of life was sinking into his last +earthly sleep, the men in the parliament of his nation were squabbling +about future ambitions. Thirty-five Irish members were forcibly ejected. +Neither Beaconsfield nor Gladstone could solve the Irish question. Nor +do I believe it will ever be solved to the satisfaction of Ireland. But +a greater calamity than those came upon us; in the summer of this year +President Garfield was assassinated in Washington. + + + + +THE SEVENTH MILESTONE + +1881-1884 + + +On July 2, 1881, an attempt was made to assassinate President Garfield, +at the Pennsylvania Station, Washington, where he was about to board a +train. I heard the news first on the railroad train at Williamstown, +Mass., where the President was expected in three or four days. + +"Absurd, impossible," I said. Why should anyone want to kill him? He had +nothing but that which he had earned with his own brain and hand. He had +fought his own way up from country home to college hall, and from +college hall to the House of Representatives, and from House of +Representatives to the Senate Chamber, and from the Senate Chamber to +the Presidential chair. Why should anyone want to kill him? He was not a +despot who had been treading on the rights of the people. There was +nothing of the Nero or the Robespierre in him. He had wronged no man. He +was free and happy himself, and wanted all the world free and happy. Why +should anyone want to kill him? He had a family to shepherd and educate, +a noble wife and a group of little children leaning on his arm and +holding his hand, and who needed him for many years to come. + +Only a few days before, I had paid him a visit. He was a bitter +antagonist of Mormonism, and I was in deep sympathy with his Christian +endeavours in this respect. I never saw a more anxious or perturbed +countenance than James A. Garfield's, the last time I met him. It seemed +a great relief to him to turn to talk to my child, who was with me. He +had suffered enough abuse in his political campaign to suffice for one +lifetime. He was then facing three or four years of insult and contumely +greater than any that had been heaped upon his predecessors. He had +proposed greater reforms, and by so much he was threatened to endure +worse outrages. His term of office was just six months, but he +accomplished what forty years of his predecessors had failed to do--the +complete and eternal pacification of the North and the South. There were +more public meetings of sympathy for him, at this time, in the South +than there were in the North. His death-bed in eight weeks did more for +the sisterhood of States than if he had lived eight years--two terms of +the Presidency. His cabinet followed the reform spirit of his +leadership. Postmaster General James made his department illustrious by +spreading consternation among the scoundrels of the Star Route, saving +the country millions of dollars. Secretary Windom wrought what the +bankers and merchants called a financial miracle. Robert Lincoln, the +son of another martyred President, was Secretary of War. + +Guiteau was no more crazy than thousands of other place-hunters. He had +been refused an office, and he was full of unmingled and burning +revenge. There was nothing else the matter with him. It was just this: +"You haven't given me what I want; now I'll kill you." For months after +each presidential inauguration the hotels of Washington are roosts for +these buzzards. They are the crawling vermin of this nation. Guiteau +was no rarity. There were hundreds of Guiteaus in Washington after the +inauguration, except that they had not the courage to shoot. I saw them +some two months or six weeks after. They were mad enough to do it. I saw +it in their eyes. + +They killed two other Presidents, William Henry Harrison and Zachary +Taylor. I know the physicians called the disease congestion of the lungs +or liver, but the plain truth was that they were worried to death; they +were trampled out of life by place-hunters. Three Presidents sacrificed +to this one demon are enough. I urged Congress at the next session to +start a work of presidential emancipation. Four Presidents have +recommended civil service reform, and it has amounted to little or +nothing. But this assassination I hoped would compel speedy and decisive +action. + +James A. Garfield was prepared for eternity. He often preached the +Gospel. "I heard him preach, he preached for me in my pulpit," a +minister told me. He preached once in Wall Street to an excited throng, +after Lincoln was shot. He preached to the wounded soldiers at +Chickamauga. He preached in the United States Senate, in speeches of +great nobility. When a college boy, camped on the mountains, he read the +Scriptures aloud to his companions. After he was shot, he declared that +he trusted all in the Lord's hand--was ready to live or die. + +"If the President die, what of his successor?" was the great question of +the hour. I did not know Mr. Arthur at that time, but I prophesied that +Mr. Garfield's policies would be carried out by his successor. + +I consider President Garfield was a man with the most brilliant mind +who ever occupied the White House. He had strong health, a splendid +physique, a fine intellect. If Guiteau's bullet had killed the President +instantly, there would have been a revolution in this country. + +He lingered amid the prayers of the nation, surrounded by seven of the +greatest surgeons and physicians of the hour. Then he passed on. His son +was preparing a scrap-book of all the kind things that had been said +about his father, to show him when he recovered. That was a tender +forethought of one who knew how unjustly he had suffered the slanders of +his enemies. There was much talk about presidential inability, and in +the midst of this public bickering Chester A. Arthur became president. +He took office, amid severe criticism. I urged the appointment of +Frederick T. Frelinghuysen to the President's Cabinet, feeling that. Mr. +Arthur would have in this distinguished son of New Jersey, a devout, +evangelical, Christian adviser. In October I paid a visit, to Mr. +Garfield's home in Mentor, Ohio. On the hat-rack in the hall was his +hat, where he had left it, when the previous March he left for his +inauguration in Washington. I left that bereaved household with a +feeling that a full explanation of this event must be adjourned to the +next state of my existence. + +The new President was gradually becoming, on all sides, the bright hope +of our national future. In after years I learned to know him and admire +him. + +In the period of transition that followed the President's assassination +we lost other good men. + +We lost Senator Burnside of Rhode Island, at one time commander of the +Army of the Potomac, and three times Governor of his State. I met him at +a reception given in the home of my friend Judge Hilton, in Woodlawn, +at Saratoga Springs. He had an imperial presence, coupled with the +utterance of a child. The Senator stood for purity in politics. No one +ever bought him, or tried to buy him. He held no stock in the Credit +Mobilier. He shook hands with none of the schemes that appealed to +Congress to fleece the people. He died towards the close of 1881. + +A man of greater celebrity, of an entirely different quality, who had +passed on, was about this time to be honoured with an effigy in +Westminster Abbey--Dean Stanley. I still remember keenly the afternoon I +met him in the Deanery adjoining the abbey. There was not much of the +physical in his appearance. His mind and soul seemed to have more than a +fair share of his physical territory. He had only just enough body to +detain the soul awhile on earth. + +And then we lost Samuel B. Stewart. The most of Brooklyn knew him--the +best part of Brooklyn knew him. I knew him long before I ever came to +Brooklyn. He taught me to read in the village school. His parents and +mine were buried in the same place. A few weeks later, the Rev. Dr. +Bellows of New York went. I do not believe that the great work done by +this good man was ever written. It was during that long agony when the +war hospitals were crowded with the sick, the wounded, and the dying. He +enlisted his voice and his pen and his fortune to alleviate their +suffering. I was on the field as a chaplain for a very little while, and +a little while looking after the sick in Philadelphia, and I noticed +that the Sanitary Commission, of which Dr. Bellows was the presiding +spirit, was constantly busy with ambulances, cordials, nurses, +necessaries and supplies. Many a dying soldier was helped by the mercy +of this good man's energies, and many a farewell message was forwarded +home. The civilians who served the humanitarian causes of the war, like +Dr. Bellows, have not received the recognition they should. Only the +military men have been honoured with public office. + +The chief menace of the first year of President Arthur's administration +was the danger of a policy to interfere in foreign affairs, and the +danger of extravagance in Washington, due to innumerable appropriation +bills. There was a war between Chili and Peru, and the United States +Government offered to mediate for Chili. It was a pitiable interference +with private rights, and I regretted this indication of an unnecessary +foreign policy in this country. In addition to this, there were enough +appropriation bills in Washington to swamp the nation financially. I had +stood for so many years in places where I could see clearly the ungodly +affairs of political life in my own country, that the progress of +politics became to me a hopeless thing. + +The political nominations of 1882 involved no great principles. In New +York State this was significant, because it brought before the nation +Mr. Grover Cleveland as a candidate for Governor against Mr. Folger. The +general opinion of these two men in the unbiassed public mind was +excellent. They were men of talent and integrity. They were not merely +actors in the political play. I have buried professional politicians, +and the most of them made a very bad funeral for a Christian minister to +speak at. I always wanted, at such a time, an Episcopal prayer book, +which is made for all eases, and may not be taken either as invidious or +too assuring. + +There was another contest, non-political, that interested the nation in +1882. It was the Sullivan-Ryan prize-fight. I had no great objection to +find with it, as did so many other ministers. It suggested a far better +symbol of arbitration between two differing opinions than war. If Mr. +Disraeli had gone out and met a distinguished Zulu on the field of +English battle, and fought their national troubles out, as Sullivan and +Ryan did, what a saving of life and money! How many lives could have +been saved if Napoleon and Wellington, or Moltke and McMahon had +emulated the spirit of the Sullivan-Ryan prize fight! I saw no +reasonable cause why the law should interfere between two men who +desired to pound one another in public; I stood alone almost among my +brethren in this conclusion. + +The persecution of the Jews in Russia, which came to us at this time +with all its details of cruelty and horror, was the beginning of an +important chapter in American history. Dr. Adler, in London, had +appealed for a million pounds to transport the Jews who were driven out +of Russia to the United States. It seemed more important that +civilisation should unite in an effort to secure protection for them in +their own homes, than compel them to obey the will of Russia. This was +no Christian remedy. We might as well abuse the Jews in America, and +then take up a collection to send them to England or Australia. The Jews +were entitled to their own rights of property and personal liberty and +religion, whether they lived in New York, or Brooklyn, or London, or +Paris, or Warsaw, or Moscow, or St. Petersburg. And yet we were +constantly hearing of the friendly feeling between Russia and the United +States. + +In after years I was privileged personally to address the Czar and his +family, in a private audience, and questions of the Russian problem were +discussed; but the Jews flocked to America, and we welcomed them, and +they learned to be Americans very rapidly. Their immigration to this +country was a matter of religious conscience, in which Russia had no +interest. + +A man's religious convictions are most important. I remember in October, +1882, what criticism and abuse there was of my friend Henry Ward +Beecher, when he decided to resign from the religious associations of +which he was a member. I was asked by members of the press to give my +opinion, but I was out when they called. Mr. Beecher was right. He was a +man of courage and of heart. I shall never forget the encouragement and +goodwill he extended to me, when I first came to Brooklyn in 1869 and +took charge of a broken-down church. Mr. Beecher did just as I would +have done under the same circumstances. I could not nor would stay in +the denomination to which I belonged any longer than it would take me to +write my resignation, if I disbelieved its doctrines. Mr. Beecher's +theology was very different from mine, but he did not differ from me in +the Christian life, any more than I differed from him. He never +interfered with me, nor I with him. Every little while some of the +ministers of America were attacked by a sort of Beecher-phobia, and they +foamed at the mouth over something that the pastor of Plymouth Church +said. People who have small congregations are apt to dislike a preacher +who has a full church. For thirteen years, or more, Beecher's church and +mine never collided. He had more people than he knew what to do with, +and so had I. I belonged to the company of the orthodox, but if I +thought that orthodoxy demanded that I must go and break other people's +heads I would not remain orthodox five minutes. Brooklyn was called the +city of churches, but it could also be called the city of short +pastorates. Many of the churches, during fifteen years of my pastorate, +had two, three, and four pastors. Dr. Scudder came and went; so did Dr. +Patten, Dr. Frazer, Dr. Buckley, Dr. Mitchell, Dr. Reid, Dr. Steele, Dr. +Gallagher, and a score of others. The Methodist Church was once famous +for keeping a minister only three or four years, but it is no longer +peculiar in this respect. Mr. Beecher had been pastor for thirty-six +years in Brooklyn when, in the summer of 1883, he celebrated the +anniversary of his seventieth birthday. + +Every now and then, for many years, there was an investigation of some +sort in Brooklyn. Our bridge was a favourite target of investigation. +"Where has the money for this great enterprise been expended?" was the +common question. I defended the trustees, because people did not realise +the emergencies that arose as the work progressed and entailed greater +expenditures. Originally, when projected, it was to cost $7,000,000, but +there was to be only one waggon road. It was resolved later to enlarge +the structure and build two waggon roads, and a place for trains, +freight, and passenger cars. Those enlarged plans were all to the +ultimate advantage of the growth of Brooklyn. It was at first intended +to make the approaches of the bridge in trestle work, then plans were +changed and they were built of granite. The cable, which was originally +to be made of iron, was changed to steel. For three years these cables +were the line on which the passengers on ferry-boats hung their jokes +about swindling and political bribery. No investigation was able to +shake my respect for the integrity of Mr. Stranahan, one of the bridge +trustees. He did as much for Brooklyn as any man in it. He was the +promoter of Prospect Park, designed and planned from his head and +heart. With all the powers at my disposal I defended the bridge trustee. + +There was an attempt in New York, towards the close of 1882, to present +the Passion Play on the stage of a theatre. A licence was applied for. +The artist, no matter how high in his profession, who would dare to +appear in the character of the Divine Person, was fit only for the Tombs +prison or Sing-Sing. I had no objection to any man attempting the role +of Judas Iscariot. That was entirely within the limitations of stage +art. Seth Low was Mayor of Brooklyn, and Mr. Grace was Mayor of New +York--a Protestant and a Catholic--and yet they were of one opinion on +this proposed blasphemy. + +I think everyone in America realised that the Democratic victory in the +election of Grover Cleveland, by a majority of 190,000 votes, as +Governor of New York, was a presidential prophecy. The contest for +President came up, seriously, in the spring of 1883, and the same +headlines appeared in the political caucus. Among the candidates was +Benjamin F. Butler, Governor of Massachusetts. I believed then there was +not a better man in the United States for President than Chester A. +Arthur. I believed that his faithfulness and dignity in office should be +honoured with the nomination. There was some surprise occasioned when +Harvard refused to confer an LL.D. on Governor Butler, a rebuke that no +previous Governor of Massachusetts had suffered. After all, the country +was chiefly impressed in this event with the fact that an LL.D., or a +D.D., or an F.R.S., did not make the man. Americans were becoming very +good readers of character; they could see at a glance the difference +between right and wrong, but they were tolerant of both. Much more so +than I was. There was one great fault in American character that the +whole world admired; it was our love of hero-worship. A great man was +the man who did great things, no matter what that man might stand for in +religion or in morals. + +There was Gambetta, whose friendship for America had won the admiration +of our country. I myself admired his eloquence, his patriotism, his +courage in office as Prime Minister of France; but his dying words +rolled like a wintry sea over all nations, "I am lost!" Gambetta was an +atheist, a man whose public indignities to womanhood were demonstrated +from Paris to Berlin. Gambetta's patriotism for France could never atone +for his atheism, and his infamy towards women. His death, in the dawn of +1883, was a page in the world's history turned down at the corner. + +What an important year it was to be for us! In the spring of 1883 the +Brooklyn bridge was opened, and our church was within fifteen or twenty +minutes of the hotel centre of New York. I said then that many of us +would see the population of Brooklyn quadrupled and sextupled. In many +respects, up to this time, Brooklyn had been treated as a suburb of New +York, a dormitory for tired Wall Streeters. With the completion of the +bridge came new plans for rapid transit, for the widening of our +streets, for the advancement of our municipal interests. A consolidation +of Brooklyn and New York was then under discussion. It was a bad +look-out for office-holders, but a good one for tax-payers. At least +that was the prospect, but I never will see much encouragement in +American politics. + +The success of Grover Cleveland and his big majority, as Governor, led +both wings of the Democratic party to promise us the millennium. Even +the Republicans were full of national optimism, going over to the +Democrats to help the jubilee of reform. Four months later, although we +were told that Mr. Cleveland was to be President, he could not get his +own legislature to ratify his nomination. His hands were tied, and his +idolaters were only waiting for his term of office to expire. The +politicians lied about him. Because as Governor of New York he could not +give all the office-seekers places, he was, in a few months, executed by +his political friends, and the millennium was postponed that politics +might have time to find someone else to be lifted up--and in turn hurled +into oblivion. + +That the politics of our country might serve a wider purpose, a great +agitation among the newspapers began. The price of the great dailies +came down from four to three cents, and from three to two cents. In a +week it looked as though they would all be down to one cent. I expected +to see them delivered free, with a bonus given for the favour of taking +them at all. It was not a pleasant outlook, this deluge of printed +matter, cheapened in every way, by cheaper labour, cheaper substance, +and cheaper grammar. It was a plan that enlarged the scope of influence +over what was arrogantly claimed as editorial territory--public opinion. +Public opinion is sound enough, so long as it is not taken too seriously +in the newspapers. + +The difference between a man as his antagonists depict him, and as he +really is in his own character, may be as wide as the ocean. I was +particularly impressed with this fact when I met the Rev. Dr. Ewer of +New York, who had been accused of being disputatious and arrogant. Truth +was, he was a master in the art of religious defence, wielding a +scimitar of sharp edge. I never met a man with more of the childlike, +the affable, and the self-sacrificing qualities than Dr. Ewer had. + +He was an honest man in the highest sense, with a never-varying purity +of purpose. Dr. Ewer died in the fall of 1883. + +I began to feel that in the local management of our own big city there +was an uplift, when two such sterling young men as James W. Ridgeway, +and Joseph C. Hendrix, were nominated for District Attorney. They were +merely technical opponents, but were united in the cause of reform and +honest administration against our criminal population. We were fortunate +in the degree of promise there was, in having a choice of such competent +nominees. But it was a period of historical jubilee in our country, this +fall of 1883. + +We were celebrating centennials everywhere, even at Harvard. It seemed +to be about a hundred years back since anything worth while had really +happened in America. Since 1870 there had been a round of centennials. +It was a good thing in the busy glorification of a brilliant present, +and a glorious future, that we rehearsed the struggle and hardships by +which we had arrived to this great inheritance of blessing and +prosperity. + +"The United States Government is a bubble-bursting nationality," said +Lord John Russell, but every year since has disproved the accuracy of +this jeer. Even our elections disproved it. Candidates for the +Presidency are pushed out of sight by a sudden wave of split tickets. In +the elections of 1883, in Ohio ten candidates were obliterated; in +Pennsylvania five were buried and fifteen resurrected. In Indiana, the +record of names in United States political quicksands is too long too +consider, the new candidates that sprang up being still larger in +numbers. And yet only six men in any generation become President. Out of +five thousand men, who consider themselves competent to be captains, +only six are crowned with their ambition. And these six are not +generally the men who had any prospect of becoming the people's choice. +The two political chiefs in convention, failing on the thirtieth ballot +to get the nomination, some less conspicuous man is chosen as a +compromise. Political ambition seems to me a poor business. There are +men more worthy of national praise than the successful politicians; men +like Isaac Hull; men whose generous gifts and Christian careers +perpetuate the magnificent purposes of our lives. Isaac Hull was a +Quaker--one of the best in that sect. I lived among quakers for seven +years in Philadelphia, and I loved them. Mr. Hull illustrated in his +life the principles of his sect, characterised by integrity of finance +and of soul. He rose to the front rank of public-spirited men, from the +humble duties of a farmer's boy. He was one of the most important +members of the Society of Friends, and I valued the privilege of his +friendship more than that of any celebrity I ever knew. He lived for the +profit in standards rather than for wealth, and he passed on to a wider +circle of friends beyond. + +I have a little list of men who about this time passed away amid many +antagonisms--men who were misunderstood while they lived. I knew their +worth. There was John McKean, the District Attorney of New York, who +died in 1883, when criticism against him, of lawyers and judges, was +most bitter and cruel. A brilliant lawyer, he was accused of +non-performance of duty; but he died, knowing nothing of the delays +complained of. He was blamed for what he could not help. Some stroke of +ill-health; some untoward worldly [_Transcriber's Note: original says +"wordly"_] circumstances, or something in domestic conditions will often +disqualify a man for service; and yet he is blamed for idleness, for +having possessions when the finances are cramped, for temper when the +nerves have given out, for misanthropy when he has had enough to disgust +him for ever with the human race. After we have exhausted the vocabulary +of our abuse, such men die, and there is no reparation we can make. In +spite of the abuse John McKean received, the courts adjourned in honour +of his death--but that was a belated honour. McKean was one of the +kindest of men; he was merciful and brave. + +There was Henry Villard, whose bankruptcy of fortune killed him. He was +compelled to resign the presidency of the Northern Pacific Railroad +Company, to resign his fortune, to resign all but his integrity. That he +kept, though every dollar had gone. Only two years before his financial +collapse he was worth $30,000,000. In putting the great Northern Pacific +Railroad through he swamped everything he had. All through Minnesota and +the North-west I heard his praises. He was a man of great heart and +unbounded generosity, on which fed innumerable human leeches, enough of +them to drain the life of any fortune that was ever made. On a +magnificent train he once took, free of charge, to the Yellowstone Park, +a party of men, who denounced him because, while he provided them with +every luxury, they could not each have a separate drawing-room car to +themselves. I don't believe since the world began there went through +this country so many titled nonentities as travelled then, free of cost, +on the generous bounty of Mr. Villard. The most of these people went +home to the other side of the sea, and wrote magazine articles on the +conditions of American society, while Mr. Villard went into bankruptcy. +It was the last straw that broke the camel's back. It would not be so +bad if riches only had wings with which to fly away; but they have claws +with which they give a parting clutch that sometimes clips a man's +reason, or crushes his heart. It is the claw of riches we must look out +for. + +Then there was Wendell Phillips! Not a man in this country was more +admired and more hated than he was. Many a time, addressing a big +audience, he would divide them into two parts--those who got up to leave +with indignation, and those who remained to frown. He was often, during +a lecture, bombarded with bricks and bad eggs. But he liked it. He could +endure anything in an audience but silence, and he always had a secure +following of admirers. + +He told me once that in some of the back country towns of Pennsylvania +it nearly killed him to lecture. "I go on for an hour," he told me, +"without hearing one response, and I have no way of knowing whether the +people are instructed, pleased, or outraged." + +He enjoyed the tempestuous life. His other life was home. It was +dominant in his appreciation. He owed much of his courage to that home. +Lecturing in Boston once, during most agitated times, he received this +note from his wife: "No shilly-shallying, Wendell, in the presence of +this great public outrage." Many men in public life owe their strength +to this reservoir of power at home. + +The last fifteen years of his life were devoted to the domestic +invalidism of his home. Some men thought this was unjustifiable. But +what exhaustion of home life had been given to establish his public +career! A popular subscription was started to raise a monument in +Boston to Wendell Phillips. I recommended that it should be built within +sight of the monument erected to Daniel Webster. If there were ever two +men who during their life had an appalling antagonism, they were Daniel +Webster and Wendell Phillips. I hoped at that time their statues would +be erected facing each other. Wendell Phillips was fortunate in his +domestic tower of strength; still, I have known men whose domestic lives +were painful in the extreme, and yet they arose above this deficiency to +great personal prominence. + +What is good for one man is not good for another. It is the same with +State rights as it is with private rights. In '83-'84, the whole country +was agitated about the questions of tariff reform and free trade. Tariff +reform for Pennsylvania, free trade for Kentucky. New England and the +North-west had interests that would always be divergent. It was absurd +to try and persuade the American people that what was good for one State +was good for another State. Common intelligence showed how false this +theory was. Until by some great change the manufacturing interests of +the country should become national interests, co-operation and +compromise in inter-state commerce was necessary. No one section of the +country could have its own way. The most successful candidate for the +Presidency at this time seemed to be the man who could most bewilder the +public mind on these questions. Blessed in politics is the political +fog! + +The most significantly hopeful fact to me was that the three prominent +candidates for Speakership at the close of 1883--Mr. Carlisle, Mr. +Randall, and Mr. Cox--never had wine on their tables. We were, moreover, +getting away from the old order of things, when senators were +conspicuous in gambling houses. The world was advancing in a spiritual +transit of events towards the close. It was time that it gave way to +something even better. It had treated me gloriously, and I had no fault +to find with it, but I had seen so many millions in hunger and pain, and +wretchedness and woe that I felt this world needed either to be fixed up +or destroyed. + +The world had had a hard time for six thousand years, and, as the new +year of 1884 approached, there were indications that our planet was +getting restless. There were earthquakes, great storms, great drought. +It may last until some of my descendants shall head their letters with +January 1, 15,000, A.D.; but I doubt it. + + + + +THE EIGHTH MILESTONE + +1884-1885 + + +I reached the fiftieth year of my life in December, 1883. In my long +residence in Brooklyn I had found it to be the healthiest city in the +world. It had always been a good place to live in--plenty of fresh air +blowing up from the sea--plenty of water rolling down through our +reservoirs--the Sabbaths too quiet to attract ruffianism. + +Of all the men I have seen and heard and known, there were but a few +deep friendships that I depended upon. In February, 1884, I lost one of +these by the decease of Thomas Kinsella, a Brooklyn man of public +affairs, of singular patriotism and local pride. + +Years ago, when I was roughly set upon by ecclesiastical assailants, he +gave one wide swing of his editorial scimitar, which helped much in +their ultimate annihilation. My acquaintance with him was slight at the +time, and I did not ask him to help me. I can more easily forget a wrong +done to me than I can forget a kindness. He was charitable to many who +never knew of it. By reason of my profession, there came to me many +stories of distress and want, and it was always Mr. Kinsella's hand that +was open to befriend the suffering. Bitter in his editorial +antagonisms, he was wide in his charities. One did not have to knock at +many iron gates to reach his sympathies. + +Mr. Kinsella died of overwork, from the toil of years that taxed his +strength. None but those who have been behind the scenes can appreciate +the energies that are required in making up a great daily newspaper. Its +demands for "copy" come with such regularity. Newspaper writers must +produce just so much, whether they feel like it or not. There is no +newspaper vacation. So the commanders-in-chief of the great dailies +often die of overwork. Henry J. Raymond died that way, Samuel Bowles, +Horace Greeley. Once in a while there are surviving veterans like +Thurlow Weed, or Erastus Brooks, or James Watson Webb--but they shifted +the most of the burden on others as they grew old. Success in any +calling means drudgery, sacrifice, push, and tug, but especially so in +the ranks of the newspaper armies. + +A great many of us, however, about this time, survived a worse fate, +though how we did it is still a mystery of the period. We discovered, in +the spring of 1884, that we had been eating and drinking things not to +be mentioned. Honest old-fashioned butter had melted and run out of the +world. Instead of it we had trichinosis in all styles served up morning +and evening--all the evils of the food creation set before us in raw +shape, or done up in puddings, pies, and gravies. The average hotel hash +was innocent merriment compared to our adulterated butter. The candies, +which we bought for our children, under chemical analysis, were found to +be crystallised disease. Lozenges were of red lead. Coffees and teas +were so adulterated that we felt like Charles Lamb, who, in a similar +predicament, said, "If this be coffee, give me tea; and if it be tea, +give me coffee." Even our medicines were so craftily adulterated that +they were sure to kill. There was alum in our bread, chalk in our milk, +glass in our sugar, Venetian red in our cocoa, and heaven knows what in +the syrup. + +Too much politics in our food threatened to demoralise our large cities. +The same thing had happened in London, in 1868. We survived it, kept on +preaching against it, and giving money to prosecute the guilty. It was +an age of pursuit; ministers pursuing ministers, lawyers pursuing +lawyers, doctors, merchants, even Arctic explorers pursuing one another, +the North Pole a jealous centre of interest. Everything is frozen in the +Arctic region save the jealousies of the Arctic explorers. Even the +North Pole men were like others. This we discovered in 1884, when, in +Washington, the post-mortem trial of DeLong and his men was in progress. +There was nothing to be gained by the controversy. There were no laurels +to be awarded by this investigation, because the men whose fame was most +involved were dead. It was a quarrel, and the "Jeannette" was the +graveyard in which it took place. It was disgraceful. + +Jealousy is the rage of a man, also of a woman. + +It was evident, in the progress of this one-sided trial, that our +legislature needed to have their corridors, their stairways, and their +rooms cleaned of lobbyists. + +At the State Capital in Albany, one bright spring morning in the same +year, the legislature rose and shook itself, and the Sergeant-at-Arms +was instructed to drive the squad of lobbyists out of the building. He +did it so well that he scarcely gave them time to get their canes or +their hats. Some of the lowest men in New York and Brooklyn were among +them. That was a spring cleaning worth while. But it was only a little +corner of the political arena that was unclean. + +I remember how eagerly, when I went to Canada in April, the reporters +kept asking me who would be the next President. It would have been such +an easy thing to answer if I had only known who the man was. In this +dilemma I suggested some of our best presidential timber in Brooklyn as +suitable candidates. These were General Slocum, General Woodford, +General Tracey, Mayor Low, Judge Pratt, Judge Tierney, Mr. Stranahan, +and Judge Neilson. Some of these men had been seriously mentioned for +the office. Honourable mention was all they got, however. They were too +unpretentious for the role. It was the beginning of a mud-slinging +campaign. New York versus New York--Brooklyn versus Brooklyn. + +I long ago came to the conclusion that the real heroes of the world were +on the sea. The ambitions of men crowded together on land were +incontestably disgusting. On the vast, restless deep men stand alone, in +brave conflict with constant danger. I was always deeply impressed by +the character of men, as revealed in disasters of the sea. There were +many of them during my life-time. The bigger the ships grew, the more +dangerous became ocean travel. Our improvements seemed to add to the +humour of grim old Neptune. In 1884 the ocean was becoming a great +turnpike road, and people were required by law to keep to the right or +to the left. A population of a million sailors was on the sea at all +times. Some of the ships were too busy to stop to save human lives, as +was the case in the disaster of the "Florida." In distress, her captain +hailed "The City of Rome," a monster of the deep. But "The City of +Rome" had no time to stop, and passed on by. The lifeboats of the +"Florida" were useless shells, utterly unseaworthy. The "Florida" was +unfit for service. John Bayne, the engineer, was the hero who lost his +life to save others. But this was becoming a common story of the sea; +for when the "Schiller" went down, Captain Thomas gave his life for +others. When the "Central-America" sank, President Arthur's +father-in-law perished in the same way. Every shipwreck I have known +seems lighted up with some marvellous deed of heroism in man. + +In 1884 there was a failure in Wall Street for eight or ten million +dollars, and hundreds went down during this shipwreck. By heroism and +courage alone were they able to outlive it. To whom did all this money +belong? To those who were drowned in the storm of financial sea. But it +was only a Wall Street flurry; it did not affect the national ship as it +would have done twenty years before. The time had passed when Wall +Street could jeopardise the commerce of the country. Twenty years +before, such a calamity in three days' time would have left all the +business of the nation in the dust. It would have crashed down all the +banks, the insurance companies, the stock-houses. New York, Boston, +Philadelphia, San Francisco, New Orleans--from coast to coast, +everything would have tumbled down. + +The principal lesson derived from this panic was to keep excitable men +out of Wall Street. While the romance of a failure for hundreds of +thousands of dollars is more appealing than a failure for a small sum, +the greater the deficit the greater the responsibility. Ferdinand Ward +was in this Wall Street crash of 1883. The roseate glasses of wealth +through which he saw the world had made him also see millions in every +direction. George L. Seney lost his bank and railroad stock in this +failure, but he had given hundreds of thousands to the cause of +education, North and South. Some people regretted that he had not kept +his fortune to help him out of his trouble. I believe there were +thousands of good people all over the country who prayed that this +philanthropist might be restored to wealth. There was one man in Wall +Street at this time who I said could not fail. He was Mr. A.S. Hatch, +President of the New York Stock Exchange. He had given large sums of +money to Christian work, and was personally an active church member. + +That which I hear about men who are unfortunate makes no impression on +me. There is always a great jubilee over the downfall of a financier. I +like to put the best phase possible upon a man's misfortune. No one +begrudged the wealth of the rich men of the past. + +The world was becoming too compressed, it was said; there was not room +enough to get away from your troubles. All the better. It was getting to +a compactness that could be easily poked up and divinely appropriated. A +new cable was landed at Rockport, Mass., that was to bring the world +into closer reunion of messages. We were to have cheaper cable service +under the management of the Commercial Cable Company. Simultaneously +with this information, the s.s. "America" made the astounding record of +a trip from shore to shore of the Atlantic, in six days fourteen hours +and eighteen minutes. It was a startling symbol of future wonders. I +promised then to exchange pulpits with any church in England once a +month. It seemed a possibility, as proposed in Mr. Corbin's scheme of +harbours at Montauk Point. There were pauses in the breathless speed we +were just beginning at this time. We paused to say farewell to the good +men whom we were passing by. They were not spectacular. Some of them +will no doubt be unknown to the reader. + +A gentle old man, his face illumined always by a radiant smile, fell +behind. He was Bishop Simpson. We paused to bid him farewell. In 1863, +walking the streets of Philadelphia one night with an army surgeon, we +passed the Academy of Music in that city, where a meeting was being held +on behalf of the Christian Commission, the object of which was to take +care of wounded soldiers. As we stood at the back of the stage +listening, the meeting seemed to be very dull. A speaker was introduced. +His voice was thin, his manner unimpressive. My friend said, "Let's go," +but I replied, "Wait until we see what there is in him." Suddenly, he +grew upon us. The address became adorned with a pathos, a sublimity, and +an enthusiasm that overwhelmed the audience. When the speaker sat down, +I inquired who he was. + +"That is Bishop Simpson," said my informant. In later years, I learned +that the Bishop's address that night was the great hour of his life. His +reputation became national. He was one of the few old men who knew how +to treat young men. He used no gestures on the platform, no climaxes, no +dramatic effects of voice, yet he was eloquent beyond description. His +earnestness broke over and broke through all rules of rhetoric. He made +his audiences think and feel as he did himself. That, I believe, is the +best of a man's inner salvation. + +In the autumn of the same year we paused to close the chapters of Jerry +McCauley's life, a man who had risen from the depths of crime and +sin--a different sort of man from Bishop Simpson. He was born in the +home of a counterfeiter. He became a thief, an outlaw. By an influence +that many consider obsolete and old-fashioned, he became converted, and +was recognised by the best men and women in New York and Brooklyn. I +knew McCauley. I stood with him on the steps of his mission in Water +Street. He was a river thief changed into an angel. It was supernatural, +a miracle. McCauley gave twelve years to his mission work. Two years +before his death he changed his quarters, converting a dive into a House +of God. What an imbecile city government refused to touch was +surrendered to hosannas and doxologies. The story of Jerry McCauley's +missionary work in the heart of a wicked section of New York was called +romantic. I attest that I am just as keenly sensitive to the beauty of +romance as any human being, but there was a great deal that was called +romantic in American life in 1884-1885 that was not so. Romance became a +roseate mist, through which old and young saw the obligations of life +but dimly. + +A strange romance of marriage became epidemic in America at this time. +European ethics were being imported, and the romance of European liberty +swept over us. A parental despotism was responsible. The newspapers of +the summer of 1884 were full of elopements. They were long exciting +chapters of domestic calamity. My sympathies were with the young fellow +of seven hundred dollars income, married to a millionaire fool who +continually informed him how much better her position was before she +left home; the honeymoon a bliss of six months, and all the rest of his +life a profound wish that he had never been born; his only redress the +divorce court or the almshouse. The poetry of these elopements was +false, the prose that came after was the truth. Marriage is an +old-fashioned business, and that wedding procession lasts longest that +starts not down the ladder out of the back window, but from the front +door with a benediction. + +But, morally and politically, we were in a riot of opinion against which +I constantly protested. Politically, we were without morals. + +The opposing Presidential candidates in 1884 were Grover Cleveland and +James G. Blaine. It was the wonder of the world that the American people +did not make Mr. Blaine President. There was a world-wide amazement also +at the abuse which preceded Mr. Cleveland's election. The whole thing +was a spectacle of the ignorance of men about great men. All sorts of +defamatory reports were spread abroad about them. Men of mind are also +men of temperament. There are two men in every one man, and for this +reason Mr. Blaine was the most misunderstood of great men. To the end of +his brilliant life calumny pursued him. There were all sorts of reports +about him. + +One series of reports said that Mr. Blaine was almost unable to walk; +that he was too sick to be seen; that death was for him close at hand, +and his obituaries were in type in many of the printing offices. + +The other series of reports said that Mr. Blaine was vigorous; went up +the front steps of his house at a bound; was doing more work than ever, +and was rollicking with mirth. The baleful story was ascribed to his +enemies, who wanted the great man out of the world. The reassuring story +was ascribed to his friends, who wanted to keep him in the ranks of +Presidential possibilities. + +The fact is that both reports were true. There were two Mr. Blaines, as +there are two of every mercurial temperament. Of the phlegmatic, +slow-pulsed man there is only one. You see him once and you see him as +he always is. Not so with the nervous organisation. He has as many moods +as the weather, as many changes as the sky. He is bright or dull, serene +or tempestuous, cold or hot, up or down, January or August, day or +night, Arctic or tropical. At Washington, in 1889, I saw the two Blaines +within two hours. I called with my son to see the great Secretary of +State at his office, and although it was his day for seeing foreign +diplomats, he received us with great cordiality. His face was an +illumination; his voice resonant; his manner animated; he was full of +gesticulation. He walked up and down the room describing things under +discussion; fire in his eye, spring in his step. Although about +fifty-nine years of age, he looked forty-five, and strong enough to +wrestle with two or three ordinary men. He had enough vitality for an +athlete. + +We parted. My son and I went down the street, made two or three other +calls, and on the way noticed a carriage passing with two or three +people in it. My attention was startled by the appearance in that +carriage of what seemed a case of extreme invalidism. The man seemed +somewhat bolstered up. My sympathies were immediately aroused, and I +said to my son, "Look at that sick man riding yonder." When the carriage +came nearer to us, my son said, "That is Mr. Blaine." Looking closely at +the carriage I found that this was so. He had in two hours swung from +vigour to exhaustion, from the look of a man good for twenty years of +successful work to a man who seemed to be taking his last ride. He +simply looked as he felt on both occasions. We had seen the two Blaines. + +How much more just we would be in our judgment of men if we realised +that a man may be honestly two different men, and how this theory would +explain that which in every man of high organisation seems sometimes to +be contradictory! Aye, within five minutes some of us with mercurial +natures can remember to have been two entirely different men in two +entirely different worlds. Something said to us cheering or depressing; +some tidings announced, glad or sad; some great kindness done for us, or +some meanness practised on us have changed the zone, the pulsation, the +physiognomy, the physical, the mental, the spiritual condition, and we +become no more what we were than summer is winter, or midnoon is +midnight, or frosts are flowers. + +The air was full of political clamour and strife in the election of +1884. Never in this country was there a greater temptation to political +fraud, because, after four month's battle, the counting of the ballots +revealed almost a tie. I urged self-control among men who were angry and +men who were bitter. The enemies of Mr. Blaine were not necessarily the +friends of Mr. Cleveland. The enemies of Mr. Cleveland were bitter, but +they were afraid of Mr. Blaine; for he was a giant intellectually, +practically, physically, and he stood in the centre of a national arena +of politics, prepared to meet all challenge. Mr. Cleveland never really +opposed him. He faced him on party issues, not as an individual +antagonist. The excitement was intense during the suspense that followed +the counting of the ballots, and Mr. Cleveland went into the White House +amidst a roar of public opinion so confused and so vicious that there +was no certainty of ultimate order in the country. In after years I +enjoyed his confidence and friendship, and I learned to appreciate the +stability and reserve of his nature. In a Milestone beyond this, I have +recalled a conversation I had with him at the White House, and recorded +my impressions of him. Above the clamour of these troublesome times, I +raised my voice and said that in the distant years to come the electors +of New York, Alabama, and Maine, and California, would march together +down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington for the discharge of the great +duties of the Electoral College. + +The storm passed, and the Democrats were in power. It was the calm that +follows an electrical disturbance. The paroxysm of filth and moral death +was over. + +Mr. Vanderbilt, converted into a philanthropist, gave five hundred +thousand dollars to a medical institute, and the world began to see new +possibilities in great fortunes. That a railroad king could also be a +Christian king was a hopeful tendency of the times. These were the acts +that tended to smother the activities of Communism in America. + +In the previous four years the curious astronomer had discovered the +evolution of a new world in the sky, and so while on earth there were +convulsions, in the skies there were new beauties born. With the rising +sun of the year 1885, one of our great and good men of Brooklyn saw it +with failing eyesight. Doctor Noah Hunt Schenck, pastor of St. Ann's +Episcopal Church, was stricken. For fifteen years he had blessed our +city with his benediction. The beautiful cathedral which grew to its +proportions of grandeur under Doctor Schenck's pastorate, stood as a +monument to him. + +A few weeks later Schuyler Colfax, speaker of the House of +Representatives, passed on. In the vortex of political feeling his +integrity was attacked but I never believed a word of the accusations. +Ten millions of people hoped for his election as President. He was my +personal friend. When the scandal of his life was most violent, he +explained it all away satisfactorily in my own house. This explanation +was a confidence that I cannot break, but it made me ever afterwards a +loyal friend to his memory. He was one of those upon whom was placed the +burden of living down a calumny, and when he died Congress adjourned in +his honour. Members of the legislature in his own country gathered about +his obsequies. I have known many men in public life, but a more lovable +man than Schuyler Colfax I never knew. The generous words he spoke of me +on the last Sabbath of his life I shall never forget. The perpetual +smile on his face was meanly caricatured, and yet it was his benediction +upon a world unworthy of him. + +In 1885, from far away over the sea came muffled thunder tones of war +and rebellion. The deadly nightshade was indigenous to our times. The +dynamite outrages at Westminster Hall and the House of Commons were +explosions we in America heard faintly. Their importance was +exaggerated. A hundred years back, the kings of England, of France, of +Russia who died in their beds were rare. The violent incidents of life +were less conspicuous as the years went on. What riots Philadelphia had +seen during the old firemen's battle in the streets! And those +theatrical riots in New York, when the military was called out, and had +to fire into the mob, because the friends of Macready and Forrest could +not agree as to which was the better actor! + +An alarming number of disputes came up at this time over wills. The +Orphan Courts were over-worked with these cases. I suggested a rule for +all wills: one-third at least to the wife, and let the children share +alike. When a child receives more than a wife, the family is askew. A +man's wife should be first in every ambition, in every provision. +One-third to the wife is none too much. The worst family feuds proceed +from inequality of inheritance. + +This question of rights under testamentary gifts of the rich was not so +important, however, as the alarming growth in our big cities of the +problem of the poor. The tenement house became a menace to cleanliness. +Never before were there so many people living in unswept, unaired +tenements. Stairs below stairs, stairs above stairs, where all the laws +of health were violated. The Sanitary Protective League was organised to +alleviate these conditions. Asiatic cholera was striding over Europe, +and the tenement house of America was a resting place for it here. + +After a lecturing trip in the spring of 1885 through Ohio, Indiana, +Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin, I returned to Brooklyn, delighted +with the confidence with which the people looked forward to the first +Cleveland administration. On the day that $50,000,000 was voted for the +River and Harbour Bill, both parties sharing in the spoils, American +politics touched bottom. There were symptoms of recuperation in Mr. +Cleveland's initiative. Belligerency was abandoned as a hopeless +campaign. + +The graceful courtesy with which President Arthur bowed himself out of +the White House was unparalleled. Never in my memory was a sceptre so +gracefully relinquished. Nothing in his three-and-a-half years of office +did him more credit. I think we never had a better President than Mr. +Arthur. He was fortunate in having in his Cabinet as chief adviser Mr. +Frederick T. Frelinghuysen. + +My office as a minister compelled me to see, first and foremost, the +righteous uplift of the events as I passed along with them. These were +not always the most conspicuous elements of public interest, but they +comprised the things and the people I saw. + +I recall, for instance, chief amongst the incidents of Mr. Cleveland's +administration, that the oath of office was administered upon his +mother's Bible. Many people regarded this as mere sentimentality. To me +it meant more than words could express. The best of Bibles is the +mother's. It meant that the man who chose to be sworn in on such a book +had a grateful remembrance. It was as though he had said, "If it had not +been for her, this honour would never have come to me." For all there is +of actual solemnity in the usual form of taking an oath, people might +just as well be sworn in on a city directory or an old almanac. But, as +I said then, I say now--make way for an administration that starts from +the worn and faded covers of a Bible presented by a mother's hand at +parting. + +Mr. Blaine's visit to the White House to congratulate the victor, his +cordial reception there, and his long stay, was another bright side of +the election contest. There must have been a good deal of lying about +these two men when they were wrestling for the honours, for if all that +was said had been true the scene of hearty salutation between them would +not only have been unfit, but impossible. + +All this optimism of outlook helped to defeat the animosity of the +previous campaign. A crowning influence upon the national confusion of +standards was the final unanimous vote in Congress in favour of putting +General Grant on the retired list, with a suitable provision for his +livelihood, in view of a malady that had come upon him. It had been a +long, angry, bitter debate, but the generous quality of American +sympathy prevailed. Men who fought on the other side and men who had +opposed his Presidential policy united to alleviate his sickness, the +pulsations of which the nation was counting. President Arthur's last act +was to recommend General Grant's relief, and almost the first act of Mr. +Cleveland's administration was to ratify it. Republics are not +ungrateful. The American Republic subscribed about $400,000 for the +relief of Mrs. Garfield; voted pensions for Mrs. Polk and Mrs. Tyler; +some years ago subscribed $250,000 for General Grant, and increased it +by vote of Congress in 1885. The Conqueror on the pale horse had already +taken many prisoners among the surviving heroes of the war. It was +fitting that he should make his coming upon the great leader of the +Union Army as gentle as the south wind. + +There was a surplus of men fit for official position in America when the +hour of our new appointments arrived. There were hundreds of men +competent to become ministers to England, to France, to Germany, to +Russia; as competent as James Russell Lowell or Mr. Phelps. This was all +due to the affluence of American institutions, that spread the benefits +of education broadcast. I remember when Daniel Webster died, people +said, "We shall have no one now to expound the constitution," but the +chief expositions of the constitution have been written and uttered +since then. There were pigmies in the old days, too. I had a friend who, +as a stenographer some years ago, made a fortune by knocking bad grammar +out of the speeches of Congressmen and Senators, who were illiterate. +They said to him haughtily, "Stenographer, here are a couple of hundred +dollars; fix up that speech I made this morning, and see that it gets +into the Congressional Record all right. If you can't fix it up, write +another." + +In 1885, there were plenty of women, too, who understood politics. There +were mean and silly women, of course, but there was a new race springing +up of grand, splendid, competent women, with a knowledge of affairs. The +appointment of Mr. Cox as Minister to Turkey was a compliment to +American literature. In consequence of a picturesque description he gave +of some closing day in a foreign country, he was facetiously nicknamed +"Sunset Cox." I rechristened him "Sunrise Cox." When President Tyler +appointed Washington Irving as Minister to Spain, he set an example for +all time. Men of letters put their blood into their inkstands, but the +sacrifice is poorly recognised. + +Some of us were faintly urging world-wide peace, but around the night +sky of 1885 was the glare of many camp fires. Never were there so many +wars on the calendar at the same time. The Soudan war, the threat of a +Russo-English war and of a Franco-Chinese war, the South-American war, +the Colombian war--all the nations restless and arming. The scarlet rash +of international hatred spread over the earth, and there were many +predictions. I said then it was comparatively easy to foretell the issue +of these wars--excepting one. I believed that the Revolutionist of +Panama would be beaten; the half-breed overcome by the Canadian; that +France would humble China, but that the Central American war would go +on, and stop, and go on again, and stop again, until, discovering some +Washington or Hamilton or Jefferson of its own, it would establish a +United States of South America corresponding with the United States of +North America. The Soudan war would cease when the English Government +abandoned the attempt to fix up in Egypt things unfixable. But what +would be the result of the outbreak between England and Russia was the +war problem of the world. The real question at issue was whether Europe +should be dominated by the lion or the bear. + +In the United States we had no internal frictions which threatened us so +much as rum and gambling. In Brooklyn we never ceased bombarding these +rebellious agents of war on the character of young men. Coney Island was +once a beautiful place, but in the five years since that time, when it +was a garden by the sea, the races at Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay +had been established. In New York and Brooklyn pool rooms were open for +betting on these races. In ten years' time I predicted that no decent +man or woman would be able to visit Coney Island. The evil was +stupendous, and the subject of Coney Island could no longer be neglected +in the pulpit. + +Betting was a new-fashioned sort of vice in America in 1885; it was just +becoming a licensed relaxation for young boys. As the years went on, it +has grown to great distinction in all forms of American life, but it was +yet only at its starting point in this year. Looking over an address I +made on this subject, I find this statement: + +"What a spectacle when, at Saratoga, or at Long Branch, or at Brighton +Beach, the horses stop, and in a flash $50,000 or $100,000 change +hands--multitudes ruined by losses, others, ruined by winnings." Many +years afterwards the money involved in racing was in the millions; but +in 1885, $100,000 was still a good bit. There were three kinds of +betting at the horse races then--by auction pools, by French mutuals, +and by what is called bookmaking--all of these methods controlled "for a +consideration." The pool seller deducted three or five per cent. from +the winning bet (incidentally "ringing up" more tickets than were sold +on the winning horse), while the bookmaker, for special inducement, +would scratch any horse in the race. The jockey also, for a +consideration, would slacken speed to allow a prearranged winner to walk +in, while the judges on the stand turned their backs. + +It was just a swindling trust. And yet, these race tracks on a fine +afternoon were crowded with intelligent men of good standing in the +community, and frequently the parasols of the ladies gave colour and +brilliancy to the scene. Our most beautiful watering places were all but +destroyed by the race tracks. To stop all this was like turning back the +ocean tides, so regular became the habit of gambling, of betting, of +being legally swindled in America. No one was interested in the evils of +life. We were on the frontier of a greater America, a greater waste of +money, a greater paradise of pleasure. + +Some notice was taken of General Grant's malady, mysteriously pronounced +incurable. The bulletins informed us that his life might last a week, a +day, an hour--and still the famous old warrior kept getting better. One +moment Grant was dying, the next he was dining heartily at his own +dinner table. This was one of the mysteries of the period. Personally, I +believe the prayers of the Church kept him alive. + +In April, 1885, the huge pedestal for the wonderful statue of Liberty, +presented to us by the citizens of France, was started. That which +Congress had ignored, and the philanthropists of America had neglected, +the masses were doing by their modest subscription--a dollar from the +men, ten cents from the children. All Europe wrapped in war cloud made +the magnificence and splendour of our enlightened liberty greater than +ever. It was time that the gates of the sea, the front door of America, +should be made more attractive. Castle Garden was a gloomy corridor +through which to arrive. I urged that the harbour fortresses should be +terraced with flowers, fitting the approach to the forehead of this +continent that Bartholdi was to illumine with his Coronet of Flame. + +The Bartholdi statue, as we read and heard, and talked about it, became +an inspired impulse to fine art in America. In the right hand of the +statue was to be a torch; in the left hand, a scroll representing the +law. What a fine conception of true liberty! It was my hope then that +fifty years after the statue had been placed on its pedestal the foreign +ships passing Bedloe's Island, by that allegory, should ever understand +that in this country it is liberty according to law. Life, as we should +live it, is strong, according to our obedience of its statutes. + +In my boyhood this was impressed upon me by association and example. +When in May, 1885, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, ex-Secretary of State, +died, I was forcibly reminded of this fact. I grew up in a neighbourhood +where the name of Frelinghuysen was a synonym for purity of character +and integrity. There were Dominie Frelinghuysen, General John +Frelinghuysen, Senator Theodore Frelinghuysen--and Frederick +Frelinghuysen, the father of "Fred," as he was always called in his home +state. When I was a boy, "Fred" Frelinghuysen practised in the old +Somerville Courthouse in New Jersey, and I used to crowd in and listen +to his eloquence, and wonder how he could have composure enough to face +so many people. He was the king of the New Jersey bar. Never once in his +whole lifetime was his name associated with a moral disaster of any +kind. Amid the pomp and temptations of Washington he remained a +consistent Christian. All the Feloniousness were alike--grandfather, +grandson, and uncle. On one side of the sea was the Prime Minister of +England, Gladstone; on the other side was Secretary of State +Frelinghuysen; two men whom I associate in mutual friendship and +esteem. + +Towards the end of June, 1885, we were tremendously excited. All one day +long the cheek of New York was flushed with excitement over the arrival +of the Bartholdi statue. Bunting and banners canopied the harbour, +fluttered up and down the streets, while minute guns boomed, and bands +of music paraded. We had miraculously escaped the national disgrace of +not having a place to put it on when it arrived. It was a gift that +meant European and American fraternity. The $100,000 contributed by the +masses for the pedestal on Bedloe's Island was an estimate of American +gratitude and courtesy to France. The statue itself would stand for ages +as the high-water mark of civilisation. From its top we expected to see +the bright tinge of the dawn of universal peace. + + + + +THE NINTH MILESTONE + +1885-1886 + + +As time kept whispering its hastening call into my ear I grew more and +more vigorous in my outlook. I was given strength to hurry faster +myself, with a certain energy to climb higher up, where the view was +wider, bigger, clearer. As I moved upward I had but one fear, and that +was of looking backward. A minister, entrusted with the charge of souls, +cannot afford to retrace his steps. He must go on, and up, to the top of +his abilities, of his spiritual purposes. + +In the midst of a glorious summer, I refused to see the long shadows of +departing day; in the midst of a snow deep winter, I declined to slip +and slide as I went on. So it happened that a great many gathered about +me in the tabernacle, because they felt that I was passing on, and they +wanted to see how fast I could go. I aimed always for a higher place and +the way to get up to it, and I took them along with me, always a little +further, week by week. + +The pessimists came to me and said that the world would soon have a +surplus of educated men, that the colleges were turning out many +nerveless and useless youngsters, that education seemed to be one of the +follies of 1885. The fact was we were getting to be far superior to what +we had been. The speeches at the commencement classes were much better +than those we had made in our boyhood. We had dropped the old harangues +about Greece and Rome. We were talking about the present. The sylphs and +naiads and dryads had already gone out of business. College education +had been revolutionised. Students were not stuffed to the Adam's apple +with Latin and Greek. The graduates were improved in physique. A great +advance was reached when male and female students were placed in the +same institutions, side by side. God put the two sexes together in Eden, +He put them beside each other in the family. Why not in the college? + +There were those who seemed to regard woman as a Divine afterthought. +Judging by the fashion plates of olden times, in other centuries, the +grand-daughters were far superior to the grand-mothers, and the fuss +they used to make a hundred years ago over a very good woman showed me +that the feminine excellence, so rare then, was more common than it used +to be. At the beginning of the nineteenth century a woman was considered +well educated if she could do a sum in rule of three. Look at the books +in all departments that are under the arms of the school miss now. I +believe in equal education for men and women to fulfil the destiny of +this land. + +For all women who were then entering the battle of life, I saw that the +time was coming when they would not only get as much salary as men, but +for certain employments they would receive higher wages. It would not +come to them through a spirit of gallantry, but through the woman's +finer natural taste, greater grace of manner, and keener perceptions. +For these virtues she would be worth ten per cent. more to her employer +than a man. But she would get it by earning it, not by asking for it. + +In the summer of 1885 I made another trip to Europe. The day I reached +Charing Cross station in London the exposures of vice in the _Pall Mall +Gazette_ were just issued. The paper had not been out half an hour. Mr. +Stead, the editor, was later put on trial for startling Europe and +America in his crusade against crime. There were the same conditions in +America, in Upper Broadway, and other big thoroughfares in New York, by +night, as there were in London. I believe the greatest safety against +vice is newspaper chastisement of dishonour and crime. I urged that some +paper in America should attack the social evil, as the _Pall Mall +Gazette_ had done. A hundred thousand people, with banners and music, +gathered in Hyde Park in London, to express their approval of the +reformation started by Mr. Stead, and there were a million people in +America who would have backed up the same moral heroism. If my voice +were loud enough to be heard from Penobscot to the Rio Grande, I would +cry out "Flirtation is damnation." The vast majority of those who make +everlasting shipwreck carry that kind of sail. The pirates of death +attack that kind of craft. + +My mail bag was a mirror that reflected all sides of the world, and much +that it showed me was pitifully sordid and reckless. Most of the letters +I answered, others I destroyed. + +The following one I saved, for obvious reasons. It was signed, "One of +the Congregation": + +"Dear Sir,--I do not believe much that you preach, but I am certain that +you believe it all. To be a Christian I must believe the Bible. To be +truthful, I do not believe it. I go to hear you preach because you +preach the Bible as I was taught it in my youth, by a father, who, like +yourself, believed what in the capacity of a preacher he proclaimed. For +thirty-five years I have been anxious to walk in the path my mother is +treading--a simple faith. I have lived to see my children's children, +and the distance that lies between me and my real estate in the +graveyard, cannot be very great. At my age, it would be worse than folly +to argue, simply to confound or dispute merely for the love of arguing. +My steps are already tottering, and I am lost in the wilderness. I pray +because I am afraid not to pray. What can I do that I have not done, so +that I can see clearly?" + +All my sympathies were excited by this letter, because I had been in +that quagmire myself. A student of Doctor Witherspoon once came to him +and said, "I believe everything is imaginary! I myself am only an +imaginary being." The Doctor said to him, "Go down and hit your head +against the college door, and if you are imaginary and the door +imaginary, it won't hurt you." + +A celebrated theological professor at Princeton was asked this, by a +sceptic:-- + +"You say, train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old +he will not depart from it. How do you account for the fact that your +son is such a dissipated fellow?" + +The doctor replied, "The promise is, that when he is old, he will not +depart from it. My son is not old enough yet." He grew old, and his +faith returned. The Rev. Doctor Hall made the statement that he +discovered in the biographies of one hundred clergymen that they all had +sons who were clergymen, all piously inclined. There is no safe way to +discuss religion, save from the heart; it evaporates when you dare to +analyse its sacred element. + +I received multitudes of letters written by anxious parents about sons +who had just come to the city--letters without end, asking aid for +worthy individuals and institutions, which I could not meet even if I +had an income of $500,000 per annum--letters from men who told me that +unless I sent them $25 by return mail they would jump into the East +River--letters from people a thousand miles away, saying if they +couldn't raise $1,500 to pay off a mortgage they would be sold out, and +wouldn't I send it to them--letters of good advice, telling me how to +preach, and the poorer the syntax and the etymology the more insistent +the command. Many encouraging letters were a great help to me. Some +letters of a spiritual beauty and power were magnificent tokens of a +preacher's work. Most of these letters were lacking in one +thing--Christian confidence. And yet, what noble examples there were of +this quality in the world. + +What an example was exhibited to all, when, on October 8, 1885, the +organ at Westminster Abbey uttered its deep notes of mourning, at the +funeral of Lord Shaftesbury, in England. It is well to remember such +noblemen as he was. The chair at Exeter Hall, where he so often +presided, should be always associated with him. His last public act, at +84 years of age, was to go forth in great feebleness and make an earnest +protest against the infamies exposed by Mr. Stead in London. In that +dying speech he called upon Parliament to defend the purity of the city. +As far back as 1840, his voice in Parliament rang out against the +oppression of factory workers, and he succeeded in securing better +legislation for them. He worked and contributed for the ragged schools +of England, by which over 200,000 poor children of London were redeemed. +He was President of Bible and Missionary Societies, and was for thirty +years President of the Young Men's Christian Association. I never +forgave Lord Macaulay for saying he hoped that the "praying of Exeter +Hall would soon come to an end." On his 80th birthday, a holiday was +declared in honour of Lord Shaftesbury, and vast multitudes kept it. +From the Lord Mayor himself to the girls of the Water Cress and Flower +Mission, all offered him their congratulations. Alfred Tennyson, the +Poet Laureate, wrote him, "Allow me to assure you in plain prose, how +cordially I join with those who honour the Earl of Shaftesbury as a +friend of the poor." And, how modest was the Earl's reply. + +He said: "You have heard that which has been said in my honour. Let me +remark with the deepest sincerity--ascribe it not, I beseech you, to +cant and hypocrisy--that if these statements are partially true, it must +be because power has been given me from above. It was not in me to do +these things." + +How constantly through my life have I heard the same testimony of the +power that answers prayer. I believed it, and I said it repeatedly, that +the reason American politics had become the most corrupt element of our +nation was because we had ignored the power of prayer. History +everywhere confesses its force. The Huguenots took possession of the +Carolinas in the name of God. William Penn settled Pennsylvania in the +name of God. The Pilgrim Fathers settled New England in the name of God. +Preceding the first gun of Bunker Hill, at the voice of prayer, all +heads uncovered. In the war of 1812 an officer came to General Andrew +Jackson and said, "There is an unusual noise in the camp; it ought to be +stopped." The General asked what this noise was. He was told it was the +voice of prayer. + +"God forbid that prayer and praise should be an unusual noise in the +camp," said General Jackson. "You had better go and join them." + +There was prayer at Valley Forge, at Monmouth, at Atlanta, at South +Mountain, at Gettysburg. But the infamy of politics was broad and wide, +and universal. Even the record of Andrew Johnson, our seventeenth +President, was exhumed. He was charged with conspiracy against the +United States Government. Because he came from a border State, where +loyalty was more difficult than in the Northern States, he was accused +of making a nefarious attack against our Government. I did not accept +these charges. They were freighted with political purpose. I said then, +in order to prove General Grant a good man, it was not necessary to try +and prove that Johnson was a bad one. The President from Tennessee left +no sons to vindicate his name. I never saw President Johnson but once, +but I refused to believe these attacks upon him. They were an +unwarranted persecution of the sacred memory of the dead. No man who has +been eminently useful has escaped being eminently cursed. + +At our local elections in Brooklyn, in the autumn of 1885, three +candidates for mayor were nominated. They were all exceptionally good +men. Two of them were personal friends of mine, General Catlin and Dr. +Funk. Catlin had twice been brevetted for gallantry in the Civil War, +and Dr. Funk was on the prohibition ticket, because he had represented +prohibition all his life. Mr. Woodward, the third candidate, I did not +know, but he was a strict Methodist, and that was recommendation enough. +But there were pleasanter matters to think about than politics. + +In November of this year, there appeared, at the Horticultural Hall in +New York, a wonderful floral stranger from China--the chrysanthemum. +Thousands of people paid to go and see these constellations of beauty. +It was a new plant to us then, and we went mad about it in true American +fashion. To walk among these flowers was like crossing a corner of +heaven. It became a mania of the times, almost like the tulip mania of +Holland in the 17th century. People who had voted that the Chinese must +go, voted that the Chinese chrysanthemum could stay. The rose was +forgotten for the time being, and the violets, and the carnations, and +the lily of the valley. In America we were still the children of the +world, delighted with everything that was new and beautiful. + +In Europe, the war dance of nations continued. In the twenty-two years +preceding the year 1820 Christendom had paid ten billions of dollars for +battles. The exorbitant taxes of Great Britain and the United States +were results of war. There was a great wave of Gospel effort in America +to counteract the European war fever. It permeated the legislature in +Albany. One morning some members of the New York legislature inaugurated +a prayer meeting in the room of the Court of Appeals, and that meeting, +which began with six people, at the fifth session overflowed the room. +Think of a Gospel Revival in the Albany Legislature! Yet why not just +such meetings at all State Capitals, in this land of the Pilgrim +Fathers, of the Huguenots, of the Dutch reformers, of the Hungarian +exiles? + +Occasionally, we were inspired by the record of honest political +officials. My friend Thomas A. Hendricks died when he was Vice-president +of the United States Government. He was an honest official, and yet he +was charged with being a coward, a hypocrite, a traitor. He was a great +soul. He withstood all the temptations of Washington in which so many +men are lost. I met him first on a lecturing tour in the West. As I +stepped on to the platform, I said, "Where is Governor Hendricks?" With +a warmth and cordiality that came from the character of a man who loved +all things that were true, he stood up, and instead of shaking hands, +put both his arms around my shoulders, saying heartily, "Here I am." I +went on with my lecture with a certain pleasure in the feeling that we +understood each other. Years after, I met him in his rooms in +Washington, at the close of the first session as presiding officer of +the Senate, and I loved him more and more. Many did not realise his +brilliancy, because he had such poise of character, such even methods. +The trouble has been, with so many men of great talent in Washington, +that they stumble in a mire of dissipation. Mr. Hendricks never got +aboard that railroad train so popular with political aspirants. The Dead +River Grand Trunk Railroad is said to have for its stations Tippleton, +Quarrelville, Guzzler's Junction, Debauch Siding, Dismal Swamp, Black +Tunnel, Murderer's Gulch, Hangman's Hollow, and the terminal known as +Perdition. + +Mr. Hendricks met one as a man ought always to meet men, without any +airs of superiority, or without any appearance of being bored. A coal +heaver would get from him as polite a bow as a chief justice. He kept +his patience when he was being lied about. Speeches were put in his +mouth which he never made, interviews were written, the language of +which he never used. The newspapers that had lied about him, when he +lived, turned hypocrites, and put their pages in mourning rules when he +died. There were some men appointed to attend his memorial services in +Indianapolis on November 30, 1885, whom I advised to stay away, and to +employ their hours in reviewing those old campaign speeches, in which +they had tried to make a scoundrel out of this man. They were not among +those who could make a dead saint of him. Mr. Hendricks was a Christian, +which made him invulnerable to violent attack. For many years he was a +Presbyterian, afterwards he became associated with the Episcopal Church. +His life began as a farmer's boy at Shelbyville, his hands on the +plough. He was a man who hated show, a man whose counsel in Church +affairs was often sought. Men go through life, usually, with so many +unconsidered ideals in its course, so many big moments in their lives +that the world has never understood. + +I remember I was in one of the western cities when the telegram +announcing the death of Cornelius Vanderbilt came, and the appalling +anxiety on all sides, for two days, was something unique in our national +history. It was an event that proved more than anything in my lifetime +the financial convalescence of the nation. When it was found that no +financial crash followed the departure of the wealthiest man in America, +all sensible people agreed that our recuperating prosperity as a nation +was built on a rock. It had been a fictitious state of things before +this. It was an event, which, years before, would have closed one half +of the banks, and suspended hundreds of business firms. The passing of +$200,000,000 from one hand to another, at an earlier period in our +history would have shaken the continent with panic and disaster. + +In watching where this $200,000,000 went to, we lost sight of the +million dollars bequeathed by Mr. Vanderbilt to charity. Its destiny is +worth recalling. $100,000 went to the Home and Foreign Missionary +Society; $100,000 to a hospital; $100,000 to the Young Men's Christian +Association; $50,000 to the General Theological Seminary; $50,000 for +Bibles and Prayer-Books; $50,000 to the Home for Incurables; $50,000 to +the missionary societies for seamen; $50,000 to the Home for +Intemperates; $50,000 to the Missionary Society of New York; $50,000 to +the Museum of Art; $50,000 to the Museum of Natural History; and +$100,000 to the Moravian Church. While the world at large was curious +about the money Mr. Vanderbilt did not give to charity, I celebrate his +memory for this one consecrated million. + +He was a railroad king, and they were not popular with the masses in +1885-6. And yet, the Grand Central Depot in New York and the Union Depot +in Philadelphia, were the palaces where railroad enterprise admitted the +public to the crowning luxury of the age. Men of ordinary means, of +ordinary ability, could not have achieved these things. And yet it was +necessary to keep armed men in the cemetery to protect Mr. Vanderbilt's +remains. This sort of thing had happened before. Winter quarters were +built near his tomb, for the shelter of a special constabulary. Since +A.T. Stewart's death, there had been no certainty as to where his +remains were. Abraham Lincoln's sepulchre was violated. Only a week +before Mr. Vanderbilt's death, the Phelps family vault at Binghamton, +New York, was broken into. Pinkerton detectives surrounded Mr. +Vanderbilt's body on Staten Island. Wickedness was abroad in all +directions, and there were but fifteen years of the nineteenth century +left in which to redeem the past. + +In the summer of 1886, Doctor Pasteur's inoculations against +hydrophobia, and Doctor Ferron's experiments with cholera, following +many years after Doctor Jenner's inoculations against small-pox, were +only segments of the circle which promised an ultimate cure for all the +diseases flesh is heir to. Miracles were amongst us again. I had much +more interest in these medical discoveries than I had in inventions, +locomotive or bellicose. We required no inventions to take us faster +than the limited express trains. We needed no brighter light than +Edison's. A new realm was opening for the doctors. Simultaneously, with +the gleam of hope for a longer life, there appeared in Brooklyn an +impudent demand, made by a combination of men known as the Brewers' +Association. They wanted more room for their beer. The mayor was asked +to appoint a certain excise commissioner who was in favour of more beer +gardens than we already had. They wanted to rule the city from their +beer kegs. In my opinion, a beer garden is worse than a liquor saloon, +because there were thousands of men and women who would enter a beer +garden who would not enter a saloon. The beer gardens merely prepare new +victims for the eventual sacrifice of alcoholism. Brooklyn was in danger +of becoming a city of beer gardens, rather than a city of churches. + +On January 24, 1886, the seventeenth year of my pastorate of the +Brooklyn Tabernacle was celebrated. It was an hour for practical proof +to my church that the people of Brooklyn approved of our work. By the +number of pews taken, and by the amount of premiums paid in, I told them +they would decide whether we were to stand still, to go backward, or to +go ahead. We were, at this time, unable to accommodate the audiences +that attended both Sabbath services. The lighting, the warming, the +artistic equipment, all the immense expenses of the church, required a +small fortune to maintain them. We had more friends than the Tabernacle +had ever had before. At no time during my seventeen years' residence in +Brooklyn had there been so much religious prosperity there. The +memberships of all churches were advancing. It was a gratifying year in +the progress of the Gospel in Brooklyn. It had been achieved by constant +fighting, under the spur of sound yet inspired convictions. How close +the events of secular prominence were to the religious spirit, some of +the ministers in Brooklyn had managed to impress upon the people. It was +a course that I pursued almost from my first pastoral call, for I firmly +believed that no event in the world was ever conceived that did not in +some degree symbolise the purpose of human salvation. + +When Mr. Parnell returned to England, I expected, from what I had seen +and what I knew of him, that his indomitable force would accomplish a +crisis for the cause of Ireland. My opinion always was that England and +Ireland would each be better without the other. Mr. Parnell's triumph on +his return in January, 1886, seemed complete. He discharged the Cabinet +in England, as he had discharged a previous Cabinet, and he had much to +do with the appointment of their successors. I did not expect that he +would hold the sceptre, but it was clear that he was holding it then +like a true king of Ireland. + +There was a storm came upon the giant cedars of American life about this +time, which spread disaster upon our national strength. It was a storm +that prostrated the Cedars of Lebanon. + +Secretary Frelinghuysen, Vice-president Hendricks, ex-Governor Seymour, +General Hancock, and John B. Gough were the victims. It was a cataclysm +of fatality that impressed its sadness on the nation. The three +mightiest agencies for public benefit are the printing press, the +pulpit, and the platform. The decease of John B. Gough left the +platforms of America without any orator as great as he had been. For +thirty-five years his theme was temperance, and he died when the fight +against liquor was hottest. He had a rare gift as a speaker. His +influence with an audience was unlike that of any other of his +contemporaries. He shortened the distance between a smile and a tear in +oratory. He was one of the first, if not the first, American speaker who +introduced dramatic skill in his speeches. He ransacked and taxed all +the realm of wit and drama for his work. His was a magic from the heart. +Dramatic power had so often been used for the degradation of society +that speakers heretofore had assumed a strict reserve toward it. The +theatre had claimed the drama, and the platform had ignored it. But Mr. +Gough, in his great work of reform and relief, encouraged the +disheartened, lifted the fallen, adopting the elements of drama in his +appeals. He called for laughter from an audience, and it came; or, if he +called for tears, they came as gently as the dew upon a meadow's grass +at dawn. Mr. Gough was the pioneer in platform effectiveness, the first +orator to study the alchemy of human emotions, that he might stir them +first, and mix them as he judged wisely. So many people spoke of the +drama as though it was something built up outside of ourselves, as if it +were necessary for us to attune our hearts to correspond with the human +inventions of the dramatists. The drama, if it be true drama, is an echo +from something divinely implanted. While some conscienceless people +take this dramatic element and prostitute it in low play-houses, John B. +Gough raised it to the glorious uses of setting forth the hideousness of +vice and the splendour of virtue in the salvation of multitudes of +inebriates. The dramatic poets of Europe have merely dramatised what was +in the world's heart; Mr. Gough interpreted the more sacred dramatic +elements of the human heart. He abolished the old way of doing things on +the platform, the didactic and the humdrum. He harnessed the dramatic +element to religion. He lighted new fires of divine passion in our +pulpits. + +The new confidence that this wonderful Cedar of Lebanon put into the +work of contemporary Christian labourers in the vineyard of sacred +meaning is our eternal inheritance of his spirit. He left us his +confidence. + +When you destroy the confidence of man in man, you destroy society. The +prevailing idea in American life was of a different character. National +and civic affairs were full of plans to pull down, to make room for new +builders. That was the trouble. There were more builders than there was +space or need to build. A little repairing of old standards would have +been better than tearing those we still remembered to pieces, merely to +give others something to do. + +All this led to the betrayal of man by man--to bribery. It was not of +much use for the pulpit to point it out. Men adopted bribery as a means +to business activity. It was of no use to recall the brilliant moments +of character in history, men would not read them. Their ancestry was a +back number, the deeds of their ancestors mere old-fashioned narrowness +of business. What if a member of the American Congress, Joseph Reed, +during the American Revolution did refuse the 10,000 guineas offered by +the foreign commissioners to betray the colonies? What if he did say +"Gentlemen, I am a very poor man, but tell your King he is not rich +enough to buy me"? The more fool he, not to appreciate his +opportunities, not to take advantage of the momentary enterprise of his +betters! A bribe offered became a compliment, and a bribe negotiated was +a good day's work. I had not much faith in the people who went about +bragging how much they could get if they sold out. I refused to believe +the sentiment of men who declared that every man had his price. + +Old-fashioned honesty was not the cure either, because old-fashioned +honesty, according to history, was not wholly disinterested. There never +was a monopoly of righteousness in the world, though there was a coin of +fair exchange between men who were intelligent enough to perceive its +values, in which there was no alloy of bribery. Bribery was written, +however, all over the first chapters of English, Irish, French, German, +and American politics; but it was high time that, in America, we had a +Court House or a City Hall, or a jail, or a post office, or a railroad, +that did not involve a political job. At some time in their lives, every +man and woman may be tempted to do wrong for compensation. It may be a +bribe of position that is offered instead of money; but it was easy to +foresee, in 1886, that there was a time coming when the most secret +transaction of private and public life would come up for public +scrutiny. Those of us who gave this warning were under suspicion of +being harmless lunatics. + +Necessarily, the dishonest transactions of the bosses led to discontent +among the labouring classes, and a railroad strike came, and went, in +the winter of 1886. Its successful adjustment was a credit to capital +and labour, to our police competency, and to general municipal +common-sense. In Chicago and St. Louis, this strike lasted several days; +in Brooklyn, it was settled in a few hours. The deliverance left us +facing the problem whether the differences between capital and labour in +America would ever be settled. I was convinced that it could never be +accomplished by the law of supply and demand, although we were +constantly told so. It was a law that had done nothing to settle the +feuds of past ages. The fact was that supply and demand had gone into +partnership, proposing to swindle the earth. It is a diabolic law which +will have to stand aside for a greater law of love, of co-operation, and +of kindness. The establishment of a labour exchange, in Brooklyn in +1886, where labourers and capitalists could meet and prepare their +plans, was a step in that direction. + +I said to a very wealthy man, who employed thousands of men in his +establishments in different cities: + +"Have you had many strikes?" + +"Never had a strike; I never will have one," he said. + +"How do you avoid them?" I asked. + +"When prices go up or down, I call my men together in all my +establishments. In ease of increased prosperity I range them around me +in the warehouses at the noon hour, and I say, 'Boys, I am making money, +more than usual, and I feel that you ought to share my success; I shall +add five, or ten, or twenty per cent. to your wages.' Times change. I +must sell my goods at a low price, or not sell them at all. Then I say +to them, 'Boys, I am losing money, and I must either stop altogether or +run on half-time, or do with less hands. I thought I would call you +together and ask your advice.' There may be a halt for a minute or two, +and then one of the men will step up and say, 'Boss, you have been good +to us; we have got to sympathise with you. I don't know how the others +feel, but I propose we take off 20 per cent. from our wages, and when +times get better, you can raise us,' and the rest agree." + +That was the law of kindness. + +Many of the best friends I had were American capitalists, and I said to +them always, "You share with your employees in your prosperity, and they +will share with you in your adversity." + +The rich man of America was not in need of conversion, for, in 1886, he +had not become a monopolist as yet. He had accumulated fortunes by +industry and hard work, and he was an energetic builder of national +enterprise and civic pride, but his coffers were being drained by an +increasing social extravagance that was beyond the requirements of +happiness of home. + + + + +THE TENTH MILESTONE + +1886 + + +Society life in the big cities of America in 1886 had become a strange +nightmare of extravagance and late hours. It was developing a queer race +of people. Temporarily, the Lenten season stopped the rustle and flash +of toilettes, chained the dancers, and put away the tempting chalice of +social excitement. When Lent came in the society of the big cities of +America was an exhausted multitude. It seemed to me as though two or +three winters of germans and cotillions would be enough to ruin the best +of health. The victims of these strange exhaustions were countless. No +man or woman could endure the wear and tear of social life in America +without sickness and depletion of health. The demands were at war with +the natural laws of the human race. + +Even the hour set for the average assembling of a "society event" in +1886 was an outrage. Once it was eight o'clock at night, soon it was +adjourned to nine-thirty, and then to ten, and there were threats that +it would soon be eleven. A gentleman wrote me this way for advice about +his social burden: + +"What shall I do? We have many friends, and I am invited out +perpetually. I am on a salary in a large business house in New York. I +am obliged to arise in the morning at seven o'clock, but I cannot get +home from those parties till one in the morning. The late supper and the +excitement leave me sleepless. I must either give up society or give up +business, which is my living. My wife is not willing that I should give +up society, because she is very popular. My health is breaking down. +What shall I do?" + +It was not the idle class that wasted their nights at these parties; it +was the business men dragged into the fashions and foibles of the idle, +which made that strange and unique thing we call society in America. + +I should have replied to that man that his wife was a fool. If she were +willing to sacrifice his health, and with it her support, for the +greeting and applause of these midnight functions, I pitied him. Let him +lose his health, his business, and his home, and no one would want to +invite him anywhere. All the diamond-backed terrapins at fifty dollars a +dozen which he might be invited to enjoy after that would do him no +harm. Society would drop him so suddenly that it would knock the breath +out of him. The recipe for a man in this predicament, a man tired of +life, and who desired to get out of it without the reputation of a +suicide, was very simple. He only had to take chicken salad regularly at +midnight, in large quantities, and to wash it down with bumpers of wine, +reaching his pillow about 2 a.m. If the third winter of this did not +bring his obituary, it would be because that man was proof against that +which had slain a host larger than any other that fell on any +battle-field of the ages. The Scandinavian warriors believed that in the +next world they would sit in the Hall of Odin, and drink wine from the +skulls of their enemies. But society, by its requirements of late hours +and conviviality, demanded that a man should drink out of his own skull, +having rendered it brainless first. I had great admiration for the +suavities and graces of life, but it is beyond any human capacity to +endure what society imposes upon many in America. Drinking other +people's health to the disadvantage of one's own health is a poor +courtesy at best. Our entertainments grew more and more extravagant, +more and more demoralising. I wondered if our society was not swinging +around to become akin to the worst days of Roman society. The princely +banquet-rooms of the Romans had revolving ceilings representing the +firmament; fictitious clouds rained perfumed essences upon the guests, +who were seated on gold benches, at tables made of ivory and +tortoise-shell. Each course of food, as it was brought into the banquet +room, was preceded by flutes and trumpets. There was no wise man or +woman to stand up from the elaborate banquet tables of American society +at this time and cry "Halt!" It might have been done in Washington, or +in New York, or in Brooklyn, but it was not. + +The way American society was moving in 1886 was the way to death. The +great majority, the major key in the weird symphony of American life, +was not of society. + +We had no masses really, although we borrowed the term from Europe and +used it busily to describe our working people, who were massive enough +as a body of men, but they were not the masses. Neither were they the +mob, which was a term some were fond of using in describing the +destruction of property on railroads in the spring of 1886. The +labouring men had nothing to do with these injuries. They were done by +the desperadoes who lurked in all big cities. I made a Western trip +during this strike, and I found the labouring men quiet, peaceful, but +idle. The depôts were filled with them, the streets were filled with +them, but they were in suspense, and it lasted twenty-five days. Then +followed the darkness and squalor--less bread, less comfort, less +civilisation of heart and mind. It was hard on the women and children. +Senator Manderson, the son of my old friend in Philadelphia, introduced +a bill into the United States Senate for the arbitration of strikes. It +proposed a national board of mediation between capital and labour. + +Jay Gould was the most abused of men just then. He was denounced by both +contestants in this American conflict most uselessly. The knights of +Labour came in for an equal amount of abuse. We were excited and could +not reason. The men had just as much right to band together for mutual +benefit as Jay Gould had a right to get rich. It was believed by many +that Mr. Gould made his fortune out of the labouring classes. Mr. Gould +made it out of the capitalists. His regular diet was a capitalist per +diem, not a poor man--capitalist stewed, broiled, roasted, panned, +fricaseed, devilled, on the half shell. He was personally, as I knew +him, a man of such kindness that he would not hurt a fly, but he played +ten pins on Wall Street. A great many adventurers went there to play +with him, and if their ball rolled down the side of the financial alley +while he made a ten strike or two or three spares, the fellows who were +beaten howled. That was about all there really was in the denunciation +of Jay Gould. + +I couldn't help thinking sometimes, when the United States seemed to +change its smile of prosperity to a sudden smile of anger or petulance, +that we were a spoiled nation, too much pampered by divine blessings. +If we had not been our own rulers, but had been ruled--what would +America have been then? We were like Ireland crying for liberty and +abusing liberty the more we got of it. + +Mr. Gladstone's policy of Home Rule for Ireland, announced in April, +1886, proposed an Irish Parliament and the Viceroy. It should remain, +however, a part of England. I fully believed then that Ireland would +have Home Rule some day, and in another century I believed that Ireland +would stand to England as the United States stands to England, a +friendly and neighbouring power. I believed that Ireland would some day +write her own Declaration of Independence. Liberty, the fundamental +instinct of the most primitive living thing, would be the world's +everlasting conflict. + +Our exclusion of the Chinese, which came up in the spring of 1886, when +an Ambassador from China was roughly handled in San Francisco, was a +disgrace to our own instincts of liberty. A great many people did not +want them because they did not like the way they dressed. They objected +to the Chinaman's queue. George Washington wore one, so did Benjamin +Franklin and John Hancock. The Chinese dress was not worse than some +American clothes I have seen. Some may remember the crinoline +monstrosities of '65, as I do--the coal-scuttle bonnets, the silver +knee-buckles! The headgear of the fair sex has never ceased to be a +mystery and a shock during all my lifetime. I remember being asked by a +lady-reporter in Brooklyn if I thought ladies should remove their hats +in the theatre, and I told her to tell them to keep them on, because in +obstructing the stage they were accomplishing something worth while. Any +fine afternoon the spring fashions of 1886, displayed in Madison Square +between two and four o'clock, were absurdities of costume that eclipsed +anything then worn by the Chinese. + +The Joss House of the Chinese was entitled to as much respect in the +United States, under the constitution, as the Roman Catholic church, or +the Quaker Meeting house, or any other religious temple. A new path was +made for the Chinese into America via Mexico, when 600,000 were to be +imported for work on Mexican territory. In the discussion it aroused it +was urged that Mexico ought to be blocked because the Chinese would not +spend their money in America. In one year, in San Francisco, the Chinese +paid $2,400,000 in rent for residences and warehouses. Our higher +civilisation was already threatened with that style of man who spends +three times more money than he makes, and yet we did not want the +thrifty unassuming religious Chinaman to counteract our mania for +extravagance. This entire agitation emanated from corrupt politics. The +Republican and Democratic parties both wanted the electoral votes of +California in the forthcoming Presidential election, and, in order to +get that vote, it was necessary to oppose the Chinese. Whenever these +Asiatic men obtain equal suffrage in America the Republican party will +fondle them, and the Democrats will try to prove that they always had a +deep affection for them, and some of the political bosses will go around +with an opium pipe sticking out of their pockets and their hair coiled +into a suggestion of a queue. + +The ship of state was in an awful mess. No sooner was the good man in +power than politics struggled to pull him down to make room for the +knaves. When Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated, the _Sentinel_ of Boston +wrote the obituary of the American nation. I quote it as a literary +scrap of the past: + +"MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTION--expired yesterday, regretted by all good men, +THE FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES, aged +12 years. This Monumental Inscription to the virtues and the services of +the deceased is raised by the Sentinel of Boston." + +It might have been a recent editorial. Van Buren was always cartooned as +a fox or a rat. Horace Greeley told me once that he had not had a sound +sleep for fifteen years, and he was finally put to death by American +politics. The cartoons of Mr. Blaine and Mr. Cleveland during their +election battle, as compared to those of fifty years before, were +seraphic as the themes of Raphael. It was not necessary to go so far +back for precedent. The game had not changed. The building of our new +Raymond Street jail in Brooklyn, in 1886, was a game which the +politicians played, called "money, money, who has got the money?" +Suddenly there was an arraignment in the courts. Mr. Jaehne was +incarcerated in Sing Sing for bribery. Twenty-five New York aldermen +were accused. Nineteen of them were saloon keepers. There was a fearful +indifference to the illiteracy of our leaders in 1886. It threatened the +national intelligence of the future. + +In the rhapsody of May, however, in the resurrection of the superlative +beauties of spring, we forgot our human deficiencies. In the first week +of lilacs, the Americanised flower of Persia, we aspired to the breadth +and height and the heaven of our gardens. The generous lilac, like a +great purple sea of loveliness, swept over us in the full tide of +spring. It was the forerunner of joy; joy of fish in the brooks, of +insects in the air, of cattle in the fields, of wings to the sky. +Sunshine, shaken from the sacred robes of God! Spring, the spiritual +essence of heaven and physical beauty come to earth in many forms--in +the rose, in the hawthorn white and scarlet, in the passion flower. In +this season of transition we hear the murmurings of heaven. There were +spring poets in 1886, as there had been in all ages. + +Love and marriage came over the country like a divine opiate, inspired, +I believe, by that love story in the White House, which culminated on +June 2, 1886, in the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland. Never in my +knowledge were there so many weddings all over the United States as +during the week when this official wedding took place in the White +House. The representatives of the foreign Governments in Washington were +not invited to Mr. Cleveland's wedding. We all hoped that they would not +make such fools of themselves as to protest--but they did. They were +displeased at the President's omission to invite them. It was always a +wish of Mr. Cleveland's to separate the happiness of his private life +from that of his public career, so as to protect Mrs. Cleveland from the +glare to which he himself was exposed. His wedding was an intimate, +private matter to him, and if there is any time in a man's life when he +ought to do as he pleases it is when he gets married. It was a +remarkable wedding in some respects, remarkable for its love story, for +its distinguished character, its American privacy, its independent +spirit. The whole country was rapturously happy over it. The foreign +ministers who growled might have benefited by the example of Americanism +in the affair. Even the reporters, none of whom were invited, were happy +over it, and gave a more vivid account of the joyous scene than they +could have given had they been present. + +The difference in the ages of the President and his beautiful bride was +widely discussed. Into the garland of bridal roses let no one ever twist +a sprig of night-shade. If 49 would marry 22, if summer is fascinated +with spring, whose business is it but their own? Both May and August are +old enough to take care of themselves, and their marriage is the most +noteworthy moment of their too short season of life. Some day her voice +is silenced, and the end of the world has come for him--the morning +dead, the night dead, the air dead, the world dead. For his sake, for +her sake, do not spoil their radiance with an impious regret. They will +endure the thorns of life when they are stronger in each other's love. + +That June wedding at the White House was the nucleus of happiness, from +which grew a great wave of matrimony. The speed of God's will was +increasing in America. Most of the things managed by divine instinct are +characterised by speed--rapid currents, swift lightnings, swift coming +and going of lives. In the old-fashioned days a man got a notion that +there was sanctity in tardiness. It was a great mistake. In America we +had arrived at that state of mind when we wanted everything fast--first +and fast. Fast horses, fast boats, fast runners are all good things for +the human race. + +The great yacht races of September 7, 1886, in which the "May Flower" +distanced the "Galatea" by two miles and a half, was a spanking race. +Our sporting blood was roused to fighting pitch, and we became more +active in every way of outdoor sports. Lawn tennis tournaments were +epidemic all over the country. There were good and bad effects from all +of them. Those romping sports developed a much finer physical condition +in our American women. Lawn tennis and croquet were hardening and +beautifying the race. From the English and German women we adopted +athletics for our own women. Our girls began to travel more frequently +in Europe. It looked as though many of the young ladies who prided +themselves upon their bewitching languors and fashionable dreaminess, +would be neglected by young men in favour of the more athletic types. It +had been decided, in the social channels of our life, that doll babies +were not of much use in the struggle, that women must have the capacity +and the strength to sweep out a room without fainting; that to make an +eatable loaf of bread was more important than the satin cheek or the +colour of hair that one strong fever could uproot. I was accused of +being ambitious that Americans should have a race of Amazons. I was not. +I did want them to have bodies to fit their great souls. What I did wish +to avoid, in this natural transition, was a misdirected use of its +advantages. There is dissipation in outdoor life, as well as indoors, +and this was to be deplored. I wanted everything American to come out +ahead. + +In science we were still far behind. The Charleston earthquake in +September, 1886, proved this. Our philosophers were disgusted that the +ministers and churches down there devoted their time to praying and +moralising about the earthquake, when only natural phenomena were the +cause. Science had no information or comfort to give, however. The only +thing the scientist did was to predict a great tidal wave which would +come and destroy all that was left of the previous calamity. Science +lied again. The tidal wave did not come; the September rains stopped, +and Charleston began to rebuild. That is one of the wonderful things +about America; we are not only able to restore our damages, but we have +a mania for rebuilding. Our chief fault lies in the fact that we +rebuild for profit rather than for beauty of character or moral +strength. + +There had been a time during my pastorate when Brooklyn promised to be +the greatest watering place in America. We were in a fair way of +becoming the summer capital of the United States. It was destroyed by +the loafers and the dissoluteness of Coney Island. In the autumn of +1886, Brooklyn was more indignant than I had ever seen it before, and I +knew it intimately for a quarter of a century. Our trade was damaged, +our residences were depreciated, because the gamblers and liquor dealers +were in power. Part of the summer people were too busy looking for a sea +serpent reported to be in the East River or up the Hudson to observe +that a Dragon of Evil was twining about the neck and waist and body of +the two great cities by the sea. + +In contrast to all this political treachery in the North there developed +a peculiar symbol of political sincerity in Tennesee. Two brothers, +Robert and Alfred Taylor, were running for Governor of that State--one +on the Republican and the other on the Democratic ticket. At night they +occupied the same room together. On the same platform they uttered +sentiments directly opposite in meaning. And yet, Robert said to a crowd +about to hoot his brother Alfred, "When you insult my brother you insult +me." This was a symbol of political decency that we needed. One of the +great wants of the world, however, was a better example in "high life." +We were shocked by the moral downfall of Sir Charles Dilke in England, +by the dissolute conduct of an American official in Mexico, by the +dissipations of a Senator who attempted to address the United States +Senate in a state of intoxication. + +Mr. Cleveland's frequent exercise of the President's right of veto was +a hopeful policy in national affairs. The habit of voting away thousands +of dollars of other people's money in Congress needed a check. The +popular means of accomplishing this out of the national treasury was in +bills introduced by Congressmen for public buildings. Each Congressman +wanted to favour the other. The President's veto was the only cure. This +prodigality of the National Legislature grew out of an enormous surplus +in the Treasury. It was too great a temptation to the law-makers. +$70,000,000 in a pile added to a reserve of $100,000,000 was an infamous +lure. I urged that this money should be turned back to the people to +whom it belonged. The Government had no more right to it than I had to +five dollars of overpay, and yet, by over-taxation, the Government had +done the same sort of thing. This money did not belong to the +Government, but to the people from whom they had taken it. From private +sources in Washington I learned that officials were overwhelmed with +demands for pensions from first-class loafers who had never been of any +service to their country before or since the war. They were too lazy or +cranky to work for themselves. Grover Cleveland vetoed them by the +hundred. We needed the veto power in America as much as the Roman +Government had required it in their tribunes. Poland had recognised it. +The Kings of Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands had used it. With the +exception of two states in the Union, all the American Governors had the +privilege. Because a railroad company buys up a majority of the +legislature there is no reason why a Governor should sign the charter. +There was no reason why the President should make appointments upon +indiscriminate claims because the ante-room of the White House was +filled with applicants, as they were in Cleveland's first +administration. My sympathies were with the grand army men against these +pretenders. + +What a waste of money it seemed to me there was in keeping up useless +American embassies abroad. They had been established when it took six +weeks to go to Liverpool and six months to China, so that it was +necessary to have representation at the foreign courts. As far back as +1866 it was only half an hour from Washington to London, to Berlin, to +Madrid. I have seen no crisis in any of these foreign cities which made +our ambassadors a necessity there. International business could be +managed by the State Department. The foreign embassy was merely a good +excuse to get rid of some competent rival for the Presidency. The cable +was enough Minister Plenipotentiary for the United States, and always +should be. I regarded it as humiliating to the constitution of the +United States that we should be complimenting foreign despotism in this +way. + +The war rage of Europe was destined to make a market for our bread stuff +in 1886, but at the cost of further suffering and disaster. I have no +sentimentality about the conflicts of life, because the Bible is a +history of battles and hand to hand struggles, but war is no longer +needed in the world. War is a system of political greed where men are +hired at starvation wages to kill each other. Could there be anything +more savage? It is the inoffensive who are killed, while the principals +in the quarrel sit snugly at home on throne chairs. + +A private letter, I think it was, written during the Crimean war by a +sailor to his wife, describing his sensations after having killed a man +for the first time, is a unique demonstration of the psychology of the +soldier's fate. + +The letter said:-- + +"We were ordered to fire, and I took steady aim and fired on my man at a +distance of sixty yards. He dropped like a stone, at the same instant a +broadside from the ship scattered among the trees, and the enemy +vanished, we could scarcely tell how. I felt as though I must go up to +the man I had fired upon to see if he were dead or alive. I found him +quite still, and I was more afraid of him when I saw him lying so than +when he stood facing me a few minutes before. It is a strange feeling +that comes over you all at once when you have killed a man. He had +unfastened his jacket, and was pressing his hand against his chest where +the wound was. He breathed hard, and the blood poured from the wound and +his mouth at every breath. His face was white as death, and his eyes +looked big and bright as he turned them staring up at me. I shall never +forget it. He was a fine young fellow, not over five and twenty. I knelt +beside him and I felt as though my heart would burst. He had an English +face and did not look like my enemy. If my life could have saved his I +would have given it. I held his head on my knee and he tried to speak, +but his voice was gone. I could not understand a word that he said. I am +not ashamed to say that I was worse than he, for he never shed a tear +and I did. I was wondering how I could bear to leave him to die alone, +when he had some sort of convulsions, then his head rolled over and with +a sigh he was gone. I laid his head gently on the grass and left him. It +seemed so strange when I looked at him for the last time. I somehow +thought of everything I had ever read about the Turks and the Russians, +and the rest of them, but all that seemed so far off, and the dead man +so near." + +This was the secret tragedy of the common fraternity of manhood driven +by custom into a sham battle of death. The European war of 1886 was a +conflict of Slav and Teuton. France will never forgive Germany for +taking Alsace and Lorraine. It was a surrender to Germany of what in the +United States would be equal to the surrender of Philadelphia and +Boston, with vast harvest fields in addition. France wanted to blot out +Sedan. England desired to keep out of the fight upon a naval report that +she was unprepared for war. The Danes were ready for insurrection +against their own Government. Only 3,000 miles of Atlantic Ocean and +great wisdom of Washington kept us out of the fight. The world's +statesmanship at this time was the greatest it had ever known. There was +enough of it in St. Petersburg, Berlin, Rome, Paris, and London to have +achieved a great progress for peace by arbitration and treaty, but there +was no precedent by which to judge the effect of such a plan. The +nations had never before had such vast populations to change into +armies. The temptations of war were irresistible. + +In America, remotely luxurious in our own prosperity from the rest of +the world, we became self-absorbed. The fashions, designed and inspired +in Europe, became the chief element of attraction among the ladies. It +was particularly noticeable in the autumn of 1886 for the brilliancy and +grandeur of bird feathers. The taxidermist's art was adapted to women's +gowns and hats to a degree that amazed the country. A precious group of +French actresses, some of them divorced two or three times, with a +system of morals entirely independent of the ten commandments, were +responsible for this outbreak of bird millinery in America. From one +village alone 70,000 birds were sent to New York for feminine adornment. + +The whole sky full of birds was swept into the millinery shops. A three +months foraging trip in South Carolina furnished 11,000 birds for the +market of feathers. One sportsman supplied 10,000 aigrettes. The music +of the heavens was being destroyed. Paris was supplied by contracts made +in New York. In one month a million bobolinks were killed near +Philadelphia. Species of birds became extinct. In February of this year +I saw in one establishment 2,000,000 bird skins. One auction room alone, +in three months, sold 3,000,000 East India bird skins, and 1,000,000 +West India and Brazilian feathers. + +A newspaper description of a lady's hat in 1886 was to me savage in the +extreme. I quote one of many: + +"She had a whole nest of sparkling, scintillating birds in her hat, +which would have puzzled an ornithologist to classify." + +Here is another one I quote: + +"Her gown of unrelieved black was looped up with blackbirds and a winged +creature so dusky that it could have been intended for nothing but a +crow reposed among the strands of her hair." + +Public sentiment in American womanhood eventually rescued the songsters +of the world--in part, at any rate. The heavenly orchestra, with its +exquisite prelude of dawn and its tremulous evensong, was spared. + +Many years ago Thomas Carlyle described us as "forty million Americans, +mostly fools." He declared we would flounder on the ballot-box, and that +the right of suffrage would be the ruin of this Government. The "forty +million of fools" had done tolerably well for the small amount of brain +Carlyle permitted them. + +Better and better did America become to me as the years went by. I never +wanted to live anywhere else. Many believed that Christ was about to +return to His reign on earth, and I felt confident that if such a divine +descent could be, it would come from American skies. I did not believe +that Christ would descend from European skies, amidst alien thrones. I +foresaw the time when the Democracy of Americans would be lifted so that +the President's chair could be set aside as a relic; when penitentiaries +would be broken-down ruins; almshouses forsaken, because all would be +rich, and hospitals abandoned, because all would be well. + +If Christ were really coming, as many believed, the moment of earthly +paradise was at hand. + + + + +THE ELEVENTH MILESTONE + +1886-1887 + + +The balance of power in Brooklyn and New York during my lifetime had +always been with the pulpit. I was in my fifty-fourth year, and had +shared honours with the most devout and fearless ministers of the Gospel +so long that when two monster receptions were proposed, in celebration +of the services of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher and Rev. R.S. Storrs, D.D., I +became almost wickedly proud of the privileges of my associations. These +two eminent men were in the seventies. Dr. Storrs had been installed +pastor of the Church of Pilgrims in 1846; Mr. Beecher pastor of Plymouth +Church in 1847. They were both stalwart in body then, both New +Englanders, both Congregationalists, mighty men, genial as a morning in +June. Both world-renowned, but different. Different in stature, in +temperament, in theology. They had reached the fortieth year of pastoral +service. No movement for the welfare of Brooklyn in all these years was +without the benediction of their names. + +The pulpit had accomplished wonders. In Brooklyn alone look at the +pulpit-builders. There were Rev. George W. Bethune of the Dutch Reformed +Church, Rev. Dr. Samuel H. Cox, Rev. W. Ichabod Spencer, Rev. Dr. Samuel +Thayer Speer of the Presbyterian Church, Dr. John Summerfield and Dr. +Kennedy of the Methodist Church, Rev. Dr. Stone and Rev. Dr. Vinton of +the Episcopal Church--all denominations pouring their elements of divine +splendour upon the community. Who can estimate the power which emanated +from the pulpits of Dr. McElroy, or Dr. DeWitt, or Dr. Spring, or Dr. +Krebs? Their work will go on in New York though their churches be +demolished. Large-hearted men were these pulpit apostles, apart from the +clerical obligations of their denominations. No proverb in the world is +so abused as the one which declares that the children of ministers never +turn out well. They hold the highest places in the nation. Grover +Cleveland was the son of a Presbyterian clergyman, Governor Pattison of +Pennsylvania, Governor Taylor of Tennessee, were sons of Methodist +preachers. In congressional and legislative halls they are scattered +everywhere. + +Of all the metaphysical discourses that Mr. Beecher delivered, none are +so well remembered as those giving his illustrations of life, his +anecdotes. Much of his pulpit utterance was devoted to telling what +things were like. So the Sermon on the Mount was written, full of +similitudes. Like a man who built his house on a rock, like a candle in +a candle-stick, like a hen gathering her chickens under her wing, like a +net, like salt, like a city on a hill. And you hear the song birds, and +you smell the flowers. Mr. Beecher's grandest effects were wrought by +his illustrations, and he ransacked the universe for them. We need in +our pulpits just such irresistible illustrations, just such holy +vivacity. His was a victory of similitudes. + +Towards the end of November, 1886, one of the most distinguished sons of +a Baptist preacher, Chester A. Arthur, died. He had arisen to the +highest point of national honour, and preserved the simplicities of true +character. When I was lecturing in Lexington, Kentucky, one summer, I +remember with what cordiality he accosted me in a crowd. + +"Are you here?" he said; "why, it makes me feel very much at home." + +Mr. Arthur aged fifteen years in the brief span of his administration. +He was very tired. Almost his last words were, "Life is not worth +living." Our public men need sympathy, not criticism. Macaulay, after +all his brilliant career in Parliament, after being world-renowned among +all who could admire fine writing, wrote this: + +"Every friendship which a man may have becomes precarious as soon as he +engages in politics." + +Political life is a graveyard of broken hearts. Daniel Webster died of a +broken heart at Marshfield. Under the highest monument in Kentucky lies +Henry Clay, dead of a broken heart. So died Henry Wilson, at Natick, +Mass.; William H. Seward at Auburn, N.Y.; Salmon P. Chase, in +Cincinnati. So died Chester A. Arthur, honoured, but worried. + +The election of Abram S. Hewitt as mayor of New York in 1886 restored +the confidence of the best people. Behind him was a record absolutely +beyond criticism, before him a great Christian opportunity. We made the +mistake, however, of ignoring the great influence upon our civic +prosperity of the business impulse of the West. We in New York and +Brooklyn were a self-satisfied community, unmindful of our dependence +upon the rest of the American continent. My Western trips were my +recreation. An occasional lecture tour accomplished for me what +yachting or baseball does for others. My congregation understood this, +and never complained of my absence. They realised that all things for me +turned into sermons. No man sufficiently appreciates his home unless +sometimes he goes away from it. It made me realise what a number of +splendid men and women there were in the world Man as a whole is a great +success; woman, taking her all in all, is a great achievement, and the +reason children die is because they are too lovely to stay out of +paradise. + +Three weeks in the West brought me back to Brooklyn supremely +optimistic. There was more business in the markets than men could attend +to. Times had changed. In Cincinnati once I was perplexed by the +difference in clock time. They have city time and railroad time there. I +asked a gentleman about it. + +"Tell me, how many kinds of time have you here?" I asked. "Three kinds," +he replied, "city time, railroad time, and hard time." + +There was no "hard time" at the close of 1886. The small rate of +interest we had been compelled to take for money had been a good thing. +It had enlivened investments in building factories and starting great +enterprises. The 2 per cent. per month interest was dead. The fact that +a few small fish dared to swim through Wall Street, only to be gobbled +up, did not stop the rising tide of national welfare. We were going +ahead, gaining, profiting even by the lives of those who were leaving us +behind. + +The loss of the Rev. J. Hyatt Smith restored the symbol and triumph of +self-sacrifice. In the most exact sense of the word he was a genius. He +wasted no time in his study that he could devote to others, he was +always busy raising money to pay house rent for some poor woman, +exhausting his energies in trying to keep people out of trouble, +answering the call of every school, of every reformatory, every +philanthropic institution. Had he given more time to study, he would +hardly have had an equal in the American pulpit. He depended always upon +the inspiration of the moment. Sometimes he failed on this account. I +have heard him when he had the pathos of a Summerfield, the wit of a +Sidney Smith, and the wondrous thundering phraseology of a Thomas +Carlyle. He had been everywhere, seen everything, experienced great +variety of gladness, grief, and betrayal. If you had lost a child, he +was the first man at your side to console you. If you had a great joy, +his was the first telegram to congratulate you. For two years he was in +Congress. His Sundays in Washington were spent preaching in pulpits of +all denominations. The first time I ever saw him was when he came to my +house in Philadelphia, ringing the door bell, that he might assuage a +great sorrow that had come to me. He was always in the shadowed home. +How much the world owes to such a nature is beyond the world's gift to +return. His wit was of the kind that, like the dew, refreshes. He never +laughed at anything but that which ought to be laughed at. He never +dealt in innuendoes that tipped both ways. We were old friends of many +vicissitudes. Together we wept and laughed and planned. He had such +subtle ways of encouragement--as when he told me that he had read a +lecture of mine to his dying daughter, and described how it had +comforted her. His was a life of profound self-sacrifice, but "weeping +may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." + +The new year of 1887 began with a controversy that filled the air with +unpleasant confusion. A small river of ink was poured upon it, a vast +amount of talk was made about it. A priest in the Roman Catholic Church, +Father McGlynn, was arraigned by Archbishop Corrigan for putting his +hand in the hot water of politics. In various ways I was asked my +opinion of it all. My most decided opinion was that outsiders had better +keep their hands out of the trouble. The interference of people outside +of a church with its internal affairs only makes things worse. The +policy of any church is best known by its own members. The controversy +was not a matter into which I could consistently enter. + +The earth began its new year in hard luck. The earthquake in +Constantinople, in February, was only one of a series of similar shakes +elsewhere. The scientists were always giving us a lot of trouble. +Electric showers in the sun disturbed our climate. Comets had been +shooting about the sky with enough fire in their tails to obliterate us. +Caracas was shaken, Lisbon buried, Java very badly cracked. It is a +shaky, rheumatic, epileptic old world, and in one of its stupendous +convulsions it will die. It's a poor place in which to make permanent +investments. It was quite as insecure in its human standards as in its +scientific incompetence. + +Our laws were moral earthquakes that destroyed our standards. We were +opposed to sneak thieves, but we admired the two million dollar rascals. +Why not a tax of five or ten thousand dollars to license the business of +theft, so that we might put an end to the small scoundrels who had +genius enough only to steal door mats, or postage stamps, or chocolate +drops, and confine the business to genteel robbery? A robber paying a +privilege of ten thousand dollars would then be able legally to abscond +with fifty thousand dollars from a bank; or, by watering the stock of a +railroad, he would be entitled to steal two hundred thousand dollars at +a clip. The thief's licence ought to be high, because he would so soon +make it up. + +A licence on blasphemy might have been equally advantageous. It could be +made high enough so that we could sweep aside all those who swear on a +small scale, those who never get beyond "By George!" "My stars!" or +"Darn it!" Then, again, the only way to put an end to murder in America +is by high licenced murderers. Put a few men in to manage the business +of murder. The common assassins who do their work with car hooks, dull +knives or Paris green, should be abolished by law. Let the few experts +do it who can accomplish murder without pain: by chloroform or bulldog +revolvers. Give these men all the business. The licence in these cases +should be twenty thousand dollars, because the perquisites in gold +watches, money safes, and plethoric pocket-books would soon offset the +licence. + +High licences in rum-selling had always been urged, and always resulted +in dead failures; therefore the whole method of legal restraint in crime +can be dismissed with irony. The overcrowding in the East was crushing +our ethical and practical ambition. That is why the trains going +westward were so crowded that there was hardly room enough to stand in +them. We were restoring ourselves in Kansas and Missouri. After +lecturing, in the spring of 1887, in fifteen Western cities, including +Chicago, St. Louis, and westward to the extreme boundaries of Kansas, I +returned a Westerner to convert the Easterner. In the West they called +this prosperity a boom, but I never liked the word, for a boom having +swung one way is sure to swing the other. It was a revival of +enterprise which, starting in Birmingham, Ala., advanced through +Tennessee, and spread to Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri. My forecast at this +time was that the men who went West then would be the successes in the +next twenty years. The centre of American population, which two years +before had been a little west of Cincinnati, had moved to Kansas, the +heart of the continent. The national Capital should have been midway +between the Atlantic and the Pacific, in which case the great white +buildings in Washington could have been turned into art academies, and +museums and libraries. + +Prohibition in Kansas and Iowa was making honest men. I did not see an +intoxicated man in either of these States. All the young men in Kansas +and Iowa were either prohibitionists or loafers. The West had lost the +song plaintive and adopted the song jubilant. + +In the spring of this year, 1887, Brooklyn was examined by an +investigating committee. Even when Mayor Low was in power, three years +before, the city was denounced by Democratic critics, so Mayor Whitney, +of course, was the victim of Republican critics. The whole thing was +mere partisan hypocrisy. If anyone asked me whether I was a Republican +or a Democrat, I told them that I had tried both, and got out of them +both. I hope always to vote, but the title of the ticket at the top will +not influence me. Outside of heaven Brooklyn was the quietest place on +Sunday. The Packer and the Polytechnic institutes took care of our boys +and girls. Our judiciary at this time included remarkable men: Judge +Neilson, Judge Gilbert, and Judge Reynolds. We had enough surplus +doctors to endow a medical college for fifty other cities. + +It looked as though our grandchildren would be very happy. We were only +in the early morning of development. The cities would be multiplied a +hundredfold, and yet we were groaning because a few politicians were +conducting an investigation for lack of something better to do. From +time immemorial we had prayed for the President and Congress, but I +never heard of any prayers for the State Legislatures, and they needed +them most of all. They brought about the groans of the nation, and we +were constantly in complaint of them. I remember a great mass meeting in +the Academy of Music in Brooklyn, at which I was present, to protest +against the passage of the Gambling Pool Bill, as it was called. I was +accused of being over-confident because I said the State Senate would +not pass it without a public hearing. A public hearing was given, +however, and my faith in the legislators of the State increased. We +ministers of Brooklyn had to do a good deal of work outside of our +pulpits, outside of our churches, on the street and in the crowds. + +When the Ives Gambling Pool Bill was passed I urged that the Legislature +should adjourn. The race track men went to Albany and triumphed. +Brooklyn was disgraced before the world by our race tracks at Coney +Island, which were a public shame! + +All the money in the world, however, was not abused. Philanthropists +were helping the Church. Miss Wolfe bequeathed a million dollars to +evangelisation in New York; Mr. Depau, of Illinois, bequeathed five +million dollars to religion, and the remaining three million of his +fortune only to his family. There were others--Cyrus McCormick, James +Lenox, Mr. Slater, Asa D. Packer. They, with others, were men of great +deeds. We were just about ready to appreciate these progressive events. + +In the summer of 1887 I urged a great World's Fair, because I thought +it was due in our country, to the inventors, the artists, the industries +of America. How to set the idea of a World's Fair agoing? It only needed +enthusiasm among the prominent merchants and the rich men. All great +things first start in one brain, in one heart. I proposed that a World's +Fair should be held in the great acreage between Prospect Park and the +sea. + +In 1853 there was a World's Fair in New York. In the same year the +dismemberment of the Republic was expected, and a book of several +volumes was advertised in London, entitled "History of the Federal +Government from the Foundation to the Dissipation of the United States." +Only one volume was ever published. The other volumes were never +printed. What a difference in New York city then, when it opened its +Crystal Palace, and thirty-four years later--in 1887! That Crystal +Palace was the beginning of World's Fairs in this country. + +In the presence of the epauleted representatives of foreign nations, +before a vast multitude, Franklin Pierce, President of the United +States, declared it open, and as he did so Julien, the inspired musical +leader of his day, raised his baton for an orchestra of three thousand +instruments, while thousands of trained voices sang "God Save the +Queen," "The Marseillaise," "Bonnie Doon," "The Harp that once through +Tara's Halls," and "Hail Columbia." What that Crystal Palace, opened in +New York in 1853, did for art, for science, for civilisation, is beyond +record. The generation that built it has for the most part vanished but +future generations will be inspired by them. + +The summer of 1887 opened the baseball season of America, and I +deplored an element of roughness and loaferism that attached itself to +the greatest game of our country. One of the national events of this +season of that year was a proposal to remove the battle-flag of the late +war. Good sense prevailed, and the controversy was satisfactorily +settled; otherwise the whole country would have been aflame. It was not +merely an agitation over a few bits of bunting. The most arousing, +thrilling, blood-stirring thing on earth is a battle-flag. Better let +the old battle-flags of our three wars hang where they are. Only one +circumstance could disturb them, and that would be the invasion of a +foreign power and the downfall of the Republic. The strongest passions +of men are those of patriotism. + +The best things that a man does in the world usually take a lifetime to +make. A career is a life job, and no one is sure whether it was worthy +or not till it is over. I except doctors from this rule, of whom Homer +says:-- + + A wise physician skilled our wounds to heal + Is more than armies to the public weal. + +Some may remember the stalwart figure of Dr. Joseph Hutchinson, one of +the best American surgeons. For some years, in the streets of Brooklyn, +he was a familiar and impressive figure on horseback. He rode superbly, +and it was his custom to make his calls in that way. He died in this +year. Daniel Curry was another significant, superior man of a different +sort, who also died in the summer of 1887. He was an editor and writer +of the Methodist Church. At his death he told one thing that will go +into the classics of the Church; and five hundred years beyond, when +evangelists quote the last words of this inspired man, they will recall +the dying vision that came to Daniel Curry. He saw himself in the final +judgment before the throne, and knew not what to do on account of his +sins. He felt that he was lost, when suddenly Christ saw him and said, +"I will answer for Daniel Curry." In this world of vast population it is +wonderful to find only a few men who have helped to carry the burden of +others with distinction for themselves. Most of us are driven. + +In the two years and a half that our Democratic party had been in power, +our taxes had paid in a surplus to the United States treasury of +$125,000,000. The whole country was groaning under an infamous taxation. +Most of it was spent by the Republican party, three or four years +before, to improve navigation on rivers with about two feet of water in +them in the winter, and dry in summer. In the State of Virginia I saw +one of these dry creeks that was to be improved. Taxation caused the war +of the Revolution. It had become a grinding wheel of government that +rolled over all our public interests. Politicians were afraid to touch +the subject for fear they might offend their party. I touch upon it here +because those who live after me may understand, by their own experience, +the infamy of political piracy practised in the name of government +taxation. + +We had our school for scandal in America over-developed. A certain +amount of exposure is good for the soul, but our newspaper headlines +over-reached this ideal purpose. They cultivated liars and encouraged +their lies. The peculiarity of lies is their great longevity. They are a +productive species and would have overwhelmed the country and destroyed +George Washington except for his hatchet. Once born, the lie may live +twenty, thirty, or forty years. At the end of a man's life sometimes it +is healthier than he ever was. Lies have attacked every occupant of the +White House, have irritated every man since Adam, and every good woman +since Eve. Today the lie is after your neighbour; to-morrow it is after +you. It travels so fast that a million people can see it the next +morning. It listens at keyholes, it can hear whispers: it has one ear to +the East, the other to the West. An old-fashioned tea-table is its +jubilee, and a political campaign is its heaven. Avoid it you may not, +but meet it with calmness and without fear. It is always an outrage, a +persecution. + +Nothing more offensive to public sentiment could have occurred than the +attempt made in New York in the autumn of 1887 to hinder the appointment +of a new pastor of Trinity Church, on the plea that he came from a +foreign country, and therefore was an ally to foreign labour. It was an +outrage on religion, on the Church, on common sense. As a nation, +however, we were safe. There was not another place in the world where +its chief ruler could travel five thousand miles, for three weeks, +unprotected by bayonets, as Mr. Cleveland did on his Presidential tour +of the country. It was a universal huzzah, from Mugwumps, Republicans, +and Democrats. We were a safe nation because we destroyed Communism. + +The execution of the anarchists in Chicago, in November, 1887, was a +disgusting exhibition of the gallows. It took ten minutes for some of +them to die by strangulation. Nothing could have been more barbaric than +this method of hanging human life. I was among the first to publicly +propose execution by electricity. Mr. Edison, upon a request from the +government, could easily have arranged it. I was particularly horrified +with the blunders of the hangman's methods, because I was in a friend's +office in New York, when the telegraph wires gave instantaneous reports +of the executions in Chicago. I made notes of these flashes of death. + +"Now the prisoners leave the cells," said the wire; "now they are +ascending the stairs"; "now the rope is being adjusted"; "now the cap is +being drawn"; "now they fall." Had I been there I would probably have +felt thankful that I was brought up to obey the law, and could +understand the majesty of restraining powers. One of these men was +naturally kind and generous, I was told, but was embittered by one who +had robbed him of everything; and so he became an enemy to all mankind. +One of them got his antipathy for all prosperous people from the fact +that his father was a profligate nobleman, and his mother a poor, +maltreated, peasant woman. The impulse of anarchy starts high up in +society. Chief among our blessings was an American instinct for +lawfulness in the midst of lawless temptation. We were often reminded of +this supreme advantage as we saw passing into shadowland the robed +figure of an upright man. + +The death of Judge Greenwood of Brooklyn, in November, 1887, was a +reminder of such matters. He had seen the nineteenth century in its +youth and in its old age. From first to last, he had been on the right +side of all its questions of public welfare. We could, appropriately, +hang his portrait in our court rooms and city halls. The artist's brush +would be tame indeed compared with the living, glowing, beaming face of +dear old Judge Greenwood in the portrait gallery of my recollections. + +The national event of this autumn was President Cleveland's message to +Congress, which put squarely before us the matter of our having a +protective tariff. It was the great question of our national problem, +and called for oratory and statesmanship to answer it. The whole of +Europe was interested in the subject. I advocated free trade as the best +understanding of international trading, because I had talked with the +leaders of political thought in Europe, and I understood both sides, as +far as my capacity could compass them. In America we were frequently +compared to the citizens of the French Republic because of our nervous +force, our restlessness, but we were more patient. In 1887, the +resignation of President Grévy in France re-established this fact. +Though an American President becomes offensive to the people, we wait +patiently till his four years are out, even if we are not very quiet +about it. We are safest when we keep our hands off the Constitution. The +demonstration in Paris emphasised our Republican wisdom. Public service +is an altar of sacrifice for all who worship there. + +The death of Daniel Manning, ex-Secretary of the Treasury, in December, +1887, was another proof of this. He fell prostrate on the steps of his +office, in a sickness that no medical aid could relieve. Four years +before no one realised the strength that was in him. He threw body and +soul into the whirlpool of his work, and was left in the rapids of +celebrity. In the closing notes of 1887, I find recorded the death of +Mrs. William Astor. What a sublime lifetime of charity and kindness was +hers! Mrs. Astor's will read like a poem. It had a beauty and a pathos, +and a power entirely independent of rhythmical cadence. The document was +published to the world on a cold December morning, with its bequests of +hundreds of thousands of dollars to the poor and needy, the invalids and +the churches. It put a warm glow over the tired and grizzled face of the +old year. It was a benediction upon the coming years. + + + + +THE TWELFTH MILESTONE + +1888 + + +It seems to me that the constructive age of man begins when he has +passed fifty. Not until then can he be a master builder. As I sped past +the fifty-fifth milestone life itself became better, broader, fuller. My +plans were wider, the distances I wanted to go stretched before me, +beyond the normal strength of an average lifetime. This I knew, but +still I pressed on, indifferent of the speed or strain. There were +indications that my strength had not been dissipated, that the years +were merely notches that had not cut deep, that had scarcely scarred the +surface of the trunk. The soul, the mind, the zest of doing--all were +keen and eager. + +The conservation of the soul is not so profound a matter as it is +described. It consists in a guardianship of the gateways through which +impressions enter, or pass by; it consists in protecting one's inner +self from wasteful associations. + +The influence of what we read is of chief importance to character. At +the beginning of 1888 I received innumerable requests from people all +over New York and Brooklyn for advice on the subject of reading. In the +deluge of books that were beginning to sweep over us many readers were +drowned. The question of what to read was being discussed everywhere. + +I opposed the majority of novels because they were made chiefly to set +forth desperate love scrapes. Much reading of love stories makes one +soft, insipid, absent-minded, and useless. Affections in life usually +work out very differently. The lady does not always break into tears, +nor faint, nor do the parents always oppose the situation, so that a +romantic elopement is possible. Excessive reading of these stories makes +fools of men and women. Neither is it advisable to read a book because +someone else likes it. It is not necessary to waste time on Shakespeare +if you have no taste for poetry or drama merely because so many others +like them; nor to pass a long time with Sir William Hamilton when +metaphysics are not to your taste. When you read a book by the page, +every few minutes looking ahead to see how many chapters there are +before the book will be finished, you had better stop reading it. There +was even a fashion in books that was absurd. People were bored to death +by literature in the fashion. + +For a while we had a Tupper epidemic, and everyone grew busy writing +blank verse--very blank. Then came an epidemic of Carlyle, and everyone +wrote turgid, involved, twisted and breakneck sentences, each noun with +as many verbs as Brigham Young had wives. Then followed a romantic +craze, and everyone struggled to combine religion and romance, with +frequent punches at religion, and we prided ourselves on being sceptical +and independent in our literary tastes. My advice was simply to make up +one's mind what to read, and then read it. Life is short, and books are +many. Instead of making your mind a garret crowded with rubbish, make +it a parlour, substantially furnished, beautifully arranged, in which +you would not be ashamed to have the whole world enter. + +There was so much in the world to provoke the soul, and yet all +persecution is a blessing in some way. The so-called modern literature, +towards the close of the nineteenth century, was becoming more and more +the illegitimate offspring of immaturity in thought and feeling. We were +the slaves of our newspapers; each morning a library was thrown on our +doorstep. But what a jumbled, inconsequent, muddled-up library! It was +the best that could be made in such a hurry, and it satisfied most of +us, though I believe there were conservative people who opened it only +to read the marriage and the death notices. The latter came along fast +enough. + +In January, 1888, that well-known American jurist and illustrious +Brooklynite, Judge Joseph Neilson, died. He was an old friend of mine, +of everyone who came upon his horizon. For a long while he was an +invalid, but he kept this knowledge from the world, because he wanted no +public demonstration. The last four years of his life he was confined to +his room, where he sat all the while calm, uncomplaining, interested in +all the affairs of the world, after a life of active work in it. He +belonged to that breed which has developed the brain and brawn of +American character--the Scotch-Irish. If Christianity had been a +fallacy, Judge Neilson would have been just the man to expose it. He who +on the judicial bench sat in solemn poise of spirit, while the ablest +jurists and advocates of the century were before him to be prompted, +corrected, or denied, was not the man to be overcome by a religion of +sophistry or mere pretence. Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase said that he +had studied the Christian religion as he had studied a law case, and +concluded that it was divine. Judge Neilson's decisions will be quoted +in court rooms as long as Justice holds its balance. The supremacy of a +useful life never leaves the earth--its influence remains behind. + +The whole world, it seemed to me, was being spiritualised by the +influences of those whose great moments on earth had planted tangible +and material benefits, years after they themselves were invisible. It +was an elemental fact in the death chamber of Mr. Roswell, the great +botanist, in England; in the relieved anxieties in Berlin; in the +jubilation in Dublin; by the gathering of noblemen in St. Petersburg; +and in the dawn of this new year. I could see a tendency in European +affairs to the unification of nations. + +The German and the French languages had been struggling for the +supremacy of Europe. As I foresaw events then, the two would first +conquer Europe, and the stronger of the two would swallow the other. +Then the English language would devour that, and the world would have +but one language. Over a million people had already began the study of +Volapük, a new language composed of all languages. This was an +indication of world nationalisation. Congresses of nations, meeting for +various purposes, were establishing brotherhood. It looked as though +those who were telling us again in 1888 that the second coming of Christ +was at hand were right. The divine significance of things was greater +than it had ever been. + +There was some bigotry in religious affairs, of course. In our religion +we were as far from unity of feeling then as we had ever been. The +Presbyterian bigot could be recognised by his armful of Westminster +catechisms. The Methodist bigot could be easily identified by his +declaration that unless a man had been converted by sitting on the +anxious seat he was not eligible. The way to the church militant, +according to this bigot, was from the anxious seat, one of which he +always carried with him. The Episcopal bigot struggled under a great +load of liturgies. Without this man's prayer-books no one could be +saved, he said. The Baptist bigot was bent double with the burden of his +baptistry. + +"It does not seem as if some of you had been properly washed," he said, +"and I shall proceed to put under the water all those who have neglected +their ablutions." Religion was being served in a kind of ecclesiastical +hash that, naturally enough, created controversy, as very properly it +should. In spite of these things, however, some creed of religious +faith, whichever it might be, was universally needed. I hope for a +church unity in the future. When all the branches in each denomination +have united, then the great denominations nearest akin will unite, and +this absorption will go on until there will be one great millennial +Church, divided only for geographical convenience into sections as of +old, when it was the Church of Laodicea, the Church of Philadelphia, the +Church of Thyatira. In the event of this religious evolution then there +will be the Church of America, the Church of Europe, the Church of Asia, +the Church of Africa, and the Church of Australia. + +We are all builders, bigots, or master mechanics of the divine will. + +The number of men who built Brooklyn, and who have gone into eternal +industry, were increasing. One day I paused a moment on the Brooklyn +Bridge to read on a stone the names of those who had influenced the +building of that span of steel, the wonder of the century. They were +the absent ones: The president, Mr. Murphy, absent; the vice-president, +Mr. Kingsley, absent; the treasurer, Mr. Prentice, absent; the engineer, +Mr. Roebling, absent. Our useful citizens were going or gone. A few days +after this Alfred S. Barnes departed. He has not disappeared, nor will +until our Historical Hall, our Academy of Music, and Mercantile Library, +our great asylums of mercy, and churches of all denominations shall have +crumbled. His name has been a bulwark of credit in the financial affairs +over which he presided. He was a director of many universities. What +reinforcement to the benevolence of the day his patronage was! I enjoyed +a warm personal friendship with him for many years, and my gratitude and +admiration were unbounded. He was a man of strict integrity in business +circles, the highest type of a practical Christian gentleman. Unlike so +many successful business men, he maintained an unusual simplicity of +character. He declined the Mayoralty and Congressional honours that he +might pursue the ways of peace. + +The great black-winged angel was being desperately beaten back, however, +by the rising generation of doctors, young, hearty, industrious, +ambitious graduates of the American universities. How bitterly +vaccination was fought even by ministers of the Gospel. Small wits +caricatured it, but what a world-wide human benediction it proved. I +remember being in Edinburgh a few weeks after the death of Sir James Y. +Simpson, and his photograph was in every shop window, in honour of the +man who first used chloroform as an anæsthetic. In former days they +tried to dull pain by using the hasheesh of the Arabs. Dr. Simpson's wet +sponge was a blessing put into the hands of the surgeon. The millennium +for the souls of men will be when the doctors have discovered the +millennium for their bodies. + +Dr. Bush used to say in his valedictory address to the students of the +medical college, "Young gentlemen, you have two pockets: a large pocket +and a small pocket. The large pocket is for your annoyances and your +insults, the small pocket for your fees." + +In March, 1888, we lost a man who bestowed a new dispensation upon the +dumb animals that bear our burdens--Henry Bergh. Abused and ridiculed +most of his life, he established a great work for the good men and women +of the ensuing centuries to carry out. Long may his name live in our +consecrated memory. In the same month, from Washington to Toledo, the +long funeral train of Chief Justice White steamed across country, +passing multitudes of uncovered heads bowed in sorrowing respect, while +across the sea men honoured his distinguished memory. + +What a splendid inheritance for those of us who must pass out of the +multitude without much ado, if we are not remembered among the bores of +life. There were bores in the pulpit who made their congregations dread +Sundays; made them wish that Sunday would come only once a month. At one +time an original Frenchman actually tried having a Sunday only once +every ten days. A minister should have a conference with his people +before he preaches, otherwise how can he tell what medicine to give +them? He must feel the spiritual pulse. Every man is a walking eternity +in himself, but he will never qualify if he insists on being a bore, +even if he have to face sensational newspaper stories about himself. + +I never replied to any such tales except once, and that once came about +in the spring of 1888. I regarded it as a joke. Some one reported that +one evening, at a little gathering in my house, there were four kinds of +wine served. I was much interviewed on the subject. I announced in my +church that the report was false, that we had no wine. I did not take +the matter as one of offence. If I had been as great a master of +invective and satire as Roscoe Conkling I might have said more. In the +spring of this year he died. The whole country watched anxiously the +news bulletins of his death. He died a lawyer. About Conkling as a +politician I have nothing to say. There is no need to enter that field +of enraged controversy. As a lawyer he was brilliant, severely logical, +if he chose to be, uproarious with mirth if he thought it appropriate. +He was an optimist. He was on board the "Bothnia" when she broke her +shaft at sea, and much anxiety was felt for him. I sailed a week later +on the "Umbria," and overtaking the "Bothnia," the two ships went into +harbour together. Meeting Mr. Conkling the next morning, in the +North-Western Hotel, at Liverpool, I asked him if he had not been +worried. + +"Oh, no," he said; "I was sure that good fortune would bring us through +all right." + +He was the only lawyer I ever knew who could afford to turn away from a +seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States. He had +never known misfortune. Had he ever been compelled to pass through +hardships he would have been President in 1878. Because of certain +peculiarities, known to himself, as well as to others, he turned aside +from politics. Although neither Mr. Conkling nor Mr. Blaine could have +been President while both lived, good people of all parties hoped for +Mr. Conkling's recovery. + +The national respect shown at the death-bed of the lawyer revealed the +progress of our times. Lawyers, for many years in the past, had been +ostracised. They were once forbidden entrance to Parliament. Dr. Johnson +wrote the following epitaph, which is obvious enough:-- + + God works wonders now and then; + Here lies a lawyer an honest man. + + + + +THE THIRTEENTH MILESTONE + +1888-1889 + + +The longer I live the more I think of mercy. Fifty-six years of age and +I had not the slightest suspicion that I was getting old. It was like a +crisp, exquisitely still autumn day. I felt the strength and buoyancy of +all the days I had lived merging themselves into a joyous anticipation +of years and years to come. For a long while I had cherished the dream +that I might some day visit the Holy Land, to see with my own eyes the +sky, the fields, the rocks, and the sacred background of the Divine +Tragedy. The tangible plans were made, and I was preparing to sail in +October, 1889. I felt like a man on the eve of a new career. The +fruition of the years past was about to be a great harvest of successful +work. I speak of it without reserve, as we offer prayers of gratitude +for great mercies. + +Everything before me seemed finer than anything I had ever known. Few +men at my age were so blessed with the vigour of health, with the elixir +of youth. To the world at large I was indebted for its appreciation, its +praise sometimes, its interest always. My study in Brooklyn was a room +that had become a picturesque starting point for the imagination of +kindly newspaper men. They were leading me into a new element of +celebrity. + +One morning, in my house in Brooklyn, I was asked by a newspaper in New +York if it might send a reporter to spend the day with me there. I had +no objection. The reporter came after breakfast. Breakfast was an +awkward meal for the newspaper profession, otherwise we should have had +it together. I made no preparation, set no scene, gave the incident no +thought, but spent the day in the usual routine of a pastor's duty. It +is an incident that puts a side-light on my official duties as a +minister in his home, and for that reason I refer to it in detail. Some +of the descriptions made by the reporter were accurate, and illustrative +of my home life. + +My mail was heavy, and my first duty was always to take it under my arm +to my workshop on the second floor of my home in South Oxford Street. In +doing this I was closely followed by the reporter. My study was a place +of many windows, and on this morning in the first week of 1888 it was +flooded with sunshine, or as the reporter, with technical skill, +described it, "A mellow light." The sun is always "mellow" in a room +whenever I have read about it in a newspaper. The reporter found my +study "an unattractive room," because it lacked the signs of "luxury" or +even "comfort." As I was erroneously regarded as a clerical Croesus at +this time the reporter's disappointment was excusable. The Gobelin +tapestries, the Raphael paintings, the Turkish divans, and the gold and +silver trappings of a throne room were missing in my study. The reporter +found the floor distressingly "hard, but polished wood." The walls were +painfully plain--"all white." My table, which the reporter kindly +signified as a "big one," was drawn up to a large window. Of course, +like all tables of the kind, it was "littered." I never read of a +library table in a newspaper that was not "littered." The reporter +spied everything upon it at once, "letters, newspapers, books, pens, ink +bottles, pencils, and writing-paper." All of which, of course, indicated +intellectual supremacy to the reporter. The chair at my table was "stiff +backed," and, amazing fact, it was "without a cushion." In front of the +chair, but on the table, the reporter discovered an "open book," which +he concluded "showed that the great preacher had been hurriedly called +away." In every respect it was a "typical literary man's den." Glancing +shrewdly around, the reporter discovered "bookshelves around the walls, +books piled in corners, and even in the middle of the room." Also a +newspaper file was noticed, and--careless creature that I am--"there +were even bundles of old letters tied with strings thrown carelessly +about." The reporter then said:-- + +"He told me this was his workshop, and looked me in the face with a +merry twinkle in his eye to see whether I was surprised or pleased." + +Then I asked the reporter to "sit down," which he promptly did. I was +closely watched to see how I opened my mail. Nothing startling happened. +I just opened "letter after letter." Some I laid aside for my secretary, +others I actually attended to myself. + +A letter from a young lady in Georgia, asking me to send her what I +consider the most important word in my vocabulary, I answered +immediately. The ever-watchful reporter observes that to do this "I pick +up a pen and write on the margin of the girl's letter the word +'helpfulness.'" Then I sign it and stick it in an envelope. Then I "dash +off the address." Obviously I am not at all original at home. I replied +to a letter from the president of a theological seminary, asking me to +speak to his young men. I like young men so I agree to do so if I can. I +"startle" the reporter finally, by a sudden burst of unexpected hilarity +over a letter from a man in Pennsylvania who wants me to send him a +cheque by return mail for one hundred thousand dollars, on a sure thing +investment. The reporter says:-- + +"I am startled by a shrill peal of laughter, and the great preacher +leans back in his chair and shakes his sides." + +The reporter looks over my shoulder and sees other letters. + +"A young minister writes to say that his congregation is leaving him. +How shall he get his people back? An old sailor scrawls on a piece of +yellow paper that he is bound for the China seas and he wants a copy of +each of Dr. Talmage's sermons sent to his old wife in New Bedford, +Mass., while he is gone. Here is a letter in a schoolgirl's hand. She +has had a quarrel with her first lover and he has left her in a huff. +How can she get him back? Another letter is from the senior member of +one of the biggest commercial houses in Brooklyn. It is brief, but it +gives the good doctor pleasure. The writer tells him how thoroughly he +enjoyed the sermon last Sunday. The next letter is from the driver of a +horse car. He has been discharged. His children go to Dr. Talmage's +Sunday School. Is that not enough to show that the father is reliable +and steady, and will not the preacher go at once to the superintendent +of the car line and have him reinstated. Here is a perfumed note from a +young mother who wants her child baptised. There are invitations to go +here and there, and to speak in various cities. Young men write for +advice: One with the commercial instinct strongly developed, wants to +know if the ministry pays? Still another letter is from a patent +medicine house, asking if the preacher will not write an endorsement of +a new cure for rheumatism. Other writers take the preacher to task for +some utterance in the pulpit that did not please them. Either he was too +lenient or too severe. A young man wants to get married and writes to +know what it will cost to tie the knot. A New York actress, who has been +an attendant for several Sundays at the Tabernacle, writes to say that +she is so well pleased with the sermons that she would be glad if she +could come earlier on Sunday morning, but she is so tired when Saturday +night comes that she can't get up early. Would it be asking too much to +have a seat reserved for her until she arrived!" + +A maid in a "white cap" comes to the door and informs me that a "roomful +of people" are waiting to see me downstairs. It is the usual routine of +my morning's work, when I receive all who come to me for advice and +consolation. The reporter regards it, however, as an event, and writes +about it in this way:-- + +"Visitors to the Talmage mansion are ushered through a broad hall into +the great preacher's back parlour. They begin to arrive frequently +before breakfast, and the bell rings till long after the house is closed +for the night. There are men and women of all races, some richly +dressed, some fashionably, some very poorly. Many of them had never +spoken a word to Dr. Talmage before. They think that Talmage has only to +strike the rock to bring forth a stream of shining coins. He steps into +their midst pleasantly. + +"'Well, young man,' he says to a youth of seventeen, who stands before +him. He offers the boy his hand and shakes it heartily. + +"'I don't suppose you know me,' says the lad, 'but I'm in your Sunday +School. Mother thinks I should go to work and I have come to you for +advice.' + +"Then follows in whispers a brief conversation about the boy himself, +his parents, his education and mode of life. + +"'Now,' says the preacher, leading him by the hand to the door, 'get a +letter from your mother, and also one from your Sunday School teacher, +and one from your Day School teacher, and bring them to me. If they are +satisfactory I will give you a letter to a warm friend of mine who is +one of the largest dry goods merchants in New York. If you are able, +bright, and honest he will employ you. If you are faithful you may some +day be a member of the firm. All the world is before you, lad. Be +honest, have courage. Roll up your sleeves and go to work and you will +succeed. Goodbye!' and the door closes. + +"The next caller is an old woman who wants the popular pastor to get her +husband work in the Navy Yard. No sooner is she disposed of, with a word +of comfort, than a spruce-looking young man steps forward. He is a book +agent, and his glib tongue runs so fast that the preacher subscribes for +his book without looking at it. As the agent retires a shy young girl +comes forward and asks for the preacher's autograph. It is given +cheerfully. Two old ladies of bustling activity have come to ask for +advice about opening a soup kitchen for the poor. A middle-aged man +pours out a sad story of woe. He is a hard-working carpenter. His only +daughter is inclined to be wayward. Would Dr. Talmage come round and +talk to her? + +"Finally, all the callers have been heard except one young man who sits +in a corner of the room toying with his hat. He has waited patiently so +that he might have the preacher all alone. He rises as Dr. Talmage walks +over to him. + +"'I am in no hurry,' he says. 'I'll wait if you want to speak to--to--to +that man over there,' pointing to me. + +"'No,' is the reply. 'We are going out together soon. What can I do for +you?' + +"'Well I can call again if you are too busy to talk to me now?' + +"'No, I am not too busy. Speak up. I can give you ten minutes.' + +"'But I want a long talk,' persists the visitor. + +"'I'd like to oblige you,' says the preacher, 'but I'm very busy +to-day.' + +"'I'll come to-morrow.' + +"'No; I shall be busy to-morrow also.' + +"'And to-night, too?' + +"'Yes; my time is engaged for the entire week.' + +"'Well, then,' says the young man, in a stammering way; 'I want your +advice. I'm employed in a big house in New York and I am getting a fair +salary. I have been offered a position in a rival house. Would it be +right and honourable for me to leave? I am to get a little more salary. +I must give my answer by to-morrow. I must make some excuse for leaving. +I've thought it all over and don't know what to say. My present +employers have treated me well. I want your advice.' + +"The good preacher protests that it is a delicate question to put to a +stranger, even if that stranger happens to be a minister. + +"'Is the firm a good one? Are you treated well? Haven't you a fair +chance? Aren't they honourable men?' + +"The answer to all these questions was in the affirmative. + +"'But you could tell me whether it would be right for me to do it, +and--and--if I could get a letter of recommendation from you it would +help me.' + +"'Why don't you ask your mother or father for advice?' + +"'They are dead.' + +"'Was your mother a Christian?' + +"'Yes.' + +"'Then get down on your knees here and lift your face to heaven. Ask +your angel mother if you would be doing right.' + +"The young man's eyes fall to the floor. He toys nervously with his hat +and backs out of the hall to the door. As he turns the knob he holds out +his right-hand to the preacher and whispers: + +"'I thank you for your advice. I'll not leave my present employer.' + +"Now the great preacher hastily puts on a thick overcoat and, taking a +heavy walking-stick in hand, says: 'We'll go now.' He calls a cheery +'goodbye' to Mrs. Talmage and closes the big door behind him. The air is +crispy and invigorating. Once in the street the preacher throws back his +shoulders until his form is as straight as that of an Indian. His blue +eyes look out from behind a pair of shaggy eyebrows. They snap and +sparkle like a schoolboy's. The face denotes health and strength. The +preacher is fond of walking and strides along with giant steps. The +colour quickly mounts to his cheeks and reveals a face free from lines +and full of health and manly vigour. He has noted the direction that he +is to take carefully. As he walks along the street he is noticed by +everybody. His figure is a familiar one in the streets of Brooklyn. +Nearly everybody bows to him. He has a hearty 'How are you to-day?' for +all. + +"Our direction lies in a thickly-populated section, not many blocks +from the water front. It is in the tenement district where dozens of +families are huddled together in one house. We pause in front of a +rickety building and stop an urchin in the hallway, who replies to the +question that we are in the right house. Then the good Doctor pulls out +of his pocket the letter he received some hours ago from the +grief-stricken young mother whose baby was ill and who asked for aid. + +"Up flight after flight of stairs we go; two storeys, three, four, five. +As we reach the landing, a tidy young woman appears. She is holding her +face in her hands and sobbing to break her heart. + +"'Oh, I knew you would come,' she says, as the tears roll down her +cheeks; 'I used to go to your church, and I know how deeply your sermons +touched me. Oh! That was long ago. It was before I knew John, and before +our baby came.' + +"Here the speaker broke down completely. + +"'But it's all over now,' she began again. + +"'John has ill-used me, and beaten me, and forced me to support him in +drunkenness. I could stand all that for my baby's sake.' + +"She had sunk to the floor on her knees. She was pouring out her soul in +agony of grief. + +"'Oh! my baby, my baby!' she cried piteously. 'Why were you taken? Oh, +the blow is too much! I can't stand it. Merciful Father, have I not +suffered enough?' + +"She fell in a heap on the floor. The heavy breathing and sobbing +continued. We looked into the little room. It was scrupulously clean, +but barren of furniture and even the rudest comforts of a home. The +window curtains are pulled down, but a ray of bright sunlight shoots in +and lying on the apology for a bed is a babe. Its eyes are closed. Its +face is as white as alabaster. The little thin hands are folded across +its tiny breast. Its sufferings are over. + +"The Angel of Death had touched its forehead with its icy finger and its +spirit had flown to the clouds. + +"The end had come before the preacher could offer aid. + +"What a scene it was! + +"Here, in one of the biggest cities in the world, an innocent child had +died of hunger, and because its mother was too poor to pay for medical +attendance. + +"A word or two was whispered in the mother's ear and we pass down the +creaking stairs to the street. The sun is shining brightly. A half-dozen +romping children are on their way home to lunch. The business of the +great city is moving briskly. It is Christmas week and the air is +redolent with the suggestions of good things to come and visions of +Kriss Kringle. Truck drivers are whipping their horses and swearing at +others in their way. An organ-grinder is playing 'Sweet violets' on a +neighbouring corner. Everyone in the streets is of smiling face and +happy." + +The picture is not mine, nor could I have drawn one of myself, but it is +a sketch illustrating the almost daily experiences of a "popular" +minister, as I was called. It was estimated that my weekly sermons, in +all parts of the world, reached 180,000,000 people every Monday +morning--the year 1888. This was gratifying to a man who, in his student +days, had been told that he would never be fit to preach the Gospel in +any American pulpit. I thanked God for the great opportunity of His +blessings. + +[Illustration: DR. TALMAGE AS CHAPLAIN OF THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT.] + +In the spring of 1888 I received the honour of being made chaplain of +the "Old Thirteenth" Regiment of the National Guard, with a commission +as captain, to succeed my old friend and fellow-worker, Henry Ward +Beecher, who had died. Although I was a very busy man I accepted it, +because I had always felt it my duty to be a part of any public-spirited +enterprise. On March 7th, 1888, before a vast assembly, the oath was +administered by Colonel Austen, and I received my commission. Memories +of my actual, though brief, sight of war, at Sharpsburg and Hagerstown, +where the hospitals were filled with wounded soldiers, mingled faintly +with the actual scene of peace and plenty around me at that moment. We +needed no epaulet then but the shoulder that is muscular, and we needed +no commanding officer but the steadiness of our own nerves. The +Thirteenth Regiment was at the height of its prosperity then; our band, +under the leadership of Fred Inness, was the best in the city. I +remembered it well because, in the parade on Decoration Day, I was on +horseback riding a somewhat unmusical horse. It was comforting, if not +strictly true, to read in the newspaper the following day that "Doctor +Talmage rides his horse with dash and skill." + +The association of ideas in American life is a wonderful mixture of the +appropriate and the inappropriate. Because my church was crowded, +because I lived in a comfortable house, because I could become, on +occasions, a preacher on horseback, I was rated as a millionaire +clergyman. It was amusing to read about, but difficult to live up to. +There were many calculations in the newspapers as to my income. Some of +the more moderate figures were correct. My salary was $12,000 as pastor +of the Tabernacle, I have made over $20,000 a year from my lectures. +From the publication of my sermons my income was equal to my salary. I +received $5,000 a year as editor of a popular monthly; I sometimes wrote +an article that paid me $150 or more, and a single marriage fee was +often as high as $250. There were some royalties on my books. + +We lived well, dressed comfortably; but there were many demands on me +then, as on all public men, and I needed all I could earn. I carried a +life insurance of $75,000. All this was a long way from being a Croesus +of the clergy, however. I mention these figures and facts because they +stimulate to me, as I hope they will to others, the possibilities of +temporal welfare in a minister's life, provided he works hard and is +faithful to the tremendous trusts of his calling. + +A man's industry is the whole of that man, just as his laziness is the +end of him. I always believed heartily, profoundly, in the equality of a +man's salvation with a man's self-respect in temporal affairs. I am sure +that whoever keeps the books in Heaven credits the account of a new +arrival with the exact amount of salvation he or she has achieved, +making a due allowance for the amounts earned and paid over to the +causes of charity, kindliness, and mercy. + +I always believed in the business and the religious method of the +Salvation Army, because it was an effort to discipline salvation on a +working basis. When the Salvation Army first began its meetings in +Brooklyn its members were hooted and insulted in the streets to an +extent that rendered their meetings almost impossible. I was requested +to present a petition to Mayor Whitney asking protection for them in the +streets of the city. People residing near the Salvation headquarters +were in constant danger of annoyance from the mobs that gathered about +them. It was the fault of the Brooklyn ruffianism. I demanded that the +Salvation Army be permitted to hold meetings and march in processions +unmolested. No one was ever killed by a street hosannah, no one was ever +hurt by hearing a hallelujah. The more inspiring the music the more +virile the optimism we can show, the more good we can do each other in +the climb to Paradise. A minister's duty in his own community, and in +all other communities in which he may find himself, is to make the great +men of his time understand him and like him. + +A minister who could adapt himself to the lights and shadows of human +character in men of prominence enjoyed many opportunities that were +enlightening. One met them, these men of many talents, at their best at +dinners and banquets. It was then they were in their splendour. + +Those dinners at the Press Club in 1888, what treat they were! In the +days of John A. Cockerill, the handsome, dashing "Colonel," as he was +called, of Mayor Grant the suave, Chauncey M. Depew the wit, of Charles +Emory Smith the conservative journalist, of Henry George the Socialist, +Moses P. Handy the "Major," of Roswell P. Flower, of Judge Henry Hilton, +of General Felix Agnus--and of Hermann, the original, the great, the +magic wonder-maker of the times. They were the leading spirits of an +army of bright men who pushed the world upside down, or rolled it over +and over, or made it stand still, according to how they felt. Mingling +with these arbiters of our fate were all sorts and conditions of men. At +one of these dinners I remember seeing Inspector Byrnes, the Sherlock +Holmes of American crime, Colonel Ochiltree, the red savage, Steven +Fiske, Samuel Carpenter, Judge David McAdam, John W. Keller, Judge +Gedney, "Pat" Gilmore, Rufus Hatch, General Horatio C. King, Frank B. +Thurber, J. Amory Knox, E.B. Harper, W.J. Arkell, Dr. Nagle, the poet +Geogheghan, Doc White, and Joseph Howard, jun. They were the old guard +of the land of Bohemia, where a minister's voice sounded good to them if +it was a voice without cant or religious hypocrisy. I remember a letter +sent by President Harrison to one of these dinners, in which, after +acknowledging the receipt of an invitation to attend, he regretted being +unable to be present at "so attractive an event." + +Among the men whom I first met at this time, and who made an impression +of lasting respect upon me, was Henry Cabot Lodge. He was the guest of +General Stewart L. Woodford, at a breakfast given in his honour in the +spring of 1888 at the Hamilton Club. General Woodford invited me, among +others, to meet him. We all came--Mr. Benjamin A. Stillman, Mr. J.S.T. +Stranahan, Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, Judge C.R. Pratt, ex-Mayor Schroeder, +Mr. John Winslow, president of the New England Society, Mr. George M. +Olcott, Mr. William Copeland Wallace, Colonel Albert P. Lamb, Mr. +Charles A. Moore, Mr. William B. Williams, Mr. Ethan Allen Doty, Mr. +James S. Case, Mr. T.L. Woodruff. It was a social innovation then to +arrange a gathering of this sort at 11 a.m. and call it a breakfast. It +came from England. Mr. Lodge was only in town on a visit for a few days, +chiefly, I think, to attend the annual dinner of the "Sunrise Sons," as +the members of the New England society were called. As I read these +names again, how big some of them look now, in the world's note-book of +celebrities. Some of them were just beginning to learn the pleasant +taste of ambitious careers. Most of them had discovered that ambition +was the gift of hard work. There is more health in work than in any +medicine I ever heard of. + +Work is the only thing that keeps people alive. Whatever posterity may +proclaim for me, I always had the reputation of being a worker. Perhaps +for this reason I became the object of a microscopic investigation +before the people in 1888. It was the first time in my life that any +notable attention had been taken of me in my own country, that was not a +personal notoriety over some conflict of the hour. Whenever the American +newspaper begins to describe your home life with an air of analysis that +is not libellous you are among the famous. It took me a little while to +understand this. A man's private life is of such indifferent character +to himself, unless he be an official representative of the people, that +I never quite appreciated the importance given to mine, at this time, in +Brooklyn. Chiefly because I had made money as a writer, my +fellow-citizens were curious to know how, in the clerical profession, it +could be made. Articles appeared constantly in the newspapers with +headlines like these--"Dr. Talmage at Home," "In a Clergyman's Study," +"Dr. Talmage's Wealth," "Talmage Interviewed." Nearly all of them began +with the American view point uppermost, in this fashion: + +"The American preacher lives in a luxurious home." + +"His income, from all sources, exceeds that of the President of the +United States." + +"The impression is everywhere that Dr. Talmage is very rich." + +I regretted this because there is a notion that a minister of the Gospel +cannot accumulate money for himself, that he should not do so if he +could, that his duty consists in collecting money for his church, his +parish, his mission--for anything and everyone but his own temporal +prosperity. I had done this all my life. I can solemnly say that I never +sought the financial success which in some measure came to me. I +regarded the money which I received for my work as pastor of the +Tabernacle, or from other sources as an earning capacity that is due to +every working man. I was able to do more work than some, because the +motives of my whole life have insisted that I work hard. The impetus of +my strength was not abnormal, it was merely the daily requirement of my +health that I work as hard as I knew how as long as I could. +Restlessness was an element of life with me. I could not keep still any +length of time. My mind had acquired the habit of ideas, and my hands +were always full of unfinished labours. + +I remember trying once to sit still at a concert of Gilmore's band, at +Manhattan Beach. After hearing one selection I found myself unable to +listen any farther--I could not sit quiet for longer. I rarely allowed +myself more than five minutes for shaving, no matter whether the razor +were sharp or blunt. They used to tell me that I wore a black bow tie +till it was not fit to wear. On the trains I slept a great deal. Sleep +is the great storage battery of life. Four days of the week I was on the +train. I rose every morning at six. The first thing I did was to glance +over the morning newspaper, to catch in this whispering gallery of the +world the life of a new day. First the cable news, then the editorials, +then the news about ourselves. I received the principal newspapers of +almost every big city in the morning mail I enjoyed the caricatures of +myself, they made me laugh. If a man poked fun at me with true wit I was +his friend. They were clever fellows those newspaper humorists. I +consider walking a very important exercise--not merely a stroll, but a +good long walk. Often I used to go from the Grand Central Depot in New +York to my home in Brooklyn. There and back was my usual promenade. +Seven miles should be an average walk for a man past fifty every day. I +have made fifteen and twenty miles without fatigue. I always dined in +the middle of the day. Contrary to "Combes' Physiology," I always took a +nap after dinner. In my boyhood days this was a book that opposed the +habit. Combes said that he thought it very injurious to sleep after +dinner, but I saw the cow lie down after eating, and the horse, and it +seemed to me that Combes was wrong. A morning bath is absolutely +indispensable. When I was in college there were no luxurious hot and +cold bath rooms. I often had to break the ice in my pitcher to get at +the water. + +These were the habits of my life, formed in my youth, and as they grew +upon me they were the sinews that kept me young in the heart and brain +and muscle. My voice rarely, if ever, failed me entirely. In 1888, to my +surprise and delight, my western trips had become ovations that no human +being could fail to enjoy. In St. Paul, Duluth, Minneapolis, the crowds +in and about the churches where I preached were estimated to be over +twenty thousand. It was a joy to live realising the service one could be +to others. This year of 1888 was to be a climax to so many aspirations +of my life that I am forced to record it as one of the most important of +all my working years. No event of any consequence in the country, social +or political, or disastrous, happened, that my name was not available to +the ethical phase of its development. Newspaper squibs of all sorts +reflect this fact in some way. Here is one that illustrates my meaning: + + "ONLY TALMAGE! + + "The weary husband was lounging in the old armchair reading before + the fire after the day's work. Suddenly he brought down his hand + vigorously upon his knee, exclaiming, 'That's so! That's so!' A + minute after, he cried again, 'Well, I should say.' Then later, + 'Good for you; hit them right and left.' Soon he stretched himself + out at full length in the chair, let his right hand, holding the + paper, drop nearly to the floor, threw up his left and laughed aloud + until the rafters rang. His anxious wife inquired, 'What is it so + funny, John?' + + "He made no reply, but lifted the paper again, straightened himself + up, and went on reading. Very quiet he now grew by degrees. Then + slyly he slipped his left hand around and drew out his handkerchief, + wiped his brow and lips by way of excuse and gave his eyelids a + passing dash. The very next moment he pressed the handkerchief to + his eyes and let the paper drop to the floor, saying, 'Well, that's + wonderful.' 'What is it, John?' his good wife inquired again. 'Oh! + It's only Talmage!'" + +My contemporaries in Brooklyn celebrity at this time were unusual men. +Some of them were dear friends, some of them close friends, some of them +advisers or champions, guardians of my peace--all of them friends. + +About this time I visited Johnstown, shortly after the flood. My heart +was weary with the scenes of desolation about me. It did not seem +possible that the hospitable city of Johnstown I had known in other days +could be so tumbled down by disaster. Where I had once seen the street, +equal in style to Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, I found a long ridge of +sand strewn with planks and driftwood. By a wave from twelve to twenty +feet high, 800 houses were crushed, twenty-eight huge locomotives from +the round house were destroyed, hundreds of people dead and dying in its +anger. Two thousand dead were found, 2,000 missing, was the record the +day I was there. The place became used to death. It was not a sensation +to the survivors to see it about them. I saw a human body taken out of +the ruins as if it had been a stick of wood. No crowd gathered about it. +Some workmen a hundred feet away did not stop their work to see. The +devastation was far worse than was ever told. The worst part of it could +not even be seen. The heart-wreck was the unseen tragedy of this +unfortunate American city. From Brooklyn I helped to send temporary +relief. With a wooden box in my hand I, with others, collected from the +bounty of that vast meeting in the Academy of Music. The exact amount +paid over by our relief committee in all was $95,905. There was no end +to the demand upon one's energy in all directions. + +I was called upon in September, 1888, to lay the corner stone of the +First Presbyterian Church at Far-Rockaway, and amid the imposing +ceremonies I predicted the great future of Long Island. It seemed to me +that Long Island would some day be the London of America, filled with +the most prominent churches of the country. + +While in the plans of others I was an impulse at least towards success, +in my own plans, how often I have been scourged and beaten to earth. As +it had been before, so it was in this zenith of my personal progress. To +my amazement, chagrin and despair, on the morning of October 13, 1889, +our beautiful church was again burned to the ground. + + + + +THE FOURTEENTH MILESTONE + +1889-1891 + + +For fifteen years, to a large part of the public, I had been an +experiment in church affairs. In 1889 I had caught up with the world and +the things I had been doing and thinking and hoping became suitable for +the world. In the retrospect of those things I had left behind what +gratitude I felt for their strife and struggle! A minister of the Gospel +is not only a sentinel of divine orders, he must also have deep +convictions of his authority to resist attack in his own way, by his own +force, with his own strength and faith. When, on June 3, 1873, I laid +the corner-stone of the new tabernacle, I dedicated the sacred building +as a stronghold against rationalism and humanitarianism. I knew then +that this statement was regarded as questionable orthodoxy, and I myself +had become the curious symbol of a new religion. Still I pursued my +course, an independent sentry on the outskirts of the old religious +camping-ground, but inspired with the converting grace I had received in +my boyhood, my duty was clearly not so much a duty of regulations as it +was a conception, a sympathy, a command to the Christian needs of the +human race. + +When the first Tabernacle was consumed by fire my utterances were +criticised and my enthusiasm to rebuild it was misconstrued. My +convictions then were the same, they have always been the same. To me it +seemed that God's most vehement utterances had been in flames of fire. +The most tremendous lesson He ever gave to New York was in the +conflagration of 1835; to Chicago in the conflagration of 1871; to +Boston in the conflagration of 1872; to my own congregation in the fiery +downfall of the Tabernacle. Some saw in the flames that roared through +its organ pipes a requiem, nothing but unmitigated disaster, while +others of us heard the voice of God, as from Heaven, sounding through +the crackling thunder of that awful day, saying, "He shall baptise you +with the Holy Ghost and with Fire!" + +It was a very different state of public feeling which met the disaster +that came to the Tabernacle on that early Sabbath morning of October 18, +1889. I had a congregation of millions all over the world to appeal to. +I stood before them, accredited in the religious course I had pursued, +approved as a minister of the Gospel, upheld as a man and a preacher. +The hand of Providence is always a mysterious grasp of life that +confuses and dismays, but it always rebuilds, restores, and prophesies. + +The second Tabernacle was destroyed during a terrific thunderstorm. It +was crumpled and torn by the winds and the flames of heaven. I watched +the fire from the cupola of my house in silent abnegation. The history +of the Brooklyn Tabernacle had been strange and peculiar all the way +through. Things that seemed to be against us always turned out finally +for us. Our brightest and best days always follow disaster. Our +enlargements of the building had never met our needs. Our plans had +pleased the people, but we needed improvements. In this spirit I +accepted the situation, and the Board of Trustees sustained me. Our +insurance on the church building was over $120,000. I made an appeal to +the people of Brooklyn and to the thousands of readers my sermons had +gained, for the sum of $100,000. It would be much easier to accomplish, +I felt, than it had been before. + +At my house in Brooklyn, on the evening of the day of the fire, the +following resolutions were passed by the Board of Trustees:-- + +"Resolved--that we bow in humble submission to the Providence which this +morning removed our beloved Church, and while we cannot fully understand +the meaning of that Providence we have faith that there is kindness as +well as severity in the stroke. + +"Resolved:--That if God and the people help us we will proceed at once +to rebuild, and that we rear a larger structure to meet the demands of +our congregation, the locality and style of the building to be indicated +by the amount of contributions made." + +A committee was immediately formed to select a temporary place of +worship, and the Academy of Music was selected, because of its size and +location. + +I was asked for a statement to the people through the press. From a +scrap-book I copy this statement:-- + + "To the People-- + + "By sudden calamity we are without a church. The building associated + with so much that is dear to us is in ashes. In behalf of my + stricken congregation I make appeal for help. Our church has never + confined its work to this locality. Our church has never been + sufficient either in size or appointments for the people who came. + We want to build something worthy of our city and worthy of the + cause of God. + + "We want $100,000, which, added to the insurance, will build what is + needed. I make appeal to all our friends throughout Christendom, to + all denominations, to all creeds and to those of no creed at all, to + come to our rescue. I ask all readers of my sermons the world over + to contribute as far as their means will allow. What we do as a + Church depends upon the immediate response made to this call. I was + on the eve of departure for a brief visit to the Holy Land that I + might be better prepared for my work here, but that visit must be + postponed. I cannot leave until something is done to decide our + future. + + "May the God who has our destiny as individuals and as churches in + His hand appear for our deliverance! + + "Responses to this appeal to the people may be sent to me in + Brooklyn, and I will with my own hand acknowledge the receipt + thereof. + + "T. DEWITT TALMAGE." + +I had planned to sail for the Holy Land on October 30, but the disaster +that had come upon us seemed to make it impossible. I had almost given +it up. There followed such an universal response to my appeal, such a +remarkable current of sympathy, however, that completely overwhelmed me, +so that by the grace of God I was able to sail. To the trustees of the +Tabernacle much of this was due. They were the men who stood by me, my +friends, my advisers. I record their names as the Christian guardians of +my destiny through danger and through safety. They were Dr. Harrison A. +Tucker, John Wood, Alexander McLean, E.H. Lawrence, and Charles Darling. +In a note-book I find recorded also the names of some of the first +subscribers to the new Tabernacle. They were the real builders. Wechsler +and Abraham were among the first to contribute $100, "Texas Siftings" +through J. Amory Knox sent $25, and "Judge" forwarded a cheque for the +same amount, with the declaration that all other periodicals in the +United States ought to go and do likewise. A.E. Coates sent $200, E.M. +Knox $200, A.J. Nutting $100, Benjamin L. Fairchild $100, Joseph E. +Carson $100, Haviland and Sons $25, Francis H. Stuart, M.D., $25, Giles +F. Bushnell $25, and Pauline E. Martin $25. + +Even the small children, the poor, the aged, sent in their dollars. +About one thousand dollars was contributed the first day. Everything was +done by the trustees and the people, to expedite the plans of the New +Tabernacle so that in two weeks from the date of the fire I broke ground +for what was to be the largest church in the world of a Protestant +denomination, on the corner of Clinton and Greene Avenues. That +afternoon of October 28, 1889, when I stood in the enclosure arranged +for me, and consecrated the ground to the word of God, was another +moment of supreme joy to me. It was said that those who witnessed the +ceremony were impressed with the importance of it in the course of my +own life and in the history of Christianity. To me it was akin to those +pregnant hours of my life through which I had passed in great exaltation +of spiritual fervour. + +My words of consecration were brief, as follows: + +"May the Lord God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Joshua, and +Paul, and John Knox, and John Wesley, and Hugh Latimer, and Bishop +McIlvaine take possession of this ground and all that shall be built +upon it." + +Before me was a vision of that church, its Gothic arches, its splendour +of stained-glass windows, its spires and gables, and, as I saw this our +third Tabernacle rise up before me, I prayed that its windows might look +out into the next world as well as this. I was glad that I had waited to +turn that bit of God-like earth on the old Marshall homestead in +Brooklyn, for it filled my heart with a spiritual promise and potency +that was an invisible cord binding me during my pilgrimage to Jordan +with my congregation which I had left behind. + +With Mrs. Talmage and my daughter, May Talmage, I sailed on the "City of +Paris," on October 30, 1889, to complete the plan I had dreamed of for +years. I had been reverently anxious to actually see the places +associated with our Lord's life and death. I wanted to see Bethlehem and +Nazareth, and Jerusalem and Calvary, so intimately connected with the +ministry of our Saviour. I had arranged to write a Life of Christ, and +this trip was imperative. In that book is the complete record of this +journey, therefore I feel that other things that have not been told +deserve the space here that would otherwise belong to my recollections +of the Holy Land. It was reported that while in Jerusalem I made an +effort to purchase Calvary and the tomb of our Saviour, so as to present +it to the Christian Church at large. I was so impressed with the fact +that part of this sacred ground was being used as a Mohammedan cemetery +that I was inspired to buy it in token of respect to all Christendom. Of +course this led to much criticism, but that has never stopped my +convictions. I was away for two months, returning in February, 1890. + +During my absence our Sunday services were conducted by the most +talented preachers we could secure. With the exception of a few days' +influenza while I was in Paris, in January, just prior to my return, the +trip was a glorious success. According to the editorial opinion of one +newspaper I had "discovered a new Adam that was to prove a puissant ally +in his future struggles with the old Adam." This was not meant to be +friendly, but I prefer to believe that it was so after all. In England I +was promised, if I would take up a month's preaching tour there, that +the English people would subscribe five thousand pounds to the new +Tabernacle. These and other invitations were tempting, but I could not +alter my itinerary. + +While in England I received an invitation from Mr. Gladstone to visit +him at Hawarden. He wired me, "pray come to Hawarden to-morrow," and on +January 24, 1890, I paid my visit. I was staying at the Grand Hotel in +London when the telegram was handed to me. With the rest of the world, +at that time, I regarded Mr. Gladstone as the most wonderful man of the +century. + +He came into the room at Hawarden where I was waiting for him, an alert, +eager, kindly man. He was not the grand old man in spirit, whatever he +may have been in age. He was lithe of body, his step was elastic. He +held out both his hands in a cordial welcome. He spoke first of the wide +publication of my sermons in England, and questioned me about them. In a +few minutes he proposed a walk, and calling his dog we started out for +what was in fact a run over his estate. Gladstone was the only man I +ever met who walked fast enough for me. Over the hills, through his +magnificent park, everywhere he pointed out the stumps of trees which he +had cut down. Once a guest of his, an English lord, had died emulating +Gladstone's strenuous custom. He showed me the place. + +"No man who has heart disease ought to use the axe," he said; "that very +stump is the place where my friend used it, and died." + +He rallied the American tendency to exaggerate things in a story he told +with great glee, about a fabulous tree in California, where two men +cutting at it on opposite sides for many days were entirely oblivious of +each other's presence. Each one believed himself to be a lone woodsman +in the forest until, after a long time, they met with surprise at the +heart of the tree. American stories seemed to tickle him immensely. He +told another kindred one of a fish in American lakes, so large that when +it was taken out of the water the lake was perceptibly lowered. He grew +buoyant, breezy, fanciful in the brisk winter air. Like his dog, he was +tingling with life. He liked to throw sticks for him, to see him jump +and run. + +"Look at that dog's eyes, isn't he a fine fellow?" he kept asking. His +knowledge of the trees on his estate was historical. He knew their +lineage and characteristics from the date of their sapling age, four or +five hundred years before. The old and decrepit aristocrats of his +forest were tenderly bandaged, their arms in splints. + +"Look at that sycamore," he said; "did you find in the Holy Land any +more thrifty than that? You know sometimes I am described as destroying +my trees. I only destroy the bad to help the good. Since I have thrown +my park open to visitors the privilege has never been abused." + +We drifted upon all subjects, rational, political, religious, ethical. + +"Divorce in your country, is it not a menace?" he asked. + +"The great danger is re-marriage. It should be forbidden for divorced +persons. I understand that in your State of South Carolina there is no +divorce. I believe that is the right idea. If re-marriage were +impossible then divorce would be impossible," he replied to his own +question. + +Gladstone's religious instinct was prophetic in its grasp. His +intellectual approval of religious intention was the test of his faith. +He applied to the exaltations of Christianity the reason of human fact. +I was forcibly impressed with this when he told me of an incident in his +boyhood. + +"I read something in 'Augustine' when I was a boy," he said, "which +struck me then with great force. I still feel it to-day. It was the +passage which says, 'When the human race rebelled against God, the lower +nature of man as a consequence rebelled against the higher nature.'" + +I asked him then if the years had strengthened or weakened his Christian +faith. We were racing up hill. He stopped suddenly on the hillside and +regarded me with a searching earnestness, a solemnity that made me +quake. Then he spoke slowly, more seriously: + +"Dr. Talmage, my only hope for the world is in the bringing of the human +mind into contact with divine revelation. Nearly all the men at the top +in our country are believers in the Christian religion. The four leading +physicians of England are devout Christian men. I, myself, have been in +the Cabinet forty-seven years, and during all that time I have been +associated with sixty of the chief intellects of the century. I can +think of but five of those sixty who did not profess the Christian +religion, but those five men respected it. We may talk about questions +of the day here and there, but there is only one question, and that is +how to apply the Gospel to all circumstances and conditions. It can and +will correct all that is wrong. Have you, in America, any of the +terrible agnosticism that we have in Europe? I am glad none of my +children are afflicted with it." + +I asked him if he did not believe that many people had no religion in +their heads, but a good religion in their hearts. + +"I have no doubt of it, and I can give you an illustration," he said. + +"Yesterday, Lord Napier was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. After the +war in Africa Lord Napier was here for a few days, at the invitation of +Mrs. Gladstone and myself, and we walked as we are walking now. He told +me this story. I cannot remember his exact words. He said that just when +the troops were about to leave Africa there was a soldier with a broken +leg. He was too sick to take along, but to leave him behind seemed +barbaric. Lord Napier ordered him to be carried, but he soon became too +ill to go any further. Lord Napier went to a native woman well known in +that country for her kindness, and asked her to take care of the +soldier. To ensure his care she was offered a good sum of money. I +remember her reply as Lord Napier repeated it to me. 'No, I will not +take care of this wounded soldier for the money you offer me,' she said; +'I have no need of the money. My father and mother have a comfortable +tent, and I have a good tent; why should I take the money? If you will +leave him here I will take care of him for the sake of the love of +God.'" + +Gladstone was in the thick of political scrimmage over Home Rule, and he +talked about it with me. + +"It seems the dispensation of God that I should be in the battle," he +said; "but it is not to my taste. I never had any option in the matter. +I dislike contests, but I could not decline this controversy without +disgrace. When Ireland showed herself ready to adopt a righteous +constitution, and do her full duty, I hesitated not an hour." + +Two nights before, at a speech in Chester, Mr. Gladstone had declared +that the increase of the American navy would necessitate the increase of +the British navy. I rallied him about this statement, and he said, "Oh! +Americans like to hear the plain truth. The fact is, the tie between the +two nations is growing closer every year." + +It was a bitter cold day and yet Mr. Gladstone wore only a very light +cape, reaching scarcely to his knees. + +"I need nothing more on me," he said; "I must have my legs free." + +After luncheon he took me into his library, a wonderful place, a +treasure-house in itself, a bookman's palace. The books had been +arranged and catalogued according to a system of his own invention. He +showed many presents of American books and pictures sent to him. + +"Outside of America there is no one who is bound to love it more than I +do," he said, "you see, I am almost surrounded by the evidences of +American kindnesses." He gave me some books and pamphlets about himself, +and his own Greek translation of "Jesus, Lover of my Soul." Mrs. +Gladstone had been obliged to leave before we returned from our walk. +Mr. Gladstone took me into a room, however, and showed me a beautiful +sculptured portrait of her, made when she was twenty-two. + +"She is only two years younger than I am, but in complete health and +vigour," he said proudly. + +He came out upon the steps to bid me good-bye. Bareheaded, his white +hair flowing in the wind, he stood in the cold and I begged him to go +in. I expressed a wish that he might come to America. + +"I am too old now," he said, wistfully, I thought. + +"Is it the Atlantic you object to?" I asked. + +"Oh! I am not afraid of the ocean," he said, as though there were +perhaps some other reason. + +"Tell your country I watch every turn of its history with a heart of +innermost admiration," he called after me. I carried Gladstone's message +at once, going straight from Hawarden to America, as I had intended when +leaving London. + +I was prepared for a reception in Brooklyn on my return, but I never +dreamed it would be the ovation it was. It becomes difficult to write of +these personal courtesies, as I find them increasing in the progress of +my life from now on. I trust the casual reader will not construe +anything in these pages into a boastful desire to spread myself in too +large letters in print. + +When I entered the Thirteenth Regiment Armoury on the evening of +February 7, 1890, it was packed from top to floor. It was a large +building with its three acres of drill floor and its half mile of +galleries. There were over seven thousand people there, so the +newspapers estimated. Against the east wall was the speaker's platform, +and over it in big letters of fire burned the word "Welcome." + +On the stage, when I arrived at eight o'clock, were Mayor Chapin, +Colonel Austen, General Alfred C. Barnes, the Rev. J. Benson Hamilton, +Judge Clement, Mr. Andrew McLean, the Rev. Leon Harrison, ex-Mayor +Whitney, the Hon. David A. Boody, U.S. Marshal Stafford, Judge Courtney, +Postmaster Hendrix, John Y. Culver, Mark D. Wilber, Commissioner George +V. Brower, the Rev. E.P. Terhune, General Horatio C. King, William E. +Robinson and several others. + +The Trustees of the Tabernacle, like a guard of honour, came in with +me, and as we made our way through the crowds to the stage, the +long-continued cheering and applause were deafening. The band, assisted +by the cornetist, Peter Ali, played "Home, Sweet Home." For a few +minutes I was very busy shaking hands. + +The most inspiring moment of these preliminaries was the approach of the +most distinguished man in that vast assembly, General William T. +Sherman. He marched to the platform under military escort, while the +band played "Marching through Georgia." Everyone stood up in deference +to the old warrior, handkerchiefs were waved, hats flew up in the air, +everyone was so proud of him, so pleased to see him! Mayor Chapin +introduced the General, and as he stood patiently waiting for the +audience to regain its self-control, the band played "Auld Lang Syne." +Then in the presence of that great crowd he gave me a soldier's welcome. +I remember one sentence uttered by Sherman that night that revealed the +character of the great fighter when he said, "The same God that appeared +at Nazareth is here to-night." + +But nothing on that auspicious evening was so great to me as when +Sherman spoke what he described as the soldier's welcome: + +"How are you, old fellow, glad to see you!" he said. + +The building of the new Tabernacle, my third effort to establish an +independent church in Brooklyn, went on rapidly. We were planning then +to open it in September, 1891. The church building alone was to cost +$150,000. Its architectural beauty was in accord with the elegance of +its fashionable neighbourhood on "The Hill," as that residential part of +Brooklyn was always described. + +"The Hill" was unique. When people in Brooklyn became tired of the rush +and bustle of life they returned to Clinton Avenue. It was an idyllic +village in the heart of the city. The front yards were as large as +farms. New Yorkers described this locality as "Sleepy Hollow." On this +account, during my absence, there had developed in the neighbourhood +some opposition to the building of the new Tabernacle there. Some of the +residents were afraid it would disturb the quiet of the neighbourhood. +They opposed it as they would a base ball park, or a circus. They were +afraid the organ would annoy the sparrows. The opposition went so far +that a subscription paper was passed around to induce us to go away. As +much as $15,000 was raised to persuade us. These objections, however, +were confined to a few people, the majority realising the adornment the +new church would be to the neighbourhood. When I returned I found that +this opposing sentiment had described us as "the Tabernacle Rabble." I +was in splendid health and spirits however, and refused to be downcast. + +During my absence our pews had been rented, realising $18,000. The +largest portion of these pews were rented by letter, and the balance at +a public meeting held in Temple Israel. The second gallery of the church +was free. The highest price paid in the rental for one pew for a year +was $75, the lowest was $20. In the interval, pending the completion of +the church, pew holders were given tickets for reserved seats in the +Academy of Music, where our Sunday services were held. There were 1,500 +free seats in the second gallery of the new Tabernacle. + +It was a great joy to find that the enterprise I had inaugurated before +sailing for the Holy Land had made such good progress. But we were +always fortunate. + +I recall that my congregation was surprised one morning to learn that +Emma Abbott, the beautiful American singer, had left a bequest of $5,000 +to the Brooklyn Tabernacle. I was not surprised. I had received a +private note from her once expressing her kindly feeling toward our +Church and promising, in the event of her decease, to leave some +remembrance to us. She always had a presentiment that her life was to be +short, and this always had a very depressing effect upon her. Her grief +for her husband's death hastened her own. She loved him with all her +heart. She was a good woman. Mr. Beecher was a kind and loyal friend to +her in her obscurer days. In those days Mr. Beecher brought her over +from New York and put her in care of a Mrs. Bird in Brooklyn. Until she +went abroad she was helped in her musical education by these friends. +She attended Mr. Beecher's prayer meetings regularly. Everyone who met +her felt that she was a noble-hearted woman of pure character and sweet +soul. + +On February 9, 1890, I preached my first sermon since my return from the +Holy Land in the Academy of Music. It was expected that I would preach +about the country of sacred memories that I had visited, but I was +impressed with what I had found on my return in religious history of a +more modern purpose. They had been fixing up the creeds while I was +abroad, tracing the footsteps of divine law, and I felt the importance +of this fact. So I chose the text in Joshua vi. 23, "And the young men +that were spies went in and brought out Rahab, and her father and her +mother, and her brethren, and all that she had." + +I did not read the newspapers while I was away so I was not familiar +with all the discussion. I understood, however, that they were revising +the creed. You might as well try to patch up your grandfather's +overcoat. It will be much better to get a new one. The recent sessions +of the Presbytery had been divided into two parties. One was in favour +of patching up the old overcoat, the other in favour of a new one. Dr. +Briggs had pointed out the torn places--at least five of them. He had +revealed it, shabby and somewhat threadbare. Presbyterians had +practically discarded the garment. Why should they want to flaunt any of +its shreds? So I agreed with Dr. Briggs, that we had better get a new +one. + +The laying of the corner stone of the new Tabernacle took place on the +afternoon of February 11, 1890. It was a modest ceremony because it was +considered wise to defer the festivities for the dedication services +that were to occur in the church itself in the spring. The two tin boxes +placed in the corner stone contained the records of the church +organisation from 1854 to 1873, a copy of the Bible, coins of 1873, +newspaper accounts of the dedication of the old Tabernacle, copies of +the Brooklyn and New York newspapers, photographs of the trustees, a +25-cent gold piece from the Philadelphia mint with the Lord's Prayer +engraved on one side, drawing and plans of the new Tabernacle, and some +Colonial money dated 1759, 1771, 1773, 1774. During my trip in the Holy +Land I had secured two stones, one from Mount Calvary and one from Mount +Sinai, which were to be placed in the Tabernacle later. + +The "Tabernacle Rabble," as the Philistines of Clinton Avenue called us, +continued to meet in the Academy of Music with renewed vigour. My own +duties became more exacting because of the additional work I had +undertaken, of an editorial nature, on two periodicals. + +Of course my critics were always with me. What man or thing on earth is +without these stimulants of one's energy. They were fair and unfair. I +did not care so much for my serious critics as my humorous ones. +Solemnity when sustained by malice or bigotry is a bore. Some call it +hypocrisy, but that is too clever for the tiresome critic. Frequently, +in my scrap book, I kept the funny comments about myself. + +Here is one from the "Chicago American," published in 1890:-- + + When Talmage the terrible shouts his "God-speed" + To illit'rate (and worse) immigration, + Who knows but his far-seeing mind feels a need + Of recruits for his mix'd congregation? + And when he, self-made gateman of Heaven, says he's glad + To rake in, on his free invitation, + The fit and the unfit, the good and the bad, + Put it down to his tall-'mag-ination.--_Pan._ + +My critics were particularly wrought up again on my return from +Palestine over my finances. What a crime it was, they said, for a +minister to be a millionaire! Had I really been one how much more I +could have helped some of them along. Finally the subject became most +wearisome, and I gave out some actual facts. From this data it was +revealed that I was worth about $200,000, considerably short of one +million. In actual cash it was finally declared that I was only worth +$100,000. My house in Brooklyn, which I bought shortly after my +pastorate began there, cost $35,000. I paid $5,000 cash, and obtained +easy terms on a mortgage for the balance. It was worth $60,000 in 1890. +My country residence at East Hampton was estimated to be worth $20,000. +I owned a few lots on the old Coney Island road. My investments of any +surplus funds I had were in 5 per cent. mortgages. I had as much as +$80,000 invested in this way since I had begun these operations in +1882. Most of the mortgages were on private residences. I mention these +facts that there may be no jealous feeling against me among other +millionaires. Because of my reputation for wealth I was sometimes +included among New York's fashionable clergymen. I deny that I was ever +any such thing, and I almost believe such a thing never was, but I find, +in my scrapbook, a contemporaneous list of them. + +Dr. Morgan Dix, of Trinity Church, with a salary of $15,000, heads the +list, Dr. Brown of St. Thomas' Church, received the same amount; so did +Dr. Huntington of Grace Church, and Dr. Greer of St. Bartholomew's. The +Bishop of the diocese received no more. Dr. Rainsford of St. George's +Church received $10,000, and like Dr. Greer, possessing a private +fortune, he turned his salary over to the church. The clergymen of the +Methodist Episcopal churches were not so rich. The Bishop of New York +received only $5,000. The pastor of St. Paul's, on Fourth Avenue, +received the same amount, so did the pastor of the Madison Avenue +Church. + +The Presbyterian pulpits were filled with some of the ablest preachers +in New York. Dr. John Hall of the Fifth Avenue Church received the +salary of $30,000, Dr. Paxton $10,000, Dr. Parkhurst and Dr. C.C. +Thompson $8,000 respectively. Dr. Robert Collyer of the Park Avenue +Unitarian Church, received $10,000, and Dr. William M. Taylor of the +Broadway Tabernacle the same amount. + +I was included among these "men of fashion," much to my surprise. This +fact, forced upon me by contemporary opinion, did not have anything to +do with what happened in the spring of 1891, though it was applied in +that way. My congregation were not told about it until it was too late +to interfere. This I thought wise because there might have been some +opposition to my course. I kept it a secret because it was not a matter +I could discuss with any dignity. Then, too, I realised that it was +going to affect the entire brotherhood of newspaper artists, especially +the cartoonists. I shuddered when I thought of the embarrassment this +act of mine would cause the country editor with only one Talmage woodcut +of many years in his art department. So I did it quietly, without +consultation. + +In the spring of 1891 I shaved my whiskers. + + + + +THE FIFTEENTH MILESTONE + +1891-1892 + + +On April 26, 1891, the new Tabernacle was opened. There were three +dedication services and thousands of people came. I was fifty-nine years +of age. Up to this time everything had been extraordinary in its +conflict, its warnings. I found myself, after over thirty years of +service to the Gospel, pastor of the biggest Protestant church in the +world. It seems to me there were more men of indomitable success during +my career in America than at any other time. There were so many +self-made men, so many who compelled the world to listen, and feel and +do as they believed--men of remarkable energy, of prophetic genius. + +Everywhere in England I had been asked about Cyrus W. Field. He was the +hero of the nineteenth century. In his days of sickness and trouble the +world remembered him. Of all the population of the earth he was the one +man who believed that a wire could be strung across the Atlantic. It +took him twelve years of incessant toil and fifty voyages across the +Atlantic. I remember well, in 1857, when the cable broke, how everyone +joined in the great chorus of "I told you so." There was a great jubilee +in that choral society of wise know-nothings. Thirty times the grapnel +searched the bottom of the sea and finally caught the broken cable, and +the pluck and ingenuity of Cyrus W. Field was celebrated. Ocean +cablegrams had ceased to be a curiosity, but some of us remember the day +when they were. I kept a memorandum of the two first messages across the +Atlantic that passed between Queen Victoria and President Buchanan in +the summer of 1858. + +From England, in the Queen's name, came this: + + "To the President of the United States, Washington-- + + "The Queen desires to congratulate the President upon the successful + completion of this great international work, in which the Queen has + taken the deepest interest. The Queen is convinced that the + President will join with her in fervently hoping that the electric + cable which now connects Great Britain with the United States will + prove an additional link between the nations whose friendship is + founded upon their common interest and reciprocal esteem. The Queen + has much pleasure in thus communicating with the President and + renewing to him her wishes for the prosperity of the United States." + +The President's answering cable was as follows: + + "To Her Majesty Victoria, Queen of Great Britain-- + + "The President cordially reciprocates the congratulations of Her + Majesty the Queen on the success of the great international + enterprise accomplished by the science, skill, and indomitable + energy of the two countries. It is a triumph more glorious than was + ever won by any conquest on the field of battle. May the Atlantic + telegraph, under the blessing of Heaven, prove to be a bond of + perpetual peace and friendship between the kindred nations and an + instrument designed by Divine Providence to diffuse religion, + civilisation, liberty and law throughout the world. In this view + will not all nations of Christendom spontaneously unite in the + declaration that it shall be forever neutral, and that its + communications shall be held sacred in passing to their destination, + even in the midst of hostilities. + + "JAMES BUCHANAN." + +It is interesting to compare the elemental quality, the inner character +of these national flashes of feeling, that came so comparatively soon +after the days of the revolution in America. It was a sort of prose +poetry of the new century. This recollection came back to me, on my +return from Europe, upon the opening of the new Tabernacle, a symbol of +the eternal human progress of the world. Materially and spiritually we +were striving ahead, men of affairs, men of religion, philosophers, +scientists, and poets. + +I was present in 1891 at the celebration of Whittier's eighty-fourth +birthday. He was on the bright side of eighty then. The schools +celebrated the day, so should the churches have done, for he was a +Christian poet. + +John Greenleaf Whittier was a Quaker. That means that he was a genial, +kind, good man--a simple man. I spent an afternoon with him once in a +barn. We were summering in the mountains near by. We found ourselves in +the barn, where we stretched out on the hay. The world had not spoiled +the simplicity of his nature. It was an afternoon of pastoral peace, +with one who had written himself into the heart of a nation. How much I +learned from that man's childlikeness and simplicity! + +If he had lived to be a hundred he would still have remained young. The +long flight of years had not tired his spirit, for wherever the English +language is spoken he will always live. He was born in Christmas week, a +spirit in human shape, come to earth to keep it forever young. He was +the bell-ringer of all youthful ages. And yet he remembered also those +who for any reason could not join in the merriment of the holidays. To +those I recommend Whittier's poem, in which he celebrates the rescue of +two Quakers who had been fined £10 for attending church instead of going +to a Quaker Meeting House, and not being able to pay the fine were first +imprisoned and then sold as slaves, but no ship master consenting to +carry them into slavery they were liberated. The closing stanza of this +poem is worth remembering:-- + + "Now, let the humble ones arise, + The poor in heart be glad, + And let the mourning ones again + With robes of praise be clad; + For He who cooled the furnace, + And smoothed the stormy wave, + And turned the Chaldean lions, + Is mighty still to save." + +The new Tabernacle more than met our expectations. From the day we +opened it, it was a great blessing. It seated 6,000 persons, and when +crowded held 7,000. There was still some debt on the building, for the +entire enterprise had cost us about $400,000. There were regrets +expressed that we did not follow the elaborate custom of some +fashionable churches in these days and introduce into our services +operatic music. I preferred the simple form of sacred music--a cornet +and organ. Everybody should get his call from God, and do his work in +his own way. I never had any sympathy with dogmatics. There is no church +on earth in which there is more freedom of utterance than in the +Presbyterian church. + +[Illustration: THE THIRD BROOKLYN TABERNACLE.] + +We were in the midst of a religious conflict on many sacred questions in +1892. There came upon us a plague called Higher Criticism. My idea of it +was that Higher Criticism meant lower religion. The Bible seemed to me +entirely satisfactory. The chief hindrance to the Gospel was this +everlasting picking at the Bible by people who pretended to be its +friends, but who themselves had never been converted. The Higher +Criticism was only a flurry. The world started as a garden and it will +close as a garden. That there may be no false impression of the sublime +destiny of the world as I see it, let me add that it is not a garden of +idleness and pleasure, but a vineyard in which all must labour from +early morning till the glory of sundown wraps us in its revival robes of +golden splendour. + +What a changing, hurrying world of desperate means it is. What a mirage +of towering ambition is the whole of life! I have so often wondered why +men, great men of heart and brain, should ever die out, though they pass +on to live forever under brighter skies. + +In January, 1892, Congressman William E. Robinson was buried from our +church, and in February of the same month Spurgeon died in England. +Though men may live at swords' points with each other they die in peace. +This last forgetfulness is some of the beautiful moss that grows on the +ruins of poor human nature. + +Congressman Robinson was among the gifted men of his time. His friends +were giants, his work was constructive, his pen an instrument of +literary force. He landed in America with less than a sovereign in his +pocket, and achieved prominence in national and State affairs. I knew +him well and respected him. + +There is an affinity of souls on earth and doubtless in heaven. We seek +those who are our kindred souls when we reach there. In this respect I +always feel a sense of gratitude, of cheerfulness for those who have +passed on. My old friend, Charles H. Spurgeon, in February, 1892, made +his last journey; and I am sure that the first whom he picked out in +heaven were the souls of Jonathan Edwards and John Calvin--two men of +tremendous evangelism. I first met Spurgeon in London in 1872. + +"I read your sermons," I said to him first. + +"Everybody reads yours," he replied. + +Spurgeon made a long battle against disease; the last few months in +agony. His name is on the honour roll of the world's history, but for +many years he was caricatured and assailed. He kept a scrap-book of the +printed blasphemy against him. The first picture I ever saw of him +represented him as sliding down the railing of his pulpit in the +presence of his congregation, to show how easy it was to go to hell, and +then climbing up on the opposite railing to show how difficult it was to +get to heaven. Most people at the time actually believed that he had +done this. + +In this same month Dr. Mackenzie, the famous physician, died, and my old +friend, the Rev. Dr. Hanna of Belfast, the leading Protestant minister +of Ireland. Out of the darkness into the light; out of the struggle into +victory; out of earth into Heaven! + +There was always mercy on earth, however, for those who remained. Mercy! +The biggest word in the human language! I remember how it impressed me, +when, at the invitation of Dr. Leslie Keeley, the inventor of the "Gold +Cure" for drunkenness, I visited his institution at Dwight, Ill. It was +a new thing then and a most merciful miracle of the age. It settled no +question, perhaps, but intensified the blessings of reformed thought. + +There were questions that could not be solved, however, questions of +industrial moment that we almost despaired of. The tariff was one of +them. I felt convinced that the tariff question would never be settled. +The grandchildren of every generation will always be discussing it, and +thresh out the same old straw which the Democrats and Republicans were +discussing before them. When I was a boy only eight years old the tariff +was discussed just as warmly as it will ever be. Like my friend Henry +Watterson, of Kentucky, I was a Free Trader. Politics were so mixed up +it was difficult to see ahead. Cleveland was after Hill and Hill was +after Cleveland; that alone was clear to everybody. + +For my own satisfaction, in the spring of 1892, I went to see what +Washington was really doing, thinking, living. It had improved morally +and politically, its streets were still the trail of the mighty. A great +change had taken place there. + +A higher type of men had taken possession of our national halls. +Duelling, once common, was entirely abolished, and a Senator who would +challenge a fellow-member to fight would make himself a laughing-stock. +No more clubbing of Senators on account of opposite opinions! Mr. Covode +of Pennsylvania, no longer brandished a weapon over the head of Mr. +Barksdale of Mississippi. Grow and Keitt no more took each other by the +throat. Griswold no more pounded Lyon, Lyon snatching the tongs and +striking back until the two members in a scuffle rolled on the floor of +the great American Congress. One of the Senators of twenty-five years +ago died in Flatbush Hospital, idiotic from his dissipations. One member +of Congress I saw years ago seated drunk on the curbstone in +Philadelphia, his wife trying to coax him home. A Senator from New York +many years ago on a cold day was picked out of the Potomac, into which +he had dropped through his intoxication, the only time that he ever came +so near losing his life by too much cold water. Talk not about the good +old days, for the new days in Washington were far better. There was John +Sherman of the Senate, a moral, high-minded, patriotic and talented man. +I said to him as I looked up into his face: "How tall are you?" and his +answer was, "Six feet one inch and a half;" and I thought to myself "You +are a tall man every way, with mental stature over-towering like the +physical." There was Senator Daniel of Virginia, magnetic to the last +degree, and when he spoke all were thrilled while they listened. Fifteen +years ago, at Lynchburg, Va., I said to him: "The next time I see you, I +will see you in the United States Senate." "No, no," he replied, "I am +not on the winning side. I am too positive in my opinions." I greeted +him amid the marble walls of the Senate with the words "Didn't I tell +you so?" "Yes," he said, "I remember your prophecy." There also were +Senators Colquitt and Gordon of Georgia, at home whether in secular or +religious assemblages, pronounced Christian gentlemen, and both of them +tremendous in utterance. There was Senator Carey of Wyoming, who was a +boy in my church debating society at Philadelphia, his speech at +eighteen years demonstrating that nothing in the way of grand +achievement would be impossible. There was Senator Manderson of +Nebraska, his father and mother among my chief supporters in +Philadelphia, the Senator walking about as though he cared nothing about +the bullets which he had carried ever since the war, of which he was one +of the heroes. Brooklyn was proud of her Congressmen. I heard our +representative, Mr. Coombs, speak, and whether his hearers agreed or +disagreed with his sentiments on the tariff question, all realised that +he knew what he was talking about, and his easy delivery and point-blank +manner of statement were impressive. So, also, at the White House, +whether people liked the Administration or disliked it, all reasonable +persons agreed that good morals presided over the nation, and that +well-worn jest about the big hat of the grandfather, President William +Henry Harrison, being too ample for the grandson, President Benjamin +Harrison, was a witticism that would soon be folded up and put out of +sight. Anybody who had carefully read the 120 addresses delivered by +President Benjamin Harrison on his tour across the continent knew that +he had three times the brain ever shown by his grandfather. Great men, I +noticed at Washington, were great only a little while. The men I saw +there in high places fifteen years ago had nearly all gone. One +venerable man, seated in the Senate near the Vice-President's chair, had +been there since he was introduced as a page at 10 years of age by +Daniel Webster. But a few years change the most of the occupants of high +positions. How rapidly the wheel turns. Call the roll of Jefferson's +Cabinet? Dead! Call the roll of Madison's Cabinet? Dead! Call the roll +of Monroe's Cabinet? Dead! Call the roll of Pierce's Cabinet? Dead! Call +the roll of Abraham Lincoln's Cabinet? Dead! The Congressional burying +ground in the city of Washington had then 170 cenotaphs raised in honour +of members. + +While I was in Chicago, in the spring of 1892, there came about an +almost national discussion as to whether the World's Fair should be kept +open on Sunday. Nearly all the ministers foresaw empty churches if the +fair were kept open. + +In spite of the personal malice against me of one of the great editors +of New York, the people did not seem to lose their confidence in the +Christian spirit. Both Dr. Parkhurst and myself were the targets of this +brilliant man's sarcasm and satire at this time, but neither of us were +demoralised or injured in the course of our separate ways of duty. + +In the summer of 1892 the working plans of what the newspapers +generously called my vacation took me to Europe on a tour of Great +Britain and Ireland, including a visit to Russia, to await the arrival +of a ship-load of food sent by the religious weekly of which I was +editor. Some criticism was made of the way I worked instead of rested in +vacation time. + +Someone asked me if I believed in dreams. I said, no; I believed in +sleep, but not in dreams. The Lord, in olden times, revealed Himself in +dreams, but I do not think He does so often now. When I was at school we +parsed from "Young's Night Thoughts," but I had no very pleasant +memories of that book. I had noticed that dreamers are often the prey of +consumption. It seems to have a fondness for exquisite natures--dreamy, +spiritual, a foe of the finest part of the human family. There was Henry +Kirke White, the author of that famous hymn, "When Marshalled on the +Nightly Plains," who, dying of consumption, wrote it with two feet in +the grave, and recited it with power when he could not move from his +chair. + +We sailed on the "New York," June 15, 1892, for Europe. This preaching +tour in England was urged upon me by ties of friendship, made years +before, by the increased audiences I had already gained through my +public sermons, and of my own hearty desire to see them all face to +face. My first sermon in London was given on June 25, 1892, in the City +Temple, by invitation of that great English preacher, Dr. Joseph Parker. +When my sermon was over, Dr. Parker said to his congregation:-- + +"I thank God for Dr. Talmage's life and ministry, and I despise the man +who cannot appreciate his services to Christianity. May he preach in +this pulpit again!" + +On leaving his church I was obliged to address the crowd outside from my +carriage. Nothing can be so gratifying to a preacher as the faith of the +people he addresses in his faith. In England the religious spirit is +deeply rooted. I could not help feeling, as I saw that surging mass of +men and women outside the City Temple in London after the service, how +earnest they all were in their exertions to hear the Gospel. In my own +country I had been used to crowds that were more curious in their +attitude, less reverent of the occasion. Dr. Parker's description of the +sermon after it was over expressed the effect of my Gospel message upon +that crowd in England. + +He said: "That is the most sublime, pathetic and impressive appeal we +ever listened to. It has kindled the fire of enthusiasm in our souls +that will burn on for ever. It has unfolded possibilities of the pulpit +never before reached. It has stirred all hearts with the holiest +ambition." + +So should every sermon, preached in every place in the world on every +Sunday in the world, be a message from God and His angels! + +The sustaining enthusiasm of my friend, Dr. Parker, and his people at +the City Temple, preceded me everywhere in England, and established a +series of experiences in my evangelical work that surprised and +enthralled me. + +In Nottingham I was told that Albert Hall, where I preached, could not +hold over 3,000 people. That number of tickets for my sermon were +distributed from the different pulpits in the city, but hundreds were +disappointed and waited for me outside afterwards. This was no personal +tribute to me, but to the English people, to whom my Gospel message was +of serious import. The text I used most during this preaching tour was +from Daniel xi. 2: "The people that do know their God shall be strong +and do exploits." It applied to the people of Great Britain and they +responded and understood. + +In a more concrete fashion I was privileged to witness also the +tremendous influence of religious feeling in England at the banquet +tendered by the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House on July 3, 1892, to the +Archbishops and Bishops of England. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the +Bishop of London, and the diocesan bishops were present. The Lord Mayor, +in his address, said that the association between the Church and the +Corporation of London had been close, long, and continuous. In that +year, he said, the Church had spent on buildings and restorations +thirty-five million pounds; on home missions, seven and a half millions; +on foreign missions, ten millions; on elementary education, twenty-one +millions; and in charity, six millions. What a stupendous evidence of +the religious spirit in England! A toast was proposed to the "Ministers +of other Denominations," which included the Rev. Dr. Newman Hall and +myself of America, among other foreign guests. To this I responded. + +Before leaving for Russia I met a part of the American colony in London +at a reception given by Mr. Lincoln, our Minister to England. We +gathered to celebrate the Fourth of July. Mrs. Mackey, Mrs. Paran +Stevens, Mrs. Bradley Martin, and Mrs. Bonynge received among others. +Phillips Brooks and myself were among the clerical contingent, with such +Americans abroad as Colonel Tom Ochiltree, Buffalo Bill, General and +Mrs. Williams, A.M. Palmer, Mrs. New, the Consul-General's wife, Mr. and +Mrs. John Collins, Senators Farwell and McDonald. + +While travelling in England I saw John Ruskin. This fact contains more +happiness to me than I can easily make people understand. I wanted to +see him more than any other man, crowned or uncrowned. When I was in +England at other times Mr. Ruskin was always absent or sick, but this +time I found him. I was visiting the Lake district of England, and one +afternoon I took a drive that will be for ever memorable. I said, "Drive +out to Mr. Ruskin's place," which was some eight miles away. The +landlord from whom I got the conveyance said, "You will not be able to +see Mr. Ruskin. No one sees him or has seen him for years." Well, I have +a way of keeping on when I start. After an hour and a half of a +delightful ride we entered the gates of Mr. Ruskin's home. The door of +the vine-covered, picturesque house was open, and I stood in the +hall-way. Handing my card to a servant I said, "I wish to see Mr. +Ruskin." The reply was, "Mr. Ruskin is not in, and he never sees +anyone." Disappointed, I turned back, took the carriage and went down +the road. I said to the driver, "Do you know Mr. Ruskin when you see +him?" "Yes," said he; "but I have not seen him for years." We rode on a +few moments, then the driver cried out to me, "There he comes now." In a +minute we had arrived at where Mr. Ruskin was walking toward us. I +alighted, and he greeted me with a quiet manner and a genial smile. He +looked like a great man worn out; beard full and tangled; soft hat drawn +down over his forehead; signs of physical weakness with determination +not to show it. His valet walked beside him ready to help or direct his +steps. He deprecated any remarks appreciatory of his wonderful services. +He had the appearance of one whose work is completely done, and is +waiting for the time to start homeward. He was in appearance more like +myself than any person I ever saw, and if I should live to be his age +the likeness will be complete. + +I did not think then that Mr. Ruskin would ever write another paragraph. +He would continue to saunter along the English lane very slowly, his +valet by his side, for a year or two, and then fold his hands for his +last sleep. Then the whole world would speak words of gratitude and +praise which it had denied him all through the years in which he was +laboriously writing "Modern Painters," "The Seven Lamps of +Architecture," "The Stones of Venice," and "Ethics of the Dust." We +cannot imagine what the world's literature would have been if Thomas +Carlyle and John Ruskin had never entered it. I shall never forget how +in the early years of my ministry I picked up in Wynkoop's store, in +Syracuse, for the first time, one of Ruskin's works. I read that book +under the trees, because it was the best place to read it. Ruskin was +the first great interpreter of the language of leaves, of clouds, of +rivers, of lakes, of seas. + +In July, 1892,1 went to Russia. It was summer in the land of snow and +ice, so that we saw it in the glow of sunny days, in the long +gold-tipped twilights of balmy air. In America we still regarded Russia +as a land of cruel mystery and imperial oppression. There was as much +ignorance about the Russians, their Government, their country, as there +was about the Fiji Islands. Americans had been taught that Siberia was +Russia, that Russia and Siberia were the same, one vast infinite waste +of misery and cruelty. Granted that I went to Russia on an errand of +mercy, and as a representative of the most powerful nation in the world, +nevertheless I contend that the Russian people and their Government were +hugely misrepresented. There was no need for the Emperor of Russia to +give audience to so humble a representative as a minister of the Gospel +unless he had been sincerely touched by the evidence of American +generosity and mercy for his starving peasants in Central Russia. His +courtesy and reception of me was a complete contradiction of his +reported arrogance and hard-heartedness. There was no need for the Town +Council of St. Petersburg to honour myself and my party with receptions +and dinners, and there was no reason for the enthusiasm and cheers of +the Russian people in the streets unless they were intensely kind and +enthusiastic in nature. When the famine conditions occurred in the ten +provinces of Russia a relief committee was formed in St. Petersburg, +with the Grand Duke himself at the head of it, and such men as Count +Tolstoi and Count Bobrinsky in active assistance. America answered the +appeal for food, but their was sincere sympathy and compassion for +their compatriots in the imperial circles of Russia. + +In the famine districts, which were vast enough to hold several nations, +a drought that had lasted for six consecutive years had devastated the +country. According to the estimate of the Russian Famine Relief +Committee we saved the lives of 125,000 Russians. + +As at the hunger relief stations the bread was handed out--for it was +made into loaves and distributed--many people would halt before taking +it and religiously cross themselves and utter a prayer for the donors. +Some of them would come staggering back and say:-- + +"Please tell us who sent this bread to us?" And when told it came from +America, they would say: "What part of America? Please give us the names +of those who sent it." + +My visit to the Czar of Russia, Alexander III., was made at the Imperial +Palace. I was ushered into a small, very plain apartment, in which I +found the Emperor seated alone, quietly engaged with his official cares. +He immediately arose, extended his hand with hearty cordiality, and said +in the purest English, as he himself placed a chair for me beside his +table, "Doctor Talmage, I am very happy to meet you." + +This was the beginning of a long conversation during which the Emperor +manifested both the liveliest interest and thorough familiarity with +American politics, and, after a lengthy discussion of everything +American, the Emperor said, "Dr. Talmage, you must see my eldest son, +Nicholas," with which he touched a bell, calling his aide-de-camp, who +promptly summoned the Grand Duke Nicholas, who appeared with the +youngest daughter of the Emperor skipping along behind him--a plump, +bright little girl of probably eight or nine years. She jumped upon the +Emperor's lap and threw her arms about his neck. When she had been +introduced to me she gave "The American gentleman" the keenest scrutiny +of which her sparkling eyes were capable. The Grand Duke was a fine +young man, of about twenty-five years of age, tall, of athletic build, +graceful carriage, and noticeably amiable features. On being introduced +to me the Grand Duke extended his hand and said, "Dr. Talmage, I am also +glad to meet you, for we all feel that we have become acquainted with +you through your sermons, in which we have found much interest and +religious edification." + +Noticing the magnificent physique of both father and son, I asked the +Emperor, when the conversation turned incidentally upon matters of +health, what he did to maintain such fine strength in the midst of all +the cares of State. He replied, "Doctor, the secret of my strength is in +my physical exercise. This I never fail to take regularly and freely +every day before I enter upon any of the work of my official duties, and +to it I attribute the excellent health which I enjoy." + +The Emperor insisted that I should see the Empress and the rest of the +Imperial Family, and we proceeded to another equally plain, +unpretentious apartment where, with her daughters, we found the Empress. +After a long conversation, and just as I was leaving, I asked the +Emperor whether there was much discontent among the nobility as a result +of the emancipation among the serfs, and he replied, "Yes, all the +trouble with my empire arises from the turbulence and discontent of the +nobility. The people are perfectly quiet and contented." + +A reference was made to the possibility of war, and I remember the fear +with which the Empress entered into the talk just then, saying "We all +dread war. With our modern equipments it could be nothing short of +massacre, and from that we hope we may be preserved." + +My presentation at Peterhoff Palace to Alexander III. and the royal +family of Russia was entirely an unexpected event in my itinerary. It +was in the nature of a compliment to my mission, to the American people +who have contributed so much to the distress in Russia, and to the +Christian Church for which this "hardhearted, cruel Czar" had so much +respect and so much interest. It was said that in common with all +Americans I expected to find the Emperor attired in some bomb-proof +regalia. Perhaps I was impressed with the Czar's indifference and +fearlessness. Someone said to me that no doubt he was quite used to the +thought of assassination. I discovered, in a long conversation that I +had with him, that he was ready to die, and when a man is ready why +should he be afraid? + +The most significant and important outcome of this presentation to the +Czar was his pledge to my countrymen that Russia would always remember +the generosity of the American people in their future relations. +Everywhere in St. Petersburg and Moscow, the Russian and American flags +were displayed together on the public buildings, so that I look back +upon this occasion with a pardonable impression of its international +importance. There was a suggestion of this feeling in an address +presented to us by the City Council of St. Petersburg, in which a +graceful remembrance was made of that occasion in 1868, when a special +embassy from the United States, with Mr. G.V. Fox, a Cabinet officer, at +its head, visited St. Petersburg and expressed sympathy for Russia and +its Sovereign. + +Returning from Russia, I continued my preaching tour in England, +preaching to immense crowds, estimated in the English newspapers to be +from fifteen to twenty thousand people, in the large cities. In +Birmingham the crowd followed me into the hotel, where it was necessary +to lock the doors to keep them out. What incalculable kindness I +received in England! I remember a farewell banquet given me at the +Crystal Palace by twenty Nonconformists, at which I was presented with a +gold watch from my English friends; and a scene in Swansea, when, after +my sermon, they sang Welsh hymns to me in their native language. + +Some people wonder how I have kept in such good humour with the world +when I have been at times violently assailed or grossly misrepresented. +It was because the kindnesses towards me have predominated. For the past +thirty or forty years the mercies have carried the day. If I went to the +depot there was a carriage to meet me. If I tarried at the hotel some +one mysteriously paid the bill. If I were attacked in newspaper or +church court there were always those willing to take up for me the +cudgels. If I were falsified the lie somehow turned out to my advantage. +My enemies have helped me quite as much as my friends. If I preached or +lectured I always had a crowd. If I had a boil it was almost always in a +comfortable place. If my church burned down I got a better one. I +offered a manuscript to a magazine, hoping to get for it forty dollars, +which I much needed at the time. The manuscript was courteously returned +as not being available; but that article for which I could not get forty +dollars has since, in other uses, brought me forty thousand dollars. The +caricaturists have sent multitudes of people to hear me preach and +lecture. I have had antagonists; but if any man of my day has had more +warm personal friends I do not know his name. + + + + +THE SIXTEENTH MILESTONE + +1892-1895 + + +I had only one fault to find with the world in my sixty years of travel +over it and that was it had treated me too well. In the ordinary course +of events, and by the law of the Psalmist, I still had ten more years +before me; but, according to my own calculations, life stretched +brilliantly ahead of me as far as heart and mind could wish. There were +many things to take into consideration. There was the purpose of the +future, its obligations, its opportunities to adjust. My whole life had +been a series of questions. My course had been the issue of problems, a +choice of many ways. + +Shortly after the dawn of 1893 the financial difficulties in which the +New Tabernacle had been reared confronted us. It had arisen from the +ashes of its predecessor by sheer force of energy and pluck. It had +taken a vast amount of negotiation. A loan of $125,000, made to us by +Russell Sage, payable in one year at 6 per cent., was one of the means +employed. This loan was arranged by Mr. A.L. Soulard, the president of +the German-American Title and Guarantee Company. Mr. Sage was a friend +of mine, of my church, and that was some inducement. The loan was made +upon the guarantee of the Title Company. It was reported to me that Mr. +Sage had said at this time:-- + +"It all depends upon whether Dr. Talmage lives or not. If he should +happen to die the Brooklyn Tabernacle wouldn't be worth much." + +The German-American Title and Guarantee Company then secured an +insurance on my life for $25,000 and insisted that the Board of Trustees +of the church give their individual bonds for the fulfillment of the +mortgage. The trustees were W.D. Mead, F.H. Branch, John Wood, C.S. +Darling, F.M. Lawrence, and James B. Ferguson. In this way Mr. Sage +satisfied both his religious sympathies and his business nature. For +more reasons than one, therefore, I kept myself in perfect health. This +was only one of the incidents involved in the building of the New +Tabernacle. For two years I had donated my salary of $12,000 a year to +the church, and had worked hard incessantly to infuse it with life and +success. This information may serve to contradict some scattered +impressions made by our friendly critics, that my personal aim in life +was mercenary and selfish. My income from my lectures, and the earnings +from my books and published sermons, were sufficient for all my needs. + +During the year 1893 I did my best to stem the tide of debt and +embarrassment in which the business elements of the church was involved. +I find an entry in my accounts of a check dated March 27, 1893, in +Brooklyn, for $10,000, which I donated to the Brooklyn Tabernacle +Emergency Fund. There is a spiritual warning in almost every practical +event of our lives, and it seemed that in that year, so discomforting to +the New Tabernacle, there was a spiritual warning to me which grew into +a certainty of feeling that my work called me elsewhere. I said nothing +of this to anyone, but quietly thought the situation over without haste +or undue prejudice. My Gospel field was a big one. The whole world +accepted the Gospel as I preached it, and I concluded that it did not +make much difference where the pulpit was in which I preached. + +After a full year's consideration of the entire outlook, in January, +1894, I announced my resignation as pastor of the Tabernacle, to take +effect in the spring of that year. I gave no other cause than that I +felt that I had been in one place long enough. An attempt was made by +the Press to interpret my action into a private difference of opinion +with the trustees of the church--but this was not true. All sorts of +plans were proposed for raising the required sum of our expensive church +management, in which I concurred and laboured heartily. It was said that +I resigned because the trustees were about to decide in favour of +charging a nominal fee of ten cents to attend our services. I made no +objection to this. My resignation was a surprise to the congregation +because I had not indicated my plans or intimated to them my own private +expectations of the remaining years of my life. + +On Sunday, January 22, 1894, among the usual church announcements made +from the pulpit, I read the following statement, which I had written on +a slip of paper:-- + +"This coming spring I will have been pastor of this church twenty-five +years--a quarter of a century--long enough for any minister to preach in +one place. At that anniversary I will resign this pulpit, and it will be +occupied by such person as you may select. + +"Though the work has been arduous, because of the unparalleled necessity +of building three great churches, two of them destroyed by fire, the +field has been delightful and blessed by God. No other congregation has +ever been called to build three churches, and I hope no other pastor +will ever be called to such an undertaking. + +"My plans after resignation have not been developed, but I shall preach +both by voice and newspaper press, as long as my life and health are +continued. + +"From first to last we have been a united people, and my fervent thanks +are to all the Boards of Trustees and Elders, whether of the present or +past, and to all the congregation, and to New York and Brooklyn. + +"I have no vocabulary intense enough to express my gratitude to the +newspaper press of these cities for the generous manner in which they +have treated me and augmented my work for this quarter of a century. + +"After such a long pastorate it is a painful thing to break the ties of +affection, but I hope our friendship will be renewed in Heaven." + +There was a sorrowful silence when I stopped reading, which made me +realise that I had tasted another bitter draft of life in the prospect +of farewell between pastor and flock. I left the church alone and went +quietly to my study where I closed the door to all inquirers. + +If my decision had been made upon any other ground than those of +spiritual obligation to the purpose of my whole life I should have said +so. My decision had been made because I had been thinking of my share in +the evangelism of the world, and how mercifully I had been spared and +instructed and forwarded in my Gospel mission. I wanted a more +neighbourly relation with the human race than the prescribed limitations +of a single pulpit. + +In February, 1893, I lost an evangelical neighbour of many +years--Bishop Brooks. He was a giant, but he died. My mind goes back to +the time when Bishop Brooks and myself were neighbours in Philadelphia. +He had already achieved a great reputation as a pulpit orator in 1870. +The first time I saw him was on a stormy night as he walked majestically +up the aisle of the church to which I administered. He had come to hear +his neighbour, as afterward I often went to hear him. What a great and +genial soul he was! He was a man that people in the streets stopped to +look at, and strangers would say as he passed, "I wonder who that man +is?" Of unusual height and stature, with a face beaming in kindness, +once seeing him he was always remembered, but the pulpit was his throne. +With a velocity of utterance that was the despair of the swiftest +stenographers, he poured forth his impassioned soul, making every theme +he touched luminous and radiant. + +Putting no emphasis on the mere technicalities of religion, he made his +pulpit flame with its power. He was the special inspiration of young +men, and the disheartened took courage under the touch of his words and +rose up healed. It will take all time and all eternity to tell the +results of his Christian utterances. There were some who thought that +there was here and there an unsafe spot in his theology. As for +ourselves we never found anything in the man or in his utterances that +we did not like. + +Although fully realising that I was approaching a crisis of some sort in +my own career, it was with definite thankfulness for the mercies that +had upheld me so long that I forged ahead. My state of mind at this time +was peaceful and contented. I find in a note-book of this period of my +life the following entry, which betrays the trend of my heart and mind +during the last milestone of my ministry in Brooklyn: + +"Here I am in Madison, Wisconsin, July 23, 1893. I have been attending +Monona Lake Chautauqua, lecturing yesterday, preaching this morning. +This Sabbath afternoon I have been thinking of the goodness of God to +me. It began many years before I was born; for as far back as I can find +anything concerning my ancestry, both on my father's and mother's sides, +they were virtuous and Christian people. Who shall estimate the value of +such a pedigree? The old cradle, as I remember it, was made out of plain +boards, but it was a Christian cradle. God has been good in letting us +be born in a fair climate, neither in the rigours of frigidity nor in +the scorching air of tropical regions. Fortunate was I in being started +in a home neither rich nor poor, so that I had the temptations of +neither luxury nor poverty. Fortunate in good health--sixty years of it. +I say sixty rather than sixty-one, for I believe the first year or two +of my life compassed all styles of infantile ailments, from mumps to +scarlet fever. + +"A quarter of a century ago, looking at a pile of manuscript sermons, I +said again and again to my wife: 'Those sermons were not made only for +the people who have already heard them. They must have a wider field.' +The prophecy came true, and every one of those sermons through the press +has come to the attention of at least twenty-five million people. I have +no reason to be morose or splenetic. 'Goodness and mercy have followed +me all the days of my life.' Here I am at 61 years of age without an +ache, a pain, or a physical infirmity. Now closing a preaching and +lecturing tour from Georgia to Minnesota and Wisconsin, I am to-morrow +morning to start for my residence at the seaside where my family are +awaiting me, and notwithstanding all the journeying and addressing of +great audiences, and shaking hands with thousands of people, after a +couple of days' rest will be no more weary than when I left home. 'Bless +the Lord, O my soul!'" + +My ordinary mode of passing vacations has been to go to East Hampton, +Long Island, and thence to go out for two or three preaching and +lecturing excursions to points all the way between New York and San +Francisco, or from Texas to Maine. I find that I cannot rest more than +two weeks at a time. More than that wearies me. Of all the places I have +ever known East Hampton is the best place for quiet and recuperation. + +I became acquainted with it through my brother-in-law, Rev. S.L. +Mershon. The Presbyterian church here was his first pastoral settlement. +When a boy in grammar school and college I visited him and his wife, my +sister Mary. The place is gradually submitting to modern notions, but +East Hampton, whether in its antiquated shape or epauletted and frilled +and decorated by the hand of modern enterprise, has always been to me a +semi-Paradise. + +As I approach it my pulse is slackened and a delicious somnolence comes +over me. I dream out the work for another year. + +My most useful sermons have been born here. My most successful books +were planned here. In this place, between the hours of somnolence, there +come hours of illumination and ecstasy. It seems far off from the heated +and busy world. East Hampton has been a great blessing to my family. It +has been a mercy to have them here, free from all summer heats. When +nearly grown, the place is not lively enough for them, but an +occasional diversion to White Sulphur, or Alum Springs, or a summer in +Europe, has given them abundant opportunity. All my children have been +with us in Europe, except my departed son, DeWitt, who was at a most +important period in school at the time of our going, or he would have +been with us on one of our foreign tours. + +I have crossed the ocean twelve times, that is six each way, and like it +less and less. It is to me a stomachic horror. But the frequent visits +have given educational opportunity to my children. Foreign travel, and +lecturing and preaching excursions in our own country have been to me a +stimulus, while East Hampton has been to me a sedative and anodyne. For +this beautiful medicament I am profoundly thankful. + +But I am writing this in the new house that we have builded in place of +our old one. It is far more beautiful and convenient and valuable than +the old one, but I doubt if it will be any more useful. And a railroad +has been laid out, and before summer is passed the shriek of a +locomotive will awaken all the Rip Van Winkles that have been slumbering +here since before the first almanac was printed. + +The task of remembering the best of one's life is a pleasant one. Under +date of December 20, 1893, I find another recollection in my note-book +that is worth amplifying. + +"This morning, passing through Frankfort, Kentucky, on my way from +Lexington, at the close of a preaching and lecturing tour of nearly +three weeks, I am reminded of a most royal visit that I had here at +Frankfort as the guest of Governor Blackburn, at the gubernatorial +mansion about ten years ago. + +"I had made an engagement to preach twice at High Bridge, Ky., a famous +camp meeting. Governor Blackburn telegraphed me to Brooklyn asking when +and where I would enter Kentucky, as he wished to meet me on the border +of the State and conduct me to the High Bridge services. We met at +Cincinnati. Crossing the Ohio River, we found the Governor's especial +car with its luxurious appointments and group of servants to spread the +table and wait on every want. The Governor, a most fascinating and +splendid man, with a warmth of cordiality that glows in me every time I +recall his memory, entertained me with the story of his life which had +been a romance of mercy in the healing art, he having been elected to +his high office in appreciation of his heroic services as physician in +time of yellow fever. + +"At Lexington a brusque man got on our car, and we entered with him into +vigorous conversation. I did not hear his name on introduction, and I +felt rather sorry that the Governor should have invited him into our +charming seclusion. But the stranger became such an entertainer as a +colloquialist, and demonstrated such extraordinary intellectuality, I +began to wonder who he was, and I addressed him, saying, "Sir, I did not +hear your name when you were introduced." He replied, 'My name is +Beck--Senator Beck.' Then and there began one of the most entertaining +friendships of my life. Great Scotch soul! Beck came a poor boy from +Scotland to America, hired himself out for farm work in Kentucky, +discovered to his employer a fondness for reading, was offered free +access to his employer's large library, and marched right up into +education and the legal profession and the Senate of the United States." + +That day we got out of the train at High Bridge. My sermon was on "The +Divinity of the Scriptures." Directly in front of me, and with most +intense look, whether of disapprobation or approval I knew not, sat the +Senator. On the train back to Lexington, where he took me in his +carriage on a long ride amid the scenes of Clayiana, he told me the +sermon had re-established his faith in Christianity, for he had been +brought up to believe the Bible as most of the people in Scotland +believe it. But I did not know all that transpired that day at High +Bridge until after the Senator was dead, and I was in Lexington, and +visited his grave at the cemetery where he sleeps amid the mighty +Kentuckians who have adorned their State. + +On this last visit that I speak of, a young man connected with the +Phoenix Hotel, Lexington, where Senator Beck lived much of the time, and +where he entertained me, told me that on the morning of the day that +Senator Beck went with me to High Bridge he had been standing in that +hotel among a group of men who were assailing Christianity, and +expressing surprise that Senator Beck was going to High Bridge to hear a +sermon. When we got to the hotel that afternoon the same group of men +were standing together, and were waiting to hear the Senator's report of +the service, and hoping to get something to the disadvantage of +religion. My informant heard them say to him, "Well, how was it?" The +Senator replied, "Doctor Talmage proved the truth of the Bible as by a +mathematical demonstration. Now talk to me no more on that subject." + +On Sunday morning I returned to High Bridge for another preaching +service. Governor Blackburn again took us in his especial car. The word +"immensity" may give adequate idea of the audience present. Then the +Governor insisted that I go with him to Frankfort and spend a few days. +They were memorable days to me. At breakfast, lunch and dinner the +prominent people of Kentucky were invited to meet me. Mrs. Blackburn +took me to preach to her Bible Class in the State Prison. I think there +were about 800 convicts in that class. Paul would have called her "The +elect lady," "Thoroughly furnished unto all good works." Heaven only can +tell the story of her usefulness. What days and nights they were at the +Governor's Mansion. No one will ever understand the heartiness and +generosity and warmth of Kentucky hospitality until he experiences it. + +President Arthur was coming through Lexington on his way to open an +Exposition at Louisville. Governor Blackburn was to go to Lexington to +receive him and make a speech. The Governor read me the speech in the +State House before leaving Frankfort, and asked for my criticism. It was +an excellent speech about which I made only one criticism, and that +concerning a sentence in which he praised the beautiful women and the +fine horses of Kentucky. I suggested that he put the human and the +equine subjects of his admiration in different sentences, and this +suggestion he adopted. + +We started for Lexington and arrived at the hotel. Soon the throngs in +the streets showed that the President of the United States was coming. +The President was escorted into the parlour to receive the address of +welcome, and seeing me in the throng, he exclaimed, "Dr. Talmage! Are +you here? It makes me feel at home to see you." The Governor put on his +spectacles and began to read his speech, but the light was poor, and he +halted once or twice for a word, when I was tempted to prompt him, for I +remembered his speech better than he did himself. + +That day I bade good-bye to Governor Blackburn, and I saw him two or +three times after that, once in my church in Brooklyn and once in +Louisville lecture hall, where he stood at the door to welcome me as I +came in from New Orleans on a belated train at half-past nine o'clock at +night when I ought to have begun my lecture at 8 o'clock; and the last +time I saw him he was sick and in sad decadence and near the terminus of +an eventful life. One of my brightest anticipations of Heaven is that of +seeing my illustrious Kentucky friend. + +That experience at Frankfort was one of the many courtesies I have +received from all the leading men of all the States. I have known many +of the Governors, and Legislatures, when I have looked in upon them, +have adjourned to give me reception, a speech has always been called +for, and then a general hand-shaking has followed. It was markedly so +with the Legislatures of Ohio and Missouri. At Jefferson City, the +capital of Missouri, both Houses of Legislature adjourned and met +together in the Assembly Room, which was the larger place, and then the +Governor introduced me for an address. + +It is a satisfaction to be kindly treated by the prominent characters of +your own time. I confess to a feeling of pleasure when General Grant, at +the Memorial Services at Greenwood--I think the last public meeting he +ever attended, and where I delivered the Memorial Address on Decoration +Day--said that he had read with interest everything that appeared +connected with my name. President Arthur, at the White House one day, +told me the same thing. + +Whenever by the mysterious laws of destiny I found myself in the cave of +the winds of displeasure, there always came to me encouraging echoes +from somewhere. I find among my papers at this time a telegram from the +Russian Ambassador in Washington, which illustrates this idea. + +This message read as follows:-- + + "Washington, D.C., May 20, 1893. + + "To Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, Bible House, New York. + + "I would be very glad to see you on the 27th of May in Philadelphia + on board the Russian flagship 'Dimitry Donskoy' at eleven o'clock, + to tender to you in presence of our brilliant sailors and on Russian + soil, a souvenir His Majesty the Emperor ordered me to give in his + name to the American gentleman who visited Russia during the trying + year 1892. + + "CANTACUZENE." + +Gladly I obeyed this request, and was presented, amid imperial +ceremonies, with a magnificent solid gold tea service from the Emperor +Alexander III. These were the sort of appreciative incidents so often +happening in my life that infused my work with encouragements. + +The months preceding the close of my ministry in Brooklyn developed a +remarkable interest shown among those to whom my name had become a +symbol of the Gospel message. There was a universal, world-wide +recognition of my work. Many regretted my decision to leave the Brooklyn +Tabernacle, some doubted that I actually intended to do so, others +foretold a more brilliant future for me in the open trail of Gospel +service they expected me to follow. + +All this enthusiasm expressed by my friends of the world culminated in a +celebration festival given in honour of the twenty-fifth anniversary of +my pastorate in Brooklyn. The movement spread all over the country and +to Europe. It was decided to make the occasion a sort of International +reception, to be held in the Tabernacle on May 10 and 11, 1894. + +I had made my plans for a wide glimpse of the earth and the people on it +who knew me, but whom I had never seen. I had made preparations to start +on May 14, and the dates set for this jubilee were arranged on the eve +of my farewell. I was about to make a complete circuit of the globe, and +whatever my friends expected me to do otherwise I approached this +occasion with a very definite conclusion that it would be my farewell to +Brooklyn. + +I recall this event in my life with keen contrasts of feeling, for it is +mingled in my heart with swift impressions of extraordinary joy and +tragic import. All of it was God's will--the blessing and the +chastening. + +The church had been decorated with the stars and stripes, with gold and +purple. In front of the great organ, under a huge picture of the pastor, +was the motto that briefly described my evangelical career:-- + +"Tabernacle his pulpit; the world his audience." + +The reception began at eight o'clock in the evening with a selection on +the great organ, by Henry Eyre Brown, our organist, of an original +composition written by him and called, in compliment to the occasion, +"The Talmage Silver Anniversary March." On the speaker's platform with +me were Mayor Schieren, of Brooklyn, Mr. Barnard Peters, Rev. Father +Sylvester Malone, Rev. Dr. John F. Carson, ex-Mayor David A. Boody, Rev. +Dr. Gregg, Rabbi F. De Sol Mendes, Rev. Dr. Louis Albert Banks, Hon. +John Winslow, Rev. Spencer F. Roche, and Rev. A.C. Dixon--an +undenominational gathering of good men. There is, perhaps, no better way +to record my own impressions of this event than to quote the words with +which I replied to the complimentary speeches of this oration. They +recall, more closely and positively, the sensibilities, the emotions, +and the inspiration of that hour: + + "Dear Mr. Mayor, and friends before me, and friends behind me, and + friends all around me, and friends hovering over me, and friends in + this room, and the adjoining rooms, and friends indoors and + outdoors--forever photographed upon my mind and heart is this scene + of May 10, 1894. The lights, the flags, the decorations, the + flowers, the music, the illumined faces will remain with me while + earthly life lasts, and be a cause of thanksgiving after I have + passed into the Great Beyond. Two feelings dominate me + to-night--gratitude and unworthiness; gratitude first to God, and + next, to all who have complimented me. + + "My twenty-five years in Brooklyn have been happy years--hard work, + of course. This is the fourth church in which I have preached since + coming to Brooklyn, and how much of the difficult work of church + building that implies you can appreciate. This church had its mother + and its grandmother, and its great-grandmother. I could not tell the + story of disasters without telling the story of heroes and heroines, + and around me in all these years have stood men and women of whom + the world was not worthy. But for the most part the twenty-five + years have been to me a great happiness. With all good people here + present the wonder is, although they may not express it, 'What will + be the effect upon the pastor of this church; of all this scene?' + Only one effect, I assure you, and that an inspiration for better + work for God and humanity. And the question is already absorbing my + entire nature, 'What can I do to repay Brooklyn for this great + uprising?' Here is my hand and heart for a campaign of harder work + for God and righteousness than I have ever yet accomplished. I have + been told that sometimes in the Alps there are great avalanches + called down by a shepherd's voice. The pure white snows pile up + higher and higher like a great white throne, mountains of snow on + mountains of snow, and all this is so delicately and evenly poised + that the touch of a hand or the vibration of air caused by the human + voice will send down the avalanche into the valleys with + all-compassing and overwhelming power. Well, to-night I think that + the heavens above us are full of pure white blessings, mountains of + mercy on mountains of mercy, and it will not take much to bring down + the avalanche of benediction, and so I put up my right hand to reach + it and lift my voice, to start it. And now let the avalanche of + blessing come upon your bodies, your minds, your souls, your homes, + your churches, and your city. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from + everlasting to everlasting, and let the whole earth be filled with + His glory! Amen and Amen!" + +On the next day, May 11, the reception was continued. Among the speakers +was the Hon. William M. Evarts, ex-Secretary of State, who, though +advanced in years, honoured us with his presence and an address. Senator +Walsh, of Georgia, spoke for the South; ex-Congressman Joseph C. Hendrix +of Brooklyn, Rev. Charles L. Thompson, Murat Halstead, Rev. Dr. I.J. +Lansing, General Tracey, were among the other speakers of the evening. + +From St. Petersburg came a cable, signed by Count Bobrinsky, +saying:--"Heartfelt congratulations from remembering friends." + +Messages from Senator John Sherman, from Governor McKinley (before he +became President), from Mr. Gladstone, from Rev. Joseph Parker, and +among others from London, the following cable, which I shall always +prize among the greatest testimonials of the broad Gospel purpose in +England-- + + "Cordial congratulations; grateful acknowledgment of splendid + services in ministry during last twenty-five years. Warm wishes for + future prosperity. + + "(Signed) + ARCHDEACON OF LONDON, + CANON WILBERFORCE. + THOMAS DAVIDSON. + PROFESSOR SIMPSON. + JOHN LOBB. + BISHOP OF LONDON." + + +Appreciation, good cheer, encouragement swept around and about me, as I +was to start on what Dr. Gregg described as "A walk among the people of +my congregation" around the world. + +The following Sunday, May 13, 1894, just after the morning service, the +Tabernacle was burned to the ground. + + + + +THE SEVENTEENTH MILESTONE + +1895-1898 + + +Among the mysteries that are in every man's life, more or less +influencing his course, is the mystery of disaster that comes upon him +noiselessly, suddenly, horribly. The destruction of the New Tabernacle +by a fire which started in the organ loft was one of these mysteries +that will never be revealed this side of eternity. The destruction of +any church, no matter how large or how popular, does not destroy our +faith in God. Great as the disaster had been, much greater was the mercy +of Divine mystery that prevented a worse calamity in the loss of human +life. The fire was discovered just after the morning service, and +everyone had left the building but myself, Mrs. Talmage, the organist, +and one or two personal friends. We were standing in the centre aisle of +the church when a puff of smoke suddenly came out of the space behind +the organ. In less than fifteen minutes from that discovery the huge +pipe organ was a raging furnace, and I personally narrowly escaped the +falling debris by the rear door of my church study. The flags and +decoration which had been put up for the jubilee celebration had not +been moved, and they whetted the appetite of the flames. It was all +significant to me of one thing chiefly, that at some points of my life +I had been given no choice. At these places of surprise in my life there +was never any doubt about what I had to do. God's way is very clear and +visible when the Divine purpose is intended for you. + +I had delivered that morning my farewell sermon before departing on a +long journey around the world. My prayer, in which the silent sympathy +of a vast congregation joined me, had invoked the Divine protection and +blessing upon us, upon all who were present at that time, upon all who +had participated in the great jubilee service of the preceding week. On +the tablets of memory I had recalled all the kindnesses that had been +shown our church by other churches and other pastors on that occasion. +The general feeling of my prayer had been an outpouring of heartfelt +gratitude for myself and my flock. As I have said before, God speaks +loudest in the thunder of our experiences. There were several narrow +escapes, for the fire spread with great rapidity, but, fortunately, all +escaped from the doomed building in time. Mr. Frederick W. Lawrence and +Mr. T.E. Matthews, both of them trustees of the church, were exposed to +serious danger and their escape was providential. Mr. Lawrence crept out +on his hands and knees to the open air, and Mr. Matthews was almost +suffocated when he reached the street. + +The flames spread rapidly in the neighbourhood and destroyed the Hotel +Regent, adjoining the church. At my home that day there were many +messages of sympathy and condolence brought to me, and neighbouring +churches sent committees to tender the use of their pulpits. In the +afternoon the Tabernacle trustees met at my house and submitted the +following letter, which was adopted:-- + + "DEAR DR. TALMAGE.--With saddened hearts, but undismayed, and with + faith in God unshaken and undisturbed, the trustees of the Brooklyn + Tabernacle have unanimously resolved to rebuild the Tabernacle. We + find that after paying the present indebtedness there will be + nothing left to begin with. + + "But if we can feel assured that our dear pastor will continue to + break the bread of life to us and to the great multitudes that are + accustomed to throng the Tabernacle, we are willing to undertake the + work, firmly believing that we can safely count upon the blessing of + God and the practical sympathy of all Christian people. + + "Will you kindly give us the encouragement of your promise to serve + the Tabernacle as its pastor, if we will dedicate a new building + free from debt, to the honour, the glory, and the service of God? + + "TRUSTEES OF THE TABERNACLE." + + +On reading this letter, or rather hearing it read to me, in the impulse +of gratitude I replied in like sympathy. I thanked them, and remembering +that I had buried their dead, baptised their children and married the +young, my heart was with them. I sincerely felt then, and perhaps I +always did feel, that I would rather serve them than any other people on +the face of the earth. It was my conclusion that if the trustees could +fulfil the conditions they had mentioned, of building a new Tabernacle, +free of debt, I would remain their pastor. + +My date for beginning my journey around the world had been May 14, the +day following the disaster. Before leaving, however, I dictated the +following communication to my friends and the friends of my ministry +everywhere:-- + + "Our church has again been halted by a sword of flame. The + destruction of the first Brooklyn Tabernacle was a mystery. The + destruction of the second a greater--profound. The third calamity we + adjourn to the Judgment Day for explanation. The home of a vast + multitude of souls, it has become a heap of ashes. Whether it will + ever rise again is a prophecy we will not undertake. God rules and + reigns and makes no mistake. He has His way with churches as with + individuals. One thing is certain: the pastor of the Brooklyn + Tabernacle will continue to preach as long as life and health last. + We have no anxieties about a place to preach in. But woe is unto us + if we preach not the Gospel! We ask for the prayers of all good + people for the pastor and people of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. + + "T. DEWITT TALMAGE." + +At half past nine o'clock on the night of May 14, 1894, I descended the +front steps of my home in Brooklyn, N.Y. The sensation of leaving for a +journey around the world was not all bright anticipation. The miles to +be travelled were numerous, the seas to be crossed treacherous, the +solemnities outnumbered the expectations. My family accompanied me to +the railroad train, and my thought was should we ever meet again? The +climatic changes, the ships, the shoals, the hurricanes, the bridges, +the cars, the epidemics, the possibilities hinder any positiveness of +prophecy. I remembered the consoling remark at my reception a few +evenings ago, made by the Hon. William M. Evarts. + +He said: "Dr. Talmage ought to realise that if he goes around the world +he will come out at the same place he started." + +The timbers of our destroyed church were still smoking when I left +home. Three great churches had been consumed. Why this series of huge +calamities I knew not. Had I not made all the arrangements for +departure, and been assured by the trustees of my church that they would +take all further responsibilities upon themselves, I would have +postponed my intended tour or adjourned it for ever; but all whom I +consulted told me that now was the time to go, so I turned my face +towards the Golden Gate. + +In a book called "The Earth Girdled," I have published all the facts of +this journey. It contains so completely the daily record of my trip that +there is no necessity to repeat any of its contents in these pages. + +I returned to the United States in the autumn of 1894 and entered +actively into a campaign of preaching wherever a pulpit was available. +Of course there was much curiosity and interest to know how I was going +to pursue my Gospel work, having resigned my pastorate in Brooklyn. On +Sunday, January 6, 1895, I commenced a series of afternoon Gospel +meetings in the Academy of Music, New York, every Sunday. Because the +pastors of other churches had written me that an afternoon service was +the only one that would not interfere with their regular services, I +selected that time, otherwise I would much have preferred the morning or +the evening. I decided to go to New York because for many years friends +over there had been begging me to come. I regarded it as absurd and +improbable to expect the people of Brooklyn to build a fourth +Tabernacle, so I went in the direction that I felt would give me the +largest opportunity in the world. + +I continued to reside in Brooklyn pending future plans. I liked Brooklyn +immensely--not only the people of my own former parish, but prominent +people of all churches and denominations there are my warm personal +friends. Any particular church in which I preached thereafter was only +the candlestick. In different parts of the world my sermons were +published in more than ten million copies every week. How many readers +saw them no one can say positively. Those sermons came back to me in +book form in almost every language of Europe. + +My arrangements at the Academy of Music were not the final plans for my +Gospel work. I expected, however, to gather from these Gospel meetings +sufficient guidance to decide my field of work for the rest of my life. +I felt then that I was yet to do my best work free from all hindrances. +I looked forward to fully twenty years of good hard work before me. + +Over nine churches in my own country, and several in England, had made +very enthusiastic offers to me to accept a permanent pastoral +obligation. For some reason or other I became more and more convinced, +however, that the divine intention in my life from this time on would be +different from any previous plan. The only reason that I declined to +accept these offers was because there was enough work for me to do +outside a permanent pulpit. + +My literary work became extensive in its demand upon my time, and my +weekly sermons were like a sacred obligation that I could not forego. I +never found any difficulty in finding a pulpit from which to preach +every Sunday of my life. There were some ministers who preferred to +sandwich me in between regular hours of worship, if possible, so as to +maintain the even course of their way and avoid the crowds. I never +could avoid them and I never wanted to. I was never nervous, as many +people are, of a crowded place--of a panic. + +The sudden excitement to which we give the name of "panic" is almost +always senseless and without foundation, whether this panic be a wild +rush in the money market or the stampede of an audience down the aisles +and out of the windows. My advice to my family when they are in a +congregation of people suddenly seized upon by a determination to get +out right away, and to get out regardless as to whether others are able +to get out, is to sit quiet on the supposition that nothing has +happened, or is going to happen. + +I have been in a large number of panics, and in all the cases nothing +occurred except a demonstration of frenzy. One night in the Academy of +Music, Brooklyn, while my congregation were worshipping there, at the +time we were rebuilding one of our churches, there occurred a wild +panic. There was a sound that gave the impression that the galleries +were giving way under the immense throngs of people. I had been +preaching about ten minutes when at the alarming sound aforesaid, the +whole audience rose to their feet except those who fainted. Hundreds of +voices were in full shriek. Before me I saw strong men swoon. The +organist fled the platform. In an avalanche people went down the stairs. +A young man left his hat and overcoat and sweetheart, and took a leap +for life, and it is doubtful whether he ever found his hat or coat, +although, I suppose, he did recover his sweetheart. Terrorisation +reigned. I shouted at the top of my voice, "Sit down!" but it was a +cricket addressing a cyclone. Had it not been that the audience for the +most part were so completely packed in, there must have been a great +loss of life in the struggle. Hoping to calm the multitude I began to +sing the long meter doxology, but struck it at such a high pitch that by +the time I came to the second line I broke down. I then called to a +gentleman in the orchestra whom I knew could sing well: "Thompson, can't +you sing better than that?" whereupon he started the doxology again. By +the time we came to the second line scores of voices had joined, and by +the time we came to the third line hundreds of voices enlisted, and the +last line marshalled thousands. Before the last line was reached I cried +out, "As I was saying when you interrupted me," and then went on with my +sermon. The cause of the panic was the sliding of the snow from one part +of the roof of the Academy to another part. That was all. But no one who +was present that night will ever forget the horrors of the scene. + +On the following Wednesday I was in the large upper room of the college +at Lewisburg, Pa.; I was about to address the students. No more people +could get into this room, which was on the second or third storey. The +President of the college was introducing me when some inflammable +Christmas greens, which had some six months before been wound around a +pillar in the centre of the room, took fire, and from floor to ceiling +there was a pillar of flame. Instantly the place was turned from a jolly +commencement scene, in which beauty and learning and congratulation +commingled, into a raving bedlam of fright and uproar. The panic of the +previous Sunday night in the Academy of Music, Brooklyn, had schooled me +for the occasion, and I saw at a glance that when the Christmas greens +were through burning all would be well. + +One of the professors said to me, "You seem to be the only composed +person present." I replied, "Yes, I got prepared for this by something +which I saw last Sunday in Brooklyn." + +So I give my advice: On occasions of panic, sit still; in 999 cases out +of a thousand there is nothing the matter. + +I was not released from my pastorate of the Brooklyn Tabernacle by the +Brooklyn Presbytery until December, 1894, after my return from abroad. +Some explanation was demanded of me by members of the Presbytery for my +decision to relinquish my pastorate, and I read the following statement +which I had carefully prepared. It concerns these pages because it is +explanatory of the causes which carried me over many crossroads, +encountered everywhere in my life: + + "To the Brooklyn Presbytery-- + + "Dear Brethren,--After much prayer and solemn consideration I apply + for the dissolution of the pastoral relation existing between the + Brooklyn Tabernacle and myself. I have only one reason for asking + this. As you all know, we have, during my pastorate, built three + large churches and they have been destroyed. If I remain pastor we + must undertake the superhuman work of building a fourth church. I do + not feel it my duty to lead in such an undertaking. The plain + providential indications are that my work in the Brooklyn Tabernacle + is concluded. Let me say, however, to the Presbytery, that I do not + intend to go into idleness, but into other service quite as arduous + as that in which I have been engaged. Expecting that my request will + be granted I take this opportunity of expressing my love for all the + brethren in the Presbytery with whom I have been so long and so + pleasantly associated, and to pray for them and the churches they + represent the best blessings that God can bestow.--Yours in the + Gospel, + + "T. DEWITT TALMAGE." + +The following resolution was then offered by the Presbytery as follows: + + "Resolved--That the Presbytery, while yielding to Dr. Talmage's + earnest petition for the dissolution of the relationship existing + between the Brooklyn Tabernacle and himself, expresses its deep + regret at the necessity for such action, and wishes Dr. Talmage + abundant success in any field in which in the providence of God he + may be called to labour. Presbytery also expresses its profound + sympathy with the members of the Tabernacle Church in the loss of + their honoured and loving pastor, and cordially commends them to go + forward in all the work of the church." + +In October, 1895, I accepted the call of the First Presbyterian Church +in Washington. My work was to be an association with the Rev. Dr. Byron +W. Sunderland, the President's pastor. It was Dr. Sunderland's desire +that I should do this, and although there had been some intention in Dr. +Sunderland's mind to resign his pastorate on account of ill-health I +advocated a joint pastorate. There were invitations from all parts of +the world for me to preach at this time. I had calls from churches in +Melbourne, Australia; Toronto, Canada; San Francisco, California; +Louisville, Kentucky; Chicago, Illinois; New York City; Brooklyn, N.Y. +London had pledged me a larger edifice than Spurgeon's Tabernacle. All +these cities, in fact, promised to build big churches for me if I would +go there to preach. + +The call which came to me from Washington was as follows: + + "Rev. Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage-- + + "The congregation of the First Presbyterian Church, of Washington, + D.C., being on sufficient grounds well satisfied of the ministerial + qualifications of you, the Rev. Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage, and having + good hopes from our knowledge of your past eminent labours that your + ministrations in the Gospel will be profitable to our spiritual + interests, do earnestly, unanimously, harmoniously and heartily, not + one voice dissenting, call and desire you to undertake the office of + co-pastor in said congregation, promising you in the discharge of + your duty all proper support, encouragement and obedience in the + Lord. And that you may be free from worldly cares and avocations, + considering your well and wide-known ability and generosity, we do + not assume to specify any definite sum of money for your recompense, + but we do hereby promise, pledge and oblige ourselves, to pay to you + such sums of money and at such times as shall be mutually + satisfactory during the time of your being and remaining in the + relation to said church to which we do hereby call you." + +On September 23, 1895, accompanying this call, I received the following +dispatch from Dr. Sunderland: + + "T.D.W. Talmage, 1, South Oxford Street. + + "Meeting unanimous and enthusiastic. Call extended, rising vote, all + on their feet in a flash. Call mailed special delivery. + + "B. SUNDERLAND." + +On September 26, 1895, I accepted the call in the following letter: + + "The call signed by the elders, deacons, trustees, and members of + the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church of Washington is + before me. The statement contained in that call that you 'do + earnestly, unanimously, harmoniously and heartily, not one voice + dissenting,' desire me to become co-pastor in your great and + historical church has distinctly impressed me. With the same + heartiness I now declare my acceptance of the call. All of my + energies of body, mind, and soul shall be enlisted in your Christian + service. I will preach my first sermon Sabbath evening, October 27." + +Washington was always a beautiful city to me, the climate in winter is +delightful. President Cleveland was a personal friend, as were many of +the public men, and I regarded my call to Washington as a national +opportunity. It had been my custom in the past, when I was very tired +from overwork, to visit Washington for two or three days, stopping at +one of the hotels, to get a thorough rest. For a long time I was really +undecided what to do, I had so many invitations to take up my home and +life work in different cities. While preaching was to be the main work +for the rest of my life, my arrangements were so understood by my church +in Washington that I could continue my lecture engagements. + +I delivered a farewell sermon before leaving for Washington, at the +Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, in Brooklyn, before an audience of +five thousand people. My text was 2 Samuel xii. 23: "I shall go to Him." + +I still recall the occasion as one of deep feeling--a difficult hour of +self-control. I could not stop the flow of tears that came with the +closing paragraph. The words are merely the outward sign of my inner +feelings: + + "Farewell, dear friends. I could wish that in this last interview I + might find you all the sons and daughters of the Mighty. Why not + cross the line this hour, out of the world into the kingdom of God? + I have lived in peace with all of you. There is not among all the + hundreds of thousands of people of this city one person with whom + I could not shake hands heartily and wish him all the happiness for + this world and the next. If I have wronged anyone let him appear at + the close of this service, and I will ask his forgiveness before I + go. Will it not be glorious to meet again in our Father's house, + where the word goodbye shall never be spoken? How much we shall then + have to talk over of earthly vicissitudes! Farewell! A hearty, + loving, hopeful, Christian farewell!" + +[Illustration: THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF WASHINGTON DR. TALMAGE'S +LAST CHARGE.] + +I was installed in the First Presbyterian Church in Washington on +October 23, 1895. My first sermon in the new pulpit in Washington was +preached to a crowded church, with an overflow of over three thousand +persons in the street outside. The text of my sermon was, "All Heaven is +looking on." + +In a few days, by exchange of my Brooklyn property, I had obtained the +house 1402 Massachusetts Avenue, in Washington, for my home. It had at +one time been the Spanish Legation, and was in a delightful part of the +city. Shortly after my arrival in Washington I received my first +introduction at the White House, with my daughters, to Mrs. Cleveland. +Our reception was cordial and gracious in the extreme. I had engaged a +suite of rooms at the Arlington Hotel for a year. We remained there till +our lease was up before entering our new home. There was a desire among +members of the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church to have me +preach at the morning as well as the evening services. With three +ministers attached to one church there was some difficulty in the +arrangement of the sermons. Eventually it was decided that I should +preach morning and evening. + +In 1896 I made an extensive lecturing tour, in which I discussed my +impressions of the world trip I had recently made. + +The world was getting better in spite of contrasting opinions from men +who had thought about it. God never launched a failure. + +In 1897 I made an appeal for aid for the famine in India. I always +believed it was possible to evangelise India. + +My life in Washington was not different from its former course. I had +known many prominent people of this country, and some of the great men +of other lands. + +I had known all the Presidents of the United States since Buchanan. I +had known Mr. Gladstone, all the more prominent men in the bishoprics, +and in high commercial, financial and religious position. I had been +presented to royalty in more than one country. + +Legislatures in the North and South have adjourned to give me reception. +The Earl of Kintore, a Scottish peer, entertained us at his house in +London in 1879. I found his family delightful Christian people, and the +Countess and their daughters are very lovely. The Earl presided at two +of my meetings. He took me to see some of his midnight charities--one of +them called the "House of Lords" and the other the "House of Commons," +both of them asylums for old and helpless men. We parted about two +o'clock in the morning in the streets of London. As we bade each other +good-bye he said, "Send me a stick of American wood and I will send you +a stick." His arrived in America, and is now in my possession, a +shepherd's crook; but before the cane I purchased for him reached +Scotland the good Earl had departed this life. I was not surprised to +hear of his decease. I said to my wife in London, "We will never see the +Earl again in this world. He is ripe for Heaven, and will soon be +taken." He attended the House of Lords during the week, and almost every +Sabbath preached in some chapel or church. + +I shall not forget the exciting night I met him. I was getting out of a +carriage at the door of a church in London where I was to lecture when a +ruffian struck at me, crying, "He that believeth not shall be damned." +The scoundrel's blow would have demolished me but for the fact that a +bystander put out his arm and arrested the blow. From that scene I was +ushered into the ante-room of the church where the Earl of Kintore was +awaiting my arrival. From that hour we formed a friendship. He had been +a continuous reader of my sermons, and that fact made an introduction +easy. I have from him five or six letters. + +Lord and Lady Aberdeen had us at their house in London in the summer of +1892. Most gracious and delightful people they are. I was to speak at +Haddo House, their estate in Scotland, at a great philanthropic meeting, +but I was detained in St. Petersburg, Russia, by an invitation of the +Emperor, and could not get to Scotland in time. Glad am I that the Earl +is coming to Canada to be Governor-General. He and the Countess will do +Canada a mighty good. They are on the side of God, and righteousness, +and the Church. Since his appointment--for he intimated at Aberdeen, +Scotland, when he called upon me, that he was to have an important +appointment--I have had opportunity to say plauditory things of them in +vast assemblages in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, London and Grimsby Park. + +In a scrap book in which I put down, hurriedly, perhaps, but accurately, +my impressions of various visits to the White House during my four years +pastorate in Washington, I find some notes that may be interesting. I +transmit them to the printed page exactly as I find them written on +paper: + + "May 1, 1896. Had a long talk this afternoon with Mrs. Cleveland at + Woodley. I always knew she was very attractive, but never knew how + wide her information was on all subjects. She had her three children + brought in, and the two elder ones sang Easter songs for me. Mrs. + Cleveland impresses me as a consecrated Christian mother. She passes + much of her time with her children, and seems more interested in her + family than in anything else. The first lady of the land, she is + universally admired. I took tea with her and we talked over many + subjects. She told me that she had joined the church at fourteen + years of age. Only two joined the church that day, a man of eighty + years old and herself. She was baptised then, not having been + baptised in infancy. She said she was glad she had not been baptised + before because she preferred to remember her baptism. + + "She said she did not like the great crowds attending the church + then, because she did not like to be stared at as the President's + wife. But I told her she would get used to that after a while. She + said she did not mind being stared at on secular occasions, but + objected to it at religious service. She said she had long ago + ceased taking the Holy Communion at our church because of the fact + that spectators on that day seemed peculiarly anxious to see how she + looked at the Communion. + + "My first meeting with Mrs. Cleveland was just after her marriage. + She was at the depot, in her carriage, to see Miss Rose Cleveland, + the President's sister, off on the train. Dr. Sunderland introduced + me at that time, when I was just visiting Washington. Mrs. + Cleveland invited me to take a seat in her carriage. I accepted the + invitation, and we sat there some time talking about various things. + I saw, as everyone sees who converses with her, that she is a very + attractive person, though brilliantly attired, unaffected in her + manner as any mountain lass. + + "March 3, 1897. Made my last call this afternoon on Mrs. Cleveland. + Found her amid a group of distinguished ladies, and unhappy at the + thought of leaving the White House, which had been her home off and + on for nearly eight years. Her children have already gone to + Princeton, which is to be her new home. She is the same beautiful, + unaffected, and intelligent woman that she has always been since I + formed her acquaintance. She is an inspiration to anyone who + preaches, because she is such an intense listener. Her going from + our church here will be a great loss. It is wonderful that a woman + so much applauded and admired should not have been somewhat spoiled. + More complimentary things have been said of her than of any living + woman. She invited me to her home in Princeton, but I do not expect + ever to get there. Our pleasant acquaintance seems to have come to + an end. Washington society will miss this queen of amiability and + loveliness. + + "February 4, 1897. Had one of my talks with President Cleveland. + + "As I congratulated him on his coming relief from the duties of his + absorbing office, he said: + + "'Yes! I am glad of it; but there are so many things I wanted to + accomplish which have not been accomplished.' + + "Then he went into extended remarks about the failure of the Senate + to ratify the Arbitration plan. He said that there had been much + work and anxiety in that movement that had never come to the + surface; how they had waited for cablegrams, and how at the same + time, although he had not expressed it, he had a presentiment that + through the inaction of the Senate the splendid plan for the + pacification of the world's controversies would be a failure. + + "He dwelt much upon the Cuban embroglio, and said that he had told + the Committee on Foreign Relations that if they waited until spring + they had better declare war, but that he would never be responsible + for such a calamity. + + "He said that he had chosen Princeton for his residence because he + would find there less social obligation and less demand upon his + financial resources than in a larger place. He said that in all + matters of national as well as individual importance it was a + consolation to him to know that there was an overwhelming + Providence. When I congratulated him upon his continuous good + health, notwithstanding the strain upon him for the eight years of + his past and present administration, he said: + + "'Yes! I am a wonder to myself. The gout that used to distract me is + almost cured, and I am in better health than when I entered office.' + + "He accounted for his good health by the fact that he had + occasionally taken an outing of a few days on hunting expeditions. + + "I said to him, 'Yes! You cannot think of matters of State while out + shooting ducks.' + + "He answered: + + "'No, I cannot, except when the hunting is poor and the ducks do not + appear.' + + "May 21, 1896. This morning when I entered President Cleveland's + room at the White House, he said: 'Good morning, I have been + thinking of you this morning.' + + "The fact is he had under consideration the recall of a minister + plenipotentiary from a European Government. I had an opportunity of + saying something about a gentleman who was proposed as a substitute + for the foreign embassy, and the President said my conversation with + him had given him a new idea about the whole affair, and I think it + kept the President from making a mistake that might have involved + our Government in some entanglement with another nation. + + "The President read me a long letter that he had received on the + subject. I felt that my call had been providential, although I went + to see him merely to say good-bye before he went away on his usual + summer trip to Gray Gables, Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. + + "The President is in excellent health although he says he much needs + an outing. He is very fond of his children, and seemed delighted to + hear of the good time I had with them at Woodley. When I told how + Ruth and Esther sang for me he said he could not stand hearing them + sing, as it was so touching it made him cry. I told him how the + baby, Marian, looked at me very soberly and scrutinisingly as long + as I held her in my arms, but when I handed her to her mother, the + baby, feeling herself very safe, put out her hands to me and wanted + to play. But what a season of work and anxiety it had been to the + President, important question after question to be settled. + + "March 1, 1897. I have this afternoon made my last call on President + Cleveland. With Dr. Sunderland and the officers of our church I went + to the White House to bid our retiring President goodbye. + Notwithstanding appointments he had made, Thurber, his private + secretary, informed us that the President could not see us because + of a sudden attack of rheumatism. But after Thurber had gone into + the President's room, he returned saying that the President would + see Dr. Sunderland and myself. Indeed, afterwards, he saw all our + church officers. But he could not move from his chair. His doctor + had told him that if he put his foot to the floor he would not be + able to attend the inauguration of Major McKinley on the following + Thursday. + + "After Dr. Sunderland and the officers of the church had shaken + hands for departure, the President said to me: + + "'Doctor, remain, I want to see you.' + + "The door closed, he asked me if I had followed the Chinese + Immigration Bill that was then under consideration. We discussed it + fully. The President read to me the veto which he was writing. He + stated to me his objection to the bill. Our conversation was + intimate, but somewhat saddened by the thought that perhaps we might + not meet again. With an invitation to come and see him at Princeton, + we parted. + + "During a conversation of an earlier period at the White House, I + congratulated the President upon his improved appearance since + returning from one of his hunting expeditions. + + "'Oh! Yes!' he said, 'I cannot get daily exercise in Washington. It + is impossible, so I am compelled to take these occasional outings. I + approach the city on my return with a feeling that work must be + pulled down over me, like a nightcap,' and as he said this he made + the motion as of someone putting on a cap over his head. + + "I congratulated him on the effect of his proclamation on the Monroe + Doctrine as it would set a precedent, and really meant peace. He + agreed with me, saying: + + "'Yes, but they blame me very much for the excitement I have caused + in business circles, and the failures consequent. But no one failed + who was doing a legitimate business, only those collapsed who were + engaged in unwarranted speculations. I wish more of those people + would fail.' + + "'Mr. President,' I said, 'I do not want to pry into State secrets, + but I would like to know how many ducks you did shoot?' He laughed, + and said, 'Eleven. The papers said thirteen. Indeed, the country + papers before I began to shoot said I had shot a hundred and + twenty.' I spoke of the brightness and beauty of his children again. + I remarked that the youngest one, then four months old, had the + intelligence of a child a year old, and the President said: + + "'Yes, she is a great pleasure to us, and seems to know everything.' + + "March 3, 1896. Started from Washington for the great Home + Missionary meeting to be held in Carnegie Hall, New York, President + Cleveland to preside. We left on the eleven o'clock train, by + Pennsylvania railroad. I did not go to the President's private car + until we had been some distance on our way, although he told me when + I went in that he had looked for me at the depot, that I might as + well have been in his car all the way. No one was with him except + Mrs. Cleveland and his private secretary, Mr. Thurber, who is also + one of my church. We had an uninterrupted conversation. The servants + and guards were at the front end of the car, and we were at the + rear. + + "I asked the President if he found it possible to throw off the + cares of office for a while. He laughed, and said: + + "'They call a trip of this kind a vacation;' then with a countenance + of sudden gravity he added: 'We no sooner get through one great + question than another comes.' It made me think of the tension on + the President's mind at that time. There was the Venezuelan + question. There were suggestions of war with England, and then there + was the Cuban matter with suggestions of war with Spain, and all the + time the overshadowing financial questions. + + "During our conversation the President referred to the conditions + ever and anon inflicted upon him by newspaper misrepresentations, + particularly those of inebriety, of domestic quarrels, of turning + Mrs. Cleveland out of doors at night so that she had to flee for + refuge to the house of Dr. Sunderland, my pastoral associate, + passing the night there; and then the reports that his children were + deaf and dumb, or imbecile, when he knew I had seen them and + considered them the brightest and healthiest children I had known. + + "All these attacks and falsehoods concerning the President and his + family I saw hurt him as deeply as they would any of us, but he is + in a position which does not allow him to make reply. I assured him + that he was only in the line of misrepresentation that had assailed + all the Presidents, George Washington more violently than himself, + and that the words cynicism, jealousy, political hatred, and + diabolism in general would account for all. I do think, however, + that the factories of scandal had been particularly busy with our + beloved President. They were running on extra time. + + "If I were asked who among the mighty men at Washington has most + impressed me with elements of power I would say Grover Cleveland. + + "June 25, 1896. It seems now that Major McKinley, of Canton, Ohio, + will be elected President of the United States. I was in Canton + about three weeks ago and called at Major McKinley's house. He was + just starting from his home to call on me. He presided at the first + lecture I delivered at Canton in 1871. On my recent visit he + recalled all the circumstances of that lecture, remembering that he + went to my room afterwards in the hotel, and had a long talk with + me, which he said made a deep impression upon him. + + "My visit at Canton three weeks ago was to lecture. Major McKinley + attended and came upon the platform afterwards to congratulate me. + He is a Christian man and as genial and lovable a man as I ever + met." + + "September 21, 1897. Had a most delightful interview with President + McKinley in the White House. + + "I congratulated him on the peaceful opening of his administration. + He said: + + "'Yes! I hope it is not the calm before a storm.' + + "He said that during the last six weeks at least a half million of + people had passed before him, and they all gave signs of their + encouragement. Especially, he said, the women and children looked + and acted as though they expected better times. + + "The President looked uncommonly well. I told him that during the + past summer I had travelled in many of the states, and that from the + people everywhere I gathered hopeful feelings. I told him that they + were expecting great prosperity would come to the country through + his administration." + +Of course these are merely scraps torn from old note-books, but I cannot +help commending the value of first impressions, of the first-hand +reports, which are made in this way. There is in the unadorned picture +of any incident in the past a sort of hallowed character that no ornate +frame can improve. + +So the pages of these recollections are but a string of impressions torn +from old note-books and diaries. + + * * * * * + +From scrap books and other sources, some other person may set up the +last milestones of my journey through life, and think other things of +enough importance to add to the furlongs I have already travelled; and I +give permission to add that biography to this autobiography. + +[Illustration: T. De Witt Talmage signature.] + + + + +A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DR. TALMAGE'S LAST MILESTONES + +BY + +MRS. T. DEWITT TALMAGE + +1898-1902 + + + + +THE LAST MILESTONES + +BY + +MRS. T. DEWITT TALMAGE + +1898-1902 + + +The wishes of Doctor Talmage reign paramount with me; otherwise I should +not dare to add these imperfect memoirs to the finished and eloquent, +yet simple, narration of his life-work which has just charmed the reader +from his own graphic pen. Dr. Talmage did not consider his autobiography +of vital importance to posterity; his chief concern was for his sermons +and other voluminous writings. The intimate things of his life he held +too sacred for public view, and he shrank from any intrusion thereupon. +His autobiography, therefore, was a concession to his family, his +friends, and an admiring public. + +So many people all over the world have paid homage to his personality, +and to his remarkable influence, that it seemed evident not only to us +but to many others, that his own recollections would give abiding +pleasure. I remember when we were travelling to Washington after our +marriage, many men of prominence, who were on the Congressional Limited, +said to Dr. Talmage: "Doctor, why don't you write your memoirs? They +would be especially interesting because you have bridged two centuries +in your life." Then, turning to me, they urged me to use my influence +over him. Later on I did so, placing over his desk as a reminder, in big +letters, the one word--"Autobiography." + +His celebrity was something so unique, and so widespread, that it is +difficult to write of it under the spell which still surrounds his +memory. Many still remember seeing and feeling almost with awe the +tremendous grasp of success which Dr. Talmage had all his life. A +reminiscence of my girlhood will be pardoned: My father was his great +admirer many years before I ever met the Doctor. Whenever I went with my +father from my home in Pittsburg on a visit to New York, I was taken +over to Brooklyn every Sunday morning, unwillingly I must confess, to +hear Dr. Talmage. At that time there were other things which I found +more pleasant, for I had many young friends to visit and to entertain. +However, my father's wishes were always uppermost with me, and his +admiration of the great preacher inspired me also with reverence. The +Doctor soon became one of the great men of my life. + +Dr. Talmage was among the builders of his century--a watchman of his +period. He was a man of philanthropy and enterprise. His popularity was +world-wide; his extraordinary power was exerted over people of all +classes and conditions of life. His broad human intellectuality, his +constant good humour, his indomitable energy, threw a glamour about him. +His happy laughter, which attested the deep peace of his heart, rang +everywhere, through his home, in social meetings with his friends, in +casual encounters even with strangers. + +[Illustration: DR. AND MRS. T. DE WITT TALMAGE.] + +No one who ever knew the Doctor thought of him as an old man. He himself +almost believed that he would live for ever. "Barring an accident," he +often said, "I shall live for ever." The frankness and buoyancy of his +spirit were like youth: were the enchantment of his personality. Even +to-day, when memories begin to grow cold in the shadow of his tomb, I am +constantly reminded by those who remember him of the strange magical +eternity that was in him. He had been so active and busy through all the +years of his life, keeping pace with each one in its seemingly +increasing speed, that his heart remained ever young, living in the +glory of things that were present, searching with eager vigour the +horizon of the future. + +Wherever I am, whether in this country or in Europe, but especially in +England, Dr. Talmage's name still brings me remembrance of his +distinguished career from the men of prominence who knew him. They come +to me and tell me about him with unabated affection for his memory. He +attracted people by a kind of magnetism, and held them afterwards with +ties of deep friendship and respect. The standards of his youth were the +standards of his whole life. + +My appreciation of Dr. Talmage in these printed pages may not be wholly +in harmony with his ideas of the privacy of his home life; but it is +difficult to think of him at all in any mood less intimately reverent. + +As I look over the scrapbook, my scrapbook (as he and I always called +it), I feel the reserve about it that he himself did. My share in the +Doctor's life, however, belongs to these last years of his distinguished +career, and I am a contributor by special privilege. + +I met him first at East Hampton, Long Island, in the summer of 1896, +when I was visiting friends. The other day, while in reminiscent +struggle with my scrapbook, I was visited by an old friend of Dr. +Talmage, who recalled the following incident: + +"It was Dr. Talmage's custom," he said, "to take long drives out into +the country round about Washington. Sometimes he sent for me to drive +with him. One afternoon I received a specially urgent call to be sure +and drive with him that day, because he had something of great +importance to discuss with me. On our way back, towards evening, I asked +him what it was. He said, 'I work hard, very hard. Sometimes I come back +to my home tired, very tired--lonely. I open my door and the house is +dark, silent. The young folks are out somewhere and there is no one to +talk to.' Then he became silent himself. I said to him: 'Have you any +one in mind whom you would like to talk to?' 'I have,' he said +positively. 'If so,' I said, 'go to her at once and tell her so.' 'I +will,' he replied briskly--and the next night he went to Pittsburg." + +We were married in January, 1898. + +The first reception given in our home on Massachusetts Avenue was in the +nature of a greeting between the Doctor's friends and myself. His own +interest in the social side of things in Washington was an agreeable +interruption rather than a part of his own activities. His friends were +men and women from every highway and byway of the world. My father, a +man of unusual intellectual breadth and heart, had been my companion of +many years, so that I was, to some degree, accustomed to mature +conceptions of people and affairs. But the busy whirl in the life of a +celebrity was entirely new. + +It was soon quite evident that Dr. Talmage relied upon me for the +discretionary duties of a man besieged by all sorts of demands. From the +first I feared that Dr. Talmage was over-taxing his strength, +undiminished though it was at a time when most men begin to relinquish +their burdens. Therefore, I entered eagerly into my new duties of +relieving the strain he himself did not realise. + +His was a full and ample life devoted to the gospel of cheerfulness; and +to me, I think, was given the best part of it--the autumn. When I knew +him he had already impressed the wide world of his hearers with his +striking originality of thought and style. He had already established a +form of preaching that was known by his name--Talmagic. Its character +was the man himself, broad, brilliant, picturesque, keen with divine and +human facts, told simply, always with an uplift of spiritual beauty. + +In March, 1898, Dr. Talmage was called West for lecture engagements, and +I went with him. What strange and delightful events that spring tour +brought into my life! The Doctor lectured every night in what was to me +some new and undiscovered country. We were always going to an hotel, to +a train, to an opera house, to another hotel, another train, another +opera house. Our experiences were not less exciting than the trials of +one-night stands. I had never travelled before without a civilised quota +of trunks; but the Doctor would have been overwhelmed with them in the +rush to keep his engagements. So we had to be content with our bags. +When we were not studying time tables the Doctor was striding across the +land, his Bible under his arm, myself in gasping haste at his side. What +primitive hotels we encountered; what antiquated trains we had to take! +Frequently a milk train was the only means of reaching our destination, +and, alas! a milk train always leaves at the trying hour of 4 a.m. Once +we had to ride on a special engine; and frequently the caboose of a +freight train served our desperate purpose. I began to understand +something of the loneliness of the Doctor's life in experiences like +these. + +I insisted upon sitting in the front row at every one of Dr. Talmage's +lectures, which I soon knew by heart. He used to laugh when I would +repeat certain parts of them to him. + +Then he would beg me to stay away that I might not be bored by listening +to the same thing over again. I would not have missed one of his +lectures for the world. These were the great moments of his life; the +combined resources of his character came to the surface whenever he went +into the pulpit or on to the platform. These were the moments that +inspired his life, that gave it an ever-increasing vigour of human and +divine perception. The enthusiasm of his reception by the crowds in +these theatres keyed me up so that each new audience was a new pleasure. +There were no preliminaries to his lectures. Frequently he had time only +to drop his hat and step on to the stage as he had come from the train. +After every lecture it was his custom to shake hands with hundreds of +people who came up to the platform. This was very exhausting, but these +were to him the moments of fruition--the spiritual harvest of the +Christian seeds he had scattered over the earth. They were wonderful +scenes, dramatic in their earnestness, remarkable in the evidence they +brought out of his universal influence upon the hearts of men and women. +Everywhere the same testimony prevailed: + +"You saved my father, God bless you!" "You saved my brother, thank God!" +"You made a good woman of me!" "You gave me my first start in life!" In +these words they told him their gratitude, as they grasped his hand. + +On these occasions the Doctor's face was wonderful to see as, with the +silent pressure of his hand, he looked into the eyes that were filled +with tears. Sometimes people would come to me and whisper the same +truths about him, and when I would tell him, his answer was +characteristic: "Eleanor, this is what gives me strength. It is worth +living to hear people tell me these things." + +Dr. Talmage's instincts were big, evangelical impulses. I often used to +urge him to relinquish his pastorate; but he would reply that after all +the Church was his candlestick; that he must have a place to hold his +candle while he preached to a world of all nations. Yet he often said he +would rather have been an unfettered evangelist, bent on saving the +world, than the pastor of any one flock or church. To preach to the +people was the breath of his life. It was the restless energy of his +soul that kept him for ever young. He would put all his strength into +every sermon he preached, and every lecture he delivered. + +Dr. Talmage had absolutely no personal vanity. He was a man absorbed in +ideas, indifferent to appearances. He lived in the opportunities of his +heart and mind to help others; although he had been one of the most +tried of men, he had never spared himself to help others. He never lost +faith in anyone. There were many shrewd enough to realise this +characteristic in him, who would put a finger on his heart and draw out +of him all he had to give. + +On one occasion we were travelling through Iowa, when a big snow storm +made it evident that we could not make connections to meet an engagement +he had made to lecture that evening in Marietta, Ohio. He had just said +to me that after all he was glad, because he was very tired and needed +the rest. Will Carleton was on the same train, bound for Zanesville, +Ohio, to give a lecture that night. He was very much afraid that he, +too, would miss his engagement. He asked the Doctor to telegraph to the +railroad officials to hold the limited at Chicago Junction, which the +Doctor did. The result was that we were whisked in a carriage across +Chicago and whirled on a special car to the junction, where the limited +was held for us, much to the disgust of the other passengers. + +He saw the mercy of God in every calamity, the beauty of faith in Him in +every mood of earth or sky. One spring day we were sitting in the room +of a friend's house. There were flowers in the room, and Dr. Talmage +loved these children of nature. He always said that flowers were +appropriate for all occasions. Some one said to him, "Doctor, how have +you kept your faith in people, your sweet interpretation of human +nature, in spite of the injustice you have sometimes been shown?" +Looking at a great bunch of sweet peas on the table, he said: "Many +years ago I learned not to care what the world said of me so long as I +myself knew I was right and fair, and how can one help but believe when +the good God above us makes such beautiful things as these flowers?" + +His creed, as I learned it, was perfect faith, and the universal +commands of human nature to live and let live. Although I was destined +to share less than five years of his life, there was in the whole of it +no chapter or incident with which he did not acquaint me. He was not a +man of theory. No one could live near him without awe of his genius. + +We returned to Washington after this spring lecturing tour, where the +Doctor resumed his preaching twice on Sunday, and his mid-week lecture, +till June. Then, according to Dr. Talmage's custom, we went to Saratoga +for a few weeks before the crowds came for the season. The Doctor found +the Saratoga Springs beneficial and made it a rule to go there for a +time each summer. On July 3, 1898, we started for the Pacific coast on +what Dr. Talmage called a summer vacation. On his desk there was always +a great number of invitations to preach and lecture awaiting his +acknowledgment or refusal. The greatest problem of the last years of his +life was how to find time for all the things he was asked to do and +wanted to do. In vain I tried to make him conform to the usual plans of +a summer outing. He asked me if he might take a "few lectures" on our +route to California, and he did, but he always managed to slip in a few +extra ones without my knowledge. When I would protest about these +additional engagements he would say that the people wanted to hear him, +that they were new people he had never seen, which meant more to him +than anything else; then, of course, I had to yield my judgment. + +It had been Dr. Talmage's original plan to go to Europe during this +first summer of our marriage, but the outbreak of the Spanish war made +him afraid he might not be able to get back in time for his church work +in October. Although ostensibly this was a vacation trip, it was so only +in the spirit and gaiety of the Doctor's moods. Three times a week Dr. +Talmage lectured, and preached once, sometimes twice, every Sunday. From +Cincinnati westward to Denver, we zigzagged over the country, keeping in +constant pursuit of the Doctor's engagements. No argument on our part +could alter these working plans which my husband had made before we left +Washington. He was so happy, however, in the midst of his energies, that +we forgot the exertion of his labours. + +The three places where, by agreeable lapses, Dr. Talmage really enjoyed +a rest, were Colorado Springs, the Yellowstone Park, and Coronado Beach +in California. Aside from these points, we were travelling incessantly +in the Doctor's reflected glory, which was our vacation, but by no means +his. While at Colorado Springs, where we stayed two weeks, Dr. Talmage +preached once, and once in Denver, but he did not lecture. + +In Salt Lake City the Doctor preached in the Tabernacle, the throne room +of polygamy, that he had so often attacked in previous years. That was a +remarkable feature of these last milestones of his life, that all +conflicts were forgotten in a universal acknowledgment of his +evangelism. His grasp of every subject was always close to the hearts of +others, and it was instinctive, not studied. + +During our visit in the West, he talked much of the effect of the +Spanish war, regarding our victory in Cuba and the Philippines as an +advance to civilisation. + +We entered the Yellowstone Park at Minado and drove through the geyser +country. We stopped at Dwelly's, a little log-cabin famous to all +travellers, just before entering the park. On leaving there, we had been +told that there were occasional hold-ups of parties travelling in +private vehicles, as we were. The following day, while passing along a +lonely road, a man suddenly leaped from the bushes and seized the +bridles of the horses. The Doctor appeared to be terribly frightened, +and we were all very much excited when we saw that the driver had missed +his aim when he fired at the bandit. The robber was of the appearance +approved in dime novels; he wore a sacking over his head with eye-holes +cut in it through which he could see, and looked in all other respects +a disreputable cut-throat. Just as we were about to surrender our jewels +and money, Dr. Talmage confessed that he had arranged the hold-up for +our benefit, and that it was a practical joke of his. He was always full +of mischief, and took delight in surprising people. + +On Sunday Dr. Talmage preached in the parlours of the Fountain Hotel. +The rooms were crowded with the soldiers who were stationed in the park. +The Doctor's sermon was on garrison duty; he said afterwards that he +found it extremely difficult to talk there because the rooms were small, +and the people were too close to him. We paid a visit to Mr. Henderson, +who was an official of the Yellowstone Park at that time, and whose +brother was Speaker of the House in Washington. He begged Dr. Talmage to +use his influence with members of Congress to oppose a project which had +been started, to build a trolley line through the Yellowstone Park. The +Doctor promised to do so, and I think the trolley line has not been +built. We left the Yellowstone Park, at Cinabar, and went direct to +Seattle. During our stay in Seattle the whole town was excited one +morning by the arrival of a ship from the Klondike, that region of +golden romance and painful reality. The Doctor and I went down to the +wharf to see the great ship disembark these gold-diggers; but for +several hours the four hundred passengers had been detained on board +because $24,000 in gold dust, carried by two miners, had been stolen; +and though a search had been instituted, to which everyone had been +compelled to submit, no clue to the thief had been found. Dr. Talmage +was profoundly impressed by the misfortune of these two men, who after +months of exposure and fatigue were now obliged to walk ashore +penniless. A number of these four hundred passengers had brought back +an aggregate of about $4,000,000 from the Klondike; but many among them +had brought back only disappointment, and their haggard faces were +pitiful to see; indeed, the Doctor told me that out of the thousands who +went fortune hunting to Alaska, only about 3 per cent. came back richer +than when they started. + +In the early part of September Dr. Talmage lectured in San Francisco on +International Policies. His admiration of the Czar's manifesto for +disarmament of the nations was unbounded, and he emphasised it whenever +he appeared in public. He prophesied the millennium as if he looked +forward to personal experiences of it; this came from his remarkable +confidence in the life forces nature had given him. At Coronado Beach we +determined upon a rest for two weeks; but the Doctor could in no wise be +induced to forego his lecture at San Diego. A pleasant visit to Los +Angeles was followed by a delightful sojourn of a few days at Santa +Barbara, the floral paradise of the Golden Coast; here the Doctor was +met at the station by carriages, and we were literally smothered in +flowers; even our rooms in the hotel were banked high with roses. In the +afternoon we accepted an invitation to drive through Santa Barbara, +hoping against hope that we might do so inconspicuously. But the same +flower-laden carriages came for us, and we were driven through the city +like a miniature flower parade. Much to the Doctor's regret he was +followed about like a circus; but his courtesy never failed. + +On our route East we again stopped in San Francisco. An announcement had +been made that Dr. Talmage would preach for the Sunday evening service +at Calvary Presbyterian Church, on the corner of Powell and Geary +Streets. Never had I seen such a crowd before. As we made our way to +the church, we found the adjoining streets packed so solidly with people +that we had to call a policeman to make an opening for us. Once inside, +we saw the church rapidly filling, till at last, as a means of +protection, the doors were locked against the surging crowd. But Dr. +Talmage had scarcely begun his sermon when the doors were literally +broken down by the crowd outside. Quick to see the danger the Doctor +sent out word to the people that he would speak in Union Square +immediately after the church service. This had the desired effect, and +the great crowd waited patiently for him a block away till nine o'clock. +It was rather a raw evening because of a fog that had come up from the +sea, and for this reason the Doctor asked permission to keep his hat on +while he talked from the band stand. It was the first time I ever heard +him speak out of doors, and I was amazed to hear how clearly every word +travelled, and with what precision his voice carried the exact effect. +It was a coincidence that the theme of his sermon should have been, +"There is plenty of room in Heaven." + +The tremendous enthusiasm, the almost worshipful interest with which he +was received, could easily have spoiled any man, but with Dr. Talmage +such an ovation as we had witnessed seemed only to intensify the +simplicity of his character. He lost his identity in the elements of +inspiration, and when he had finished preaching it was not to himself +but to the power that had been given him, he gave all the credit of his +influence. He was always simple, direct, unpretentious. + +During a short stay in Chicago Dr. Talmage preached in his son's church, +and then hurried home to begin his duties in his own church. Duty was +the Doctor's master key; with it he locked himself away from the +mediocre, and unlocked his way to ultimate freedom of religious +impulse. For a long while he had formed a habit of preaching without +recompense, as he would have desired to do all his life, because he felt +that the power of preaching was a gift from God, a trust to be +transmitted without cost to the people. He never missed preaching on +Sunday, paying his own expenses to whatever pulpit he was invited to +occupy. There were so many invitations that he was usually able to +choose. It was this conviction that led to his ultimate resignation from +his church in Washington, that he might be free to expound the +Scriptures wherever he was. + +He was always so happy it was hard to believe that he was overworking; +yet I feared his labour of love would end in exhaustion and possible +illness. Everything in the world was beautiful to him, and yet beauty +was not a matter of externals with him. It radiated from him, even when +it was not about him. Especially was this noticeable when we were away +together on one of his short lecturing trips. At these times we were +quite alone, and then, without interruptions, in the sequestered domain +of some country hotel he would admit me into the wonderland of his inner +hopes, his plans for the future, his ideas of life and people and +happiness. Once we were staying in one of these country hotels obviously +pretentious, but very uncomfortable--the sort of hotel where the walls +of the room oppress you, and the furniture astonishes you, and there are +no private baths. He sat down in the largest chair, literally beaming +with delight. + +"Isn't it beautiful?" he said; "now I take my home with me; before I +used to be so much alone. Now I have someone to talk to." + +There was nothing comparative in his happiness; everything was made +perfect for him by the simplicity of his appreciation. I used to look +forward to these trips as one might look forward to an excursion into +some new and unexpected transport of existence, for he always had new +wonders of heart and mind to reveal in these obscure byways we explored +together. They were all too short, and yet too full for time to record +them in a diary. These were the hours that one puts away in the secret +chamber of unwritten and untold feeling. I turn again to the pages of +our scrap book, as one turns to the dictionary, for reserve of language. + +In November of 1898 I find there a clipping that reminds me of the day +Dr. Talmage and I spent at the home of Senator Faulkner, in Martinsburg, +West Virginia. The Anglo-American Commission was in session in +Washington then, and during the following winter. The Joint High +Commission was the official title, and we were invited by Senator +Faulkner with these men to get a glimpse of that rare Americanism known +the world over as Southern hospitality. The foreign members of the +Commission were Lord Herschel, Sir Wilfred Laurier, Sir Louis Davis, and +Sir Richard Cartwright. Our host was one of the Americans on the +Commission. + +We left Washington about noon, lunched on the train, and reached the old +ancestral home in a snow storm. All of the available carriages and +carry-alls were at our disposal, however, and we were quickly driven to +the warm fireside of a true Southerner, who, more than any other kind of +man, knows how to brand the word "Home" upon your memory. We dined with +true Southern sumptuousness. Never shall I forget the resigned and +comfortable expression of that little roast pig as it was laid before +us. To the Englishmen it was a rare chance to understand the cordial +relations between England and America, in an atmosphere of Colonial +splendour. The house itself has not undergone any change since it was +built; it stands a complete example of an old ancestral estate. As we +were leaving, our host insisted that no friend should leave his house +without tasting the best egg-nog ever made in Virginia. The doctor and I +drove to the station in a carriage with Lord Herschel. He was a man of +great reserve and high breeding. On the way he showed us a letter that +he had just received from his daughter, a little girl in England, +telling him to be sure and come home for the Christmas holidays, and not +to let those rich Americans keep him away. + +This was the beginning of a series of dinners given by members of the +Joint High Commission in Washington during the winter, to which we were +often invited. A few months later Lord Herschel died in Washington. Dr. +Talmage was almost the last man to see him alive. He called at his hotel +to invite him to stay at his house, but he was then too ill to be moved. + +During the early Fall of 1898 the Doctor lectured at Annapolis. It was +his first visit to the old historic town, and he was received with all +the honour of the place. We were the guests of Governor Lowndes at the +executive mansion, where we were entertained in the evening at dinner. +Just before the Christmas holidays, Dr. Talmage made a short lecturing +trip into Canada, and I went with him; it was my privilege to accompany +him everywhere, even for a brief journey of a day. + +In Montreal, while sitting in a box with some Canadian friends, during +one of the Doctor's lectures, they told me how deep was the affection +and regard for him in England. + +"Wait till you see how the English people receive him," they said; "you +will be surprised at the hold that he has on them over there." The +following year I went to England with him, and experienced with pride +and pleasure the truth of what they had said. + +The end of our first year together seemed to be only the prelude to a +long lifetime of companionship and happiness, without age, without +sorrow, without discord. + + + + +THE SECOND MILESTONE + +1899-1900 + + +In his study no wasted hours ever entered. With the exception of the +stenographer and his immediate family no one was admitted there. It was +his eventful laboratory where he conceived the greatest sermons of his +period. I merely quote the opinions of others, far more important than +my own, when I say this. It is a sort of haunted room to-day which I +enter not with any fear, but I can never stay in it very long. It has no +ghostly associations, it is too full of vital memories for that; but it +is a room that mystifies and silences me, not with mere regrets, for +that is sorrow, and there is nothing sad about the place to me. I can +scarcely convey the impression; it is as though I expected to see him +come in at the door at any moment and hear him call my name. The room is +empty, but it makes me feel that he has only just stepped out for a +little while. The study is at the top of the house, a long, wide, +high-ceilinged room with many windows, from which the tops of trees sway +gently in the breeze against the sky above and beyond. I spent a great +deal of time with him in it. Sometimes he would talk with me there about +the themes of his sermons which were always drawn from some need in +modern life. + +With the Bible open before him he would seek for a text. + +"After forty years of preaching about all the wonders of this great +Book," he would say, "I am often puzzled where to choose the text most +fitting to my sermon." + +His habits were methodical in the extreme; his time punctually divided +by a fixed system of invaluable character. His inspirations were part of +his eternal spirit, but he lived face to face with time, obedient to the +law of its precision. I think of him always as of one whose genius was +unknown to himself. + +We could always tell the time of day by the Doctor's habits. They were +as regular as a clock that never varies. At 7.30 to the second he was at +the breakfast table. It was exactly one o'clock when he sat down to +dinner. At 6.30 his supper was before him. Some of our household would +have preferred dining in the evening, but in that case the Doctor would +have dined alone, which was out of the question. + +Every day of his life, excepting Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the Doctor +walked five miles. In bad weather he went out muffled and booted like a +sailor on a stormy sea. His favourite walk was always from our house to +the Capitol, around the Library of Congress and back. He never varied +this walk for he had no bump of locality, and he was afraid of losing +his way. If he strayed from the beaten path into any one of the +beautiful squares in Washington he was sure to have to ask a policeman +how to get home. + +Fridays and Saturdays Dr. Talmage spent entirely in his study, dictating +his sermons. How many miles he walked these days he himself never knew, +but all day long he tramped back and forth the length of his study, +composing and expounding in a loud voice the sermon of the week. He +could be heard all over the house. We had a new servant once who came +rushing downstairs to my room one morning in great fear. + +"Mrs. Talmage, ma'am, there is a crazy man in that room on the top +floor," she cried. She had not seen nor heard the Doctor, and did not +know that that room was his study. On these weekend days we always drove +after dark. An open carriage was at the door by 8 o'clock, and no matter +what the weather might be we had our drive. In the dead of winter, +wrapped in furs and rugs, we have driven in an open carriage just as if +it were summer. Usually we went up on Capitol Hill because the Doctor +was fond of the view from that height. + +My share in the Doctor's labours were those of a watchful companion, who +appreciated his genius, but could give it no greater light than sympathy +and admiration. Occasionally he would ask me to select the hymns for the +services, and this I did as well as I could. Sunday was the great day of +the week to me. It has never been the same since the Doctor died. Our +friendships were always mutual, and we shared them with equal pleasure. +The Doctor's friendship with President McKinley was an intimate mutual +association that ended only with the great national disaster of the +President's assassination. Very often, we walked over in the morning to +the White House to call on the President for an informal chat. A little +school friend, who was visiting my daughter that winter, told my husband +how anxious she was to see a President. + +"Come on with me, I will show you a real President," said Dr. Talmage +one morning, and over we went to the White House. While we were talking +with the President, Mrs. McKinley came in from a drive and sent word +that she wished to see us. + +"I want to show you the President's library and bedroom," she said, +"that you may see how a President lives." Then she took us upstairs and +showed us their home. + +While we did not keep open house, there was always someone dropping in +to take dinner or supper informally, and I was somewhat surprised when +Dr. Talmage told me one day that he thought we ought to give some sort +of entertainment in return for our social obligations. It was not quite +like him to remember or think of such things. On January 23, 1899, we +gave an evening reception, to which over 300 people came. It was the +first social affair of consequence the Doctor had ever given in his +house in Washington. + +My husband's memory for names was so uncertain that when he introduced +me to people he tactfully mumbled. On this occasion Senator Gorman very +kindly stood near me to identify the people for me. I remember a very +dapper, very little man in evening clothes, who was passed on to me by +the Doctor, with the usual unintelligible introduction, and I had just +begun to make myself agreeable when, pointing to a medal on his coat, +the little man said: + +"I am the only woman in the United States who has been honoured with one +of these medals." + +I was very much mystified and looked up helplessly at Senator Gorman, +who relieved me at once by saying, "Mrs. Talmage, this is the celebrated +Dr. Mary Walker, of whom you have heard so often." + +It was difficult for Dr. Talmage to assimilate the social obligations +of life with the broader demands of his life mission, which seemed to +constantly extend and increase in scope into the far distances of the +world. More and more evident it became that the candlestick of his +religious doctrine could no longer be maintained in one church, or in +one pulpit. The necessity of breaking engagements out of town so as to +be in Washington every Sunday became irksome to him. He felt that he +could do better in the purposes of his usefulness as a preacher if he +were to bear the candle of his Gospel in a candlestick he could carry +everywhere himself. I confess that I was not sorry when he reached this +decision and submitted his resignation to the First Presbyterian Church +in the spring of 1899, after our return from a short vacation in +Florida. + +On our trip South I remember Admiral Schley was on the train with us +part of the way. The Admiral told the Doctor the whole story of the +Santiago victory, and commented upon the official investigation of the +affair. My husband was very fond of him, and his comment was summed up +in his reassuring answer to the Admiral--"But you were there." + +It was during our stay in Florida that Dr. Talmage and Joseph Jefferson, +the actor, renewed their acquaintance. The Doctor never saw him act +because he had made it a rule after he entered the ministry in his youth +never to go to the theatre to see a play. In crossing the ocean he had +frequently appeared with stage celebrities, at the usual entertainments +given on board ship for the benefit of seamen, and in this way had made +some friends among actors. He was particularly fond of Madame Modjeska, +whom he had met on the steamer, and whose character and spirit he +greatly admired. + +Jefferson was a great fisherman, and most of his day was spent on the +water or on the pier. There we used to meet him, and he and Dr. Talmage +would exchange reminiscences, serious and ludicrous. One of the Doctor's +favourite stories was an account of a terrific fight he saw in India, +between a mongoose and a cobra. Mr. Jefferson also had a story, a sort +of parody of this, which described a man in _delirium tremens_ watching +in imaginary terror a similar fight. Years before this, when the Doctor +had delivered his famous sermon in Brooklyn against the stage, Jefferson +was among the actors who went to hear him. Recalling this incident, Mr. +Jefferson said:-- + +"When I entered that church to hear your sermon, Doctor, I hated you. +When I left the church, I loved you." He talked very little of the +theatre, and seemed to regard his stage career with less importance than +he did his love of painting. He never grew tired of this subject. + +When we were leaving Palm Beach, Mr. Jefferson said to me, "I know Dr. +Talmage won't come and see me act, but when I am in Washington I will +send you a box, and I hope the Doctor will let you come." + +Dr. Talmage's resignation from his church in Washington took place in +March, 1899. I quote his address to the Presbytery because it was a +momentous event occurring in the gloaming of what seemed to us all, +then, the prime of his life: + + "March 3, 1899. + + "To the Session of the First Presbyterian Church of Washington. + + "Dear Friends-- + + "The increasing demands made upon me by religious journalism, and + the continuous calls for more general work in the cities, have of + late years caused frequent interruption of my pastoral work. It is + not right that this condition of affairs should further continue. + Besides that, it is desirable that I have more opportunity to meet + face to face, in religious assemblies, those in this country and in + other countries to whom I have, through the kindness of the printing + press, been permitted to preach week by week, and without the + exception of a week, for about thirty years. Therefore, though very + reluctantly, I have concluded, after serving you nearly four years + in the pastoral relation, to send this letter of resignation.... + + "T. DEWITT TALMAGE." + +I had rather expected that the Doctor's release from his church would +have had the desired effect of reducing his labours, but he never +accomplished less than the allotment of his utmost strength. Rest was a +problem he never solved, and he did not know what it meant. My life had +not been idle by any means, but it seemed to me that the Doctor's +working hours were without end. When I told him this, he would say:-- + +"Why, Eleanor, I am not working hard at all now. This is very tame +compared to what I have done in the years gone by." + +His weekly sermon was always put in the mail on Saturday night, as also +his weekly editorials. Sunday the sermon was preached, and on Monday +morning the syndicate of newspapers in this country printed it. He made +always two copies of his sermon. One he sent to his editorial offices in +New York, the other was delivered to the _Washington Post_. I was told a +little while ago that a prominent preacher called on the editor of this +newspaper and asked him to publish one of his own sermons. This was +refused, even when the aforesaid preacher offered to pay for the +privilege. + +"But you print Talmage's sermons!" said the preacher. + +"We do," replied the editor, "because we find that our readers demand +them. We tried to do without them, but we could not." + +Dr. Talmage's acquaintance with men of national reputation was very +wide, but he never seemed to consider their friendship greater than any +others. He was a great hero worshipper himself, always impressed by a +man who had done something in the world. There was a great deal of +praise being bestowed about this time on Mr. Carnegie's library gifts. +Dr. Talmage admired the Scottish-American immensely, having formed his +acquaintance while crossing the ocean. Five or six years later, during +the winter of 1899, the Doctor met him in one of the rooms of the White +House. He tells this anecdote in his own words, as follows:-- + + "I was glad I was present that day, when Mr. Andrew Carnegie decided + upon the gift of a library to the city of Washington. I was in one + of the rooms of the White House talking with Governor Lowndes, of + Maryland, and Mr. B.H. Warner, of Washington, who was especially + interested in city libraries. Mr. Carnegie entered at the opposite + end of the room. We greeted each other with heartiness, not having + met since we crossed the ocean together some time before. I asked + Mr. Carnegie to permit me to introduce him to some friends. After + each introduction the conversation immediately turned upon + libraries, as Mr. Carnegie was then constantly presenting them in + this and other lands. Before the conversation ended that day, Mr. + Carnegie offered $250,000 for a Washington library. I have always + felt very happy at having had anything to do with that interview, + which resulted so gloriously." + +Dr. Talmage's opinions upon the aftermath of the Spanish war were widely +quoted at this time. + + "The fact is this war ought never to have occurred," he said. "We + have had the greatest naval officer of this century, Admiral Schley, + assailed for disobeying orders, and General Shatter denounced for + being too fat and wanting to retreat, and General Wheeler attacked + because of something else. We are all tired of this investigating + business. I never knew a man in Church or State to move for an + investigating committee who was not himself somewhat of a hypocrite. + The question is what to do with the bad job we have on hand. I say, + educate and evangelise those islands." + +As he wrote he usually talked, and these words are recollections of the +subjects he talked over with me in his quieter study hours. They were +virile talks, abreast of the century hurrying to its close, full of +cheerfulness, faith, and courage for the future. + +He was particularly distressed and moved by the death of Chief Justice +Field, in April, 1899. It was his custom to read his sermons to me in +his study before preaching. He chose for his sermon on April 16, the +decease of the great jurist, and his text was Zachariah xi, 2: "Howl fir +tree, for the cedar has fallen." Many no doubt remember this sermon, but +no one can realise the depths of feeling with which the Doctor read it +to me in the secret corner of his workroom at home. But his heart was in +every sermon. He said when he resigned from his church:-- + +"The preaching of the Gospel has always been my chosen work, I believe +I was called to it, and I shall never abandon it." + +During this season in Washington we gave a few formal dinners. My +husband wished it, and he was a cheerful, magnetic host, though he +accepted few invitations to dinner himself. No wine was served at these +dinners, and yet they were by no means dull or tiresome. Our guests were +men of ideas, men like Justice Brewer, Speaker Reed, Senator Burrows, +Justice Harlan, Vice-President Fairbanks, Governor Stone, and Senators +who have since become members of the old guard. It was said in +Washington at the time that Dr. Talmage's dinner parties were +delightful, because they were ostensible opportunities to hear men talk +who had something to say. The Doctor was liberal-minded about +everything, but his standards of conduct were the laws of his life that +no one could jeopardise or deny. + +A very prominent society woman came to Dr. Talmage one day to ask the +favour that he preach a temperance sermon for the benefit of Sir Wilfrid +Laurier, whom she wanted to interest in temperance legislation. She +promised to bring him to the Doctor's church for that purpose. + +"Madame, I shall be very glad to have Sir Wilfrid Laurier attend my +church," said the Doctor, "but I never preach at anybody. Your request +is something I cannot agree to." The lady was a personal friend, and she +persisted. Finally the Doctor said to her: + +"Mrs. G----, my wife and I are invited to meet Sir Wilfrid Laurier at a +dinner in your house next week. Will you omit the wines at that dinner?" +The lady admitted that that would be impossible. + +"Then you see, Madame, how difficult it would be for me to alter my +principles as a preacher." In May, 1899, Dr. Talmage and I left +Washington and went to East Hampton--alone. Contrary to his usual custom +of closing his summer home between seasons, the Doctor had allowed a +minister and his family to live there for three months. Diphtheria had +developed in the family during that time and the Doctor ordered +everything in the house to be burned, and the walls scraped. So the +whole house had to be refurnished, and the Doctor and I together +selected the furniture. It was a joyous time, it was like redecorating +our lives with a new charm and sentiment that was intimately beautiful +and refreshing. I remember the tenderness with which the Doctor showed +me a place on the door of the barn where his son DeWitt, who died, had +carved his initials. He would never allow that spot to be touched, it +was sacred to the memory of what was perhaps the most absorbing +affection of his life. He always called East Hampton his earthly +paradise, which to him meant a busy Utopia. He was very fond of the sea +bathing, and his chief recreation was running on the beach. He was 65 +years old, yet he could run like a young man. These few weeks were a +memorable vacation. + +In June, Dr. Talmage made an engagement to attend the 60th commencement +exercises of the Erskine Theological College in Due West, South +Carolina. This is the place where secession was first planned, as it is +also the oldest Presbyterian centre in the United States. We were the +guests of Dr. Grier, the president of the college. It was known that +Rev. David P. Pressly, Presbyterian patriarch and graduate of this +college, had been my father's pastor in Pittsburg, and this association +added some interest to my presence in Due West with the Doctor. The Rev. +E.P. Lindsay, my brother's pastor in Pittsburg, had also been born +there, and his mother, when I met her in 1899, was still a vigorous +Secessionist. Her greatest disappointment was the fact that her son had +abandoned the sentiments of Secession and had gone to preach in a +Northern church. She told us that she had once hidden Jefferson Davis in +her house for three days. Due West was a quiet little village inhabited +by some rich people who lived comfortably on their plantations. The +graduating class of the college were entertained at dinner by Dr. Grier +and the Doctor. There was a great deal of comment upon the physical +vigour and strength of Dr. Talmage's address, most of which reached me. +A gentleman who was present was reminded of the remarkable energy of the +Rev. Dr. Pressly, who preached for over fifty years, and was married +three times. When asked about his health, Dr. Pressly always throughout +his life made the same reply, "Never better; never better." After he had +won his third wife, however, he used to reply to this question with +greater enthusiasm than before, saying, "Better than ever; better than +ever." Another resident of Due West, who had heard both the Booths in +their prime, said, "Talmage has more dramatic power than I ever saw in +Booth." This visit to Due West will always remain in my memory as full +of sunshine and warmth as the days were themselves. + +We returned to East Hampton for a few days, and on July 4, 1899, the +Doctor delivered an oration to an immense crowd in the auditorium at +Ocean Grove. This was the beginning of a summer tour of Chautauquas, +first in Michigan, then up the lakes near Mackinaw Island, and later to +Jamestown, New York. + +In the Fall of 1899 we made a trip South, including Nashville, Memphis, +Chattanooga, Birmingham, and New Orleans. One remarkable feature of Dr. +Talmage's public life was the way in which he was sought as the man of +useful opinions upon subjects that were not related to the pulpit. He +was always being interviewed upon political and local issues, and his +views were scattered broadcast, as if he were himself an official of +national affairs. He never failed to be ahead of the hour. He regarded +the affairs of men as the basis of his evangelical purpose. The Spanish +war ended, and his views were sought about the future policy in the +East. The Boer war came, and his opinions of that issue were published. +Nothing moved in or out of the world of import, during these last +milestones of his life, that he was not asked about its coming and its +going. His readiness to penetrate the course of events, to wrap them in +the sacred veil of his own philosophy and spiritual fabric, combined to +make him one of the foremost living characters of his time. + +Dr. Talmage was the most eager human being I ever knew, eager to see, to +feel the heart of all humanity. I remember we arrived in Birmingham, +Alabama, the day following the disaster that visited that city after the +great cyclone. The first thing the Doctor did on our arrival was to get +a carriage and drive through those sections of the city that had +suffered the most. It was a gruesome sight, with so many bodies lying +about the streets awaiting burial. But that was his grasp of life, his +indomitable energy, always alert to see and hear the laws of nature at +close range. + +We were entertained a great deal through the South, where I believe my +husband had the warmest friends and a more cordial appreciation than in +any other part of the country. There was no lack of excitement in this +life that I was leading at the elbow of the great preacher, and +sometimes he would ask me if the big crowds did not tire me. To him they +were the habit of his daily life, a natural consequence of his industry. +However, I think he always found me equal to them, always happy to be +near him where I could see and hear all. + +In October of this year we returned to Washington, when the +Pan-Presbyterian Council was in session, and we entertained them at a +reception in our house till late in the evening. The International Union +of Women's Foreign Missionary Societies of the Presbyterian and Reformed +Churches were also meeting in Washington at this time, and they came. At +one of the meetings of the Council Dr. Talmage invited them all to his +house from the platform in his characteristic way. + +"Come all," he said, "and bring your wives with you. God gave Eve to +Adam so that when he lost Paradise he might be able to stand it. She was +taken out of man's side that she might be near the door of his heart, +and have easy access to his pockets. Therefore, come, bringing the +ladies with you. My wife and I shall not be entertaining angels +unawares, but knowing it all the while. To have so much piety and brain +under one roof at once, even for an hour or two, will be a benediction +to us all the rest of our lives. I believe in the communion of saints as +much as I believe in the life everlasting." + +In November, 1899, Dr. Talmage installed the Rev. Donald McLeod as +succeeding pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Washington, and +delivered the installation address, the subject of which was, +"Invitation to Outsiders." There had been some effort to inspire the +people of Washington to build an independent Tabernacle for the Doctor +after his resignation, but he himself was not in sympathy with the +movement because of the additional labour and strain it would have put +upon him. + +As the winter grew into long, gray days, we were already planning a trip +to Europe for the following year of 1900, and we were anticipating this +event with eager expectancy as the time grew near. + + + + +THE THIRD MILESTONE + +1900-1901 + + +So much has been written about Dr. Talmage the world over, that I am +tempted to tell those things about him that have not been written, but +it is difficult to do. He stood always before the people a sort of +radiant mystery to them. He was never really understood by those whom he +most influenced. A writer in an English newspaper has given the best +description of his appearance in 1900 I ever saw. It is so much better +than any I could make that I quote it, regretting that I do not know the +author's name:-- + +"A big man, erect and masterful in spite of advancing years, with an +expressive and mobile mouth that seems ever smiling, and with great and +speaking eyes which proclaim the fervent soul beneath." + +This portrait is very true, with a suggestion of his nature that makes +it a faithful transcript of his presence. It is a picture of him at 66 +years of age. His strength overwhelmed people, and yet he was very +simple, easily affected by the misfortunes of others, direct in all his +impressions; but no one could take him by surprise, because his faith in +the eternal redemption of all trials was beyond the ways of the world. +His optimism was simple Christianity. He always said he believed there +was as great a number out of the Church as there was in it that followed +the teaching of Christianity. He was among the believers, with his +utmost energy alert to save and comfort the unbelievers. He believed in +everything and everyone. The ingenuousness of his nature was childlike +in its unchallenged faith and its tender instincts. His unworldliness +was almost legendary in its belief of human nature. I remember he was +asked once whether he believed in Santa Claus, and in his own beautiful +imagery he said: + +"I believe in Santa Claus. Haven't I listened when I was a boy and +almost heard those bells on the reindeer; haven't I seen the marks in +the snow where the sleigh stopped at the door and old Santa jumped out? +I believed in him then and I believe in him now--believe that children +should be allowed to believe in the beautiful mythical tale. It never +hurt anyone, and I think one of the saddest memories of my childhood is +of a day when an older brother told me there was no Santa Claus. I +didn't believe him at first, and afterwards when I saw those delightful +mysterious bundles being sneaked into the house, way down deep in my +heart I believed that Santa Claus as well as my father and mother had +something to do with it." + +In the last years of his life music became the greatest pleasure to Dr. +Talmage. An accumulation of work made it necessary for me to engage a +secretary. We were fortunate in securing a young lady who was an +exquisite pianist. In the evening she would play Liszt's rhapsodies for +the Doctor, who enjoyed the Hungarian composer most of all. He said to +me once that he felt as if music in his study, when he was at work, +would be a great inspiration. So my Christmas present to him that year +was a musical box, which he kept in his study. + +The three months preceding our trip to Europe were spent in the usual +busy turmoil of social and public life. In truth we were very full of +our plans for the European tour, which was to be devoted to preaching by +Dr. Talmage, and to show me the places he had seen and people he had met +on previous visits. There was something significant in the welcome and +the ovations which my husband received over there. Neither the Doctor +nor myself ever dreamed that it would be his farewell visit. And yet it +seems to me now that he was received everywhere in Europe as if they +expected it to be his last. + +I must confess that we looked forward to our jaunt across the water so +eagerly that the events of the preceding months did not seem very +important. With Dr. Talmage I went on his usual lecture trip West, +stopping in Chicago, where the Doctor preached in his son's church. +Everywhere we were invited to be the guests of some prominent resident +of the town we were in. It had been so with Dr. Talmage for years. He +always refused, however, because he felt that his time was too +imperative a taskmaster. For thirty years he had never visited anyone +over night, until he went to my brother's house in Pittsburg. But we +were constantly meeting old friends of his, friends of many years, in +every stopping place of our journeys. I remember particularly one of +these characteristic meetings which took place in New York, where the +Doctor, had gone to preach one Sunday. We had just entered the Waldorf +Hotel, where we were stopping, when a little man stepped up to the +Doctor and began picking money off his coat. He seemed to find it all +over him. Dr. Talmage laughed, and introduced me to Marshall P. Wilder. + +"Dr. Talmage started me in life," said Mr. Wilder, and proceeded to tell +me how the Doctor had filled him with optimism and success. He was +always doing this, gripping young men by the shoulders and shaking them +into healthful life. And then men of political or national prominence +were always seeking him out, to gain a little dynamic energy and balance +from the Doctor's storehouse of experience and philosophy. He was a +giant of helpfulness and inspiration, to everyone who came into contact +with him. + +In January we dined with Governor Stone at the executive mansion in +Harrisburg, where Dr. Talmage went to preach, and on our return from +Europe Governor Stone insisted upon giving us a great reception and +welcome. Of course, those years were stirring and enjoyable, and never +to be forgotten. The reflected glory is a personal pleasure after all. + +In April, 1900, we sailed on the "Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse" bound for +London. The two points of interest the Doctor insisted upon making in +Europe were the North Cape, to see the Midnight Sun, and the Passion +Play at Ober-Ammergau. Hundreds of invitations had been sent to him to +preach abroad, many of which he accepted, but he could not be persuaded +to lecture. + +There was never a jollier, more electric companion _de voyage_ than Dr. +Talmage during the whole of his trip. He was the life of the party, +which included his daughter, Miss Maud Talmage, and my daughter, Miss +Rebekah Collier. + +On a very stormy Sunday, on board ship going over, Dr. Talmage preached, +holding on to a pillar in the cabin. There were some who wondered how +he escaped the tortures of _mal-de-mer_, from which he had always +suffered. It was a family secret. Once, when crossing with Mrs. +Vanderbilt, she had given Dr. Talmage an opium plaster, which was +absolute proof against the disagreeable consequences of ocean travel. +With the aid of this plaster the Doctor's poise was perfect. +Disembarking at Southampton we did not reach London until 3 a.m., going +to the hotel somewhat the worse for wear. Temporarily we stopped at the +Langham, moving later to the Metropole. Before lunch the same day the +Doctor drove to Westminster Abbey to see the grave of Gladstone. It was +his first thought, his first duty. It had been his custom for many years +to visit the graves of his friends whenever he could be near them. It +was a characteristic impulse of Dr. Talmage's to follow to the edge of +eternity those whom he had known and liked. When he was asked in England +what he had come to do there, he said: + +"I am visiting Europe with the hope of reviving old friendships and +stimulating those who have helped me in the old gospel of kindness." + +His range of vision was always from the Gospel point of view, not +necessarily denominational. I remember he was asked, while in England, +if there was an organisation in America akin to the Evangelical Council +of Free Churches, and he said, while there was no such body, "there was +a common platform in the United States upon almost every subject." + +The principal topic in England then was the Boer War, which aroused so +much hostility in our country. The Doctor's sympathies were with the +Boers, but he tactfully evaded any public expression of them in England, +although he was interviewed widely on the subject. He never believed in +rumours that were current, that the United States would interfere in +the Transvaal, and prophesied that the American Government would not do +so--"remembering their common origin." + +"The great need in America," he said, "is of accurate information about +the Transvaal affairs. A great many Democratic politicians are trying to +make Presidential capital out of the Boer disturbances, but it is +doubtful how far these politicians will be permitted to dictate the +policy of even their own party." + +I remember the candidature for President of Admiral Dewey was discussed +with Dr. Talmage, who had no very emphatic views about the matter, +except to declare Admiral Dewey's tremendous popularity, and to +acknowledge his support by the good Democrats of the country. The Doctor +was convinced however that Mr. McKinley would be the next President at +this time. + +The first service in England which Dr. Talmage conducted was in +Cavendish Chapel at Manchester. The next was at Albert Hall in +Nottingham, under the auspices of the Y.M.C.A. He was described in the +Nottingham newspapers as the "most alive man in the United States." A +great crowd filled the hall at Nottingham, and as usual he was compelled +to hold an open-air meeting afterwards. The first lecture he ever +delivered in England was given in this place twenty-one years before. + +Nothing interfered with the routine of the Doctor's habits of industry +during all this European trip. He had taken over with him the proofs of +about 20 volumes of his selected sermons for correction, and all his +spare moments were spent in perfecting and revising these books for the +printer. His sermons were the only monument he wished to leave to +posterity. It has caused me the deepest regret that these books have not +been perpetuated as he so earnestly wished. In addition to this work he +wrote his weekly sermon for the syndicate, employing stenographers +wherever he might be in Europe two days every week for that purpose. And +yet he never lost interest in the opportunities of travel, eagerly +planning trips to the old historic places near by. + +Near Nottingham is the famous Byron country which Dr. Talmage had never +found time to visit when he was in Europe before. We were told, at the +hotel in Nottingham, that no visitors were allowed inside Newstead +Abbey, so that when we ordered a carriage to drive there the hotel +people shrugged their shoulders at what they regarded as our American +irreverence. The rain was coming down in torrents when we started, the +Doctor more than ever determined to overthrow British custom in his +quiet, positive way. Through slush and mud, under dripping trees, across +country landscapes veiled in the tender mist of clouds, we finally +arrived at the Abbey. The huge outer gates were open, but the driver, +with proper British respect for the law, stopped his horses. The Doctor +leaned his head out of the carriage window and told him to drive into +the grounds. Obediently he did so, and at last we reached the great +heavy doors of the entrance. Dr. Talmage jumped out and boldly rang the +bell. A sentry appeared to inform us that no one was allowed inside the +Abbey. + +"But we have come all the way from America to see this place," the +Doctor urged. The sentry, with wooden militarism, was adamant. + +"Is there no one inside in authority?" the Doctor finally asked. Then +the housekeeper was called. She told us that the Abbey belonged to an +Army officer and his wife, that her master was away at the war in South +Africa where his wife had gone with him, and that her orders were +imperative. + +"Look here, just let us see the lower floor," said Dr. Talmage; "we have +come all the way from New York to see this place," and he slipped two +sovereigns into her hand. Still she was unmoved. My daughter, who was +then about 14, was visibly disappointed. England was to her hallowed +ground, and she was keenly anxious to walk in the footsteps of all its +romance, which she had eagerly absorbed in history. Turning to the +Doctor, she said, almost tearfully: + +"Why, Doctor Talmage, how can they refuse you?" + +The housekeeper caught the name. + +"Who did you say this was?" she asked. + +"Doctor Talmage," said my daughter. + +"Dr. Talmage, I was just reading the sermon you preached on Sunday in +the Nottingham newspaper, I am sure if my mistress were at home she +would be glad to receive you. Come in, come in!" + +So we saw Newstead Abbey. The housekeeper insisted that we should stay +to tea, and made us enter our names in the visitors' book, and asked the +Doctor to write his name on a card, saying, "I will send this to my +mistress in South Africa." + +In the effort to remember many of the details of our stay in England and +Scotland, I find it necessary to take refuge for information in my +daughter's diary. It amused Dr. Talmage very much as he read it page by +page. I find this entry made in Manchester, where she was not well +enough to attend church:-- + +"Sunday, A.M.--Doctor Talmage preached and I was disappointed that I +could not go. The people went wild about the Doctor, and he had to make +an address after church out-of-doors for those who could not get inside. +Several policemen stood around the church door to keep away the crowd. +I saw the High Sheriff driving home from church. He was inside a coach +that looked as though it had been drawn out of a fairy tale--a huge +coach painted red and gold, with crowns or something like them at each +of the four corners. Two footmen dressed in George III. liveries were +hanging behind by ribbons, and two on the box, all wearing powdered +wigs. To be sure, I didn't see much of the Sheriff, but then the coach +was the real show after all." + +Many of the details of the side trips which we made through England and +Scotland have escaped my memory. In looking over my daughter's diary I +find them amplified in the manner of girlhood, now lightly touched with +fancy, now solemn with historical responsibility, now charmed with the +glamour of romance. Dr. Talmage thought so well of them that they will +serve to show the trail of his footsteps through the gateways of +ancestral England. + +We went to Haddon Hall with Dr. Wrench, physician to the Duke of +Devonshire. We drove from Bakewell. In this part of my daughter's diary +I read:-- + +"It was a most beautiful drive. Derbyshire is called the Switzerland of +England. The hills were quite high and beautifully wooded, and our drive +lay along the river's edge--a brook we would call it in the States, but +it is a river here--and winds in and out and through the fields and +around the foot of the highest hill of all, called the Peak of +Derbyshire. We passed picturesque little farmhouses, built of square +blocks of rough, grey stone covered with ivy. We drove between hawthorn +hedges, through beautiful green fields and orchards. From the midst of a +little forest of grand old trees we caught sight of the highest tower of +the castle, then we crossed over a little stone bridge and passed +through the gates. Another short drive across the meadow and we stopped +at the foot of a little hill, looking up at Haddon Hall. + +"We walked up to the castle and stood before the great iron-studded oak +door, which has been there since the days of Queen Elizabeth. It had not +been opened for years, but a smaller one had been cut in it through +which visitors passed. For over 200 years no one had lived in the +castle. It was built by the Normans and given by William the Conqueror +to one of his Norman Barons. Finally by marriage it became the property +of Sir George Vernon, who had two daughters, famous for their beauty. +Margaret Vernon married a Stanley, and on the night of the wedding +Dorothy Vernon eloped with Mr. John Manners. The story is very romantic. +The ballroom from which Dorothy stole away when the wedding party was at +its height is still just as it was then, excepting for the furniture. +From the windows you can see the little stone bridge where Manners +waited for her with the horses. Haddon Hall became the property of +Dorothy Manners and has remained in the hands of the Rutland family, +being now owned by the Duke of Rutland. + +"That is the romance of Haddon Hall, but one could make up a hundred to +oneself when one walks through the different rooms. What a queer feeling +it gives me to go through the old doorways, to stop and look through the +queer little windows, and on the courtyard, wondering who used, long +ago, to look out of the same windows. I wonder what they saw going on in +the courtyard? + +"We climbed to the top of the highest tower. The stairway wound upward +with stone steps about three feet high cut out of the wall. At intervals +we found little square rooms, very possibly where the men at arms +slept. What a view at the top! The towers and roofs and courtyards of +the castle lay before us. All around us the lovely English country, and +as far as the eye could see, hills, woodland, and the winding river. It +was glorious. Maud and I danced a two-step in the ballroom. + +"If stones could only talk! Well, if they could I should want a long +confab with each one in the old courtyard of Haddon Hall. Who can tell, +William the Conqueror himself may have stepped on some of them." + +We drove from Haddon Hall to the Peacock Inn for luncheon, going over to +Chatsworth for the afternoon. Again I turn a few leaves of the diary: + +"Chatsworth is one of the homes of the Duke of Devonshire. The park is +fourteen miles across and I don't know how big it is, but Dr. Wrench +told me the number of acres, and I think it was three or four thousand. +We drove five miles through the park before reaching the gates of +Chatsworth--shall I call it house or castle? I have pictures of it, and +it is a good thing for I could not describe it. Dr. Wrench, being the +Duke's physician, was able to take us through the private rooms. On +entering the Hall, a broad marble staircase leads to the corridors +above, from which others branch out through different parts of the +house. We walked miles, it seems, until we got to the Duke's private +library. When you are once in the room the doors are shut. You cannot +tell how you got in or how you will get out. On every wall the bookcases +are built in and there is not an opening of any kind; not a break in the +rows and rows of books. The explanation is simply this: the doors +themselves are made to look like book shelves, painted on. + +"Chatsworth is so large that were I living there I should want a Cook's +guide every time I moved. One picture gallery is full of sketches by +Hogarth, and pictures of almost every old master you ever heard of, and +some you never heard of. Opening out of this gallery are great glass +doors leading into halls into which the different bedrooms open. In one +bedroom the walls and ceiling were covered with oil paintings, not +hanging but literally painted on them. The bed was a huge four-poster. +The curtains were of heavy brocaded satin. The windows looked out on +terraces, garden and fountains. I like this room best of all. We were +taken through the state apartments where I saw on a throne a huge chair +of state on a platform, with canopy over it, with the Duke's crest in +gold woven upon it. In one of the drawing-rooms we saw a life-size +portrait of Henry VIII., a real true one painted from life, and one of +Philip II. of Spain, and of Charles V., and of Anne of Austria. The Duke +had sent special word from London to have the fountains in the park play +for us, and we watched them from the window. They are beautiful. Such +nice shower baths for the marble statues on the terrace! + +"The Prince of Wales has often visited Chatsworth, and a funny story was +told about one of his visits. It was after dinner and the drawing-room +was full of people. Whenever Royalty is present it is expected that the +men will wear all their decorations. Well, the Earl of Something-or-other +had forgotten one of his, and someone reported this fact to the Prince +who sent for the culprit to be brought before him. At the time the +Prince was seated on one of the huge lounges, on which only a giant +could sit and keep his feet on the floor. The Prince was sitting far +back and his feet stuck straight out in the air. When the guilty man was +brought up to be reprimanded the attitude of the Prince was far from +dignified. His Royal Highness was not really angry, but he told the poor +Earl of Something-or-other that he must write out the oath of the Order +that he had forgotten to wear. It was a long oath and the Earl's memory +was not so long." + +We went from Nottingham to Glasgow. The date, I find, is May 1, 1900. It +was always Dr. Talmage's custom to visit the cemetery first, so we drove +out to the grave of John Knox. In Glasgow the Doctor preached at the +Cowcaddens Free Church to the usual crowded congregation, and he was +compelled to address an overflow meeting from the steps of the church +after the regular service. The best part of Dr. Talmage's holiday moods, +which were as scarce as he could make them because of the amount of work +he was always doing, were filled with the delight of watching the eager +interest in sightseeing of the two girls, Miss Maud Talmage and my +daughter. In Glasgow we encountered the usual wet weather of the +proverbial Scottish quality, and it was Saturday of the week before we +ventured out to see the Lakes. My daughter naively confesses the +situation to her journal as follows:-- + +"This A.M.--Got up at the usual starting hour, 7 o'clock, and as it +looked only dark we decided to go. At breakfast it started to rain again +and Mamma and the Doctor began to back out, but Maud and I talked to +some advantage. We argued that if we were going to sit around waiting +for a fair day in this country we might just as well give up seeing +anything more interesting than hotel parlours and dining-rooms. + +"We started, and just as a 'send off' the old sky opened and let down a +deluge of water. It rained all the time we were on Loch Lomond, but that +didn't prevent us from being up on deck on the boat. From under +umbrellas we saw the most beautiful scenery in Scotland. Part of this +trip was made by coach, always in the pouring rain. We drove on and on +through the hills, seeing nothing but sheep, sheep, sheep. Doctor +Talmage asked the driver what kind of vegetables they raised in the +mountains and the driver replied--'mutton.' We had luncheon at a very +pretty little hotel on Loch Katrine, and here boarded a little steamer +launch, 'Rob Roy,' for a beautiful sail. I never, no matter where I +travel, expect to look upon a lake more beautiful. The mountains give +wildness and romance to the calm and quiet of the lake, and the island. +Maud read aloud to us parts of 'The Lady of the Lake' as we sat out on +deck." + +In Edinburgh Dr. Talmage preached his well-known sermon upon unrequited +services, at the request of Lord Kintore, the son of the Earl of +Kintore, who had suggested the theme to him some years before. In fact +the Doctor wrote this sermon by special suggestion of the Earl of +Kintore. + +Incidents great and small were such a large part of the eventful trip to +Europe that it is difficult to make those omissions which the +disinterested reader might wish. The Doctor, like ourselves, saw with +the same rose-coloured glasses that we did. We were very pleasantly +entertained in Edinburgh by Lord Kintore and others, but the most +interesting dinner party I think was when we were the guests of Sir +Herbert Simpson, brother of the celebrated Sir James Y. Simpson, the man +who discovered the uses of chloroform as an anæsthetic. We dined in the +very room where the discovery was first tested. When Dr. Simpson had +decided upon a final experiment of the effects of chloroform as an +anæsthetic, he invited three or four of his colleagues and friends to +share the test with him. They met in the very room where we dined with +Sir Herbert Simpson and his family. The story goes that when everything +had been prepared for the evening's work, Dr. Simpson informed "Sandy," +an old servant, that he must not be disturbed under any circumstances, +telling him not to venture inside the door himself until 5 a.m. Then, if +no one had left the room, he was to enter. "Sandy" obeyed these +instructions to the letter, and came into the room at 5 in the morning. +He was very much shocked to find his master and the others under the +table in a stupor. "I never thought my master would come to this," said +Sandy. He was still in the employ of the family, being a very old man. + +Dr. Talmage's engagements took him from Edinburgh to Liverpool, where he +preached. It was while there that we made a visit to Hawarden to see +Mrs. Gladstone. The Doctor had been to Hawarden before as the guest of +Mr. Gladstone, and was disappointed to find that Mrs. Gladstone was too +ill to be seen by anyone. We were entertained, however, by Mrs. Herbert +Gladstone. I remember how much the Doctor was moved when he saw in the +hall at Hawarden a bundle of walking sticks and three or four hats +hanging on the hat-rack, as Mr. Gladstone had left them when he died. + +From Liverpool we went to Sheffield, where Dr. Talmage preached to an +immense congregation. It was in May, the time when all England is +flower-laden, when the air is as sweet as perfume and the whole +countryside is as fascinating as a garden. It was the coaching season, +too, and the Doctor entered into the spirit of these beautiful days very +happily. We took a ten days' trip from Leamington after leaving +Sheffield, coaching through the exquisite scenery around about Warwick, +Kenilworth, and the Shakespeare country in Stratford-on-Avon. Most of +these reminiscences are full of incidents too intimate for public +interest. Like a dream that lifts one from prosaic life into the places +of precious remembrance I recall these long, happy days in the glorious +sunset of his life. + +We returned to London in time for the Doctor's first preaching +engagement there on May 28, 1900. The London newspapers described him as +"The American Spurgeon." + +"And now before the services opened at St. James' Hall a congregation of +3,000 people waited to hear Dr. Talmage," says a London newspaper. Then +it goes on to say further:-- + +"Dr. Talmage, who has preached from pulpits all over the world, may be +described as an 'American Spurgeon.' None of our great English speakers +is less of an orator. Dr. Talmage is a great speaker, but his power as +an orator is not by any means that of a Gladstone or a Bright. It lies +more in the matter than in the manner, in his wonderful imagery, the +vividness with which he conjures up a picture before the congregation. +He is a great artist in words. Dr. Talmage affects nothing; he is +naturalness itself in the pulpit, and the manner of his speech suggests +that he is angry with his subject. The sermon on this occasion lent +itself well to a master of metaphor such as Dr. Talmage, it being a +review of the last great battle of the world, when the forces of right +and wrong should meet for the final mastery." + +Dr. Talmage rarely preached this sermon because it was a great tax on +his memory. It included a suggestion of all the great battles of the +earth, a vivid description of the armies of the world marching forward +in the eternal human struggle of right against wrong until they were +masked for the last great battle of all, when "Satan would take the +field in person, in whose make-up nothing bad was left out, nothing good +was put in." + +It is very remarkable to see the universal acknowledgments of the +Doctor's genius in England, one of the London newspapers going so far as +to describe him in its headlines as "America's Apostle." Nothing I could +write about him could be more in eulogy, more in sympathy in +comprehension of his brilliant sacred message to the world. England +proclaimed him as he was, with deep sincerity and reverence. + +His favourite sermon, and it was mine also, was upon the theme of +unrequited services, the text being from I Samuel xxx. 24, "But as his +part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that +tarrieth by the stuff." It was in this sermon that Dr. Talmage made +reference to Florence Nightingale, in the following words:-- + +"Women, your reward in the eternal world will be as great as that of +Florence Nightingale, the Lady of the Lamp." While in London he preached +this sermon, and the following day to our surprise the Doctor received +the following note at his hotel:-- + + "June 3, 1900. + "10, South Street, + "Park Lane. + + "Dear Sir-- + "I could gladly see you to-morrow (Monday) at 5.--Yours faithfully, + "FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE. + "T. DeWitt Talmage, of America." + +I have carefully kept the letter in my autograph album. + +Dr. Talmage and I called at the appointed time. It was a beautiful +summer day and we found the celebrated woman lying on a couch in a room +at the top of the house, the windows of which looked out on Hyde Park. +She was dressed all in white. Her face was exquisitely spiritual, calm, +sweet with the youth of a soul that knew no age. She had never known +that she had been called 'The Lady of the Lamp' by the soldiers of the +Crimea till she read of it in the Doctor's sermon. She was curious to be +told all about it. In conversation with the Doctor she made many +inquiries about America and the Spanish war, making notes on a pad of +what he said. The Doctor told her that she looked like a woman who had +never known the ordinary conflicts of life, as though she had always +been supremely happy and calm in her soul. I remember she replied that +she had never known a day's real happiness till she began her work as a +nurse on the battlefield. + +"I was not always happy," she said; "I had my idle hours when I was a +girl." I may not remember her exact words, but this is the sense of +them. She was past 82 years of age at the time. + +Enjoying the intervals of sight-seeing, such as the Tower, the Museum, +Westminster Abbey, and the usual wonders of historical London, we +remained in town several weeks. I remember a visit which Mr. Choate, the +American Ambassador, made us with a view to extending any courtesy he +could for the Doctor while we were in England. I told him that I was +more anxious to see the British Parliament in session than anything +else. + +"I should think, as Dr. Talmage has with him a letter from the President +of the United States, this request could be arranged," I said. + +Mr. Choate gracefully replied that Dr. Talmage required no introduction +anywhere, not even from the President, and arranged to have the Charge +d'Affaires, Mr. White, who was later Ambassador to France, take us over +to the Houses of Parliament, where we were permitted a glimpse of the +Members at work from the cage enclosure reserved for lady visitors. + +The Doctor's friends in England did their best to make us feel at home +in London. We were dined and lunched, and driven about whenever Dr. +Talmage could spare time from his work. Sir Alfred Newton, the Lord +Mayor, and Lady Newton gave us a luncheon at the Mansion House on June +5, 1900. I remember the date because it was an epoch in the history of +England. During the luncheon the news reached the Lord Mayor of the +capture of Pretoria. He ordered a huge banner to be hung from the +Mansion House on which were the words-- + +"THE BRITISH FLAG FLIES AT PRETORIA." + +This was the first intimation of the event given to Londoners in that +part of the city. Side by side with it another banner proclaimed the +National prayer, "God Save the Queen," in big red letters on the white +background. A scene of wild enthusiasm and excitement followed. Every +Englishman in that part of London, I believe, began to shout and cheer +at the top of his lungs. An immense crowd gathered in the adjoining +streets around the Mansion House. The morning war news had only +indicated a prolonged struggle, so that the capture of Pretoria was a +great and joyous surprise to the British heart. Suddenly all hats were +off, and the crowds in the streets sang the National Anthem. There were +loud calls for the Lord Mayor to make a speech. We watched it all from +the windows in the parlour of the Mansion House, at the corner of Queen +Victoria Street. Dr. Talmage was as wildly enthusiastic as any +Englishman, cheering and waving his arm from the open windows in hearty +accord with the crowd below. There was no sleep for anyone in London +that night. Around our hotel, the blowing of horns and cheering lasted +till the small hours of the morning. It seemed very much like the +excitement in America after the capture of the Spanish Fleet. + +We left London finally with many regrets, having enjoyed the hospitality +of what is to me the most attractive country in the world to visit. We +went direct to Paris to attend the opening ceremonies of the Paris +Exposition of 1900. It seems like a very old story to tell anything +to-day of this event, and to Dr. Talmage it was chiefly a repetition of +the many Fairs he had seen in his life, but he found time to write a +description of it at the time, which recalls his impressions. He +regarded it as "An Object Lesson of Peace and a Tableau of the +Millennium." + +His defence of General Peck, the American Commissioner-General, who was +criticised by the American exhibitors, was made at length. He considered +these criticisms unjust, and said so. During our stay in Paris Dr. +Talmage preached at the American churches. + +Fearing that it would be difficult to secure rooms in Paris during the +Exposition, the Doctor had written from Washington during the winter and +engaged them at the hotel which a few years before had been one of the +best in Paris. Many changes had occurred since he had last been abroad, +however, and we found that the hotel where we had engaged rooms was far +from being suitable for us. The mistake caused some amusement among our +American friends, who were surprised to find Dr. Talmage living in the +midst of a Parisian gaiety entirely too promiscuous for his calling. We +soon moved away from this zone of oriental music and splendour to a +quieter and more remote hotel in the Rue Castiglione. + +Dr. Talmage was restless, however, to reach the North Cape in the best +season to see the Midnight Sun in its glory, and we only remained in +Paris a few days, going from there to the Hague, Amsterdam, and thence +to Copenhagen in Denmark. In all the cities abroad we were always the +guests of the American Embassy one evening during our stay, and this +frequently led to private dinner parties with some of the prominent +residents, which the Doctor greatly enjoyed, because it gave him an +opportunity to know the foreign people in their homes. I remember one of +these invitations particularly because as we drove into the grounds of +our host's home he ordered the American flag to be hoisted as we +entered. The garden was beautiful with a profusion of yellow blossoms, a +national flower in Denmark known as "Golden Rain." We admired them so +much that our host wanted to present me with sprigs of the trees to +plant in our home at East Hampton. Dr. Talmage said he was sure that +they would not grow out there so near the sea. Remembering Judge +Collier's grounds in Pittsburg, where every sort of flower grows, I +suggested that they would thrive there. Our host took my father-in-law's +address, and to-day this "Golden Rain" of Denmark is growing beautifully +in his garden in Pittsburg. + +We saw and explored Copenhagen thoroughly. The King of Denmark was +absent from the capital, but we stood in front of his palace with the +usual interest of visitors, little expecting to be entertained there, as +afterwards we were. It all came as a surprise. + +We were on our way to the station to leave Copenhagen, when Mr. +Swenson, the American Minister, overtook us and informed us that the +Crown Prince and Princess desired to receive Dr. Talmage and his family +at the summer palace. Though it may be at the risk of _lèse majesté_ to +say it, some persuasion was necessary to induce the Doctor to remain +over. Our trunks were already at the station and Dr. Talmage was anxious +to get up to the North Cape. However, the American Minister finally +prevailed upon the Doctor to consider the importance of a request from +royalty, and we went back to the hotel into the same rooms we had just +left. + +Our presentation took place the next day at the summer palace, which is +five miles from Copenhagen. It was the most informally delightful +meeting. The formalities of royalty that are sometimes made to appear so +overwhelming to the ordinary individual, were so gracefully interwoven +by the Crown Prince and the Princess with cordiality and courtesy, that +we were as perfectly at ease, as if there had been crowns hovering over +our own heads. The royal children were all present, too, and we talked +and walked and laughed together like a family party. The Crown Princess +said to me, "Come, let me show you my garden," and we strolled in the +beautiful grounds. The Crown Prince said, "Come, let me show you my +den," and there gave us the autographs of himself and the Princess. We +left regretfully. As we drove away the royal party were gathered at the +front windows of the palace waving their handkerchiefs to us in graceful +adieus. I remember my little daughter was very much surprised with the +simplicity of the whole affair, saying to me as we drove away, "Why, it +was just like visiting Grandpa's home." + +On our way to Tröndhjem from Copenhagen we stayed over a few days at +Christiania, where we were the guests of Nansen, the Arctic explorer. +His home, which stood out near the water's edge, was like a bungalow +made of pine logs. There were no carpets on the floors, which were +covered with the skins of animals he had himself killed. Trophies of all +sorts were in evidence. It was a very memorable afternoon with the +simple, brave, scientific Nansen. + +At Tröndhjem we took the steamer "Köng Harald" for the North Cape. A +party of American friends had just returned from there with the most +lugubrious story about the bad weather and their utter failure to see +the sun. As it was pouring rain when we started, it would not have taken +much persuasion to induce us to give it all up. But we had started with +a purpose, and silently but firmly we went on with it. Dr. Talmage never +turned back at any cross road in his whole life. In a few hours after +leaving Tröndhjem we were in the raw, cold Arctic temperature where a +new order of existence begins. + +We lose all sense of ordinary time, for our watches indicate midnight, +and there is no darkness. The over-hanging clouds draw slowly apart, and +the most brilliant, dazzling midnight sun covers the waters and sets the +sky on fire. It neither rises from the horizon or sinks into it. It +stays perfectly, immovably still. After a while it rises very slowly. +The meals on board are as irregular as the time; they are served +according to the adaptability of one's appetite to the strangeness of +the new element of constant daytime. We scarcely want to sleep, or know +when to do so. Fortunately our furs are handy, for there is snow and ice +on the wild, barren rocks on either side of us. + +On July 1, at 8 p.m., we sighted this northernmost land, the Cape, and +were immediately induced to indulge in cod fishing from the decks of our +steamer. It is the custom, and the cod seem to accept the situation with +perverse indiscretion, for many of them are caught. Our lines and bait +are provided by sailors. Dinner is again delayed to enable us to indulge +in this sport, but we don't mind because we have lost all the habitual +tendencies of our previous normal state. + +At 10 p.m., in a bright daylight, the small boats full of passengers +begin to leave the steamer for the shore. In about fifteen minutes we +are landed at the base of that towering Cape. There are some who doubt +the wisdom of Dr. Talmage's attempting to climb at his age. He has no +doubts, however, and no one expresses them to him. He is among the first +to take the staff, handed to him as to all of us, and starts up at his +usual brisk, striding gait. It is a test of lungs and heart, of skill +and nerve to climb the North Cape, and let no one attempt it who is +unfitted for the task. Steep almost as the side of a house, rocky as an +unused pathway, it is a feat to accomplish. We were the first party of +the season to go up, and the paths had not been entirely cleared of +snow, which was two and three feet deep in places, the path itself +sometimes a narrow ledge over a precipice. A rope guard was the only +barrier between us and a slippery catastrophe. Every ten or fifteen +minutes we sat down to get our breath. It took us two hours to reach the +top. It was a few minutes after midnight when the sun came out +gloriously. + +Coming down was much more perilous, but we got back in safety to the +"Köng Harald" at 2 a.m. On our way down to Tröndhjem we celebrated the +Fourth of July on board. The captain decorated the ship for the occasion +and we all tried to sing "The Star Spangled Banner," but we could not +remember the words, much to our mutual surprise and finally we +compromised by singing "America," and, worst of all, "Yankee Doodle." +Dr. Talmage made a very happy address, and we came into port finally, +pledged to learn the words of "The Star Spangled Banner" before the year +was up. + +In our haste to reach the North Cape we had passed hurriedly through +Sweden, so, on our return we went from Tröndhjem to Stockholm, where we +arrived on July 7, 1900. + +When in London Dr. Talmage had accepted an invitation to preach in the +largest church in Sweden, with some misgiving, because, as he himself +said when asked to do this, "Shall I have an audience?" Of course the +Doctor did not speak the Swedish language. Dr. Talmage had been told in +England that his name was known through all Sweden, which was a fact +fully sustained by a publisher in Stockholm who came to the hotel one +afternoon and brought copies of ten of the Doctor's books translated +into Swedish. This insured a cordial greeting for the Doctor, but how +was he to make himself understood? + +The Immanuel Church in Stockholm, one of the largest I ever saw, with +two galleries and three aisles, was filled to its capacity. Dr. Talmage +was to preach through an interpreter, himself a foremost preacher in his +own country. The Doctor had preached through interpreters three times in +his life; once when a theological student addressing a congregation of +American Indians, once in a church in Hawaii, and once in Ceylon through +an interpreter standing on each side of him, one to translate into +Cingalese, and the other to translate into Hindustan. No one who was +present at that morning Sabbath service on July 8, 1900, will forget +the strange impressions that translated sermon preached by Dr. Talmage +made upon everyone. Sentence by sentence the brilliant interpreter +repeated the Doctor's words in the Swedish language, while the +congregation in eager silence studied Dr. Talmage's face while listening +to the translation of his ideas. + +"Whether I did them any good or not they did me good," said the Doctor +after the service. + +While in Stockholm we dined with Mr. Wyndham, Secretary of the American +Legation, and were shown through the private rooms of the royal palace, +of which my daughter took snapshots with surreptitious skill. The Queen +was a great invalid and scarcely ever saw anyone, but while driving to +her summer palace we caught a glimpse of her being lifted from her +little horse, on which she had been riding, seated in a sort of armchair +saddle. With a groom to lead the horse Her Majesty took the air every +day in this way. She was a very frail little woman. + +From Stockholm we started by steamer for St. Petersburg, but the crowd +was so great that we found our staterooms impossible, and we disembarked +at Alba, the first capital in Finland. We were curious to see the new +capital, Helsingfors, and stopped over a day or two there. From +Helsingfors we went by rail to the Russian capital. + +Dr. Talmage had been in Russia years before, on the occasion of his +presentation of a shipload of flour from the American people to the +famine sufferers. At that time he had been presented to Emperor +Alexander III., as well as the Dowager Empress. It was his intention to +pay his respects again to the new Emperor, whose father he had known, so +that we looked forward to our stay in St. Petersburg as eventful. The +Crown Prince of Denmark had urged the Doctor to see his brother-in-law, +the Czar, while in St. Petersburg, and we learned later that he had +written a letter to the Court concerning our coming to St. Petersburg. + +On July 23, 1900, we received the following note from Dr. Pierce, the +American Charge d'Affaires in St. Petersburg:-- + + "July 23, 1900. + "Embassy of the United States, St. Petersburg. + + "Dear Dr. Talmage-- + + "I take much pleasure in informing you that you and Mrs. Talmage and + your daughters will be received by Their Majesties the Emperor and + Empress on Wednesday next, at 2½ p.m. + + "Yours very sincerely, + "HERBERT H.D. PIERCE. + + "P.S.--I will let you know the details later." + +Mr. Pierce called in full court dress and informed Dr. Talmage that it +would be necessary for him to appear in like regalia. As the Doctor was +not accustomed to wearing swords, or cocked hats, or brass buttons on +his coat, he received these instructions with some distress of mind. +Later, we received from the Grand Master of Ceremonies of the Russian +Court a formal invitation to be presented at Peterhof, the summer +palace. + +On Wednesday, July 25, 1900, I find this irreverent entry in my American +girl's diary:-- + +"I can't think of any words sufficiently high sounding with which to +begin the report of this day, so shall simply write about breakfast +first, and gradually lead up to the great event. In spite of the coming +honour and the present excitement we all ate a hearty breakfast." + +"As our train was to leave for Peterhof about noon we spent the morning +dressing. + +"After all," writes my irreverent daughter in her diary, "dressing for +royalty is not more important than dressing for a dance or dinner. It +can't last for much over an hour. When we had everything on we sat +opposite each other as stiff as pokers--waiting." + +My daughter took a snapshot picture of us while waiting. Mrs. Pierce had +kindly given us some instructions about curtseying and backing away from +royalty, a ceremony which neither the Czar nor the Czarina imposed upon +us, however. The trip to Peterhof was made on one of the Imperial cars. +The distance by rail from St. Petersburg was only half-an-hour. A +gentleman from the American Embassy rode with us. We were met at the +station by footmen in royal livery and conducted to a carriage with the +Imperial coat-of-arms upon it. Sentinels in grey coats saluted us. + +We were driven first to the Palace of Peterhof, where more footmen in +gold lace, and two other officials in gorgeous uniform, conducted us +inside, through a corridor, past a row of bowing servants, into a +dining-room where the table was set for luncheon, with gold and silver +plates, cut glass and rare china. A more exquisite table setting I never +saw. Three dressing-rooms opened off this big room, and these we +promptly appropriated. + +The luncheon was perfect, though we would have enjoyed it better after +the strain of our presentation had been over. The four different kinds +of wine were not very liberally patronised by any of our party. After +luncheon we were driven through the royal park which was literally +filled with mounted Cossacks on guard everywhere, to the abode of the +Emperor. Through another double line of liveried servants we were +ushered into a small room where the Master of Ceremonies and a +lady-in-waiting greeted us. We waited about five minutes when an officer +came to the Doctor and took him to see the Emperor. A little later we +were ushered into another room into the presence of the Empress of +Russia. She came forward very graciously with outstretched hands to meet +us. The Czarina is the most beautiful woman I ever saw, aristocratic, +simple, extremely sensitive. She was dressed in a black silk gown with +white polka dots. Slightly taller than the Czar, the Empress was most +affable, girlish in her manner. As she talked the colour came and went +on her pale, fair cheeks, and she gave me the impression of being a very +sensitive, reserved, exquisitely rare nature. Her smile had a charming +yet half melancholy radiance. We all sat down and talked. I remember the +little shiver with which the Empress spoke of a race in the Orient whom +she disliked. + +"They would stab you in the back," she said, her voice fading almost to +a whisper. She looked to be about twenty-eight years old. Once when we +thought it was time to go, and had started to make our adieus, the +Czarina kept on talking, urging us to stay. She talked of America +chiefly, and told us how enthusiastic her cousin was who had just +returned from there. When, finally, we did leave we were spared the +dreaded ceremony of backing out of the room, for the Empress walked with +us to the door, and shook hands in true democratic American fashion. + +Dr. Talmage's interview with the Czar was quite as cordial. The Emperor +expressed his faith in the results of the Peace movement at the Hague, +for he was himself at peace with all the world. During the interview the +Doctor was asked many questions by the Emperor about the heroes of the +Spanish war, especially concerning Admiral Dewey. His Majesty laughed +heartily at the Doctor's story of a battle in which the only loss of +life was a mule. + +"How many important things have happened since we met," the Czar said to +the Doctor; "I was twenty-four when you were here before, now I am +thirty-two. My father is gone. My mother has passed through three great +sorrows since you were here--the loss of my father, of my brother, and +during this last year of her own mother, the Queen of Denmark. She +wishes to see you in her own palace." + +The Czar is about five feet ten in height, is very fair, with blue eyes, +and seemed full of kindness and good cheer. + +As we were leaving, word came from the Dowager Empress that she would +see us, and we drove a mile or two further through the royal park to her +palace. She greeted Dr. Talmage with both hands outstretched, like an +old friend. Though much smaller in stature than the Empress of Russia, +the Dowager Empress was quite as impressive and stately. She was dressed +in mourning. Her room was like a corner in Paradise set apart from the +grim arrogance of Imperial Russia. It was filled with exquisite +paintings, sweet with a profusion of flowers and plants. She seemed +genuinely happy to see the Doctor, and her eyes filled with tears when +he spoke of the late Emperor, her husband. At her neck she was wearing a +miniature portrait of him set in diamonds. Very simply she took it off +to show to us, saying, "This is the best picture ever taken of my +husband. It is such a pleasure to see you, Dr. Talmage, I heard of your +being in Europe from my brother in Denmark." + +The Dowager Empress was full of remembrances of the Doctor's previous +visit to Russia, eight years before. + +"How did you like the tea service which my husband sent you?" she asked +Dr. Talmage; "I selected it myself. It is exactly like a set we use +ourselves." + +The informal charm of the Empress's manner was most friendly and kind. + +"Do you remember the handful of flowers I picked for you, and asked you +to send them to your family?" she said. + +"You stood here, my husband there, and I with my smaller children stood +here. How well I remember that day; but, oh, what changes!" + +The Dowager Empress invited us to come to her palace next day and meet +the Queen of Greece, her niece by marriage, and her sister-in-law who +was visiting Russia just then, but we were obliged to decline because of +previous plans. Very graciously she wrote her autograph for us and +promised to send me her photograph, which later on I received. We were +driven back to the station in the Imperial carriage, where a +representative of the American Embassy met us and rode back to St. +Petersburg with us. + +So ended a day of absorbing interest such as I shall never experience +again. There is a touch of humour always to the most important events in +life. I shall never forget Dr. Talmage's real distress when he found +that the sword which he had borrowed from Mr. Pierce, the Charge +d'Affaires of the American Embassy, had become slightly bent in the +course of its royal adventure. I can see his look of anxiety as he tried +to straighten it out, and was afraid he couldn't. He always abhorred +borrowed things and hardly ever took them. Fortunately, the sword was +not seriously damaged. + +Our objective point after leaving Russia was Ober-Ammergau, where Dr. +Talmage wanted to witness the Passion Play. We travelled in that +direction by easy stages, going from St. Petersburg first to Moscow, +where we paid a visit to Tolstoi's house. From Moscow we went to Warsaw, +and thence to Berlin. The Doctor seemed to have abandoned himself +completely to the lure of sightseeing by this time. Churches, picture +galleries, museums were our daily diet. While in Berlin we returned from +a drive one day to the hotel and found ourselves the objects of unusual +solicitude and attention from the hotel proprietor and his servants. +With many obsequious bows we were informed that the Russian Ambassador +had called upon us in our absence, and had informed the hotel people +that he had a special package from the Czar to deliver to me. He left +word that he would be at the hotel at 2 p.m. the following day to carry +out his Imperial Master's instructions. At the time appointed the next +day the Russian Ambassador called and formally presented to me, in the +name of the Emperor, a package that had been sent by special messenger. +I immediately opened it and found a handsome Russian leather case. I +opened that, and inside found the autographs of the Emperor and Empress +of Russia, written on separate sheets of their royal note paper. + +We had a very good time in Berlin. The presence of Sousa and his band +there gave it an American flavour that was very delightful. The Doctor's +interest was really centred in visiting the little town of Württemberg, +famous for its Luther history. Dr. Dickey, Pastor of the American +Church in Berlin, became our guide on the day we visited the haunts of +Luther. One day we went through the Kaiser's Palace at Potsdam, where my +daughter managed to use her kodak with good effect. + +From Berlin we went to Vienna, and thence to Munich, arriving at the +little village of Ober-Ammergau on August 25, 1900. + +Dr. Talmage's impressions of the Passion Play, which he wrote at +Ober-Ammergau on this occasion, were never published in this country, +and I herewith include them in these last milestones of his life. + + +THE PASSION PLAY AT OBER-AMMERGAU + +_By Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, D.D._ + +About fifteen years ago the good people of America were shocked at the +proposition to put on the theatrical stage of New York the Passion Play, +or a dramatic representation of the sufferings of Christ. It was to be +an imitation of that which had been every ten years, since 1634, enacted +in Ober-Ammergau, Germany. Every religious newspaper and most of the +secular journals, and all the pulpits, denounced the proposition. It +would be an outrage, a sacrilege, a blasphemy. I thought so then; I +think so now. The attempt of ordinary play actors amid worldly +surroundings, and before gay assemblages, to portray the sufferings of +Christ and His assassination would have been a horrible indecency that +would have defied the heavens and invoked a plague worse than that for +the turning back of which the Passion Play at Ober-Ammergau was +established. We might have suggested for such a scene a Judas, or a +Caiaphas, or a Pilate, or a Herod. But who would have been the Christ? + +The Continental protest which did not allow the curtain of that +exhibition to be hoisted was right, and if a similar attempt should ever +be made in America I hope it may be as vehemently defeated. But as +certain individuals may have an especial mission which other individuals +are not caused to exercise, so neighbourhoods and provinces and +countries may have a call peculiar to themselves. + +Whether the German village of Ober-Ammergau which I have just been +visiting, may have such an especial ordination, I leave others to judge +after they have taken into consideration all the circumstances. The +Passion Play, as it was proposed for the theatrical stage in New York, +would have been as different from the Passion Play as we saw it at +Ober-Ammergau a few days ago as midnight is different from mid-noon. + +Ober-Ammergau is a picture-frame of hills. + +The mountains look down upon the village, and the village looks up to +the mountains. The river Ammer, running through the village, has not +recovered from its race down the steeps, and has not been able to +moderate its pace. Like an arrow, it shoots past. Through exaltations +and depressions of the rail train, and on ascending and descending +grades, we arrived at the place of which we had heard and read so much. +The morning was as glorious as any other morning that was let down out +of the heavens. Though many thousands of people from many quarters of +the earth had lodged that night in Ober-Ammergau, the place at dawn was +as silent as a hunter's cabin in any of the mountains of Bavaria. The +Ammergauers are a quiet people. They speak in low tones, and are +themselves masters of the art of silence. Their step, as well as their +voice, is quiet. Reverence and courtesy are among their +characteristics. Though merry enough, and far from being dolorous, I +think the most of them feel themselves called to a solemn duty, that in +some later time they will be called to take part in absorbing +solemnities, for about 700 performers appear in the wonderful +performance; there are only about 1,400 inhabitants. + +While the morning is still morning, soon after 7 o'clock, hundreds and +thousands of people, nearly all on foot, are moving in one direction, so +that you do not have to ask for the place of mighty convocation. Through +fourteen large double doors the audience enter. Everything in the +immense building is so plain that nothing could be plainer, and the +seats are cushionless, a fact which becomes thoroughly pronounced after +you have for eight hours, with only brief intermissions, been seated on +them. + +All is expectancy! + +The signal gun outside the building sounds startlingly. We are not about +to witness an experiment, but to look upon something which has been in +preparation and gathering force for two hundred and sixty-six years. It +was put upon the stage not for financial gain but as a prayer to God for +the removal of a Destroying Angel which had with his wings swept to +death other villages, and was then destroying Ober-Ammergau. It was a +dying convulsion in which Widowhood and Orphanage and Childlessness +vowed that if the Lord should drive back that Angel of Death, then every +ten years they would in the most realistic and overwhelming manner show +the world what Christ had done to save it. + +They would reproduce His groan. They would show the blood-tipped spear. +They would depict the demoniac grin of ecclesiastics who gladly heard +perjurers testify against the best Friend the world ever had, but who +declined to hear anything in His defence. They would reproduce the +spectacle of silence amid wrong; a silence with not a word of protest, +or vindication, or beseechment; a silence that was louder than the +thunder that broke from the heavens that day when at 12 o'clock at noon +was as dark as 12 o'clock at night. + +Poets have been busy for many years putting the Passion Play into +rhythm. The Bavarian Government had omitted from it everything +frivolous. The chorus would be that of drilled choirs. Men and women who +had never been out of the sight of the mountains which guarded their +homes would do with religious themes what the David Garricks and the +Macreadys and the Ristoris and the Charlotte Cushmans did with secular +themes. On a stage as unpretentious as foot ever trod there would be an +impersonation that would move the world. The greatest tragedy of all +times would find fit tragedian. We were not there that August morning to +see an extemporised performance. As long ago as last December the +programme for this stupendous rendering was all made out. No man or +woman who had the least thing objectionable in character or reputation +might take part. + +The Passion Council, made up of the pastor of the village church and six +devout members, together with the Mayor and ten councillors selected for +their moral worth, assembled. After special Divine service, in which +heaven's direction was sought, the vote was taken, and the following +persons were appointed to appear in the more important parts of the +Passion Play: Rochus Lang, _Herod_; John Zwink, _Judas_; Andreas Braun, +_Joseph of Arimathea_; Bertha Wolf, _Magdalen_; Sebastian Baur, +_Pilate_; Peter Rendi, _John_; William Rutz, _Nicodemus_; Thomas Rendi, +_Peter_; Anna Flunger, _Mary_; Anton Lang, _Christ_. + +The music began its triumphant roll, and the curtains were divided and +pulled back to the sides of the stage. Lest we repeat the only error in +the sacred drama, that of prolixity, we will not give in minutiæ what we +saw and heard. The full text of the play is translated and published by +my friend, the Reverend Doctor Dickey, pastor of the American Church of +Berlin, and takes up 169 pages, mostly in fine print. + +I only describe what most impressed me. + +There is a throng of people of all classes in the streets of Jerusalem, +by look and gesture indicating that something wonderful is advancing. +Acclamations fill the air. The crowd parts enough to allow Christ to +pass, seated on the side of a colt, which was led by the John whom Jesus +especially loved. The Saviour's hands are spread above the throng in +benediction, while He looks upon them with a kindness and sympathy that +win the love of the excited multitude. Arriving at the door of the +Temple, Jesus dismounts and, walking over the palm branches and garments +which are strewn and unrolled in His way, He enters the Temple, and +finds that parts of that sacred structure are turned into a marketplace, +with cages of birds and small droves of lambs and heifers which the +dealers would sell to those who wanted to make a "live offering" in the +Temple. Indignation gathers on the countenance of Christ where +gentleness had reigned. He denounces these merchants, who stood there +over-reaching in their bargains and exorbitantly outrageous in their +charges. The doors of the cages holding the pigeons are opened, and in +their escape they fly over the stage and over the audience. The table +on which the exchangers had been gathering unreasonable percentage was +thrown down, and the coin rattled over the floor, and the place was +cleared of the dishonest invaders, who go forth to plot the ruin and the +death of Him who had so suddenly expelled them. + +The most impressive character in all the sacred drama is Christ. + +The impersonator, Anton Lang, seems by nature far better fitted for this +part than was his predecessor, Josef Mayr, who took that part in 1870, +1880, and 1890. Mayr is very tall, brawny, athletic. His hair was black +in those days, and his countenance now is severe. He must have done it +well, but I can hardly imagine him impersonating gentleness and complete +submission to abuse. But Anton Lang, with his blonde complexion, his +light hair, blue eyes and delicate mouth, his exquisiteness of form and +quietness of manner, is just like what Raphael and many of the old +masters present. When we talked with Anton Lang in private he looked +exactly as he looked in the Passion Play. This is his first year in the +Christ character, and his success is beyond criticism. In his trade as a +carver of wood he has so much to do in imitating the human countenance +that he understands the full power of expression. The way he listens to +the unjust charges in the court room, his bearing when the ruffians bind +him, and his manner when, by a hand, thick-gloved so as not to get hurt, +a crown of thorns was put upon his brow, and the officers with long +bands of wood press it down upon the head of the sufferer, all show that +he has a talent to depict infinite agony. + +No more powerful acting was ever seen on the stage than that of John +Zwink, the Judas. In repose there is no honester face in Ober-Ammergau +than his. Twenty years ago he appeared in the Passion Play as St. John; +one would suppose that he would do best in a representation of geniality +and mildness. But in the character of Judas he represents, in every +wrinkle of his face, and in every curl of his hair, and in every glare +of his eye, and in every knuckle of his hand with which he clutches the +money bag, hypocrisy and avarice and hate and low strategy and +diabolism. The quickness with which he grabs the bribe for the betrayal +of the Lord, the villainous leer at the Master while seated at the holy +supper, show him to be capable of any wickedness. What a spectacle when +the traitorous lips are pressed against the pure cheek of the Immaculate +One, the disgusting smack desecrating the holy symbol of love. + +But after Judas has done his deadly work then there comes upon him a +remorse and terror such as you have never seen depicted unless you have +witnessed the Passion Play at the foot of the Bavarian mountains. His +start at imaginary sounds, his alarm at a creaking door, his fear at +nothing, the grinding teeth and the clenched fist indicative of mental +torture, the dishevelled hair, the beating of his breast with his hands, +the foaming mouth, the implication, the shriek, the madness, the flying +here and there in the one attempt to get rid of himself, the horror +increased at his every appearance, whether in company or alone, regarded +in contrast with the dagger scene of "Macbeth" makes the latter mere +child's play. That day, John Zwink, in the character of Judas, preached +fifty sermons on the ghastliness of betrayal. The fire-smart of +ill-gotten gain, the iron-beaked vulture of an aroused conscience; all +the bloodhounds of despair seemed tearing him. Then, when he can endure +the anguish no longer, he loosens the long girdle from his waist and +addresses that girdle as a snake, crying out:-- + +"Ha! Come, thou serpent, entwine my neck and strangle the betrayer," and +hastily ties it about his neck and tightens it, then rushes up to the +branch of a tree for suicide, and the curtain closes before the 4,000 +breathless auditors. + +Do I approve of the Passion Play at Ober-Ammergau? + +My only answer is that I was never so impressed in all my life with the +greatness of the price that was paid for the redemption of the human +race. The suffering depicted was so awful that I cannot now understand +how I could have endured looking upon its portrayal. It is amazing that +thousands in the audience did not faint into a swoon as complete as that +of the soldiers who fell on the stage at the Lord's reanimation from +Joseph's mausoleum. + +Imagine what it would be to see a soldier seemingly thrust a spear into +the Saviour's side, and to see the crimson rush from the laceration. + +Would I see it acted again? No. I would not risk my nerves again under +the strain of such a horror. One dreams of it nights after. + +When Christ carrying His cross falls under it, and you see Him on His +hands and knees, His forehead ensanguined with the twisted brambles, and +Veronica comes to Him offering a handkerchief to wipe away the tears, +and sweat and blood, your own forehead becomes beaded with perspiration. +As the tragedy moves on, solemnity is added to solemnity. Not so much as +a smile in the eight hours, except the slight snicker of some fool, such +as is sure to be found in all audiences, when the cock crew twice after +Peter had denied him thrice. + +What may seem strange to some, I was as much impressed with Christ's +mental agony as with his physical pangs. Oh! what a scene when in +Gethsemane He groaned over the sins of the world for which He was making +expiation, until the angelic throngs of heaven were so stirred by His +impassioned utterance that one of their white-winged number came out and +down to comfort the Angel of the New Covenant! + +Some of the tableaux or living pictures between the acts of this drama +were graphic and thrilling, such as Adam and Eve expelled from +arborescence into homelessness; Joseph, because of his picturesque +attire sold into serfdom, from which he mounts to the Prime Minister's +chair; the palace gates shut against Queen Vashti because she declines +to be immodest; manna snowing down into the hands of the hungry +Israelites; grapes of Eshcol so enormous that one cluster is carried by +two men on a staff between them; Naboth stoned to death because Ahab +wants his vineyard; blind Samson between the pillars of the Temple of +Dagon, making very destructive sport for his enemies. These tableaux are +chiefly intended as a breathing spell between the acts of the drama. The +music rendered requires seven basses and seven tenors, ten sopranos and +ten contraltos. Edward Lang has worked thirty years educating the +musical talent of the village. The Passion Play itself is beyond +criticism, though it would have been mightier if two hours less in its +performance. The subtraction would be an addition. + +The drama progresses from the entering into Jerusalem to the +condemnation by the Sanhedrim, showing all the world that crime may be +committed according to law as certainly as crime against the law. + +Oh, the hard-visaged tribunal; countenances as hard as the spears, as +hard as the spikes, as hard as the rocks under which the Master was +buried! Who can hear the metallic voice of that Caiaphas without +thinking of some church court that condemned a man better than +themselves? Caiaphas is as hateful as Judas. Blessed is that +denomination of religionists which has not more than one Caiaphas! + +On goes the scene till we reach the goodby of Mary and Christ at +Bethany. Who will ever forget that woman's cry, or the face from which +suffering has dried the last tear? Who would have thought that Anna +Flunger, the maiden of twenty-five years, could have transformed her +fair and happy face into such concentration of gloom and grief and woe? +Mary must have known that the goodbye at Bethany was final, and that the +embrace of that Mother and Son was their last earthly embrace. It was +the saddest parting since the earth was made, never to be equalled while +the earth stands. + +What groups of sympathetic women trying to comfort her, as only women +can comfort! + +On goes the sacred drama till we come to the foot-washing. A few days +before, while we were in Vienna, we had explained to us the annual +ceremony of foot washing by the Emperor of Austria. It always takes +place at the close of Lent. Twelve very old people are selected from the +poorest of the poor. They are brought to the palace. At the last +foot-washing the youngest of the twelve was 86 years of age, and the +oldest 92. The Imperial family and all those in high places gather for +this ceremony. An officer precedes the Emperor with a basin of water. +For many days the old people have been preparing for the scene. The +Emperor goes down on one knee before each one of these venerable people, +puts water on the arch of the foot and then wipes it with a towel. When +this is done a rich provision of food and drink is put before each one +of the old people, but immediately removed before anything is tasted. +Then the food and the cups and the knives and the forks are put in +twelve sacks and each one has his portion allotted him. The old people +come to the foot-washing in the Emperor's carriage and return in the +same way, and they never forget the honour and splendour of that +occasion. + +Oh, the contrast between that foot-washing amid pomp and brilliant +ceremony and the imitated foot-washing of our Lord at Ober-Ammergau. +Before each one of the twelve Apostles Christ comes down so slowly that +a sigh of emotion passes through the great throng of spectators. Christ +even washes the feet of Judas. Was there in all time or eternity past, +or will there be in all time or eternity to come, such a scene of +self-abnegation? The Lord of heaven and earth stooping to such a service +which must have astounded the heavens more than its dramatisation +overpowered us! What a stunning rebuke to the pride and arrogance and +personal ambition of all ages! + +The Hand of God on Human Foot in Ablution! + +No wonder the quick-tempered Peter thought it incongruous, and forbade +its taking place, crying out: "Thou shalt never wash my feet!" But the +Lord broke him down until Peter vehemently asked that his head and his +hands be washed as well as his feet. + +During eight hours on that stage it seems as though we were watching a +battle between the demons of the Pit and the seraphs of Light, and the +demons triumph. Eight hours telling a sadness, with every moment worse +than its predecessor. All the world against Him, and hardly any let up +so that we feel like leaving our place and rushing for the stage and +giving congratulations with both hands to Simon of Cyrene as he lightens +the Cross from the shoulder of the sufferer, and to Nicodemus who voted +an emphatic "No" at the condemnation, and to Joseph of Arimathea who +asks the honour of being undertaker at the obsequies. + +Scene after scene, act after act, until at the scourging every stroke +fetches the blood; and the purple mantle is put upon Him in derision, +and they slap His face and they push Him off the stool upon which He +sits, laughing at His fall. On, until from behind the curtain you hear +the thumping of the hammers on the spikes; on, until hanging between two +bandits, He pledges Paradise within twenty-four hours to the one, and +commits His own broken-hearted mother to John, asking him to take care +of her in her old age; and His complaint of thirst brings a sponge +moistened with sour wine on the end of a staff; and blasphemy has hurled +at Him its last curse, and malice has uttered concerning Him its last +lie, and contempt has spit upon Him its last foam, and the resources of +perdition are exhausted, and from the shuddering form and white lips +comes the exclamation, "It is finished!" + +At that moment there resounded across the river Ammer and through the +village of Ober-Ammergau a crash that was responded to by the echoes of +the Bavarian mountains. The rocks tumbled back off the stage, and the +heavens roared and the graves of the dead were wrecked, and it seemed as +if the earth itself had foundered in its voyage through the sky. The +great audience almost leaped to its feet at the sound of that tempest +and earthquake. + +Look! the ruffians are tossing dice for the ownership of the Master's +coat. The darkness thickens. Night, blackening night. Hark! The wolves +are howling for the corpse of the slain Lord. Then, with more pathos and +tenderness than can be seen in Rubens' picture, "Descent from the +Cross," in the cathedral at Antwerp, is the dead Christ lowered, and +there rises the wailing of crushed motherhood, and with solemn tread the +mutilated body is sepulchred. But soon the door of the mausoleum falls +and forth comes the Christ and, standing on the shoulder of Mount +Olivet, He is ready for ascension. Then the "Hallelujah Chorus" from the +700 voices before and behind the scenes closes the most wonderful +tragedy ever enacted. + +As we rose for departure we felt like saying with the blind preacher, +whom William Wirt, the orator of Virginia, heard concluding his sermon +to a backwoods congregation: + +"Socrates died like a philosopher, but Jesus died like a God!" + +I have been asked whether this play would ever be successfully +introduced into America or England. I think there is some danger that it +may be secularised and turned into a mercenary institution. Instead of +the long ride by carriages over rough mountain roads for days and days, +as formerly was necessary in order to reach Ober-Ammergau, there are now +two trains a day which land tourists for the Passion Play, and among +them may appear some American theatrical manager who, finding that John +Zwink of Ober-Ammergau impersonates the spirit of grab and cheat and +insincerity better than any one who treads the American stage, and only +received for his wonderful histrionic ability what equals forty-five +pounds sterling for ten years, may offer him five times as much +compensation for one night. If avarice could clutch Judas with such a +relentless grasp at the offer of thirty pieces of silver, what might be +the proportionate temptation of a thousand pieces of gold! + +The impression made upon Dr. Talmage by the Passion Play was stirring +and reverent. He described it as one of the most tremendous and fearful +experiences of his life. + +"I have seen it once, but I would not see it again," he said, "I would +not dare risk my nerves to such an awful, harrowing ordeal. Accustomed +as I am to think almost constantly on all that the Bible means, the +Passion Play was an unfolding, a new and thrilling interpretation, a +revelation. I never before realised the capabilities of the Bible for +dramatic representation." + +We went from Ober-Ammergau to that modern Eden for the overwrought +nerves of kings and commoners--Baden-baden, where we spent ten days. At +the end of this time we returned to Paris to enjoy the Exposition at our +leisure. Paris is always a place of brightness and pleasure. King +Leopold of Belgium was among the distinguished guests of the French +capital, whom we saw one day while driving in the Bois. We made visits +to Versailles and the palace of Fontainebleau. The Doctor enjoyed these +trips into the country, and always manged to make his arrangements so +that he could go with us. From Paris we went to London for a farewell +visit. Dr. Talmage had promised to preach in John Wesley's chapel in the +City Road, known as "The Cathedral of Methodism." + +On Sunday, September 30, 1900, the crowd was so great that had come to +hear Dr. Talmage that a cordon of police was necessary to guard the big +iron gates after the church was filled. The text of his sermon that day +was significant. It may have been a conception of his own life work--its +text. It was taken from a passage in the eleventh chapter of Daniel:-- + +"The people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits." + +It is difficult to conceive of the enthusiasm that Dr. Talmage aroused +everywhere the immense crowds that gathered to see and hear him. During +our stay in London this time, after a preaching service in a church in +Piccadilly, the wheels of our carriage were seized and we were like a +small island in a black sea of restless men and women. The driver +couldn't move. The Doctor took it with great delight and stood up in the +carriage, making an address. From where he was standing he could not see +the police charging the crowd to scatter them. When he did, he realised +that he was aiding in obstructing the best regulated thoroughfare in +London. Stopping his address, he said, "We must recognise the authority +of the law," and sat down. It was said that Dr. Talmage was the only man +who had ever stopped the traffic in Piccadilly. + +From London Dr. Talmage and I went together for a short visit to the +Isle of Wight, and later to Swansea where he preached; we left the girls +with Lady Lyle, at Sir John Lyle's house in London. + +It had become customary whenever the Doctor made an address to ask me to +sit on the platform, and in this way I became equal to looking a big +audience in the face, but one day the Doctor over-estimated my talents. +He came in with more than his usual whir, and said to me: + +"Eleanor, I have been asked if you won't dedicate a new building at the +Wood Green Wesleyan Church in North London. I said I thought you would, +and accepted for you. Won't you please do this for me?" + +There was no denying him, and I consented, provided he would help me +with the address. He did, and on the appointed day when we drove out to +the place I had the notes of my speech held tightly crumpled in my +glove. There was the usual crowd that had turned out to hear Dr. Talmage +who was to preach afterwards, and I was genuinely frightened. I remember +as we climbed the steps to the speaker's platform, the Doctor whispered +to me, "Courage, Eleanor, what other women have done you can do." I +almost lost my equilibrium when I was presented with a silver trowel as +a souvenir of the event. There was nothing about a silver trowel in my +notes. However, the event passed off without any calamity but it was my +first and last appearance in public. + +As the time approached for us to return to America the Doctor looked +forward to the day of sailing. It had all been a wonderful experience +even to him who had for so many years been in the glare of public life. +He had reached the highest mark of public favour as a man, and as a +preacher was the most celebrated of his time. I wonder now, as I realise +the strain of work he was under, that he gave me so little cause for +anxiety considering his years. He was a marvel of health and strength. +There may have been days when his genius burned more dimly than others, +and often I would ask him if the zest of his work was as great if he was +a bit tired, hoping that he would yield a little to the trend of the +years, but he was as strong and buoyant in his energies as if each day +were a new beginning. His enjoyment of life was inspiring, his hold upon +the beauty of it never relaxed. + +From London we went to Belfast, on a very stormy day. Dr. Talmage was +advised to wait a while, but he had no fear of anything. That crossing +of the Irish Channel was the worst sea trip I ever had. We arrived in +Belfast battered and ill from the stormy passage, all but the Doctor, +who went stoically ahead with his engagements with undiminished vigour. +Going up in the elevator of the hotel one day, we met Mrs. Langtry. Dr. +Talmage had crossed the ocean with her. + +"Won't you come and see my play to-night?" she asked him. + +"I am very sorry, Madame, but I am speaking myself to-night," said the +Doctor courteously. He told me afterwards how fortunate he felt it to be +that he was able to make a real excuse. Invitations to the theatre +always embarrassed him. + +From Belfast we went to Cork for a few days, making a trip to the +Killarney lakes before sailing from Queenstown on October 18, 1900, on +the "Oceanic." + +"Isn't it good to be going back to America, back to that beautiful city +of Washington," said the Doctor, the moment we got on board. + +Whatever he was doing, whichever way he was going, he was always in +pursuit of the joy of living. Although the greatest year of my life was +drawing to a close, it all seemed then like an achievement rather than a +farewell, like the beginning of a perfect happiness, the end of which +was in remote perspective. + + + + +THE LAST MILESTONE + +1900-1902 + + +There was no warning of the divine purpose; there was no pause of +weakness or illness in his life to foreshadow his approaching end. Until +the last sunset hours of his useful days he always seemed to me a man of +iron. He had stood in the midst of crowds a towering figure; but away +from them his life had been a studied annihilation, an existence of +hidden sacrifice to his great work. He used to say to me: "Eleanor, I +have lived among crowds, and yet I have been much of the time quite +alone." But alone or in company his mind was ever active, his great +heart ever intent on his apostolate of sunshine and help towards his +fellow-men. And the good things he said were not alone the utterances of +his public career; they came bubbling forth as from a spring during the +course of his daily life, in his home and among his friends, even with +little children. Books have been written styled, "Conversations of +Eminent Men"; and I have often thought had his ordinary conversations +been reported, or, better, could the colossal crowds who admired him +have been, as we, his privileged listeners, they would have been no less +charmed with his brilliant talk than with the public displays of +eloquence with which they were so captivated. + +Immediately after his return from Europe in the autumn of 1900, Dr. +Talmage took up his work with renewed vigour and enthusiasm. He stepped +back into his study as if a new career of preaching awaited him. Never, +indeed, had a Sunday passed, since our union, on which he had not given +his divine message from the pulpit; never had he missed a full, arduous, +wearisome day's work in his Master's vineyard. But I think Dr. Talmage +now wrote and preached more industriously and vigorously than I had ever +seen him before. His work had become so important an element in the +character of American life, and in the estimate of the American +people--I might add, in that of many foreign peoples, too--that his +consciousness of it seemed to double and treble his powers; he was +carried along on a great wave of enthusiasm; and in the joy of it all, +we, with the thousands who bowed before his influence, looked naturally +for a great many years of a life of such wide-spread usefulness. Over +him had come a new magic of autumnal youth and strength that touched the +inspirations of his mind and increased the optimism of his heart. No one +could have suspected that the golden bowl was so soon to be broken; that +the pitcher, still so full of the refreshing draughts of wisdom, was +about to be crushed at the fountain. But so it was to be. + +Invigorated by his delightful foreign trip, Dr. Talmage now resumed his +labours with happy heart and effervescing zeal. He used to say: "I don't +care how old a man gets to be, he never ought to be over eighteen years +of age." And he seemed now to be a living realisation of his words. He +had given up his regular pastorate at the First Presbyterian Church in +Washington, that he might devote himself to broader responsibilities, +which seemed to have fallen upon him because of his world-wide +reputation. I cannot forbear quoting here--as it reveals so much the +character of the man--a portion of his farewell letter, the mode he took +of giving his parting salutation: + + "The world is full of farewells, and one of the hardest words to + utter is goodby. What glorious Sabbaths we have had together! What + holy communions! What thronged assemblages! Forever and forever we + will remember them.... And now in parting I thank you for your + kindness to me and mine. I have been permitted, Sabbath by Sabbath, + to confront, with the tremendous truths of the Gospel, as genial and + lovely, and cultivated and noble people as I ever knew, and it is a + sadness to part with them.... May the richest blessing of God abide + with you! May your sons and daughters be the sons and daughters of + the Lord Almighty! And may we all meet in the heavenly realms to + recount the divine mercies which have accompanied us all the way, + and to celebrate, world without end, the grace that enabled us to + conquer! And now I give you a tender, a hearty, a loving, a + Christian goodby. + + "T. DEWITT TALMAGE." + +Apart from his active literary and editorial work, he was now to devote +himself to sermons and lectures which should have for audience the whole +country. As a consequence, on re-entering his study after his long +absence, he found accumulated on his desk an immense number of +invitations to preach, applications from all parts of the land. He +smiled, and expressed more than once his conviction that God's +Providence had marked out his way for him, and here was direct proof of +His divine call and His fatherly love. + +At a monster meeting in New York this year Dr. Talmage revived national +interest in his presence and his Gospel. Ten thousand people crowded to +the Academy of Music to hear his words of encouragement and hope. It was +the twentieth anniversary of the Bowery Mission, of which Dr. Talmage +was one of the founders. "This century," he said in part, "is to witness +a great revival of religion. Cities are to be redeemed. Official +authority can do much, but nothing can take the place of the Gospel of +God.... No man goes deliberately into sin; he gets aboard the great +accommodation train of Temptation, assured that it will stop at the +depot of Prudence, or anywhere else he desires, to let him off. The +conductor cries: 'All aboard' and off he goes. The train goes faster and +faster, and presently he wants to get off. 'Stop'! he calls to the +conductor; but that official cries back: 'This is the fast express and +does not stop until it reaches the Grand Central Station of +Smashupton.'" The sinner can be raised up, he insists. "The Bible says +God will forgive 490 times. At your first cry He will bend down from his +throne to the depths of your degradation. Put your face to the sunrise." + +Faith in God was his armour; his shield was hope; his amulet was +charity. He harnessed the events of the world to his chariot of +inspiration, and sped on his way as in earlier years. He had become a +foremost preacher of the Gospel because he preached under the spell of +evangelical impulse, under the control of that remarkable faith which +comes with the transformation of all converted men or women. The +stillness of the vast crowds that stood about the church doors when he +addressed them briefly in the open air after services was a tribute to +the spell he cast over them by the miracle of that converting grace. He +was quite unconscious of the attention he attracted outside the pulpit, +on the street, in the trains. His celebrity was not the consequence of +his endeavours to obtain it, nor was it won, as some declared, by +studied dramatic effects; it was the result of his moments of +inspiration, combined with continual and almost superhuman mental +labour--labour that was a fountain of perennial delight to him, but none +the less labour. + +If "Genius is infinite patience," as a French writer said, Dr. Talmage +possessed it in an eminent degree. Every sermon he ever wrote was an +output of his full energies, his whole heart and mind; and while +dictating his sermons in his study, he preached them before an imaginary +audience, so earnest was his desire to reach the hearts of his hearers +and produce upon them a lasting influence. His sermons were born not of +the crowd, but for the crowd, in deep religious fervour and conviction. +His lectures, incisive and far-reaching as they were in their +conceptions and in their moral and social effects, were not so +impressive as his sermons, with their undertone of divine inspiration. + +In accord with an invitation sent to us in Paris, from the Governor of +Pennsylvania, we went to Harrisburg as the guests at the Executive +Mansion, where a dinner and reception were given Dr. Talmage in honour +of his return from abroad. During this dinner, the Rev. Dr. John Wesley +Hill, then pastor of the church in Harrisburg in which Dr. Talmage +preached, told us of a rare autograph letter of Lincoln, which he owned. +It was his wish that Dr. Talmage should have it in his house, where he +thought more people would see it. The next day, Dr. Hill sent this +letter to us:-- + + "GENTLEMEN,--In response to your address, allow me to attest the + accuracy of its historical statements; indorse the sentiments it + expresses; and thank you, in the nation's name, for the sure promise + it gives. + + "Nobly sustained as the government has been by all the churches, I + would utter nothing which might, in the least, appear invidious + against any. Yet, without this, it may fairly be said that the + Methodist Episcopal Church, not less devoted than the best, is, by + its greater numbers, the most important of all. It, is no fault in + others that the Methodist Church sends more soldiers to the field, + more nurses to the hospitals, and more prayers to Heaven than any. + God bless the Methodist Church--bless all the churches--and blessed + be God, Who, in this our great trial, giveth us the churches. + + "A. LINCOLN. + + "May 18th, 1864." + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S LETTER.] + +A great welcome was given Dr. Talmage in Brooklyn, in November, 1900, +when he preached in the Central Presbyterian Church there. It was the +Doctor's second appearance in a Brooklyn church after the burning of the +Tabernacle in 1894. + +It was urged in the newspapers that he might return to his old home. The +invitation was tempting, judging by the thousands who crowded that +Sunday to hear him. In my scrapbook I read of this occasion: + +"Women fainted, children were half-crushed, gowns were torn and strong +men grew red in the face as they buffeted the crowds that had gathered +to greet the Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage at the Central Presbyterian Church +in Brooklyn." + +In the autumn of 1900, an anniversary of East Hampton, N.Y., was held, +and the Doctor entered energetically and happily into the celebration, +preaching in the little village church which had echoed to his voice in +the early days of his ministry. It was a far call backward over nearly +five decades of his teeming life. And he, whose magic style, whether of +word or pen, had enchanted millions over the broad world--how well he +remembered the fears and misgivings that had accompanied those first +efforts, with the warning of his late professors ringing in his ears: +"You must change your style, otherwise no pulpit will ever be open to +you." + +Now he could look back over more than a quarter of a century during +which his sermons had been published weekly; through syndicates they had +been given to the world in 3,600 different papers, and reached, it was +estimated, 30,000,000 people in the United States and other countries. +They were translated into most European and even into Asiatic languages. +His collected discourses were already printed in twenty volumes, while +material remained for almost as many more. His style, too, in spite of +his "original eccentricities," had attracted hundreds of thousands of +readers to his books on miscellaneous subjects--all written with a moral +purpose. Among a score of them I might mention: From Manger to Throne; +The Pathway of Life; Crumbs Swept Up; Every-day Religion; The Marriage +Ring; Woman: her Powers and Privileges. + +Dr. Talmage edited several papers beginning with _The Christian at +Work_; afterwards he took charge, successively, of the _Advance, Frank +Leslie's Sunday Magazine_, and finally _The Christian Herald_, of which +he continued to be chief editor till the end of his life. He spoke and +wrote earnestly of the civilising and educational power of the press, +and felt that in availing himself of it and thereby furnishing lessons +of righteousness and good cheer to millions, he was multiplying beyond +measure his short span of life and putting years into hours. He said: +"My lecture tours seem but hand-shaking with the vast throngs whom I +have been enabled to preach to through the press." + +His editorials were often wrought out in the highest style of literary +art. I am pleased to give the following estimate from an author who knew +him well: "As an editorial writer, Dr. Talmage was versatile and +prolific, and his weekly contributions on an immense variety of topics +would fill many volumes. His writing was as entertaining and pungent as +his preaching, and full of brilliant eccentricities--'Talmagisms,' as +they were called. He coined new words and invented new phrases. If the +topic was to his liking, the pen raced to keep time with the thought.... +Still, with all this haste, nothing could exceed the scrupulous care he +took with his finished manuscript. He once wired from Cincinnati to his +publisher in New York instructions to change a comma in his current +sermon to a semicolon. He had detected the error while reading proof on +the train." + +Dr. Talmage's personal mail was thought to be the largest of any man in +the country, outside of some of the public officers. Thousands, men and +women, appealed to him for advice in spiritual things, revealing to him +intimate family affairs, laying their hearts bare before him as before a +trusted physician of the soul. I have seen him moved to the depths of +his nature by some of these white missives bearing news of conversion to +faith in Christ wrought by his sermons; of families rent asunder united +through his words of love and broadmindedness; of mothers whose broken +hearts he had healed by leading back the prodigal son; of prisoners +whose hope in life and trust in a loving Father had been awakened by a +casual reading of some of his comforting paragraphs. + +The life of Dr. Talmage was by no means the luxurious one of the man of +wealth and ease it was sometimes represented to be. He could not endure +that men should have this aspect of him. He was a plain man in his +tastes and his habits; the impression that he was ambitious for wealth, +I know, was a false one. I do not believe he ever knew the value of +money. The possession of it gave him little gratification except for its +use in helping to carry on the great work he had in hand; and, indeed, +he never knew how little or how much he had. He never would own horses +lest he should give people reason to accuse him of being arrogantly +rich. We drove a great deal, but he always insisted on hiring his +carriages. If he accepted remuneration for his brain and heart labour, +Scripture tells us, "The labourer is worthy of his hire." He was +foremost in helping in any time of public calamity, not only in our own +country but more than once in foreign lands. And when volumes of his +sermons were pirated over the country, and he was urged to take legal +steps to stop the injustice, he said: "Let them alone; the sermons will +go farther and do more good." + +Dr. Talmage's opinions were sought eagerly, and upon all subjects of +social, political, or international interest. He was a student of men, +and kept ever in close touch with the progress of events. A voluminous +and rapid reader, he was quick to grasp the aim and significance of what +he read and apply it to his purpose. His library in Washington +contained a large and valuable collection of classics, ancient and +modern; and his East Hampton library was almost a duplicate of this. He +never travelled very far without a trunkful of books. I remember, in the +first year of our marriage, his interest in some books I had brought +from my home that were new to him. Many of them he had not had time to +read, so, in the evenings, I used to read them aloud to him. Tolstoi's +works were his first choice; together we read a life of the great +Russian, which the Doctor enjoyed immensely. + +The Bible was ever held by Dr. Talmage in extreme reverence, which grew +with his continual study and meditation of the sacred pages. He +repudiated the "higher criticism" with a vehemence that caused him to be +sharply assailed by modern critics--pronounced infidels or of infidel +proclivities--who called him a "bibliolater." He asserted and reasserted +his belief in its divine inspiration: "The Bible is right in its +authenticity, right in its style, right in its doctrine, and right in +its effects. There is less evidence that Shakespeare wrote 'Hamlet,' +that Milton wrote 'Paradise Lost,' or that Tennyson wrote 'The Charge of +the Light Brigade,' than that the Bible is God's Word, written under +inspiration by evangelists and prophets. It has stood the bombardment of +ages, but with the result of more and more proof of its being a book +divinely written and protected." "Science and Revelation are the bass +and soprano of the same tune," he said. He defied the attempts of the +loud-mouthed orators to destroy belief in the Bible. "I compare such men +as Ingersoll, in their attacks on the Bible, to a grasshopper upon a +railway-line with the express coming thundering along." + +His living portraits of Jesus, the Saviour of men, his studies of that +divine life, of the words, the actions of the Son of God, especially of +His sufferings and death, merging into the glory of His resurrection and +ascension, are all well known to those who were of his wide audience. +The sweetness, gentleness, and sympathy of the Saviour were favourite +themes with him. In a sermon on tears, he says: "Jesus had enough trials +to make him sympathetic with all sorrowful souls. The shortest verse in +the Bible tells the story: 'Jesus wept.' The scar on the back of either +hand, the scar in the arch of either foot, the row of scars along the +line of the hair, _will keep all Heaven thinking_. Oh, that Great Weeper +is the One to silence all earthly trouble, to wipe all the stains of +earthly grief. Gentle! Why, His step is softer than the step of the dew. +It will not be a tyrant bidding you hush your crying. It will be a +Father who will take you on His left arm, His face beaming into yours, +while with the soft tips of the fingers of the right hand He shall wipe +away all tears from your eyes." And here is a word of appeal to those +gone astray: "The great heart of Christ _aches_ to have you come in; and +Jesus this moment looks into your eyes and says: 'Other sheep I have +that are not of this fold.'" + +Dr. Talmage was at times acutely sensitive to the thrusts of sharp +criticism dealt to him through envy or misunderstanding of his motives. +A great writer has said somewhere: "Accusations make wounds and leave +scars"; but even the scars were soon worn off his outraged feelings by +the remembrance of his divine Master's gentleness and forgiveness. How +often have I seen the mandate, "Love your enemies; do good to them that +hate you," verified in Dr. Talmage. He could not bear detraction or +uncharitableness. His heart was so broad and loving that he seemed to +have room in it for the whole world; and his greeting of strangers on an +Australian platform, amid the heathers of Scotland, or in the Golden +Gate of California, was so free and cordial that each one might have +thought himself a dear friend of the Doctor, and he would have been +right in thinking so. Again, his sense of humour was so great that he +could laugh and "poke fun" at his critics with such ease and good humour +that their arrows passed harmlessly over his head. "Men have a right to +their opinions," he would genially say. "There are twenty tall pippin +trees in the orchard to one crab apple tree. There are a million clover +blooms to one thistle in the meadow." + +His will power was extraordinary; it was endowed with a persistence that +overcame every obstacle of his life; there was an air of supreme +confidence, of overwhelming vitality, about his every act. Nothing +seemed to me more wonderful in him than this; and it entered into all +his actions, from those that were important and far-reaching in their +consequences to the workings of his daily life in the home. Though his +way through these last milestones, during which I travelled with him, +was chiefly through the triumphal archways he had raised for himself +upon the foundations of his work, there were indications that their +cornerstone was the will power of his nature. + +Many incidents of the years before I knew him justify this opinion. One +in particular illustrates the extraordinary perseverance of Dr. +Talmage's character. When his son DeWitt was a boy, in a sudden mood of +adventure one day, he enlisted in the United States Navy. Shortly +afterwards he regretted having done so. Some one went to his father and +told him that the boy was on board a warship at Hampton Roads, homesick +and miserable. Dr. Talmage went directly to Washington, straight into +the office of Mr. Thompson, the Secretary of the Navy. "I am Dr. +Talmage," he said promptly; "my son has enlisted in the Navy and is on a +ship near Norfolk. I want to go to him and bring him home. He is +homesick. Will you write me an order for his release?" The Secretary +replied that it had become an impression among rich men's sons that they +could take an oath of service to the U.S. Government, and break it as +soon as their fathers were ready, through the influence of wealth, to +secure their release. He was opposed to such an idea, he said; and, +therefore, though he was very sorry, he could not grant Dr. Talmage's +request. The Doctor immediately took a chair in the office, and said +firmly: "I shall not leave this office, Mr. Secretary, until you write +out an order releasing my son." + +The hour for luncheon came. The Secretary invited the Doctor to lunch +with him. "I shall not leave this office, Mr. Secretary, until I get +that order," was the Doctor's reply. The Secretary of the Navy left the +office; after an absence of an hour and a half, he returned and found +Dr. Talmage still sitting in the same place. The afternoon passed. +Dinner time came round. "Dr. Talmage, will you not honour me by coming +up to my house to dine, and staying with us over night?" asked the +Secretary. "I shall not leave this office until you write out that order +releasing my son, Mr. Secretary," was the calm, persistent reply. The +Secretary departed. The building was empty, save for a watchman, to whom +the Secretary said in passing, "There is a gentleman in my room. When he +wishes to leave let him out of the building." + +About nine o'clock at night the Secretary became anxious. Telephones +were not common then, so he went down to the office to investigate; and +sitting there in the place where he had been all day was Dr. Talmage. +The order was written that night. This incident was told me by a friend +of the Doctor's. There can be no doubt that Dr. Talmage was justified in +this demand of paternal love and sympathy, since numbers of such +concessions had been made by the Secretary and his predecessors. His +daring and his pertinacity were overwhelming forces of his genius. + +In the winter months of this year I enjoyed another lecturing tour with +him through Canada and the West. The lecture bureau that arranged his +tours must have counted on his herculean strength, for frequently he had +to travel twenty-four hours at a stretch to keep his engagements. +Occasionally he was paid in cash at the end of the lecture an amount +fixed by the lecture bureau. I have seen him with perhaps $2,000 in +bills and gold stuffed away carelessly in his pocket, as if money were +merely some curious specimen of no special value. Sometimes he would +receive his fee in a cheque, and, as happened once in a small Western +town, he would have very little money with him. I remember an occasion +of this kind, because it was amusing. The cheque had been given the +Doctor as usual at the end of his lecture. It was about eleven at night, +and we were compelled to take a midnight train out to reach his next +place of engagement. At the hotel where we stayed they did not have +money enough to cash the cheque. We walked up the street to the other +hotel, but found there an equal lack of the circulating medium. It was a +bitter cold night. + +"Here we are out in the world without a roof over our heads, Eleanor," +said the Doctor, merrily. "What a cold world it is to the unfortunate." +Finally Dr. Talmage went to the ticket office of the railroad and +explained the situation to the young man in charge. "I can't give you +tickets, but I will buy them for you, and you can send me the money," +the clerk said promptly. As we had an all-day ride before us and a +drawing room to secure, the amount was not inconsiderable. I think it +was on this trip that William Jennings Bryan got on the train and +enlivened the journey for us. The stories he and the Doctor hammered out +of the long hours of travel were entertaining. We exchanged invitations +to the dining car so as not to stop the flow of conversation between Mr. +Bryan and the Doctor. We would invite him to lunch, and Mr. Bryan would +ask us to dinner, or _vice versâ_, so that the social amenities were +delightfully extended to keep us in mutual enjoyment of the trip. Dr. +Talmage and myself agreed that Mr. Bryan's success on the platform was +much enhanced by his wonderful voice. The Doctor said he had never heard +so exquisite a speaking voice in a man as Mr. Bryan's. He always spoke +in eloquent support of the masses, denouncing the trusts with vehemence. + +Travelling was always a kind of luxury to me, when we were not obliged +to stop over at some wretched hotel. The Pullman cars were palatial in +comfort compared to the hotels we had to enter. But Dr. Talmage was +always satisfied; no hotel, however poor, could alter the cheerfulness +of his temperament. + +In January, 1901, Queen Victoria died, and Dr. Talmage's eulogy went far +and wide. I quote again from my scrap-book a part of his comment on this +world event: + +"While Queen Victoria has been the friend of all art, all literature, +all science, all invention, all reform, her reign will be most +remembered for all time, all eternity, as the reign of Christianity. +Beginning with that scene at 5 o'clock in the morning in Kensington +Palace, where she asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to pray for her, +and they knelt down imploring Divine guidance until her last hour, not +only in the sublime liturgy of her established Church, but on all +occasions, she has directly or indirectly declared: 'I believe in God, +the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ, His +only begotten Son.' + +"The Queen's book, so much criticised at the time of its appearance, +some saying that it was skilfully done, and some saying that the private +affairs of a household ought not to have been exposed, was nevertheless +a book of rare usefulness, from the fact that it showed that God was +acknowledged in all her life, and that 'Rock of Ages' was not an unusual +song at Windsor Castle. + +"I believe that no throne since the throne of David and the throne of +Hezekiah and the throne of Esther, has been in such constant touch with +the throne of heaven as the throne of Victoria. Sixty-three years of +womanhood enthroned!" + +In March of 1901 Dr. Talmage inaugurated a series of Twentieth Century +Revival Meetings in the Academy of Music, in New York. It was a great +Gospel campaign in which thousands were powerfully impressed for life. +The Doctor seemed to have made a new start in a defined evangelical plan +of saving the world. Indeed, _to save_ was his great watchword, to save +sinners, but most of all to save men from becoming sinners. One of his +famous themes--and thousands remember his burning words--was "The Three +Greatest Things to Do--Save a Man, Save a Woman, Save a Child." There +was a certain anxiety in my mind about Dr. Talmage in this sixty-eighth +year of his life, and I used to tell him that he had reached the top of +all religious obligations as he himself felt them, that there was +nothing greater for him to do, and that he might now move with softer +measure to the inspired impulses of his life. But he never delayed, he +never tarried, he never waited. He marched eagerly ahead, as if the +milestones of his life stretched many years beyond. + +Our social life in Washington was subservient to Dr. Talmage's reign of +preaching. We never accepted invitations without the privilege of +qualifying our acceptance, making them subject to the Doctor's religious +duties. The privilege was gracefully acknowledged by all our friends. We +were away from Washington, too, a great deal. In the spring of this +year, 1901, the Doctor made a lecturing tour through the South, that was +full of oratorical triumphs for him, but no less marked by delightful +social incidents. There was a series of dinners and receptions in his +honour that I shall never forget, in those beautiful homes of +Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. Because of his Gospel pilgrimage of +many years in these places, Dr. Talmage had grown to be a household god +among them. + +When winter had shed his garland of snow over nature, or when we were +knee deep in summer's verdure and flowers, East Hampton was the Doctor's +headquarters. From there we made our summer trips. It was after a short +season at East Hampton in the summer of 1901, that the Doctor went to +Ocean Grove, where he delivered a Fourth of July oration, the enormous +auditorium being crowded to its utmost capacity. A few days later we +went to Buffalo, where, in a large tent standing in the Exposition +ground, Dr. Talmage lectured, his powerful voice triumphing over the +fireworks that, from a place near by, went booming up through the +heavens. After a series of Chautauqua lectures through Michigan and +Wisconsin, the Doctor finished his course at Lake Port, Maryland, near +picturesque Deer Park. These are merely casual recollections, too brief +to serve otherwise than as evidence of Dr. Talmage's tremendous industry +and energy. + +In September, 1901, came the assassination of President McKinley. Dr. +Talmage had an engagement to preach at Ocean Grove the day following the +disaster. On our arrival at the West End Hotel, Long Branch, the Doctor +went in to register while we remained in the carriage at the door. +Suddenly he came out, and I could see that he was very much agitated. He +had just received the news of the tragedy. + +"I cannot preach to-morrow," he said. "This is too horrible. McKinley +has been shot. What shall I do?" And he stood there utterly stunned; +unable to think. "Well, we will stop at the hotel to-night, at any +rate," I said, "let us go in." + +Later the Doctor tried to explain to those in charge at Ocean Grove that +he could not preach, but they prevailed upon him to deliver the sermon +he had with him, which he did, prefacing it with appropriate remarks +about the national disaster of the hour. + +The following telegram was immediately sent to the Chief of the Nation, +cut off so ruthlessly in his career of honour and usefulness:-- + + "Long Branch, September 6th. + + "President McKinley, Buffalo, N.Y. + + "The Nation is in prayer for your recovery. You will be nearer and + dearer to the people than ever before after you have passed this + crisis. Mrs. Talmage joins me in sympathy. + + "T. DEWITT TALMAGE." + +After the death of the President the Doctor preached his sermon "Our +Dead President" for the first time in the little church at East Hampton, +where it had been written in his study. In October the Doctor was called +upon to preach at the obsequies of the Rev. Dr. Sunderland, for many +years pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Washington. What a long +season of obsequies Dr. Talmage solemnised! And yet, with what supreme +optimism he defied the unseen arrow in his own life that came to pierce +him with such suddenness in April, 1902. + +The Doctor had been a good traveller, and he was fond of travelling; +but, toward the end of his life, there were moments when he felt its +fatiguing influences. He never complained or appeared apprehensive, but +I remember the first time he showed any weariness of spirit. I almost +recall his words: "I have written so much about everything, that now it +becomes difficult for me to write. I am tired." It frightened me to hear +him say this, he was so wonderful in endurance and strength; and I could +not shake off the effect that this first sign of his declining years +made upon me. He was then sixty-nine years old, and the last of the +twelve children, save his sister. + +The last sermon he ever wrote was preached in February, 1902. The text +of this was from Psalms xxxiii. 2: "Sing unto Him with the Psaltery, and +an instrument of ten strings." This was David's harp of gratitude and +praise. After some introductory paragraphs on the harp, its age, the +varieties of this "most consecrated of all instruments," its +"tenderness," its place in "the richest symbolism of the Holy +Scriptures," he writes: "David's harp had ten strings, and, when his +great soul was afire with the theme, his sympathetic voice, accompanied +by exquisite vibrations of the chords, must have been overpowering.... +The simple fact is that the most of us, if we praise the Lord at all, +play upon one string or two strings, or three strings, when we ought to +take a harp fully chorded, and with glad fingers sweep all the strings. +Instead of being grateful for here and there a blessing we happen to +think of, we ought to rehearse all our blessings, and obey the +injunction of my text to sing unto Him with an instrument of ten +strings." "Have you ever thanked God for delightsome food?" he asks; and +for sight for "the eye, the window of our immortal nature, the gate +through which all colours march, the picture gallery of the soul?" He +enumerates other blessings--hearing, sleep, the gift of reason, the +beauties of nature, friends. "I now come," he continues, "to the tenth +and last. I mention it last that it may be more memorable--heavenly +anticipation. By the grace of God we are going to move into a place so +much better than this, that on arriving we will wonder that we were for +so many years so loath to make the transfer. After we have seen Christ +face to face, and rejoiced over our departed kindred, there are some +mighty spirits we will want to meet soon after we pass through the +gates." As his graphic pen depicts the scene--the meeting with David and +the great ones of Scripture, "the heroes and heroines who gave their +lives for the truth, the Gospel proclaimers, the great Christian poets, +all the departed Christian men and women of whatever age or nation"--he +seems to have already a foretaste of the wonderful vision so soon to +open to his eyes. "Now," he concludes, "take down your harp of ten +strings and sweep all the chords. Let us make less complaint and offer +more thanks; render less dirge and more cantata. Take paper and pen and +write in long columns your blessings.... Set your misfortunes to music, +as David opened his dark sayings on a harp.... Blessing, and honour and +glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the +Lamb for ever. Amen!" + +I recall that when Dr. Talmage first read this sermon to me in his +study, he said: "That is the best I can do; I shall never write a better +sermon." I have been told that when a man says he has reached the +topmost effort of his abilities, it presages his end, and the march of +events seemed to verify the axiom. + +Dr. Talmage's last journey came about through the invitation of the +Mexican minister in Washington. The latter met Dr. Talmage at dinner, +and on hearing that he had never preached in Mexico he urged him to go +there. When the Doctor's plans had all been made, some friends tried to +dissuade him from going, secretly fearing, perhaps, the tax it would be +on his strength. Yet there was no evidence at this time to support their +fears, and the Doctor himself would have been the last to listen to any +warning. He was very busy during the few days that preceded our +departure from Washington in attending the meetings of the Committee of +distinguished clergymen who were in session to revise the creed of the +Presbyterian Church. + +The day before we left for Mexico, the Doctor told me he desired to +entertain these gentlemen, as had been his custom during all important +gatherings of representative churchmen who visited Washington. He was in +great spirits. His ideas of a social affair were definite and generous, +as we discovered that day, much to our amusement. + +"Eleanor," he said, "I feel as though I would like to have these +gentlemen to luncheon at my house to-morrow. Can you arrange it? I could +not possibly leave Washington without showing them some special +courtesy. Now, I want a real meal, something to sit down to. None of +your floating oysters, or little daubs of meat in pastry, but real food, +whole turkeys, four or five of them--a substantial meal." The Doctor's +respect for chicken patties, creamed oysters, and the usual buffet +reception luncheon, was clearly not very great. + +The luncheon was given at 1.30 on the day appointed; the distinguished +guests all came, two by two, into our house. A few weeks later, they +came again in a body, two by two, into the house of mourning. + +Besides the visiting clergy, Dr. Talmage had also invited for this +luncheon other representative men of Washington. It was the last social +gathering which the Doctor ever attended in his own home, and perhaps +for that reason becomes a significant event in my memory. After the rest +had departed, Dr. Henry Van Dyke remained for an hour or two to talk +with my husband in his study. Dr. Talmage so often referred to the great +pleasure this long interview had given him, that I am sure it was one of +the supreme enjoyments of his last spiritual milestone. + +The night before we left Washington an incident occurred that directly +concerns these pages. We had gone down into the basement of the house to +look for some papers the Doctor kept there in the safe, and in taking +them out he picked up the manuscript of his autobiography. As we went +upstairs I said to the Doctor, "What a pity that you have not completed +it entirely." + +The Doctor replied, "All the obscure part of my life is written here, +and a great part of the rest of it. When I return from Mexico I will +finish it. If anything should happen, however, it can be completed from +scrapbooks and other data." + +We went into his study and the Doctor had just begun to read it to me +when we were interrupted by a call from Senator Hanna. Dr. Talmage +particularly admired Senator Hanna, and, as they were great friends, the +autobiography was forgotten for the rest of the evening. Knowing that +the Doctor was about to leave Washington the Senator had come to wish +him goodby, and to urge him to visit his brother at Thomasville, +Georgia, where we were to stop on our way to Mexico. I remember Senator +Hanna said to the Doctor, "You will find the place very pretty; we own a +good deal of property there, so much so that it could easily be called +Hannaville." The next morning we started for the City of Mexico, going +direct to Charleston, where the Doctor preached. He was entertained a +good deal there, and we witnessed the opening of the Charleston +Exposition. + +From Charleston we went to Thomasville, Georgia, where we spent a week, +during which time the Doctor preached and lectured twice at nearby +places. It was here that we met the first accident of our journey. Just +as we were steaming into Thomasville we ran into a train ahead, and +there was some loss of life and great damage. Fortunately we were in the +last Pullman car of the train. I have always believed that the shock of +this accident was the beginning of the end for Dr. Talmage. He showed no +fear, and he gave every assistance possible to others; but, in the +tension of the moment, in his own self-restraint for the sake of +others, I think that he overtaxed his strength more than he realised. I +never wanted to see a train again, and begged the Doctor to let us +remain in Thomasville the rest of our lives. The next morning, however, +Dr. Talmage started out on a preaching engagement in the neighbourhood +by train, but we remained behind. Our stay in Thomasville was made very +enjoyable by the relatives of Senator Hanna, whose beautiful estates +were a series of landscape pictures I shall always remember. Although +the Doctor was obliged to be away on lecturing engagements three times +during the week he enjoyed the drives about Thomasville with us while he +was there. Our destination after leaving Thomasville was New Orleans, +where Dr. Talmage was received as if he had been a national character. +He was welcomed by a distinguished deputation with the utmost +cordiality. _The Christian Herald_ said of this occasion: "When he went +on the following Sunday to the First Presbyterian Church he found a +great multitude assembled, the large building densely packed within and +a much vaster gathering out of doors unable to obtain admittance. +Thousands went away disappointed. He spoke with even more than usual +force and conviction." Never were we more royally entertained or fêted +than we were here. From New Orleans we went to San Antonio, where we +stopped off for two or three days' sight-seeing. The Doctor was urged to +preach and lecture while he was there; but he excused himself on the +ground of a previous engagement, promising, however, to lecture in San +Antonio on his return trip to Washington. + +On our way from San Antonio to the City of Mexico our train ran into one +of the sand-storms, for which the Mexican country is famous at certain +times of the year; and we were at a standstill on a side track at a +small station for twenty-four hours. The food was execrable, the wind +and sand were choking, and the whole experience trying in the extreme. +We were warned against thieves of the neighbourhood, and, during the +night we were locked in the cars to ensure the safety of our belongings. +In spite of these precautions a shawl which the Doctor valued, because +it had been presented to him by the citizens of Melbourne, Australia, +was stolen during the night through an open window. They were not +bashful those thieves of the sandstorm. From a private car attached to +the rear of our train they stole a refrigerator bodily off the platform. + +The Doctor had long been suffering from his throat, and all these +annoyances had the effect of increasing the painful symptoms to such a +degree that when we finally got into the city of Mexico on Saturday, +March 1st, it was necessary to call a physician. Dr. Talmage had brought +with him a number of letters of introduction from Washington to people +in the City of Mexico, but the Mexican minister had written ahead of us, +and on the day we arrived people left their cards and extended +invitations that promised to keep us socially busy every day of our +week's visit. + +The Doctor was ailing a little, I thought, but not seriously. He had a +slight cold. Although he had planned to preach only in the Presbyterian +Church a week from our arrival, the people of the other Protestant +denominations urged him with such importunity that he agreed to preach +for them on the first Sunday, the day after our arrival. This was an +unexpected strain on Dr. Talmage after a very trying journey; but he +never could refuse to preach, no matter how great his fatigue. On the +following Tuesday a luncheon was given Dr. Talmage by General Porfirio +Diaz, the President of the Mexican Republic, at his palace in +Chapultepec. The Doctor enjoyed a long audience with the aged statesman, +during which the mutual interests and prospects of the two countries +were freely discussed, President Diaz manifesting himself, as always, a +friend and admirer of our government and people. During the afternoon a +cold wind had come up, and the drive home increased the Doctor's +indisposition, so that he was obliged to confine himself to his room. +Still he was up and about, and we felt no alarm whatever. On Thursday +night, he complained of a pain at the base of his brain, and at about +four in the morning I was awakened by him:-- + +"Eleanor," he said, "I seem to be very ill; I believe I am dying." The +shock was very great, it was such a rare thing for him to be ill. We +sent for the best American physician in the city of Mexico, Dr. Shields, +who diagnosed the Doctor's case as _grippe_. He at once allayed my +fears, assuring me that it would not be serious. + +Dr. Talmage had promised to lecture on Friday, March 7th, and we had +some trouble to prevent him from keeping this engagement. Dr. Shields +insisted that Dr. Talmage should not leave his room, declaring that the +exertion would be too much for him. Not until Dr. Shields had assured +Dr. Talmage that the people could be notified by special handbills and +the newspapers would he consent to break the engagement. + +On Friday night Dr. Talmage grew worse; and finally he asked to be taken +home, personally making arrangements with Dr. Shields to travel with us +as far as the Mexican border, as my knowledge of Spanish was very +limited. Eventually it became necessary for Dr. Shields to go all the +way with us. In the great sorrow that the people of Mexico felt over the +sudden illness of Dr. Talmage, their regret at his cancelled engagements +was swallowed up, and there was one great wave of sympathy which touched +us not a little. + +The journey to Washington was a painful one. Dr. Talmage kept growing +worse. All day long he lay on the couch before me in our drawing-room on +the train, saying nothing--under the constant care of the physician. +Telegrams and letters followed the patient all the way from Mexico to +the Capital city. At every station silent, awe-stricken crowds were +gathered to question of the state of the beloved sufferer. In New +Orleans we had to stay over a day, so as to secure accommodation on the +train to Washington. While there many messages of condolence were left +at the hotel, a party of ladies calling especially to thank me for the +"great care I was taking of their Dr. Talmage." + +On our route to the national city, I remember the Doctor drew me down +beside him to speak to me. He was then extremely weak and his voice was +very low: "Eleanor, I believe this is death," he said. + +The long journey, in which years seemed compressed into days, at last +came to a close. The train pulled up in Washington, and our own +physician, Dr. Magruder, met us at the station. Dr. Talmage was borne +into his home in a chair, and upstairs into his bedroom, where already +the angel of death had entered to welcome and guard him, though, alas! +we knew it not, and still hoped against hope. Occasional rallies took +place; but evidences of cerebral inflammation appeared, and the patient +sank into a state of unconsciousness, which was only a prelude to death. +Bulletins were given to the public daily by the attending physicians; +and if aught could have assuaged the anguish of such moments it would +have been the universal interest and sympathy shown from all parts of +the world. + +Readers will pardon me if I reproduce from _The Christian Herald_ a +record of the last scene. It is hard "to take down the folded shadows of +our bereavement" and hold it even to the gaze of friends. + +"After a painful illness, lasting several weeks, America's best-beloved +preacher, the Reverend Thomas DeWitt Talmage, passed from earth to the +life above, on April 12th, 1902. Ever since his return from Mexico, +where he was prostrated by a sudden attack which rapidly assumed the +form of cerebral congestion, he had lain in the sick chamber of his +Washington home, surrounded by his family and cared for by the most +skilful physicians. Each day brought its alternate hopes and fears. Much +of the time was passed in unconsciousness; but there were intervals +when, even amid his sufferings, he could speak to and recognise those +around him. No murmur or complaint came from his lips; he bore his +suffering bravely, sustained by a Higher Power. The message had come +which sooner or later comes to all, and the aged servant of God was +ready to go; he had been ready all his life. + +"Occasional rallies took place, raising hopes which were quickly +abandoned. From April 5th to April 12th these rallies occurred at +frequent intervals, always followed by a condition of increased +depression, more or less augmented fever and partial unconsciousness. On +Saturday, April 12th, a great change became apparent. For many hours the +patient had been unconscious. As the day wore on, it became evident that +he could not live through another night. All of Dr. Talmage's +family--his wife, his son, the Rev. Frank DeWitt Talmage, of Chicago; +Mrs. Warren G. Smith and Mrs. Daniel Mangam, of Brooklyn; Mrs. Allen E. +Donnan, of Richmond; and Mrs. Clarence Wycoff and Miss Talmage, were +gathered in the chamber of death. Dr. G.L. Magruder, the principal +physician, was also in attendance at the last. At 9.25 o'clock p.m., the +soul took flight from the inanimate clay, and the spirit of the world's +greatest preacher was released." + +The Rev. T. Chalmers Easton, an old and valued friend of Dr. Talmage, +was in frequent attendance upon him, and never ceased his ministrations +until the eyes of the beloved one were closed in death. A brief excerpt +from his address at the Memorial Service of the Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage +held at the Eastern Presbyterian Church, Washington, may not be +unacceptable to the reader: + +"A truly great man or eloquent orator does not die-- + + 'And is he dead whose glorious mind + Lifts thine on high? + To live in hearts we leave behind + Is not to die.' + +"What shall we say of the prince in Israel who has left us? Can we +compress the ocean into a dewdrop? No more is it possible to condense +into one brief hour what is due to the memory of our beloved and +illustrious friend. His moral courage was only equalled by his giant +frame and physical strength. He was made of the very stuff that martyrs +are made of: one of the most remarkable individualities of our time. A +man of no negative qualities, aggressive and positive. + +"His whole soul was full of convictions of right and duty. A firm +friend, a man of ready recognition, a human magnet in his focalising +power. He was true in every deed, and never needed a veil to be +drawn.... If, as his personal friend for more than twenty years, I +should attempt to open up the treasures of his real greatness, where +shall we find more of those sterling virtues that poets have sung, +artists portrayed, and historians commended? He was truly a great man--a +man of God! + +"The last years of his life were full of happiness in the living +companionship of her who so sadly mourns his departure. He frequently +spoke to me of the great inspiration brought into these years by her +ceaseless devotion to all his plans and work, making what was burdensome +in his accumulating literary duties a pleasure.... The last fond look of +recognition was given to his beloved wife, and the last word that fell +from his lips, when far down in the valley, was the sweetest music to +his ears--'Eleanor.' + +"It was said once by an eminent writer that when Abraham Lincoln, the +forest-born liberator, entered Heaven, he threw down at God's throne +three million yokes as the trophies of his great act of emancipation; as +great as that was, I think it was small, indeed, compared with the tens +of thousands of souls Talmage redeemed from the yokes of sin and shame +by the glorious Gospel preached with such fervour and power of the Holy +Ghost. What a mighty army stood ready to greet him at the gates of the +heavenly city as the warrior passed in to be crowned by his Sovereign +and King!" + +The funeral services were held at the Church of the Covenant, +Washington, on April 15th. The ceremony began at 5 p.m., with the "Dead +March from Saul," and lasted considerably over an hour. The coffin +rested immediately in front of the pulpit, and over it was a massive bed +of violets. On a silver plate was the inscription: + + THOMAS DEWITT TALMAGE, + JANUARY 7TH, 1832-APRIL 12TH, 1902 + +The floral offerings were numerous, including a wreath of white roses +and lilies of the valley sent by President and Mrs. Roosevelt. The +officiating clergymen were the Rev. Dr. T.S. Hamlin, pastor of the +Church; the Rev. Dr. T. Chalmers Easton, of Washington; and the Rev. +Drs. S.J. Nicols, and James Demarest, of Brooklyn. A male quartette +sang: "Lead, Kindly Light," a favourite hymn of Dr. Talmage; "Beyond the +Smiling and the Weeping"; and "It is well with my Soul." The addresses +of the Reverend Doctors were eulogistic of the dead preacher, of whom +they had been intimate friends for more than a quarter of a century. The +body lay in state four hours, during which thousands passed in review +around it. + +At midnight the remains of Dr. Talmage were conveyed by private train to +Brooklyn, where the burial took place in Greenwood Cemetery. The funeral +_cortége_ arrived about ten o'clock in the morning; hundreds were +already in the cemetery, waiting to behold the last rites paid to one +they revered and loved. The Episcopal burial service was read by the +Rev. Dr. Howard Suydam, an old friend and classmate of Dr. Talmage, who +made a brief address, and concluded the simple ceremonies by the recital +of the Lord's Prayer. + +Tributes were paid to the illustrious dead all over the civilised world, +and in many languages; while thousands of letters of condolence and +telegrams assured the family in those days of affliction that human +hearts were throbbing with ours and fain would comfort us. One wrote +feelingly: + +"When Dr. Talmage described the Heavenly Jerusalem, he seemed to feel +all the ecstatic fervour of a Bernard of Cluny, writing: + + 'For thee, O dear, dear Country! + Mine eyes their vigils keep; + For very love beholding + Thy holy name, they weep.'" + +And it seems to me that I cannot better close this altogether unworthy +sketch of Dr. Talmage than by offering the reader as a parting +remembrance, in its simple beauty, his "Celestial Dream": + +"One night, lying on my lounge when very tired, my children all around +me in full romp and hilarity and laughter, half awake and half asleep, I +dreamed this dream: I was in a far country. It was not in Persia, +although more than oriental luxuries crowned the cities. It was not the +tropics, although more than tropical fruitfulness filled the gardens. It +was not Italy, although more than Italian softness filled the air. And I +wandered around looking for thorns and nettles, but I found that none of +them grew there; and I saw the sun rise and watched to see it set, but +it set not. And I saw people in holiday attire, and I said, 'When will +they put off all this, and put on workman's garb, and again delve in the +mine or swelter at the forge?' But they never put off the holiday +attire. + +"And I wandered in the suburbs of the city to find the place where the +dead sleep, and I looked all along the line of the beautiful hills, the +place where the dead might most blissfully sleep, and I saw towers and +castles, but not a mausoleum or a monument or a white slab was to be +seen. And I went into the chapel of the great town, and I said: 'Where +do the poor worship, and where are the benches on which they sit?' And +the answer was made me, 'We have no poor in this country.' + +"And then I wandered out to find the hovels of the destitute, and I +found mansions of amber and ivory and gold; but not a tear could I see, +not a sigh could I hear; and I was bewildered, and I sat down under the +branches of a great tree, and I said, 'Where am I, and whence comes all +this scene?' And then out from among the leaves and up the flowery paths +and across the bright streams, there came a beautiful group thronging +all about me, and as I saw them come I thought I knew their step, and as +they shouted I thought I knew their voices, but they were so gloriously +arrayed in apparel such as I had never before witnessed, that I bowed as +stranger to stranger. But when again they clapped their hands and +shouted 'Welcome! Welcome!' the mystery all vanished, and I found that +time had gone and eternity had come, and we were all together again in +our new home in Heaven. + +"And I looked around, and I said, 'Are we all here?' And the voices of +many generations responded, 'All here!' And while tears of gladness were +raining down our cheeks, and the branches of the Lebanon cedars were +clapping their hands, and the towers of the great city were chiming +their welcome, we all together began to leap and shout and sing, 'Home, +home, home, home!'" + + + + +INDEX + +Abbott, Emma, her bequest to the Brooklyn Tabernacle, 244; + character, 244. +Aberdeen, Lord and Lady, 299. +Adams, Edwin, 71. +Adams, John, his administration, 8. +Adler, Dr., 118. +Agnus, General Felix, 223. +Alba, 368. +Albany, intemperance, 45; + bribery, 46; + lobbyists driven out, 132. +Alice, Princess, her death, 90. +Allen, Barbara, case of, 82. +"America," s.s., length of voyage, 135. +Ames, Coates, 74. +Amoy, 19. +Anarchists, execution of, 198. +Anglo-American Commission, members of the, 325. +Annapolis, 326. +Arkell, W.J., 224. +Arthur, Chester A., elected President, 115; + relinquishes office, 143; + at Lexington, 188, 278; + his death, 188. +Astor, Mrs. William, 55; + her death, 200; + will, 200. +Atlantic, passage across, reduction, 99. +Austen, Colonel, 221, 241. +Avery, Miss Mary, her marriage, 25 _note_. + +Baden-baden, 388. +Bakewell, 351. +Ball club, a ministerial, 49. +Banks, Rev. Dr. Louis Albert, 281. +Barnes, Rev. Alfred, 48. +Barnes, General Alfred C., 241. +Barnes, Alfred S., 207. +Bartholdi statue, 149, 150. +Baskenridge, 4. +Bayne, John, heroism of, 134. +Beaconsfield, Lord, 104; + amount given for his "Endymion," 107, 109. +Beck, Senator, 276. +Bedloe's Island, 149. +Beecher, Rev. Henry Ward, his views on theology, 119; + celebration of his fortieth year of pastoral service, 186; + character of his discourses, 187. +Belfast, 391. +Belgium, King Leopold of, in Paris, 388. +Belleville, Reformed Church at, 18. +Bellows, Rev. Dr., 116. +Benton, Thomas H., 104. +Berg, Rev. Dr., 48. +Bergh, Professor Henry, his defence of animals, 100; + opposition to vivisection, 100; + his death, 208. +Berlin, 374. +Bethune, George W., 186. +Betting, practice of, in America, 147. +Bible, Higher Criticism, 253. +Bill, Buffalo, 261. +Bird, Mrs., 244. +Birds, the slaughter of, 184. +Birmingham, 267. +Birmingham, Alabama, cyclone at, 340. +Blackburn, Governor, 275; + his reception of Dr. Talmage, 276; + speech, 278. +Blackburn, Mrs., 278. +Blaine, James G., candidate for the Presidency, 138; + reports against, 138; + his vigour and exhaustion, 139; + reception at the White House, 144; + cartoons of, 175. +Boardman, Rev. Dr., 48. +Bobolinks, number of, killed, 184. +Bobrinsky, Count, 263, 283. +Boer War, 347. +Bond, Mr., 72. +Bonnet & Co., failure of, 76. +Bonynge, Mrs., 261. +Boody, Hon. David A., 241, 281. +Boston, conflagration of 1872, 231; + Union Church of 49. +Bound Brook, 9. +Bowery Mission, anniversary, 395. +Bowles, Samuel, 131. +Brainerd, Dr., 38. +Branch, F.H., 269. +Brewer, Justice, 337. +Brewers' Association, demand, 162. +Bribery, practice of, 165-167. +Briggs, Dr., 245. +Brighton Beach, races at, 147. +Broadhead, Rev. Dr., 91. +Brooklyn, corrupt condition, 64, 69, 75; + custom of carrying firearms, 75; + standard of commerce, 75; + Bill for a new city charter, 78; + number crossing the ferries, 78; + Lafayette Avenue railroad scheme, 79, 88; + police force, 82; + management of public taxes, 82; + spread of communism, 83; + reign of terror, 87; + bridge, 99; + cost, 120; + opened, 122; + improvement in local administration, 99; + number of pastors, 120; + pool rooms opened, 147; + railway strike, 167; + establishment of a labour exchange, 167; + new jail, 175; + pulpit builders, 186; + committee of investigation, 193; + ovation on the return of Dr. Talmage, 241. +Brooklyn, the central Church of, 49, 50, 53; + alterations, 57. +Brooklyn Tabernacle, the first, 55; + dedication, 3, 61, 62, 249; + enlarged, 62; + rededication, 62; + amount of collections, 62, 63; + burnt down, 65, 229, 231, 284-286; + size of the new, 67, 252; + law-suit, 94; + prosperity, 162; + appeal for funds to rebuild, 232; + trustees, 233; + subscribers, 234; + consecration of the ground, 234; + cost, 242; + position, 242; + rent of pews, 243; + corner-stone laid, 245; + contents, 245; + opened, 249; + financial difficulties, 268; + celebration festival of the 25th anniversary of Dr. Talmage's + pastorate, 280-283; + letter from the Trustees, 287. +Brooks, Erastus, 131. +Brooks, Phillips, 261, 272. +Brower, Commissioner George V., 241. +Brown, Henry Eyre, 281. +Brown, Dr. John, 60. +Brown, Dr., amount of his salary, 247. +Brown, Senator, of Georgia, 110. +Bryan, William Jennings, 406; + his wonderful voice, 406. +Bryant, William Cullen, his death, 85; + incident of, 85; + "Thanatopsis," 86; + his noble character, 86. +Buchanan, James, President, his reply cablegram to Queen Victoria, 250. +Buckley, Dr., 120. +Buffalo, 408. +Bunker Hill, 156. +Burnside, Senator, 115. +Burr, Aaron, his infamy, 8. +Burrows, Senator, 337. +Bush, Dr., his advice to students, 208. +Bushnell, Giles F., 234. +Butler, Ben F., nominated Governor of Massachusetts, 88; + candidate for the Presidency, 121. +Butter, Rev. T.G., 62. +Byrnes, Inspector, at the Press Club, 223. + +Cable service, a cheaper, 135. +Cablegram, the first, 250. +Campbell, Superintendent, 81. +Canada, 326, 405. +Canton, Ohio, 306. +Carey, Senator, 256; + at Cheyenne, 104. +Carleton, Will, 317. +Carlisle, Mr., 128. +Carlyle, Thomas, his house, 97; + portrait, 98; + library, 98; + death-bed, 110; + his opinion of Americans, 184. +Carnegie, Andrew, his gift of a library to Washington, 335. +Carpenter, Samuel, 223. +Carroll, Mr., 102. +Carson, Rev. Dr. John F., 281. +Carson, Joseph E., 234. +Cartwright, Sir Richard, 325. +Case, James S., 224. +Catlin, General, 157. +"Central-America," sinks, 134. +Chambers, Rev. Dr., 3. +Chapin, Mayor, 241. +Charleston, 414; + earthquake at, 178. +Chase, Salmon P., his death, 188. +Chatsworth, 353-355. +Chattanooga, 339. +Chelsea, 97. +Cheyenne, 104; + fashions in, 106. +Chicago, 99; + Calvary Church of, 49; + spread of communism, 83; + railway strike, 167; + execution of anarchists, 198; + conflagration of 1871, 231. +Chili, war with Peru, 117. +Chinese, legislative effort to exclude, 90; + exclusion of, 173; + dress, 173; + immigration Bill, 304. +Chloroform, first use of, 207, 356. +Choate, Mr., 360. +Cholera, experiments on, 162. +_Christian Herald_, extract from, + on the illness and death of Dr. Talmage, 419. +Christiania, 365. +Chrysanthemum, rage for the, 158. +Church fairs, pastoral letter against, 72: +Cincinnati, 276; + differences in clock time, 189. +"City of Paris," 235. +"City of Rome," 133. +Civil War, 38; + result, 42, 74. +Clarion, Mdme, 72. +Clay, Henry, 104; + his death, 188. +Clement, Judge, 241. +Cleveland, Grover, candidate, 117; + elected Governor of New York, 121; + candidate for the Presidency, 138; + elected, 140; + his mother's Bible, 144; + reception of Mr. Blaine, 144; + cartoons, 175; + marriage, 176; + his exercise of the right of veto, 180; + tour, 198; + message to Congress, 200; + his intercourse with Dr. Talmage, 301-306; + attack of rheumatism, 303; + objections to the Chinese Immigration Bill, 304; + attacks against, 306. +Cleveland, Mrs., 297; + her characteristics, 300, 301. +Cleveland, Miss Rose, 300. +Clinton, DeWitt, 102. +Coates, A.E., 234. +Cockerill, Col. John A., at the Press Club, 223. +Colfax, Schuyler, 141. +Collier, Judge, 363. +Collier, Miss Rebekah, 346; + her diary, 350. +Collins, Mr. and Mrs. John, 261. +Collyer, Dr. Robert, amount of his salary, 247. +Colorado springs, 320. +Colquitt, Senator, 256. +Commons, House of, dynamite explosion, 142. +Communism, theory of, 83. +Coney Island, 147, 179. +Conkling, Senator Roscoe, his opposition to the Silver Bill, 80; + characteristics, 209; + death, 209. +Constantinople, earthquake, 191. +Converse, Charles Cravat, 50. +Coombs, Mr., 257. +Cooper, Fenimore, 85. +Cooper, Peter, 55, 57, 70. +Copenhagen, 363 +Corbit, Rev. William P., 33-35. +Cork, 391. +Coronado Beach, 320, 322. +Corrigan, Archbishop, 191. +Courtney, Judge, 241. +Cox, Rev. Dr. Samuel H., 186. +Cox, Mr., 128; + appointed minister to Turkey, 146; + his nicknames, 146. +Cradle, the family, 2. +Creeds, revision of the, 244. +Crosby, Dr., his ecclesiastical trial, 101. +Croy, Peter, 17. +Crystal Palace, banquet given to Dr. Talmage at, 267. +Cuba, victory in, 320. +Culver, John Y., 241. +Curry, Daniel, 196. + +Dana, Richard Henry, his death, 93; + literary works, 94. +Daniel, Senator, 256. +Darling, Charles S., 233, 269. +Davenport, E.L., 71. +Davis, Jefferson, 339. +Davis, Sir Louis, 325. +Deer Park, 409. +Demarest, Rev. Dr. James, at the funeral of Dr. Talmage, 422. +Democratic party, 46. +Denmark, the national flower "Golden Rain," 363. +Denmark, Crown Prince and Princess of, receive Dr. Talmage, 364. +Denver, 99, 320; + its age, 105; + picture galleries, 106. +Depau, Mr., his bequest to religion, 194. +Depew, Chauncey M., 223. +Derbyshire, 351. +Dewey, Admiral, 348. +DeWitt, Dr., 187. +DeWitt, Gasherie, 31. +Diaz, Gen. Porfirio, President of Mexico, 417; + his interview with Dr. Talmage, 417. +Dickens, Charles, result of insomnia, 62. +Dickey, Dr., 374. +Dilke, Sir Charles, 179. +Divorce, views on, 237. +Dix, John A., 102. +Dix, Dr. Morgan, amount of his salary, 247. +Dixon, Rev. A.C., 281. +Dodge, William E., 55, 57. +Donnan, Mrs. Allen E., 420. +Doty, Ethan Allen, 224. +"Dow Junior's Patent Sermons," 16. +Dowling, Rev. Dr. John, 26. +"Dream, The Celestial," sketch, 423. +Due West, 338. +Duncan, John, 31. +Duncan, William, 31. + +"Earth Girdled, The," publication of, 289. +Earthquake at Charleston, 178; + Constantinople, 191. +East Hampton, 57, 274, 338, 408. +Eastern, Rev. T. Chalmers, on the death of Dr. Talmage, 420; + at his funeral, 422. +Edinburgh, 60, 97, 356. +Edison, Prof. Thomas, 89. +Education, views on, 152. +Ellis, Hon. E.J., 81. +Erskine Theological College, Due West, 338. +Evarts, Hon. William M., 283, 288. +Ewer, Rev. Dr., 123. + +Fairbanks, Vice-president, 337. +Fairchild, Benjamin L., 234. +Falls, Samuel B., 38. +Far-Rockaway, First Presbyterian Church at, 229. +Farwell, Senator, 261. +Faulkner, Senator, 325. +Ferguson, James B., 269. +Ferron, Dr., his experiments with cholera, 162. +Field, Cyrus W., lays the cable, 249. +Field, Chief Justice, his death, 336. +Finney, Dr., his revival meetings, 4. +Fish, Rev. Dr., 29. +Fish, Hamilton, Secretary to + General Grant, 70. +Fiske, Steven, 223. +"Florida," disaster of, 133. +Flower, Roswell P., 223. +Folger, Mr., 117. +Food, adulteration of, 131. +Foster, John, 53. +Fox, George L., 71. +Fox, G.V., 266. +Frankfort, Kentucky, 275. +Franklin, Benjamin, 173. +Frazer, Dr., 120. +Free trade question, 128. +Freeman, Mr., 94. +Frelinghuysen, Dominie, 149. +Frelinghuysen, Frederick, 149. +Frelinghuysen, Frederick T., 115, 144; + his death, 149. +Frelinghuysen, Gen. John, 149. +Frelinghuysen, Senator Theodore, 149. +Fulton Ferry, new bridge at, 99. +Funk, Dr., 157. + +Gallagher, Dr., 120. +Gallows, death by the, 198. +Gambling Pool Bill, protest against, 194. +Gambetta, 122. +Garcelon, Governor, 102. +Garfield, President, his election, 106; + attempt on his life, 111, 112; + views on Mormonism, 113; + reforms, 113; + result of his death, 113; + sermons, 114; + characteristics, 115. +Garfield, Mrs., amount subscribed, 145. +Gateville, 9. +Gedney, Judge, 224. +Geogheghan, the poet, 224. +George, Henry, 223. +Gettysburg, battle of, 38. +Gilbert, Judge, 193. +Gilmore, Pat, 224. +Gladstone, Mrs., 240; + her portrait, 240; + illness, 357. +Gladstone, Mrs. Herbert, 357. +Gladstone, Rt. Hon. W.E., 104, 150; + his policy of Home Rule for Ireland, 173, 239; + reception of Dr. Talmage, 236; + American stories, 237; + view on divorce, 237; + religion, 238; + library, 240; + congratulations, 284. +Glasgow, 355. +Goldsmith, Oliver, his struggles as an author, 108. +Gordon, Senator, 256. +Gorman, Senator, 331. +Gough, John B., his gift of oratory, 164; + dramatic power, 164. +Gould, Jay, 172. +Grace, Mr., Mayor of New York, 121. +Grain, failure of, in Europe, 103; + blockade in the United States, 103. +Grant, General, President, 92, 279; + his pension, 145; + malady, 145, 148. +Grant, Mayor, at the Press Club, 223. +Greeley, Horace, 131, 175; + his sufferings from insomnia, 62. +Greenport, 50 _note_. +Greenwood cemetery, 422. +Greenwood, Judge, 199. +Greer, Dr., amount of his salary, 247. +Gregg, Rev. Dr., 281. +Grévy, President, his resignation, 200. +Grier, Dr., President of the Erskine Theological College, Due West, 338. +Grinnell, Moses H., 57. +Guiteau, assassinates President Garfield, 113. + +Haddon Hall, 351-353; + romance of, 352. +Hagerstown, 221. +Hall, Rev. Dr., 154. +Hall, Dr. John, amount of his salary, 247. +Hall, Rev. Dr. Newman, 97; + at the Mansion House, 260. +Hall, Robert, 53. +Halstead, Murat, 283. +Hamilton, Rev. J. Benson, 241. +Hamilton Club, 224. +Hamlin, Rev. Dr. T.S., at the funeral of Dr. Talmage, 422. +Hampton, Governor Wade, 81. +Hancock, John, 173. +Handy, Moses P., 223. +Hanna, Rev. Dr., his death, 254. +Hanna, Senator, 414. +Hardman, Dr., 21, + his method of examining Dr. Talmage, 22. +Harlan, Justice, 337. +Harper, E.B., 224. +Harrisburg, 396; + intemperance, 45; + bribery, 46. +Harrison, President Benjamin, 257. +Harrison, Rev. Leon, 241. +Harrison, William Henry, 114, 257. +Hatch, A.S., President of the New York Exchange, 135. +Hatch, Rufus, 224. +Hawarden, 236, 357. +Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 107. +Hayes, President, 70; + character of his message, 74. +Hazlitt, William, his struggles as an author, 108. +Helsingfors, 368. +Henderson, Mr., 321. +Hendricks, Thomas A., Vice-president, 158; + his character, 159; + invulnerability to attacks, 159; + religious views, 160. +Hendrix, Joseph C., 124, 241, 283. +Hermann, 223. +Herschel, Lord, 325; + his illness and death, 326. +Hewitt, Abram S., elected Mayor of New York, 188. +Hicks-Lord case, 76. +High Bridge, 275, 276. +Hill, Rev. Dr. John Wesley, 396. +Hill, Rowland, 97. +Hill, Senator, 105. +Hilton, Judge Henry, 116, 223. +Holy Land, 235. +Holyrood Palace, 59. +Home Missionary meeting, in Carnegie Hall, 305. +Howard, Joseph, 224. +Howell, Mayor, his report on the condition of Brooklyn, 81. +Hudson, 37. +Hugo, Victor, 107. +Hull, Isaac, 125. +Huntington, Dr., amount of his salary, 247. +Hutchinson, Dr. Joseph, 196. +Hydrophobia, inoculations against, 162. + +India, famine in, 298. +Indiana, elections, 124. +Ingersoll, Colonel Robert, 70. +Inness, Fred, 221. +Insomnia, sufferings from, 62. +Iowa, prohibition in, 193. +Ireland, Home Rule for, 173, 239. +Irish Channel, crossing the, 391. +Irving, Washington, 85; + "Knickerbocker," 94; + appointed Minister to Spain, 146. +Isle of Wight, 389. + +Jackson, Gen. Andrew, 156. +Jaehne, Mr., his incarceration, 175. +Jamaica, Long Island, synodical trial at, 101. +James, General, his reforms in the Post Office, 113. +Jamestown, 339. +Jefferson, Joseph, 332. +Jefferson, Thomas, inaugurated, 174. +Jews, persecution of, in Russia, 118; + settle in America, 119. +Johnson, Andrew, President, charges against, 157. +Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 53; + his epitaph, 210. +Johnstown, result of the flood at, 228. + +"Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse," 346. +Kansas, 193; + its age, 105; + prohibition in, 193. +Katrine, Loch, 356. +Kean, Edmund, 71. +Keeley, Dr. Leslie, 254. +Keller, John W., 224. +Kennedy, Dr., 187. +Killarney lakes, 391. +King, Gen. Horatio C., 224, 241. +Kingsley, Mr., 207. +Kinsella, Thomas, 100, 130. +Kintore, Earl of, 298, 356. +Klondike, arrival of gold-diggers from, 321. +Knox, E.M., 234. +Knox, John, his grave, 355. +Knox, J. Amory, 224, 234. +Krebs, Dr., 187. + +Lafayette Avenue, railroad scheme, defeat of, 79. +Lake Port, Maryland, 409. +Lamb, Col. Albert P., 224. +Lamb, Charles, on the adulteration of food, 131. +Lambert, Dr., case of, 75. +Lang, Anton, takes part in the Passion Play, 380. +Langtry, Mrs., 391. +Lansing, Rev. Dr. I.J., 283. +Laurence, Amos, 55. +Laurier, Sir Wilfred, 325. +Lawrence, E.H., 233. +Lawrence, F.W., 286. +Leadville, its age, 105; + number of telephones, 105; + vigilance committee, 106. +Leamington, 358. +Lectures, fees for, 40. +Lee, General, his invasion of Pennsylvania, 38. +Leeds, collection at, 97. +Lennox, James, 55, 194. +Leslie, Frank, the pioneer of pictorial journalism, 102. +Lexington, 188, 275, 276. +Liberty, statue of, 148-150. +Lies, system of, 197. +Lincoln, Abraham, 37; + violation of his sepulchre, 161; + his letter, 397. +Lincoln, Robert, Secretary of War, 113. +Lind, Jenny, 14. +Lindsay, Rev. E.P., 338. +Liverpool, 357; + addresses given at, 97. +Locke, Commissioner of Appeals, 107. +Lodge, Henry Cabot, 224. +Lomond, Loch, 355. +London, Lord Mayor of, his banquet at the Mansion House, 260. +Long Island, 229. +Los Angeles, 322. +Louisiana, State of, 80. +Low, Seth, Mayor of Brooklyn, 121, 133. +Lowell, James Russell, 145. +Lowndes, Governor, 326. +Lyle, Lady, 389. + +Macaulay, Lord, 188. +Mackenzie, Dr., his death, 254. +Mackey, Mrs., 261. +Mackinaw Island, 339. +Madison, 273. +Magruder, Dr. G.L., 418, 420. +Maine, outbreak in, 102. +Malone, Rev. Father Sylvester, 281. +Manchester, Cavendish Chapel, 348. +Manderson, Senator, 256; + his Bill for the arbitration of strikes, 172. +Mangam, Mrs. Daniel, 420. +Manning, Daniel, his death, 200. +Marietta, Ohio, 317. +Marriages, number of elopements, 137. +Martin, Mrs. Bradley, 261. +Martin, Pauline E., 234. +Mathews, Charles, his death, 85; + story of, 85. +Matthews, T.E., 286. +McAdam, Judge David, 224. +McCauley, Jerry, 136. +McCormick, Cyrus, 194. +McDonald, Senator, 261. +McElroy, Dr., 187. +McGlynn, Father, 191. +McKean, John, 125. +McKinley, President, his congratulations, 284; + election, 306; + friendship with Dr. Talmage, 330; + assassination, 409. +McLean, Alexander, 233. +McLean, Andrew, 241. +McLeod, Rev. Donald, installed pastor of the First Presbyterian + Church in Washington, 341. +Mead, W.D., 269. +Memphis, 339. +Mendes, Rabbi F. De Sol, 281. +Merigens, George T., 38. +Mershon, Rev. S.L., 57, 274. +Mexico, 416. +Michigan, 339, 409. +Middlebrook, New Jersey, 1. +Minado, 320. +Ministers, amount of salaries, in the United States, 63. +Minneapolis, 99. +Mitchell, Dr., 120. +Mitford, 108. +Modjeska, Mdme., 332. +Molière, the comedian, 72. +Monona Lake, 273. +Monroe Doctrine, 304. +Montauk Point, purchase of, 99. +Montreal, 326. +Moore, Charles A., 224. +Moore, DeWitt, 39, 43. +Morey, forgeries, 106. +Morrisey, John, 69. +Moscow, 374. +Mott, Lucretia, the quakeress, 106. +Munich, 375. +Murphy, Mr., 207. + +Nagle, Dr., 224. +Nansen, the explorer, 365. +Napier, Lord, his story of a wounded soldier, 239. +Nashville, 339. +Neilson, Judge Joseph, 133, 193, 204. +New, Mrs., 261. +New Brunswick Theological Seminary, 15. +New Orleans, 340, 415, 418; + victory, 8. +New York, corrupt condition, 64; 69; + spread of Communism, 83; + Historical Society, gift to the library, 109; + Passion Play, attempt to present, 121; + pool rooms opened, 147; + conflagration of 1835, 231; + revival meetings, 407. +New York University, 14. +"New York," 258. +Newark, 19. +Newspaper reporter, day with a, 211-220. +Newspapers, reduction in the price, 123. +Newstead Abbey, 349. +Newton, Lady, 361. +Newton, Sir Alfred, Lord Mayor, 361. +Nichols, Governor, 81. +Nicols, Rev. Dr. S.J., at the funeral of Dr. Talmage, 422. +Nightingale, Florence, note from, 359; + receives Dr. Talmage, 360. +North Cape, view from, of the Midnight Sun, 365, 366. +North River, first steamer, 8. +Northern Pacific Railroad Co., 126. +Nottingham, 260; + Albert Hall, 348. +Nutting, A.J., 234. + +Oakley, Rev. Mr., 51. +Ober-Ammergau Passion Play, 375; + impressions of, 375-388; + actors, 378. +Ocean Grove, 408. +"Oceanic," 391. +Ochiltree, Colonel Tom, 261; + at the Press Club, 223. +Ogden, 104 +Ohio, elections, 124; + River, 276. +Olcott, George M., 224. +Omaha, 99,104; + picture galleries, 106. +Osborne, Truman, 16. +"Our Dead President," sermon on, 410. + +Packer, Asa D., 194. +Paine, Tom, 71. +Palmer, A.M., 261. +Panics, view on, 290-293. +Paris, 60, 236; + Exposition of 1900, 362, 388. +Parker; Rev. Dr. Joseph, 259; + his description of Dr. Talmage's sermon, 259; + congratulations, 284. +Parkhurst, Dr., 258; + amount of his salary, 247. +Parnell, C.S., in New York, 102; + triumph on his return to England, 163. +Passaic River, 29. +Pasteur, Dr., his inoculations against hydrophobia, 162. +Patten, Dr., 120. +Paxton, Dr., amount of his salary, 247. +Payne, Mr., his song "Home, Sweet Home," 108. +Peabody, George, his will, 73. +Peace Jubilee, a national, 43. +Peck, General, defence of, 362. +Penn, William, 156. +Pennsylvania, invasion, 38; + election, 124. +Peru, war with Chili, 117. +Peterhof, Palace of, 370. +Peters, Barnard, 281. +Phelps, Mr., 145. +Philadelphia, Second Reformed Church of, 37. +Phillips, Wendell, 127. +Pierce, Dr., 369. +Pierce, Mrs., 370. +Pierce. President, opens the World's Fair, 195. +Pierce, Senator, his Bill for a new city charter for Brooklyn, 78. +Piermont, 25. +Pilgrim Fathers, in New England, 156. +Pius IX., Pope, 77. +Policies, International, lecture on, 322. +Polk, Mrs., her pension, 145. +Pollock, Robert, ex-Governor, 22; + report of his speech, 41. +"Pomerania," s.s., loss of, 89. +Pomeroy, Rev. C.S., 51. +Pond, Major, 96. +Poor, problem of the, 143. +Potomac, the, 38. +Pratt, Judge C.R., 133, 224. +Prayer, the influence of, 148. +Prentice, Mr., 207. +Press Club, dinners at, 223. +Pressly, Rev. David P., 338. +Preston, William C., 104. +Pretoria, capture of, 361. +Prime, Rev. Dr., 71. +Princeton, 301. + +Queenstown, 391. + +Railway strike, 166. +Rainsford, Dr., amount of his salary, 247. +Randall, Mr., 128. +Raymond, Henry J., 131. +Reed, Joseph, 166. +Reed, Speaker, 337. +"Rehypothication," crime of, 76. +Reid, Dr., 120. +Republican party, 46. +Reynolds, Judge, 193. +Rhode Island, 115. +Richards, Rev. Dr., 27. +Ridgeway, James W., 124. +Riley, his "Universal Philosophy," 107. +River and Harbour Bill, 143. +Robinson, Lincoln, 102. +Robinson, William E., 241, 253. +Roche, Rev. Spencer F., 281. +Rockport, new cable landed at, 135. +Rockwell, Rev. J.E., 50. +Roebling, Mr., 207. +Roosevelt, Theodore, 224, 422. +Roosevelt, Mrs., 422. +Rosa, Parepa, 43. +Roswell, Mr., 205. +Ruskin, John, 261; + his literary works, 262. +Russia, 263; + defeats Turkey, 77; + persecution of the Jews, 118; + famine, 264. +Russia, Alexander III.; Czar of, receives Dr. Talmage, 263-266; + gift to him, 280. +Russia, Nicholas II., Czar of, receives Dr. Talmage, 371. +Russia, Czarina of, receives Mrs. Talmage, 371; + her appearance, 371. +Russia, Dowager Empress of, receives Dr. Talmage, 372. +Russia, Nicholas, Grand Duke, 264. + +Sacramento, 104; + picture galleries, 106. +Sage, Russell, his loan to Brooklyn Tabernacle, 268. +Sailors, character of, 133. +St. Louis railway strike, 167. +Salt Lake City, 104, 320. +Salvation Army, meetings in Brooklyn, 222. +San Antonio, 415. +San Francisco, 322; + the first Presbyterian Church of, 49; + its age, 105; + picture galleries, 106; + amount paid by Chinese, 174. +Sand, George, character of her writings, 64. +Sanderson, driver of the stage coach, 11. +Sand-storm, a Mexican, 415. +Sanitary Protective League, organisation of, 143. +Santa Barbara, 322. +Saratoga, 319. +Scenery Chapel, 97. +Schenck, Dr. Noah Hunt, 141. +Schieren, Major, 281. +Schiller, the famous comedian, 72. +"Schiller," the, sinks, 134. +Schley, Admiral, 332, 336. +Schroeder, Frederick A., 99, 224. +Schuylkill River, 25 _note_. +Scott, Rev. James W., 22; + his kindness to Dr. Talmage, 22-24; + death, 24. +Scudder, Dr., 120. +Seattle, 321. +Seavey, George L., 135; + his gift to the library of the Historical Society, New York, 109. +Seward, William H., 102; + his death, 188. +Shafter, General, 336. +Shaftesbury, Lord, his funeral, 155; + last public act, 155; + President of various societies, 156. +Shannon, Patrick, 69. +Sharon Springs, 57. +Sharpsburg, 221. +Sheepshead Bay, races at, 147. +Sheffield, 357. +Shelbyville, 160. +Sheridan, Mr. and Mrs., 108. +Sherman, James, 97. +Sherman, John, 256, 284. +Sherman, Gen. William T., 242. +Shields, Dr., 417; + attends Dr. Talmage, 417; + accompanies him home, 418. +Siberia, 263. +Silver Bill, passed, 80. +Simpson, Bishop, 136. +Simpson, Sir Herbert, 356. +Simpson, Sir James Y., his use of chloroform, 207, 356. +Skillman, Dr., 11. +Slater, Mr., 194. +Slocum, General, 133. +Smith, Charles Emory, 223. +Smith, Rev. J. Hyatt, 189; + his life of self-sacrifice, 190. +Smith, Mrs. Warren G., 420. +Somerville, 3, 9. +Soudan war, 146. +Soulard, A.L., 268. +Southampton, 347. +South Carolina, 81. +Spain, war with the United States, 320; + investigation into, 336. +Speer, Dr. Samuel Thayer, 186. +Spencer, Dr., 54. +Spencer, Rev. W. Ichabod, 186. +Spring, Dr. Gardiner, 54, 187. +Spurgeon, Rev. Charles H., 253; + his death, 254. +Stafford, Marshal, 241. +Stanley, Dean, 116. +Staten Island, 161. +Stead, Mr., his crusade against crime, 153. +Steele, Dr., 120. +Steele, Commissioner of stamps, 107. +Stephens, Alexander H., 80. +Stevens, Mrs. Paran, 261. +Stevens, W., 30. +Stewart, Samuel B., 116. +Stillman, Benjamin A., 224. +Stockholm, Immanuel Church, 367. +Stone, Rev. Dr., 187. +Stone, Governor, 337, 346. +Storrs, Rev. R.S., pastor of the Church of Pilgrims, 186. +Stranahan, J.S.T., 120, 133, 224. +Stratford-on-Avon, 358; + the "Red Horse Hotel," 97. +Strikes, 167; + Bill for the arbitration of, 172. +Stuart, Francis H., 234. +Stuart, George H., 38. +Sullivan-Ryan prize fight, 117. +Summerfield, Dr. John, 187. +Sunderland, Rev. Dr. Byron W., 294, 410. +Suydam, Rev. Dr. Howard, at the burial of Dr. Talmage, 422. +Swansea, 267, 389. +Sweden, 367. +Swenson, Mr., 364. +Syracuse, 35. + +Talmage, Catherine, her character, 3; + conversion, 5; + covenant with her neighbours, 5; + death, 6. +Talmage, Daisy, 50 _note_. +Talmage, Daniel, 10. +Talmage, David, his Christian principles, 3; + conversion, 5; + mode of conducting prayer-meetings, 6; + fearlessness, 7; + sheriff, 7; + scenes of his life, 8; + death, 9; + sons, 9. +Talmage, Edith, 50 _note_. +Talmage, Mrs. Eleanor, her Biographical Sketch of Dr. Talmage, 311; + first meeting, 313; + marriage, 314; + accompanies him in his travels, 315, 319; + attends his lectures, 316; + held up in Yellowstone Park, 320; + received by the Czarina, 371; + dedicates the Wood Green Wesleyan Church, 390. +Talmage, Rev. Frank DeWitt, 50 _note_, 420. +Talmage, Rev. Goyn, 9. +Talmage, Rev. James R., 9. +Talmage, Jehiel, his conversion, 5. +Talmage, Jessie, 25 _note_. +Talmage, Rev. John Van Nest, 9; + missionary at Amoy, 19; + devotion to the Chinese, 91; + death, 91; + reticence, 92; + work, 93. +Talmage, Mrs. Mary, 25 _note_. +Talmage, Maud, 50 _note_, 346, 355,420. +Talmage, May, 50 _note_, 235. +Talmage, Mrs. Susan, 50 _note_, 235. +Talmage, Thomas DeWitt, his birth, 1; + ancestors, 2; + father, 3; + mother, 3; + the family Bible, 3; + conversion of his grand-parents and parents, 4; + home, 9; + childhood, 10; + early religious tendencies, 10; + at New York University, 14; + New Brunswick Theological Seminary, 19; + conversion, 16; + first sermon, 19; + ordination, 21-23; + pastorate at Belleville, 25; + marriage, 25 _note_; + children, 25 _note_, 50 _note_; + his first baptism, 26; + first pastoral visitation, 27; + first funeral, 29; + pastorate at Syracuse, 35; + first literary lecture, 36; + call to Philadelphia, 37; + amounts received for his lectures, 40, 96; + at the National peace jubilee, 43; + his fear of indolence, 48; + ministerial ball club, 49; + second marriage, 50 _note_; + call to Brooklyn, 50; + installed, 51; + charges against, 51, 58, 94; + character of his sermons, 53, 58, 315, 323, 395; + establishes the first Brooklyn Tabernacle, 55; + vacations at East Hampton, 57, 274, 338, 408; + visits to Europe, 59, 153, 258, 346; + impressions on hearing the organ at Freyburg, 59; + meeting with Dr. John Brown, 60; + in Paris, 60, 362, 388; + sermons, 62, 220, 273, 286, 290, 296, 323, 336, 348, 356, + 358, 359, 389, 396, 410-412; + on the size of the heavenly Jerusalem, 66; + his opinion of Church fairs, 72; + lecturing tours, 80, 84, 143, 159, 297, 326, 339, 348, 405, 408; + opposes the effort to exclude the Chinese, 90; + death of his brother John, 91; + Gospel meetings, 96, 289; + visits to the house of T. Carlyle, 97; + trip to the West, 104, 172, 189; + views on betting, 147; + on education, 152; + his numerous letters, 153-155; + on the demands of Society, 169-171; + views on war, 181; + at Lexington, 188; + protest against the Gambling Pool Bill, 194; + proposal of a World's Fair, 195; + on execution by electricity, 198; + advocates free trade, 200; + advice on books, 202-204; + a day with a newspaper reporter, 212-220; + his study, 212, 328; + correspondence, 213-215; + visitors, 215-218; + appearance, 218, 343; + pastoral visit, 219; + chaplain of the "Old Thirteenth" Regiment, 221; + his income, 221, 225, 246; + dinners at the Press Club, 223; + at the Hamilton Club, 224; + restlessness, 226; + mode of life, 226, 329; + squib on, 228; + on the result of the flood at Johnstown, 228; + on the lessons learnt from conflagrations, 231; + appeal for funds, 232; + consecration of the ground, 234; + his visit to the Holy Land, 235; + attack of influenza, 236; + visit to Mr. Gladstone, 236-241; + ovation on his return home, 241; + on the revision of Creeds, 244; + lays the corner stone, 245; + editor of periodicals, 245, 398; + critics, 246; + shaves his whiskers, 248; + on the Higher Criticism of the Bible, 253; + preaching tours in England, 258, 267; + views on dreaming, 258; + sermons in the City Temple, 259; + at Nottingham, 260; + at the Mansion House, 260, 361; + visits John Ruskin, 261; + reception in Russia, 263; + audience of the Czar Alexander, 263-266; + donation of his salary, 269; + resignation, 270, 293, 333; + voyages across the ocean, 275, 346; + visit to Governor Blackburn, 275-279; + meeting with Senator Beck, 276; + presentation of a gold tea-service, 280; + 25th anniversary of his pastorate, 280-283; + his speech, 282; + messages of congratulation, 284; + journey round the world, 288; + "The Earth Girdled," 289; + his views on panics, 290-293; + accepts the call to Washington, 294-296; + installed, 297; + reception at the White House, 297; + intercourse with Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland, 300-306; + interview with Major McKinley, 307; + his characteristics, 312, 315, 317, 343, 402-406; + magnetic influence, 313; + third marriage, 314; + cheerfulness, 315, 324; + mode of travelling, 315; + his lectures, 316, 348, 396; + love of flowers, 318; + in Yellowstone Park, 320; + lecture on International Policies, 322; + his sense of duty, 323; + methodical habits, 329; + friendship with President McKinley, 330; + publication of his sermons, 334, 398; + his dinner parties, 337; + at Due West, 338; + love of music, 344; + views on the Boer War, 347; + visits Newstead Abbey, 349; + Haddon Hall, 352; + Chatsworth, 353; + Scotland, 355-357; + Hawarden, 357; + "The American Spurgeon," 358; + his power as an orator, 358; + interview with Florence Nightingale, 360; + at Copenhagen, 363; + received by the Crown Prince of Denmark, 364; + ascends North Cape, 366; + preaches in Stockholm, 367; + at St. Petersburg, 368; + received by the Czar Nicholas, 371; + the Dowager Empress, 372; + at Berlin, 374; + his impressions of the Passion Play, 375-388; + at Baden-baden, 388; + preaches in John Wesley's Chapel, 388; + in Ireland, 391; + return to America, 391; + his vigour and enthusiasm for his work, 393; + welcome at Brooklyn, 397; + style of his writings, 399; + personal mail, 399; + simple tastes, 400; + libraries, 401; + reverence for the Bible, 401; + sense of humour, 403; + will power, 403; + perseverance, 403-405; + eulogy on Queen Victoria, 406; + inaugurates Revival meetings, 407; + his last sermon, 410-412; + in a railway accident, 414; + in Mexico, 416; + audience with President Diaz, 417; + his illness, 417-420; + journey home, 418; + death, 420; + funeral service, 421; + burial, 422; + tributes to, 422; + his "Celestial Dream," 423. +Tappen, Arthur, 56. +Tariff Reform question, 128, 255; + protective, 200. +Taylor, Alfred, 179. +Taylor, Bayard, his career, 90; + number of his books, 90; + death, 90. +Taylor, Rev. Dr. Benjamin C., 25. +Taylor, Robert, 179. +Taylor, Dr. William M., amount of his salary, 247. +Taylor, Zachary, 114. +Tenney, Judge, 94. +Tennyson, Lord, 156. +Terhune, Rev. E.P., 241. +Thomas, Capt., heroism of, 134. +Thomasville, 414; + accident at, 414. +Thompson, Dr. C.C., amount of his salary, 247. +Thompson, Rev. Charles L., 283. +Thompson, Mr., Secretary of the Navy, 404. +Thurber, Frank B., private secretary to President Cleveland, 224, 303, 305. +Tierney, Judge, 133. +Tolstoi, Count, 263. +Tracey, General, 133, 283. +Trenton, intemperance, 45; + bribery, 46. +Tröndhjem, 365. +Tucker, Dr. Harrison A., 233. +Turkey, defeated by Russia, 77. +Tyler, Mrs., her pension, 145. +Tyng, Rev. Stephen H., 62; + his sufferings from insomnia, 62. + +"Uncle John's Place," 9. +United States, the Civil War, 38; + result, 42, 74; + intemperance, 44; + bribery, 45, 165-167; + salaries of ministers, 63; + spread of communism, 83; + fever for spending money, 83; + predictions of disaster in 1878, 88; + legislative effort to exclude the Chinese, 90; + commercial frauds, 93; + pacification of North and South, 113; + purchase of grain, 103; + surplus for export, 103; + blockade, 103; + republican candidates for the Presidency, 104; + quality of the new Senators, 109; + interference in foreign affairs, 117; + celebration of centennials, 124; + adulteration of food, 131; + number of elopements, 137; + problem of the poor, 143; + practice of betting, 147; + demands of Society, 169-171; + the working people, 171; + number of weddings, 176; + sports, 177; + mania for rebuilding, 178; + fashions, 183; + slaughter of birds, 184; + system of taxation, 197; + of lies, 197; + war with Spain, 320. +Unrequited services, sermon on, 356, 359. + +Van Buren, cartoons of, 175. +Vanderbilt, Cornelius, his will, 73, 161; + gift to a medical institute, 141; + death, 160; + protection of his remains, 161. +Vanderbilt, Mrs., her remedy against sea-sickness, 347. +Van Dyke, Rev. Dr. Henry 51, 413. +Van Nest, John, 10. +Van Rensselaer, Mr. and Mrs., 30. +Van Vranken, Rev. Dr., 18. +Vicksburg, victory at, 38. +Victoria, Queen, character of her reign, 78; + first cablegram, 250; + her death, 406. +Vienna, 375. +Villard, Henry, 126. +Vinton, Rev. Dr., 187. +Volapük, the study of, 205. +Vredenburgh, John, 17. + +Wadsworth, Rev. Charles, 48. +Wales, Prince of, at Chatsworth, 354. +Walker, Dr. Mary, her appearance, 331. +Wall Street, failure of 1884, 134. +Wallace, William Copeland, 224. +Walsh, Senator, 283. +Ward, Ferdinand, 134. +Ward, Dr. Samuel, 19, 30. +Warner, B.H., 335. +Wars, number of, in 1885, 146; + cost, 158; + character, 181. +Warsaw, 374. +Washington, intemperance, 45; + bribery, 46; + Silver Bill passed, 80; + number of appropriation Bills, 117; + improvements, 255; + First Presbyterian Church at, 294; + library presented to, 335; + Pan-Presbyterian Council, 341. +Washington, George, 173; + his burial, 8. +Watterson, Henry, 255. +Webb, James Watson, 131. +Webster, Daniel, 86, 104; + monument erected to, 128; + his death, 188. +Webster, Lily, her baptism, 26. +Webster, Noah, his dictionary, 76, 107. +Weed, Thurlow, 131. +Wesley, John, 52; + caricatures of, 53. +Westminster Hall, dynamite outrage, 142. +Wheeler, General, 336. +White, Chief Justice, 208. +White, Doc, 224. +White, Henry Kirke, 258. +White, Mr., 361. +Whitefield, George, caricature of his preaching, 52. +Whitney, ex-Mayor, 241. +Whittemore, Miss Susan C., her marriage, 50 _note_. +Whittier, John Greenleaf, 251; + poem, 252. +Wilber, Mark D., 241. +Wilder, Marshall P., 346. +Williams, General and Mrs., 261. +Williams, William B., 224. +Wills, number of disputes over, 142. +Wilson, Henry, his death, 188. +Windom, Secretary, 113. +Winslow, Hon. John, 224, 281. +Wisconsin, 409. +Witherspoon, Dr., advice from, 154. +Wolfe, Miss, 55; + her bequest to the Church, 194. +Wood Green Wesleyan Church, dedication of, 390. +Wood, John, 233, 269. +Woodford, Gen. Stewart L., 133, 224. +Woodruff, T.L., 224. +Woodward, Mr., 157. +World's Fair, 195. +Wrench, Dr., 351, 353. +Wright, Silas, 102. +Württemberg, 374. +Wycoff, Mrs. Clarence, 420. +Wyndham, Mr., 368. + +Yellow fever, scourge of, 87. +Yellowstone Park, 320. + +Zanesville, 317. +Zwink, John, takes part in the Passion Play, 380; + character of his acting, 381. + + * * * * * + +GARDEN CITY PRESS LIMITED, PRINTERS, LETCHWORTH, HERTS. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of T. De Witt Talmage +by T. De Witt Talmage +Mrs. T. De Witt Talmage + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK T. 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