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LIFE-LINE OF T:E LONE ONE;
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
orp
THE WORLD'S CHILD.
BY THE AUTHOR,
" Honor and shlame from no condition rise;
Act well your part; there all the honor lies."
BOSTON:
PUBLISHtED BY BELA MARSH,
14 B OMTPIBlD ST.
1857.




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857,
BY WARREN CHASE,
In tihe Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.
STEREOTYPED BY
HOBART AND ROBBINS,
B O S T O N.




P RE FAC E.
THis little volume - a true and literal history of the
struggles of an ardent and ambitious mind to rise from
a dishonorable birth, and the lowest condition of poverty and New England slavery —is published more for
a guide and advice to those who live in the humble
walks of life, and for a rebuke on the tyrannical and
malignant spirit of arrogant and selfish individuals and
societies, who ever attempt to trample upon and despise
such reformers as attempt to rise, by individual effort,
to distinction or fame, than for the book market, or for
the pecuniary reward it may bring the author.  The
name is only left in obscurity to those who are unacquainted with the subject of the narrative; and to such
it is of no value.  The subject of the narrative has
passed to a plane of reconciliation and harmony, in
which he feels only a spirit of forgiveness for those
whose consciences have already punished them for their
physical abuse, or moral and religious misrepresentations, slanders, and falsehoods, or their political curses.
In every relation and condition of life he is now beyond
their shafts, and hence is in a condition to forgive.
As the persecuted Jesus, when the malignity of his
enemies had done its worst, and he was about to triumph
in the personal demonstration of his own theory, could
afford to forgive Peter and Judas, and say of those who
took his life, "Father, forgive them: for they know not




IV                            PRFACE.
what they do;" so the Lone One has often exclaimed of
those who attempted to crucify his reputation, and
destroy his efforts to make others happy, "They are
forgiven: Tor they know  not what they do."
"Speak gently to the erring one,
For, 0! ye may not know
The untold weight of suffering
That bows his spirit low.
"A kind and gentle word, perchance,
May call all back to him,The pleasant dreams of early youth,
Ere the light of life was dim.
"' Harsh words may be the only ones
His ear hath ever heard;
Then like an angel's loving voice
Will sound your gentle word.
"In joyous hours, with friends around,
Rich with the love they give,
You hear of wicked deeds, and say,
He is not fit to live.
" But only think, if yours had been,
Like his, a cheerless life,
Your soul, perchance, might then have been,
Like his, as full of strife.
"There's seldom found a heart so hard
But love may enter in;
And love hath ever magic power
To chase away all sin.
"Then spare not gentle words, that bring
The erring unto God,
To learn that life is beautiful,
When spent in doing good."




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
CHAPTER I.
FIRST DECADE OF THE LONE ONE.
The Unwelcome Birth. - The Unhappy Childhood. - The Untimely Deaths. -
The Uncharitable Bondage. - The Unmerciful Treatment.
SECTION I.
THE IMPERFECT LINEAGE.
NOT long after the Pilgrim Fathers made their homes on the
rocky and bleak coast of Massachusetts, a vessel from the European side of the ocean landed, among her passengers, from the
"sea-girt isle," three brothers, who brought to this country the
name which has since gained many a niche in the records of our
country's local and general history, and which may now be seen
permanently or temporarily posted in many business villages of the
nation, but which I shall dispense with, as too common for my
narrative. The history of these three brothers, and of several
generations of their descendants, is robed in a mantle of obscurity,
and cannot now be easily unwrapped and spread before their descendants, even by those who seek through it a fortune of dollars.
Most that is well known is, that they had Abraham's blessing, to
increase and multiply. It is deeply to be regretted that there are
not more and better words on the hard old granite and marble
tomb-stones of New England, bearing to us more of the history of
the each one each bears the name of. But our Christian style
of epitaphing brings us little knowledge, except the name of the
1*




6             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
person whose body lies under the stone. Had the sextons placed
over the graves permanent records of the three great events which
constitute the important part of many lives, - birth, marriage, and
death, -it would often aid the searcher after lineage, when the
human posts with memory-marks had all been swept away by the
merciless besom of time. Our generation has a better chance of leaving individual records on the blank pages in the grave-yard of Jewish
history furnished us by the Bible societies; which records may be
of more value to coming generations than the printed pages, when
the march of science has carried away the idolatry and superstition
of this age, and the centuries have removed the tall steeples and
stingy creeds of the nineteenth Christian century.
But we must still grope among the tomb-records, to renew the
search after the lineage of the Lone One. We find the records of
both grave-yards very imperfect, from which we can only glean
sufficient to make out the following: In the third, fourth, or fifth
generation of these three brothers, among the descendants of the
one of them  who bore the singular cognomen of Aquila, was a
family of eight children — four sons and four daughters. The
younger of the four sons joined a small group of hardy pioneers,
who had procured a title to a piece of God's earth (from some
regular descendant of the original owner, as is supposed by the
land reformers, who assert that God never gave any " fee simple"
title-deeds, but only heirships), then far up in the wild regions of
New Hampshire, on a small stream now called Suncook. Near
the middle of the eighteenth century this little group began to fell
the tall old pines and sorry-looking hemlocks, and let down the
sunlight and dews upon the soil and rocks (mostly rocks) of this
little spot of their heavenly Father's earth; or rather on their own
spot, for they had bought a few acres of surface running inward
to a point at the centre of the globe, but not outward, for the atmosphere and sunlight were still owned by the Father, and free
for the use of all his children. They arranged the trees across
the rattling Suncook, and, the river being dammed and heaped
up, its waters, in their wrath, plunged, foaming in madness, over




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                   7
the obstacle, such as no red man had ever placed in their way;
or, forced through the narrow aperture, for many years turned a
clattering old mill-wheel, to make boards for the settlers; or,
twirling the circular and poised rock, cracked the corn for the
lesser grinders of the bipeds. Long ago the mill was " torn away,
and a factory dark and high looms like a tower " beside the stream.
How changed the place in a century! And what is a century in the
midst of eternal time? Not even as a drop in the ocean. The red
man and his fur-clad quadruped companions are gone [where?]; and
civilized man, with his domesticated animals and labor-saving
machinery, his cottage homes, his noisy shops, and busy stores, has
taken their place, and driven them, not to, but beyond, the wall.
Wonder often seized the red man, as he watched his white Cainlike brothers fell the trees, remove the rocks, till the soil, build
warmer wigwams, and plant more " heap, of corn;" but he passed
in wonder away, stupefied in soul, and poisoned in body, by the
rum  and tobacco of God's whiter Christian children.  Now the
spires of the Puritan's descendants point upward in place of the
red man's forest spires, from which, two centuries ago, the prayers
and praises of man and beast were sounded to the sky in simple
strains of nature's music, as acceptable to God as the best harmonies of our time. Now the slender fingers of the factory-girl guide
the cotton thread, through whirling machinery, into webs of sheeting, to wrap the more tender forms of the white mother's babes of
a Christian land; but it is not certain that these babes or mothers
live purer lives, or give more pure devotion to God, than did the
fur-clad mothers and naked babes of the forest-homes; and certain
it is that the belief in a future life entertained by the red man of
the forest was far more natural, more rational, more honorable to
God, and more desirable to man, than that of the Christian which
has supplanted it.
Soon after a shanty was prepared by this descendant of Aquila
wide enough for two, the loved one, selected from the daughters of
a neighboring settlement, came to share its hardships with the
occupant. Not a score of moons had been reported, new or old,




8              LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
ere the pair had to make room for a third, a darling boy, whose
origin was between them; the first white face of male child born in
the settlement, and of course it would have a place and name.
Simon (not Simon Peter) was the cognomen by which this shanty
boy was designated from his fellows. When peopling the settlement by births was fairly begun, it was not carried on slowly in
the several homes, but especially in this one. The family record
was soon filled up; for Simon's name was followed by eleven
more, marking, as milestones, the line of domestic life, nearly in
biennial periods. Seven received female names, rights, and duties,
and five male names, rights, and duties. The eldest, born when
the trials and hardships of life were most severe, was of course the
brightest and smartest, although the parents were less developed
and matured than at the birth of Joseph (for they had a Joseph).
Two of the dozen went early and young to reside on the other side
of Jordan, "to join a choir of juvenile singers in the land of
spirits." Four more have since followed them, at various times,
and six were still lingering here in the autumn of 1855, timeworn humanity-marks of the last century, and of the generation which has been mainly transplanted into the other life.
The old pioneer parents, too, whose hold on life enabled them to stay
almost a century on earth, and live more than half a century in
wedded life, have joined those, who, according to the new theory
of spirit-spheres, are living in families and societies of harmonious
and congenial life in the land of the dead.'T is a beautiful thought,
whether true or not, for the lone pilgrim here, that, at the end of
life's journey, he or she shall lay the'; staff and sandals down "
for the wreath and robe of a brighter and happier home, and join
there, in happy life, the "loved ones gone before."
We have now done nearly all we can to register the genealogy
of the Lone One, and will here leave the ancestors, all except the
first-born of the sons of the new settlement.  Of him we have more
to say, for, in matured life, he became the father of the Lone One,
by a mother fully ripened into womanhood; the last child of each,
and the only child of the twain. This Simon-son, of the Pittsfield




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                   9
town, has now no tomb-stone monument to mark where his body lies,
and no epitaph inscribed to record his religious belief, or pious
character; but only the memory-marks made, during his life, on
those around him which have not faded. His parents, and brothers,
and sisters, all accorded to him the qualification of good and
smart; but his early life had not the advantage of schools, and
books, and sermons, and lectures, as the youth of our time have.
Hard work by day-light, and rude plays by fire-light, occupied his
youth, and the former did not cease when manhood came. Those
still living who knew him say he was physically and mentally more
than a common man, and morally not less, but religiously at zero.
Many of his trite sayings, and some of his doings, still linger
around the memories of those who knew him half a century ago.
Such were the father and the paternal lineage of the Lone One,
which, with one more brief notice in its proper place, must be left
to the fast-fading shadows of memory; for lineal descents are
difficult to trace, and not very reliable when written. When forty
years had worn away upon the records, these were nearly all the
links the Lone One could find in the chain to connect him, through
his sire, with the Puritan Fathers.  The great fortune said to be
waiting some heir in name and line had never arrested his attention, for he was not registered in the records of lineal descent, but
dwelt alone, and away from all kindred of name and descent from
Aquila.  It is doubtful whether, if he had died before this record
was published, or before the days of modern spiritualism, he could
have received a Christian burial, with head to the west, to meet at
the resurrection of the bodies, the Saviour, who is to come from
the east, when the trump of the angel shall call up the dead and
decayed forms from the earth.  But he has already outlived most
of the follies, superstitions, and prejudices, of the Christians, and
expects at death to find a home with the spirits, if not with the
Christians, of the other world, and not so cold and unwelcome
a reception as he found in this world.




10             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
SECTION II.
THE MOTHER AND CHILD.
"' Silently, strangely, the darkness
Has fallen upon thy way,
And the hands of no earthly morning
For thee shall open the day.
"And yet in a world of sunshine
Thou seemlest to dwell the while;
For the light of thy soul looks on us
In the light of thy beautiful smile.
"And much for that one affliction
Shall this recompense atone -
On the path of thine earthly journey
Thou shalt not walk alone.
" For when human love shall leave thee,
Thy wanderings almost done,
Then the hands of invisible angels
Shall softly lead thee on.
"And their arms shall be round about thee,
Till thy feet through that gate have trod
Standing dark at the end of the pathway
Which leads from the world to God.
" And then what an over-payment
For the night of thy mortal ills,
Shall come with the light of that morning
That breaks o'er eternity's hills!"
ON the fifth day of the first month of the eighteen hundred
and thirteen, at the opening of the morning light upon the snow-clad
hills and vales of New England, a poor, lonely, and sorry mother,
with a newly-born and unwelcome babe, might have been seen in
an old, shattered, and oft-deserted house, through which the winter
winds and New England snow-storms played almost unobstructed;
a house long since gone to " dust and ashes," leaving only the
hole in the ground to mark the spot where its frame once protect



LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                  11
ed, as well as society then did, the entrance of the Lone One on
his earthly pilgrimage. Few marks of a modern New England
home were to be seen there, except the bright eye of the sorry
mother, and the quiet face of the babe, sleeping in innocence and
ignorance both of its " totally depraved nature " and totally deprived condition (especially of the comforts of life). The mother's eye grew dim and weak as it dropped its tears fresh-wrung
from the heart, while she pondered on the fate of herself and
child. WVhat would become of them she knew not. Her hands,
so used to toil for her support, were now confined to a new task,
to which maternal love alone called her, and which returned a
reward only in the satisfaction to her heart, but which would
neither feed nor clothe herself and babe.  A few -only a fewpersons were willing to be known as the friends of this poor mother
and babe; but probably as many as were willing to be seen and
known to be friends of the mother and child in a stable in Bethlehem, once on a time. The few did call to see the mother and
child, but they were mostly from that class of persons whose
entire wealth is in charity, sympathy, and love, and who, however
much disposed, were unable to relieve the wants of the sufferers.
Death would indeed have been a welcome visitor then and there,
if willing to take both to his home; and far more welcome to the
child, could he have seen the path of life before him. Thus dark
and gloomy, and sad, hopeless, and loveless, uncalled for, a curse,
not a blessing, was the earthly dawning of the Lone One's life.
Well might that saddened mother say, with a sweet sister of song,
on a bank of the Ohio,*
"For me, in all life's desert sand,
No well is made, no tent is spread;
No father's nor a brother's hand
Is laid with blessing on my head.
"The radiance of my mortal star
Is crossed with signs of woe to me,
And all my thoughts and wishes are
Sad wanderers toward eternity.
* Alice Cary.




12              LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE,
" Stricken, riven, helplessly apart
From all that blessed the path I trod,
0, tempt me, tempt me not, my heart,
To arraign the goodness of my God! 
"For suffering hath been made sublime,
And souls that lived and died alone
Have left an echo for all time,
As they went wailing to the throne.
6There have been moments when I dared
Believe life's mystery a breath,
And deem Faith's beauteous bosom bared
To the betraying arms of Death.
6" For the immortal life but mocks
The soul that feels its ruin dire,
And like a tortured demon rocks
Upon the cradling waves of fire.
6' To mine is pressed no loving lip,
Around me twines no helping arm;
And, like a frail dismasted ship,
I blindly drift before the storm."
This was the mother and child.  Nobody owned the mother,
for no priest had bade her obey and serve any man; and hence
no one man was bound to feed and clothe her. She owned herself
and child; and we never heard that she attributed its origin to a
spirit, or to spirits, or spiritual influence of any kind, although she
was a Christian woman. Whether she repented the hasty and
imprudent bestowal of her love on that Simon-son of Nathaniel,
from an overflowing heart, we cannot say; but that she deeply
deplored her sad fate is but too well known, however much she
may now rejoice over its results.  Few had pity for her.  Some
had scorn; more had contempt; but the angels smiled on her;
and when the heart of man cast her out, the heart of God took
her in. But Simon, O, Simon! where art thou? What screen
can hide thee from her suffering?
When the nation's second war with England sent its notes echo



LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 13
ing among the granite hills of New Hampshire, it called to the
field and the ocean many brave hearts from among her hardy sons.
Among them was Simon, the son of Nathaniel, who speedily released himself from home and relatives, and sought associates in
the camp, with the frontier army, on the Canada side of New
England. His restless soul and troubled mind sought and found
food and interest in the army for a brief period, until the terrible
battle of Plattsburgh, after which the army record contained,
among the names of the wounded and died, this same Simon,
thus shortening the journey of life, and abruptly terminating the
path to fame and glory, by a precipice and a plunge in oblivion's
stream. Here ends all the Lone One could glean in 1855 of a
father's history. In his ripened years, he was never much inclined
to search among the tombs for relics, while living subjects of
more interest were ever around him. At this infancy period of
life, which we have now introduced, dark clouds with heavy storms
hung lowering over his horizon; and this burst and crash in a
father's death was distant and faint, compared with many others
that follow; but fate would have its fixed course.  In riper years,
he often wondered why God (if there were a God) had sent him
here without consulting his choice to come and be thus born, and
also whether he could be accountable for involuntary life and
actions resulting therefrom; but none could answer or tell why
God had done thus, by special or by general laws. Some power
had certainly, without consulting the will of either, sent the child
into earthly consciousness and the father out.  The eager, ardent,
restless spirit of the father (but not a spirit of wrangling) had
been transmitted to the child, to mark him, in the babe, the boy,
and the man, through life.  Here our history leaves the father for
the more minute detail of life and character by the numerous
relatives, while we follow the Life-Line of the mother and boy.
The babe would not die, although many wished it would, to relieve
the mother from a burthen, and them from deeds of charity they
felt so unable to perform.  It lived and grew, and the mother
2




14             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
loved it, perhaps the more, for the hard fate which had befallen
her. She sometimes thought, perhaps,
"Heaven her nuptials did record,
Though man did deem her love abhorred; "
and that her babe might yet live to bless and love her and others,
and be useful in life, if she could only raise him to manhood.
But joyless poverty in a hard country! - 0, who can describe its
trials! —its withering blasts, its pinching wants, its trampled
and despised condition? Then add to it the disgrace of being a
mother without the sacred mantle of legal marriage, and you can
scarcely imagine the depths of a mother's woe forty years ago.
Marriage might, indeed, have screened the mother from public
scorn; but how much guilt, and of what nature, attached to the
child, society did never define. But it long despised him. When
the rude cold winds reached their icy fingers for the heart-strings
of her babe, and the rattling boards, nor tattered garments, could
save him, then the mother folded him to her bosom, and fed and
warmed from her scantily-supplied body, and bade the cold and
hunger take her with her babe, or leave both together.  She was
a mother worthy a better fate, who might have filled, with honor
and love, a stately mansion, had fortune favored her with one,
instead of a hovel. It was, indeed, a hard task to supply by her
labor the wants of both, for few would hire her with her boy.
Susan did not name her boy for either family, nor borrow a name
firom either record of ancestors, but selected a name left on the
scroll of fame by one who fell at the battle of Bunker's Hill,
where the tall monument marks the spot of conflict and death;
and that name he is still known by, as much as by the sire-name.
But a name of one beloved by thousands did not bring even friends
to the Lone One, for now the
" —years pressed. hard upon him,
And his living friends were few;
And from out the sombre future
Troubles drifted into view."




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                15
Never yet did a child start on the pathway to fame, even in
New England, with harder prospects, and through a darker and
colder social atmosphere, than this unblessed babe; and yet his
eyes sparkled with gladness, and his heart leaped with joy, at
each kind look, loving smile, or gentle word, of mother or friend.
IHe had not yet learned that the world around him was full
of scorn, contempt, neglect, and slander, for his sensitive soul to
meet-and overcome with its own love and devotion, which alone
could overcome such obstacles to happiness.  The meagre pittance
which Susan could obtain for unwearying industry enabled her to
feed and clothe herself and babe. It was no doubt a blessing to
her to have the screen over coming events sufficient to obscure all
vision of the terrible fate that awaited her and her boy; else she
would have earnestly prayed (for she did pray) that the cup might,pass undrained by each or either. How oft, in riper years, have
the eye and smile of the Lone One rested on a mother and child
in a home of poverty, while the mind has turned back to his own
mother and his childhood, and wondered if here, as there, love
alone constituted the wealth of mother and child! Tears and
sympathy never have, and never can, abandon the heart once
schooled in the experience of the Lone One; nor can it ever fail
to appreciate, reciprocate, and feel, the genial love of kindred
souls.
Four times our latitude felt the freezing winds and drifting
snows of a winter solstice; cold without, and cold within; cold
the forms, and colder the hearts, around the tender germ in earthly
mould, born, out of time and out of place, of a mother, but not
of a wife. The father had gone to Paradise, with Jesus and the
thief; but the child was not taught to speak of his father, even
the Father in heaven; and although he saw other children with
fathers to accept and instruct them, yet he knew not that he had
a father, living or dead, till many years after the transition of
Simon.  The mother enjoyed tolerable health; the heart only
was diseased; and whose heart would not be, in such a world,
and under such trials, - a widow in fact, but not in law? The




16             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
messenger from the  "Kingdom of Ponemah" had already started
after her; and the car of death was moving toward earth, to
bear her to the " Islands of the Blessed; " but she knew it not;
for still the earthly form  swayed to the will obedient, still "the
magic car moved on."  Avon's bard has truly said, " Misfortunes
never come single;" and the Song of Hiawatha truly sings, in
lines of Longfellow measure,
"6 SO disasters come not singly;
But, as if they watched and waited,
Scanning one another's motions,
When the first descends, the others
Follow, follow, gathering flockwise
Round their victim, sick and wounded,
First a shadow, then a sorrow,
Till the air is dark with anguish."
But there is no hardest fate, no deepest woe in the trial-lives
of wandering souls. Superlatives are meaningless. Comparatives alone are appropriate. Every hard trial has a harder, every
sad time a sadder, and every dark day a darker; so of the bright,
the beautiful, the good, and the happy, with a superlative only in
the Perfect, the Infinite, the Omniscient. The child, or boy (for
at this age he was both or either), was deposited with a Quaker
family on the mountain, while the mother went to watch by the
bedside of a relative, where the camp-fires of life were slowly
expiring, little suspecting the angel of death was reaching for her
to go first to the " Land of the Hereafter," and welcome there the
dying one, and leave here her lonely babe to buffet the storms
alone.  She retired from the sick bed late one night, and lay her
wearied body on its couch for repose, and quietly arose into the
regions of eternal dream; for, ere she awoke she died, -died
without a struggle, apparently without the motion of a muscle,
for the quiet face wore still its genial smile. In the morning
they found the pale, cold form  at rest; but the spirit had been
called, and obeyed the summons, - taken passage with the messenger to the sphere where the angels bid her welcome to their




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                  17
home.  But she could not stay quietly there, for her boy was
lingering and struggling in the wrangling world below; and she
asked and obtained permission to return, and guard him for a few
years, to aid his feeble soul in its trial-hours and combats with
a world of scorn and contempt. The Infidel laughed at the idea
of her being a spirit, and the Christian ridiculed the idea of a
spirit coming to earthly friends; but both were ignorant and in
error; for she was a spirit, and did come back from her happy
home, to fill a mission to earth and to the lonely child. The physician said she died by a nightmare. She says she died by a disease of the heart.  No matter; she was dead to the world of
touch and sight, to the outer sense and earthly form, and only
alive to herself and the spiritual senses of others; and the Lone
One now inherited his name and organization, and nothing more.
No wonder the neighbors said they sometimes saw her form, pale
and shadowy, sitting on the bier which stood long over her grave,
in the orchard where they laid her body to rest near its kindred!
No wonder the timid and superstitious said they heard her voice
moaning in the breeze, as it whistled through the orchard, answering to the wind, which "sat in the pines, and gave groan for
groan! "  No wonder the whip-poor-will flew directly from  the
house to the grave, and from the grave to the house, and sang
mournfully his sad song at each end of his short journey! No
wonder all who knew her asked each of each, " What will become
of her boy? "  Few, very few, in that day, knew that our parents
dead were living still, our spirit-guides. Her blessing came in the
lines of the angel, F. S. Osgood:
LAB O R.
Pause not to dream of the future before us;
Pause not to weep the wild cares that come o'er us;
Hark, how Creation's deep, musical chorus,
Unintermitting, goes up into heaven!
Never the ocean-wave falters in flowing;
Never the little seed stops in its growing;
More and more richly the rose-heart keeps glowing,'Till-from its nourishing stem it is riven.




18              LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.
" Labor is worship! "the robin is singing;
"Labor is worship!" the wild bee is ringing;
Listen! that eloquent whisper upspringing
Speaks to thy soul from out Nature's great heart!
From the dark cloud flows the life-giving shower;
From the rough sod blows the soft-breathing flower;
From the small insect, the rich coral bower;
Only man, in the plan, shrinks from his part.
Labor is life!'T is the still water faileth;
Idleness ever despaireth, bewaileth;
Keep the watch wound, for the dark rust assaileth;
Flowers droop and die in the stillness of noon.
Labor is glory! - the flying cloud lightens;
Only the waving wing changes and brightens;
Idle hearts only the dark future frightens;
Play the sweet keys, wouldst thou keep them in tune!
Labor is rest from the sorrows that greet us, -
Rest from all petty vexations that meet us, -
Rest from sin-promptings that ever entreat us, -
Rest from world-sirens that lure us to ill.
Work, and pure slumbers shall wait on thy pillow;
Work - thou shalt ride over Care's coming billow;
Lie not down wearied'neath Woe's weeping willow!
Work with a stout heart and resolute will!
Droop not, though shame, sin, and anguish, are round thee;
Bravely fling off the cold chain that hath bound thee!
Look to yon pure heaven smiling beyond thee!
Rest not content in thy darkness, a clod!
Work for some good, be it ever so slowly;
Cherish some flower, be it ever so lowly;
Labor! All labor is noble and holy!
Let thy great deeds be thy prayer to thy God!
SECTION III.
SUFFERING.
The first half of the first decade in earth-life was now by the
Lone One counted in years. Both parents (if he had two) were
gone up out of their bodies, and he was left alone in his, -  fatherless, motherless, penniless, friendless, worthless, useless, and




LIFE-LINE OF TH.E LONE ONE.               19
deathless. The last, and indeed, only, warm heart that beat for
him was cold and still.  The last and only face that smiled for
him could smile no more. No hand to sustain, no arm to support, no voice in kindness to direct, could he expect more, for
now he was the world's child. Its cold selfish heart beat only for
gold and glory, of which the child had none. The tears often
stole down the cheek as the heart uttered its grief, while in childlike innocence he wildly asked, "Where is my mother? "-" Your
mother is dead," came, coldly, stupidly, back the answer. -" What
have they done with her? "- " Put her in the ground." —" Cruel,
wicked men!" exclaimed the boy. -" 0, no; God took her
away." - " Did God kill my mother? " wildly asked the child." Only took her away." -  s O0, cruel, cruel God! bring me back
my mother; for the world has no friend for me when she is gone! "
But they laughed at the child, whose innocent and ignorant heart
condemned God for taking away his mother, whom he needed so
much and God so little; for now he felt himself fully to be the
1"poor outcast of creation," "no more to hear a kindly word, or
grasp a kindly hand."
In obedience to the statute of New Hampshire, each town at
its annual meeting selects three men who are overseers of the
poor, and whose duty it is to provide homes for those who have
none, and no means of support. Of course the world's child
became their ward at the death of his mother. In the town was
a citizen farmer, whose name we will call David, not because he
slew Goliah, or Uriah, but because he was known by that name
at the time.  He was a trader in cattle, and sheep, and swine;
not well organized for a happy life, and badly educated in social
and spiritual affairs. This citizen applied to the authorities for
the boy, whom he had attempted in vain to obtain from the
mother, for he saw in him a machine capable of doing much hard
work, and releasing his own children from many tasks.  HIe readily
obtained the boy, and the bond was signed which sold the world's
child into bondage for sixteen long years to one of the most cruel
and cold-hearted masters.  The bond required schooling each




20            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
winter; and at the expiration of the time, when twenty-one years
of life should render the boy a man capable of selling himself, two
suits of clothes, and a hundred dollars in money, were to be his
compensation for services. He was transferred from the mountain
to the home of David, but never to the affections. Even the children
were taught, to manifest superiority over him, - he was with, but
not of them. Not one spark of sympathy or love could be afforded
him, for he was the child of nobody in this world. Many a time
a sore back, or a bruised body, evinced the physical superiority and
heartless cruelty of David; often for trifling offences unavoidable
to the boy; the marks of frost and exposure on the extremities of
his body remained for years, and the effects of hard labor, sadly
unproportioned to his strength, remained still at the end of the
fourth decade. True, the old jockey would sometimes come to
visit his son David, and pat the boy on the head, and say " my
son," - words which he never heard from other lips addressed to
him, and at which his heart would leap with joy; and he thought,
if David would only say those words, how he would try to be
good. The effects of this severe treatment can only be entirely
removed when he changes his home for that of his mother, or other
spirit-friends. The summers came, and the winters came, and toil,
toil, toil, was his portion. Not school, nor play. True, an old
spelling-book said, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull
boy." If so, he must have been a " dull boy."  A poet says
" woi'k is worship." If so, the Lone One was indeed a " devout
child;" and yet the Christian creeds would have consigned him to
hell, as the fashionable circles of society already had done for this
life. Heavily, and slowly, the years rolled away, bringing to his
childhood only misery and grief. There was no " under-ground
railroad " to take him to freedom; and no freedom for him to be
taken into, except in the far-distant, and to him mystic, number,
twenty-one.  Why that should be the age for freedom, he knew
not; but so it was written, and he was the victim. Why that threeseven number should be a key to unlock manhood in a boy was,
and still is, a mystery to the Lone One. Gladly would he have




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                  21
escaped from this bondage to his mother, in " silent sleep," or
"spirit-land," or heaven, or hell, or anywhere where she could
meet him, and once more embrace him, and call him  her child.
But large caution, and a naturally timid heart, prevented him
from self-destruction, even years after the point of time registered
here.  Thus rolled away the last half of the first decade, and
brought the age of ten, to which he longingly looked as a time
when he should be almost a man; but, alas, how disappointed was
the boy! - he was still a stinted lad. Sorrow, too deep, too keen,
to be impressed here, bore down the childish glee and youthful
impulses of his heart. Reasoning superficially, one would say
this treatment followed so long in this period of life would crush
out every spark of love and sympathy from his tender and childish heart, and that he would be hardened for crime, and
driven in madness to wage war on the race; but it was not so.
Deeply seated in his very soul was an ardent yearning for love
and sympathy, that no cruelty could extinguish; it was ready at
the first warm ray of love to spring into life and growth. He
had felt, although he had not read, that "Whom  the heart of
man casts out, straightway the heart of God takes in."
Five long years with a mother's love and nothing else, and five
longer ones without even that, -  for a God, said to be a "God of
love," had taken her away, and left the boy without any consolation, - save in the future, and in freedom at twenty-one; when
the new year and fine days brought a birth-day dream, from the
poet.
"' He dreamed that in another sphere
He had the cycles run;
Ten million million centuries,
Yet life had but begun.
"Earth on her way was moving still,
The moon wore still her light,
The planets wheeled their stated round,
The unfading sun was bright.




22              LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
c" And many a universe he saw,
Ranged in the boundless space,
Around the Almighty's central throne,
That saw their tireless race.
"But yet he sought this little earth,
The scene of life's first years,
Where first he knew of joy or grief,
Of loves, and hopes, and fears.
"Earth had become a paradise;
No more was strife or wrong,
Or poverty or fell disease,
That it had known so long.
" No more o'er virtue vice arose,
Or worst above the best;
All shared the gifts of God alike,
And all alike were blessed."
Thus closed the first ten years of life in sorrowful bondage,
condemned, despised, scorned, abused, only because he had entered
the world, (not voluntarily); not because he had abused it or
sinned, but because God had (as the Christian said) sent him
here with a nature totally depraved, and forced him through a
totally depraved channel, in the estimation of society, without his
consent. Whether he was here to expiate the sins of a former
life, or as a missionary, or only for development and growth,
could not at this period of existence be determined.
"There is no wind but soweth seeds
Of a more true and open life,
Which burst, unlooked-for, in high-souled deeds,
With wayside beauty rife."




CHAPTER II.
SECOND DECADE OF THE WORLD'S CHILD.
The Ragged Orphan. - The Fugitive Slave not delivered up. - The Change of
Homes.- The Commencement of Education. - Good and Bad mixed.- Winding into Manhood.
SECTION I.
FUGITIVE.
ON the cold, stormy morning of January 5, 1823, the boy
awoke from his " sweet dream of peace," and found himself still
a boy in condition and stature, in the worst forml of limited
slavery, such as New England retained after she had freed her
colored slaves. Within her limits slavery had not then ceased,
although she had received the applause of some philanthropists,
and even many years after, barbarism could be found; for an old
man was imprisoned sixty days, in Boston, for publishing in his
own paper the fact that he did not believe in their orthodox God.
Selling orphans and imprisoning infidels were sufficient works of
cruelty to moderate her zeal on the subject of oppression, - or
ought to have been, at least, until her own hands were clean.
True, it did not palliate the crimes of others; but trying to get the
mote from our brother's eye, with a beam in our own, was appropriately condemned by One long ago. The second decade opened with
a renewal of the gloomy pilgrimage of his earthly journey, ragged
and dirty, despised and dejected. The great pendulum of time
made its monthly crossings, and at each swing groaned "no hope,"
- no hope in this life, nor of heaven beyond. He had now begun to
sin, although he could not read; and was on the broad road to hell
for sinning against God, of whom he only knew what the swearers




24             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
and boys told him; for he had neither time or clothes that would
allow of his going to hear what the preacher could tell about
God and the devil.; and, if he had, in his unsophisticated nature,
it is doubtful which he would have chosen for a master; for he
still supposed God killed his mother.  New England had her
churches, her schools, her social and family circles, her high life
and her low life. The latter alone could he endure (not enjoy);
the songs of joy and mirth went booming up from the groups of
boys and girls at their merry plays, but the Lone One had no
share in them.
" Without, in tatters, the world's poor child
Sobbeth alone his grief, his pain;
No one heareth him, no one heedeth him.
But winter, his friend, with his cold, tight hand,
Grasps his form, whispering huskily,
What dost thou in a Christian land? "
David had already begun to make encroachments on the titledeeds of his neighbors, adding at least one farm to his own, and
was reaching after others, when, for reasons not to be mentioned
here, his affairs became neglected, his business left at loose ends,
and he began to go down-hill, as the neighbors said. Then every
one was ready to give him a push or kick, which only made him more
cross and cruel to those under his control. Domestic troubles, too,
and unkind treatment of his wife, made her not less severe and cruel
to the world's child. She, however, was never as severe as David
- being by nature a woman, and a mother, in marriage. She seldom
used the rod, but only used her tongue for a weapon; which,
although severe to the sensitive heart of the boy, did not lacerate
the body and soul both, as the treatment of David did. Prosperity
and adversity are neighbors, and their dominions border on each
other. The sun crosses the line at the vernal equinox, and lets
winter into summer through spring, and again at the autumnal
equinox lets summer glide through the autumn into winter.  So
our lives often are changed by crossing a line, and we glide into




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 25
prosperity or adversity, after nearing each day or week the margin; then turn again, as David has, since he crossed over Jordan, and went to the world, but not to the home, of the mother
of the orphaned boy. David usually kept his own counsel, and
consulted himself only, on business matters. For reasons best
known to himself, he rented the rocky farm and old homestead,
and moved to a small manufacturing village on the Lamprey
River, to make money by keeping boaiders. In this new home the
almost constant presence of boarders or other persons rendered it
more difficult for David to treat the boy as badly as he had done
on the farm; for he had some shame, as most persons have, and did
not like to have people see him abuse the little urchin.  New,
and more, acquaintances were now formed by the Lone One, and
all, especially the boys, had much sympathy for him; for they
knew he was not treated well and could not read, for the schooling contract was not fulfilled to the letter, but another kind of
schooling substituted for that designated in the bond. He heard
stories of runaway boys, and boys going to sea, &c., and his mind
dwelt much, both day and night, on the subject, until he was fully
resolved to try his luck for freedom, by running away.  But
where to go, and how to introduce himself, penniless, friendless, ragged, and unlettered, was still a source of great perplexity, and one on which he could form no plan, and did not.
He ventured to consult some of his more intimate boy-companions, and they advised him to go to the ocean and get on a vessel,
and'" go to sea," as the safest mode of escape.  But how to get
there without a penny; for, although he was fourteen years old,
he had never possessed money in his life, except once a few
cents to spend at a training, and scarcely knew the value of common coins, except what the boys had taught him for amusement,
or from. charity; for they had both for him. Seven years more
of such servitude was too much for endurance, and almost any
change preferable; and he resolved to embrace the first favorable
opportunity, and flee from bondage and the " wrath to come."
About the middle of the first decade, the transition of the.




26             LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.
mother and the sale into bondage made a great change in the
condition of the Lone One, and now approached the middle of the
second decade, with another important event in embryo.  The
fourteenth birth-day had passed over in the winter, and spring
had come round with a May-day and flowers, and yet no opportunity for escape offered itself to the captive, until near the
middle of May, when David left home for the old homestead on
one Saturday, intending to return on Monday. The day set apart
for the preachers to labor and the lay members to cease work. had
dawned beautifully on that spot of earth where the Lone One
slept and mused, feeling  the sentiment of Gertrude Ladd, as
expressed in these beautiful lines:
"Alone, I murmur, as I gaze upon the darkened past,
Alone I've wandered on my weary way,
While dangers thick and fast
Have gathered round me day by day,
My happiness to blast.
"Alone, alone I sigh, as in the future drear
I turn my weary, wandering eye,
And hope some friendly voice to hear,
Some cheering beacon to descry,
My soul to cheer.
"Alone no more I'11 murmur, for I see
Far in the future dark a glimmering light,
Which seems to beckon me
Unto a region beautiful and bright,
Where day reigns ever, clouded ne'er by night
Alone no more I'11 be."
When the noon had passed, and the still pleasant day was
declining, three boys parted company two or three miles fiom
their homes: two returning, and one going on from  home-if,
indeed, it was a home he left.  They have never met again, and
the one has never returned; for he "ran away," so they said.
From a poor old friendless man, once acquainted with the mother
of the Lone One, who labored sometimes -for David, the boy had




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                  27
heard of a distant connection of his mother, who lived in poverty
about seven miles from the boarding-house; and he had learned
the direction to her house, or shanty.  When the sun sank in the
west, and tinged with its beautiful rays the skirt of clouds on the
horizon's verge, the world's child was nearing the poverty home
of the widow and the old-maid daughter, which made up the family of these relatives.  He had three small crackers in his pocket,
and nothing more of any kind; barefoot, old chip hat on his head,
cotton  shirt (clean, for it was Sabbath), tow-cloth pants, and
short coat, made up his dress, and his all. A body and a sensitive
heart were there; for, although ten long years of cruelty and pain
had worn upon the youthful frame, yet the poet's words were true,
who saith,
"You may break, you may ruin, the vase, if you will,
But the scent of the roses will hang round it still."
He reached and entered the poverty home, so like the one where
he once lived with a mother, with one treasure, - only one - the
currency of heaven.  Love, only love was to be found, of all the
comforts of life; but that is a treasure. They met him not with
scorn, for' Scorn is for devils; soft compassion lies
In angel hearts, and beams from angel eyes;"
and by this rule two angels met him here, and shed around his
lonely heart the balmy influence of love once more, - but only a
fitful gleam, to brighten for a moment the pathway of life, then let
it sink again to loneliness and gloom; but it was all they could
do. They shared with him the homely meal at night and morn, and
divided for him the scanty bed-clothes, and heard, with tears of
sorrow and pity, the story of his woes; but could not offer protection or relief; for, in that hard, cold place, it was barely possible
for them to sustain life in themselves by the strictest economy and
industry. When the morning was come it was necessary for them
topart, for the first and last time; and, however painful, it was




28             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
their duty to give the best advice they could, for this, and the
sympathy of loving hearts, was all they had to spare. They did
not know his mother was with him.  He did not know it; for his,
and their, spiritual senses were not opened sufficiently to recognize
the presence of spirits. But she was with him, and guiding his
course by an unseen influence. They advised him to return, and
excuse himself as well as he could for his visit to them, and await
a better opportunity to escape; for they could conceive of no
means of escape, and no prospect of assistance or of a home for
him  elsewhere.  A hearty good-by and God bless you parted
the three, and he started in the direction of his master's residence,
making slow steps, and with a sad heart. Soon as he was out
of sight of the house, an impression, strong and irresistible,
induced him to get over the fence and wander away from the
road, and turn his steps again to thfe eastward, and from the home
of David; and some unseen power, for many years of unknown
origin to him, kept him out of sight from the road, until the man in
pursuit of him on horseback from David's home had passed on to
the bridge at Durham, and returned, unable to see or hear of such
a boy as he was seeking.  After this man in pursuit of the
fugitive had returned (although unknown to the boy, for he did not
expect to be pursued until David returned), he again, near noon,
entered the road near a bridge and ship-yard in Durham, and
crossed the bridge. The men stopped their work and looked at
the boy, the same one inquired after a short time before, by
the man on horseback, and described as a runaway; but they
did not arrest nor molest him, and he passed on, turning unconsciously to the left, and taking the road which led to his native
town. Hastening on, but he knew not where; a cracker served for
a dinner; for he did not dare to enter a house and ask for food,
lest he should be questioned and detected as a fugitive, not from
justice, but from servitude. When the sun was again in the west,
and the curtain of day lowering down to the western horizon, and
his limbs were already weary, and his stomach stayed by one
small cracker, he recognized a tavern in Northwood, a town ad



LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 29
joining his native Pittsfield, and thus for the first time discovered that he was on the road leading to his old home.  Scarcely
had he passed the place, when a new difficulty arose in his mind.
David was to return this day fiom his old place, and might he not
meet him, and with another terrible beating be returned to servitude, and watched so as to prevent another escape? In the very
midst of these fears a team appeared on a hill before him, and he
recognized the horses and driver. It was David, truly. Not a
moment was there to spare. No house, or barn, or grove, was near
enough to screen him; but David did not know of his escape, and
of course was not on the lookout, and, beside, was busy in conversation with a passenger. Over the stone wall, and curled down
behind it, was the runaway boy as the master passed unsuspectingly by, in the heat and glow of earnest conversation, and the
trembling boy now returned to the road and his journey. That
great danger had passed, and become another evidence that
" We see but half the causes of our deeds,
Seeking them wholly in the outer life,
And heedless of the encircling spirit-world,
Which, though unseen, is felt, and sdws in us
All germs of pure and world-wide purposes."
When the sun was gone down, and it was yet light, he was on
old Catamount Mountain, from which he could see the spires of
those buildings erected to save the souls in his own native town,
and whsre, of course, he ought to have his soul saved, if he could
not his body. But there was poor chance for either to be saved in
him; for he was the world's child, and the town was his guardiannot the church, for the church turned his mother out for becoming
a mother, as Mary of old did, without their or the magistrate's permission; but God soon after took her into heaven, as he did Mary.
Down the long and winding road of the mountain-side to the village, as the daylight passed away circle by circle, he moved
weary and sad, hungry and dejected, in a Christian land, with a
spirit for a guide, unbeknown to him or others. The mother and
3*




80            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
child entered the village late in eve, when the lamps were
gone out in the parlor, and the smoke-fires covered up; when
Somnus had spread his net over the village.  Where to go, on
whom to call, was the next great question. He had no friends in
the village. About two miles to the eastward was the grave of
his mother, and some remnants of her paternal home, and its poor
but kind inmates; but it was night, and a dark wood of pine and
hemlock was by the way on each side of the road part of the
distance, and the boy dare not go over the road in the night. A
still greater obstacle was the grave-yard which lay by the roadside, skirted by a wood on one side, and church on another. By
this he certainly could not pass in the night; for he had heard
marvellous stories of ghosts, and something of a Holy Ghost which
dwelt in the ghostly church, and he dreaded and feared them all,
both the Holy and unholy. These obstacles were insurmountable;
therefore he retired to the tavern barn-yard to take lodgings with
the cattle, for they did not have to pay money, and he had none
to pay. Sometimes he crept on their backs, and sometimes he
drove them up, and took the warm spot of ground till it was cold;
and thus he spent-,the long, cold May night in the tavern-yard
with the cattle, sleeping on the ground till awakened by the cold
several times. At length morning came, and. the ghosts retired
from their night-watch over the graves, and the imaginary bears
to their forest dens nowhere, and the boy again started, his bare feet
on the ground white with frost, (nothing new for him), and by exercise soon warmed his chilled body, rendered feeble with thewxercise
and hunger of twenty-four hours. He reached the old home of his
grandmother, who was still alive, but just on the verge of the other
life which comes next after this. IHe was soon warmed and fed,
and the neighboring women called in to council with those of the
householdupon what should be done. A little incident occurred
here which made a deep impression on the boy's mind. He had
found in the road, the day before his arrival, a pair of long stockings, done up as is usual for packing in a valise, and had brought
them with him to this home. He heard the women express a fear




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 31
that he had stolen them.  To be suspected of stealing was too
much for his sensitive soul, and he went off and wept alone, sorry
that he must live in such a suspicious world, or world of rogues
on the constant lookout for rogues, and of honest people full of
suspicion.
The council of women decided to take the boy to the selectmen
of the town, and send the best pleader among them to make a plea
his release from the bondage, and to induce them to try and
finghim another home. The best pleader was alady, - not a connee        a sympathizing friend; and she went with the boy to
the trio who were in session next day after the arrival of the
fugitive. They were aware of the cruel treatment by David, and
that the boy had not been sent to school according to the agreement; and also that David had failed, and was not likely to be able
to pay the one hundred dollars at the end of six more years.
Hence the cause did not need the skill and pleading powers of
Mrs. R., for they at once resolved that the boy should not be sent
back to bondage in that place.  When this announcement was
made one glad heart leaped with joy.  One bound of joyous feeling, too strong to utter, filled his soul to overflowing; and a burst
of tears gave themthe thanks his lips could not speak, and proved
the sensitive soul was not all callous or frozen; yet it could scarcely
prove that Tupper was wrong in this sentiment,
"Scratch the green rind of a sapling, or wantonly twist it in the soil,
The scarred and crooked oak will tell of thee for centuries to come."
SECTION II.
EMANCIPATED.
One of the three, whose Christian name was Nathaniel, readily
offered the boy a home at his own house; for he at once felt the
warm and deep gratitude gushing from his soul at the prospect of
release from the tyrant.  The Lone One never saw David again;
for when he came after the fugitive he soon learned that the
authorities had agreed to protect the boy, and returned to reflect




32             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
on his treatment. A few years after, he passed over the cold Jor.
dan stream, and judged himself" according to the deeds done in the
body;" passed sentence, and went away to work out a happier
condition, which he has long since attained.
" Human life is as the Chian wine,
Flavored into him who drinketh it."
And
"In the perfect circle of creation, not an atom. could be spared,
From earth's Dnagnetic zone, to the bindweed rou nd a hawthorn.
That night the boy slept at a new home, - a home where he was
treated as one of the family, with a kindness he felt but could not
respond to, save by feelings and tears which were almost constant,
now the crushed heart collected and expressed its native and instinctive fragrance. It was no task to labor now, bfor he was fed,
clothed, and treated kindly by all the family; but how utterly
unfit he was for such company, having been for ten long years
treated as a dog, never admitted into company, except to skulk
and sneak as a dog in a corner, eating on soiled dishes the fragments left at meal-times by the family, or boarders, and only
allowed to speak in answer to questions to the head of the family.
How truly the family of Nathaniel proved the truth of the poet's
words
wr  The very flowers that bend and meet
In sweetening others grow more sweet ['
for they did truly sweeten the bitter life-draught of sorrow
which the Lone One was compelled to accept with life.  God or
nature did reward this-family; for, twenty years after the Lone
One left the town, he returned, and found Nathaniel, ripened in
years, going in peace, happy, to his spirit home; the wife already
gone over, and the children all grown up in health and plenty,
educated and happy.  But the Lone One was not needed at this
home, which was only offered him temporarily; and, after a few
months, moved to the old homestead of Nathaniel's wife, where
her two old-bachelor brothers carried on the large farm, and hired,




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                  33
instead of marrying, housekeepers. Here the orphaned boy found
a happy home, and kind treatment from Samuel and John and their
housekeepers.  He was no more abused, and his soul continued
to swell with gratitude and with love and kindness to other beings.
" For love through love increaseth, and hate begetteth hate."
Summer and autumn passed, - the first happy ones to the lone
heart since the days of his mother, - but when winter came a new
trouble arose.  I-e must go to school; a fine large schoolhouse
was near, and a long school-term, with many scholars, and he a
boy of fifteen, and could not even read. How could his sensitive
soul bear the laugh and scorn of the boys and girls of his age who
were advanced in their studies?  But when the school began he
appeared and took his place with the least and youngest class in
the school, to learn to read; the butt for jokes, and object of ridicule and scorn of the school, but not of the teacher, for his sympathy was called out, and he aided the ardent and sensitive
spirit in its struggles. The progress was rapid, and did not stop
until, at the fourth winter, he was the best and furthest-advanced
scholar in the school. Then the jokes and ridicule turned to
admiration. The whole power of the soul was called into action,
and it soon made up for lost years by renewed energies. Two
years the boy lived with this happy family of Universalists, and
they were real and true Christians, if, indeed, Christians were the
good and charitable people of earth; for no cross word was ever
spoken to the boy by them, and his heart began to grow into sympathy with the world, for he found, at length, that all were not
like David.  At the end of two years he entered into a contract
with a family whose farm adjoined that of the bachelors, lying at
the foot of the hill, where the large old two-stories house is still
standing, with many other marks of the industry of one of the best
families of the town. There he lived till the number of years
required by law made him a man, with civil and political rights, like
other men.  Earned and received the one hundred dollars and two
suits of clothes, such as were named in the bond of David. Re



34            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
ceived the schooling and the best of care for his health of body,
and always kind treatment and a good home. He was ever one
of the family, and treated as one, but was the only young person
in the family, which consisted of Bracket and his wife, his father
Moses and wife, and two maiden sisters of Bracket; all of whom
were gone over to the other home, when he returned, twenty years
after he left them, and in the old homestead was a second wife of
Bracket, a widow, with her two bright boys, overjoyed to see one
of whom they had so often heard the family and neighbors speak.
Bracket and his mother had, by the advice of some physician
ignorant of human nature and the nature of tobacco, been advised
to smoke, and were inveterate smokers; and the Lone One, who
wished to imitate and copy the acts of good men, here learned the
filthy, contaminating, and expensive habit of smoking, and followed
it for near fifteen years, until his mind reached a degree of development that could not longer tolerate the nuisance. Many marks of
the four years' residence and labor on this farm by the orphan boy
are yet visible, and many marks of books and facts obtained there
are still bright in his memory; for a younger brother of Bracket,
then in college and at law, lent or gave to the Lone One many
books which he needed and was not able to buy, and thus assisted
him in his education.
At this home terminated the second decade.  Still lonely and
desolate in soul was the world's child. But cruelty to him had
ceased, and kindness, and care of his body and its wants, were now
secured; yet life was desolate, dreary, and almost aimless, for
what could he do to erase the stigma of his birth, and evade the
" sleet of scorn," the scorching flame of contempt, the vulgar disgust, of those who were better born. No matter whether it was
God or the Devil who was author of the causes that brought about
the event; the boy alone was now left to bear the stigma, for it
could not be forgotten nor forgiven while one was living to bear
it.  How could he overcome it?  How'could he become respectable?  How obtain friends, wealth, fame?
Much he needed books and instruction on physiology, as all




LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.                    35
children do in the second decade of life; but at that time works,
on that subject, most required of all, were prohibited by a squeamishness in public opinion, and as much excluded as metaphysical
works were by religious teachers.  True, the boy did not have his
mind filled with superstition and fanaticism.  He was not taught
to call iMoses the meekest man nor Solomon the wisest that ever
lived, nor David a man after God's own heart; but most of the
books which he found in the town library, or elsewhere, were saturated with the insipid, or poisonous, doctrines of theology, and even
the school-books had been revised and corrected or originally written by theologians, and filled with absurdities mixed with the truths
of science, and it was difficult for a youthful mind to sort out and
reject all the sophistry of an educated clergy. Yet his mind was
too much in accord with nature to admit many of these impositions
on her beauty and harmony, and too much in love with nature to
admit such absurd imputations on her character as modern theology
taught.  Thus he grew more and more in love with science and
her conclusions, and came fully to the conclusion that the truth
was to be found in the following lines:
"'T will be all the same in a hundred years! -
What a spell-word to conjure up smiles and tears!
0, how oft do I muse,'mid the thoughtless and gay,
On the marvellous truth that these words convey!
And can it be so? - must the valiant and free
Have their tenure of life on this frail decree?
Are the trophies they'ye reared, and the glories they've won,
Only castles of frost-work confronting the sun?
And must all that's as joyous and brilliant to view
As a mid-summer dream be as perishing, too?
Then have pity, ye proud ones! - be gentle, ye great!
0, remember how mercy beseemeth your state;
For the rust that consumeth the sword of the brave
Is eating the chain of the manacled slave,
And the conqueror's frowns and his victim's tears
Will be all the same in a hundred years!
"'T will be all the same in a hundred years!
What a spell-word to conjure up smiles and tears!




86              LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.
How dark are your fortunes, ye sons of the soil,
Whose heirloom is sorrow, whose birthright is toil!
Yet envy not those who have glory and gold,
By the sweat of the poor, and the blood of the bold;
For't is coming, howe'er they may flaunt in their pride,
The day when they'11 moulder to dust by your side.
Death uniteth the children of toil and of sloth,
And the democrat reptiles carouse upon both;
For Time, as he speeds on his viewless wings,
Disenables and withers all earthly things;
And the knight's white plume, and the shepherd's crook,
And the minstrel's pipe, and the scholar's book,
And the emperor's crown, and the Cossack's spears,
Will be dust alike in a hundred years!
G T will be all the same in a hundred years! -
O, most magical fountain of smiles and tears!
To think that our hopes, like the flowers of June,
Which we love so much, should be lost so soon!
Then what meaneth the chase after phantom joys,
Or the breaking of human hearts for toys,
Or the veteran's pride in his crafty schemes,
Or the passions of youth for its darling dreams,
Or the aiming at ends that we never can span,
Or the deadly aversion of man for man? -
What availeth it all - -O, ye sages, say i -
Or the miser's joy in his brilliant clay,
Or the lover's zeal for his matchless prize -
The enchanting maid with the starry eyes -
Or the feverish conflict of hopes and fears,
If't is all the same in a hundred years? "
But it was long years after that he felt the truth of the closing
stanzas of the poem.
"Ah!'tis not the same in a hundred years,
How clear soever the case appears;
For know ye not, that beyond the grave,
Far, far beyond, where the cedars wave
On the Syrian mountains, or where the stars
Come glittering forth in their golden cars,
There bloometh a land of perennial bliss,
Where we smile to think of the tears in this?




LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.                    37
And the pilgrim reaching that radiant shore
Has the thought of death in his heart no more,
But layeth his staff and sandals down,
For the victor's palm and the monarch's crown..
And the mother meets, in that tranquil sphere,
The delightful child she had wept for here;
And we quaff of the same immortal cup,
While the orphan smiles, and the slave looks up.
So be glad, my heart, and forget thy tears,
For'tis NOT the same in a hundred years! "
4




CHAPTE R II 1
THIRD DECADE OF THE LONE ONE.
Boyhood changed to Manhood.- Education. - Scepticism for Religion.
Love and Separation. - Long Journey. - Sickness. - Marriage. - Poverty.
-Struggles for Life in the West.
SECTION I.
MANHOOD.
THE kind-hearted Bracket, who graduated and smoked the
orphan into manhood, fulfilled every agreement, and even more in
kindness; and, some months before the expiration of the servicetime, the school-months enabled the boy to enter the academy at
Gilhnanton Corners, to obtain such educational aid as could not be
furnished him in the district-school where, five years before, he
commenced to learn in the lowest class, the object of ridicule for
the school. The hill-foot home was to be his home no more. It
was visited by him soon after, at the death and burial of the wife
of Bracket, who had been kind to him, and ever attentive to his
wants. Her suffering was great, and almost a double affliction
to the family; for she left them at a period when more fortunate
circumstances might have doubled the joys of life to her and
Bracket.  It was the beginning of Death's encroachments on the
family circle, which only ceased when it had taken all, and the
father of Bracket last. The new wife and two boys were introduced before the messenger took Bracket. In the spring of 1855
the Lone One halted an hour, to cast a hasty glance over the
farm, on which many a stone was resting where his hand had
placed it, and trees were growing where he had planted them.




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 39
The lovely boys and lonely mother welcomed him as one of the
family of the old homestead. Sadly and sorrowing, he turned
away, and wished not to turn back the pages of his history nor
theirs, but felt more inclined to say, "'Fly swiftly on, ye wheels
of time,' and carry me over to their present home."  The LifeLine, which had now run through its boyhood, was about to enter
manhood, and run in a broader and deeper channel. The substantial traits of character were already formed for life, and ever
after bore him above the grosser vices of civilization, - dissipation, profanity, vulgarity, and licentiousness.  Even in riper
years, when in the fascinating circles of social and political life,
where others around him were led astray, he was ever firm to the
first principles of character, and by them was enabled to become
a guide and counsellor for others, and often, in public and private,
to lecture for temperance and morality, purity and reform.  New
emotions, new impulses, new desires, new attractions, had arisen
in the mind and heart of the Lone One; and he saw the world
around him as he had never seen it before. Comparing his own
sad fate with other young men, he wept bitter tears of sorrow for
his existence, with powers and capacities for which he had no use,
which could neither be used for his own or others' happiness.
Then the wheel of fortune turned to him its historic page; and
the record called his attention to the fact that nearly every son
of noble lineage, placed by wealth, family, and ancestry, high up
the ladder of life, to begin a self-sustaining career above its poverty base, fell to the bottom, and, if such ever arose again, did
it by individual effort, and through trials and struggles; while
most of those who were ever ascending, and nearest the summit,
arose from the very foot of society, and by unwearying effort
overcame obstacles which at times seemed insurmountable. Then
the muses, ever his friends who could reach his sensitive heart
with the spirit of song, let into his soul, in substance, the sentiment of the beautiful poem of Mackay:
" Were the lonely acorn never bound
In the rude, cold grasp of the rotting ground;




40               LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.
Did the rigid frost never harden up
The mould above its bursting cup;
Were it never soaked in the rain and hail,
Or chilled by the breath of the wintry gale, -
It would not sprout in the sunshine free,
Or give the promise of a tree;
It would not spread to the summer air
Its lengthening boughs and branches fair,
To form a bower, where, in starry nights,
Young love might dream unknown delights;
Or stand in the woods, among its peers,
Fed by the dews of a thousand years.'Were never the dull, unseemly ore
Dragged from the depths where it slept of yore;
Were it never cast into searching flame,
To be purged of impurity and shame;
Were it never molten'mid burning brands,
Or bruised and beaten by stalwart hands,
It would never be known as a thing of worth;
It would never emerge to a noble birth;
It would never be formed into mystic rings,
To fetter Love's erratic wings;
It would never shine amid priceless gems
On the girth of imperial diadems,
Nor become to the world a power and pride
Cherished, adored, and deified.
So thou, O man of a noble soul,
Starting in view of a glorious goal,
Wert thou never exposed to the blasts forlorn,
The storms of sorrow, the sleet of scorn;
Wert thou never refined, in pitiless fire,
From the dross of thy sloth and mean desire;
Wert thou never taught to feel and know
That the truest love has its roots in woe,
Thou wouldst never unriddle the complex plan,
Or reach half way to the perfect man;
Thou wouldst never attain the tranquil height
Where wisdom purifies the sight,
And God unfolds to the humblest gaze
The bliss and beauty of his ways."




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                41
The quiet and industrious farmers of New England, who count
the annual round of seasons by seed-time and harvest, have a dialect peculiar to their section of the inhabited world, as every other
people has. Mixed in it are many meaningless words, and many
good ones badly accented, and often inappropriately applied; and
these, early acquired, are often retained by her citizens through
life, and carried to other regions, where they sound badly to those
not accustomed to them, but who use others equally or more
absurd.  Some of these were retained by the Lone One through
his school days, and through years of residence in the West, and often
called out expressions of ridicule from egotistic critics, who knew
how to swear by rule, and eat tobacco by the pound, - expressions
that touched keenly his sensitive feelings. "He murders the
king's English," meaning really their own English, which was
often more defective than his. Even these were, however, turned
to good account, in enabling him to correct many erroneous modes
of expression. Profane language he never used, for he did not
go much to religious meetings to learn it; nor did he believe it
more proper for a preacher to take God's name in vain, or abuse
the devil, than for others to do so.
The body and brain had now attained their forms and proportions, and exhibited a body five feet nine inches long, round shoulders, and stout, muscular form, with nervous-bilious temperament;
ardent and active, keen and very sensitive; with a brain above
average, large, but not very large; sharp and active organs;
largest organs, firmness and caution, — next, causality and perceptives; with benevolence large, social organs large, and destructiveness least; time and tune, small; marvellousness small,
and hope large; eventuality small, and intuition very large;
veneration full, and conscientiousness even; language large,
ideality and sublimity full.  These gave the general and tone
of feeling, and leading traits of character; and as he was not
accountable for his organization, it is yet to be determined how
far he could be accountable for his character, which resulted from
it. The texture of brain and nerve were extremely fine, and
4*




42             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
gave tone and keenness to his feelings. His large caution, small
self-esteem, and sensitive nerves, made him extremely timid in
early life, and until a knowledge of phrenology and his own brain
enabled him to overcome it.  When he entered the academy,
among all strangers, with book-knowledge mostly acquired alone,
evenings and Sundays, this timidity was felt, and often extremely
embarrassing, of which one instance may serve to illustrate: On
committing his first piece for declamation, and standing before the
school to speak it, not one word could he utter, — a full-grown
man, before the students, laughed at by the whole school! For
such an ambitious and timid soul, this was no joke to him. It
was not long, however, before he could occupy his time and place
in uttering his own thoughts in public, instead of attempting to
repeat those of others. He was soon marked as one of the best
and most active and ambitious students of the school. This led
to the inquiry who he was, and who and where his parents and
family, and soon brought down the contempt and scorn of jealous
rivals on his sensitive soul; for they despised and were ashamed
of one who had no legal right to be born, although forced into
earth-life involuntarily. But he found sympathy and some warm
friends among the students, and no partiality in the teachers, even
though he was an Infidel in a school under theological control.
He was ever punctual, and obedient to every rule.  Here he
formed an acquaintance with several students whose views were
similar to his own; and here he found works of Infidel authors,
as they were called, which he found to contain more reason, and
more charity, than any religious books he had ever read. Here
he became confirmed in his religious scepticism. The common
branches of education were reviewed, and some proficiency made
in Latin, when he left this school, to attend one commenced in his
native town, where his history was better known, and where he
deserved, at least, more sympathy. Here the period of study was
short; for all the funds acquired by hard labor ever since the
death of his mother were nearly exhausted, and would not allow
him to continue long in an academy.  It was with deep regret




LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.                    43
that he left the school; for his soul had caught a glimpse of the
beauties of science, and began to taste the sweet waters of literature, and he yearned for a feast from those fountains, but yearned
in vain, for Poverty had set her seal on him.  In that day it was
far more difficult than in this for a poor boy to acquire an education.
Theology offbred to open the doors, and educate him into the ministry, if he would get-religion; but his soul abhorred hypocrisy
and deception; and he did not believe their doctrines were true,
and would not pretend it, although he was aware that many students in theological charity believed as little as he did, and only
accepted it to obtain an education, and an easy way to obtain a
livelihood. Such a course he spurned, and chose rather a crust
and freedom of thought with an honest heart.  HIe could discover
no opening to an education for him without sacrificing his honesty
and integrity of character; and without a thorough scientific br
classical education the path to the highest hill-tops of society was
indeed a rugged one; but History turned down to him her scroll
of fame, and pointed out this road:
"If thou wouldst win a lasting fame,
If thou the immortal wreath wouldst claim,
And make the future bless thy name,
Begin thy perilous career;
Keep high thy heart, thy conscience clear,
And walk thy way without a fear;
And if thou hast a voice within
That ever whispers,' Work and win,'
And keeps thy soul from sloth and sin;
If thou canst plan a noble deed,
And never flag till it succeed,
Though in the strife thy heart shouldst bleed;
If thou canst struggle day and night,
And, in the envious world's despite,
Still keep thy cynosure in sight;
If thou canst bear the rich man's scorn,
Nor curse the day that thou wert born.
To feed on husks, and he on corn;
If thou canst dine upon a crust,




44              LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
And still hold on with patient trust,
Nor pine that Fortune is unjust;
If thou canst see with tranquil breast
The knave or fool in purple drest,
Whilst thou must walk in tattered vest;
If thou canst rise ere break of day,
And toil and moil till evening gray
At thankless work for scanty pay;
If in thy progress to renown
Thou canst endure the scoff and frown
Of those who strive to put thee down;
If thou caust bear the averted face,
The gibe and treacherous embrace
Of those who run the self-same race;
If thou in darkest days canst find
An inner brightness in thy mind
To reconcile thee to thy kind;Whatever obstacle control,
Thine hour will come, - go on, true soul'!
Thou'lt win the prize, thou'it reach the goal.
If not, what matter? - Tried by fire,
And purified from low desire,
Thy spirit shall but soar the higher.
Content and hope thy heart shall buoy,
And man's neglect shall ne'er destroy
The inward peace, the secret joy."
He accepted the offer and left the school, yielding desire to
necessity, and started on the road to fame, as marked out by the
poet, although he often met those to whom the other lines of the
same noem were more appropriate.
" Pause e'er thou tempt the hard career;
Thou'lt find the conflict too severe,
And heart will break, and brain will sear.
Content thee with an humbler lot;
Go plough thy field, go build thy cot,
Nor sigh that thou must be forgot."
Buried in clouds, far, far away, was the "tip-top house" where
fame had her sentinel-guarded citadel; but thither he was bound,




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 45
even though it might take centuries to obtain a niche in it, unless
he should cease to exist ere he reached it; but this he feared
would be his fate at death.
Full of hopes and fears, - about equally mixed, - he started
for Boston in search of fortune, loitered about her streets a few
days, too timid to ask often for employment, and too bashful to
make his wants and situation known to those who could have
aided him. His mind, however, was active, gathering shells of
knowledge for a cabinet. Surprised at the close proximity of extreme wealth and extreme poverty, he wondered if both were
necessary for the existence of each, and finally concluded that extreme wealth could only exist by extreme poverty, as some must
be robbed if others possessed their wealth.  Then he asked the
Christian why God allowed a portion of his children to be robbed
by others, and the Christian said it was a mystery. IBut he
thought it ought to be revealed in order for us to be reconciled to
it, and set his mind to work out the mystery which God would
not reveal to his worshippers, and found the cause in an aristocratic
monopoly, and unjustifiable worldly selfishness; but he soon saw
the truth of Shelley's lines," There needeth not the hell that bigots frame
To punish those who err; earth itself
Contains the evil and the cure."
Finding no business, he went to Brookline, a few miles from
Boston, and engaged to work on a farm that was all a garden,or a garden that was large enough for a farm, - labored a few
weeks, and was taken sick with pleurisy. The physician told him to
leave the coast, as the sea-breezes were bad for him to take. Then
he nearly drained his little purse to reach again his native town,
and be laughed at by the boys, if not the girls; but the latter did
not as often grate his feelings with rudeness or ridicule as the
former.
The younger brother of Bracket had married and opened a lawoffice in the village of his na;tive town, and was post-master and




46             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
partner in a store of goods. To him the Lone One engaged, to tend
store and office, and boarded in the neat little home of Moses the
lawyer, where the happy life of MIoses and Abby, and the kind
and loving heart of MIary, the sister of Abby, made social life
attractive, almost fascinating, to the lone heart of the orphan.
Not many months was he in this house before he found his heart
involuntarily leaning toward Mary; for she was beautiful and
lovely, externally and internally; both body and mind were
attractive. How could such a being fail to call out the love of an
ardent soul, which was more than full?  For a time he yielded to
the delightful emotions of a pure attraction, and spent some happy
hours in her society; but she was his superior in years and experience, and soon began to check the wild hopes and youthful
fancies of his soul, and turned his feelings to, and through, his
intellect. Then he reflected on his condition in poverty and disgrace; but she had too noble a soul tb despise him for his birth;
but to live in poverty and dependence was too severe a trial for her
delicate frame, reared in tenderness and wealth, in a seaport town, as
it was.  The soul of the Lone One had been too much awakened
to remain and endure the presence of one he loved so devotedly,
and early in the spring of'35 he collected his little earnings,
and called on his old friends to give a farewell parting to each,
and last, but not least, a final sitting with Mary. Those who
know need not be told, and those who do not, cannot understand,
the feelings which this parting produced; for now, if not before,
he knew she loved him, and he long before knew he loved her;
and the chord must be broken, never more to be united. They
parted, never met again, nor exchanged one word by correspondence.  She was married not many years after to a friend of his,
who was often called by the same name, -for his middle name
was the same as the first of the Lone One, - and lived a few
years with him, and then went home to live with the angels, where
more congenial society-for her refined soul could be enjoyed.  The
tie must break, but he felt what Shakspeare wrote, -   A fiend
as dear as thee might bear my soul to hell," or Moore, in




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                  47
"' 0, grief beyond all other griefs! when fate
First leaves the young heart lone and desolate
In the wide world, without that tie
For which it loved to live or feared to die.
Lorn as the hung-up lute, which ne'er hath spoken
Since the sad day its master-chord was broken."
It is not probable that the heart of the Lone One will ever, in
this life, drop this subject; but we will drop it here, and ask thee,
reader, if thee was ever in New Hampshire in an election-storm,
or town-meeting-time?  If not, I shall not attempt to describe
that either, for only those who have been " out in it" can know how
it blows, and beats, and makes the stout hearts bend as reeds before
"Mudgekeewis."  One of these annual monsoons passed over New
Hampshire a few days before the Lone One left, and he was out
in it, trying, with others, to elect his democratic friend, Moses, to
the legislature. They failed this time, but afterward it became
easy to elect him even to Congress, and the U. S. Senate, where
he lived and died, many years after, with democratic honors, but
not many others. The Lone One soon learned that Democracy
was more a name to elect persons with, than a principle; and that
nearly all political strife was personal, and only personal. The
boys, old and young, great and small, in that state, think it
requires a great man to hold a seat in the legislature, and that to
be. elected is a great honor; but those who obtain it usually find
it of little worth, except to lengthen the name by a prefix of Hon.,
but seldom makes a man honorable. Society is a three-fold
structure, corresponding to our houses, with the social relations
for the basis, or foundation, cemented with love in marriage, -
when there is any in it, - and with the political relations for the
frame, finished, and braced with officers, and with the covering, or
third part, of religion, nailed with rusty preachers, or bright and
new ones, and sometimes painted with creeds, red with the fire of
a pit, or black with eternal doom, or white with universal salvation, or yellow with hope, etc. The three are all essential to
man, and hence we must not repudiate even politics; for society




48             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
would fall without them.  Perhaps we can improve the old mode
of framing and raising, but cannot dispense with it.  Morality
is an ingredient, or should be, in society, and in each part; and is
what the finish is to the house, or texture to the body and brain
of man.  It is rather scarce in our day in either department,
especially in politics, but may be cultivated even there.
The heart of the Lone One was already yearning for the love and
sympathy of a happy home and social life, and his ambitious mind
was aspiring to and for political action, and his religious nature
was already feasting on Rationalism, the best religion he could
find in that country. The Boston Investigator was his religious
paper and guide, and one of the best for a young mind; for it
teaches a reader to think, and develops intellect, which, in riper
years, will be able to discover its errors.
SECTION  II.
FLED.
The last days and sad hours spent in his native town at length
passed by, and the tears ceased for a time to drop from the eyes
of the few whose swollen hearts pressed them out. The coach
came rattling up to the door, and the passenger entered, bound for
the West, over hill, and vale, and river, and mountain, - green as
name, or April, could make them, towards the old Dutch city of
Albany.  In his memory, well stored away, as in a picturegallery, were faces and forms to be recalled in the far-distant
land; and hills, and valleys, and houses, with scenes of sorrow
and joy, all arranged in order for examination and review; sundered ties, and broken strings, arrows fromn  hearts, and lutes
without strings.';Where'er a human heart doth wear
Joy's myrtle-wreath or Sorrow's gyves,
Where'er a human spirit strives
After a life more true and fair,
There is the true man's birth-place grant,
His is a wvorld-wide fiderland.''




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 49
The Albany city was duly reached by the " post coach " from the
Green Mountain state, and every familiar face was left behind by
the Lone One, - all save the likenesses as they were taken in joy
or sorrow on the memory-plate.  Here he soon found the waterpath westward, and "' ticketed through " to the west end of the
Clinton Ditch, and had a quiet week or more on canal-boat
in reaching Buffalo. 0, what a crowd, and city, and bustle, and
confusion! No chance here for a raw Yankee, who had no money
to speculate on.  Therefore he took a steamboat passage as far as
steamboats run to the west, and landed with a crowd of passengers at Detroit. Here, too, was crowd, and bustle, and still
poorer chance for a Yankee.  Here he found a schooner loading
for Green Bay, and tried to get a passage, but his money was too
short; he was therefore compelled to stop, but was now far from
every relative and old friend, and ready to make new friends.
After seeking business about the city for a few days, he took passage on the little boat, and landed on the River Raisin, at Monroe, and there sought a quiet family to board with, and sought
work, of almost any kind, to pay it. After entirely exhausting his
money, he at length found a place and wages in the variety store
of the "red-coat man," whose fun and mirth and jolly soul
did the heart of the Lone One good every day; for he was a' heap " of funi, running over upon all around him, and as full of
business as he was of fun. He had now found employment and
rest for his anxious mind, and sat down to write the history of his
journey, of which the eight days on canal reads somewhat in this
wise: " Quartered in the cabin, well filled with emigrants westward bound- occupied with passing events, and events that
were passing —on deck gazing at the moon, stars, or' lower
things'- the mountain tops,' low bridge,' or ragged rocks. Sitting in the cabin, early or late, chatting with a red-haired
passenger, less in years than himself, and of the other sex, trying
to forget the past.  But this one was a Mary, also, and too often
recalled one he would, but could not, forget. Sleeping in the
cosey berth, as the horses towed him along the'raging canal.'
5




50             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
At length the locks were lifted, the flats passed, death by mosquitos escaped,- the long level shortened, the red-haired girl
landed, and Buffalo in sight. " What was next to be done, was next
to be planned." The Yankee boy was now in the far West; for Michigan was then Michigan Territory, and full of speculators and landhunters, and the best school to study the speculating side of
humanity that the nation offered to a student. The honest heart
of the Lone One was often shocked at the stories of immigrants
and emigrants, -- for both were in Detroit, —some reporting
land covered with rattle-snakes sufficient to fence with picket
fences into ten-acre lots, and others saying it was almost a garden
of Eden, full of fruits and flowers; some cursing and shaking
with ague: one the effect of exposure and bad food and drink, and
the other of tobacco and bad habits.  Never was there a deeperseated home-sickness than had now possession of the Lone One;
and, although he had left no home, and had none to return to,
yet,
" O, never can there be to man an earth
So green, or sky so pure, or stranger hearth
So welcome, and so warm and bright,
As where his boyhood's years fled by!'9
The Lone One was now fully resolved to once more return to
his rocky native state, which was also the native state of the redcoat man, as soon as his wages would enable him to do so.  The
River Raisin is wide, rapid, shallow, and beautiful, at this place.
For many years the banks had been settled and cultivated by the
Canadian French, who were quietly smoking the domestic tobacco, and eating their cabbages and sturgeon, before the Yankees
started a city and smoked out the old settlers, or bought them out
by, or with, whiskey and cheat.  The new settlers were often molested by ague and fever, and occasionally by cholera; and some
were driven back East, and some over Jordan, by these enemies to
quiet and speculation. During this season the Toledo war raged
in all its violence, and Monroe was the head-quarters for the
armies of Michigan and mosquitos. Those who have never read




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 51
the history of this war need not look for it here; for our narrative
will only admit of a few allusions to important facts, such as the
whole number killed in the war was, one horse, and all the hens,
and turkeys, and bees, and most of the pigs, between Monroe and
Toledo, and an equal or greater number in Ohio, by the Buckeye
army. The Lone One was sent for, but could not go, for his soul
abhorred wars, and this ridiculous farce more than any other.
The red-coat man did go, but only for fun, with a red coat and
tin gun, to make joke-music for the crowd; for he could do it.
"0! who would fight, and march, and countermarch,
Be shot for sixpence in a battle-field,
And shovelled up into a bloody trench,
Where no one knows -and all for fame?
Not I! "
There was an end to this war, although no historian has ever
recorded it, and this narrative does not contain it; for the Lone
One did not have hold at either end nor middle. The bush end
was, however, supposed to be among the tax-payers some years
after peace was restored, not declared, for it never was declared.
Once only had the Orphan been made to follow a man in "cap
and feathers," with a gun on his shoulder, at a training, and that at
sixteen; and this he resolved should be the sum of his military
experience, even if it cost imprisonment; for both conscience and
reason rebelled against the farce of training, and the cruelties of
war. Governor Lucas, of Ohio, and Governor Stevens T. Mason,
of Michigan, were the two great powers who won the immortal
honors in this war, which has been equalled only once in our country, in the " War of the Gauges," the seat of which was at Erie,
Pennsylvania, through which the Lone One also passed with about
the same dangers and glories as in the other, though somewhat
later in the history of the wars of Ohio, These wars were like
the Chian wine, " flavored unto him who drinketh it," but had not
much pleasant flavor to others, and even to them who drank, like
other wine, they caused a severe hair-pulling afterward.




52            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
SECTION III.
NEAR JORDAN.
The summer-greens, which constituted the principal fruit and
shade-tree vegetation of the region round about Monroe, were
fading into autumn-brown, or had already cast off their foliage,
to scud in the winds, under A" bare poles," during winter, when the
Lone One began to count up his wages, and feel that he could once
more return to the land of his childhood and hardships ere the
close of navigation; for, after the lake and canal boats stopped
running, there would be no chance till spring should again unlock
the ice-bound shores; but " there is a power that shapes us to our
ends," and lays the lines of human life that lead us to our goals.
Down came the blow of fate's great hammer, and a fever, hot and
cold, wrapped the body of the Lone One alternately in a cold and
hot " pack," till he sank, sank, sank, to the struggle with life and
death, and with the old catholic physician, who had not much interest, but some anxiety, in the pending fate., Now came a time when
he needed not only care and attention, but love and sympathy;
for his excitable soul could only be holden to earth and to his
body by the magnetic power of a kindred soul; and this he found
and received from the sister of the red-coat man, with whom he
boarded. She was mated, and lived pleasantly, without wealth
or luxury, and furnished a quiet home for her brother and his
clerks. Now, for the first time, the Lone One discovered the
affectionate nature, the kind heart, the loving soul, of the sister; for she saved him, when the doctor could not, by the magnetic
power of her ardent soul. Slowly the recuperative energies of
his body revived and renewed his hold on life; and, with the aid
from others, he recovered, late in autumn, sufficient strength to get
back to the store, and shake with ague, and burn with fever, on
each alternate day, for a few weeks, until he learned the nature of
this loathsome disease, which of all diseases of our Western States
plays upon our hopes and fears most carelessly, and ever leaves us




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 53
more discouraged at each turn of its chill-tide. Gloomy, indeed,
was the prospect; his wages were used up, and he was in debt for
c" medicine and attendance," and winter had come, and, worse still,
the ague had come, to hold him down from a recovery of health
and strength.  Sorry and sad was the heart of the orphan in this
gloom of prospects; but the pleasant smile and kind words of the
sister and her husband (for he was a kind man) often touched and
encouraged him, and the jokes and fun of the red-coat brother
would sometimes almost make a pious man laugh, or a Quaker
forget his gravity. Thus he lived into winter, outgrew the ague,
and again engaged, at low wages, once more to try and pay the
debts, and procure means to return to New Hampshire. Those,
and those only, who have taken a course of ague and fever, can
realize how it makes a live person feel. How it provokes one to
wish the " Old Nick " would take hold and shake the body to pieces
at once. How it makes one hate to live in it, and feel too mean
to die with it. This is probably the reason so few do die with it.
When the spring of'36 came, and one year's experience in the
West was summed up, it read about thus: No money gained; hard
battle with chill fever, and acclimated by ague; lived through one
war; found one affectionate woman, with a heart and soul worthy
a better country and society; but, like every person with whom
he had found true charity, or real sympathy of soul (except Mary),
she was not a professor of religion. Thus his experience continued
to prove that professed Christians were not better than others, if
as good; confirming what infidel writers had written on this subject,
and more firmly convincing him that religion was only a shell,
covering a rotten system of creeds and pretences.
When the May roses began to blossom, the restless and unhappy
spirit resolved to make one more effort to better his condition
and obtain money to return, of which he had not enough, and
feared he never should have, when the demands of sickness and
raiment were taken from his earnings. A prospect of higher wages
induced him to start south, even in that unfavorable season of year,
which would really endanger his life. The boat took him to
5*




54            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
Cleveland, and the stage to Beaver, Pennsylvania, and a river
boat to Cincinnati, where, with some letters of introduction, he
sought employment, but in vain. Diffident, even timid, and almost
entirely unacquainted with western business life, he failed, as
nineteen in every twenty would under such circumstances, to find
employment, and made one more move, to Louisville, Kentucky.
Fed at a hotel, and engaged an old man in an intelligence office to
get him a place. The old man gave him good advice, and much
caution against the vices which ruin so many young men in the
South and West. Although it was not needed by the orphan, it was
kindly received and duly appreciated, while what he needed more
for his money was never obtained. Somebody always stepped in
before him, and the old man's fair prospects and encouraging
promises all ended in disappointment, and so did all other efforts,
until the Lone One, almost distracted with his condition, entirely
friendless, nearly penniless,'and too sensitive to make his condition
known, and accept some service to pay his board, finally resolved
to return, but how, he could not devise. His trunk, with his all,
scanty as it was, he could not carry, and did not think he could
part with his books and few remaining clothes, and take the footpath to Monroe. He found he could pay his bill at the hotel, and
a deck fare on a boat to Portsmouth, where a canal from Cleveland lets down its boats to the Ohio. This was soon resolved upon,
and he was moving up the river moneyless and supperless, with
no prospects of a change in his favor by which he could go further,
or get food and lodging; but he had looked hunger in the face
before, and once almost stared him out of countenance, and thought
he could do it again rather than beg. To work he was willing, but
to beg he was not, for he had health and strength, and in such a
country as ours these ought always to supply our wants, but they
often fail. He reached Portsmouth, and found a boat ready to
start for Cleveland on the canal; and on board he went and engaged a passage with board, and thus procured food, for his body
was now suffering for want of its aliment. The next great question was how to pay. It was a great relief to find he was not




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 55
required to pay in advance. There were several passengers on
board, and he brought out some of his school-books, and tried in
vain to sell some of them. That was " no go; " had they been novels, or trash of the yellow-cover stripe, no doubt he would have
been more successful. What next? IHe had no clothes worth offering or to spare, but he tried next to sell his best coat; but it was
an " old coat," and would not bring any money. One or two offered
to swap with him for boot, so he could have a better one. No
relief; and the day passed, and early bedtime found him weeping
in his berth. Sleepless through the night he lay, turning in body
and mind, reviewing himself and all his past life, and wondering
what sin he had committed to merit this punishment.  Almost
resolved to go out and fall in the canal, and try to escape from the
miserable existence which his parents or God had forced upon
him. But his soul shuddered at the thought of self-murder, as
it ever had at every species of crime. How could he believe
there was a God? or, if there was, that It was a good God?
Especially, if it was God who killed his mother and now allowed her poor orphan child to suffer in this way, certainly he
could not be good. Perhaps he was offended because the boy did
not pray for, and supplicate favors and aid; but he never knew an
instance of God feeding a hungry person by being asked to do so
in prayer, and he had no confidence to ask God for money to pay
his passage. He would have been ashamed to ask a fellow-mortal,
and more so to ask God. There was no hope for help in that
direction, nor could he see any in any other. The long sleepless
night at length came to an end, and he was early up to meet the
faces of all strangers, as the day before; but, when they crept out
of their berths, behold, one familiar face came out; a young man
whom he had seen at Monroe had come on board in the night at
some landing-place, and crawled, unobserved by the sleepless orphan,
into a berth. Had he seen him, he might have slept some, or, at
least, found a new subject for reflection. The next difficulty was
how to approach the young man with his case, and try to obtain
relief; for his acquaintance was very limited, being barely suffi



56             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
cient for recognition. The Lone One lost no time in securing such
items as would free his mind firom doubts and fears. First he learned
that the young man was bound for Monroe; this produced a thrill
of joy which only those who know the importance of such little
circumstances at times of trial, and whose souls are keen and sensitive, can know. A wave of joy ran over the nerves of the orphan
at this news.  After much ceremony, many delays, and several
unsuccessful attempts, like a timid lover at question-popping time,
he at last succeeded in asking for money enough to pay his fare to
Monroe on the canal and lake boats, and promised to repay it on
arrival, for he was sure he could borrow  it there.  His heart
leaped for joy, and the tears filled his eyes, until he was ashamed
of his weakness, when the almost stranger took out his money, and
handed him all he asked for, and offered more if he needed it.
The confidence and kindness of this young man touched a tender
chord in his feelings, that had seldom been vibrated in the music
of life; the mournful notes were silenced, and hope beamed on
his countenance once more.  Until we sink into deep distress and
suffering. we can never know how much joy some little favor, at
particular times, can afford us; then we duly appreciate kindness,
and learn important lessons for life, and often learn how to make
others happy. It was not long after our sorry orphan had reached
8Monroe, and borrowed the money of a clerk in the store of the redcoat man, and repaid it to the passenger with more thankfulness
than he could express in words, that he found out that this
young man, who was intelligent, moral, honest, and consistent, in
his life and actions, was, in the estimation of the Christians, a
notorious infidel, and the son of infidel parents,- that the fiamily
never attended church, nor paid the preacher.  This made another
item in the experience of the Lone One.
A few friends seemed glad at his return, but none welcomed
him  more cordially than the sister and her husband.  I-e soon,,ured employment as clerk in the post-office, and began once
mnore to try the up-hill of life in a journey after money; for he
found himself in a world of mostly Yahoos, where




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 57
C' Gold is the god the Yahoos adore;
There no man's criminal unless he's poor."
There are said to be times, in the history of men, when the boy
sows his wild oats; being a sort of reckless time for scattering
moral, and all other qualities of actions broad-cast. This may be
as applicable to states, territories, and communities, as to persons.
Michigan was sowing her wild oats in the years which were running through the great year-glass when these incidents occurred,
the most prolific crop of which came up and were harvested in
wild-cat notes some time after. The population consisted mainly
of land speculators and fortune-seekers, which pursuits in themselves would not make persons bad; but the constant commotion,
fluctuating prospects, and varied vicissitudes, of those times, brought
out to the surface, as a warm pack does the measles, the worst
features in the population.  Michigan was then a hard state, or
territory, for it is not yet certain when she became a state; for
this was a year of two governments, or one, or none; and the
people could not determine which, neither can history.  Only a
few months of quiet business in this department, and another
change of occupation, although he had heard it said " a rolling
stone gathers no moss."  Shrewd business men in Michigan, who
watched the passing events, knew that breakers were ahead, and
the red-coat man was of that kind; and when the autumn
glided into winter a new firm occupied the old' store, and tried
to sell the remnants of everything; for the old variety-shop
contained all sorts of traps, from  ox-yokes to little pills of
Nux put up in homeopathic bottles.  One of the new firm soon
sold to the Lone One.  Poor as he was, his credit was good, because his habits were good, and his word reliable; but at this
time such credit did not prove an advantage, for it gave, in the
change, promises of better days, and brought darker and harder
trials than ever before, in consequence of changes which had their
origin in this misstep in business. He had not learned the necessity, every young man without pecuniary means was under, of




58             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
securing first some money before he assumes debts and liabilities,
or social responsibilities requiring money in greater or less abundance. But he was now in a fair way to learn it by experience,
which would doubtless make a deep and lasting impression. The
young merchants were not elated, but resolved on the strictest
economy and close application to business, which in ordinary
times would have enabled them to sustain themselves even without the capital, as they had long credit and low interest, neither
of which were common in that country at that time. The desire
to return East had expired, burned itself out, and the Lone One
now resolved to make the West his future home; and, indeed, he
might as well, for Mary was married, or engaged to be soon, and
he had no relatives, east or west, who felt any interest in his
whereabouts, save as they did in other persons who were not akin;
or rather only two or three females, who could not aid him, except
by sympathy.  Of these was one fair-haired cousin, whose sympathy he could not receive, because in him it produced love in
return, which she could not receive; and he had now resolved to
break every tie to New Hampshire in his feelings, and harden all.but his conscience for western life.  That he never could harden,
for it was master over him, although it might have been a creature of education, as some people say it is.  His home was with
the kind sister of the red-coat man, for certainly he would never
board at any other place while she would feed him at her table,
where kind words were only in correspondence with the neatness
and order and excellent selections of food and dishes. She was a
native of New Hampshire, and had an attractive old homestead
there, and many kind friends, and relatives almost without number;
and in this autumn of'36 she repaired thither for a visit, leaving
the Lone One to take care of the house and girls, &c.  Of this
visit it may be said "thereby hangs a tale" which requires a
rest; so we will stop over here.
"Hands of invisible spirits touch the strings
Of that invisible instrument, the soul,
And play the prelude of our fate."




LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.                    59
SECTIoN IV.
ANOTHER LINE,
6 I saw two clouds at morning
Tinged by the rising sunl;
And in the dawn they floated on,
And mingled into one;
I thought that morning cloud was blest,
It moved so sweetly to the west.'C I saw two summer currents
Flow smoothly to their meeting,
And join their course with silent force,
In peace each other greeting;
Calm was their course through banks of green,
While dimpling eddies played between.
"' Such be your gentle motion,
Till life's last pulse shall beat!
Like summer's beam and summer's stream,
Float on, in joy, to meet
In calmer sea, where storms shall cease --
In purer sky, where all is peace."
On the west side of the Granite State is a small district called
Sullivan County. Two hundred years ago it was a dense forest
of evergreens, with subsoil rich in granite boulders and sand. Now
it comprises some of the best farms in the state, and several beautiful villages, with long rows of summer-green shade-trees, fine
gardens, capacious dwellings, and plenty of churches and schoolhouses.  On one of these farms, high up on the hill-side, lived
Enoch and Betsey, and reared a family of boys and girls by
unceasing toil and rigid economy; for only by such could a
family live on such a farm, and improve it, until, like this one, it
became a valuable old homestead. Many, many years ago there
lived in England a man whose occupation was thatching, and they
called him John, or William the Thatcher.  He took to himself a
wife, and they had little thatchers.  These grew up, and did likewise.  The friends dropped the, and thus, like many other family




60             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
names, began the Thatcher family, which has branched out and
multiplied exceedingly; one line of which ran so close to the house
of Enoch, that the  tarms and families joined, and the kindred
currents of blood connected the families as the brooks did the
farms. Hand in hand, and side by side, the two families struggled
through years, with rocks too vast for 1 Ajax' throw," and snowdrifts deep enough for an Esquimaux den such as Dr. Kane
describes in his Arctic expedition.  The father of Enoch had
nearly worn out his body on the farm before he transferred it to
his son and Betsey, and quietly resigned his body and deaconship
to rest, after a long life of toil.  Then his spirit went home to
its heaven of kindred souls, for he was a good man. Enoch
was a man of industry, economy, and practical piety, but was
never entangled in the meshes of a church creed.  He trusted
God to judge him by his life, without a priest to plead for him
as a member of a church; and, as we learn from the spirit-world,
to which he moved in ripened years and extreme old age, he found
as warm a welcome and good friends there as those who spent
much of life in building churches and supporting preachers, and
progresses much faster there than the creed-bound souls. Betsey,
who was closely linked to the. Thatcher family, but not in name,
was more closely entwined in the religion of a church, and securely
locked in the Baptist fold of close communion notoriety; but she
was one of the best of New England's wives and mothers, and a
conscientious and exemplary Christian, and would have been as
sure of heaven (if there is a heaven for the good), if there had
never been a church in the nation, as she is with all her church
connections. She still lingers at the old homestead, familiar Jwith
its growth and changes through more than half a century.
Enoch and Betsey reared to man and womanhood two sons and
three daughters, and let several others drop into the arms of
angels, to be reared under the guidance and direction of spirits in
the other country, where so many little children go to get their
education, and growth, and religion; whether under more favorable circumstances than in this is not certainly known, but by




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                  61
many believed to be so. The elder son served out his time on
the homestead farm, with much sickness arising from the bite of a
mad fox; then married a religious wife of excellent disposition,
and with her, settled in the vicinity of his native home, travelled
some, and traded more, till he had a homestead of his own, and
with his mate reared a large family of sons and daughters. The
sons, with much business talent and well adapted to speculation in
the West, repaired thither to get rich, but with no religious tendencies, and little mental, intellectual, or spiritual development,
in or for other departments of life. The daughters grew to a
goodly stature in body and mind, and would have been fine specimens of Yankee girls, had not the natural powers and elasticity
of their minds been cramped by the theology of the school where
they completed their education, and by the still more narrow
creed and discipline of the church at home, into which they were
pressed. The father stemmed the current of superstition until
about the middle of life, when he was caught by an epidemic
revival and locked in the Baptist fold, and, with a zeal and devotion worthy a better cause, lost his labor in his effobrts to convert
sinners.  But he is still stout for the fight; has on the whole
armor of the church, and is zealously aiding to roll on the sectarian car over "Jordan's hard road to travel on."  The other son
was the red-coat man of the River Raisin, whose peculiar
genius led him early from home, to roam and speculate, and get
rich two or three times in life, and to get into, and out of, religion,
and almost everything else, several times.  His narrative-path, on
land and sea, high and low, up and down, to his present home, on
the west shore of Lake Erie, at his own little village, where a large
house, full of wife and babies, is the home of all who come to it,
would be highly interesting; for he was always an interesting
man.  But we have no room  for it here; we have already
"switched off" our narrative too often to allow other trains to
pass; and fear, if we do not keep the main track where we have
the right of way, we may be behind time at our dp6ot.
The eldest daughter married out of the name, and carried the
6




62             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
homestead to another line of heirships; but for quiet domestic
life, few daughters of the mountain did better, or as well, as
Sally.  Few happier homes could be found than she had, and
made for her parents and friends. One only child, a daughter,
was the offspring of this union. In childhood, the pet; in girlhood, the favorite of every acquaintance. In'55 a stranger found
her at the old homestead with a beautiful little pet daughter
swinging in a basket in the old red kitchen, the wife of a man,who
did not change her paternal name, a returned Californian, with as
noble and generous a heart as ever beat in a visitor to that land
of the sunset.  "What a homestead!" exclaimed the visitor.'" What a pet with its mother, and grandmother, and great-grandmother, father and grandfather, at home! " all in health and comfort.  This eldest daughter and her husband joined church with
the mother, but like her never allowed their religion to destroy
their humanity, or kindness to all of God's children. They never
attempted to force their creed upon others, nor to fight their way
to heaven; but left the fighting for others, of more belligerent
dispositions.
The second daughter was the kind sister into whose care our
wanderer fell in the time of his sickness, and whose charity and
good qualities of soul were always a sure guaranty of heaven in
the other life, without a religious creed; and hence she needed
and received none. She married in the West. Two boys were the
offspring of the union, when a consumption seized her husband,
and soon freed his spirit from its earthly tenement, and her from
his efforts to obtain the means of support and education for their
children; but she struggled on in the West against fearful odds,
for a time, then returned to her native town, and there, by the
industry and economy learned of her mother, with much skill and
ingenuity aided her boys into manhood, ever maintaining that
kind spirit and warmth of soul which were hers in days of prosperity. The other daughter was the last and youngest of the
family, but not least in importance, especially in this narrative.
She was the pet of both father and mother, and early pressed into




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                  63
the church to be saved; for at that time there was little hope of
the other children being saved through the church, and certainly
one of the family ought to go with their excellent and dear
mother, and it was an evidence of kindness, if nothing more, in
her to join church with the mother.  Of religion at that time she
knew very little, especially of the subtle creeds of the orthodox
church. She was educated for a teacher, and had some experience in training the young ideas to shoot like buds into blossom,
when, in the autumn of'36, the sister from the West returned for
a short visit to the mountain home of her childhood.
After much effort at persuasion the parents and eldest sister
consented to the proposed visit of the youngest sister to Michigan,
with a promise of return with spring. Thus arranged, when
the husband came for his mate, and the one husband and two
sisters started for the western home, from which very few girls
ever return to New England without being first married. Pleasantly they jolted and glided over road, and canal, and lake, and
safely landed at Monroe, where the guest was soon introduced to
the friends and visitors, among whom was, of course, the Lone
One; for this was the most like a home of any he found. Only a
few weeks, and the industrious Yankee girl was found teaching a
school some miles in the country; but Saturday nights she was
found at her sister's, usually by the aid of one who boarded there;
and, although the horse and buggy hire was greater than amount
received for teaching, yet economy was never a consideration in
love affairs, and one pocket paid, while the other received, the
sums. Is it possible the orphan is contemplating marriage, with
no home and no means to purchase one? Few friends, and none
to help him to a home; and that to a beautiful girl, with precarious health, just arrived from the East, and yet to be acclimated,
by sickness and trials, to the western climate, - he an infidel, she
a Christian?
" The dream that wishing boyhood knows
Is but a bright beguiling spell,
Which only lives while passion glows



64              LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE  ONE.
But when this early flush declines,
When the heart's vivid morning fleets,
You know not then how close it twines
Round the first kindred soul it meets."
MooRE.
" No one is so accursed by fate,
No one so utterly desolate,
But some heart, though unknown,
Responds unto his own,
Responds, as if with unseen wings
An angel touched its quivering strings,
And whispers, in its song,
Where hast thou strayed so long?"
LONGFELLOWo
Thus it was; but the lonely heart of the orphan had borne its
burdens of grief and sorrow long enough alone.  Why should not
some sympathizing spirit share with him  the trials and griefs?
The only question now was, Who shall it be?  Who will volunteer for a campaign, in which hardships are most painful
and soul-trying, but for which there awaits a pension  and country's blessing, at last? Who will enlist and accept the commission?
She accepted, and received the following commission:' When the day of life is dreary,
And when gloom thy course enshrouds 
When thy step is faint and weary,
And thy spirits dark with clouds,
Steadfast still in thy well-doing,
Let thy soul forget the past;
Steadfast still the right pursuing,
Doubt not joy shall come at last.
"Striving still, and onward pressing,
Seek not future years to know,
But deserve the wished-for blessing,
It shall come, though it be slow;
Never tiring, upward gazing,
Let thy fears aside be cast,
And thy trials tempting, bearing,
Doubt not joy shall come at last.




LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.                   65
"Keep not then thy mind regretting;
Seek the good, spurn evil's thrall;
Though thy foes thy path besetting,
Thou shalt triumph o'er them all;
Though each year but bring thee sadness,
And thy youth be'fleeting fast,
There'11 be time enough for gladness, -
Doubt not joy shall come at last."
But a marriage!  0, the thoughts of a marriage! None but
the ardent and impassioned youth can ever know the feelings, -
the doubts, the fears, the excited curiosity, the dreams, the mys.
tery, which hang over an appproaching event of this nature, to
the young, the unqualified, the untutored mind, as these, and
most others, were at their first experiment in social and domestic
bondage.  How often these dreams of bliss unspeakable - these
anticipations of joy beyond measure - prove only dreams, or
fancy sketches, that fade like the mirage, or burst like the bubble
when touched by real life! How often does this happiest and
most sacred institution of social life, under our present system of
legal control and restraint, become only a wheel of persecution,
and misery, and suffering, that soon crushes the weaker of the
twain to an untimely death, to make way for another, often to'follow! How futile the attempt to legalize, regulate, and control
the affections by statute, and make uncongenial beings love each
other, because in the wild passions of uneducated youth they made
a sad mistake, and, as many do by such mistakes, made each
other miserable, instead of happy.  When will the institutions of
men be founded on nature, and contribute to our happiness, instead
of breaking us, bone after bone, on the wheel of an inquisition?
Competent observers of the social relations of our time suppose
there are about one couple in fifty who are "spiritually and physically married, -whose souls are united, and bodies harmonized to
each other; and about one third of the others are fraternally married, and live in a sort of business relation, quietly, and often
happily, to all outward appearance; some feeling a kindred bond
6.



66            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
of sympathy, bordering on love. The rest are in sunshine and
showers mixed, or cat and dog life, barking and snapping much of
the time when the neighbors are not in sight or hearing. It is
almost a certain sacrifice of happiness, health, or life, for a delicate, sensitive and refined girl, with a pure body, to be united in
marriage to a man with a body polluted with tobacco, pork, and
strong drink, and hardened by physical exercise so as to endure
those poisons.  Too many victims are ready to testify to this
assertion to need other proof, and yet how seldom they caution
the young, and warn others to avoid their terrible experience!
Do not be hasty, reader, in judging the fate of these two
streams from the mountains of the Granite State, which are hereafter to be united in one name and life, and move on in one
channel to the ocean of spirit-life. For in your haste you may
not judge aright. Wait and read, then inquire of each; for from
each you may learn the experience that at least will be an advice,
if you need it. There are narrows and shoals, rocks and quicksands, islands and windings, in nearly every stream of life with
double channel, and the experience of pilots is not to be despised
by the young.  Sugar River empties into, and is lost in the Connecticut. So this mountain lass from its banks lost a part of her
name in that of the stranger, and took passage in the turbulent
Life-Line of the Lone One, somewhat in this wise: On the 5th
day of the year 1837, being the twenty-fourth natal day of the
orphan, the sun sank slowly in the western haze of a winter sky,
and the day faded from sight, leaving a long evening before bedtime. The Lone One was still only one; had no relative in the
West, had seen none since he left the East, and scarcely expected
to ever more see one from that region; for most of them were too
poor to come so far.  He was early this evening at the house of
his kind friend. The' younger sister was also present. She had
numbered a score or more of the birth-day mile-stones, which are
so conspicuous in our youth, and so much neglected in age. The
parlor fire was burning brightly, the lamps were trimmed, the
furniture tastily arranged; the red-coat man also came early in,




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                  67
and was amusing the company with jokes, when a gentle rap at
the door brought silence in the parlor. Slowly the doors were
opened, and in came a dark-robed priest, from the Episcopal fort
of devotion and defence. He was merry and sociable, and soon
restored mirth in the circle; but the orphan and the younger
sister of the red-coat man were absent.  Still the laugh and joke
went round, until suddenly opened a door, and slowly, but majestically came in the Lone One, curiously robed in Quaker drab,
and the sister in wedding white, accompanied by a youth and lass,
who arranged themselves on either side, as the four placed themselves before the priest, who now began to look grave and solemn,
as if some terrible event was about to befall the company. The
company remained seated, only the two who stood beside the pair,
to catch them in case of fainting or falling by the awful ceremony about to be performed. The mystic words fell slow and
sure from the sacred lips of the " man of God," who bade these
two to eat and sleep, to bed and board, to live and love, to command and obey, to support and serve, to hold and bear one name,
to the end of life's journey on earth; but they bound no further;
for the wise priest said, in his heaven, where his Saviour lived,
there was no marrying nor giving in marriage.  Ah, false man!
why work against thy prayers?  When thou prayest daily for
that kingdom to come on earth in which there is no marrying,
how shall it come while thy works are against thy prayers? But
great are the mysteries of thy ways, O priesthood of earth! They
did not faint or fall on receiving the awful bond by which the
priest said God put two beings together so that no man should
dare to put them asunder.  If God did do it, then the priest did
not; and if God did not, then the priest surely did not; and
hence his act was useless either way, except as a license to society
to call them man and wife; for the priest said they might be called
so, for he made them so.  The solemn part of the scene was short;
and soon the kiss, the laugh, the joke, the cake, and - last, but
not least - the wine, went round; and all, even the solemn priest,
partook, and became merry.




68             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
Slowly the company departed or retired; and the wonderful and
fearful bed-time came for the twain who had never known such
lodgings before, and never can again.  Somehow, there is something mysteriously undefinable in the first month of a young married couple who have ever been diffident and reserved, and have
known nothing of the relations of social or sexual life, save what
a lying and gossipping world has told them.  We shall not follow
them to the chamber, nor through the sleepless hours, but leave
curiosity on its tiptoe, with such caution as might be given by the
saddened and paling countenance, and the tear-wet pillows, which
have marked the early experience of many wedded pairs.  Happiness! Shall we call this a change for happiness, -such a
change as brought, for both, new trials and troubles, but especially
severe ones for the one who had left her quiet mountain home, her
name, and her liberty, and agreed to love, serve, and obey?  No
person with equal capacity ever tried harder to submit to fate, and
be happy in an uncongenial condition of new and strange life, than
did this fair girl in her new relation of wife. But the countenance paled, the form emaciated, the cough increased; but still
the smile ever welcomed the husband, and no complaint was uttered, save the occasional hint that an early death was approaching. Is this a solitary experience? If so, it is not worth relating. If not, it hath other testimonies, and the cause should be
sought and found; and if it was the pork, tobacco, and coffee,
used by one only of the twain, others should be warned to avoid,
and the young be cautioned against, their baneful effects. His
soul could still be heard to murmur, in its sadness:
"Though the day of my destiny's over,
And the star of my fate hath declined,
Thy soft heart refused to discover
The faults which so many could find.
Though thy soul with my grief was acquainted,
It shrunk not to share it with me;
And the love which my spirit hath painted
It never hath found but in thee."




LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.                    69
And hers:
"No! let the eagle change his plume,
The leaf its hue, the flower its bloom;
But ties around this heart once spun -
They cannot, will not, be undone."
"But the mistletoe clings to the oak, not in part,
But with leaves closely round it; the root in its heart
Exists but to clasp it, - imbibe the same dew,Or to fall with its loved oak, and perish there, too."
SECTION V.
ANOTHER LIFE.
The female side of the two-in-one prayed, and the answer
came:
"Ask what thou wilt," said a fairy voice,
" Ask what thou wilt of me;
Of all on earth thou canst have thy choice,
On the land, or on the sea.
I have the power rich gifts to bestow,
And what thou wilt I'11 grant:
But only once, I would have thee know,
Can I supply thy want."
Then I sat down, and pondered long
On what the gift should be
Which the fairy voice had kindly said
Should be given but once to me.
I will not ask that wealth or fame
Should a worthless chaplet twine
Around my brow, or adorn my name,
Nor that beauty should be mine;
For these are transient as the dew
Before the burning sun,
And fade as quickly from the view
Ere morning is begun.
"In none of these," my heart replied,
"Would the height of happiness be;
True love and a happy home," I cried,
"Is all that I ask of thee."




TO              LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
The fairy wrote, "'T is granted."  But, 0, the distance to it,
and the terrible path that was to be travelled, over rocks and
quicksands, quagmires and dismal swamps, in heats of sun, and
storms of icy rain, more than this narrative can record, or the heart
can ever recall and relate! But we will follow her through the
years to the happy home of destiny and declining years, if we
can, (leaving out many of the sorest trials of domestic life), in a
new country, through deep poverty, poor health, and a sick heart.
The masculine side of the two-in-one prayed, and the answer came
also to him; but the prayers were not one:
c" O, I envy those
Whose hearts on hearts as faithful can repose;
Who never feel the void, the wandering thought,
That sighs o'er visions such as mine hath wrought."
Then the impulsed answer came, with slow promise:
"He who would be the tongue of this wide land
Must string his harp with chords of sturdy iron,
And strike it with a toil-embrowned hand.
Such, such is he for whom the world is waiting
To sing the beatings of its mighty heart;
Too long hath it been patient with the grating
Of scrannel-pipes, and heard it misnamed Art."
But thou shalt ever move' With a high and holy purpose,
Doing all thou find'st to do,
Seeking ever man's upraising,
With the highest end in view.
"Undepressed by seeming failure,
Unelated by success,
Heights attained revealing higherOnward, upward, ever press.
"Slowly moves the march of ages,
Slowly grows the forest king;
Slowly to perfection cometh
Every great and glorious thing.




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                     71
"Broadest streams from narrowest sources;
Noblest trees from meanest seeds;
Mighty ends from small beginnings;
From lowly promise lofty deeds.
"Acorns which the winds have scattered
Future navies may provide;
Thoughts at midnight whispered lowly
Prove a people's future guide.' Such the law enforced by nature
Since the earth her course began;
Such to'thee she searcheth daily,
Eager, ardent, restless man.
"Never hasting, never resting;
Glad in peace, and calm in strife;
Quietly thyself preparing
To perform thy part in life.
"Earnest, hopeful, and unswerving,
Weary though thou art, and faint,
Ne'er despair, - there's God above thee,
Listing ever to thy plaint.
"Stumbleth he who runneth fast;
Dieth he who standeth still;
Nor by haste nor rest can ever
Man his destiny fulfil."
The letter from the Baptist church in New Hampshire, which
she brought with her, never reached its destination in another
church; for she adopted the more rational religion of her husband
readily, and ever after, slowly but finally, sought a heaven and
home with him for the other life, as she had chosen one with him
in this.  The Lone One now had a hired home, such as his low
circumstances would allow; was settled, not as a preacher,
although he did sometimes preach, when opportunity offered, not
because he was ordained, or licensed to preach, but because the
spirit moved him to it, and he had the right by double baptism;




72            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
for he was often baptized by the Holy Ghost, or good spirits, and
he had once been baptized by water; not by human hands, but by
God, somewhat in this wise: When quite a boy, he went alone
on a cloudy day to a meadow, in a wood, quite secluded from
road and farm, to angle for trout and pickerel, in a small stream
which followed its snaky path through the meadow.  It was on
one of those cold, ocean-storm days so common on the coast of
New England in May and June.  When he reached the edge of
the pine and hemlock forest bordering the meadow, the tall grass
was very wet, and it began to rain steadily. Like the bathing maid
in the Summer of Thomson's Seasons, he cast a searching glance
around for man and beast, — for he was extremely bashful.
Satisfied that none but he and God were present, — and before
God he was not ashamed, - he carefully laid away every article
of covering in a hollow log, where they would keep dry, and
entered the meadow naked as he entered the world. Then and
there God baptized him fiom the clouds for half a day or more.
The witnesses were angels and crows, and the record made in
heaven and his memory, and the manner was both by sprinkling
and immersion, and he received it both in fear and trembling; for
he feared some man or beast might come that way, and trembled
with cold. Caught the fish, and probably a cold, and returned
late, and quite dry for one whom God had just baptized with five
hours' sprinkling, and an immersion in the brook. He always considered afterward, if baptism was a saving ordinance, that this was
sufficient for him; as the ceremony was performed by the head of
nature's church, and witnessed and recorded by angels. The other
baptism  was also of God, through nature, -fbr God was the
author and father of his nature, -which had endowed him with
both desire and capacity to preach, or rather to talk in public.
Persons who resided in the Western States and figured in business life in'37 and'38 have not forgotten, and will not soon
forget, the convulsions of commerce and trade at that time; the
suspension of banks, and failure of business men, both great and
small. The scarcity of money, and entire want of confidence in all




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 7S
western traders and speculators, induced the Lone One to close up
his small business, discontinue his auction and commission sales,
return his assortment of infidel books, —which had been kept
conspicuously on the shelf for sale, - to the owners and publishers, - the Mattsells, of New York, - to pack up such goods as he
believed would be needed, or would sell readily, and could be
spared from the store, and send them by and with a friend to
Wisconsin, the land which he had selected as his future home,
and to which he had resolved to remove early in the spring of'38, if the health of his wife would permit; for he could not now
think of going without her, although it might have been better for
both if he had gone, and prepared a home to receive them before
moving her. Neither the fourth volume of the G-'eat Harmonia
nor Esoteric Anthropology had been published, nor had any other
book fallen into their hands which contained the instruction, so
necessary for new beginners in domestic life, which these, and
some of Fowler's works contain.
Late in the fall of'37 the business was all closed up, sold out,
and transferred, and the little family ready to move. But in the
mean time other changes had transpired, which must be noted
here.
The bachelor red-coat man had become a husband, and by the
aid of the Lone One had surveyed a village plot, ten miles from
Monroe, named it for his native town, moved to it, and commenced building a western city in a place where commerce —
which alone builds cities - never required one. At this new home
the husband and wife had resolved to spend the winter, with the
brother and wife; but there was one more whose interests and
welfare were to be consulted. Early in the autumn the skill of
an experienced physician was required at the home of the Lone
One; and, could an experienced mother have seen the pale face,
the often almost strangled and convulsed condition, by coughing,
of the wife, and other causes, she would not have wondered,
more than the physician did, that three pounds of boy were
hurried into outer life two months before the proper time, and,
7




74            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE,
breathing feebly, gave signs of life, which the skilful physician
said could by no possible means be saved and reared to manho-od.
But he was not infallible; for, although the "little thizng" did
not grow for several weeks, and often stopped breathing to
all appearance, yet the renewal of breath from the mother, and
stimulants, with a warm  bath, renewed and continued life, till
the form began slowly to grow, which did not entirely stop until
it reached a stature nearly equal to that of the father, and
somewhat like it in form, with a mind capable of extending
further, and better adapted to life. They gave him the name of
a great and distinguished poet, but one whose mantle of mental and physical blindness they hoped would never fall on him.
Slowly the form of the mother recovered partially, but not fully,
from this premature sickness, and dragged out a miserable existence,
in great anxiety and constant care of this pet, at the new home of
the brother, during the long, cold winter of'37 and'38. The
brother and wife were kind, and all tried to make her as comfortable as circumstances would allow; but they expected the spring
would carry both mother and child to the grave-yard. But both
survived, and the mother is now reaping the reward for her
trials and care in the kind and dutiful attention of one of the best
of sons, and an excellent scholar, both in science and life.  The
science of married life is a great and important science, but few have
published to the world, for the benefit of others, their experiments
or experience in it. If they would, — and especially those who constitutionally break down, and send to untimely graves two or three
partners and more children, — it might be more useful to young
people than the thousands of religious tracts and foolish novels that
flood the markets of literature.
One yearly mile-stone on the journey of united life had now
been passed, and the experience of the journey deeply recorded
on each heart. Both had now realized what most persons realize
as the ultimate of courtship.  The deep soul-yearnings of the
Lone One, who eagerly and ardently and constantly yearned for
love and fondness in such abundance as would bring up the want




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                75
of long years of dearth and coldness, through which he had
lived, could only be met and satisfied by the deepest, strongest,
and most ardent and devoted soul, in a fully-developed body and
mind. The tender object of his love and care had ever been —
as the youngest child of a large family -nursed with fondness, and loved and petted, without being taught to express the
soul's deepest emotions in return. She had never been scathed
in the fiery furnace of trial and trouble, which has ever developed and purified the soul of man or woman, and called out the
inner life, with all its force and energy. With a feeble body and
strong mental system; large brain, coarser and more uniform
in texture, and slower in action than the other, but capable of
great intensity of feeling when aroused. With a scrofulous consumption on the lungs, and the duties and burdens of a wife and
mother in poverty pressing upon her mind and body, she bore her
burden without complaint, but in misery and sorrow; for it was
plainly written on her pallid countenance that the reality of married life, under such circumstances, was not the beautiful realization of the fairy dreams of girlhood, or the heaven of romance
which novelists so often picture in the union of lovers.  The
constant labor of the husband supplied the immediate wants, but
made little progress toward securing the more permanent comforts
of domestic life. The snow-storms of winter were drifting around
the border of Erie. The mother was watching and nursing, day and
night, the pet at the new and rude home of the brother; the husband was some distance up the river, in the forest, tending, with
his former partner in the store- who was also a young husband, and poor - a saw-mill which they had leased, and in which
they were, by constant hard labor, making lumber quite fast, and
piling it up near the mill, on the hill-side, to save the labor of
carrying it far away. Late one Saturday night, in the midst of a
cold and windy snow-storm, the mill suddenly stopped by some
break or obstruction in the wheel under the high water. It was
a cold and difficult work to uncap the wheel and remove the obstruction in the cold water, dark night, and exhausted condi



76             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
tion of their bodies, and they "raked up" their fire, and, as
they supposed, made all safe, and started for their homes. No
family was living in sight of the mill; and only Thor, with his
winds, was left to guard the mill in the absence of the occupants.
Next morning, near ten o'clock, a Frenchman came to inform
the partners that God had let the winds blow the fire about the
mill, and it had all burned down, and the large pile of lumber
had rolled in and shared the same fate. This "' providential occurrence" had taken place on the Sabbath day, when the occupants of the mill were resting according to command; but when
the winds, and snows, and fires, would not stop to rest, showing
that God did not rest on that day, in this age, if he ever
did. The loss of rent, lumber, and labor, was a severe one for
both the partners, but did not change the determination of the
Lone One to start early in the spring for Wisconsin, where he
hoped to be able to secure a home, by industry and economy, in a
few years. The smouldering fire-ruins of the old mill went out,
and the day brightened into a clear, calm, and beautiful evening,
and the Lone One was again with the mother and babe.  Hlow
pleasant, how calm, how happy, how full of joy and love, is a truly
wedded life, where body and spirit and mind are united by God's
harmonic law of true marriage, which ever binds two -only two -
souls in one life, in which the will of each is the desire of both,
and the desire of each is ever in harmony with the interest of the
other.'T is a beautiful picture, which cannot be too highly wrought,
but which is seldom realized in what we call marriage. Only
enough instances to prove it true are to be found; but the immortal Keats says:
" Love in a hut, with water and a crust,
Is - Love forgive us - cinders, ashes, dust!"
And Rogers, that
"Through the wide world, he only is alone
Who lives not for another."
And Froude, that




LIFE-LINE OF TH-E LONE ONE.                 77
6c Love is not in our power,Nay, what seems stranger, is not in our choice;
We only love where fate ordains we should,
And, blindly fond, oft slight superior merit."
This little family had no home, and faint, indeed, was the glimmering hope of soon obtaining one.  The restless and ambitious,
but unsatisfied, soul of the husband had yielded to the earnest
wish of the wife to seek first a home, after obtaining which, perhaps, all other desirable things might be added, as to those who
seek first, and find, the kingdom of heaven, which, according to the
latest interpretation, is the sphere of spirit-life. Early in spring
the little group of three, two of them almost helpless, started on
the watery path, by schooner, round the rivers and lakes, to a spot
called Southport, on the west shore of Lake Michigan, where a
company, promising the Lone One employment, had partly purchased a tract of land for purposes of speculation. Three long
weeks, - sick all the time, - they were tossed, and drifted, and
floated, and blown, on the waters; and, passing, in a gale of wind,
the Southport landing, they were at last unshipped, in persons and
effects, in Chicago, to have their few effects nearly destroyed in
being again shipped on another schooner, with another freight
and passage bill to pay.  After four more days of beating against
wind and fate, they at last were landed on the sand-beach of
destination, with a few dollars of good money, and a few of
" wild-cat" and "red-dog," which only served to deceive them
with illusive hopes of purchasing necessaries. A few articles for
housekeeping were brought along, and those were nearly ruined in
the journey, as the health of the three seemed to be. They had been
often told, by the kind Captain M'Niff, of the Barker, that they
would certainly have to deposit the babe in the lake, or bury it on
shore, and that the mother's chance was but little better for life.
But they all landed alive, and never was a heart gladder to set
foot on shore than was that of the Lone One, even though in
poverty and among strangers. Twenty dollars of the small amount
with which he started had been kindly loaned to him by an infidel
7*




78           ILIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
friend in Monroe, without note or script, and without which they
could not have reached the destination by the reshipment at
Chicago.  Many years after, this sum  was returned without
interest, but with much gratitude for the kindness and patience.
When the most tedious and stormy voyage of fourteen years' experience by the captain had terminated, and the foot of the Lone
One was once more on sand or sod, amid grass, and flowers, and
budding trees, and singing birds, he felt renewed in heart and
hope, and once more resolved to renew his efforts to secure a home
by industry and economy. The first effort was to procure a house,
or room, or even a shanty, in which they could live, or stay, more
cheaply than they could pay board. But no such place could be
procured, and the best, and all he could do, was to take board at a
tavern (not a hotel), at a price he could not expect to pay by
labor, even if he could find plenty of work and ready pay. The
next business was to search out the lands and prospects of the
company (who had really been severely taken in), and write to
the one of them who was his friend, and had promised him employment. This he did at once, giving him the facts and prospects,
which at once put an end to the scheme, and to his hopes of business in that direction, and offended some citizens who hoped to
get, at least, one more payment on the purchase. But he was too
conscientious to yield even to his own necessities, and did his duty.
It was the 10th of May when they landed among the eager and
pocket-hungry settlers,- a man and woman well dressed, with the
palest and deadest living baby they ever saw. Some guessed they
had money. Others guessed they were going on a claim, to " hold "
it. But the next day satisfied all, when they found the man had
examined and condemned the purchase of the Monroe company,
that he was not a speculator, at least. On the 12th, early in
morn, the Lone One could have been seen "' streaking it " across
the prairie, and through wood, and all day long leaning and stepping westward in search of the quarter-section, which was claimed
and improved, on Whitewater prairie, by his old widower friend,
by and with whom he had shipped the goods the fall before, and




LIFE-LINE OP THE LONE ONE.                79
which he now so much needed, and which, it seemed, they needed
to save them from starvation, or, at least, a near approach to it,
Without much regard to road or stre'tin, he kept, as near as he
could, on the compass course to the sixty or seventy miles distant
point, where his hopes were centred. Some time in the day he
overtook a shanty, and, as every settler in that time kept tavern,
of course he got some dinner and directions, and a little rest, and
then pursued again his journey.  As the evening shades camne
like darkening waves over the earth, a rain-cloud appeared in the
wst, and hurrying, as everything hurries in the great West, it
soon brought both rain and darkness over the head of the wanderer. His feet were then on a large prairie, like an open sea; he
found a path leading across it, but not in the direction he wished
to travel, and the best prospect was a supperless lodging on the
open prairie, in the rain, and wet clothes for a pack; but even
this, or worse, was the experience of other settlers of that country,
and what had been endured might be again.  With this hope he
comforted himself, but ere he retired to rest he sought the most
elevated spot he had marked by the declining light, determined to
be as near heaven as possible, provided he should have to go up
before morning, and provided heaven was up from earth.  When
he reached the summit of this elevation, and cast his eyes around
in the darkness, behold, a light-house appeared in the distance.
After assuring himself that it was not an ignis fatuus, and compassing in his head the line to it, he set out in pursuit. It was a
long, wet, dark, tedious, and lonesome way, but at the end he
found the house that had the light, and the rough voice of its hardy
pioneer owner welcomed him in, and listened to his story as he
dried his clothes by the renewed fire. When the traveller had
told his story, the settler informed him that he had been one year
on Hart prairie, where he now lived, breaking sod, raising corn,
and shooting deer and grouse; and that the claim he was searching for lay nine miles distant, and the old man was on it doing
well. The news gladdened the heart of the Lone One.  A short
sleep, and short breakfast, and short price, were all soon despatched,




80             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
and the path pursued to the point of destination.  A cornE
planter, on the prairie, directed the traveller to the claim he inquired for, but informed him his friend had gone from home, and
inight not return till the morrow.  lie sought the ten-by-twelve
shanty, and soon unfastened its door, took possession, and diligently searched for food. Bread he could not find; but maplesugar, and honey, and part of a ham of pork, he found; and the
beautiful brook, which played along its narrow channel by the
door, was lined with cowslips.  Soon he had the tea-kettle (the
only article he could find that was suitable) full of the stems and
flowers, boiling, over a renewed fire, in the rude fireplace. The boiled
ham, salted greens, and honey-comb, made him the best dinner and
supper he had eaten for many years. It was a beautiful day, and
a beautiful place, such as only those who have been reared at hard
work, among rocks, and stumps, and hills, and swamps, can appreciate; and only those whose souls are inspired by the beauties of
nature, and her wild-flowers, and magnificent landscapes, can enjoy.
When he had enjoyed all his tired body would allow, and the
curtain of night had dropped down over the scene, he cradled in
the bunk or berth that was roped up on the side of the shanty,
about six feet long by two feet wide, in which were some parts of
a bed.  The tired body and worried mind were both soon wrapped
in repose; and the " ocean of dreams without a sound" was not
disturbed until long after the sun had begun shining on the beautiful prairie, awakening its songsters, foliage, and flowers. Suddenly the door opened; and, aroused, the Lone One opened his
eyes to meet the face of his old friend, whose astonishment and
curiosity could not be satisfied till long after the cake was baked,
and meat cooked, and tea made, and the breakfast despatched.
Sad news soon spread its terrible shade over the Lone One, as he
learned that the vessel on which their goods were shipped had been
wrecked, and his goods all lost. What next? Dark, darker,
darkest prospect, what next? Surely it is true that misfortunes
seldom come single; but once it was so, - when the Lone One
was born.  The claim-and-shanty Prince was somewhat the senior




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                81
of the orphan.  His female partner for life had left him in Vermont, and gone off with some other person to some other place,
- they called it dying; and as she left her body a corpse, they
buried that, and never inquired after her more. The daughters
were scattered out to live; and the old man, poor and lonely, had
wandered westward, where, at Monroe, he made the acquaintance
of the Lone One; and they soon felt the truth of the old adage,
"A fellow-feeling makes us wondrous kind."  But he made his
fortune in this claim, and ripened his years in wealth, but declined in loneliness, for his life was marked with troubles for which
he was not accountable. His kind heart prompted him to offer
all he could of assistance. He proposed to get an ox-team, to
bring the family and effects to the prairie, and to this little shanty,
and there make a common home, until they could do better. But
the Lone One could not consent to bring the feeble mother and
child to such a place and condition, and in such a manner. He
declined the kind offer, and, with a sad heart, paced slowly back
the winding way to the partner's quarters, to sadden the heart of
the mother with the news of their loss, and to gladden the face of
the child, who had no care about it. He informed the fat old
householder (he could not be called a landlord, for he owned no
land, and was anything but a lord) that he could not pay the board
charges more than a week without some means of obtaining money
to do it with, and received, in return, notice to leave, as he must
have the room for those who could pay. After much effort, he
obtained a single room on the upper floor of an unfinished house;
hired an old cook-stove for one dollar per month; and, with the
few articles they had brought with them, they tried to "keep
house; " scraped up all the pocket-pieces of coin and little savings, and purchased a barrel of flour and a few indispensables;
placed the bed on the floor, in one corner of the room, the stove
in another corner, and the flour-barrel in another; and the two
chairs and table brought with them, with the bureau,- a gift of
the red-coat brother, - made up the furniture of the large room.
Almost the only consolation of the establishment was the barrel




82            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
of flour, which they hoped would last until some way should be
opened to get more; but hopes are often vain, and " the way of
the transgressor is hard; " and they had transgressed in getting
married before their time, and again in having a child, doubly
premature; and they had also found the Bible told a lie when it
said the sin of ignorance was winked at. They found it was punished as severely as any. With this condition for a home, he sallied forth in search of employment, and occasionally, but seldom,
found a short job for which he could obtain some kind of pay, but
never money, and seldom anything to feed his family; but, as he
needed almost everything, any kind of pay was acceptable, and
any kind of food desirable. When he could obtain labor, he could
get eight or ten York shillings per day in something at the owner's prices; but bread and butter, and all such necessaries, were
cash articles, and at prices something in this line: Flour went up
during the season from ten to sixteen dollars per barrel, butter to
fifty cents per pound, potatoes to one dollar and fifty cents per
bushel, and other articles in proportion. One day in the month
for stove-rent, and five more for room-rent, and Sundays to get up
wood, used up each their share of time; and time was his only
estate. Only a small portion of the remainder could he find employment with any kind of pay. These were the trial-days of life,
most severe of all in his experience,- because others depended on
him.  What to do, or how to avoid starvation-corners, which he
saw they were approaching at the end of the flour-barrel, he knew
not. He wrote one or two letters to old acquaintances, soliciting
aid, and one to the magistrate with whom he had left store accounts amounting to two or three hundred dollars.  From him he
received answer that enough could not be collected to pay costs,
so terribly severe were the monetary affairs. This was the last he
ever inquired after the accounts. From the other friends he never
heard, and probably it was well; for twenty-five cents postage was
more than he could afford to pay for a letter, and that was the
price of postage.
There was one other hope on which they depended some. They




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                  83
had brought with them  an assortment of garden-seeds.  He had
procured a piece of ground, highly recommended by its owner, and
labored days and nights, and Sundays, when no pay-labor could be
obtained, and planted the seeds and watched them spring up, and
waited with much anxiety the signs of food from that source. But
"storm  after storm  hangs dark o'er the way."  Late in June
came excessive rains and cold winds, and every plant of his garden, except the weeds, was drowned or destroyed; and this carried more sorrow to the lone heart. Reader, do you think he had
reason to thank God for life, and ask his blessing on every meal,
and to believe him a God of love, with especial care of his children? Or, was he one of the adversary's children? If so, he
should pray to the devil, for he certainly ought to serve and obey
his parent, if any being, until his powers were equal to the
parent; then he should be free. But not free to serve his devilfather's worst enemy.  A life of sorrow, toil, poverty, and trouble,
seemed now before him; yet, with untiring energy, he devoted
himself to the duty of supporting those dependent on him. If he
had been the wicked man which sectarian Christians said he was,
and many of them would have made him to be, if they could, he
might have run away, and left his dependent wife and child; but
the wicked world could not make him wicked, with all its persecutions, for his soul was "above, while in, the world."  Now he
needed the angel's voice which whispered to the poet:
" Hope on! How oft the darkest night
Precedes the fairest day!
0, guard thy soul from Sorrow's blight!
Clouds may obscure the Day-god's light,
But he will shine again as bright
When they have passed away.
"Hope on! Though Disappointment's wing
Above thy path may soar,
Though Slander drive her rankling sting,Though Malice all her venom bring, -
Though festering darts detraction fling,Still must the storm pass o'er.




84              LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE,
"If slave to Poverty thou art,
Bear bravely with thy lot;
Though keen her galling chains may smart,
Strive still to rend their links apart!
Hope on! for the despairing heart
God surely loveth not.
"Hope on, hope on, though drear and dark
Thy future may appear!
The sailor in his storm-tossed bark
Still guides the helm, and hopes to mark,
Amid the gloom, some beacon-spark
His dangerous way to cheer.
"Though wealth take wings, or friends forsake,
Be not by grief oppressed;
Stern winter binds with ice the lake,
But genial spring its bonds shall break.
Hope on! A firmer purpose take,
And leave to God the rest."
We have been more particular in this part of our narrative,
because the Lone One was nearing, and now about to pass, the perihelion of his life-orbit, in which he and his family were nearly consumed by the devouring elements of conflict and antagonism which
make up the life of competition in civilization.  How deeply little
incidents stamp themselves on the memory-canvas when they occur
in the trial-hours of life!  The long and heated days of July
were slowly passing.  The flour was fast lowering in the barrel,
being almost the only food.  The search for labor was often in
vain, and, when found, was only of the hardest kind, with poorest
pay, as is the custom in our Christian society, where even religion
is inverted.
Again the tightening cords of oppression were to be twisted,
and the house-owner notified the tenant to vacate the room, for he
was to open a tavern in a few days, and should need the rooms.
After much effort and long searching, he obtained a claim-shanty
from a Canada land speculator, who, with little money and much
skill, had secured a claim-title to a portion of what is now the




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 85
city of Kenosha, which finally changed his condition from poverty
to riches, and became a complete stumbling-block to the development of his only son. This claim-shanty, for which the Lone
One was to pay one day's labor each week as rent, had a hole in
the ground for a foundation and cellar, and one room about twelve
feet square, with one window and one door, and a rude ladder
for stairs to lead up to the chamber with its loose floor, and a roof
so near that your head was ever in danger of contact with the
projecting nails.
A few loads on the wheelbarrow completed the moving of all
but the stove. This the wealthy owner could not afford to let at
one dollar per month any longer, for it would then sell for near
twenty dollars; but the Devil provides for his infidel children, in
such trials, about as well as God does for his Christians, and the
stove-place was supplied by one which was purchased of a keen,
speculating trader, who agreed to take hay for the pay; and as
the United States had plenty of grass near by the village, the
cautious child of poverty dared to promise the pay, for the United
States owed him for fighting service of his father.
He had fairly settled in his new residence, and paid several
weeks' rent, always boarding himself (for in those times board was
an essential item in all contracts for laborers, and the laborers
seldom got a meal from the employers), when the flour-barrel was
empty, and the stove-owner called for his pay to the amount of
twenty-five dollars, which could not be paid by less than twenty
or twenty-five days' labor in good hay-making weather. Reader,
what would you have done? —Pray? - what for?-to whom?would he answer? —how?  True, he could collect some kinds
of food to prevent starving, if his time was at his own disposal;
but now five or six weeks must be devoted to paying for the stove.
But, " What shall we eat?" said a female voice. - "Let's take
account of stock," replied the Lone One. -" Where shall we begin?" said the woman of tears to the man of sorrows.-  "With
the beans." —"Enough for three or four meals." — " Salt.""Half a peck." -" Good supply, that.  Let's ask a blessing
S




86            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
over'it," said he, trying to cheer up her heart. - " 0, don't be too
sacrilegious! Maybe some Christian will help us, if you don't scare
them off." —-" Christian! I should like to see one, this side of
the land where no Christians thirst for gold." —" Well, what
next? "- "Tea." -" The tea, and coffee, and sugar, which we
brought with us, are all nearly out,- may last two weeks. But
we cannot have any more milk of K.'s folks; so your coffee will
not be very palatable.  Spices and such things we have some, but
no use for them. There is pork enough for you three or four
meals, and rice enough for Bob about a week, and that's all."
She had not eaten meat nor drank coffee for some years, and
never did after she began to live this narrative, and this was one
cause of social inharmony. Physically she was his superior in
purity and refinement, her body being above that excited and irritable condition in which his was kept by coffee, pork, and tobacco;
for, like all who use tobacco, he could manage to keep a supply
of the filthy weed, however poorly he lived. Smoking he thought
did help to drown trouble, but little did he think it only helped to
make it.  "What can I eat? If I eat Bob's rice, it will not last
us but two or three days, and then he'll starve, for you know he
cannot eat anything but bread and rice." Potatoes had been one
dollar and fifty cents per bushel, and had not found their way
often into this family. "Well, that's all; now what shall we do?"
" Flour is sixteen dollars per barrel, and they will not sell less than
a barrel; and if they would, we have no money, and I could not
get a pound of flour nor a dollar of money for labor, and I must
get up the hay for that stove, now, or give up the stove." —"Well,
if we have nothing to cook, we shall not want the stove long."
His labor had already supplied him with haying-tools and a
small note of ten or twelve dollars, against a good man, payable
in produce after harvest. This he vainly tried to exchange for
flour or meal, and finally for other food; but all efforts failed, till
he went to the debtor and told him his situation, and asked advice.
The man was his friend, and sympathized with him; he was himself poor, but had a good claim, and improvements, and a fair




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 87
prospect of competence, if not of wealth.  He had a field of potatoes planted early, and quite forward, and he gave the Lone
One permission to use them as soon as they would answer to dig
and measure, as he wanted them, and pay the market price, on the
note. On examining them, he found they were about half grown,
and would answer to eat with salt (not butter, for butter was a
luxury for the few).
"Another streak of good luck," said he, as he landed the peck
of half-grown potatoes on the floor.  "You see Providence always
provides for us. Ought we not to thank Providence now? " —
"Perhaps we ought; it might be worse with us than it is; very
likely some people suffer more than we do." — " Well, then, I
suppose they have more reason to be thankful; but I wish I was
Providence a little while. I'd make everybody happy, and have
one jubilee of joy and thanksgiving; but this Christian Providence seems to have no pity for the poor and suffering part of our
race." -" We shall not starve, shall we? But I know these will
make me sick, and I dare not give them to Bob to eat, for you
know we have eat nothing but bread so long, and this hot weather
I fear we shall all be sick." - " No, we shall not be sick; that
terrible time we had on the lakes will save us this year from more
sickness." —" Well, maybe so, but I will save the rice for Bob,
and give him potatoes once or twice a day." —" Salt them well,
and we can all stand it till some change betters our condition;
then we will thank Providence, or anybody else that helps us." —
I" You'11 forget it, then; for you never think much about Providence, except when we are in trouble." — " That is the time I
need his help, if ever; for'a friend in need is a friend indeed,'
and certainly we are in need, and now I should like to see some
of the kindness the Christians tell so much about." - " But that
only comes to Christians." -" O, I thought He was no respecter
of persons. I cannot be a Christian, but I might be a hypocrite,
and pretend it; but I could not cheat Providence, I suppose, and
I guess that is the reason He neglects so many who pretend to be
Christians." —" Well, I don't view these things as I used to, but




88            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
I know mother would think we were dreadful wicked, and that
God would not bless us in our sins."-" Would she think Him
angry? "   "Perhaps so, but she is honest in her belief." — " Of
course, but that does not make it true. Well, if he is angry at me,
I cannot help it. I guess he will not strike me dead; and, if he
does, I do not care, if he will only take care of you and Bob."
-  "Don't talk so; let's go to sleep."
The bed, the stove, the table, and two chairs, with a stool or
two for themselves, when they had visitors, made up the furniture,
with a packing-box made into a cupboard.  The last effort to
obtain flour had failed, by reporting honestly his condition, and
offering any property he possessed (except his wife, for the law,
or priest, made him have property in her), and any amount of
labor, or money when he could obtain it. He only received in
reply, " Our flour is sold on commission, and only by the barrel,
sir; we can't accommodate you."  Day after day, week after
week, the morning and evening meals were made up for the family
of the new potatoes boiled and well salted, and sometimes accompanied by little turnips, greens, &c. The same article was carried to the hay-field for his dinner, to which he walked near three
miles to his daily toil, and returned at night weary and lonely,
but encouraged, for he was paying for the stove, and should soon
own it; and with this bright prospect he tried to encourage his
wife, and she tried to enjoy it with him. But poverty was a
severe trial for her, and this her first trial, but not his first.
Many will say he should have avoided this. So he should. But,
" only think if yours had been like his, a cheerless life," how
could you have known the dangerous way to steer better than he
did?  But the severest and most touching trial of poverty had
now arrived and taken lodgings with the Lone One.  "Behold
me- I am Famine." The rice was exhausted, and the potatoes
did make the feeble child sick, and his pale and quivering lip,
accompanied by the imploring look of a keen bright eye full of
tears, morning and evening, would entreatingly beg of the father,
"papa, - cake, cake! " as the significant finger would point to the




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                89
cupboard. The salt and potatoes, forced down by hunger, gave
him a summer complaint, and his appetite rebelled against the
only food his parents had to give him. The tears of the parents
could not explain to the child why he could not have bread; but
the mother's heart, under the constant and imploring entreaty of
her child, gave up the last spark of pride for the time, and she
went to the claim-owner and begged for the child bread. And
another kind lady, the feeble but beloved wife of another claimholder, learned the condition of this child, and (she loved children, but had none) she sent it a little milk almost every day;
and still another lady, of the house where they had lived, had
sympathy (and needed it too almost as much as this poor mother),
and sent a little flour and butter, and thus they, or rather the
boy, was a charity student in a civilized world of experience.
The weeks passed by, the potatoes grew better, the stove was
paid for, and they rejoiced over the acquisition of this necessary
article. Haying-time lasted till late in autumn, and the Lone
One cut more than fifty tons of hay, which, after paying for the
stove, the rest was used to obtain other articles of necessity or
use, and usually brought hinI about one and a half or two dollars
per ton on the meadow when ready to load on wagons. He could
usually put up a ton in a good fair day, and walk to and from
the meadow owned by God, of whom United States was the agent
in possession, with a kind of squatter-claim agent under him; and
they managed, I believe, at last, to cheat God entirely out of the
title, and got full ownership themselves, without a title from Him.
Before haying was over the harvesting began.  Grain yielded
well, and flour was reduced in price and plenty, and the family
were supplied a good share of the time with bread for labor
or other exchange.  But money was still almost out of the
market. This life-trial was borne by the wife and mother with a
patience and fortitude well worthy her New England ancestry,
which proved that the stories of her grandmother's trials and
hardships had not been told her in vain. She did not spend
her time murmuring or fault-finding, but patiently waited and




90             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
labored for a better condition, seeking and sometimes finding
some light work she could perform for others when she had none
for her own family. The Lone One had been schooled in poverty,
and of course could bear it; for he had himself cried to a poor
mother for bread and cake when her scanty pay could not furnish
it, and when so few among those abundantly able would employ a
woman who had a child to feed. The cough and disease seemed
to relax their hold on the wife, in this hard trial, as they did in
several others. She seemed to beat the waves of misfortune with
increasing force. Every dark cloud must pass along; every
darker night must yield to dawn; each tightening grip of poverty
or hunger must relax, and let the sufferer feed at last on earthly
or celestial food. These were the days when small favors were
thankfully received; and a few such were recorded then, not
soon to be forgotten; and perhaps such trials are to some extent
necessary to enable us to fully appreciate the kindnesses of life.
"... In youth's unclouded morn,
We gaze on friendship as a graceful flower,
And win it for our pleasure or our pride;
But when the stern realities of life
Do clip the wings of fancy, and cold storms
Rack the worn cordage of the heart, it breathes
A healing essence, and a strengthening charm,
Next to the hope of heaven."
6For when the power of imparting joy
Is equal to the will, the human soul
Requires no other heaven."
SECTION VI.
ANOTHER TURN.
Did you hear 4'old Satan, that arch traitor who rules the
burning lake,"' say, "Turn the spit, Jack," and give the Lone
One another change?  Did you ever read the story about his
chat with God, which occurred on the occasion of one of his visits
to the kingdom with the saints, about one servant of God, called




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 91
Job, and what followed? That accounts for the introduction of
boils and whirlwinds, if not for all other evils that afflict us " to
this day." You will find it in the Jewish classics. October
browned the autumn leaves, and the frosts changed the greens of
the earth to brown; the prairie-fires were pipe-lighted on many
of the rolls of the rolling prairies. The hole in the earth under
the shanty of the Lone One was well filled with potatoes, and turnips, and cabbage, and pumpkins, and the garret had corn and
dried pumpkin. The poor family were congratulating themselves
on the prospect of wintering without starving, when, on a cold
November morning, the stern old Cannuck owner came in and told
them he was sorry to disturb them, but he had sold the shanty to
a man from Chicago, who had gone after his family, and would be
there in a week to take possession, and they must be out of the
way. 0, how little those families who have homes of their own
know of this terrible infliction - being turned out of homes, with
no money to hire others, and no others to hire, both of which
evils were now realized. Reader, did you ever disturb a little
animal with its winter supply of food, and rob it of all its dependence? If you have, an experience like this would prevent you
from ever doing it again; and by it you may learn why the Lone
One ever after, if not before, had such a sacred regard for the
homes of the poor, both of man and beast.
C Man was born into the world poor, naked, and bare;
And his progress all through it is trouble and care;
And his exit from out it is no one knows where;
But, if well he does here,'t will be well with him there;
And no more could I tell you by preaching a year."
No other wigwam could be found unoccupied in all the region
round about, and the family, whom poverty had made friendless,
were compelled to engage board at the house where they once
occupied a room.  The little store of eatables was sold for enough
to pay for three or four weeks' board; and there, in prospect, was
again the end of the fortune-rope. For the best season of labor




92            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
was at a close, and nearly all the settlers lived during winter, and
most of them the whole year round, by speculating on lots, and
prospects, and on one another.  In this the victim  of poverty
could not engage; for he was too cautious to even purchase on
long credit a claim to one or more lots in the village, which he
might safely have done, had he known the prospects of the place.
"Another streak of good luck!" exclaimed he to his mate, as he
came in, one day. " I have turned pedagogue, and engaged to
teach the village school, for which I shall receive enough to pay
our board." This was secured by the aid of the landlord, who no
doubt found interest and charity combined. The first schools in
a newly-settled country are usually the rudest and worst to teach;
not requiring in teachers much education, but much patience, and
more mental discipline, self-control, and power to control others.
In this school the preceding teachers had allowed the larger boys
to govern themselves, and mostly the school also; but the new
teacher determined to have order and discipline such as he had
been accustomed to see in New England, and he began with the
largest and most unruly, who were not accustomed to being controlled at home or in school, and of course rebelled at this authority, entered complaints that he was too strict, did not pray in
school, nor make them read in the Bible. The ready tongues of
two or three pious mothers and their unruly boys soon made a
commotion; and although the trustees sustained him, and wished
him to continue, he declined and left the school, rather than have
two or three large boys who needed most the school taken out by
their pious mothers. This was the first and last time he ever
found himself opposed by females, and even some of these became
afterwards his warm friends, when he had gained the public title
of Ladies' Advocate; for he was organically and instinctively
a " ladies' man," and became more and more so as his life opened
and ripened, and in riper years so much so as to excite the jealousy and envy of many sensual and selfish, minds, and array them
against him as enemies, because the ladies loved or esteemed him
more than themselves.




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 93
The snow-storms had sprinkled the frozen flakes over the prairies. Thirty-eight was in his dotage; had made his will, and was
about to depart to the region of the " home-wind," and be succeeded by his next of kin in numerical order. All day, with rifle,
had the Lone One wandered o'er hill and valley, in pursuit of
deer, with only tracks for game, when cold and hunger and
approaching night bade him return home.  It was far away.
Snows were troublesome to his weary limbs, the mercury was
falling, and darkness stealing over the earth, as drowsiness was
over his brain; but caution was aroused, and informed the intellect
that it was the signal of death. Pauguk was looking at him, but
he was not ready to go to the " Islands of the Blessed," and leave
a widow and orphan destitute, and among strangers. By extraorlinary efforts, by rubbing his face and limbs with snow, he at length
lid succeed in reaching home, where the warm room soon brought
fainting and intense suffering, from which, by the aid of brandy and
friction mixed, he at last recovered, and then realized more fully
the near approach he had made to " death's door." The experience of that day lasted until he left the school of hunters, which
occurred a few years after, when his soul had become too sensitive to murder such animals as are usually killed for game; and
then he was glad his history had never been stained by the murder
of a single deer, although the blood of much other game cried from
the ground against him, as Abel's did against Cain.
In the midst of the holidays the stove and scanty furniture were
loaded on a wagon, and, with their legal owner, carted about three
miles from the village, into the thick wood, and landed in an old,
dirty log-house, near a saw-mill with a broken dam. The team
returned, and left.the owner to watch all night with the goods and
the ghosts of the departed former occupants. The rats, probably
supperless as the intruder, seemed anxious to pry into the new
furniture, and had to be often silenced by the voice or tread of the
watcher. He had no lights, and the teamster could not stay to
assist in putting up the stove. It was one of those long nights
that seem almost endless, when we are hungry, cold, sleepless, and




94            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
alone, in the dark. Even the rats were better than no company,
especially when " a fellow-feeling makes us wondrous kind." Next
day the team returned with the rest of the family, and the oldbachelor partner, and a supply of provisions advanced to the partners on a job of cutting saw-logs for the mill, which they were to
repair and run on shares, when it should thaw out. As this home
was the centre of some important events in the life-history, and the
birth-place of an only daughter, now grown to womanhood and a
classical scholar, I should like to present the reader a picture of
it; but my book must go into market without pictures. It was
made of logs, and capacious, with only one good thing about it -
a good roof. It had two windows, but needed none for light or
air, until after the partners thawed the mud and plastered the
cracks on the outside. The floor was easily taken up at any time,
to recover the tongs, and spoons, and feet, which Bob often dropped
through it; and also to drive out the rats, which for a time disputed possession of the basement. The chamber was made to
sleep in, or on; and if you wished to keep the occupants up there,
you could easily take the ladder down. The bachelor partner was
a joiner, and the house was soon " fixed up," and housekeeping
under way.
The house stood on an elevated ground, and overlooked the
mnill and pond, - when there was one, - with a garden and small
meadow in the rear, where the woods had been driven back. A
small clearing on the rich bottom-land below was also used fbr
garden and corn. On these grounds, the garden, allowed with
the tenement, furnished abundant pay for the labor bestowed on it
by the Lone One for the two seasons he resided there. Day after
day the bachelor, and he who ought to have been one, started
early, carried dinner, and returned late, as they cut and countedl
saw-logs; but it paid well, for they could earn near three dollars
per day, and, as they shared equally in expenses, they could save
near one dollar per day each. But the job was short, and soon
came warm days, and work on the mill, etc.
" Shall we damn the dam to-day? " said the Frenchman, Louis,




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                95
who, with Peter, boarded at the house several weeks while they
chopped cord-wood, except when Peter eat coon-meat for breakfast, and went up a' tree to sleep.
"Yes, damn the dam! " said the bachelor, as breach after
breach was made and repaired, and the mill running about one
day in four or six. A few weeks were sufficient to satisfy the
bachelor, for he had no pets to cry for bread, and he proposed to
take his share of the pay for chopping, and " put out;" and so he
did, and that was the last and least they saw of him, for he went
to-the prairie-land of Indiana, took a wife, and engaged in
raising babies. Louis and Peter also departed for their Canada
home; the stream dried up, and the never-lasting dam staid, when
the water was gone, as they fixed it.
During the little jobs of sawing he secured in his share some lumber for a small house, and bargained for a lot in the village, - about
half an acre of land, - and agreed to pay in lumber. The good
man of whom he purchased lengthened out the time for payment,
and only asked for promises, and interest yearly, till it could be
paid. The summer crowded along, and the Lone One often travelled two or three miles to do his day's work, and back at night, to
the home where the mate was passing terrible days of trial and
suffering, watched and aided by an excellent little French woman,
who had moved into a small frame-house near by the log one, and
owned by the mill-owners also, but which the Lone One was too
poor to obtain with the mill; for the greater our necessities,
the less favored we are. The long, hot days had not all passed,
when the physician had to be called, and the maid hired, and the
baby cried. Another unwelcome intruder, to be fed and clothed
from the scanty fare.  0, the ignorance of poor, and rich, husbands and wives, in this bigoted Christian land! It is deplorable! Not half, or even one fourth, of the babes are distributed
where they are needed and desired; and yet enlightened Christians
are continually prating about God's mysterious providences in
such matters, as if God had more to do with it than we have,
when the parties are priest-tied. Several works recently pub



96             LIFE-LINE OF TIIHE LONE ONE.
lished by H. C. Wright, T. L. Nichols, A. J. Davis, Fowlers, etc.,
will do more to remove suffering, and enlighten minds on the most
important subject of this life, than all the religious books of the last
half-century; and every family too poor to purchase any book should
apply for a Bible to the Society, and exchange it for Davis's fourth
volume of Harmonia, or H. C. Wright on marriage and parentage.
If there could be a society formed to supply these and other
works of a kindred nature to every family, and especially every
newly-married couple, it would do thrice the good of any Bible
Society, and the beneficial effects would be at once felt and lasting.  But we must return to the cabin -  not to live, "thank the
stars."
The mother slowly recovered, the child was well, and the poor
little sickly boy - O, reader! could'you once have a look at, or
picture of, that family, and this object of pity! " There," said
she, " I hope now we are done raisin' babies." The fall winds and
rains came, and the mill did run some, but the dam run more, and
trial after trial came backing down, until one of the owners really
believed it was bewitched; but he was pious, and afterward became a preacher, so he had a right to believe in witches. Winter
came slowly along, and the garden crops, and day wages, and the
little lumber, all economically appropriated, enabled the poor family to live until spring brought the fish in the stream, and more
water and work on the dam. In the deep cold winter the feeble
boy came near a change of homes, one severe cold night, which
greatly cooled after bedtime.  He was bedded, as usual, on his
sacking creek, on the opposite side of the room from his parents,
with perhaps two or three thicknesses of quilt under and over
him. Toward morning, one or both the parents were awakened by
some unseen, unheard agency, and directed to the noiseless boy.
The father was soon by the boy.  He was cold, and not a warm
spot in the clothes where he lay, nor on his body, save about the
vitals. He was instantly transferred to the other bed, and after a
long time became warm, and awakened; but there was never a
doubt in the parents' minds that he would have been borne away




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                97
in the sleep to the land, or world, of dead children, but for the
agency that awakened them. One notice of this kind was sufficient
for the blended life-line of the family. Thirty-nine went noiselessly out, and Forty - of hard cider notoriety - came noiselessly
into power.  At the cabin the hard could be found, but not any
cider. Wisconsin was a minor, and had no vote; she raised no
cider, and had no need to import any.  They survived the frosts
and sufferings of the winter, and came out, as usual, " spring poor.!'
It was probably the poverty and hard times that kept the wife
alive; for she was too poor to die, and they were too poor to have
a funeral, and fate designed they should each of them have one,
and a meeting of real friends, not a few, on such occasions. One
principle of philosophy always borie her up, namely, " All that is,
is for the best."
Again, in the spring of Forty, the snows and rains run both mill
and dam, but, by often wo-rking eighteen hours out of each day, he
had sawed lumber enough to fence his lot, and sufficient for a
small house, of such kinds as grew in that forest where there
were no pines or hemlocks, and had paid nearly half the price of
the lot.  Every such little success encouraged him to renewed
action. Again the garden was planted and flourished, and again
work for wages on the dam, and elsewhere, supplied the family
scantily with food and clothes; for by this time even the wedding
clothes were worn out, with nearly all of the good supply brought
with them.
The elder sister, with her consumptive husband, had by that
time arrived from Michigan, and also a box of goods from the
mother of the sister, whose liberality was fully equal to her
ability. At the close of the fall term, the Lone One resolved
to leave the mill and cabin, and seek some other home. Halfway to the village was a pious Methodist farmer, for whom he
often labored, and who was scrupulously honest, for he believed in
hell, and in his religion, and feared both God and the devil.  The
old man lived and raised his large family in a log cabin, but had
a large farm and plenty of provision.  HIe had put up a wagon9




98             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
house, with large doors in the cold end, that faced the home of
the west wind.  This he proposed to patch with boards on the outside, and with papers inside, put up a ladder for stairs, and take
them in as tenants, till they could do better.  So they did, and
did better as soon as possible, but not till a year had been spent
there as a home, in, not quite the hog-pen, but wagon-house. It
was while they lived in this house that the family-reared, fattened,
and slaughtered the one, and tthe only one hog they ever did or
ever will feed or own.
This was not the only event of importance that occurred at the
wagon-house station, for here in'41, about two years after the
birth of the daughter, God, or somebody else, -sent along the
doctor, and, probably by mistake, left a boy at the wagon-house;
but this fine boy was such an improvement on the other that she
was not very sorry, for everybody praised this boy, but did not
consider the other worth praising.   This summer a schooner bore
the Lone One down the lake into Green Bay, and to the Escanaba
River, where for two months he made pine boards, and returned with
his fifty dollars wages, and with it paid for his lot, and received the
first title he ever had to a spot on his Heavenly Father's earth,
where he could set his foot in his own right.  His hopes were now
high with the prospect of a home for his wife and babes, and as
many more as God should please to send; for they came without prayers or solicitation to this, as they do' to most poor homes,
But, not yet, said a silent voice.  "Turn the spit, Jack.'`
"Pain's furnace heat within me quivers,
God's breath upon the flame doth blow,
And all my heart in anguish shivers,
And trembles at the fiery glow;
And yet I whisper, As God will,
And in his hottest fire hold still.
"He comes and lays my heart, all heated,
On the hard anvil, minded so
Into his own fair shape to beat it,
With his great hammer, blow on blow;




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                  99
And yet I whisper, As God will,
And at his heaviest blows hold still!
"Why should I murmur? - for the sorrow
Thus only longer-lived will be;
Its end may come, and will to-morrow,
When God has done his work in me;
So I say, trusting, As God will,
And, trusting to the end, hold still."
Two physicians in constant attendance, — seven of the ninefamily in the  log  cabin of the  Methodist sick; the wifemother given up by the family as the victim of death, and, with
terrible groans and screams of fear, and repulsion of the change,
which need not have taken place but for. fate and friends, she
crosses over to the other shore, and the others are pronounced safe;
for death had gone with his unwilling Methodist victim, amid
groans and shouts of the preacher, enough to disgust the savages.
But let us turn to the wagon-house, for the doctors also called
in there every day. A raging fever held the body of the infidel
husband fast to the couch, and the same terrible gripe was also on
the elder boy, and the younger boy shook daily with ague, and
cried piteously to the feeble mother and little two-years-old sister.
All were in one room, and that a wagon-house, in the autumn of
the year. The preacher did not come in,- he was not invited; but
the doctors said the boys were safe, but the father's case very
doubtful. On the day of the funeral, the husband of the body
(for he was never the husband of her spirit, for he had a wife
before and after her) said there was no hope of the Lone One
ever recovering, and obtained from the physician an approval of
his opinion; and the echo soon reached, in the wife's whisper and
tear, the heart of the sick man, and he well knew the desire of
his friend for a death-bed conversion, as better than  none.
Calmly, and almost smilingly, he whispered, "No, I shall not
die; but, if I should, I do not want any howling priest, nor any
of that kind of religion which makes death so terrible."-" I hope
you will not die such a terrible death as she did;" and she was




100            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
one of the best women they had ever met, and beloved by all who
knew her. -" No, I can die as quietly as I could go to sleep,
if my time has come, and my work is done; but it is not, and I cannot go."   Now, at the very time when most needed, came the
kind sister whose magnetic powers had once saved him from death;
and a few hours of.her magnetic influence, unconsciously bestowed
on him, carried him beyond danger, and astonished even the doctors, who could not tell what, or which, of their medicines had thus
wonderfully saved his life; but surely it was not the calomel, for
that, by his request, had been left out, by his agreeing to run the
risk of recovery by other remedies.  The son was soon well, but
slowly the father recovered strength enough to shake with ague
each alternate day, and hear the friends anticipate an all-winter
business of it.  What a prospect for winter! It seemed impossible to keep all the babies from freezing, in that wagon-house,
through the approaching winter. True, the lumber for a little
house was already on his lot in the village; but he had no means
to procure other articles and labor for the house, and was eveis
now in debt for provisions, for now he had a little credit at the
stores, and had been obliged to use it for flour, &c. Then there
were the physicians to be paid. One thing was sure - if he could
not work during the winter, both the lumber and lot would have to
go, and thus all the struggles of near four years to secure a home
would be in vain, and his future prospects darker than those of the
past. Thus had these prospects been changed by the sickness -
or the fever - which seems a terrible scourge to the poor, but
sometimes a blessing to the rich, and perhaps to all.
"The cloud which bursts with thunder
Slakes our thirsty souls with rain;
The blow most dreaded falls to break
From off our limbs a chain;
And wrongs of man to man but make
The love of God more plain;
As through the shadowy lens of even
The eye looks farthest into heaven,




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                101
On gleams of star, and depths of blue,
The glowing sunshine never knew."
With a resolution worthy a better fate, he went to the village,
hired his board with a family who had once been poor, but could
now afford to trust him, where the good living, and the medicine
selected by himself, with constant labor on his house, soon restored
him to health. The house, about sixteen by twenty-six, one room
high, was, by the aid of the old farmer a few days, up, enclosed, shingled, and floored, and with a little more store credit, lathed, plastered (all of which he did himself), and ready to move in; and the
farmer's team soon brought them to their new home, all but a cow,
which, amid the trials of saw-mill life, had been purchased, and
came with far more rejoicing to the family than either baby.
This they left to winter, but not to sell, for well he knew the long,
even years', trial he made to obtain one, which he at last secured
for lumber. They were now moved into their own house. " Suppose we sing Sweet Home," said the Lone One. -" Sing!- we can
never have singing in our family, for you learned in a saw-mill,
and I in a prayer-meeting, and both are about alike." —" Well,
we are out of flour, and that last you got is not paid for, and they
won't trust you again, will they? "-" And out of almost everything else, except a house; but.... this is our house, and lot." -
"Yes, and I am so glad, I feel as if I never want to move again.""And we can have such a large garden here, I guess we can live."
But another evil was upon them; in plastering the house, for want
of a glove, he had worn his fingers on the joints, and, by the aid
of lime, the sores had become extremely bad, - so bad he could not
use his hand, and for weeks was laid entirely up from labor, when
they needed so much the pay, and when the creditors were in constant fear of losing the little money he owed them; but he had a
home, and this served to sustain him under all afflictions.
Through all these trials, he had never learned to drink, to swear,
to gamble, nor to cheat; perhaps he did lie some - most people do;
but on this and all subjects he was strictly conscientious, but very




102           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
infidel, for the Boston Investigator furnished his mental Sunday
food through nearly all his trial-days; and she liked its beautiful
poetry, and interesting prose, nearly as well as he did. They
were now once more close neighbors to the elder sister, who was
also in a little shanty of their own, and poor, for the husband was
sick with consumption, and, with their two boys, they were trying
to breast the waves of competitive life.
A mild winter of 1841 and 42 was slowly wearing off; the hand
recovered slowly, and the Lone One found labor, often several
miles from home; and, since the exorbitant rents were closed,
the debts were worn slowly off. The lot had been fenced, and
ploughed, before the house was built, and was ready for a garden
soon as spring should clear off the snow. One subject was still
in mystery: why God had not sent these babes to some of the fine
homes of the rich, where such "blessings " were desired, for the
pious always affirmed that " God giveth and taketh away." Certainly, if they had a choice themselves, or were " free agents,"
they would enter such homes, and not crowd on to the poor in such
profusion. Yet no family could have a more tender care and
watchfulness than these parents over the germs intrusted to them.
To the ignorant, God ever deals in mysteries; to the enlightened,
never. Spring and summer of 1842, labored in gardens, on farms,
on the streets, in the woods, or anywhere where labor could be
found, and pay obtained, and thus fed and clothed the family,
with the aid of the milk of one cow, and also during the season
obtained lumber, and built a small barn, and supplied it with hay
for the cow; bought an old log school-house, where he had once
tried to teach, and tore it down, built a wood-house, and secured
some comforts around their little home; had a good garden on the
new land, where only the Indian had dug before; and when'42
was about to leave his Santa Claus tokens, the cellar and spare
room in the little home -were well supplied for winter.'" Guess
we shall not be turned out this fall," said the laborer. - "Hope we
never shall move again, I do like this little home so," came the
answer back. When the year went out, it also put out the third




LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE  ONE.                   103
decade of the Lone One, and his effects summed up in, a wife and
three babies, in a little seven by nine house, on about half an acre of
his Father's earth, which, by several years' hard labor, he had at
length obtained a title to, from  those who had purchased, as he
had, from  an original robber, or thief, -  for, as God had never
sold it, of course those who did stole the title, or robbed God,
and his weaker children.
" A billion of acres of unsold land
Are lying in grievous dearth;
And millions of men n the image of God
Are starving a,6vder the earth!
O, tell me, ye sons of America,
How much men's lives are worth!
"S Ten hundred millions of acres good,
That never knew spade or plough;
And a million of souls in our goodly land
Are pining in want, I trow,
And orphans are crying for bread this day,
And widows in misery bow!
"' To whom do these acres of land belong?
And why do they thriftless lie?
And why is the widow's lament unheard,
And stifled the orphans' cry?
And why are storehouse and prison full,
And the gallows-tree high?
"' Those millions of acres belong to man!
And his claim is- that he needs!
And his title is signed by the hand of God -
Our God, who the raven feeds;
And the starving soul of each famishing man
At the throne of justice pleads.
"' Ye may not heed it, ye haughty men,
Whose hearts as rocks are cold;
But the time shall come when the fiat of God
In the thunder shall be told 1
For the voice of the great I AuI hath said,
That the' land shall not be sold.' "




104            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
Thirty years of struggles with disgrace and poverty had now
been worn off, and, although he had obtained a little spot of earth,
to eat and sleep on, and to house his fEamily on, yet he plainly saw
that the whole system of land monopoly was robbery, and the
greatest of all curses in the system of civil and political economy
adopted by civilized nations.  He had also given some attention
to the study of phrenology, called to it at first by the abuse and
ridicule which priests and religious papers heaped upon it; for he
had ever found them abusing the world's best reforms and reformers, and so it proved in this. He had already become an active
participant, and the " Ladies Advocate," in the lyceum, and ever
the opponent of theology, and the defender of new and unpopular
truth. For, since he was what Christians termed an infidel, he
could afford to defend what they coidemned, until it should triumph, or be beaten.
January 5, 1843. -Let us take account of stock: One tolerably healthy man, working out by the day, with a good prospect
of following it through life.  One poor, sickly wife, the mother
of three children; far more willing than able to do the work of
the family.  One sickly boy, near five and a half years of age, with
poor promise of usefulness.  One healthy and petulant girl, of
three and a half years.  One healthy boy, of one and a half years.
A little cabin for the family, and one larger for the cow.  Good
supply of garden vegetables, and not much else, to live on.  ~Was
he not well paid for living and laboring as he had, for thirty years,
in his heavenly Father's vineyard?  " Truly, God is the God of
the poor," said a Christian. -" Guess he is," said the Lone One;
"but he pays them, I suppose, in heaven."  I'6 f they are Christians," replied the saint.'6 And if not, does he cheat them out of
their pay? " asked the sceptic. -" If not Christians, he sends them
to hell." —" Poor place that for his children! "




CHAPTEiR IV.
FOURTH DECADE OF THE LONE ONE.
Death. - Birth. — Death.- New Field of Mental Search after Spirits. — Change
of Homes and Life. - Entered the School of Socialists, and reached the Graduating Class. - Entered the School of Politics, and graduated. - Entered the
School of Affectional Development, and graduated with Honors, alias Slanders. - Entered the Class of Teachers, and graduated a Preacher.
SECTION I.
THE LONE ONE AT HOME.
BROTHER, art thou poor and lowly,
Toiling, moiling, day by dayJourneying painfully and slowly
On thy dark and desert way?
Pause not, though the proud ones frown;
Faint not, fear not, - live them down!
Though to vice thou dost not pander,
Though to virtue thou dost kneel,
Yet thou shalt escape not slander;
Guile and lie thy soul must feel -
Jest of witling, curse of clown;Heed not either, - live them down!
"Hate may wield her scourges horrid,
Malice may thy woes deride,
Scorn may bind with thorns thy forehead,
Envy's spear may pierce thy side;
So through cross shall come the crown:
Fear not foemen, - live them down! "




106            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
" Strive on! the ocean ne'er was crossed
Repining on the shore;
Strive on,'t is cowardly to shrink
When dangers rise around;
Bright names are on the roll of fame -
And these were lighted'mid the gloom
Of low obscurity,
Struggling through years of pain, and toil,
And joyless poverty."
Elegant tombstones are erected only to preserve the memory of
the rich. The poor do not need them, for they have their reward
in the other life, if the Lazarus and Dives story is true as an example, or if Jesus' blessing reaches them.  It is probably best that
riches should be displayed over the graves of those who possessed
them, as they will not mark any distinction in the next life.  So
of books, and especially biographies and lineage lines.  They are
mainly written of and for - but not by - the rich. The lines and
lineage of poor people are of little account; but this narrative
will be an exception, and no doubt excepted, in the list of supplies, for it is only the history of a poor man, not trying to get
rich, but trying to get a home, and then a deserved reputation,
in spite of scorn and envy. If we follow the line of life of this
family, I trust the record may be as useful as a tombstone over
the grave of one who has gone to another world to live, and left
his accumulations here.
Forty-three' entered the throne of time in the winter, and held
a cold grip for months, but at length began to soften, as the seasons were turning their varied phases. So the world of mind was
in commotion, and constantly crowding individuals over the ups
and downs of life. At this time the i" Millerite excitement " was
having its run in the West as well as East, and the deep snows, or
prairie-fires, the eclipse, or the whirlwind, were alike seized as an




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               107
evidence that He was coming. Always betraying the deplorable
ignorance of the very superstitious. A religious revival had converted most of the inhabitants of the village, and many of them,
by their own acknowledgments, needed it, and some as often as
once a year. The sceptic was compelled to admit a use in religion, as it made some bad men acknowledge their sins, and thus
warn those not to trust them who knew such conversions did not
change the real character of the convert.  Some of his neighbors
were caught in the revival meshes, and some in the Millerite
storm; but he moved calmly through each, saying to one class,
you will know better when you get sober; and to the other, you
prove it clearly from the Bible, but the Bible is not reliable, and
this will show you it is not. And it did open the eyes of a few;
but the blind priests threw dust in the eyes of most of them, so
they did not see the real truth, although they saw the world jog
on as usual.
Scarcely had the spring of'43 unlocked the casket, and distributed the jewels of winter, when an entire stranger came to the
little obscure home, more unwelcome than the one who brought
the babies.  It was a messenger from  the "Islands of the
Blessed," after one of the boys; and for a few days it was uncertain which he would take, or whether both, or neither. But he
finally called the younger, but had put his finger on the elder, and
left him almost breathless; and it was long before the father could
catch from the low whisper the word salt, as the same boy that
shed tears when he could not obtain bread for tears struggled with
every gasp for breath, and dropped its tear again in grief, that it
could not make an anxious father or mother understand the word
salt. He was dying for salt, but the tear answered in the father's
eye, as he at last caught the word, and only dared let him touch,
with the tip of his tongue, the lump of salt, firom which moment
he began to recover.
The stranger had gone, but he had taken the mother's darling,
the noble boy, whom everybody praised.  Reader, do you think it
was God who sent that child to the wagon-house, and then took it




108            LIFPE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
from the little home ere it had either said or sung its mission here?
The doctor could not save it, and perhaps he thought they had
enough without it. It broke a chord in the heart of the Lone One,
and started a search, and research, which never ended until he ascertained whether that child had ceased to be conscious; and when
he found it had not, he did not stop until he ascertained its condition, and heard from his own darling boy the story of his new
life, and friends, and home.  But the body -what would such
religious sceptics do with it? No priest or deacon was called, and
no sermon preached to save its soul. Their only fear was that it
had no conscious soul. By the assistance of a few friends the
cody was put under the soil, in the burying-ground, and an appletree planted on the top of the grave,'and a crib fence placed
around to protect the tree.  The grave was often visited by the
parents during their stay, and has been often visited by the father
since. There, no doubt, lies yet the body, never to be resurrected;
and there grows the apple-tree, yielding its fruit. But the boy,
now grown to a fine youth, with another' body, often visits both
father and mother, and they both know the fact, and him. The
mother has often been made to feel, by his presence, that
"An angel came to me, one night,
With glorious beauty clothed,
And with sweet words of hope and joy
My way-worn spirit soothed.
"He fanned my cheek and burning brow,
And cooled my fevered brain,
And with his own deep music-voice
Sang many a loving strain.
"' O, mine is not the power,' he said,' To fit thy heart for heaven;
The gift to purify thy soul
Unto thyself is given.'
"I turned, the angel-guest to ask
What could the vision mean;
He only smiled, then flew away;
I woke -'t was but a dream."9




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                109
But, O, it has not proved a dream; for soon she, too, will "leave
the shell below," to join the happy throng who wait her there, and
who have watched her through her night of trials and pilgrimage
below. Work by day, and watch by night; pay the doctor, but
not the priest! O, foolish man, why not stop the doctor, and stop
smoking, and leave the coffee in the store, and the meat in the
market. Then, perhaps, you might feast, instead of fasting on
spiritual food all the time. But he did not know it. He had
begun his studies in phrenology and mesmerism, and was making
progress and practical use, as far as his time would allow; which
was not much, for he was street commissioner and road master for
the town and village, and had plenty of work for himself and
others on the roads, and constructing a bridge, all the summer
and fall of'43. This was his work six days in seven, and in his
garden and house on the seventh; for he had not yet become a
preacher.  He collected or returned all the road-taxes of the town,
for the land had been purchased, and the titles were now secure, and
the property taxable, and the village fast growing to be a city, which
it accomplished about ten years after, though rather a diminutive one.
It does not grow much since. However, it is Kenosha, and nothing
else, and has a selfhood among the cities.  Occasionally he had
sold goods at auction, as he had often done in Monroe, and this
brought a call from Chicago. Two months he sold goods for
Stanton & Russell, one of whom not long after went to " Ponemah," from  the kingdom  of " Wabasso," in one of Fremont's
excursions in the snow-drifts, and the other is "nobody knows
where."  He had also rented a spot of ground on the street, between two stores that were near neighbors, and roofed it over, and
had a store to use or rent, and tried to make it pay for itself;
which it nearly did in the end, although the zealous anti-slavery
man who furnished the materials shaved him with a two-edged
instrument -high prices and great usury. But that is customary
in all trades with the poor. The rich will not stand the shave,
and how could a man get rich unless he could shave somebody?
I think I hear the reader say, about here, " I wish you would
10




110            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
hurry up this life-line; I want to get at the marvellous part of
the story." You might as well stop here, if that is what you are
after; for there is nothing marvellous about it, except the two
ends of the story, and the knot that ties them together. All the
rest is " commonplace," and such as you have seen. But it is a
hard-twisted line, and has been twisted from both ends at once;
perhaps yours has not. It is not a rope of sand, either, for it will
not break between the ends.  Perhaps you wish it would, but I
do not wish so; therefore we will go on, after a dessert.
*... Those who greedily pursue
Things wonderful instead of true,
That in their speculations choose
To make discoveries strange news,
And natural history a gazette
Of tales stupendous and far-fetched,
Hold no truth worthy to be known
That is not huge and overgrown;
In vain strive nature to suborn,
And for their pains are paid with scorn."
In the summer-time of'43, the inside history is also worthy to
be recorded here; for the Lord or the doctor had again visited
the little home of one room in-doors, and one out-doors, and left
another baby-boy, which several causes had hurried into this
sphere both in embryo and in birth before its time. It had
sparkling bright eyes, but none praised its body.  The sevenmonths boy was approaching seven years, and doing well; but the
eight-months boy, of course, could not stay here, for all the
women said so, and therefore it only staid about eight months in
the outer world, and began to be interesting and attractive, when
the one who had gone to the other home came after him, accompanied by a sister of his mother and several others, and they took
him away to rear and educate in their new home. They laid its
body beside the other under the tree, and returned sorrowing to
the little home. But the poor, feeble mother - 0, what a trial
was her life! In the sexual blending of natures, in the mutual




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                All
affinity of desires, in the congenial attractions of souls, in the
mingling soul-sympathies of a love-life, in the deep, ardent emotions of a united heart-beat, the twain had never been one.  The
weaker form and milder nature of the wife and mother had ever
been the greater sufferer. The hasty and abruptly-broken courtship, which had been cut off ere it had ripened, had not been cultivated and preserved as it ever must be, before or after marriage,
to secure happiness in conjugal life. Indeed, it is not certain
that any but a life of courtship, in or out of marriage union, ever
can be a life of mutual happiness for man and woman. It is certain
that those who are most happy in married life court each other
very much as before marriage; and it is also certain that the life
of the Lone One and his mate became'a happy life when they
renewed and continued their courtship, and not before.  True,
courtship, in or out of wedlock, would be somewhat different, but
should never be so different as to prevent either from absolute
control of person, nor should marriage ever give one party the
right to dictate to the other, or compel, even by entreaty, any
social or sexual relations not mutually desirable.  How much
misery might be saved, and how many homes now miserable
might be made happy, by observing this rule of life! This pair
learned it, but late, later yet; and after years of suffering and
sorrow, such as many others experience, but seldom write or
relate, but hide from all but those who can read the history
written in the countenances of all persons who have any to be
written in or on. The time has come when a sensualist cannot
hide his character without hiding his face and shape of head and
neck; nor can his victim, if he have one, hide her sufferings without hiding herself; and close observation proves there are a few
cases, and only a few, where the female is in the ascendant, and
the man the victim; but they are so few as to be scarcely worth
noticing.
Now  we will let this domestic current run alone a while,
since two babies have gone over, and two are trying to live
here, and the mother is extremely feeble, and the friends all




112             LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.
say she cannot live long with such a weak and emaciated form.
Few, very few families can be found where there are less jars or
discord, before or behind the curtain, than were felt in this little
group of sufferers from hereditary and educational defects, and
social ills they knew  not how  to cure.  Patiently she toiled
through these years of suffering, annoyed by a constant cough,
which sometimes gave her not one hour's rest for weeks, and
other trials of child-bearing in deep poverty; but all these were
developing in her a soul-sensitiveness which will ultimately carry
her to the group who have come out of great tribulation.  The
trials were not all on one side, nor were the sufferings all on one
side; but his " eager ardent " mind had a wider range for exercise than the one who was confined at home by poverty, sickness,
and babies.
" A little longer, but a little longer,
And earth, with all its griefs, its joys, its cares,
Its beauty and depravity, its burdens for
The pent-up, struggling soul, its aspirations
For a holier clime; its jarring passions,
And its' gushing sympathies' (for even such
Are found upon its rugged way), its loving hearts,
And vile, unhallowed ones, and all it has
Of beautiful and good, and bright and pure,
And the dark stains upon its loveliness,
Shall pass away."
" Then let us meeker bear its burdens,
Struggle on more patiently amid its sorrows,
Enjoy with purer, more heartfelt delight,
Its blessings, and, with eyes upturned to heaven,
And hearts longing more earnestly for its
Enduring joys, await' the change of spheres.'
When'44, the eventful year, began, some of the long evenings
were spent by the Lone One with a small group of honest and earnest
students of Mesmerism, who held regular meetings for experiment
and investigation.  A paper called the Magnet, edited by La Roy
Sunderland, gave them  most of their directions for management,




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 113
until their own experiments became interesting and finally useful,
especially to the Lone One, for he did not leave this lead until
he discovered the existence and condition of his boy in the spiritworld, and of many others; for, unexpectedly to him, it led
directly to this knowledge, and those who dared to follow it far
enough have found it to extend into and connect with the sphere
of spirit-life most beautifully, in independent clairvoyance.  It
was through this channel that the Lone One entered the new condition of life, and became possessed of the, to him, all important
knowledge of another life, and of the immediate and sometimes
intimate connection of the two spheres. And by this, too, he
learned that his mother was still in existence, and had, through
many years of trial and hardship, watched over and guided him
as well as she could, though not as well as she would have been
glad to do, if possessed of more power. During these investigations, some of the works of Swedenborg fell into his way, and aided
him much in forming a philosophy; for they were the first religious, books he ever read that united religion with philosophy and
science, and therefore were the only rational ones to him. But
these references run along over several years, during which other
very important living currents in the life-line were running their
race also.
At this time the country was being much agitated by the discussion of Fourier's principles of association, and the zeal with
which the New York Tribune and several other papers defended
the science of new  social relations, and the re6rganization of
society; and the glowing prospects of several societies already
commenced - as they were portrayed by enthusiastic believers,
who lived in, or visited them,-brought the subject before the
lyceum of the little village, in which the sufferer from competition
and social ills was a conspicuous member.  He soon found enough
to enlist him in its favor.  Its vast economies, its equitable distributions, its harmony of groups and series, its attractive industry,
its advantages for schools, meetings, parties, and social festivities,
all seemed to make its theory invulnerable to attack, except from
10*




114           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
the false and abominable doctrine of total depravity, which he
never did admit, and which he believed to constitute blasphemy,
if such crime existed. The Lone One entered ardently and earnestly into this new system, and sought all the information he
could obtain of its principles and results. Then came the taunt
from the opponents to him and others, "Why not practise it, if
you believe it the best way to live? " and they answered, We
will. It is singular how little incidents sometimes turn the channel of life. The home partner of the Lone One did not hear these
discussions in the lyceum and everywhere, and hence did not
become a convert to the doctrines, nor in love with the theory;
but she had ever been the silent partner, and acquiesced in all his
plans for life, or only gently remonstrated, and then gave up, as
she thought a true wife ought to do. In the spring of'44 an
organization was formed, and some old fogies placed at its head
to give it dignity.  But the Lone One, who was really the mental
motive-power of the organization, but who had no dignity, and
very little money to add to it, was made vice-president, and of
course, in the absence of the chief officer, had to act as president, and this was in all business meetings and matters. They
had printed articles of agreement, which constituted an organization in all but the law. Had stock shares of twenty-five dollars
each, on which, by offers of great usury, they raised several hundred dollars, and employed one Ebenezer Childs, of Green Bay,a man long a resident of northern Wisconsin, and familiar with the
country and the Indians,.- to select for thenm a location, with
land and water privileges. Sent with him three men, good
judges of land, to accept or reject such location as he should point
out to them. After about twelve days' search in a delightful
country, and in the most favorable spring of many years, they
at length returned, laden with the burdens, as those of old from
Canaan; but the committee, like that of the Jews, never went
there to live.  They had selected a tract of government land in
Township Sixteen, North, Range Fourteen, East, ten miles from
the Neenah, and on a small stream  that tumbled over cliffs of




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               115
lime-rock, and emptied into Green Lake three miles below the
falls and the location. Next the money was collected and sent to
enter the land; but, as the association, which had now assumed
the name of Wisconsin Phalanx, was not a legal body, therefore
it could not hold land-titles.  The treasurer had given bonds,
which, in law, ran from somebody to nobody.  One good friend
to the Lone One and the enterprise, a young lawyer, was aware
of this, and kept the leading mind informed on it. It was now
evident that several prominent characters had only lent dignity
and character to the movement, and never intended to lend other
aid, and that the treasurer was of this character, and, like mlost
men, of doubtful honesty when beyond the reach of law; but the
assembled officers had no other alternative for themselves or him,
and therefore resolved to let him enter the land in his own name,
and hold it till an act of incorporation could be obtained for the
society, and then transfer it to the soulless being which the law
should create.  But the treasurer had paid in no part of the
money, and by the resolve was not to send out all that was in his
hands.  The vice-president was made the business agent, to
receive eight hundred dollars, and see to the entries; leaving about
one hundred dollars in the treasury, which never came out, for
reasons. The lots were selected, and the money sent to Green Bay
by a merchant of that place, and the duplicates obtained as the
vice-president directed; but they were not in the name of the enraged treasurer.  They came in the name of a quiet citizen of the
village, of irreproachable character, and far too honorable to
defraud any person, and one in whom everybody had confidence
who knew him. This was a bold move for the Lone One, but
such as the necessity demanded, as was fully proven afterward.
Hle excused the assumption of power when it was necessary, by
the fact that the wife of the treasurer lived in another state,
and that his home, if he had any, was there also.  The commotion this would have caused was not felt by most of the interested persons; for while this was being transacted they had collected teams, and cows, and tools, and provisions, and tents, and




116           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
started, -nineteen men and one boy, with three horse-teams and
several ox-teams, -" overland," to the land of promise, by the way
of Watertown and the long prairie. They camped and marched,
and marched and camped, and, after six days, met, at the house
of the nearest settler, the Lone One, who had taken another
route on foot, and alone, by the way of Milwaukie and Fond-dulac, the latter being their post-office, twenty-five miles from the
location, and the place where he received by mail the duplicates
of land, which they were now to find and improve. This glad,
Saterler Clark, neighbor, pointed them  out the trail, —which
means an Indian pony-road, and is very much like a snake's path
in the mud. They camped at night where the city of Ripon now
stands, on the north bank of the stream, near where the stone mill
now stands; and on the morning of May 27 - to them ever memorable - they repaired to the valley below, on the beautiful plain
surrounded by hills, like an amphitheatre, and one of the most
beautiful spots nature has formed in Wisconsin, and then, on their
own land, pitched their tents, stuck their stakes, dipped their
spades; and laid the corner-stone of the town of Ceresco, as the
Lone One called the place, and the post-office, which was soon
established, in answer to the petition and his request, with their
acting secretary, L. R., one of nature's - but not man's - noblemen, and a true-hearted reformer, as post-master.
The 27th of May was duly solemnized and celebrated, this, and
for several succeeding years, as the landing of the pilgrims; but
it is now all done, for other hands and motives guide the settlement. Yet it is pleasant to look back to the hours of joy, and
hearts of quickened and joyous beat, that once assembled annually
on that day, under banners, and listened to speeches and songs,
and partook of the best the land could afford. But perhaps,
reader, you were never out West; and if so, perhaps never saw
the beautiful spot here referred to, and you may not be aware
that Uncle Sam bought the lands between the Mississippi and Lake
Michigan of those who never owned them; and, being himself the
highest tribunal of authority in this world, could not have his




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               117
title tried; therefore he proceeded, by well-paid deputies, to run
out these lands into townships of six miles square, and then to
subdivide them into sections of one mile square, and again into
quarters and quarter quarters, the last and least being forty
acres.  And these were sold and conveyed, by a title that was indisputable in this world, whatever it may be in the next, where
there is other authority.
The south line of Wisconsin was the base line of this survey,
and sixteen townships north of this line was the range of Ceresco,
and fourteen east of a line near the great river, from which they
counted eastward, was the exact spot which brought it in the
north-west corner of Fond-du-lac county. But, as prejudice and
envy has since changed the beautiful name of Ceresco, both of
town and post-office, to Ripon, it is thus pointed out to the reader
by landmarks. At the time of this immigration there was no
settler in the township, and none in the one north, nor the one
east, nor the one south, but three or four in the one west, on the
beautiful border of Green Lake, which was a strip of timber
between the prairie and the water.
The long days were well filled with toil by the pioneer socialists, and the short nights were devoted to sleep on the ground,
under the tents. The Scotch sailor cooked for them in open air,
and they eat on rough boards, under the shade of a bower, when
it did not rain; and when it did, they eat standing, to avoid an
excess of water on the body, and because they could shed rain
better in that position. They put in one hundred acres of wheat
on the prairie for the next season, and potatoes, and corn, etc.,
for the running season. On the morning of June 10th, the
ground was white with frost, and used up most of the corn, and
beans, and vines, which they had hurried up on the new sod, so
beautifully turned, where no rock nor root was in the way of
plough and spade. They also began to erect three dwellings,
twenty by thirty feet each, one and one half stories high, and
thirty feet apart, which were completed by winter, from oak-trees,
which furnished, without saw-mill, the frame, the clapboards, the




118            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
shingles, and the floors, and all except the stairs and upper floor,
which were obtained at a saw-mill twenty-two miles distant, at'Waupun. A saw-mill was also erected, and a dam; and on this,'in the hardest work, and most exposed labor, could be found the
Lone One, almost every day, never to be beaten at hard labor,
nor outdone in devotion to what be believed true.  It was late in
winter before the saw-mill was in running order, and then the
stream was frozen too much for use, and they had to winter once
without many boards for man or beast. The hay, which was
abundant, supplied the place of boards for shelter for beasts, and
for beds for the families.  In this excursion the families had been
left behind, and some of them were as impatient for their new
homes as the husbands were to have their wives with them; and
ere the dwellings were enclosed, some families were already on
the spot, brought by the horse-teams, which were kept constantly
travelling from and to the old and new homes.
Toward fall the Lone One returned to his home, and found
the mate had improved in health, and all were quite happy
in the little house.  He informed the quiet citizen, M. F., that he
was the legal owner of all their lands in Ceresco, and that, in due
time, they should call on him for a transfer to the real owners; and
was assured that all was safe, and that the trust should be honorably fulfilled to the last.  " O, dear! " said the sorry woman, " I
am so fearful we shall not get a home of our own again, if we sell
this and go up there! " -" I cannot think of always working out
by the day to support my family, and. there would be no other
chance for me here.  Our prospects are better there than here;
and we shall have a home in the domain as long as we own a
share of it, of course." -" Well, just as you say; but I don't feel
reconciled to it; but, as you have to earn all webhave, it is right
for you to control it." He soon found a pur'chaser for the little
home, at seven hundred dollars, by taking a horse and buggy, and
other property in part, and cash and notes fbr the rest; and their
effects were soon loaded on two wagons, and the wife and children
in the buggy, and all on their way to the no home for her, called




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 119
the new home, on the domain of the Wisconsin Phalanx. The first
night found them  at Burlington, where the elder sister, now a
widow, was living; for her kind husband had at last shaken off
the consumption and his body together, and gone to the hereafter
to fit a better home for her. They could not take her and the
boys along, as they would have been glad to do, for the new home
was only new land as yet, and they were yet dwelling in the tents,
but not in the " tents of wickedness," for they had no rum, or drunkenness, profanity, or licentiousness, and no lawing, doctoring, or
Gospel-preaching, and, therefore, were nearly free from the wickedness of civilization. Through awful roads and rainy days they
at last reached the hill-top, which overlooked the plain below, and
were soon discovered by the eager watchers, for they all felt the
necessity of the Lone One's presence, and willing feet brought happy
faces and ready hands to meet and greet them, ere they reached
the quarters allotted for them, which were one fourth of one floor
in one of the dwellings, parted from  the other three families
by carpet and quilt partitions, and from the out-doors by the
crooked oak clapboards, through which light and snow could easily
find entrance. Here they placed one bed and a stove, and packed
and piled the rest as best they. could, and thus, somehow, eight
families lived in that house through the winter, which, fortunately,
was a mild one.  They all eat at a common table in the basement
of another house, where all the cooking and eating was done by, and
for, the society.  Well may you conjecture, reader, that she was
unhappy, for she had not partaken of the excitement that brought
others willingly here; but she did not scold nor complain much,
but tried to bear it as well as her feeble body would admit.
"She is content to stay, and smile, and suffer;
For when the' golden gates' unclose for her,
She knows a spirit, that has waited long,
Will clasp hers in a wordless welcoming;
Making the very memory of tears
A strange dream of the night we misname life!
0! when the sad smile trembles on her'lip,




120            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
In tenderness for other hearts that ache,
She would not barter hers- a sufferer's - boon
Of power to sympathize, for even the love
Most tearless, sinless, sorrowless, in heaven! 
The history of the Wisconsin Phalanx would be interesting to
many and useful to some, at least in disabusing the minds of those
who never heard any good of it when it was alive.  But we cannot give it a place here, save as it was connected inseparably with
this Life-Line; for surely this line run directly through it, and
formed the main artery of the body, without which it would have
given several convulsive throes, and then been dead.  When the
families (about twenty) were all packed for winter-quarters, and
the boys hunting fence-timber and saw-logs on Uncle Sam's land,
then the Lone One started to secure a charter, or act of incorporation, for the society. The act had been carefully drawn up by
him, and submitted to the members, and approved, and he was
authorized to secure its passage with as few amendments as possible.  With this view he visited several members of the territorial legislature,' and submitted it to them, and secured the aid of
some of them. While on this errand, and far from home, and
they knew not where to send for him, a violent fever seized the
wife and son, and both lay gasping for life in the rude corner they
called home. Twenty miles distant was a skilful physician; and
a faithful friend, whose noble English heart ever beat in unison
with the Lone One, made rapid strides till he reached the home
of the doctor, and would not allow any delay till the doctor was
by the bedside and heard her say, " My husband would not allow
me to take calomel, nor will I consent to its use myself for either
of us."- " Then I will do the best I can without it," said he; and
for eight days and nights he did not return to his home, nor leave
them for many hours; and on the ninth day the Lone One returned suddenly, unexpectedly, impelled by some interior force
to him  unknown.  The physician said they were both out of
danger, if attended with great care, as they had been by the everwatchful friends.  Forty dollars paid him, and ten more the coun



LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                121
sel-doetor, who had been called from Fond-du-lac; for they all
expected she would die, and did not intend the husband should
attribute any neglect to them. Soon the boy was up, and the
mother gained fast under the magnetic influence of her husband,
and soon was out of danger, so he could leave for the capital where
the chosen committee to repair the laws of God and man were
assembled.  He was soon in the lobby, closely watching the fate
of his bill, which did not excite much opposition in the Assembly,
but, by the aid of his good friend, the doctor, from Fond-du-lac, who
was a member in seat, was slowly and properly passed, with but
slight amendments. It then went to the Council, where he also
had some good friends, especially the one who held the titles to
their domain.  But here the cormorants attacked it, because they
thought it a good subject to make capital on; and down came the
giant Argus, which was the paper that watched the interests of
itself and party. The Lone One offered replies and defence, and,
although a politician of the same school and party, the Argus dare
not admit both sides, and it had decided the bill evil, and only a cheating scheme, and most especially a social heresy. But the Lone One
did reply through the whig paper, and through a daily democratic
sheet in Milwaukie, until the Aryus was sorry it ever took up the
subject; and long after was more sorry still, for it felt the effects
of the injury it had inflicted on innocent persons. But the owners
got rich out of the territory and state, and therefore could afford
to have sore consciences. Two lawyers, - one a democrat from the
west part of the territory, who fell through some years after,
because he kept bad company and bad counsel; and the other a
whig, then rude and undeveloped, but who afterward became a
noble man, and the first and best chief justice in the state, - attacked
the bill; the first to please the Argus, and the last more for sport
and fun than in earnest; and it was a hard conflict for the law, so
essential at that time for the security of the settlers.  But at last
the final vote let it through, and the rejoicing man in the lobby
was permitted to follow it to the executive rooms.  "It will not
compromise my democracy to sign it, will it?" said the smiling
11




122           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
Governor Tallmadge, as he pleasantly added his approval to the
act, which enabled the Lone One to returnf to his anxious family
and more anxious friends, who were waiting, in deep suspense, the
fate of the charter.  He soon reached home, and exceeding joy ran
through the crowd as they heard the good news. "Now we are
safe, for our property will be in our own hands."
Soon the deeds were executed, and all the property safely
lodged in the corporation, which, although, like all such bodies,
it had no soul, had a name, and that was the Wisconsin Phalanx. The officers were soon elected under the charter, and the
" tempest-in-a-teapot" excitement, which lasted till it was done,
all subsided, and the machine was a thing of life in the spring of'45,  breaking and ploughing its way in the new township like a
" little giant." The neighbors, who had begun to locate in the vicinity, were greatly alarmed by it, and most of them were sure it would
do mischief; for it had great power, they said, and would monopolize. They wished the cursed thing was dead. A few only saw
no evil in it, but only a power for good. These " four-year-ites "
furnished the material and news for prairie-yarns and gossip for
all the region round about, and tended greatly to alleviate the
trials of tedious labor and long patience in the new homes.
Summer of'45, the saw-mill was making boards; the "long
home " was going up in sections, which continued to lengthen till
twenty tenements, of twenty feet each, were joined together in
two rows, with a hall between, all under one roof, with a ridiculous
plan of a double-front house and hip roof, looking more like a
rope-walk, or salt-works, than a house; but it was the best they
could do, so the architect said, and. so the workmen responded.
By personal effort, and great struggle, and some jealousy, the Lone
One did get his tenement finished in the winter, and moved into it,
- the most capacious house he had ever occupied in Wisconsin;
having one room  twelve feet square and a bed-room below, and
two bed-rooms above; no cellar, of course, for they lived a
unitary life, which meant to eat at a common table and work a
common farm, But the families all had separate homes to retire to




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                123
after meals. A stone schoolhouse had been erected, and a school
commenced, which never stopped, except for necessary vacations,
till the society ran out its race; and then it left the children of the
members qualified for teaching the other schools, and children of
their own ages around them. The township was set off and organized, and an election held on the domain for town officers; and, as
there were only three or four other settlers, of course the officers
were elected from the members of the Phalanx. The post-office
also was in their hands, but they had to bring the mail from Fonddu-lac for the proceeds of the office; which they cheerfully did, at
much expense, once a week, for their own and their neighbors' benefit. They felt the great advantages and economies of combined
labor and living; but some were not satisfied with the unitary life,
especially of houses, and sighed for the retirement of quiet meals
in family circles, as of old. Others were greatly pleased with
the unitary table. Both males and females were about equally
divided on this subject; but the plan and buildings had been commenced for the unitary living, and could not easily be changed
now. The single men, of which there were quite a number, were
very much opposed to a change. This apple of discord finally
grew until it was of sufficient power to break up the society, with
other feebler aids.  In'46  the improvements were greatly
extended, a grist-mill erected for their own use, and this had to
be watched to keep the envious neighbors from burning it; and so
strong was the prejudice because they would grind their own grain
in their own mill, and would not, because they could not, grind
for others.  The jealousy increased as fast as their prosperity, and
the Lone One saw that the only obstacle to success in social and
cooperative life was the undeveloped and prejudiced condition of
the people.
The widowed sister and her two boys had been moved to
the new home.  A payment obtained on the old home enabled
the younger sister to leave her- son and daughter with the elder;
and now, nearly ten years after she had left her mountain home in
New Hampshire, to think of a first and last visit to it. Soon all




124             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
was arranged, and she, feeble and emaciated, started, piloted by one
of the best of sea-captains, who was also on a visit to his old
home and family in Newburyport, where his wife, long accustomed
to being captain in his absence, had learned to manage so well
that she was captain when he was at home, and therefore, to be a
captain, the old gentleman chose to sail on the prairies of the
West, as he was too old to sail on the ocean. Safely they moved
down the lakes and " raging canal," and over the mountains, till
she reached her paternal home, where glad hearts welcomed her,
as they would not have dared to do if she had come from the
spirit-home, which she had so often neared, but never quite
reached.   Rapidly her health improved, and the release from
cares, and home, and husband, enabled her to greatly recruit her
natural powers, and become quite fleshy by the time set for her
return in the spring of'47.
"Is this the spot where once so well
My taskless childhood loved to stray?Where now the sweet but nameless spell
That lured mine idle step away?
" The charms which then my fancy fed
In vain I now essay to find;
The spirit of the place is fled,
And left its grosser part behind.
"The rocks are not so quaint and gray,
The leaves are not so fresh and green 
The brook, upon its-noisy way,
Is cheerless through the sylvan scene.
"I am not raptured now to hear
The warbled joys from every bough;
The witching sky, so blue and clear,
Is but a common prospect now.
" T is I have changed! for nature still
To childhood's heart is just as dear,
And forests, waters, field, and hill,
HIave music for its listening ear.




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                  1.25
"The dream of youth, which comes to all,
Has passed like morning's starry train;
Sweet memory may its form recall,
But cannot give its power again.
"The silvery streamlet of the glen,
Which loves and fairies hovered o'er,
Has flowed into the haunts of men,
And lost its beauties evermore. "
Thus she sang and mused as the autumn closed its work of disrobing the trees, and winter drifted the high rocks under snow,
and the April suns sent the white sleet foaming down the cliffs.
Then she sighed for her pets and her distant home again, with all
its perils and trials. She was accompanied, on her return, by a
cousin who came West to visit a sister in the Sucker state, and who
soon married there and engaged in raising Suckers, beside her sister. They were met, on their return, by the Lone One, at Sheboygan, and visited their old Southport home, then slowly returned to
their new, but to her ever less happy, one, for not yet was she imbued
with the principles of associative life. The Phalanx was now in
the days of its prosperity; increased its lands to near two thousand
acres, and its stock to about thirty thousand dollars, and its families to over thirty, and members to about one hundred and fifty.
Most of them ate at one table, and worked together on the domain.
HIad a good and successful system of rewards for labor, by which
they were not troubled with drones - danced one evening in each
week, or rather the dancers did. Our family, whose line runneth
herein, never danced nor sung; but the Lone One usually preached
on the Sabbath, and practised all the week.  He also kept the
public well informed of their success and prospects, through the
Boston Investigator, the Phalanx, and Harbinger, and later the
Univerccelum, for which he wrote during its life. The latter was
almost worshipped at the domain,-at least, registered as the best
of papers, - the little Pleasure Boat, of Capt. Hacker, too, sailed
out there. But we must close this Phalanx history, and let it
rest, for other lines require our record-pen.  Capt. D. P. Mlapes
11*




126            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
had settled in the town, and declared war against the Phalanx,
although in sentiment he held opinions nearly the same as its
leaders, especially on religion and politics; but he was jealous of
its power. He was a brave captain, but he could never make
any headway in this opposition, but only served as an outside
pressure to crowd them closer together, and prevent, for a time,
the internal pressure from separating them. But at last the internal pressure overcame the external, and the Phalanx died of a
lingering fever in its collapse. It was interred in its own burying-ground, by its own children, and the requiem sung by its own
council, and its epitaph written by the Lone One, about as follows:
-Born in the spring of 1844, in Southport, Wis.; nursed and educated by several teachers, but principally by the Ladies Advocate;
married in 1845, by the Territorial Legislature, to the statutes of
Wisconsin (the wife died when the territory became a state);
certified by Gov. Tallmadge, settled and lived in Town Sixteen,
Range Fourteen, which it named Ceresco, in honor of Ceres, a corngoddess, of which it was a worshipper; grew and flourished,
and controlled the town for several years, until it "took sick,"
first of chills and fever, and finally of severe fever, which weakened its vital powers, until in 1850 it died, quietly and resignedly,
having reigned six years triumphantly, and put all enemies under
its feet, by its justice and honor. - Owned a large farm, which
was divided among its children, greatly improving their estates,
and leaving all but the Lone One better than it found them. -
Had been a great stock and grain grower, raising in one season as
high as ten thousand bushels of wheat. — Had one genius who
did most of its preaching and law business, and others who
attended to the sanitary department. - Never used intoxicating
drinks, nor allowed them on its farm. - Never used profane language, nor allowed it, except by strangers.- Never had a lawsuit, nor legal counsel. - Had little sickliness, and no religious revivals. — Never had a case of licentiousness, nor a complaint of
immoral conduct. -Lived a strictly moral, honest, upright, and
virtuous life, and yet was hated, despised, abused, slandered, lied




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                127
about, and misrepresented, in all the country round about,- mostly
by preachers. - Kept a school of its own all the time. - Took
five or six newspapers to each family. -  Stopped work on Sunday
to accommodate the neighbors, and rung its bell for meetings.
- But they danced without rum, or vulgarisms and profanity. -
They had meetings without prayers, and babies without doctors. -
But it was prematurely born, and tried to live before its proper
time, and, of course, must die and be born again. So it did, and
here it lies.
The'charter was amended so as to allow a closing up of the
affairs, and the books, papers, and business, placed in the hands
of the Lone One; and by him all deeds and legal papers were exen'uted, and all the business settled and closed, leaving the books in
the hands of the still living president of the dead Phalanx.  The
papers noticed its death, and some rejoiced, and some were sorry;
but many true friends mourned throughout the land, and none
more than some of its heirs. But not the Lone One; for he had
seen the necessity for its death, and submitted to fate willingly.
In the division and sale of the estate, he bought a portion of the
fine large mansion, which had been erected, but not finished, and
lots for a garden; and again, with his own hand, soon had a better
house than ever before, and a fine garden; soof! made up his loss,
and was worth more than when he came to the domain, although
he had expended much of the little sum he received for the old
house in defending the system, by lectures and letters, etc. The
burying-ground (six acres) and the bell still belong to the estate,
and are to be heired by the last survivor of the domain.
DIRGE OF THE PHALANX.
WRITTEN IN CERESCO, BUT NOT BY ONE OF ITS HEIRS.
What spot shall I choose for my long, last home,
When a wanderer on earth I shall cease to roam.?
When the angel of death shall come sweeping by,
And his cold breath shall close my weary eye?
When above my heart lies the cold damp sod,
And my spirit returns to its maker, God?




128             LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.
0! say, shall I lie by the ocean's side,
Where my grave will be surged by the briny tide?
Where the sea-gull screams, and the wild waves roar
As their fury breaks on the craggy shore?
Say, is that the place where my form shall rest,
When the winding-sheet is upon my breast?
Or some drear spot in the church-yard share,
Without e'en a flower above me there,
Where alike are buried both friend and foe,
When the arrow of death has laid them low?Not there, not there, would I wish to lie,
In the cold, cold grave, when I come to die.
But dig me a grave in the prairie land,
Far away, far away, from the ocean sand,
Where my friends may come, when their work is done,
And sing o'er my grave at the set of sun
The song whose music was wont to thrill
My heart e'er the pulse of life was still.
O! there is the place I would wish to lie,
When the angel of death shall have sealed mine eye 
And my friends, should ever they chance to roam
Near the spot I have chosen for my long home,
Let them kneel by my grave and breathe a prayer
For the friend who is sleeping in silence there.
It had no soul to be saved.  One more feeble effort at associative advantages was made after the burial of the Phalanx, and during the settlement of the estate, by a few friends who joined the
Bioile One in the enterprise.  A large and commodious store was
erected, by shares, and the Protective Union plan adopted to supply it; and thus an attempt made to purchase merchandise, and
market the products of their labor, by agency, and save the enormous profits of merchants. This enterprise "s tarted and run well
for a season," but a fever of somewhat different character fro-m
that which proved fatal to the Phalanx seized its vitals, and it
cost so much to pay the doctor, that its friends abandoned it,
perhaps rather cruelly, but, as it seemed at the time, necessarily;




LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.                    129
and of course it died, and was buried, and its estate settled itself;
but the store stands on its foundation still, a fading monument of
premature birth, much resembling good principles in bad company.
Now all the reformers of Ceresco joined, and sang one song, and
parted. The song was written by one N. Brown, some time, and
somewhere, and ran as follows:
"My heart is sick, my soul is pained within,
To see this Babel-world so rent with strife 
To hear its heartless shouts, its Babel-din,
As onward flow the feverish streams of life:
There rush the worshippers of gold and pelf;
Here stand the human gods of pride and self.
" Behold the struggle! the mad, selfish rush
For shining baubles or a beggar's crust!
In vain, divines, ye try the tides to hush,
Though hearts are dead or bleeding in the dust:
There kneels the nabob, drawling out a prayer;
Here dies the o'er-worked victim in despair.
"Like chaos-fragments strewn upon life's sea,
And hastening onward. to an uncared shore,
Whirling and dashing ever as they flee, -
Leaping and crashing'mid the storm-king's roar,
Is the mad world of men. Wrecked is the world
By self and sense, to very chaos hurled.;' Gold, give me gold, though dimmed with orphan's tears!
Fame, give me fame, though bought with human gore!
Away with heart and soul - away with fears! -
Gold, gold, though here's the grave, yet give me more!
Shut up the book; talk not of brotherhood;
Man lives for self, not for the common good.
"For untold ages thus the world hath gone,
By self and sense in broken fragments riven,
Yet yearning still for a millennial dawn,
When this same world should be a type of heaven.
Talk not of heaven, or of a golden age,
While social ills in ceaseless battles rage.




130             LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.
"Ten thousand temple-domes in grandeur rise
Where priestdom learned expounds the' word of life,'
Where man is taught to live but for the skies,
And leave to Satan this mad world of strife;
Where Sinai's flames assay the soul to awe,
And creed is worshipped as the saving law!'C The human mind by threats of heavenly wrath
Has long been chained within a narrow sphere;
Like a poor blind man groping for the path,
Yet fearing still that pitfalls opened near. -
Thus man, alas, choosing a moral night,
Lest reason lead him from the creed's dim light.
"The world is rich in musty lore and creedsIn mysticism, and in temple show
In spirit-chains; but poor in brother deeds
To the great brotherhood of man below.
The central truth designed the world to save
Is crushed by self to a dishonored grave!"
This was the last, and these the only, experiments ever made
by the Lone One at associative or cooperative life; and these the
only societies, public or private, to which he ever belonged; and
they died so young they did not destroy his heirship to the name
of Lone One.
SECTION II.
POLITICS AND THE POLITICIAN.
We must now turn back to'47, and fetch up the lagging stream
in this current of life-history.  Wisconsin Territory began to
scold about her rights, and demanded larger hoops for her skirt,
and larger dresses for her form; and, after considerable fretting,
finally proved, by the number of her soles (not years), that she was
old enough to leave the nursery, and be her own mistress. Uncle
Sam was glad to get rid of the troublesome flirt, if she would
cease squalling for wider skirts on the Illinois and Michigan sides
and, with that restriction, gave her permission to run at large, and
dress herself.




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                131
The " unterrified democracy," who are always on the alert when
offices are to be filled, sounded the toesin, and called their local
conventions, to double up in counties, and organize for action.
The Lone One was born nothing, and almost nowhere; but he was
educated into democracy, and heard the sound.  He called the
roll for democrats in the Phalanx; but a majority, including women, were whigs or nothing.  However, there were enough democrats to hold a meeting, and send him to the county session, where
a ticket for the campaign was to be put up, and those elected over
the territory, to the number of about one hundred and twenty-five,
were to assemble, and adopt a constitution, and submit it to the
voters for acceptance.  The whigs were not much later in action,
and equally efficient; and, although less numerous in the territory,
they were not less zealous.  But Ceresco had no ambitious whig,
and took no part in the caucus.  Notwithstanding the strong prejudice against the Fourierites and the Phalanx, still the Lone One
received the nomination as one of the three to represent Fond-du-lac
county in the constitutional convention.  The other two and their
friends were, however, greatly concerned lest they should be defeated by his connection with the unpopular society. The day of
election came, and the whigs of the Phalanx had resolved to nip
the ambition of the aspiring democrat in the bud, and labored
hard to prove it was not best for him to be elected, and did succeed in leaving him one or two votes behind his colleagues in the
town. But in the county he was, to the surprise of all, so far
ahead as to be the only one elected on the ticket; and, with the
two whigs from the other ticket, he went to the capital at the time
appointed, to make his debut as a political actor on the stage, and
inside the circle.  The convention was a motley group, called from
city and town, from prairie and grove, from forest and " deep-tangled wild-wood; " fat and lean, short and tall, bright and dull, keen
and stupid, democrats and whigs, and some who could only register
when they saw which was strongest- and that did not take long,
for democracy was greatly in the ascendant. Some half a dozen
saucy lawyers expected, and determined, to rule the convention,




132            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
and make all the noise for their own glory. But they soon found
some material that was not so easily whipped down, and among
the most " unruly members " was the saucy tongue of that Fourierite, which he soon learned to use as freely and sarcastically as
the best of them.  But, as he ever used it to defend the weak,
and those who needed defence against the arrogance and abuse of
impudent demagogues, he of course made friends of such, and
even commanded the respect of those who did not love him.
The capital was situated on a beautiful eminence between two
lakes, at a place called Madison.  The building was erected and
enclosed with ten acres of the land, purchased of those who never
owned it, by Uncle Sam, and of course given, as an outfit, to the
daughter when she married the Union. A greater variety of " odd
sticks " was probably never assembled since the', Council of Nice"
than was now in session at this capital, to make a constitution for
a still greater variety of people.  The white-haired sage and
beardless boy, the thinking sceptic and superstitious fanatic, the
sober conservative and the fiery radical, the hunker wheel-horse
and the prancing progressionist, those who pray and those who
swear, those who preach and those who sleep, speculators and
honest men, knaves and fools, -" all mingle, mingle, while you
mingle may."  It was a long session, and made great noise; but,
like the "mountain in labor" "' a mouse was born."  As the Lone
One was a leader of the progressionists, and had much influence
in securing such features in the instrument as rendered it too
radical for the people, and partly caused its defeat, and as this
was the first chance he had to record his political views on public
records, it is proper to notice some of the leading principles he advallced and defended.  IHis first blow was aimed at capital punishnient. It met a good reception in the convention, and might
have succeeded, but for the alarm raised by several lawyers and
preachers, and the awakened Christians, who " would have sacrifice,
and not mercy; " and they voted him down as a matter of expediency.  But he labelled them with somebody's poem.




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                    133
" How is it, when you doom to death
Some victim for his crimes,
Accounting him not fit to live,
You still allow him time
To make his peace with God for what
Yourselves will not forgive;
Presuming him, when fit to die,
As not yet fit to live?
"Now, though he be not fit to live,
Is he prepared to die -
Sent strangled from this world of woe
Before his God on high?
You send unto his darkened soul
Repentance and the priest,
And when reduced to penitence
You hang him like a beast.
" How can you know just how much time
Your victim should be given
For such repentance as shall send
His spirit pure to heaven?
Supporters of the bloody code,
I pause for a reply:
How is it, if unfit to live,
A man is fit to die? "
His next attack was upon the qualification of voters; and he
exposed the ridiculous position of those persons, or laws, which
make color, or sex, a qualification to vote, or even age, and demanded an intellectual standard, or a taxation standard.  Some
were amused, and some horrified, at the proposition to let women
and "n' iggers" vote; and almost all voted against the women, and
all but fourteen against striking out color as a test; by which he
saw the men would sooner let the negroes have their rights than
the women, and he was confirmed in what he before believed, that
the slavery of women was deeper, and more lasting, than that of
negroes in the hearts and prejudices of the people, and even often
approved and sustained by woman herself.  How can she expect
the " lords of creation" to give her her rights, when she does not
12




131           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
ask for them?  But he recorded his vote for the right, even if
alone, and left it to await the, good time coming;" for well he
knew all these principles must triumph, if the race continued to
progress. Next came the right of married women to hold and
control real estate.  On this they had a great contest, but it succeeded, and was incorporated in the instrument, and was one of
the principal features that caused its defeat, although the agitation
brought the public mind up to it, and it became one of the early
and permanent statutes of the state, and remains there " to this
day." Next came his firm and uncompromising opposition to land
monopoly, and in favor of limitation of titles to occupancy. But
this was a vain effort; for the supreme law of the nation, to
which, in that day, the people knew no "higher law," was in the
way, and they could not disturb the absolute power of the government to give titles to the lands it had obtained of the Indians,
who only borrowed it of God, and had no right to sell it. These
principles could only find an expression in a limitation of leases,
to prevent what will probably never again occur, the "anti-rent
troubles" of the Rensellaer estates.  He next planted himself
against all military shows and parades, and endeavored to crowd
the whole system out of use. But several old fogies were there
who had no other honor, and could not afford to lose rank, and
title, and honor, and they voted him down.
He was a democrat of the Jackson school on "banks and
banking," and took the hard-money side with the hardest of the
hards; and thus aided in adding this fatal dead weight to the instrument. He next planted himself against all laws for the collection of debts, and would have swept away the whole system of
civil policy on this subject. It was not difficult to prove that the
cost of collection was greater than the amount collected, in every
state, and almost every county, of the nation, and that it would
be better to tax the people with the debts than with the cost of
collection. There was in the territory an old, thick-skulled hunker
judge, - Miller,-  who holds to this day a post of profit (but
not honor to him), who was for some years greatly alarmed at this




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               135
heresy and prospective innovation, and tried to make others, if
not himself, believe it was unconstitutional. Whether he was so
blind he did not see, as the simplest reasoner would, that if the
state repealed its collecting laws, and enacted none, they would
not be unconstitutional, is more than we can say of him. But
more than this record proves that he was very much wanting in
judgment and perception, although he had much dignity, and a
"' little learning," which Pope said was a i" dangerous thing."  Of
course this measure could not succeed in this convention, and the
Lone One did not expect it to; but he wished to agitate the subject,
and give promise of the future. There were many able advocates of
this measure in the state, and among the early ones his old friend,
who so safely held the titles, and so readily surrendered them.
These were not all, but some, of the principal radicalisms and
wild vagaries that gave the Lone One notoriety in his first public
mission. He was ever found in his place, and always had a word
to say for every proposed extension of freedom and rights to all,
and ever went for the largest liberty and broadest platform.  He
had already become quite an extensive writer; and during this
session he often pictured for the press the scenes and persons, and
gave many comic, and some ludicrous, descriptions of the prominent
actors, the effects of which were felt long after, and proved it true
that "A chiel's amang ye takin' notes, an' faith he'11 prent'em." Like all long things, this convention had its last as well
as first end; and all returned to their homes, some to deny and
oppose their work, and some to support it, and the Lone One of
the latter class; and both tongue and pen were occupied in its
defence; but it was no go. The voters laid it out, and the territorial session assembled, and called another convention, of about
seventy members, to prepare another. Most of the old members
were slain in the conflict, and did not appear again at the capital
for some years. The Lone One was returned by his county as one
of the two delegates, by a large and greatly increased majority
over the other election, and met there five - only five - of the
first delegation. He soon found this a more conservative, but far




136            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
more practical, body, and one in which he could exert more influx
ence, and on which he could place more reliance, than the first.
He felt much more at home in this body than in the other; but he
had learned, by the result of the last election, the true position of
the people, and knew about what they would bear of reforms and
radical measures, and was not inclined to crowd reform measures
before the people were ripe for them, nor to insert in a constitution
what belonged exclusively to the statutes of a state.  He soon
found his place; as the journal shows; the most active member of
the convention; in his seat every hour of the session; voting on
every question. This time he succeeded in leaving out the military code, and all militia laws.  He secured the civil rights of all
persons as jurors and witnesses, whatever their views of God or
religion, and found many good friends to cooperate with him in
such sanitary provisions. They also inserted a provision designed
especially to prevent the legislature from employing chaplains, and
other useless appendages to its sessions; but the provision is disregarded.  Capital punishment, homestead exemption, rights of
married women, collecting laws, and usury laws, &c., were all left
for the legislature to tamper with as the people would bear or
demand. The banking question, of which the Lone One was
chairman, was the worst and most difficult of all, after such a
hard defeat of the hards; and still the return of democrats showed
the politics had not changed.  The subject was at last adjusted
somewhere between two extremes, and the short and business-like
session adjourned.
Is it strange, reader? - when the Lone One returned to the
tenement in the long home, from this convention, he found another
boy had been added to the family, - not one of those returned
who had gone away, but a new one; came from God, the pious
old women said; but he thought it came from its parents. Either
way, it was a pretty child, and they concluded to keep it. The
elder sister and her two boys drifted slowly over the way to her
eastern friends; and neither she nor others knew his regret at his
inability to assist and even support her; but he was poor yet, for




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 137
his expenses were exceeding his receipts each year, while the quiet
laborers on the domain were gaining fast under his system of policy, with which he was satisfied. 6s But how are the honors in
these two games of politics? " asked a friend.  "Are you anything by honors? "-  "Yes," he replied; " I am two by honors,
and nothing by tricks." -" Then you do not play your hand
well; better take me for a partner." - " No, never! I shall paddle my own canoe in every storm, and sink or swim, as fate will
have it." -" Go your own way, then; I shall oppose you."  This
came from the colleague in the last convention who lived in the
liquor-end of the county, and wished to attend to the drinkers,
and get the Lone One to aid him with his temperance friends;
and thus they could win by tricks in selfish games of political
chess. But he was the Lone One in this, as in all else; never
entered a league, nor joined any society but the Phalanx, and that
promised now to be sufficient as a school of experience. The
friends were glad to see him home, for they had many tangles to
be straightened out as he each time returned; and some did work
up a prejudice against him, because he possessed, and yielded to,
ambition in political life. But it was a school in which it became
necessary for him to graduate for future usefulness, although he
did not then know it.
Who make politics a trade, and struggle for the spoils,
Had better take to spades, and shuffle in the soil.
Ye worker in the soil, tell me, if you can, where is the happy
man?  Statesman, politician, merchant, lawyer, doctor, preacher,
Christian, pagan, heathen, tell me, if you can, where is the happy
man,?  "Not I! not I! " cries each and all; but Pope replies,
1" Man never is, but always to be blessed."
Heaven is in the future, happiness in the distance, and we are
going to it, certainly.  "Hope springs immortal in the human
breast." A little longer, and yet a little longer.
The work of the second convention was readily accepted by the
12*




138            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
people, although many thought the first constitution the better of
the two; but there were too many impatient office-seekers to longer
delay in starting the machinery of state. Provision was soon
made for an election, and the conventions assembled to set up the
candidates, to be shot at by friend and foe,- one shooting to kill, and
the other to save, the mark.  The pen of the Lone One had started, not soon to stop; and he had already become a scribe of some
note, both far from, and near to, home; and his articles (not always over his own name) were often trite with satire, or keen with
acumen, or graphic in description, or prophetic for politicians, and
often-had a marked and wide effect where the author was unknown.
The friends of the Lone One, after a long and hard contest, at
length secured his nomination for the state Senate, for the district
comprising Fond-du-lac and Winnebago counties, to which fell a
full term of two years; and at the canvass, again, to the surprise
of firiends and foes, he was elected with an aggregate majority of
two hundred against his ticket in the district, and three Assemblymen of the opposite party in the other branch, and every effort of
his former democratic colleague made in secret to defeat him.
But the Germans had caused the result, for they knew he was the
friend of human, and of equal, rights; and some of his letters,
without his knowledge, had been translated, and circulated among
them, and caused the result.  This proved to be his graduating
class; for after this all other degrees were merely honorary.
When the roll was called, the Lone One was in his place in the
Senate of law-makers for the new state, better prepared than ever
before for public or private duties. For, some time before this, he
had quit the filthy habit of smoking, had abandoned forever the
use of swine's flesh, and, at that time, even all meats; and tea
and coffee, and other mixtures, were forbidden drinks. His granulated eyelids, which had annoyed him for ten years, soon recovered their healthy condition; his mind was calm; and his excitable, passional nature was quiet as a calm sea in a still atmosphere.
Thus he was prepared for duty. Other causes than political ones
had induced these changes, which will be given in due time.




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 139
At the assembling of the session, he met an old and intimate
friend, whose political, religious, and social opinions corresponded with his own; and for the two sessions they occupied
the same desk, and became the "David and Jonathan " of the
Senate, usually, but not always, voting on the same side of questions. Among the first permanent laws secured was a homestead
exemption, without a pecuniary limitation; thus securing a great
principle, for which they had both been early advocates. The
darling object of the Lone One, to repeal the usury laws, and let
money seek its own market and value, like any other commodity,
passed the Senate, but was lost in the House; but, at the next session, passed both, and remained the law two or three years, when
the speculators again triumphed, and set up the usury " statute of
limitations," as a screen for rogues, which was all it ever was in
any state, allowing them to take transfers of property, to avoid
the law. Of course the repeal of the collecting laws was introduced; but the lawyers dare not submit the question to the people, lest it should succeed, and the collecting business find an end.
The death penalty could not be removed at this term; but, after
three or four years' fight with the religious bigots who defended it,
it was at last removed, and the state came up where she ought to
have been before.  The rights of married women to hold property,
real and personal, were sool; i<1 —l early secured; and thus that principle, at first so odious, wos secured, and the state not ruined by
its adoption.  Senators to Congress were elected, and pledged to
" Land Reform;" and strong resolutions, dirawn by the Lone One,
were passed in favor of'" free soil," in its true sense.  Commissioners to revise the statutes were selected; and, by extraordinary
effort, David and Jonathan secured the election of the Southport
friend, who held the titles for the Phalanx, as one of them; for he
was a good man and true, as well as capable.  Some old laws were
repealed, and some new ones enacted; and soon the business of
the first, the summer session was closed.
The commissioners commenced their labor, and the members
returned home to attend to elections, etc.  Many questions and




140            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
points of controversy arose in these sessions, in which it would be
interesting to the politician to see the course and vote of this singular person; but, as our Line is for all sorts of readers, we must
be brief in these sketches, for there is a longer line of another
quality to follow.  We must, however, say, he was ever true to
the principles which had governed him through life, of equal
rights, without distinction of sex or color, to life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness. Some one asked him how he could take the
oath; to which he replied, that he never did take an oath, and
never should, but entered upon his duties as an officer, or juror, or
witness, with an affirmation of the simplest nature allowed by
law; and he did endeavor to dispense with all forms of oath in the
state, and let the penalties attach to the falsehood or default, as
they ever should.  He sustained the constitution against the
chaplains; but the profane and dissipated members, who needed
some support, always succeeded in giving them a chance in, by the
aid of a few honestly pious ones, who felt it a religious duty.
During this session the little daughter came very, very near a
change of spheres, by a lung fever; and but for the magnetism of her
physician, rather than his medicine, no doubt would have crossed the
line.  The pale babe, too, had its sick time, and the feeble mother
had " heaps " of trouble and trial - almost enough to kill a well
woman; but she lived, and so did the children, for God had concluded not to take away any more of them, and had also resolved
not to send any more to that house.
Soon after his return, the tangles of the Phalanx, and the family, were picked out, and some progress made in straightening the
political tangles of the county and state.  But these were too
extensive for one mind to arrange, although the poet hath said,' The steady Greeks old Illium won;
By trial all things may be done "
And another, that
" A man's best things are nearest him, -
Lie close about his feet;




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                141
It is the distant and. the dim
That we are sick to meet."
In 1848 the national campaign called all the voters to the
defence of their respective candidates, and Lewis Cass was placed
before the democrats.  But the positions he occupied on some
questions of policy were widely at variance with those advocated
by the Lone One or his senator-friend, and they both rebelled
against authority, and refused to support him; and both took
bold and open ground against his election, covering their retreat
from the democratic nomination by the Buffalo platform, and the
support of the foxy Van Buren, who was really not as good a man
at heart (as subsequent events proved) as even Cass; but it was
principles, not men, they claimed. This closed a door which was
already open for the Lone One to pass to Congress. And no doubt
luckily for him; for it was well for his spiritual development that
his political ambition was cut short at the end of this time.  For
" Our feelings and our thoughts
Tend ever on, and rest not in the present."
~-  ~" In the human heart
Two master-passions cannot coxist."
The second session, which followed close on the heels of the
first, was a very important session to the future welfare of the
young state; for the whole code of its laws was remodelled by it,
principally by introductions from the commissioners. The legal
ability displayed by the Lone One in the first session gave him in
the second a place on the judiciary committee of three, which, in
this revising session, was constantly taxed with complicated and
vexing questions; but the benefit of his rigid system of diet - his
cool, head and devoted heart - were of great use to him and his
colleagues, both of the committee and the Senate. By his special
care and effort the divorce laws were greatly changed from the
report of the commissioners, and nearly as he wished them, but
not quite; for he wished all cases arising under them entirely at




142            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
the discretion of the court, whether presented by one or both of
the parties in contract. An observation of the civil contract which
we call marriage, in its practical workings, had convinced him
that it should be subject to general, and not special, laws regulating civil contracts, and treated and controlled as other contracts
between contracting parties. But the facts are, that the law has
never recognized woman as capable of doing a legal business - of
binding or unbinding herself; and hence the special laws of marriage and divorce in all countries where they have laws and marriages. Of course we must trot in the beaten path where our
fathers trotted, however rough and crooked the way!
At this session he early secured the repeal of the usury laws,
and several other obstructions to prosperity; and it was generally
admitted throughout the state that no member in the Senate did
more business or had more influence than the Fourierite. But his
most intimate friend, and almost always co-worker for reforms,
was not wanting in effort, capacity, or devotion. The schools and
university of the state were set in motion, and, in fact, all the
important machinery of a new state had to be put in place and
motion by these two sessions; and all persons who studied the
condition and prospects of Wisconsin admitted the liberality and
advanced condition of her constitution and laws, much of which
was really the effect of action and influence exerted by the Lone
One and his brother. During these four sessions which he had spent
at the capitol he never drank even a single glass of any kind of
liquor at a bar or counter, except lemonade or soda, nor met with a
single dinner or supper party, except at ordinary meals; attended
no balls, dances, or night meetings of any kind, and joined no
riding or skating parties; but was always steady, constant, attentive to business, and ever in his place in session, or at his quiet
and retired private boarding-house when out of session, or walking
with his friend the senator from Southport.  Among other labors
of the session, he wrote and published a personal, mental, physical,
political, present and prospective description of each senator and
state officer. These likenesses ought to have been hung in the cap



LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               143
itol, with the frame that contained their faces. His style and expression betrayed him as the author, and some were offended at the boldness with which he told the truth about them. But fretting would
only serve to prove him correct, for he knew them well, having
examined most of their heads; and, being well read in phrenology,
physiology, and psychology, and fully posted in politics, he had
advantages that no other possessed in that body, and he used them
when he chose to do so. One thing puzzled them all (except the
brother), and that was, who wrote the description of the writer.
They thought it was too severe to be his own hand. But this only
proved that they did not know him as he did them.
This was the graduating term of the Lone One. All his offices
after this term were professorships. He certainly graduated with
honors, for no man in the state was more popular with the people;
and had he not left the great democratic party, which alone had
power to bestow offices for the state, he could have received any
office in the state. And even with his change to the new and
weak party, he would soon have risen to place and power, had
lie not abandoned the field of political labor. But he had seen
enough of political intrigues, traffic, toil, and tricks, and was fully
resolved to leave the arena to gladiators.  His labors closed at
the capitol, and the affairs at home once more arranged, the prejudiced members of the Phalanx guessed he would stay at home
now, as he belonged to a party that could not elect him to office.
In'49 he attended the conventions of the s "Free-Soil " partyever the champion of Land Reform especially; and, in the campaign of that fall, he received the nomination of his party for
governor, and its vote, which brought him the vote of two large
counties in the south part of the state, Racine and Wallworth,
and gave him more than both his opponents in his own town, and
left him, at the canvass, at the head of his ticket, in numbers as
well as position. But this was honor minus profits and duties.
At the assembling of the session for'50, a necessary alteration
in the charter of the Phalanx, to enable them to close their affairs,
and settle their own estate, brought him again to the capitol,




144           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
when the farce of the lobby, so long kept up, of choosing a sovereign governor, called him to the place, and gave him a chance to
deliver a satirical message, which took the veil off some persons
and events, and pointed like a significant hand for some politicians a way to oblivion, or "salt river." Some idea of the effect
may be gained from the fact that a neighbor, to whom he gave the
manuscript, sold in three days copies, in pamphlet, to the amount
of one hundred dollars, in the capitol. He soon secured the
amendment to his charter, and returned home; for he could never
be found long where he had no business, and his business was now
in settling the estate of the Phalanx. He prepared a new and
greatly abbreviated form of blank deed for his use, and, as notary
public, used them as long as he remained a citizen of Ceresco.
In'51 he was again called to the capital to defend the name of the
town against the proposed change to Ripon, which Captain Mapes
and others attempted, who had now started a whiskey, beer, and
tobacco village on the hill, and secured the services of a pettifogger
from one corner of the town to get up law-suits. But the Lone One
was chairman of the town board, and had most of the town officers
on the side of Ceresco for a name.  They of course prevented the
change at that time, and for several years after.  But the Ripon
village was very much opposed to its more steady and sober
neighbor in the valley, and kept up a constant strife, until the
speculating Ripon at last outgrew and conquered its rival.  But
this was not till after the Lone One had ceased to make any
efforts to sustain the valley home, and begun to look out a home
elsewhere for his family. One more game, and we end this line
of history, which does not connect well with the first or last
chapter of the narrative.
Fifty-two came. Again the national tocsin sound, To arms, ye
politicians! an(l the Lone One was registered as one of the vicepresidents of the National Convention at Pittsburg, and one of its
speakers also.  From thence he returned, received a nomination as
one of the electors on the Hale and Julian ticket, and again came
off with honors only; for at the canvass the David and Jonathan




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                  145.-for both were on it —found their names had led the ticket,
although the preacher at Ceresco had stricken them off, because
they were believers in spiritual life, from evidences which he did
not possess. This was the last game, and closed the political
career of the Lone One.  On counting up, he found himself six
by honors and nothing by tricks, and concluded he was not a good
player, and had better abandon the game forever.
"Only in lowly places sleep
Life's flowers of sweet perfume,
And they who climb Fame's mountain steep
Must mourn their own high doom."
But,.... " Fortune at her will bestows
On mortal works the appointed close 
And sometimes have the better men,
Through guile of worse, supplanted been."
Like the father of our country, on one occasion, the Lone One
was now between the two contending armies, and received the
shots and abuse of both; and of course it was a glorious place to
die a political death, and be buried with honors.
SECTION III.
AFFECTIONAL DEVELOPMENT.
We cannot better introduce this section and subject than by the
following beautiful unpublished gem, from the pen of Mrs. F. O.
Hyzer, of Vermont, entitled Love:
" That impulse rising in the soul
Which needeth form or chain
Its warm outgushings to control,
Which reason must restrain,
Lest it should make defrauding claim,
I would not clothe with Love's sweet name.
13




146             LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE,
"' I would not call that Love which could
Be poisoned, marred, or stained;
Which could by any wealth be bought,
By any power be chained;
Which could not take unerring flight,
Guided by its own magnets bright.
6' 0, no, thou pearl-winged dove. go forthli
I'd scorn to check thy flight;
Soar onward wheresoe'er thou wilt,
Where'er thou wilt, alight;
I know thine own God-given powers
Will guide thee to celestial bowers.
6' Go forth in freedom, -seek no guide,
Save that deep pulse within,
Which swelleth like the oceantide,
Where thou hast found thy kin,
Then fill thy cup with bliss divine, -
Thou canst not drink what is not thine.
6' Trust thy attractions, and in turn
Attract whate'er thou wilt;
I know that in thy nature burns
No flame of lust or guilt;
Thou couldst fold up thy wings, and rest
Within the purest angel's breast.
"' When man can make the new-born spring
Withhold her fvragrant breath,
Or the eternal spirit bring
An offering unto death,
Then thy white wing may feel the chain
Which now is forged for thee in vain.
" Go forth! Enraptured I behold
Thee spread thy snowy wing;
So will I love the fragrant dews
Thou e'er dost from it fling.
Go! naught can bind thee, spirit-dove;
Wert thou notfree, thou wert not Love."




LIFE-LINE OF'THE LONE ONE.               147
The unfolding of the affections, in the ripened years of man or
womanhood, is not often the gist of a novel, but it may form a
part of a life-line, and it must certainly have a place in this; but, of
all subjects to talk or write upon, the subject of the affections and
the relation of the sexes is the most delicate and difficult.  This
arises mainly from the fact that few persons have any heart-love,
or pure affection, but in its place have a passional and sexual
love only; and such persons ever judge others by themselves,
measure others by their own. ritheous rule, and of course cannot
appreciate the motives or feelings of those whose souls have been
touched by a living coal from the altar of celestial and pure love.
Much of this is owing to a want of proper respect for woman
as woman, equal with man, both in, and out of, marriage.
When she is properly educated, made more free and equal to
man, she will become far less the object of lust, and more the
companion and associate, and have a greater influence in elevating
and refining the too often polluted and lustful partners, now so
often the tyrants, instead of true husbands and fathers, as they
should be. It was not until the tobacco, pork, and coffee,'had
been turned out of the diet, and the mind had been schooled in
studies of physiology, and moral and mental science, that the
Lone One began to discover his own position and condition, and
the relation he bore to others, both of his household and the
world. A new fountain of feeling burst forth within him, higher,
holier, purer, and more devoted, than he ever felt or knew before.
As it increased in power, it restrained the animal and passional
impulses, and craved food congenial to its own nature, purely
spiritual and affectional. How could the poor'victim of poverty and
disease, child-bearing and hard labor, with whom he had journeyed
long, but whose advantages had been less favorable than his own,
reach this condition as soon as he did, and respond to the demands
of his ardent soul in its new requirements?  Of course she could
not, and did not, and the demand of his soul was, in this higher
department of its nature, responded to by another, far more advanced than himself in the purest and holiest aspirations of the




148            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
soul, and led onward and upward by her. But outwardly she was
far more unhappily situated than himself. Between them ran a
current of written correspondence for several years of as pure language and ideas as were ever expressed in written words; and
never was there a purer, more reserved, chaste, and truly mental
correspondence cari'ied on between two mortals than between
these two. Seldom did they see each other, and when they did
meet their meeting was public, and of the most chaste and
reserved delicacy.  Any other would have disgusted her or
repulsed him.  It has ever been designed by the Lone One to
publish a volume of this correspondence, and it has been preserved
for that purpose; for it contains many gems of pure thought,
and much philosophy of the present and future life, worthy an
extensive reading. The change in him was not understood by the
mate, and of course was attributed to a wrong cause, nor could
he explain it to her; for her time and condition of appreciation
had not yet arrived. Deep and terrible trials were yet awaiting
her, from which, in due time, she was to come as one from great
tribulation, having her robes washed and white in the trials of
martyrs to reform.  I am aware that it will be casting "pearls
before swine " to say much of this holiest subject in all our nature,
in this book, or elsewhere; but it is due to truth and justice in
the narrative to give the causes of the highest and holiest development of the moral, social, and affectional nature in the subject of the narrative, and certainly no one cause contributed so
much as the language and influence of this noble lady.
-Met her when the bridal wreath
Had long been withered from her brow;
When she had learned no love had breathed
In the words of her marriage vow.
Her heart unwon, her hand she gave
To one who knew its value not,Buried beneath a living grave
Love which yet knew no happier lot!"
Unfortunately, as it then seemed,- but fortunately, as it after



LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                149
ward proved,-on one occasion, after this delicate and refined correspondence had continued for years, - every word of which might be
published in connection, with the willing consent of both parties,one of her-letters was opened, through mistake, at his home, in his
absence; and, being left on the desk, by foul means was stolen by
some neighbor before he returned, or ever saw it, and placed in
the hands of a priest of Beelzebub, who copied it to suit his purpose, with as many interpolations as the Gospel of St. John has,
and sent it floating around the country to prove this Infidel, Fourierite, and Spiritualist, was more licentious than himself, when his
own wife had been compelled by his brutal lusts to flee with her
babe to her own paternal home for protection. This furnished
him an ample subject for slander and gossip, and kept the public
inquiry from his own case for a while. It was also a glorious
event for the pettifogging doggery lawyer of Ripon, who had a
suffering victim with marks of his treatment that pointed to the
grave-yard, and in whose power no decent female would be safe,
unless guarded by others.  The garbled copies of the letter
reached, probably, near fifty in number, or perhaps more; but it
was never published, because that would show it was in and of the
most pure and chaste subject, and language. But allusions were
made to it in many slanderous newspaper articles, as started by
the pettifogger and preacher.
The great stories of the preacher, who was prolific in words,
soon led some persons to seek out the female, and discover that
nearly the whole of his stories were lies.  But he was gone - he
had left his sting, and fled, like the wasp.  His church and falsehoods fell with him. This pressure of public prejudice bore hard
on the inside of the little home; for now she feared that her conjectures were true, and that his real and true affections had strayed
from his home. But, 0, how little did she know of him in this
her trial-hour! But when the sunlight burst upon her, as it did
soon after this, 0, what a glorious morn of the purer and holier
day, which has ever since been brightening into its noon! But
the Lone One was not alone in this trial-time; for he had many
13*




150             LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.
true and warm friends, who knew his life and motives were as far
above the licentious rabble as the sun above a glow-worm; and
they obtained, as near as possible, a true copy of the original letter, and easily proved to the candid there was neither improper
nor unchaste language in it. But the circumstance came near
breaking the sensitive heart of the author, whose soul was as sinless as an angel in this and all her acts, and as far above the
brutes who abused her as the angels are above them.
" A whisper woke the air -
A soft, light tone, and low,
Yet barbed with shame and woe;
Now might it only perish there,
Nor further go!
" Ah, me! a quick and eager ear
Caught up the little meaning sound!
Another voice has breathed it clear,
And so it wanders round
From ear to lip, from lip to ear,
Until it reached a gentle heart,
And that - it broke!
It was the only heart it found,
The only heart't was meant to find,
When first its accents woke;
It reached that tender heart at last,
And that  it broke!
" Low as it seemed to other ears,
It came a thunder-crash to hers$      S      S'T is said a lovely humming-bird,
That in a fragrant lily lay,
And dreamed the summer morn away,
Was killed by but a gun's report,
Some idle boy had fired in sport -
The very sound a death-blow came!"
This letter, magnified into scores, and even hundreds, by report,
also formed the basis for magnifying the pure and most valuable




LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.                    151
correspondence he ever carried on with a mortal into& a constant
stream of letters from scores of women, which the vulgar and licentious were now sure he retained over the country, amounting to a
concubinage nearly equal to that of the wise Solomnon.  But the
stories ran till they ran thelmselves out, or broke of their own
weight.  But the correspondence was contitlued for some years
after this, and until its mission to both hearts was completed.'When it ended he was far more pure in soul and heart, and she
not less — (for she could not be more) - than when it begun; and
certainly he was never less, but ever more, attached and devoted
to his home and family, through all this growth and development
of his higher affectional nature.
"''T is bitter to endure the wrong
Which evil hands and tongues commit,
The bold encroachments of the strong,
The shafts of calumny and wit
The scornful bearing of the proud,
The sneers and laughter of the crowd.
" And harder still it is to bear
The censure of the good and wise,
Who, ignolrant of what'you are,
Or branded by the slanderer's lies,
Look coldly on, or pass you by
In silence, with averted eye.
"' But when the friends in whom your trust
Was steadfast as the mlountain rock
Fly, and are scattered as the dust
Before rmisfortune's whirlwind shock,
Nor love remains to cheer your fallThis is more terrible than all!
"' But even this, and these, - ay, more,Can be endured, and hope survive;
The noble spirit still may soar,
Although the body fails to thrive:
Disease and want may wear the frame -
Thank God! the soul is still the same!




152             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.'" Hold up your head, thou man of grief!
No longer to the tempest bend;
For soon or late must come relief
The coldest, darkest night will end.
Hope in the true heart never dies;
Trust on, the day-star yet shall rise!
6' Conscious of purity and worth,
You may with calm assurance wait
The tardy recompense of earth;
And, e'en should justice come too late
To soothe the spirit's homeward flight,
Heaven at last the wrong shall right."
Through this correspondence his soul's highest and holiest affections were cultivated, expanded, and ripened, like the flowers of
June under the glowing sunlight.  His heart grew rich in fragrance and purity, and shed its influence on others; thus rend ring himself still more and more an object of suspicion, jealousy,
and gossip for the wicked and corrupt, who could see no motive
for any man to converse or correspond with females except a
lustful or licentious one, as none other could prompt such acts ire
themselves.  Little did they know how much he pitied their condition, and deplored their depravity.   But they could not be
lifted, except by long years of " prayer and fasting," from their
slavish and brutal conditions.  Therefore he resolved to labor irs
the field where more congenial sunlight shone around the homes;
and for that purpose sought, far and near, the spot to which he
could move his family, and have a society of congenial beings
where his mate could unfold her higher and purer nature, which
was even more elastic than his own, and more depressed than his
had been, but which he knew would soon or late come up to the
surface of life.
In travelling he found many friends, and usually the best of
thlem  among the most refined, and  educated, and  developed
females.  With several of these he carried on, more or less regularly, correspondence, until the accumulation would fill several




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 153
large volumes; much of which, with changes, is still continued.
The present wife of A. J. Davis was among those with whom
he corresponded in her days of trial, and a purer soul than hers
never uttered words through human lips; and she, with many
others who could be named, can bear testimony to the nature and
character of his letters, and they ever will when called upon to do
so. No female voice ever charged him with wrong act or motive
to herself, or in her own knowledge; for all the slanders were
inverted mirage, groundless, without facts, and mainly rested on
the fatal letter. No suit, civil or criminal, was ever commenced
against him on earth or in heaven, neither here nor in the hereafter. lHe had more and warmer friends, and more bitter enemies,
than any one in the state; and there was a reason for it, and that
reason lay in his own nature and capacities of soul. When the
" Uncle Tom's Cabin " for married women shall be written, as it
surely will, the readers will find the Lone One was among the
number whose sympathies, at least, were ever with the sufferers,
and not for selfish but for beneficent purposes, as many already
know; for many a sad heart can say, with one of his correspondents:
"I had labored to make my garden fair,
But the river of love was not flowing there,
And the flowers I tilled had a poisonous breath,
That fell on my heart like the dews of death;
Still hope would toil on, o'er the deep lines of care,
And the sadness so mournfully resting there
Told plainly I struggled to conquer despair."
The political and associational history both close in this fourth
decade; but the social, the affectional, and the one yet to be taken
up, the spiritual, all run into the next, and no doubt far beyond
this volume into the future, to " no one knows where," but surely
to the hereafter.  Up to the January of'53, where this chapter
must end, the light of a glorious development of soul in its highest affections had not burst in tupon the mate of the Lone One;




154             LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.
but, like the ice under March winds and suns, the crust was beginning to soften, and air-holes for the pent-up soul to breathe were
occasional, and plainly his rejoicing soul saw the signs of its
approaching summer-time.  ]For well he knew  the hardest ice
must yield to spring, and the darkest cloud pass over.
"0, who the exquisite delights can tell,
The joy which mutual confidence imparts?
Or who can paint the joy unspeakable
Which links in tender bands two faithful hearts? 9
"The shaken tree grows faster at the root;
And love grows firmer for some blasts of doubt."
How few, very few, know, or rather feel, the true, and holy,
and pure affection for each other in married life that really
belongs to the conjugal condition of the soul!  Most married parties live only domestically and sexually together, but affectionally
are utter strangers. Nor, indeed, call any person live in, or enjoy,
the holy and noble affection of which his nature is capable, while
love is merely sexual.  Persons who do not love each other without the relation which marriage places them in to each other can
never do it in such relation.  Most persons who have reached
the plane of spiritual development are happy in any relation of
life, provided they are not made the victims of lust, or the slaves
of brutal partners, who tyrannize over them and whose love is
only lust or ambition.
" I have commingled with the throng,
In the wide world's ceaseless strife;
Have listened to the endless song
That marks the onward course of life;
Have heard the earnest words they spoke,
And conned their hidden object o'er,
Till on my mind the light has broke,'This it is, and nothing more.''"
"No man caring for his brother,
Struggling after this world's pelf,




LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.                    155
Each one trampling down the other,
Each one striving for himself.
gC Ay, I have stood within the hall
Where beauty's triumphs are achieved,
Saw but two parties midst them all,
And both deceiving and deceived;
Have heard of Love's thrice-woven bond,
And vows repeated o'er and o'er;
But, searching for the light beyond,
I This it is, and nothing more:'
Each betraying one another,
In the object they pursue;
Each one caring for the other
As it pleased them so to do.
"And if I sometimes stood apart
From the thronging multitude,
And felt how welcome to my heart
Were a lonely solitude;
Asked my soul why this suggestion,
And eager conned it o'er and o'er,
Found but one answer to my question,' This it is, and nothing more:'
Each is some one else deceiving,
In the world's tumultuous strife,
Those the greatest share achieving
Who make deceit the aim of life;
Each betraying one another,
Be the object love or pelf;
No one caring for the other,
Each one striving for himself."
There were some pure, true, honest, and warm hearts in the
valley of Ceresco, who ever shielded and sustained the sensitive
spirit of the Lone One; and there were also other " vile, unhallowed ones," and it was not difficult to sort them by any rule,
either by actions or mode of living, or by phrenological laws;
for all these agreed, and told very much the same story.  But a
dark cloud was hanging over the place in'52 and'53, with




156            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
drenching rain and beating hail; and the Lone One had already
begun to seek other shelter, but had not found it, for the tender
family still under his care. His government over his children
had entirely changed; for now his authority was given only in
love, and the often harsh and sometimes severe authority which
the eldest had felt was now mild and pleasant, though strong
and firm; and the elder boy, whose mind was now unfolded to
an appreciation of these things, saw, and felt, and wondered at
the change, but knew not the cause, yet knew well the effect.
This eldest son was born September 1, 1837, and the youngest
and last child God sent to the family on the second of February,
1848.  Some old lady asked, one day, how they knew this was
the last God would send; and they informed her that he left a
note to that effect in the basket with the babe, when he brought
it. Eleven years of such experience as this couple had, with five
babies mixed in with poverty, disease, and misery, and the death
of two of them, is plenty of that kind of experience, especially
when a reform in the father would require him to coiperate with
the mother in trying to eradicate the effects of the tobacco, coffee,
and pork, firom the nervous children, who must have inherited it,
as all children do, more or less, in such cases, -causing in them
restless, irritable, and nervous dispositions and habits.  Well he
knew he had a work to do, and faithfully began the work of renovation in the children, both physical and mental regeneration
and reformation.
It must be borne in mind that while these events were passing
in the last half of this decade, that the political line was running
its race, and the important business of the Phalanx was also on
his mind, and the Union Store, and his private affairs of business;
and yet, as the diary showeth, the social and affectional development at this time, for himself and family, was the most important,
and pressed most heavily on his mind and heart, and in the end
brought the most rewardl; indeed, more than all other, except the
line we have not yet taken up.  In'50 the Lone One came very
near forming a copartnership with his old friend, the senator, and




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                157
starting, or purchasing, a paper at the county seat, and going,
then and there, into new business. The friend had long been an
editor, and was a printer by profession; and the Lone One was
now quite an extensive writer, and for several varieties of papers,
and found his letters read with much interest, as they ever have
been since.  He felt much the need of a classical education.  It
was well for him that the scheme failed in its incipiency, for a far
more important mission awaited his development for its reception
and demands.
The diary of the year 1850 showeth that the Lone One was
President of the Annual Session of the National Industrial Congress, holden for that year at Chicago, in June; and that he made
speeches there, and elsewhere, in which he, as he ever had,
defended the rights of females to all and equal privileges with males.
All these were only signs, to the conservative and lustful minds,
of his licentiousness. But the greatest of all opposition came from
his old and never-forgiving religious enemies, who were determined, at whatever cost of falsehood or slander, to destroy his
influence, and they labored unceasingly to accomplish it; but in
vain, as the sequel shows.
Sunday, June 14, 1850, the journal notices a lecture of his on
woman's rights, before the Excelsior Church, in Southport; and
others, on this and kindred subjects, in other places, all showing
an affectional tendency and development.  The mental capacity
had now become so strong that it needed constant employment;
and subjects were handled by himn with skill and power, both by
speech and pen.  His manhood was fast unfolding itself.  Westward from the valley home, about one mile, was a high and perpendicular limestone cliff, overlooking a large meadow, the lake, and
much country below and beyond. On this cliff many Sabbaths,
and some other days, were spent by the Lone One. It was often,
and for years, the retreat and resort for reading and writing; and
many a pencil-note was made on that beautiful and romantic
retreat.  It was not only the favorite retreat of the Lone One,
but of many others.  Skirted by a few shade-trees, which served
14




158             LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.
as a border to the prairie on one side, and towering above the
tops of the trees on the other. Several times the Lone One has
spent the stormy hours under the cliff, in spiritual development,
or deep meditation; and many a sunny hour on the top, under
shade of oak or linden.  He courted solitude (but never married
her), when business would admit, and found her balmy shadow
and cooling shade refreshing to his soul.
"Enthusiast! dreamer! such the names
Thine age bestows on thee,
For that great nature, going forth
In world-wide sympathy:
For the vision clear, the spirit brave,
The honest heart and warm,
And the voice which swells the battle-cry
For freedom and reform.
"Yet for thy fearless manliness,
When weak time-servers throng, -
Thy chivalrous defence of right,
Thy bold rebuke of wrong,
And for the flame of liberty,
Heaven-kindled in thy breast,
Which thou hast fed like sacred fire,A blessing on thee rest!
"Tis said thy spirit knoweth not
Its times of calm and sleeping;
That ever are its restless thoughts
Like wild waves onward leaping.
Then may its flashing waters
Be tranquil nevermore, -
They are troubled by an angel,
Like the sacred pool of yore."
The subject of marriage he talked, wrote, and lectured upon,
boldly and fearlessly speaking his mind on the subject, as if it was
not too sacred for criticism.  But this alarmed several classes of
persons.  First, and most, those who had victims of tyranny and
lust, to whom they dared not have any rights or liberties extended,




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                159
because they could not make the victims of their cruelty love them;
and if they lost legal control over their persons, they would rebel
against the constant child-bearing and never-ceasing abuse of their
bodies and souls. The second, and perhaps still more alarmed,
but not as rabid, opponents to any reform  in this department,
were the religious bigots.  But the Lone One contended that
marriage should either be a civil contract or a religious rite, and
in either case come under the general law of the department to
which it belonged, and in no case give exclusive, or special, or
superior rights to' one party. That, if the husband owned the
estate at the death of a wife, the wife should own it at the death
of a husband.  That, if the property of a wife was carried to a
husband by the marriage, the husband's should follow the same
law, and they should be joint and equal owners of all property and
children while married, and both equitably divided at parting;
and that, if either had superior right to children, it should be the
wife and mother.  That all contracts of this nature, entered into
by mutual consent and agreement, should be subject to the power
that created them; and of course they should have power to dissolve the contract, in the same manner they formed it, mutually,
and by public record.  Of course, these radical sentiments, the
right of men and women to separate what God had joined in wedlock, and what he could only separate by death, alarmed the
classes above named; and the anathemas of the religious, and the
vulgar ribald trash of the pettifogger, and his rowdy legion, both
fell, thick and fast, on the Lone One. He was branded, and stigmatized, and identified with every person, writer, or speaker, of
offensive and obscene words or books; and heralded from " Dan to
Beersheba" as an enemy to marriage, and all sacred institutions,
by those whose hearts, if not homes, were full of " yellow-covered
literature." But the Lone One knew the cost of defending such
reforms, and took the job at the price, conscious of justice at the
end of life, if not before.  Well he knew there would be a day
of judgment, and that God and pure spirit.s were both free, and
both happy; so he should find himself in their mansion when this




160              LIFE-LINE  OF THE  LONE  ONE.
life was over, and the defenders of lust, and scorn, and envy, and
jealousy, and those who took delight in them, would be bound in
the hells of their own creation, with the effects of their own sins
on themselves, for " their works do follow them.''
"There are flowers that ne'er shall wither,
Blossoms that shall ne'er decay:
They are found beyond this planet,
In the realms of endless day.
If you fain would taste these flowers,
Blooming in immortal bowers -
Bear the Cross.
" There are hopes that never crumble -
Lustrous hopes that ne'er shall die -
Hopes that bud upon this fair earth,
But which ripen'yoncl the sky.
If these hopes, that ne'er shall perish,
You desire to have and cherish
Bear the Cross.
"There are friends who live forever -
Friends whom Death hath sent before
Through the dark and silent valley,
To a far sublimer shore.
Would ye have these friends forever
By your side, and leave them never —
Bear the Cross.' There are never-dying pleasures -
Pleasures sweet and holier far
Than the bodiless enjoyments
Which around about us are.
Do you wish to find these pleasures,
These celestial, priceless treasures -
Bear the Cross.
"There are bright and fadeless beauties,
Constellated by God's hand,
Where the gentle waves of music
Flood with melody a land.




LIFE-LINE OF TIHE LONE ONE.                 161
If you fain would see these beauties,
Never trifle with life's duties -
Bear the Cross.
"There are never-clouded glories -
Glories robed in holy awe;
There are splendors that are grander
Than this world of ours e'er saw.
Would you, when your life-ties sever
Gaze upon these glories ever -
Bear the Cross.
~" There's a life which ne'er shall slumber
There are blisses blent with love;
And, if you be ever faithful,
You'11 experience them above,
Where, when cometh Death's to-morrow,
You shall, purged of every sorrow,
Wear a Crown."
But there dawned to his heart a millennial day earlier, but not
more surely, than to his mate.  Several years after his emancipation, she, too, was free from "' custom's heartless forms," and from
the scorn-storm of jealousy, prejudice, and envy, and they met and
lived on that plane of mutual love, mutual confidence, mutual
purity, and mutual interest. Then, and only then, did life become
worth the cost. Through all the previous years, they had been
tenants, living in leased hearts, which were often full of vice and
evil, from the hell of theology, or the sleet-showers of scorn, or the
dazzling bewilderment of popularity and pride. But now the honime
was in their own affections, and they met congenial and equally
developed souls; and with such the seasons of enjoyment were of
the holiest, and purest, and most heavenly of earth.
But this was a fearful condition to attain; for whosoever has a
soul developed to that condition that he or she is lovable, and
beloved by the pure and good of earth and heaven, is sure to be
ranked as a fiend of hell, and holy writ and doggery-slang will
both be quoted to prove it.  Whoever attains to a condition even
approaching the love of Jesus, so far as to draw and attract others
14'




162            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
who need to be saved from lust and pollution, from slavery and
tyranny, from degradation and defilement, is sure to have his or her
reputation crucified in the market-places daily, and to be scourged
with the basest tongues of slander that a self-styled Christian land
can furnish.  When his affections were expanded, and his soul
developed to the sphere of harmony, and the angels came to minister to him, and those of earth nearest in condition to the angels
were drawn to him, and became his friends and confidants- then
was the time when every effort was put forth by the wicked to
induce her who had struggled with him through the dark trials of
physical suffering to desert him. Every effort of the pious, and
polluted, neighbors combined to persuade her that he had abandoned
her and was full of lust, as they really were themselves; but they
did not persuade, and their oft-renewed and extraordinary efforts
tended, more than any one cause, to open her eyes. Slowly, but
gradually, they opened, and she saw first the condition and objects of
those around her; then her own condition; and then the light shone
plainly on his - and, O! what an earthly morning! equalled only
by the glory of an entrance into the other sphere! Love supreme,
heavenly, pure, such as' her heart had never known before, filled'
her whole being, till, like a ruby cup, it overflowed, and filled her
soul with joy and gladness immeasurable, unspeakable, and the
boundless ocean has been flowing through her being ever since.
But what now?  Why, she drew around her, like the magnet, the
objects attracted by her pure heart, and the pure loved her everywhere, as they did the Lone One; and the vile cast her off,
spewed her out as the whale did Jonah, as related in the fable;
but, like him, she landed safely on dry land, and the angels of both
spheres came and ministered to her wants. She - they - found
the good Samaritans; and when the slanders were coming hottest
and heaviest, there was not a family in the state, of which one or
all were members of a church, that was as happy, as harmonious,
as affectionate, as devoted, as the family of the Lone One; nor is
there "to this day," and when any Christian will present such a
family we will engage to seek religion in that direction. Her over



LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.                   163
flowing soul drinks now from a source of joy and love, which affords
her more happiness in one day than all the world ever afforded her
before in years; and the two, with the three beloved and loving
children, make a five-stranded chord to lash the liars round the
world, and would do it effectually did they not take shelter in
the churches, where lying for the glory of the church is a protected virtue. H-e is no more a Lone One; for his own home is the
happy home, and his family a unit (and it was never less so than
most other families, especially Christian families), and he is loved
and beloved, as a brother, by thousands in both worlds, because
his own love-nature is ripened and developed to its manhood, and
has been touched by a coal from the living fire of the altar of God,
which is the throne of Love.
"Ah! shouldst thou live but once Love's sweets to prove,
Thou wilt not love to live, unless thou live to love!"
SECTION IV.
THE CHANGE OF BELIEF. -  SPIRITUALISM. -- MEDIUMSHIP. -'- TIWNED
PREACIER.
"Imbued with the sera~phic fire,
To wake the music of the lyre —
To love, to know, ancl to aspire: —
c Thou seest, in thy truthful dream,
All nature robed in light supreme,
And wouldst carol in the beam.
C; Happy- yet most unhappy still -
I dread to think what good and ill,
What joy and grief, thy heart shall fill!
"Think, ere thou choose such high career,
If thou hast strength to persevere,
And scale the summit, cold and clear.
C Great shall thy pleasure be, -thy soul
Shall chant with planets as they roll,
Made one with nature, part and whole.




164              LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE  ONE.
All shall be given to feed thy mind
With love and pity for thy kind,
And every sympathy refined.
"Thy words shall fill the mouths of men;
The written lightnings of thy pen
Shall flash upon their wandering ken.
"Reflect and weigh the loss and gain;
All joy is counterpoised by pain,
And nothing charms which we attain.
"Who loves the music of the spheres,
And lives on earth, must close his ears
To many voices which he hears.
"'T is evermore the finest sense
That feels the anguish most intense
At daily outrage, gross and dense,
"The greater joy, the keener grief;
Of nature's balances the chief
She grants nor favor, nor relief.
"And vain, most vain, is youthful trust,
For men are evermore unjust
To their superior fellow-dust;
"And ever turn malicious eyes
On those whom most they idolize,
And break their hearts with calumnies,
"Their slanders, like the tempest-stroke,
May leave the cowslip-stem unbroke,
But rend the branches of the oak.
"If genius live,'t is made a slave;
And if it die, the true and brave,
Men pluck its heart out on its grave;'And then dissect it for the throng,
And say,'T was this, so weak, or strong,
That poured such living strains of song.
"Each fault of genius is a crime,
For cant or folly to beslime,
Sent drifting on the stream of time.




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                165
"C May all good angels keep thy heart
Pure to itself, and to thine art,
And shield it from the poison dart!"And when thou sittest on the height,
Thy life may be its own delight,
And cheer thee, in the world's despite  
As has been before mentioned, the Lone One began in the winter
of'43 and'44 to experimentally investigate the subject of Mesmerism. With a steady, but sure, march he progressed, as opportunity
offered, for several years, to both study and experiment with this
science, until the doubts which hung over the phenomenon of
death and the existence beyond were all clearly and fully settled.
The first point of importance, fully and positively established both
by experiment and testimony, was the existence of a faculty of
seeing without the use of bodily eyes, and unobstructed by distance
or intervening objects.  The origin and seat of this faculty was a
subject of much speculation to one who did not admit the existence of a spiritual body, with faculties of its own, and powers of
seeing independent of the bodily organs; and finally compelled, with
other evidences, the admission of an existence independent of
physical or corporeal senses.  But the utterly absurd idea of an
immaterial existence, or of a being without form and locality, was
never for a moment tolerated, however much dogmatical theology
might assert or assume on the subject. When this point was fully
gained, and the seeing faculty of clairvoyants had been established,
and the laws which regulate it were sufficiently understood to enable
him to know when it was reliable, then opened another arcana of
" divine revelation." This sense, without the body as a medium
(except to express it to others), and the others which were found
to be equally acute and extended, and equally certain of existence,
declared that and proved they could reach and realize the presence
and existence of spirits who were really the very persons who once
walked and talked with us, but whose bodies had been cast off forever, and whose conscious existence the Lone One ever had
believed to end with death. Theology had taught him that this




166            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
was the only material life, and that all beyond was immaterial;
and he had therefore replied, It is immaterial what you teach, and
immateriality and nothing are to me and philosophy synonymous
terms.
But now, with new evidence, came a new theory also, and the
spirits themselves declared that they were as really material as
they were when they had earthly bodies, or bodies composed of
the solids and liquids of earth, but that their present bodies were
constituted of elemental matter, in as great variety as those of
earth were; and that these bodies, invisible and intangible to our
bodies, because composed of such substances as were too rare for
our sense, were to them as capable of expression for all emotional
and passional life, and conscious existence, as those they had
left. But here, again, came in the absurdities of theology, and they
asked, What and where is God, Jesus, Heaven, the Judgment,
Hell, and the King-Devil, &c.?   and the reply came back from
these spirits, as it camne back from mortals on the earth, We know
nothing of these things, but we believe, &c.; making as great a
variety of opinion in that condition of life as in this, and just as
little knowledge.  Now the glorious truth of the other life began
to gleam upon the mind of the Lone One; first in the fitful glare
of lightning's flash, or gentler lume of boreal light, until, at last,
through all the faculties of his being the full glory of a real
and natural spiritual sphere shone as brilliantly as a meridian
sun through unclouded sky, and quickened all his powers into
action, as the April sun does the sleeping vegetation.  Here you
read also one of the principal causes of the reformation in his
diet and regimen, in life and affections, as related in preceding
sections. The long-dormant energies of the soul, that felt this
life a failure, and saw none beyond, - that felt mortality to be a
" wheel of pain, at best,"- now had opened the volume of another
life, or a continuation of this, where those who labor here shall
see and feel their just reward.  Now his energies were ready for
action.  First, the Phalanx was the result of this awakened energy.
Then political efforts at reform, emancipation, and universal free



LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                167
dom and happiness; then commercial release of the masses from
the bondage and slavery to monopolies. Then social and affectional
freedom, and development to universal love and harmony.  Then,
and finally, spiritual freedom, growth, development, and illumination.  The preacher, the reformer.  In the winter of'45-6, the
experiments of a company of investigators, in Cincinnati, with
one or more clairvoyants, were closely followed by the Lone One
and several others at the Phalanx-home, and they were also
deeply interested in all they could learn of the wonderful powers
of A. J. Davis, in New York and elsewhere. They learned, by
occasional newspaper reports, of his delivering a series of lectures
in a clairvoyant state, which were said to be rare and very remarkable productions, but not fraught with marvellous stories, for such
to the Lone One would have ended all interest in them. But
these were said to be natural, or nature's revelations; and hence
he became intensely interested in them, and with much impatience
watched every week for a notice of the book, and no sooner
received news of its publication than one dozen copies were
ordered by express to Milwaukie, the end of the express line, by
the secretary of the Phalanx, and most of them were read and
re-read, lent and borrowed, sold and re-sold, until many minds were
fed by these new truths, who could get no food from what Christians
call God's revelations.  The Lone One had now a firmer and more
substantial basis for his lectures and strictures than ever before,
and he boldly took up the defence of this book, - of its philosophy,
in the main, and the truly divine manner of its revelations, - and
with his senator-friend, who was also up to the time in the philosophy. He ever had one or more copies with him at the capitol, to
call out remarks and ridicule, and give him a chance to defend it,
and compare it with Moses' revelation, &c. Although there were
some theories and principles in this volume that he did not accept,
and never has, yet the candor of the author, or authors, and the
honest, unassuming style of the seer, gave the whole an irresistible recommendation to the mind of the Lone One. The vast
amount of truth, with the natural, and ratonal, general systems of




168             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
creation, of life, and of progression, and of harmony, was to his
soul like a shower of rain to a parched and thirsting soil. He
drank, and was filled.  He spoke, and was heard.  He recommended, and some read. But the author, A. J. D., became an
object of great interest to the Lone One, and ever after he was
among the first to read whatever bore his name, and to watch
with intense interest every change in his eventful life. Some
years after, he became a personal and intimate friend and colaborer in the field, scattering seed for the harvest-time. Sowing in
corruption, to reap in incorruption. Sowing in the body, to reap
in the spirit. Sowing in mortality, to reap in immortality. From'46 to'53 the Lone One was only occasionally heard, by lecture
or by newspaper article, to defend the existence of spirits in our
midst, with capacities to reach us with intelligence occasionally,
as conditions would admit. HIis own mind being fully satisfied, he
sometimes spoke or wrote. Chosen by a society of spirit-teachers,
they had him under discipline and influence unbeknown to himself,
of which the change of diet was a part, and the true development
of the affections and loves was an essential qualification; and
some years after their work on him had commenced, they related
to him all they had been doing, and its objects, and then he discovered the cause of his abandoning every field of labor where
worldly honor and distinction was before him, and success almost
certain, and the reason why he had let every opportunity to
acquire wealth escape him, even when he knew it was within his
reach by honorable means. Now he saw why he must be poor
and full of human love; for such must preach the true gospel of our
age, as such did in the days of Jesus. It was necessary that Jesus
should have nowhere to lay his head; and so it was of his disciples who went out to preach; and nearly so must it be with those
who will, in our day, reach the hearts of the people, and kindle
in them the living fire of love to God, by its expression to our
fellow-beings.  The pen-tracks of the Lone One can be found conveying his sentiments in the Boston Investigator, the Phalanx,
the Harbinger, the Univerccelum, the Spirit of the Age, the




LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.                   169
Young America, the Landmark, the Spirit Messenger, to the
Spiritual Telegraph, and for some distance into its pages, and
later in both eastern and western papers, with many local articles
in local papers of the state in which he resided at the time.  The
Patent Office published from his pen, and the Crystal Palace,
with its world's show-cases, registered him as one of the commissioners from a far-west state; but still, in all this, he was the
Lone One, and the same orphaned and despised being, who fled
from tyranny, and slept on the ground made warm by the bodies
of cattle, with a guardian  spirit-mother only for a friend and
companion-she with little power, and much desire, to aid him.
But now he had felt the touch of angel-hands upon his inner and
outer being, and could read the past and present, and catch gleams
of the future; and to his mother he would truly say:
6 I know thy form is ever hovering
In this gloom around me spread;
And I feel thy holy influence
In the daily path I tread.
Thine's the step so soft and mournful
Coming on each golden beam;
Thine's the hand that gently pencils
Holy visions in my dream.
"s Oft in low and soothing whispers,
When my soul with grief is riven,
Thou hast brought me golden beauties
Of thy far-off home in heaven.
This that stills the throbbing, burning
Of this weary, aching heart,
And unseals the crystal fountain
Whence the soothing tear-drops start.
"Through the vale of gloomy shadows,
Be thou, loved one, ever nigh,
And in thy low sweet accents tell me
Of thy home in yon blue sky!
Pure, bright thoughts like dew-drops bring me,
Shadowings of that land so fair!
That I may come, O! ask our Father
Where thou, and love, and angels are! "
15




170           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
The diary of the Lone One for the year 1850 closes by saying,
that during the year he had made many experiments, and examined carefully and critically the spirit-rapping and table-tipping
phenomena, and become satisfied they were often caused by spirits,
but very imperfect modes of conveyance for intelligence from the
spirit-sphere to ours, with a fair prospect to become better and
more reliable.  The diaries of'50,'51,'52, also record lectures,
at different places, on Phrenology, Physiology, Geology, Temperance, Land Reform, and other subjects. But never for pay, or as a
business, until the autumn of'52, when most other business was dispensed with, and the dispensation of the new gospel absorbed his
time, and he entered the field as a lecturer, mainly on spirit life
and intercourse, and the philosophy of that life and our intercourse
with it.
The life and business at this time, at home, was very much
broken and distracted, for many reasons, most of which can be
collected in this narrative.  And now the ties to both home and
business could, perhaps, for the first time in life, allow the Lone
One to start on a pilgrimage to defend the most odious and unpopular doctrine of the day, and to meet and bear the abuse and
scorn of the pulpit, the press, the bar-room, and the rabble, with
all their bloated, or bombastic, or swaggering advocates. Every species'of crime, including religious tyranny, was out on this
new doctrine; and they did succeed in driving many timid hearts
back to the shelter of public opinion, which could and did cover
the most corrupt as well as many good and true hearts. But the
Lone One owed nothing to public opinion.  It had abused him
in childhood as badly as it could, and had never ceased its abuse
of him, although he had fully and plainly proved that he could
control it, if he desired, and have its adulation and applause, if
he would but fall down and worship.  Nothing else was required
of him; yet his soul could never "stoop to conquer," nor would it
ever bow down to the image which any tyrant could set up.
Boldly, fearlessly, he took his staff and travelled on, lecturing and
to lecture, picking up here and there a few dimes, about equal to




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 17].
his expenses in amount, as the voluntary contributions of hearers
or friends. Never disheartened or discouraged, for he had a sure
promise of reward in the life to come for all the good he could do
in the life already come. The philosophy of materiality and immortality, which he taught, rendered him and his doctrines very
obnoxious to the orthodox defenders of the faith; and they usually
opposed his meetings, and used every effort to prevent the people
from listening to the words of this infidel preacher.  The " houses
of God " were almost as effectually shut against him as they were
against Jesus and John when they went out to preach. I am
aware that some persons, who have been accustomed to idolizing
Jesus, will be shocked at our comparisons; but we are unable to see
any impropriety in it; for there were some marked correspondences
between the two, especially in the heresies and blasphemies they
both taught, and in the reception of their teachings by the people
and the priests, and also in the genealogy, both being rather imperfect beyond the mother; and, were we disposed to record the
feats of healing, we might make a feeble correspondence there
also. But these are of no account to us or to the Lone One, and
only inserted to moderate the superstition, rather than to connect
the Lone One by comparison to any distinguished personage of
past or present time. The voices'of his guardians were ever urging him on in his mission.
"Be firm, be bold, be strong, be true,
And dare to stand alone;
Strive for the right, whate'er you do,
Though helpers there are none.' Nay, bend not to the swelling surge
Of public sneer and wrong;'T will bear thee on to ruin's verge,
With current wild and strong.
"Stand for the right! Though falsehood rail,
And proud lips coldly sneer,
A poisoned arrow cannot wound
A conscience pure and clear.




172            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
" Stand for the right! and with clean hands
Exalt the truth on high;
Thou'lt find warm, sympathizing hearts
Among the passers by;
"Men who have seen, and thought, and felt,
Yet could not boldly dare
The-battle's brunt, but by thy side
Will every danger share.
"Stand for the right! Proclaim it loud!
Thou'it find an answering tone
In honest hearts, and thou'lt no more
Be doomed to stand alone."
Along the pathway of this development might be noticed maiy
incidents of interest to the searcher after evidences of spirit-life;
but it would be out of the line of our narrative to use up many
pages for that purpose. But it must be borne in mind that the
Lone One was originally, educationally, and reputationally, the
most sceptical of all sceptics. Having no faith in immortality, he
was not seeking for proof of the negative, but for evidence of the
positive side of the question. He had become fully satisfied that
the Christians could furnish no facts and no evidence for a reasoning, metaphysical, and scientific mind; that their authority-evidence was not admissible as evidence at all; that their theory was
only theory, and a belief in it was no evidence of its truth. For
well he knew that belief and doubt were twin-sisters, and never
could be separated; and that theory, without demonstration, could
never claim more than belief-never knowledge. The very theory
of another life, immaterial, and, of course, for that reason, if no
other, beyond the power of manifestation, precluded the possibility
of demonstration. He had, therefore, long since given up all hope
of evidence from  that source.  Nor did he begin the search in
mesmerism for the purpose of proving, or with the view or expectation to prove, the existence of spirits.  He rather supposed it
would more effectually confirm his unbelief. Step after step, he
was led by facts, which are stubborn obstacles to a false theory,




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                173
and strike hard as Ajax's rocks in an enemy's ranks.  He had
become fully satisfied and boldly defended the other life, and its
intercourse with this through the systems which were suscepti.
ble to clairvoyant condition, before the alarm was sounded in the
Christian tents at Hydeville and Rochester, by the raps of the
then pious Fox family. He was not surprised, but overjoyed, when
he became satisfied that the spirit-friends had found more ways of
communicating to us a knowledge of their existence and presence;
and he was not much surprised to find the churches and their
preachers on the negative side, and opposing every form of demonstration that could prove continued existence; for he had long accused them of teaching their doctrines as a trade, and for a business,
and not from a belief. And now he saw they were about to prove
it so by opposing the only real and reliable evidence we can have
of the continued existence of our friends after the body is cast off.
Neither was he surprised when he saw the course they took after
being compelled to admit the occurrence of the phenomena, and
the intelligence exhibited in them. A theory which teaches that
all invisible agencies around us that exhibit intelligence are from
one of two sources, God or Devil, would, of course, attribute these
to one or the other; and the God or Devil origin of each intelligent
communication would, of course, be determined by its agreement
with the theory of the judge who had a theory or doctrine as an
infallible standard of truth. To the Catholic, if it defended Protestantism as superior to his church, of course it would be the
Devil; to the Calvinist, if it sustained Unitarianism as superior
to his creed, of course it would be the Devil; to the Methodist,
if it upheld Universalism as superior to his doctrine, of course it
would be the Devil; to the Universalist, if it denied the sacredness of the Bible, and the value of his preaching, it could not be
attributed to the Devil, for this church is beyond the Devil-theory, and furnishes the singular phenomenon of a church without a
Devil, of which I think many of them have seen the need in these
trying times, with this most potent heresy. They are compelled
to attribute it to electricity, to od-force, to deception, to anything
15*




174           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
but spirits. Not that; for, if that be the source of this intelligence,
then we shall soon have a new set of preachers, and the old ones,
who we supposed were above and out of our way, will be in the
field again competing with the new. But to the infidel, who had
no Devil or God playing with us by fallible intelligence, these
phenomena became generally highly interesting, and brought to
thousands of such minds the first ray of light fi'om the hereafter,
and the first point of evidence of continued existence.
Sooni after the shout, and laugh, and ribald jest, of witling and
clown, had gone over the country with the " Rochester Knockings "
for a bait, the Lone One and a few eager souls formed a circle,
and met weekly or oftener for more than six months, without a
rap or signal of any kind from invisible spirits; and the Christians said, i" Fools! you might know better! " But they retorted,
" Fools! what do you go weekly for years to the church for, and
never find God, nor any signs that there is a God, except those
the infidel has in common with you, in nature?"  After six
months of perseverance, a new member of the circle was added as
a visitor, casually, in the person of a young lady, a member of a
Presbyterian church; when the raps came with her, and, for a few
weeks, they were delighted by brief and imperfect messages from
their spirit-friends. All over the clothes, and even on the hair of
the Lone One, could be heard the tiny raps of the two little, overjoyed boys, whose bodies he had left in sorrow under the appletree; and soon, in stronger magnetic sound, came the glad beats
of his mother, eager to make herself known by the new mode of
communicating; for she had already done it by clairvoyance.
This medium was soon frightened out of her mediumship, or the
use of it, by her religious superiors, who said it was the Devil,
although she had the most incontrovertible evidence that her
mother communicated to her, both when alone and in circles. But
they told her it was surely the Devil pretending to be her mother,
and getting the facts and knowledge from her mind, &c.'" Poor,
ignorant souls! " said the Lone One; "if you who are safely
locked in the church, and faithful to every command of her and




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 175
God, are not protected and safe against the Devil without a priest
to guide you, then your religion is worthless, and mine is better;
for the Devil cannot, and does not, affect or disturb me.' "-    But
you are his child," they replied. — " Then I Amust serve my father.
And now let us compare lines.  Bring out some son of a priest,
born forty years ago; run his Life-Line along by the side of mine;
and let us see how one of God's sons would compare with one
of the Devil's." -  0, horrible blasphemy   I do wish he had
left this abuse of the churches out of this book  " says the pious
reader.  But, reader, it is only harsh to those who have idols.
The mother can bear to have you point out the faults and defects
of her neighbor's children, but not those of her own.  Only the
virtues of them must be named to her.  If we overlook the errors,
how shall we ever correct them? We have not attempted to screen
the Lone One from the blame that justly belonged to him.  We
have only given him what belonged to him, - the credit of honesty in belief and motive; and these ever prompted him, as any
one might know from the fact that his belief, boldly defended, was
always the unpopular one.  One of the members of the sixmonths' circle before referred to - an erratic, disordered, and
eccentric Scotchman, with domestic troubles and social inharmony
became insane soon after, and, claiming to be controlled by
God, or Lambie, or the Devil, or all three, and more, cut up
strange, but usually harmless, capers about the village, until some
frightened and threatened citizens took him, chained, to jail, and
then the horrors of spiritualism were exposed.  Insanity was its
effect, and one victim was already before the public, and was a
sure sign that thousands would follow.  It was in vain that its
defenders pointed out other causes; no others would be received.
It was in vain they showed the hundreds of victims of religious
revivals; these had plenty of causes besides religion.  But this,
and one or two they heard of in some unknown place, made it
sure this delusion was of the Devil.  Now, more than ever, the
Lone One saw the necessity for bold and strong hearts to step into
the field, and defend the cause of truth, and the best facts the




176            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONEo
world had ever discovered of another life, against the prejudice
and crushing power of the churches, which seemed as determined
to kill it out in its infancy as Herod and the priests were to kill
Jesus in his infancy. The friends, warned in a dream, seized the
young child, and fled into the Egypt of scepticism and Infidelity
(I use the term Infidel here in the sense the Christians do, - unbelievers in their doctrines), and there nursed it; and it grew, in
spite of the Buffalo doctors, who were employed by the priest to
strangle it.
Next, Charles Beecher was employed to christen it with hot
water, or "' hell-fire," that it might die; but it was miraculously
preserved against this also, as it was against the poison emetics
of the doctors.  Next, the speculators came, and offered great
prices for it as a slave to hunt up treasures, thieves, town-sites,
and corner-lots; but it could not be bought, and they cursed it,
and said it would not pay; it was worthless, a nuisance, and
ought to be killed; and they engaged the services of a Dr. Richmond, of Ohio, and a sceptic - Rogers - of Boston; and they
both shot at it, but their guns kicked them both over; and when
they had recovered, like the Irishman, they saw the game laugh.
ing at them, and discovered that they had the wrong end of the
gun. Only one course seemed to be left to rid the country of
this terrible enemy to sanity and religion, and that was, to get
some president of a college to issue a "1mandamus;" and they
found a ready tool in a Mahan, who was willing to take the
chances; and he filled up the instrument, but made a fatal mistake in the names, and sent his own religion to prison, and
"damned" himself' to everlasting fame."  His college started
down a decline, and he went up " Salt River " soon after, and has
not been heard from since, except by those who have correspondence with that country. Several other distinguished citizens injured themselves permanently or temporarily by throwing clubs at
this object of hatred to them, which often flew back and hit themselves, with more or less force, as they were hurled with more or
less fury and hate. By its side, and in its defence, stood soime of




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                177
the noblest, purest, firmest, and truest hearts of the country and
the world.  Robert Owen and Dr. Ashburler, of the Old World,
came early to see the child, and i" believed on him;;" and, in this
country, Hon. J. W. Edmonds, N. P. Tallmadge, Senator Simmons,
J. R. Giddings, B. F. Wade, and a host of others from the side
of law and government, came to the rescue; and from science
came Professor Robert Hare, Professor Mapes, Professor Buchanan, and a host of others from the medicine side of science;
and from the theology side the Universalists and Unitarians let up
a whole delegation, and some of the others a few of their best
specimens, to defend, in the days of its odium, the philosophy and
demonstration that is to convince the world of immortality. From
the ranks of the quiet reasoners and thinkers of the cities and
country a host fell in with the facts as fast as they could be presented to them. But nearly every church was alarmed; and the
watchmen on the walls of Zion were sounding the cry of " An
enemy is coming!  Be up, and ready for battle! Put on the
whole armor of the Gospel!  We will lead you to the fight!
Come on! come on! Here is the old enemy, the Devil, in a new
dress! [Be careful, or he will deceive you! Look only to us;
+-rust in the Lord; read the Bible! Do not look off the book, for
that light may dazzle or bewilder you! " The poor dupes were
thus led captives into darkness by thousands, who might have
seen the light and known the glorious truths of the new gospel,
and it would have set. them free.
"There surely is some guiding power
Which rightly suffers wrong, -
Gives vice to bloom its little hour,
But virtue late and long."
At the commencement of 1853 the fourth decade of the Lone
One terminated; and forty years had made their wrinkles on his
brow, whitened and curled his locks, and rather straightened than
bent his form.  The last ten had done the work for his mind. He
was now emancipated from the bondage to cold and soulless scep



178            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE,
ticism, and a full recipient of the- glorious truths of spirit-life.
Freed from all political obligations and aspirations, he sought none
of its places, nor would he accept its offers.  Free from the Phalanx trials, and all partial and isolated efforts to save a few souls,
and go with them through life and to heaven, his philanthropy was
now world-wide, and his home and " domain " the world, and all
men members of the Phalanx.  He was now fully the cosmopolite, and his field of labor the world-home.  True, his little means,
amounting perhaps in value to one thousand dollars, was in a little
house-and-garden home for his family, which he intended sacredly
to guard for them. But, other than this, his home and his business, his time and his talents, were all now devoted to the spread
and dissemination of the new philosophy of spirit life and intercourse.  True, for some time after he had devoted himself to this
new business, the receipts did not sustain his economical family.
But he was not disheartened, but borrowed money of the state for
that purpose, with a hope that it would not sacrifice his little home,
and it did not; for God always helps those who help themselves,
and " works in the working soul." Nearly all his old friends now
deserted him. A few only of those who were near in condition
of mind, and knew him best, stood by him  in this last and best
consecration of himself to the last and most odious of all doctrines, - a belief in spirits. Although this itinerant labor did
not bring dimes as a reward, it brought that which to him was
equally valuable,- warm hearts, sympathy, open homes, and welcoming hands. These he often met, and they cheered him on his
way, and encouraged him to persevere, but not more effectually or
really than did the messages from the spirit-home which often
reached him, with the most cheering and encouraging expressions
of love and sympathy.  For a time, the lonesome and grieving
mate was honestly and strongly prejudiced against this course, and
the doctrine he taught; but it was only the sickness that precedes
the action of the emetic which brings up the superfluous bile; so
this threw up and out, in time, the accumulations of the years in
error, with old Calvinism at the bottom; all went over together,




LIFE-LINE OF THIE  LONEO ONE.              179
and she became free and spiritually healthy.  An entire change
came over her day and night dreams. She saw, she heard; she
flit, she realized, her change of heart; and she was a convert to
the new philosophy, and thus added more happiness to the LifeLine of the Lone One than she ever had before; for now one heart,
one life, one destiny, was theirs. Every cloud was removed; and
they moved so sweetly toward the sunset of life, that they felt it
was good for them that all this experience had been gained in this
life, where it properly belonged, but which many will put over to
the next. It was late, indeed, at forty, - sixteen years after
marriage, -to renew and complete the courtship which had been
so suddenly interrupted, and lain so long neglected; but it is said
by some to be "' better late than never; " and well they knew that,
with many, it was never renewed after marriage, and sadly deficient before. Ah! little do those whose lives are spent in the
muddy pool of sensual and external life, or in the turbulent stream
of contention and strife, know of the joys of harmonized and
happy life, with the ascendency of the spiritual over the physical
self in conjugal life; nor can they know until they reach it. Then,
- O, what a payment for all the struggles to reach the summit!
- what an over-payment for the night of life spent in tears and
sorrows! Now his home was lonely without him, for a reason;
and the pet daughter, joined by the mother, could say, but not
sing:
"Linger not long! Home is not home without thee;
Its dearest tokens do but make us mourn.
O! let its memory, like a chain about thee,
Gently compel and hasten thy return!
"Linger not long! Though crowds should woo thy staying,
Bethink thee, can the mirth of friends, though dear,
Compensate for the grief thy long delaying
Costs the sad hearts that sigh to have thee here?"
Now, when he came, the leaping hearts and joyous kiss were
ever ready to meet him, and happiness, such as few ever realize




180             LIFE-LINE O0 ThE LOMIXI  ON'.
in this life, was spread, like a "' balm of thousand flowers," on all
about this home.  His friends felt it; but his enemies, with
poison-tongue of slander, were only the more bitter, when every
hope of making trouble in his family was lost, by her conversion
to his belief, and the calm and happy life they had attained foiled
11ll their efforts in that direction.  The serpent was still biting at
the file, although its teeth were often broken and loosened, while
he moved steadily on his course, with the exclamation, often,
"Not all they do, or say, can make
My head, or tooth, or finger ache,
Nor mar my form, nor scar my face,
Nor put one feature out of place;
Nor will ten thousand lies
Make me less virtuous, learned, or wise.
Their malice the best way to balk,
Is quietly to let them talk."
Envy, malice, spite, and lies, were multiplied, and sent after
him  and before him, and the vigilant enemies of his teachings
made every effort in their power to destroy his influence as a
teacher of the Harmonial Philosophy.  For well many of them
knew the power of his mind, and the magnetism of his language,
with truth for its weapon.  To defeat, or retard, the spread of
such doctrine, it was necessary, at whatever cost, to stop him from
advocating it, or destroy his influence.  But it was a failure.
Every dart sent at him was caught on his shield, and, with a clear
conscience and honest heart, boldly and fearlessly he moved on,
though " branded by the slanderer's lies," till he lived them down;
and when accusations reached him he smiled, and pitied those who
aimed them at him, and asked those who received them as true to
call for the execution of the law, or to bring him the person, and
the testimony, and he would restore four-fold. This, of course,
could never be done; for the cry of " wolf — wolf! " was not made
because wolves were near, but only to alarm the sheep. He also
boldly advocated the right of every married woman to an equal




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                   181
share and control of all property of the family, and to equal
social, civil, religious, and political privileges, and to a divorce
whenever she asked it, even without being obliged to reveal or
make public the cause; for well he and many others knew there
were thousands of suffering victims who dare not mention the
causes of their misery, but who had ample cause, and good reason,
for asking for divorce, with sufficient property to sustain them.
These doctrines rendered him terribly obnoxious to a certain class
of sensualists and petty tyrants; but they brought him the sympathy of thousands of martyrs, from their spirit-homes, and some still
lingering here; and he knew, if the sufferers were his friends, that
his cause was a righteous one, and he could afford to defend it,
however unpopular, for he was by birth, education, and life, the
legitimate attorney of all odious or unpopular truths and rights.
Like the tree which brings the early and pleasant apples, he had
been clubbed and pelted all his life, and grown stronger and more
vigorous thereby.
"' Cheer up, cheer up! Though life has days,
November days, I ween,
When the lone heart wails like the wind,
And nothing bright is seen;
When smiles come faintly to the lips,
And eyes glance mournfully,
And hope seems like a faded leaf
-Just clinging to the tree 
-" Yet smile -cheer up! New hopes and joys
Within thy heart will spring,
And He whose love is over all
A spirit-balm will bring.
Cheer up, nor wear a clouded brow,
Thy home with gloom to fill;
Thank God for past and present good,
And brood not o'er the il."'9
16




CHAPTER V.
FRACTIONAL DECADE.
The Cosmopolite. - The iHarmonial SMan, the Happy Family, and the New
Home. - The Triumph of Justice.
SECTION I.
ETERNAL JUSTICE.
BY CHARLES MACKAY.
THE man is thought a knave or fool,
Or bigot, plotting crime,
Who, for the advancement of his kind,
Is wiser than his time.
For him the hemlock shall distil,
For him the axe be bared;
For him the gibbet shall be built,
For him the stake prepared;
Him shall the scorn and wrath of men
Pursue with deadly aim;
And malice, envy, spite, and lies,
Shall desecrate his name.
But truth shall conquer at the last,
For round and round we run,
And ever the right comes uppermost,
And ever is justice done.
Pace through thy cell, old Socrates,
Cheerily, to and fro!
Trust to the impulse of thy soul,
And let the poison flow.




LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.                   18 3
They may shatter to earth the lamp of clay
That holds a light divine,
But they cannot quench the fire of thought
By any such deadly wine;
They cannot blot thy spoken words
From the memory of man,
By all the poison ever was brewed
Since time its course began.
To-day abhorred, to-morrow adored,
So round and round we run,
And ever the truth comes uppermost,
And ever is justice done.
Plod in thy cave, gray Anchorite!
Be wiser than thy peers;
Augment the range of human power,
And trust to coming years.
They may call thee wizard, and monk accursed,
And load thee with dispraise:
Thou wert born five hundred years too soon
For the comfort of thy days.
But not too-soon for human kind:
Time hath reward in store,
And the demons of our sires become
The saints that we adore.
The blind can see, the slave is lord;
So round and round we run,
And ever the wrong is proved to be wrong,
And ever is justice done.
Keep, Galileo, to thy thought,
And nerve thy soul to bear!
They may gloat o'er the senseless words they wring
From the pangs of thy despair:
They may veil their eyes, but they cannot hide
The sun's meridian glow;
The heel of a priest may tread thee down,
And a tyrant work thee woe;
But never a truth has been destroyed:
They may curse it and call it crime;
Pervert and betray, or slander and slay
Its teachers, for a time.




184             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
But the sunshine, aye, shall light the sky,
As round and round we run,
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.
And live there now such men as these,
With thoughts like the great of old?
Many have died in their misery,
And left their thought untold;
And many live, and are ranked as mad,
And placed in the cold world's ban,
For sending their bright, far-seeing souls
Three centuries in the van.
They toil in penury and grief,
Unknown, if not maligned;
Forlorn, forlorn, bearing the scorn
Of the meanest of mankind.
But yet the world goes round and round,
And the genial seasons run,
And ever the truth comes uppermost,
And ever is justice done.
The remainder of this record will be mainly from the notes in
the Diary, or the correspondence of the Cosmopolite, with foreign
items, inserted to finish or furnish the apartment.
Jan. 5, 1853. - A  juror all day in court-room of the United
States district court in Milwaukie, with the thick-skulled judge,
of whom mention is made in this narrative, presiding, and a
description of whose character and capacity was written at the
time by this seer, and published in one of the city papers, and
brought the approval and compliments of the ablest attorney in
the city to its author. While the United States paid for his services at court, he had out his notices and lectured evenings, to
small but respectable audiences in the city, on the philosophy of
spirit intercourse.  When court and the lectures were closed in
the city, he journeyed westward, and stopped to lecture in several
small villages, arousing much interest in, and opposition to, the
new philosophy.




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                185
Jan. 20,'53.- Dines with the  governor at the capital.
Elected an officer of the State Agricultural Society, and
declines an invitation to deliver the annual address. Lectures, by
invitation of Assembly, in the Assembly Hall of the capitol to
large and very intelligent audience, who seem highly pleased.
Holds a conspicuous place in the Free-Soil State Convention,
but declines all offices and honors.  Writes for several papers
sketches and criticisms. G-ave several lectures in the court-house,
and was confined for a week to house with rebellion among the
nerves, and a severe battle in the forts of the mouth.  But the
soothing hand of one dear friend, whose soul sympathized with
his philosophy, rendered misery bearable; but she had seen him
in sickness and health, in joy and grief, and well she knew his
life was above the rabble that abused him because he would not
bend and endorse its falsehoods and follies.
Feb. 7. - Accepted renewal of commission as notary, which he
had held for some years, because he executed most of the deeds
and acknowledgments of the village when at home.
Feb. 13. -  Sunday, holds a discussion in the Methodist church
of the Ceresco Valley (for, since the dissolution of the Phalanx,
one had been erected to save the fragments) with the most vulgar blackguard he ever knew to be clothed with priestly garments; but he conquered him by mildness and good-humor, and
carried the audience against the priest, which caused the door
of the church to be closed ever after against discussion of new
or old truths.
Feb. 20. — Again at the capitol, endeavoring to secure the
passage of a bill to incorporate and unite the villages of Ripon and
Ceresco, under the name of Morena; but he left it, and it died
before birth.  He met several warm  friends, among them his old
senator-friend, who was now_ a member of the lower house, but
still  -Ion.. A whirlpool of excitement was at this time
about the capitol, caused by an effort to impeach a Judge Hubbel,
charged with more crimes than Jesus or Robespierre; but the
accusers were less successful in proving them, because they could
16*




186            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
not find the sinless man to cast the first stone, and he escaped
with his judicial neck unbroken.  Whether it deserved it or not,
" deponent saith not." In this commotion the Cosmopolite had
no share, and therefore he soon moved out of it.
Feb. 26. - In Janesville, put up bills himself, and lectured in
the evening to small audience, in large hall: Poor subject, they
said, but good speaker.  "What a fool he is, to throw himself
away on that ridiculous humbug!"  Here he made the first
acquaintance with the Higgins family, or the Columbians, a concert-band of brothers and sisters.  The younger sister was then
recovering from a severe attack of typhoid fever; in treating
which, her physician had taken it from her, and died. She felt
the magnetic healing power of the Lone One's system, and
admired his Harmonial Philosophy; for this herself, and one sister, two brothers, and the father and mother, had already
embraced and advocated. This enlightened, and developed, and
happy family subsequently became his personal friends, and are
to this day highly esteemed by him; for they, and especially the
parents, were among the few who had been in and turned out of
the Calvinistic church, and had their hearts purified and refined
in the refiner's fire of persecution; and when he found them the
sunshine of the glorious gospel of truth and deliverance fell
calmly on their souls. Two sons, with happy homes of their own,
are in Chicago.  One has a Mary, such as God seldom  blesses
man with in this life, and the other has his cup of domestic
joy overflowing. Two other brothers are also music-dealers in
Peoria, Ill., and how or what they have for domestic music we
cannot say, but their souls are tuned to exquisite strains of
" nature's harp-strings."  The two sisters have also "' tied up,"
and, one southing and the other northing, have no doubt found joy
and sorrow somewhat mixed, in this life, but probably are more
beloved and happy than most wedded hearts in the world's broad
battle-field. Their homes cannot be other than homes of purity
and love, for such their hearts ever were; and nature and education never qualified two females better than they did these for




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               187
domestic happiness.  The home of the parents is in Palmyra,
Wis., where the Lone One occasionally has a happy day of rest.
Thus the parted voices of the Columbians are uttering other music
in new concerts; but each voice can yet sing the story of the
Jordan road, and Judson can make you gaze after the " Old Mill
by the hill-side where we used to go in the summer-time."
The following token from one of the family, received by the
Lone One, at the close of a short visit at the old homestead, may
serve as a specimen of their appreciation of him, and also as one
like many others in the journeyings of after years.
" DEAR BROTHER: You are going now far away, on your
angel-mission. The brief period you have been with us has
indeed been precious to our hungry souls; it will ever be remembered with pleasure; and gratitude will swell our hearts in thinking of the kind words, and tender expressions of love and sympathy, that have flowed so spontaneously from your heart and lips.
The heavenly sphere so truly yours attracts us, and we can but
love to be with you, and regret your short stay with us. But you
will not forget us, though absent; and, though other and dearer
friends surround you, I know we shall be remembered in your
prayers, and the expressions of your heart. We wish a thought
once in a while from our brother....... and if it would not
tax too much on the time devoted to others, we should be glad to
receive thoughts on scraps of paper. Now good-by! I-leaven will
ever bless one so good and worthy as thou art; and when the
time comes will give to thee that lovely home so beautifully
described to us by the dwellers there. That we may all meet in
that happy home, is the prayer of thy sister and each of us."..
We might select from his margin scrap-book many specimens,
from many authors, of purity and love, like the above, of a correspondence which, running through years, led the vulgar and
licentious to believe he was continuing it from such motives only
as could prompt them to correspond with females.




188            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
March 2.- Leaves Janesville; expenses six dollars more than
receipts for lectures. Go to Beloit, and
Sunday, March 6. - Lecture in place of Universalist preacher,
and in the evening lecture on marriage to a full house; good reception, but few spiritualists.  Theological professors of the college
keep the place in ignorance and darkness on this subject, by
assuming to know all about what they know nothing about.
March 7. - Went to Rockton, and made the acquaintance of
George Guthrie and Mrs. E. M. Guthrie and her mother and two
sisters, all members of God's new  church. of Harmonialists.
George was nearly unbodied by consumption, and he requested
the Lone One to stay with him a few days, and point out the way
through the valley of darkness to the sunny and flowery lands
beyond. He did so, at the same time relieving his body from
much pain; which body a few weeks after he left entirely, and in
a new sphere commenced the work of preparing another home for
Emily and their boy. Many months after his exodus from earthlife, he came to the Lone One through a medium, far away from his
earthly home, and related much of his experience in the new life,
as he promised to do when in his body. Not long after, the mother
of Emily also, long a sufferer, made her escape from the body of
pain, and met her companion, who was waiting her at the entrance
of the spirit-home. Thus Emily and Elizabeth were unhoused;
but M'lary had still a home of her own, and a husband to supply
it.  Emily, whose soul had flowed out in poetry and prose that
had interested and delighted many readers of the New  York
Tribune and other papers, had her heart wounded by the separation from George; and an attempt to supply his place by a subsequent marriage came near carrying her body to the grave, and
proved how futile are all attempts to make commercial marriages
happy. A few weeks only did she live in a miserable earthly
union, when she broke the bond that would in a few more weeks
have broken her thread of earth-life, and with her boy joined
again her sister, a wiser and better spirit, for such trials ever
develop, and often purify, the victims. These two sisters, now




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 189
homeless, became itinerating preachers of the new gospel, and,
for aught we know, are preaching "to this day."  Wherever
they are, they are messengers of heaven, and preaching for the
Harmonial age, and struggling with a wicked world and its false
societies, which ever pays its best teachers with persecution or death.
A few words of extract from a letter from this noble soul may serve
to show her true spirit, and its appreciation of the Lone One.
"l March,'53. -  We received your joyously-welcomed letter in
due time.  It came with soothing magnetic power to George, for
which he was deeply grateful, as we all are. He has not been
troubled with headache since you left; yet he has often wished
you were with us..... But, to answer the question propounded
in your very interesting note to the three sisters.
Ah, yes, we will strive to meet with you there,
To dwell'neath the Infinite Father's care,
Where nature's laws are the guide of the soul,
Liberty only our footsteps controls;
Where harmony lulls all strife to repose,
Life with eternity only shall close;
The universe broad the field we explore,
And spirits congenial are near evermore."
Not more than a dozen souls could be called out to lectures at
that time in Rockton, who could understand, or who wished to
understand, the Harmonial Philosophy.
March 11,'53. - At the beautiful home of Dr. George Haskell,
in Rockford. The doctor's connection with the Baptist church
had been already disturbed by sounds and sentiments from the
spirit-world.  By his aid, and the already harmonized and spiritualized family of Dr. Rudd, quite an interest was awakened in
the young city, and eight or ten lectures were given to good
audiences, and a permanent condition of inquiry and investigation
started, that has not yet been preached down nor prayed down.
Dr. Haskell, soon fully emancipated, became one of the boldest
and ablest defenders of the new gospel in the West, both with
tongue and pen; and the powers of earth might as well attempt to




190           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
encase a singing-bird a second time in its shell, as to return him
to the little close-communion creed from which he has emerged.
At Dr. Rudd's the Lone One found, now and ever, one of his most
happy and congenial homes, to which he several times returned
with pleasure, to meet such spirits as he expected to meet on the
other side of Jordan.
March 23. - At Belvidere, at the house of Barney Smith, who
was a prominent target for the shooters who considered themselves
sharp enough to kill spirits with shots from the pulpit or barroom. Here he parted with Mr. and Mrs. Archer, who were
registered in heaven among his earliest and latest friends, as they
were to all persons whom man oppressed.
March 26.- At Elgin, at the house of a host embodied in the
person of N. E. Dagget, who had for years taken the wind out of
the sails of preachers, and been a stumbling-block to the churches;
and now he became the ablest " defender of the faith " in spiritualism  in "all the region round about."  They did have good
times, at the four-mile circle, on Sundays, in those days; but now
they seem as the days of " long ago."
April 4. - A course of lectures in Chicago; did not pay expenses: for the excitement created by Seth Paine and Ira B. Eddy
had laid the spirits, for a time, and the Lone One could not raise
them or the dead people, and of course he went out of the city
minus dollars and words. But he knew this gospel had to be
preached at somebody's expense.
Aperil 8. - In Waukegan, but, alas! Seth Paine had been there,
and some persons, accustomed to magnifying trifles, told large
stories on small capital, and what was nobody's business was attended to by everybody, as usual, -a sort of' change, for nobody
usually attends to everybody's business.  They got up good meetings, in spite of slander; and the gospel went home with many
souls, and quickened them into life.  This was one of the earlylighted places, and has never let its lamp go out, but has rather
illuminated the whole city and county by its rays, shed in lectures,
and its papers. The Lone One met and left many good friends at




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                191
this place; but we cannot single out one or two, nor name all, and
hence leave them with Ira Porter for selection.
April 15. -At the Kenosha, once the old Southport home,
but now a dead place, with a few live friends in it, and the graves
of his boys. The people would nearly all come to hear him lecture, if he would speak at, or on, some subject that they were not
prejudiced against.  But the Rochester knockings, and the communications of dead folks, could not be crammed into their heads,
which were already overstocked with speculation and religion; but
there were Sholes in the place (each one wrote the we for the I),
and God never cased better spirits than were in these frames; but
they were few and not far between, nor was it far from them  to
the kingdom of heaven. Their homes were always homes for Lone
Ones from anywhere, and they always had a meeting when any
one came along who could say a say for God, or man.
April 21. - In the eve came off the closing lecture of the course,
and a terrible storm shut out all but seven men, to whom a long
discourse was given; for, the mayor being present, order was preserved, the fees collected, and they would have their pay for
breaking the storm. IRacine took a few lectures, and gave him a
good visit in return. One of them, in Rev. A. C. Barry's church,
went off at par; the rest were sold at a discount.
May 2. —The steamboat landed one passenger, certainly, at
Milwaukie, and the Lone One had' belted a district, and counted
the cost, and weighed the profit.  Here he had an acquaintance
with one of God's children, in Dr. J. P. Greaves; and one of the
children of science, in his skilful homoeopathic partner. By the aid
of Dr. G., whose pocket was short then, but afterwards greatly
lengthened, the gospel had been spreading; — a hall was soon
secured, and another course of lectures were scattered.  At this
visit he became acquainted with one of the most deplorable cases
of manslaughter he ever knew; and, by expressing sympathy for
the victim, he aroused the anger, and awakened the hatred, of the
cruel tyrant; but he felt more than ever called upon to talk and
write against domestic slavery, and tyranny, and the soulless




192            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
cruelty of lust in wed]ock, with a victim; and this, of course,
aroused the ire, more than ever, of the petty tyrant.  This poor
victim, a delicate and sensitive, highly-nervous, and very affectionate
lady, for near twenty years the slave to a man of coarse organization, full of lust, a tyrant in manners and actions, who had forced
upon her unwilling body and mind maternity near a dozen times,
and when she remonstrated, with decision, claiming control of her
person, and the right to keep it pure, he became a madman, and in
rage and jealousy joined the rabble in slandering the mother of
his children, and accusing her of all manner of vices, which were
charged to spiritualists, because with them  she found sympathy
and encouragement in her honesty and purity of life. Should the
reader ever meet Dr. G., he or she can learn from him more of
this heartless cruelty, and suffering victim. At this time he also
became acquainted with a Mrs. P., one of nature's noble women,
intellectual, refined, ambitious, and emotional. She had been
unhappily mated, and, after many years of suffering, her legal
husband left her to support their three children, and went to California; and when it was well ascertained that he had abandoned
her entirely, she procured a divorce, and married one who loved
her. This brought the condemnation, scorn, and disgust, of those
who styled themselves the fashionable and popular circles of society.
A few weeks after her marriage her new, and true, husband died,
and she had no one to shield her from poverty and the scorn of the
world. Of course it was not the duty of any Christian to aid or
comfort her, for she had broken their sacred tie of legal marriage;
and they not only let her suffer, but heaped slander on her with
their scorn, that often sent the licentious to her to be repulsed
with contempt;. and, thus enraged, they would join the popular
cry, and thus she had all against her except the few spiritualists
who alone respected, appreciated, and sympathized with her; and
here again, as in many instances, the pure and suffering victims
of popular prejudice found their character and reputation connected with the persecuted spiritualists, even before they were
believers in the philosophy. Soon after this, the father of her




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 193
children died in California, leaving some property, which the
scheming and designing enemies prevented from reaching the
children, and left them all to suffer in extreme poverty, for aught
I know, " to this day," relieved only slightly and occasionally by
a kind old mother in England.
These were not all, but only a few, of the reasons why the Lone
One was found in defence of the suffering victims of a perverted
institution, which, like a bad government, oppresses those it should
protect.  He never did advocate its abolition, nor did he ever
believe it could be dispensed with; but he advocated those changes
already alluded to, with a release of all the sufferers, without
public scorn, as a consequence of freedom, as it now is, for woman.
At this visit he also met (and it was the only time he ever did
meet away from her home) the lady with whom he had so long
corresponded, the author of the stolen letter.  In passing through
the city she saw a notice of his lectures, and called on him; and
they called on, and sympathized with, Mrs. P.; when she returned,
took the cars, and at the end of the iron track the stage, and was
soon at her home, where she wrote the fatal letter, and referred to
this meeting in it, which made the gist of the accusation, with the
answer to some questions which he had asked her in a letter, in
regard to her married and childless life. But the slanders connected with his sympathy for these suffering victims in Milwaukie
were not less actively heralded, and the enemies thought surely
now they could destroy his influence, and several chiefs in the
army of slanderers were appointed; but the staff-officers were the
Methodist preacher, whom the better portion of his own church
would not fellowship, and the Ripen pettifogger, who had atoned
for his infidelity by his abuse of spiritualism, and afterwards
still more effectually through a little seven-by-nine village paper
which accidentally fell into his hands, and in which he echoed the
abuse and slander of all humane efforts at reform and the amelioration of suffering that the church did not endorse; and last, but
not least, the Presbyterian deacon of the valley, who had a hard
experience in early life in a state institution, but who now added
17




194           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
the dignity to the staff, an essential ingredient of which the others
were deficient.  During this stay he also met Miss Cora L. V~o
Scott and her mother. With the family he had a previous
acquaintance, and had discovered the peculiar and remarkable
mediumship of Cora and her remarkable organization of brain, when
he first met her, at the age of thirteen, a little school-girl, at Lake
Mills, Wisconsin.  She performed some remarkable feats of
mediumship in Milwaukie on this and other visits, which, like
others of the kind, could only be denied, scouted, and ridiculed,
where they were not known, and when the instruments were absent.
May 24. - Pleasant visit with H. D. Barron and his amiable
lady, at Waukesha.  They were among the first defenders of the
rappers in Hydeville and Auburn, N. Y., and, knowing the truth,
it had made them free.
June 5. — At Lake Mills he met Dr. Joslyn and several
families, with one of the best and most successful circles he had
ever met, in which Cora L. V. Scott was rapidly developing,
and several others giving good tests of the presence of particular
spirits.  Here he gave several lectures to good audiences, as he
had at Genesee and other small towns.
June 8. - A delegate and in attendance at the capital, in a
state convention, making speeches, nominating candidates, etc.,
and exerting as much influence as ever, and even more; for his
powers of eloquence were enhanced by spiritual aid, and his
recent labors.
June 9.-  Takes part in the State Temperance Convention,
and makes speeches, as he often had in that cause; but he found
too much of a sectarian and religiously-bigoted spirit pervading
this movement for its own good or success, and he could not feel
in harmony and full fellowship with the movement; for well he
knew that whatever reform the clergy took hold of was thereby
poisoned to death, for their kid gloves soon crowded off the hardened hands of labor, without which there could be no success.
June 11. - Ie reached his valley home, and soon found the
effects of the lies based on the stolen letter before referred to.




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                  195
They knew his non-resistant and peace principles would not allow
him to prosecute them, and hence they took more liberties than
the law would justify, with only one cause, one reason, for their
abuse- because he was a defender of spirits and spirit-intercourse..... " Every age on him who strays
From its broad and beaten ways
Pours its seven-fold vial.
Happy he whose inward ear
Angel-whisperings can hear,
O'er the rabble's laughter;
And, while hatred's fagots burn,
Glimpses through the smoke discern
Of the good hereafter.
"Knowing this, that never yet
Share of truth was vainly set
In this world's wide fallow;
After hands shall sow the seed,
After hands from hill and mead
Reap the harvest yellow.' Thus, with somewhat of the seer,
Must the moral pioneer
From the future borrow;
Clothe the waste with dream of grain,
And on the midnight sky of rain
Paint the golden morrow."
When his letter informed the delicate and noble soul of the lady
that her letter was stolen, and in the hands of the most wicked
and licentious of preachers, the news almost carried her to insanity or self-destruction; for well she knew what use such heartless
and polluted wretches would make of her language uttered to one
in whom she had implicit confidence, and in whom she knew her
confidence was not misplaced; and especially of such language as
he alone would understand correctly, because it was connected
with a long line of correspondence, and the words and sentences
much abbreviated —just what the guilty and suspicious would




196           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
need, to carry out their suspicions. The pedlers of gossip, by the
aid of the priest and pettifogger, soon made a good story out of
this letter, which story ran somewhat in this wise: That the Lone
One, when absent from home, lived with the author of this letter,
and had already raised two children by her, etc.; when, in truth,
he had never seen her away from her home, except in the one instance
referred to, and never at her home when her husband was absent;
and she never was the mother of a child, and was a leading member
of a church, and by all beloved and respected, and as worthy a
member as any church possessed, and one whose life was, to all
who knew her, above suspicion, and whose conscience was as void
of offence in this intercourse as an angel's could be.  But, when
their own researches brought the truth of her situation to light,
they at once changed the direction of the stories, and sent them
on suspicion that there must be others, - at least to the number
of five or six women,- in different places, with which he spent
his time when absent from home; and although he was never
absent a week without writing home, and often had his letters
published, with name, and date, and public notices of his lectures,
and address'could be found at all times, yet all these facts were
of no weight against the lies in the minds of the enemies of
spiritualism; and, although there had never been a lisp of slander against him or his moral character before he became a spiritualist, yet now, at the age of forty, he had all at once become the
most licentious of all men, and that, too, unaccompanied by any
of the foods or drinks which cause or accompany such conditions
in all others. And, although they could never find a victim of his,
nor a bad character with whom he ever secretly associated, yet this
was not a defence; for he was a spiritualist, and of course he was
bad and licentious, for the priest said they all were, as he knew the
Fox family were-  they had been Methodists, and were turned
out, while he remained in the fold. But, in truth, he knew nothing
about them, nor the Lone One either, except that they believed in
spirit-intercourse; and even that he could not have known, had




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                197
they not been more honest than himself; for you could never judge
of his belief by his words.
But all these slanders and falsehoods were no real or permanent
injury to the Lone One, or his mate. To her they proved blessings in disguise; but on him they had little or no effect, for he
moved steadily and calmly on his course, unruffled and unharmed.
Some timid and wavering souls were sometimes prevented by them
from attending his lectures; for the stories were sent far and near,
wherever he was known to be travelling and lecturing, and whereever there was a priest or a Christian to send them to. This was
all the effect he felt from them; and this fell on other heads, not
his, for they often lost the benefit of his experience and observation, as given in his early lectures.
Sunday, June 19. - He lectured at the valley home, to large
audiences, better than usual; for many enemies came to see how
their lies had affected him, and found no change in him.  The
same calm, firm, consistent and energetic self-reliance and devotion
to his subject. The wife was not yet developed, but the fever had
turned, and she was rapidly growing into the calmness of the harmonial life. The enemies of her happiness and the harmony of
her family renewed and strengthened their efforts to prevent this;
but his influence and that of her spirit-friends soon overcame
them. She had so long held herself aloof from the spiritualists,
and considered them either as her enemies or deluded, that it was
a hard trial for her to turn to them as friends. When she came to
them she found them with open arms, welcoming and forgiving;
and ever after found them her true and real friends, honest and
confiding, and entirely unlike their enemies, whose selfish and jealous souls only tried to use her to accomplish their own ends, in
destroying his influence.  The notes in the diary at this time
mention a strong internal pressure from the spirit-world to start
again into the field of labor; for his restless and ever-active mind
would not stay long at home without starting some business, and
it might be such as would prevent him from doing the work his
guardians designed him for; and hence the constant messages
17*




198           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
through mediums, and by impression, to start again; and his only
fear and reluctance arose from the pecuniary wants of his family,
which he feared could not be supplied by lecturing.
June 26.- Lectured in Omro; met good friends, had pleasant visit of several days, and found some good mediums. Among
the first was Dr. McAllister, a man of science, skill, and reputation, and a bold defender of the truth of spirit-intercourse.
June 28. - Visited Dr. McNish, of Berlin, a man of science
and skill, and much reading, who, being a bold and free inquirer
after truth, had examined and found some truth in spiritualism,
and more honesty and morality than in any phase of sectarian
Christianity, and was therefore found in its defence. He had long
been a personal friend of the Lone One, and ever defended him
against the slanders and abuse of which he knew well the cause
to be religious bigotry and sectarian hatred.
Sunday, July 3. —  Lectures at the valley home, and the
Methodist priest attends one lecture, and receives a good description of himself, as one of the opponents of reform and spiritual
truth. He bears it, but never comes again, nor offers to reply,
and soon after leaves the place.
July 4. - Makes a speech to the large assembly in the grove
at Ripon, where he is much extolled by the highly-pleased audience; and all, except a few jealous persons, who were ever afraid
of his influence, knowing that he would always use it for the
whole human family, and not for persons, or a party, or sect of
any kind, because he was the World's Child, and now a Cosmopolite.
July 8. - At the magnificent home of Ex-Gov. Tallmadge, -
not to get his signature to a charter, — b hut the ex-governor had
become a spiritualist, and the Lone One wished to know what had
drawn him and his family over the walls of the Episcopal church;
and soon learned it was facts - incontrovertible facts - of spirit
presence and intercourse. His heart was made glad by the accession of this noble soul and excellent family to the then little band
of defenders of the most odious and unpopular truth. A pleasant




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 199
day, fine circle, good manifestations, and the excellent visit, were
soon over; and he left with a promise from  the ex-governor to
lecture in Fond-dlu-lac, where no voice but that of the Lone One
had been heard in public in defence of spirit-intercourse; for he
had been the ice-breaker for this truth in all that portion of the
state.
Sunday, 10. — Made temperance  speech  in  Presbyterian
churech at Ripon, and the Methodist ranter tried to make one also,
but failed to do more than disgust the audience, and confuse
himself.  A  strong spiritual influence operated in the meeting,
and bore the Lone One in triumph over sectarianism; and they,
seeing it, let the cause die immediately after, by closing the meeting and the church; for it was not temperance they wished to
subserve, but sectarianism.
At this period, in the rage of slander, it required all the philosophy and spirit-influence to prevent a legal prosecution of the priest
for theft and slander; but the milder counsel of Jesus' precepts
and example prevailed, and he tried to forgive, but could not
forget, those who knowingly and wilfully sent lies endorsed by
themselves over all the country where he was known. But all this
time a hidden blessing was lurking in the brambles and thorns
that entangled and obstructed his pathway, - a fragrant rose for
his spirit, that would shed its delights on his soul for ages; for
by these slanders he was led to examine more closely and
minutely the family relations and conditions of society and the
sexes, and to acquire knowledge which caused him ever after to
speak and write more boldly and pointedly on the sins of domestic life; and this separated some fron him who had stood by him,
to this time, but now he touched their idols also, and they left
him, and angels came and ministered unto him; and when they
passed by on the other side, with the priest, the good Samaritan
came with the oil and the wine, and the beast, and the purse, and
his wants were supplied.  He was let into a higher light and life
by the angels, as he saw and felt more clearly the terrible evils of
this, and dared to speak against themi.  But boldly he uttered




200             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
the sentiment, more recently so beautifully expressed through T.
L. Harris:
", The man is ignorant of law who gives
Being to offspring cursed before their birth
With passions that destroy their future peace,
And ma.ke the stately fabric of the soul
A dungeon of impure depravities.
"The man is ignorant of law who takes
A forced reluctant wife unto his breast;
Whose inward soul another's spirit claims,
Whose deepest heart expires in constant pain,
Dying, and walking daily to new deaths.
0, cursed ignorance! that educates
Maidens for public barter; that first crowns
With orange-blooms their brows, then turns the key
Of wedlock, falsely called so by divines,
To crush them in its infamous Bastile,
Making the marriage-bed a rack, where they
Must wed themselves - poor children - to despair,
As to an iron giant, while the fire
Of madness inundates the reeking brain.
*   $  $       $      $       $      $
Break thou that spell of ignorance that makes
Woman the slave! Redeem her captive heart.
Let marriage be the sacrament of soul,
The deathless union of accordant minds,
The blending of two perfect lives in one,
Whose home shall be a paradise, whose bliss
Chaste, fervent, lasting as an angel's love."
Now, more than ever before, he felt- inspired with truth from
above, and felt it his duty to scatter the seed broadcast over as
much of the human world as he could reach, and let the seeds fall
as they would, in stony places, among thorns, by the wayside, or
in good soil. He prepared for his mission, but not with purse or
scrip, or two coats, nor staff, but empty-handed, and with empty
pockets.  But first he summed up and published, in the Oshkosh
Democrat, the political condition and progress of the state, in an




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               201
article entitled " Signs of Progress; " and, having an excellent and
highly-esteemed friend connected with that paper in C. J. Allen,a young man of noble and generous but timid soul, - he continued
to correspond for some time with that paper, until the religious opposition to the liberality of his sentiments induced the proprietors,
greatly to their injury, to request of him  more respect for the
churches; and of course he gave them all the respect they could
get, and sent his articles to other papers ever after.
Juzly 19. - Visits and examines the academy at Ripon,
which had now become Presbyterian, but in which his eldest son
and the daughter were among the best students - prompt, faithful,
and foremost in all but the religion; that they would not take,
and were excused from attendance on church, but not on prayers.
However, they did not learn to pray in that school.
July 20. - He set out on foot, and walked twelve miles to the
home of a friend on the prairie; met several mediums, had a communication from George, and one from his mother, through a medium
who was a member of the Methodist church. Next day he walked
all day in the dust and extreme heat, and reached Dodge Centre,
where he expected to find an old and prominent friend, Hon. H.
Barber, who had recently discovered some of the truths of
spiritualism; but the judge was absent, and the tired man
laid up at the tavern, and soon went to the land of dreams, where
the spirits refreshed his soul with an oblivion of the long walk
and weary body.  Next night the stage - for his limbs would not
walk again- landed him  at Watertown, where he found an
honest and industrious mechanic (a Mr. Straw), whom the truth
had made free and bold;. and he found a home with him, while
they made an effort to get up, and off, several lectures. But most
of the people who felt any interest in another life had taken
stock in some one of the churches, and obtained through-tickets
of them for themselves, and cared little about others, unless to add
their names also to their respective churches, and therefore the
lectures were attended only by a few. It was very discouraging;
but Mr. Straw, who was a good medium, saw and marked out




202           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
much of the journey and its success, and named some of the places
which the speaker would visit before his return; and it all, and
much more, was fulfilled. He was also designated as the tran.
quillizer, and directed to magnetize mediums, and circles for their
development, and to produce in them a calm and quiet state of
mind.
We have noted these little incidents about the home of the Lone
One merely to show the condition at this particular time; but
shall no longer follow the winding path, but leap from point to
point, as we notice a few of the more important events in his diary
and travels.
JuZy 29. -Lectures on temperance to large  audience at
Lake Mills; found much interest in spiritualism; good circle,
some mediums, much excitement, and a slight tendency to insanity
in one or two partially-developed mediums, owing mainly to the
distracted minds of friends and enemies around them. Hie had
already learned that when mediums are being developed rapidly
there should always be the most quiet, congenial, and sympathetic
minds, and none others, around them, to insure success, and avoid
insanity. But people were mostly ignorant of this, and some
even glad to have cases of insanity, to bring reproach on, or opposition to, the cause.
By various modes of travel, much of which was on foot, he
made his way through Janesville and Beloit; had a pleasant
visit at Rockton, and brought up in Rockford, where the cause
had steadily gained strength and force since his last visit. During this pleasant and profitable- spiritually and pecuniarily —
visit, he made the acquaintance of a Mrs. Morrel, of Lawrence,
Mass., who had been raised from an invalid of fifteen years to a
tolerable degree of health by the spirits; and, emancipated from
church thraldom, made to speak many able and eloquent truths
by spirits for the new gospel, which she continues to preach at
and about her home, " to this day." In a circle with a few inquirers, with her for a medium, a clergyman inquired of the
spirit the use and importance of prayer; and the reply, purporting




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                203
to come from Thomas Paine, was, "' Prayer in your world is what
staves and crutches are. It is for the lame and sick; the well do
not need it." The Lone One asked the priest if the answer was
satisfactory, and he said, " Yes; but I think we are all sick and
lame."  " Perhaps you Christians are," was the reply, and the
end of the subject.
Sunday, Augy. 21. - Had a large and delightful meeting in a
grove near Elgin, and many speakers, both in and out-of trance,
and happy time for all present.
Augy. 25. - Commenced a course of lectures in the Quaker
meeting-house, at Battle Creek, Michigan. First visit to that place.
Had good time and attention, and made the acquaintance of a
noble soul, in Rev. J. P. Averill, who had grown out of his
clerical garment, although it was of the most capacious, or universal salvation, pattern, yet it was too cramping for him to feel
free in. At this time he also visited the Bedford school, and the
happy home of Reynolds Cornel, and the earnest and devoted
soul of his son, Hiram  Cornel, who had already sustained a
school almost entirely at his own expense, for some years, when
sectarianism, aristocracy, and bigotry, could neither get control nor
stop it, although they had made every effort to do so, branding it
as infidel, because the students were not taught to pray and read
the Bible.  The Lone One was much pleased with these people
and their efforts; but did not at this time think of making it his
future home, and went on his way, bidding them God speed and
good-by.
At his lectures on Sunday there appeared an old Scotch Presbyterian clergyman, of the bull-dog look, with great head and
body, short, thick neck, savage countenance, English make and
mnanners, and took up the war-club, by a defence of the Bible and
the church against the lectures and the lecturer; but the hearers
said that he got badly used up, and was ready in the evening to
give up the contest; but the lecturer and his friends would not
allow it, and forced himn to try to speak in defence of himself and
his former positions, but it was only a broken apology.  Next day




204            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE OXNE
he was gone, with his Bibles, which he pretended to be peddling as
an agent. It was afterwards ascertained that he had been sent for
because he was a savage blackguard, more impudent and tyrannical than any clergyman in the place; but he and they found there
were " blows to take, as well as blows to give," and those who were
in glass houses were not the ones to throw stones.
September 4. - Lectures in the Melodeon, in Cleveland, to
good audience.  He had spoken before in this hall, when on his
way to, and returning from, the National Convention at Pittsburg,
in'52; but he found only a few truly devoted souls in Cleveland
at these early times, when it was a sacrifice of reputation and
character, in the popular circles of the city, to defend the truth
of spirit life and intercourse. But among the first and best mediums he found in Cleveland was a Mrs. P. M. Williamson (now
Mrs. Price, clairvoyant physician, &c.), and a MIiss Jane Barnum,
of Rockport. She being an old acquaintance, through her he
received the most encouraging, cheering, consoling, and sympathizing communication he had ever received, and which proved
true in due time, so far as it was prophetic.
" My heart is proof against all fear
Of what may chance in world like this;
But tender words and looks appear
Like spirits from the realms of bliss.
"They melt the heart hate cannot move;
They thaw the ice around it cast,
And purer feelings loosened rove
Amid its dreams of love so vast."
September 7. -He reached the Carroll Springs, on the Kyan.
tone, near the line of the States of Pennsylvania and New York,
and found Dr. J. Mayhew, Dr. A. Underhill, Dr. Brown, Cora
L. V. Scott, and her father and mother, and many others, congregated there, for some cause, as yet unknown to them, as to him,
or others. They had a pleasant visit, and several good circles;
he lectured several times in the vicinity; drank the sacred or holy
water of the spring, which, for a time, had such magic effect on




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               205
mediums, but none on him. In a few days bid them adieu, and
made tracks eastward, but not until he had written, as he did regularly, all that was interesting in his travels. Lectured in Laoni
and Fredonia, N. Y., and, in company with the Scott family,
with Cora for a medium, held some good circles for communications.  They visited a widow in Fredonia, whose husband had
died a spiritualist in Wisconsin, and learned from her the way
she silenced her Presbyterian mother and deacon brother, on the
subject. They had persuaded her to return and reside with them
in their ample home, and hoped to bring her again into the churchfold of creed (not Christ).  When the proper time arrived, they
asked her, mildly and pleasantly, if she had not felt it best to give
up spiritualism, and return to the church. Her reply was,' Mother, you know I loved my husband, and he loved me, and
we love each other still.  Where he has gone, there I wish to go,
be it heaven or hell, and I intend to live so as to accomplish that
end; and he lived and died a spiritualist, - so shall I." This was
a clincher, and ended that subject finally, and at once.  He also
lectured in the transit-town of Dunkirk; but a cargo of live hogs
would then attract more people in Dunkirk than a legion of invisible spirits, however much evidence you could give of their existence and intelligence. Two or three families, like Lot's in Sodom,
saved the place, no doubt, from going into the lake, or down the
road to Gotham.  There was a half-way house between Dunkirk
and Fredonia, which had a Hall in it, in which spiritualism had
done a work; and a voice went out of this Hall every day in
defence of spirits, and their rights to be heard in our world.
His next station was in West Randolph, N. Y., where he made
the acquaintance of that devoted soul, and almost martyr to
spiritualism, T. S. Sheldon, and several other good friends, and
had a good time with circles and lectures.  Here he made the
acquaintance also of Mr. and Mrs. Love, - the latter, now Mrs.
Mary F. Davis, - and, from the free expression of his views on marriage and kindred subjects, he soon had their confidence, and
learned from them that they were legally married, but in no other
18




206           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
sense; that in the law and public opinion they were one, and in
every other sense and respect two. That they were only waiting a
chance to get a legal separation, without disgrace. He became well
acquainted, at this and a subsequent visit, with the restless and nervous condition of Mr. L., and the quiet, beautiful, genial, and harmonized soul of Mary, with a heart full and overflowing with love,
but which could only flow to one who in purity and devotion could
return a kindred element, which Mr. L. could not. He was familiar
with the trials and struggles of these two beings for freedom from a
galling bondage into which they had unwisely, but voluntarily,
entered, for which society would not forgive them. Her anxiety
at this time was wholly for Mr. L., that he might marry the lady
of his second choice; and his to accomplish it, and save their reputation, which, in New York, seemed impossible; and hence they
were advised to go West, where the laws were more liberal.  The
clouds, with deep gloom and portentous forebodings, hung heavily
over her horizon at this time; and long after, she could see only
the stigma of the fashionable and popular, and no avenue to a
home or a living business in this world; and she looked over the
Jordan, and longed to go where slander and scorn could not reach
one who never did anything to merit it. But the Lone One
encouraged her as well as he could, and urged her to take the
field as a lecturer, and trust to the future, and, with confiding step,
walk boldly to the struggle with the wicked laws, confident of
purity, worth, and right. "When thou art sinking, give me thy
hand," said the Lone One, i" and all my strength shall come to
thy aid, but walk in faith." It was interesting to the Lone One,
some years after, when the lying slanders of pulpit and press
accused A. J. Davis of causing all this trouble, and breaking up
this family, &c.,-when he knew all these facts and conditions to
exist while Mr. Davis was living quietly and happily with his first
wife, personally unknown to Mrs. L., and having never heard of
her or her legal husband. But this was as near the truth as they
reported in his own case, and many others; and, as truth was not
their object when preaching or writing about spiritutalists, of course




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                207
they would never correct their falsehoods when pointed out to
them. If there was ever a being in this world who deserved happiness, or one who has found it, it is this same Mary F. Davis;
and certainly there is one soul glad for her "sunny-side " of life.
Had a " season of prayer," and poured out the gospel to a crowd
in Cuba and Rushford, as he went on his winding way to Rochester, to see those early patriots, Isaac, and Amy, and Charles, and
others.
Se~ptember 30. - Mingled with a crowd at Syracuse, and
found John O. Wattles, Gerrit Smith, S. J. May, Lucy Stone,
Antoinette L. Brown, and many other true souls, and saw and
heard them speak at the " Jerry Rescue " celebration; also Fred.
Douglas, whom he had met before, but whose soul could not admit
the light of spiritual freedom, as it had of political.
Sunday, October 2. - He delivered a funeral discourse in the
City Hall of Syracuse. Strange preacher he must have been, who
had no prayers over the dead. On the cars he met a friend who
invited him  to call and dine at Oneida, with the Perfectionists;
and he did so, and found the first society of literal and practical
Christians he had ever seen; indeed, he did not believe there were
any Christians who tried to live the doctrine and precepts, but
here he found a society who had abandoned homes, houses, and
lands, making all things common, as Jesus and the disciples did,
and even fulfilling the command to leave parents and children,
husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, for Christ's sake, and
trying to live and realize the condition of heaven, where Jesus said
there was no marrying nor giving in marriage. So they had none,
but live as the disciples and angels of God were said to live. It was
indeed a rich treat to find, in this land of pretenders, a society of
real disciples, who try to practise the precepts of Christ; but there
they were, and there they are, with word and deed in harmony,
trying to live so as to bring the kingdom on earth as it is in
heaven, which so many have asked for in prayers, but never
tried to practise.  But, as the Lone One was neither a Christian
nor a defender of that mode of life, nor a believer in it as the life




208           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
in'heaven, or proper for our time, and as he did not believe in
abandoning family and companions for anybody's sake, and he
believed in true marriage; both here and in heaven, now and forever, as the best, and most holy, and sacred, and happy life for
man and spirit, therefore, of course, he had no attraction to these
Christians, which could induce him to cooperate with them.  But
plainly he could see that in social life either they or the Shakers were
the only true followers of Jesus, and his example and precepts.
Next day he was in New York city, and for many succeeding
days in the Crystal Palace, on duty as commissioner, etc. The
note in the diary says: Made the acquaintance of Dr. T. L. Nichols and Mrs. Mary Gove Nichols, but did not make anything
else of them. The sphere of Mrs. N. was uncongenial, and his
not attractive; but he could not but admire and respect them as
bold and daring souls, who dared to tell society of its false and
wicked acts, and take its scorn and contempt for pay.  As such
he viewed them, but as unharmonized souls in the struggles of life,
with enemies within and without themselves; but the worst
within, and the chief of the group egotism, as it appeared to him.
Visited the North American Phalanx, at Red Bank, N. Y.
How like old times, and how like a home, did their unitary
table seem! But the seeds of a fatal disease were there, and they
died soon after, and the mourners were numerous, and over the
whole country; but, like most mourners, they could not save the
life, nor resuscitate the corpse. So they epitaphed it; but, as we
do not intend this for a Bible, nor a tomb-stone, we will not print
the epitaph here. For the first time he now met that noble intellect, and very impressible early and able advocate, I-on. J. W.
Eldmonds, who had laid up his worldly fame for a martyr's crown,
in the good cause.  He found in him a true heart, and true friend
to the new philosophy, and the most intellectual and influential
advocate he had met with, and was highly pleased with his visit
to his home.  I-e also made the acquaintance of that more practical and matter-of-fact man, Charles Partridge, who was at that
time pecuniarily the bulwark of printed spiritualism in the city, and




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               209
also the brother, who had adopted somewhat of a sliding scale;
but whom he, in the days of the Univercwlum, had ever registered as number one, William, - Fishbough, - he told this brother
he believed him either entangled in one of Swedenborg's hells, or
one of Bunyan's quagmires, but thought, with help, he might be
extricated, but not until he let go his hold on the sacred handle
of the Idol-Bible.  He also spent an hour at breakfast with that
great man, who sprang from small beginning, who is by those who
hate him called the "fool of the nineteenth century," but who will
prove by his Tribune that he is " nobody's fool." From this brief
acquaintance the Lone One concluded he was number one in everything but honesty, and no doubt had once been so in that quality,
but long and hard service in politics had worn it below threadbare,
and thus it became leaky to other subjects.  On the spiritual philosophy he evidently had one foot on sea and one on land, and was
neither fish or fowl; but on three other subjects he was firm as a
rock, and on two of them firm in the wrong side, and on one, in
the right - slavery, tariff, and marriage; but on the latter he had
been very much jaded by James, and Andrews, and others, and was
quite sore at that time.  Hle also met many other distinguished
persons, and among them one he had long desired to meet, in
S. B. Brittan. In him he found talent, refinement, and pride; the
latter an obstacle which would prevent him from doing for humanity what his uncommon ability would allow him to do if he could
meet and mingle, heart and soul, with the world, as Jesus did, and
feel its heart-beat, and respond to it; but well the World's Child
knew that a continued round of city luxuries, and city fashions
and follies, had hampered and somewhat trammelled the noble and
ardent soul, which was set like a diamond in this brain, and often
shone with great brilliancy, in spite of the rubbish that surrounded
it.  He admired Mr. Brittan, but he loved J. K. Ingalls; he felt
free and easy in the dignity and manhood of J. W. Edmonds, but
restless and watchful with Greely, as if it was not safe to take
his eyes off him. He learned much in this visit to Gotham  to
confirm his previous opinions of the relations of city and country.
18*




210            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
A few minds in the commercial circles control the cities, and
endeavor to control the country also. They control the business of
the merchants, and bankers, and politics, and religion, of the rural
districts, and regulate them by rules which they set up in the city.
Some persons were unwilling that spiritualism should be an exception to this custom of our country.  The Lone One saw this, but
felt sure there was a disappointment awaiting all who could set
themselves up, with or without an organization, as the pivots or
centres for this movement. He left the city, resolved not to labor
for the reputation and influence of any person or persons, but for
the cause of the Harmonial Philosophy.  Not for man-glory or
man-power, but for humanity and the race; and although nothing
was said on this subject, yet some persons felt and saw him and
his object, and knew he would not aid them to centralize, nor
labor for a central or city leadership; and hence, although he
was one of the first lecturers in the field. and up to the autumn
of'57 had given more lectures, and in more places, than any
other person, on the subject of spirit-intercourse, and borne much
persecution, made great pecuniary and personal sacrifices, yet the
city papers and preachers seldom mentioned him, or gave notice
of his labors, unless compelled to do it by his presence in the city.
But this was what he wished, if his opinions were correct, that an
effort at central control and leadership was made; for he could neither lead nor be led, but paddled his own canoe. His lone and
independent mind could never be made to work in a harness, nor for
any cause but that of God and man combined, so far as he knew it.
Oct. 13. -  Stood high on the rock-cliff at Winstead, Ct.
Lectured in the valley to large audiences of free minds. Wrote
a brief note to A. J. Davis, at Hartford, to notify him of an
intended visit.  He had never been in Hartford, nor met Mr.
Davis, nor Mrs. Mettler, and Mr. D. had some curiosity to try her
psychometric powers on the stranger. He took the note to her,
and, without any knowledge on her part, whether the writer was a
man, woman or child, mortal or spirit, and of course without
seeing a word of its contents, she said: "The writer of this




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                211
is a person whose moral and intellectual faculties are most
perfectly and fully developed.  He is given to much thought.
His intuitive or spiritual nature is always his guide and prompter.
He possesses much acquired knowledge and true wisdom; venerates goodness and truth, let it proceed from what source it may.
IHe is a true philosopher and philanthropist; has a mind that will
conquer all evil by its kind and suasive manner.  He is benevolent and kind, and his feelings universal.  He cannot be sectarian,
neither can he bear the shackles of sectarianism or tyranny.
Freedom of speech and action is his motto.  He is unmoved when
the mind is once established.  Has many original ideas, which are
easily and happily expressed, and by that expression he is enabled
to do much good to his fellow-beings. He is actuated in what he
says and does by principle, and a great love for truth. Firm and
steadfast, whatever is undertaken by him will be carried through
with much energy and determination.  He can exercise much
self-control — endeavors to subdue the lower faculties, and bring
tthem into subjection to the higher ones.  He loves that kind of
mirth and enjoyment that will harmonize and happify the soul.
Is constant and ardent in his attachments, seeking ever to promote the happiness of all who surround him. He is cautious, but
not timid. Deeply conscientious, and fond of the good opinions
of men; he has considerable self-esteem, sufficient to give him a
feeling of independence and self-control. IHe is himself —  what
nature intended he should be. He is exceedingly fond of family
and friends; is constant and enduring under all trials of life.  He
is exceedingly fond of children, and pets, and everything beautiful
in nature, — loves the wild-woods and their enchanting murmur, -
loves woman for her virtues and intelligence. His principles are
good, and his impulses truthful.  His perceptive faculties are
active, but the moral and spiritual nature predominates.  He must
be a person whose life is devoted to reforms, as his great motive
seems to be the welfare and progress of the human race. I am
quite sure he is a public speaker, and the ideas he would advance
would be clear and lucid. His sphere is pleasing and agreeable."




212            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
Among the many tests of psychometry, given through Mrs. Mettler,
there are very few mistakes; and, indeed, it is yet to be ascertained
there is one to be fobund among the hundreds of published cases.
With suitable conditions, this art is fully reliable, and will in a few
years be, with phrenology, the true guide to every person's true
character, and enable us to put our trust ever in worthy persons,
and avoid the unworthy and deceitful.
Oct. 19. - In Hartford, and welcomed at the magnificent home
of Mir. Brown, and soon find the home and hearts of Mr. and Mrs.
Mettler, and witness her remarkable powers of describing diseases,
and prescribing for them; the most remarkable he had ever seen,
as she was the most perfect medium for this faculty he had ever
met.  He now also met for the first time A. J. Davis, and found
in him the happiest person he had ever found in this world.
-Although he was watching constantly by the couch of his dying
cofipanion, yet the sunshine of a harmonial and natural life was
ever upon and filling his whole being. Without egotism or selfishness, he seemed to the Lone One, who had seen so much of human
life, and been so long a student of nature, to be the first man he
had ever met who had never been warped.or twisted from a natural growth by the strife and conflicts of society.  He took courage
now, for, with one true man in the world, he felt sure there was
hope for the race.  He was snore strongly drawn to this man than
ever to any one before, and felt his heart beat more in unison than
with any other; for he seemed to be wholly and fully devoted to the
welfare of the race, and the cause of truth. He did not accept all of
the philosophy that had been given the world through him; yet he
accepted the man, and ever after loved him as a brother - in spirit
not in the flesh, for in the flesh he was not allowed to have a
brother by the laws of his native state. A childlike honesty and
playfulness, with the wit and acumen of well-disciplined minds,
was about Mr. D).'s manners; the schoolboy and philosopher blended,
the affections of a woman with the firmness of a stoic. One would
hardly believe these extremes of character could blend, and yet
they do and must in a true man,




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.              213
As the history of this seer has recently been published in the
6 "Magic Staff," those who desire can read it there; and we will
not comment more upon him, except to say that his companion
passed to the other kingdom a few days after this interview, and
left him leaning on his tiMagic Staff, gazing at the stars, and talking to the earth, until the voice of his second companion — the
suffering victim of an unhappy marriage, before alluded toreached him, and called him again to social and domestic life and
relations. He was always happy, in sunshine or shade; for the
angels watched over him, and he was their messenger. Among
the interesting curiosities visited in Hartford was the Charter Oak,
under the branches of which he was sheltered from a passing
shower. And the sewing-silk manufactory of the Cheeney Brothers,
at Manchester, where the sunshine of the Harmonial Philosophy
had placed their establishment far in advance of others, where the
old theology bears rule or ruin. His lectures were well attended
in Hartford, and his visit made pleasant and agreeable.
Oct. 31. -In Boston for the first time since he moved to the
West.  Soon at the house of John M. Spear, that most singular,
highly eccentric, and devotedly honest and philanthropic, of all
mediums. The Lone One was greatly pleased with, and strongly
attracted to, this man, and received through him the singular title
of the " Elementizer," and a commission to do great things if he
could, mentally and experimentally, with the elements. At this
time some intelligence was directing, through this willing instrument, the erection of a peculiar machine in High Rock Tower,
at the home of the Hutchinsons, in Lynn; and the Lone One
was invited, or directed, to lend magnetic aid to the medium,
and the machine, etc.  For a few days he watched the process
and progress of this intelligence. Fully satisfied that it was independent, in its existence and designs, of Mr. Spear, or any other
person; but he did not believe it a safe intelligence to direct the
business affairs of this world, and yet he thought it possible that
some discovery might be brought to light by such power, through
the agency of mediums. The machine was at length completed at




214            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
great expense to somebody, and, as it did not start a perpetual
motion, it was condemned by the edict of public opinion, and a
writ of scorn and contempt sent after it.  The parents took it up
and fled into Egypt with it, and it still sojourns there, while the
parents have returned to build other and very different machines,
some more, and some equally successful. The second day of his
sojourn he was in the pinnacle of High Rock Tower, with J. M.
Spear and Mr. iEewet, and one more, when some intelligence
entranced Mr. Spear, and directed Mr. II. to " write what the
spirit saith to the wanderer."  It then proceeded to describe the
World's Child as follows: "This man possesses, in an eminent
degree, several very important elements of character, which, when
combined, help to the formation of a very remarkable person.
First, This man is not what he is thought to be. Quite erroneous
judgments have been formed of him, insomuch that, he has been
strongly condemned where he should have been highly approved.
He is thought to have a disregard for sacred things; but this is
not true.  Hie very highly regards sacred things; but things
which some regard sacred do not appear to his mind to be
sacred. For instance, men and women regard the Bible as a
book sacred; but this man does not so esteem the book. But he
opens it and examines critically its interiors, and perceives the
sacreds which are in the interiors. As it were, he does not
regard the outer covering of the nut, but picks, and picks, and
picks, until he extracts meats from the outer covering; so he extracts the meats from the book, and they are sacred to him. But
he does not much care about the outside, if he can get the sacreds
of the book. Second, This man does not seem to care to talk
much about God.  He does not much care whether there is a God
or not; but he sees certain laws by which he discovers the universe is controlled. He hears the music which they make, and is
enraptured with the music; but he does not concern himself
much about the maker. He is very peculiar in this respect.
Third, If there is any one thing which this man abhors more than
any other, it is dissimulation. He is a very rare specimen of




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                215
honest speech.  He does not much care whether he is liked or
disliked for this. Tell him he must not say a thing, and he
replies,' Who are you?' and he will say it all the stronger. This
man is a thorough student, and that which he most studies is
mind.  He examines persons, and forms correct opinions of
minds. He reads minds with great accuracy, and he does this by
greatly unfolded intuitive faculties. Ordinarily he would not be
considered a student; but he is a perpetual student of mind. This
man calls forth large quantities of respect, because of strictest integrity.  He never stoops to conquer; but he conquers because he
refuses to stoop. Give him ample time, and he will entirely
silence all opposers.  He is a most adroit manager in the polemics. He plants himself on certain fixed principles, and no one
can move him; and this is the secret of his polemical success.
This man is also a great admirer of the beautiful as exhibited in
laws. In a high sense, he is a student of law. While he is celebrated as a polemic, yet *he knows not of bitterness.  With
greatest delight, when he had overcome his opponent, he would
feed; clothe, and instruct him. This man has an important mission to perform, and that mission he will faithfully perform to the
utmost of his ability."
This quaint delineation was one of many which the intelligences
had given through Mr. Spear, and in which they usually were
more correct than in mechanical constructions. While he was
confined in his mediumship to healing, and reading character, and
giving personal communications, he was very accurate and useful;
but in his more recent labors he is not appreciated by many, if
he is really in a useful work.
Among the acquaintances of this visit were Mr. and Mrs. A. E.
Newton, two as genial and true souls as God had standing in
cases in Boston; and Messrs. Seaver and Mendum, of the Investigator, which had, for so many years, furnished the religious
dessert for his family reading.  Met Mr. T. S. Sheldon at Mr.
Spear's.  Sleeping one night in the same room with Mr. Sheldon,
he saw, for the first time in his life, a spirit bending over the bed,




216           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
looking apparently at Mr. S.  He carefully viewed the beautiful
form, enraptured with the vision; and, on describing the form to
Mr. Sheldon in the morning, he recognized his deceased wife, who
often communicated to him.  He was neither asleep nor in a
trance, but saw, as he thought at the time, the light form in the
dark room with his eyes.  John S. Adams and Hattie were also
among the good and true spirit-friends he found on this visit, and
several others; but we must pass on to the end of the line.  His
lectures were well attended, and he was richly paid in the currency of heaven for this protracted visit.  For many years he
had desired to speak in the Melodeon of Boston, so long and so
favorably known as the " stamping-ground" of reformers; and
now the obtained wish gave little satisfaction, but the subject
gave much.  Mrs. Newton exceeded all vision-mediums he had
ever met, and through her he received many of the most rich and
highly-pleasing pictures of the future of himself and others, and
of scenes in the hereafter of both spheres; but it was not always
certain to which life they belonged.
lNov. 14. — He was at Manchester, N. H., and called on the family of Hon. M. Norris, who furnished the last home he ever enjoyed
in New Hampshire before his emigration; but Mr. Norris was not
at home, and Abby and her pets had all grown out of their early life
and condition by the long line of democratic honors Mr. N. had received at Washington.  For many years he had been compelled to
condemn much of the political course of his old friend, and by that
means had grown nearly out of their friendship; but he was glad
to meet the little woman he had once known so well, and esteemed
so highly. She was now the mother of a long line of children,
and some in each sphere; but the dead ones were dead to her
faculties, as was her husband also soon after.  Returned to Boston, and doubled the visit over, and the last was better than the
first.  Hopedale, with a call on Rev. Adin Ballou, a pure soul,
devoted to social reform  and Christ, through the Bible; one of
the best of men in all but his theology, and that is the mildest and
best that the Bible, without, or placed above nature, can furnish.




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 217
He goes as far as the creed he has set up will allow, but dare not
step one point over.  He is not like a convict, with ball and
chain, but like a martyr, tied to a stake, from which he cannot
escape; and yet his honest heart is devoted, and would raise man
to a far better and higher condition, if it could, than other sects
will allow.  His social efforts will, no doubt, die out soon after he
does, as did those of Rapp.
Nov. 26. - In Springfield, Mass., and found a home with the
Lion of the tribe of Spiritualists," and in some respects found
him  rightly named. Had the most remarkable circle for performances on piano at ~Mr. Bangs', in which the instrument was
believed by all present to be played without human hands, and
often lifted from the floor, and the strings thrummed, etc.; but
the room was dark, and of course they could not see what power
did do it, but all believed it was spirits.
After doubling his visit at Hartford, also, December 2d he
brought up in Troy, N. Y., where he met the most remarkable
medium, of his kind, he had ever met, in P. B. Randolph. His
peculiarity consisted in his being, when well controlled, the best
and most profound speaker and reasoner he had ever met in his
life, normal or abnormal, and when not controlled he was simple
and rude. But he had a good-shaped and large brain, and of
peculiar texture, but it was uncultivated. He also met here many
new friends, among them one of the finest and most delicate and
sensitive souls in a modest and diffident female, with a weak body
and excellent mind, in Melinda Ball; a person who, with proper
conditions, might be an ornament to the race, as she now is to her
little circle. For some years he corresponded with her, to bring
out her soul, and it unfolded like a rose in the sun and showers
of June.
Her beautiful letters, and especially the poems, -  several of
which were published,- he still retains, as mementoes of a friendship that will be renewed in the life to come. He also had another
battle and complete triumph over another Scotch Presbyterian
priest at this place; and so completely conquered him as to get
L9




218            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
an invitation to his house.  Had a circle in the house of a Methodist priest, and good manifestations.  Had a double hold on
Troy —lengthened visit.  Lectured at Ballston Spa and Canastota.  At the latter place used a church, with preacher in
attendance, etc.  Next in the City Hall in Syracuse, but had
small audience and cold time; which was more than made up at
LeRoy, where he met the best of friends, and received the most
pay he had received at any one place since he was in the field,
which assisted to make up for the many small fees, and no fees, etc.
Somehow, he got over the road to Cuba, Alleghany Co., N. Y., and
there, in the night, the year 1853 died and was buried, and the
successor was born there the same night; but he did not see it
born, for he was in the land of dreams, not being a Methodist
watcher.
SECTION IIL
1854. —ITINERATING, AND PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF LOVE AND
ETERNAL LIFE.
"' There is a secret tie that binds
Congenial minds together;
A silent mingling heart with heart,
Almost unknown to either.
"And this sweet influence may be felt
When not a word is spoken,
And to the outward sense there seems
To be no sign or token.
"Yes, those who ne'er had met before
May meet and then be parted,
And, though no words may pass between,
Feel they are kindred-hearted.
"And when such spirits meet and join
In converse with each other,
How free the interchange of thought!No feelings there to smother.




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                  219,C It is not fashion's formal chat,
The inmost soul congealing;
But the free, unbridled tongue
O'erflows the fount of feeling.
"And though they part and sever wide,
As to an outward union,
Still they may often know and feel
A near and sweet communion.' They meet not with the bow and nod,
A cold.and formal meeting;
But't is with open heart and hand,
A true and friendly greeting.
C 0, give to me a few such friends,
Who are with life contented,
And, free from Custom's heartless forms,
Our souls shall be cemented.
"c I care not whether rich or poor,
Of high estate or lowly,
If pure in heart and noble minds,
Of purpose high and holy."
New Year's day was cold and stormy, and at six in the morning
the lecturer was in a sleigh with a friend, and they rode fourteen
miles in the Alleghany winter, and, almost frozen, reached the
warm fire of Mr. Houser, and the warm heart of Mrs. Houser, at
Rushford, N. Y., and in good time the comfortable church was
also warmed, and sounded with the new gospel-song. Mrs. H.,
with " Bloomer costume," bold and free, and with mind well stored,
and intellect and affections well developed, was deaconed for that
town; and the wanderer returned with his friend to the Cuba
home, where they were rejoicing yet, over the birth of the new
year, and joined in the glee of Cora, Minna, Hattie, Dr. Brown,
and others, till 4 New Year's " glided into the busy hum of ordinary life. Next day found the doctor and the three girls at Laoni, and the lecturer at Randolph, where again he met his friend




220           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
Sheldon, and the two unhappy and unluckily-mated Loves, and to
them renewed his advice to go West, and part where the laws were
more liberal. Mary had already begun to lecture on woman's
rights and wrongs, and had good success; and on Sunday, June
8th, he spoke twice, and she in the evening, in the hall, to good
audiences, and they seemed to be well appreciated. But very few
then knew the condition of Mr. and Mrs. L., for they treated each
other as brother and sister ought to do in public and private life;
and this was so much more tender and affectionate than husbands
and wives usually appear, that people often remarked, "How
happy and loving Mr. and Mrs. L. are!" " What a happy
couple! " etc.; because they were free in all but the legal bondage,
and seeking the means to break that.
Monday morning Mr. L. handed her, with a parting kiss, into
the full coach, where she found a seat by the side of the Lone
One, and rode to Little Valley to meet her appointment; and he
passed on to Cattaraugus to meet his, and this was the last time he
ever saw Mr. L., or met her as Mrs. L. Soon after they repaired
to Ohio, and parted, never more to meet except as acquaintances;
for the law of Indiana decided, through its court, that she ought
and should be a free woman, until she should again voluntarily
bind herself. There was one other case among his friends, - on
some accounts a far more trying one than this, - in Mrs. H. F.
M. B., of Cleveland; but in that he did not feel at liberty to
advise, because the parties were not agreed, and did not mutually
consult him. At last that chain broke of its own accord, and let
one of the noblest souls out of a social dungeon, to shine on society and speak of an experience of her own, and become a " Consuelo " to others and the country at large.  His line of march soon
brought him to Dr. Brown's, where were the three girls, Cora rapidly
developing for her glorious and angelic mission, and the others -
an aunt and cousin - with her for company.  He stayed several
days, and lectured in Laoni and Fredonia; but none but those who
have seen the cesspools of gossip in commotion can believe the
extent of suspicion, jealousy, gossip, slander, and falsehood, which




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 221
followed, and fell from the tongues of " priest and levite " on Dr.
B., and also on the lecturer, because he occasionally met these
and other female mediums.  When the stolen letter story was
added to these, such was the jealousy that it was imprudent for
him to go into a house where there were more females than males,
or into a house where there were unmarried ladies, or ladies without their husbands, unless there were other men present to guard
them. This sensitiveness even affected some who called themselves
spiritualists, and some simpletons were afraid their wives would
leave them if they made the acquaintance of this reformer, when
they could find not a single case where he had advised a separation, except where it was mutually called for. But this current of
slander and falsehood did not affect his calm and happy soul. His
life and his home were happy, and he moved fearlessly on his journey
and mission, with a pure, and free, and happy heart. These slanders often gave him small audiences, when he should have had
large ones; and thus the enemies rejoiced, and felt well paid for
their trouble. To these and many other girls he was always like
a father and guardian, as they ever did and ever will bear testimony; and now, when the three here referred to are all married
and settled in life, they remember and esteem him as the best of
friends.  But where are the slanderers?  Only hatching some
new theme for gossip. Many a beautiful and encouraging message
he received through Cora from  Mrs. Hemans, Frances Wright,
and others, on the occasions of these meetings with her; and his
soul was thus refreshed and watered from a fountain from which
few could, or would, drink.
January 19. - The girls went to Buffalo, where other friends
were prepared to receive and appreciate them; for Cora had already done much in that city to awaken in a few families the spirit
of inquiry after spirit-life, and Stephen Albo, Stephen Dudley,
Capt. Pratt, and others, were on hand to find homes mand circles
for her. The lecturer went the other way, and brought up among
the pine stumps and trees of Columbus, Pa., where, at the home
19*




222           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
of Judge Judson, he had a happy visit, and soon found good audiences in the church to listen to his gospel.
January 25. - He returned and commenced the first course of
lectures in Buffalo ever given in that city in favor of the new
philosophy; and had a good attendance in Townsend Hall, notwithstanding the celebrated " Buffalo doctors" had issued their
extinguisher in a pamphlet some time before, but which finally
extinguished their hopes of fame in all coming time. Buffalo
promised what she finally exhibited by the unwearying efforts of
S. Dudley, S. Albo, and others - a defence and support of the
new and most important discovery of the age. During this visit
he met the remarkable medium, Miss Sarah Brooks, through whom
such rich musical seances have since been given. She was at this
time just beginning to reach that development, and the guitar and
violin could be sounded slightly through her, as a medium, by
spirit-power.
February 1, he began his visit and lectures in Painesville,
Ohio. had a good time, and a large audience. That indefatigable pioneer and defender of the faith, Joel Tiffany, had labored
much in that place, and many minds had received light and
reached freedom. His audiences here, as elsewhere, increased in
number and interest to the end of the course, which was given
Sunday eve, February 5; soon after which, he was again with
his old and true friends in Cleveland, where H. F. M. B. and
many others always welcomed him as a laborer in the field of
reform, on the side of human rights, and as one ever in the field,
browned by the sun and hardened by the toil, but fanned by
breezes from the spirit-world, and watered by the Ganymedes
with the nectar of heaven.
At Grafton he found a " fallow ground," and broke it up, and,
for a wonder, gave a course of lectures in an Episcopal church, to
large audiences.  The truth he planted there was watered by
more than one "Apollos," and has never ceased to grow, although
there are a few tares among the wheat, and occasionally a defender
of the existence of a Devil may be seen there; and, although they




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               223
have several churches, yet it is not probable they can collect more
than one bundle of tares, at the harvest.  But it is not yet sure
whether the Methodist or Presbylterian band will hold them.
His next station was iRavenna, where the members of one
church had been converted to spiritualism, and of course carried
their church-house (and it was a good one) with them, for the new
gospel, and always found in it a place for lecturers and preachers
of "glad tidings of great joy to all people."  Happy hearts, with
listening ears, filled the church on Sunday, and he was happy and
"filled with the spirit on the Lord's day."  Next station was
Middlebury, where an early friend of him and the cause, and a
friend and admirer of Robert Owen, had recently moved from
Cleveland, and prepared the way for the voice of the Lone One.
Next station called was New Brighton, Pa., where the true man,
Milo Townsend, and his happy wife, were happy to welcome the
wanderers, and where he also found one of God's kind of homes at
James Irwin's, where six daughters made the woods and " Alum
Rocks " resound with glee, if not music. But the parents had
quartered with the Quakers rather too long to give much music
to the organizations of the girls. This family he ever remembered
and loved as among the happiest and best of his friends; not rich
in money, but rich in love to the pure and good.
About these clays, and for some time before, Amelia Welby became a devoted friend and guardian spirit, and often visited him
from her home; and ever, when through mediums she could do so,
gave him words of heart-cheer, more sweet and affectionate than
those of her beautiful poems, written while she dwelt in her body.
Here he also made the acquaintance of the mother and brother
and sister-in-law of Grace Greenwood, and found in them  developed and harmonized souls, fully imbued with the spirit of the new
gospel.  Elma, the eldest of the Irwin daughters, he had met
long before at the home of W. S. Courtney, in Pittsburg, and
found her then with a soul ripened for angel-visits, and a mediumship worthy a brighter record on the historic page than it found;
for, soon after, the marriage tie consigned her to a quiet and happy




224            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
obscurity and life.  But at this and one later visit she was at the
home under the cliff of Alum  Rocks, in the freedom of girlhood
and buoyancy of youth, and the angels could use her and one
other of the sisters to whisper to the listening ears of mortals.
Next, over the winding way to Columbus, Ohio, where only a
few members of the legislature attended, with a few others, his
course of lectures, which closed in time for the arrival of Judge
Edcmonds and Dr. Dexter, to meet their appointment for two
lectures on the same subject.  He had an interesting visit with
the judge, who, for a social chat and short visit, in point of
interest and information on this subject, is not excelled by any
medium or spiritualist in the nation, as many persons can testify.
March 11. - In Cincinnati, lecturing successfully.  Soon made
the acquaintance of Caroline Brown, a noble and true woman, if
the world has one, who was struggling, against fearful odds, to
establish a character, reputation, and practice, as physician and
surgeon, with her shingle hung out on the street-side, and her
diploma in her office, in which the wise faculty, following the old
Latin form, had declared she was a true man, etc.  He also met
-the blind phrenologist, F. Bly, whose skilful hand, passed scientifically over his head, brought the expression that he must;
make a mark on the page of life that would be of value in coming
time, if not in his day. During his short stay he became a warm
and devoted friend of Caroline, whose bold and energetic character, blended with a most affectionate and loving heart, and a pure
and noble mind, refinled and developed by a thorough education
and discipline, he almost worshipped as the model woman, or
what he had ever contended woman should be; and a few letters
in correspondence subsequently proved all he had believed of her.
A defect in the nerves of her eyes, which was impairing her vision,
seemed to yield to his magnetism, and furnished an excuse to her
n.-ellent female partner, who did not need one, for his frequent
I-'lIls during his short stay in the city.  At this visit he made
many warm  friends, and parted with them with mutual regrets
and hopes of future meetings.




LIFE-LINE OF THIE LONE ONE.             225
iJMarch 25. - Made his first visit to Richmond, Pa., where he
awakened and renewed the interest in the new gospel, and made
some warm and permanent friends for himself and the cause; and
this subsequently became one of the strongholds of the Harmonial
Philosophy. Down the winding channel of the Ohio, and up the
Mississippi, on steamboat, from Cincinnati to St. Louis, was not
unpleasant, but the reverse, in all except the society and tobaccostench, which on the river-boats is almost unendurable to one
who has a body not saturated with the poison of the filthy
weed.
April 1. - Lands in St. Louis, and homes with a Mr. Hedges,
and an old constitutional-convention colleague in Judge Hyer,
whose estimable lady was a medium.  Mr. Hedges was one of the
early and able advocates and experimenters in magnetism and
spiritualism, since, extensively known as a business man of Cincinnati and Philadelphia.  Met R,. P. Ambler, the developed medium, and interesting and intelligent speaker, and an early editor
of the Spirit Messenger. And John M. Spear had been sent by
spirit-direction to the city, to ordain Mr. A., and for other purposes supposed by him to be of more importance. Mrs. E. J.
French had also been directed there by spirits, from Pittsburg.
Here the Lone One made the acquaintance of this remarkable
woman, who had been a medium many years in the Methodist
church, acceptable to them while she called it the power of God,
or the 1" Holy Ghost." But when she found it was of ghosts who
were not more holy than other human beings, and told the truth
about it, then they cast her out, and said it was of the Devil. Her
healing and other medium powers were remarkable and peculiar,
as many have testified.  He also made the acquaintance of that
public and highly talented defender of woman's, and human, rights,
Frances D. Gage, and registered her in his head and heart as one
who was laboring here, for the reward hereafter, even though she
had some doubts of that, or any reward, except in ner consciousness of doing her duty.  There was much spiritua- power and
influence in the city at this time, and the cause seemed highly




226           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
prosperous. At Alton he next found a warm reception, and gave
several lectures, and then moved over the road to the prairie village of Bloomington, and quartered with an ex-clergyman, while
he used a church to lecture in; and, April 28, reported progress
at his old friend's, N. E. Dagget, of Elgin, where one of the best
of families was always as glad to see him as if he were one of
the household.  At this time a church door was opened for
him, and he preached the new gospel in the old " shop."
May 1. - Dr. Haskell was reporting his progress in searching
for evidence, to the Lone One, in his own elegant home at Rockford. He had found evidence in abundance, and his heart was
full to overflowing.  Many warm friends, in this beautiful city,
welcomed him with heartfelt expressions that did his soul good;
and he felt that he was valued, and determined, with renewed
energy, to be worthy of all their friendship. A delightful visit
with the three sisters at Rockton, and the parting kiss was given
to the prairie wind of Illinois, for that time. And, by the 12th
of May, he had reached the lake at his old Southport station, and
stood by the apple-tree grave of his boys' bodies on the sand.
bank, amid the marble and granite slabs, which told both lies and
truths of those who were both living and dead. But the tree told
no lies, and was a fit emblem of the living boys, whose epitaph it
was.  Milwaukie heard his voice again, as he passed along to
his valley home, where he arrived on the 19th, after an absence of
ten months, during which time not one week had failed to bring
one or more letters to his family from him, and, in small sums,
all the money he had received, except that used for his expenses.
Once more he was in the home with his happy family, and recounting the many incidents of travel to the wife and delighted
children, and then examining their progress, which was not slow.
"Welcome home! " said the mate; "for'I would not have a servile throng
Press round to bow the knee,
But one light, free, and eager step
Haste homeward unto me.




LIBE-LINE OF THE -LONE ONE.               227
I would not have a sumptuous couch
When pain had laid me low,
But one dear arm to fold my form,
One hand to press my brow.
I would. not have proud marble piled
Upon my lowly head,
But simple stone and grassy mound,
And one to weep me dead.
6  would, beloved, to thee and me
The priceless pearl be given,
That thy true heart may meet mine own,
And each love each, in heaven.'"
During his short visit at home, and the pleasant excursion of
himself and wife up and down the Neenah, and to several new
towns on its banks, he related much of the reception he had met
with in his travels; told her of the excellent homes to which he
was ever made a welcome guest, - of the warm greetings, the love
and sympathy, he had received from both spheres; and how his
soul was overpaid for its long, dark night of doubt, coldness, and
death, through which it had passed; and how gloriously he had
triumphed over the slanders and falsehoods of his enemies, leaving
in them the stings of guilty consciences, and his forgiveness; how
the demand for his services increased, and the bright hopes before
him, - not of wealth, but of a happy reward in the life to come,
and the love of kindred beings while here. These renewed her
hope, inspired her with confidence, and cheered her on her way,
which was now rapidly growing light and pleasant. He lectured
several times at the valley hall, to audiences composed of most of
the decent, intelligent, and respectable, of the vicinity. During
these travels, and especially when at home, he wrote much for the
press, and on various subjects, - among the rest a criticism on
H. C. Wright's and T. L. Nichols' works on marriage, in which
he did not wholly endorse either, but nearly that of H. C. Wright.
Writing and speaking on this subject freely, and not endorsing or
sustaining the popular errors and prejudices on one side, nor en



228            LIFE-LINE OF TEE LONE oNE.
dorsing the theories on the other, of course brought him directly
between the armies, where each shot at him, and tried to drive
him to the other rank, but all in vain. As an old lady aptly remarked, they only shot him ahead in the path of right and duty,
upward and outward, alone. Henry, however, and his friends,
were not of the army that tried to hit him; for they knew and
appreciated his honesty, and his nearness to their teachings, and
so did many individuals and personal friends of both armies; but
the officers of each army had ordered him killed. Still he was
invulnerable.
June 29. - He delivered the funeral discourse of Isaac Lewis,
an elderly and esteemed citizen of an adjoining town. Thus he
was installed a preacher of the gospel of " life unto life,"
July 4. - E. Daniels delivered an address, and the Lone One
looked on, for the first time for several years, without feeling or
taking a part; for he had now separated himself entirely from
politics and popular oratory, and become only a preacher of the
gospel of reform and the future. Having visited and lectured at,
and in the vicinity of, his home for near six weeks, on the 7th of
July (the lucky Friday) he started again for a long journey of
indefinite miles and months, and landed first night in a circle at
Fond-du-lac.  On Sunday he waked up the sleepers at Sheboygan
Falls, and started a commotion that soon collected the means, and
built a free church, neat and capacious, which he had subsequently
the honor of first making a speech in, before it was finished. Met
again the kind welcomes of his firiends in Milwaukie, and escaped
the curses of his enemies, and passed on to meet other good souls
at Genesee and Palmyra; and, on the 15th, parted with the Palmyra friends in Milwaukie, and closed one of the best and happiest visits of his life with those best and purest of friends, the
Higgins family. Stopped at most stations where the spirits had a
station-house, and especially at Waukegan, to examine that remarkable medium, Mrs. Seymour, who writes on her arm in raised
letters, without touching it, and writes names, and other tests of
individual spirits, in that way. Made the acquaintance of the




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                229
Baker family, - singers, - and of Peter Saxe, the better brother
of the poet.  Short stay in Chicago; but switched at Battle
Creek and laid over, and visited again the Cornell home, and
became more attached and interested at each succeeding visit.
Did not yet resolve to make it a new home.  Found friends at
several new stations, among them Bellevue, Albion, and Jackson;
and brought up at the tavern-home of that true firiend of both
worlds, N. Stone, of Detroit.
August 13. - In Detroit large audiences attended, and were
pleased; but subsequently unfavorable circumstances and incompetent teachers dampened the ardor and slackened the speed here,
as in many other places, more than the enemies could. A terrible crash and rattling of broken dishes near his head, on the
steamboat, in the dark night, on the river, started. him next from
his sleep. He soon learned that a vessel had run her bow-pole
into the pantry, and waked up the passengers, some with screams
and flight, or prayers, or curses, according to their respective religious beliefs.  But he soon'" bedded down" again, for he had
paid fare to Cleveland, and was not so easily to be cheated out of
it; and in the morning he stood on the bank in the Cleveland city
overlooking the lake and its vessels, calm and happy as a sainted
judge.  Had an excellent visit with many good friends, but his
lectures did not call large audiences. The cause lay quiet at that
time in the public mind. He was constantly learning of new cases
of misery and suffering from unhappy marriages; and constantly
his soul was called out in sympathy for these sufferers, and the
trials of martyrs.  But he often asked, Where is the remedy, and
what is it?  Knowledge of ourselves, and the laws of our being,
and relations to one another, seemed the only ones he could discover; and these seemed distant, and not easily reached by society
while it was running its mad career after wealth, fashion, religion,
and glory.
September was scattering its autumn shades when he visited
again that romantic spot, New Brighton, and the Alum Rocks,
and met the happy faces there.  Again he found the happy face
20




230           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
of W. S. Courtney in Pittsburg, and turned the corner on New
Brighton. Every traveller ought to visit this place once, and see
where Grace Greenwood used to climb the rocks and paddle in
the brooks, in the days of her girlhood, which gave her the noble
body and excellent case for her expanded soul.
Sunday, September 24. - A. J. Davis lectured in the Melodeon
in Cleveland morning and evening, and the Lone One in the afternoon; and certainly their philosophy harmonized, as their minds and
feelings did. His former opinions of the honest and happy-hearted
seer were confirmed, and he both loved and esteemed him, and ever
after registered and reported him  as the "happiest man that
lives." He coasted around the vicinity of Cleveland, and lectured
almost constantly until October 10th. He brought up again at
the office of Carrie, in Cincinnati, overjoyed to learn of her prosperity and success in her cherished art of healing, in which she
had studied and struggled so long, and suffered so much. Large
audiences, as usual, came to hear him in that city. He followed
his subject and the calls to many places; but among the most
attractive were Cincinnati and Richmond, and afterwards Dayton
more than either.
October 26. - Met Mrs. Thomas, the preacher of the new gospel, at Middlebury, Ohio, and assisted her over some of the theological rocks that had been stumbling-blocks in the way of her
progress. She ever after had more freedom. Also met one of
God and Nature's tall specimens of human life, light, and beauty,
whose gospel-mission has since commenced, and whose voice and
actions have gone forth in battle "ifor freedom and reform." May
God and the angels bless her noble soul, and impel her on her way,
was and is his prayer for her! She deserves a better fate than
circumstances have given her, but so do many who have harder
ones. It seems, after all the speculating about "free agency,"
that we are creatures of circumstances; and how much we can do
to make or modify circumstances with the aid of circumstances is
not yet known. About this time the thread of correspondence,
which had been spun out to near five years' length quite evenly,




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               231
except the knot at the point of theft, was twisted off by a lady,
supposed to be a mutual friend, for reasons probably known to
her, and it was never after tied up; so the spools were laid away
for future use; and if they are ever wove into a web, it will make
a garment that will answer to wear to and into heaven; for it
was pure as the robes of angels which cover their affections.
October. - Down the road he moves,; with short stops in Buffalo, Rochester, Auburn, Syracuse, Utica, and Troy, to Springfield, Mass., and met there again good friends, and that feeble
body and excellent medium for quiet, and pleasant, and reliable
communications, Miss Angeline Munn, through whom many excellent messages have been given, that the public have read without
knowing the gentle and obscure author. Met Lucy Stone at
Hartford, and bade her farewell, as she was about to take a voyage in the sea of matrimony, from which her return was doubtful,
and in which so many are totally lost, and others shipwrecked, a
few of whom get back to shore. He hoped the silvery tones of
her attractive voice would give a farewell address to the friends
of freedom before she started, on the ship Ceremony, for Blackwell's Island; but she went off soon after, only registering her
name at the station, without reserving the right to return when
she pleased.  Many loved her before, and not less after, she went
to the nursery. Here he also met the woman whom he once found,
a stranger, lying sick with a fever, of the typhoid species, and,
taking her by the hand, bade the fever depart, and "' straightway
the fever left her " from that hour, and she arose and walked, but
not until her emaciated body was recruited by food. Met also,
for a second or third time, that beautiful little, Frank, medium,
through whom Red Jacket calls the squaws and braves to their
places, and gives them specimens of his wit and wisdom. Presented Mrs. Mettler with a lock of hair from the head of a sick
lady in Ceresco, Wisconsin, and received a most accurate and critical description of all her conditions and relations, some of which
were pitiable in the extreme, and beyond remedy while law and
religion continue to make slaves, victims, and martyrs, to cruel




232            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
inharmonies in social life. Went to Poquonock; found a church
with a two-story pulpit, pens for pews; and there preached the
new gospel in the old house, and it did not burst; and he left
with the best wishes of some good souls and a promise to return,
but left the time loose.  So it is yet.
Went back to Springfield and met a New England Thanksgiving-day, and. found a great contrast between the table of
Mirs. Harrison, on that occasion, and the one he found at home
sixteen years before, in the days of salt and potatoes, eat with
tears for blessings.  In this city he found a wolf, with a sheep's
coat on, trying to coax a lamb through the fence; and he picked
up the willing lamb and took it to the station in Boston, and sent
it by express to its paternal home, among the mountains, where it
rested in safety till it went to sea. Found Boston and December,
and that indomitable worker for spiritualism, Dr. H. F. Gardner,
with his Fountain House for a spiritualist's home; and there were
truly spirits at the house, but not the kind which make drunk
come, but those which make the raps and tips come; and people
often came there to find that kind of spirits, but not to find the evil
spirits, which are usually bottled and headed, corked and decantered, but for whose freedom the Lone One ever plead, asking that
the necks of the bottles might be wrung and twisted off, and the
heads of the casks broken, and the spirits allowed to run freely
away.  The other kind always seemed to be free, and would not
always come at bidding, especially of wise savans and professional
dignitaries.  More than one evening he was found sitting in Barnard's little spirit-room, where the drums did beat, the bells tinkle,
the trumpets sound, the tambourines rattle, and the drumsticks
move about the room, all in the dark; but he soon satisfied himself that an invisible power did perform many of the simple tricks,
- invisible of course in the dark, and he was satisfied it would be,
even in a lighted room, but it never was philosophically clear to
him why the room for such feats must be dark.  The spirits never
gave a scientific reason, although they often attempted, and satisfied those who were ignorant of science and her laws. But these




LIFE-LINE OF THEE LONE ONE.              233
and other experiments fully satisfied him that certain spirits
required darkened rooms for particular performances. This seemed
to have a connection with haunted houses, where the wonders
usually occur in the night or dark - but why, is still an open
question.  Made the acquaintance of that bold defender of' the
truth, Theodore Parker, and loved to hear him send home the
startling truths to the anxious minds that gathered in the Music
Hall, each Sabbath morn.  "Well," said the reverend, at the
close of a sermon, " did I do your subject any injustice? " for he
had been speaking of mediumi and spiritualism. — " No, sir," said
the Lone One, " only criticized it as I often do; but you have only
reached the door of our temple, - would you not like to have it
opened, and walk in, and view its beautiful decorations? "-" Certainly; I am always seeking for new truth. Come to my house and
tell me what you have found." But the visit did not come off, for
the two ends missed each other, and passed by the stopping-place.
Heard the soft whisperings of angels through Hattie A. Adams,
and the "Lily Wreath" of spirit-flowers fell from her hands on
his brow in the beautiful visions more than once, as he heard the
ever-smiling face of John S. relate how he penned and pranced
the " Town and Country " for the market. But we have not
time here to register all the good souls with whom he met and
parted.
December 20. -In Portland, Me. Meets A. J. Davis, at the
reformers' home of Lydia Dennet, and in the lecture-hall; for now
the seer, too, is itinerant.  It always did his soul good to meet
Jackson, for then he knew God or nature had one specimen of a
natural and true man - a man without a mask, inside and outside alike.  Made arrangements for a course of lectures for himself, on his return, to follow Mr. Davis, and then ploughed on
through the snow to the end of the rail. Almost froze in the
sleigh-coach before he reached Bangor, although the passengers
had the advantage of the heat of a newly-married couple, on a
wedding trip to the eastern " jumping-off place." But they
reached Bangor late in the eve, where he found warm friends and
20*




234            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
homes; but what became of the wedding-party was never known
to him, for they were to go on at four next morn, and at six thermometer was near thirty degrees below zero; and whether it froze
between them he never knew. He solicited a lock of their hair for
their friends, but they would not send this token back to Vermont by
him; for they had faith in God, and hoped he would preserve them,
and let them return safe, and not frozen; - perhaps he did. His
old friend Melinda, of Troy, N. Y., was here, with a sister and
brother-in-law, and they were a concert and made beautiful music
at each lecture. The church was opened and ready, and a liberal
public feeling gave him full audiences, and an interesting time.
The Christmas-tree was harvested at the home where he rested;
circles and happy visits used up the time, and closed the old year
up; and, on the 31st of December, it sank quietly to its eternal
rest, unless a resurrection-trump shall awake it, of which there is
no promise. But the Hutchinson boys were there singing, and
they sang its requiem, and the Lone One preached its funeral
sermon.  Ralph W. Emerson, whom  the Lone One had never
before met, said the comic and witty, acute and philosophical words
for the old year, as it was about to die. The year thus closed,
with a feast of fat things, in a deep snow-rich city, and happy
homes, far down in the State of Maine, on the life and vision of
the Cosmopolite.
"The long dark night of the world is past;
The day of'humanity dawns at last;
The veil is rent from the soul's calm eyes,
And prophets, and heroes, and seers, arise;
Their words and deeds like the thunders go;
Can ye stifle their voices? - They answer,'No!'
" We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
We should count time by heart-throbs: he most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best;
And he whose heart beats quickest lives the longest."




LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.                   235
SECTION III.
1855.- ITINERATING. -  INCIDENTS, -  FRIENDS INCREASE.
ONE BY ONE.
One by one the sands are flowing,
One by one the moments fall;
Some are coming, some are going, -
Do not strive to grasp them all!
One by one thy duties wait thee, -
Let thy whole strength go to each;
Let no future dreams elate thee,
Learn thou first what these can teach.
One by one - bright gifts from Heaven -
Joys are sent thee here below;
Take them readily when given,
Ready, too, to let them go.
One by one thy griefs shall meet thee,Do not fear an armed band;
One will fade as others greet thee,
Shadows passing through the land.
Do not look at life's long sorrow;
See how long each moment's pain;
God will help thee for to-morrow,
Every day begin again.
Every hour that fleets so slowly
Has its task to do or bear;
Luminous the crown and holy,
If thou set each gem with care.
Do not linger with regretting,
Or for passing hours despond;
Nor, the daily toil forgetting,
Look too eagerly beyond.




236           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
Hours are golden links, God's token,
Reaching Heaven, but one by one;
Take them, lest the chain be broken
Ere the pilgrimage be done.
The new year broke beautifully on the life of the Lone One in
Bangor, and the day was spent visiting with the three Hutchinson
brothers, and Mr. and Mrs. ShlAw, with their sister, the Troy
medium, writer, and singer, who had been so unceremoniously
dismissed from teaching in Troy because the angels communicated
to her beautiful messages of peace and love for those who needed
such. The delightful and happy homes of General Hersey and
Mlr. McLaughlin both received and contributed to the holiday
joys, and aided to wheel off the cold hours in pleasure and gladness. The day closed with a concert and crowd, and beautiful
dreams took the Lone One late to other scenes.  Next night he
slept in Portland, at the home of N. Foster, where reformers find
a welcome and the best of care; but Mrs. F. had removed her
" board and lodging " to a new home on the other side of the
Styx, where she was expecting him, as soon as he completed his
labor on this side. She was not so far away that they could not
hear from her; for she often sent word, and assured her husband
of her good health and happy life in the new home.
January 5. -A letter for a western paper commenced somewhat in this wise: " My date reminds me that this day completes
forty-two years that I have breathed the atmosphere of this earth,
and boarded with its inhabitants. I have been fanned by its
zephyrs, and chilled by its boreas; warmed by its sunshine in
summer-time, and bitten by its frosts of winter-time, both in body
and spirit, from the world of matter and the world of mind around
me. Much of my life has been a sad experience, full of events
and vicissitudes that may one day make up a narrative for the
curious. My attempt at life on earth was begun in the winter, in
every sense and meaning of the word. In mid-winter, by the
calendar, in the geographical winter of New Hampshire.  In the
abject poverty winter of society; in the winter of social scorn and




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.              237
contempt, despised by the ignorant and vulgar. In the solitary
winter of loneliness, with no brother, no sister, no father, and but
a momentary visit from a mother; such was the winter of an
ardent and sensitive soul. In the winter of intellect, too; for by
hard-earned coin I paid for the book-knowledge at school, and by
toiling by day, and studying by night, for many years, I unfolded
my intellect, and gradually melted away the snows of human
prejudice. In a winter of religion, for even to the age of thirty
no ray of hope for happiness, or even existence beyond this, to
me, miserable life, enlivened one hour of toil and misery; hope
sank in utter darkness, and scarcely could the light of God be seen
through the snow-drifts which circumstances and society had
heaped upon me. Twenty years ago I sought a home in the then
far West; and there, after many years of toil and suffering, I have
at last found the summer-time of life, and the sunshine of happiness, and my soul is full to overflowing."
The course of lectures were well attended in Portland, and a
lively interest awakened in the city, which has never subsided;
nor will it, until the city is 1"leavened." Returned to Boston,
and horned at the Fountain House a few weeks, and missionaried
about the country.  Found Joseph Dow and lady in Woburn,
with souls in them, and heard of others in the place, where a few
attentive minds listened to his voice.
Jan. 14. —Lectured in Hartford, and had one of the most
pleasant and happy visits with old friends there, and returned,
passing Springfield.  Came to Warren, and addressed a full house,
and again in Ware met new friends and attentive listeners.
Passed by and viewed the rocky home where Lucy Stone used to
skip, and play, and work. But he did not call, for the bird had
flown. Returned to Boston, and met Emmia F. Jay, whose acquaintance he had before made at Troy, and who was now a remarkable medium. She, too, had in early life found a home in
the same Southport village of Wisconsin, and sojourned also in
the Battle Creek of Michigan, and schooled in the LaRoy seminary of New York.  Orphaned out, and tossed about, slandered




238           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
and scorned, for her mediumship, and defence of the truth. She
had, by these means, attained, and deserved, a high place in the
army of spiritualists.  A well-deserved notoriety soon after took
her over the ocean, with friends; but the spiritual atmosphere
there would not hold her up, and she leaned on the social and intellectual arm of society.  Made a visit of her mission, and returned to triumph more, and better, at home, as a messenger of
the angels, till she landed on the island of domestic life, over the
sea of matrimony, and homed at the old "stamping-ground," in
the city of Kenosha, - once Southport.
Feeling lonely, one day, he stepped into a room where were a
gentleman and his wife, both good mediums, and seated himself as
a visitor, or friend. Soon the lady, with a sudden convulsed jerk
of the body and arm, threw her work from her lap, and, in an entranced state, turned to him and said, "A beautiful white cloud
hangs over you, with a richness of pure white too delightful for
description.  Slowly I see a small, delicate, and exquisitely
moulded hand and arm project from the cloud! In the fingers is
one bright red pink; - do you know its language? " - " Yes," he
replied. 1" The arm reaches it to you, and, placing it in your lips,
recedes. At a distance the cloud slowly opens, and I behold the
features and form of one of the most lovely beings my spirit-eye
hath ever beheld, and I hear her say,' When thy wearying task
is done, when thy earthly clouds are passed, when thy mission
is performed, when thy wounded heart is healed, when thou
layest thy body down,- then we will lead thee to our home, where
thy soul shall mingle, one with mine, in pure, unclouded
love.' Her smiling face and celestial form is again hid in the
cloud, and it moves slowly away." The dark cloud was lifted off
his feelings, and they were again buoyant and happy. Reader,
who do you think did this?  Was it a devil, or a bad woman?
But some of you will ask who was the spirit. To him it was a
vision of the future; not personal, on the part of the angel, but
only representative. He knew too much of such visions to seek
for names, or persons; for they are only given to represent condi



LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                239
tions and times. The person represented in such visions may be
in either world, known or unknown; and we are not often supplied
with correct information of the persons represented, for usually it
is not best for us to know.
Jan. 27. - Some excellent friends in Portsmouth, N. HI., received a visit, and collected very large audiences, in the Temple,
to listen to his lectures. The spirits were ringing door-bells, and
making some other demonstrations in the town, that served to
awaken an interest and inquiry. The social atmosphere was
very pleasant at this station, and he lingered till his appointment
at Kennebunk, Mle., called him thither.  Found friends and listeners numerous there, also, and filled the mission, and returned
to meet his appointment at Natick, and lodge in the soul-refreshing home of his friend Hanchet, and shook once more the political
hand of Senator Wilson, with whom he had been stationed on the
platform  at Pittsburg, in his day of political conventions.  One
of the most intelligent and appreciative audiences assembled to
hear him in Natick, and long he remembered his pleasant visit,
and the influences of the place.
Feb. 7. - Drifted in, by snow, at Essex, where a preacher had induced him to come and lecture, where a few good souls were ready
for the gospel which he preached.
Feb. 11. - Attended to the sermon of Parker in morning, and
spoke twice at the Melodeon to good audiences.  A cloud hung
over his soul about these days, for extraordinary efforts were made
to destroy his influence by slander and falsehood, based on stories
which were only valuable by transportation, but worth nothing at
the places where they started. His loving nature and affectionate
heart, which had been so crushed in early life, was now receiving
its natural flow, and he was often found in conversation or correspondence with the best, and purest, and most intelligent ladies
of his circle of acquaintance; and a letter or a visit from a lady
unknown to the enemies, or jealous sensualists, was ample evidence, and testimony, that he was a C"Free Lover."  When this
cloud passed away, it was the last that ever did, and probably the
last that ever will, shade his soul, for he had drank deep of the




240            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ON]' - "6 Pure and strengthening camomile,
Whose crushed leaves ever show
How the true and strong heart gathereth
Fresh energy from woe."
It was truly a long time before his sensitive heart could be
reconciled to the falsehoods of enemies and pretended friends;
but at last he triumphed in that struggle, and felt the forgiving
spirit of Jesus, who could as freely forgive Peter and Judas as
he could those who crucified him.  A point which Christians have
seldom attained, but which the Harmonial Philosophy teaches, and
A, J. Davis practises, as a disciple of nature.
Feb. 13. - Dropped a lecture in Lexington, not as famous as
the battle, but may have hit some object. A second pleasant visit
at Portsmouth.  Heard Sally Holley try to unite Bible with antislavery.  Vain effort to make it all read that way, while it reads
both in defence, and condemnation, of every evil. A second visit
to Portland, with better success than in first. Used up a week,
and made new friends, and the increasing influence and constant
labor in this cause made its enemies more bitter and vindictive
than ever.
Returned to Boston to see February expire, and to part with a
patient, whose system had received much benefit firom magnetism,
through his system.  This patient is often referred to in the diary
as Belle, and was a poor victim of disease, and medicine, with a
fine and large brain, well balanced, and a nobleness of soul and
character seldom equalled in one of only ordinary education.  She
had been totally blind for four years, from the age of sixteen to
twenty, and during the time physicians had experimented on her
nervous system, until they had nearly destroyed all its capacities
for enjoyment; and when she ceased all medical r:mnedies, she
slowly and partially recovered her vision.  The jealous fiiends
and pious enemies both found good food for slander in his magnetizing this poor sick girl.  But their fires went out when she
got married to a distinguished business man, and left the circle of
gossip, but never the feeling of gratitude to him.




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               241
March 2a.- Visit the home of John MI. Spear and daughter,
in Melrose.  Sophronia was an angel while here, and at that time,
and now is with them in a more affectionate and happier home,
as she testifies to the Lone One, and many other friends, who
knew and loved her while here, and as her husband knew then,
and still testifies; but the people abused her, as they do all of
their best specimens of human-life purity.
Sznday, March 4.- Turned off three lectures in Lawrence, to
arge and intelligent audiences.
In Lawrence found a cousin in a happy home, with one of the
best of husbands, and one little daughter.  She was a daughter
of Joseph, who had ever been the most sympathizing and kind of
his relatives, and whose family had ever treated him as a relation.
With this cousin he ever after sojourned when in the city; and'
now for the first time since he left his native town for the West
he met with a relative. She had a story to tell, a life-line to
follow.  One of the best and most affectionate of girls, she was
early married by law, and tried to live with a man who was to
her anything but what a husband should be, until her constitution
was nearly ruined, and at last was forced to leave him, and be
unlocked by a decree of court; and, after some years of struggle
and buffeting the world of scorn, she at length met her'true mate,
and unitedly and happily they wind their way along the mar.
ried journey, happy in all but her poor health. Adding this to
his cabinet of specimens of marriage unions, he journeyed along,
wishing he had all the experiences to record, that the law-makers
might see the picture, and be induced to so change the law that it
would not be more honorable to die or live in misery, than to
escape from such pollution and adultery as many live in, forced'
by law and public opinion united, to crush their victims.
Next point of note was Concord, N. IH., where the lectures did
not call out many hearers; but here he picked up a specimen for
his cabinet of curiosities.  In the old Chandler homestead he
found Joh/n, with his unshaven face and head; of course, a singular man, and one of the odd sticks.  Martha, with her pleasant
21




242            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
face and contented look, and the fine-looking children.  Frorm
them he learned the story of their marriage, which God or nature
had cemented many years before, when they were young.  They
religiously repudiated marriage, but after an early and long
acquaintance they believed they were mates.  She had been
much at the old homestead; and one morning at breakfast, without any previous notice to his parents, or others, they both,announced their intention to live together as much like married
people as they pleased, and be as near one in life and labor as
God had made them adapted to each other.  When the surprise
was over, then the rage of gossip began, and lasted for years, but
gradually it died, for they ever lived true to each other, happy
in and with each other; and as God married them, of course no
man has ever put them asunder; and no earthly marriages have
been more pleasant through the trials of life.  They wandered to
the West once after an association, at a time when John repudiated money.  They returned, through many hardships, to the old
homestead, which has recorded the years for more than a century,
in Concord.
Some time after this date John furnished another firebrand
for the market of gossip.  Their eldet child had left her body,
-  a girl of about a dozen summers, -  and, as the family were
sick, John employed the sexton to take the body to the graveyard and bury it, without a priest or funeral, or even followers to
the grave.  The enraged Christians were almost ready to dig it
up and hang him, and bury both decently, as they called it. But
John only laughed at their rage, and did as he had a mind to do.
March 12,'55. - The team  lands him  in Pittsfield, twenty
years, lacking a few days, since he left.  Tile voters had been
called to the town-hall to hear a speech frontm Mr. Clark, of Manchester, an acquaintance of the Lone One. He was to follow in
a speech to the Republican voters; and next day was to be election-day in the state.  Only one citizen knew the Lone One was
present; and as Mr. Clark was compelled to leave at the close of
his speech, he was requested to announce a stranger to follow in a




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.              243
speech, but not to name him, for he was now nameless; probably
not twenty people in the town knew he was living, and only the
one knew he was present.  It was a surprised party, as he made
his way to the stand through the anxious crowd, and, mounting
the rostrum, deliberately releasing himself from his extra coat, he
soon called to their minds the last election in which he took an
active part with some of them, when many others now active
among them were playing around their cradle-beds or mothers'
laps. Then he told them of his travels in the West and the
South, -in the border free states, and in the border slave' states,
- and explained the contrast, and many of his observations and
experiences. All persons of all parties were chained by the
thread of his discourse and the story, and looked sorry when
he closed, which was compelled by the late. Then followed
a scene such as we cannot describe. A hundred persons rushed
to greet him, each eager to clasp his hand, and many to be
recognized in person or in family; but none, save two little boys,
of the name or family with whom he had lived out his boyhood.
The lawyer and the eldest brother had removed from the town;
the father and the one with whom he had served his time had
removed over Jordan, and left only the two little boys at the old
homestead. They were born after he left, of a second wife.
After much entreaty, and many apologies to fractional relatives
and others, he finally went home with the Drake family, several
of whom, now men and women, were little children when he left,
but in and of a family of dear friends much visited by him for
several years, and near Brackett's homestead. Half an hour's
visit to his old home was all he could spare, and many short calls
among them - one on a cousin and her happy home. One whose
mother was a sister of Simon, and who m-irried into the name,
and, dropping.hdis' one daughter on earth, went home to heaven,
leaving the husband to marry again, but not to crowd the lovely
daughter out; of, sdle heirship.  Therefore, she brought her husband to the fih6eld home on the hill, and there still lingered the
almost octoirenarian parent, with two wives in heaven, and none




244           LIFE-LINE OF' THE LONE ONE.
on earth. Sophronia was overjoyed to meet him, for she had
loved him as a cousin in his youth, and to her he was still a relative, and ever had been. Four days, and all the visits were closed,
and the one lecture in the church on the Western States had
awakened the interest, and sufficed to let them know he had outgrown the boyhood, and their scorn and contempt for his birth and
youth.
March 16. - Returned to Concord; 17th, to Boston; 18th,
lectured twice in Chelsea, and quartered at the excellent and
happy home of Capt. Williams, and found the quiet and happy
parents of Mrs. W. and Mrs. Alvin Adams (Mr. and Mrs.
Bridge), on whose souls the sunshine of the next life was shining
brightly, enabling them to see and feel the life to come while yet
lingering here in feeble bodies.  Met and visited old and new
friends at many homes, in Boston and vicinity.  Lectured almost
constantly.
March 23.-  Stood on the Winnesimmet ferry-boat, with
uncommonly large number of passengers, when a large ship,
launched from the stocks, came directly toward it. So doubtful
were the chances of "fore or aft" passage, that the engineer
stopped the wheels, and in one minute all the frightened and
screaming crowd would have been under the mighty ship's prow,
and under water, but for a mighty yell of some person, given with
power enough to induce the engineer to put on the motion at full
force, by which the flat ferry, with its load of passengers, mostly
ladies, was pushed forward, and the monster grazed the stern as
she passed the frightened crowd. " Narrow escape! " they cried,
and some thanked God, and some the engineer, and some the man
that yelled.  The Lone One looked coolly on, calm, and prepared
for either sphere of life and action. Half an hour after, he was
on a train of cars that ran against a team just returning from a
funeral, and narrowly escaped an upset and destruction of property, and preparation of material for more funerals; but narrow
escapes are frequent on the cars.
March 26. -- Farewell to Boston.  Stop over in Springfield,




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.              245
and hold up at the Palace Home, in Hartford. Excellent circle,
and visit with best of firiends.
March 29.- Met with the Associationists in New York city,
and made speech for theory, and recounted unhappy experience.
Went home with the old reformer, Tappan  Townsend, of
Brooklyn.
March 30. - In eve at conference of spiritualists, but found
more wrangling than harmony, and few harmonized spirits in
attendance.  Could not find out their object.
Sunday, April 1. -Lectures in Stuyvesant Institute in day,
and in Dodsworth's in eve, to crowded hall; at the close of which
many applications were made for him, but his time was limited, and
he could not engage. Overheard a judge say that was the best
lecture they had heard in the hall; but the press said very little
about it, of course, for he was the World's Child, not of distinguished parentage, but born in its lower circle, and slowly wending his way to its outer spiritual sphere.
April 2.- A highly intellectual treat, in a visit with Ernestine
L. Rose; and then on the cars bound to Cleveland, with short
stop at Cuba; found Hattie watching by the side of her soon-to-bereleased father. Cora, whose father had been called through the
cholera-gate to the other life, was on her mission elsewhere, but
her Lovisa-mother was aiding Hattie. Only themselves can tell
how glad they all were to meet again one so nearly allied to them
in the dispensation of the new gospel.
April 6. - Once more in Cleveland, and meet the Mary F., whose
soul was now freed from its legal earthly bondage, by her effort,
and now she could say to Mr. L., marry now, if you wish, the girl
you love, for the court has freed you from me by my request.
No friend of hers could be more rejoiced at her freedom than the
Lone One, except it might be the one with whom her existence
soon after blended, and with which it still remains blended. Sunday he lectured twice, and Mary once, in the Melodeon; but, for
want of proper notice, to small audiences. Hers was a noble
effort, and a beautiful lecture, and she felt her freedom as her soul
21*




246           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
bounded with its outstretched wing once more in the world of
mankind,- a woman, free, though despised by many of those in
bondage. Her free heart went to its true mate soon after, and
found its home where no law of man could make or mar the union.
April 15. - One of the happiest and best visits of his life at
Akron and Middlebury, with lectures, and his artist-friend and her
mother and several others, all of whom endeavored to contribute
to his happiness, and whose kindnesses he never will forget in this
world or the world to come.  Coasted and lectured along the way
westward, at Elyria and other places.
April 23. - Brought up at L. Martin's, in Adrian, Michigan,
one of the neatest little homes that the spirits could find on earth.
No pet but the cat soils the carpet, and even the talking is mostly
done by the visitors; but this was always one of the best homes
for the Lone One, and where he ever found a hearty welcome,
and efforts and notices for lectures, which to him were now almost
his meat and drink.  Next in Detroit to meet an esteemed friend,
with the soul of an angel in earthly form, whose mate had been
snatched from her arms by the cholera, leaving her to guide and
train up the boys alone. This elegant and highly-refined lady was
ever a fast friend of the Lone One, in sunshine and storm; for she
knew his life and labors were above the vile dregs of society, that
ever slandered and abused him.  She believed in eternal life, and
that she should again meet her husband in a new home, and of course
this heresy rendered her unpopular; but she was free, and the
angels administered unto her.
April 29. - Three very good audiences in Detroit, in Fireman's
Hall, listened to his voice. Some excellent friends at Jackson
made his short visit highly pleasant; and at Albion the hall was
full of listeners, for the cause had made much progress there
through the labors of Mrs. C. Sprague, afterwards Mrs. Tuttle,
one of the ablest and best of medium-speakers in the field "to
this day."
Sunday, May 6.- The hall at Battle Creek was well filled, to
listen to the well-known voice of the Lone One; and the Bedford




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                247
school and the Cornell home received its accustomed visit. Waded
through Chicago, but no call for news from the other life there.
They were mostly engaged in speculating with corner-lots, and
stocks, &c.  In Milwaukie, the 9th, and met audiences in the hall
at each appointed hour; very good interest. Closed his course on
Sunday, the 13th, and parted with Dr. Greves and many excellent
friends; and on the 15th reached his Ceresco home and the bosom
of an anxious family, who had watched each approach as the
weekly letter reported it, after an absence of little over ten months.
Eager friends came gathering round, and wondering enemies
sneaked out of sight, ashamed and conscience-smuitten for their
abuse and slander.   aium and religion had doubled teams in Ripon
and Cereseo, and sent a mob after some new settlers or visitors in
the place, who, it was said, had lived, or were living, together as
man and wife without permission of a priest; and one deacon, of hard
history and bad repute, entered a complaint against the new comers,
although he had never been in a house when they were in it, nor
ever spoken to them; but his oath to what he knew nothing of, was
sufficient, with the prejudice, to arrest and bind over the two
strangers who had been guilty of living in the place for a few weeks,
- married or unmarried, no one knew, save what they said themselves, and they denied the right of a priest to marry them.  They
were strangers to the Lone One, and all others in Ceresco, and the
man subsequently proved himself unworthy the martyrdom; but they
found bail for appearance at county court, and that was the end
of the matter, for the influence of the little Ripon pettifogger did
not reach to the county seat, and the district attorney knew better
than to tax the county with his ridiculous nonsense. In the midst
of all this the Lone One had good audiences on Sunday, the 20th.
Even many of the rowdies came to hear him, and listened quietly,
and as usual found the pious enemies had lied about him, and taken
advantage of his absence to spread the lies.
During his last absence six families, four of them  old citizens
of irreproachable character, and two new settlers, united themselves, as they called it, into what was called the Ceresco Union,




248            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE,
and issued a circular, which was published in several papers, setting forth their unobjectionable views, and inviting friends who
agreed with them in sentiment to come and join them, and settle
in Ceresco. No noise, objection, or prejudice, was raised about or
against the Union, until a Dr. Newbury, from New York, came
there, and gave a course of lectures in which he defended the
fireedom of the sexes, and opposed all marriage and restraint of
law on the rights of women, &c.; the mob spirit arose, set on by
religious bigotry, and an attempt to mob him called out the families who composed. the Union, and they defended him  until his
lectures ended, and he left to return no more. But they had
brought down the, curse of the rabble and the busy pettifogger,
~who, about this time, got control of a little squib- sheet that advertised the goods of Ripon for the country market, and in this he
puffed himself, and let off his venom on the Ceresco Union, with.great applause from the enemies of Ceresco.  At a distance, the
whole scheme was charged to the Lone One, and Newbury was
said to have been sent there by him, although he never saw this
Newbury, " to this day," nor heard of him except in Ceresc.o; and,
although he never belonged to the Union, nor heard of it till its
circular was published, and neither condemned nor endorsed its
sentiments.  But he was ever ready to maintain the. freedom of
speech, and the right of every person to teach whatever sentiments
he or she pleases, as those who do not wish to hear could certainly stay away.  Mlore than five hundred newspapers in the
nation copied slanderous imputations about the Lone One started by
the little sheet at Ripon, and by a worse and more reckless, Cozzrier,
at Oshkosh, which procur ed its vile lies friom the pettifogger, who
was personally under obligations to the Lone One, firom which he
released himself by such abuse; but he had a reason, previously
given in these pages.  An acquaintance and personal fiiendship
was all the connection the Lone One ever had with this or any
other union, except the old Phalanx, which died in'50, and ever
after which, he intended to fight on his own hook, and be the exponent of his own views, as he is, boldly and openly. But his home




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               249
was in Ceresco, and he was a spiritualist; and if "  Free Love " or
any other subject could be used to prejudice the people, it would
be charged to him.
May 25. - Started again, and lectured in Fond-du-lac in eve,
and next day reached Sheboygan Falls, and Sunday, 27th, lectured
in new church to good audience, and on 28th in court-house at
Sheboygan. Tuesday, his eldest son arrived, and they took boat
for Chicago, and the son went on to Battle Creek and to the Bedford
school and Cornell home, where he found a welcome, and better
friends than he ever found out of his own home. The father
stopped in Chicago, and whistled off to iRockford to sleep at the
happy home of his friend Dr. Rudd. Dr. Haskell had the circles,
and his paper, going forth to spread the truth, but was not satisfied
to have the work go on so slowly.  Three lectures were well attended on Sunday.  In Dixon, June 6, one lecture; made a
good impression.  Next Peoria, the handsomest of handsome
cities in Illinois, took down a course of lectures well got up by
two of the Higgins brothers. By the 11th was again in Rockford, and on the 12th met once more the three sisters at Rockton.
The mother had now escaped from her body of pain, and the home
was broken up.
June 13 and 14. -Lectured in Beloit, Wisconsin, but not to
large audiences; 15th, in Belvidere, and on Sunday, 17th, in
Waukegan.  A good spiritual atmosphere ever surrounded this
place, for its best citizens were converted to harmonial religion.
Via the cities to Beaverdam, where he met his old friends, once of
Rockford, Mr. and Mrs. Archer, and had a pleasant visit and good
audience in the evening, and on the 22d was again at his home in
Ceresco. This short trip had been made that the wife might get
ready to accompany him East on a visit to her paternal home,
with the younger son. The elder son was now at the Spiritualists' Home in Bedford, Michigan; the daughter had taken, and
was teaching, a school in an adjoining town; the house was partly
rented, the goods were packed up, and preparations soon made to
leave the slanders to a free circulation, and they had a glorious




250           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
run after he and the family were gone. All was soon ready, and
on the 28th of June the friends collected and parted with the
three, and they started, not sure of a return, even if prospered, for
he had long since resolved to change his home, or rather hers, for
one more congenial to their views and feelings.
Sunday, July 1. -Lectured at Sheboygan Falls, and recruited
for the journey; her health was better than for years before, but
still feeble. The Harmonial Philosophy had wrought in her great
physical, spiritual, and mental changes, which had changed life
from a burden to a pleasure, and now she too had to share the
abuse and slanders of his enemies. No sooner were they out of
town than lies, of the most absurd and ridiculous character, were
reported about them; and frequently, while on the journey, where
he was known and she was not known, were remarks made about
the woman he had travelling with him, and persons heard to say
they did not believe it was his wife. By this journey, the only
one in which he had been accompanied by a female, he was long
reported as travelling with strange women all over the country.
Never, until he began to talk and write about the abuse of the
marriage contract, and advocate changes that would release only
the sufferers, was there a word of slander against his moral or
social character; but since he had made that a theme, every time
he was seen with a female he was suspected of illicit intentions.
Both were now free and happy, and these slanders did not reach
their souls, but usually fell, like scalding water, on those who
reported them. Speedily they journeyed, by boat, to Chicago,
and, after a short stop in that whirlpool of civilization, by rail
to Battle Creek, where his many friends were soon her friends also,
and, meeting the son at his new home with the Cornells, they soon
learned of his attachment to the place and people.
While here the Lone One bargained for an acre of land, and
resolved to put up a small house soon as he could do so. Soon
after this purchase, the proprietors surveyed the village plats of
Harmonia, and his proved to be a corner-lot, opposite the schoolhouse, and in the town of Battle Creek, with the road between




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 251
it and the school-house, a town-line road dividing it from Bedford.  The plat is on a beautiful plain of light, rich soil, and each
lot has one acre or more. The Michigan Central Railroad passes
one mile north of the school, and the Kalamazoo River beyond,
but near, the track.  Battle Creek station and village, one of the
most active, enterprising, thriving, and liberal towns in the state,
is five miles south-east of the school, and the mail, and other
business of the school and settlers, is still done there; for,
although the place had been long settled, and was not new, yet
it was, and is, only the home and the school of a few reformers.
The soul-and-body devoted H. Cornell had, of course, been abused,
like other reformers who attempt to teach without permission
from, and submission to, the clergy.  But he was not a man to
faint, or fail, but was one of the few true souls with whom the
Lone One felt united in a life-struggle for reform; and he now
resolved to be interested in the school and its progress. Although
he had no dollars to invest, and no religion to endorse it to the
pious, yet he had friends not a few, and a wide and extensive
acquaintance with reformers, and as much hatred and enmity in
the bosoms of the wicked and superstitious as alnlcst any man in
the nation; and both of these were necessary and useful to him
and the school. Leaving this new home, - for such it now
became, - and the many friends in Battle Creek, they visited
Jackson, and the elegant home of Mr. and Mrs. Isman, and that
best of families and ladies, in the cottage of J. G. Wood;
roamed through state-prison, full of pity for the convicts, which
bore the wife's heart down into its depths of sorrow, for she was
a woman of deep sympathy, and a soul that was ever touched by
suffering in its tenderest chord.  " I will never visit another such
place," said she, as they left the gate and entered the carriage
with the happy Mrs. Isman and her very intellectual mother.
That kindest of friends, N. Stone, was in the depoft at Detroit,
waiting for the family when the cars drove, in; and soon the little
boy, full of life, health, and animation, was coasting about the
hotel-home of this excellent family, and the wife found such




252           LIFE-LINE OF TRIE LONE WOIE0
friends as she can never forget in Mrs. S. and daughters. "& How
much they seem like our folks! " she said, as they retired.
Sunday, July 15. —The three lectures were well attended
and next day the cars were whistling down the Canada Railway
with the father, mother, and boy, two of them the same that fed
on salt and potatoes, and more recently on slander and -falsehood; and the father the same that had committed one great crime;
for which he had suffered all his life, namely, that of being: born
of an unmarried mother; and the same who had slept with the
cows on the beds made warm by their bodies, had been sold into
sixteen years' bondage because he was m otherless and never had
a father on earth.
July 18. - Roam about Niagara Falls and Suspension Bridge
a happy little group, enjoying the rich scenery and magnificent
mechanism as freely as if they were rich' and popular, in fortune
ahd fashion.  The rainbow hoop, the Maid in the Mist, the stairs,
the waterfall, and the Indians, have all been described till no
further changes can be rung on thema; and we will pass along
down Lake Ontario on a fine boat, and smooth water, and in the
morning through the Thousand Islands, with their rocky peaks,
skirted by a rich green shrubbery, to Ogdensburgh.  There again
take to the whistling horse, and be put S" over the road."  What
a country, in contrast with the West, meets the eye on the Northern road, till you near Champlain, when, of a sudden, you seem
in the very heart of the smooth, rich farms of the West; but
the line is short, and, ere you are aware of your location, among
the mountains of New York and New England, Rouse"s Point
is the cry, and Champlain smiles in your face - for she never
frowns.
July 19, 1855, 5~ P. D. — Cars stop at Milton, Vt., and horse
drinks, snorts, and starts.  Three seats from the forward end
of the first passenger-car sit four persons facing each other;'the Lone One and wife, and a Methodist man and wife froltl
(Chelsea, Mass.  Much they had talked of religion and spiritqalism, and many other topics, in the long journey by boat and




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                253
car. Their window was up, and they were enjoying the fresh air
after a severe shower, and admiring the lake and mountain
scenery, a little boy was watching the happy faces of his parents
from the other side of the car, when a sudden and terrible explosion, a crash, and convulsed trembling commotion, with hideous
yells, all burst upon them.  "Don't stir! " exclaimed the Lone
One, putting out his hands to catch his wife, who was pitched
forward on to him.  Only an instant, and the car full of living
beings was at rest and right side up; but without was horror.
The engine and tender were half buried in mud and water at the
foot of the bank, the baggage-car had disengaged itself at the
couplings, and the top gone down one side and wheels the other;
and the two passenger-cars, both well filled, occupied the bank,
but not track, alone. Directly under the seats of the four was
a car-wheel, and under the wheel the mangled body of Mr. Bush,
a conductor of the Burlington train, which was awaiting him ten
miles below. The engineer was under his machinery, deep,
dead; and the fireman lay mangled on the bank, in a condition
from which death soon released him. The little boy and pious
woman were frightened almost to a loss of reason. One look and
word from the father brought the boy to a state of calmness; but
the woman was not as easily calmed. In vain the two spiritualists, both calm  as if nothing had happened, tried to pacify
her; but the mangled bodies would almost convulse her with
agony.  "Why," said the Lone One, "have you such fear of
going to heaven? Christians ought never to fear death, as it is
their only gate to heaven, and a sure escape from further risk
of hell. You had better change your religion for ours; then you
will not fear death any more, for, with us, he is conquered."
" Well, it is strange," she replied, " how you can be so calln
and cheerful."
Another train soon came to their relief, and, the baggage being
collected, with the passengers, the scene of the boiler explosion
was soon out of sight, and the three, well in body and mind, were
sleeping in their seats as they wound around the mountains on the
22




254           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
crooked path of the Vermont Central Road, in a dark night,
and brought up at White River Junction at three A. m., when they
bedded down at the Junction House, and the frightened Christians got more calm  by morning.  Next day, by cars to Claremont, and stage to Newport, they reached the pious and once
happy home of her brother.  The girls were glad; all were glad
to see the brother and uncle, whom they had never met before.
They liked him much; but, when he came to speak in the Universalist church, and with effect, then the priest was aroused, and
religion in danger. Soon these relatives were supplied with the
slanders of the clergy, one of whom, a man who said he had been
to Ripon and preached there, going so far as to tell this brother
who, of course, believed it, because a priest told it - that a
warrant was already in the hands of the sheriff of his county
awaiting'his return, and, no doubt, would soon lodge him in jail
or prison; when, in truth, no process, civil or criminal, had ever
been issued against him, and never a complaint made against
him, except by slanderers. A few months after, when he returned
to Ceresco and wrote his wife from there, while she, still visiting
her relatives in New Hampshire, asked the pious brother what
he thought had become of the warrant and officer, etc., " O," said
he, " I suppose he has settled it." But this was as true as any
of' the stories circulated by his religious enemies about him,
which answered their end here and in some other places, namely, to
prevent his influence and sentiments reaching those pious ones who
could be influenced by them. It was not so at the mountain-home
where the family were reared. There was a happy home, and a
welcome from  the souls of all ever greeted them both.  Their
religion partook of nature and humanity; and they loved God
in man, and showed, by doing good to their fellow-beings, that
they were relying on works, not words, for salvation. A few days
he roamed over the rocks, feasting on wild berries and pure air,
and the atmosphere of kindred, new to him; then moved along
his way, and, July 29, lectured three times in Lawrence, and
found a hearty welcome among the many friends in that place,




LIFE-LINE OF TaE LONE ONE.              255
and at the happy home of his cousin. Next day, in Boston, many
familiar faces greeted him; but short calls were the order now.
Aug. 1, he landed in Portland, where several days were spent
most pleasantly, one on an uninhabited island in Casco Bay with
a picnic party - a romance. All strangers to him in the morning,
and none by evening.
Sunday, Aug. 5. —Three lectures in City Hall used up the
day. Here he met his old friend from Rockford, Ill., Dr. Haskell, and they journeyed together up the road to Gorham, and to
the top of the White Mountains; the seven last and up-hill miles
on foot to the Tip-Top House, where they dined on the 8th of
August, and, in a beautiful day, stretched their vision in all
directions, trying to see more, when every look was a feast. The
clouds floated in beautiful richness around the summit of the
great rock-heap, called Mt. Washington.  When the lungs had
feasted, and the eye was tired, he took leave of his friend, who
was intending to return to the Glen House and Gorham, and
pranced nine miles on foot down the west path to the Notch House,
where, late and weary, he arrived, and found the best of fare for
the best of pay. Registered for the stage at four next mnorning, and when the porter came to call him it was raining, blowing, thundering, and lightning, as if the gods of wind and weather
were mad with fury. " Call me to-morrow morning, and let the stage
go," said the voice within. -" Ay, ay, sir! " and the storm beat
on undisturbed by the stage. When the morning came, he walked
around the Glen, but he could not see the top. To him it was
delightful to see the storm beat itself to pieces against the everlasting rocks and profile cliffs of that romantic spot. With
evening came the sunshine; the dancing rills came sparkling
and tumbling down the cliffs in rattling joy and sportive frolics,
that made him wish everybody could see them, and learn with him
to worship Nature, and enjoy her heaven.
August 10. - Left the Notch, and at night slept in Concord, at
the quiet home of his spiritual brother Aldrich, and on Sunday,
12th, lectured three times in the Universalist church of Manches



256           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
ter, to very large and highly-delighted audiences. But here, as
everywhere, as soon as he began to exert an influence, falsehoods
were immediately peddled to counteract it, successfully with some,
although never injuring him, nor marring his happiness, only as he
saw others deterred from  examining the, to them and him, most
important of all subjects.  Here he met many friends, and had
one of the best of visits; then whistled along, calling on friends
in Boston, where they had more speakers than meetings, in hot
weather.  17th, at Plymouth, sailing about the bay, on new vessel, with one hundred and fifty invited guests, mostly ladies. The
captain and owner being a spiritualist, of course the Lone One
and the ladies had an invitation to a ride, and it was delightful in
the fine breeze.  18th, visited Plymouth Rock and Pilgrim Hall,
and examined the relics of the colony and his ancestors, and the
grave-yard on the hill-top, with its Puritanic epitaphs, and rock
head-stones for the saints and the rich; the graves of the poor he
could not find, except the new or recently-made ones.  19th,
Sunday, lectured twice in a hall to fine audiences, at this Old Colony home, where once the Puritans had all the religion and control of the station; but intelligence had now almost crowded it
under ground, with the dead bodies of those who once defended it
with law and force.
August 20. - Return to Boston, and met A. J. Davis and his
happy mate at the Fountain House.  "Ah, Mary," said he "thy
hands are stayed up now, even to reach the home of angels.""Yes, I am happy, but I feel as if I must not fold my arms to
rest, but work for the great cause of emancipation, elevation, purification, and development, for my sex and the race." —'" Yes, and
may God bless and speed you both in the holy mission of reform
in an ungrateful and scornful world." —" Yes," says Jackson,
"but the sun shines on those who reach the mountain-top both
earlier and later than on those in the valley, and by that means
we have begun our heaven here." -" Somehow," says the Lone
One, " the sun of the spiritual harmonial home shines in thy soul




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                257
all the time, lighting and warming it in its inner temple, where
the nettle-shaft of slander cannot reach."
August 21. - Resting in the beautiful home of the author of
the "Hen Fever," in Wyoming, where hangs the full-length portrait-present of Queen Victoria, and many other ornaments, but,
best of all, the happy faces of wife and daughter. The slanders,
started so long before at Ripon, and based entirely on the stolen
letter and its progeny, had now assumed a shape for newspapers,
and were bandied, with his name, about the city papers of Boston
and New York, as if they were items of news. Well, many people knew that his reputation must be impaired, or the cause of
spiritualism would increase in every place he visited, and such
places were not likely to be few. Even the New York Tribune
soiled its columns with an article from a dirty sheet at Oskosh,
Wisconsin, which could not possibly say worse things about him
than it did about Greely and his candidates and measures, and
with the editor *of which they would have been ashamed to
be seen in the street, and the columns of which would be no
authority with the Tribune on any subject but against spiritualism.
A note from  the Lone One inquired of Greely the reason of
this slander,, and required a correction; which was readily made,
with the excuse that it was floating through the press unrefuted.
So it ever would have been, in all papers opposed to reform; but
the Tribune, the newspaper of so many reformers, ought to have, at
least, the slightest evidence before it slandered a person whose whole
life, and means, and energies, had been devoted to reforms; but
it, on being notified of its position, took back all it could, without
defending spiritualism, against which one of its editors had a
religious spite and spleen to vent.  They ought to have known
better than to be caught in this trap, when they were themselves
connected in this same slander by a more conservative portion of
the press.  Other papers he did not notice, for he knew many of
them were not read to find truth, and that few believed what they
saw in such secular and sectarian sheets as circulated base falsehoods, both personal and general, about spiritualists.
22*




258           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
August 25. - His wife meets him at Manchester, and they
visit the quiet home of Dr. Hanson, where Susan makes every
good visitor happy, when she is there. Sunday, 26th, lectured three
times in Granite Hall to good audiences, but not as large as in
church.  28th, they visit Lowell, and meet A. J. and M. F.
Davis, and the four have one of the little social circles, where
harmony and happiness flows like a river, from celestial fountains.
" Now," said the Lone One to his mate, " I have fulfilled one
promise, to introduce you to the happiest man I ever saw, and one
of the happiest couples." A. J. D. lectured in the eve, and thus
for the first time she heard him speak before an audience.  Next
they visit his cousin in Lawrence, where she found another happy
home and couple.
September 1. - The harmonial four met again in Boston, at the
Fountain House.  Sunday, 2d, he returns to Lowell, and lectures
three times to full hall. Next they visit Salem, and the widow
Endicott's neat and happy. home; then down to Lynn, and into
Dungeon Rock, where the man who has faith in spirits like " a
grain of mustard-seed " is trying to remove a mountain of rock
off the bodies and treasures of the dead pirates, which legends
and spirits say are buried in the cave under the rock. His faith
is better than his prospect. Climb the High Rock, and visit the
Hutchinsons in their home, and she looks from the tower where he
had often been, over the bay and islands and Nahant, &c.; visited
Nahant, and heard of the sea-serpent from brother Buffum. 9th,
lecture in Lynn, to small audiences, in hot days.  Next they visit
Chelsea, and Capt. Williams; and Boston, and Alvin Adams;
and thus the mate found many of his temporary elegant and
happy homes, and best of friends.  Walked down Cornhill, and in
office, and he introduced her to W. L. Garrison, and thus fulfilled
another promise, to introduce her to the most Christ-like man in
the nation.  She acknowledged both, and enjoyed much these
visits and acquaintances. They found also those full-blown souls,
J. S. Adams and Hattie. She was soon tired of sights and sounds in
Boston; when they retired to the elegant home of his friend in




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               259
Wyoming, where she could rest, while he met his appointments to
lecture in Stoneham and other places.  There, too, they found the
excellent and beautiful family of' Mr. Mendunm, of the Boston Investigator, and she had some pleasure in recounting the many years
this had been their family paper, and ever esteemed and respected.
Sunday, September 16. - Lecture in Reading to good, but not
large audiences.  17th, she returns to Newport, and he spent the
week in Boston, Lawrence, and other places, and Sunday at Lowell, - lectured three times. Found some of the Norris family,
one of the nephews of Braclkett, and Moses, a lawyer of some
note in the city, and a Dr. Hook, with whom he schooled in old
Gilmanton; but how few were these old acquaintances in New
England! 25th, he reached Newport, and was again at the old
homestead on the mountain. Visited some friends, and on Sunday, 30th, lectured again in the church, and Miss A. W. Sprague,
trance-medium, and an excellent speaker, spoke in evening; had
good meetings.
October 3. - He bade adieu to the rocks, and homes, and wife,
and boy, in Newport, and leaned westward, toward the son and
daughter. But stopped to lecture in Claremont one eve; then to
Woodstock, and met the two Randalls, both of whom were now
doctors, - once husband and wife by law, now free by decree. She
of Philadelphia, and he at the old homestead, settled, divided the
property, and divorced; but did not quarrel about it.
Sunday, October 7. —Lectured in church at South Woodstock,
to very intelligent audience.  Next day rode in stage with very
intelligent lady, Mrs. Hutchens, a teacher of penmanship, to Barnard, where he met some good friends. Soon passed on to Bethel
station, and backed down to Lebanon, New Hampshire, where he
had appointments to lecture, and where he found one of his best,
pleasantest and happiest homes, at the fine residence of A. Pushe
and E. J. Durand, and their wives, all of one family, and one
heart; and the happy face of Minnie, the lovely little daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Durand, ever after welcomed him, as one of her
friends, to their home full of music. He sang:




260            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
"No roving foot shall crush thee here,
No busy hand provoke a tear."
From the beautiful village of Lebanon, and his first but not
last visit, he moved to Montpelier, a small, but very aristocratic
capital of Vermont, where, on Sunday, Oct. 14, his three audiences were mostly composed of members of the legislature, which
gave him three of the most intelligent audiences of the season, to
which many words were freely spoken and a fine impression made.
Here, for the first time, he met the medium-poetess and teacher, Mrs.
Frances 0. Hyzer, and her sister Carrie, the seer of beautiful visions.  The little huddle of neat cottages, crowded closely on the
scanty pattern for a village and capital, fairly stuck into the hillside, and the high hills ready on either side to come down and
bury up the place, steeples, aristocracy, and all, when the scriptures shall be fulfilled by the levelling operation, make Montpeliar
a romantic and interesting place. Burlington, Vergennes, and
Middlebury, each gave or received a call; and East Middlebury
took several lectures, while he visited his old friends at the home of
L. C. Hyde.  The college was firm  as a granite rock, and had
about as much life and progress as that geological specimen of
crystallization. It ought, and, for the good of the race, it might
as well, be put away in the cabinet of curiosities, as a fossil of
theology, crystallized by science.  19th, had an excellent audience in Vergennes, and much interest; and Sunday, 21st, gave three
lectures in Burlington to intelligent and respectable audiences.
But the college faculty stood aloof in great dignity, despising the
new truths; and Bishop Hopkins, driven on to the romantic point
of land-in-the-lake, quaked and shuddered with horror at the near
approach of the Devil to so many mediums; and John G. Saxe
said funny words in poetry about modern spirits and mediums,
but affected great reverence for similar persons and events of
Bible times.  Poor soul! he will sing more truthfully when the
shell breaks, and he, hatched out, can sing and fly at the same
time.




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               261
The grove-church, in the beautiful and romantic Burlington of
Champlain, was already leaning toward spiritualism, and the old
fogies were running with props and rests to stay its unstable form,
and prevent it from going over; but in vain - it had started never
to stop, and the spirits still are watching and aiding it in the
change. Middlebury took two lectures, and a few of the wild
students called to hear about the Devil's doings, or see them, and
soon found the Devil was in their theology and the professors, not
in this lecturer.  Rutland, 24th, he met his old friend from Barnard, with his daughter, a sister of Belle, bound for Iowa, to teach
and find a new home with old friends. Parted with her father with
tears, and he returned to his home, and soon after removed to his
new home over the valley of death, while she was far away in
Iowa.  In the care of the Lone One, she took her first ride in the
cars from Rutland, Vt., to Burlington, Iowa, via Troy, N. Y., to
the Falls and Wire Bridge, where her wild and happy Green Mountain heart bounded with joy and admiration of nature's magnificent
scenery, and the rivalry of art in her bridge-contrast.  Satisfied
with gazing, they mixed in the crowd at the dep6t, and were soon
passing Canada towns, and over the ferry at Windsor, and at his
home with friend Stone in Detroit, where they rested over the
Holy Sabbath for him to preach, and hear S. J. Finney, who was
then in the city, doing a great work in probing theology.
Miionday, 29. —They whistled along, and when Battle Creek
sounded from the platform he stepped off, and left the lonely girl
among strangers, far from home, ticketed from Vermont to Iowa.
" Write me how you get through." — " Certainly; " and the letter
came, saying she wept at the thought of being alone among strangers so far fiom home. A kind face saw her weep, and came to
inquire the cause, and, on learning it, replied, "Why, we are
going almost to Burlington, and came from New England also;
my son will see to thy trunks, and thee will have no trouble with
them;" and thus grief brought relief and good friends, as it often
does, even in the cars. Next morning she was in the stage, and
at noon, at Kossuth, landed at the door of her friends, where a




262            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
hearty welcome and a ready school greeted and employed the Vermont girl. The pious guardians of public morals at Ripon and
Ceresco probably never heard of this journey and company, or it
would have furnished the best load of fuel they ever collected for
their fires, except the stolen letter; yet he never saw the girl
except once at her home and on this journey, but she and all the
family are eternally his friends, as are all true and pure spirits,
who know him as he is, a defender everywhere of honesty, purity,
poverty, and virtue. The glad face of the son soon met him at
the school, and assured him of content and satisfaction with the
new home; and they renewed arrangements for a little cottage in
the old garden-acre of what was once a part of David Brown's
farm, now of HEarmonia, and the home of reformers. The daughter had closed her school with entire satisfaction, and returned to
their Ceresco home, where she was mistress of her part of the
house, and guardian of the effects of the family, but quite lonesome, and not happy in a place where her ears were constantly
greeted with slander and gossip about the beings to whom her soul
was devoted, and bound in stronger ties of filial affection than ever
existed in the hearts of bigots or the slanderers; for never was
there a stronger attachment existed between a father and daughter
than between these. At this time, and ever after, he left the
standing offer to his enemies, that he would cease preaching spiritualism whenever they would produce one family of five persons,
like his own, in father, mother, and three children, three or more
of whom belonged to an evangelical church, in which the whole
family were as happy, harmonious, and as much attached to each
other, as his were; and, as this was the only way they could reasonably expect to silence him, some thought they ought to try,
but those who knew the condition and relation of his family knew
it would be a vain effort, for such religion was itself a barrier to
the happiness they had attained.  At Jaclkson and Albion he had
a visit with his excellent friend from Detroit, whose soul was in
the sunlight of Divine truth; his lectures were well attended, especially at Albion, where Mrs. Tuttle had done so much work for




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                263
the angels.  At the Michigan Ceresco he met some old friends,
and especially one true and tried one of long standing, a citizen
of the Wisconsin Ceresco, in A. D. Wright, and also his father's
family.
Nov. 9. - Fitted out his son for teaching during winter, and
left him to seek a school in Indiana, and moved on his mission to
Union City, thence to Coldwater, and met Grace Greenwood, and
her mother Clark, and others; then to Adrian, where, Nov. 18th,
he gave three lectures, and found his old homes and tried friends,
Martins and Chandlers, with ever-open doors, and ready efforts to
collect audiences.  All his receipts were divided between the
mothdr, and son, and daughter, according to their needs; and he
moved steadily on, with the same economy that he had exhibited
through life..Nov. 20. - In Port Huron he began a course of lectures, sent
for and sustained by a devoted soul in Dr. Noble; and, on the 28th,
returned to Detroit, made a short and ineffectual effort the second
time at Pontiac, but it was dark yet in that place. Finney was cultivating Detroit, and he moved on to Ypsilanti, and thence to Ann
Arbor. In each found a few good friends, some false ones, and
many enemies, and became more satisfied than ever that selfish
persons could not become true spiritualists, at least in soul; found
a noble soul in his old infidel friend, H. )e Garmo, and others in
E. Sampson and J. Volland, etc.
Dec. 16, Sunday. - Three lectures were well attended in Ann
Arbor; many students of the university were in attendance, betraying a liberality not to be found at many colleges. Incidents
which occurred in visits and circles might be more interesting than
these notices, but this was the public labor of the Lone One, and
is given more to show the contrast with his early life and condition than for its interest to the reader.
Sunzday, 23. - Lecture three times in Adrian; well received
by many and increasing friends.  Next stay was in Perrysburgh,
Ohio, a beautiful town on the Maumee, above the Toledo of sin
and sickness, money and rum, business and confusion. At Perrys



264             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
burgh he found one of the best of homes at Hon. A. Smith's,
and there, while giving a course of lectures, the year died at the
close of Dec. 31st, leaving him in this home not the orphaned and
friendless boy, but the popular and successful lecturer; not the
victim slain by slander and falsehood, but the soul triumphant
over misfortune and persecution, by energy, and a clear conscience,
and unvarying toil. Now he knew that
"Love is to the human heart
What sunshihe is to flowers;
And friendship is the fairest thing
In this cold world of ours."
And
"When thy struggling soul hath conquered,
When the path lies fair and clear,
When thou art prepared for heaven,
Thou wilt find that heaven is here."
SECTION I-V.
1856. - COSMOPOLITE. - ITINERATING.
TO THE UNSATISFIED.
Why thus longing, why forever sighing
For the far-off, unattained, and dim,
While the beautiful, all around thee lying,
Offers up its low perpetual hymn?
Woulclst thou listen to its gentle teaching,
All thy restless yearnings it would still:
Leaf, and flower, and laden bee, are preaching,
Thine own sphere, though humble, first to fill
Poor indeed thou must be, if around thee
Thou no ray of light and joy canst throw;
If no silken cord of love hath bound thee
To some little world, through weal and woe;
If no dear eye thy fond love can brighten,
No fond voices answer to thine own;




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 265
If no brother's sorrow thou canst lighten
By daily sympathy and gentle tone.
Not by deeds that win the world's applausesNot by works that give thee world renown
Not by martyrdom, or vaunted crosses,
Canst thou win and wear the immortal orown.
Daily struggling, though unloved and lonely,
Every day a rich reward will give;
Thou wilt find by hearty striving only,
And truly loving, thou canst truly live.
Tan. 1, 1856. — The Lone One in Ohio, lecturing; the wife
and boy in Newport, N. H., visiting.  The eldest son in Indiana,
teaching; the daughter in Ceresco, Wis., in school, at their home,
boarding with Dr. Fletcher, then occupying the house of the Lone
One, but who has since moved to the kingdom of heaven, where
he has not yet begun to keep house, because his wife has not
crossed over yet.  Thus one of the best-united families, each
reading letters every week from all the others, began the year far
apart; but we shall call the roll before the year is out, at the
new home.  New Year's morning in Perrysburgh; evening in Elyria, where a course of lectures were given to intelligent hearers.
Jan. 8. -  Cleveland, and met Cora and Hattie Scott, from Buffalo; Cora had now become one of the finest and best trance-mediums of the nation, and astonished even believers, often, with her
angelic ministrations. 3Met the Koons, not from the tree-tops, but
from Athens, and saw the mediumship which brought forth such
wonders at the celebrated "Koons' rooms;" met his devoted
friend, L. E. Barnard, who published for him two thousand copies
of a pamphlet, containing three lectures, which were soon sold,
and a demand for more sent forth; but it could not be answered,
for it was not stereotyped. Met H. F. M. B., still struggling in
bondage, and waiting for freedom impatiently, which she soon after
found, with nothing else but the greater scorn of the deeper stained.
Sunday, 13. - Lecture in church in Ravenna; next, Akron,
and the excellent friends on the hill had a visit; large audiences
23




266           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
attended the call in both villages; next in Cleveland, -small
audiences in the evenings; and on Sunday, 27th, in Litchfield,
a full house three times listened to his version of the gospel.
Glad faces always meet him in that town with a welcome.  Constant calls and lectures, nearly every evening, now occupied his
time on the Western Reserve, where the new philosophy was and
is as prevalent and well understood as in any part of the nation.
The people of that region will ever bear testimony to his success
and ability, for th:ere he is well known both as a man and
speaker.
At Wellington, February 24th, an impulse was given to the
cause that has not been lost, nor is it likely to be; and, on
the 25th, he gave the closing lecture of a season course, for a
society in Mansfield, which had mostly Christian officers.  It
was a bitter pill for them, but delightful to the audience, many'of whom joined in a call for him to come soon after and give a
course; but other engagements prevented then and ever since,
but may not always.  In Cleveland, March 4th, message fronm
a spirit which escaped by apoplexy from the beautiful form, a
young lady, whose body he watched while the spirit was formed
and met its parent over the corpse; a stranger to him till the
scene occurred, but not after.
February 5. - Met with William Denton and others in convention, at Dayton, and here found some of the best and truest friends.he ever found.  Gave a course of lectures, and found a course of
friends to himself and the angels.  We shall not name them here,
but he will not soon cease to name them. This city, already one
of the strongholds, became one of his most important stations, and
soon the home of William Denton, one of the ablest and most logical and lucid public defenders of the Harmonial Philosophy.
Next visit was at Harveysburg, Warren Co., Ohio.  Here he met
the poor old man, who, when young, learned to preach, and followed it until he found the doctrine was not true; and they fed
him and his family for his labor; and when his honesty compelled
him to cease preaching, they turned him off to starve. But he




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.              267
was able to keep souls and bodies together, in his family, by unwearying toil for scanty pay. At his (Alfred Carders') home he
found more love and more poverty than in any home he visited
in the West. A lovely daughter, of twenty-two years, was wasting
and almost gone with consumption, and to her be bent his steps and
words every day; cheered, comforted, consoled, and loved her as if
she were his own daughter; magnetized her both in body and
spirit, and, when he went away, sent a comforter to her from the
spirit-friends that visited him from the other sphere, who told her
to be of good cheer, and she should soon be with them in heaven.
And she was soon with them, and often came to him to thank and
bless him for the cheering words in her last days of earth, and to
urge him to console and comfort her dear parents. Martha's
name often came to him from stranger lips, and often does she
visit him when alone, and awaken him from sleep to whisper
peace, and joy, and love, from her happy home, where the love she
cherished and cultivated here, where she had little else, has made
her rich indeed, while many are poor about her who had much
else, and little or no love, while here. The happy and excellent
home of Valentine Nicholson cannot be forgotten either by this or
other visitors who have found its pleasant atmosphere and breathed
it.
March 15.- The journal says, Lecture in the dark pit; but it
must be a mistake; although no doubt he will, if the orthodox
enemies succeed in sending him there.  It was in Waynesville
he lectured, and that is not very near the pit, although they have
been using brimstone in their pulpits many years, and it is dark
as Egypt theologically and metaphysically, and will ever be so
while it depends on brimstone light from pulpits. Gave a course of
lectures in Marion, in a church, to large audiences, and planted the
cause permanently there. Next course was given in a Methodist
church in Geneva, Ohio, to good audiences of intelligent ho:lrors.
Found excellent homes and best of friends in Jefferson, at the
homes of Hon. B. F.Wade and Joshua R. Giddings, whose liberality
and intelligence had led them early to investigate this philosophy




268           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
and embrace it. At Andover, Ohio, a full course of lectures, in a
church, met the demand, and supplied it well. Here the priests
came to hear and talk, but they soon found they had the hot end
of the stick, and quickly let it go and set their devil on, while
they ran off shouting "Free-Love," because that was the best
subject to arouse the mob-guardians of public morals. But there
is not enough liquor used in Ashtabula Co., Ohio, to enable
the haters of reform to get up a mob. The most quiet and orderly audiences ever attend lectures in this county; for it has a
most intelligent and liberal population, equalled by very few
counties in the nation. Visited several old stations, and lectured
successfully everywhere. The demand ever increased for his services. Made new points continually, and among the important
and permanent ones was Milan, one of the most beautiful villages
in the state, and with a very intelligent population, and hence well
fitted for the new philosophy. Here he found several families of
the best friends he met in the state, and ever after loved to visit
the place. Honest, earnest, devoted, and unswerving in the cause,
were some of the friends here, and hence the work went steadily
on.
Sunday, May 4. - Lectured in church at Clyde, and stationed
with an excellent brother, the Universalist preacher (Mr. Brown).
Found him a true man, and a real philanthropist in deed, rather
than in word. Made a point at Frermont, with a firm and true
friend in Judge Justice.
May 8. - Landed at his Adrian home, at the foot of the hill,
where a neat house, and open door, and cordial greeting, were ever
ready. Here he met his son, whose schools had closed, and with
him visited the university at Ann Arbor; and on the 12th they
reached their new home, and laid out the plans and work of building the house, etc. Hardened his hands to labor, and rested the
brain for a time, but lectured Sundays, and occasionally evenings:  Visited Allegan and Otsego, and gave lectures in each.
June 6.- Deliver address at commencement. Had a fine day,
and excellent time and exercises, and many friends from a distance




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               269
in attendance; among them his excellent and much-esteemed medium-friend from Detroit, whose soul dwelt still in the sunshine
of the spheres.
On the 7th he was in Chicago, at the home of his Higgins
brother; and Sunday, the 8th, lectured twice in Harmony Hall;
and on the 10th reached his Ceresco home, and anxious and loving
daughter, whose overjoyed heart bounded with unspeakable joy.
As she sprang to embrace him when he alighted from the stage,
the driver held up to let the passengers see the expression, then
remarked to them,'That's the Free-Love home! They are free lovers! "
A laugh on the passing winds swept by. But he took no notice
of the remark; for he had learned Sir Walter Scott's rule of
conversation, which many others ought to learn. Thus:
6Conversation is but carving:
Give to each guest just enough;
Let him neither starve nor stuff;
Give him always of the prime,
And but a little at a time."
The family to whom he had leased his house had moved out of
it, and out of the state; and his agent had rented a part of the
tenement to two widowed sisters, a few weeks before his return.
This furnished ample material for the Christians and loafers to
make up the report, and circulate it, that he had taken his wife
to her friends and abandoned her, and returned to live with these
two widows, because they too were spiritualists, and of his acquaintances.  The story took well with the Christian endorsement,
but soon died, like all the others, none of which had a better foundation; but it lasted a few weeks, with a modification that charged
him with giving them the rent, and staying with them nights while
there; which, although his daughter was there all the time, was
negatived by the facts that they paid the rent in full to the agent,
and he did not stay in the house a single night, nor more than
one evening till ten o'clock, during his stay in the place, which
23*




270           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
was shortened to the least time necessary to pack up and dispose
of his goods and business, for a move. But it was of no consequence about the facts.  Like the wolf and lamb, in the fable,
when the wolf accused the lamb of contaminating the water which
the wolf was about to drink, " Ah! " said the lamb, " but it runs
from you to me! "-  "No matter; your ancestors were guilty,
and you must pay the penalty by death."  So of him; no matter
whether true or not, he is a spiritualist, and must be slandered.
How could he prove he had not taken his wife to her friends
and left her, and now come to sell his goods and move away?
Of course he had broken up housekeeping, and his family was
destroyed, showing one more of the terrible effects of spiritualism.
But on Sunday, June 15, many of his old friends collected to
hear him lecture, and grieved at his moving away from the valley.
One more incident at this time furnished also material for abuse
and falsehood, most of which, in this case, came from the side of
those who chanced to be " Free Lovers;;" for he received as heavy
shots from that side as from the other.  A fine, intelligent girl of
fourteen, a schoolmate of his daughter, whose father was in the
spirit-world, and mother a cripple, on charity, was struggling day
and night to keep her place in school, by taking washing, or any
honorable work. A temporary citizen, who came to sojourn with a
fine-looking and intelligent lady-companion, both strangers to the
Lone One, had been coaxing and teasing this girl to leave her school
and go with him, as an " affinity," to the new home in prospect in
Kansas.  She had not consented, but her destitute situation, and
want of sympathy and love, had some influence in his favor, and
she communicated the facts to her friend, the daughter of the
Lone One, -who implored her father to try to save and aid her;
which he at once did successfully, bringing from her the expression, in tears,  "You are the first man that ever talked to me like
a father since mine died!" and this she often after remarked to
others.  She broke the magnetic chord of the stranger, who was
very angry at the one who caused it, impugning his motives, and
charging him with the same object himself had in view. This




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                271
made a good story, and ran wide and well, and all the better
because it came from an enemy of marriage. But he saved the
girl, and had and still has her blessings, and those of her spiritfather and earthly mother; and, what was more to him, the
deeper devotion of his daughter, who ever esteemed and loved the
girl as a sister.  He directed her to go to her friends and stay till
he could find means and a place for her in his family and the
school, where she could complete her education; and, although he
did not see her again for more than a year, yet, by correspondence
and the little aid he could afford her, she kept steadily the course
he advised, ever feeling towards him the affection of a child.*
This was one of the basest acts of his life in the eyes of his enemies, and one that afforded him much joy and satisfaction, and
brought him the approbation of angels; as did many others that
brought curses and slander on earth.
On the 19th he and his daughter bade adieu to the valley, and
its scenes, and citizens, and with a load of movable effects reached
the cars at Waupen, and via Iron Ridge soon reached Milwaukie.
Thence by boat to Chicago, where the goods were sent forward to
the reach of the son at Harmonia, while the father and daughter
stayed in Chicago, for him to give a course of lectures to small
but intelligent audiences. Here the daughter also found a home,
and the best of friends, with the Judson and Mary Higgins.
June 30.- The daughter and father reached the new home,
and met the happy son. She was pleased, and many who met her
loved her, as her friends do everywhere; for she had much of the
ardent, enthusiastic, and affectionate spirit of her father, and was
ever said to be like him. She ever was his pet, fond and playful
as a child with him, even to womanhood. She was soon in the
new garden, harvesting the ripe fruit, happy and highly pleased
with the prospect of a new home, where she hoped the slanders
of the Ripon loafers would not reach her ears; for she was still
sensitive, although she saw that they had no effect on her father,
and that he was the happiest man whom she ever saw.
* She is now in his family, with his daughter.




272           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
Once more the Lone One took up the laboring oar, and doubled
teams with his son, to urge on the work on the new house (a small
cottage, sufficient to answer until he could sell the Wisconsin
home). Early and late he toiled, and hardened to labor, until
July 11th, when again, with the daughter, he journeyed onward
to Adrian.  Of all the good friends who urged him to leave the
daughter with them, while he went East for the mother, he selected
the one at the neat little home at the foot of the hill, in Adrian,
where the demand for children was greater than the supply, — a
reverse of the usual condition in marriage, - and where the age
had long since put an end to all expectation of little ones. Here
he left her with a real aunt and uncle, whose kindness never will
be forgotten by father or daughter, while memory allows such acts
to last.
Sunday, July 13. - Lectured in Adrian to good audiences, and
on Monday returned to his son and the new home, where he toiled
on till July 23d. Thence over the way to Burlington, Vt., where
he met the old friends, and on Sunday, the 27th, lectured in that
fine town to a small audience.  Met the warmest and best reception he ever met in the place, and on the 29th he reached his wife
and boy, at the mountain home in Newport, happy as happy could
be, at the expected meeting. The relatives glad and happy to see
him, all except the brother, whose religious zeal was bordering on
frenzy, and had almost destroyed his naturally kind heart and
good humor.
Sunday, Aug. 3.- Lectured in the chapel in the village, where
more pride and ignorance than knowledge and wisdom prevented
many from attending.  But the few did hear, and understand, and
the good seed was sown. The ball set in motion, the car moved
on.
Sunday, Aug. 10. — Three lectures in Unitarian church in
Athol, Mass., to large,.intelligent, and attentive audiences, and
left with many blessings, and requests to return soon as possible.
Boston, Chelsea, MIt. Auburn, &c., had his time and attention for a
few days, with excellent friends and best of fare, till the 1.4th,




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE,               273
when a grove was his canopy, a picnic party his audience, from
Lowell and Lawrence - happy day, soon lost firom all but memory.
Suznday, Aug. 17. -A large hall in Lawrence was well filled
three times, to listen to his words on the life to come after this.
Lowell was next the resting-place, at the home of J. F. Evans,
where we left him when we finished this narrative, in September,
1857.
On Sunday, 24th, three audiences collected, the last in Huntington Hall, where more then eighteen hundred people assembled
to listen to the voice of the Lone One, the same poor, despised
orphan of the mountains. But this was not the largest, for he
had several times addressed over two thousand people, and felt
appreciated by his audiences.  Made many new friends at Lowell,
at this visit, and then left them for Manchester, where he mingled
with the great political crowd for a day; then moved to Concord,
to meet his wife and boy, and go on to Lebanon, to the happy
home before referred to, and to meet there several evening appointments.
Auy. 29, 30, 31. — Quartered with the preacher at South
Royalton, Vt., where they attended, and he took active part in the
state convention of spiritualists and mediums; and to them, and
many others, it was the happiest meeting of their life. Fifteen
hundred people with every chord of their beings beating in harmony and happiness is not a scene often met with in this turbulent world; but it could be seen on Sunday at this convention.
It was a tearful parting to some, but not consequently unhappy.
They went to their homes better, and happier, for this glorious
time of spiritual feasting.  Many speakers and mediums were in
attendance, and none more happy, and gladly received, than the
Lone One. 0, what a contrast in his life, and what still greater
contrast between the feelings of these appreciating friends and the
slandering enemies of him! The angels were ever with him, and
approving his life and actions, and most those acts which the enemies
most vilified.  Next they spent a week in a visit at the beautiful
[Eden home of his friend in Essex, while he lectured in Williston,




274           LIFE-LINE OF TIE LONE ONE.
Essex, and Burlington; and she rested, for the long level of track
and water, over which they made rapid speed, and pleasant trip,
to Detroit, to meet again that best of friends, the Landlord-spiritualist.
Sept. 11. - The three were in Battle Creek, all safe; and soon
the fourth, the eldest son, was with his mother and brother - a joyous group, with the daughter still out, but near, and soon to come
into the renewed family circle in the new home. The house was
not yet in readiness, and again his hands were in the work, pressing it to completion, aiding the son and workmen.  All covered
with rags and mortar, one day, while plastering his house (for this
he did himself), he was called by the professor to go over to his
room, and meet a stranger who had called to see him. Without
a change he walked to the room, and met a professor of a medical
college, who had heard him lecture, and admired him, and called
to see him. It was a fine joke, and enjoyed by both then, and at
a subsequent meeting, when he was again on duty.
"Now," said the professor, "I see why you are the favorite
with the masses. You do not despise toil, and cannot be ashamed
of any man, however low his place or calling." -" That is so,"
he replied, "and I must tell you how I sometimes talk to people.
I called on a friend in the East not long ago, who was a hardworking man, with near a dozen children, and large farm well
stocked. His first wife had been worn out by hard work and
raising babies, - mostly by the latter,- and I asked him what he
lived for." —" You tell," said he. -" Well," said I, "if you
make me tell, I must judge by appearances; and I should say to
work, to eat, to sleep, to raise children, to get rich, then die and
rot and be forgotten, except by the children, half of whom will
curse you for bringing them into existence (for they will lay it to
you, and not to God), with diseased bodies, to drag out a miserable
existence here, and then die also, and be forgotten, except by perhaps other poor diseased children." —" Well, what's the remedy? "
said he. - "Why, stop raising children, when you have more than
enough already, and teach them, and yourselves, what to eat, and




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               275
live on half the expense, by throwing out of the catalogue tobacco,
tea, coffee, pork, pepper, and most other condiments and meats,
and live temperate, sober, and godly lives, and not work half as
hard, and feel twice as well." - "That is it," said the professor.,' I wish you would talk thus to all who need such lessons."
- "But they will not hear it; for either lust and sensualism, or
religion, are in the way, and few can give up the foods and drinks
that keep up the fires of lust and passion, and such do not know
the joy of pure lives." — " True, true; but what a work we have
to do! " - "Yes, but you see I am a mason, but not a free one,
to-day, and now my worship is work."- -" Yes, and I will not
detain you longer; so good-day, and success."
Crowding forward the house by day; lecturing in evenings to
students, and others, mainly on diet and regimen, etc.
October 4, 5. - Attends the yearly meeting of Friends of
Human Progress at Battle Creek. Much pleased; took active
part and much interest; spiritualism a ruling element in the
meeting, and H. C. Wright a prominent actor; much pleased
with him -liked him more and more as he became better acquainted with him and his motives.  He took very little part in
the great national campaign excitement now agitating the people,
yet felt an interest in the issue, but did not expect the results to be
such as the opposing parties contended for; for well he knew that,
other causes being much deeper than political excitement, were
already working out results and changes for the future of the
nation; and well he knew that measures were proceeding in the
spirit-world to effect a complete disintegration of parties and societies in this, both political and religious, to result in a complete
individualization and sovereignty, preparatory to a higher order
of life and harmony on earth, in connection with the spirit-spheres.
October 14. - Reached home with the daughter, and the happy
family were all together at the r'eal Harmonia home of Mr. Cornell, where they were ever cared for as his own family, until the
new house was ready to receive them.  Each Sabbath he met an
appointment at some town, and during the week toiled early and




276           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
late on his Louse, till October 27, when it was dedicated as the
cottage home, and warmed by the happy faces of the young friends,
and soon after became one of the happiest homes in the nation 
for it was and is the home of true spiritualists, to which each
reader of this narrative is cordially invited to " come and see."
November 4.-  The great national struggle came to. a crisis,
and broke. He dropped his vote into the crowd, where it fell still
as a snow-flake, and counted one, and then pursued his labor in a
snow-storm, with the son, collecting and setting apple-trees presented to him by an excellent friend, which he found in H. Willis.
November 7. - Lodged in Chicago, and Sunday, 9th, lectured
three times in the commercial whirlpool, to small audiences - no
excitement. At Elgin, Dagget's home and a good church were open
to him, and he used them.  Found hearts and hands ready and
willing to aid the onward march of the car of progress in that
beautiful and thriving town on the Fox River.
November 16. - Met H. C. Wright at Rockford, and had a
pleasant and happy visit; but Henry did the talking, according
to appointment.
November 23. - Closed a course of lectures in Mendota, to
good audiences, and warm friends of him and the cause.  Found
it an excellent point for the new gospel, and a poor one for the
old. Backed up to Waukegan next, and had a fine visit and
audiences.  Spent the snow-storm  days in Milwaukie, and met
Emma F. Jay, with her last name almost changed. Also met that
executive pioneer, Joel Tiffany, the sunny face of Ex-Gov. Tallmadge, and, happiest of all, Dr. Greves, and many old friends of
his, who were also, of course, friends of the angels. Lectured but
once, and returned to Waukegan, and met his old and true friend
Dr. Haskell; then to Chicago, and in circle at the magnificent
home of Dan Richmond, the man who was able and willing to
make spiritualism popular and respectable in that city, if wealth
and business talent could give it that position.  Via Michigan
city to La Fayette, Ia., and at the new home of those bold defenders of reform, Dr. Stockham, and Alice B. Stockham, the




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                277
wife, and also the M. D., whose ambition and enterprise had induced her to study through the Medical College at Cincinnati,
closely after Carrie.  She and her husband had taken up the
loose ends of reform in this town, and were already making progress, and removing obstacles fiom the way of lecturers.  He also
found the quiet home of John O. Wattles a few miles distant, and
the fine old homestead of Dr. Welsh at Weau station, and soon
found good and true hearts were not scarce in the land of the
Hoosiers. Next at Dr. Shaw's, in Indianapolis; but this was the
capital of the fine state, and of course fashion, and pride, and
ignorance, used bigotry for knowledge, to rule by, and turned up
its noses at reforms or reformers, - especially reforms in religion, - for they had Abraham  for their father, and Moses for
their law-giver, and wanted no better. All else was heresy, and
of course he could not make a point of importance here yet. One
lecture and a few hearers was all.
December 21. - Closed course of lectures and fine long visit
at Dayton, Ohio, where old and new friends were, as ever, glad to
meet him. Next at Richmond, where the straight-line Quakers
were already committeeing out their members from society for
believing in a spirit-world, and that it was at hand, as Jesus said
it was in his day on earth.
Sunday, 28. - Two lectures to large audiences, in Cincinnati,
closed the visit and business, to back up to Richmond, and lecture
once more to the Quaker stock of that neat little city of plain
style and excellent people; then to the capital again, and by extra
efforts of Dr. Shaw and the spirits be saved from a typhoid fever,
with which he was threatened. But they succeeded in two days
in turning it off, and barely saved him  while the old year died
and was gathered to its fathers, leaving the Lone One, on the
night of December 31st, in the chamber of Dr. Shaw, alive, but
restless with pain and fever. Then it bade its friend, the Lone
One, farewell.  " Farewell! " came the answer.
" Soon my task will be completed,
Soon your footsteps I shall follow
24




278             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
To the islands of the blessed,
To the kingdom of Ponemah,
To the land of the hereafter!"
BY THE GREEN  MOUNTAIN BARD.
There have been noble men, whose highest, holiest thoughts
Were born in solitude.
Alone in some vast wilderness they wandered forth,
And there communed with nature, until
Its inspiration roused the slumbering soul,
And from its depths brought forth some glorious vision,
Fairer than earth's creation, which in a higher world
Shall yet be realized. For what the soul creates
To the soul's realm belongs, and never can be more
Than dimly shadowed forth on earth, where
Skilful hands are ever ready to embody in external things
Its high imaginings. And such are they
For whom the earth hath no companionship.
They mingle with the world, but are not of it. With hearts
All formed for sympathy and filled with highest love,
They stand alone. Alone! because inflexible in truth and virtue.
Alone! because the inward voice can never yield
Its sense of right to the great world's applause.
Alone! because the clamorous multitude will never grant
The meed of praise to virtues not their own.
And yet not all alone. For ever to the heart thus throned
In solitude kind spirits minister, outpouring high
And glorious thoughts, and kindling sweet emotions in the soul,
Until it revels in the light of heaven, and slakes its thirst
In its undying founts, whose crystal waters back reflect the light of truth
and wisdom.
SECTION V.
1857. —-FRACTIONAL YEAR, AND RETURN OF WANDERER TO THE
HAPPY HOME. -- A VOICE FROMI HOME.
" Thou art not here!'t is spoken still
Within the forest shade;'T is murmured by the babbling rill,'T is whispered through the glade;




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                   279
At even's calm, when twilight broods,
And silence fills the air,
The gloomy shadows of the woods
Tell me thou art not here!
"And ever as I trace the way
By woodland or by stream,The haunts of many a happy day,
Of many a happy dream, -
As, lingering by the rustic seat,
Or antique bridge so near,
My heart doth quicker, wilder beat,
I feel thou art not here!
"Yet wood, and brake, and running stream,
Are green, and fair, and bright;
The sun smiles forth a welcome beam,
And glad scenes meet my sight.
The birds, the winds, commingling song,
Steal on my anxious ear;
But even music's charm hath gone -
Alas! thou art not here!"
Echo from the south:
1" Alas! alas! doth hope deceive us?
Shall friendship, love - shall all those ties
That bind a moment, and then leave us,
Be found again where nothing dies?
O, if no other boon were given,
To keep our hearts from wrong and stain,
Who would not try to win a heaven,
Where all we love shall live again! "
Jan. 1, 1857. -  The sick year died, and the sick man recovered,
and closed the visit at the capital with the kind family, and whistled
out to Knightstown and lectured twice on Sunday; then to that
handsomest town in Indiana, Terre Haute, where the fine home of
T. A. Madison received him cordially, and the church door opened
for him, and the people came in good numbers to listen to the




280            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
gospel of the Lone One, surrounded by angels, and cheered on by
a " great cloud of witnesses, unseen, though near."
January 9. - Crossed the river and entered St. Louis; coasted
about the city; called on many friends, and among them one family
of long and lasting friendship, with whom he had boarded at the
capital of Wisconsin several winters.  Spent some pleasant hours
with these, N. and M1., both of whom were among his most devoted
friends.  Lectured on Sunday to large audiences, and several
evenings to less numbers.  Closed the course, and gave one on
temperance on Sunday, the 18th, and, on the 20th, recrossed the
river through crowded ice, and in freezing cold, and whistled
along the path where cold is no obstruction, to Cairo, and at
night bedded in a state-room on the steamboat Illinois, bound for
Memphis.  One hundred and fifty passengers, or more, nearly as
many cattle below, and heaps of flour, made up the loading of the
noble boat; and she started and paddled slowly her way through
the floating ice till within thirty or forty miles of Memphis, when
the ice had the track, and would not switch off for her to pass;
there she laid up till the passage to 3Mermphis, usually of twentyfour hours, was lengthened to thirteen days. Once only the heart
of the Lone One quaked for a moment.  It was night, - near
morn, -dark as the darkest; the passengers and crew were in
the world of sleep, all save the wa:tch and the Lone One; he was
on the guard of the boat, early risen, to observe and listen to the
breaking and crashing of the ice, which was giving way to the rain
and current.  The boat was out in the stream, fastened only by
ice. Nearer and nearer the crashing and breaking appeared. No
object c6uld be seen beyond the lights, which were dim and nearly
tapered into morning.  The boat started, and with terrific crashing, and cracking, and creaking, she moved rapidly down the
current.  The officers were soon out, but nothing could be done
for her but to let her drift with the ice and current, in total
darkness.  Every moment she seemed going to pieces to him who
was not accustomed to the battles with ice and stream. But short
was the time. She was soon fast, hard aground, with bow high




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                281
up on heaps of ice at the shore, and the torch-lights soon showed
them  they could step on shore from  the boat.  Few  of the
passengers knew of the peril till all was over. But the orphan,
who had not intended to bed his body in the drifts of the Mississippi, was on the alert, not in terror, but calmly watching passing events in which he felt deeply interested. They had plenty
of time to get her off before the ice opened in the river below to let
her through. On this and other boats he found greater varieties of
people than he had ever before met. The Southern planter was
there, generous, open, frank, free, intelligent.  The Yankee, from
away down East; the Western banker and trader, full of brag and
tricks. The gambler, open and generous, and ready to fight or to
treat you. The cattle-trader, cool, sober, calculating on his profits
and losses. The boat's officers, gentlemanly and pleasant to passengers of all kinds, but terrible and savage to the hands under pay,
swearing oaths that would start all but the ice. Ladies of as great
a variety; wives, sisters, daughters, mothers, and even the concertsingers, the Riley Family, in glee and song, were there, full of
music, with a comic addition from New Hampshire in the genius
of Connor.  "Is your name -?" said a voice from  the corncrib below, one day, as he was wandering among the machinery of
the boat. — " It is." -"I thought I knew you; father and I
boarded with you up in the woods at the old saw-mill, in Southport, and do you remember me? " —' Yes, and your father, too;
but what are you doing here? "' Feeding these cattle.  I get
fifty dollars and my fare to feed them down, and fare back,- have
a farm in Iowa, and this is the way I am improving it. Come down
and tell me your history, and let us talk over old times." So they
did lead out some of their histories. When the days had numbered
the baker's dozen, the ice softened, and the Illinois broke her path
through, followed by four other anxious and waiting boats, and
hailed from below by the officers and passengers of sixteen boats all
waiting to get up river. Some with guns, and some with shouts,
expressed their joy; but the Illinois passed quietly on to Memphis,
and soon further down even to the crescent city; but the Lone
24*




282           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
One went on shore at Memphis, and soon found new friends and
a hearty welcome as a lecturer.  Homed with the celebrated Dr.
Gilbert, of cancer-cure notoriety, where wealth and kindness both
met the Lone One. Gave a short course of lectures; was well
paid.
February 9.- Took passage for New Orleans on S. B. Moses,
MecLelland, with pleasant officers and passengers from Ohio
River, mostly from Indiana; moved majestically down the mighty
river, along the banks of which he viewed the splendid palaces and
rows of slave shanties. The magnificence of the feudal castles of
the middle ages, with the hovels of worse than serfdom in contrast.
The towns and cities much like those of the North, leaving the
great contrast between North and South mainly in the rural
districts. It was an interesting sight and subject, and made its
picture on the memory of the Lone One indelibly, from which it
may some day be taken off on paper, but not here.
February 1.3. -The boat up to the wharf, and the passengers
were soon in the omnibus-city of New Orleans, where friends,
not a few, were ready to greet, and expecting, him. A score
of letters awaited him at the post-office, and magnificent homes
were opened for his stay.  Sunny as a summer-time were the
days and faces around him; fine audiences assembled in a neat
hall to hear his words, and pressing invitations urged him from
place to place, but all in temperate, moral, and consistent company,
and exhibitions. No theatre or gaming-house was visited by him
during his stay; but all the interesting places of business and art
had a passing notice. Found several old friends in the city, and
one who had shared with him in the Phalanx struggles, then a
young man, now a citizen with wife and babies, living happily and
temperately in New Orleans.  The city was full of life, and business, and strangers, and the gardens rich with flowers, as the par.
lors, and sometimes the streets, were with silks and doeskins,
beavers and bonnets. Near a dozen lectures; more homes, and
still more visits; much pleasant conversation; many friends, and
pressing entreaties to return, and ample pay for the journey, were




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE -ONE.              283
all realized; and on the second of March he ticketed over the back
track to Memphis, loaded with bouquets of elgab nt flowers, took the
steamboat Virginia, to breast the current northward; and sailed
with fine weather, but had one terrible squall, with rain and hail like
shot from a loaded gun, firom which they escaped damage and danger
by tieing up to a tree, on the lee bank, just in time to escape a
capsizing or a complete destruction.  No other important event
occurred on the upward course. The Lone One watched the gamblers till he was tolerably well acquainted with their " poker " game,
and saw how the sober and shrewd ones caught the green and
dissipated ones; but he had never bet, and never would his principles allow him to take part in games for money. An old black
man, nearly blind, was one day put on the boat to change places;
with solemn and sorry countenance he sat on a stool near a stove-pipe
on the guard of the boat. Early in the morning the Lone One observed his sorry face, and thought of his own early life. When no
one was in sight he passed him, and placed a half-dollar in his
hand without a word, when the sorry face, stammering, accosted
him: " Massa, - massa, - don't you want - buy - somebody?"
- "I I am a poor man," was the only reply, as he passed, and suppressed the tear by turning to other scenes. He never read Uncle
Tom's Cabin, and probably never will. He made, on the boat, the
acquaintance of a cotton-planter of Tennessee, whose generous
heart, and beautiful and intelligent daughter, urged him to visit
their home at Nashville.  His cotton-farm was on the river below
Memphis, where he said he worked about three hundred negroes,
and where they earned him, on an average, three hundred and fifty
dollars each, per year; but he said he was ever careful to have a
kind overseer, to have them well fed and clad, and all their
wants cared for, and they seemed as happy as the cotton-spinners
of New England, but not so intelligent. Still, he thought Tennessee as a state might have her interests advanced by abandoning
slavery. So many think in Kentucky, and Virginia, and Missouri,
but few in Louisiana or Mississippi, &c.
Lectured on the steamboat President; chatted with the preachers,




284           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
&c.; and passed Cairo, and reached the floating-ice, and at length
St. Louis, on the 12th. Soon he was again with old friends.
Sunday, 15.- The hall was well filled, and his discourse well
received as ever. He was ever appreciated in St. Louis. Took
the snaky path of the iron horse, and stopped over at Alton,
Terre Haute, La Fayette, and Richmond.  Lecturing three times
in the court-house at La Fayette, March 22d, and evenings in the
other places, and three times in Cincinnati, on Sunday, 29th; then
rested over one week at Dayton, Ohio. Met William Denton, and
many other true friends and true reformers, and closed his lectures
on the 5th of April, and soon was at another excellent home in
Milan, where another week was used up in the best of company,
with lectures to fine and attentive audiences. Next in Cleveland,
with two lectures on Sunday, April 19th, to large audiences; then
at Grafton, Liverpool, and on Sunday, 26th, in Wellington, where he
met large audiences. Everywhere the cause seemed to be on the
increase, and fast gaining with, and in, the best of minds and
families. During his winter sojourn in Ohio, in 1856, he delivered
one hundred and eighteen lectures in one hundred and thirty-two
consecutive days; but in this last visit he had travelled much more,
and lectured less frequently, losing much time on the river, and
South, where people are not so much in a hurry for religion, and
where they never take the kingdom of heaven by storm, if
they do anything else. Closed his visit in Ohio with April, and
on May-day reached Adrian, and found the ever-welcoming hearts
of friends ready to meet him.
AMay 3. -Lectured in Adrian, and stopping on the way at
Raisin, to magnetize a sick patient for two days, on the 6th
reached his cottage home, where the glad hearts gathered around
him to listen to his words of love and wisdom, for he had both to
distribute.
Here we shall tie up this line, although he only remained a few
weeks, and left again for the East, on a tour of lecturing, and, for
aught we know, is wandering still, turning a corner at home two
or three times a year.  " If you were my husband," said a




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 285
woman, "I would get a divorce, if you would not stay at home
with me."-" Perhaps not, madam.  If I am  as bad as my
enemies say I am, it must be a great blessing to my wife to have
me always absent from home." -  "Well, then, I would certainly
have  a divorce." -  "That would be right, madam; but it is
lucky that I am not your husband: you are saved that trouble."
" Where is he now? " said a voice, the first of June,'57. - At
the quiet, happy, and beautiful home of E. Rulon, at Raisin,
Michigan, writing in a book.  "Where is he now?" said a
voice on the Fourth of July. —" In Buffalo, amusing himself with
the folly of those who are showing off the monkey-tricks of a
military parade." -  "Where next will he rest? " said an inquirer,
deep down in July. -' At the Garden-of-Eden home, in Essex,
Vt." --  "Then he will see A. J. Davis and Mary."  So he
did, at Burlington.  Do not think he was idle all this time; for
he is never idle, as his enemies well know.
Aug. 20. -" Where is he now? " said a pleasant voice at the
West. -  In the little bed-room at the old homestead of his wife,
where she spent. so many happy hours in her days of girlhood,
writing in a book.  "Let him go; he is a strange man." -"   But
why don't he stay at home like other folks, and work for a living? " - Let him answer; I cannot. But you may write for him
what the angel did:
"Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like the lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold;
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,'What writest thou?' The vision raised his head,
And, with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered,' The names of those who love the Lord.''And is mine one?' said Abou.' Nay, not so,'
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,




286             LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.
But cheerily still, and said,' I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow-men.'
The angel wrote and vanished. The next night
He came again, with a great waking light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blest,
When, lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest!"
Life's journey now is well begun,
And will not close with setting sun,
But through the future swiftly run.
SECTION  VI.
SUPPLEMENTAL AND CONCLUSIVE.
IF I WERE A VOICE.
If I were a voice, a persuasive voice,
That could travel the wide world through,
I would fly on the beams of the morning light,
And speak to men with a gentle might,
And tell them to be true.
I would fly, I would fly over land and sea,
Wherever a human heart might be,
Telling a tale or singing a song
In praise of the right, in blame of the wrong.
If I were a voice, a consoling voice,
I'd fly on the wings of air;
The homes of sorrow and guilt I'd seek,
And calm and truthful words I'd speak,
To save them from despair.
I would fly, I would fly o'er the crowded town,
And drop like the happy sunlight down
Into the hearts of suffering men,
And teach them to look up again.
If I were a voice, a convincing voice,
I'd travel with the wind;
And wherever I saw a nation torn
By warfare, jealousy, spite, or scorn,
Or hatred of their kind,'




LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE  ONE.                   287
I would fly, I would fly on the thunder-crash,
And into their blinded bosoms flash;
Then, with their evil thoughts subdued,
I'd teach them Christian Brotherhood.
If I were a voice, an immortal voice,
I would fly the earth around,
And wherever man to idols bowed
I'd publish in notes both long and loud
The Gospel's joyful sound.
I would fly, I would fly on the wings of day,
Proclaiming peace on my world-wide way,
Bidding the saddened earth rejoice -
If I were a voice - an immortal voice!
THE WORLD WOULD BE THE BETTER FOR IT.
If men cared less for wealth and fame,
And less for battle-fields and glory;
If writ in human hearts a name
Seemed better than in song and story;
If men, instead of nursing pride,
Would learn to hate it, and abhor itIf more relied
On Love to guide,
The world would be the better for it.
If men dealt less in stocks and lands,
And more in bonds and deeds fraternal;
If Love's work had more willing hands
To link this world to the supernal;
If men stored up Love's oil and wine,
And on bruised human hearts would pour it
If" yours " and " mine"
Would once combine,
The world would be the better for it.
If more would ACT the play of Life,
And fewer spoil it in rehearsal;
If Bigotry would sheath its knife
Till Good became more universal;




288             LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.
If Custom, gray with ages grown,
Had fewelr blind men to adore it -
If talent shone
In Truth alone,
The world would be the better for it.
If men were wise in little things,
Affecting less in all their dealings;
If hearts had fewer rusted strings
To isolate their kindly feelings;
If men, when Wrong beats down the Right,
Would strike together and restore itIf Right made Might
In every fight,
The world would be the better for it.
We never did inquire into the causes or circumstances which
gave rise to the birth of the Lone One, nor did we accept any
dream-interpretation of its mysterious origin.   There is little
doubt that, like most unwelcome births, both in and out of legal
wedlock, it had its origin in the condition of body produced by
the use of tobacco, liquors, coffee, tea, and animal food; for it has
been fully established by physiology that, without these, men and
women cannot long be improperly addicted to that passional indulgence which leads to such unpleasant, and often painful, results;
and these are also ascertained to be the causes, together with outdoor exercise, of the wide difference in the passional and lustful
condition of males and females, giving a great preponderance to
the former. Beginning this line at the obscure end, we have seen
the appropriateness of the lines of J. G. Saxe:
" Of all the notable things on earth,
The queerest one is the pride of birth,
Among our' fierce Democracy!'
A bridge across a hundred years,
Without a prop to save it from sneers,
Not even a couple of rotten Peers.
A thing for laughter, fleers, and jeers,
Is American aristocracy.




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                  289
"Depend upon it, my snobbish friend,
Your family thread you can't ascend,
Without good reason to apprehend
You may find it waxed at the further end
By some plebeian vocation!
Or, worse than that, your boasted line
May end in a loop of stronger twine
That plagued some worthy relation!
" Because you flourish in worldly affairs,
Don't be haughty and put on airs,
With insolent pride of station!
Don't be proud, and turn up your nose
At poorer people with plainer clothes,
But learn, for the sake of your mrnd's repose,
That wealth's a bauble that comes and goes,
And that proud flesh, wherever it grows,
Is subject to irritation."
And, approaching the other end, we have found the Harmonized
and happy soul and family in the true spiritualist; and we have
found that spiritualism, or the Harmonial Philosophy, is the
cause.  Spiritualism  as a belief, or knowledge of facts, may be a
philosophy; but spiritualism as a religion, as a practical thing
of life, and manifestation, is a reform in life, and exhibits itself
in a reformation of body and actions.  Every true spiritualist will
strive to regulate his or her life by the true science of life and
health, and, not following any visionary fanatic into any extremes,
will consult science, and rely on her and the general experience
of the race. Such will not take isolated cases of experience; for
by such it could be easily proved that a man should drink a quart
of rum each day to be healthy, or that each should use a pound
of tobacco per week. But they will take the aggregate testimony
of the living and the dead, and, if corroborated by science, will
make use of such to reform in life and condition this and succeeding
generations. Then, as both philosophy and experience prove that
the correspondence of tobacco is profanity, nervous irritation,
poisonous and polluting effects and influence, and science proves
25




290            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
its effects ever evil, and only evil, on a human system, therefore
the true spiritualist will refrain from its use, and discourage it in
all others, by every mild and gentle effort, and kindly persuade all,
as far as possible, to turn it out, with its undignified and ungentlemanly counterpart — profanity.  As both science and experience
establish the fact that intoxicating drinks are injurious, evil, pernicious, and tend greatly to subvert and destroy human happiness
by expressing their correspondence in strife, wrangling, quarrelling, fighting, both public and private, reaching its extreme in
wars and murders; therefore they should, and will, be abandoned
by spiritualists, and all reasonable effort made, in kindness,
mildness, and candor, to discountenance and discourage their use.
As science and experience both prove that swine's flesh is invariably impregnated with pus and scrofulous matter, which is carried
into the human body with it when used for food, and that human
bodies are mainly composed of the material assimilated from  the
food; and that thus " man grows like what he feeds on," and that
we would not like to have our bodies, and the bodies of those we
love, like swine's flesh, and with the mental expression in correspondence, of low, vulgar, bawdy and lustful stories, actions, and
language; therefore, all true spiritualists will avoid making
swine's flesh an article of food, as far, and as fast, as convenient,
especially for the young and tender forms of children, whose
bodies and minds are being developed and matured for life, and
whose happiness depends on purity, harmony, and health.
As both science and experience prove that tea and coffee, steeped
and drank in decoctions as a beverage, and especially hot, are
extremely injurious to the nervous systems, especially of the
young, and are very expensive to large families, and almost invariably destroy the teeth by being used as many families use them,
- therefore, as a matter of economy and health, spiritualists will
discourage and discontinue the use of these beverages, especially
for the young, as far, and as fast, as convenient and practicable.
As both science and experience teach that the human body, to
enjoy health and happiness, does not require irritants or stimu



LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                291
lants as condiments in food, and seldom requires stimulating food,
— therefore spiritualists to be reformers, and, to be healthy and
happy, will be temperate and prudent in the use of foods and
drinks, and learn to live soberly, temperately, naturally, and economically, and by this means more easily accomplish the more
important mental and spiritual reform which must bring the race
into harmony. As science and experience both prove that anger,
hatred, scorn, contempt, ridicule, jealousy, envy, malice, with
their train of swearing, lying, gossipping, backbiting, &c., all tend
to make society and persons unhappy, and those most so who use
them most, - therefore all spiritualists, to be reformers, must
dismiss all these enemies of peace and harmony from their own
minds, and forever keep them out of the bill of fare served up to
others; for by these reforms only can the race be reformed - in the
reform of the individuals, singly and severally. As both science
and experience prove that the fragrant flower sheds most fragrance
around its parent stem, and in the bush where it grew, so spiritualists, whose lives are reformed, and whose souls are full of love,
will express most love and harmony about their homes, and to
those with whom they are most associated, and draw to them most
love in return from those with whom they deal most; and thus
spiritualists will become harmonized and reformed individuals,harmonized and happy families, - harmonized and happy husbands
and wives (whether in both legal and spiritual affinity, or not),
harmonized and happy parents, brothers, sisters, children,
friends, members of society, and citizens; and thus, when spiritualism shall reach, and do, for all people what it has done for the
Lone One and his family, the world will be full of happy people,
and the kingdom of heaven will be on earth, in the hearts of the
people; and all will thank God for life and existence, and love
one another, -most the kindred, beginning with the nearest;
next, the friends; next, the strangers; and last and least, the
enemies (if there be any); and thus love all, and hate none.
Then all will feel this world is but a " stepping-stone to brighter
worlds above." Then sweetly and beautifully will each one ap



292              LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE  ONE.
proach and pass that time and event when he or she will be "free,
free from the shell."
"The ivy in a dungeon grew,
Unfed by rain, uncheered by dew;
Its pallid leaflets only drank
Cave-moistures foul and odors dank.
"But through the dungeon-grating high
There fell a sunbeam from the sky;
It slept upon the grateful floor,
In silent gladness, evermore.
"The ivy felt a tremor shoot
Through all its fibres to the root;
It felt the light, it saw the ray,
It strove to blossom into day.
"It grew, it crept, it pushed, it clomb;
Long had the darkness been its home;
But well it knew, though veiled in night,
The goodness and the joy of light.
"Its clinging roots grew deep and strong;
Its stem expanded firm and long;
And in the currents of the air
Its tender branches flourished fair.
"It reached the beam, it thrilled, it curled,
It blessed the warmth that cheers the world;
It rose toward the dungeon-bars;
It looked upon the sun and stars.
"It felt the life of bursting spring,
It heard the happy sky-lark sing;
It caught the breath of morns and eves,
And wooed the swallow to its leaves.
"By rains and dews and sunshine fed,
Over the outer walls it spread;
And, in the day-beam waving free,
It grew into a steadfast tree.




LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.                    293
CUpon that solitary place
Its verdure threw adorning grace;
The mating birds became its guests,
And sang its praises friom their nests.
"Wouldst know the moral of the rhyme? -
Behold the Heavenly Light, and climb!
To every dungeon comes a ray
Of God's determinable day."
25*




CHARACTER OF THE LONE ONE,
PSYCHOMETRICALLY DELINEATED BY ANNE DENTON CRIDGE, OF DAYTON, OHIO, 1857.
FROM A LETTER PRESENTED BY A FRIEND.
LARGE language; expresses himself readily and with ease.
Composition well developed and active; in connection with language, can express his thoughts in writing as well as verbally.
Lower perceptives full, upper perceptives average. Reflective
faculties large and active. EHas a healthy brain, but it looks as
if the frontal lobe had been of late somewhat overtaxed. Has a
comprehensive mind; reasons and argues not from a small circle
of facts, but from  a large and varied collection.  He is always
more anxious for the truth than to make out a case.  He does not
build up a theory in his mind, and then look around to see what
arguments he can find to sustain it; but builds upon facts, and
gathers from the whole of nature. Has a good faculty for analysis, correspondence, collecting and applying, &c.  Rather large
benevolence; a strong nerve-aura current passes from it to the
intellect, and follows where the intellect approves and directs. From
the posterior portion of benevolence, I perceive another current
flowing through spirituality to concentrative-ness; a current from
firmness unites with it; these united currents flow to the reflective faculties, and these organs act together in some way, but I do
not exactly understand how; I should think that, as it passes
through spirituality, he is philanthropic in a spiritual and reformatory direction. Veneration about average. Firmness large. Comn



LIFE-LINE OF THIE LONE ONE.                295
bativeness rather large. Destructiveness small; but acts vigorously
with the frontal lobe.  Acquisitiveness full; would like to make
money and do well, but wants to make it in connection with progressive and reformatory labors. Warm and well-developed backhead.  Philoprogenitiveness quite active, but the organ not prominent; is fond of children, and pleasant and mirthful among them.
Concentrativeness large; it acts vigorously in connection with the
frontal lobe.  Self-esteem full.  Attachment to home, to place,
strong.  Conjugality rather large; it aches somewhat; there is a
feeling of sadness in connection therewith. Amativeness quite
full; it is pure, and acts through conjugality and the intellect. Is
a great admirer of intellectual women, and would be likely to
express it.




SPECIMEN OF HIS PHILOSOPHY IN LECTURES.
RELIGION, like all, or nearly all, of nature's exhibitions, has a
trinitarian development, and expresses usually, in the individual
and the race, three distinct phases, or planes. The first and lowest form  is Idolatry, or the introduction of a God to the mind.
This embraces all forms of worship in which devotion is paid
to an object, a thing, a person, or a beiny, which the worshipper calls God. It does not change the nature or character of the devotion to change the substance of which the
God is composed. Whether it be of clay, or stone, or wood, or gold,
or flesh, or spirit, or the most refined element of which a form can
be constituted, the object is still an Idol.  The character, quality, and composition, of the thing, or being, only determines the
degree of taste and refinement in the worshipper.  It is still
idolatry, so long, and so far, as it conveys or attaches devotion
to an object as God.  A  God, or the God, always denotes an
object, and expresses Idolatry.  These expressions always point to
an object, and every object can be comprehended by the mind, or
surrounded, which is to comprehend, in the sense we use the term.
Every being, person, or thing, has diameter and circumference,
and by these we can measure every object, whether we call it God
or any other name.  It does not remove the worshipper from Idolatry to place the being out of the reach of the person worshipping.  It is truly a low form of Paganism to carry a God about
one's person, but not so far removed from the practice of carrying
the revealed will in a book about the person, as some human beings
do, as some might suppose. It is as really Idol-worship to send
the veneration to the sun or stars, as to a car of Juggernaut, or a




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               297
statue of Diana, to a Temple, Church, or Throne of Grace. Philosophically speaking, it is the same phase of devotion to worship
a Christ, or a spiritual being set up in the ideal world beyond the
external sight and senses, as to worship a stone or wooden God.
The composition and quality of the object can never alter or
change the nature of the devotion, nor can the place where you
set up your object or image change, in the least degree, the character of the worship. A degree of progress in the individual or
worshipper is all that is manifested by these conditions.  It is an
evidence of our advanced idolatry to place the God in the ideal
sphere, and compose his body of a rare and highly etherealized
element. Nor does it change the nature of the devotion from
idolatry to increase the real or supposed power and attributes of
the God. Every man clothes his God with such attributes as
his capacity can furnish, nor can do more. There are men now
living on the earth whose power and capacity exceeds that of
many Gods which, or who, have received the devotion of mortals;
and there are, no doubt, millions of beings whose conditions are
vastly superior to any idea now entertained by a mortal of a personal God. The man who carries his God in his pocket, or tied
up in his hair, clothes him from his own mind with all the attributes, and qualifies, with all the good adjectives his storehouse
can supply, and a Chapin, or Beecher, or a Parker, if they have
a God, can do no more. They have placed their God, or Gods,
(for I am not sure they all worship the same one) a little further
fiom us or from their hearers; made him, or them, of a little finer
material, and ideally clothed them with more and higher attributes, each and all in accordance with their refinement, mental
development, and the age and country in which they live and
preach. There is no reason or philosophy which can terminate
Idolatry with the composition, position, or attributes, of the object
worshipped; and no reasoning mind will ever attempt to define
where Idolatry ends, and leaves an object and centralized devotion,
on a being, or thing, or individual.
Let no one accuse me of treating his form of worship as a sin,




298             LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
or even as an evil.  It is not more a sin to be an Idolater than it
is to be a child.  It is the childhood of Religion, and as natural
and legitimate as our physical childhood; and as naturally precedes our higher religious expressions as the physical wants precede the mental and spiritual, or as the demands of our physical
nature precede those of our intellectual. All men are by nature
religious, and first Idolaters.  A human being without veneration
would be what nature cannot furnish. It is an essential part of
all and every human being. Persons in one plane do not always
perceive it in those of another plane, and hence term them Atheists;
but in a true, an absolute, and a philosophical sense, there never
was, and never can be, an Atheist.  The honest and sincere devotion given to the highest object we can conceive of, is true religion,
or true devotion; and is all that can be required of any person.
Mlore than nine tenths of the human race on earth at this time
are in the plane of Idolatry; and a vast and almost innumerable
host of those who have left the earth are also in this plane; for
a change of body does not always change the religion of the
mind.  All forms of sectarian Christianity are Idolatry in a
refined form, and far advanced from some of the Pagan forms of
worship, and perhaps below some of the wild Red men; for the
Indians of our continent actually had a great Spirit-God, ideally
superior to the Incarnate God of most Christians. All persons
and the race will as legitimately grow out of these forms of Idolatry as they grow out of child-stature, or child-clothes; and they
would be very much like the boy in his father's boots, coat, and
hat, to get on a higher form  before they had outgrown this.
When we become men and women mentally, we shall put away
childish things.  The doll-pet of the little girl, and the top-toys
of the boy, are laid aside, for real children, and real dogs,
horses, &c.  So will your little Idol-G-od be laid aside and neglected for a real conception of God, - not a God, or the God, but
God i! Idolatry, too, has its three-fold expression.  Its sensual or
material phase, in which its devotion is paid in sacrifices or offerings of beasts, or grain, or gold and valuables, as an atonement,




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 299
to obtain thereby a forgiveness. And, second, in prayers and ceremonies, personal sufferings, pilgrimages, penance, vows, deeds of
charity, flattery, and personal sacrifices. And, third, belief in
creeds, doctrines, dogmas, Christ's atonement, the love of God,
and the forgiveness of sins for Christ's sake.  There is really no
less Idolatry in one than the other, but only a different degree of
Idolatrous devotion.  It is not less an Idolatry to worship a Holy
Ghost than to worship the Ghost of Hamlet, or Banquo, of
Moses, or Swedenborg, or Cobbett.  It is only in degree; for it is
ghosts, and only ghosts, whether you apply the term Holy, or any
other term, so long as it is a being, or person, or thing, even
though placed in the spiritual, or elemental, or ideal life. Again,
I repeat, that in classing Christianity with, or rather in, Idolatry,
I am not condemning it as sinful, or wicked, or bad; but, on the
other hand, I esteem it as a virtue to be a sincere Christian, and
to express the honest devotion of the soul in that higher or highest phase of the religion of childhood.  God, angels, spirits,
could expect no more than the honest devotion of the heart
up to its maximum capacity; and he that gives this does all his
religious duty, and fulfils the requirements of his devotional
nature; when, and as, the capacity changes, the quality, not
always the quantity, of devotion will change, and new ideas, perceptions, appreciations, and capacities, will change the expression
of our devotion, always giowing and refining with our knowledge.
Many modern Christians, honest in their devotions, and rising to
their highest capacities and appreciations, suppose they have
attained the perfect and ultimate system of devotion, and thus all
the world must come to their standard; but this is also the case
with many planes below them.  The Mormon, and Mlahometan,
and Pagan, each expect the samle for their religion, and with
equal propriety, except that the best phases of sectarian Christianity are in advance, and one or two sects are on the very verge
of the next phase; as, for instance, Unitarianism, running through
Theodore Parker and Ralph Waldo Emerson, grows into the next
phase, or Pantheism.




300            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE,
It is of no consequence that those who are blind cannot see
religion in these advanced phases, or in Pantheism.  Emerson is
not less religious than Bishop Hughes, or Dr. Dewey; nor is any
full-blown Pantheist less a man of devotion than the veriest
Pagan Idolater.  He worships in another phase of devotion and
development.  The lowest forms of Idolatry require a visible and
tangible God.  The worshipper must see and feel his God.  A little further along, and he can dispense with the feeling, or tangibility, but must see the God-Sun, or Moon, Ark, or Holy object;
then a little further, and he can give up the sight to the seer, or
prophet, or priest, and send and receive messages through these
mediums; then a little further, and he can dispense with all sight,
and lodge his God in the ideal realm, far away from sight and
sense, and then send all his devotion and bestow it on the IdolGod in the ideal realm; then loses it or the God entirely, and
becomes a Pantheist, or a creature of growth and natural development; leaving off the small-clothes, and little and big idols,
he becomes a man in religion.
All belief in special incarnations, special providences, interpositions, and Divine Providences, miraculous manifestations, and
supernatural powers, actions, and exhibitions, belongs to Idolatry,
and its personal God, in some of its forms. The Pantheist discards all these, as the developed mind does the phantoms and goblins of the' boy and the dark.  Idolatry is the religion of ignorance
and innocence, which pertain to childhood, in the individual or the
race.  It is made up of especialities.  The God is an especiality,
and especially endowed, and makes especial manifestations, and
has especial favorites and pets in this life, and the next, if there
be a next; for all idolaters do not believe in a next life. God is
personal, and of course tangible to some of the senses, physical or
mental; for all who believe in a God must have one with form,
and of course possessed of diameter and circumference, and thus
be comprehensible by the mind. A chosen God can have a chosen
people, a band of chosen servants, and he will of course bestow
favors on his pets and favorites. There is really very little differ



LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                 301
ence between the children playing with their pets and the God
playing with the devotees in the phase of Idolatry, or the devotee
treating of his God and his attributes, and laws and dealings with
man. Both are good enough, and proper in their places, but are
poorly adapted to manhood. One more century, with the ratio of
progress of the last ten years, in our country, will be sufficient to
carry the Idolatry from our nation to the museum, where it may
be preserved as a relic of the early time, and as precious as the
bones of saints in the cathedrals of the Mother Church.  The dim
Bible-light will be superseded by a bright sun-light, and the IdolGod will make way for other and higher worship.  The swaddlingbands will be laid aside, the "leading-strings" cut asunder, and
men will walk out of these Idol-creeds in freedom of thought and
expansion of mind, and will no longer need a God to carry in the
pocket, or to sit in the temple, or to reign on a throne of ivory or
gold in the ideal realm.  Pocket-idols and pocket-revelations will
lose their especial sacredness, and man will no longer bow in
prayer to Gods of wood or stone, or sun or stars, or beast or man,
or spirit, or ghost, or king, or being, here, or anywhere; but he
will not have less devotion or veneration than now, nor be less
religious and virtuous, but far more, and have and express a far
higher and better devotion than in this phase of Idolatry.  I anm
aware this seems terrible infidelity to an Idolater, but it must come.
The second phase of Religious devotion, or Pantheism, is the
religion of intellect. Some persons, and indeed most persons, in
the plane of Idolatry, suppose there is no devotion or religion in
Pantheism; but this is only because they cannot see in this intellectual religion the devotion of their own phase. The real Pantheist is as much and as really a man of religion and devotion as
the Idolater.  Some persons are born with organizations adapted
to, and which carry them into this phase as soon as the brain is
ripened, even without any action or reading on the subject, save
what is presented in nature.  These persons are often very much
blamed by devotees at the shrine of Idolatry, and are often called
reprobates in religion.  But the majority of persons reach this
26




302           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
phase by the exercise of the intellect. Most of the distinguished
scientific and metaphysical minds who have lived during the last
two hundred years have been in this plane of religion, because
their reasoning powers were too much unfolded to remain in the
plane of Idolatry.  Idolatry reasons little.  Pantheism  reasons
much.  Some leading minds in the churches have also reached
this phase, but expediency and the condition of the minds of the
great body of the devotees have usually prevented them from
expressing their real belief.  Indeed, one declaration or admission
of many religious writers. and speakers leads directly to Pantheism,
viz., the immateriality of God, of mind, and of the spirit-world; for
this is equivalent in science to a denial of their existence, except as
admitted by the Pantheist as connected with and expressed in the
material and tangible substance of earth, and other bodies like it
in substance.  The Pantheist has no personal God, no individnalized or special incarnation, and, in fact, no incarnation at all;
for to him mind or its exhibition is a phenomenon of matter, and,
like the shadow, disappears when the substance is removed which
presented it.  To the developed Pantheist, or the worshipper in
the first plane of this phase, the earth and all appurtenances thereunto belonging is God; all the God there is, he says, because this
is all that he can recognize as real existence.  But the more
expanded mind takes in the stellar region, and some of the elemental substances which fill the apparent space between these
bodies.  To these substances they attribute as causes all motion,
life, sensation, and intelligence, because they only find them
expressed in and through this kind and condition of existence,
They deny the absolute existence of mind, because they could not
find it with the scalpel or in the crucible of the chemist. They found
no more difficulty in accounting for the magnificent motions and
exact order of the solar and other systems, as resulting from the
orbs themselves, than they found in accounting for the exhibitions
of mind in man, or instinct in animals and plants; and they could
no more find God by dissecting the systems of worlds, than they
could find mind by dissecting the man; and hence they worshipped




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.                303
the negative side of the universe, because it only was tangible to
their faculties, and could thus be reached.  All they could get
evidence of, as an existence, was to them God, and they let their
devotions flow to the material or negative side of creation as God.
They took the Pagan's Idol and melted it, to show him there was
no God about it, more than about any other lump of clay, or stone,
or gold. They pointed the sun-worshipper to other suns, to show
him his was not God, or, if so, only one of many. They pointed
the worshipper of Christ to his defects, - submission to material
law, and to the precepts and examples of other good men, - to show
he was no more God, or a God, than other men; and while they
refused to worship him, they esteemed him according to his merits,
as they understood them. They denied and entirely repudiated
the Divine revelation of the Christians, by producing positive
proof from science of its errors, absurdities, and falsehoods. They
melted down and dissolved all forms of Idolatry by reason, as the
sun does a frost in a clear morning.  Pantheism in good hands
was always invincible to Idolatry, and in every contest left its
victim floored, or skulked away behind the superstition and ignorance of the age.  All miracles and especial providences were
declared to be either natural occurrences, or not to have occurred
at all. Under this phase of religion, superstition and Idolatry
seemed to be fading fast, and Pantheism seemed destined to triumph as the religion of manhood and age for the earth. It did
not necessarily deny a spiritual or elemental life, but usually denied it because it had not sufficient tangible evidence to sustain
and defend it. A few Pantheists were, however, believers in a
spirit-life as succeeding this, but had no conception of its duration,
or of the conditions of its existence. The principles of philosophy,
the laws of nature, the demonstrations of science, the facts of
experience, the conclusions of reason, were the creeds, the liturgy,
the belief, the prayer-book, of the Pantheist; and with these he
could and does overthrow all structures of Idolatry and superstitious devotion to a personal and Idol God, and especial revelations
and providences. The distinguished men and women of Europe




304            LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
and America, who have stood out on the face of society in bold
relief during the last two hundred years, have been mostly Pantheists in religion; and they have not been wanting in devotion,
but have only been wanting in Idolatry.  Pantheism has at last
met a foeman U"worthy of its steel," and one before which it
falls as Idolatry does before its potent weapons -  a phase and
system of religion holding to it the same relation it holds to Idolatry, and that is termed Spiritualism, or more appropriately Harmonialism. Idolatry fears, cringes, prays - never reasons. Pantheism reasons, respects, admires.  Spiritualism reasons, admires,
loves, venerates, sees, and feels.  Pantheism  made God of all
material substance, and  mind a manifestation.  Spiritualism
incarnates God in all and every form  and substance of matter,
and receives and believes God the motive-power of all manifestations.
This third phase, to which I have now so legitimately arrived,
has its correspondence in wisdom, in the judicial power, in the
conjugal relation of the sexes, in religion.  It is the ultimate and
truly harmonial condition and age of man in the individual or the
race, and in its religious devotion gives the superior expression to
this high and natural desire of our nature.  Spiritualism supplies
to the material universe the other side and half of itself, and
gives us the true form and condition of ourselves and the world.
To use a figure, Idolatry was the Garden of Eden and its pair of
especial pets; Pantheism was the flat earth and the tribes and
nations, and spiritualism is the globe and its races, with distinct
and numerous origins.  Spiritualism supplies to the universe the
real, substantial, and material condition of mind, and its action on,
and, in the negative substance, called, for convenience' sake, matter, and exhibits forms aggregating, sublimating, and segregating,
continually and eternally, without diminution or increase of either
mind or matter, and forever producing in this contact and action
motion, life, sensation, intelligence, and development; and thus a
new phase of devotion is presented, another side to man individually and collectively, and to all tangible existence a positive is




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               305
supplied to its negative, and the harmony of the universe is at
last discovered. Spiritualism admits all the principles and demonstrations of Pantheism, and supplies to it what it always lacked
and felt the need of, - an active and motive power, with intelligence to account for intelligence in objects; for Pantheism  could
never show how intelligence could come from a source entirely
devoid of it; and while it could easily show the fallacy and defects in Idolatry, it often became entangled in its own reasonings,
and found a web of its own construction holding it in meshes too
strong for its power.
The Spiritual or Harmonial philosophy did not supply a personal God to worship, but it did supply Divine Mind to the Infinite universe, and it was like letting in the sunlight upon the darkened earth. It also found and established the existence of a
human mind to each human form, and of course, according to
fixed principles of philosophy and Pantheism, proved it could
never be annihilated, or cease to exist. It also found why and
how the exhibitions of intelligence could legitimately find expression in the universe and in man. Spiritualism carried the devotion of those who had reached it to Divine Mind, and found God,
or mind, everywhere, in every form of which the senses or the
reason could take cognizance, forever revealing law and order, facts
and truths, to each, and through each, individual form.  It had
no difficulty in proving immortality for man, for it found in him
a mind, and a unit, or entity,. and forever indissoluble; and while
he acted on, and in, a negative form of matter as a body, - an
aggregation only temporarily, - he had in himself eternal duration,
and might safely say he was possessed of all power in heaven and
in earth; for he was positive to all conditions of matter below
himself, and could use each form and leave it without being himself lost or destroyed by the separation of the parts which composed his body; and, deprived of one form, he could aggregate
and organize another of similar or dissimilar matter, and again
enjoy for a season, in it, a sunshine of existence, as Divine Mind
does in worlds.
26



806           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
The true infinity was now introduced to the mind and comprehension of man by spiritualism, or, what would be more proper,
if an ism must be used, rzentalism. Many persons call themselves
spiritualists who are only Idolaters, and some who are Pantheists; but the true Harmonial man, or real spiritualist, has outgrown all these child-clothes, and has no Idol in book or image,
but has God or Mind in everything and everywhere, and ever
worships the Infinite and the everywhere-God, - not the throneGod, or the God of Moses and the Jews, nor the Jesus of the
Christians, nor the earth, or earths, of the Pantheist, -but his God
is, and was, and will be, when all these forms change or dissolve
and retinite in other forms.  The never-changing mind of the
Universe, ever changing matter and acting on it in forms, becomes
God, and draws out the devotion of the true spiritualist, and it
can be expressed anywhere, and any time; for Divine Mind is
really omnipresent and omnipervading.  No century-rule used to
measure time can determine the age, nor any league-rule find and
determine the diameter. I use the masculine sometimes, because
mind is masculine or positive, and not because Idolaters usually
have a man-God, or God-man, to worship.  Mind is always masculine, matter always feminine, and cohesion is the sexual expression of a certain condition and combination of mind and matter.
So is life, and sensation, and intelligence, each in its respective
plane; but of these I shall speak more properly in another lecture.
I have now laid out these three phases, and every human being
is paying his or her devotion in one of the three; and each may
register and station, or examine and report himself or herself, where,
and as, he or she pleases, at leisure. All are on the line, and all
have devotion, and all do express it. All persons do pray, for prayer
is only wish, or desire, and no person can exist without it, nor can
any person express devotionally this prayer to a thing, or power,
or existence, which he or she believes to be inferior or only equal
to self.  The answer or response to prayer may be expected
through or from an equal, or even inferior; but some power is




LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.               307
recognized as superior, and acting on and through the instrument.
Fear is the peculiar attribute of Idolatry. It ceases in Pantheism,
and in independence and manhood. Try, and do, reason and learn,
are the peculiar attributes of Pantheism. Love, deep, sincere, fearless, ardent, and overflowing, is the peculiar attribute of the spiritual religion. All fear ceases in the mind of the true spiritualist.
Death, hell, and the grave, lose all. their terrors, and man has only
love in the place of fear, and looks to each change which nature
provides and presents to him as a step leading higher, and to a still
better condition for enjoyment. He fears no terrors of the law,
and expects no particular day of judgment; but every day is his
day of judgment. He has no tyrant, with iron rod and shining
crown of diamonds, to appease; but an ever-present mind, smiling through immutable laws, which are ever working out happiness
for each being who is in harmony with them. He depends on condition for happiness, not on belief or faith, and ever tries to put
himself in true relations with the laws of nature and God. To
the Idolater the spiritualist is like the Pantheist, Infidel, because
he has no personal God; and is to such person what the Christian
with his spirit-God, or Holy Ghost, is to the Pagan with his visible Idol - the latter cannot see or touch the Christian's God, and
hence concludes he has none. So the Christian cannot comprehend or mentally recognize, measure, and surround, the Infinite
Divine Mind, and hence concludes spiritualists have no God, and
little or no devotion; but manhood will dissipate these toy-Gods,
for the individual and the race, and spiritualism will introduce
God to the Pantheist. Every person with a body weighing two
hundred pounds, and measuring six feet in length, is not a man or
woman; for many such are only children, even after they have
been' to college, and come out with a parchment and honors; and
indeed these colleges are, to use again a figure, places where a
band of unyielding metal is often put around the head to hold
from expansion the intellect, and expand the perceptions in digging roots of Greek and Latin; or to send up, like a sugar-loaf,
the veneration in Idolatrous devotion, instead of cultivating, in a




308           LIFE-LINE OF THE LONE ONE.
natural way, the true growth of brain, and thus the real and true
religion of manhood. Spiritualism must and will renovate and
change entirely our system of education, and bring our colleges
up to, and into, the teaching of the religion of manhood, or spiritualism. Every person is an Idolater, a Pantheist, or Spiritualist.
Reader, which art thou? If either of the two first, there is work
before thee, and the tools are ready at thy hand, and thy power is
ample to use them; and in thy lower plane of devotion thou canst
not know the beauty and joy of the higher and more unfolded life
and religion of the third phase until thou- hast tasted it.  Learn,
grow, develop, unfold thy powers and faculties, and become a
spiritualist in its true and real sense, and come to the knowledge
of the truth as it is in the Harmonial Philosophy!




AN ANGEL'S VISIT.
BY HATTIE.
AN Angel came to me, one night,
In glorious beauty clothed,
And with sweet words of hope and joy
My way-worn spirit soothed.
He fanned my cheek and burning brow,
And cooled my fevered brain,
And with his own deep music-voice
Sang many a loving strain.
He bade me ask for any gift
Within his power to give:
For death's cold arms to bear me hence,
Or countless years to live;
For riches, honors, and domains,
A sceptre, crown, and throne;
For friends with loving hearts to twine
Around my happy home.
" Not these, dear Angel bright," I cried:
"' From each and all I'11 part,
If thou'lt bestow that richer gift,
A pure and spotless heart."
The Angel smiled (with such a smile
As only angels have);
Then, sighing low, a diamond glass
Into my hand he gave.
" O, mine is not the power," he said,
" To fit thy heart for heaven;
The gift to purify thy soul
Unto thyself is given.




310             LIFE-LINE  OF THE LONE ONE.
6C But look within the faithful glass
That I have given thee,
And there within thy outer self
Thy inner self thou'It see."
I looked, —'t was strange, but there I saw
Two beings joined in one;
For clearly through the outer shell
A radiant spirit shone.
Long, long I gazed, and years on years
Seemed there to pass away,
But still I saw that spirit bright
Grow brighter, day by day.
At last't was free- free from the shell
That dimmed its brilliant glow,
And upward flew on angel-wings,
And left the shell below.