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Smith. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.linenum { + position: absolute; + top: auto; + left: 4%; +} /* poetry number */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.sidenote { + width: 20%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + .poem span.i10 {display: block; margin-left: 10em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i12 {display: block; margin-left: 12em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i30 {display: block; margin-left: 30em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i3 {display: block; margin-left: 3em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i5 {display: block; margin-left: 5em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i7 {display: block; margin-left: 7em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i9 {display: block; margin-left: 9em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 6em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i8 {display: block; margin-left: 8em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Miss Ellis's Mission, by Mary P. Wells Smith + +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: Miss Ellis's Mission + +Author: Mary P. Wells Smith + +Release Date: February 10, 2012 [EBook #38818] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS ELLIS'S MISSION *** + + + + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h1>MISS ELLIS'S MISSION.</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>MARY P. W. SMITH.</h2> + +<p class="center">BOSTON:</p> + +<p class="center">AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION.</p> + +<p class="center">1886.</p> + + +<p class="center"><i>Copyright, 1886</i>,<br /> +<span class="smcap">By American Unitarian Association.</span></p> + +<p class="center">University Press:<br /> +<span class="smcap">John Wilson and Son, Cambridge.</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center">TO<br /> +POST-OFFICE MISSION WORKERS,<br /> +WEST AND EAST,<br /> +AND TO EARNEST PEOPLE<br /> +EVERYWHERE.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<blockquote><p><i>It was a very contemptible barley-loaf she had to offer, compared with +your fine, white, wheaten cake of youth and riches and strength and +learning; but remember she offered her best freely, willingly, +faithfully; and when once a thing is offered, it is no longer the little +barley-loaf in the lad's hand, but the miraculous satisfying Bread of +Heaven in the hand of the Lord of the Harvest, more than sufficient for +the hungry multitude.</i>"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"<i>'And so there is an end of poor Miss Toosey and her Mission!'... Wait +a bit! There is no waste in nature, science teaches us; neither is there +any in grace, says faith. We cannot always see the results, but they are +there as surely in grace as in nature.</i>"</p> + + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Miss Toosey's Mission.</span></p></blockquote> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>MISS ELLIS'S MISSION.</h2> + + +<p>This little sketch of Miss Ellis's life and work owes its first +suggestion to Rev. J. Ll. Jones, of Chicago, who soon after her death +wrote: "Why not try for a little memorial of her, to be accompanied with +some of the most touching and searching extracts from the letters both +received and written by her, and make it into a little booklet for the +instruction of Post Office Mission Workers?... Can you not make it +something as touching as 'Miss Toosey,' and far more practical,—that +is, for our own little household of faith?... We do not want it +primarily as a missionary tool, but as a wee fragment of the spiritual +history of the world,—something that will lift and touch the soul of +everybody.... In short, give us an enlightened Miss Toosey; her mission +being as much stronger as Sallie Ellis was more rational and mature than +the original 'Miss Toosey'!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> + +<p>No one knowing Miss Ellis could read the touching little story of "Miss +Toosey's Mission" without being struck by a resemblance in the +characters, though a resemblance with a marked difference. As one said, +"I never saw her going up the church aisle Sundays, with her audiphone, +her little satchel, her bundle of books and papers, and her hymn-book, +without thinking of Miss Toosey." In both lives a seemingly powerless +and insignificant personality, through the force of a great yearning to +do a bit of God's work in the world, achieved its longing far beyond its +fondest dreams. As I read the many letters from all over the country +that have come since Miss Ellis's death, as I realize how the spiritual +force that burned in the soul of this small, feeble, seemingly helpless +woman reached out afar and touched many lives for their enduring +ennoblement, her life, so meagre and cramped in its outward aspect, so +vivid and intense within and on paper, seems to me not without a touch +of romance. To perpetuate a little longer the influence of that life is +the object of this sketch.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sallie Ellis</span> was born in Cincinnati, March 13, 1835. The old-fashioned +name Sallie, at that time popular in the South and West, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> given her +in honor of an aunt. She disliked sailing under the false colors of +"Sarah." In letters she usually signed herself "S. Ellis," because, as +she explained to one correspondent, "I do not know myself as <i>Sarah</i>, +and Sallie is not dignified enough in writing to strangers; so I usually +prefer plain S." Late in life, however, for reasons of dignity, she +sometimes felt forced to adopt Sarah as what she called her "official +signature."</p> + +<p>Her father, Mr. Rowland Ellis, was born in Boston, but while yet young +removed to Cincinnati, where he still lives in a vigorous and honored +old age. Although his mother, in all her later years at least, was a +devoted attendant upon Theodore Parker's services, Mr. Ellis in early +life was a Baptist. But when the Unitarian Church was founded at +Cincinnati, in 1830, his name appears among the organizers, of whom he +is almost the sole survivor. Of that church he has always been a devoted +supporter and constant attendant. He was a leading banker of the West, +and Sallie was born into one of the most elegant and luxurious homes in +Cincinnati. The Ellises kept open house, exercised the most generous +hospitality, and made, as one says who knew them well then, "such a +beautiful use of their money. The Ellises were just the people who +<i>ought</i> to have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> money." Mrs. Ellis is described as a woman of unusual +loveliness of character. Out of the eight children, Sallie was thought +to be the mother's favorite, because, it was supposed, she was always +puny, shy, and delicate. "Sallie shall always have what she wants," said +the mother, "because she wants so little." But mothers <i>know</i>, and +undoubtedly the mother saw deeper than others into the rare spiritual +quality concealed from the world under her delicate child's quiet, +reserved exterior. Her older sister remembers of Sallie's childhood: "As +a very young child she exhibited strongly marked peculiarities of +character. Her affection, conscientiousness, piety, and love of duty +made her different from the rest of us as children. I remember well that +at home or at school there were never any rebukes for Sallie. Though +very social by nature, as young as at five and six years of age she +loved to be alone, and would sit in the corner of her mother's room, +with face turned to the corner, musing, and talking in a low tone to her +doll. When our father and mother would take the children to +entertainments of various descriptions, such as children enjoy, Sallie +would invariably express her preference to remain at home. If she +thought her parents wanted her to go, she went."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> + +<p>For some years Sallie attended the private school of Mrs. Anne Ryland, +an English Unitarian (a former parishioner, I think, of Rev. Laut +Carpenter, and connected by marriage with Rev. Brooke Herford), a lady +of noble character, and a teacher whose culture and methods were in +advance of her age. In a volume of poetry presented Sallie by this +teacher, is this inscription, whose old-fashioned quaintness of phrase +pictures for us the Sallie Ellis of thirteen, then, as always, faithful +to duty.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Mrs. Ryland has been much gratified by the general deportment of +Miss Sallie Ellis since she has been under her charge. Miss Ellis +has evinced an evident desire to please, by a strict observance of +the rules of the school, and by assiduous and persevering attention +to all her studies. She has made improvement in them all fully +commensurate with her laudable endeavors, in Grammar, Geography, +and Orthography particularly. It is with unfeigned regret that Mrs. +Ryland has to add, to the foregoing expression of her approval of +her dear pupil's conduct, the last word,—Farewell."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Later, she attended the private school of Rev. William Silsbee, who says +of her, "She was always studious and well-behaved, one of the most +faithful of all my pupils." Mr. M. Hazen White,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> for so many years +superintendent of the Unitarian Sunday school, was also one of her +teachers. When seventeen, she was sent to Mrs. Charles Sedgwick's +school, in Lenox, Mass. A schoolmate describes her then as a quite +pretty, black-eyed girl, of delicate physique, a good and studious but +not brilliant scholar, very quiet and retiring, and almost morbidly +reserved. The few friends she made here, however, were life-long, and +she corresponded with some of the Lenox schoolmates until her death. +"She was a perfect dancer," says the schoolmate.</p> + +<p>Treasured among Miss Ellis's papers were found some pages of a +schoolgirl's album, marked, "At Mrs. Sedgwick's School, Lenox, Mass., +March, 1852." It contains verses descriptive of each pupil, written +apparently by Mrs. Sedgwick. The little pen-picture of the schoolgirl +paints well the woman of later years.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">SALLIE ELLIS.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If device for an old Latin motto were asked,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No invention would need to be very much tasked;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the "multum in parvo" <i>you</i> safely might stand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With book, needle, or pen, ever found in your hand.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A little, wee body with strong, earnest will,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That steadily works with the force of a mill;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">A mind quite untiring, whatever it do,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its manifold ends with good heed to pursue:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hands busy and strong play deftly their part,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And these all controlled by a good, honest heart.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Bright indeed looked Sallie's future in those days. A year or two more +at school, then a return to the loved mother and the beautiful home, and +a "coming out" into the brilliant world with all the advantages +attending wealth and position. But the clouds were already gathering +which in coming years were to darken for her in quick succession the +sunshine of earthly prosperity. She was called home from school by the +illness of her mother. The mother died, leaving Sallie the oldest +daughter at home, to fill her place as best she might to five little +brothers and sisters.</p> + +<p>Her sister says: "Our dear mother's death was the turning-point in +Sallie's life. She was so shrinking, sensitive, and tender by nature, no +one could fully understand her but a mother who had watched the hidden +beauties of her character expand from infancy to girlhood."</p> + +<p>The mother's memory was fondly cherished, her loss deeply mourned, all +Miss Ellis's life. Over the dying bed of the worn and weary woman of +fifty smiled down the radiant face of the mother, painted when a young, +blooming girl. Among<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> Miss Ellis's papers was found a manuscript volume +of eighty-one pages of selections, copied in her clear, firm +handwriting, index of the spirit's strength. It is headed, "Crumbs of +Comfort for the Afflicted." The selections are from the Bible, sermons, +hymns, and poems,—all breathing of religious trust and help in +grief,—a beautiful and touching collection. The first page reads,—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Begun in Nov. 1870.</p> + +<p>"These selections are made in memory of my dear mother, who was +called away many years since, and through whose death I was led to +think of a higher life,—the <i>true</i> life of the soul.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, I believe there is no <i>away</i>; that no love, no life, goes +ever from us; it goes as He went, that it may come again, deeper +and closer and surer, and be with us always, even unto the end of +the world' (<i>Patience Strong's Outings</i>)."</p></blockquote> + +<p>One of the selections is an anonymous poem, "The Strength of the +Lonely." On one page Miss Ellis had written (signed "S. E."), "I can but +believe that God allows a mother still to watch over and care for her +family when he takes her from this world, and in our affliction that he +draws us to himself, and to Jesus as our guide to him, through her +spiritual influence, just as, while upon earth, he permitted her to be +his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> instrument to lead and guide us in all that is good. All children +too, even the youngest, are God's instruments for good, and their +ministries cease not with their earthly life. The departed are with us +everywhere, through our daily duties,—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"In the loneliest hour, in the crowd, they are nigh us."</p></blockquote> + +<p>A year or two after the mother's death Sallie joined the Unitarian +Church, being baptized by Rev. A. A. Livermore, of whom she writes in a +letter: "Rev. A. A. Livermore was settled here from the time I was +fourteen to twenty-one, and he formed my religious character." Fitting +indeed was it that he who has trained so many young men for the ministry +should dedicate to God's service this young woman, also destined to be +his minister to many souls. An old lady in the church remembers seeing +Sallie go up to be baptized, leading a little brother by each hand, all +the little children being baptized at the same time. To one of her +nature, the vows then taken were a most sacred, real consecration of her +whole self to God,—vows to be nobly fulfilled in the life.</p> + +<p>Mr. Livermore writes of her:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"During my pastorate of the Unitarian Church in Cincinnati, Mr. and +Mrs. Rowland Ellis were valued<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> parishioners of mine, and their +children were all baptized by me. It was a lovely group of little +folks, and the spirit of that consecration has gone largely through +all their lives, and given them, I believe, the Christian flavor. +They have, too, been very warmly united as a family, and in health +and sickness, in life and death, they have borne strong testimony +to the blessed anchorage of a positive religious faith.</p> + +<p>"They were also diligent attendants on the Sunday school in the +basement of the old church. Sallie's bright face and upright +attitude was to be seen in her place as sure as the Sunday came.</p> + +<p>"After I left Cincinnati I saw her but seldom, but on those +occasions she always spoke of the earlier times in the church and +the Sunday school with a warmth and glow of memory that showed that +they had been real points of life to her mind and character. And +especially after her deafness became a chastening hand laid upon +her character, and family sorrows and bereavements followed in the +train, it was plain that she found her religious trust the one +thing needful."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Within another year business reverses swept away Mr. Ellis's entire +fortune. As he had meantime married a lady who proved a most capable and +devoted mother to the younger children, Sallie, released from domestic +cares, felt that she ought to do something to assist her father. "She +was so modest," says a friend, "I don't think it ever occurred to her +that she could teach<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> school. But she said there was one thing she knew +she could do, and do well, and that was, to dance." So Miss Sallie +became a dancing-teacher, having classes of children in their mothers' +parlors.</p> + +<p>Another friend (whose boys, now stalwart men in the church, were among +Miss Ellis's pupils) says of her: "She was a lovely dancing-teacher. She +not only taught the children to dance well, but she taught them such +gentle, lovely manners. Indeed, the significant thing in Miss Ellis's +life, to me, was her faithfulness. Whatever her hand found to do, she +did, and did well. Because she had been so faithful at dancing-school, +she was able to be so successful a teacher. Because, when taught sewing, +she tried so hard to do her best, she became such a beautiful sewer, and +was able to teach sewing;" for a sewing-class was another expedient of +those days.</p> + +<p>Her father moved to Chicago in 1851, where he resided three years. There +Miss Ellis attended Mr. Shippen's church, taught a Sunday-school class, +and had a class of newsboys evenings. After the return to Cincinnati, +while Miss Ellis was at the sea-shore, she began to experience a painful +roaring in the ears. Hearing, never quite perfect, was soon almost +totally<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> gone. The following years are little, to outward sight, but a +record of invalidism, of trying this or that doctor, but still ever +decreasing health and strength. Many dyspeptics, from Carlyle to lesser +folk, have felt their disease, like charity, a cover for a multitude of +sins. Miss Ellis suffered from chronic dyspepsia of aggravated type, +from catarrhal and other troubles which finally wore away the always +frail thread of life in consumptive decline.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>But through all these hard years Miss Ellis was doing what she could, +and longing to do more. Until deafness prevented, she always taught in +Sunday school. She was a devoted attendant on all church services, and +worker in all church causes. The perfection of her handiwork made it in +great demand. Knowing now Miss Ellis's possibilities, one almost grudges +the Unitarian children, and the innumerable but beloved little nephews +and nieces, the years of "Aunt Sallie's" life that went into dainty +embroidery and perfect mittens for their wearing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> The church fairs were +always liberally aided by her willing hands. Indeed, it is difficult, +without seeming exaggeration, to express her passion of devotion to her +church. It was literally her life. Outside her family, to which she was +warmly attached, everything centred for her there, and for many years +one of her heaviest crosses was her inability to render the service she +desired to her church and denomination.</p> + +<p>The portrait prefacing this book was taken in 1871, when Miss Ellis was +thirty-six years old,—perhaps the saddest period in her life. Youth, +health, fortune, hearing, dear friends, had gone one after another. The +future looked dark indeed. She felt within herself capacities for which +there seemed no earthly opportunity. The face wears a sadder expression +than that characterizing it in later life, when at last she had found +her real work.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>Rev. Charles Noyes was settled as Unitarian pastor in Cincinnati in +1872. To him Miss Ellis always attributed her first missionary impulse.</p> + +<p>In a letter to Rev. W. C. Gannett, July 28, 1885, she said:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Yes, it is a <i>great</i> source of comfort to have started the 'good +seed,' and now to see so many stronger people taking up the work +and doing so much better than I. A great deal is due to dear Mr. +Charles Noyes. He won me by his kind heart while here, and was so +kind in lending me his manuscripts always, and books, that he kept +me along with the religion of the day. Then Mr. Weudte furthered +the matter by putting me on the Missionary Committee, and finally +started me out with the 'Pamphlet Mission.' You know the rest."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In her diary was a copy of a letter written Mr. Noyes on his departure +from Cincinnati, dated June 23, 1875, a portion of which is here given.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I cannot say 'so be it' to your departure without returning thanks +for the many pleasant hours you have afforded me through your +manuscripts, the books and papers you have so kindly lent me from +time to time. You have given me something to think about for a long +time, so I can do without any sermons for a while. I do not expect +to find so kind a pastor very soon.</p> + +<p>"From your first text, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Take +heed, therefore, how ye hear,' I accepted you as a teacher learning +more from God than from man. I have followed you from beginning to +the end, and I have worked <i>with</i> you and <i>for</i> you to the best of +my ability, my strength, and my means. Would I had been a more +efficient worker! I have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> taken heed as to how I have heard. You +have not changed my views so much as brought out more clearly what +was already in my own mind. The best lesson I have learned from you +is a firmer trust in God. You have brought me to the 'Source of all +Truth, whence Jesus drew his life.' Here you leave me. An essential +point to have reached, in my view; a firm rock on which to rest, +and one that can never be taken from me. Some people are not +satisfied with a faith so simple. They need more to rest on; as if +there could be a stronger, better support than the 'voice in the +soul.' From loss of hearing, the 'voice within' has spoken more +clearly to me perhaps.... It is a very great disappointment to me +to part with you and your family, for I have become very much +attached to you all; for even little G—— has learned to look upon +me as a friend. It is not every one who wins me; and when one does, +it is all the harder to separate from him. Still, we are often +compelled to give up our preferences, as I have learned before +now.... The benediction I ask is the one you have so often asked +for us (Mary——ears to me, and a reliable authority): 'May the +Heavenly Father bless, preserve, and guide you all. May he give you +wisdom to know and strength to do his holy will forevermore.'"</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mr. Noyes, being asked for his recollections of Miss Ellis, writes:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Sallie had a very true, deep, strong religious nature, and a +leaning to religious, not to say theological,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> studies. Alone in +Cincinnati when I first went there, I was often a guest at Mr. +Ellis's Sunday table. Sallie borrowed my sermons. She liked to talk +over the subject of the sermon, and this led to my recommending to +her many books for her reading, and loaning to her what I had in my +library. She became familiar with the writings of most of our +Unitarian writers,—with Channing, Clarke, Hedge, Dewey, Norton, +Furness, and many others. She was no careless reader, but a student +of the writer's thought.... She had great breadth of mental +outlook, and a great heart of charity and love for all. She admired +the diversity of opinion in our body, and had faith in the unity of +the Spirit that would fuse us into one.... If Sallie ever expressed +wonder and surprise, it was that Unitarianism did not grow as fast +as it ought, and that those who accepted its teachings did not +identify themselves with it. We had our Mission School of about +three hundred pupils, and our Sewing School.... The time had not +come for the Pamphlet Mission or the Post Office; yet Miss Ellis +was making the best preparation possible for her after-work, and in +due time the door of best usefulness stood wide open. You know, as +we all know, how well she filled her office.... Her letters were +sermons,—tracts in themselves, best adapted to her correspondents, +and, I am persuaded, did a grand work of their own. She heard with +difficulty, she was not an easy talker, but she wrote with great +clearness.... More than the books she sent out, she was to many a +one the blessed missionary of our faith.... In her early studies +the miracle question was a stumbling-block to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> Sallie. The old-time +interpretation of miracle she could not accept; neither could she +take up with the mythical theory of Strauss. Miracle must be in +harmony with law. Jesus must be to her the natural flower of +<i>human</i> nature, the perfect blossom of <i>human</i> development. Nature +and the supernatural must be in harmony. Hence the delight she took +in Dr. Furness's works. His works helped her, as they have so many +others, out of her difficulties about the supernatural. And more +than that, they fed her religious life, pure and simple, and let +her into the heart of Christ. She often alluded to her debt to Dr. +Furness, whom she admired and loved."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Miss Ellis little expected or would have desired to figure as a +Unitarian saint. Her estimate of herself was lowly. Whatever her faults +and limitations, however, they were only those natural to a strong +nature driven in upon itself, beating in vain against the stern walls +that everywhere surrounded it. Bravely did she strive to resist what she +clearly perceived to be the natural tendencies of her peculiar troubles, +and bravely did she succeed. The prayers, the tears, the struggles of +those lonely, baffled years are known only to God, and are only hinted +at here and there in the diary kept during a large part of her life. An +unique diary it is, showing, as nothing else could, the passion of +religious devotion which burned in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> her soul. Each day's record, no +matter how brief, ends with passages of Scripture, or sometimes a hymn, +appropriate to the day's mood or experience. In reading it, one realizes +afresh the richness of the Bible in comfort and strength. The diary +furnishes a complete history of the Unitarian Church of Cincinnati for +many years. All the individual joys and sorrows of its members, their +birthdays and their death-days, are here recorded with loving sympathy. +Also, a complete record of every Sunday's service for many years is +given, with always a full abstract of the sermon, sometimes filling +several pages of fine, close writing. Occasionally it happened that the +minister failed to hand Miss Sallie his sermon after delivery,—a +grievous disappointment, almost too great to bear, as the diary +testifies. Each year the personal matter grows less, the religious +meditations and quotations consume more and more space, until of the +journal in the last years her sister writes: "It seems to have been kept +mainly to give vent to her pure, spiritual nature, which was ever +longing for some expression of itself." A very few extracts are here +given from the diary,—a glimpse only of the struggles and longings that +unconsciously to herself were all fitting her for her work.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="DIARY" id="DIARY"></a>DIARY.</h2> + + +<blockquote><p>1873. I have been too indolent for a few years. Now I must be up +and doing, with a heart for anything, and remember that these +clouds that overshadow us all are meant to make us look beyond for +the sunshine. "No cross, no crown." I have a project in my head +that I wish very much to carry out. I am tired of my selfish life; +and all that reconciles me to it is, that I accept it as a +necessary discipline for my restless spirit, to teach me +submission, and help me to say, "Thy will, not mine, be done." My +idea of a <i>true</i> Christian is to be working for others always, and +not thinking of self. My desire is, to start a sewing-class from +the Mission School, to be kept up during the summer, if I can only +get the means of carrying out my plan, and find some one who is +willing to take charge of it in case I am not able to be there. I +would <i>gladly</i> make the sacrifice of personal comfort.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The sewing-class was started, and Miss Ellis became one of its most +devoted teachers, though working often in great feebleness and pain.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Feel bluer, but I believe my deafness is bringing me truer faith, +and resignation.... Another very warm day, but I have managed to +get through the day cheerfully, thinking of heavenly things.... I +cannot understand what makes me so ugly sometimes. I pray that my +evil spirit may be subdued some day.... Do not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> know of anything I +have done to benefit others to-day, only I have been cheerful.... I +have felt pretty well, and this day went rightly with me, though I +do not know as I have advanced the cause of life very much.... How +I do long to live a perfectly unselfish life, and to be a blessing +to those around me, as my life was intended for!... Am reading "Old +Kensington," by Miss Thackeray,—a real love-story; and it makes me +sad, as usual.... Still in the house, and feel poorly. Feel a +little dull this evening, and on thinking over my life, think that +I have had more than most people of my age to endure, and wonder +that I keep up my spirits as well as I have; and it is only that I +feel that all is the necessary discipline for me. "Let us but be +genuine, honest, and true in everything, even in the smallest +thing, and we have in that the sign and the pledge of entire +consecration of heart and life to God" (J. F. Clarke). "Be faithful +unto death, and I will give you a crown of life" (Rev. ii. 10).... +Gave up to a <i>terrible</i> fit of the "blues" this afternoon and +evening. Am <i>so</i> tired of suffering all the time, that I gave way +under my cross to-day. It seems as if I can't struggle to live +longer.</p> + +<p><i>Sunday.</i> A bright day; I was not able to go out, but felt that it +was good to remain at home to think over my blessings.... Attended +Bible-class this evening. I came home in rather a despondent mood. +I find my cross hard to bear, but must pray for more strength.</p> + +<p>1874. Sent my old Bible to be bound to-day, which I have used +twenty-three years.... I have felt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> extremely favored to-day, in +that I was able to attend the Sewing School, which I feared all the +week I might be disappointed in. We closed the school to-day, after +twenty-four weeks' work. It has been time well spent, and I feel +particularly thankful to my heavenly Father in having heard my +prayer for health, strength, and good weather. One strong desire of +my life has been vouchsafed me, and I feel overpowered with joy +to-night.... I have felt to-day how much I need the assistance of +Christ, and may his religion help me to be victorious in the end.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Quoting an extract from Miss Sedgwick's diary on the unmarried life, +which ends, "Though not <i>first</i> to any, I am, like Themistocles, +<i>second</i> to a great many: my sisters are all kind and affectionate to +me, my brothers generous and invariably kind; their children all love +me," Miss Ellis adds: "These <i>very words</i> I can repeat as my +experience.... If I can only add a few <i>drops</i> of happiness to his life +[a brother's], I shall be too happy."</p> + +<blockquote><p>1875. Mr. Noyes called Monday to bring me his sermon, and it made +me very resigned. The text was from 2 Cor. xii. 10,—"When I am +weak, then am I strong."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Paul's "thorn in the flesh" was the topic of the discourse, and several +pages of extracts are copied in the journal.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>It is one of the trials of my life not to assist in the church as I +desire to. I presume it must be because I neglect other duties, and +see but one thing before me, and that is, to give up the <i>idol</i> of +my life, and do the duty that is nearest to me; but it is a sore +trial to me.... This has been an eventful week to me, for last +Sunday Mr. Noyes closed his ministry with us.... Now they have +really gone, it makes me feel rather despondent, though I know they +have left many blessings to me behind them.</p> + +<p>I am beginning some fancy work, in hopes of brightening my life +somewhat. I am not reconciled to the hardships of life.... Am +anxious to learn wood-carving.... I try to have the faith <i>of</i> +Jesus more than that about him.</p> + +<p>... Went to see about trumpets yesterday, and came home greatly +disheartened, and shall have to submit with a good grace to the +cross.... Mr. Wendte lectures on the New Testament this evening. I +should be glad to hear him, but believe all is best as it is.</p> + +<p>1877. We had a beautiful sermon to-day, which I took especially to +myself, on "The Lonely Hours of Life." ... Am feeling better +to-day, and the sermon (on "Be Strong, and of a Good Courage") +roused my better nature, ready to go on courageously.... Lecture +this evening on "Funeral Customs." I did not attend, for the sermon +to-day (on "Prayer") so exalted me that I didn't feel like +listening to things of the world.... Wakened feeling disconsolate +this morning, but resolved to bear the cross of life as trustfully +and cheerfully<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> as possible, and lay up treasures during the summer +ready to "give out" when all return in the winter. Impressed two +little pieces on my mind,—one by Spitta, in "Day unto Day,"—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Glad with thy light and glowing with thy love,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So let me ever think and speak and move."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The other by Whittier,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Lord, help me strive 'gainst each besetting sin."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Went to Madame Wendte's. Brought home, "Ten Great Religions," +"Reason in Religion," and "Evolution in Religion."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Thus did Miss Ellis fortify herself for the summer vacation of the +church. Emerson's "Society and Solitude" was another book read this +vacation.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Have not lived up to my ideal the past week, and particularly +to-day. However, may the good Father pardon my shortcomings and aid +me to do better.... I feel that I have added something to my life +for the benefit of others by the rest and reading of this summer. I +hope to study up German a little, among my busy hours this winter. +I can retain so little in my head, it is discouraging to read. I +must work the harder, and believe "all is for the best," and pray, +in faith, for patience.... Mr. Wendte's first sermon—subject, +"After Vacation"—made me feel somewhat depressed, for I feel so +anxious to do for <i>every one</i>, and have not the means or strength. +[She resolves to]<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> do my little part and not discourage [the +minister],—do my part more by showing an interest than by the +amount of work I do.... I am miserable, dyspeptic, and +disappointed.... I have felt heartily discouraged this week in +every way, but the church did me good this morning.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mr. Noyes was succeeded as pastor at Cincinnati by Rev. Charles W. +Wendte in the fall of 1875. The idea of preaching, of carrying to others +the blessed Unitarian faith which had been her joy and strength, now +filled Miss Ellis's soul. She discussed various schemes to this end with +friends who respected her and her earnestness too much to laugh at the +(in worldly eyes) utter absurdity of her hopes, as futile as Miss +Toosey's desire to go as a missionary to Nawaub. Could she not go out +into Ohio villages and hold lay services, reading the printed prayers +and sermons of our Unitarian ministers? Great must have been the +yearning for the ministry consuming her soul, to tempt the reserved, +feeble little woman, with her deafness and dyspepsia, her incessant +cough, her love of her own room and things, her exactness and exquisite +nicety of habit, seriously to contemplate such a career. Yet, but for +absolute physical incapacity, and the dissuasions (on that account) of +her family, she would certainly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> have made the experiment. Or might she +not open a reading-room in the church, to be kept open all the week, +where the treasures of Unitarian literature could be dispensed? Even in +her last years she seriously meditated going to the church every Sunday +morning during the vacation to open her library and meet those who might +want books, papers, or advice. The summer vacation was always a grief to +her. She wished the church might be open every day.</p> + +<p>Nov. 9, 1876, a rough draft of the following letter to Mr. Wendte +appears in her diary:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I cannot resist returning special thanks for your sermon of last +Sunday, 'To what end is your life?' I do not know when a sermon has +so fully aroused the will of my youth.... At twenty years of age, +'the object of my toil' was to live for the earthly comfort of the +family, for the good of society in general, so far as in my power, +at the same time keeping an eye to the higher interests of life by +working in and for the church.... 'The goal of my ambition' in +middle life is to labor for the spiritual welfare of those about +me; but I find myself without means to assist others.... My +preference is decidedly to labor for the higher natures of others +as well as for myself; therefore, remembering your kind offer in +your letter to me during the summer, I ask, can you suggest +anything for me to engage in, in the spreading of Christianity? +[She wishes] to devote the remainder of my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> life to the highest and +best I know. If you can put me in the way of assisting others as +well as myself in the highest and holiest way, I shall be ever +indebted to you. I shall be glad to so live that when I lay down my +life I shall in some measure have returned the many kindnesses of +parents, sisters, brothers, and friends, repaid the efforts of +teachers and pastors in my behalf, and proved myself a worthy child +to Him who gave me being."</p></blockquote> + +<p>At the end, however, she writes: "Didn't send it. Concluded it was +better to talk with him."</p> + +<p>The same ideas in another form appear again in the diary as a letter to +Mr. Wendte. One of the burdens on Mr. Wendte's heart in those days was +"to find something for Miss Ellis to do." Partly to this end he devised +Sunday-school lessons in manuscript, which Miss Ellis copied each week +for all the teachers. In 1877 he appointed a Missionary Society with a +formidable list of names, the significant one among whom events proved +to be Miss Sallie Ellis, Treasurer,—she being, indeed, the "society." +The little programme says:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The object of the Missionary Society is to spread the knowledge +and increase the influence of Liberal religious ideas throughout +the city and State by publications, correspondence, and such other +means as may seem to it suitable and best."</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> + +<p>During the winter of 1877-78 Miss Ellis, aided by Mr. Wendte, +distributed 1,846 tracts and 211 "Pamphlet Missions" (as baby "Unity" +was called) in twenty-six States. Miss Ellis was always scrupulously +systematic, methodical, and exact in all she did, and a huge pile of +closely written blank books gives every minutia connected with the +business details of her work. In her diary was a copy of this letter to +Mr. Wendte, dated Feb. 21, 1878:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Why not have a 'Mission Sunday' sometime soon? Do not announce it +previously, however; for some might feel inclined to remain at +home; but catch as many together as possible, and make them listen +to a rousing address from you,—a report of what you have done and +the letters you have received. It might not be as social or +interesting as a concert or something else; but it would not hurt +the people to listen to it, and would make the missionary work more +a reality to them, and I believe in the end an appeal from you +would bring in more money than anything else.</p> + +<p>"I have one request to make of you, however; and that is, that you +do not bring my name out in the pulpit, unless you have occasion to +mention the names of the Missionary Society. It is merely necessary +to mention you have been assisted by one of the 'Missionary +Committee,' not saying 'Treasurer,'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> man or woman. I have no +objection if any one asks you privately who has done the work, to +have you tell them. I love to do good work, but wish no other +praise than to know that the recipient of the act has been +benefited thereby. I act from the mere pleasure of doing good to +others and believing it to be right, therefore deserve no +credit.... The winter's work has brought out the desire of younger +days, when a Presbyterian friend used to tell me, 'You ought to go +as a missionary to China.' I then had five little brothers and +sisters to help care for, and considered that 'mission' enough. +Since they are grown my health has been too poor to undertake +anything, but now I should like a work in life. If I have a 'taste' +or 'talent' for anything, it is for the study and the spread of +religion.... All the family are only too kind to me, which only +makes me the more anxious to use my one talent to the utmost +extent. If you know of any work I could assist in, in our +denomination, East or West, I would be much obliged to you if you +would let me know."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The first mentions in the journal of missionary work are Nov. 25, 1877, +"Mr. Wendte came to me with missionary work to do,—five hundred tracts +to distribute;" and Dec. 9, 1877, "Feel that I am doing good in lending +books and papers and distributing tracts."</p> + +<p>Sept. 5, 1880, while visiting her sister in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> Philadelphia she opens a +new volume of the journal as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>Too warm to venture to church. The church in Cincinnati opens +to-day. Would I might be one of the congregation! I <i>am</i>, in +spirit! In opening this book on Sunday I would dedicate it to a +high use, and open it with ascription of praise to the Giver of all +good. "Pray for us unto the Lord thy God, ... that the Lord thy God +may show us the way wherein we may walk" (Jer. xlii. 2, 3). +"Quicken thou me in thy way" (Psalms cxix. 37).</p></blockquote> + +<p>The following prayers are then copied:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"My Father, may I ever humbly follow in thy way; may I ever trust, +with the full assurance of faith, that it does lead to thy heavenly +kingdom. It is often narrow and perplexed, and I cannot see where +it is leading me; yet, though the guiding light of thy holy word +may be half obscured by the mists of the valley, if I fix my eyes +steadily upon it, it will become brighter and brighter; I shall see +my way clearly in this seemingly intricate road, and discern, even +at the end of it, the entrance to thy heavenly mansion."</p> + +<p>"O God, may our souls be full of life. Save us from an inanimate +and sluggish life.... Inspire our sensibility to good; may we see +more and more its loveliness and beauty. And may all the varied +experience of life draw us nearer to thee" (Channing).</p></blockquote> + +<p>Then follows "an abstract from Channing's Memoirs, showing how, by +self-scrutiny, his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> character was formed, by many trials and denials." +She then copies eighteen pages from Channing's "Rules for +Self-Discipline," at the end writing, "All these pages from Channing are +written from memory, not copied."</p> + +<p>The second rule copied is, "Let me not <i>talk</i> of pains, sicknesses, +complaints," etc.</p> + +<p>Following the rules is a poem copied from the "Christian Register" of +Sept. 4, 1880.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">WHAT OF THAT?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Tired?" Well, what of that?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Didst fancy life was spent on beds of ease,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fluttering the rose-leaves scattered by the breeze?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come, rouse thee! work while it is called day!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Coward, arise! Go forth upon thy way.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Lonely?" And what of that?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some must be lonely; 'tis not given to all<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To feel a heart responsive rise and fall,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To blend another life into its own.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Work may be done in loneliness. Work on!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Dark?" Well, what of that?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Didst fondly dream the sun would never set?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dost fear to lose thy way? Take courage yet!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Learn thou to walk by faith, and not by sight;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy steps will guided be, and guided right.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"Hard?" Well, what of that?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Didst fancy life one summer holiday,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With lessons none to learn, and nought but play?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Go, get thee to thy task! Conquer or die!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It must be learned! Learn it, then, patiently.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"No help?" Nay, 'tis not so!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Though human help is far, thy God is nigh;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who feeds the ravens, hears his children's cry.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He's near thee wheresoe'er thy footsteps roam,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And he will guide thee, light thee, help thee home.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Then follows a selection from Emerson:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The scholar must be a solitary, laborious, modest, and charitable +soul. He must embrace solitude as a bride. He must have his glees +and his glooms alone. Go, scholar, cherish your soul; expel +companions; set your habits to a life of solitude; then will the +faculties rise fair and full within, like forest trees, field +flowers; you will have results, which, when you meet your fellow +men, you can communicate and they will gladly receive. It is the +noble, manly, just thought which is the superiority demanded of +you; and not crowds, but solitude, confers this elevation."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Next follows a page of "Paragraphs for Preachers." Evidently this year +sees the dying of the first hope to be a preacher, and the gradual dawn +of her life's real mission. Seven pages follow of "Prayers altered and +rearranged for my own use, from 'Dairy Praise and Prayer.'"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> Three or +four appropriate prayers are united in one, headed, "First evening," +"First Morning," "Second Evening," etc. These were apparently prepared +for the lay services she had dreamed of holding. A page or two more, and +this entry, October 17, marks the dawning of the new hope: "Last week +received a very kind letter from Mr. Wendte, in which he stated, 'We +have made you chairman of a Book and Tract Table in the church; +'therefore I feel bound to return to attend to it." Further extracts +from the diary are:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>Saturday evening, J—— accidentally broke my audiphone. I felt +<i>lost</i> then, but wouldn't let them know how badly I felt about it, +and even went to church without it, for fear they would feel hurt +about it. It came home mended, this evening.</p> + +<p><i>October 31.</i> Finished G——'s afghan, also completed the +embroidery of fourth skirt for Mrs. ——, and first of baby C——'s +mittens. Was quite interested in a letter of Mrs. —— in +"Register" of last week on "The Woman's Auxiliary Conference." Hope +she <i>will</i> succeed in establishing a Woman's Club for discussion +and debate in Cincinnati.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Miss F. Le Baron, whose friendship with Miss Ellis dates back to the +latter's residence in Chicago, writes that she has several letters from +Miss Ellis setting forth her desire to preach, but unfortunately they +are in a totally inaccessible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> place. This allusion, in the diary, +evidently points to the final renunciation of Miss Ellis's first +missionary impulse:—</p> + +<blockquote><p><i>November 7.</i> A letter from Miss Le Baron, of Chicago, in regard to +my engaging in missionary work in the West. She finally closed with +the idea that I had come to myself. In a letter from A—— this +week she says to me, "<i>Our</i> lot in life appears to be that of +patience and submission," which brings to my mind quite a sermon, +in other's words, which I hope to write out to-day. It is time to +prepare for church.... The thought suggested by A——'s letter with +regard to submission to our lot called to mind the passage William +Ellery Channing wrote to his friend Francis. "You seem to go upon +the supposition that our circumstances are determined by +Providence. I believe they are determined by ourselves. Man is the +artificer of his own fortunes. By exertion he can enlarge his +sphere of usefulness. By activity he can 'multiply himself.' It is +mind that gives him the ascendency in society; it is mind that +gives him power and ability. It depends upon himself to call forth +the energies of mind, to strengthen the intellect, to form +benevolence into a habit of the soul. The consequence I draw from +these principles is that Heaven, by placing me in particular +circumstances, has not assigned me a determinate sphere of +usefulness (as you seem to think), but that it is in my power, and +of course my duty, to spread the 'beams of my light' wider into the +'night of adversity.'"</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> + +<p>Miss Ellis continues, apparently partly in her own words:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>With this idea, then, that we largely fashion our own lives, that, +"working with God, and for him, our lives can know no true failure, +but all things shall contribute to our soul's true success," let us +take up our cross, and then we shall find</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">"The burden light,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The path made straight, the way all bright,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Our warfare cease;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">So shall we win the crown,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">At last our life lay down<br /></span> +<span class="i4">In perfect peace."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +</blockquote> + +<p>Two pages more on the same topic, of original and selected matter +skilfully blended (perhaps the whole a bit of one of the sermons never +to be preached), end with the hymn, copied in full,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I ask not wealth, but power to take<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And use the things I have aright;"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>and Miss Ellis finally sums all up, "True submission, then, consists in +<i>working</i> out our own salvation, looking to God for strength wherewith +to work." The only entry for the next day is part of the hymn,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"But God, through ways they have not known,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Will lead his own."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>November 11 she returned home.</p> + +<blockquote><p><i>November 14.</i> Attended fair, and met many friends. Mr. Wendte +kindly set me to work at a Book and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> Tract Table, and I sold two +books and distributed a quantity of free matter.</p> + +<p><i>December 5.</i> Am thoroughly on the road to the Book and Tract Table +in the church. Hope it may prove a good thing, and that I shall do +it <i>faithfully</i>.</p> + +<p><i>December 12.</i> Have been miserable all the week, and quite sick two +and a half hours Thursday. Couldn't raise my head, and had to +pretty much give up all day. Had sociable this week, and I was on +hand to urge the book trade, and hoped to have a supply to-day, but +was disappointed in it. It was one of the unsatisfactory days to +me, for I have had such a tremendous noise in my head that I +couldn't hear at all.</p> + +<p><i>December 19.</i> Held a meeting at Mrs. ——'s on Friday, with regard +to the Woman's Auxiliary Missionary work. It has been decided that +I am to take charge of distribution of Liberal publications, also +to canvass for the "Register." Had Mr. Mayo to preach for us +to-day. I was astonished to hear how well I heard him, and how +<i>natural</i> it seemed. It made my cross all the heavier in contrast. +[The sonnet, "Strength for the Day," by Rachel G. Alsop, is copied +to close this day's record.]</p> + +<p><i>Feb. 10, 1881.</i> Began committing "A Statement of Unitarian Belief +in Bible Language."</p> + +<p><i>February 13.</i> I have felt rather depressed this week, and <i>needed</i> +the church to-day, which did do me good, as I heard more of the +sermon than I have heard for thirteen years.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>February 20.</i> Sermon to-day on "Are ye good Hearers?" I think my +remark to Mr. Wendte last Sunday must have called it forth.... Mr. +Wendte made the following beautiful tribute to the deaf.... I heard +just enough to overcome me, and thought two or three times that I +should break down. Have cried and laughed over the sermon.</p></blockquote> + +<p>A long extract is copied into the journal, of which this is a portion:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Blindness only separates a man from Nature, but the loss of +hearing also isolates him, more or less, from human companionship. +As a natural consequence, the deaf are apt to lose interest in the +social life around them, and to grow discontented, suspicious, and +morose. You and I know beautiful examples to the contrary,—persons +so patient, brave, and uncomplaining amidst their heavy +tribulation, so sunny of temper and full of human kindness, that +they are a constant inspiration and joy to us. Yet theirs is a hard +struggle, to remain true and sweet and Christian with such fearful +odds against them in the journey of life."</p> + +<p><i>February 27.</i> Am becoming quite interested in missionary work in +Ravenna, Ohio.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"We scatter seeds with careless hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And dream we ne'er shall see them more;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But for a thousand years<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Their fruit appears,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In weeds that mar the land,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or healthful store."<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></div></div> + +<p><i>March 13.</i> To-day is my forty-sixth birthday, and I am about +ready, or rather have resolved, to open a Circulating Library in +the church, as quite a number are in favor of it. We organized our +Women's Auxiliary Conference last Tuesday, of a rainy day: Mrs. +Fayette Smith, President; Mrs. Alice Williams Brotherton, +Vice-president; Fannie Field, Treasurer and Recording Secretary; +Miss Ellis, Corresponding Secretary; Executive Committee (with the +above), Mrs. Davies Wilson, Miss Elizabeth D. Allen.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The foundation of the Circulating Library was Miss Ellis's own +collection of religious books. Book lovers know what this sacrifice +would have been to a less generous nature, one less intent on helping +others. Additions were made by gifts from individuals and authors, and +by Miss Ellis's occasional purchase of some book whose need she felt, +until the library now numbers over one hundred and thirty volumes. These +books were loaned at church, and by mail all over the country.</p> + +<p>A letter to Rev. A. A. Livermore reveals the brisk, happy, and +business-like Miss Ellis of the later years, with her hands at last full +of work for her denomination. It also records the advent of her first +correspondent, Mr. Julius Woodruff.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">March 10, 1881.</span></p> + +<p>I have been better in health this winter than for many years,—for +a severe winter is all the better for me,—and have been able to +keep <i>very</i> busy. Mr. Wendte has made me chairman of a Book and +Tract Table in the church, which has kept me very busy; and in +addition, the Unity Club made me Corresponding Secretary of their +Sunday Afternoon Lecture Committee, which involved distributing the +tickets (one thousand) and then collecting the money on them.... In +the mean time, too, I was agent here for the "Register," had that +to attend to, besides attending to sale of books, paying for them, +and sending new orders, also "Unity" subscribers coming in, and +hunting up members for the Women's Auxiliary Conference, and +receiving their money. Now, do you not think for one who has always +been more spiritually inclined, that I have taken quite <i>too</i> much +to money matters?</p> + +<p>Well, in distributing "Registers" through the State I have come +across a very interesting, appreciative young man of twenty-one, in +Ravenna, Ohio, and I have reason to think we have created quite a +stir in the little town. Mr. Woodruff, my correspondent, writes a +very good letter, and is quite enthusiastic on the subject of +Unitarianism, and is willing to do missionary work, distributing +widely the documents I send him, and has recommended a young man, +formerly a student of theology, an intelligent, thinking man, who +is much interested in our views. He now works on a farm and teaches +school, in order to gain an education.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> On Wednesday last we +organized our Women's Auxiliary Conference, at which I read Mr. +Woodruff's letters, and the ladies at once moved that we should +propose Meadville to our young friend, whose name is ——. I am to +write and ask whether he would like to go to the college at +Meadville, and in the mean time am to find out through you the +conditions on which he could be admitted. I should be only too +happy if I prove the means of assisting one young man to the +ministry, and shall feel that all these many years of interest in +the church have not been lost, if we only succeed in doing this +much good. Besides all this other work, I find the ladies are much +in favor of a Circulating Library in the church, so I am going to +found my library soon.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The journal, March 20, shows the indomitable will that ruled the feeble +body:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>Yesterday [Saturday] I was at the church all day to get the library +in order. Was taken with vertigo, and for over an hour and a half +couldn't walk straight. J—— S—— happened to be at the church at +choir-meeting, and brought me home. By bedtime could walk alone, +and to-day have been attending to duties at church. Succeeded in +getting the Library settled to my satisfaction, and was glad there +was no one there. Opened my library March 19. Mr. W——announced me +"Miss Sarah Ellis" in the papers.</p> + +<p><i>March 28.</i> Have felt quite encouraged this week by applications +for documents. Have just mailed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> Rev. ——, "Statement of +Unitarian Belief in Bible Language." [This applicant is now in a +Unitarian pulpit.]</p> + +<p><i>April 3.</i> A beautiful sermon in "Register" to-day—"Life's +Shadows"—by Rev. J. Ll. Jones. [She copies two pages.]</p> + +<p><i>May 1.</i> Feel deeply interested in a correspondent we have in +Springfield, ... who confesses himself something of an atheist, and +I am hunting up all the convincing articles upon the subject of God +and Immortality that I can find, and came across a "Unitarian +Review," of June, 1876, which seems to have been written for his +very case.... Hope these will be convincing to the Springfield +Club, which was formed last Sunday, with ten members to begin with.</p> + +<p><i>June 2.</i> Am now quite interested in trying to manage it so as to +keep the church open two hours Sundays during the vacation, for +persons to come and read and take home books. Hope I may succeed.</p> + +<p><i>June 12.</i> Have felt tired to-day, but enjoyed the day, for Mr. +Wendte and mother dined here. He tells me I may "run the church" +during the vacation, which will make me very happy.</p> + +<p><i>June 29.</i> The hottest day of the month for ten years, and the +hottest of the season so far. Intense. One hundred in the shade at +noon. Have been reading W. R. Alger's "School of Life," from which +the following abstract....</p></blockquote> + +<p>Then follow three pages of the "abstract," in a close, minute +handwriting, ending this volume of the journal,—the last submitted to +the writer's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> inspection, because, as has been previously said, there +was almost no personal matter in the diaries of the remaining years.</p> + +<p>Miss Ellis's ardent desire to keep the church open during the summer +vacation had to be abandoned, owing to the reluctance of her family to +have one so feeble at the church alone; and she went Saturday afternoons +instead, when the sexton was there.</p> + +<p>The Cincinnati branch of the Women's Auxiliary Conference, on its +organization in March, 1881, looking about for work to do, remembered +occasional letters received by Mr. Wendte in response to the documents +sent out by him and Miss Ellis. These letters seemed to hint at a +possible opportunity awaiting this Unitarian church, standing so +isolated in the heart of the great rich West, where the multitude of +Ingersoll and Liberal clubs, and of intelligent people outside all +churches, seemed to indicate a want that the evangelical denominations +did not meet. It was therefore resolved to attempt extending the work +begun by Mr. Wendte, by advertising in the daily papers Unitarian +literature for free distribution,—an experiment never before tried. +Miss Ellis entered upon her duties as Corresponding Secretary "without +money and without price" (though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> later a small annual salary of one +hundred dollars was raised for her), but with an immense zeal. The +advertisement's line or two of fine print, almost lost, apparently, on +the broad side of the daily paper, inserted only once a week, +nevertheless soon began to bring Miss Ellis letters that equally +surprised and delighted us, showing that we had not over-estimated the +demand for Unitarian literature in the West.</p> + +<p>Rev. J. Ll. Jones being in Cincinnati, the first bundle of letters was +read to him, and his opinion, as an experienced Western missionary, +anxiously awaited. It was given in these words:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I think you Cincinnati women have got hold of the <i>little end</i> of +a <i>big thing</i>, and if Miss Ellis's health and your enthusiasm hold +out, something is bound to come of it. Go on, by all means." He +added, "I wish I knew that Miss Ellis had ten years more to live."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Four years and a half, however, was the short term of service allowed +her in her mission, found at last after years of longing and groping +towards it vainly. But now it was seen that all these years of suffering +had not been in vain. She who had endured so much was quick to +sympathize with others. The religious studies undertaken for her own +consolation enabled her wisely to direct the reading of her +correspondents.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> Even her deafness seemed specially to fit her for her +work. Shut apart from the din and bustle of modern life in a quiet world +of her own, from its peaceful communings she sent out light and strength +to others. The poor, denied life, like a plant severely pruned by the +careful gardener to insure a late, full bloom, now reached out and +touched many lives with a wonderful uplifting power.</p> + +<p>Her records of this four and a half years' work show that she received +1,672 letters and postals, wrote 2,541, distributed at church and by +mail 22,042 tracts, papers, etc.; sold 286 books, loaned 258 books, and +obtained about sixty subscribers to religious papers.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Mere figures, +however, but poorly tell the story. Several young men have entered or +will enter the ministry, as one result of her efforts. Many souls +wrestling in utter loneliness with doubts they dared not confide to +their nearest friends, received, from her wise sympathy and counsel, +restoration to religious faith, and strength to bear heavy burdens with +renewed courage, animated by trust in a loving Father hitherto concealed +from them behind the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> outgrown phraseology of antiquated creeds,—creeds +which their reason rejected. Many, indeed most of these correspondents, +overjoyed with their new faith, hastened to share it with friends, and +many a little missionary centre began to grow in localities far from any +Unitarian church, fostered by people who had never heard a Unitarian +sermon. So the ground was being prepared for the State missionary. Her +work, too, opened the eyes of her denomination to its opportunities, and +did much to promote that missionary activity in which lies our brightest +hope for the future. She is the acknowledged pioneer of the Post Office +Mission.</p> + +<p>As her work began to attract attention, many letters came from those +desiring to undertake like work, both East and West, asking advice, full +and explicit accounts of her methods, etc.; and many long letters were +written in reply. A Unitarian Club formed among the soldiers in the +Columbus barracks was one of her interests, until its dissolution by the +ordering of its members to other posts. She supplied much reading matter +to, and corresponded occasionally with, soldiers at the Dayton Soldiers' +Home. A soldier in Wyoming Territory was for a long time a most grateful +recipient of reading from her, which he shared with his company. Small +clubs in several<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> localities were supplied by her with matter for +discussion and study during their existence. Wherever she had two or +three correspondents, she always urged the formation of reading or Unity +clubs. For some months she had an interesting correspondence with a +young man of more than usual intelligence in our City Workhouse, loaning +him such books as Channing's "Life and Works," Dewey's "Human Nature," +and Merriam's "Way of Life." She never heard from him after he left the +workhouse, but always had faith that he was somewhere living up to, or +towards, the good resolves so often expressed to her. Through him, and +Mr. Beach, of Joliet, Ill., our attention was called to the need of +supplying prisoners with good reading matter, both religious and +secular. Correspondence was opened with the warden and chaplain at the +State Penitentiary, Frankfort, Ky., which led to the sending of their +"Registers" there regularly by two Boston ladies, and eventually to the +sending of many barrels of reading matter both to Joliet and Kentucky by +the Women's Auxiliary Conference of Boston.</p> + +<p>A great pleasure of her last years was attending the Western Conference +at Chicago in May, 1883. Published accounts of her work had made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> her +well known in the denomination; so that, as the Cincinnati party +reported on their return home, "Miss Ellis was decidedly the belle of +the Conference." Every one wanted to see and talk with her, ask her +advice, etc. It was an immense satisfaction to her to meet personally, +to see and hear (for she almost seemed to hear through the eager eyes), +men and women whose fame and writings were so familiar to her. Every +session of the Conference saw Miss Ellis seated in the front pew, +audiphone in hand, eagerly intent on the exercises. Social beguilements +might make other people late at the morning devotions, but never Miss +Ellis, who took her conferences, like all else, conscientiously.</p> + +<p>In May, 1885, she again attended the Western Conference at St. Louis, +though in great feebleness of body. Rev. W. C. Gannett, in "Unity," thus +speaks of her:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"A last summer's letter from the little mother of the Post Office +Mission, who has just died in Cincinnati, will be of interest now. +Some who were present at the last May Conference in St. Louis may +remember the pathos of the quiet figure sitting in the front pews +and trying on her echo-fan to catch the patter of the words said +round her. The wee, sick, deafened body in which she did her work +so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> strong-heartedly makes that work all the more an example and an +inspiration. Strange enough should it prove that this bit of a +lady, almost caged from the world by cripplings, had opened the +most effective channel yet made for carrying our liberal faith to +the world. Perhaps it <i>takes</i> a thorn in the flesh to make a +missionary. She certainly has done more than many a stout <i>son</i> of +the Gospel to keep her name remembered in our Western churches. +This letter hints her pluck and her joy in the work, and the +struggle of it. She had been urged to go into the country for a +short rest, but replied:—</p> + +<p>The country is not the place for me to stay in any time. The +morning and evening air keep my head roaring so, and increase +catarrh. I have learned that to stay home during the summer, make +no special effort, and work on slowly, is the better plan. If I go +away, there is constantly an effort over something. I return tired, +work has accumulated. I have to work doubly hard, and soon use up +the little gained. I am too weak in summer to wish to come in +contact with people to whom I have to be agreeable. Another +difficulty,—the country is too <i>quiet</i> for me. I am inclined to be +a "hermit," and when I do go out, which I do daily, even now I am +so sick, I need the stir, bustle, commotion, and the stores to +change the thoughts. I loved the country before I was so deaf,—now +city life is better for me; but I love to refresh myself by a ride +into the country in the street cars, where I can study <i>human</i> +nature on the way.... I work on principle, and for the real love of +working. I am not happy unless at work, and can't bear to tear +myself away from my little congregation, my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> papers, books, etc. +<i>They</i> suffer for it. The family do not wish me to keep so busy, +but I am better for it, and my physician is on my side. "Keep up!" +[The next few sentences have already been given, in reference to +Mr. Noyes.] Don't give me undue credit for my appearance at the St. +Louis Conference. I tried to kill three birds with one stone (I +don't wear bird's wings in my hat, however),—to attend the +Conference, visit a brother, and gain strength. The last I failed +in.... I have written this long letter in two sittings. I have +improved decidedly within the past few days, and with pleasant +rides and good food and care shall soon be better. Most sincerely +and cordially your friend, </p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Sallie Ellis.</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cincinnati</span>, July 28,1885."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Strangely enough, one's first thought of Miss Ellis was never as an +invalid. She so ignored the poor, weak body that she made you forget it +too. She was always so <i>alive</i>, so full of interest and joy in her work. +With what delight would she say, "This new tract is exactly the thing to +send ——," or announce, "such a good letter from ——." Even during the +last months, when the ravages of disease could no longer be concealed, +she <i>would</i> not be sick. She set aside your sympathy. She was always +"better," "only my limbs are so weak to-day," or "my breath is so +short," or "it always makes me cough to walk," as if these were mere +casual incidents quite unworthy of notice.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<p>The last of her life, it was pitiful to see her still clinging to her +work, still persisting in caring for her own room, declining all offers +of help. She often rose at five o'clock Sundays, because obliged by +weakness to work slowly, that she might reach church early, to prepare +her Tract Table before the congregation arrived. When no longer able to +remain to the services, she still came and ministered to her own special +congregation at the Tract Table, though obliged by weakness to sit. When +she no longer had strength to arrange her hair, she quietly cut it off. +But she went on with her work. To one offering help she said, "When I +cannot do my work, I don't want to live." Again, she said, "There are +many who need me, and they keep me alive." To the last she declined +being considered an invalid,—did not wish any one to walk out with her, +although the family were very uneasy to have one so weak and so deaf on +the street alone. She walked out every day, until the last time she was +forced to lean against the door-post and gain breath and strength to +take the final step up into the house.</p> + +<p>All this time she was writing letters of cheer and strength, seldom +intimating that all was not well with her. When finally obliged to keep +her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> bed, she faded away rapidly, only living about two weeks. The last +postal card to a correspondent was begun in bed, in a trembling hand, +ending abruptly, "Too sick to write," and it was finished for her. +Although at times she had a little of the consumptive's feeling that she +might possibly rally, and even recover strength to work again, yet she +perceived, as she said to her mother, that "the sands are running out +fast," and made all her preparations for death in the quiet spirit of +one merely going on a journey into a familiar country. One who watched +with her one of the last nights spoke of a beautiful prayer she offered +in the middle of the night. She was unable to turn herself in bed, and +said to this friend with a smile, "This body wants turning so." Poor +body! not much longer had she to endure its weaknesses. Her religion was +too habitual, too much a part of her very soul, for many outward words +or professions. It was her life, her self. Why should she talk about it?</p> + +<p>Mr. Thayer had always given her a list of the hymns and the full order +of service, and the sermon to read. The Sunday before her death the +sermon was returned, with the message that Miss Ellis was unable to read +it, but had asked her mother to copy the text for her. A week before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +her death a friend, finding that in her excessive conscientiousness she +was letting business details of the Women's Auxiliary Conference trouble +her lest she should forget some item, went over all the books, wrote +business letters, and settled accounts, at her dictation. Speaking of +her work, she expressed faith that "God will raise up some one to do +it." She said earnestly, "I have always wanted to do something for my +denomination." It had evidently been a little of a struggle for her to +leave the work she loved, just as it began to be so successful in many +places, to die and be forgotten. In her modesty, she had no foregleam of +the afterglow of praise and public testimony to her worth that was to +follow the setting of her sun. Speaking once, near the end, with great +pleasure, of Mrs. Paine's successful work in Newport and New York, she +added, sadly, "They must increase, but I must decrease." But at last she +was "ready not to do," able to give all up and repose in perfect peace +upon the Father.</p> + +<p>She had always thought much of Christmas, always remembered her friends' +birthdays. Her skilful fingers and untiring industry made the slender +means go a long way in devising innumerable tasteful presents on these +days for a large circle of friends. She loved children, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> loved to +make them happy, and her little friends were always remembered. This +year, a day or two before Christmas, when so weak that only by the +closest attention could the feeble, broken utterance be understood, she +directed Christmas gifts, prepared long before, sent to all her friends. +To one whom she knew needed it, went "Daily Strength for Daily Needs;" +to one, a teacher, the little "Seed Thoughts from Browning." "I thought +it might help her in her work, tell her." Even her washerwoman and her +little girl, and the postman,—"he has brought me a great many letters," +she said,—were not forgotten.</p> + +<p>A friend took her a Christmas card sent by a little girl. Her feeble +vision could barely discern the design. "Birds and flowers," she said; +"what could be more beautiful? It cheers me so. Yet I hardly need that. +I am very happy and cheerful. I feel that everything is right." +Afterwards she spoke of the "Happy, happy Christmas-tide," saying, "We +must try to make it bright for the young." To the last, her thoughts +were of others.</p> + +<p>Having closed all her earthly affairs, she lay awaiting the end in great +peace. Sunday, Dec. 27, 1885, in the evening of the peaceful day she +always loved, just as her little clock was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> striking seven, she passed +gently away in sleep. Well may we believe that hers was a joyful +wakening into a bright New Year.</p> + +<p>Her funeral was attended in the Unitarian Church, December 30,—a +service of rare beauty and appropriateness. A thoughtful friend had +covered the Tract Table in the vestibule with moss, ferns, and flowers, +among which were placed a few tracts. In the church, wreathed with +Christmas evergreens, a large concourse of friends assembled. To the +strains of the Beethoven Funeral March, the coffin, nearly concealed +beneath emblematic palm branches and lilies, was borne by the brothers +whose loving-kindness had brightened all the life now ended, to its +resting-place beneath the pulpit, close to the front seat where, for so +many years, Miss Ellis's familiar form had never been missing. The +choir, composed of young friends of hers in the church, sang the first +three verses of "Nearer, my God, to Thee," and Whittier's appropriate +hymn, "Another hand is beckoning us."</p> + +<p>From the text, "She is not dead, but sleepeth," Rev. George A. Thayer +paid a just and beautiful tribute to the spirit passed from our midst. +To few, he said, could these words of Jesus be so fittingly applied. +Though seemingly dead,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> she would live in ever-increasing power in the +influence she had exerted over other lives. If, from cities and villages +far away, from lonely farm-houses, all could to-day be assembled within +these walls who had received help and strength from her, large indeed +would be the concourse. More truly of her than of most might it be said +that she had</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"joined the choir invisible<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of those immortal dead who live again<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In minds made better by their presence."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It would be well could we all imitate her example in cultivating a love +of religious reading, and that habit of religious meditation and +communion which was the source of her strength. Her leading +characteristic was conscience, an all-dominating power of conscience. +Whatever she felt it her duty to do, that she did, at all costs. He +closed by reading Bryant's</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">THE CONQUEROR'S GRAVE.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Within this lowly grave a Conqueror lies,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And yet the monument proclaims it not,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor round the sleeper's name hath chisel wrought<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The emblems of a fame that never dies,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ivy and amaranth, in a graceful sheaf,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Twined with the laurel's fair, imperial leaf.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i4">A simple name alone,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">To the great world unknown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is graven here, and wild-flowers, rising round,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Meek meadow-sweet and violets of the ground,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Lean lovingly against the humble stone.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Here, in the quiet earth, they laid apart<br /></span> +<span class="i2">No man of iron mould and bloody hands,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who sought to wreak upon the cowering lands<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The passions that consumed his restless heart;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But one of tender spirit and delicate frame,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Gentlest in mien and mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Of gentle womankind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Timidly shrinking from the breath of blame:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One in whose eyes the smile of kindness made<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Its haunt, like flowers by sunny brooks in May,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Yet, at the thought of others' pain, a shade<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of sweeter sadness chased the smile away.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Nor deem that when the hand that moulders here<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Was raised in menace, realms were chilled with fear<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And armies mustered at the sign, as when<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Clouds rise on clouds before the rainy East—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Gray captains leading bands of veteran men<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And fiery youths to be the vulture's feast.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not thus were waged the mighty wars that gave<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The victory to her who fills this grave.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Alone her task was wrought,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Alone the battle fought;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through that long strife her constant hope was stayed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On God alone, nor looked for other aid.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">She met the hosts of sorrow with a look<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That altered not beneath the frown they wore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And soon the lowering brood were tamed, and took,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Meekly, her gentle rule, and frowned no more.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her soft hand put aside the assaults of wrath,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And calmly broke in twain<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The fiery shafts of pain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And rent the nets of passion from her path.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">By that victorious hand despair was slain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With love she vanquished hate, and overcame<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Evil with good, in her Great Master's name.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Her glory is not of this shadowy state,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Glory that with the fleeting season dies;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But when she entered at the sapphire gate,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">What joy was radiant in celestial eyes!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How Heaven's bright depths with sounding welcomes rung,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And flowers of Heaven by shining hands were flung!<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And He who, long before,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pain, scorn, and sorrow bore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Mighty Sufferer, with aspect sweet,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Smiled on the timid stranger from his seat;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He who returning, glorious, from the grave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dragged Death, disarmed, in chains, a crouching slave.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">See, as I linger here, the sun grows low;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Cool airs are murmuring that the night is near.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O gentle sleeper, from thy grave I go<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Consoled though sad, in hope and yet in fear.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i4">Brief is the time, I know,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The warfare scarce begun,—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Yet all may win the triumphs thou hast won.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still flows the fount whose waters strengthened thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The victors' names are yet too few to fill<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heaven's mighty roll; the glorious armory,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That ministered to thee, is open still.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>On the pleasant slope of a lovely hillside in Spring Grove, where +everything around breathes of Nature's peace and repose, among graves +very dear to her, the worn body was laid to rest, while the gentle +winter rain fell not unkindly into the open grave. Much seemed to have +gone out of the world when the echoing clods covered that which was +"Miss Ellis."</p> + +<p>The Sunday after her death, as some of her friends were sadly trying to +replace the tracts in the table drawer just as she would have liked them +arranged, a white dove flew down and rested on the window-sill outside. +Only a coincidence, but one that touched us, nevertheless. If the +spirits of the departed ever revisit earth, surely Miss Ellis would +return to the church she loved so much; and possibly it is not wholly +fancy that still feels her in her old-time seat under the pulpit.</p> + +<p>As soon as possible after Miss Ellis's death the Women's Auxiliary +Conference of Cincinnati<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> prepared a four-page leaflet, containing a +brief sketch of her life and death, and sent it to all her +correspondents, many of whom were ignorant that she was even in ill +health. The little memorial's first page reads:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">In Memoriam.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i3">SALLIE ELLIS.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">December 27, 1885.</span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">So many worlds, so much to do,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">So little done, such things to be,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">How know I what had need of thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For thou wert strong as thou wert true.<br /></span> +<span class="i12"><span class="smcap">Tennyson</span>.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It reprinted from "Unity," Jan. 9, 1886, this tender tribute from a +personal friend and a member of the Women's Auxiliary:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">SALLIE ELLIS.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">She only did what lay at hand,—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Work that her own hand found to do:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With no thought of a "mission" grand,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Yet, bit by bit, her mission grew.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">She did—what others left undone;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">She gleaned behind the harvesters:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The scattered ears of grain let stand<br /></span> +<span class="i2">By careless ones,—all these were hers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Patient, unresting, still she wrought,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Though life beat fainter and more faint:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And only as her soul took flight,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">We saw—the aureole of the Saint.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8"><span class="smcap">Alice Williams Brotherton.</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Cincinnati, Ohio.</span><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The memorial closed as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"At the regular monthly meeting of the Women's Auxiliary Conference +of Cincinnati, Jan. 12, 1886, the programme for this meeting was +omitted, and the afternoon devoted to tender recollection of the +dear friend and valued secretary so recently taken from us, to the +reading of many letters from East and West containing loving +tribute to her worth and sympathy for our loss, and to devising +such plans for continuing our work in future as should be our +friend's best commemoration, the tribute she would chiefly have +desired. Mrs. George A. Thayer offered the following expression of +the feeling of our Society, for entry on our records:—</p> + +<p>"'It is fitting that we should place upon the records of this +Association some words of grateful remembrance of our late +fellow-worker and Secretary, Sallie Ellis, who went up higher on +Sunday, Dec. 27, 1885.</p> + +<p>"'She was called to her office four years and a half ago, and took +up its work from the beginning as one who felt its consecration, +and saw the opportunity it offered of being a ministry of the +highest things to many souls<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> yearning for a word of religion both +reasonable and spiritual.</p> + +<p>"'Her long and loving study of Unitarian principles gave her a rare +fitness for teaching others the <i>thought</i> of our church. Her +personal faith in the deep things of God enabled her to speak ever +the needed word to inquirers of the <i>religion</i> of our church. And +her sacred sense of duty, not only illustrated in every act of her +life, but shining always through her written words, made her an +admirable exemplar of the <i>moral quality</i> of our church. So she was +all that we could ask as our missionary leader, for she not only +taught the stranger from afar of the surpassing beauty and +greatness of our Liberal Christianity, but she quickened in us at +home new love for its truths, and a deeper sense of our privilege +and obligations in being of its disciples.</p> + +<p>"'In her life she guided and inspired us, and being dead she abides +with us, ever a constant presence, to make us humble that we do so +little for our great work, and to stir in us desire to be more +faithful to our task in the Master's vineyard.'</p> + +<p>"The following extract from a letter of directions left by Miss Ellis in +the event of her death was then read:—</p> + +<p>"'All the books in the loan library I bequeath to the use of the +church, and when not so used, my family shall have the disposal of +them.'</p> + +<p>"This library comprises over one hundred and thirty religious books, +chiefly by Unitarian authors. It was voted that this library 'shall +always be known as The Sallie Ellis Loan Library.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Mrs. M. E. Hunert, 177 Betts Street, Cincinnati, was appointed +Corresponding Secretary. All communications may hereafter be addressed +to her. She will continue the free distribution of Unitarian papers, +tracts, and sermons, to any names furnished her of persons desiring +them. She will also receive subscriptions for Unitarian publications and +sell books, when desired, and will loan the books of the Sallie Ellis +Loan Library, the borrower paying the postage only. It is earnestly +wished to continue Miss Ellis's work in her spirit, and it is hoped +correspondents and friends will co-operate with us in this effort.</p> + +<p>"Though saddened and greatly bereft, the Cincinnati Auxiliary would +still strive to 'look forward and not back,' working on in the spirit of +Whittier's poem,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">OUR SAINTS.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From the eternal silence rounding<br /></span> +<span class="i2">All unsure and starlight here,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Voices of our lost ones sounding,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Bid us be of heart and cheer,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through the silence, down the spaces,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Falling on the inward ear.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Let us draw their mantles o'er us,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Which have fallen in our way:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let us do the work before us<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Calmly, bravely, while we may,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere the long night-silence cometh,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And with us it is not day!"<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></div></div> +</blockquote> + +<p>The "In Memoriam" called out letters of deep regret—the regret of those +who mourn a personal friend—from every correspondent. A few of these +letters appear in the correspondence, selected from many of similar +tenor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CORRESPONDENCE" id="CORRESPONDENCE"></a>CORRESPONDENCE.</h2> + +<p>The letters of Miss Ellis's correspondents here given are selected from +an immense number of like purport and interest. She had kept all the +significant letters neatly filed in bundles, each correspondent by +himself. It has been a disappointment to receive so few, comparatively, +of her own letters. Our busy age is not given to saving its letters. It +is therefore all the more touching to know that so many of her +correspondents have treasured even every postal card from her hand. Her +letters given here, however, well illustrate her spirit and ideas on +many topics, also her method of work, and reveal something of the secret +of her success.</p> + +<p>Literary style and fine effects were the last things aimed at in her +letters. Their characteristics are plainness, directness, intense +earnestness to convince and impress, and a warm sympathy with people of +all kinds and degrees. Strongly conservative in her own theology, she +yet did not set up her views as a fixed standard<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> for others, or assume +to hold all truth. Some of her warmest friends were among our younger, +more radical ministers, whose purity and sincerity of life and faith +quite offset in her eyes their theological vagaries.</p> + +<p>The letters first given are to fellow-workers who had asked about her +methods, materials, etc. In an article which Mr. Gannett had asked her +to write, and which appeared in "Unity," March 1, 1884, she wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"We keep a standing weekly advertisement in two of our chief daily +papers,—those which have the widest circulation, one Saturday +morning, and the other Sunday, under the head of 'Religious +Notices.' One of these papers advertises free for us.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>"On receiving an application we respond, being guided somewhat by +the style and character of the application, by sending one or two +tracts, with a copy of the 'Christian Register' or 'Unity.' [Many +people of the church, after reading their religious papers, handed +them to Miss Ellis for distribution.] After sending the papers and +various tracts for several weeks, we write a postal of inquiry as +to whether Unitarian literature is satisfactory; and if the person +cares to subscribe to either of the papers, <i>which</i> he or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> she +prefers; which tracts have given the most satisfaction; and whether +they care to borrow any books by mail, paying the postage on them. +Frequently we receive no reply [in which case the name was +dropped], but mostly the answer is gratifying. If the person cannot +subscribe for the papers, but enjoys them, we continue to send +them.... In sending tracts, we begin with 'Unitarian Principles and +Doctrines,' by Rev. C. A. Brigham, the 'New Hampshire Statement of +Belief,' and 'What Do Unitarians Believe?' by Rev. C. W. +Wendte,—because we wish to show what our faith has grown from, and +what it is now. These we think fairly represent the denomination; +and we have found that they all give general satisfaction. Next, +'Why Am I a Unitarian?' by James F. Clarke, D.D., which is also +well liked, and 'Discourse on Distinguishing Opinions of +Unitarians,' by William E. Channing, D.D., as creating a thirst for +his 'Works.' Then we branch off from this into whatever we think +best.... <i>Promptness</i> in replying and <i>regularity</i> in sending +papers, etc., will do more towards showing our deep interest in the +work, and bring the individual seeking into vital connection with +the church sending the literature. A <i>little</i> at a time frequently, +to insure <i>careful</i> and <i>thorough</i> reading. Recommend books +extensively.... We believe in loaning the books of the early +ministers of our denomination as a good stepping-stone to the +Unitarianism now taught in our pulpits."</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> + +<p>In a letter to Miss F. L. Roberts, of Chicago, then Secretary of Western +Women's Unitarian Conference, March 14, 1884, she wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I agree with you that no <i>one</i> tract or sermon will satisfy the +questions of inquirers. They have to 'grow into the light,' as we +all have done and still are doing. Did any one thing settle our +doubts or questionings? I think not.</p> + +<p>"'What is our <i>aim</i> in the Post Office Mission Work?' It occurs to +me it should be to give inquirers the fairest statement of our +teachings, from Channing up to the present time. Not the thought of +any one man or woman, but that of the greatest number of our best +minds in the several eras of our denomination. In many cases ... +people have not the <i>slightest</i> idea what Unitarianism is, farther +than that we do not believe Christ was God. They not only do not +know what we believe, but think us a kind of 'outcasts.' It almost +seems like being in the Dark Ages of the world to hear of such +ignorance as we <i>know</i> exists with regard to our doctrines. +Therefore we are talking, as it were, to children. Let us then +begin at first principles, and send fair, clear statements."</p></blockquote> + +<p>After alluding to several of her correspondents who were thinking of +entering the Unitarian ministry, she adds:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"It seems to me the A. U. A. tracts, and the books, papers, etc., +sent with them, have produced good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> results; have made deep, +earnest thinkers. It is through these very things our own ministers +have been made to think, and they have gone beyond these same +things; and so will our correspondents in time. But at present few +of them have access to books, or come in contact with people who +can converse on all these points with them; therefore it is well to +intersperse with our tracts on doctrines, good <i>practical</i> sermons, +and the newer tracts occasionally, leading them up gradually to +Unitarian ideas, and showing them especially that while we <i>have</i> +doctrines in our church, character is the most important to us. +There is no one book that has done more effective work than Rev. J. +F. Clarke's 'Orthodoxy,' etc., which proves that we need good, +<i>clear</i>, strong doctrine. [The Post Office Mission, she adds] is +only a larger church, and we want to bring these people into vital +connection with us,—making not Unitarians of them, or merely +intellectual men and women, but practical Christians working with +us and for humanity. Rev. —— is the prophet of his age. We shall +all <i>grow</i> up to his ideal some day, and bring our Post Office +Mission members with us. Hope he will be willing to wait. 'It is +good that a man should both hope and quietly wait' (Lam. iii. 26)."</p></blockquote> + +<p>A bit from another letter to Miss Roberts is interesting as showing the +untiring industry which enabled Miss Ellis to accomplish so much:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>—</p> + +<blockquote><p>... "Next week we hold our fair, and I shall be very busy all the +week. Have had so many orders for mittens, that I am a perfect +knitting machine. I can knit and read, however, and therefore have +looked over many sermons for distribution in the mean time. Am +tired, and thankful for the blessed Saturday night followed by the +quiet of Sunday."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In answer to a letter of inquiry from Miss F. Le Baron when that lady +first entered on her work as Secretary of the Western Women's Unitarian +Conference at Chicago, Dec. 2, 1884, Miss Ellis wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"'How much time do you give to all this work?' Doing it at home, I +cannot calculate exactly, for there are many moments thrown in that +I cannot well count; but this much I <i>can</i> say. I begin about 9 <span class="smcap">A. +M.</span> Monday to collect my materials about me, and usually by +dinner-time (1 <span class="smcap">P. M.</span>) I have put away all papers, etc., and have +ready my week's papers, etc., for the postman to take. Nearly every +evening I write an hour or more, excepting Sunday, when I won't +write business letters. This is all the work I can <i>calculate</i>; but +there are many moments spent reading my letters, assorting papers, +tying up books, setting down items, making purchases, etc., besides +the time spent Sunday and on Wednesday at the church, over the +library, etc. However, I am very systematic in everything, and +accomplish more in that way.... Of course, new applicants I reply +to at once; but every new applicant is then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> added to my Monday +list. Being at an office, you have more interruptions; and then +deafness has its reward, and one can pursue her work in peace many +times, whereas another would be disturbed."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In answer to another letter from Miss Le Baron, full of warm +congratulations on her success, she writes, Dec. 11, 1884:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I am very much obliged for your high opinion of me. I read it to a +dear friend, who always sends me to the Conference at Chicago, and +she said, 'It's all true, but I hope you won't get so far above me +in the next world.' I never have stopped to 'understand' what I am +doing, or the 'name' I am making. To do the good comes from my +heart, and I leave the results to the Good Father, and know if I +merit a reward it will be given me. It is a pleasure in <i>this</i> +world, to feel I am giving satisfaction to so many in the +denomination. I am a thorough Unitarian, and have read our +denominational works more than anything else, which has prepared me +for this very work. I am an ignoramus in literature outside of +Unitarianism, only that you cannot be a Unitarian and not come, +more or less, in contact with general literature.... By the way, I +always read tracts, and M. J. Savage's and Chadwick's and Clarke's +weekly sermons, going to and from the city [Miss Ellis was living +at this time in Avondale, three miles from the city], and carry +<i>big</i> packages of papers home on Sunday. Think the conductors must +know I am a missionary."</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rev. Joseph May, Rev. Charles Allen, and Rev. F. L. Hosmer sent Miss +Ellis many of their printed sermons for distribution, which did good +service. Rev. William C. Gannett early saw the possibilities of this +work, and has done much to systematize and further it in many ways. He +christened it the "Post Office Mission," and, seeing the need of more +fresh material for distribution, devised and edited the "Church Door +Pulpit" series of sermons, and has also been the chief promoter of the +"Unity Mission" series of tracts. The following extracts are from Miss +Ellis's letters to him.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">September 12, 1882.</span></p> + +<p>Received to-day, from ——, your letter of September 5, asking +about our "Missionary Work by Letter." ... I will very gladly +afford you my assistance in that respect. However, I am rather more +conservative than yourself,—rather of the E. S. Gannett +type,—still have visited Omaha, where I have had brothers settled, +and know some little of the style of religion which is requisite in +the Northwest.... Will give you a list of the tracts I have used +most profitably. Most people state, when they ask for literature, +"Want something that teaches the <i>doctrines</i> of the Unitarian +Church." Thereupon I have forwarded, from time to time, "Unitarian +Doctrines and Principles" (Brigham); "Word of God" and "The Rising +Star of the Liberal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> Faith" (W. P. Tilden); "New Hampshire +Statement of Belief;" "Unitarian Belief in Bible Language;" "Why Am +I a Unitarian?" "Inspiration of New Testament," "Revivals" +(Clarke); "Our Common Christianity" (A. P. Stanley); "Mission of +Unitarianism" (Heber Newton); "Spiritual Christianity." (Starr +King); and "What Do Unitarians Believe?" (C. W. Wendte).... The +serial sermons of Chadwick, Clarke, Hale, and Savage always gladly +received.... But do not be afraid of a little doctrine, Mr. +Gannett, for there are some people in Orthodox churches who are +hungering and thirsting for just our doctrines. They cannot do +without doctrine just yet, but want something better than they have +known, and think it a great blessing to find it. I try my +congregation to see what each requires, and lead them on and up. My +church is composed of a very mixed set.... I am deeply interested +in this work, and know we have done much good.... We keep books to +loan, and also recommend books from time to time, and ask our +correspondents to subscribe to the periodicals.... Dr. Dewey's +sermons on "Human Nature" and "Human Life," and his "Two Great +Commandments" benefit some people very much.</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">March 11, 1883.</span></p> + +<p>I never omit the "Pulpit" column [of the Register], and read +"Wrestling and Blessing" with much interest.... I set each +difficulty down as just suited for some one, or two, or three of my +correspondents. Of course, I <i>don't apply sermons to myself any +more</i>. It is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> a beautiful sermon; and this brings me to the point +we are all so interested in,—the wider circulation of the fresh +thoughts of all the pulpits. I surely think, with you, that it will +help the work to "give it name." Am glad you are stirring them all +up. I do not, as you say, feel the need of it so much, but +occasionally do.... A new case in Tennessee, who never knew +<i>anything</i> of the Liberal Church, till we sent him papers. Is much +pleased, and wants to read till he knows still more about us. He +writes, "Not one per cent of the people here know there is such a +church. Tell me, do the majority of Unitarian ministers believe in +the resurrection of Jesus; that he healed the leper, cast out +devils, and raised Lazarus? I ask for information, and hope you +will reply at some future time." He is evidently in a benighted +region. Says he has "heard nothing outside the Cumberland +Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist Churches, and am none of +these;" and I presume is very little of anything yet, and is +longing for a nobler life than he has known, or sees about him. The +longer I go on, the more need I see of getting this work fully and +well organized. It will be brought about ere long. Even reading +over papers is beneficial. The publication of our hymns, the most +inspiring, will do a great deal of good. In several cases I have +copied them, and to good purpose.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Jan. 20, 1885, in answer to the question, what twenty names she would +prefer in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> "Church Door Pulpit" series the coming year, she wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Revs. Grindall Reynolds, Rush R. Shippen, J. F. Clarke, E. E. +Hale, Joseph May, Dr. William Furness, H. W. Bellows, T. Starr +King, J. Ll. Jones, J. T. Sunderland, George Bachelor, William C. +Gannett, F. L. Hosmer, David Utter, George A. Thayer, C. W. Wendte, +S. J. Barrows, Albert Walkley, J. C. Learned, James Martineau. Am +afraid I haven't left any room for those who do not bear the +'Unitarian' name, but feel that Unitarianism is so little known, +that I would first make our own best writers known, and then branch +out and take in others. All of the above names I should like to see +in 'Church Door Pulpit' for 1885-1886.... I think generally people +wish to become acquainted with the Unitarian pulpit. 'What do +Unitarians preach?' is the cry. 'I want to hear a Unitarian;' +'those who have been educated in that denomination.'"</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">February 20, 1885.</span></p> + +<p>Your article in "Unity," February 16, on "A Blessing on the Day," +pleased me very much.... We haven't quite the right book yet, and +with you I say, "about twelve verses from the Bible well knitted +around some central thought," as we principally want to become +acquainted with the Bible as the "Book of man." Think something +more like "Daily Praise and Prayer," with different Scripture +selections, perhaps, and omitting most of the prayers. I would only +have a prayer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> to lead to a prayer of one's own,—that is, to +inspire one to pray in their own words. Have often thought I should +like to compile a book of "Daily Worship" from the Scriptures, our +Hymn Books, "Daily Praise and Prayer," "Day unto Day," "Helps to +Devout Living," and the "Responsive Service," and now, from "Daily +Strength for Daily Needs," "Aspirations of the World," and +"Spiritual Life" in the "Register," but principally Scripture +selections.... "Daily Praise and Prayer" is doing much good in a +very troublesome family of one of my correspondents. I remembered +to have sent the lady "Wrestling and Blessing," and wrote a short +time since to call her attention to the "Inherited Burden," asking +if she still had the tract. This morning received a reply, in which +she wrote, "Yes! I still have 'Wrestling and Blessing,' for it did +me so much good when I first read it that I felt as if I could not +part with it." Many, many homes need "A Blessing on the Day" to +create the true feeling.</p></blockquote> + +<p>To Miss Holmes, of the Davenport, Iowa, Post Office Mission, Miss Ellis +wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">August 20, 1884.</span></p> + +<p>... Yes, I do use the A. U. A. tracts freely, and more than any +others, those marked on our list herein enclosed, and also "Word of +God," "The Doctrine of Prayer," and "Wrestling and Blessing,"—the +latter to those who need encouragement particularly. I find +generally that people want to get at the first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> principles,—the A +B C of Unitarianism. We do not use Higginson's "Sympathy of +Religion" at all. Our aim is to make practical Unitarians, and let +doctrines and theory gradually fall into the secondary place. +Therefore I object to Mr. ——'s list of books, because they are +more historical and theoretical. They do well where one wants to +study religion; but where one wants a Christianity to live by, I +think something that comes down to practical life, or that is more +simple, better adapted to the generality of people. As knowledge of +Unitarianism spreads, they will naturally seek deeper works. But at +present, something as clear and concise as possible, with the +"Christian Register," "Unity," and the "Dayspring," which further +illustrate our principles, we find very popular. The difficulty is +to get a large enough supply and variety enough. The A. U. A. +tracts only answer as an explanation, and we must have the sermons, +and papers, and books enough in addition. As I have been at the +work for three years, it is hard work to find sufficient supplies +for between thirty and forty every week, and these extending the +papers and tracts elsewhere.</p> + +<p>I cannot think, with Mr. Judy, that it is the best method to divide +the work. It seems to me that causes confusion. It seems a much +better way that the person who sends the tracts and papers should +distribute the books too, as being better able to advise the books +to read; for he or she learns the "bent of mind" of the seeker. So +many different<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> persons at work causes confusion and mistakes. I +mail papers, tracts, etc., attend to all the correspondence, to +loaning and mailing the books, to all printed matter received, to +all the advertising orders of every kind, to money received and +expended,—consulting the President frequently, and the details are +brought up before our monthly meetings. I do not believe the work +can be so well done as by one person; but of course no one could +devote so much time to it unless they have some compensation for +it. I took up the work at first voluntarily, but soon found there +was a great deal in it, and therefore wished to give it earnest +attention, and the ladies felt me particularly fitted for it, and +preferred to give me a small salary. It never is "irksome" to me, +but a work of real love to me. I have always been a +missionary,—distributing all the papers and tracts which contained +anything of a practical nature or of a pure Christianity.</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="center"><i>To Miss Holmes.</i></p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">August 29, 1884.</span></p> + +<p>Have just been re-reading "A Little Pilgrim." To tell you the plain +truth, the ideas are beautiful, but I do not like prying into the +next world. No one really knows anything concerning it. I am +willing to rest where Jesus left us. He told us little of it, but +enough for the "health of our souls." "In our Father's house are +many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you;" and I believe when +our friends leave us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> they go to another division of God's kingdom +and "prepare a place for us," in that through their deaths we are +naturally drawn heavenward, and our lives are different from ever +before. I am not so much interested as to what the future world is. +It is enough to me, to know that it is, and that I am doing the +best I can while I am living here. The future world will be made +plain to me when my time comes to go there; and if I have only +lived rightly here, there will be nothing to fear.</p> + +<p>I can trust in God. Still such books seem to be necessary to some +persons, but I do not consider them healthy reading. When you have +finished such a book the query comes, "Is it fact?" Who can say it +is? I feel that my friends are in the hands of a loving Father as +they were while on earth, and that he will still do for them what +is best, and their spirit and affection remain with us to comfort +and guide us. I never lose them. They are only "gone before."</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="center"><i>Miss Ellis to Rev. A. A. Livermore.</i></p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">June 2, 1880.</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Friend</span>,—Many thanks for your kind letter of Mar. 29th, +though I never saw the "P. S."—which, as usual with all +postscripts, contained the best part of the letter—till a month +afterwards, when in house-cleaning I was assorting letters +received, I noticed the last page of your letter, which was like +receiving a new letter, and came in very opportune; for we have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +had so much to depress us of late, that I was glad to have my +attention called to Philippians, which contains so much that is +cheering. There has been a good deal to occupy my time and thoughts +since your very kind letter reached me; but I will not allow your +college term to close without sending you my kind word, though I +cannot be personally present at the Ohio Conference and Meadville +exercises. May you have charming weather, and a satisfactory +gathering, is my sincere wish. Rev. William H. Channing's visit +here was highly appreciated by his old friends and the early +members of the church, and we all particularly enjoyed the +Communion. It was truly a communion with the departed, and very +beautiful to us. I did not have the pleasure of meeting Mr. +Channing excepting a few moments at Mrs. Ryland's, which I +regretted exceedingly; but it was a disappointment I could not +alter.</p> + +<p>—— and wife moved to Mt. Auburn to-day, there to make a bright, +beautiful home for themselves, which is as it should be; but we who +are left at home feel rather sad. The last of my dear mother's five +little children has gone from me, and it is not so easy to enter +into their homes and have my brothers and sisters what they were to +me in our own family circle. Still all is right and best as it is; +and though clouds gather over our heads, the sunshine will at +length make itself seen, for "all things work together for good." I +am going to be gay and spend the summer with —— in Philadelphia; +and as we have not met for eight years, we shall enjoy a quiet +summer together.</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">October 1, 1884.</span></p> + +<p>... Thanks for your kind sympathy for us in our sorrow. Thanks to +you for the solid foundation you laid when our dear mother died, +which has given me a firm faith in the hour of trial. I firmly +believe that "all things work together for good," and that dear +C——'s long sickness prepared her family, herself, and all of us +for her death. There was much in her sickness and death that was +beautiful and comforting. It was pleasant after so many days of +suffering to see her at rest; and we feel it must have been a happy +release to her too, for her face in death bore no trace of the pain +she had endured, of which we were glad, for she looked so natural +and sweetly that we could allow her two youngest children to look +at "mamma asleep, to wake up an angel in heaven." C—— never +wanted her children to have a horror of death, and her desire has +been granted. They have no other idea than that the Good Father +released their dear mother from pain and she is an angel in heaven. +An Episcopalian minister officiated at the funeral, as C—— always +preferred that service. He was a personal friend of hers and my +brother E——'s. My brother's widow came from ——to attend the +funeral, and she requested that I select a piece to be read in case +they found no one to lead in a hymn. I selected your hymn,—"A holy +air is breathing round." It was read in the middle of the service, +very impressively, and was particularly comforting to N——'s widow +and myself, as you had officiated at our mother's funeral and had +baptized<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> C—— and N——. (Do you remember the day you baptized me +and my three brothers and C—— at the Masonic Hall?) The children +scattered flowers over the graves; A——, ten years old, said on +returning from the cemetery, "Papa, it was all beautiful, no dread +or gloom about it. It was just as mamma would have had it." And so +it was. The children will always feel the life hereafter a reality. +"More homelike is the vast unknown," since their mamma is there. +The piece "At noontide," in last week's "Register," applies to dear +C——'s death as well as if written for her. It is beautiful. I +want it in a leaflet to distribute, as I have opportunity +frequently for just such words. Yes! I help on "Unity," the +"Register," and "Our Best Words."... Hope I am making Christians, +and not merely Liberals or merely Unitarians. Think we are gaining +ground with many; but the literature must be distributed with great +care, I feel with you.... We are glad to have the Thayers home +again, and will probably begin to work earnestly next week.</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">January 4, 1885.</span></p> + +<p>... Thanksgiving and Christmas were rather sad days to us this +year, without our dear C——, who always did so much to make the +days bright for all about her. Pa, mother, and myself dined both +days with C——'s family. Christmas was made a happy day for the +children by all our kind friends, and we could but feel their +mother was looking upon them, with a bright and happy face, in +gratitude to all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> those who had endeavored to make her dear ones so +happy. I have been very busy this winter, for the correspondents +still claim my time. Young —— still appears interested, and I +hope he may be able to enter college this year, for he appears to +feel his isolation there much. No sympathetic person about him +nearer than Mr. Barnes of Montreal.... Unity Club flourishes, so +does the Day Nursery and Women's Auxiliary Conference. The fair was +a pleasant occasion, and now we are all feeling cheered in having +Mrs. T—— better again. I always see A—— at the window as I pass +there on my way to church. He is a lovely little boy. He looks as +if he <i>wanted</i> to know "Miss Ellis;" but I doubt if he does, +without his mother to call attention to her. Hope you all passed +pleasant holidays at Meadville. I must close to write to Aunt ——, +who always looks for a Sunday letter from me. [This was an aged +blind aunt.]</p></blockquote> + +<p>Miss Ellis's first Post Office Mission correspondent was a young man in +Ravenna, Ohio, Mr. Julius Woodruff. His first letter to her said:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Thank you for your kindness in sending me the 'Christian +Register.' I am much pleased with the paper, and may become a +subscriber at no distant day. I received copies of Mr. Wendte's +sermon, 'What do Unitarians Believe?' I have distributed them where +I thought they would do the most good, and have reason to think +that good was accomplished. Before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> long I will send to you for +more books; and if I can help you in obtaining subscribers to the +'Register' I will gladly do so. I am not a member of any church, +and stand almost alone in the church I attend [Methodist], in my +views. Our people seem to be almost entirely divided into three +classes; namely, the strictly Orthodox, the wholly indifferent or +non-thinking class, and the ultra Liberal. I am in sympathy with +neither; and I know of only a few, all young boys like myself, who +occupy middle ground. I can almost <i>fully</i> indorse the views +expressed by Rev. C. W. Wendte in the sermon to which I have +referred; and believing his views to be right, I take pleasure in +giving them as wide a circulation as I can. In many respects I +admire Ingersoll; but I have no sympathy with the so-called +'Liberal League' with which he is connected, and which has an +auxiliary league in this county.</p> + +<p>"... If I understand the theory and purpose of your church, I shall +be glad to render the cause any service in my power; and if I can +be of any service as an auxiliary to your Missionary Society, I +have only to be instructed in the ways thereof."</p></blockquote> + +<p>As such auxiliary he acted, distributing tracts, papers, etc., with a +zeal that might well shame some life-long Unitarians. In later letters +he wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Outside of all churches there is quite a number of men, mostly +young, intelligent men, who have cultivated an intense hatred of +certain doctrines and religious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> observances, and who have +gradually come to denounce and seek the overthrow of our whole +religious system. These are banded together as an auxiliary to the +'Liberal League' of America. In addition to these are a number of +young men, sons of Orthodox parents, who dissent from the religious +views and peculiar creeds which have satisfied their elders, and +yet have no definite faith of their own. I think that with these +two classes, as well as with those who have so far been indifferent +to the claim of religion, we have an excellent prospect of success +in introducing our views and extending the influence of Liberal +Christianity. I am very friendly to the Orthodox Church, +recognizing the noble purpose that animates them all, and the +invaluable services that they have rendered to mankind; and I have +less desire to draw upon their strength than I have to see the +Unitarian Church built up from material that has formerly been +identified with <i>no</i> church organization. I was a Unitarian in +theory long before I knew anything of the Unitarian Church.... As a +rule, the young men of my acquaintance who are, either in theory or +practice, liberal Christians, are of the most intelligent order, +ambitious, progressive young men; and of <i>them</i> what may we not +hope?"</p></blockquote> + +<p>He went into business in Leadville, Colorado, and from there wrote Miss +Ellis (in 1881):—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Sunday is almost entirely ignored in the business portion of the +city, very few men closing their places<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> of business. Every saloon +and theatre is open on Sunday, and brass bands fill the air with +their inspiring music. I attended the Methodist Episcopal Church +Sabbath School last Sunday, and found quite a respectable crowd in +attendance. I thoroughly enjoyed that afternoon; and when I saw +rough-bearded, grimy, slouchy-looking men and boys from the mines +and workshops taking part in the exercises of the school, I thanked +God for the influence his church and school had had upon the +largest, hardest mining-camp in the world.... If you have any more +of the documents referred to, I wish you would send me a dozen or +more, and a few of the pamphlets on 'What Do Unitarians Believe?' +It seems to me this would be a most fruitful field in which to +plant Unitarian ideas and principles. It seems to me no other +church would be so popular here. Of the party of ten young men who +board with me, I do not think that any one of them has been in a +church three times since he came to Leadville. In most respects, +all of them are fine young men; but Orthodox doctrines would never +gain any ground with them, while Liberal ideas might win the field +if the boys could be made to consider them."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Miss Ellis, and all the ladies, indeed, of the Cincinnati Auxiliary, +were greatly interested in Leadville, and hoped to do a good work there, +aided by our enthusiastic young friend; but the above was destined to be +our last letter from him. In September, 1881, came a postal card from a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +hotel clerk, saying, "Mr. Woodruff wishes me to inform you that he has +been unable to answer your letter on account of sickness, but will write +you as soon as able." A few days later came intelligence of his death. +Tributes to his character in the Ravenna newspapers, and his photograph +sent Miss Ellis by his sister, only confirmed our opinion of this young +man's noble character, and our sincere grief at his loss. Miss Ellis at +once wrote to his mother this letter:—</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">October 17, 1881.</span></p> + +<p>I shall be compelled to address the envelope containing this note +to your daughter, not knowing your husband's name. I presume you +are aware that Miss —— informed me of your son's death, and she, +I presume, sent me so kindly the paper last week containing the +obituary on him which I read with much interest, as it was such an +opinion as I and all of us had formed of your son, Julius, from his +interesting letters. I assure you that our love and sympathy are +with you in the affliction, and would that we could soften the +severe loss to you; but that alone the good Father in time can +render less bitter. True resignation consists in enduring it as +God's will.</p> + +<p>The ladies of our Missionary Society wish me to tell you how much +all were interested in Julius's letters, and how deeply they feel +with you, and at my request send you a book of consolation, "Light +on the Cloud,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> as an expression of our real interest in your son. +It seemed to me that nothing could be so appropriate as the +literature he so learned to love. "He being dead yet speaketh" +(Heb. xi. 4); and such we deem would be his words to those who were +so dear to him. The President of our society marked one piece,—"He +giveth his beloved sleep," and I have marked passages through the +book, particularly under the head "Death a Blessing," and the last +poem in the book. If words can cheer you, it is our hope that this +little gift may serve the purpose. At least may it be a testimonial +to you of our deep interest in your dear boy.... Our ladies are to +hold the first meeting this season a week from to-morrow, when the +obituary notice of Julius R. Woodruff's death will be read, and +listened to with interest. He was my first correspondent, and his +letter from Colorado was particularly enjoyable. It grieves me to +think it was the last.... Hoping to hear farther from you, dear +friend, through your daughter or Miss——, and to have the pleasure +of becoming personally acquainted with you at some future day, with +a God's blessing on you one and all, far and near,</p> + +<p class="right">Yours in common sorrow, <span class="smcap">S. Ellis</span>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The correspondence was continued with Mr. Woodruff's sister as +follows:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">November 11, 1881.</span></p> + +<p>... Yes, you may call me your "friend," for I truly feel that I +have lost a dear and true friend in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> your brother, and consequently +feel interested in all of his family, and do not wonder that your +mother and the whole family are heart-broken to be called to give +him up. Am sincerely glad that you felt free to express all your +feelings to me, for now I can sympathize more deeply with you. You +are just the age I was when my first sorrow came upon me,—the +death of my dear mother. As you say, I felt that I must keep up, to +cheer my father, who has ever been a domestic man, and the loss of +my mother was very hard for him to bear, and the five little +children to be cared for, I the oldest daughter at home, and had +been my mother's "right-hand man" in the care of the children. But +all our sorrows and trials are good for us to bear, and we need the +crosses as well as the joys of life to fit us for the life here and +for that which is to come.</p> + +<p>It was hard to be reconciled to the death of one so young and so +good and true as Julius; but we must not be selfish, but think what +is our loss is the gain of those taken, many times. He may, through +his spiritual influence, still care for and lead you all nearer to +God. These "dark hours of life" bring us to know ourselves better; +they call out our sympathy for our fellow-men; and, what is more +than all, they bring us nearer to God, and thus they are not a mere +cross of agony; therefore let us not murmur at our affliction, but +still believe that God is good, and will so make our trials serve +us that they may become <i>good</i> to us.... We must trust God, who +doeth all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> things for the best, and pray for strength and light to +be given us. Our prayers may not always be answered as we ask, but +they are answered in another way.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Pray, though the gift you ask for<br /></span> +<span class="i2">May never comfort your fears,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">May never repay your pleading;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Yet pray, and with hopeful tears.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">An answer—not that you sought for,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But diviner—will come one day:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your eyes are too dim to see it;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Yet strive, and wait, and pray.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"How shalt thou bear the cross which now<br /></span> +<span class="i2">So dread a weight appears?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Keep quietly to God, and think<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Upon the Eternal Years.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Bear gently, suffer like a child,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Nor be ashamed of tears;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Kiss the sweet cross, and in thy heart<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sing of the Eternal Years."<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> +</blockquote> + +<p>The whole of Whittier's "Angels of Grief" and a poem by Ellerton are +copied in addition.</p> + +<p>The correspondence was continued, occasionally, during Miss Ellis's +life. Aug. 11, 1882, she wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Young women, Miss——, have great influence over young men, and I +hope you struggle to improve<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> all those whom you know. Have you +ever come across Frances Power Cobbe's 'Duties of Women'? It is a +remarkably sensible book, and I feel as if every young girl ought +to read it. I think you would do your young friends a service by +owning it and passing it around among them. You can get it in paper +for twenty-five cents. It is not a doctrinal work at all. She +delivered the lectures in London, to women. Neither is it a Woman's +Rights book altogether, but what any girl or young man, come to +that, ought to do and practise. Are you going to resume school +after vacation again, or what do you intend to turn your attention +to?</p> + +<p>"I have not been very strong since I was sick last August, +therefore have not done much this year. I go into the city every +two weeks on Saturday <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, to be at the church to loan books to +any one who desires them. Was there last Saturday, and two strange +ladies came in who proved very pleasant; one a young girl. She came +after 'Helps to Devout Living,' for a sister who has gone out to +Nebraska for her health, and is miles away from any church and has +no companionable people about her. This young sister also selected +for herself 'Day unto Day,' as a book of daily study in an upward +path. It is such pleasant work to have it within my power to loan +and to recommend so many good books to those who have not read +them. They always enjoy them. Julius would have been so happy in it +out at Leadville."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mr. Woodruff's sister wrote, Feb. 15, 1886:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>"Some one very kindly sent us the obituary of our dear friend Miss +Ellis. We were surprised and deeply grieved to hear of her death, +as we did not know that her health was poor even. She said so +little about herself, that we never thought of her as otherwise +than well and strong.... I enjoyed Miss Ellis's letters so much, +and we appreciated her kindness in writing to us after my dear +brother's death. He thought so much of Miss Ellis, and I know if he +had lived you would not have been disappointed in him. I cannot +thank you sufficiently for the little book you sent mother after +J——'s death. Truly it was a 'Light on the Cloud,' and it +comforted mother more than I can tell you. It is so full of +comforting words.</p> + +<p>"Though Miss Ellis is gone from us, she has left behind the +influence of a life so pure, so noble, and so grand, that we will +all be the better for having known her. As my brother once wrote in +a friend's album, 'God wisely wills that we may not know the number +of our years, and in view of the uncertainty which enshrouds each +to-morrow, let us so live that be our lives long or short, the +little home-world that surrounds us will be the better for our +having lived in it.' Can we not say that these two did not live in +vain? My brother had a great influence over young people and also +over some who were much older than he, and had he been spared, I +feel sure that he would have done a grand work for the cause of +Christianity. But their life work is ended only too soon; and why +they should be taken when they were doing so much good, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> others +who are a burden to themselves and others are left, I suppose we +shall know sometime; and until that time we must believe that 'He +doeth all things well.'"</p></blockquote> + +<p>Miss Ellis's letters frequently express her joy in a young man who had +become a Unitarian minister through her efforts. He was a Methodist +minister in Ohio, but had grown unable longer to accept the creed of his +church. Unhappy, unsettled, and adrift, not knowing where to turn for +help, by the merest "chance" he picked up on a railroad car a Cincinnati +paper, and his eye fell on the Women's Auxiliary Conference +advertisement. He wrote Miss Ellis a postal card, saying:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I have seen your notice in the 'Commercial,' offering Unitarian +papers and tracts free to persons who may desire to read them. I +must confess to more ignorance in regard to Unitarian doctrines +than is seemly in a minister of the gospel, and will be thankful +indeed if you will kindly favor me with such papers and tracts as +may enlighten me ever so little."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Later he wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"You have helped me not a little in my search for truth. Before I +first wrote you for tracts, etc., I knew absolutely nothing of +Unitarianism beyond the term, and the fact that Unitarians did not +believe Christ to have been God."</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p> + +<p>Miss Ellis corresponded with him from that time on, loaning many books, +etc. It was never her wish or aim to unsettle persons of a fixed faith. +She sought rather to reach and help those who, by reading and thinking, +had become dissatisfied with the only forms of religious faith known to +them, and were consequently drifting into scepticism. Mr. ——'s own +letters best tell the story. After Miss Ellis's death, he wrote Feb. +3,1886:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I had long been wondering why I did not hear from her, but +supposed that she found her time so engrossed with her chosen work +that she must defer writing until some more convenient season. She +had, it is true, hinted at her failing health, but I never dreamed +it was so bad. My first intimation of the real state of affairs was +the notice of her death. I need not say that I was startled, that I +regret our common loss; these are but feeble expressions.</p> + +<p>"Through all my life here at Cambridge I have been anticipating the +day when, returning West, I should meet her, and in some degree +thank her for the help and comfort she brought me in life. This has +become such a fixed idea with me, that it is hard to believe, as I +write this, that it can never be in this world. It seems very +strange that the one friend who did me such a supreme kindness in +life I shall never meet.</p> + +<p>"She was the very messenger of God to me, and is inseparably +associated with the most trying period of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> my life. The only +conceptions of religion I had ever had were proving unreal and +worthless, and no one offered anything as a substitute. As I look +back, the peril of my situation seems much greater than it did at +the time. I fear I should have become insincere, or, what is +perhaps almost as bad, should have fallen into a sort of despairing +scepticism. Heaven in mercy saved me from it; but I shall not +forget that even Heaven might not have found a way to do this, had +there been no Miss Ellis. It was but a little thing, a trifle, a +brief notice in a daily paper, that in some way caught a careless +reader's eye. But my whole life is changed in consequence.</p> + +<p>"And so, while you miss her in her place and in your work, in your +church and social life, I, too, here in New England miss her. I +feel as if something is gone out of my life and I have really one +less reason for returning West when my school work is done. But I +have if possible an additional incentive to a good life. I trust I +shall hear that your work is still going on successfully. I assure +you I shall never lose interest in your Mission, and shall never +cease to regard it as in some sense a home into which I was +adopted. I sincerely hope I shall never do it any discredit."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In a letter to Mrs. Hunert, Miss Ellis's successor, he says:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Accept, please, my hearty congratulations, and my best wishes for +your very abundant success. It is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> great work indeed, one that +cannot be easily over-estimated, and in which it seems to me you +can accomplish a minister's work even, and a very successful +minister's work at that. I wonder how large your congregation is +now; that is, how many persons are in communication with you and +your Mission.</p> + +<p>"Of Miss Ellis I shall always think as one of my greatest earthly +benefactors, and it will be a life-long regret that I never met +her.... I wish you would say to Mrs. Smith that I have by me here +in New England only the letters received from Miss Ellis since +coming to Harvard, and these I fear contain nothing she would like +to make use of. The really helpful letters, those that were of most +vital interest to me, were written while I was a Methodist preacher +in Ohio, and these are back there still, packed up among odds and +ends, and practically might almost as well be in the moon.... Again +accept my best wishes for your success in the new calling,—a +divine one in the truest sense of the word. I assure you I shall +always be glad to hear of the growth and success of your Mission, +all the more, perhaps, because I hold to it a sort of filial +relation. You know that in the Methodist Church each young convert +or young minister speaks of the minister under whose preaching he +was converted, as a spiritual father. So I think of myself now as +the spiritual child of your Women's Missionary Society in +Cincinnati. Would that Heaven might help me to be worthy of the +home, and justify in some sense their loving-kindness and help in +time of need."</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p> + +<p>A gentleman in Kentucky, long a correspondent of Miss Ellis, who had +taken papers, bought many books, etc., through her, and who has recently +died, wrote of her, Jan. 22, 1886:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Many souls will miss the modest, unassuming, faithful secretary, +but her silent labors will be followed by a rich reward. Her +memorial is in the hearts and minds of those who were led through +her efforts to freedom, fellowship, and character, in religion."</p></blockquote> + +<p>This correspondent was a farmer's wife in Ohio, who, after Miss Ellis's +death, wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I have had much trouble in the last two years, and would have +given up to utter despair many times, if it had not been for her +kind letters and sermons. I made a confidential friend of her; so, +knowing my situation, she knew what sermons would serve most to +strengthen me, and sometimes she would come across sermons in +papers that she would cut out and send me. I have them yet, and +intend to paste them in a scrapbook. I thought of calling upon her +father to see if he had a picture that he would allow me to have a +copy from, so I am very glad her portrait will be in the book.... I +learned to <i>love</i> Miss Ellis, and shall <i>never</i> forget her."</p></blockquote> + +<p>There was a little family of step-children living on a remote Ohio farm, +in whom Miss Ellis took a warm personal interest, advising as to their +religious training, sending them children's papers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> and books. "Miss +Ellis" came to be regarded as a dear friend by these children who never +saw her. March 16, 1885, she wrote to the mother:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Your letter was received a week since, but I have been sick three +weeks with a very severe cough and cold. Have been up and about, +but could not accomplish much of anything, and especially writing, +and still had much of it to do.... Wanted to advise you about the +Sunday-school lessons. Order the lessons of 'Home Life' from +Chicago at present, and then next, if you can, 'Corner-Stones of +Character;' but do not get the 'Old Testament Chart,' for I have +some very good lessons on the Old Testament that you will like and +can have immediately.... Am so sorry you have so much sadness to +contend against. However, you must feel that all your sacrifices +are known by the good Father in heaven; so to him turn in your hour +of need. There is a hymn Mr. Thayer often selects for our opening +on Sunday. We sang it last Sunday,—'Daily Consecration,' by +Caroline Mason.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Oh God! I thank thee for each sight<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of beauty that thy hand doth give;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For sunny skies, and air, and light,—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Oh God, I thank thee that I live!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'That life I consecrate to thee;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And ever, as the day is born,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On wings of joy my soul would flee<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To thank thee for another morn:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Another day in which to cast<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Some silent deed of love abroad,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which, greatening as it journeys past,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">May do some earnest work for God.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Another day to do, to dare;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To use anew my growing strength;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To arm my soul with faith and prayer,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And so win life and thee, at length.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Let your first thoughts be turned to God in the morning, and in +the day's struggles believe that you are in his presence; and even +if your earthly life is not such as you may wish, you may rest +assured that your tears are counted above.... My own life is much +brighter than it was. My brother —— has an only child, three and +a half years old, who is very cunning, and much company for us all. +On Friday I passed my semi-centennial birthday, which a number of +my friends kindly remembered.... I was not strong enough to enjoy +the occasion fully; but still on the whole it was a bright day to +me, and on Sunday I was glad Mr. Thayer selected the beautiful +hymn, 'Daily Consecration.' I am too weak to write longer.... May +God bless and strengthen you for your daily toils."</p></blockquote> + +<p>On the envelopes of all these letters was written, "From my friend Miss +Ellis." To the oldest child, who was difficult to influence, Miss Ellis +addressed this letter:—</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>: I wonder if you ever had any one write a letter to +you, and whether you can read a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> letter yourself. If not, your +mamma will read it to you. She has told me that you are having a +little Sunday-school of your own at home, and I feel quite +interested in it, and am going to have two of the lessons sent to +your mamma from Chicago, hoping you three children will feel +interested in them. One is a very simple thing to learn,—"Rules to +make Home Pleasant;" and I hope you will all try to learn them, and +try to keep them in your daily life.... If children do not learn to +keep such rules, they never can have happy homes, for they will +grow up into ill-natured, lazy men and women. The other lesson is +called "Corner-Stones of Character," because it gives us true ideas +of what all children should learn in order to grow up into good, +truthful men and women.... Now I know you are studying together +Brown's "Life of Jesus," and these lessons I am to send you will +help you to understand better what Jesus did to make himself, with +God's help, become so good a man. I know, too, that you, M——, +have a copy of "Daily Praise and Prayer," which is a very good +book. It is pleasant to me as I read in mine to think that Mrs. +—— and M—— are reading their lesson to-day, and I wonder if +they are thinking how beautiful it is, and that "Miss Ellis" and +many others are reading and asking God for the same goodness +to-day. It is so pleasant,—do you not think so?—to feel that our +good Father in heaven and all good, kind people are thinking of us +each day. It helps <i>us</i> to be good, to know that others are trying +in the same way,—do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> you not think so? You are the oldest of the +three children, and I want to hear from you, that by studying our +Sunday-school lessons, and reading in sensible books, and playing +with well-behaved children, you are all becoming wiser and better, +and helping mamma and each other. I will also send you some verses +all the children in our Sunday-school learned one winter.... There +are many things I could talk to you about, but I must leave the +rest till another day. It will be sufficient for you to know that +some one on earth feels interested in your life at home, with a +kind mother to lead you so well.... I will say good-by now, and +hope you will learn to write to me. With love to all of you, very +kindly your friend.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Miss Ellis corresponded frequently with a young man in Canada (living in +a city where, so far as known, he is the only Unitarian), beginning in +1882, and loaning him many books. He, too, was in a state of religious +doubt and despair, when chance threw the little advertisement in his +way. He intends to enter the Unitarian ministry, as is shown by the +following extracts from the correspondence. Miss Ellis wrote him Oct. +21, 1882:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>Monday afternoon I mailed "Religion in Evolution" to you, and I +have imagined you eagerly poring over the book this week in high +ecstasies.... To me James F. Clarke's views and Dr. Furness's seem +more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> just and reliable. But Dr. Clarke says, "What commends itself +best to our reason, must be the truth;" therefore Mr. Savage may +benefit you more. If he rouses you to a deep faith and makes you +truly Christian, that is the point to be gained. Should like to +have you compare James F. Clarke with Mr. Savage, on the Humanity +of Jesus and the Miracles and the Resurrection, particularly. +"Bible for Learners," Vol. III., takes the same view, about, of the +Miracles and Resurrection,—"myths and legends," "not an external +fact of history, but simply a form of belief assumed by the faith +of his friends and earliest disciples." James F. Clarke, in "Truths +and Errors of Orthodoxy," in the chapter Miracles, says, "The +resurrection may have been an example of a universal law." Dr. +Furness says: "Till men know all the laws of God it is rather +presumptuous in them to set the resurrection aside as an +impossibility." These are not his exact words; but the purport I +have quoted from memory. To return to Dr. Clarke.... [Then follows +a long extract from Clarke, which is omitted here.] Dr. Clarke's +view is the most likely and rational to me; but all the more +radical men take the view of the German critics, and look upon it +rather as "myths and legends" arising from a simple faith of the +disciples. The only way is to read for yourself and compare, +forming an opinion of your own, while remembering that Christianity +does not rest on a certain belief, but on the life. "What doth the +Lord thy God require of thee, but to do justly, love mercy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> and +walk humbly with thy God," are the words of the prophet Micah. +James F. Clarke believes firmly in the simple, pure humanity of +Jesus, best shown in "Steps of Belief," under the "Historical +Christ." I have "Steps of Belief," "Truths and Errors of +Orthodoxy," also "Bible for Learners" and "Talks about Jesus" (M. +J. Savage), to loan you. You have only to say which you wish +first.... I am tired, and must rise early to be in the city in time +for Sunday-school, so I will tear off the paper here, or I shall go +on writing all night. Have more good sermons to send you. Wish you +could go to Boston, join the Young Men's Christian Union +(Unitarian), and be helped into what God means you and all to be, +by putting our faculties to the highest use we are capable of. +Hoping to hear further from you,</p> + +<p class="right">Truly your friend, <span class="smcap">Sarah Ellis</span>.</p> + +<p><i>Sunday Evening.</i> Our sermon to-day was on the "Effects of Modern +Scientific Thought upon the Essentials of Religion." If it is +published, will send you a copy of it.... I think the hymn will +meet your views, therefore copy it. Do you know it?</p></blockquote> + +<p>The hymn referred to is the one, "God Ever Near," by T. H. Gill, +beginning:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"What secret place, what distant star,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">O Lord of all, is thine abode?"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Miss Ellis copies it in full. In 1883 the young man wrote Miss Ellis:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"A year ago I was in the dreariest stage of agnosticism. I was in +despair at times, and sometimes my very soul seemed to be in agony. +Through reading scientific literature I had been convinced that +most of the religious teaching I had learned was false. The +flippancy and shallowness of Ingersoll and his school disgusted me. +I could not find rest in materialism; I considered it as far astray +from the truth as Orthodoxy. I was nineteen years old, and found +myself facing the most tremendous problems of existence. I tried to +tell myself to wait for maturer years to solve them, and to a great +extent that satisfied me. But I still yearned for +<i>something</i>,—simply this: 'My soul cried out for the living God!' +Alas! I could not find him. I looked around me for a little +sympathy or a kind word even, but I looked in vain. Every Sunday I +heard denunciations of such views as mine. I heard a great deal of +'blatant atheists,' 'infidel scientists,' etc., but no sympathy for +a despairing agnostic,—only scorn and ridicule. It pained me +intensely to be misunderstood by even those dearest to me on earth, +but I determined to stand firm for what I took to be the truth. Oh +for some men to preach a little charity for the views of others, +and to consider a man as not being necessarily worse than a +criminal because he cannot accept their own views! I owe you a +large debt of gratitude for being the means of lifting me out of a +state of misery and despair, in which I had no pleasure in life, +into a state of cheerfulness, happiness, hope, and peace; not +intellectual peace,—for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> I do not expect that,—but real 'soul +peace,' a calm trust and a real faith in a living God. I have been +surprised to see how largely Unitarian theology is based on +science. I owe it to science that my life is something more than +daily drudgery. The foundation of my scepticism was laid when I +learned the rudiments of natural philosophy in school. I was +astonished at what I read of Nature's wonders. Since leaving school +I have been an ardent reader of all kinds of scientific literature. +By means of the Mechanics' Institute I have the use of all the +magazines, reviews, etc., besides a splendid library. I have read a +great deal that I did not understand,—books which are beyond my +years; but I have a good idea of what is occupying the minds of the +world's thinkers in this nineteenth century. One of the best +lessons I have learned from the literature you have sent me is +faith,—a very different kind of faith from the mere credulity I +once knew by that name. At times I am dazed and confounded when I +think of the great mysteries surrounding us, especially of the +mysteries of death; but I feel that a good God is over all, and the +main thing is to do right, and all will be well. I cannot express +how much I owe you for the great good you have done me. You have my +heartfelt thanks."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In another letter he wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"To say that I am delighted with 'The Religion of Evolution' is but +a poor way of expressing myself. You could not have sent me a more +timely book. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> would like to get all of Mr. Savage's books. You +'wish I could go to Boston,' etc. Ah! you do not know how I +sometimes yearn for some such thing myself. I find my great +pleasure and recreation in intellectual pursuits; and of course I +have not nearly so great advantages in a small city as I would have +in a large one. But for meditation and communion with the Infinite, +communion with Nature and the incomprehensible God, I must have +solitude. It was a favorite dream of my childhood that I would be a +minister. But I have to work in another way. My father died when I +was six years of age, and my mother therefore had a struggle to +give us an education,—that inestimable blessing of a common-school +education. I feel that the highest work for me is to support her to +the best of my ability.... I value highly the sermons you send me. +Most of our churches here offer one 'dry bones' instead of the +living truth. Do you know of any low-priced publication which would +give me a fair sketch of Theodore Parker's life and thought? I +would like to know something of him. I am greatly pleased with the +'Register.' Mr. Savage's sermons are also a feast to me. The +sermons of J. F. Clarke you sent me in June have a ring about them +and a spirit in them that I find in few others."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Miss Ellis wrote him, Dec. 29, 1883:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>Am glad to hear you have gained <i>something</i> in the past year. Do +not be discouraged if you are not perfection at once. It takes +<i>years</i> of struggle to become<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> so. Read the lessons on "Patience," +in "Day unto Day," particularly "Jan. 9—Parsons." You are quite +young, remember, and there are many years for you to improve in, +"and room for improvement," as people always say.... I will not +allow <i>your</i> want of time to keep me from writing you. It is my own +lack of time, and troublesome eyes. Have been very busy this +winter. Have a gentleman in Alabama who is becoming much interested +in Unitarian theology, and also one in Kentucky. It keeps my mind +at work to send just the right thing to each one. My eyes are +troubling me much this evening. Must close, to make some last +preparations for Sunday, as I have to start early in the morning to +be in time, and must also write a postal to a young nephew in +Philadelphia, who is very fond of me and remembered me Christmas +and always. Wishing you a bright, happy, and successful New Year, +in which all the ladies join me, with kind regards to your mother,</p> + +<p class="right">Truly your friend, <span class="smcap">S. Ellis</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">April</span> 15, 1883.</p> + +<p>I must answer your question, "Why no denunciation of sin (by +Unitarians)?" In the New Hampshire "Statement of Belief" I first +sent you, if you still have it, you will find: "(4) In Human +Nature, as not ruined, but incomplete. Man is not fallen from a +primitive state of holiness, but is imperfectly developed. Being +imperfect, he is liable to sin.... <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span><i>The essence of sin is the +failure of the higher nature of man to rule his lower nature.</i> +Human nature is made sacred by the indwelling presence of God. +Humanity is not tending downward, but is divinely guided from lower +to higher forms of moral and spiritual life."</p> + +<p>Starting from such a high ideal of man's nature,—that he is +created in the "image of God," and as found in the first chapter of +Genesis, I think, and in Psalms viii.: "Thou hast made him a little +lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with honor and +glory,"—we feel him capable of so much, that our ministers are too +busy talking concerning <i>being</i> and <i>doing</i> good to have any time +left for denunciation of sin. Our great concern is to raise man in +<i>every</i> way. Teach him to be cheerful, looking <i>forward</i> all the +time, moving onward and upward, and to find no opportunity to spend +in vain regrets,—only looking at his sins long enough to learn +lessons from the past, that he may avoid them in the future. Our +sins leave a deep stain that will affect us during our lifetime, +but the only way to overcome them is to be so engaged in right +doing that we rise above them. Now, do you not think this a far +higher way of converting men than by dwelling on their weaknesses? +Give the world something higher to do all the time, and they will +naturally rise to that level. We start from a higher standpoint +than the Orthodox, therefore our methods are very different. We +denounce sin by avoiding it whenever we come in contact with it, or +evil of any kind, and there is no more effectual way of overcoming +it. Do you not see why it is we have ceased to speak<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> of it in +sermons? We are too busy with the good, the true, the beautiful, to +pay attention to the wickedness. Dr. Dewey wrote some stirring +sermons, on "Human Nature." The topic of one is, "On the Wrong +which Sin does to Human Nature;"—text from Prov. viii. 36: "He +that sinneth against me, wrongeth his own soul." That was the +former way of dealing with and denouncing sin; but the later way +is, to take care always to place the better in people's way, and +the sins will fall behind. Think you not so?</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right">January 6, 1883.</p> + +<p>... We sometimes strain at <i>words</i> when in reality we agree with +others. If we would only remember to strive to discover wherein we +agree, and not always be looking for divergence of opinion, there +would be more of practical piety in the world. Let us open our eyes +to the fact that <i>all</i> denominations endeavor to make men better, +though they differ in methods; and see to it that we ourselves are +true to the highest and best as far as we know it, and the kingdom +of God will be hastened in everywhere. Do right for its own sake, +and not from fear or hope of punishment or reward. Let me give you +a hymn we sang after the sermon last Sunday. The subject was, "This +life: why we are in it, and what we have a right to expect of it." +The hymn is one of Rev. Samuel Longfellow's, "Life's Mission:"—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Go forth to life, O child of earth!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still mindful of thy heavenly birth."<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>[The whole hymn is copied] ... Methinks if one lives up to such a +mission he will be none the less Christian than if he can accept +the dogmas of churches.</p></blockquote> + +<p>He had consulted her about the propriety of his contributing to the +support of the Methodist church when he no longer accepted its +doctrines. She wrote in reply, Oct. 6, 1884:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>... "There are two precepts which come to my mind when I am +perplexed as to what to do, which I will mention: 'What doth the +Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk +humbly with thy God?' (Micah vi. 8). The other: 'If ye have not the +spirit of Christ, ye are none of his,'— from the epistles, but +can't recall it just now. If you conclude to contribute to the +Methodist church, you could tell Mr. B—— what your intention had +been, and how I reasoned upon the subject. However, act just as you +come to the conclusion. The thing is to do as you believe to be +just. I should think the church I attended had the first claim upon +me. 'Duty before pleasure' is true in any church. Am glad you think +so well of Unitarianism, and hope you may be able to work heartily +with us some day. Only be patient."</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">June</span> 7, 1884.</p> + +<p>You speak of the "loneliness" of the position you are taking, and I +felt glad to find you so firm in the step you are taking.... It +will be a position full of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> self-denial many times, but on the +other hand will bring its own rich rewards, known only to the true +minister of God. To encourage you in the many hours of +discouragement, I advise Dr. Furness's sermon on the "Solitude of +Christ," in "Register" of May 8,1884, I think, which I believe has +been sent you, but if not, will hunt it up and send it to you; and +besides that, the words of Jesus: "He that hath put his hand to the +plough and looketh back, is not worthy of me;" therefore have +firmly fixed in your mind the glorious hymn by Rev. Samuel Johnson, +"The Conflict of Life."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The whole five verses of this hymn are then copied, followed by the +whole of Watts's</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Awake, our souls; away, our fears,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let every trembling thought be gone;"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>and Doddridge's</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And press with vigor on!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Miss Ellis saying, at the end, "I have copied these, for they have more +weight when written by those we know."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">July</span> 5, 1884.</p> + +<p>... I will permit you to "unburden yourself" with as many pages as +you see fit, at any time you feel disposed to do so, and promise +not to be "bored." I, in my deafness, understand what it is to feel +so utterly alone, though surrounded by dear, old, and tried<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +friends. This lack of one congenial person or thing no one can +appreciate but those who have experienced.... Remember, <i>opinions</i> +separate us, but kindly deeds and affection draw us close to one +another; and so pursue your studies patiently, striving to make +yourself the kind of man you think one ought to be, and in +attending church do it in the spirit of Jesus,—with the feeling of +worshipping God, and cast aside all other feeling, knowing that +those around you are doing what they feel to be best. Leave it to +the Good Father to judge them, and in time to help them to see +differently. We are judged by living up to the highest and best we +know, and if others have not been so far enlightened as we, or have +not been moved by the Spirit to seek higher light and truth, we +must work in patience and leave them in the hands of God.... Only +be true to your own convictions, and you will lead them by example +rather than precept, unconsciously to them. Work on patiently, and +God's promises will not fail you. It is a slow process to overcome +one's many failures; but we shall come out conquerors at the last +if we only will, and are earnest in our endeavors.... After two +weeks our churches will close for the summer, but <i>my</i> congregation +will still be ministered to. I go to the church during vacation +every two weeks to lend books to any who desire them.</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">November</span> 16, 1884.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p><p>I feel for you greatly in your isolation; but comfort yourself in +the thought that the generality of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> Unitarian ministers are cut off +from all companionship with ministers of other denominations where +they are settled, and are seldom permitted to enter into charities, +where they are, with other ministers. It has been the case ever +since the days of Jesus, that those who really hold his views are +separated from others in the community. But as you say, and many +more say, "if we have God alone, that is enough." I cannot consider +myself a "theist" entirely, but might call myself a "Christian +theist." I have come to know God as manifested through Jesus, but +have as much respect for those who do as Jesus did, and who have as +firm a trust in the Father as Jesus had. Think that is what Jesus +taught, and labored to have no man worship him. "There is none good +but One," he said; "why callest thou me good?" Though I value +Jesus, I do not worship him, or feel that he is my support in life. +I only look to him in difficulties and trials to show me the way to +the Father. I ask to worship and to live in his spirit and so gain +strength from the Father wherewith to do. You and others look more +to men of later date, who have learned from others nearer to them; +but if we trace it all back to the beginning, we will find it is +Jesus' spirit working through them. So one and all, whoever they +are, wherever found, who have the spirit of Christ, are the sons of +God, whether they call themselves merely theists, or Christian +theists, it seems to me. George Eliot was truly religious, though +perhaps not a Christian in the common acceptation.</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">December</span> 27, 1884.</p> + +<p>I do not know as I "have ever realized the depths of absolute +negations," but I have realized the depths of absolute solitude, +and can sympathize with you in your loneliness, and "think it a +good thing to keep the Eternal and Infinite always in view, and so +love quiet, solitude, and meditation. They strengthen me to do my +work in life." Do not despair, then, if you are despondent at +times. Every one is, and it is good for us to some extent to be +disgusted with ourselves; it makes us know ourselves. "The dark +hours of life bring us nearer to our fellow-men, help us to know +ourselves and bring us nearer to God." God has put these +questionings into you for some wise purpose. Be true to your +highest and best self, and work them out by degrees. But remember +you are young yet, and there is time for you to solve all these +mysteries in. Do not try to solve all the great questions of life +at once. Be patient, and do not brood too much. Meditation and +solitude are good, but try to mingle somewhat with those around +you. See God in the world about you, as well as in the stars. I +would like to dwell longer upon your letter, but perhaps I shall +bring you out of doubt by giving you something to do. [She then +proposes a bit of work for him to undertake.] ... Our doubts and +mysteries are solved sometimes by setting to work on things we are +pondering over.</p></blockquote> + +<p>He wrote Miss Ellis, Aug. 24, 1885:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"A shadow has come across my way of late,—a great disappointment. +I think I mentioned it to you before. A doctor, an acquaintance of +mine, has often told me that I studied and read too much.... It is +hard for me to realize this, but he insists on a year's rest from +study. This will postpone my entrance to Meadville for two years, I +fear. I confess to great disappointment over this. I will be past +twenty-five when I get to Meadville; and yet there is another side. +I have often questioned my fitness for this great work. I wish to +be cautious. I do believe that I have a noble gospel to preach. 'To +preach,'—but first to live it. And, in shame I confess it, I have +not lived it. It will therefore be a good thing if in these two +years I give myself to growth in manhood. But enough of this. These +matters must be dealt with in the closet,—the soul's closet.... +After my taste of Montreal fellowship I am sick with loneliness +here. It is fearful, at times, this longing for one friend even, +and finding none. But it must be borne without grumbling. And now I +must stop. The doctor would object to even this light piece of +writing. Thank you kindly for sending me the 'Register' and +'Unity.' It is very good of you to look after me so much. Be +assured that your kindness is giving great encouragement to a +lonely one who, amid much opposition and misunderstanding from his +dearest ones, is making at least a <i>little</i> honest effort to be +true to himself and God. I would that I were fully faithful; but it +is not so. Still I think your seed will yet bear fruit, and spring +up in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> a life devoted to the uplifting of mankind. My deepest +prayer is for this. I trust your health will improve. Still more do +I trust that you may continue to grow nearer God, and help others +to do so, as you have helped me."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Miss Ellis replied, Aug. 30, 1885:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"... I have neglected you of late, thinking you were soon to go to +Meadville, and that you were busy. We are sorry to hear of your +great disappointment. It is a disappointment to us as well, +particularly to me. However, we need the reverses and crosses of +life as much as the air we breathe, to strengthen our characters. +You have pushed yourself so hard with business and studies the past +two years, that you have not taken time to view the life around you +in the right light. Let the next two years be given principally to +building up your character individually and socially, and to +improving your health, as one of the first requisites of a minister +is a sound mind and a healthy body. Be social; take life +cheerfully; make those about you better for your company; and +mingle freely with your family and best friends, showing them you +are practising Unitarianism. Yes; make these two coming years tell +as a preparation for college in another way, and let them prove a +blessing to you, though a disappointment at first. Did you read +Rev. E. E. Hale's 'Methods,' in 'Register' a few weeks since? This +week's 'Register' contains an excellent sermon by Rev. John +Clifford on 'Spiritual<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> Building.' Have a home worship of your own +sometimes. During the vacation, every Sunday I have had a regular +worship. For instance, to-day I read for sermon, 'Spiritual +Building;' opening hymn, 'Come, Thou Almighty, help us to praise;' +'Scriptures Old and New' (a compilation by Mr. Forbush and Mr. +Hosmer, from all religions, and an excellent thing to have), Lesson +27,—'The Kingdom within us;' prayer, followed by Scripture lesson, +Galatians iii., from which is taken text; then Wesley's hymn, 'The +whole armor of God;' sermon; closing hymn, Doddridge's 'Awake, my +soul, stretch every nerve,' etc. Have been interested during the +vacation in looking over Gannett's 'Childhood of Jesus' and +Carpenter's 'Palestine when Jesus lived.' Also bought 'Selections +from the Apocrypha,' compiled by Mrs. Tileston, who compiled 'Daily +Strength.' Readings from the Apocrypha are so common in Unitarian +pulpits now, that it is well to be familiar with the best portions. +Am not able to do much reading now. Am physically too weak. Never +was able to use my brain to its full extent,—feeble and nervous +all my life, but active otherwise."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Miss Ellis's last letter to him was written but little more than a month +before her death, when in the utmost weakness herself; but to this she +makes no allusion. It was a letter of consolation in bereavement, from +which this is an extract:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">November</span> 18, 1885.</p> + +<p>... The only way to reconcile ourselves to our sorrows is to think +of those who are worse off than ourselves. It makes us less +inclined to murmur in our own sadness. It is good for us to bear +the cross. If things were always as we would have them, many +virtues would never be developed. There are so many comforting +pieces in "Sunshine in the Soul." Some I marked for a former +correspondent. Mr. Thayer read for his Scripture lesson last +Sunday, Job. iv. 5; and v. 6-11; 17 to end. I have no doubt your +sister knows many comforting passages; but the real comfort is +found in keeping ourselves busy for others, while at the same time +we lean and trust in God to give us peace of soul. We find it in +time as we go on patiently doing the duty just before us, and +loving the blessings which remain to us.</p></blockquote> + +<p>One of Miss Ellis's last thoughts was for this correspondent. When +hardly able to speak, she requested a special "Register" sent to him. It +was sent, and a postal card informing him of her condition. He +replied:—</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">December</span> 25, 1885.</p> + +<p>Your card came to me this morning. I am shocked at its sad message. +I was not in the least prepared for it. It seems to hold out no +hope. Though I have never seen Miss Ellis, she has been to me for +over three years a close friend. And now I must lose her +friendship, and her kind encouraging letters! But I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> am not +intending to complain of loss, but rather to be thankful for the +help I have received from her. I shall now have another motive to +work on, to be more faithful in life. That motive shall be the +memory of Miss Ellis's self-sacrificing life. I have a large +package of her letters which will be more valued now than ever +before. I do trust her work will go on; it ought to certainly. If I +can help I will gladly do so.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Later, he wrote in reply to a letter announcing her death:—</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">January</span> 1, 1886.</p> + +<p>I was very glad to hear a little of our dear friend who spends this +happy New Year's Day freed from all ills of the body. I can hardly +realize that she is gone. She never gave me a hint that she was +seriously ill, but always spoke cheerfully. It is such a short time +ago that I wrote to her as usual, not having the remotest thought +that she would never answer my letter. Her last letters to me are +dated Nov. 6 and 18, and, singularly enough, are almost entirely +taken up with remarks upon death and affliction. Not a word of +herself, however....</p> + +<p>Miss Ellis wrote me two letters full of kindness and sympathy, and +sending cheering words to my sister; for she wrote, "Though I don't +know her, I feel deeply for her." It really is hardly possible to +estimate the influence, both direct and indirect, which Miss Ellis +has had upon my life. It is a very long story, this of my inquiries +in religious matters. I have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> always looked forward to the day when +I should see our friend and speak to her of it, and make some +expression of my gratitude to her. But it is not to be,—not in +this life, at least. Hereafter her letters shall be a source of +constant encouragement to me. I have them all, and glad I am of it, +for through them she will yet speak to me. I often wished to have a +photograph of her, and I am very sorry now that I too long +hesitated to take the first step in making a mutual exchange. Often +when weary through the day's work I have been cheered by her kind +letters. But this is only one limited instance of her influence. +For years I went to my daily work sad and heavy of heart because +life was aimless, almost dead. By the printed page Miss Ellis +showed me God,—God living, working, right here now, daily +surrounding me and all men. And lo! life has an aim, is full of +beauty and goodness and joy.... All this I owe to her.</p></blockquote> + +<p>In response to a request for letters, he wrote:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">February</span> 14, 1886.</p> + +<p>In your card you speak of a book. I hope the pamphlet will grow +into a book. I was delighted to hear that it will contain a +portrait, for that will be just what I wish for. The letters I +sent, I had to just pick out hurriedly, as I had very little time. +If I had had more time, I might have made a better selection. I +will vouch for their quality, however. I have post cards +innumerable from her. Then again, once, when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> I was having a sore +mental struggle over the philosophy of prayer, in answer to my +inquiries Miss Ellis wrote out for me the greater part of Mr. +Chadwick's sermon on "Prayer," in his "Faith of Reason." This I +mention as one out of many instances of such work. She never tired +of trying to aid me. I sent you the last letter I received from +her, never having a thought, at the time I received it, of its +being the <i>last</i> one. Perhaps Miss Ellis is aware of all this +afterglow, as you so well call it. I hope so. I believe so. How it +must gratify her to know what she accomplished!</p> + +<p>In looking over these letters I am very forcibly reminded of the +last few years.... As you may suppose, Miss Ellis is much in my +thoughts. I looked forward to meeting her some day, and making +grateful acknowledgment of her influence for good on me. I would +not hide from you that I often regret that it is not to be so. But +every other thought is swallowed up in gratitude for her life and +for our meeting together.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The following is Miss Ellis's first letter from a farmer's wife a dozen +miles out of Cincinnati, who has this winter become a member of the +Women's Auxiliary Conference, and wishes, with her daughter, to join the +church:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I have frequently seen the item in the Sunday's paper offering +Unitarian reading to those who wish it, and have as often +determined to avail myself of the opportunity, but have so far +neglected it. I will say that I have been for a long time somewhat +of a Unitarian,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> without being sufficiently informed in the belief +openly to declare myself one. I would ask you to teach me from the +beginning the doctrines, so that I can understand and feel a safety +in embracing them. I have a daughter who will avail herself with me +of your kind offer. You are to be our teacher in the matter of +selecting the reading, and I will gladly pay postage on all books +sent."</p></blockquote> + +<p>As such teacher Miss Ellis acted ever after. She wrote in reply, Jan. 1, +1884:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>Was very glad to receive your letter to-day, and hope I may prove a +successful "teacher." Have always been a Unitarian, as my father +was among the first subscribers to the church, when it was +established in 1830.... Have sent you by this same mail three +tracts pertaining to our doctrines. Shall be glad to give you and +your daughter a weekly Sunday-school lesson for several weeks. +Began with statements of doctrine and Channing's famous Discourse. +On the list sent have numbered other tracts in the order in which I +shall send them,—leading you from Channing to Brigham and J. F. +Clarke, showing an advance in thought up to Mr. Wendte's tract, +"What Do Unitarians Believe?" which represents Unitarianism as held +by the <i>young</i> men of the present time; and after you read these +tracts, if you wish more doctrine, will mention some books we can +loan you by mail. With the tracts will also send the "Christian +Register," where you will see our principles carried out. It is a +very interesting,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> able paper. Perhaps after you have examined a +few copies you may like to become a subscriber to it. I usually +spend Mondays mailing papers to our correspondents, though they do +not all get off till about Wednesday. They will be in time for a +Sunday lesson, however, and I hope you may find some neighbors to +join you in your study. Hoping this is a beginning of another good +work for us, and to hear from you further,</p> + +<p class="right">Respectfully yours, <span class="smcap">Sarah Ellis</span>. +</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">January</span> 26, 1884.</p> + +<p>This leads me to your question, "What do you do with the Immaculate +Conception? Why was that way employed to compel people to accept +the divinity of Christ?" Ask as many questions as you please, and I +will answer them in letter, or send some sermon or tract to throw +light on the subject to you. Monday, will mail to you "The +Incarnation," by Rev. J. W. Chadwick, wherein you will see that +many of the doctrines of the early times were invented by the men +of the day to suit some purpose of their own. Will shortly send you +a lesson paper by Rev. William C. Gannett, of St. Paul, Minn., on +"The Christmas Story and the Christmas Fact." These stories or +"legends" concerning Jesus were written some time after his death. +"Bible for Learners" says—[Here is copied a long extract.] I have +said enough to let you know that we do not accept these "legends" +as literal truth; and you will understand, from "The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> Incarnation," +that Jesus was not miraculously born any more than we all are. +Jesus never claimed it for himself, as you will find as you read +what I send you from time to time. It was a doctrine created by the +Church to suit later days. I was glad to have you speak freely of +yourself, and hope that we may make religion, the Bible, and Jesus, +natural, simple, true, and beautiful to you and your +daughter,—something that you can take hold of and live out in your +daily lives, and be thankful that you <i>live</i>. Hoping that you may +have further questions to ask, and wish to borrow books on subjects +of interest to you,</p> + +<p class="right">Very truly your friend, <span class="smcap">S. Ellis</span>.</p> + +<p>There is a book that will throw much light on your question +concerning the early view of Christ, "Orthodoxy and Heresy," by +Rev. E. H. Hall. We have it to loan.</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">March</span> 13, 1884.</p> + +<p>It is with pleasure I sit down to reply to your last letter, and it +has only been from total inability that you have had to wait so +long. I wanted to sit down immediately to send you a few +sympathetic words, for your life must have been very similar to my +own. The best comfort for us is, to say to ourselves, Are not many, +<i>many</i> others carrying the same burdens, disappointments, and toils +as we? How do they bear them, and where do they get their patience +and strength from? Only from studying the words and lives of those +who have had similar trials to bear; and no one bore the cross +better than He to whom the whole world has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> looked as a guide. +Therefore though you fall and fail often, be not in despair. All +you need is some one to speak with you who sympathizes with you; +and though they may not lighten your burden or change your +circumstances, they will lighten your heart and make the whole +world seem different to you, and full of work to be done, that will +take your thoughts out from beyond your own home, and yet at the +same time only make that all the more precious to you and just the +place you ought to be in. Am not fond of the country myself. Have +always lived in the city, and prefer to be surrounded by people and +life rather than trees and quiet of the country; still, I love to +visit in the country for a short time.... You ask how you can best +prepare yourself to become a member of our church. I sent you the +church programme, and Mr. Thayer says there, "Those who present +themselves in an earnest spirit,"—an earnest spirit to do all the +good you can, in every way, at home and to the world. It is +<i>character</i>, and <i>not</i> belief, which makes the true Christian. And +if our conscience is right before God, let man say what he will; if +we are only sure ourselves we are doing our best according to our +circumstances and our health; if our motives are pure and our +conscience clear,—we shall feel a pleasure in joining in a +Communion service, though one can be a member of our church if not +a communicant. There are several books I wish to recommend to you. +The first is a great help to inward strength, and is a gem of a +book, "Day unto Day," which consists of a passage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> or two from the +Scriptures, a selection from poetry, and one from writers, for +every day in the year.... The whole book is full of selections +which fit the needs of every day. I have two copies, and will loan +you one copy with passages I have marked as read, and which has +benefited several of my correspondents.... Another great help to a +good life is Merriam's "Way of Life." "Theodore Parker's Prayers" I +can loan you too. Since I wrote you, have had presented to our +library Sunderland's "What is the Bible?" shorter than "Bible for +Learners," and on the whole better to read first. I subscribed for +the Sunday-school lessons on "The Life of Jesus," so any time you +are welcome to it. You will understand from what I have written, +that to strengthen the inner man is a good preparation for anything +and anywhere; and you will find a great deal among our books, and +in our papers, and in our religion, to help you and make life a +blessing, though under unfavorable circumstances, and enable you to +have the spirit and faith <i>of</i> Jesus, if not so much <i>in</i> Jesus, +which the Orthodox make most emphatic.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The following letter was written June 27, 1885. The unusual allusions to +her own health are evidently in sympathy with the correspondent, who had +written of ill health and heavy burdens to bear.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I have been most useless since the middle of February; but, weak +as I am, I have insisted on staying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> out of bed, waiting on myself, +and keeping my room in order, even to sweeping it, and keeping up +my missionary work slowly. I do dislike to be nursed and a care to +people. Sometimes it seems impossible for me to get dressed for my +breakfast, and it takes me about one hour and a quarter, I am so +weak. Last Sunday I could not get to church; but I spent the day in +resting,—spiritual rest. I had a service at home,—the responsive +service, the three hymns, the Scripture lesson, and read one of J. +F. Clarke's sermons, which I sent to another who needed consoling. +There is a favorite hymn of mine, which I will write out for you. +We often sing it for an opening hymn. [The hymn "Daily +Consecration," by Caroline Mason, is here copied in full.] Excuse +the mistakes, for I have written it from memory. Work on, dear +friend, just where you are, and feel that there you are casting +silent deeds of love which no one knows but the good Father above, +but that they are none the less earnest work in his service.... +Every other Saturday A. M. I go to the church to do up papers for +the Workhouse. Was there <i>this</i> morning. Take heart, good friend, +and feel that nothing you do is lost, and that sometime your labor +will be appreciated. I must not write longer, for I want to attend +church to-morrow. They miss me when I am not at my post."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Another letter of this summer reads:—</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">My dear Friend</span>,—Your letter was duly received, and I wanted to +answer it immediately, but have been too weak to write <i>comforting</i> +letters.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p> + +<p>Am so sorry to hear you are still sick, and wish I could help you. +Am still more sorry to hear you are "dreading" the summer; but I do +not wonder at it, for on a farm the labor required by the women in +the house must be incessant.... I cannot take the burden off your +shoulders; but perhaps a word of sympathy from another, and +something from her experience, may enable you to face the +difficulties.... My experience has been that when anticipating a +hard time, if I only accept it, and make up my mind that it <i>has</i> to +be my part, half the burden is taken off, if I determine to go +through with it all, giving myself up to that work and thinking of +nothing beyond in the mean time. Take all the rest I can get, +instead of trying to do something else too. Rest will do you more +good than company or books, when you are so used up with real hard +work. Women all try to attend to too much outside of their +households, for the sake of company and variety; do you not think +so? Now, just take things as quietly as you can this summer, and +feel that in your home duties you have more than you can do, and +look forward to the time when summer will be over and you will have +less care.</p></blockquote> + +<p>After her death, the lady wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I sent my letter to her home by a messenger who reported that he +understood at the door, as he handed it to the person who answered +the bell, that Miss Ellis was dead. I hoped that he was mistaken, +but your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> letter confirmed it. I knew she was very feeble. She +wrote me some two weeks before Christmas, saying she was very weak; +but I did not think for one moment that she was in danger, or I +would have hurried to see her. I shall miss her greatly, and her +dear letters to me, which I prized so highly; and you, who saw more +of her than I could possibly, will feel her loss greatly. I believe +there are few persons capable of entering so entirely into sympathy +with others who needed it as she was, and of giving such +consolation; at least, it has not been my good fortune to meet many +such. I will be glad to receive the memorial of which you speak. I +shall be very glad if your minister would write me on the subject +of joining the church, as I was depending on Miss Ellis to guide me +in the matter, which she was ready to do one year or more ago."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In 1884 Miss Ellis received the following letter from a young man, Mr. +A. J. Beach, who had been one of her discouragements, because, after +some correspondence, she had ceased to hear from him. Mr. Beach was +usher in the State Penitentiary at Joliet, Ill.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"More than a year ago I wrote to thank you for papers which you had +kindly sent me. In answer, you sent me a very kind letter, and +named several books which I might read with profit. I procured a +number of Rev. James Freeman Clarke's works, which I read +carefully, and from which I gathered much of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> great value. I also +subscribed to two of the papers you named, to which I have become +so much attached that I could not possibly do without them.... Your +letter led me to a course of reading and investigation that has +proved a sun-burst to me. I have been in darkness. I am out of it +now. I am connected with the State Prison (as usher), not the +pleasantest position in the world; but I have tried to show many of +the poor convicts the better way of life, and to cheer them by kind +words and a showing of real interest in their unfortunate +condition, and I believe I have succeeded in making lighter many a +poor friendless fellow's load...."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The following extracts are from others of his letters:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I have read the sermons, and have handed them to a very +intelligent prisoner, who has become greatly interested in +Unitarian teachings, and requested him to pass the documents to +others, after reading them. He will do so, and will see that they +are kept moving. I am glad you are taking so much interest in our +prison. There is much need of genuine kindness here, and it cannot +be better shown than in a true and apparent desire to raise the +unfortunates to a higher plane of thought and action. These men and +women are in a sense left to themselves. They are not permitted to +talk to each other. They pass long hours in their cells either +reading or thinking. Is it not the very time to get them started +thinking in the right direction? You<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> say, We shall write to the +Secretary of the Women's Auxiliary Conference in Boston, ... and +interest them in the Joliet prison. This is good news. The Post +Office Mission is truly a grand mission, and is doing more good +than you may think of."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The next letter says:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The papers and tracts you have been kind enough to send me have +been given to prisoners, and they have been passed from hand to +hand until literally worn out. There are a great many very +intelligent men among the fifteen hundred and fifty convicts now in +our prison, and they (or many of them, at least) are very glad to +get such papers and tracts as you have sent me; and I am only too +glad to place such reading matter in their hands. You asked if old +'Registers' and 'Unities' would do any good. They would be +thankfully received by many of the unfortunate men, and would be +carefully read by them. Reading is one of the very few privileges +granted convicts.... I to-day received from Mrs. Thacher, of +Boston, a bill of lading for two barrels of papers and magazines +shipped for distribution among prisoners; also a kind and very +interesting letter from Mrs. Thacher,—for all of which I am +indebted to you. I am glad, indeed, Unitarian people understand +that convicts want and appreciate something more in reading matter +than chilling tracts. We are constantly receiving for distribution +the strongest kind of Orthodoxy, but the prisoners do not seem to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> +take kindly to it.... An old colored man, who was sent here eleven +years ago under life sentence, said to me yesterday, 'I tell yo', +sah, it seems mighty ha'd to sarve in hell all yo' life in dis +place, an' den have to take it for sartin' su'ah in de nex' worl'.' +He seemed to think that a sentence to the penitentiary was merely +carrying out a part of the divine plan; in other words, he was +foreordained to eternal suffering, and has got eleven years on his +way.... We found the books and papers to be all that could be +desired, and have taken great pleasure in distributing them.... +Could you have heard the genuine thankfulness expressed by the +unfortunate prisoners as I passed along the galleries distributing +the reading matter, you surely would have felt amply repaid for +interesting yourself in them.... Many said, 'God bless the ladies +who thought of us!' with an earnestness and sincerity which +indicated clearly to me that they felt and appreciated the kindness +and the motives of the donors. My experience among convicts has +convinced me that kindness shown toward them is never wasted. There +are in this prison several noted criminals,—men who have the +reputation of being brutal desperadoes,—with whom I have +frequently talked, and have invariably found to be easily touched +by a kind word and act."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Last June Mr. Beach dropped dead in a Chicago depot while on his way +home. It seems proper to copy here portions of a letter written to his +family by the chaplain of the prison.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">June</span> 30, 1885.</p> + +<p>... As we roomed together, I was with him more than any one else; +and when not otherwise engaged, we read and talked together.... We +were very frank with each other, and last Sabbath eve we had a long +talk on religion. The reaction from a Calvinistic faith had +evidently left him somewhat adrift. We talked of the cramping of +creeds on the one hand, and the tendency on the other hand of +(so-called) Liberal views to produce loose morals, etc. He dwelt on +the fact that the perceptions of the mind were so much in advance +of the inclinations of the heart, that men knew better than they +did; adding, "Oh, I have often come so near to the wonderful +process by which bad men are made good!" I reminded him that Paul +said, "It is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy +heart,"—dwelling at length on the whole argument in Romans x. 6 to +13 inclusive. I remarked that my habit of urging these views +earnestly for forty-four years might have become obtrusive; but he +answered: "No; if these things are worth anything, they are worth +everything. If duty here affects destiny there, these are matters +of primary and not secondary consideration." Little did I think +then that in twelve brief hours he would know their reality better +than I possibly could. In saying good-by [the chaplain adds], he +said he would write soon, was glad he had ever known me, but feared +he <i>would not see me again</i>; then walked off feebly but cheerfully +with ——, who carried his satchel, and to whom he was much +attached—though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> a colored convict, yet much of a man. At 7:30 A. +M. he went with Mr. L——, our purchasing agent, with whom he +talked freely <i>en route</i> to Chicago, who carried his satchel, +helped him up the stairs in the depot, and at whose feet he +suddenly dropped dead. A physician was called at once, but +paralysis of the heart had stopped the wheel of life.... The boys +here loved him <i>much</i>. B——, a special friend, gave him a pretty +onyx cross for his little niece. I think he put it in his pocket. +Some Boston ladies sent him several boxes of pamphlets and books +for the library, advising him to keep certain volumes himself, and +I hoped he had written his name in them or set them aside; yet +C—— (colored) and T. J. D——, who aided him in the library (and +mourn him as a brother) think he read the volumes they recommended, +but made no further claim on them. Some prison employees, like some +physicians, find their sympathies decrease by constant use. <i>He</i> +was not so; for there was not a drop of tyranny or despotism in his +blood, and any one who used power simply to oppress another was +beneath his contempt. He could consistently say to the Recording +Angel, "Mark me as one who loves my fellow-men." Oh! had I known +all he probably meant when he said so tenderly at parting, "I fear +we will not meet again," I would have followed out the impulse of +my heart, clasped him in my arms, and then have said (as I did), +"Yes, we will meet in heaven!"</p></blockquote> + +<p>The following extracts are from Miss Ellis's letters to Beach:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>—</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">December</span> 23, 1884.</p> + +<p>Your letter was received last Saturday afternoon, and was quite +encouraging to us, for we may do some good work in the prison with +one who feels interested with us. Your letter was particularly +welcome, as the same morning came a letter from Mrs. J. I. W. +Thacher, Secretary of the Women's Auxiliary Conference of Boston, +who responded promptly and satisfactorily to my letter, though she +was sick in bed. After the hurry of Christmas is over, they will +send you two barrels of literature,—"Registers," "Harpers," +"Centuries," "Atlantics," and some few other materials. I feel as +if this will be "good news" to you. Yes; it is a good time to turn +the minds of the men, women, and boys in the right direction. "A +little kindness" and good advice may help some of the poor +creatures to a better life. Think Orthodoxy takes a wrong +starting-point in teaching one that he is "totally depraved," and +that he must wait for a sudden conversion in order to become good. +I feel as if Unitarianism is the better way, upholding that we are +"not totally depraved, but incompletely developed," and that our +salvation depends greatly upon individual responsibility. That we +have it within ourselves to become what God intended we should be, +and what was possible with Jesus is with us,—that we may become +"sons of God" as he was. We are not to "shift the responsibility +off on to some one else," as M. J. Savage says. These poor +creatures must be taught that the sin is greatly on their own +shoulders, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> they are capable of overcoming if they only will. +Mr. Savage's closing sentence is fine,—"Not to do wrong, one must +develop in himself the ability of magnificent self-control!" That +is the starting-point of many of life's failures,—lack of +self-control. Teach these poor creatures that lesson, and some +trade by which they can support themselves when they leave the +prison. You wrote us word you subscribed to two of our papers. I +take it for granted they are the "Register" and "Unity." If so, +will call your attention to a review of a book on "Prison Reform," +in "Unity," Dec. 16, 1884. I sent you yesterday a tract, "Unitarian +Belief in Bible Language," marking several passages which I thought +might rouse some of the poor men and women and <i>boys</i> (it is the +<i>young</i> we must work on, and see to it that we are making better +men and women for the future) to a truer view of what sin is; also, +"Wrestling and Blessing," by Rev. William C. Gannett. His first +section, on "Inherited Burden," is capital, showing that in spite +of it we may come off "conquerors." The whole of the tract is +good.... Hoping we may continue to aid you in the prison work, and +with the good wishes of the season from the Women's Auxiliary +Conference to you and all prison-workers and inmates,</p> + +<p class="right">Cordially yours, <span class="smcap">S. Ellis</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">February</span> 5, 1885.</p> + +<p>If we can only make men feel their bodies are temples of the Holy +Spirit, which they have of God, and that they are not their own, +and that in sinning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> they disgrace this holy temple, it seems to me +that there would be less crime in the world. It is the divine in +their own souls they defile. There has been a tract of Unitarian +hymns published. I will send you a copy next week, hoping that some +of our beautiful hymns may cheer the poor benighted prisoners.... I +have had people say to me, "The Unitarian faith does very well to +live by daily; but when you are in trouble, or your friends die, if +you do not believe in the Trinity, what have you to comfort you?" +My reply is, "We have God, from whom Jesus received <i>his</i> strength. +We have the faith <i>of</i> Jesus, and not so much faith <i>in</i> Jesus. We +can trust <i>God</i> to help us in our hour of need; and if we have +sinned we know <i>He</i> is ready and willing to pardon us. We know that +to live truly in this life will secure us happiness in the world to +come; and that while we are here there is time to repent and do +good, and we would not wish to feel that it was necessary for a +perfect being to die to spare us from our sins. We had rather +suffer on, if we have done the wrong, than see some one else suffer +for us."</p></blockquote> + +<p>On receiving the news of Mr. Beach's sudden death in July, 1885, Miss +Ellis wrote to his sister:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"... I was much shocked and very sorry to hear the news your +letter, which was received this morning, contained, but was much +obliged to you for speaking so plainly of your dear brother, for I +was much interested in him. Not only I, but <i>all</i> of our little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +Women's Auxiliary Conference, and also the ladies of the Auxiliary +Conference in Boston. He was a noble fellow, and doing much good +there in the Joliet prison. I hope to transfer my esteem and +respect for him to his family in remembrance of him. How little it +ever occurred to me, when I wrote the letter to him on the 20th, +that the dear fellow was safe in his heavenly home. I am sure he +deserved a high place with the dear ones above, in whatever faith +he died. He used to write us such good, interesting letters, both +here and to Boston. We were always glad to get them.... I never +have known to what church he and his family belong, but have +imagined the Presbyterian.... What church do you attend, and how +old was Andrew? I am old enough to be his mother, I suspect, and +looked upon him and some few other of my correspondents as 'my +boys,' as one of my converts styles himself. My hope was that +Andrew would study for the ministry some day.... I know what sorrow +is, but must say yours is one of the most trying ordeals to pass +through,—an only son, and such a noble one, to die among +strangers. My heart aches sorely for you, and I do not wonder it +seems like a 'dream' to you. We do not know and cannot tell why our +dear ones are taken. We can only trust in God's love to lighten the +burden for us after a time, and accept our present trial. The +spirit of the dear ones will help us to be kinder and more loving +to those who are left with us; and gradually a change comes over +us, and as days roll on we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> find our lives are very different from +what they were before,—purer and holier, and we have been drawn +nearer heaven and been with our dear one all the time. I will copy +a beautiful poem of Whittier's, 'The Angel of Patience,' at the +close of this letter. 'Our earthly loss is our heavenly gain.' ... +Bear as bravely as you can, and the good Father will send peace to +your souls as the years roll on. 'We must through much tribulation +enter the kingdom of heaven.' We shall be glad to send papers to +<i>you</i> now. I think in the 'Register' you will find many things to +comfort you often; and from time to time I will select something +especial for you. Let me know, please, by postal, if you prefer not +to have them. Shall be very glad to hear from you any time."</p></blockquote> + +<p>This letter led to a correspondence continued until Miss Ellis's death, +and to the sending of much literature to the family. Further extracts +from this correspondence follow:—</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">August</span> 16, 1885.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p><p>... I do not wonder you miss the dear brother, and feel grieved that +you may not see him again. I do not believe the good Father in +heaven is angry if we murmur some. He cannot be so harsh as to have +us cultivate family affections and friendships on earth and not have +any loving feelings left. No! It is right to mourn, but yet "not +without hope." One of the most beautiful sermons I ever heard, and +the most comforting, was one from our pastor, Rev. C. W. Wendte, on +"The Dark Hours of Life, and what they bring us."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Here she copies the closing passages of the sermon, and also four pages +of poems,—"The Heart Prayer," by J. N. Spriggs; "I am so Weak," Jennie +E. McCaine, both from "Unity Songs Resung;" "My Dead," by Rev. F. L. +Hosmer; and selections from "Scriptures Old and New." So little did she +spare the feeble remains of her strength in these last months. Sept. 27, +1885, she wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"... Not that I have so much to do, but this changeable weather has +unfitted me for work, and I have a good deal of extra work lately, +that has exercised my brain considerably and required <i>long</i> +letters. I was put on a committee of three at the St. Louis +Conference last May, for drawing up systematic Post Office Mission +methods. Rev. Arthur Judy, of Davenport, Iowa, is the chairman. He +has planned a circular letter and a book of records. It has taken +much of my time to read the long letters and give my opinion of +them.... We have to work very differently in this region.... +However, in time we shall have more than one enlightened family in +a place. The way to overcome is to lend our papers, tracts, books, +etc., that the people may see we are Christians after all. We do +not want to convert them so much, but to make more sincere +Christians of them, and happier people in this world; and by +degrees they throw aside their old dogmas without knowing it. We do +have so many comforting books; so many good Sunday-school<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> lessons +adapted to grown people even; devotional books, too, with +selections which fit each day; and also so many books containing a +true account of Unitarianism and of the Bible, that I feel every +one ought to read them, and own many; but of course they cannot.... +I want to lend you a little daily book I have,—'Day unto Day.' It +is in rather a dilapidated state, because I have sent it by mail to +a number of persons. I have two copies, but both birthday presents, +and I do not like to part with either. The pencil-marks in it are +mine, as they have impressed me day by day. You may retain it three +or four months if you wish."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The sister wrote in reply:—</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">October</span> 27,1886.</p> + +<p>I wish to thank you especially for the loan of your book, "Day unto +Day." It was very kind in you, and I have found it to be a perfect +mine of beautiful gems of truth and wisdom, and "day unto day" it +can furnish comforting thought for all occasions.</p> + +<p>I was very much interested in your statement of your work as a +member of the committee you mentioned. Certainly, such an amount of +such elevating literature distributed so extensively must result in +much good. The literature that I receive from you we endeavor to +make the very best use of,—by first "thoroly" reading in our own +family, and then lending to those among our neighbors and friends +who will be most likely to give their attention to it. On<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> one or +two occasions we have invited in, on Sunday afternoons, some of our +neighbors, and made them occasions for reading to them an especially +good sermon or article, hoping to awaken sufficient interest to +perhaps have frequent readings and talks. In our village there are +two churches only,—the Disciples and Presbyterian.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The date of Miss Ellis's last letter to this correspondent shows it to +have been written less than a month before her death:—</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">November</span> 30, 1885.</p> + +<p>Your letter was very welcome, and I intended replying sooner; but +for the last three weeks have been very miserable, though up, out, +and at work all the time, accomplishing little, however. We were so +glad to hear you were occasionally having Sunday readings and doing +the good you can. To-day I have mailed to you "Songs of Faith, Hope, +and Charity," and the last Church Door Pulpit "Channing," selected +by Mr. Gannett, whose father, Ezra S. Gannett, was Dr. Channing's +colleague for many years. It is an admirable compilation, and I wish +it were in small book form, for it would make a very beautiful +little Christmas gift. Even in this form I shall use it for such a +purpose. There are three books I would call your and your friends' +attention to as little gifts of value at this season; namely, "Daily +Strength for Daily Needs;" "The Thought of God in Hymns and Poems," +by Rev. F. L. Hosmer and Rev. William<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> C. Gannett, just published; +then there is a pleasant story-book for boys or girls published last +year, "The Browns." ... All this may be quite contrary to your +feelings this year, and I presume you cannot enter into Thanksgiving +and Christmas with the real spirit of former days. But not as you +see the "golden lining" to all things can you give way to gloom. +There is always <i>something</i> to be grateful for. How much worse +<i>might</i> have happened to us. Then, too, we can feel thankful that we +had our treasures so long, and that they were such a pleasure to us. +Thanksgiving naturally makes us ask, "What have I to be thankful +for?" and makes us somewhat sad; but at Christmas we lay aside all +thought of self, and think of Him who was all unselfishness; and in +this thought we try to forget our sorrows in order to send gladness +thrilling through some other human soul, and thus forget our loss +for that day at least, though tears may come involuntarily. Hope the +Thanksgiving was as pleasant as it could be; that there was a +reunion of those of you who are still living, and that the spirit of +the dear one only drew you all together in stronger bonds of love. +We—father, mother, and myself—were invited to dine with my +brother——, there to meet my dear sister's husband and five +motherless children. It is the one pleasure to us to pass these +anniversaries together, and to feel all our dear ones are with us in +spirit, bidding us to be of "good cheer," for they are not dead, but +with their love for us would guide us on to better things than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +<i>they</i> ever knew or could accomplish. All is well with them now, and +they look down smilingly upon our feeblest efforts to do the right +and be cheery.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The sister wrote, Feb. 7, 1886:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"... We were very much shocked when we heard of the death of Miss +Ellis. We had known that she was an invalid, yet, judging from her +letters, we had no idea of the great weakness she must have endured +physically in writing to her correspondents up to so recent a date. +Her letters to us in our great bereavement were so full of tender +sympathy with us, and were so comforting, we feel that we have +sustained a great loss, even though we had never seen her.... It +will be a pleasure to us to forward to you any letters of Miss +Ellis either to my brother or myself that will aid you in the +publication of a book ... that will extend and perpetuate the +influence of so useful and good a life."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mrs. J. I. W. Thacher wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">February</span> 17, 1886.</p> + +<p>You will be glad to know that we have had very grateful letters from +the several stations in Kentucky to which we have sent barrels of +magazines and papers. To Eddyville and Greenwood we have sent twice; +and Dr. R——(at the latter place) still says, "Send more whenever +it is convenient;" so that we feel that the very miscellaneous +collections have been really appreciated and enjoyed. In each barrel +we sent large numbers of "Registers" and some good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> tracts, and then +filled in with miscellaneous magazines,—chiefly the illustrated +ones. This is hardly Post Office Mission work, but I don't doubt it +accomplishes much good, and I am always grateful to you and Miss +Ellis for suggesting it to us.... Do you continue to be in +communication with the Joliet Penitentiary, and is any one keeping +on with Mr. Beach's work for the prisoners? It is a constant help +and inspiration,—the thought of Miss Ellis's devotion to her work +and her faithfulness to the end!</p></blockquote> + +<p>A young Englishman in Frankfort, Ky., wrote Mrs. Hunert, in answer to +her card of inquiry:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I do take the 'Register,' 'Unity,' and 'Unitarian;' I am almost +entirely dependent upon what I read here, as I can hear no Liberal +preaching, and meet with very few who have sympathy with Liberal +religious views. I did get the memorial of Miss Ellis, and will +prize it much, as I was better acquainted with her than any one +connected with the church at Cincinnati, and looked upon her as one +of my best friends, and a very noble lady. The day on which I +received your postal, I met the chaplain of the penitentiary here, +and he told me how much the Unitarian literature that was sent from +the East was liked by him; that it was all distributed, and enjoyed +very much by the inmates of the prison. If I had another copy or +two of Miss Ellis's memorial, I would give one to the chaplain, and +another gentleman,—about the only Unitarian I know here."</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p> + +<p>The following correspondence is with a workingman in Northern Ohio,—a +young Englishman, whose letters tell his story. He once rose at four +o'clock to write Miss Ellis before going to his daily work. One of his +first letters to her said:—</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">March</span> 16, 1885.</p> + +<p>Now, that you may know in what walk of life I move, I must tell you +that I am a laborer. When working by the month, my wages never +exceeded twelve dollars a month. From such small wages I have built +up a small library of 155 volumes; have also 156 pamphlets. I take +unceasing delight in reading, and now that I have others dependent +on me, am not able to procure all the books I need. By some I have +been encouraged to prepare for the ministry. Such also is my +aspiration. It may be years before I shall become a minister, +because my preparation is not to be accomplished very quickly. Oh, +how I wish that some one from their abundance would forward me some +of the books and pamphlets they have cast aside, having no further +use for! They would be of great use to me. What are the +qualifications necessary for the Unitarian ministry? Will you please +tell me? If possible for you to do so, please send me a few more +sermons by Rev. G. A. Thayer, and I shall be greatly obliged. +</p></blockquote> + +<p>Miss Ellis forwarded this letter to Miss M. O. Rogers, Secretary of the +King's Chapel branch of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> the Women's Auxiliary Conference, Boston, +Mass., who had written, offering aid in her work. As a result, the +King's Chapel Women's Auxiliary Conference sent this young man many +Unitarian books of value, and the "Unitarian Review" regularly, for +which his gratitude was great. He loans and distributes all matter sent +him, and has procured many tracts from the American Unitarian +Association for distribution. A portion of Miss Ellis's reply to the +letter given above is as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">March</span> 18,1885.</p> + +<p>Your letter was read with much interest, and we are glad to know our +"little society has done good work."... Don't be discouraged if you +cannot convert the world at once, but wait quietly till your time +comes to do more. You are young yet. Think I can spare a few more of +Mr. Thayer's sermons. He has only had four sermons on "Reasonable +Religion" published.... Will send you the Meadville catalogue next +week, and you can see for yourself, and afterwards write to +President A. A. Livermore, telling him I sent you the catalogue. He +can give you all further information. He was the pastor in +Cincinnati from the time I was fourteen to twenty-one, and knows us +well.... Hope to hear further from you occasionally. Work on +quietly, knowing the discipline will the better fit you for +ministerial labors. We can't jump into the highest calling on earth +in a moment, and now-a-days<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> a man must be something of more than +ordinary ability to enter a Unitarian pulpit. It is not an easy +place to fill. +</p></blockquote> + +<p>He wrote to her, June 14, 1885:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Believe me, I am sorry to hear that you were 'too sick to more +than keep up' with your work. I know you must be busy at all times, +from the report of your work in the Conference 'Unity' you sent me. +That number of 'Unity' is very valuable to me, and will be kept for +future reference. The four sermons on 'Reasonable Religion,' by +Rev. George A. Thayer, have also been kept. I hope soon to see them +in a neat binding. They are worthy of the expense. Of the books +received from Boston, four have been read by me. Two of them were +mostly read as I walked to my work mornings. In the same manner +'Meditations on the Essence of Christianity' was read. This book is +very beautiful, its author, Robert Laird Collier. 'Channing's +Works' and 'Genuineness of the Gospels' cannot be carried about as +readily, so they are to be read and studied on lost days, when I +cannot work. The 'Reviews' received are very valuable; I would not +part with them for anything. The 'Register' is received regularly +from Philadelphia. The last one is very interesting, containing as +it does an account of the Festival. It must have been good to be +there. To you, and all who have aided you in your generosity to me, +I return my heartfelt thanks."</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p> + +<p>After Miss Ellis's death, he wrote, Feb. 13, 1886:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"... With this I send you the whole of her correspondence to me, +hoping that you may find something that will be of use to you. I +cheerfully send you the letter and postals, knowing that my +treasures will be in safe keeping. Since Miss Ellis's death they +are doubly precious to me; I prize them very highly, because she +who wrote them proved herself to be a very dear friend to me,—a +laborer longing for more light. Whilst I live I shall never forget +how much I owe to her who labored so much in my behalf. It was the +one wish of my heart to have met Miss Ellis, and to have thanked +her for all that she had done for me; but it was to be otherwise. +When I meet her in the country of 'many mansions,' I shall have the +opportunity to do so. I believe I shall meet and know her there. +Your offer of help is very kind; my greatest drawback is lack of +books by Unitarian writers. I buy when I can, but being out of +work—that is, steady work—since last September makes it very hard +work to get a book very often. If you can help me in this way I +shall be very thankful, and if you cannot, I shall be just the +same, because I feel that you would if you could. I have much +opposition to overcome, standing alone in my belief in the truth of +Unitarianism. I have great need of more books. My preparation for +the ministry must necessarily be slow, because I can never attend +Meadville Theological College. But I am reminded that your time is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> +precious, and so I will close. Mrs. ——, will you at the next +meeting of the Women's Auxiliary Conference thank all the dear +friends who have done so much for me? If I ever amount to much in +life I shall owe it all to the Cincinnati branch of the Women's +Auxiliary Conference. Hoping that you will not forget me when +sending out literature, I remain, etc."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In another letter he wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"My object in fitting myself for the ministry is to be able to +carry the message of Unitarianism to my brother-laborers, because I +believe it will make better men—and women too—of them.... I began +to work when I was but a little more than eleven years old, and +since that time I have been my own teacher."</p></blockquote> + +<p>A lady in Ohio sends her "Register" regularly (the arrangement being +made through Miss Ellis) to the correspondent who wrote her this letter +of thanks:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I have long postponed the note of thanks I have meant to send you. +But when I tell you that I am a dressmaker, you will pardon me, I +am sure. This is my harvest season, and I am extremely busy. Being +one of the class of work-women who put <i>themselves</i> into what they +do, I am exhausted at night, and forced to make Sunday a day of +rest indeed.</p> + +<p>"The papers do come regularly, to my great joy. I assure you that +the pleasure and spiritual strength<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> I get from them, if you could +realize it, would compensate you for the trouble an hundred-fold. My +business, showing me so plainly the small foibles and weaknesses of +human nature, and necessarily binding one's thoughts in large +measure to 'band, gusset, and seam, seam, gusset, and band,' or +their equivalents of flounces and gores, tends to a wearisome +narrowing of the mind; a half-hour spent after work is done, with +the 'Register,' opens a window, as it were, into heaven.</p> + +<p>"I live alone. At times my isolation is hard to bear; but having +seen better days, as the saying goes, to me my deprivations are but +part of the discipline that God saw was needful for me. I am shut +off, by reason of serving the public, from the society of my equals +in education and breeding, and for that of my equals in station I +have no taste. <i>Pardonnez-moi</i> these personal details; I give them +that you may know how much good you are doing. Long may you be +spared the power and the will to do such kindness to those who need. +We may never meet on earth, but I trust we shall in heaven." +</p></blockquote> + +<p>To Miss Ellis, Aug. 20, 1885, she wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I receive the papers, and not only read and enjoy them, but give +and send them to others. I am surprised to find 'unconscious' +Unitarians wherever I go. I hope you may be well by this time. Do +not tire yourself to write. Others need you more than I."</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p> + +<p>After Miss Ellis's death, she wrote acknowledging the memorial:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Many thanks. I was so glad to receive it, and prize it as one of +my treasures; also for the welcome tracts and papers. They are like +the shadow of a great rock in a weary land to me, and are given +away to others."</p></blockquote> + +<p>A woman in a small Indiana village wrote Miss Ellis:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I understand you have Liberal literature that you send gratis to +hungry people who are not able to gratify their appetite in that +direction. It would be greatly appreciated by me, and after reading +I would put it where I thought it would do the most good."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Later, she wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I have received a paper and often something else every other week. +These I have accepted as a kind of trust; and when there has been a +favorable opportunity, given them away to friends and +acquaintances. I do not press them on any one, nor talk about it +much. I have not the courage of a reformer. When I speak to friends +(that are kind every other way) of a broader religious belief, they +meet me with coldness and distrust. It chills me, and I am silent. +Yet I believe, with Helen Williams, if any one is brought to face a +great truth, if they accept it, yet do not speak or act upon it, +there is retribution, barrenness, for them,—a plunging in the +whale's belly, as Jonah was,—a figure so many have laughed at, yet +significant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> for all that. I wonder now at my struggles in former +years; am happier since the tangled skein is partially +straightened. Still I am not fully in accord with the Unitarians. +Miss —— [another correspondent in the same village] spoke to me +some time ago of your desiring us to form a reading circle. I do +not know what she said to you. I will give you the situation. I +live in a small village of about one hundred inhabitants, and Miss +—— lives about two miles away. I cannot call to mind a woman that +would take any interest. They would go to sleep over their +knitting, or want to use the time for social chat, as they do not +meet day after day at the village store, as the men do (I speak of +winter). True, there are a few that would enjoy the reading, yet +are so severely Orthodox they could not comprehend a new truth +outside of <i>their</i> church. That is the dark side. Now I have often +thought if we had a place of meeting, where we could seat a small +audience (which we have not), and a good reader (ditto), we could +call them together Sunday afternoons and read some of the beautiful +sermons you have sent.</p> + +<p>"Your work is grand,—the elevation of the human race. The ones that +<i>will</i> read, will become better, kindlier, more patient with +ignorance; and while they yearn to give every soul a chance, will +naturally throw out a better influence and teach a broader religion. +As to your paper, not now. It is midwinter; husband, carpenter, out +of employment. Intend to take one of your publications after a +while."</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p> + +<p>About two weeks after Miss Ellis's death she addressed this letter to +her:—</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">My dear Friend</span>,—I received a "Register" yesterday, directed in a +different hand. Are you sick? I hope not. I should grieve indeed if +I knew that physical pain had stopped your work. These lines come +to my mind:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Only a woman, and I could not find<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The quiet household life that women know;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So too, my part where there were sheaves to bind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not much, perhaps, but more than I could do.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My tired feet failed me in the harvest lands,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My ripened grain but half-way reaped across;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, where it dropped from over-wearied hands,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My best sheaf lies half bound for winds to toss."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Instead, may you continue your work till eventide.</p> + +<p>Who can tell, when a mind gives up its beliefs, where it will stop? +I seem to believe nothing, unless it is in the Supreme Good, +whatever that is,—and my religion, to live the best life I know. +The Orthodox preachers say if one strays from the "path," or +"back-slides," they are always uneasy and unhappy. How different my +experience is! How glad I am to have escaped the little enclosure of +dogma, and to stand "far indeed from being wise, but free to learn"!</p> + +<p>Hoping this will find you in good health and spirits, I remain</p> + +<p class="right">Your friend A—— C——</p></blockquote> + +<p>After hearing of Miss Ellis's death, she wrote:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>"Received your postal. Have also received Unitarian papers, and +Miss Ellis's memorial, which last I will store among my treasured +mementos. How beautiful her life was! Though never having seen her, +she will be treasured in my memory as a dear friend. She has sent +me almost all the pamphlets, I suppose, that have been written for +the purpose of distributing. Having a large family, they have been +read and reread, and handed to neighbors and friends. One has no +idea how many they will reach, or how much they influence; and yet +there is so much prejudice against Unitarians among Orthodox +Christians, some would take it as an insult to offer them one of +the pamphlets. In our little village the 'United Brethren' have +been holding meetings day and night for three weeks, and oh! how +they do preach hell, and pray publicly for 'that lady that is +leading her daughters down to hell,' simply because she does not +believe as they do. I have more tolerance for them than they have +for me. I think there are some people they will reach and do good, +as I presume the Rev. Sam Jones is doing in Cincinnati."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The following letter to Miss Ellis from a poor old woman to whom she +wrote, sent papers and other aid, for several years, is given +<i>verbatim</i>, to illustrate the range of her sympathies. This letter was +also written after Miss Ellis's death:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I wish I could come and see you, but I cannot afford to go up and +down on the Trains. I have to send<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> by someone, now Miss Ellis you +have been a sending me good Papers to read and now you must not +think I mean to beg but you sent me a New years Card it was a Rose +now I would not take anything for it I am as Foolish as Littel +Children is about Pictures the Rose I have is in my Album and if +you got any one by you to part With Will you send it to me for this +New year I feel more than thankful for the Papers you have sent +me.... Well I will close Write to me soon I am alone day and night +So goodbye from a Dear Friend to one I Love."</p></blockquote> + +<p>A young man in a State Normal School in Indiana long corresponded with +Miss Ellis. He has been an enthusiastic distributor of our literature, +and instrumental in procuring Unitarian preaching in his city. Extracts +from his letters are here given.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The papers received are read by myself and others. There are few +here who know anything of what Unitarians believe."</p></blockquote> + +<p>A second letter says:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The matter sent to me is read by several persons. I think of one +young man now who asked me to send you his name. He said he would +like to read literature made by persons who are independent of +creeds. I gave him Wendte's 'Statement' and Chadwick's 'Art of +Life.'</p> + +<p>"I am grateful to you for your kindness, and shall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> be glad to +receive what you may send. I read the sermons by Savage with +interest. They were the only ones of his I ever saw. I have given +and shall continue to give the matter sent me wider circulation. +[Mentioning a rebuff recently received, he continues:] This little +experience, while not pleasant, is valuable to me. I see that the +spirit of the Middle Ages is not entirely dead yet, and that one +better not be too hasty. My convictions are just as strong as +before."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Another letter says:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I know something of what it costs to break away from old +associations. I was brought up in the Baptist Church. All my family +were of that faith.... My relatives all look upon me as one lost to +all true belief, because I cannot see my way clear to go with them +in the traditions of the fathers. Still, I feel that to be true to +the light I have is better than to have the sanction of those who +are simply following what their creed teaches, asking no questions. +I do not care to argue with them, and so follow that life that +gives me the greatest comfort and satisfaction."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Feb. 11, 1886, he wrote Mrs. Hunert:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Miss Ellis was a very dear friend (although I never saw her), and +it was a great shock to learn of her decease. The first intimation +I had of her death was the article in the 'Register' headed 'A +Candle of the Lord.' Whatever literature you may send me shall be +given circulation after I have read it. I now supply some +half-dozen persons by mail with the tracts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> sent me. As I know the +personal peculiarities of all these parties, I can adapt the matter +to each. You will see, therefore, that I am a sort of branch +'mission.' In addition to this, I occasionally write a short +article to a local paper in Wayne County upon subjects of +interest."</p></blockquote> + +<p>He encloses one of these articles,—subject, "Future or Everlasting +Punishment: Which?"</p> + +<blockquote><p>"... Mrs. Smith wrote to me in regard to Miss Ellis's letters. I am +very sorry not to have any of them. During the last three years I +have moved so frequently, being sometimes in this State and +sometimes in W. Virginia, that they were lost, and I am unable to +find them. Some of them I carried for a long time in my pocket +until they became so worn as to be scarcely recognizable. The form +of them has vanished, but the kindness and sympathy they breathed +is with me still. The spirit of that sainted woman cannot wax old. +I humbly trust that I may be imbued with something of the calm and +trust and purity which her letters always suggested. There was, +too, an enthusiasm which was untiring, and withal a modesty that +never was absent from her utterances. There was ever the absence of +anything like dictation in her advice. It was the gentle monition +of a friend, never the pompous dictation of conscious superiority. +Rev. J. T. Sunderland, of Chicago, is to preach in our city March +21. I have never heard him, and am looking to his coming with +expectation."</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p> + +<p>A young woman who is working out a Homestead and Timber Claim in +Nebraska, and has been for several years supplied with much reading +matter by Miss Ellis, which she has circulated so zealously as to have +become one of the "branch missions," writes:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"When I was about seventeen years old I joined the Baptist Church +in Newport, Ky. (where at the time I was residing, and teaching in +the public school in that city); and I was sincere in what I did, +only I had so many doubts about many things that they taught, and +hesitated from the beginning of the revival until the close before +I could decide. Then my decision was made on this, that there were +older persons belonging to the church that said they believed the +teachings and doctrine, and I thought when I grew older and had +more experience that I would understand, and I had a delicate fear +to converse with the older members about my doubts for fear of +their opinions of me; so I quietly stayed with them for a number of +years, when an old friend, a good woman, now gone from among us, +induced me to attend your church, Mr. Wendte then being the pastor. +The subject he was to speak about was 'the Christ we know.' I +remember my thoughts then were about these,—'Christ they know? I +don't believe they know any,' and thought I should like to hear +what he would say, any way. I well remember that sermon; not one +sentence he uttered jarred me in the least; and, strange to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> say, +they were my own thoughts on the subject; but I dared not, even if +I could, have expressed myself. I thought over that sermon the +whole week every spare moment I had, and even took some that did +not justly belong to me. I shall never forget that week. The next +Sunday his text was, 'the God we love.' For all I enjoyed the +previous sermon, I still thought, 'They love God? Impossible!' and +as my friends invited me to go over with them again, I accepted the +invitation. I never had God represented to me before as now,—more +like a kind father than an austere judge; yes, kind, compassionate, +and loving us all alike, condemning only our evil actions. This +suited me exactly; so another week was spent in thought. I would +think, 'How can I conscientiously be a Baptist and believe this +way?' Yet how I disliked leaving the church where many things were +endeared to me. It seemed as if I was in a sea of trouble and +doubt, not knowing whether to go on or halt and turn back. The next +Sunday the subject was, 'the Bible we revere.' I was more than +anxious to hear this one, for it seemed to me that on this I would +have to decide. I went, and decided. I broke off gradually from my +old associations, and attended the services in the Unitarian church +from that time until I came West. I never joined the church, but it +suited my views best of all churches, and to-day I cannot go in any +of the Orthodox churches and feel at home. Now as regards this +mission work that you wish me to engage in, I could devote half an +hour each day,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> and am willing to do all I can for the advancement +of the cause. My health became very poor, and I went West thinking +it would be beneficial. I must say I succeeded, for I am not +compelled to stay now for my health, but business keeps me here.... +My homestead is three miles from the town, and I go out quite often +and stay over Sunday. My house is a very small dug-out. I raised +about ten bushels of potatoes, some beans, and a few squashes; have +done work I never thought of doing,—that is, planting vegetables, +made my own bedstead, put a floor in the house, and lined it with +sacking. Some of my lady friends assisted me when they came to see +me, and gave me ideas about my new kind of work. Now last, but not +least, in regard to Miss Ellis. I wrote to her directly after +coming West, and told her I felt isolated from church attendance, +but was pleased to find so many people with whom I could converse +on Liberal thought. Since that time she had kindly furnished me +with reading matter which I have again sent on its errand of peace +and joy. I looked over a bundle of letters and can only find this +postal card from her.... This card I send you is one she sent me in +reference to Mr. Copeland. I wrote her for his address, which she +gave me, and I requested him to come to our town and speak to the +people here. He kindly consented to come, and spoke on 'Into the +Light.' The majority of the people that heard him were well +pleased, and he promised me that whenever he passed our town on his +way to or from Denver he would stop over and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> speak. Would like to +have the card returned, as I want it for a remembrance."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In her first letter written after Miss Ellis's death she said:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Imagine how I felt when I came to your letter, and read the sad +news of Miss Ellis's death. I feared the worst when I did not hear +from her, for a friend had written me of her decline; but Miss +Ellis herself never referred to her illness but once to me. She +certainly must have been a patient and uncomplaining invalid, and +I, with many others no doubt, feel as if I had lost a dear friend, +and would be pleased to receive one of the memorials as a +keepsake.... I can assure you that I do all I can towards building +up a religion that all could conscientiously embrace. ... All the +reading matter sent to me I distribute to the best of my ability, +and hope that as it goes on its mission good seed will be sown. +There are numbers of Liberal people here who do not belong to any +church; and then I find a number of Liberals belonging to Orthodox +churches. I will subscribe for Mr. Savage's sermons, for I like his +sermons best of all."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Miss Ellis numbered several physicians among her correspondents. One +living in Alabama writes:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Your Conference speaks truly when it says, 'Many of Miss Ellis's +correspondents had come to regard her as a dear friend, though +never having seen her face.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> I feel that I too may have the +privilege and the honor of being enrolled among the number of her +unseen friends. I hope some of the good seed she sowed has fallen +in good ground, even at this distance from the kind hand that +scattered them, and that their fruit may not</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Appear in weeds that mar the land,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But in a healthful store.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I am a regular subscriber to the 'Christian Register' and the +'Unitarian,' all through the influence of Miss Ellis."</p></blockquote> + +<p>A man on a remote plantation in Georgia, who has been most zealous in +spreading the new light around him, writes:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Please accept thanks for papers and memorial of Miss Sallie Ellis. +She has been a good and a kind friend to me, has supplied me for +over two years with the best of literature, something new, so +different from what we are used to, something that lifts me above +myself and gives me new views of heaven and immortality, makes me a +better man to wife, family, neighbors, stock, and fills my heart +with that new love, the divine brotherhood of all mankind. I deeply +lament her loss. I do wish she could have lived a little while +longer, for my sake. I do feel so thankful for the papers, and +Channing, from Mrs. ——, God bless her!... Any books or papers +sent me will be used to the good of the community. The Post Office +Mission is doing a good work."</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p> + +<p>A young German in Tennessee to whom she sent much reading matter wrote +her:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I am a German by birth, and received my education at German +universities. I devoted many years to the study of the chief +philosophical systems, and had in consequence of the results +derived from the latter for a long time little or no connection +with any church whatever. But during the last four or five years I +became more and more convinced that no school of thought possesses +so glorious a light as is emanating from the life and lessons of +Jesus Christ. So when I became acquainted with Channing's Works, +seeing that it is possible to reconcile with every scientific +discovery and with every logical conclusion all that is special in +Christianity, I knew I had found what I want and wherein to rest. +From my own standpoint, and remembering the religious +indifferentism which is now general in my native country and in +France, I regard Unitarianism as the principle which is to save the +Christian Church from ruin, and which will be an indestructible +bulwark against Nihilism and materialism. I still believe there is +a great future before the Unitarian Church."</p></blockquote> + +<p>From a lady in Alabama to Miss Ellis:—</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Dear Friend</span>,—For such you have been to me, and it is to you I am +indebted for the papers, tracts, and sermons that I have received +and enjoyed so much. I have derived genuine comfort from them,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> and +sincerely thank you for thinking of one so unhappy and so tossed +about for a haven of rest. Truly yours is a heavenly mission, +answering the needs of many like myself afflicted beyond human aid. +The sermons of James Freeman Clarke are peculiarly comforting; and +indeed I have read all you sent me with the deepest interest and +benefit. How I wish I might in some way recompense your Society as +it deserves! And you individually have my deepest gratitude, which +is so little for such thoughtfulness as yours.</p></blockquote> + +<p>A second letter says:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Your papers, sermons, etc., are regularly received, and I wish I +could make you understand the great comfort they are to me, +particularly the sermons. Anything pertaining to the future life +holds me spell-bound till the last word is read. The Unitarian +ideas and beliefs, so far as I know, find echo in my heart; and I +always feel comforted and soothed, as it were, with all I have read +and understood. I attend the Presbyterian Church here, because I +think it is better to attend some church regularly; and I am very +fond of this minister socially. There has been for ten days or more +an evangelist holding a union meeting in our church, and a night or +two ago I went to hear him. The only feeling excited in my heart +was one of pity that all persons could not be taught the love of +God instead of being frightened into a nervous fear. I assure you, +I feel it a privilege to correspond<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> with you, and find myself +wishing in my heart that you knew me thoroughly, what I have been, +and what I am by nature, education, and social standing. I feel +that we women of the South are to be seen at home and known to be +understood by our Northern sisters."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The following are some of Miss Ellis's letters to a radical of the +radicals, an old gentleman in Boston, one of Theodore Parker's old +congregation, who sent much literature out under her direction, and +contributed Theodore Parker's "Prayers," and his new volume of sermons, +to her loan library.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">July 2, 1883.</span></p> + +<p>Your letter was received on Thursday, and, contrary to your +expectation, was read with a great deal of interest, for I always +admire to have every one speak with perfect freedom, and I am very +glad you wrote as you did, and feel honored by having so old a man +for a correspondent.... You and I won't quarrel on the Bible +question. Rather think I should come up to your expectations on +<i>that</i> point.... I do not consider Mr. C—— or Mr. S—— authority +any more than I consider the Bible so; I read for myself and settle +the question as best I can. Am I not right? I have not read Colenso +on the Pentateuch, nor Davidson's "Introduction to the New +Testament," but <i>have</i> read "Canon of the Bible," Knappert's +"Religion of Israel," Stanley's "Eastern Church," Higginson's +"Spirit of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> the Bible," Dr. Noyes's Translation of Prophets, +Psalms, Job, and Canticles, and lastly, "Bible for Learners." I +merely mention these to let you see I have been a student of the +Bible. Will also add Alger's "Future Life," J. F. Clarke's "Ten +Great Religions" and "Thomas Didymus," Savage's "Talks about +Jesus," and his sermons this winter on the Bible.... I think of +heaven and hell as you do; but having always been fed on Unitarian +teachings, am not so "bitter" in my feelings as those who have had +the "Assembly's Shorter Catechism" to overcome. In short, if people +only <i>live</i> truly from day to day, I will excuse their view of the +Bible, and of God, and Christ, as long as they do not wish me to +think the same as they do, for I decidedly think they are wrong.... +I shall be very much pleased to have a copy of Theodore Parker's +"Prayers," and shall gladly accept a copy for my circulating +library; for, but with the exception of a few donations, the books +loaned have been those I put in it.</p></blockquote> + +<p>After receiving the book, she wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"First, I must tell you how much I am enjoying Theodore Parker's +'Prayers.' They are suitable in most instances to the present day, +and for all ages and times, and one rises from reading them with +kindlier, broader thoughts, and renewed in strength. Am very glad +to have the book. Shall endeavor to sell copies of it this +winter.... I cannot <i>exactly</i> agree with all you said in your +letter, for I think it is not necessary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> yet to give up all +theology, though it should not be the main thing in religion. The +chief thing is to <i>do</i> right, and people arrive at that by +different methods. They will inquire and discuss theology, and +therefore it is necessary as yet that ministers should preach it, +and I do not believe that Orthodox ministers have arrived at Mr. +Savage's or Mr. Chadwick's views exactly, or they would come out +and say so. As for myself, I still enjoy the Communion service, +partaking of the bread and wine, and cannot agree to casting aside +Jesus as a helper to a better life, though I neither worship him +nor think that he redeems us in any other way than as by following +his example we become one with him and God. He 'died for us' in no +other sense than as a soldier dies for his country. Then let +theology continue, for the world is fast becoming better and better +in spite of it, and the time <i>may</i> come when we shall need it no +longer. We are gradually coming to the point. I do not regret the +time 'lost' I have spent on theology, for it has fitted me for just +the work I am engaged in, and many are the questions I am called +upon to answer, either by letter or printed matter; therefore I am +glad to know where to send perplexed minds. As a friend wrote me +from the South, 'Your papers are a great help to me. You are doing +more good than the women did in the days of our Saviour. They +clothed the body and you are feeding the souls.' Both acts are +needed, but in different directions, and some people can better do +the one, and others the other. I am cut off from active benevolence +from want<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> of health for it, and am glad to know there are souls +needing nourishment. Do you not take this view too?"</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">December 20, 1883.</span></p> + +<p>Your kind letter awaited my return from the city last evening, when +I returned at ten. It grieved me to think that possibly I had +wounded your feelings, for your "heresies" have not been "too +tough" for me, as you fear. One's religious belief never troubles +me as long as they do not force me into the same belief. Should be +sorry if I had not "charity" enough to see the good in one, and not +look at the outside merely. Your last letter reached me September +28, and I replied by postal October 19, as there did not appear to +be anything especial to require a letter; and as my eyes were +troubling me much at the time, I was compelled to desist from all +but necessary letters. Am still as much interested in the good +cause as ever, and we still have new applications constantly. We +are gaining ground in the South. One gentleman in Alabama is much +interested in Unitarianism, and wrote, asking me for Mr. Savage's +address, whereupon he wrote to Mr. Savage himself, who is sending +him "Unity Pulpit" present series. I am subscriber to it myself, +and never can keep a sermon. I subscribed for the benefit of +others. In Independence, Ky., a gentleman lately wrote, asking for +Unitarian papers, etc. He is highly satisfied. Has been groping in +the dark a long time, and wrote me, "When I read the pamphlet, +'What Do Unitarians Believe?' by C. W. Wendte, I shouted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> 'Eureka!' +Like it so well that I shall not part with it." So it goes on all +the time. Some one finds just what they have been in search of for +some time.</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">February 19, 1885.</span></p> + +<p>Am much obliged to you for sending matter to Mr. ——. He is +extremely radical, a farmer, with a large family to educate, and +cannot get such religious matter as he needs. You might, if you +choose, send the Chadwick sermons to him too, or, if you prefer +they should go elsewhere, address them to me, and I will send them +where they are needed.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Her last postal card to this correspondent, dated about a month before +her death, says:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Thanks for the six 'Unity Pulpits' received. I have been too busy +to reply before, and my health still feeble, though not confined to +the house or bed at all. I'm not one of that kind until necessary."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Since her death, the farmer referred to above has written:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I want to pay my humble tribute to the departed Miss Ellis. I +never met her; but she was my friend, because she was the friend to +all struggling humanity. She sent me sermons, etc., but above all, +<i>kind words</i>. I had pictured her in my mind as a strong, robust +person, and hoped at some future time to meet her. I now fear that +I may have wounded her refined soul by some things I wrote to her. +I am somewhat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> 'agnostic;' but I love to think of heaven if such as +Miss Ellis preside there and give tone to the surroundings."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The old gentleman in Boston wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"With this please receive eight letters and seventeen full postals +from our dear departed friend, Miss Sarah Ellis, of your city, +whose face I never saw, but whose correspondence was to me a great +pleasure. Her personal friendship must have been a real blessing to +you and her immediate friends. She was able to be a very active +worker for the cause which lay so near her heart, and was at the +same time so perfectly willing to let others believe what they can. +I will send all I have of hers and let you select what you desire. +There is not even a postal card among them on which there is not +some small or large trace of her noble, generous, kindly nature."</p></blockquote> + +<p>A young man in Ohio, writing Miss Ellis about some revival scenes in his +town, makes this comment, which is good and true enough to settle the +"leaven" idea once for all.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"If you had seen all this as I have, you would hardly think it time +for a civilized organization like the Unitarians to cease fighting +the great evil and wait for the leaven to work.</p> + +<p>"<i>The Unitarians are themselves a portion of the leaven, and unless +they work there is so much of the leaven idle.</i>"</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p> + +<p>A Christian minister with whom Miss Ellis has corresponded two years or +more, and who expects to enter Harvard Divinity School, in sending her +letters writes:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"... I send such as I can get at, preferring to let you make any +suitable selections or extracts they may offer. I shall be pleased +to have them returned, as you mention, when you have used them. I +may add that my correspondence with Miss Ellis on all matters +connected with religion, Unitarianism, etc., was in all respects +most pleasant, satisfactory, and profitable to me. The careful +skill with which she divined the exact want of a correspondent and +sent the appropriate word by tract or letter to supply it, bespoke +a wisdom and experience deeper than casual letters may reveal. And +continued correspondence served thus to inspire a greater esteem +and confidence in the judgment expressed."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The following extracts are from her letters to this minister:—</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">November 12, 1883.</span></p> + +<p>Your letter was received a week since, and read with interest. What +you said of our teachings, of course, was light and just. We do not +expect ministers of other denominations to accept our views +altogether, for if so they would <i>be</i> Unitarians. Your view +concerning studying the Bible agrees with mine. Still, it is well +to know the latest view of the Bible, although we cannot accept the +teaching at first. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> time the way is made clear to us. Have +mailed to you to-day two more good tracts and our church programme +for this year. After Wednesday will mail to you "Positive Aspects +of Religion," by English leaders. We will agree to let you have any +book at just what it costs us, you paying postage on it.... +Theodore Parker's "Discourses Pertaining to Religion" is a good +book for you to read,—usual price, $1.00. But first, "Orthodoxy; +Its Truths and Errors," J. F. Clarke; and a new book just out, +"Orthodoxy and Heresy." ... "Bible for Learners" is by three German +divines, translated by an Englishman, and gives the latest German +views concerning the Bible.</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">December 23, 1883.</span></p> + +<p>... At the time your letter reached me we were holding our annual +fair, and since then I have been much occupied with preparing for +Christmas. To-day am home-bound by the snow,—it being knee-deep +between our front door and the gate, and as I have to walk half a +mile to take the street cars to the city, and as it is raining on +top of the deep snow, concluded it was really too bad for me to +venture. Have read myself out, and being very much occupied during +the week, will take advantage of the holy-day to speak on a holy +topic. You suggested that we send "papers representing Unitarian +ideas rather than tracts;" but papers do not contain our doctrines +so explicitly. Since your last letter, have mailed to you two +tracts on "Inspiration" and "Incarnation" which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> I thought well +answered the thoughts expressed in your letter.</p> + +<p>You will see from them that Unitarians are little troubled about +Inspiration and the Divinity, or the Deity of Christ as we prefer +to state it. We do believe in his divinity, for we hold that all +men are divine, while we deny his being Deity. We lay greater +stress on the divinity of human nature, and therefore we do not +feel that Jesus is degraded by calling him man, for we exalt man. +If we considered man totally depraved, then to call Jesus a mere +man might seem to lower him; but when we think of the possibilities +of man, and that he has it within himself to reach up to the +highest manhood, and to become in a measure a saviour of the world, +then to compare him with Jesus—the most glorious of men—is not +lessening the divinity of the Christ, it seems to me. Or, if we +held Jesus to be God, a being different from man, and so far +superior to us that we never could attain to his goodness, then we +never could compare the two. Jesus is an example to us because we +also are divine as he is; for he prays "that they all may be one, +as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in +us." If man had not been of the same nature as himself, would he +have thus spoken? I advise you to send to the Western Unitarian +Sunday School Society for Rev. William C. Gannett's Sunday School +Lesson, "The Christmas Poem and the Christmas Fact," if you wish to +understand how Unitarians of the present day understand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> Christ. +Though you may not accept, you will have our idea of the birth +legends in our Gospels.</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">December 24, 1884.</span></p> + +<p>My reply to your letter, by postal, was written before talking with +——. She tells me that Harvard will be decidedly the better place +if not too expensive. Meadville has the advantage in that +respect,—less expensive; but being near Boston, Cambridge offers +better opportunities for students to engage in work by which they +can support themselves in the mean time. A correspondent of ours +went to Harvard a year ago last September. Had a scholarship +promised him. He found a set of books to keep, and studied.... I +tell you of this case, as it may help you in your decision. +Meadville is very thorough, but think the younger men all give +preference to Harvard; I presume as much as anything on account of +the opportunities which being near Boston affords them. I have +written to Professor C. C. Everett of Harvard to please send you a +catalogue and answer your inquiries. We shall be very glad if our +little Cincinnati branch of the Women's Auxiliary Conference is the +means of securing them another Divinity student. With many good +wishes of the season from the Women's Auxiliary Conference,</p> + +<p class="right">Very truly yours, <span class="smcap">S. Ellis</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">January 14, 1885.</span></p> + +<p>Have been obliged to change my residence, and, temporarily, am with +another brother. Just came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> here to-day, and, not having my things +about me, have not your last letter to refer to, but having +received a letter from our Harvard Divinity Student this past week, +wish to tell you what he says of his surroundings, and his +impression of Professor Everett. He writes as follows: "I enjoy the +work of the Divinity School more than I had ever hoped. We have a +noble corps of professors eminently fitted for their special +departments, and personally most eminent examples of Nature's +noblemen. In the light of what I am now learning, I consider my +former ignorance phenomenal. Thanks to Professor Everett, my faith +in God is clearer and stronger than ever before. He has enabled me +to reduce my chaotic philosophy to something of a system, and has +helped to furnish a steadfast basis for faith. His lectures are +simply invaluable. To my mind he is not only the greatest man in +the Divinity School, but the greatest man in Harvard University; +and not only the profoundest thinker in the Unitarian Church in our +country, but the profoundest thinker to be found in any American +church." ... I feel that this will be of interest to you, who are +contemplating going to the Divinity School. There is another thing +I wish to speak of; that is, we have quite a valuable book, "The +Origin of the Doctrine of the Trinity," by Hugh H. Stannus, of +England, showing how much greater cause there is for believing in +the Unity of God than in the Trinity. You can have the book any +time you wish, though I have just mailed it to a lady in this +State. By the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> way, the daughter of James F. Clarke, with others, +has planned a course of "Unitarian Studies at Home." The first +year's course includes: 1. "The Unitarian Doctrine of Prayer," by +J. F. Clarke; 2. "The Origin of the Doctrine of the Trinity," by +Stannus; 3. "Jesus and His Biographers," by Dr. W. H. Furness; 4. +"Christ the Revealer," by Thom; 5. "Religious Duties," by Frances +Power Cobbe. We have first, second, and fourth,—at least, are to +have the latter. "Jesus and His Biographers" is out of print; but +we are to have that loaned to us for two months, as three ladies +here, with myself, are pursuing the course, and I have also induced +a lady in this county to join us. We have received quite a number +of encouraging letters from our correspondents lately, and have +every reason to believe the Post Office Mission work is doing good. +I mailed to you this week some arguments against the Trinity. Rev. +C. W. Wendte's sermon, "Encouragement for Unitarians," in +"Register," January 8, I read with much interest. We have such an +interesting young convert, a Methodist, in Canada. His intention is +to study for the Unitarian ministry, we having brought him out into +the light. I thought with how much interest he would read that +sermon of Mr. Wendte's.</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">April 19, 1885.</span></p> + +<p>Was glad to hear from you again, and find you are in a larger +field. [He had gone to a Pennsylvania city.] Perhaps you may draw +into your church—take it for granted you have gone there to +preach—Universalists<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> and Unitarians.... We shall be glad to loan +you books again as soon as you are ready for them. Have had added +to the library lately "The Origin of the Doctrine of the Trinity," +by Hugh H. Stannus; "Christ the Revealer," by Thom (both English +works), "The Power of the Spirit of Jesus of Nazareth" and "The +Story of the Resurrection," both by Dr. W. H. Furness, of +Philadelphia,—the latter just published, and he presented the two +to us. Am not quite ready to loan the latter, as I've not read it +myself. If you know or meet with any Germans in your vicinity, we +are soon to have some Unitarian tracts in the German language.... +Hope you read with enthusiasm the earnest appeal for ministers at +the East, and also at Meadville, in the "Register" of April 9. We +hope to have two of our correspondents go to Meadville in +September, and hope you may succeed in your desire to get to +Harvard. We had a very pleasant letter from one of our "boys," as +he styled himself, a week since. He is still enjoying his +privileges there.... Hoping to hear from you again, and wishing you +success in your new position, whatever it may be, in which the +Women's Auxiliary Conference join,</p> + +<p class="right">Yours truly, <span class="smcap">Sarah Ellis</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p>A gentleman in Mississippi, superintendent of schools in his county, +writes of Miss Ellis as</p> + +<blockquote><p>"... One whose memorial I read with a saddened heart. A single +request to her consequent upon an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> advertisement which I saw in a +paper commenced a correspondence which continued uninterruptedly +till the time of her death. Though just from the side of a dear +sister whom she had left destined to a glorious immortality, she +found time to write to us a letter of condolence on the great loss +that we had sustained in the death of our son,—a young man just of +age,—in which she blended submission to Him 'who doeth all things +right,' with such words of comfort as could emanate only from a +good, earnest, self-sacrificing instrument of our Heavenly Father. +Than in her life of trials and troubles there has never been a +greater instance of the victory of mind over matter. I am afraid +that I do little good with the sermons, etc., among the people +here, who, although they use the beautiful hymn, 'Nearer, my God, +to Thee,' at their funerals, still look upon Unitarians as cultured +heathens."</p></blockquote> + +<p>A lady in Ohio, who became a regular correspondent and bought many +books, wrote Miss Ellis:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The lectures and papers you have sent have been, and are, the +source of much pleasure to me; and I have given them to some of my +friends, who also seemed pleased with them. I had thought for a +long time that the Unitarian faith would be my idea of true +religion, and now I feel <i>sure</i> of it. I knew nothing about its +creed, or whether it had one, but had had a desire for several +years to know something of it. All<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> my friends and acquaintances +were as ignorant as myself, and the most definite idea I had been +able to gain concerning it was through James Freeman Clarke's +'Self-Culture.' When I found your little notice in the newspaper, +it was just what I most desired. I have always wished to be +religious; but there are things in the Bible which my reason +repels, and the Orthodox way of teaching them became at last so +abhorrent to me that at one time I just gave it all up and ceased +to try to believe any of it; though I am sure I always felt the +beauty of Christianity as taught by Christ, and would be glad now +to be a Christian, if not compelled to believe him the miraculous +Son of God.... We like the 'Register' better and better all the +time, and I have no doubt shall subscribe for it regularly. I +consider it exceedingly high-toned as a moral and religious +teacher, and also in a literary point of view. The sermons and +lectures supply for us a long-felt need. I intend sending a list of +names of friends and acquaintances to the publishers soon. My +sister-in-law has become a convert to the Unitarian faith through +the medium of the 'Register' and the tracts you have sent me from +time to time. She is quite an enthusiast, and feels that +Unitarianism is a great boon and comfort to her now in the midst of +her troubles. [The sister had recently lost her husband.] She, like +myself, could not conscientiously subscribe to the old Orthodox +creeds and requirements, and so remained outside the Church; but +now she feels that she may be a Christian without stultifying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> her +sense of reason. When she returns home, she expects to subscribe +for the 'Register.'"</p></blockquote> + +<p>After Miss Ellis's death she wrote:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I received the memorial of Miss Ellis. I thank you sincerely for +sending it. It is very touching and beautiful, and delineates just +such a character as I conceived hers to be. I had received the sad +intelligence of her death through the 'Christian Register' before +the memorial reached me, and it was like the shock of learning of +the death of a personal friend. I have great reason to be grateful +to her and to cherish her memory; for through her I have been led +to embrace and to love the broad and charitable Unitarian belief. +My reason had struggled for years against the great—to +me—stumbling-blocks of Orthodoxy, and had finally abandoned the +conflict and settled down into a kind of unthinking unbelief, +feeling that it was no use to try to subscribe to any Orthodox +creed, and not knowing where to look for any more hopeful, helpful, +or reasonable spiritual aid. About four years ago, I think it was, +I saw the notice in the paper which is referred to in the memorial, +and Then ensued a very pleasant correspondence ... wrote Miss Ellis +asking for Unitarian papers, etc. much like that with a dear +familiar friend, and she grew to be like one to me, or rather was +that almost from the first. She put so much of her real self into +her letters that they were like a living presence. So full she was +of true Christian love and feeling, so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> ever ready to forget her +own sorrows and sufferings in her sympathy with the sorrows of +others, that thus unconsciously truth and love and +self-forgetfulness were stamped upon every line that came from her +mind and hand. Truly she was 'A Little Pilgrim,' bearing good +tidings to the fainting and weary, and lifting them up with her own +heavenly strength. Sacred be her memory! Through her I became a +subscriber to the 'Christian Register,' which is to me a standard +of excellence in a religious, moral, and intellectual point of +view. I do not want to be sectarian, as that is not my ideal of a +good Unitarian,—I mean in an 'offensive' light; but it really +seems to me that even Unitarian wit and fun have a refinement and +exquisite touch of humor which cannot be equalled among Orthodox +publications. The 'Register,' however, is the only Unitarian paper +that I am well acquainted with. A widowed sister-in-law who is with +me also became a Unitarian through Miss Ellis. She is a subscriber +to 'The Unitarian.' We also have Channing's Works and the 'Oriental +Christ,' which I bought through Miss Ellis, and some of Freeman +Clarke's books; so that we have the companionship of much of the +best Unitarian thought, although we are denied the privilege of a +personal ministry."</p></blockquote> + +<p>From Springfield, Ohio:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I have been greatly benefited by the papers, sermons, etc., you +have so kindly sent me. Hope to have them continued. Will try to +have some Unitarian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> volumes put in our public library. After +reading the papers I loan them out to others. Some sermons thus +pass into six or eight homes. They set people to thinking. I thank +you, and your good Society, for the broad Christian education you +are giving me. Will do all I can as your missionary here."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Rev. Samuel May, Leicester, Mass., having offered to send his "Register" +to some one, Miss Ellis arranged that it should go to the writer of the +above, who acknowledged it as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Your postal received. I am very grateful for this kindness, and, +as I read the 'Register' this morning, I resolved to use it for +others also.... Can't your Association give the ball a push at this +place?"</p></blockquote> + +<p>The following extract is from the first letter of a new correspondent, +dated Dec. 8, 1885. To him was begun the last postal card, which she was +unable to finish. She was so eager about it, dictating faster than one +could write. "Tell him I think he will like us when he knows us better," +she said.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Your postal came all right, also copies of several tracts, and +specimens of 'Register' and 'Unity.' They are mainly in lines of +thought which I have been working on for some years. I am at one +with the authors in main points, but not prepared to accept all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> of +the so-called advanced or radical expressions. My own experience, +observation, and reflection seem to show that they have swung too +far from Orthodoxy, and the truth lies between; but I am not fit to +decide yet. From the pamphlet of selections of Channing's writings, +with which I am particularly pleased, I have derived some ideas +which inspire me for a greater activity, and I hope a more +effective activity, in my work of teaching.... I have a friend who +also feels dissatisfied with current Orthodoxy. If you see fit, I +wish you to send him some of those tracts. I wish to use my copies +here, or I would send them."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The estimation in which Miss Ellis was held by some of her +fellow-workers appears in the following extracts from letters and +papers.</p> + +<p>At the conclusion of a letter, a part of which is given elsewhere, Rev. +A. A. Livermore, President of Meadville Theological School, says:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"But though disinterested and devoted to family interests and +helpful to the growing households of her brothers and sisters, the +crowning interest that came to absorb and inspire her advanced +Christian life was the propagation of her own Unitarian faith, +early learned, later disciplined, and mellowed and sanctified by +trial and years. What had been a stay and staff to her own mind and +heart she was anxious to communicate to others. Hence she sought +the instrumentalities of the pen and press, and the Post Office +Mission sprang<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> into being,—the invention of a Christian woman's +heart, bent on doing good spiritually. The zeal, fidelity, +sympathy, and adaptation with which she developed and pursued this +work have been told elsewhere. It is another lesson to teach us +that ever new means will arise, as time and opportunity serve, for +the faithful in heart and life to hasten the coming of the Master's +kingdom of righteousness and love. Miss Ellis infused a sweetness +and sympathy all her own into her mission. To her it was no task, +but a delight, as her letters show,—her meat and drink to help +struggling souls to light and Christian faith. Peace to her +beautiful and saintly memory!"</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="center">(From Rev. S. J. Barrows, editor "Christian Register.")</p> + +<p class="center">A CANDLE OF THE LORD.</p> + +<p>It was a feeble socket that held it. It was a constant surprise +that so small a candle could give forth so much light. But its +special mission was not so much to illumine the world with its own +light as it was to ignite other minds and hearts from its own +flame. "Behold how much wood is kindled by how small a fire!" says +the apostle. Nothing is small, it has been said, which is great in +its consequences. It does not need a stroke of lightning from +heaven to raze Chicago to the ground: a little lamp-flame near a +pile of hay is sufficient. We forget sometimes the power of a +single humble life to extend and duplicate its influence. We have +never learned yet how far the little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> candle can throw its beams, +when its waves of light and heat come in contact with minds and +hearts that are prepared for the illumination it may give. The wire +and the battery have not entirely superseded the torch-bearer. The +lamps in the house may have been filled, the gas may be ready to +turn on; what is needed is for some one to go about with match or +torch or candle, and tip the burner with its flame.</p> + +<p>So, as we have said, it was the mission of this candle of the Lord +to ignite other minds and hearts. She had discovered that the vast +system of intercommunication established by the post-office might +be used for moral as well as for commercial means. In connection +with a faithful co-worker, she devoted herself to the dissemination +of kindling literature. Set like a luminous panel amid a great wall +of advertisements was a brief notice, in some of the large Western +dailies, that those who wished Liberal religious literature might +have it for the asking, and by sending to the Cincinnati Post +Office Mission. In the columns of this paper, from time to time, we +have shown what a wide-spread influence these little notices had. +They opened avenues of communication to many hungry souls. The +confidence of many in doubt and perplexity was secured. The lady +who was called to this special work had a keen intuition as to what +was needed in each special case. It was not only that she sent the +right tracts and the right books, and thus set up guide-posts for +groping men and women; not less prized by many of her +correspondents was the simple, earnest faith and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> cordial sympathy +which she expressed in her own letters. Many are grateful to her +for pointing out the way and giving the right impulse at the right +time. Prevented by deafness from taking an active part in social +intercourse, she yet found an opportunity to unstop the deaf ears +of others and to open their blind eyes. In this Post Office Mission +work was a channel for her faithful and consecrated endeavors.</p> + +<p>We cannot estimate the radiating influence of such a life. Its +quickening flame has gone from heart to heart, and it is destined +to go still further. Her devoted example has given an impulse to +many other women in the Unitarian body, who are sowing in the same +field the seed for an abundant harvest. It is now seen that this +diffusion of our literature is one of the mightiest means for +propagating our faith. If such a devoted woman, working +independently, could accomplish so much, how much more might be +effected by thorough organizations and wide co-operation for the +same purpose!</p> + +<p>Her best monument will be the prosecution and extension of the work +to which she gave her life. It was but a pair of lines in the +"Deaths" of the last week's "Register" which told that the candle +had gone out, but its flame is still propagated in the lives it has +served to kindle. The great work of her life was done far beyond +the circle of her immediate influence; and there are many who have +never seen her in the flesh, who will still feel that the name of +Sarah Ellis represents an abiding spiritual reality.</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote> +<p class="center">(From Rev. George A. Thayer in "Unity," Jan. 23, 1886.)</p> + +<p class="center">SARAH ELLIS.</p> + +<p>Sarah Ellis, the faithful organizer of the Cincinnati Post Office +Mission, and the pioneer in that admirable form of the ministry of +Unitarian doctrine through the writing of letters and the +circulation of religious literature, "went up higher" from her +sick-bed, on Sunday evening, December 27. There are many, East and +West, to whom her wise guidance in spiritual perplexities has been +as a strong hand lifting them from confusion and doubt concerning +all religion, into tranquil joy, who will read that she is dead, +with the shock which comes with an unforewarned calamity. For +almost up to her last hour she was carrying on her correspondence +with the wide circle of men and women to whom she periodically sent +glad tidings of a reasonable faith, and never giving intimation to +the most regular of these correspondents that she was any less +vigorous of health than usual. For many months her friends had seen +the end approaching, and very likely she herself had understood +that "the task was great, the day short, and it was not incumbent +upon her to complete the work." But her inexorable conscience, +blended with her delight in having found at last, within this +recent five years, a work needing to be done, and calling into use +her store of admirable wisdom for such business, kept her at her +duty until the body ceased to obey the will.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p> + +<p>Only the people who knew Miss Ellis well could understand her rare +fitness for her office, through long and ripe study of Unitarian +religious literature, and through her genius for apprehending at +once what special reading and counsel her various applicants for +light upon their darkened ways of the spirit needed to +receive,—only those to whom she spoke the word in season, or those +nearer home to whom she was a quiet exemplar in holy things, can +appreciate the quality of virtue enclosed in that fragile and +infirm body, which shines on earth only "in minds made better by +its presence," but shines with renewed honor elsewhere in the house +of many mansions.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>It was not my good fortune to know Miss Ellis personally, but her +works have praised her East as well as West. Her death is a great +calamity to the cause, as well as a great sorrow to her friends; +but she has put life and power into a good instrument of influence, +and it will live.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Rev. Grindall Reynolds</span>,<br /> +<i>Secretary American Unitarian Association, Boston, Mass.</i></p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Leicester, Mass</span>, April 10, 1886.</p> + +<p>... Her communications made no mention of her infirmities or +illness; and her death was a great surprise. I had become quite +interested in her manner of doing her work; the perfect +intelligence, good sense, and self-reliance she manifested.——-of +Springfield, Ohio, has written to me in the highest appreciation of +her helpfulness to him.... I enclose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> three of her postal cards, +which, if quite convenient, may come back to me. [On one of these +postal cards Mr. May has indorsed, "Miss Ellis lived but about a +month after this was written. Her death was a great and immediate +loss to the cause of a wise and large Christian faith in the +West."] She was eminently worthy of a special commemoration and +canonization.</p> + +<p class="right">Respectfully yours, <span class="smcap">Samuel J. May</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p>I have thought of you often since the "Christian Register" brought +the news of Miss Ellis's death, and am moved to express my sympathy +for the loss you have met,—a loss which all of us share indeed. I +suppose it was very good to <i>her</i> to be summoned from a state of +feebleness; but it will not be easy, I believe, to fill the vacant +place. Perhaps her own inspiration will rest upon her successor, +and so she will indeed help to carry on the work which she has done +so beautifully.</p> + +<p>I suppose the time will come, some day, when the loss of a good +worker in our Conference will not be felt so seriously as now; but +we are far too few as yet.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Miss Abby W. May</span>,<br /> +<i>President Women's Auxiliary Conference, Boston, Mass.</i></p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p>Though I had had but comparatively little correspondence with Miss +Ellis, that little had made me regard her as a personal friend, and +I felt especially drawn towards her after I learned about her +deafness, for that was my own mother's trial for many years. It is +a comfort to think that all suffering and weakness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> are over for +her; and so we can but rejoice that she has entered upon the +blessed life, although the feeling of loss must be very great. I +have thought often of Mr. Beach's sudden death last summer, during +the last few weeks, and I was glad to tell our friends, at the +meeting the other day, of Miss Ellis's tender, helping sympathy for +his mother and sisters at that time. I think one can hardly help +feeling that perhaps Miss Ellis and the young friend whom she had +led to a bright and happy faith may already have met and rejoiced +together in the heavenly life. Much sympathy has been expressed +here for Miss Ellis's father. I hope that the thought of all that +she has gained is a constant comfort and help to him.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Mrs. J. I. W. Thacher</span>,<br /> +<i>Secretary Women's Auxiliary Conference, Boston, Mass.</i></p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p>The news of Miss Ellis's departure from among us filled us all with +grief and regret; and yet we feel she is so sure to continue her +good work there, that we ought not to <i>regret</i>. What a delightful +awakening for her when, with no feeling of weakness or pain, she +opens her eyes to find herself surrounded by those who have gone +before, whose lives she had gladdened here, and to learn that part +of her mission there is to meet and welcome her host of friends, +personal and parochial, as they follow her over there! How many +people will miss her here! Ten times one is ten. Their number +cannot be estimated.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Miss F. Le Baron</span>,<br /> +<i>Sec. Western Women's Unitarian Conf., Chicago, Ill.</i></p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p>I want to express my great sympathy for you and your Society in the +loss of your friend Miss Ellis.</p> + +<p>Although I knew she had been an invalid for a long time, the news +of her death was a great shock to me. She has been so kind in +helping me to get started in the Post Office Mission, and made me +feel so truly that she stood ready to help always, that I cannot +but feel that I have in her death lost a good friend, which must be +the case with many others all over the country. She has left us all +the memory of a brave example, which ought to fill us with the +desire to carry on the good work by her begun, more faithfully than +ever.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Miss Ellen M. Gould</span>,<br /> +<i>Sec. Post Office Mission Committee, Davenport, Ia.</i></p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p>I have just heard of the death of Miss Ellis. How great a loss it +is to all of us, but how great a <i>gain</i> to all of us that she has +lived, and illustrated the possibilities of a life lived under even +so many limitations as hedged her about! Will you not send me a +sketch of her life and work for the next number of the "Unitarian"?</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Miss Eliza R. Sunderland</span>,<br /> +<i>Assistant Editor "Unitarian," Chicago, Ill.</i></p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p>I had heard from time to time that she was feeble, but her fragile +frame held so strong a spirit, that I hoped she would triumph over +bodily weakness for many years to come. The world can ill spare +such as she. Each time I saw her I was impressed more and more with +the strength of her character and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> clearness and directness of +her mind. Upon meeting a stranger of whom one has heard much there +is almost always a little period of bewilderment before the ideal +and real can be harmonized, even where there is not disappointment; +and at first I was at a loss how to reconcile the strong, +well-balanced mind, with its keen insight,—as revealed in her +letters,—with the delicate, dainty, sweet-looking little woman, +shut out from her kind to so great a degree by her affliction. Yet +when her tiny hand grasped mine so firmly at our first meeting, +there was that in the clasp that reconciled and united my ideal +with the actual; they were only two sides of the same nature. She +was so strong, too, in being so genuine and so full of faith. In +these halting, doubting times, a faith in the eternal verities so +strong and unwavering as hers is like a rock to many a tossed and +uncertain soul. Such people do not know their own power of helping. +I can never refrain from questioning <i>why</i> those who are so needed +in the world must be taken, when the useless and worthless are +left, unless it is that they go that they may leave the <i>spirit</i> of +their service to do a larger work as a heritage to all who will +accept it. Though dead, they speak with many tongues.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Miss Frances L. Roberts</span>,<br /> +<i>Ex-Sec. Western Women's Unitarian Conf., Chicago, Ill.</i></p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p>A Union Meeting of the Women's Auxiliary Conference for Suffolk +County, which includes all the branches of the Conference in the +Unitarian churches<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> of Boston, was held at Arlington Street Church +on Thursday, Jan. 21, 1886.</p> + +<p>At this meeting was officially announced, with the most profound +regret, the death of Miss Ellis, of Cincinnati. A brief account of +her life in connection with the work of the Conference was given by +Mrs. J. I. W. Thacher, Mrs. Kate Gannett Wells, and Miss Abby W. +May, and it was unanimously agreed that there should be entered on +the records of the meeting, and transmitted to the friends of Miss +Ellis, an expression of our fullest appreciation of her beautiful +and self-sacrificing character, our high estimation of the work in +which she had already accomplished so much, and our deep and +earnest sympathy for those who have suffered an irreparable loss. +Our sorrow is not without the hope that the tender memory of a life +so pure and unselfish, and such earnest devotion to all the +principles of our religious faith, may influence for good the lives +of each and all of us, and prove an incentive to every member of +our Conference to further activity in the work we are trying to do.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Emily A. Fifield</span>, <i>Director</i>.<br /> +<i>For the Suffolk County Branches of the Women's Auxiliary +Conference.</i></p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Portland, Me.</span>, Jan. 17, 1886.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mrs. Fayette Smith</span>, Director of Women's Conference:</p> + +<p>At a recent meeting of the Portland branch of the Women's Auxiliary +Conference, an article in the "Christian Register," entitled "A +Candle of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> Lord," was read; and on motion of Mrs. Dr. J. T. +Gilman, the Secretary was requested to express to your Conference +the sympathy of our little band in the death of Miss Sarah Ellis. +While we cannot have the sense of personal loss that you feel in +the extinguishment of that light, we have the highest admiration +for the work she accomplished under such limitations, and trust +that her example will be an incentive to every Unitarian woman to +do something to continue it, till the flame she kindled may become +a glorious light, glowing in every hamlet of our common country.</p> + +<p class="right">Very truly, <span class="smcap">Mary R. McIntire</span>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">To the Women's Conference, Cincinnati, Ohio.</span>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote> +<p class="right">57 <span class="smcap">Hawley St., Syracuse, N.Y.</span>, Feb. 7, 1886.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Mrs. Smith</span>,—As I have had the pleasure of a little +correspondence with dear Miss Ellis, our Society have asked me to +express to you our deep sympathy in your loss. She must have been a +remarkable woman to have accomplished so much when so feeble. Her +warm heart spoke plainly in her letters, and we shall regret more +and more, as time passes, that we shall receive them no more. Let +us believe that her freed spirit is not far off, but is still +interested, and far more able to help in the work she loved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> so +well. Her sphere is only larger. Our branch of the Woman's +Auxiliary Conference resolved to incorporate in its minutes a +resolution of regret at her death, and sympathy with you, and to +preserve the "In Memoriam" you so kindly sent, among its papers. +Please accept our warmest sympathy and expression of interest.</p> + +<p class="right">Yours sincerely, <span class="smcap">Frances J. Myers.</span><br /> +<i>For the Syracuse Branch of the Women's Auxiliary Conference.</i></p></blockquote> + + +<p>The Post Office Mission Committee at Davenport, Iowa, at their meeting +Feb. 10, also took formal action upon the death of Miss Ellis, and sent +expressions of "heartfelt regrets and sympathy" to the Cincinnati +Society.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Chicago</span>, March 29, 1886.</p> + +<p>A part of Thursday afternoon, May 13, will be given to the Women's +Conference, and occupied with election of officers and report of +Post Office Mission work. It seems very appropriate that something +should be said at that time in memory of Miss Ellis; and Miss Le +Baron and I request that you prepare the paper or remarks and +present them.... We leave the form of the memorial entirely to your +judgment.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Mrs. E. A. West</span>,<br /> +<i>Pres. Western Women's Unitarian Conf., Chicago, Ill.</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p> +</blockquote> + +<p>In accordance with this request, Mrs. George Thornton, of +Cincinnati, read the following memorial before the Western Women's +Unitarian Conference, May 13, 1886:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>Such an occasion as this, full of words of good counsel and +cheer,—a reunion of the little band of women workers in the cause +of Liberal Christianity,—will be incomplete if we do not mention +one name, held in loving remembrance in the hearts of many here +present, and of a still greater number scattered far and wide, +whose lives have been touched to higher issues by the active +ministrations of our beloved co-worker, Miss Sallie Ellis, who has +laid down her work on earth and passed on to the great Hereafter.</p> + +<p>When we recall the fragile form, so full of the Spirit's life, +which, rising above the many disabilities of physical suffering, +accomplished so much in the brief years allotted her, we take +courage, and thank God that we have had such spirits with us. +Nothing doubting that their work continues here and elsewhere, +though we know neither the manner nor conditions of its progress.</p> + +<p>We who are cheered in moments of sorrow by the great faith that the +future of those who have passed behind "the veil which hath no +outward swing" will be but a continuance of the <i>best</i>, under +nobler conditions, rejoice, even in the midst of personal +bereavement, that Miss Ellis has entered into that rest, so nobly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +won by her patient endurance of the heavy burdens laid upon +her,—burdens which yet never seemed to close her sympathy for +others, but only served to quicken her eagerness to work for the +extension of that vital faith she found so satisfying.</p> + +<p>It is to her warm heart, and earnest desire to help others in the +midst of spiritual difficulties, that we owe the unique but most +efficacious method of reaching such through the medium of postal +communication.</p> + +<p>Scientists tell us that each wavelet of sound, produced by the +tiniest cause, goes on in ever-widening circles of ether, to the +uttermost limits of creation. Had we but senses acute enough to +receive the sensation, how full of pulsing sound would all Nature +become! It seems to me that this keener sense, enabling her to +catch the questionings of troubled souls, became one of the great +compensations of Miss Ellis's later years. As the outer organs of +hearing became dulled to what was passing around her, the inner or +spiritual became more observant; and as we listened to the +correspondence which came to her from North and South, East and +West, from the home and the camp, from the teacher and the taught, +we seemed to stand in some great whispering-gallery, echoing with +the sighs and anxious inquiries of seekers after truth who sought +aid in solving the great problems of the soul's life. As from time +to time came back acknowledgments of gratitude for aid rendered, +either by her sympathizing letters or the Liberal literature<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> which +she widely disseminated, we realized what a great lever had been +applied in this simple way to the spiritual needs of many.</p> + +<p>It is in this phase of Miss Ellis's work that she has become better +known to the members of the Women's Auxiliary Conference; and it is +of this especially I have spoken to-day.</p> + +<p>But the roots of this activity lie deeper, and this work was but +the fruitage of a life which drew its strength to suffer and +endure, as well as to labor and to wait, from those fountains of a +rational faith for whose extension we have met here this week.</p> + +<p>To her it was the manna of life, and it was fitting that her last +years should have been spent in unselfish endeavor to extend its +influence.</p> + +<p>Knowing how heartily she would have entered into the spirit of our +meetings during this Conference, we cannot leave unsaid the word of +tender remembrance which links her memory indissolubly with the +work of our Women's Auxiliary Conference. The little band who are +engaged in spreading the light of a higher faith, in lifting the +load of crude ideas in regard to our relations to God and humanity, +may surely feel that though our friend "has joined the choir +invisible," yet her work "lives on in lives made better by her +presence," still keeping alive the union with us who remain +behind,—a help and incentive to continued progress.</p> + +<p>No better key-note of Miss Ellis's life can be given than in the +words of a poem copied by her into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> her diary, January, 1881. It +was taken from the "Woman's Journal," and was entitled:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i3">ACHIEVEMENT.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Nothing noble, nothing great<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The world has ever known,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But began a seed of thought<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In some generous nature sown.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Any soul may rise to be<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A new saviour to its race;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Every man and woman fills,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Well or ill, a prophet's place.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In our Now the Then lies folded,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">All its wealth, and all its power;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From the promise of to-day<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Bursts to-morrow's perfect flower.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Every deed of solid worth<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Helps the world to find its place;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Every life of homely truth<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Raises higher all the race.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Ye are gods," the Scriptures saith;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"Yea," our spirits make reply;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let us claim our birthright, then,—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Prove our high divinity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We too may be, if we will,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Athlete winners every one,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Conquerors of fate and chance,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Lords of all beneath the sun.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Let us thitherward aspire,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Take whate'er we find to do,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Making life what life was meant—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Something liberal, earnest, true!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +</blockquote> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The death of two brothers, of a dear little niece, and of a +fondly loved sister,—a woman beloved by all who knew her, who died only +about a year before Miss Ellis, leaving five motherless girls—were +among the trials of her maturer years.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> The kindness of Mr. Frank R. Ellis, of Cincinnati, Miss +Ellis's youngest brother, enables us to place the portrait in this +book.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Besides this, much reading matter was sent to the City +Workhouse, to the Old Men and Women's Home, and other institutions.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> The advertisement read thus: "Unitarian papers, +tracts, etc., sent free to any one addressing Miss Sallie Ellis, +Auburn Ave."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> A. A. Procter.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Faber.</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center">University Press: John Wilson & Son, Cambridge.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Miss Ellis's Mission, by Mary P. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/38818-h/images/frontis.jpg b/38818-h/images/frontis.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8825720 --- /dev/null +++ b/38818-h/images/frontis.jpg diff --git a/38818.txt b/38818.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..07c2e42 --- /dev/null +++ b/38818.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5585 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Miss Ellis's Mission, by Mary P. Wells Smith + +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: Miss Ellis's Mission + +Author: Mary P. Wells Smith + +Release Date: February 10, 2012 [EBook #38818] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS ELLIS'S MISSION *** + + + + +Produced by Roberta Staehlin, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +MISS ELLIS'S MISSION. + +BY MARY P. W. SMITH. + +BOSTON: + +AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION. + +1886. + + _Copyright, 1886_, + BY AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION. + + University Press: + JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE. + + + TO + POST-OFFICE MISSION WORKERS, + WEST AND EAST, + AND TO EARNEST PEOPLE + EVERYWHERE. + + + + + "_It was a very contemptible barley-loaf she had to offer, compared + with your fine, white, wheaten cake of youth and riches and strength + and learning; but remember she offered her best freely, willingly, + faithfully; and when once a thing is offered, it is no longer the + little barley-loaf in the lad's hand, but the miraculous satisfying + Bread of Heaven in the hand of the Lord of the Harvest, more than + sufficient for the hungry multitude._" + + * * * * * + + "_'And so there is an end of poor Miss Toosey and her Mission!'... + Wait a bit! There is no waste in nature, science teaches us; neither + is there any in grace, says faith. We cannot always see the results, + but they are there as surely in grace as in nature._" + + MISS TOOSEY'S MISSION. + + + + +MISS ELLIS'S MISSION. + + +This little sketch of Miss Ellis's life and work owes its first +suggestion to Rev. J. Ll. Jones, of Chicago, who soon after her death +wrote: "Why not try for a little memorial of her, to be accompanied with +some of the most touching and searching extracts from the letters both +received and written by her, and make it into a little booklet for the +instruction of Post Office Mission Workers?... Can you not make it +something as touching as 'Miss Toosey,' and far more practical,--that +is, for our own little household of faith?... We do not want it +primarily as a missionary tool, but as a wee fragment of the spiritual +history of the world,--something that will lift and touch the soul of +everybody.... In short, give us an enlightened Miss Toosey; her mission +being as much stronger as Sallie Ellis was more rational and mature than +the original 'Miss Toosey'!" + +No one knowing Miss Ellis could read the touching little story of "Miss +Toosey's Mission" without being struck by a resemblance in the +characters, though a resemblance with a marked difference. As one said, +"I never saw her going up the church aisle Sundays, with her audiphone, +her little satchel, her bundle of books and papers, and her hymn-book, +without thinking of Miss Toosey." In both lives a seemingly powerless +and insignificant personality, through the force of a great yearning to +do a bit of God's work in the world, achieved its longing far beyond its +fondest dreams. As I read the many letters from all over the country +that have come since Miss Ellis's death, as I realize how the spiritual +force that burned in the soul of this small, feeble, seemingly helpless +woman reached out afar and touched many lives for their enduring +ennoblement, her life, so meagre and cramped in its outward aspect, so +vivid and intense within and on paper, seems to me not without a touch +of romance. To perpetuate a little longer the influence of that life is +the object of this sketch. + + * * * * * + +SALLIE ELLIS was born in Cincinnati, March 13, 1835. The old-fashioned +name Sallie, at that time popular in the South and West, was given her +in honor of an aunt. She disliked sailing under the false colors of +"Sarah." In letters she usually signed herself "S. Ellis," because, as +she explained to one correspondent, "I do not know myself as _Sarah_, +and Sallie is not dignified enough in writing to strangers; so I usually +prefer plain S." Late in life, however, for reasons of dignity, she +sometimes felt forced to adopt Sarah as what she called her "official +signature." + +Her father, Mr. Rowland Ellis, was born in Boston, but while yet young +removed to Cincinnati, where he still lives in a vigorous and honored +old age. Although his mother, in all her later years at least, was a +devoted attendant upon Theodore Parker's services, Mr. Ellis in early +life was a Baptist. But when the Unitarian Church was founded at +Cincinnati, in 1830, his name appears among the organizers, of whom he +is almost the sole survivor. Of that church he has always been a devoted +supporter and constant attendant. He was a leading banker of the West, +and Sallie was born into one of the most elegant and luxurious homes in +Cincinnati. The Ellises kept open house, exercised the most generous +hospitality, and made, as one says who knew them well then, "such a +beautiful use of their money. The Ellises were just the people who +_ought_ to have money." Mrs. Ellis is described as a woman of unusual +loveliness of character. Out of the eight children, Sallie was thought +to be the mother's favorite, because, it was supposed, she was always +puny, shy, and delicate. "Sallie shall always have what she wants," said +the mother, "because she wants so little." But mothers _know_, and +undoubtedly the mother saw deeper than others into the rare spiritual +quality concealed from the world under her delicate child's quiet, +reserved exterior. Her older sister remembers of Sallie's childhood: "As +a very young child she exhibited strongly marked peculiarities of +character. Her affection, conscientiousness, piety, and love of duty +made her different from the rest of us as children. I remember well that +at home or at school there were never any rebukes for Sallie. Though +very social by nature, as young as at five and six years of age she +loved to be alone, and would sit in the corner of her mother's room, +with face turned to the corner, musing, and talking in a low tone to her +doll. When our father and mother would take the children to +entertainments of various descriptions, such as children enjoy, Sallie +would invariably express her preference to remain at home. If she +thought her parents wanted her to go, she went." + +For some years Sallie attended the private school of Mrs. Anne Ryland, +an English Unitarian (a former parishioner, I think, of Rev. Laut +Carpenter, and connected by marriage with Rev. Brooke Herford), a lady +of noble character, and a teacher whose culture and methods were in +advance of her age. In a volume of poetry presented Sallie by this +teacher, is this inscription, whose old-fashioned quaintness of phrase +pictures for us the Sallie Ellis of thirteen, then, as always, faithful +to duty. + + "Mrs. Ryland has been much gratified by the general deportment of + Miss Sallie Ellis since she has been under her charge. Miss Ellis + has evinced an evident desire to please, by a strict observance of + the rules of the school, and by assiduous and persevering attention + to all her studies. She has made improvement in them all fully + commensurate with her laudable endeavors, in Grammar, Geography, + and Orthography particularly. It is with unfeigned regret that Mrs. + Ryland has to add, to the foregoing expression of her approval of + her dear pupil's conduct, the last word,--Farewell." + +Later, she attended the private school of Rev. William Silsbee, who says +of her, "She was always studious and well-behaved, one of the most +faithful of all my pupils." Mr. M. Hazen White, for so many years +superintendent of the Unitarian Sunday school, was also one of her +teachers. When seventeen, she was sent to Mrs. Charles Sedgwick's +school, in Lenox, Mass. A schoolmate describes her then as a quite +pretty, black-eyed girl, of delicate physique, a good and studious but +not brilliant scholar, very quiet and retiring, and almost morbidly +reserved. The few friends she made here, however, were life-long, and +she corresponded with some of the Lenox schoolmates until her death. +"She was a perfect dancer," says the schoolmate. + +Treasured among Miss Ellis's papers were found some pages of a +schoolgirl's album, marked, "At Mrs. Sedgwick's School, Lenox, Mass., +March, 1852." It contains verses descriptive of each pupil, written +apparently by Mrs. Sedgwick. The little pen-picture of the schoolgirl +paints well the woman of later years. + + + SALLIE ELLIS. + + If device for an old Latin motto were asked, + No invention would need to be very much tasked; + For the "multum in parvo" _you_ safely might stand, + With book, needle, or pen, ever found in your hand. + A little, wee body with strong, earnest will, + That steadily works with the force of a mill; + A mind quite untiring, whatever it do, + Its manifold ends with good heed to pursue: + Hands busy and strong play deftly their part, + And these all controlled by a good, honest heart. + +Bright indeed looked Sallie's future in those days. A year or two more +at school, then a return to the loved mother and the beautiful home, and +a "coming out" into the brilliant world with all the advantages +attending wealth and position. But the clouds were already gathering +which in coming years were to darken for her in quick succession the +sunshine of earthly prosperity. She was called home from school by the +illness of her mother. The mother died, leaving Sallie the oldest +daughter at home, to fill her place as best she might to five little +brothers and sisters. + +Her sister says: "Our dear mother's death was the turning-point in +Sallie's life. She was so shrinking, sensitive, and tender by nature, no +one could fully understand her but a mother who had watched the hidden +beauties of her character expand from infancy to girlhood." + +The mother's memory was fondly cherished, her loss deeply mourned, all +Miss Ellis's life. Over the dying bed of the worn and weary woman of +fifty smiled down the radiant face of the mother, painted when a young, +blooming girl. Among Miss Ellis's papers was found a manuscript volume +of eighty-one pages of selections, copied in her clear, firm +handwriting, index of the spirit's strength. It is headed, "Crumbs of +Comfort for the Afflicted." The selections are from the Bible, sermons, +hymns, and poems,--all breathing of religious trust and help in +grief,--a beautiful and touching collection. The first page reads,-- + + "Begun in Nov. 1870. + + "These selections are made in memory of my dear mother, who was + called away many years since, and through whose death I was led to + think of a higher life,--the _true_ life of the soul. + + "'Oh, I believe there is no _away_; that no love, no life, goes + ever from us; it goes as He went, that it may come again, deeper + and closer and surer, and be with us always, even unto the end of + the world' (_Patience Strong's Outings_)." + +One of the selections is an anonymous poem, "The Strength of the +Lonely." On one page Miss Ellis had written (signed "S. E."), "I can but +believe that God allows a mother still to watch over and care for her +family when he takes her from this world, and in our affliction that he +draws us to himself, and to Jesus as our guide to him, through her +spiritual influence, just as, while upon earth, he permitted her to be +his instrument to lead and guide us in all that is good. All children +too, even the youngest, are God's instruments for good, and their +ministries cease not with their earthly life. The departed are with us +everywhere, through our daily duties,-- + + "In the loneliest hour, in the crowd, they are nigh us." + +A year or two after the mother's death Sallie joined the Unitarian +Church, being baptized by Rev. A. A. Livermore, of whom she writes in a +letter: "Rev. A. A. Livermore was settled here from the time I was +fourteen to twenty-one, and he formed my religious character." Fitting +indeed was it that he who has trained so many young men for the ministry +should dedicate to God's service this young woman, also destined to be +his minister to many souls. An old lady in the church remembers seeing +Sallie go up to be baptized, leading a little brother by each hand, all +the little children being baptized at the same time. To one of her +nature, the vows then taken were a most sacred, real consecration of her +whole self to God,--vows to be nobly fulfilled in the life. + +Mr. Livermore writes of her:-- + + "During my pastorate of the Unitarian Church in Cincinnati, Mr. and + Mrs. Rowland Ellis were valued parishioners of mine, and their + children were all baptized by me. It was a lovely group of little + folks, and the spirit of that consecration has gone largely through + all their lives, and given them, I believe, the Christian flavor. + They have, too, been very warmly united as a family, and in health + and sickness, in life and death, they have borne strong testimony + to the blessed anchorage of a positive religious faith. + + "They were also diligent attendants on the Sunday school in the + basement of the old church. Sallie's bright face and upright + attitude was to be seen in her place as sure as the Sunday came. + + "After I left Cincinnati I saw her but seldom, but on those + occasions she always spoke of the earlier times in the church and + the Sunday school with a warmth and glow of memory that showed that + they had been real points of life to her mind and character. And + especially after her deafness became a chastening hand laid upon + her character, and family sorrows and bereavements followed in the + train, it was plain that she found her religious trust the one + thing needful." + +Within another year business reverses swept away Mr. Ellis's entire +fortune. As he had meantime married a lady who proved a most capable and +devoted mother to the younger children, Sallie, released from domestic +cares, felt that she ought to do something to assist her father. "She +was so modest," says a friend, "I don't think it ever occurred to her +that she could teach school. But she said there was one thing she knew +she could do, and do well, and that was, to dance." So Miss Sallie +became a dancing-teacher, having classes of children in their mothers' +parlors. + +Another friend (whose boys, now stalwart men in the church, were among +Miss Ellis's pupils) says of her: "She was a lovely dancing-teacher. She +not only taught the children to dance well, but she taught them such +gentle, lovely manners. Indeed, the significant thing in Miss Ellis's +life, to me, was her faithfulness. Whatever her hand found to do, she +did, and did well. Because she had been so faithful at dancing-school, +she was able to be so successful a teacher. Because, when taught sewing, +she tried so hard to do her best, she became such a beautiful sewer, and +was able to teach sewing;" for a sewing-class was another expedient of +those days. + +Her father moved to Chicago in 1851, where he resided three years. There +Miss Ellis attended Mr. Shippen's church, taught a Sunday-school class, +and had a class of newsboys evenings. After the return to Cincinnati, +while Miss Ellis was at the sea-shore, she began to experience a painful +roaring in the ears. Hearing, never quite perfect, was soon almost +totally gone. The following years are little, to outward sight, but a +record of invalidism, of trying this or that doctor, but still ever +decreasing health and strength. Many dyspeptics, from Carlyle to lesser +folk, have felt their disease, like charity, a cover for a multitude of +sins. Miss Ellis suffered from chronic dyspepsia of aggravated type, +from catarrhal and other troubles which finally wore away the always +frail thread of life in consumptive decline.[1] + +[Footnote 1: The death of two brothers, of a dear little niece, and of a +fondly loved sister,--a woman beloved by all who knew her, who died only +about a year before Miss Ellis, leaving five motherless girls--were +among the trials of her maturer years.] + +But through all these hard years Miss Ellis was doing what she could, +and longing to do more. Until deafness prevented, she always taught in +Sunday school. She was a devoted attendant on all church services, and +worker in all church causes. The perfection of her handiwork made it in +great demand. Knowing now Miss Ellis's possibilities, one almost grudges +the Unitarian children, and the innumerable but beloved little nephews +and nieces, the years of "Aunt Sallie's" life that went into dainty +embroidery and perfect mittens for their wearing. The church fairs were +always liberally aided by her willing hands. Indeed, it is difficult, +without seeming exaggeration, to express her passion of devotion to her +church. It was literally her life. Outside her family, to which she was +warmly attached, everything centred for her there, and for many years +one of her heaviest crosses was her inability to render the service she +desired to her church and denomination. + +The portrait prefacing this book was taken in 1871, when Miss Ellis was +thirty-six years old,--perhaps the saddest period in her life. Youth, +health, fortune, hearing, dear friends, had gone one after another. The +future looked dark indeed. She felt within herself capacities for which +there seemed no earthly opportunity. The face wears a sadder expression +than that characterizing it in later life, when at last she had found +her real work.[2] + +[Footnote 2: The kindness of Mr. Frank R. Ellis, of Cincinnati, Miss +Ellis's youngest brother, enables us to place the portrait in this +book.] + +Rev. Charles Noyes was settled as Unitarian pastor in Cincinnati in +1872. To him Miss Ellis always attributed her first missionary impulse. + +In a letter to Rev. W. C. Gannett, July 28, 1885, she said:-- + + "Yes, it is a _great_ source of comfort to have started the 'good + seed,' and now to see so many stronger people taking up the work + and doing so much better than I. A great deal is due to dear Mr. + Charles Noyes. He won me by his kind heart while here, and was so + kind in lending me his manuscripts always, and books, that he kept + me along with the religion of the day. Then Mr. Weudte furthered + the matter by putting me on the Missionary Committee, and finally + started me out with the 'Pamphlet Mission.' You know the rest." + +In her diary was a copy of a letter written Mr. Noyes on his departure +from Cincinnati, dated June 23, 1875, a portion of which is here given. + + "I cannot say 'so be it' to your departure without returning thanks + for the many pleasant hours you have afforded me through your + manuscripts, the books and papers you have so kindly lent me from + time to time. You have given me something to think about for a long + time, so I can do without any sermons for a while. I do not expect + to find so kind a pastor very soon. + + "From your first text, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Take + heed, therefore, how ye hear,' I accepted you as a teacher learning + more from God than from man. I have followed you from beginning to + the end, and I have worked _with_ you and _for_ you to the best of + my ability, my strength, and my means. Would I had been a more + efficient worker! I have taken heed as to how I have heard. You + have not changed my views so much as brought out more clearly what + was already in my own mind. The best lesson I have learned from you + is a firmer trust in God. You have brought me to the 'Source of all + Truth, whence Jesus drew his life.' Here you leave me. An essential + point to have reached, in my view; a firm rock on which to rest, + and one that can never be taken from me. Some people are not + satisfied with a faith so simple. They need more to rest on; as if + there could be a stronger, better support than the 'voice in the + soul.' From loss of hearing, the 'voice within' has spoken more + clearly to me perhaps.... It is a very great disappointment to me + to part with you and your family, for I have become very much + attached to you all; for even little G---- has learned to look upon + me as a friend. It is not every one who wins me; and when one does, + it is all the harder to separate from him. Still, we are often + compelled to give up our preferences, as I have learned before + now.... The benediction I ask is the one you have so often asked + for us (Mary----ears to me, and a reliable authority): 'May the + Heavenly Father bless, preserve, and guide you all. May he give you + wisdom to know and strength to do his holy will forevermore.'" + +Mr. Noyes, being asked for his recollections of Miss Ellis, writes:-- + + "Sallie had a very true, deep, strong religious nature, and a + leaning to religious, not to say theological, studies. Alone in + Cincinnati when I first went there, I was often a guest at Mr. + Ellis's Sunday table. Sallie borrowed my sermons. She liked to talk + over the subject of the sermon, and this led to my recommending to + her many books for her reading, and loaning to her what I had in my + library. She became familiar with the writings of most of our + Unitarian writers,--with Channing, Clarke, Hedge, Dewey, Norton, + Furness, and many others. She was no careless reader, but a student + of the writer's thought.... She had great breadth of mental + outlook, and a great heart of charity and love for all. She admired + the diversity of opinion in our body, and had faith in the unity of + the Spirit that would fuse us into one.... If Sallie ever expressed + wonder and surprise, it was that Unitarianism did not grow as fast + as it ought, and that those who accepted its teachings did not + identify themselves with it. We had our Mission School of about + three hundred pupils, and our Sewing School.... The time had not + come for the Pamphlet Mission or the Post Office; yet Miss Ellis + was making the best preparation possible for her after-work, and in + due time the door of best usefulness stood wide open. You know, as + we all know, how well she filled her office.... Her letters were + sermons,--tracts in themselves, best adapted to her correspondents, + and, I am persuaded, did a grand work of their own. She heard with + difficulty, she was not an easy talker, but she wrote with great + clearness.... More than the books she sent out, she was to many a + one the blessed missionary of our faith.... In her early studies + the miracle question was a stumbling-block to Sallie. The old-time + interpretation of miracle she could not accept; neither could she + take up with the mythical theory of Strauss. Miracle must be in + harmony with law. Jesus must be to her the natural flower of + _human_ nature, the perfect blossom of _human_ development. Nature + and the supernatural must be in harmony. Hence the delight she took + in Dr. Furness's works. His works helped her, as they have so many + others, out of her difficulties about the supernatural. And more + than that, they fed her religious life, pure and simple, and let + her into the heart of Christ. She often alluded to her debt to Dr. + Furness, whom she admired and loved." + +Miss Ellis little expected or would have desired to figure as a +Unitarian saint. Her estimate of herself was lowly. Whatever her faults +and limitations, however, they were only those natural to a strong +nature driven in upon itself, beating in vain against the stern walls +that everywhere surrounded it. Bravely did she strive to resist what she +clearly perceived to be the natural tendencies of her peculiar troubles, +and bravely did she succeed. The prayers, the tears, the struggles of +those lonely, baffled years are known only to God, and are only hinted +at here and there in the diary kept during a large part of her life. An +unique diary it is, showing, as nothing else could, the passion of +religious devotion which burned in her soul. Each day's record, no +matter how brief, ends with passages of Scripture, or sometimes a hymn, +appropriate to the day's mood or experience. In reading it, one realizes +afresh the richness of the Bible in comfort and strength. The diary +furnishes a complete history of the Unitarian Church of Cincinnati for +many years. All the individual joys and sorrows of its members, their +birthdays and their death-days, are here recorded with loving sympathy. +Also, a complete record of every Sunday's service for many years is +given, with always a full abstract of the sermon, sometimes filling +several pages of fine, close writing. Occasionally it happened that the +minister failed to hand Miss Sallie his sermon after delivery,--a +grievous disappointment, almost too great to bear, as the diary +testifies. Each year the personal matter grows less, the religious +meditations and quotations consume more and more space, until of the +journal in the last years her sister writes: "It seems to have been kept +mainly to give vent to her pure, spiritual nature, which was ever +longing for some expression of itself." A very few extracts are here +given from the diary,--a glimpse only of the struggles and longings that +unconsciously to herself were all fitting her for her work. + + + + +DIARY. + + + 1873. I have been too indolent for a few years. Now I must be up + and doing, with a heart for anything, and remember that these + clouds that overshadow us all are meant to make us look beyond for + the sunshine. "No cross, no crown." I have a project in my head + that I wish very much to carry out. I am tired of my selfish life; + and all that reconciles me to it is, that I accept it as a + necessary discipline for my restless spirit, to teach me + submission, and help me to say, "Thy will, not mine, be done." My + idea of a _true_ Christian is to be working for others always, and + not thinking of self. My desire is, to start a sewing-class from + the Mission School, to be kept up during the summer, if I can only + get the means of carrying out my plan, and find some one who is + willing to take charge of it in case I am not able to be there. I + would _gladly_ make the sacrifice of personal comfort. + +The sewing-class was started, and Miss Ellis became one of its most +devoted teachers, though working often in great feebleness and pain. + + Feel bluer, but I believe my deafness is bringing me truer faith, + and resignation.... Another very warm day, but I have managed to + get through the day cheerfully, thinking of heavenly things.... I + cannot understand what makes me so ugly sometimes. I pray that my + evil spirit may be subdued some day.... Do not know of anything I + have done to benefit others to-day, only I have been cheerful.... I + have felt pretty well, and this day went rightly with me, though I + do not know as I have advanced the cause of life very much.... How + I do long to live a perfectly unselfish life, and to be a blessing + to those around me, as my life was intended for!... Am reading "Old + Kensington," by Miss Thackeray,--a real love-story; and it makes me + sad, as usual.... Still in the house, and feel poorly. Feel a + little dull this evening, and on thinking over my life, think that + I have had more than most people of my age to endure, and wonder + that I keep up my spirits as well as I have; and it is only that I + feel that all is the necessary discipline for me. "Let us but be + genuine, honest, and true in everything, even in the smallest + thing, and we have in that the sign and the pledge of entire + consecration of heart and life to God" (J. F. Clarke). "Be faithful + unto death, and I will give you a crown of life" (Rev. ii. 10).... + Gave up to a _terrible_ fit of the "blues" this afternoon and + evening. Am _so_ tired of suffering all the time, that I gave way + under my cross to-day. It seems as if I can't struggle to live + longer. + + _Sunday._ A bright day; I was not able to go out, but felt that it + was good to remain at home to think over my blessings.... Attended + Bible-class this evening. I came home in rather a despondent mood. + I find my cross hard to bear, but must pray for more strength. + + 1874. Sent my old Bible to be bound to-day, which I have used + twenty-three years.... I have felt extremely favored to-day, in + that I was able to attend the Sewing School, which I feared all the + week I might be disappointed in. We closed the school to-day, after + twenty-four weeks' work. It has been time well spent, and I feel + particularly thankful to my heavenly Father in having heard my + prayer for health, strength, and good weather. One strong desire of + my life has been vouchsafed me, and I feel overpowered with joy + to-night.... I have felt to-day how much I need the assistance of + Christ, and may his religion help me to be victorious in the end. + +Quoting an extract from Miss Sedgwick's diary on the unmarried life, +which ends, "Though not _first_ to any, I am, like Themistocles, +_second_ to a great many: my sisters are all kind and affectionate to +me, my brothers generous and invariably kind; their children all love +me," Miss Ellis adds: "These _very words_ I can repeat as my +experience.... If I can only add a few _drops_ of happiness to his life +[a brother's], I shall be too happy." + + 1875. Mr. Noyes called Monday to bring me his sermon, and it made + me very resigned. The text was from 2 Cor. xii. 10,--"When I am + weak, then am I strong." + +Paul's "thorn in the flesh" was the topic of the discourse, and several +pages of extracts are copied in the journal. + + It is one of the trials of my life not to assist in the church as I + desire to. I presume it must be because I neglect other duties, and + see but one thing before me, and that is, to give up the _idol_ of + my life, and do the duty that is nearest to me; but it is a sore + trial to me.... This has been an eventful week to me, for last + Sunday Mr. Noyes closed his ministry with us.... Now they have + really gone, it makes me feel rather despondent, though I know they + have left many blessings to me behind them. + + I am beginning some fancy work, in hopes of brightening my life + somewhat. I am not reconciled to the hardships of life.... Am + anxious to learn wood-carving.... I try to have the faith _of_ + Jesus more than that about him. + + ... Went to see about trumpets yesterday, and came home greatly + disheartened, and shall have to submit with a good grace to the + cross.... Mr. Wendte lectures on the New Testament this evening. I + should be glad to hear him, but believe all is best as it is. + + 1877. We had a beautiful sermon to-day, which I took especially to + myself, on "The Lonely Hours of Life." ... Am feeling better + to-day, and the sermon (on "Be Strong, and of a Good Courage") + roused my better nature, ready to go on courageously.... Lecture + this evening on "Funeral Customs." I did not attend, for the sermon + to-day (on "Prayer") so exalted me that I didn't feel like + listening to things of the world.... Wakened feeling disconsolate + this morning, but resolved to bear the cross of life as trustfully + and cheerfully as possible, and lay up treasures during the summer + ready to "give out" when all return in the winter. Impressed two + little pieces on my mind,--one by Spitta, in "Day unto Day,"-- + + "Glad with thy light and glowing with thy love, + So let me ever think and speak and move." + + The other by Whittier,-- + + "Lord, help me strive 'gainst each besetting sin." + + Went to Madame Wendte's. Brought home, "Ten Great Religions," + "Reason in Religion," and "Evolution in Religion." + +Thus did Miss Ellis fortify herself for the summer vacation of the +church. Emerson's "Society and Solitude" was another book read this +vacation. + + Have not lived up to my ideal the past week, and particularly + to-day. However, may the good Father pardon my shortcomings and aid + me to do better.... I feel that I have added something to my life + for the benefit of others by the rest and reading of this summer. I + hope to study up German a little, among my busy hours this winter. + I can retain so little in my head, it is discouraging to read. I + must work the harder, and believe "all is for the best," and pray, + in faith, for patience.... Mr. Wendte's first sermon--subject, + "After Vacation"--made me feel somewhat depressed, for I feel so + anxious to do for _every one_, and have not the means or strength. + [She resolves to] do my little part and not discourage [the + minister],--do my part more by showing an interest than by the + amount of work I do.... I am miserable, dyspeptic, and + disappointed.... I have felt heartily discouraged this week in + every way, but the church did me good this morning. + +Mr. Noyes was succeeded as pastor at Cincinnati by Rev. Charles W. +Wendte in the fall of 1875. The idea of preaching, of carrying to others +the blessed Unitarian faith which had been her joy and strength, now +filled Miss Ellis's soul. She discussed various schemes to this end with +friends who respected her and her earnestness too much to laugh at the +(in worldly eyes) utter absurdity of her hopes, as futile as Miss +Toosey's desire to go as a missionary to Nawaub. Could she not go out +into Ohio villages and hold lay services, reading the printed prayers +and sermons of our Unitarian ministers? Great must have been the +yearning for the ministry consuming her soul, to tempt the reserved, +feeble little woman, with her deafness and dyspepsia, her incessant +cough, her love of her own room and things, her exactness and exquisite +nicety of habit, seriously to contemplate such a career. Yet, but for +absolute physical incapacity, and the dissuasions (on that account) of +her family, she would certainly have made the experiment. Or might she +not open a reading-room in the church, to be kept open all the week, +where the treasures of Unitarian literature could be dispensed? Even in +her last years she seriously meditated going to the church every Sunday +morning during the vacation to open her library and meet those who might +want books, papers, or advice. The summer vacation was always a grief to +her. She wished the church might be open every day. + +Nov. 9, 1876, a rough draft of the following letter to Mr. Wendte +appears in her diary:-- + + "I cannot resist returning special thanks for your sermon of last + Sunday, 'To what end is your life?' I do not know when a sermon has + so fully aroused the will of my youth.... At twenty years of age, + 'the object of my toil' was to live for the earthly comfort of the + family, for the good of society in general, so far as in my power, + at the same time keeping an eye to the higher interests of life by + working in and for the church.... 'The goal of my ambition' in + middle life is to labor for the spiritual welfare of those about + me; but I find myself without means to assist others.... My + preference is decidedly to labor for the higher natures of others + as well as for myself; therefore, remembering your kind offer in + your letter to me during the summer, I ask, can you suggest + anything for me to engage in, in the spreading of Christianity? + [She wishes] to devote the remainder of my life to the highest and + best I know. If you can put me in the way of assisting others as + well as myself in the highest and holiest way, I shall be ever + indebted to you. I shall be glad to so live that when I lay down my + life I shall in some measure have returned the many kindnesses of + parents, sisters, brothers, and friends, repaid the efforts of + teachers and pastors in my behalf, and proved myself a worthy child + to Him who gave me being." + +At the end, however, she writes: "Didn't send it. Concluded it was +better to talk with him." + +The same ideas in another form appear again in the diary as a letter to +Mr. Wendte. One of the burdens on Mr. Wendte's heart in those days was +"to find something for Miss Ellis to do." Partly to this end he devised +Sunday-school lessons in manuscript, which Miss Ellis copied each week +for all the teachers. In 1877 he appointed a Missionary Society with a +formidable list of names, the significant one among whom events proved +to be Miss Sallie Ellis, Treasurer,--she being, indeed, the "society." +The little programme says:-- + + "The object of the Missionary Society is to spread the knowledge + and increase the influence of Liberal religious ideas throughout + the city and State by publications, correspondence, and such other + means as may seem to it suitable and best." + +During the winter of 1877-78 Miss Ellis, aided by Mr. Wendte, +distributed 1,846 tracts and 211 "Pamphlet Missions" (as baby "Unity" +was called) in twenty-six States. Miss Ellis was always scrupulously +systematic, methodical, and exact in all she did, and a huge pile of +closely written blank books gives every minutia connected with the +business details of her work. In her diary was a copy of this letter to +Mr. Wendte, dated Feb. 21, 1878:-- + + "Why not have a 'Mission Sunday' sometime soon? Do not announce it + previously, however; for some might feel inclined to remain at + home; but catch as many together as possible, and make them listen + to a rousing address from you,--a report of what you have done and + the letters you have received. It might not be as social or + interesting as a concert or something else; but it would not hurt + the people to listen to it, and would make the missionary work more + a reality to them, and I believe in the end an appeal from you + would bring in more money than anything else. + + "I have one request to make of you, however; and that is, that you + do not bring my name out in the pulpit, unless you have occasion to + mention the names of the Missionary Society. It is merely necessary + to mention you have been assisted by one of the 'Missionary + Committee,' not saying 'Treasurer,' man or woman. I have no + objection if any one asks you privately who has done the work, to + have you tell them. I love to do good work, but wish no other + praise than to know that the recipient of the act has been + benefited thereby. I act from the mere pleasure of doing good to + others and believing it to be right, therefore deserve no + credit.... The winter's work has brought out the desire of younger + days, when a Presbyterian friend used to tell me, 'You ought to go + as a missionary to China.' I then had five little brothers and + sisters to help care for, and considered that 'mission' enough. + Since they are grown my health has been too poor to undertake + anything, but now I should like a work in life. If I have a 'taste' + or 'talent' for anything, it is for the study and the spread of + religion.... All the family are only too kind to me, which only + makes me the more anxious to use my one talent to the utmost + extent. If you know of any work I could assist in, in our + denomination, East or West, I would be much obliged to you if you + would let me know." + +The first mentions in the journal of missionary work are Nov. 25, 1877, +"Mr. Wendte came to me with missionary work to do,--five hundred tracts +to distribute;" and Dec. 9, 1877, "Feel that I am doing good in lending +books and papers and distributing tracts." + +Sept. 5, 1880, while visiting her sister in Philadelphia she opens a +new volume of the journal as follows:-- + + Too warm to venture to church. The church in Cincinnati opens + to-day. Would I might be one of the congregation! I _am_, in + spirit! In opening this book on Sunday I would dedicate it to a + high use, and open it with ascription of praise to the Giver of all + good. "Pray for us unto the Lord thy God, ... that the Lord thy God + may show us the way wherein we may walk" (Jer. xlii. 2, 3). + "Quicken thou me in thy way" (Psalms cxix. 37). + +The following prayers are then copied:-- + + "My Father, may I ever humbly follow in thy way; may I ever trust, + with the full assurance of faith, that it does lead to thy heavenly + kingdom. It is often narrow and perplexed, and I cannot see where + it is leading me; yet, though the guiding light of thy holy word + may be half obscured by the mists of the valley, if I fix my eyes + steadily upon it, it will become brighter and brighter; I shall see + my way clearly in this seemingly intricate road, and discern, even + at the end of it, the entrance to thy heavenly mansion." + + "O God, may our souls be full of life. Save us from an inanimate + and sluggish life.... Inspire our sensibility to good; may we see + more and more its loveliness and beauty. And may all the varied + experience of life draw us nearer to thee" (Channing). + +Then follows "an abstract from Channing's Memoirs, showing how, by +self-scrutiny, his character was formed, by many trials and denials." +She then copies eighteen pages from Channing's "Rules for +Self-Discipline," at the end writing, "All these pages from Channing are +written from memory, not copied." + +The second rule copied is, "Let me not _talk_ of pains, sicknesses, +complaints," etc. + +Following the rules is a poem copied from the "Christian Register" of +Sept. 4, 1880. + + + WHAT OF THAT? + + "Tired?" Well, what of that? + Didst fancy life was spent on beds of ease, + Fluttering the rose-leaves scattered by the breeze? + Come, rouse thee! work while it is called day! + Coward, arise! Go forth upon thy way. + + "Lonely?" And what of that? + Some must be lonely; 'tis not given to all + To feel a heart responsive rise and fall, + To blend another life into its own. + Work may be done in loneliness. Work on! + + "Dark?" Well, what of that? + Didst fondly dream the sun would never set? + Dost fear to lose thy way? Take courage yet! + Learn thou to walk by faith, and not by sight; + Thy steps will guided be, and guided right. + + "Hard?" Well, what of that? + Didst fancy life one summer holiday, + With lessons none to learn, and nought but play? + Go, get thee to thy task! Conquer or die! + It must be learned! Learn it, then, patiently. + + "No help?" Nay, 'tis not so! + Though human help is far, thy God is nigh; + Who feeds the ravens, hears his children's cry. + He's near thee wheresoe'er thy footsteps roam, + And he will guide thee, light thee, help thee home. + +Then follows a selection from Emerson:-- + + "The scholar must be a solitary, laborious, modest, and charitable + soul. He must embrace solitude as a bride. He must have his glees + and his glooms alone. Go, scholar, cherish your soul; expel + companions; set your habits to a life of solitude; then will the + faculties rise fair and full within, like forest trees, field + flowers; you will have results, which, when you meet your fellow + men, you can communicate and they will gladly receive. It is the + noble, manly, just thought which is the superiority demanded of + you; and not crowds, but solitude, confers this elevation." + +Next follows a page of "Paragraphs for Preachers." Evidently this year +sees the dying of the first hope to be a preacher, and the gradual dawn +of her life's real mission. Seven pages follow of "Prayers altered and +rearranged for my own use, from 'Dairy Praise and Prayer.'" Three or +four appropriate prayers are united in one, headed, "First evening," +"First Morning," "Second Evening," etc. These were apparently prepared +for the lay services she had dreamed of holding. A page or two more, and +this entry, October 17, marks the dawning of the new hope: "Last week +received a very kind letter from Mr. Wendte, in which he stated, 'We +have made you chairman of a Book and Tract Table in the church; +'therefore I feel bound to return to attend to it." Further extracts +from the diary are:-- + + Saturday evening, J---- accidentally broke my audiphone. I felt + _lost_ then, but wouldn't let them know how badly I felt about it, + and even went to church without it, for fear they would feel hurt + about it. It came home mended, this evening. + + _October 31._ Finished G----'s afghan, also completed the + embroidery of fourth skirt for Mrs. ----, and first of baby C----'s + mittens. Was quite interested in a letter of Mrs. ---- in + "Register" of last week on "The Woman's Auxiliary Conference." Hope + she _will_ succeed in establishing a Woman's Club for discussion + and debate in Cincinnati. + +Miss F. Le Baron, whose friendship with Miss Ellis dates back to the +latter's residence in Chicago, writes that she has several letters from +Miss Ellis setting forth her desire to preach, but unfortunately they +are in a totally inaccessible place. This allusion, in the diary, +evidently points to the final renunciation of Miss Ellis's first +missionary impulse:-- + + _November 7._ A letter from Miss Le Baron, of Chicago, in regard to + my engaging in missionary work in the West. She finally closed with + the idea that I had come to myself. In a letter from A---- this + week she says to me, "_Our_ lot in life appears to be that of + patience and submission," which brings to my mind quite a sermon, + in other's words, which I hope to write out to-day. It is time to + prepare for church.... The thought suggested by A----'s letter with + regard to submission to our lot called to mind the passage William + Ellery Channing wrote to his friend Francis. "You seem to go upon + the supposition that our circumstances are determined by + Providence. I believe they are determined by ourselves. Man is the + artificer of his own fortunes. By exertion he can enlarge his + sphere of usefulness. By activity he can 'multiply himself.' It is + mind that gives him the ascendency in society; it is mind that + gives him power and ability. It depends upon himself to call forth + the energies of mind, to strengthen the intellect, to form + benevolence into a habit of the soul. The consequence I draw from + these principles is that Heaven, by placing me in particular + circumstances, has not assigned me a determinate sphere of + usefulness (as you seem to think), but that it is in my power, and + of course my duty, to spread the 'beams of my light' wider into the + 'night of adversity.'" + +Miss Ellis continues, apparently partly in her own words:-- + + With this idea, then, that we largely fashion our own lives, that, + "working with God, and for him, our lives can know no true failure, + but all things shall contribute to our soul's true success," let us + take up our cross, and then we shall find + + "The burden light, + The path made straight, the way all bright, + Our warfare cease; + So shall we win the crown, + At last our life lay down + In perfect peace." + +Two pages more on the same topic, of original and selected matter +skilfully blended (perhaps the whole a bit of one of the sermons never +to be preached), end with the hymn, copied in full,-- + + "I ask not wealth, but power to take + And use the things I have aright;" + +and Miss Ellis finally sums all up, "True submission, then, consists in +_working_ out our own salvation, looking to God for strength wherewith +to work." The only entry for the next day is part of the hymn,-- + + "But God, through ways they have not known, + Will lead his own." + +November 11 she returned home. + + _November 14._ Attended fair, and met many friends. Mr. Wendte + kindly set me to work at a Book and Tract Table, and I sold two + books and distributed a quantity of free matter. + + _December 5._ Am thoroughly on the road to the Book and Tract Table + in the church. Hope it may prove a good thing, and that I shall do + it _faithfully_. + + _December 12._ Have been miserable all the week, and quite sick two + and a half hours Thursday. Couldn't raise my head, and had to + pretty much give up all day. Had sociable this week, and I was on + hand to urge the book trade, and hoped to have a supply to-day, but + was disappointed in it. It was one of the unsatisfactory days to + me, for I have had such a tremendous noise in my head that I + couldn't hear at all. + + _December 19._ Held a meeting at Mrs. ----'s on Friday, with regard + to the Woman's Auxiliary Missionary work. It has been decided that + I am to take charge of distribution of Liberal publications, also + to canvass for the "Register." Had Mr. Mayo to preach for us + to-day. I was astonished to hear how well I heard him, and how + _natural_ it seemed. It made my cross all the heavier in contrast. + [The sonnet, "Strength for the Day," by Rachel G. Alsop, is copied + to close this day's record.] + + _Feb. 10, 1881._ Began committing "A Statement of Unitarian Belief + in Bible Language." + + _February 13._ I have felt rather depressed this week, and _needed_ + the church to-day, which did do me good, as I heard more of the + sermon than I have heard for thirteen years. + + _February 20._ Sermon to-day on "Are ye good Hearers?" I think my + remark to Mr. Wendte last Sunday must have called it forth.... Mr. + Wendte made the following beautiful tribute to the deaf.... I heard + just enough to overcome me, and thought two or three times that I + should break down. Have cried and laughed over the sermon. + +A long extract is copied into the journal, of which this is a portion:-- + + "Blindness only separates a man from Nature, but the loss of + hearing also isolates him, more or less, from human companionship. + As a natural consequence, the deaf are apt to lose interest in the + social life around them, and to grow discontented, suspicious, and + morose. You and I know beautiful examples to the contrary,--persons + so patient, brave, and uncomplaining amidst their heavy + tribulation, so sunny of temper and full of human kindness, that + they are a constant inspiration and joy to us. Yet theirs is a hard + struggle, to remain true and sweet and Christian with such fearful + odds against them in the journey of life." + + _February 27._ Am becoming quite interested in missionary work in + Ravenna, Ohio. + + "We scatter seeds with careless hand, + And dream we ne'er shall see them more; + But for a thousand years + Their fruit appears, + In weeds that mar the land, + Or healthful store." + + _March 13._ To-day is my forty-sixth birthday, and I am about + ready, or rather have resolved, to open a Circulating Library in + the church, as quite a number are in favor of it. We organized our + Women's Auxiliary Conference last Tuesday, of a rainy day: Mrs. + Fayette Smith, President; Mrs. Alice Williams Brotherton, + Vice-president; Fannie Field, Treasurer and Recording Secretary; + Miss Ellis, Corresponding Secretary; Executive Committee (with the + above), Mrs. Davies Wilson, Miss Elizabeth D. Allen. + +The foundation of the Circulating Library was Miss Ellis's own +collection of religious books. Book lovers know what this sacrifice +would have been to a less generous nature, one less intent on helping +others. Additions were made by gifts from individuals and authors, and +by Miss Ellis's occasional purchase of some book whose need she felt, +until the library now numbers over one hundred and thirty volumes. These +books were loaned at church, and by mail all over the country. + +A letter to Rev. A. A. Livermore reveals the brisk, happy, and +business-like Miss Ellis of the later years, with her hands at last full +of work for her denomination. It also records the advent of her first +correspondent, Mr. Julius Woodruff. + + MARCH 10, 1881. + + I have been better in health this winter than for many years,--for + a severe winter is all the better for me,--and have been able to + keep _very_ busy. Mr. Wendte has made me chairman of a Book and + Tract Table in the church, which has kept me very busy; and in + addition, the Unity Club made me Corresponding Secretary of their + Sunday Afternoon Lecture Committee, which involved distributing the + tickets (one thousand) and then collecting the money on them.... In + the mean time, too, I was agent here for the "Register," had that + to attend to, besides attending to sale of books, paying for them, + and sending new orders, also "Unity" subscribers coming in, and + hunting up members for the Women's Auxiliary Conference, and + receiving their money. Now, do you not think for one who has always + been more spiritually inclined, that I have taken quite _too_ much + to money matters? + + Well, in distributing "Registers" through the State I have come + across a very interesting, appreciative young man of twenty-one, in + Ravenna, Ohio, and I have reason to think we have created quite a + stir in the little town. Mr. Woodruff, my correspondent, writes a + very good letter, and is quite enthusiastic on the subject of + Unitarianism, and is willing to do missionary work, distributing + widely the documents I send him, and has recommended a young man, + formerly a student of theology, an intelligent, thinking man, who + is much interested in our views. He now works on a farm and teaches + school, in order to gain an education. On Wednesday last we + organized our Women's Auxiliary Conference, at which I read Mr. + Woodruff's letters, and the ladies at once moved that we should + propose Meadville to our young friend, whose name is ----. I am to + write and ask whether he would like to go to the college at + Meadville, and in the mean time am to find out through you the + conditions on which he could be admitted. I should be only too + happy if I prove the means of assisting one young man to the + ministry, and shall feel that all these many years of interest in + the church have not been lost, if we only succeed in doing this + much good. Besides all this other work, I find the ladies are much + in favor of a Circulating Library in the church, so I am going to + found my library soon. + +The journal, March 20, shows the indomitable will that ruled the feeble +body:-- + + Yesterday [Saturday] I was at the church all day to get the library + in order. Was taken with vertigo, and for over an hour and a half + couldn't walk straight. J---- S---- happened to be at the church at + choir-meeting, and brought me home. By bedtime could walk alone, + and to-day have been attending to duties at church. Succeeded in + getting the Library settled to my satisfaction, and was glad there + was no one there. Opened my library March 19. Mr. W----announced me + "Miss Sarah Ellis" in the papers. + + _March 28._ Have felt quite encouraged this week by applications + for documents. Have just mailed to Rev. ----, "Statement of + Unitarian Belief in Bible Language." [This applicant is now in a + Unitarian pulpit.] + + _April 3._ A beautiful sermon in "Register" to-day--"Life's + Shadows"--by Rev. J. Ll. Jones. [She copies two pages.] + + _May 1._ Feel deeply interested in a correspondent we have in + Springfield, ... who confesses himself something of an atheist, and + I am hunting up all the convincing articles upon the subject of God + and Immortality that I can find, and came across a "Unitarian + Review," of June, 1876, which seems to have been written for his + very case.... Hope these will be convincing to the Springfield + Club, which was formed last Sunday, with ten members to begin with. + + _June 2._ Am now quite interested in trying to manage it so as to + keep the church open two hours Sundays during the vacation, for + persons to come and read and take home books. Hope I may succeed. + + _June 12._ Have felt tired to-day, but enjoyed the day, for Mr. + Wendte and mother dined here. He tells me I may "run the church" + during the vacation, which will make me very happy. + + _June 29._ The hottest day of the month for ten years, and the + hottest of the season so far. Intense. One hundred in the shade at + noon. Have been reading W. R. Alger's "School of Life," from which + the following abstract.... + +Then follow three pages of the "abstract," in a close, minute +handwriting, ending this volume of the journal,--the last submitted to +the writer's inspection, because, as has been previously said, there +was almost no personal matter in the diaries of the remaining years. + +Miss Ellis's ardent desire to keep the church open during the summer +vacation had to be abandoned, owing to the reluctance of her family to +have one so feeble at the church alone; and she went Saturday afternoons +instead, when the sexton was there. + +The Cincinnati branch of the Women's Auxiliary Conference, on its +organization in March, 1881, looking about for work to do, remembered +occasional letters received by Mr. Wendte in response to the documents +sent out by him and Miss Ellis. These letters seemed to hint at a +possible opportunity awaiting this Unitarian church, standing so +isolated in the heart of the great rich West, where the multitude of +Ingersoll and Liberal clubs, and of intelligent people outside all +churches, seemed to indicate a want that the evangelical denominations +did not meet. It was therefore resolved to attempt extending the work +begun by Mr. Wendte, by advertising in the daily papers Unitarian +literature for free distribution,--an experiment never before tried. +Miss Ellis entered upon her duties as Corresponding Secretary "without +money and without price" (though later a small annual salary of one +hundred dollars was raised for her), but with an immense zeal. The +advertisement's line or two of fine print, almost lost, apparently, on +the broad side of the daily paper, inserted only once a week, +nevertheless soon began to bring Miss Ellis letters that equally +surprised and delighted us, showing that we had not over-estimated the +demand for Unitarian literature in the West. + +Rev. J. Ll. Jones being in Cincinnati, the first bundle of letters was +read to him, and his opinion, as an experienced Western missionary, +anxiously awaited. It was given in these words:-- + + "I think you Cincinnati women have got hold of the _little end_ of + a _big thing_, and if Miss Ellis's health and your enthusiasm hold + out, something is bound to come of it. Go on, by all means." He + added, "I wish I knew that Miss Ellis had ten years more to live." + +Four years and a half, however, was the short term of service allowed +her in her mission, found at last after years of longing and groping +towards it vainly. But now it was seen that all these years of suffering +had not been in vain. She who had endured so much was quick to +sympathize with others. The religious studies undertaken for her own +consolation enabled her wisely to direct the reading of her +correspondents. Even her deafness seemed specially to fit her for her +work. Shut apart from the din and bustle of modern life in a quiet world +of her own, from its peaceful communings she sent out light and strength +to others. The poor, denied life, like a plant severely pruned by the +careful gardener to insure a late, full bloom, now reached out and +touched many lives with a wonderful uplifting power. + +Her records of this four and a half years' work show that she received +1,672 letters and postals, wrote 2,541, distributed at church and by +mail 22,042 tracts, papers, etc.; sold 286 books, loaned 258 books, and +obtained about sixty subscribers to religious papers.[3] Mere figures, +however, but poorly tell the story. Several young men have entered or +will enter the ministry, as one result of her efforts. Many souls +wrestling in utter loneliness with doubts they dared not confide to +their nearest friends, received, from her wise sympathy and counsel, +restoration to religious faith, and strength to bear heavy burdens with +renewed courage, animated by trust in a loving Father hitherto concealed +from them behind the outgrown phraseology of antiquated creeds,--creeds +which their reason rejected. Many, indeed most of these correspondents, +overjoyed with their new faith, hastened to share it with friends, and +many a little missionary centre began to grow in localities far from any +Unitarian church, fostered by people who had never heard a Unitarian +sermon. So the ground was being prepared for the State missionary. Her +work, too, opened the eyes of her denomination to its opportunities, and +did much to promote that missionary activity in which lies our brightest +hope for the future. She is the acknowledged pioneer of the Post Office +Mission. + +[Footnote 3: Besides this, much reading matter was sent to the City +Workhouse, to the Old Men and Women's Home, and other institutions.] + +As her work began to attract attention, many letters came from those +desiring to undertake like work, both East and West, asking advice, full +and explicit accounts of her methods, etc.; and many long letters were +written in reply. A Unitarian Club formed among the soldiers in the +Columbus barracks was one of her interests, until its dissolution by the +ordering of its members to other posts. She supplied much reading matter +to, and corresponded occasionally with, soldiers at the Dayton Soldiers' +Home. A soldier in Wyoming Territory was for a long time a most grateful +recipient of reading from her, which he shared with his company. Small +clubs in several localities were supplied by her with matter for +discussion and study during their existence. Wherever she had two or +three correspondents, she always urged the formation of reading or Unity +clubs. For some months she had an interesting correspondence with a +young man of more than usual intelligence in our City Workhouse, loaning +him such books as Channing's "Life and Works," Dewey's "Human Nature," +and Merriam's "Way of Life." She never heard from him after he left the +workhouse, but always had faith that he was somewhere living up to, or +towards, the good resolves so often expressed to her. Through him, and +Mr. Beach, of Joliet, Ill., our attention was called to the need of +supplying prisoners with good reading matter, both religious and +secular. Correspondence was opened with the warden and chaplain at the +State Penitentiary, Frankfort, Ky., which led to the sending of their +"Registers" there regularly by two Boston ladies, and eventually to the +sending of many barrels of reading matter both to Joliet and Kentucky by +the Women's Auxiliary Conference of Boston. + +A great pleasure of her last years was attending the Western Conference +at Chicago in May, 1883. Published accounts of her work had made her +well known in the denomination; so that, as the Cincinnati party +reported on their return home, "Miss Ellis was decidedly the belle of +the Conference." Every one wanted to see and talk with her, ask her +advice, etc. It was an immense satisfaction to her to meet personally, +to see and hear (for she almost seemed to hear through the eager eyes), +men and women whose fame and writings were so familiar to her. Every +session of the Conference saw Miss Ellis seated in the front pew, +audiphone in hand, eagerly intent on the exercises. Social beguilements +might make other people late at the morning devotions, but never Miss +Ellis, who took her conferences, like all else, conscientiously. + +In May, 1885, she again attended the Western Conference at St. Louis, +though in great feebleness of body. Rev. W. C. Gannett, in "Unity," thus +speaks of her:-- + + "A last summer's letter from the little mother of the Post Office + Mission, who has just died in Cincinnati, will be of interest now. + Some who were present at the last May Conference in St. Louis may + remember the pathos of the quiet figure sitting in the front pews + and trying on her echo-fan to catch the patter of the words said + round her. The wee, sick, deafened body in which she did her work + so strong-heartedly makes that work all the more an example and an + inspiration. Strange enough should it prove that this bit of a + lady, almost caged from the world by cripplings, had opened the + most effective channel yet made for carrying our liberal faith to + the world. Perhaps it _takes_ a thorn in the flesh to make a + missionary. She certainly has done more than many a stout _son_ of + the Gospel to keep her name remembered in our Western churches. + This letter hints her pluck and her joy in the work, and the + struggle of it. She had been urged to go into the country for a + short rest, but replied:-- + + The country is not the place for me to stay in any time. The + morning and evening air keep my head roaring so, and increase + catarrh. I have learned that to stay home during the summer, make + no special effort, and work on slowly, is the better plan. If I go + away, there is constantly an effort over something. I return tired, + work has accumulated. I have to work doubly hard, and soon use up + the little gained. I am too weak in summer to wish to come in + contact with people to whom I have to be agreeable. Another + difficulty,--the country is too _quiet_ for me. I am inclined to be + a "hermit," and when I do go out, which I do daily, even now I am + so sick, I need the stir, bustle, commotion, and the stores to + change the thoughts. I loved the country before I was so deaf,--now + city life is better for me; but I love to refresh myself by a ride + into the country in the street cars, where I can study _human_ + nature on the way.... I work on principle, and for the real love of + working. I am not happy unless at work, and can't bear to tear + myself away from my little congregation, my papers, books, etc. + _They_ suffer for it. The family do not wish me to keep so busy, + but I am better for it, and my physician is on my side. "Keep up!" + [The next few sentences have already been given, in reference to + Mr. Noyes.] Don't give me undue credit for my appearance at the St. + Louis Conference. I tried to kill three birds with one stone (I + don't wear bird's wings in my hat, however),--to attend the + Conference, visit a brother, and gain strength. The last I failed + in.... I have written this long letter in two sittings. I have + improved decidedly within the past few days, and with pleasant + rides and good food and care shall soon be better. Most sincerely + and cordially your friend, SALLIE ELLIS. + + CINCINNATI, July 28,1885." + +Strangely enough, one's first thought of Miss Ellis was never as an +invalid. She so ignored the poor, weak body that she made you forget it +too. She was always so _alive_, so full of interest and joy in her work. +With what delight would she say, "This new tract is exactly the thing to +send ----," or announce, "such a good letter from ----." Even during the +last months, when the ravages of disease could no longer be concealed, +she _would_ not be sick. She set aside your sympathy. She was always +"better," "only my limbs are so weak to-day," or "my breath is so +short," or "it always makes me cough to walk," as if these were mere +casual incidents quite unworthy of notice. + +The last of her life, it was pitiful to see her still clinging to her +work, still persisting in caring for her own room, declining all offers +of help. She often rose at five o'clock Sundays, because obliged by +weakness to work slowly, that she might reach church early, to prepare +her Tract Table before the congregation arrived. When no longer able to +remain to the services, she still came and ministered to her own special +congregation at the Tract Table, though obliged by weakness to sit. When +she no longer had strength to arrange her hair, she quietly cut it off. +But she went on with her work. To one offering help she said, "When I +cannot do my work, I don't want to live." Again, she said, "There are +many who need me, and they keep me alive." To the last she declined +being considered an invalid,--did not wish any one to walk out with her, +although the family were very uneasy to have one so weak and so deaf on +the street alone. She walked out every day, until the last time she was +forced to lean against the door-post and gain breath and strength to +take the final step up into the house. + +All this time she was writing letters of cheer and strength, seldom +intimating that all was not well with her. When finally obliged to keep +her bed, she faded away rapidly, only living about two weeks. The last +postal card to a correspondent was begun in bed, in a trembling hand, +ending abruptly, "Too sick to write," and it was finished for her. +Although at times she had a little of the consumptive's feeling that she +might possibly rally, and even recover strength to work again, yet she +perceived, as she said to her mother, that "the sands are running out +fast," and made all her preparations for death in the quiet spirit of +one merely going on a journey into a familiar country. One who watched +with her one of the last nights spoke of a beautiful prayer she offered +in the middle of the night. She was unable to turn herself in bed, and +said to this friend with a smile, "This body wants turning so." Poor +body! not much longer had she to endure its weaknesses. Her religion was +too habitual, too much a part of her very soul, for many outward words +or professions. It was her life, her self. Why should she talk about it? + +Mr. Thayer had always given her a list of the hymns and the full order +of service, and the sermon to read. The Sunday before her death the +sermon was returned, with the message that Miss Ellis was unable to read +it, but had asked her mother to copy the text for her. A week before +her death a friend, finding that in her excessive conscientiousness she +was letting business details of the Women's Auxiliary Conference trouble +her lest she should forget some item, went over all the books, wrote +business letters, and settled accounts, at her dictation. Speaking of +her work, she expressed faith that "God will raise up some one to do +it." She said earnestly, "I have always wanted to do something for my +denomination." It had evidently been a little of a struggle for her to +leave the work she loved, just as it began to be so successful in many +places, to die and be forgotten. In her modesty, she had no foregleam of +the afterglow of praise and public testimony to her worth that was to +follow the setting of her sun. Speaking once, near the end, with great +pleasure, of Mrs. Paine's successful work in Newport and New York, she +added, sadly, "They must increase, but I must decrease." But at last she +was "ready not to do," able to give all up and repose in perfect peace +upon the Father. + +She had always thought much of Christmas, always remembered her friends' +birthdays. Her skilful fingers and untiring industry made the slender +means go a long way in devising innumerable tasteful presents on these +days for a large circle of friends. She loved children, and loved to +make them happy, and her little friends were always remembered. This +year, a day or two before Christmas, when so weak that only by the +closest attention could the feeble, broken utterance be understood, she +directed Christmas gifts, prepared long before, sent to all her friends. +To one whom she knew needed it, went "Daily Strength for Daily Needs;" +to one, a teacher, the little "Seed Thoughts from Browning." "I thought +it might help her in her work, tell her." Even her washerwoman and her +little girl, and the postman,--"he has brought me a great many letters," +she said,--were not forgotten. + +A friend took her a Christmas card sent by a little girl. Her feeble +vision could barely discern the design. "Birds and flowers," she said; +"what could be more beautiful? It cheers me so. Yet I hardly need that. +I am very happy and cheerful. I feel that everything is right." +Afterwards she spoke of the "Happy, happy Christmas-tide," saying, "We +must try to make it bright for the young." To the last, her thoughts +were of others. + +Having closed all her earthly affairs, she lay awaiting the end in great +peace. Sunday, Dec. 27, 1885, in the evening of the peaceful day she +always loved, just as her little clock was striking seven, she passed +gently away in sleep. Well may we believe that hers was a joyful +wakening into a bright New Year. + +Her funeral was attended in the Unitarian Church, December 30,--a +service of rare beauty and appropriateness. A thoughtful friend had +covered the Tract Table in the vestibule with moss, ferns, and flowers, +among which were placed a few tracts. In the church, wreathed with +Christmas evergreens, a large concourse of friends assembled. To the +strains of the Beethoven Funeral March, the coffin, nearly concealed +beneath emblematic palm branches and lilies, was borne by the brothers +whose loving-kindness had brightened all the life now ended, to its +resting-place beneath the pulpit, close to the front seat where, for so +many years, Miss Ellis's familiar form had never been missing. The +choir, composed of young friends of hers in the church, sang the first +three verses of "Nearer, my God, to Thee," and Whittier's appropriate +hymn, "Another hand is beckoning us." + +From the text, "She is not dead, but sleepeth," Rev. George A. Thayer +paid a just and beautiful tribute to the spirit passed from our midst. +To few, he said, could these words of Jesus be so fittingly applied. +Though seemingly dead, she would live in ever-increasing power in the +influence she had exerted over other lives. If, from cities and villages +far away, from lonely farm-houses, all could to-day be assembled within +these walls who had received help and strength from her, large indeed +would be the concourse. More truly of her than of most might it be said +that she had + + "joined the choir invisible + Of those immortal dead who live again + In minds made better by their presence." + +It would be well could we all imitate her example in cultivating a love +of religious reading, and that habit of religious meditation and +communion which was the source of her strength. Her leading +characteristic was conscience, an all-dominating power of conscience. +Whatever she felt it her duty to do, that she did, at all costs. He +closed by reading Bryant's + + + THE CONQUEROR'S GRAVE. + + Within this lowly grave a Conqueror lies, + And yet the monument proclaims it not, + Nor round the sleeper's name hath chisel wrought + The emblems of a fame that never dies,-- + Ivy and amaranth, in a graceful sheaf, + Twined with the laurel's fair, imperial leaf. + A simple name alone, + To the great world unknown, + Is graven here, and wild-flowers, rising round, + Meek meadow-sweet and violets of the ground, + Lean lovingly against the humble stone. + + Here, in the quiet earth, they laid apart + No man of iron mould and bloody hands, + Who sought to wreak upon the cowering lands + The passions that consumed his restless heart; + But one of tender spirit and delicate frame, + Gentlest in mien and mind, + Of gentle womankind + Timidly shrinking from the breath of blame: + One in whose eyes the smile of kindness made + Its haunt, like flowers by sunny brooks in May, + Yet, at the thought of others' pain, a shade + Of sweeter sadness chased the smile away. + + Nor deem that when the hand that moulders here + Was raised in menace, realms were chilled with fear + And armies mustered at the sign, as when + Clouds rise on clouds before the rainy East-- + Gray captains leading bands of veteran men + And fiery youths to be the vulture's feast. + Not thus were waged the mighty wars that gave + The victory to her who fills this grave. + Alone her task was wrought, + Alone the battle fought; + Through that long strife her constant hope was stayed + On God alone, nor looked for other aid. + + She met the hosts of sorrow with a look + That altered not beneath the frown they wore, + And soon the lowering brood were tamed, and took, + Meekly, her gentle rule, and frowned no more. + Her soft hand put aside the assaults of wrath, + And calmly broke in twain + The fiery shafts of pain, + And rent the nets of passion from her path. + By that victorious hand despair was slain; + With love she vanquished hate, and overcame + Evil with good, in her Great Master's name. + + Her glory is not of this shadowy state, + Glory that with the fleeting season dies; + But when she entered at the sapphire gate, + What joy was radiant in celestial eyes! + How Heaven's bright depths with sounding welcomes rung, + And flowers of Heaven by shining hands were flung! + And He who, long before, + Pain, scorn, and sorrow bore, + The Mighty Sufferer, with aspect sweet, + Smiled on the timid stranger from his seat; + He who returning, glorious, from the grave, + Dragged Death, disarmed, in chains, a crouching slave. + + See, as I linger here, the sun grows low; + Cool airs are murmuring that the night is near. + O gentle sleeper, from thy grave I go + Consoled though sad, in hope and yet in fear. + Brief is the time, I know, + The warfare scarce begun,-- + Yet all may win the triumphs thou hast won. + Still flows the fount whose waters strengthened thee, + The victors' names are yet too few to fill + Heaven's mighty roll; the glorious armory, + That ministered to thee, is open still. + +On the pleasant slope of a lovely hillside in Spring Grove, where +everything around breathes of Nature's peace and repose, among graves +very dear to her, the worn body was laid to rest, while the gentle +winter rain fell not unkindly into the open grave. Much seemed to have +gone out of the world when the echoing clods covered that which was +"Miss Ellis." + +The Sunday after her death, as some of her friends were sadly trying to +replace the tracts in the table drawer just as she would have liked them +arranged, a white dove flew down and rested on the window-sill outside. +Only a coincidence, but one that touched us, nevertheless. If the +spirits of the departed ever revisit earth, surely Miss Ellis would +return to the church she loved so much; and possibly it is not wholly +fancy that still feels her in her old-time seat under the pulpit. + +As soon as possible after Miss Ellis's death the Women's Auxiliary +Conference of Cincinnati prepared a four-page leaflet, containing a +brief sketch of her life and death, and sent it to all her +correspondents, many of whom were ignorant that she was even in ill +health. The little memorial's first page reads:-- + + In Memoriam. + SALLIE ELLIS. + DECEMBER 27, 1885. + + So many worlds, so much to do, + So little done, such things to be, + How know I what had need of thee, + For thou wert strong as thou wert true. + TENNYSON. + +It reprinted from "Unity," Jan. 9, 1886, this tender tribute from a +personal friend and a member of the Women's Auxiliary:-- + + + SALLIE ELLIS. + + She only did what lay at hand,-- + Work that her own hand found to do: + With no thought of a "mission" grand, + Yet, bit by bit, her mission grew. + + She did--what others left undone; + She gleaned behind the harvesters: + The scattered ears of grain let stand + By careless ones,--all these were hers. + + Patient, unresting, still she wrought, + Though life beat fainter and more faint: + And only as her soul took flight, + We saw--the aureole of the Saint. + + ALICE WILLIAMS BROTHERTON. + + CINCINNATI, OHIO. + +The memorial closed as follows:-- + + "At the regular monthly meeting of the Women's Auxiliary Conference + of Cincinnati, Jan. 12, 1886, the programme for this meeting was + omitted, and the afternoon devoted to tender recollection of the + dear friend and valued secretary so recently taken from us, to the + reading of many letters from East and West containing loving + tribute to her worth and sympathy for our loss, and to devising + such plans for continuing our work in future as should be our + friend's best commemoration, the tribute she would chiefly have + desired. Mrs. George A. Thayer offered the following expression of + the feeling of our Society, for entry on our records:-- + + "'It is fitting that we should place upon the records of this + Association some words of grateful remembrance of our late + fellow-worker and Secretary, Sallie Ellis, who went up higher on + Sunday, Dec. 27, 1885. + + "'She was called to her office four years and a half ago, and took + up its work from the beginning as one who felt its consecration, + and saw the opportunity it offered of being a ministry of the + highest things to many souls yearning for a word of religion both + reasonable and spiritual. + + "'Her long and loving study of Unitarian principles gave her a rare + fitness for teaching others the _thought_ of our church. Her + personal faith in the deep things of God enabled her to speak ever + the needed word to inquirers of the _religion_ of our church. And + her sacred sense of duty, not only illustrated in every act of her + life, but shining always through her written words, made her an + admirable exemplar of the _moral quality_ of our church. So she was + all that we could ask as our missionary leader, for she not only + taught the stranger from afar of the surpassing beauty and + greatness of our Liberal Christianity, but she quickened in us at + home new love for its truths, and a deeper sense of our privilege + and obligations in being of its disciples. + + "'In her life she guided and inspired us, and being dead she abides + with us, ever a constant presence, to make us humble that we do so + little for our great work, and to stir in us desire to be more + faithful to our task in the Master's vineyard.' + +"The following extract from a letter of directions left by Miss Ellis in +the event of her death was then read:-- + + "'All the books in the loan library I bequeath to the use of the + church, and when not so used, my family shall have the disposal of + them.' + + "This library comprises over one hundred and thirty religious books, + chiefly by Unitarian authors. It was voted that this library 'shall + always be known as The Sallie Ellis Loan Library.' + + "Mrs. M. E. Hunert, 177 Betts Street, Cincinnati, was appointed + Corresponding Secretary. All communications may hereafter be + addressed to her. She will continue the free distribution of + Unitarian papers, tracts, and sermons, to any names furnished her of + persons desiring them. She will also receive subscriptions for + Unitarian publications and sell books, when desired, and will loan + the books of the Sallie Ellis Loan Library, the borrower paying the + postage only. It is earnestly wished to continue Miss Ellis's work + in her spirit, and it is hoped correspondents and friends will + co-operate with us in this effort. + + "Though saddened and greatly bereft, the Cincinnati Auxiliary would + still strive to 'look forward and not back,' working on in the + spirit of Whittier's poem, + + + OUR SAINTS. + + From the eternal silence rounding + All unsure and starlight here, + Voices of our lost ones sounding, + Bid us be of heart and cheer, + Through the silence, down the spaces, + Falling on the inward ear. + + Let us draw their mantles o'er us, + Which have fallen in our way: + Let us do the work before us + Calmly, bravely, while we may, + Ere the long night-silence cometh, + And with us it is not day!" + + +The "In Memoriam" called out letters of deep regret--the regret of those +who mourn a personal friend--from every correspondent. A few of these +letters appear in the correspondence, selected from many of similar +tenor. + + + + +CORRESPONDENCE. + + * * * * * + +The letters of Miss Ellis's correspondents here given are selected from +an immense number of like purport and interest. She had kept all the +significant letters neatly filed in bundles, each correspondent by +himself. It has been a disappointment to receive so few, comparatively, +of her own letters. Our busy age is not given to saving its letters. It +is therefore all the more touching to know that so many of her +correspondents have treasured even every postal card from her hand. Her +letters given here, however, well illustrate her spirit and ideas on +many topics, also her method of work, and reveal something of the secret +of her success. + +Literary style and fine effects were the last things aimed at in her +letters. Their characteristics are plainness, directness, intense +earnestness to convince and impress, and a warm sympathy with people of +all kinds and degrees. Strongly conservative in her own theology, she +yet did not set up her views as a fixed standard for others, or assume +to hold all truth. Some of her warmest friends were among our younger, +more radical ministers, whose purity and sincerity of life and faith +quite offset in her eyes their theological vagaries. + +The letters first given are to fellow-workers who had asked about her +methods, materials, etc. In an article which Mr. Gannett had asked her +to write, and which appeared in "Unity," March 1, 1884, she wrote:-- + + "We keep a standing weekly advertisement in two of our chief daily + papers,--those which have the widest circulation, one Saturday + morning, and the other Sunday, under the head of 'Religious + Notices.' One of these papers advertises free for us.[4] + + [Footnote 4: The advertisement read thus: "Unitarian papers, + tracts, etc., sent free to any one addressing Miss Sallie Ellis, + Auburn Ave."] + + "On receiving an application we respond, being guided somewhat by + the style and character of the application, by sending one or two + tracts, with a copy of the 'Christian Register' or 'Unity.' [Many + people of the church, after reading their religious papers, handed + them to Miss Ellis for distribution.] After sending the papers and + various tracts for several weeks, we write a postal of inquiry as + to whether Unitarian literature is satisfactory; and if the person + cares to subscribe to either of the papers, _which_ he or she + prefers; which tracts have given the most satisfaction; and whether + they care to borrow any books by mail, paying the postage on them. + Frequently we receive no reply [in which case the name was + dropped], but mostly the answer is gratifying. If the person cannot + subscribe for the papers, but enjoys them, we continue to send + them.... In sending tracts, we begin with 'Unitarian Principles and + Doctrines,' by Rev. C. A. Brigham, the 'New Hampshire Statement of + Belief,' and 'What Do Unitarians Believe?' by Rev. C. W. + Wendte,--because we wish to show what our faith has grown from, and + what it is now. These we think fairly represent the denomination; + and we have found that they all give general satisfaction. Next, + 'Why Am I a Unitarian?' by James F. Clarke, D.D., which is also + well liked, and 'Discourse on Distinguishing Opinions of + Unitarians,' by William E. Channing, D.D., as creating a thirst for + his 'Works.' Then we branch off from this into whatever we think + best.... _Promptness_ in replying and _regularity_ in sending + papers, etc., will do more towards showing our deep interest in the + work, and bring the individual seeking into vital connection with + the church sending the literature. A _little_ at a time frequently, + to insure _careful_ and _thorough_ reading. Recommend books + extensively.... We believe in loaning the books of the early + ministers of our denomination as a good stepping-stone to the + Unitarianism now taught in our pulpits." + +In a letter to Miss F. L. Roberts, of Chicago, then Secretary of Western +Women's Unitarian Conference, March 14, 1884, she wrote:-- + + "I agree with you that no _one_ tract or sermon will satisfy the + questions of inquirers. They have to 'grow into the light,' as we + all have done and still are doing. Did any one thing settle our + doubts or questionings? I think not. + + "'What is our _aim_ in the Post Office Mission Work?' It occurs to + me it should be to give inquirers the fairest statement of our + teachings, from Channing up to the present time. Not the thought of + any one man or woman, but that of the greatest number of our best + minds in the several eras of our denomination. In many cases ... + people have not the _slightest_ idea what Unitarianism is, farther + than that we do not believe Christ was God. They not only do not + know what we believe, but think us a kind of 'outcasts.' It almost + seems like being in the Dark Ages of the world to hear of such + ignorance as we _know_ exists with regard to our doctrines. + Therefore we are talking, as it were, to children. Let us then + begin at first principles, and send fair, clear statements." + +After alluding to several of her correspondents who were thinking of +entering the Unitarian ministry, she adds:-- + + "It seems to me the A. U. A. tracts, and the books, papers, etc., + sent with them, have produced good results; have made deep, + earnest thinkers. It is through these very things our own ministers + have been made to think, and they have gone beyond these same + things; and so will our correspondents in time. But at present few + of them have access to books, or come in contact with people who + can converse on all these points with them; therefore it is well to + intersperse with our tracts on doctrines, good _practical_ sermons, + and the newer tracts occasionally, leading them up gradually to + Unitarian ideas, and showing them especially that while we _have_ + doctrines in our church, character is the most important to us. + There is no one book that has done more effective work than Rev. J. + F. Clarke's 'Orthodoxy,' etc., which proves that we need good, + _clear_, strong doctrine. [The Post Office Mission, she adds] is + only a larger church, and we want to bring these people into vital + connection with us,--making not Unitarians of them, or merely + intellectual men and women, but practical Christians working with + us and for humanity. Rev. ---- is the prophet of his age. We shall + all _grow_ up to his ideal some day, and bring our Post Office + Mission members with us. Hope he will be willing to wait. 'It is + good that a man should both hope and quietly wait' (Lam. iii. 26)." + +A bit from another letter to Miss Roberts is interesting as showing the +untiring industry which enabled Miss Ellis to accomplish so much:-- + + ... "Next week we hold our fair, and I shall be very busy all the + week. Have had so many orders for mittens, that I am a perfect + knitting machine. I can knit and read, however, and therefore have + looked over many sermons for distribution in the mean time. Am + tired, and thankful for the blessed Saturday night followed by the + quiet of Sunday." + +In answer to a letter of inquiry from Miss F. Le Baron when that lady +first entered on her work as Secretary of the Western Women's Unitarian +Conference at Chicago, Dec. 2, 1884, Miss Ellis wrote:-- + + "'How much time do you give to all this work?' Doing it at home, I + cannot calculate exactly, for there are many moments thrown in that + I cannot well count; but this much I _can_ say. I begin about 9 A.M. + Monday to collect my materials about me, and usually by + dinner-time (1 P. M.) I have put away all papers, etc., and have + ready my week's papers, etc., for the postman to take. Nearly every + evening I write an hour or more, excepting Sunday, when I won't + write business letters. This is all the work I can _calculate_; but + there are many moments spent reading my letters, assorting papers, + tying up books, setting down items, making purchases, etc., besides + the time spent Sunday and on Wednesday at the church, over the + library, etc. However, I am very systematic in everything, and + accomplish more in that way.... Of course, new applicants I reply + to at once; but every new applicant is then added to my Monday + list. Being at an office, you have more interruptions; and then + deafness has its reward, and one can pursue her work in peace many + times, whereas another would be disturbed." + +In answer to another letter from Miss Le Baron, full of warm +congratulations on her success, she writes, Dec. 11, 1884:-- + + "I am very much obliged for your high opinion of me. I read it to a + dear friend, who always sends me to the Conference at Chicago, and + she said, 'It's all true, but I hope you won't get so far above me + in the next world.' I never have stopped to 'understand' what I am + doing, or the 'name' I am making. To do the good comes from my + heart, and I leave the results to the Good Father, and know if I + merit a reward it will be given me. It is a pleasure in _this_ + world, to feel I am giving satisfaction to so many in the + denomination. I am a thorough Unitarian, and have read our + denominational works more than anything else, which has prepared me + for this very work. I am an ignoramus in literature outside of + Unitarianism, only that you cannot be a Unitarian and not come, + more or less, in contact with general literature.... By the way, I + always read tracts, and M. J. Savage's and Chadwick's and Clarke's + weekly sermons, going to and from the city [Miss Ellis was living + at this time in Avondale, three miles from the city], and carry + _big_ packages of papers home on Sunday. Think the conductors must + know I am a missionary." + +Rev. Joseph May, Rev. Charles Allen, and Rev. F. L. Hosmer sent Miss +Ellis many of their printed sermons for distribution, which did good +service. Rev. William C. Gannett early saw the possibilities of this +work, and has done much to systematize and further it in many ways. He +christened it the "Post Office Mission," and, seeing the need of more +fresh material for distribution, devised and edited the "Church Door +Pulpit" series of sermons, and has also been the chief promoter of the +"Unity Mission" series of tracts. The following extracts are from Miss +Ellis's letters to him. + + SEPTEMBER 12, 1882. + + Received to-day, from ----, your letter of September 5, asking + about our "Missionary Work by Letter." ... I will very gladly + afford you my assistance in that respect. However, I am rather more + conservative than yourself,--rather of the E. S. Gannett + type,--still have visited Omaha, where I have had brothers settled, + and know some little of the style of religion which is requisite in + the Northwest.... Will give you a list of the tracts I have used + most profitably. Most people state, when they ask for literature, + "Want something that teaches the _doctrines_ of the Unitarian + Church." Thereupon I have forwarded, from time to time, "Unitarian + Doctrines and Principles" (Brigham); "Word of God" and "The Rising + Star of the Liberal Faith" (W. P. Tilden); "New Hampshire + Statement of Belief;" "Unitarian Belief in Bible Language;" "Why Am + I a Unitarian?" "Inspiration of New Testament," "Revivals" + (Clarke); "Our Common Christianity" (A. P. Stanley); "Mission of + Unitarianism" (Heber Newton); "Spiritual Christianity." (Starr + King); and "What Do Unitarians Believe?" (C. W. Wendte).... The + serial sermons of Chadwick, Clarke, Hale, and Savage always gladly + received.... But do not be afraid of a little doctrine, Mr. + Gannett, for there are some people in Orthodox churches who are + hungering and thirsting for just our doctrines. They cannot do + without doctrine just yet, but want something better than they have + known, and think it a great blessing to find it. I try my + congregation to see what each requires, and lead them on and up. My + church is composed of a very mixed set.... I am deeply interested + in this work, and know we have done much good.... We keep books to + loan, and also recommend books from time to time, and ask our + correspondents to subscribe to the periodicals.... Dr. Dewey's + sermons on "Human Nature" and "Human Life," and his "Two Great + Commandments" benefit some people very much. + + * * * * * + + March 11, 1883. + + I never omit the "Pulpit" column [of the Register], and read + "Wrestling and Blessing" with much interest.... I set each + difficulty down as just suited for some one, or two, or three of my + correspondents. Of course, I _don't apply sermons to myself any + more_. It is a beautiful sermon; and this brings me to the point + we are all so interested in,--the wider circulation of the fresh + thoughts of all the pulpits. I surely think, with you, that it will + help the work to "give it name." Am glad you are stirring them all + up. I do not, as you say, feel the need of it so much, but + occasionally do.... A new case in Tennessee, who never knew + _anything_ of the Liberal Church, till we sent him papers. Is much + pleased, and wants to read till he knows still more about us. He + writes, "Not one per cent of the people here know there is such a + church. Tell me, do the majority of Unitarian ministers believe in + the resurrection of Jesus; that he healed the leper, cast out + devils, and raised Lazarus? I ask for information, and hope you + will reply at some future time." He is evidently in a benighted + region. Says he has "heard nothing outside the Cumberland + Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist Churches, and am none of + these;" and I presume is very little of anything yet, and is + longing for a nobler life than he has known, or sees about him. The + longer I go on, the more need I see of getting this work fully and + well organized. It will be brought about ere long. Even reading + over papers is beneficial. The publication of our hymns, the most + inspiring, will do a great deal of good. In several cases I have + copied them, and to good purpose. + +Jan. 20, 1885, in answer to the question, what twenty names she would +prefer in the "Church Door Pulpit" series the coming year, she wrote:-- + + "Revs. Grindall Reynolds, Rush R. Shippen, J. F. Clarke, E. E. + Hale, Joseph May, Dr. William Furness, H. W. Bellows, T. Starr + King, J. Ll. Jones, J. T. Sunderland, George Bachelor, William C. + Gannett, F. L. Hosmer, David Utter, George A. Thayer, C. W. Wendte, + S. J. Barrows, Albert Walkley, J. C. Learned, James Martineau. Am + afraid I haven't left any room for those who do not bear the + 'Unitarian' name, but feel that Unitarianism is so little known, + that I would first make our own best writers known, and then branch + out and take in others. All of the above names I should like to see + in 'Church Door Pulpit' for 1885-1886.... I think generally people + wish to become acquainted with the Unitarian pulpit. 'What do + Unitarians preach?' is the cry. 'I want to hear a Unitarian;' + 'those who have been educated in that denomination.'" + + * * * * * + + February 20, 1885. + + Your article in "Unity," February 16, on "A Blessing on the Day," + pleased me very much.... We haven't quite the right book yet, and + with you I say, "about twelve verses from the Bible well knitted + around some central thought," as we principally want to become + acquainted with the Bible as the "Book of man." Think something + more like "Daily Praise and Prayer," with different Scripture + selections, perhaps, and omitting most of the prayers. I would only + have a prayer to lead to a prayer of one's own,--that is, to + inspire one to pray in their own words. Have often thought I should + like to compile a book of "Daily Worship" from the Scriptures, our + Hymn Books, "Daily Praise and Prayer," "Day unto Day," "Helps to + Devout Living," and the "Responsive Service," and now, from "Daily + Strength for Daily Needs," "Aspirations of the World," and + "Spiritual Life" in the "Register," but principally Scripture + selections.... "Daily Praise and Prayer" is doing much good in a + very troublesome family of one of my correspondents. I remembered + to have sent the lady "Wrestling and Blessing," and wrote a short + time since to call her attention to the "Inherited Burden," asking + if she still had the tract. This morning received a reply, in which + she wrote, "Yes! I still have 'Wrestling and Blessing,' for it did + me so much good when I first read it that I felt as if I could not + part with it." Many, many homes need "A Blessing on the Day" to + create the true feeling. + +To Miss Holmes, of the Davenport, Iowa, Post Office Mission, Miss Ellis +wrote:-- + + August 20, 1884. + + ... Yes, I do use the A. U. A. tracts freely, and more than any + others, those marked on our list herein enclosed, and also "Word of + God," "The Doctrine of Prayer," and "Wrestling and Blessing,"--the + latter to those who need encouragement particularly. I find + generally that people want to get at the first principles,--the A + B C of Unitarianism. We do not use Higginson's "Sympathy of + Religion" at all. Our aim is to make practical Unitarians, and let + doctrines and theory gradually fall into the secondary place. + Therefore I object to Mr. ----'s list of books, because they are + more historical and theoretical. They do well where one wants to + study religion; but where one wants a Christianity to live by, I + think something that comes down to practical life, or that is more + simple, better adapted to the generality of people. As knowledge of + Unitarianism spreads, they will naturally seek deeper works. But at + present, something as clear and concise as possible, with the + "Christian Register," "Unity," and the "Dayspring," which further + illustrate our principles, we find very popular. The difficulty is + to get a large enough supply and variety enough. The A. U. A. + tracts only answer as an explanation, and we must have the sermons, + and papers, and books enough in addition. As I have been at the + work for three years, it is hard work to find sufficient supplies + for between thirty and forty every week, and these extending the + papers and tracts elsewhere. + + I cannot think, with Mr. Judy, that it is the best method to divide + the work. It seems to me that causes confusion. It seems a much + better way that the person who sends the tracts and papers should + distribute the books too, as being better able to advise the books + to read; for he or she learns the "bent of mind" of the seeker. So + many different persons at work causes confusion and mistakes. I + mail papers, tracts, etc., attend to all the correspondence, to + loaning and mailing the books, to all printed matter received, to + all the advertising orders of every kind, to money received and + expended,--consulting the President frequently, and the details are + brought up before our monthly meetings. I do not believe the work + can be so well done as by one person; but of course no one could + devote so much time to it unless they have some compensation for + it. I took up the work at first voluntarily, but soon found there + was a great deal in it, and therefore wished to give it earnest + attention, and the ladies felt me particularly fitted for it, and + preferred to give me a small salary. It never is "irksome" to me, + but a work of real love to me. I have always been a + missionary,--distributing all the papers and tracts which contained + anything of a practical nature or of a pure Christianity. + + * * * * * + + _To Miss Holmes._ + + AUGUST 29, 1884. + + Have just been re-reading "A Little Pilgrim." To tell you the plain + truth, the ideas are beautiful, but I do not like prying into the + next world. No one really knows anything concerning it. I am + willing to rest where Jesus left us. He told us little of it, but + enough for the "health of our souls." "In our Father's house are + many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you;" and I believe when + our friends leave us they go to another division of God's kingdom + and "prepare a place for us," in that through their deaths we are + naturally drawn heavenward, and our lives are different from ever + before. I am not so much interested as to what the future world is. + It is enough to me, to know that it is, and that I am doing the + best I can while I am living here. The future world will be made + plain to me when my time comes to go there; and if I have only + lived rightly here, there will be nothing to fear. + + I can trust in God. Still such books seem to be necessary to some + persons, but I do not consider them healthy reading. When you have + finished such a book the query comes, "Is it fact?" Who can say it + is? I feel that my friends are in the hands of a loving Father as + they were while on earth, and that he will still do for them what + is best, and their spirit and affection remain with us to comfort + and guide us. I never lose them. They are only "gone before." + + * * * * * + + _Miss Ellis to Rev. A. A. Livermore._ + + JUNE 2, 1880. + + MY DEAR FRIEND,--Many thanks for your kind letter of Mar. 29th, + though I never saw the "P. S."--which, as usual with all + postscripts, contained the best part of the letter--till a month + afterwards, when in house-cleaning I was assorting letters + received, I noticed the last page of your letter, which was like + receiving a new letter, and came in very opportune; for we have + had so much to depress us of late, that I was glad to have my + attention called to Philippians, which contains so much that is + cheering. There has been a good deal to occupy my time and thoughts + since your very kind letter reached me; but I will not allow your + college term to close without sending you my kind word, though I + cannot be personally present at the Ohio Conference and Meadville + exercises. May you have charming weather, and a satisfactory + gathering, is my sincere wish. Rev. William H. Channing's visit + here was highly appreciated by his old friends and the early + members of the church, and we all particularly enjoyed the + Communion. It was truly a communion with the departed, and very + beautiful to us. I did not have the pleasure of meeting Mr. + Channing excepting a few moments at Mrs. Ryland's, which I + regretted exceedingly; but it was a disappointment I could not + alter. + + ---- and wife moved to Mt. Auburn to-day, there to make a bright, + beautiful home for themselves, which is as it should be; but we who + are left at home feel rather sad. The last of my dear mother's five + little children has gone from me, and it is not so easy to enter + into their homes and have my brothers and sisters what they were to + me in our own family circle. Still all is right and best as it is; + and though clouds gather over our heads, the sunshine will at + length make itself seen, for "all things work together for good." I + am going to be gay and spend the summer with ---- in Philadelphia; + and as we have not met for eight years, we shall enjoy a quiet + summer together. + + * * * * * + + OCTOBER 1, 1884. + + ... Thanks for your kind sympathy for us in our sorrow. Thanks to + you for the solid foundation you laid when our dear mother died, + which has given me a firm faith in the hour of trial. I firmly + believe that "all things work together for good," and that dear + C----'s long sickness prepared her family, herself, and all of us + for her death. There was much in her sickness and death that was + beautiful and comforting. It was pleasant after so many days of + suffering to see her at rest; and we feel it must have been a happy + release to her too, for her face in death bore no trace of the pain + she had endured, of which we were glad, for she looked so natural + and sweetly that we could allow her two youngest children to look + at "mamma asleep, to wake up an angel in heaven." C---- never + wanted her children to have a horror of death, and her desire has + been granted. They have no other idea than that the Good Father + released their dear mother from pain and she is an angel in heaven. + An Episcopalian minister officiated at the funeral, as C---- always + preferred that service. He was a personal friend of hers and my + brother E----'s. My brother's widow came from ----to attend the + funeral, and she requested that I select a piece to be read in case + they found no one to lead in a hymn. I selected your hymn,--"A holy + air is breathing round." It was read in the middle of the service, + very impressively, and was particularly comforting to N----'s widow + and myself, as you had officiated at our mother's funeral and had + baptized C---- and N----. (Do you remember the day you baptized me + and my three brothers and C---- at the Masonic Hall?) The children + scattered flowers over the graves; A----, ten years old, said on + returning from the cemetery, "Papa, it was all beautiful, no dread + or gloom about it. It was just as mamma would have had it." And so + it was. The children will always feel the life hereafter a reality. + "More homelike is the vast unknown," since their mamma is there. + The piece "At noontide," in last week's "Register," applies to dear + C----'s death as well as if written for her. It is beautiful. I + want it in a leaflet to distribute, as I have opportunity + frequently for just such words. Yes! I help on "Unity," the + "Register," and "Our Best Words."... Hope I am making Christians, + and not merely Liberals or merely Unitarians. Think we are gaining + ground with many; but the literature must be distributed with great + care, I feel with you.... We are glad to have the Thayers home + again, and will probably begin to work earnestly next week. + + * * * * * + + JANUARY 4, 1885. + + ... Thanksgiving and Christmas were rather sad days to us this + year, without our dear C----, who always did so much to make the + days bright for all about her. Pa, mother, and myself dined both + days with C----'s family. Christmas was made a happy day for the + children by all our kind friends, and we could but feel their + mother was looking upon them, with a bright and happy face, in + gratitude to all those who had endeavored to make her dear ones so + happy. I have been very busy this winter, for the correspondents + still claim my time. Young ---- still appears interested, and I + hope he may be able to enter college this year, for he appears to + feel his isolation there much. No sympathetic person about him + nearer than Mr. Barnes of Montreal.... Unity Club flourishes, so + does the Day Nursery and Women's Auxiliary Conference. The fair was + a pleasant occasion, and now we are all feeling cheered in having + Mrs. T---- better again. I always see A---- at the window as I pass + there on my way to church. He is a lovely little boy. He looks as + if he _wanted_ to know "Miss Ellis;" but I doubt if he does, + without his mother to call attention to her. Hope you all passed + pleasant holidays at Meadville. I must close to write to Aunt ----, + who always looks for a Sunday letter from me. [This was an aged + blind aunt.] + +Miss Ellis's first Post Office Mission correspondent was a young man in +Ravenna, Ohio, Mr. Julius Woodruff. His first letter to her said: + + "Thank you for your kindness in sending me the 'Christian + Register.' I am much pleased with the paper, and may become a + subscriber at no distant day. I received copies of Mr. Wendte's + sermon, 'What do Unitarians Believe?' I have distributed them where + I thought they would do the most good, and have reason to think + that good was accomplished. Before long I will send to you for + more books; and if I can help you in obtaining subscribers to the + 'Register' I will gladly do so. I am not a member of any church, + and stand almost alone in the church I attend [Methodist], in my + views. Our people seem to be almost entirely divided into three + classes; namely, the strictly Orthodox, the wholly indifferent or + non-thinking class, and the ultra Liberal. I am in sympathy with + neither; and I know of only a few, all young boys like myself, who + occupy middle ground. I can almost _fully_ indorse the views + expressed by Rev. C. W. Wendte in the sermon to which I have + referred; and believing his views to be right, I take pleasure in + giving them as wide a circulation as I can. In many respects I + admire Ingersoll; but I have no sympathy with the so-called + 'Liberal League' with which he is connected, and which has an + auxiliary league in this county. + + "... If I understand the theory and purpose of your church, I shall + be glad to render the cause any service in my power; and if I can + be of any service as an auxiliary to your Missionary Society, I + have only to be instructed in the ways thereof." + +As such auxiliary he acted, distributing tracts, papers, etc., with a +zeal that might well shame some life-long Unitarians. In later letters +he wrote:-- + + "Outside of all churches there is quite a number of men, mostly + young, intelligent men, who have cultivated an intense hatred of + certain doctrines and religious observances, and who have + gradually come to denounce and seek the overthrow of our whole + religious system. These are banded together as an auxiliary to the + 'Liberal League' of America. In addition to these are a number of + young men, sons of Orthodox parents, who dissent from the religious + views and peculiar creeds which have satisfied their elders, and + yet have no definite faith of their own. I think that with these + two classes, as well as with those who have so far been indifferent + to the claim of religion, we have an excellent prospect of success + in introducing our views and extending the influence of Liberal + Christianity. I am very friendly to the Orthodox Church, + recognizing the noble purpose that animates them all, and the + invaluable services that they have rendered to mankind; and I have + less desire to draw upon their strength than I have to see the + Unitarian Church built up from material that has formerly been + identified with _no_ church organization. I was a Unitarian in + theory long before I knew anything of the Unitarian Church.... As a + rule, the young men of my acquaintance who are, either in theory or + practice, liberal Christians, are of the most intelligent order, + ambitious, progressive young men; and of _them_ what may we not + hope?" + +He went into business in Leadville, Colorado, and from there wrote Miss +Ellis (in 1881):-- + + "Sunday is almost entirely ignored in the business portion of the + city, very few men closing their places of business. Every saloon + and theatre is open on Sunday, and brass bands fill the air with + their inspiring music. I attended the Methodist Episcopal Church + Sabbath School last Sunday, and found quite a respectable crowd in + attendance. I thoroughly enjoyed that afternoon; and when I saw + rough-bearded, grimy, slouchy-looking men and boys from the mines + and workshops taking part in the exercises of the school, I thanked + God for the influence his church and school had had upon the + largest, hardest mining-camp in the world.... If you have any more + of the documents referred to, I wish you would send me a dozen or + more, and a few of the pamphlets on 'What Do Unitarians Believe?' + It seems to me this would be a most fruitful field in which to + plant Unitarian ideas and principles. It seems to me no other + church would be so popular here. Of the party of ten young men who + board with me, I do not think that any one of them has been in a + church three times since he came to Leadville. In most respects, + all of them are fine young men; but Orthodox doctrines would never + gain any ground with them, while Liberal ideas might win the field + if the boys could be made to consider them." + +Miss Ellis, and all the ladies, indeed, of the Cincinnati Auxiliary, +were greatly interested in Leadville, and hoped to do a good work there, +aided by our enthusiastic young friend; but the above was destined to be +our last letter from him. In September, 1881, came a postal card from a +hotel clerk, saying, "Mr. Woodruff wishes me to inform you that he has +been unable to answer your letter on account of sickness, but will write +you as soon as able." A few days later came intelligence of his death. +Tributes to his character in the Ravenna newspapers, and his photograph +sent Miss Ellis by his sister, only confirmed our opinion of this young +man's noble character, and our sincere grief at his loss. Miss Ellis at +once wrote to his mother this letter:-- + + OCTOBER 17, 1881. + + I shall be compelled to address the envelope containing this note + to your daughter, not knowing your husband's name. I presume you + are aware that Miss ---- informed me of your son's death, and she, + I presume, sent me so kindly the paper last week containing the + obituary on him which I read with much interest, as it was such an + opinion as I and all of us had formed of your son, Julius, from his + interesting letters. I assure you that our love and sympathy are + with you in the affliction, and would that we could soften the + severe loss to you; but that alone the good Father in time can + render less bitter. True resignation consists in enduring it as + God's will. + + The ladies of our Missionary Society wish me to tell you how much + all were interested in Julius's letters, and how deeply they feel + with you, and at my request send you a book of consolation, "Light + on the Cloud," as an expression of our real interest in your son. + It seemed to me that nothing could be so appropriate as the + literature he so learned to love. "He being dead yet speaketh" + (Heb. xi. 4); and such we deem would be his words to those who were + so dear to him. The President of our society marked one piece,--"He + giveth his beloved sleep," and I have marked passages through the + book, particularly under the head "Death a Blessing," and the last + poem in the book. If words can cheer you, it is our hope that this + little gift may serve the purpose. At least may it be a testimonial + to you of our deep interest in your dear boy.... Our ladies are to + hold the first meeting this season a week from to-morrow, when the + obituary notice of Julius R. Woodruff's death will be read, and + listened to with interest. He was my first correspondent, and his + letter from Colorado was particularly enjoyable. It grieves me to + think it was the last.... Hoping to hear farther from you, dear + friend, through your daughter or Miss----, and to have the pleasure + of becoming personally acquainted with you at some future day, with + a God's blessing on you one and all, far and near, + + Yours in common sorrow, S. ELLIS. + +The correspondence was continued with Mr. Woodruff's sister as +follows:-- + + NOVEMBER 11, 1881. + + ... Yes, you may call me your "friend," for I truly feel that I + have lost a dear and true friend in your brother, and consequently + feel interested in all of his family, and do not wonder that your + mother and the whole family are heart-broken to be called to give + him up. Am sincerely glad that you felt free to express all your + feelings to me, for now I can sympathize more deeply with you. You + are just the age I was when my first sorrow came upon me,--the + death of my dear mother. As you say, I felt that I must keep up, to + cheer my father, who has ever been a domestic man, and the loss of + my mother was very hard for him to bear, and the five little + children to be cared for, I the oldest daughter at home, and had + been my mother's "right-hand man" in the care of the children. But + all our sorrows and trials are good for us to bear, and we need the + crosses as well as the joys of life to fit us for the life here and + for that which is to come. + + It was hard to be reconciled to the death of one so young and so + good and true as Julius; but we must not be selfish, but think what + is our loss is the gain of those taken, many times. He may, through + his spiritual influence, still care for and lead you all nearer to + God. These "dark hours of life" bring us to know ourselves better; + they call out our sympathy for our fellow-men; and, what is more + than all, they bring us nearer to God, and thus they are not a mere + cross of agony; therefore let us not murmur at our affliction, but + still believe that God is good, and will so make our trials serve + us that they may become _good_ to us.... We must trust God, who + doeth all things for the best, and pray for strength and light to + be given us. Our prayers may not always be answered as we ask, but + they are answered in another way. + + "Pray, though the gift you ask for + May never comfort your fears, + May never repay your pleading; + Yet pray, and with hopeful tears. + An answer--not that you sought for, + But diviner--will come one day: + Your eyes are too dim to see it; + Yet strive, and wait, and pray.[5] + + "How shalt thou bear the cross which now + So dread a weight appears? + Keep quietly to God, and think + Upon the Eternal Years. + + "Bear gently, suffer like a child, + Nor be ashamed of tears; + Kiss the sweet cross, and in thy heart + Sing of the Eternal Years."[6] + + [Footnote 5: A. A. Procter.] + + [Footnote 6: Faber.] + +The whole of Whittier's "Angels of Grief" and a poem by Ellerton are +copied in addition. + +The correspondence was continued, occasionally, during Miss Ellis's +life. Aug. 11, 1882, she wrote:-- + + "Young women, Miss----, have great influence over young men, and I + hope you struggle to improve all those whom you know. Have you + ever come across Frances Power Cobbe's 'Duties of Women'? It is a + remarkably sensible book, and I feel as if every young girl ought + to read it. I think you would do your young friends a service by + owning it and passing it around among them. You can get it in paper + for twenty-five cents. It is not a doctrinal work at all. She + delivered the lectures in London, to women. Neither is it a Woman's + Rights book altogether, but what any girl or young man, come to + that, ought to do and practise. Are you going to resume school + after vacation again, or what do you intend to turn your attention + to? + + "I have not been very strong since I was sick last August, + therefore have not done much this year. I go into the city every + two weeks on Saturday A.M., to be at the church to loan books to + any one who desires them. Was there last Saturday, and two strange + ladies came in who proved very pleasant; one a young girl. She came + after 'Helps to Devout Living,' for a sister who has gone out to + Nebraska for her health, and is miles away from any church and has + no companionable people about her. This young sister also selected + for herself 'Day unto Day,' as a book of daily study in an upward + path. It is such pleasant work to have it within my power to loan + and to recommend so many good books to those who have not read + them. They always enjoy them. Julius would have been so happy in it + out at Leadville." + +Mr. Woodruff's sister wrote, Feb. 15, 1886: + + "Some one very kindly sent us the obituary of our dear friend Miss + Ellis. We were surprised and deeply grieved to hear of her death, + as we did not know that her health was poor even. She said so + little about herself, that we never thought of her as otherwise + than well and strong.... I enjoyed Miss Ellis's letters so much, + and we appreciated her kindness in writing to us after my dear + brother's death. He thought so much of Miss Ellis, and I know if he + had lived you would not have been disappointed in him. I cannot + thank you sufficiently for the little book you sent mother after + J----'s death. Truly it was a 'Light on the Cloud,' and it + comforted mother more than I can tell you. It is so full of + comforting words. + + "Though Miss Ellis is gone from us, she has left behind the + influence of a life so pure, so noble, and so grand, that we will + all be the better for having known her. As my brother once wrote in + a friend's album, 'God wisely wills that we may not know the number + of our years, and in view of the uncertainty which enshrouds each + to-morrow, let us so live that be our lives long or short, the + little home-world that surrounds us will be the better for our + having lived in it.' Can we not say that these two did not live in + vain? My brother had a great influence over young people and also + over some who were much older than he, and had he been spared, I + feel sure that he would have done a grand work for the cause of + Christianity. But their life work is ended only too soon; and why + they should be taken when they were doing so much good, and others + who are a burden to themselves and others are left, I suppose we + shall know sometime; and until that time we must believe that 'He + doeth all things well.'" + +Miss Ellis's letters frequently express her joy in a young man who had +become a Unitarian minister through her efforts. He was a Methodist +minister in Ohio, but had grown unable longer to accept the creed of his +church. Unhappy, unsettled, and adrift, not knowing where to turn for +help, by the merest "chance" he picked up on a railroad car a Cincinnati +paper, and his eye fell on the Women's Auxiliary Conference +advertisement. He wrote Miss Ellis a postal card, saying:-- + + "I have seen your notice in the 'Commercial,' offering Unitarian + papers and tracts free to persons who may desire to read them. I + must confess to more ignorance in regard to Unitarian doctrines + than is seemly in a minister of the gospel, and will be thankful + indeed if you will kindly favor me with such papers and tracts as + may enlighten me ever so little." + +Later he wrote:-- + + "You have helped me not a little in my search for truth. Before I + first wrote you for tracts, etc., I knew absolutely nothing of + Unitarianism beyond the term, and the fact that Unitarians did not + believe Christ to have been God." + +Miss Ellis corresponded with him from that time on, loaning many books, +etc. It was never her wish or aim to unsettle persons of a fixed faith. +She sought rather to reach and help those who, by reading and thinking, +had become dissatisfied with the only forms of religious faith known to +them, and were consequently drifting into scepticism. Mr. ----'s own +letters best tell the story. After Miss Ellis's death, he wrote Feb. +3,1886: + + "I had long been wondering why I did not hear from her, but + supposed that she found her time so engrossed with her chosen work + that she must defer writing until some more convenient season. She + had, it is true, hinted at her failing health, but I never dreamed + it was so bad. My first intimation of the real state of affairs was + the notice of her death. I need not say that I was startled, that I + regret our common loss; these are but feeble expressions. + + "Through all my life here at Cambridge I have been anticipating the + day when, returning West, I should meet her, and in some degree + thank her for the help and comfort she brought me in life. This has + become such a fixed idea with me, that it is hard to believe, as I + write this, that it can never be in this world. It seems very + strange that the one friend who did me such a supreme kindness in + life I shall never meet. + + "She was the very messenger of God to me, and is inseparably + associated with the most trying period of my life. The only + conceptions of religion I had ever had were proving unreal and + worthless, and no one offered anything as a substitute. As I look + back, the peril of my situation seems much greater than it did at + the time. I fear I should have become insincere, or, what is + perhaps almost as bad, should have fallen into a sort of despairing + scepticism. Heaven in mercy saved me from it; but I shall not + forget that even Heaven might not have found a way to do this, had + there been no Miss Ellis. It was but a little thing, a trifle, a + brief notice in a daily paper, that in some way caught a careless + reader's eye. But my whole life is changed in consequence. + + "And so, while you miss her in her place and in your work, in your + church and social life, I, too, here in New England miss her. I + feel as if something is gone out of my life and I have really one + less reason for returning West when my school work is done. But I + have if possible an additional incentive to a good life. I trust I + shall hear that your work is still going on successfully. I assure + you I shall never lose interest in your Mission, and shall never + cease to regard it as in some sense a home into which I was + adopted. I sincerely hope I shall never do it any discredit." + +In a letter to Mrs. Hunert, Miss Ellis's successor, he says:-- + + "Accept, please, my hearty congratulations, and my best wishes for + your very abundant success. It is a great work indeed, one that + cannot be easily over-estimated, and in which it seems to me you + can accomplish a minister's work even, and a very successful + minister's work at that. I wonder how large your congregation is + now; that is, how many persons are in communication with you and + your Mission. + + "Of Miss Ellis I shall always think as one of my greatest earthly + benefactors, and it will be a life-long regret that I never met + her.... I wish you would say to Mrs. Smith that I have by me here + in New England only the letters received from Miss Ellis since + coming to Harvard, and these I fear contain nothing she would like + to make use of. The really helpful letters, those that were of most + vital interest to me, were written while I was a Methodist preacher + in Ohio, and these are back there still, packed up among odds and + ends, and practically might almost as well be in the moon.... Again + accept my best wishes for your success in the new calling,--a + divine one in the truest sense of the word. I assure you I shall + always be glad to hear of the growth and success of your Mission, + all the more, perhaps, because I hold to it a sort of filial + relation. You know that in the Methodist Church each young convert + or young minister speaks of the minister under whose preaching he + was converted, as a spiritual father. So I think of myself now as + the spiritual child of your Women's Missionary Society in + Cincinnati. Would that Heaven might help me to be worthy of the + home, and justify in some sense their loving-kindness and help in + time of need." + +A gentleman in Kentucky, long a correspondent of Miss Ellis, who had +taken papers, bought many books, etc., through her, and who has recently +died, wrote of her, Jan. 22, 1886:-- + + "Many souls will miss the modest, unassuming, faithful secretary, + but her silent labors will be followed by a rich reward. Her + memorial is in the hearts and minds of those who were led through + her efforts to freedom, fellowship, and character, in religion." + +This correspondent was a farmer's wife in Ohio, who, after Miss Ellis's +death, wrote:-- + + "I have had much trouble in the last two years, and would have + given up to utter despair many times, if it had not been for her + kind letters and sermons. I made a confidential friend of her; so, + knowing my situation, she knew what sermons would serve most to + strengthen me, and sometimes she would come across sermons in + papers that she would cut out and send me. I have them yet, and + intend to paste them in a scrapbook. I thought of calling upon her + father to see if he had a picture that he would allow me to have a + copy from, so I am very glad her portrait will be in the book.... I + learned to _love_ Miss Ellis, and shall _never_ forget her." + +There was a little family of step-children living on a remote Ohio farm, +in whom Miss Ellis took a warm personal interest, advising as to their +religious training, sending them children's papers and books. "Miss +Ellis" came to be regarded as a dear friend by these children who never +saw her. March 16, 1885, she wrote to the mother:-- + + "Your letter was received a week since, but I have been sick three + weeks with a very severe cough and cold. Have been up and about, + but could not accomplish much of anything, and especially writing, + and still had much of it to do.... Wanted to advise you about the + Sunday-school lessons. Order the lessons of 'Home Life' from + Chicago at present, and then next, if you can, 'Corner-Stones of + Character;' but do not get the 'Old Testament Chart,' for I have + some very good lessons on the Old Testament that you will like and + can have immediately.... Am so sorry you have so much sadness to + contend against. However, you must feel that all your sacrifices + are known by the good Father in heaven; so to him turn in your hour + of need. There is a hymn Mr. Thayer often selects for our opening + on Sunday. We sang it last Sunday,--'Daily Consecration,' by + Caroline Mason. + + 'Oh God! I thank thee for each sight + Of beauty that thy hand doth give; + For sunny skies, and air, and light,-- + Oh God, I thank thee that I live! + + 'That life I consecrate to thee; + And ever, as the day is born, + On wings of joy my soul would flee + To thank thee for another morn: + + 'Another day in which to cast + Some silent deed of love abroad, + Which, greatening as it journeys past, + May do some earnest work for God. + + 'Another day to do, to dare; + To use anew my growing strength; + To arm my soul with faith and prayer, + And so win life and thee, at length.' + + "Let your first thoughts be turned to God in the morning, and in + the day's struggles believe that you are in his presence; and even + if your earthly life is not such as you may wish, you may rest + assured that your tears are counted above.... My own life is much + brighter than it was. My brother ---- has an only child, three and + a half years old, who is very cunning, and much company for us all. + On Friday I passed my semi-centennial birthday, which a number of + my friends kindly remembered.... I was not strong enough to enjoy + the occasion fully; but still on the whole it was a bright day to + me, and on Sunday I was glad Mr. Thayer selected the beautiful + hymn, 'Daily Consecration.' I am too weak to write longer.... May + God bless and strengthen you for your daily toils." + +On the envelopes of all these letters was written, "From my friend Miss +Ellis." To the oldest child, who was difficult to influence, Miss Ellis +addressed this letter:-- + + MY DEAR M----: I wonder if you ever had any one write a letter to + you, and whether you can read a letter yourself. If not, your + mamma will read it to you. She has told me that you are having a + little Sunday-school of your own at home, and I feel quite + interested in it, and am going to have two of the lessons sent to + your mamma from Chicago, hoping you three children will feel + interested in them. One is a very simple thing to learn,--"Rules to + make Home Pleasant;" and I hope you will all try to learn them, and + try to keep them in your daily life.... If children do not learn to + keep such rules, they never can have happy homes, for they will + grow up into ill-natured, lazy men and women. The other lesson is + called "Corner-Stones of Character," because it gives us true ideas + of what all children should learn in order to grow up into good, + truthful men and women.... Now I know you are studying together + Brown's "Life of Jesus," and these lessons I am to send you will + help you to understand better what Jesus did to make himself, with + God's help, become so good a man. I know, too, that you, M----, + have a copy of "Daily Praise and Prayer," which is a very good + book. It is pleasant to me as I read in mine to think that Mrs. + ---- and M---- are reading their lesson to-day, and I wonder if + they are thinking how beautiful it is, and that "Miss Ellis" and + many others are reading and asking God for the same goodness + to-day. It is so pleasant,--do you not think so?--to feel that our + good Father in heaven and all good, kind people are thinking of us + each day. It helps _us_ to be good, to know that others are trying + in the same way,--do you not think so? You are the oldest of the + three children, and I want to hear from you, that by studying our + Sunday-school lessons, and reading in sensible books, and playing + with well-behaved children, you are all becoming wiser and better, + and helping mamma and each other. I will also send you some verses + all the children in our Sunday-school learned one winter.... There + are many things I could talk to you about, but I must leave the + rest till another day. It will be sufficient for you to know that + some one on earth feels interested in your life at home, with a + kind mother to lead you so well.... I will say good-by now, and + hope you will learn to write to me. With love to all of you, very + kindly your friend. + +Miss Ellis corresponded frequently with a young man in Canada (living in +a city where, so far as known, he is the only Unitarian), beginning in +1882, and loaning him many books. He, too, was in a state of religious +doubt and despair, when chance threw the little advertisement in his +way. He intends to enter the Unitarian ministry, as is shown by the +following extracts from the correspondence. Miss Ellis wrote him Oct. +21, 1882:-- + + Monday afternoon I mailed "Religion in Evolution" to you, and I + have imagined you eagerly poring over the book this week in high + ecstasies.... To me James F. Clarke's views and Dr. Furness's seem + more just and reliable. But Dr. Clarke says, "What commends itself + best to our reason, must be the truth;" therefore Mr. Savage may + benefit you more. If he rouses you to a deep faith and makes you + truly Christian, that is the point to be gained. Should like to + have you compare James F. Clarke with Mr. Savage, on the Humanity + of Jesus and the Miracles and the Resurrection, particularly. + "Bible for Learners," Vol. III., takes the same view, about, of the + Miracles and Resurrection,--"myths and legends," "not an external + fact of history, but simply a form of belief assumed by the faith + of his friends and earliest disciples." James F. Clarke, in "Truths + and Errors of Orthodoxy," in the chapter Miracles, says, "The + resurrection may have been an example of a universal law." Dr. + Furness says: "Till men know all the laws of God it is rather + presumptuous in them to set the resurrection aside as an + impossibility." These are not his exact words; but the purport I + have quoted from memory. To return to Dr. Clarke.... [Then follows + a long extract from Clarke, which is omitted here.] Dr. Clarke's + view is the most likely and rational to me; but all the more + radical men take the view of the German critics, and look upon it + rather as "myths and legends" arising from a simple faith of the + disciples. The only way is to read for yourself and compare, + forming an opinion of your own, while remembering that Christianity + does not rest on a certain belief, but on the life. "What doth the + Lord thy God require of thee, but to do justly, love mercy, and + walk humbly with thy God," are the words of the prophet Micah. + James F. Clarke believes firmly in the simple, pure humanity of + Jesus, best shown in "Steps of Belief," under the "Historical + Christ." I have "Steps of Belief," "Truths and Errors of + Orthodoxy," also "Bible for Learners" and "Talks about Jesus" (M. + J. Savage), to loan you. You have only to say which you wish + first.... I am tired, and must rise early to be in the city in time + for Sunday-school, so I will tear off the paper here, or I shall go + on writing all night. Have more good sermons to send you. Wish you + could go to Boston, join the Young Men's Christian Union + (Unitarian), and be helped into what God means you and all to be, + by putting our faculties to the highest use we are capable of. + Hoping to hear further from you, + + Truly your friend, SARAH ELLIS. + + _Sunday Evening._ Our sermon to-day was on the "Effects of Modern + Scientific Thought upon the Essentials of Religion." If it is + published, will send you a copy of it.... I think the hymn will + meet your views, therefore copy it. Do you know it? + +The hymn referred to is the one, "God Ever Near," by T. H. Gill, +beginning:-- + + "What secret place, what distant star, + O Lord of all, is thine abode?" + +Miss Ellis copies it in full. In 1883 the young man wrote Miss Ellis:-- + + "A year ago I was in the dreariest stage of agnosticism. I was in + despair at times, and sometimes my very soul seemed to be in agony. + Through reading scientific literature I had been convinced that + most of the religious teaching I had learned was false. The + flippancy and shallowness of Ingersoll and his school disgusted me. + I could not find rest in materialism; I considered it as far astray + from the truth as Orthodoxy. I was nineteen years old, and found + myself facing the most tremendous problems of existence. I tried to + tell myself to wait for maturer years to solve them, and to a great + extent that satisfied me. But I still yearned for + _something_,--simply this: 'My soul cried out for the living God!' + Alas! I could not find him. I looked around me for a little + sympathy or a kind word even, but I looked in vain. Every Sunday I + heard denunciations of such views as mine. I heard a great deal of + 'blatant atheists,' 'infidel scientists,' etc., but no sympathy for + a despairing agnostic,--only scorn and ridicule. It pained me + intensely to be misunderstood by even those dearest to me on earth, + but I determined to stand firm for what I took to be the truth. Oh + for some men to preach a little charity for the views of others, + and to consider a man as not being necessarily worse than a + criminal because he cannot accept their own views! I owe you a + large debt of gratitude for being the means of lifting me out of a + state of misery and despair, in which I had no pleasure in life, + into a state of cheerfulness, happiness, hope, and peace; not + intellectual peace,--for I do not expect that,--but real 'soul + peace,' a calm trust and a real faith in a living God. I have been + surprised to see how largely Unitarian theology is based on + science. I owe it to science that my life is something more than + daily drudgery. The foundation of my scepticism was laid when I + learned the rudiments of natural philosophy in school. I was + astonished at what I read of Nature's wonders. Since leaving school + I have been an ardent reader of all kinds of scientific literature. + By means of the Mechanics' Institute I have the use of all the + magazines, reviews, etc., besides a splendid library. I have read a + great deal that I did not understand,--books which are beyond my + years; but I have a good idea of what is occupying the minds of the + world's thinkers in this nineteenth century. One of the best + lessons I have learned from the literature you have sent me is + faith,--a very different kind of faith from the mere credulity I + once knew by that name. At times I am dazed and confounded when I + think of the great mysteries surrounding us, especially of the + mysteries of death; but I feel that a good God is over all, and the + main thing is to do right, and all will be well. I cannot express + how much I owe you for the great good you have done me. You have my + heartfelt thanks." + +In another letter he wrote:-- + + "To say that I am delighted with 'The Religion of Evolution' is but + a poor way of expressing myself. You could not have sent me a more + timely book. I would like to get all of Mr. Savage's books. You + 'wish I could go to Boston,' etc. Ah! you do not know how I + sometimes yearn for some such thing myself. I find my great + pleasure and recreation in intellectual pursuits; and of course I + have not nearly so great advantages in a small city as I would have + in a large one. But for meditation and communion with the Infinite, + communion with Nature and the incomprehensible God, I must have + solitude. It was a favorite dream of my childhood that I would be a + minister. But I have to work in another way. My father died when I + was six years of age, and my mother therefore had a struggle to + give us an education,--that inestimable blessing of a common-school + education. I feel that the highest work for me is to support her to + the best of my ability.... I value highly the sermons you send me. + Most of our churches here offer one 'dry bones' instead of the + living truth. Do you know of any low-priced publication which would + give me a fair sketch of Theodore Parker's life and thought? I + would like to know something of him. I am greatly pleased with the + 'Register.' Mr. Savage's sermons are also a feast to me. The + sermons of J. F. Clarke you sent me in June have a ring about them + and a spirit in them that I find in few others." + +Miss Ellis wrote him, Dec. 29, 1883:-- + + Am glad to hear you have gained _something_ in the past year. Do + not be discouraged if you are not perfection at once. It takes + _years_ of struggle to become so. Read the lessons on "Patience," + in "Day unto Day," particularly "Jan. 9--Parsons." You are quite + young, remember, and there are many years for you to improve in, + "and room for improvement," as people always say.... I will not + allow _your_ want of time to keep me from writing you. It is my own + lack of time, and troublesome eyes. Have been very busy this + winter. Have a gentleman in Alabama who is becoming much interested + in Unitarian theology, and also one in Kentucky. It keeps my mind + at work to send just the right thing to each one. My eyes are + troubling me much this evening. Must close, to make some last + preparations for Sunday, as I have to start early in the morning to + be in time, and must also write a postal to a young nephew in + Philadelphia, who is very fond of me and remembered me Christmas + and always. Wishing you a bright, happy, and successful New Year, + in which all the ladies join me, with kind regards to your mother, + + Truly your friend, S. ELLIS. + + * * * * * + + APRIL 15, 1883. + + I must answer your question, "Why no denunciation of sin (by + Unitarians)?" In the New Hampshire "Statement of Belief" I first + sent you, if you still have it, you will find: "(4) In Human + Nature, as not ruined, but incomplete. Man is not fallen from a + primitive state of holiness, but is imperfectly developed. Being + imperfect, he is liable to sin.... _The essence of sin is the + failure of the higher nature of man to rule his lower nature._ + Human nature is made sacred by the indwelling presence of God. + Humanity is not tending downward, but is divinely guided from lower + to higher forms of moral and spiritual life." + + Starting from such a high ideal of man's nature,--that he is + created in the "image of God," and as found in the first chapter of + Genesis, I think, and in Psalms viii.: "Thou hast made him a little + lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with honor and + glory,"--we feel him capable of so much, that our ministers are too + busy talking concerning _being_ and _doing_ good to have any time + left for denunciation of sin. Our great concern is to raise man in + _every_ way. Teach him to be cheerful, looking _forward_ all the + time, moving onward and upward, and to find no opportunity to spend + in vain regrets,--only looking at his sins long enough to learn + lessons from the past, that he may avoid them in the future. Our + sins leave a deep stain that will affect us during our lifetime, + but the only way to overcome them is to be so engaged in right + doing that we rise above them. Now, do you not think this a far + higher way of converting men than by dwelling on their weaknesses? + Give the world something higher to do all the time, and they will + naturally rise to that level. We start from a higher standpoint + than the Orthodox, therefore our methods are very different. We + denounce sin by avoiding it whenever we come in contact with it, or + evil of any kind, and there is no more effectual way of overcoming + it. Do you not see why it is we have ceased to speak of it in + sermons? We are too busy with the good, the true, the beautiful, to + pay attention to the wickedness. Dr. Dewey wrote some stirring + sermons, on "Human Nature." The topic of one is, "On the Wrong + which Sin does to Human Nature;"--text from Prov. viii. 36: "He + that sinneth against me, wrongeth his own soul." That was the + former way of dealing with and denouncing sin; but the later way + is, to take care always to place the better in people's way, and + the sins will fall behind. Think you not so? + + * * * * * + + JANUARY 6, 1883. + + ... We sometimes strain at _words_ when in reality we agree with + others. If we would only remember to strive to discover wherein we + agree, and not always be looking for divergence of opinion, there + would be more of practical piety in the world. Let us open our eyes + to the fact that _all_ denominations endeavor to make men better, + though they differ in methods; and see to it that we ourselves are + true to the highest and best as far as we know it, and the kingdom + of God will be hastened in everywhere. Do right for its own sake, + and not from fear or hope of punishment or reward. Let me give you + a hymn we sang after the sermon last Sunday. The subject was, "This + life: why we are in it, and what we have a right to expect of it." + The hymn is one of Rev. Samuel Longfellow's, "Life's Mission:"-- + + "Go forth to life, O child of earth! + Still mindful of thy heavenly birth." + + [The whole hymn is copied] ... Methinks if one lives up to such a + mission he will be none the less Christian than if he can accept + the dogmas of churches. + +He had consulted her about the propriety of his contributing to the +support of the Methodist church when he no longer accepted its +doctrines. She wrote in reply, Oct. 6, 1884:-- + + ... "There are two precepts which come to my mind when I am + perplexed as to what to do, which I will mention: 'What doth the + Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk + humbly with thy God?' (Micah vi. 8). The other: 'If ye have not the + spirit of Christ, ye are none of his,'-- from the epistles, but + can't recall it just now. If you conclude to contribute to the + Methodist church, you could tell Mr. B---- what your intention had + been, and how I reasoned upon the subject. However, act just as you + come to the conclusion. The thing is to do as you believe to be + just. I should think the church I attended had the first claim upon + me. 'Duty before pleasure' is true in any church. Am glad you think + so well of Unitarianism, and hope you may be able to work heartily + with us some day. Only be patient." + + * * * * * + + JUNE 7, 1884. + + You speak of the "loneliness" of the position you are taking, and I + felt glad to find you so firm in the step you are taking.... It + will be a position full of self-denial many times, but on the + other hand will bring its own rich rewards, known only to the true + minister of God. To encourage you in the many hours of + discouragement, I advise Dr. Furness's sermon on the "Solitude of + Christ," in "Register" of May 8,1884, I think, which I believe has + been sent you, but if not, will hunt it up and send it to you; and + besides that, the words of Jesus: "He that hath put his hand to the + plough and looketh back, is not worthy of me;" therefore have + firmly fixed in your mind the glorious hymn by Rev. Samuel Johnson, + "The Conflict of Life." + +The whole five verses of this hymn are then copied, followed by the +whole of Watts's + + "Awake, our souls; away, our fears,-- + Let every trembling thought be gone;" + +and Doddridge's + + "Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve, + And press with vigor on!" + +Miss Ellis saying, at the end, "I have copied these, for they have more +weight when written by those we know." + + JULY 5, 1884. + + ... I will permit you to "unburden yourself" with as many pages as + you see fit, at any time you feel disposed to do so, and promise + not to be "bored." I, in my deafness, understand what it is to feel + so utterly alone, though surrounded by dear, old, and tried + friends. This lack of one congenial person or thing no one can + appreciate but those who have experienced.... Remember, _opinions_ + separate us, but kindly deeds and affection draw us close to one + another; and so pursue your studies patiently, striving to make + yourself the kind of man you think one ought to be, and in + attending church do it in the spirit of Jesus,--with the feeling of + worshipping God, and cast aside all other feeling, knowing that + those around you are doing what they feel to be best. Leave it to + the Good Father to judge them, and in time to help them to see + differently. We are judged by living up to the highest and best we + know, and if others have not been so far enlightened as we, or have + not been moved by the Spirit to seek higher light and truth, we + must work in patience and leave them in the hands of God.... Only + be true to your own convictions, and you will lead them by example + rather than precept, unconsciously to them. Work on patiently, and + God's promises will not fail you. It is a slow process to overcome + one's many failures; but we shall come out conquerors at the last + if we only will, and are earnest in our endeavors.... After two + weeks our churches will close for the summer, but _my_ congregation + will still be ministered to. I go to the church during vacation + every two weeks to lend books to any who desire them. + + * * * * * + + NOVEMBER 16, 1884. + + I feel for you greatly in your isolation; but comfort yourself in + the thought that the generality of Unitarian ministers are cut off + from all companionship with ministers of other denominations where + they are settled, and are seldom permitted to enter into charities, + where they are, with other ministers. It has been the case ever + since the days of Jesus, that those who really hold his views are + separated from others in the community. But as you say, and many + more say, "if we have God alone, that is enough." I cannot consider + myself a "theist" entirely, but might call myself a "Christian + theist." I have come to know God as manifested through Jesus, but + have as much respect for those who do as Jesus did, and who have as + firm a trust in the Father as Jesus had. Think that is what Jesus + taught, and labored to have no man worship him. "There is none good + but One," he said; "why callest thou me good?" Though I value + Jesus, I do not worship him, or feel that he is my support in life. + I only look to him in difficulties and trials to show me the way to + the Father. I ask to worship and to live in his spirit and so gain + strength from the Father wherewith to do. You and others look more + to men of later date, who have learned from others nearer to them; + but if we trace it all back to the beginning, we will find it is + Jesus' spirit working through them. So one and all, whoever they + are, wherever found, who have the spirit of Christ, are the sons of + God, whether they call themselves merely theists, or Christian + theists, it seems to me. George Eliot was truly religious, though + perhaps not a Christian in the common acceptation. + + * * * * * + + DECEMBER 27, 1884. + + I do not know as I "have ever realized the depths of absolute + negations," but I have realized the depths of absolute solitude, + and can sympathize with you in your loneliness, and "think it a + good thing to keep the Eternal and Infinite always in view, and so + love quiet, solitude, and meditation. They strengthen me to do my + work in life." Do not despair, then, if you are despondent at + times. Every one is, and it is good for us to some extent to be + disgusted with ourselves; it makes us know ourselves. "The dark + hours of life bring us nearer to our fellow-men, help us to know + ourselves and bring us nearer to God." God has put these + questionings into you for some wise purpose. Be true to your + highest and best self, and work them out by degrees. But remember + you are young yet, and there is time for you to solve all these + mysteries in. Do not try to solve all the great questions of life + at once. Be patient, and do not brood too much. Meditation and + solitude are good, but try to mingle somewhat with those around + you. See God in the world about you, as well as in the stars. I + would like to dwell longer upon your letter, but perhaps I shall + bring you out of doubt by giving you something to do. [She then + proposes a bit of work for him to undertake.] ... Our doubts and + mysteries are solved sometimes by setting to work on things we are + pondering over. + +He wrote Miss Ellis, Aug. 24, 1885:-- + + "A shadow has come across my way of late,--a great disappointment. + I think I mentioned it to you before. A doctor, an acquaintance of + mine, has often told me that I studied and read too much.... It is + hard for me to realize this, but he insists on a year's rest from + study. This will postpone my entrance to Meadville for two years, I + fear. I confess to great disappointment over this. I will be past + twenty-five when I get to Meadville; and yet there is another side. + I have often questioned my fitness for this great work. I wish to + be cautious. I do believe that I have a noble gospel to preach. 'To + preach,'--but first to live it. And, in shame I confess it, I have + not lived it. It will therefore be a good thing if in these two + years I give myself to growth in manhood. But enough of this. These + matters must be dealt with in the closet,--the soul's closet.... + After my taste of Montreal fellowship I am sick with loneliness + here. It is fearful, at times, this longing for one friend even, + and finding none. But it must be borne without grumbling. And now I + must stop. The doctor would object to even this light piece of + writing. Thank you kindly for sending me the 'Register' and + 'Unity.' It is very good of you to look after me so much. Be + assured that your kindness is giving great encouragement to a + lonely one who, amid much opposition and misunderstanding from his + dearest ones, is making at least a _little_ honest effort to be + true to himself and God. I would that I were fully faithful; but it + is not so. Still I think your seed will yet bear fruit, and spring + up in a life devoted to the uplifting of mankind. My deepest + prayer is for this. I trust your health will improve. Still more do + I trust that you may continue to grow nearer God, and help others + to do so, as you have helped me." + +Miss Ellis replied, Aug. 30, 1885:-- + + "... I have neglected you of late, thinking you were soon to go to + Meadville, and that you were busy. We are sorry to hear of your + great disappointment. It is a disappointment to us as well, + particularly to me. However, we need the reverses and crosses of + life as much as the air we breathe, to strengthen our characters. + You have pushed yourself so hard with business and studies the past + two years, that you have not taken time to view the life around you + in the right light. Let the next two years be given principally to + building up your character individually and socially, and to + improving your health, as one of the first requisites of a minister + is a sound mind and a healthy body. Be social; take life + cheerfully; make those about you better for your company; and + mingle freely with your family and best friends, showing them you + are practising Unitarianism. Yes; make these two coming years tell + as a preparation for college in another way, and let them prove a + blessing to you, though a disappointment at first. Did you read + Rev. E. E. Hale's 'Methods,' in 'Register' a few weeks since? This + week's 'Register' contains an excellent sermon by Rev. John + Clifford on 'Spiritual Building.' Have a home worship of your own + sometimes. During the vacation, every Sunday I have had a regular + worship. For instance, to-day I read for sermon, 'Spiritual + Building;' opening hymn, 'Come, Thou Almighty, help us to praise;' + 'Scriptures Old and New' (a compilation by Mr. Forbush and Mr. + Hosmer, from all religions, and an excellent thing to have), Lesson + 27,--'The Kingdom within us;' prayer, followed by Scripture lesson, + Galatians iii., from which is taken text; then Wesley's hymn, 'The + whole armor of God;' sermon; closing hymn, Doddridge's 'Awake, my + soul, stretch every nerve,' etc. Have been interested during the + vacation in looking over Gannett's 'Childhood of Jesus' and + Carpenter's 'Palestine when Jesus lived.' Also bought 'Selections + from the Apocrypha,' compiled by Mrs. Tileston, who compiled 'Daily + Strength.' Readings from the Apocrypha are so common in Unitarian + pulpits now, that it is well to be familiar with the best portions. + Am not able to do much reading now. Am physically too weak. Never + was able to use my brain to its full extent,--feeble and nervous + all my life, but active otherwise." + +Miss Ellis's last letter to him was written but little more than a month +before her death, when in the utmost weakness herself; but to this she +makes no allusion. It was a letter of consolation in bereavement, from +which this is an extract:-- + + NOVEMBER 18, 1885. + + ... The only way to reconcile ourselves to our sorrows is to think + of those who are worse off than ourselves. It makes us less + inclined to murmur in our own sadness. It is good for us to bear + the cross. If things were always as we would have them, many + virtues would never be developed. There are so many comforting + pieces in "Sunshine in the Soul." Some I marked for a former + correspondent. Mr. Thayer read for his Scripture lesson last + Sunday, Job. iv. 5; and v. 6-11; 17 to end. I have no doubt your + sister knows many comforting passages; but the real comfort is + found in keeping ourselves busy for others, while at the same time + we lean and trust in God to give us peace of soul. We find it in + time as we go on patiently doing the duty just before us, and + loving the blessings which remain to us. + +One of Miss Ellis's last thoughts was for this correspondent. When +hardly able to speak, she requested a special "Register" sent to him. It +was sent, and a postal card informing him of her condition. He +replied:-- + + DECEMBER 25, 1885. + + Your card came to me this morning. I am shocked at its sad message. + I was not in the least prepared for it. It seems to hold out no + hope. Though I have never seen Miss Ellis, she has been to me for + over three years a close friend. And now I must lose her + friendship, and her kind encouraging letters! But I am not + intending to complain of loss, but rather to be thankful for the + help I have received from her. I shall now have another motive to + work on, to be more faithful in life. That motive shall be the + memory of Miss Ellis's self-sacrificing life. I have a large + package of her letters which will be more valued now than ever + before. I do trust her work will go on; it ought to certainly. If I + can help I will gladly do so. + +Later, he wrote in reply to a letter announcing her death:-- + + JANUARY 1, 1886. + + I was very glad to hear a little of our dear friend who spends this + happy New Year's Day freed from all ills of the body. I can hardly + realize that she is gone. She never gave me a hint that she was + seriously ill, but always spoke cheerfully. It is such a short time + ago that I wrote to her as usual, not having the remotest thought + that she would never answer my letter. Her last letters to me are + dated Nov. 6 and 18, and, singularly enough, are almost entirely + taken up with remarks upon death and affliction. Not a word of + herself, however.... + + Miss Ellis wrote me two letters full of kindness and sympathy, and + sending cheering words to my sister; for she wrote, "Though I don't + know her, I feel deeply for her." It really is hardly possible to + estimate the influence, both direct and indirect, which Miss Ellis + has had upon my life. It is a very long story, this of my inquiries + in religious matters. I have always looked forward to the day when + I should see our friend and speak to her of it, and make some + expression of my gratitude to her. But it is not to be,--not in + this life, at least. Hereafter her letters shall be a source of + constant encouragement to me. I have them all, and glad I am of it, + for through them she will yet speak to me. I often wished to have a + photograph of her, and I am very sorry now that I too long + hesitated to take the first step in making a mutual exchange. Often + when weary through the day's work I have been cheered by her kind + letters. But this is only one limited instance of her influence. + For years I went to my daily work sad and heavy of heart because + life was aimless, almost dead. By the printed page Miss Ellis + showed me God,--God living, working, right here now, daily + surrounding me and all men. And lo! life has an aim, is full of + beauty and goodness and joy.... All this I owe to her. + +In response to a request for letters, he wrote: + + FEBRUARY 14, 1886. + + In your card you speak of a book. I hope the pamphlet will grow + into a book. I was delighted to hear that it will contain a + portrait, for that will be just what I wish for. The letters I + sent, I had to just pick out hurriedly, as I had very little time. + If I had had more time, I might have made a better selection. I + will vouch for their quality, however. I have post cards + innumerable from her. Then again, once, when I was having a sore + mental struggle over the philosophy of prayer, in answer to my + inquiries Miss Ellis wrote out for me the greater part of Mr. + Chadwick's sermon on "Prayer," in his "Faith of Reason." This I + mention as one out of many instances of such work. She never tired + of trying to aid me. I sent you the last letter I received from + her, never having a thought, at the time I received it, of its + being the _last_ one. Perhaps Miss Ellis is aware of all this + afterglow, as you so well call it. I hope so. I believe so. How it + must gratify her to know what she accomplished! + + In looking over these letters I am very forcibly reminded of the + last few years.... As you may suppose, Miss Ellis is much in my + thoughts. I looked forward to meeting her some day, and making + grateful acknowledgment of her influence for good on me. I would + not hide from you that I often regret that it is not to be so. But + every other thought is swallowed up in gratitude for her life and + for our meeting together. + +The following is Miss Ellis's first letter from a farmer's wife a dozen +miles out of Cincinnati, who has this winter become a member of the +Women's Auxiliary Conference, and wishes, with her daughter, to join the +church:-- + + "I have frequently seen the item in the Sunday's paper offering + Unitarian reading to those who wish it, and have as often + determined to avail myself of the opportunity, but have so far + neglected it. I will say that I have been for a long time somewhat + of a Unitarian, without being sufficiently informed in the belief + openly to declare myself one. I would ask you to teach me from the + beginning the doctrines, so that I can understand and feel a safety + in embracing them. I have a daughter who will avail herself with me + of your kind offer. You are to be our teacher in the matter of + selecting the reading, and I will gladly pay postage on all books + sent." + +As such teacher Miss Ellis acted ever after. She wrote in reply, Jan. 1, +1884:-- + + Was very glad to receive your letter to-day, and hope I may prove a + successful "teacher." Have always been a Unitarian, as my father + was among the first subscribers to the church, when it was + established in 1830.... Have sent you by this same mail three + tracts pertaining to our doctrines. Shall be glad to give you and + your daughter a weekly Sunday-school lesson for several weeks. + Began with statements of doctrine and Channing's famous Discourse. + On the list sent have numbered other tracts in the order in which I + shall send them,--leading you from Channing to Brigham and J. F. + Clarke, showing an advance in thought up to Mr. Wendte's tract, + "What Do Unitarians Believe?" which represents Unitarianism as held + by the _young_ men of the present time; and after you read these + tracts, if you wish more doctrine, will mention some books we can + loan you by mail. With the tracts will also send the "Christian + Register," where you will see our principles carried out. It is a + very interesting, able paper. Perhaps after you have examined a + few copies you may like to become a subscriber to it. I usually + spend Mondays mailing papers to our correspondents, though they do + not all get off till about Wednesday. They will be in time for a + Sunday lesson, however, and I hope you may find some neighbors to + join you in your study. Hoping this is a beginning of another good + work for us, and to hear from you further, + + Respectfully yours, SARAH ELLIS. + + * * * * * + + JANUARY 26, 1884. + + This leads me to your question, "What do you do with the Immaculate + Conception? Why was that way employed to compel people to accept + the divinity of Christ?" Ask as many questions as you please, and I + will answer them in letter, or send some sermon or tract to throw + light on the subject to you. Monday, will mail to you "The + Incarnation," by Rev. J. W. Chadwick, wherein you will see that + many of the doctrines of the early times were invented by the men + of the day to suit some purpose of their own. Will shortly send you + a lesson paper by Rev. William C. Gannett, of St. Paul, Minn., on + "The Christmas Story and the Christmas Fact." These stories or + "legends" concerning Jesus were written some time after his death. + "Bible for Learners" says--[Here is copied a long extract.] I have + said enough to let you know that we do not accept these "legends" + as literal truth; and you will understand, from "The Incarnation," + that Jesus was not miraculously born any more than we all are. + Jesus never claimed it for himself, as you will find as you read + what I send you from time to time. It was a doctrine created by the + Church to suit later days. I was glad to have you speak freely of + yourself, and hope that we may make religion, the Bible, and Jesus, + natural, simple, true, and beautiful to you and your + daughter,--something that you can take hold of and live out in your + daily lives, and be thankful that you _live_. Hoping that you may + have further questions to ask, and wish to borrow books on subjects + of interest to you, + + Very truly your friend, S. ELLIS. + + There is a book that will throw much light on your question + concerning the early view of Christ, "Orthodoxy and Heresy," by + Rev. E. H. Hall. We have it to loan. + + * * * * * + + MARCH 13, 1884. + + It is with pleasure I sit down to reply to your last letter, and it + has only been from total inability that you have had to wait so + long. I wanted to sit down immediately to send you a few + sympathetic words, for your life must have been very similar to my + own. The best comfort for us is, to say to ourselves, Are not many, + _many_ others carrying the same burdens, disappointments, and toils + as we? How do they bear them, and where do they get their patience + and strength from? Only from studying the words and lives of those + who have had similar trials to bear; and no one bore the cross + better than He to whom the whole world has looked as a guide. + Therefore though you fall and fail often, be not in despair. All + you need is some one to speak with you who sympathizes with you; + and though they may not lighten your burden or change your + circumstances, they will lighten your heart and make the whole + world seem different to you, and full of work to be done, that will + take your thoughts out from beyond your own home, and yet at the + same time only make that all the more precious to you and just the + place you ought to be in. Am not fond of the country myself. Have + always lived in the city, and prefer to be surrounded by people and + life rather than trees and quiet of the country; still, I love to + visit in the country for a short time.... You ask how you can best + prepare yourself to become a member of our church. I sent you the + church programme, and Mr. Thayer says there, "Those who present + themselves in an earnest spirit,"--an earnest spirit to do all the + good you can, in every way, at home and to the world. It is + _character_, and _not_ belief, which makes the true Christian. And + if our conscience is right before God, let man say what he will; if + we are only sure ourselves we are doing our best according to our + circumstances and our health; if our motives are pure and our + conscience clear,--we shall feel a pleasure in joining in a + Communion service, though one can be a member of our church if not + a communicant. There are several books I wish to recommend to you. + The first is a great help to inward strength, and is a gem of a + book, "Day unto Day," which consists of a passage or two from the + Scriptures, a selection from poetry, and one from writers, for + every day in the year.... The whole book is full of selections + which fit the needs of every day. I have two copies, and will loan + you one copy with passages I have marked as read, and which has + benefited several of my correspondents.... Another great help to a + good life is Merriam's "Way of Life." "Theodore Parker's Prayers" I + can loan you too. Since I wrote you, have had presented to our + library Sunderland's "What is the Bible?" shorter than "Bible for + Learners," and on the whole better to read first. I subscribed for + the Sunday-school lessons on "The Life of Jesus," so any time you + are welcome to it. You will understand from what I have written, + that to strengthen the inner man is a good preparation for anything + and anywhere; and you will find a great deal among our books, and + in our papers, and in our religion, to help you and make life a + blessing, though under unfavorable circumstances, and enable you to + have the spirit and faith _of_ Jesus, if not so much _in_ Jesus, + which the Orthodox make most emphatic. + +The following letter was written June 27, 1885. The unusual allusions to +her own health are evidently in sympathy with the correspondent, who had +written of ill health and heavy burdens to bear. + + "I have been most useless since the middle of February; but, weak + as I am, I have insisted on staying out of bed, waiting on myself, + and keeping my room in order, even to sweeping it, and keeping up + my missionary work slowly. I do dislike to be nursed and a care to + people. Sometimes it seems impossible for me to get dressed for my + breakfast, and it takes me about one hour and a quarter, I am so + weak. Last Sunday I could not get to church; but I spent the day in + resting,--spiritual rest. I had a service at home,--the responsive + service, the three hymns, the Scripture lesson, and read one of J. + F. Clarke's sermons, which I sent to another who needed consoling. + There is a favorite hymn of mine, which I will write out for you. + We often sing it for an opening hymn. [The hymn "Daily + Consecration," by Caroline Mason, is here copied in full.] Excuse + the mistakes, for I have written it from memory. Work on, dear + friend, just where you are, and feel that there you are casting + silent deeds of love which no one knows but the good Father above, + but that they are none the less earnest work in his service.... + Every other Saturday A. M. I go to the church to do up papers for + the Workhouse. Was there _this_ morning. Take heart, good friend, + and feel that nothing you do is lost, and that sometime your labor + will be appreciated. I must not write longer, for I want to attend + church to-morrow. They miss me when I am not at my post." + +Another letter of this summer reads:-- + + MY DEAR FRIEND,--Your letter was duly received, and I wanted to + answer it immediately, but have been too weak to write _comforting_ + letters. + + Am so sorry to hear you are still sick, and wish I could help you. + Am still more sorry to hear you are "dreading" the summer; but I do + not wonder at it, for on a farm the labor required by the women in + the house must be incessant.... I cannot take the burden off your + shoulders; but perhaps a word of sympathy from another, and + something from her experience, may enable you to face the + difficulties.... My experience has been that when anticipating a + hard time, if I only accept it, and make up my mind that it _has_ to + be my part, half the burden is taken off, if I determine to go + through with it all, giving myself up to that work and thinking of + nothing beyond in the mean time. Take all the rest I can get, + instead of trying to do something else too. Rest will do you more + good than company or books, when you are so used up with real hard + work. Women all try to attend to too much outside of their + households, for the sake of company and variety; do you not think + so? Now, just take things as quietly as you can this summer, and + feel that in your home duties you have more than you can do, and + look forward to the time when summer will be over and you will have + less care. + +After her death, the lady wrote:-- + + "I sent my letter to her home by a messenger who reported that he + understood at the door, as he handed it to the person who answered + the bell, that Miss Ellis was dead. I hoped that he was mistaken, + but your letter confirmed it. I knew she was very feeble. She + wrote me some two weeks before Christmas, saying she was very weak; + but I did not think for one moment that she was in danger, or I + would have hurried to see her. I shall miss her greatly, and her + dear letters to me, which I prized so highly; and you, who saw more + of her than I could possibly, will feel her loss greatly. I believe + there are few persons capable of entering so entirely into sympathy + with others who needed it as she was, and of giving such + consolation; at least, it has not been my good fortune to meet many + such. I will be glad to receive the memorial of which you speak. I + shall be very glad if your minister would write me on the subject + of joining the church, as I was depending on Miss Ellis to guide me + in the matter, which she was ready to do one year or more ago." + +In 1884 Miss Ellis received the following letter from a young man, Mr. +A. J. Beach, who had been one of her discouragements, because, after +some correspondence, she had ceased to hear from him. Mr. Beach was +usher in the State Penitentiary at Joliet, Ill. + + "More than a year ago I wrote to thank you for papers which you had + kindly sent me. In answer, you sent me a very kind letter, and + named several books which I might read with profit. I procured a + number of Rev. James Freeman Clarke's works, which I read + carefully, and from which I gathered much of great value. I also + subscribed to two of the papers you named, to which I have become + so much attached that I could not possibly do without them.... Your + letter led me to a course of reading and investigation that has + proved a sun-burst to me. I have been in darkness. I am out of it + now. I am connected with the State Prison (as usher), not the + pleasantest position in the world; but I have tried to show many of + the poor convicts the better way of life, and to cheer them by kind + words and a showing of real interest in their unfortunate + condition, and I believe I have succeeded in making lighter many a + poor friendless fellow's load...." + +The following extracts are from others of his letters:-- + + "I have read the sermons, and have handed them to a very + intelligent prisoner, who has become greatly interested in + Unitarian teachings, and requested him to pass the documents to + others, after reading them. He will do so, and will see that they + are kept moving. I am glad you are taking so much interest in our + prison. There is much need of genuine kindness here, and it cannot + be better shown than in a true and apparent desire to raise the + unfortunates to a higher plane of thought and action. These men and + women are in a sense left to themselves. They are not permitted to + talk to each other. They pass long hours in their cells either + reading or thinking. Is it not the very time to get them started + thinking in the right direction? You say, We shall write to the + Secretary of the Women's Auxiliary Conference in Boston, ... and + interest them in the Joliet prison. This is good news. The Post + Office Mission is truly a grand mission, and is doing more good + than you may think of." + +The next letter says:-- + + "The papers and tracts you have been kind enough to send me have + been given to prisoners, and they have been passed from hand to + hand until literally worn out. There are a great many very + intelligent men among the fifteen hundred and fifty convicts now in + our prison, and they (or many of them, at least) are very glad to + get such papers and tracts as you have sent me; and I am only too + glad to place such reading matter in their hands. You asked if old + 'Registers' and 'Unities' would do any good. They would be + thankfully received by many of the unfortunate men, and would be + carefully read by them. Reading is one of the very few privileges + granted convicts.... I to-day received from Mrs. Thacher, of + Boston, a bill of lading for two barrels of papers and magazines + shipped for distribution among prisoners; also a kind and very + interesting letter from Mrs. Thacher,--for all of which I am + indebted to you. I am glad, indeed, Unitarian people understand + that convicts want and appreciate something more in reading matter + than chilling tracts. We are constantly receiving for distribution + the strongest kind of Orthodoxy, but the prisoners do not seem to + take kindly to it.... An old colored man, who was sent here eleven + years ago under life sentence, said to me yesterday, 'I tell yo', + sah, it seems mighty ha'd to sarve in hell all yo' life in dis + place, an' den have to take it for sartin' su'ah in de nex' worl'.' + He seemed to think that a sentence to the penitentiary was merely + carrying out a part of the divine plan; in other words, he was + foreordained to eternal suffering, and has got eleven years on his + way.... We found the books and papers to be all that could be + desired, and have taken great pleasure in distributing them.... + Could you have heard the genuine thankfulness expressed by the + unfortunate prisoners as I passed along the galleries distributing + the reading matter, you surely would have felt amply repaid for + interesting yourself in them.... Many said, 'God bless the ladies + who thought of us!' with an earnestness and sincerity which + indicated clearly to me that they felt and appreciated the kindness + and the motives of the donors. My experience among convicts has + convinced me that kindness shown toward them is never wasted. There + are in this prison several noted criminals,--men who have the + reputation of being brutal desperadoes,--with whom I have + frequently talked, and have invariably found to be easily touched + by a kind word and act." + +Last June Mr. Beach dropped dead in a Chicago depot while on his way +home. It seems proper to copy here portions of a letter written to his +family by the chaplain of the prison. + + JUNE 30, 1885. + + ... As we roomed together, I was with him more than any one else; + and when not otherwise engaged, we read and talked together.... We + were very frank with each other, and last Sabbath eve we had a long + talk on religion. The reaction from a Calvinistic faith had + evidently left him somewhat adrift. We talked of the cramping of + creeds on the one hand, and the tendency on the other hand of + (so-called) Liberal views to produce loose morals, etc. He dwelt on + the fact that the perceptions of the mind were so much in advance + of the inclinations of the heart, that men knew better than they + did; adding, "Oh, I have often come so near to the wonderful + process by which bad men are made good!" I reminded him that Paul + said, "It is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy + heart,"--dwelling at length on the whole argument in Romans x. 6 to + 13 inclusive. I remarked that my habit of urging these views + earnestly for forty-four years might have become obtrusive; but he + answered: "No; if these things are worth anything, they are worth + everything. If duty here affects destiny there, these are matters + of primary and not secondary consideration." Little did I think + then that in twelve brief hours he would know their reality better + than I possibly could. In saying good-by [the chaplain adds], he + said he would write soon, was glad he had ever known me, but feared + he _would not see me again_; then walked off feebly but cheerfully + with ----, who carried his satchel, and to whom he was much + attached--though a colored convict, yet much of a man. At 7:30 A. + M. he went with Mr. L----, our purchasing agent, with whom he + talked freely _en route_ to Chicago, who carried his satchel, + helped him up the stairs in the depot, and at whose feet he + suddenly dropped dead. A physician was called at once, but + paralysis of the heart had stopped the wheel of life.... The boys + here loved him _much_. B----, a special friend, gave him a pretty + onyx cross for his little niece. I think he put it in his pocket. + Some Boston ladies sent him several boxes of pamphlets and books + for the library, advising him to keep certain volumes himself, and + I hoped he had written his name in them or set them aside; yet + C---- (colored) and T. J. D----, who aided him in the library (and + mourn him as a brother) think he read the volumes they recommended, + but made no further claim on them. Some prison employees, like some + physicians, find their sympathies decrease by constant use. _He_ + was not so; for there was not a drop of tyranny or despotism in his + blood, and any one who used power simply to oppress another was + beneath his contempt. He could consistently say to the Recording + Angel, "Mark me as one who loves my fellow-men." Oh! had I known + all he probably meant when he said so tenderly at parting, "I fear + we will not meet again," I would have followed out the impulse of + my heart, clasped him in my arms, and then have said (as I did), + "Yes, we will meet in heaven!" + +The following extracts are from Miss Ellis's letters to Beach:-- + + DECEMBER 23, 1884. + + Your letter was received last Saturday afternoon, and was quite + encouraging to us, for we may do some good work in the prison with + one who feels interested with us. Your letter was particularly + welcome, as the same morning came a letter from Mrs. J. I. W. + Thacher, Secretary of the Women's Auxiliary Conference of Boston, + who responded promptly and satisfactorily to my letter, though she + was sick in bed. After the hurry of Christmas is over, they will + send you two barrels of literature,--"Registers," "Harpers," + "Centuries," "Atlantics," and some few other materials. I feel as + if this will be "good news" to you. Yes; it is a good time to turn + the minds of the men, women, and boys in the right direction. "A + little kindness" and good advice may help some of the poor + creatures to a better life. Think Orthodoxy takes a wrong + starting-point in teaching one that he is "totally depraved," and + that he must wait for a sudden conversion in order to become good. + I feel as if Unitarianism is the better way, upholding that we are + "not totally depraved, but incompletely developed," and that our + salvation depends greatly upon individual responsibility. That we + have it within ourselves to become what God intended we should be, + and what was possible with Jesus is with us,--that we may become + "sons of God" as he was. We are not to "shift the responsibility + off on to some one else," as M. J. Savage says. These poor + creatures must be taught that the sin is greatly on their own + shoulders, and they are capable of overcoming if they only will. + Mr. Savage's closing sentence is fine,--"Not to do wrong, one must + develop in himself the ability of magnificent self-control!" That + is the starting-point of many of life's failures,--lack of + self-control. Teach these poor creatures that lesson, and some + trade by which they can support themselves when they leave the + prison. You wrote us word you subscribed to two of our papers. I + take it for granted they are the "Register" and "Unity." If so, + will call your attention to a review of a book on "Prison Reform," + in "Unity," Dec. 16, 1884. I sent you yesterday a tract, "Unitarian + Belief in Bible Language," marking several passages which I thought + might rouse some of the poor men and women and _boys_ (it is the + _young_ we must work on, and see to it that we are making better + men and women for the future) to a truer view of what sin is; also, + "Wrestling and Blessing," by Rev. William C. Gannett. His first + section, on "Inherited Burden," is capital, showing that in spite + of it we may come off "conquerors." The whole of the tract is + good.... Hoping we may continue to aid you in the prison work, and + with the good wishes of the season from the Women's Auxiliary + Conference to you and all prison-workers and inmates, + + Cordially yours, S. ELLIS. + + * * * * * + + FEBRUARY 5, 1885. + + If we can only make men feel their bodies are temples of the Holy + Spirit, which they have of God, and that they are not their own, + and that in sinning they disgrace this holy temple, it seems to me + that there would be less crime in the world. It is the divine in + their own souls they defile. There has been a tract of Unitarian + hymns published. I will send you a copy next week, hoping that some + of our beautiful hymns may cheer the poor benighted prisoners.... I + have had people say to me, "The Unitarian faith does very well to + live by daily; but when you are in trouble, or your friends die, if + you do not believe in the Trinity, what have you to comfort you?" + My reply is, "We have God, from whom Jesus received _his_ strength. + We have the faith _of_ Jesus, and not so much faith _in_ Jesus. We + can trust _God_ to help us in our hour of need; and if we have + sinned we know _He_ is ready and willing to pardon us. We know that + to live truly in this life will secure us happiness in the world to + come; and that while we are here there is time to repent and do + good, and we would not wish to feel that it was necessary for a + perfect being to die to spare us from our sins. We had rather + suffer on, if we have done the wrong, than see some one else suffer + for us." + +On receiving the news of Mr. Beach's sudden death in July, 1885, Miss +Ellis wrote to his sister: + + "... I was much shocked and very sorry to hear the news your + letter, which was received this morning, contained, but was much + obliged to you for speaking so plainly of your dear brother, for I + was much interested in him. Not only I, but _all_ of our little + Women's Auxiliary Conference, and also the ladies of the Auxiliary + Conference in Boston. He was a noble fellow, and doing much good + there in the Joliet prison. I hope to transfer my esteem and + respect for him to his family in remembrance of him. How little it + ever occurred to me, when I wrote the letter to him on the 20th, + that the dear fellow was safe in his heavenly home. I am sure he + deserved a high place with the dear ones above, in whatever faith + he died. He used to write us such good, interesting letters, both + here and to Boston. We were always glad to get them.... I never + have known to what church he and his family belong, but have + imagined the Presbyterian.... What church do you attend, and how + old was Andrew? I am old enough to be his mother, I suspect, and + looked upon him and some few other of my correspondents as 'my + boys,' as one of my converts styles himself. My hope was that + Andrew would study for the ministry some day.... I know what sorrow + is, but must say yours is one of the most trying ordeals to pass + through,--an only son, and such a noble one, to die among + strangers. My heart aches sorely for you, and I do not wonder it + seems like a 'dream' to you. We do not know and cannot tell why our + dear ones are taken. We can only trust in God's love to lighten the + burden for us after a time, and accept our present trial. The + spirit of the dear ones will help us to be kinder and more loving + to those who are left with us; and gradually a change comes over + us, and as days roll on we find our lives are very different from + what they were before,--purer and holier, and we have been drawn + nearer heaven and been with our dear one all the time. I will copy + a beautiful poem of Whittier's, 'The Angel of Patience,' at the + close of this letter. 'Our earthly loss is our heavenly gain.' ... + Bear as bravely as you can, and the good Father will send peace to + your souls as the years roll on. 'We must through much tribulation + enter the kingdom of heaven.' We shall be glad to send papers to + _you_ now. I think in the 'Register' you will find many things to + comfort you often; and from time to time I will select something + especial for you. Let me know, please, by postal, if you prefer not + to have them. Shall be very glad to hear from you any time." + +This letter led to a correspondence continued until Miss Ellis's death, +and to the sending of much literature to the family. Further extracts +from this correspondence follow:-- + + AUGUST 16, 1885. + + ... I do not wonder you miss the dear brother, and feel grieved that + you may not see him again. I do not believe the good Father in + heaven is angry if we murmur some. He cannot be so harsh as to have + us cultivate family affections and friendships on earth and not have + any loving feelings left. No! It is right to mourn, but yet "not + without hope." One of the most beautiful sermons I ever heard, and + the most comforting, was one from our pastor, Rev. C. W. Wendte, on + "The Dark Hours of Life, and what they bring us." + +Here she copies the closing passages of the sermon, and also four pages +of poems,--"The Heart Prayer," by J. N. Spriggs; "I am so Weak," Jennie +E. McCaine, both from "Unity Songs Resung;" "My Dead," by Rev. F. L. +Hosmer; and selections from "Scriptures Old and New." So little did she +spare the feeble remains of her strength in these last months. Sept. 27, +1885, she wrote:-- + + "... Not that I have so much to do, but this changeable weather has + unfitted me for work, and I have a good deal of extra work lately, + that has exercised my brain considerably and required _long_ + letters. I was put on a committee of three at the St. Louis + Conference last May, for drawing up systematic Post Office Mission + methods. Rev. Arthur Judy, of Davenport, Iowa, is the chairman. He + has planned a circular letter and a book of records. It has taken + much of my time to read the long letters and give my opinion of + them.... We have to work very differently in this region.... + However, in time we shall have more than one enlightened family in + a place. The way to overcome is to lend our papers, tracts, books, + etc., that the people may see we are Christians after all. We do + not want to convert them so much, but to make more sincere + Christians of them, and happier people in this world; and by + degrees they throw aside their old dogmas without knowing it. We do + have so many comforting books; so many good Sunday-school lessons + adapted to grown people even; devotional books, too, with + selections which fit each day; and also so many books containing a + true account of Unitarianism and of the Bible, that I feel every + one ought to read them, and own many; but of course they cannot.... + I want to lend you a little daily book I have,--'Day unto Day.' It + is in rather a dilapidated state, because I have sent it by mail to + a number of persons. I have two copies, but both birthday presents, + and I do not like to part with either. The pencil-marks in it are + mine, as they have impressed me day by day. You may retain it three + or four months if you wish." + +The sister wrote in reply:-- + + OCTOBER 27,1886. + + I wish to thank you especially for the loan of your book, "Day unto + Day." It was very kind in you, and I have found it to be a perfect + mine of beautiful gems of truth and wisdom, and "day unto day" it + can furnish comforting thought for all occasions. + + I was very much interested in your statement of your work as a + member of the committee you mentioned. Certainly, such an amount of + such elevating literature distributed so extensively must result in + much good. The literature that I receive from you we endeavor to + make the very best use of,--by first "thoroly" reading in our own + family, and then lending to those among our neighbors and friends + who will be most likely to give their attention to it. On one or + two occasions we have invited in, on Sunday afternoons, some of our + neighbors, and made them occasions for reading to them an especially + good sermon or article, hoping to awaken sufficient interest to + perhaps have frequent readings and talks. In our village there are + two churches only,--the Disciples and Presbyterian. + +The date of Miss Ellis's last letter to this correspondent shows it to +have been written less than a month before her death:-- + + November 30, 1885. + + Your letter was very welcome, and I intended replying sooner; but + for the last three weeks have been very miserable, though up, out, + and at work all the time, accomplishing little, however. We were so + glad to hear you were occasionally having Sunday readings and doing + the good you can. To-day I have mailed to you "Songs of Faith, Hope, + and Charity," and the last Church Door Pulpit "Channing," selected + by Mr. Gannett, whose father, Ezra S. Gannett, was Dr. Channing's + colleague for many years. It is an admirable compilation, and I wish + it were in small book form, for it would make a very beautiful + little Christmas gift. Even in this form I shall use it for such a + purpose. There are three books I would call your and your friends' + attention to as little gifts of value at this season; namely, "Daily + Strength for Daily Needs;" "The Thought of God in Hymns and Poems," + by Rev. F. L. Hosmer and Rev. William C. Gannett, just published; + then there is a pleasant story-book for boys or girls published last + year, "The Browns." ... All this may be quite contrary to your + feelings this year, and I presume you cannot enter into Thanksgiving + and Christmas with the real spirit of former days. But not as you + see the "golden lining" to all things can you give way to gloom. + There is always _something_ to be grateful for. How much worse + _might_ have happened to us. Then, too, we can feel thankful that we + had our treasures so long, and that they were such a pleasure to us. + Thanksgiving naturally makes us ask, "What have I to be thankful + for?" and makes us somewhat sad; but at Christmas we lay aside all + thought of self, and think of Him who was all unselfishness; and in + this thought we try to forget our sorrows in order to send gladness + thrilling through some other human soul, and thus forget our loss + for that day at least, though tears may come involuntarily. Hope the + Thanksgiving was as pleasant as it could be; that there was a + reunion of those of you who are still living, and that the spirit of + the dear one only drew you all together in stronger bonds of love. + We--father, mother, and myself--were invited to dine with my + brother----, there to meet my dear sister's husband and five + motherless children. It is the one pleasure to us to pass these + anniversaries together, and to feel all our dear ones are with us in + spirit, bidding us to be of "good cheer," for they are not dead, but + with their love for us would guide us on to better things than + _they_ ever knew or could accomplish. All is well with them now, and + they look down smilingly upon our feeblest efforts to do the right + and be cheery. + +The sister wrote, Feb. 7, 1886:-- + + "... We were very much shocked when we heard of the death of Miss + Ellis. We had known that she was an invalid, yet, judging from her + letters, we had no idea of the great weakness she must have endured + physically in writing to her correspondents up to so recent a date. + Her letters to us in our great bereavement were so full of tender + sympathy with us, and were so comforting, we feel that we have + sustained a great loss, even though we had never seen her.... It + will be a pleasure to us to forward to you any letters of Miss + Ellis either to my brother or myself that will aid you in the + publication of a book ... that will extend and perpetuate the + influence of so useful and good a life." + +Mrs. J. I. W. Thacher wrote:-- + + FEBRUARY 17, 1886. + + You will be glad to know that we have had very grateful letters from + the several stations in Kentucky to which we have sent barrels of + magazines and papers. To Eddyville and Greenwood we have sent twice; + and Dr. R----(at the latter place) still says, "Send more whenever + it is convenient;" so that we feel that the very miscellaneous + collections have been really appreciated and enjoyed. In each barrel + we sent large numbers of "Registers" and some good tracts, and then + filled in with miscellaneous magazines,--chiefly the illustrated + ones. This is hardly Post Office Mission work, but I don't doubt it + accomplishes much good, and I am always grateful to you and Miss + Ellis for suggesting it to us.... Do you continue to be in + communication with the Joliet Penitentiary, and is any one keeping + on with Mr. Beach's work for the prisoners? It is a constant help + and inspiration,--the thought of Miss Ellis's devotion to her work + and her faithfulness to the end! + +A young Englishman in Frankfort, Ky., wrote Mrs. Hunert, in answer to +her card of inquiry: + + "I do take the 'Register,' 'Unity,' and 'Unitarian;' I am almost + entirely dependent upon what I read here, as I can hear no Liberal + preaching, and meet with very few who have sympathy with Liberal + religious views. I did get the memorial of Miss Ellis, and will + prize it much, as I was better acquainted with her than any one + connected with the church at Cincinnati, and looked upon her as one + of my best friends, and a very noble lady. The day on which I + received your postal, I met the chaplain of the penitentiary here, + and he told me how much the Unitarian literature that was sent from + the East was liked by him; that it was all distributed, and enjoyed + very much by the inmates of the prison. If I had another copy or + two of Miss Ellis's memorial, I would give one to the chaplain, and + another gentleman,--about the only Unitarian I know here." + +The following correspondence is with a workingman in Northern Ohio,--a +young Englishman, whose letters tell his story. He once rose at four +o'clock to write Miss Ellis before going to his daily work. One of his +first letters to her said:-- + + MARCH 16, 1885. + + Now, that you may know in what walk of life I move, I must tell you + that I am a laborer. When working by the month, my wages never + exceeded twelve dollars a month. From such small wages I have built + up a small library of 155 volumes; have also 156 pamphlets. I take + unceasing delight in reading, and now that I have others dependent + on me, am not able to procure all the books I need. By some I have + been encouraged to prepare for the ministry. Such also is my + aspiration. It may be years before I shall become a minister, + because my preparation is not to be accomplished very quickly. Oh, + how I wish that some one from their abundance would forward me some + of the books and pamphlets they have cast aside, having no further + use for! They would be of great use to me. What are the + qualifications necessary for the Unitarian ministry? Will you please + tell me? If possible for you to do so, please send me a few more + sermons by Rev. G. A. Thayer, and I shall be greatly obliged. + +Miss Ellis forwarded this letter to Miss M. O. Rogers, Secretary of the +King's Chapel branch of the Women's Auxiliary Conference, Boston, +Mass., who had written, offering aid in her work. As a result, the +King's Chapel Women's Auxiliary Conference sent this young man many +Unitarian books of value, and the "Unitarian Review" regularly, for +which his gratitude was great. He loans and distributes all matter sent +him, and has procured many tracts from the American Unitarian +Association for distribution. A portion of Miss Ellis's reply to the +letter given above is as follows:-- + + MARCH 18,1885. + + Your letter was read with much interest, and we are glad to know our + "little society has done good work."... Don't be discouraged if you + cannot convert the world at once, but wait quietly till your time + comes to do more. You are young yet. Think I can spare a few more of + Mr. Thayer's sermons. He has only had four sermons on "Reasonable + Religion" published.... Will send you the Meadville catalogue next + week, and you can see for yourself, and afterwards write to + President A. A. Livermore, telling him I sent you the catalogue. He + can give you all further information. He was the pastor in + Cincinnati from the time I was fourteen to twenty-one, and knows us + well.... Hope to hear further from you occasionally. Work on + quietly, knowing the discipline will the better fit you for + ministerial labors. We can't jump into the highest calling on earth + in a moment, and now-a-days a man must be something of more than + ordinary ability to enter a Unitarian pulpit. It is not an easy + place to fill. + +He wrote to her, June 14, 1885:-- + + "Believe me, I am sorry to hear that you were 'too sick to more + than keep up' with your work. I know you must be busy at all times, + from the report of your work in the Conference 'Unity' you sent me. + That number of 'Unity' is very valuable to me, and will be kept for + future reference. The four sermons on 'Reasonable Religion,' by + Rev. George A. Thayer, have also been kept. I hope soon to see them + in a neat binding. They are worthy of the expense. Of the books + received from Boston, four have been read by me. Two of them were + mostly read as I walked to my work mornings. In the same manner + 'Meditations on the Essence of Christianity' was read. This book is + very beautiful, its author, Robert Laird Collier. 'Channing's + Works' and 'Genuineness of the Gospels' cannot be carried about as + readily, so they are to be read and studied on lost days, when I + cannot work. The 'Reviews' received are very valuable; I would not + part with them for anything. The 'Register' is received regularly + from Philadelphia. The last one is very interesting, containing as + it does an account of the Festival. It must have been good to be + there. To you, and all who have aided you in your generosity to me, + I return my heartfelt thanks." + +After Miss Ellis's death, he wrote, Feb. 13, 1886:-- + + "... With this I send you the whole of her correspondence to me, + hoping that you may find something that will be of use to you. I + cheerfully send you the letter and postals, knowing that my + treasures will be in safe keeping. Since Miss Ellis's death they + are doubly precious to me; I prize them very highly, because she + who wrote them proved herself to be a very dear friend to me,--a + laborer longing for more light. Whilst I live I shall never forget + how much I owe to her who labored so much in my behalf. It was the + one wish of my heart to have met Miss Ellis, and to have thanked + her for all that she had done for me; but it was to be otherwise. + When I meet her in the country of 'many mansions,' I shall have the + opportunity to do so. I believe I shall meet and know her there. + Your offer of help is very kind; my greatest drawback is lack of + books by Unitarian writers. I buy when I can, but being out of + work--that is, steady work--since last September makes it very hard + work to get a book very often. If you can help me in this way I + shall be very thankful, and if you cannot, I shall be just the + same, because I feel that you would if you could. I have much + opposition to overcome, standing alone in my belief in the truth of + Unitarianism. I have great need of more books. My preparation for + the ministry must necessarily be slow, because I can never attend + Meadville Theological College. But I am reminded that your time is + precious, and so I will close. Mrs. ----, will you at the next + meeting of the Women's Auxiliary Conference thank all the dear + friends who have done so much for me? If I ever amount to much in + life I shall owe it all to the Cincinnati branch of the Women's + Auxiliary Conference. Hoping that you will not forget me when + sending out literature, I remain, etc." + +In another letter he wrote:-- + + "My object in fitting myself for the ministry is to be able to + carry the message of Unitarianism to my brother-laborers, because I + believe it will make better men--and women too--of them.... I began + to work when I was but a little more than eleven years old, and + since that time I have been my own teacher." + +A lady in Ohio sends her "Register" regularly (the arrangement being +made through Miss Ellis) to the correspondent who wrote her this letter +of thanks:-- + + "I have long postponed the note of thanks I have meant to send you. + But when I tell you that I am a dressmaker, you will pardon me, I + am sure. This is my harvest season, and I am extremely busy. Being + one of the class of work-women who put _themselves_ into what they + do, I am exhausted at night, and forced to make Sunday a day of + rest indeed. + + "The papers do come regularly, to my great joy. I assure you that + the pleasure and spiritual strength I get from them, if you could + realize it, would compensate you for the trouble an hundred-fold. My + business, showing me so plainly the small foibles and weaknesses of + human nature, and necessarily binding one's thoughts in large + measure to 'band, gusset, and seam, seam, gusset, and band,' or + their equivalents of flounces and gores, tends to a wearisome + narrowing of the mind; a half-hour spent after work is done, with + the 'Register,' opens a window, as it were, into heaven. + + "I live alone. At times my isolation is hard to bear; but having + seen better days, as the saying goes, to me my deprivations are but + part of the discipline that God saw was needful for me. I am shut + off, by reason of serving the public, from the society of my equals + in education and breeding, and for that of my equals in station I + have no taste. _Pardonnez-moi_ these personal details; I give them + that you may know how much good you are doing. Long may you be + spared the power and the will to do such kindness to those who need. + We may never meet on earth, but I trust we shall in heaven." + +To Miss Ellis, Aug. 20, 1885, she wrote:-- + + "I receive the papers, and not only read and enjoy them, but give + and send them to others. I am surprised to find 'unconscious' + Unitarians wherever I go. I hope you may be well by this time. Do + not tire yourself to write. Others need you more than I." + +After Miss Ellis's death, she wrote acknowledging the memorial:-- + + "Many thanks. I was so glad to receive it, and prize it as one of + my treasures; also for the welcome tracts and papers. They are like + the shadow of a great rock in a weary land to me, and are given + away to others." + +A woman in a small Indiana village wrote Miss Ellis:-- + + "I understand you have Liberal literature that you send gratis to + hungry people who are not able to gratify their appetite in that + direction. It would be greatly appreciated by me, and after reading + I would put it where I thought it would do the most good." + +Later, she wrote:-- + + "I have received a paper and often something else every other week. + These I have accepted as a kind of trust; and when there has been a + favorable opportunity, given them away to friends and + acquaintances. I do not press them on any one, nor talk about it + much. I have not the courage of a reformer. When I speak to friends + (that are kind every other way) of a broader religious belief, they + meet me with coldness and distrust. It chills me, and I am silent. + Yet I believe, with Helen Williams, if any one is brought to face a + great truth, if they accept it, yet do not speak or act upon it, + there is retribution, barrenness, for them,--a plunging in the + whale's belly, as Jonah was,--a figure so many have laughed at, yet + significant for all that. I wonder now at my struggles in former + years; am happier since the tangled skein is partially + straightened. Still I am not fully in accord with the Unitarians. + Miss ---- [another correspondent in the same village] spoke to me + some time ago of your desiring us to form a reading circle. I do + not know what she said to you. I will give you the situation. I + live in a small village of about one hundred inhabitants, and Miss + ---- lives about two miles away. I cannot call to mind a woman that + would take any interest. They would go to sleep over their + knitting, or want to use the time for social chat, as they do not + meet day after day at the village store, as the men do (I speak of + winter). True, there are a few that would enjoy the reading, yet + are so severely Orthodox they could not comprehend a new truth + outside of _their_ church. That is the dark side. Now I have often + thought if we had a place of meeting, where we could seat a small + audience (which we have not), and a good reader (ditto), we could + call them together Sunday afternoons and read some of the beautiful + sermons you have sent. + + "Your work is grand,--the elevation of the human race. The ones that + _will_ read, will become better, kindlier, more patient with + ignorance; and while they yearn to give every soul a chance, will + naturally throw out a better influence and teach a broader religion. + As to your paper, not now. It is midwinter; husband, carpenter, out + of employment. Intend to take one of your publications after a + while." + +About two weeks after Miss Ellis's death she addressed this letter to +her:-- + + MY DEAR FRIEND,--I received a "Register" yesterday, directed in a + different hand. Are you sick? I hope not. I should grieve indeed if + I knew that physical pain had stopped your work. These lines come + to my mind:-- + + "Only a woman, and I could not find + The quiet household life that women know; + So too, my part where there were sheaves to bind, + Not much, perhaps, but more than I could do. + My tired feet failed me in the harvest lands, + My ripened grain but half-way reaped across; + And, where it dropped from over-wearied hands, + My best sheaf lies half bound for winds to toss." + + Instead, may you continue your work till eventide. + + Who can tell, when a mind gives up its beliefs, where it will stop? + I seem to believe nothing, unless it is in the Supreme Good, + whatever that is,--and my religion, to live the best life I know. + The Orthodox preachers say if one strays from the "path," or + "back-slides," they are always uneasy and unhappy. How different my + experience is! How glad I am to have escaped the little enclosure of + dogma, and to stand "far indeed from being wise, but free to learn"! + + Hoping this will find you in good health and spirits, I remain + + Your friend A---- C---- + +After hearing of Miss Ellis's death, she wrote: + + "Received your postal. Have also received Unitarian papers, and + Miss Ellis's memorial, which last I will store among my treasured + mementos. How beautiful her life was! Though never having seen her, + she will be treasured in my memory as a dear friend. She has sent + me almost all the pamphlets, I suppose, that have been written for + the purpose of distributing. Having a large family, they have been + read and reread, and handed to neighbors and friends. One has no + idea how many they will reach, or how much they influence; and yet + there is so much prejudice against Unitarians among Orthodox + Christians, some would take it as an insult to offer them one of + the pamphlets. In our little village the 'United Brethren' have + been holding meetings day and night for three weeks, and oh! how + they do preach hell, and pray publicly for 'that lady that is + leading her daughters down to hell,' simply because she does not + believe as they do. I have more tolerance for them than they have + for me. I think there are some people they will reach and do good, + as I presume the Rev. Sam Jones is doing in Cincinnati." + +The following letter to Miss Ellis from a poor old woman to whom she +wrote, sent papers and other aid, for several years, is given +_verbatim_, to illustrate the range of her sympathies. This letter was +also written after Miss Ellis's death:-- + + "I wish I could come and see you, but I cannot afford to go up and + down on the Trains. I have to send by someone, now Miss Ellis you + have been a sending me good Papers to read and now you must not + think I mean to beg but you sent me a New years Card it was a Rose + now I would not take anything for it I am as Foolish as Littel + Children is about Pictures the Rose I have is in my Album and if + you got any one by you to part With Will you send it to me for this + New year I feel more than thankful for the Papers you have sent + me.... Well I will close Write to me soon I am alone day and night + So goodbye from a Dear Friend to one I Love." + +A young man in a State Normal School in Indiana long corresponded with +Miss Ellis. He has been an enthusiastic distributor of our literature, +and instrumental in procuring Unitarian preaching in his city. Extracts +from his letters are here given. + + "The papers received are read by myself and others. There are few + here who know anything of what Unitarians believe." + +A second letter says:-- + + "The matter sent to me is read by several persons. I think of one + young man now who asked me to send you his name. He said he would + like to read literature made by persons who are independent of + creeds. I gave him Wendte's 'Statement' and Chadwick's 'Art of + Life.' + + "I am grateful to you for your kindness, and shall be glad to + receive what you may send. I read the sermons by Savage with + interest. They were the only ones of his I ever saw. I have given + and shall continue to give the matter sent me wider circulation. + [Mentioning a rebuff recently received, he continues:] This little + experience, while not pleasant, is valuable to me. I see that the + spirit of the Middle Ages is not entirely dead yet, and that one + better not be too hasty. My convictions are just as strong as + before." + +Another letter says:-- + + "I know something of what it costs to break away from old + associations. I was brought up in the Baptist Church. All my family + were of that faith.... My relatives all look upon me as one lost to + all true belief, because I cannot see my way clear to go with them + in the traditions of the fathers. Still, I feel that to be true to + the light I have is better than to have the sanction of those who + are simply following what their creed teaches, asking no questions. + I do not care to argue with them, and so follow that life that + gives me the greatest comfort and satisfaction." + +Feb. 11, 1886, he wrote Mrs. Hunert:-- + + "Miss Ellis was a very dear friend (although I never saw her), and + it was a great shock to learn of her decease. The first intimation + I had of her death was the article in the 'Register' headed 'A + Candle of the Lord.' Whatever literature you may send me shall be + given circulation after I have read it. I now supply some + half-dozen persons by mail with the tracts sent me. As I know the + personal peculiarities of all these parties, I can adapt the matter + to each. You will see, therefore, that I am a sort of branch + 'mission.' In addition to this, I occasionally write a short + article to a local paper in Wayne County upon subjects of + interest." + +He encloses one of these articles,--subject, "Future or Everlasting +Punishment: Which?" + + "... Mrs. Smith wrote to me in regard to Miss Ellis's letters. I am + very sorry not to have any of them. During the last three years I + have moved so frequently, being sometimes in this State and + sometimes in W. Virginia, that they were lost, and I am unable to + find them. Some of them I carried for a long time in my pocket + until they became so worn as to be scarcely recognizable. The form + of them has vanished, but the kindness and sympathy they breathed + is with me still. The spirit of that sainted woman cannot wax old. + I humbly trust that I may be imbued with something of the calm and + trust and purity which her letters always suggested. There was, + too, an enthusiasm which was untiring, and withal a modesty that + never was absent from her utterances. There was ever the absence of + anything like dictation in her advice. It was the gentle monition + of a friend, never the pompous dictation of conscious superiority. + Rev. J. T. Sunderland, of Chicago, is to preach in our city March + 21. I have never heard him, and am looking to his coming with + expectation." + +A young woman who is working out a Homestead and Timber Claim in +Nebraska, and has been for several years supplied with much reading +matter by Miss Ellis, which she has circulated so zealously as to have +become one of the "branch missions," writes:-- + + "When I was about seventeen years old I joined the Baptist Church + in Newport, Ky. (where at the time I was residing, and teaching in + the public school in that city); and I was sincere in what I did, + only I had so many doubts about many things that they taught, and + hesitated from the beginning of the revival until the close before + I could decide. Then my decision was made on this, that there were + older persons belonging to the church that said they believed the + teachings and doctrine, and I thought when I grew older and had + more experience that I would understand, and I had a delicate fear + to converse with the older members about my doubts for fear of + their opinions of me; so I quietly stayed with them for a number of + years, when an old friend, a good woman, now gone from among us, + induced me to attend your church, Mr. Wendte then being the pastor. + The subject he was to speak about was 'the Christ we know.' I + remember my thoughts then were about these,--'Christ they know? I + don't believe they know any,' and thought I should like to hear + what he would say, any way. I well remember that sermon; not one + sentence he uttered jarred me in the least; and, strange to say, + they were my own thoughts on the subject; but I dared not, even if + I could, have expressed myself. I thought over that sermon the + whole week every spare moment I had, and even took some that did + not justly belong to me. I shall never forget that week. The next + Sunday his text was, 'the God we love.' For all I enjoyed the + previous sermon, I still thought, 'They love God? Impossible!' and + as my friends invited me to go over with them again, I accepted the + invitation. I never had God represented to me before as now,--more + like a kind father than an austere judge; yes, kind, compassionate, + and loving us all alike, condemning only our evil actions. This + suited me exactly; so another week was spent in thought. I would + think, 'How can I conscientiously be a Baptist and believe this + way?' Yet how I disliked leaving the church where many things were + endeared to me. It seemed as if I was in a sea of trouble and + doubt, not knowing whether to go on or halt and turn back. The next + Sunday the subject was, 'the Bible we revere.' I was more than + anxious to hear this one, for it seemed to me that on this I would + have to decide. I went, and decided. I broke off gradually from my + old associations, and attended the services in the Unitarian church + from that time until I came West. I never joined the church, but it + suited my views best of all churches, and to-day I cannot go in any + of the Orthodox churches and feel at home. Now as regards this + mission work that you wish me to engage in, I could devote half an + hour each day, and am willing to do all I can for the advancement + of the cause. My health became very poor, and I went West thinking + it would be beneficial. I must say I succeeded, for I am not + compelled to stay now for my health, but business keeps me here.... + My homestead is three miles from the town, and I go out quite often + and stay over Sunday. My house is a very small dug-out. I raised + about ten bushels of potatoes, some beans, and a few squashes; have + done work I never thought of doing,--that is, planting vegetables, + made my own bedstead, put a floor in the house, and lined it with + sacking. Some of my lady friends assisted me when they came to see + me, and gave me ideas about my new kind of work. Now last, but not + least, in regard to Miss Ellis. I wrote to her directly after + coming West, and told her I felt isolated from church attendance, + but was pleased to find so many people with whom I could converse + on Liberal thought. Since that time she had kindly furnished me + with reading matter which I have again sent on its errand of peace + and joy. I looked over a bundle of letters and can only find this + postal card from her.... This card I send you is one she sent me in + reference to Mr. Copeland. I wrote her for his address, which she + gave me, and I requested him to come to our town and speak to the + people here. He kindly consented to come, and spoke on 'Into the + Light.' The majority of the people that heard him were well + pleased, and he promised me that whenever he passed our town on his + way to or from Denver he would stop over and speak. Would like to + have the card returned, as I want it for a remembrance." + +In her first letter written after Miss Ellis's death she said:-- + + "Imagine how I felt when I came to your letter, and read the sad + news of Miss Ellis's death. I feared the worst when I did not hear + from her, for a friend had written me of her decline; but Miss + Ellis herself never referred to her illness but once to me. She + certainly must have been a patient and uncomplaining invalid, and + I, with many others no doubt, feel as if I had lost a dear friend, + and would be pleased to receive one of the memorials as a + keepsake.... I can assure you that I do all I can towards building + up a religion that all could conscientiously embrace. ... All the + reading matter sent to me I distribute to the best of my ability, + and hope that as it goes on its mission good seed will be sown. + There are numbers of Liberal people here who do not belong to any + church; and then I find a number of Liberals belonging to Orthodox + churches. I will subscribe for Mr. Savage's sermons, for I like his + sermons best of all." + +Miss Ellis numbered several physicians among her correspondents. One +living in Alabama writes:-- + + "Your Conference speaks truly when it says, 'Many of Miss Ellis's + correspondents had come to regard her as a dear friend, though + never having seen her face.' I feel that I too may have the + privilege and the honor of being enrolled among the number of her + unseen friends. I hope some of the good seed she sowed has fallen + in good ground, even at this distance from the kind hand that + scattered them, and that their fruit may not + + 'Appear in weeds that mar the land, + But in a healthful store.' + + I am a regular subscriber to the 'Christian Register' and the + 'Unitarian,' all through the influence of Miss Ellis." + +A man on a remote plantation in Georgia, who has been most zealous in +spreading the new light around him, writes:-- + + "Please accept thanks for papers and memorial of Miss Sallie Ellis. + She has been a good and a kind friend to me, has supplied me for + over two years with the best of literature, something new, so + different from what we are used to, something that lifts me above + myself and gives me new views of heaven and immortality, makes me a + better man to wife, family, neighbors, stock, and fills my heart + with that new love, the divine brotherhood of all mankind. I deeply + lament her loss. I do wish she could have lived a little while + longer, for my sake. I do feel so thankful for the papers, and + Channing, from Mrs. ----, God bless her!... Any books or papers + sent me will be used to the good of the community. The Post Office + Mission is doing a good work." + +A young German in Tennessee to whom she sent much reading matter wrote +her:-- + + "I am a German by birth, and received my education at German + universities. I devoted many years to the study of the chief + philosophical systems, and had in consequence of the results + derived from the latter for a long time little or no connection + with any church whatever. But during the last four or five years I + became more and more convinced that no school of thought possesses + so glorious a light as is emanating from the life and lessons of + Jesus Christ. So when I became acquainted with Channing's Works, + seeing that it is possible to reconcile with every scientific + discovery and with every logical conclusion all that is special in + Christianity, I knew I had found what I want and wherein to rest. + From my own standpoint, and remembering the religious + indifferentism which is now general in my native country and in + France, I regard Unitarianism as the principle which is to save the + Christian Church from ruin, and which will be an indestructible + bulwark against Nihilism and materialism. I still believe there is + a great future before the Unitarian Church." + +From a lady in Alabama to Miss Ellis:-- + + DEAR FRIEND,--For such you have been to me, and it is to you I am + indebted for the papers, tracts, and sermons that I have received + and enjoyed so much. I have derived genuine comfort from them, and + sincerely thank you for thinking of one so unhappy and so tossed + about for a haven of rest. Truly yours is a heavenly mission, + answering the needs of many like myself afflicted beyond human aid. + The sermons of James Freeman Clarke are peculiarly comforting; and + indeed I have read all you sent me with the deepest interest and + benefit. How I wish I might in some way recompense your Society as + it deserves! And you individually have my deepest gratitude, which + is so little for such thoughtfulness as yours. + +A second letter says:-- + + "Your papers, sermons, etc., are regularly received, and I wish I + could make you understand the great comfort they are to me, + particularly the sermons. Anything pertaining to the future life + holds me spell-bound till the last word is read. The Unitarian + ideas and beliefs, so far as I know, find echo in my heart; and I + always feel comforted and soothed, as it were, with all I have read + and understood. I attend the Presbyterian Church here, because I + think it is better to attend some church regularly; and I am very + fond of this minister socially. There has been for ten days or more + an evangelist holding a union meeting in our church, and a night or + two ago I went to hear him. The only feeling excited in my heart + was one of pity that all persons could not be taught the love of + God instead of being frightened into a nervous fear. I assure you, + I feel it a privilege to correspond with you, and find myself + wishing in my heart that you knew me thoroughly, what I have been, + and what I am by nature, education, and social standing. I feel + that we women of the South are to be seen at home and known to be + understood by our Northern sisters." + +The following are some of Miss Ellis's letters to a radical of the +radicals, an old gentleman in Boston, one of Theodore Parker's old +congregation, who sent much literature out under her direction, and +contributed Theodore Parker's "Prayers," and his new volume of sermons, +to her loan library. + + JULY 2, 1883. + + Your letter was received on Thursday, and, contrary to your + expectation, was read with a great deal of interest, for I always + admire to have every one speak with perfect freedom, and I am very + glad you wrote as you did, and feel honored by having so old a man + for a correspondent.... You and I won't quarrel on the Bible + question. Rather think I should come up to your expectations on + _that_ point.... I do not consider Mr. C---- or Mr. S---- authority + any more than I consider the Bible so; I read for myself and settle + the question as best I can. Am I not right? I have not read Colenso + on the Pentateuch, nor Davidson's "Introduction to the New + Testament," but _have_ read "Canon of the Bible," Knappert's + "Religion of Israel," Stanley's "Eastern Church," Higginson's + "Spirit of the Bible," Dr. Noyes's Translation of Prophets, + Psalms, Job, and Canticles, and lastly, "Bible for Learners." I + merely mention these to let you see I have been a student of the + Bible. Will also add Alger's "Future Life," J. F. Clarke's "Ten + Great Religions" and "Thomas Didymus," Savage's "Talks about + Jesus," and his sermons this winter on the Bible.... I think of + heaven and hell as you do; but having always been fed on Unitarian + teachings, am not so "bitter" in my feelings as those who have had + the "Assembly's Shorter Catechism" to overcome. In short, if people + only _live_ truly from day to day, I will excuse their view of the + Bible, and of God, and Christ, as long as they do not wish me to + think the same as they do, for I decidedly think they are wrong.... + I shall be very much pleased to have a copy of Theodore Parker's + "Prayers," and shall gladly accept a copy for my circulating + library; for, but with the exception of a few donations, the books + loaned have been those I put in it. + +After receiving the book, she wrote:-- + + "First, I must tell you how much I am enjoying Theodore Parker's + 'Prayers.' They are suitable in most instances to the present day, + and for all ages and times, and one rises from reading them with + kindlier, broader thoughts, and renewed in strength. Am very glad + to have the book. Shall endeavor to sell copies of it this + winter.... I cannot _exactly_ agree with all you said in your + letter, for I think it is not necessary yet to give up all + theology, though it should not be the main thing in religion. The + chief thing is to _do_ right, and people arrive at that by + different methods. They will inquire and discuss theology, and + therefore it is necessary as yet that ministers should preach it, + and I do not believe that Orthodox ministers have arrived at Mr. + Savage's or Mr. Chadwick's views exactly, or they would come out + and say so. As for myself, I still enjoy the Communion service, + partaking of the bread and wine, and cannot agree to casting aside + Jesus as a helper to a better life, though I neither worship him + nor think that he redeems us in any other way than as by following + his example we become one with him and God. He 'died for us' in no + other sense than as a soldier dies for his country. Then let + theology continue, for the world is fast becoming better and better + in spite of it, and the time _may_ come when we shall need it no + longer. We are gradually coming to the point. I do not regret the + time 'lost' I have spent on theology, for it has fitted me for just + the work I am engaged in, and many are the questions I am called + upon to answer, either by letter or printed matter; therefore I am + glad to know where to send perplexed minds. As a friend wrote me + from the South, 'Your papers are a great help to me. You are doing + more good than the women did in the days of our Saviour. They + clothed the body and you are feeding the souls.' Both acts are + needed, but in different directions, and some people can better do + the one, and others the other. I am cut off from active benevolence + from want of health for it, and am glad to know there are souls + needing nourishment. Do you not take this view too?" + + * * * * * + + DECEMBER 20, 1883. + + Your kind letter awaited my return from the city last evening, when + I returned at ten. It grieved me to think that possibly I had + wounded your feelings, for your "heresies" have not been "too + tough" for me, as you fear. One's religious belief never troubles + me as long as they do not force me into the same belief. Should be + sorry if I had not "charity" enough to see the good in one, and not + look at the outside merely. Your last letter reached me September + 28, and I replied by postal October 19, as there did not appear to + be anything especial to require a letter; and as my eyes were + troubling me much at the time, I was compelled to desist from all + but necessary letters. Am still as much interested in the good + cause as ever, and we still have new applications constantly. We + are gaining ground in the South. One gentleman in Alabama is much + interested in Unitarianism, and wrote, asking me for Mr. Savage's + address, whereupon he wrote to Mr. Savage himself, who is sending + him "Unity Pulpit" present series. I am subscriber to it myself, + and never can keep a sermon. I subscribed for the benefit of + others. In Independence, Ky., a gentleman lately wrote, asking for + Unitarian papers, etc. He is highly satisfied. Has been groping in + the dark a long time, and wrote me, "When I read the pamphlet, + 'What Do Unitarians Believe?' by C. W. Wendte, I shouted 'Eureka!' + Like it so well that I shall not part with it." So it goes on all + the time. Some one finds just what they have been in search of for + some time. + + * * * * * + + FEBRUARY 19, 1885. + + Am much obliged to you for sending matter to Mr. ----. He is + extremely radical, a farmer, with a large family to educate, and + cannot get such religious matter as he needs. You might, if you + choose, send the Chadwick sermons to him too, or, if you prefer + they should go elsewhere, address them to me, and I will send them + where they are needed. + +Her last postal card to this correspondent, dated about a month before +her death, says: + + "Thanks for the six 'Unity Pulpits' received. I have been too busy + to reply before, and my health still feeble, though not confined to + the house or bed at all. I'm not one of that kind until necessary." + +Since her death, the farmer referred to above has written:-- + + "I want to pay my humble tribute to the departed Miss Ellis. I + never met her; but she was my friend, because she was the friend to + all struggling humanity. She sent me sermons, etc., but above all, + _kind words_. I had pictured her in my mind as a strong, robust + person, and hoped at some future time to meet her. I now fear that + I may have wounded her refined soul by some things I wrote to her. + I am somewhat 'agnostic;' but I love to think of heaven if such as + Miss Ellis preside there and give tone to the surroundings." + +The old gentleman in Boston wrote:-- + + "With this please receive eight letters and seventeen full postals + from our dear departed friend, Miss Sarah Ellis, of your city, + whose face I never saw, but whose correspondence was to me a great + pleasure. Her personal friendship must have been a real blessing to + you and her immediate friends. She was able to be a very active + worker for the cause which lay so near her heart, and was at the + same time so perfectly willing to let others believe what they can. + I will send all I have of hers and let you select what you desire. + There is not even a postal card among them on which there is not + some small or large trace of her noble, generous, kindly nature." + +A young man in Ohio, writing Miss Ellis about some revival scenes in his +town, makes this comment, which is good and true enough to settle the +"leaven" idea once for all. + + "If you had seen all this as I have, you would hardly think it time + for a civilized organization like the Unitarians to cease fighting + the great evil and wait for the leaven to work. + + "_The Unitarians are themselves a portion of the leaven, and unless + they work there is so much of the leaven idle._" + +A Christian minister with whom Miss Ellis has corresponded two years or +more, and who expects to enter Harvard Divinity School, in sending her +letters writes:-- + + "... I send such as I can get at, preferring to let you make any + suitable selections or extracts they may offer. I shall be pleased + to have them returned, as you mention, when you have used them. I + may add that my correspondence with Miss Ellis on all matters + connected with religion, Unitarianism, etc., was in all respects + most pleasant, satisfactory, and profitable to me. The careful + skill with which she divined the exact want of a correspondent and + sent the appropriate word by tract or letter to supply it, bespoke + a wisdom and experience deeper than casual letters may reveal. And + continued correspondence served thus to inspire a greater esteem + and confidence in the judgment expressed." + +The following extracts are from her letters to this minister:-- + + NOVEMBER 12, 1883. + + Your letter was received a week since, and read with interest. What + you said of our teachings, of course, was light and just. We do not + expect ministers of other denominations to accept our views + altogether, for if so they would _be_ Unitarians. Your view + concerning studying the Bible agrees with mine. Still, it is well + to know the latest view of the Bible, although we cannot accept the + teaching at first. In time the way is made clear to us. Have + mailed to you to-day two more good tracts and our church programme + for this year. After Wednesday will mail to you "Positive Aspects + of Religion," by English leaders. We will agree to let you have any + book at just what it costs us, you paying postage on it.... + Theodore Parker's "Discourses Pertaining to Religion" is a good + book for you to read,--usual price, $1.00. But first, "Orthodoxy; + Its Truths and Errors," J. F. Clarke; and a new book just out, + "Orthodoxy and Heresy." ... "Bible for Learners" is by three German + divines, translated by an Englishman, and gives the latest German + views concerning the Bible. + + * * * * * + + DECEMBER 23, 1883. + + ... At the time your letter reached me we were holding our annual + fair, and since then I have been much occupied with preparing for + Christmas. To-day am home-bound by the snow,--it being knee-deep + between our front door and the gate, and as I have to walk half a + mile to take the street cars to the city, and as it is raining on + top of the deep snow, concluded it was really too bad for me to + venture. Have read myself out, and being very much occupied during + the week, will take advantage of the holy-day to speak on a holy + topic. You suggested that we send "papers representing Unitarian + ideas rather than tracts;" but papers do not contain our doctrines + so explicitly. Since your last letter, have mailed to you two + tracts on "Inspiration" and "Incarnation" which I thought well + answered the thoughts expressed in your letter. + + You will see from them that Unitarians are little troubled about + Inspiration and the Divinity, or the Deity of Christ as we prefer + to state it. We do believe in his divinity, for we hold that all + men are divine, while we deny his being Deity. We lay greater + stress on the divinity of human nature, and therefore we do not + feel that Jesus is degraded by calling him man, for we exalt man. + If we considered man totally depraved, then to call Jesus a mere + man might seem to lower him; but when we think of the possibilities + of man, and that he has it within himself to reach up to the + highest manhood, and to become in a measure a saviour of the world, + then to compare him with Jesus--the most glorious of men--is not + lessening the divinity of the Christ, it seems to me. Or, if we + held Jesus to be God, a being different from man, and so far + superior to us that we never could attain to his goodness, then we + never could compare the two. Jesus is an example to us because we + also are divine as he is; for he prays "that they all may be one, + as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in + us." If man had not been of the same nature as himself, would he + have thus spoken? I advise you to send to the Western Unitarian + Sunday School Society for Rev. William C. Gannett's Sunday School + Lesson, "The Christmas Poem and the Christmas Fact," if you wish to + understand how Unitarians of the present day understand Christ. + Though you may not accept, you will have our idea of the birth + legends in our Gospels. + + * * * * * + + DECEMBER 24, 1884. + + My reply to your letter, by postal, was written before talking with + ----. She tells me that Harvard will be decidedly the better place + if not too expensive. Meadville has the advantage in that + respect,--less expensive; but being near Boston, Cambridge offers + better opportunities for students to engage in work by which they + can support themselves in the mean time. A correspondent of ours + went to Harvard a year ago last September. Had a scholarship + promised him. He found a set of books to keep, and studied.... I + tell you of this case, as it may help you in your decision. + Meadville is very thorough, but think the younger men all give + preference to Harvard; I presume as much as anything on account of + the opportunities which being near Boston affords them. I have + written to Professor C. C. Everett of Harvard to please send you a + catalogue and answer your inquiries. We shall be very glad if our + little Cincinnati branch of the Women's Auxiliary Conference is the + means of securing them another Divinity student. With many good + wishes of the season from the Women's Auxiliary Conference, + + Very truly yours, S. ELLIS. + + * * * * * + + JANUARY 14, 1885. + + Have been obliged to change my residence, and, temporarily, am with + another brother. Just came here to-day, and, not having my things + about me, have not your last letter to refer to, but having + received a letter from our Harvard Divinity Student this past week, + wish to tell you what he says of his surroundings, and his + impression of Professor Everett. He writes as follows: "I enjoy the + work of the Divinity School more than I had ever hoped. We have a + noble corps of professors eminently fitted for their special + departments, and personally most eminent examples of Nature's + noblemen. In the light of what I am now learning, I consider my + former ignorance phenomenal. Thanks to Professor Everett, my faith + in God is clearer and stronger than ever before. He has enabled me + to reduce my chaotic philosophy to something of a system, and has + helped to furnish a steadfast basis for faith. His lectures are + simply invaluable. To my mind he is not only the greatest man in + the Divinity School, but the greatest man in Harvard University; + and not only the profoundest thinker in the Unitarian Church in our + country, but the profoundest thinker to be found in any American + church." ... I feel that this will be of interest to you, who are + contemplating going to the Divinity School. There is another thing + I wish to speak of; that is, we have quite a valuable book, "The + Origin of the Doctrine of the Trinity," by Hugh H. Stannus, of + England, showing how much greater cause there is for believing in + the Unity of God than in the Trinity. You can have the book any + time you wish, though I have just mailed it to a lady in this + State. By the way, the daughter of James F. Clarke, with others, + has planned a course of "Unitarian Studies at Home." The first + year's course includes: 1. "The Unitarian Doctrine of Prayer," by + J. F. Clarke; 2. "The Origin of the Doctrine of the Trinity," by + Stannus; 3. "Jesus and His Biographers," by Dr. W. H. Furness; 4. + "Christ the Revealer," by Thom; 5. "Religious Duties," by Frances + Power Cobbe. We have first, second, and fourth,--at least, are to + have the latter. "Jesus and His Biographers" is out of print; but + we are to have that loaned to us for two months, as three ladies + here, with myself, are pursuing the course, and I have also induced + a lady in this county to join us. We have received quite a number + of encouraging letters from our correspondents lately, and have + every reason to believe the Post Office Mission work is doing good. + I mailed to you this week some arguments against the Trinity. Rev. + C. W. Wendte's sermon, "Encouragement for Unitarians," in + "Register," January 8, I read with much interest. We have such an + interesting young convert, a Methodist, in Canada. His intention is + to study for the Unitarian ministry, we having brought him out into + the light. I thought with how much interest he would read that + sermon of Mr. Wendte's. + + * * * * * + + APRIL 19, 1885. + + Was glad to hear from you again, and find you are in a larger + field. [He had gone to a Pennsylvania city.] Perhaps you may draw + into your church--take it for granted you have gone there to + preach--Universalists and Unitarians.... We shall be glad to loan + you books again as soon as you are ready for them. Have had added + to the library lately "The Origin of the Doctrine of the Trinity," + by Hugh H. Stannus; "Christ the Revealer," by Thom (both English + works), "The Power of the Spirit of Jesus of Nazareth" and "The + Story of the Resurrection," both by Dr. W. H. Furness, of + Philadelphia,--the latter just published, and he presented the two + to us. Am not quite ready to loan the latter, as I've not read it + myself. If you know or meet with any Germans in your vicinity, we + are soon to have some Unitarian tracts in the German language.... + Hope you read with enthusiasm the earnest appeal for ministers at + the East, and also at Meadville, in the "Register" of April 9. We + hope to have two of our correspondents go to Meadville in + September, and hope you may succeed in your desire to get to + Harvard. We had a very pleasant letter from one of our "boys," as + he styled himself, a week since. He is still enjoying his + privileges there.... Hoping to hear from you again, and wishing you + success in your new position, whatever it may be, in which the + Women's Auxiliary Conference join, + + Yours truly, SARAH ELLIS. + +A gentleman in Mississippi, superintendent of schools in his county, +writes of Miss Ellis as + + "... One whose memorial I read with a saddened heart. A single + request to her consequent upon an advertisement which I saw in a + paper commenced a correspondence which continued uninterruptedly + till the time of her death. Though just from the side of a dear + sister whom she had left destined to a glorious immortality, she + found time to write to us a letter of condolence on the great loss + that we had sustained in the death of our son,--a young man just of + age,--in which she blended submission to Him 'who doeth all things + right,' with such words of comfort as could emanate only from a + good, earnest, self-sacrificing instrument of our Heavenly Father. + Than in her life of trials and troubles there has never been a + greater instance of the victory of mind over matter. I am afraid + that I do little good with the sermons, etc., among the people + here, who, although they use the beautiful hymn, 'Nearer, my God, + to Thee,' at their funerals, still look upon Unitarians as cultured + heathens." + +A lady in Ohio, who became a regular correspondent and bought many +books, wrote Miss Ellis:-- + + "The lectures and papers you have sent have been, and are, the + source of much pleasure to me; and I have given them to some of my + friends, who also seemed pleased with them. I had thought for a + long time that the Unitarian faith would be my idea of true + religion, and now I feel _sure_ of it. I knew nothing about its + creed, or whether it had one, but had had a desire for several + years to know something of it. All my friends and acquaintances + were as ignorant as myself, and the most definite idea I had been + able to gain concerning it was through James Freeman Clarke's + 'Self-Culture.' When I found your little notice in the newspaper, + it was just what I most desired. I have always wished to be + religious; but there are things in the Bible which my reason + repels, and the Orthodox way of teaching them became at last so + abhorrent to me that at one time I just gave it all up and ceased + to try to believe any of it; though I am sure I always felt the + beauty of Christianity as taught by Christ, and would be glad now + to be a Christian, if not compelled to believe him the miraculous + Son of God.... We like the 'Register' better and better all the + time, and I have no doubt shall subscribe for it regularly. I + consider it exceedingly high-toned as a moral and religious + teacher, and also in a literary point of view. The sermons and + lectures supply for us a long-felt need. I intend sending a list of + names of friends and acquaintances to the publishers soon. My + sister-in-law has become a convert to the Unitarian faith through + the medium of the 'Register' and the tracts you have sent me from + time to time. She is quite an enthusiast, and feels that + Unitarianism is a great boon and comfort to her now in the midst of + her troubles. [The sister had recently lost her husband.] She, like + myself, could not conscientiously subscribe to the old Orthodox + creeds and requirements, and so remained outside the Church; but + now she feels that she may be a Christian without stultifying her + sense of reason. When she returns home, she expects to subscribe + for the 'Register.'" + +After Miss Ellis's death she wrote:-- + + "I received the memorial of Miss Ellis. I thank you sincerely for + sending it. It is very touching and beautiful, and delineates just + such a character as I conceived hers to be. I had received the sad + intelligence of her death through the 'Christian Register' before + the memorial reached me, and it was like the shock of learning of + the death of a personal friend. I have great reason to be grateful + to her and to cherish her memory; for through her I have been led + to embrace and to love the broad and charitable Unitarian belief. + My reason had struggled for years against the great--to + me--stumbling-blocks of Orthodoxy, and had finally abandoned the + conflict and settled down into a kind of unthinking unbelief, + feeling that it was no use to try to subscribe to any Orthodox + creed, and not knowing where to look for any more hopeful, helpful, + or reasonable spiritual aid. About four years ago, I think it was, + I saw the notice in the paper which is referred to in the memorial, + and Then ensued a very pleasant correspondence ... wrote Miss Ellis + asking for Unitarian papers, etc. much like that with a dear + familiar friend, and she grew to be like one to me, or rather was + that almost from the first. She put so much of her real self into + her letters that they were like a living presence. So full she was + of true Christian love and feeling, so ever ready to forget her + own sorrows and sufferings in her sympathy with the sorrows of + others, that thus unconsciously truth and love and + self-forgetfulness were stamped upon every line that came from her + mind and hand. Truly she was 'A Little Pilgrim,' bearing good + tidings to the fainting and weary, and lifting them up with her own + heavenly strength. Sacred be her memory! Through her I became a + subscriber to the 'Christian Register,' which is to me a standard + of excellence in a religious, moral, and intellectual point of + view. I do not want to be sectarian, as that is not my ideal of a + good Unitarian,--I mean in an 'offensive' light; but it really + seems to me that even Unitarian wit and fun have a refinement and + exquisite touch of humor which cannot be equalled among Orthodox + publications. The 'Register,' however, is the only Unitarian paper + that I am well acquainted with. A widowed sister-in-law who is with + me also became a Unitarian through Miss Ellis. She is a subscriber + to 'The Unitarian.' We also have Channing's Works and the 'Oriental + Christ,' which I bought through Miss Ellis, and some of Freeman + Clarke's books; so that we have the companionship of much of the + best Unitarian thought, although we are denied the privilege of a + personal ministry." + +From Springfield, Ohio:-- + + "I have been greatly benefited by the papers, sermons, etc., you + have so kindly sent me. Hope to have them continued. Will try to + have some Unitarian volumes put in our public library. After + reading the papers I loan them out to others. Some sermons thus + pass into six or eight homes. They set people to thinking. I thank + you, and your good Society, for the broad Christian education you + are giving me. Will do all I can as your missionary here." + +Rev. Samuel May, Leicester, Mass., having offered to send his "Register" +to some one, Miss Ellis arranged that it should go to the writer of the +above, who acknowledged it as follows:-- + + "Your postal received. I am very grateful for this kindness, and, + as I read the 'Register' this morning, I resolved to use it for + others also.... Can't your Association give the ball a push at this + place?" + +The following extract is from the first letter of a new correspondent, +dated Dec. 8, 1885. To him was begun the last postal card, which she was +unable to finish. She was so eager about it, dictating faster than one +could write. "Tell him I think he will like us when he knows us better," +she said. + + "Your postal came all right, also copies of several tracts, and + specimens of 'Register' and 'Unity.' They are mainly in lines of + thought which I have been working on for some years. I am at one + with the authors in main points, but not prepared to accept all of + the so-called advanced or radical expressions. My own experience, + observation, and reflection seem to show that they have swung too + far from Orthodoxy, and the truth lies between; but I am not fit to + decide yet. From the pamphlet of selections of Channing's writings, + with which I am particularly pleased, I have derived some ideas + which inspire me for a greater activity, and I hope a more + effective activity, in my work of teaching.... I have a friend who + also feels dissatisfied with current Orthodoxy. If you see fit, I + wish you to send him some of those tracts. I wish to use my copies + here, or I would send them." + +The estimation in which Miss Ellis was held by some of her +fellow-workers appears in the following extracts from letters and +papers. + +At the conclusion of a letter, a part of which is given elsewhere, Rev. +A. A. Livermore, President of Meadville Theological School, says:-- + + "But though disinterested and devoted to family interests and + helpful to the growing households of her brothers and sisters, the + crowning interest that came to absorb and inspire her advanced + Christian life was the propagation of her own Unitarian faith, + early learned, later disciplined, and mellowed and sanctified by + trial and years. What had been a stay and staff to her own mind and + heart she was anxious to communicate to others. Hence she sought + the instrumentalities of the pen and press, and the Post Office + Mission sprang into being,--the invention of a Christian woman's + heart, bent on doing good spiritually. The zeal, fidelity, + sympathy, and adaptation with which she developed and pursued this + work have been told elsewhere. It is another lesson to teach us + that ever new means will arise, as time and opportunity serve, for + the faithful in heart and life to hasten the coming of the Master's + kingdom of righteousness and love. Miss Ellis infused a sweetness + and sympathy all her own into her mission. To her it was no task, + but a delight, as her letters show,--her meat and drink to help + struggling souls to light and Christian faith. Peace to her + beautiful and saintly memory!" + + * * * * * + + (From Rev. S. J. Barrows, editor "Christian Register.") + + A CANDLE OF THE LORD. + + It was a feeble socket that held it. It was a constant surprise + that so small a candle could give forth so much light. But its + special mission was not so much to illumine the world with its own + light as it was to ignite other minds and hearts from its own + flame. "Behold how much wood is kindled by how small a fire!" says + the apostle. Nothing is small, it has been said, which is great in + its consequences. It does not need a stroke of lightning from + heaven to raze Chicago to the ground: a little lamp-flame near a + pile of hay is sufficient. We forget sometimes the power of a + single humble life to extend and duplicate its influence. We have + never learned yet how far the little candle can throw its beams, + when its waves of light and heat come in contact with minds and + hearts that are prepared for the illumination it may give. The wire + and the battery have not entirely superseded the torch-bearer. The + lamps in the house may have been filled, the gas may be ready to + turn on; what is needed is for some one to go about with match or + torch or candle, and tip the burner with its flame. + + So, as we have said, it was the mission of this candle of the Lord + to ignite other minds and hearts. She had discovered that the vast + system of intercommunication established by the post-office might + be used for moral as well as for commercial means. In connection + with a faithful co-worker, she devoted herself to the dissemination + of kindling literature. Set like a luminous panel amid a great wall + of advertisements was a brief notice, in some of the large Western + dailies, that those who wished Liberal religious literature might + have it for the asking, and by sending to the Cincinnati Post + Office Mission. In the columns of this paper, from time to time, we + have shown what a wide-spread influence these little notices had. + They opened avenues of communication to many hungry souls. The + confidence of many in doubt and perplexity was secured. The lady + who was called to this special work had a keen intuition as to what + was needed in each special case. It was not only that she sent the + right tracts and the right books, and thus set up guide-posts for + groping men and women; not less prized by many of her + correspondents was the simple, earnest faith and cordial sympathy + which she expressed in her own letters. Many are grateful to her + for pointing out the way and giving the right impulse at the right + time. Prevented by deafness from taking an active part in social + intercourse, she yet found an opportunity to unstop the deaf ears + of others and to open their blind eyes. In this Post Office Mission + work was a channel for her faithful and consecrated endeavors. + + We cannot estimate the radiating influence of such a life. Its + quickening flame has gone from heart to heart, and it is destined + to go still further. Her devoted example has given an impulse to + many other women in the Unitarian body, who are sowing in the same + field the seed for an abundant harvest. It is now seen that this + diffusion of our literature is one of the mightiest means for + propagating our faith. If such a devoted woman, working + independently, could accomplish so much, how much more might be + effected by thorough organizations and wide co-operation for the + same purpose! + + Her best monument will be the prosecution and extension of the work + to which she gave her life. It was but a pair of lines in the + "Deaths" of the last week's "Register" which told that the candle + had gone out, but its flame is still propagated in the lives it has + served to kindle. The great work of her life was done far beyond + the circle of her immediate influence; and there are many who have + never seen her in the flesh, who will still feel that the name of + Sarah Ellis represents an abiding spiritual reality. + + * * * * * + + (From Rev. George A. Thayer in "Unity," Jan. 23, 1886.) + + SARAH ELLIS. + + Sarah Ellis, the faithful organizer of the Cincinnati Post Office + Mission, and the pioneer in that admirable form of the ministry of + Unitarian doctrine through the writing of letters and the + circulation of religious literature, "went up higher" from her + sick-bed, on Sunday evening, December 27. There are many, East and + West, to whom her wise guidance in spiritual perplexities has been + as a strong hand lifting them from confusion and doubt concerning + all religion, into tranquil joy, who will read that she is dead, + with the shock which comes with an unforewarned calamity. For + almost up to her last hour she was carrying on her correspondence + with the wide circle of men and women to whom she periodically sent + glad tidings of a reasonable faith, and never giving intimation to + the most regular of these correspondents that she was any less + vigorous of health than usual. For many months her friends had seen + the end approaching, and very likely she herself had understood + that "the task was great, the day short, and it was not incumbent + upon her to complete the work." But her inexorable conscience, + blended with her delight in having found at last, within this + recent five years, a work needing to be done, and calling into use + her store of admirable wisdom for such business, kept her at her + duty until the body ceased to obey the will. + + Only the people who knew Miss Ellis well could understand her rare + fitness for her office, through long and ripe study of Unitarian + religious literature, and through her genius for apprehending at + once what special reading and counsel her various applicants for + light upon their darkened ways of the spirit needed to + receive,--only those to whom she spoke the word in season, or those + nearer home to whom she was a quiet exemplar in holy things, can + appreciate the quality of virtue enclosed in that fragile and + infirm body, which shines on earth only "in minds made better by + its presence," but shines with renewed honor elsewhere in the house + of many mansions. + + * * * * * + + It was not my good fortune to know Miss Ellis personally, but her + works have praised her East as well as West. Her death is a great + calamity to the cause, as well as a great sorrow to her friends; + but she has put life and power into a good instrument of influence, + and it will live. + + REV. GRINDALL REYNOLDS, + + _Secretary American Unitarian Association, Boston, Mass._ + + * * * * * + + LEICESTER, Mass, April 10, 1886. + + ... Her communications made no mention of her infirmities or + illness; and her death was a great surprise. I had become quite + interested in her manner of doing her work; the perfect + intelligence, good sense, and self-reliance she manifested.-----of + Springfield, Ohio, has written to me in the highest appreciation of + her helpfulness to him.... I enclose three of her postal cards, + which, if quite convenient, may come back to me. [On one of these + postal cards Mr. May has indorsed, "Miss Ellis lived but about a + month after this was written. Her death was a great and immediate + loss to the cause of a wise and large Christian faith in the + West."] She was eminently worthy of a special commemoration and + canonization. + + Respectfully yours, Samuel J. May. + + * * * * * + + I have thought of you often since the "Christian Register" brought + the news of Miss Ellis's death, and am moved to express my sympathy + for the loss you have met,--a loss which all of us share indeed. I + suppose it was very good to _her_ to be summoned from a state of + feebleness; but it will not be easy, I believe, to fill the vacant + place. Perhaps her own inspiration will rest upon her successor, + and so she will indeed help to carry on the work which she has done + so beautifully. + + I suppose the time will come, some day, when the loss of a good + worker in our Conference will not be felt so seriously as now; but + we are far too few as yet. + + MISS ABBY W. MAY, + + _President Women's Auxiliary Conference, Boston, Mass._ + + * * * * * + + Though I had had but comparatively little correspondence with Miss + Ellis, that little had made me regard her as a personal friend, and + I felt especially drawn towards her after I learned about her + deafness, for that was my own mother's trial for many years. It is + a comfort to think that all suffering and weakness are over for + her; and so we can but rejoice that she has entered upon the + blessed life, although the feeling of loss must be very great. I + have thought often of Mr. Beach's sudden death last summer, during + the last few weeks, and I was glad to tell our friends, at the + meeting the other day, of Miss Ellis's tender, helping sympathy for + his mother and sisters at that time. I think one can hardly help + feeling that perhaps Miss Ellis and the young friend whom she had + led to a bright and happy faith may already have met and rejoiced + together in the heavenly life. Much sympathy has been expressed + here for Miss Ellis's father. I hope that the thought of all that + she has gained is a constant comfort and help to him. + + MRS. J. I. W. THACHER, + + _Secretary Women's Auxiliary Conference, Boston, Mass._ + + * * * * * + + The news of Miss Ellis's departure from among us filled us all with + grief and regret; and yet we feel she is so sure to continue her + good work there, that we ought not to _regret_. What a delightful + awakening for her when, with no feeling of weakness or pain, she + opens her eyes to find herself surrounded by those who have gone + before, whose lives she had gladdened here, and to learn that part + of her mission there is to meet and welcome her host of friends, + personal and parochial, as they follow her over there! How many + people will miss her here! Ten times one is ten. Their number + cannot be estimated. + + MISS F. LE BARON, + + _Sec. Western Women's Unitarian Conf., Chicago, Ill._ + + * * * * * + + I want to express my great sympathy for you and your Society in the + loss of your friend Miss Ellis. + + Although I knew she had been an invalid for a long time, the news + of her death was a great shock to me. She has been so kind in + helping me to get started in the Post Office Mission, and made me + feel so truly that she stood ready to help always, that I cannot + but feel that I have in her death lost a good friend, which must be + the case with many others all over the country. She has left us all + the memory of a brave example, which ought to fill us with the + desire to carry on the good work by her begun, more faithfully than + ever. + + MISS ELLEN M. GOULD, + + _Sec. Post Office Mission Committee, Davenport, Ia._ + + * * * * * + + I have just heard of the death of Miss Ellis. How great a loss it + is to all of us, but how great a _gain_ to all of us that she has + lived, and illustrated the possibilities of a life lived under even + so many limitations as hedged her about! Will you not send me a + sketch of her life and work for the next number of the "Unitarian"? + + MISS ELIZA R. SUNDERLAND, + + _Assistant Editor "Unitarian," Chicago, Ill._ + + * * * * * + + I had heard from time to time that she was feeble, but her fragile + frame held so strong a spirit, that I hoped she would triumph over + bodily weakness for many years to come. The world can ill spare + such as she. Each time I saw her I was impressed more and more with + the strength of her character and the clearness and directness of + her mind. Upon meeting a stranger of whom one has heard much there + is almost always a little period of bewilderment before the ideal + and real can be harmonized, even where there is not disappointment; + and at first I was at a loss how to reconcile the strong, + well-balanced mind, with its keen insight,--as revealed in her + letters,--with the delicate, dainty, sweet-looking little woman, + shut out from her kind to so great a degree by her affliction. Yet + when her tiny hand grasped mine so firmly at our first meeting, + there was that in the clasp that reconciled and united my ideal + with the actual; they were only two sides of the same nature. She + was so strong, too, in being so genuine and so full of faith. In + these halting, doubting times, a faith in the eternal verities so + strong and unwavering as hers is like a rock to many a tossed and + uncertain soul. Such people do not know their own power of helping. + I can never refrain from questioning _why_ those who are so needed + in the world must be taken, when the useless and worthless are + left, unless it is that they go that they may leave the _spirit_ of + their service to do a larger work as a heritage to all who will + accept it. Though dead, they speak with many tongues. + + MISS FRANCES L. ROBERTS, + + _Ex-Sec. Western Women's Unitarian Conf., Chicago, Ill._ + + * * * * * + + A Union Meeting of the Women's Auxiliary Conference for Suffolk + County, which includes all the branches of the Conference in the + Unitarian churches of Boston, was held at Arlington Street Church + on Thursday, Jan. 21, 1886. + + At this meeting was officially announced, with the most profound + regret, the death of Miss Ellis, of Cincinnati. A brief account of + her life in connection with the work of the Conference was given by + Mrs. J. I. W. Thacher, Mrs. Kate Gannett Wells, and Miss Abby W. + May, and it was unanimously agreed that there should be entered on + the records of the meeting, and transmitted to the friends of Miss + Ellis, an expression of our fullest appreciation of her beautiful + and self-sacrificing character, our high estimation of the work in + which she had already accomplished so much, and our deep and + earnest sympathy for those who have suffered an irreparable loss. + Our sorrow is not without the hope that the tender memory of a life + so pure and unselfish, and such earnest devotion to all the + principles of our religious faith, may influence for good the lives + of each and all of us, and prove an incentive to every member of + our Conference to further activity in the work we are trying to do. + + EMILY A. FIFIELD, _Director_. + + _For the Suffolk County Branches of the Women's Auxiliary Conference._ + + * * * * * + + PORTLAND, ME., Jan. 17, 1886. + + MRS. FAYETTE SMITH, Director of Women's Conference: + + At a recent meeting of the Portland branch of the Women's Auxiliary + Conference, an article in the "Christian Register," entitled "A + Candle of the Lord," was read; and on motion of Mrs. Dr. J. T. + Gilman, the Secretary was requested to express to your Conference + the sympathy of our little band in the death of Miss Sarah Ellis. + While we cannot have the sense of personal loss that you feel in + the extinguishment of that light, we have the highest admiration + for the work she accomplished under such limitations, and trust + that her example will be an incentive to every Unitarian woman to + do something to continue it, till the flame she kindled may become + a glorious light, glowing in every hamlet of our common country. + + Very truly, MARY R. MCINTIRE. + + TO THE WOMEN'S CONFERENCE, CINCINNATI, OHIO.. + + * * * * * + + 57 HAWLEY ST., SYRACUSE, N.Y., Feb. 7, 1886. + + DEAR MRS. SMITH,--As I have had the pleasure of a little + correspondence with dear Miss Ellis, our Society have asked me to + express to you our deep sympathy in your loss. She must have been a + remarkable woman to have accomplished so much when so feeble. Her + warm heart spoke plainly in her letters, and we shall regret more + and more, as time passes, that we shall receive them no more. Let + us believe that her freed spirit is not far off, but is still + interested, and far more able to help in the work she loved so + well. Her sphere is only larger. Our branch of the Woman's + Auxiliary Conference resolved to incorporate in its minutes a + resolution of regret at her death, and sympathy with you, and to + preserve the "In Memoriam" you so kindly sent, among its papers. + Please accept our warmest sympathy and expression of interest. + + Yours sincerely, FRANCES J. MYERS. + + _For the Syracuse Branch of the Women's Auxiliary Conference._ + +The Post Office Mission Committee at Davenport, Iowa, at their meeting +Feb. 10, also took formal action upon the death of Miss Ellis, and sent +expressions of "heartfelt regrets and sympathy" to the Cincinnati +Society. + + CHICAGO, March 29, 1886. + + A part of Thursday afternoon, May 13, will be given to the Women's + Conference, and occupied with election of officers and report of + Post Office Mission work. It seems very appropriate that something + should be said at that time in memory of Miss Ellis; and Miss Le + Baron and I request that you prepare the paper or remarks and + present them.... We leave the form of the memorial entirely to your + judgment. + + MRS. E. A. WEST, + + _Pres. Western Women's Unitarian Conf., Chicago, Ill._ + + In accordance with this request, Mrs. George Thornton, of + Cincinnati, read the following memorial before the Western Women's + Unitarian Conference, May 13, 1886:-- + + Such an occasion as this, full of words of good counsel and + cheer,--a reunion of the little band of women workers in the cause + of Liberal Christianity,--will be incomplete if we do not mention + one name, held in loving remembrance in the hearts of many here + present, and of a still greater number scattered far and wide, + whose lives have been touched to higher issues by the active + ministrations of our beloved co-worker, Miss Sallie Ellis, who has + laid down her work on earth and passed on to the great Hereafter. + + When we recall the fragile form, so full of the Spirit's life, + which, rising above the many disabilities of physical suffering, + accomplished so much in the brief years allotted her, we take + courage, and thank God that we have had such spirits with us. + Nothing doubting that their work continues here and elsewhere, + though we know neither the manner nor conditions of its progress. + + We who are cheered in moments of sorrow by the great faith that the + future of those who have passed behind "the veil which hath no + outward swing" will be but a continuance of the _best_, under + nobler conditions, rejoice, even in the midst of personal + bereavement, that Miss Ellis has entered into that rest, so nobly + won by her patient endurance of the heavy burdens laid upon + her,--burdens which yet never seemed to close her sympathy for + others, but only served to quicken her eagerness to work for the + extension of that vital faith she found so satisfying. + + It is to her warm heart, and earnest desire to help others in the + midst of spiritual difficulties, that we owe the unique but most + efficacious method of reaching such through the medium of postal + communication. + + Scientists tell us that each wavelet of sound, produced by the + tiniest cause, goes on in ever-widening circles of ether, to the + uttermost limits of creation. Had we but senses acute enough to + receive the sensation, how full of pulsing sound would all Nature + become! It seems to me that this keener sense, enabling her to + catch the questionings of troubled souls, became one of the great + compensations of Miss Ellis's later years. As the outer organs of + hearing became dulled to what was passing around her, the inner or + spiritual became more observant; and as we listened to the + correspondence which came to her from North and South, East and + West, from the home and the camp, from the teacher and the taught, + we seemed to stand in some great whispering-gallery, echoing with + the sighs and anxious inquiries of seekers after truth who sought + aid in solving the great problems of the soul's life. As from time + to time came back acknowledgments of gratitude for aid rendered, + either by her sympathizing letters or the Liberal literature which + she widely disseminated, we realized what a great lever had been + applied in this simple way to the spiritual needs of many. + + It is in this phase of Miss Ellis's work that she has become better + known to the members of the Women's Auxiliary Conference; and it is + of this especially I have spoken to-day. + + But the roots of this activity lie deeper, and this work was but + the fruitage of a life which drew its strength to suffer and + endure, as well as to labor and to wait, from those fountains of a + rational faith for whose extension we have met here this week. + + To her it was the manna of life, and it was fitting that her last + years should have been spent in unselfish endeavor to extend its + influence. + + Knowing how heartily she would have entered into the spirit of our + meetings during this Conference, we cannot leave unsaid the word of + tender remembrance which links her memory indissolubly with the + work of our Women's Auxiliary Conference. The little band who are + engaged in spreading the light of a higher faith, in lifting the + load of crude ideas in regard to our relations to God and humanity, + may surely feel that though our friend "has joined the choir + invisible," yet her work "lives on in lives made better by her + presence," still keeping alive the union with us who remain + behind,--a help and incentive to continued progress. + + No better key-note of Miss Ellis's life can be given than in the + words of a poem copied by her into her diary, January, 1881. It + was taken from the "Woman's Journal," and was entitled:-- + + + ACHIEVEMENT. + + Nothing noble, nothing great + The world has ever known, + But began a seed of thought + In some generous nature sown. + + Any soul may rise to be + A new saviour to its race; + Every man and woman fills, + Well or ill, a prophet's place. + + In our Now the Then lies folded, + All its wealth, and all its power; + From the promise of to-day + Bursts to-morrow's perfect flower. + + Every deed of solid worth + Helps the world to find its place; + Every life of homely truth + Raises higher all the race. + + "Ye are gods," the Scriptures saith; + "Yea," our spirits make reply; + Let us claim our birthright, then,-- + Prove our high divinity. + + We too may be, if we will, + Athlete winners every one, + Conquerors of fate and chance, + Lords of all beneath the sun. + + Let us thitherward aspire, + Take whate'er we find to do, + Making life what life was meant-- + Something liberal, earnest, true! + + * * * * * + +University Press: John Wilson & Son, Cambridge. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Miss Ellis's Mission, by Mary P. 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