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JOHN PETERS, 
 
 A NOVEL, 
 
 By AELLA GREENE, 
 
 AoTHOR OF "Where thb Noble Have Their CotiNTRY," 
 "Stanza and Sequel" and other Poems. 
 
 PUBLISHED IN 1801. 
 
Copyright, 1S90, 
 
 PA' 
 
 AELLA GREENE. 
 
 CLARK W. BRYAN & COMPANY, 
 PRINTERS, ELECTROTYPERS AND BINDERS, 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 
 
WITH 
 LOVING AND UNFADING MEMORIES OF 
 
 I. L. G., 
 
 TO WHOM THE INCIDENTS AND EVENTS OF THIS NOVEL WERE 
 
 NARRATED BEFORE HER JOURNEY TO THE REST AND 
 
 THE RADIANCE OF THE HILLS OF THE OTHER 
 
 COUNTRY, THE WORK IS DEDICATED TO 
 
 MY FRIENDS 
 
 IN AND OUT OF THEIR NATIVE NEW ENGLAND AND MINE — 
 
 THE NEW ENGLAND WHEREIN ARE LAID MOST 
 
 OF THE SCENES OF THE STORY OF 
 
 "JOHN PETERS. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 IN WHICH MR. AND MRS. DANIF.L SMITH TRACE THE RESULTS 
 OF A PLEASANT EVENT IN THEIR HISTORY AND RECEIVE 
 A CALL FROM ESQUIRE WILLIAMS, ... 9 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 ELDER JOHN PETERS CALLS AT THE SMITH HOMESTEAD 
 AND MRS. SMITH RELATES HER CHILDHOOD EXPE- 
 RIENCE WITH THE QUAKERS, 26 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 ANOTHER CONVERSATION AND ANOTHER DRIVE, . 39 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE ATHERTONS AND AN ACCIDENT, ... - 53 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A PREACHING AND A BAPTISMAL CEREMONY, . . 69 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A PAIR OF MINISTERS, A MASTER OF CEREMONIES AND 
 
 A FUNERAL AT WHICH THEY OFFICIATE, . . 73 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE MEETING AT THE CROSS-ROADS, .... 95 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HEREDITY AND INDENTURE, . .... 121 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ARROGANCE REBUKED, I34. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 GROWTH AND ACHIEVEMENT, I40 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HIS WISDOM AND HIS LOVES, , . . . . 162 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Taylor's mills; daniel smith, postmaster, . 185 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 confession, 198 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 "qui alium per facit, facit per se," etc., . . 206 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 rescue, 223. 
 
JOHN PETERS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 IN WHICH MR. AND MRS. DANIEL SMITH TRACE THE RESULTS OF A 
 PLEASANT EVENT IN THEIR HISTORY. 
 
 OF a June morning early in "the fifties," Daniel 
 Smith came into his house, near the Cross-roads 
 neighborhood of Dayville, exclaiming, as he took 
 off his hat — not keeping it on, as was the custom of many 
 men in that region — " I do declare, Lizzie, when I gave 
 up my will and yielded to your wishes, and let you have a 
 piece of the garden for morning-glories, marigolds and 
 sweet-williams, I did one of the best acts of my life- 
 Posies don't bring in money, but they, or somethin' else, 
 have brought me all these years the best kind o' cookin', 
 the tidiest kind o' housekeepin', and real words o' love. 
 And I remember, 'twas on that day I had the worst kind 
 o' apiece of turf land to 'break up' — greensword, some 
 folks call it ; but that ain't right, is it, dear ? " 
 
 "No ; greensward is the word," leplied his wife. 
 
 " And those who say greensword want to put on airs 
 and can't .'' " 
 
 "That is it, dear." 
 
 " Well, that day I broke up the turf land, and had for a 
 
lO JOHN PETERS. 
 
 team nothin' but a pair o' wild-like steers, and the land 
 was full o' rocks. But, somehow or other, I got along well ; 
 the steers wa'n't half so fractious as I thought they'd be ; 
 and then I kept my patience through all the spring work, 
 and, come hayin' time, they acted as stiddy as old oxen. 
 And at cattle-show, over to Wayfil', the next fall, they 
 took the first premium for ' trained steers.' Now my givin' 
 up to your notions was good, because 'twas givin' up my 
 selfishness and — what's the word I want, wife } " 
 
 "Opinionativeness, perhaps." 
 
 " Yes, and adopting — what ? " 
 
 " My sentiment ? " 
 
 " Yes, that's it; sentiment, sentiment," reiterated Farmer 
 Smith. "And sentiment is the best payin' crop on my 
 farm. And the best money 't intrisi that anybody's got in 
 this town is the few coppers — twenty-five cents, wa'n't it, 
 wife ? — that I paid for those flower seeds." And he sec- 
 onded his remarks by going across the room to where the 
 wife was sitting by the cradle and kissing her with such 
 emphasis that the explosion awoke the sleeper she had been 
 rocking ; and he looked up with a smile, and soon threw up 
 his hands and crowed in baby glee, as if he had heard and 
 understood the conversation and delighted in it. 
 
 " Yes," said the young mother, laying her hand tenderly 
 on her husband's arm. " And do you remember that it 
 was soon after the day of which you speak that our own 
 bright-eyed Agnes was born, of whom you are justly 
 proud — the little girl who so much resembles her father.-' 
 
JOHN PETERS, II 
 
 and who, like him, acts unselfishly, as he then began to 
 act ? and who loves him with a passionate fondness that 
 will be, I believe, and I certainly hope, as lasting as life 
 itself ? It will carry her, if such ordeal comes, through 
 great toil, self-denial and suffering for her father's sake. 
 She loves you now, and will love you always, because I 
 loved you then. And had you not given me the favor I 
 asked, and which at the first, as you may recall, you felt 
 disinclined to grant, might not my poor heart have re- 
 belled and begun hating you? Then that child would 
 have hated you always, instead of loving you, as now she 
 does, and always will! And just as likely as not she 
 would have been excessively fond of flowers and have 
 cared for nothing else ; whereas, now, she has only a 
 natural love for flowers and other beautiful things, and is 
 beginning, although but seven years old, to take to books. 
 She knew the alphabet at three and could read short words 
 last fall ; and this winter, though she could not go to school 
 through the snow, she learned at home ; and now, the first 
 term at school, Miss Sampson says she has no brighter 
 pupil among the whole thirty boys and girls. And I 
 shouldn't wonder if our boy were equal to his sister in lik- 
 ing for learning. And he, too, loves you, and for much 
 the same reason that animates his sister — because I loved 
 you before he came to us." 
 
 Thus did that wife who was once, and ever after, be- 
 lieved in and allowed to have her way about flowers, — thus, 
 on that bright morning, did she discourse to the manly 
 
12 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 man at her side and tell truths of the most tremendous 
 importance, truths the heeding of which would be one of 
 the best possible helps of the world of humanity. 
 
 And well might Farmer Smith, as he gave his helpmeet 
 another kiss, inquire, " Where did you learn all this ? '* 
 Then came the climax of his approval and delight, "True 
 as preachin' — true as preachin' ! An' Daniel Smith's the 
 happiest man alive ! His wife hasn't even tried to dictate 
 him sence he let her have those flowers. She hardly ever 
 asks him for a new dress, and I declare if he didn't come 
 the nighest to scoldin' he ever did, to get her to say she 
 would have a new dress the same time he was to have a 
 new coat ! And all for those flowers ! And it cost me 
 givin' up my poor, miserabul will and payin' the whole 
 sum of two ' York shillins ' for the seeds ! And I thought 
 when I begun this talk 't I'd give you a half-dollar 
 more for flower seeds and make the flower beds bigger, 
 but I'll double it, and here's a whole dollar." 
 
 " No, please, husband ; I have saved seeds enough to 
 plant in the extra place you want to have given up to 
 flowers. But if you choose, I'll take the dollar and put it 
 in the savings bank over at Wayfield for Agnes. You 
 know your sister gave her a dollar a year ago, which we 
 put away for her then, and this will make two." 
 
 "Yes, dear," said the good man at her side. Then 
 turning his gaze towards the cradle with evident delight in 
 the little one, and taking from his pocket another silver 
 dollar he said, " Here, wife, put this away for the little 
 
JOHN PETERS. 13 
 
 man. I will wear the old stockins that I was goin' to 
 throw away when I bought some new ones. I know you 
 are handy at darnin', and I'll make the old ones do. I 
 do want to pay off that last hundred dollars of the mort- 
 gidge on the place, but I shall work all the better for a 
 little sacrifice, and I guess Squire Williams'll wait a while 
 longer, though the money's due soon." 
 
 " Yes," said his wife, " and I don't know how we shall 
 come out. But, 'according to your faith, so be it unto 
 you ; ' and now, come, dear ; breakfast is ready, and let us 
 eat it." And tenderly taking the little boy from the cradle, 
 and with her mother's heart rich with joy exclaiming, 
 " Papa's little ma^ ;" she seated him in his father's lap at 
 the table, and going to the door she called " Agnes ! " at 
 which the child came bounding along the garden walk, her 
 cheeks glowing from exercise in the morning air. 
 
 Seating herself opposite her husband and drawing 
 Agnes to her side, the two folded their hands reverently 
 while the father "gave thanks" with more than usual 
 earnestness — and saying grace never was with him a mere 
 formal ceremony. There is an old proverb which runs, 
 " Hunger is the best sauce," but there's a relish a thou- 
 sand-fold better than that, as the Smiths of Dayville well 
 knew. 
 
 "Papa Thmith," said the child by her mother, "it 
 theems to me I never thaw thu feeling tho good." There 
 was no answer, but something the farmer did not strive to 
 conceal slid from his eyes. And perhaps ministrants from 
 
14 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 the Other world were not looking on, and perhaps they 
 were. At any rate, the good woman of the household, 
 who, by the way, was not of the Wesleyan faith, but occa- 
 sionally made use of a stanza or two of the Wesleyan 
 hymns in lulling her little ones, began humming — 
 
 " Angels now are hovering round us, 
 
 Unperceived they mix the throng, 
 Wondering at the love that crowns us, 
 
 Glad to join the happy song." 
 
 Farmer Smith had risen from his chair, and placing the 
 baby in the cradle, started across the room to bring from 
 the shelf by the clock an old-fashioned book with whose 
 teachings it maybe surmised he was not unfamiliar. The 
 little girl at her mother's side looked lovingly up to eyes 
 of tenderness, whispering, " I thutht do love that papa," 
 when a rap was heard at the door, and Agnes, at her 
 mother's bidding, quickly stepped to open it. 
 
 And, with a cheery " Good morning," Esquire Williams 
 took Mr. Smith's hand and continued, " I thought I'd drive 
 over 'n tell ye how I heeded my wife's advice. One day, last 
 week, she 'n' I fell to talkin', after prayers, when I'd been 
 askin' for blessins on the poor and needy, — fell to talkin' 
 about that hundred dollars that's left over, on the mort- 
 gidge of mine on your place. And she said you'd been 
 very prompt a-payin' the 'stalments, and that you'd had to 
 work hard, and you was a-tryin' to git a livin,' and you'd — 
 forgive me, Mis' Smith, for bein' personal — you'd a mighty 
 proper good wife and p'raps it would be doin' 's we'd be 
 
JOHN PETERS. IS 
 
 done by *ef we made it kind o' easy for you payin' the 
 remainder; 'n' to tell the fact truth, I couldn't stand her 
 pleadin' kind o' talk and I agreed to her notion — women 
 like to have their way, ye know — and we agreed 'pon this 
 'rangement. Wife's had her head set on keepin' boarders 
 this summer and we sh'U want more potatoes and things 
 than we've got on hand, and if you've any to spare I'll buy 
 them of you at a fair price and count it in to'rds the mort-" 
 gidge. And if you've any pork or cheese we'll find room 
 for that, too. And I guess as potatoes are proper high over 
 to Wayfield where there ain't but a few to be had, and as 
 Mr. Thompson hain't one in his store up to the village, 
 I'll pay ye a dollar a bushel for yourn." 
 
 " More 'n I ever had for a bushel of potatoes," said 
 Smith. 
 
 "Yes, I know it, but I expect I'd have to give a dollar 
 to Wayfield and I might as well pay my honest neighbor 
 as Wayfield store-keepers. How many old potatoes have 
 you left over 't you can spare and not starve yourself? " 
 
 " Well ? " said Smith, looking inquiringly to his wife. 
 
 "Oh, you please determine that." 
 
 " Well, I'll go and see." And he returned saying, " I've 
 three barrels full, and all sound. One barrel will do for 
 us and I'll let you have two barrels, four bushels, I'll call 
 them — though they would measure a trifle more — for four 
 dollars." 
 
 "Yes, and cheese and pork would come to six more, 
 and I'll indorse ten dollars on your note." 
 
l6 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 Then Farmer Smith said, " Squire, this ain't no Sun- 
 day nor 'preparatory lectur' time, nor 'season o' revival/ 
 but, somehow I feel like prayin' and was just about tO' 
 attend to that when you knocked." 
 
 There was special emphasis in Farmer Smith's voice as 
 he read all that accumulation of promises in the thirty- 
 seventh psalm, with its " Trust in the Lord and do good ; 
 so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt 
 be fed." 
 
 As he and Esquire Williams arose from their knees, Mrs. 
 Smith gave Agnes her hat and put a little shawl around 
 her shoulders, and placing some cake, pie, cheese and 
 apples in a basket, said, " Now Agnes, kiss papa and baby 
 and start for school ; it's quarter of nine already." And as 
 the happy girl was making her rounds of pleasant "good 
 byes " Esquire Williams said, " My horse is hitched out 
 there and he's steady ; throw on your shawl. Mis' Smithy 
 and take a ride with your girl up to the school-house. The 
 little man will stay with his papa for a few minutes ; and 
 it's too bad to make the child hurry to school. Besides, it's 
 partly my fault that she is late, for I kept you from prayers 
 so long. If you ride up she'll not have to be tardy." 
 
 And mother and child drove through the sweet morning 
 air that was filled with bird-songs and the odor of apple 
 blossoms, to the school-house at the Cross-roads, the little 
 girl exclaiming with delight at the brook that purled over 
 the pebbles at the roadside. There was a pleasant word 
 or two from Miss Sampson to the mother concerning the 
 
JOHN PETERS. 17 
 
 girl ; the latter gave her mother a kiss and Mrs. "Smith 
 drove back. There were two barrels of potatoes standing 
 outside the hatchway door, and near them was her hus- 
 band, his eyes filled with tears and holding a paper in his 
 hand. He sprang to the gate and assisted his wife from 
 the wagon, and walking with her to where Esquire Williams 
 was standing, exclaimed as he unfolded the paper : 
 
 "Just see here ! The Squire has done ten times better 
 'n he said he'd do. He'd already been over to Wayfil' 
 'fore he come here and had that mortgidge discharged and 
 brought me the register's certificate that it's all done, and 
 he's given me this bony-fidy warranty deed of the whole 
 plantation, and said, after I told him that he should take a 
 note^ o' hand for the balance, that he wouldn't take any- 
 thing but my word o' honor. He won't have but fifty 
 dollars anyway on the hundred and not a cent of interest, 
 and he'll count these potatoes and things ten dollars on 
 the fifty, and so there's only forty dollars to pay. Ain't I 
 glad I was generous with the children when the Lord was 
 about to give me such a blessing through one of his ser- 
 vants, Squire Williams ! And without the help of your 
 kind words I should never have toiled on and been prompt 
 in payment and kept Squire Williams so good-natured to 
 me that he would trust me thus much. Instid o' that, if I 
 hadn't been good to you, I might have been selfish and 
 careless towards him, and he would been the same towards 
 me, for like produces like, somebody's said " — " In more 
 ways than one," thought his wife, who had in her morning 
 
lb JOHN PETERS. 
 
 talk given a far more powerful illustration of this truth, — 
 " and he'd 'a' foreclosed and had the whole place at last. 
 And we should have had no home and no joy. Instid o 
 that, all this ! " And he emphasized his remark with a slap 
 of his right hand on his knee, which must have made the 
 blood tingle through all his strong frame. "And all this, 
 and I the possessor of a home for one of the best women 
 on earth and two little ones that are worth a million apiece ! 
 And all this for twenty-five cents paid for flower seeds. 
 Here, wife, take the deed. Squire sa3'^s if he should die 
 he don't want a mortgidge or a note against his neighbor. 
 And I hope he'll live to be a hundred." 
 
 With a few more words of details for the payment of 
 the forty dollars in early potatoes and other farm produce, 
 Esquire Williams was ready to start. 
 
 " And now," said he, " perhaps. Friend Smith, as I 
 presume you have your potatoes and corn all planted, and 
 it ain't quite time for hoein', you'd like to take a ride to 
 town with me. I'm on the school committee this year and 
 must visit the school up to the Cross-roads, where your 
 little girl 'tends, and perhaps you would like to stop in, 
 too. And more'n that, I was thinkin/ time o' March 
 meetin', we oughter have the farmers represented on the 
 board; and look out. Smith," continued the squire, "or 
 I'll have you one of them next year, sure's you're born. 
 And you might as well be breakin' in for doin' the business, 
 you know." 
 
 "Well," replied the farmer, "don't care if I do go to 
 
JOHN PETERS. I9 
 
 town, and would like to stop in to the school ; but as for 
 bein' school committee, I haven't the edication^ though I 
 think I know when a teacher is doin' well with the children, 
 as that Miss Sampson is up to our deestrick." 
 
 " At our district, my dear, please," rejoined his wife. 
 
 " Yes, I really wish I could do better with words ; but 
 half the people round here say ' deestrick,' and my wife 
 has the hardest kind of a time trying to teach me how to 
 talk; and aint it mighty strange, Squire Williams, that 
 right here in New England, that boasts of her edication 
 for her people, there are so many who pay no attention 
 to their speech, and talk helter-skelter and zig-zag like, 
 just the same's I'd build a bresh fence round my sheep 
 pastur, instid o' havin' their words stan' up straight like a 
 good board fence. And I s'pose that I'm as bad 's any of 
 'em. Now, Squire, let me finish up my chores and slick 
 up myself a little, and I'll go with you to town." 
 
 The squire — who, by the way, acquired the title by 
 which he was generally addressed by being a justice of 
 the peace, and, the village of Dayville not having a lawyer, 
 acting as administrator on estates and giving advice to 
 people about their property — was not only a member of 
 the school board, as he had modestly said, but he had 
 been for years its chairman. In fact, he was the board ; 
 and, to do him justice, he was, for those days, a competent 
 official. His associates were the village merchant and the 
 physician of the town. The farmer whom Mr. Williams 
 proposed to "break in" drove with him to the school 
 
20 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 house, where they spent an hour, and at eleven o'clock 
 started towards Dayville Center, a distance of three miles 
 by the highway, which ran at right angles from the road 
 leading from the Smith farm-house to the school-house and 
 to the grist mill of Samuel Taylor, who had the deserved 
 reputation of " the honest miller of the Cross-roads." Still 
 to the eastward from the mill, this latter road climbed with 
 ease a hill which afforded the traveler a fine view of the 
 surrounding country. From springs in this hill a brook 
 sang its way towards the mill, which it had kept in merry 
 tune for years, and then plunging down a cascade, it 
 purled through a beechen wood and crossed the "Center 
 road " two miles out from the school-house. And freshen- 
 ing meadows and pasture lands, it mingled its waters at 
 length with the river whose source was far away to the 
 north. 
 
 Passing a very small house, where Jim Jones lived, 
 whose boys " worked out," as was the regulation phrase 
 of direction of Cross-roads people in answering strangers 
 inquiring the way to Dayville, Williams and Smith came 
 next to the house of Widow Wilcutt, who was helpful in 
 case of sickness, and "handy" at housework "when folks 
 wuz in a pinch." Her husband, who was one of the 
 "forty-niners," had died the same year in California. 
 
 " I declare," said Smith, slapping his knee in emphasis, 
 " Squire Williams, that wife o' mine is just about the best 
 woman in all Dayville and a dozen towns round, and she's 
 insisted on doin' all her own work, makin' butter and 
 
JOHN PETERS. 21 
 
 cheese included, besides takin' care o' the baby, just to 
 save me expense. It's made me powerful oneasy to see 
 her goin' through a big washin', an' I tell ye, Squire, I've 
 just a mind to stop to Widow Wilcutt's and have her 
 come down tomorrer and do up a lot of work at my house ; 
 and I'll trust to luck for the money to pay for one day at 
 least. If I make as much in proportion out of the 
 dollar as I did out of twenty-five cents for flower seeds, 
 I'll be the richest and happiest man in all Dayville — worth 
 enough to buy out the storekeeper, squire and selectmen, 
 and they give me lots o' boot, too ! " 
 
 " And you want the money ? And that makes me think, 
 perhaps, one of those calves that I saw up to your barn- 
 yard would make good veal ' about these days,' as it says 
 in Thomas's Almanac, an' I guess my wife 'ud like a roast 
 or two o' that. So just you kill the fatted calf, and here's 
 a dollar, and what's due more I'll pay when the veal 
 comes." 
 
 "Thank ye. Squire," said Smith; and so they stopped 
 at the Wilcutt house, and " the widow " agreed to come 
 down to Smith's in the morning, for a day's work. 
 
 The two men next fell to talking about the " state o' 
 religion " in Dayville. Esquire Williams declared at the 
 culmination of his remarks, " I do wish 't our minister, 
 Mr. Barber, would just warm up a little in some of his 
 sermons, and tell people about their need o' salvation, and 
 th't they'd ought ter live better, or somethin' besides his 
 circumlocutin' around 'mong all creation, from the children 
 
22 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 of Israel in Egypt and in the Promised Land, clean down 
 to the heathen in the 'benighted corners of the earth,' and 
 not sayin' one word about men and women right here 
 amongst us, and their chances o' heaven or 'tother place.'' 
 
 "That's just what I think, Squire. And what do you 
 say to havin' a little Methodist preachin', say, for instance, 
 down to the Cross-roads ? You've got your say about 
 meetin's and things in that school-house, — leastwise you 
 an' the deestrick committeeman, Samuel Taylor, have, — 
 and he'll be in for it. So s'pose now, if Elder John 
 Peters comes round, we have a meetin' appinted for early 
 candle-lightin' next Tuesday evenin'. Some one told 
 Lizzie that he'd be along this way sometime this week, 
 and I think to-day. Let me see, Wednesday ? yes, 
 to-day. When I get back, if you say so, I'll tell Miss 
 Sampson to give out word to-night." 
 
 "All right, go ahead, neighbor Smith, and I'll stand by 
 ye, and drive over to the meetin' and bring Mis' Williams, 
 if she wants to come ; and I think she will, for, to tell the 
 truth, I think she's gettin' mighty tired o' that kind o' dry 
 stuff that Barber gives us." 
 
 As the two neared a pretentious house, Williams whis- 
 pered, " What d'ye think o' Lemuel Barnes, here, friend 
 Smith ? He's first selectman o' Dayville, and has been so 
 for years ; and I've heard him boast that he was 'elected 
 and foreordained to be saved,' but, somehow or other, I 
 can't like the man. I know he's my neighbor, and chair- 
 man of the standin' committee of the parish, and Mr. 
 
JOHN PETERS. 23 
 
 Barber thinks a sight of him, but I can't. And again, it 
 puzzles me to know where the money comes from to pay 
 for all the improvements on his place and buy bank stock 
 that makes him director and gives him such sway in town 
 matters." 
 
 " Well, Squire, ye're right, and " 
 
 " Yes," whispered Williams ; " but there's his hired men 
 a-finishin' plantin'. Let's hear what they say." 
 
 " Bill Joanes, an' shure, for the loife o' me, I can't tell 
 fwhy yer so aisy gittin' to wurrk av a mornin'. An' shure, 
 it's an aisy time ye have, thin, Bill Joanes, bedad, an' 
 ye do." 
 
 " I'll be gol darned, Mike Tobin, ef Bill Jones doesn't 
 think yer more'n half right. Th' ole man an' me has an 
 understandin'." 
 
 The two in the buggy had gone beyond hearing the 
 completion of the colloquy between the farm-hands. 
 
 Smith called with his friend Williams at the Centre store 
 for an errand or two, and, the latter meeting the miller 
 asked of him the favor of carrying " our friend and neigh- 
 bor back with you," adding, with a significant emphasis, 
 " How'd it do to have a man of his fitness on the school 
 board, eh, Mr. Taylor ? " 
 
 " Just the thing. Squire ; just the thing to do ; and just 
 like you to think on't." 
 
 " Well, all right then ; but mum's the word till the time 
 comes." 
 
 " Count on me for that. Squire." 
 
24 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 When the three had left the store, WilUams, lowering 
 his voice to tones to inspire confidence and enjoin secrecy, 
 continued : 
 
 " By the way, Neighbor Taylor, Friend Smith and I 
 have been thinkin' that some Methodist fire wouldn't 
 come amiss ' about these days,' to warm up the icy relig- 
 ious atmosphere in these parts ; and we would like to 
 have it kindled down to the Cross-roads, next Tuesday 
 evenin' ; and he'll tell you the rest of the arrangement on 
 your wa3\ Good-bye, Neighbor Taylor ; good-bye, Friend 
 Smith. Be sure about askin' Miss Sampson to tell of 
 the meetin'; and look out to cover up those potatoes, for 
 there mig^t be a frost. I'll be down to get 'em to-morrer 
 mornin'." 
 
 When her husband and Esquir.e Williams left, Mrs. Smith 
 went quietly about " tidying up things," as her husband 
 liked to call it, setting back the chairs without an empha- 
 sis in the sound of any post touching the floor. Then she 
 swept the room so carefully that the dust was scarcely 
 lifted from the floor. She pushed it along in front of the 
 broom, wholly unlike the manner of many a driving house- 
 keeper who is ambitious to have her house " spick-span " 
 clean. The breakfast table was next set back quietly in 
 its place by the wall, and the dishes were soon washed, 
 wiped and placed away on the shelves of the buttery, 
 where, opening a little window, the happy and busy 
 woman quietly remarked, " How good Daniel was to make 
 that window so that I could keep the milk and food fresh." 
 
JOHN PETERS. 25 
 
 Coming from the buttery to the living-room, she closed 
 the door, that the air from the window mentioned might 
 not come to the child in the cradle. Then, beyond the 
 cradle she opened another window, the air from which could 
 be admitted without endangering the health of the little 
 one, and exclaimed as she inhaled the fresh breeze, " How 
 fragrant the odor of those lilacs is ! and how charming is 
 all nature ! " 
 
 Returning, she looked with a mother's delight at the 
 child, who, like the good baby he was, had gone to sleep. 
 Taking from the shelf, where she had placed it near the 
 Bible and the clock, the document handed her by her 
 husband, she said, 
 
 "Yes, it's all right, a deed of all this place to Daniel 
 Smith from the squire, and there's his own signature, The- 
 ophilus Williams, that I've seen on wedding certificates; 
 and not a claim in writing against us. Isn't Esquire Wil- 
 liams a good man ! " 
 
CHAPTER IT. 
 
 ELDER JOHN PETERS CALLS AT THE SMITH HOMESTEAD AND 
 MRS. SMITH RELATES HER CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCE WITH THE 
 QUAKERS. 
 
 MRS. Smith had just completed her soliloquy and 
 had taken a pair of the old stockings, at the 
 darning of which ner husband thought her so 
 "handy," when a rap led her to put aside the work and 
 go to the door. There she saw a plainly attired man of 
 medium height, with dark hair, an earnest face and a rich, 
 clear voice. 
 
 "I'm Elder John Peters," said he, "the Methodist 
 minister of Wayfield circuit. I've been holdin' meetin's 
 in Brier Hill and other neighborhoods and the Lord 
 smiled on us with a few bein' saved. Some one told me 
 there was a good openin' for Methodist meetin's here- 
 abouts and I thought you might know ; in fact, I was 
 directed to you." 
 
 "Yes ; I believe one of my neighbors told me about you 
 and said that you might be coming this way, and to-day I 
 think was the time she mentioned. So come in, Elder 
 Peters, and rest awhile, and, if you can wait so long, stay 
 till Mr. Smith comes back from town, and, perhaps, he will 
 have something to suggest which will put you in the way 
 of accomplishing what you seek to do." 
 
JOHN PETERS. 27 
 
 " Thank you. I'll hitch my horse under the shade of 
 the maples across the way, so's't he'll stand easy, and I'll 
 wait for Mr. Smith." 
 
 Thus saying, the itinerant tethered his horse in the 
 shade, and removing the saddle-bags from the steed, 
 carried them with him into the house and took from them 
 a copy of the Methodist hymns and his Bible and sat 
 down to study. But, presently, at the asking of Mrs. 
 Smith, he related his experience as an itinerant, telling 
 how " the Lord called him '^ and he heard the call and, 
 after a great many weeks in " exercise of mind" that made 
 him " clean a'most insane," he decided to obey and begin, 
 at the first opening that he could find, the work of carry- 
 ing to men the glad tidings of salvation for " whosoever 
 will " be saved. This opening was soon made known to 
 him by a "good old father" of some peculiarities, but still 
 made of the true metal. " Perhaps," said the preacher, 
 " you have heard of him — Billy Hibbard was his name, 
 and he's now gone to glory." 
 
 And so the conversation ran on, until, an hour after 
 his arrival, the itinerant said, '' Begging pardon, madam, 
 may I ask you if you think you have a personal interest in 
 the Savior? ' 
 
 " Well, I hardly know how to answer you ; I think the 
 personage to whom you refer is the noblest in history. 
 But, concerning the nature of that being and the mission 
 he had on earth, I am not fully decided. We might, 
 perhaps, differ. I am interested in the efforts of honest 
 
•28 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 and intelligent people who seek to better the condition or 
 humanity, as I have no doubt you are doing. Most cer- 
 tainly, sir, I wish you success in your calling." 
 
 " Thank you, Mrs. Smith ; and I can tell you that, what- 
 ever they say about ' howlin' Methodists' and their harpin' 
 on religion at all times and under all circumstances, 
 there's one preacher of that order who at least tries to be 
 not only fervent in spirit, but also to remember the sayin' 
 of the Scripture, ' He that winneth souls is wise.' And 
 one word from me now is better than a thousand." 
 
 An hour after noon Farmer Smith came home, and on 
 entering his house exclaimed, " Well, I do declare, if this 
 isn't just right ! Mr. Peters, I believe ? " 
 
 " Yes," said the itinerant, rising, " I happened along, on 
 my rounds, and Mrs. Smith asked me to stay till you 
 came." 
 
 " And do you know. Squire Williams and I have 
 just been talkin' over matters, and we thought that the 
 'state o' religion ' as they call it, hereabouts, could be im- 
 proved with a little Methodist fire, and I've got his per- 
 mission — he's school committee, you know — and that of 
 the district committee, for you to have the use of the 
 school -house up to the Cross-roads for a meetin', at 
 early candle-light, next Tuesday, if that's convenient 
 for you." 
 
 " Praise the Lord ! if that aint all His doin's. Couldn't 
 have hit it nearer right if I'd laid the plan myself." 
 
 " Now let's have some dinner, Elder Peters, for I see 
 
JOHN PETERS. 29 
 
 Mrs. Smith has it ready and waitin' — just like her, she's 
 always on time. An" then I'll go up to the school-house — 
 this is a kind o' broken day with me, after plantin' and 
 afore hoein' — an' I'll ask Miss Sampson, the teacher, to 
 give out word to-day 'bout the meetin'." 
 
 After grace was said by Elder Peters, he and Farmer 
 Smith did ample justice to the meal, the host pausing, 
 now and then, to say, " Elder, eat hearty, — can't I help 
 you to something more ? It's all first class cookin', for my 
 wife did it." 
 
 Miss Sampson announced to her pupils, that afternoon, 
 the appointment for the Methodist meeting, supplement- 
 ing the notice with a request to her pupils to ask their 
 " parents and friends all to come." She further remarked, 
 " The notice will be repeated on Monday, and I will thank 
 Agnes if she will remind me of it." 
 
 On his return from the school-house the farmer re- 
 marked, " Elder Peters, it's gettin' late in the day, and 
 hadn't you better stop all night with us ? " 
 
 " No, thank you ; I would be really glad to stay, but I 
 must go back to Brier Hill district to-night, where there's 
 to be a meetin' ; nor can I stay to supper, but if you 
 have a few oats for that horse o' mine I'll thank you for 
 them for him." 
 
 " I have oats as fine as ever grew, and I'll heap the 
 four-quart measure." 
 
 The farmer soon returned from feeding the horse, say- 
 ing, " Elder Peters, I believe you're a wise man and never 
 
3^ JOHN PETERS. 
 
 talk when there's no sense in it, and that you can keep a 
 secret." 
 
 " Well, I hope I am all that you say, though it's giving 
 me a good deal of a compliment." 
 
 " I wish that Mrs. Smith" 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Smith, for addressing me in so 
 respectful a manner when company is present ; it's just 
 like you." 
 
 " As I was about to say, I wish Mrs. Smith would tell 
 you a bit of her' early history. It might be interesting to 
 you. You Methodist preachers, I think, must like oppor- 
 tunities for studying personal history and human nature ; it 
 helps you in making up your sermons. Not that you^re 
 goin' to tell right out in meetin' anythin' about her." 
 
 " Oh, no ; and I should be glad to hear such a bit of 
 her history as she might give." 
 
 "Well, then, gentlemen, I will tell you. It was my 
 misfortune that, when I was but five years old, my mother 
 died, and my father, Donald Graham, who lived, at the 
 time, at Hardland, died shortly after. And so, an orphan, 
 I fell to the charity of the world and into the special care 
 of the selectmen of a town that always seemed rightly 
 named — Hardland ! And an unfeeling man, and one 
 whom now I should call an unimaginative man, one of the 
 Grouts, then living there, undertook to get me ' bound out ' 
 to him. I remember crying at the thought of going to live 
 with this Grout. I had seen him at the Hardland meet- 
 ing-house, and for him my heart had a most pronounced 
 
JOHN PETERS. 3I 
 
 dislike. But just at that time it happened that a Quaker 
 from Pennsylvania, by the name of Abraham Slayton, 
 journeying through New England, stopped at Hardland for 
 the night, and by some means, — I never knew what, — he 
 learned of the presence of the orphan and of the fact that 
 she didn't want to go where the selectmen thought to send 
 her. And, to make the story short, I was sent to live with 
 him. The selectmen wanted me ' bound out,' but the 
 Quaker refused, and so I escaped not only the fate of liv- 
 ing with that Mr. Grout, but also the stigma of being an 
 indentured child. It was a long journey for me down to 
 Philadelphia, about which I remember but little. But I 
 do remember the sad feeling of homesickness that came 
 upon me when I first went among that sombre-dressed and 
 staid people, the Quakers. But Abraham Slayton's wife, 
 Hannah, was a kindly disposed woman and soon made me 
 feel at home with her. She told me of their losing, not 
 many years before, a girl about my age, and that she 
 thought 'Abraham must have taken a liking to thee be- 
 cause of thy looking like her ! ' And I remember how 
 strangely their ' thee ' and ' thy ' sounded to my child-ears. 
 You would not care to hear the whole story of the details 
 of my living with them. There were many things they did 
 in their quiet, sober way, which I began to like and for 
 which, I must say, I esteemed them. I had remembered 
 the loss of my little doll that mother bought for me and 
 that father allowed me to play with ; but I had never 
 known the reason why it was not sent with my things to 
 
32 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 my new home. One day, some time after my going to 
 Slayton's, one of the Quaker preachers, who chanced to 
 be stopping with him, talked with me and tried to con- 
 vince me that I ought to join the Friends, as he called 
 them. He was persistent in his importuning, and I had 
 almost begun to cry, when Mr. Slayton came in from his 
 farm work, and the first I heard was, ' Tut, tut, thee must 
 not be too anxious about proselyting for the Friends ; that 
 little girl may not be able to see as we do, she not having 
 a birthright inheritance with us, and coming away from 
 home, and realizing that she has neither father nor mother 
 in the world. Thee had better stop thy pleading with hei 
 to join the Friends, and she'll think a good deal more of 
 thee and of them if thee do. Elizabeth is a good girl and 
 takes kindly to our ways, which are so different from the 
 customs of those not Friends. And,' said he, approaching 
 me and laying his hand kindly on my head, 'thee must 
 forgive me, little girl ; it was I who didn't think it well to 
 bring thy little doll with thee, but I wish I had brought it. 
 I'll tell thee what I'll do. — Hannah,' said he, addressing 
 his wife, ' when thee goes to the store, thee take this 
 money, and, strange as it may seem to v/orld's people for 
 a Friend to buy anything that is a graven image or like- 
 ness, thee get this girl a doll, and bring it home to her.' 
 And then addressing me he said, ' Now Elizabeth, thee 
 must not play with thy doll on First day, but thee must go 
 to meeting with us on that day, and if thee behaves well 
 and does not get uneasy while the Friends are waiting for 
 
JOHN PETERS. 33 
 
 the spirit to move, thee need not go to meeting on Fourth 
 day, but thee can have thy meeting with thyself and thy 
 doll on that day, and thee can play with it some en any 
 day except First day. And,' said he, addressing his wife, 
 ' Hannah, hadn't thee better send over to Ezekiel's and 
 have him send Hannah, thy namesake, to play with Eliza- 
 beth ? And, Elizabeth, be kind to the little girl ; I think 
 she is a good child. And, Elizabeth, thee can have a 
 little flower bed out in the garden, and be just as happy as 
 the birds that sing for thee.' ' Thank you, thank you,' 
 said I, my heart was so warm with joy. Jumping from the 
 chair where I was sitting, I ran to him, exclaiming as I 
 reached up my hands, ' Here, good Mr. Slayton, let me 
 give you a kiss ! ' ' Yes, little child,' said he, ' we believe 
 in speaking when the spirit moves, and that's only thy 
 way of living up to the doctrine of the Friends about the 
 inner sight.' I gave him fully half a dozen kisses ; and it is 
 needless to say that he and I were friends ever after, and 
 that the name of Abraham Slayton is very dear to me still." 
 
 " Good ! " exclaimed Elder Peters, " and that ' inner 
 sight ' of the Quakers is only another name for what we 
 Methodists call the ' leadings of the Spirit,' and what a 
 poetical friend of mine over to Wayfield calls ' intuitions.' 
 And how foolish 'tis to quarrel over names, as so many do, 
 when if they'd only think on't, they all mean about the 
 same thing." 
 
 " Elder Peters, you are right, and sensible, and, asking 
 you to forgive me for being personal, I think you too 
 
34 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 much of a man to allow your speech to be marred by 
 inelegances, such, for instance, as the word ' to ' in your 
 phrase, ' over to Wayfield.' Correctness in language gives 
 force to an utterance. Your opportunities for culture may 
 have been few, and you are excusable for errors, but the 
 fewer inaccuracies your speech discovers, the better the 
 effect of your discourse." 
 
 ■'' Thank you, Mrs. Smith ; and as it's a part of a Meth- 
 odist preacher's duty to improve, I'll try to heed your 
 suggestions." 
 
 "Mrs. Smith," said the farmer, "has an idea of the 
 importance of words, as I have occasion to know by her 
 frequent cautions to me." 
 
 " Well, she's right. I am grateful for her hints, and let 
 me ask her to 'continue the story of her Quaker life." 
 
 " One other scene I will mention, to show you how pos- 
 itive the Quakers are in their opinions, and yet how 
 liberal. One day, a year after the occurrences just spoken 
 of, Mr. Slayton called me to him and said, ' Elizabeth, 
 there is no bond of the law to make us keep thee a day, or 
 for thee to stay a day with us. We only promised to keep 
 thee, and that promise we shall fulfill. Thee is old 
 enough now to know what we think to do for thee. We 
 will board thee, and clothe thee, and send thee to the 
 school for the Friends' children, and we will minister to 
 thee if thee is sick. And when thee goes, if thee stays till 
 thee is eighteen, thee shall have one hundred dollars and 
 iwo suits of new clothes. They will have to be of such 
 
JOHN PETERS. 35 
 
 material as Friends use ; but one of the suits need not be 
 made up, and when thee goes thee can have it made up in 
 form different from what the Friends wear.' This plan of 
 the good Quaker was carried out to the letter ; and the 
 morning when I left, Mrs. SI ay ton said, " Thee will find 
 thy new suit, all made up, in the keeping-room, where thee 
 can put it on, and thee will also find a roll of cloth for the 
 other suit, to make up according to thy fancy. Here is 
 five dollars of silver money with which thee can pay the 
 dress-maker for her work.' Then Mr, Slayton said, 'Eliza- 
 beth, when thee comes out from the keeping-room thee 
 shall have thy hundred dollars, all in good paper money 
 on a New York bank.' And that sum, with as much more 
 which Mr. Smith had earned working out, was the first 
 money paid on this place, which is now clear of debt. 
 You asked me concerning my faith, and I may say I be- 
 lieve somewhat in the Quaker ideas. There's something 
 within us that teaches us what is best to do ; and, if we 
 follow that teaching, it is very sure to lead us right. That 
 following will give us serenity of soul and power to con- 
 centrate our minds on any one thing. And, while it does 
 not lead one to be willful, in the worst sense of the word, 
 it gives him a great power of will in doing the right. Away 
 back in my childhood at Abraham Slayton's, began my 
 tuitioning, which has led me to have, as Mr. Smith thinks, 
 a good deal of will power." 
 
 "Yes," said Mr. Smith, "she has a will, but I'll ven- 
 ture to say, there's not a woman in all Dayville, or a dozen 
 
36 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 towns, that so little exercises her will against her husband 
 as does that same one that's talkin' to you." 
 
 " And now, gentlemen," said Mrs. Smith, " if that's all 
 of my history you wish to hear, it's all I have time to 
 tell. And let me ask you. Elder Peters, concerning your 
 family — you have one, I believe ? " 
 
 " Yes, part here, in this world, and part of them, I trust, 
 in heaven. My son died several years ago ; his mother, 
 the sainted woman, a year or two later ; and both, I know, 
 are on the other shore, safe with Jesus. My daughter re- 
 mains, to cheer me in my loneliness. She's now twenty, 
 and has been to school enough so that she's teachin* a few 
 miles from Ridgeway. She likes books well, and her 
 brother Wilbur F. — Wilbur Fisk, you know, named after 
 one of our shining lights — was about fitted to go to old 
 Wilbryum, when the Lord took him. His death gave me 
 great sorrow, but I'm resigned ; and I'm thankful that I 
 have one left. She is a good servant of the Master." 
 
 " Perhaps, Mr. Peters, you could change your manner 
 of traveling, and get a buggy from some of your brethren 
 and bring your daughter this way, to make us a visit, when 
 you come over to hold your Tuesday meeting. It's the 
 custom here for the teachers to board round, and Miss 
 Sampson will be here that day. I presume that Miss 
 Sampson and Miss Peters would like to become ac- 
 quainted." 
 
 " All right," said Elder Peters ; " and shall we have a 
 word of prayer before I go .'"' 
 
JOHN PETERS. 37 
 
 " Yes," said Mrs. Smith ; " and won't you sing one of 
 your Methodist hymns ? I've heard them somewhere, and 
 I like some of them ver}^ much. There's one, ' Angels 
 now are hovering round us,' I was humming this very 
 morning." 
 
 " Well," said Mr. Peters, '' if you do not wish that one, 
 perhaps I can sing a few verses of 
 
 ' O, for a thousand tongues to sing 
 My great Redeemer's praise.' 
 
 And there's that other, 
 
 ' My God, the spring of all my joys, 
 The life of my delights ; ' 
 
 and still another is, 
 
 ' Burst, ye emerald gates and bring 
 To my 'raptured vision ; ' 
 
 and then there is Charles Wesley's best." 
 "You mean, 'Jesus, lover of my soul ?'" 
 " Yes ; and which will you have ? " 
 "Why, the last one, of course, and the first." 
 To the good old tune of Ortonville, the itinerant gave, 
 with his rich tenor voice, the initial psalm of the Metho- 
 dist hymnal of those days. And finely in accord with the 
 home-scene around him and with the mellow glories of 
 the western sky that was radiant with joy at the wealth 
 of the beauties of nature, and blending with the melodies 
 of robin-songs, and zephyrs, and murmuring brooks of 
 the landscape, the voice of John Peters, to the tune of 
 
38 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 Martyn, went through the stanzas of that sweetest of all 
 hymns that sing of the Christ. And beautiful to sublimity 
 was the culmination of the inspiring lyric, 
 
 " Spring Thou up within my heart, 
 Rise to all eternity," 
 
 A brief and reverent prayer by Elder Peters followed ; 
 and with his earnest " God bless you all," and " Peace 
 be to this house," and a kiss for Agnes, he was soon 
 on his way to Brier Hill. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 ANOTHER CONVERSATION AND ANOTHER DRIVE. 
 
 AFTER breakfast and prayers were over the next 
 morning, Mrs. Smith said, " Husband, while Agnes 
 is at pla) in the garden, can't you wait a little 
 while ? I want to continue that talk v/e had yesterday 
 morning before Squire Williams came." 
 
 " All right ; not much to do now that's hurryin', between 
 plantin' an' hoein'." 
 
 " I wanted to say that it's not man's will conquering- 
 woman's will, nor woman's will conquering man's will, 
 that is needed to make a happy home. It is the spiritual 
 conquering the physical, the material, the earthly, the sel- 
 fish, that is needed to give joyous life for the individual, 
 or domestic felicity in a family. And I don't wish to infer 
 that you're a selfish man. No, far, far from it ; yet it cost 
 a terrible struggle to conquer your will ; but I succeeded 
 and you acquiesced, and there's the difference between 
 you and some other folks. Take, for instance, the case 
 of the Athertons. It is the woman at that house who 
 should be conquered, because she is by far the more sel- 
 fish of the two, if, indeed, Mr. Atherton can be called in 
 the least selfish — ^my opinion comes largely of your ideas 
 of him, which I have no doubt are correct. And when he, 
 
40 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 the spiritual, noble man, asserts the right to be ruler, 
 which right he, from his spirituality, has, and conquers her 
 will in that manner — and he conquers in no other way — 
 which, did she accept, the conquering would prove the best 
 blessing possible for her, she rebels, and awakens the an- 
 tagonism of her selfish nature to its intensest and most 
 unreasonable expression. And war results where there 
 should be only peace ; and he who so much needs the in- 
 spiration of love, and who would pay back nobly from the 
 wealth of a manly heart for all affection bestowed, re- 
 ceives, instead, the opposition of a nature strong only to 
 rebel, intense only to hate. It is one of the greatest won- 
 ders to me that such a man as Atherton could marry the 
 woman he did." 
 
 " It is a wonder, indeed, and how I do thank Heaven for 
 the blessings that are mine ! What a contrast between 
 my lot and his ! " 
 
 " How good, and how like you it is, husband, to speak 
 as you do ! You have found that the spirit is the best of 
 you, and have kept that element dominant until it has 
 come to have almost absolute sway over the material. 
 You think me spiritual ; and two spiritually minded people 
 are not likely to be antagonistic. Spirit is harmonious 
 with itself. Harmonious in our life, we have, also, each 
 of us had soul-growth, and one has not grown away from 
 the other. One does not feel that the other is a drag and 
 a burden, but each finds the other a helper and an inspi- 
 ration ! Each more and more believes that the union so 
 
JOHN PETERS. 41 
 
 well begun on earth shall continue in the country of the 
 Beyond ; that mates on earth shall be mated forever there ! " 
 
 " My own Elizabeth, who taught you all this ? It sounds 
 like words from another world." 
 
 "They may come from beyond our ken ; but, my own, 
 you inspire me to say them. And there's another fact of 
 which I wish to speak. Your love so exalts me that I 
 cannot afford to come down from the heights on which 
 you place me, to act the part of dictator, and demand my 
 ' rights,' I have something better, grander, more ennob- 
 ling, than my ' rights,' the love of a thoroughly unselfish 
 man, who believes in me, believes in the Christ and in 
 the Christian's God, and who, in all his acts, lives up to 
 the beautiful ideals that are given him. And if your fine 
 life and growth of soul result from your Christian faith, I 
 must, with you, believe in the Christ. You please me be- 
 cause you never argue 'p'ints o' doctrine' (I use those 
 words because that's the phrase with some of your church 
 people ), and I wish, Daniel, you would make use of lan- 
 guage a little different from that in stereotyped use by re- 
 ligious people hereabouts. Instead of 'p'ints o' doctrine,' 
 say ideas of the better life, or of the Christian life. 
 Wouldn't that suit as well ? " 
 
 "Yes, 'twould, Lizzie." 
 
 " As I before said, there must be something in your re- 
 ligion that makes you so obliging, so willing to give up 
 your willfulness, that hardest thing in the world for a man 
 to do, and which you have done so cheerfully, and, in fact, 
 
42 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 with SO much delight all these years. I never could be- 
 lieve in Christ, if some who profess to be His followers 
 were the onl}' examples. But, when I see you, day after 
 day, so patient and so good, making such a happy home 
 for me, and allowing me to live as ideally as I choose and 
 according to my own standard, and never rallying me con- 
 cerning those notions which I formed while livmg among 
 my good Quaker friends, — that notion, for instance, about 
 the inner sight, — I am compelled to say there's something 
 in your religion, and I wish it were my religion also. For 
 some time I have been thinking that Christ was divine as 
 well as human, very God as well as very man. That is, 
 the truth came to me yesterday after Elder Peters had 
 been speaking and singing those heavenly strains, — 
 
 •Thou, O Christ, art all I want, 
 
 More than all in Thee I find.' " 
 
 "And so you begin to believe in Christ; you alway* 
 did believe in me and I always did believe in you, and wa 
 always were one." 
 
 " Yes, husband, I do believe in Christ." 
 
 "There, Lizzie, if you haven't uttered the very words 
 laid down for the beginning of the whole Christian life ! " 
 
 " What words .? " 
 
 " I do believe in Christ. Those are the very words pre- 
 scribed, and you meant them, as you mean all you say. 
 They came from your heart." 
 
 " And didn't I hear you read, from an ancient book, the 
 other day, ' With the heart man believeth unto righteous- 
 
JOHN PETERS. . 45 
 
 ness and with the mouth confession is made unto salva- 
 tion ? ' " 
 
 "Yes, and your heart has believed and does believe, 
 and you have * made confession unto salvation.' We al- 
 ways were one, Lizzie, and now we are 'one in Christ 
 Jesus.' " And throwing his arms around his wife, he 
 pressed her to his heart, exclaiming, "More than ever 
 mine ! " 
 
 " Yes, two souls mated forever ! " 
 
 " Ah, wife, if that which proved the Waterloo for my 
 selfish nature wasn't Austerlitz for my real self ! With me 
 it was not as 'twas with Napoleon, victory first and defeat 
 afterwards, but first Waterloo to all that was bad in me, 
 and for all that was good, Austerlitz, then and ever 
 since !" 
 
 "Admirable man, I join you in your exultation. It is 
 worth worlds to be the wife of such a noble conqueror as 
 you are. I don't-mind your using figures drawn from such 
 bloody scenes as those suggested by the battle fields you 
 mention, though my good Quaker friends might demur at 
 such an apparent violation of their peace-doctrines." 
 
 " I know it, wife, but I am thinking, not of the blood- 
 shed, only of the victory ; and somehow I like to read of 
 the wars of Napoleon." 
 
 "Yes ; and you have done better than he ; for you have 
 ruled your own spirit, and according to that same old 
 book, ' Better is he who ruleth his own spirit than he who 
 taketh a city.' " 
 
44 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 " And if I did do better than to take a city I had the 
 help of a powerful ally in the undertaking." 
 
 "Thank you, dear. There's another quotation which 
 might apply to all our joys : ' This is the Lord's doing, and 
 it is marvellous in our eyes.' " 
 
 "I do declare, Elizabeth, I believe you can quote more 
 Scriptur' than the minister, and apply it better than he ; 
 and that's said beggin' your pardon for mentionin' you in 
 the same breath with that piece o' formality and coldness, 
 the Reverend Jonathan. Edwards Barber. One thing leads 
 to another. For this long while I've been wantin' to say 
 something to somebody about the minister ; but I've held 
 my tongue for the sake of the cause ; and with the excep- 
 tion of speaking yesterd'y to Squire Williams, I haven't 
 said aught against the one occupying the place of promi- 
 nence in God's house. I didn't want to speak disparagin' 
 of a professor, for there's many who like to live on the 
 failin's of others, when that's no excuse for them. You 
 wouldn't be so foolish as that, but still I didn't want to say 
 a word and never did till what I said yesterd'y. That 
 you did not hear, and now that you are on the Lord's side, 
 it'll do no harm." 
 
 "'No, it will not." 
 
 " You have always been, in what you call your spiritual 
 life, a great help to me in tryin' to live a Christian. And 
 I have needed that help and all other possible help to 
 keep me in the way, so many were my discouragements 
 from those who professed to be the Lord's. You re- 
 
JOHN PETERS. 45 
 
 member when the little boy was born and you were havin' 
 the hardest kind o' a time to recover from the sickness, 
 and you urged me to go to meetin' that second Sunday 
 after his birth. And I went, and I never told you what a 
 miserable day I had of it. Mr. Barber preached one of 
 his formal discourses about the ' probabilities of the mil- 
 lennium, the conversion of the heathen, and the restoration 
 of the Jews ! ' And there I was, a poor, sad-hearted mor- 
 tal, not knowin' whether the one best friend of my life 
 was goin' to survive the sickness she suffered to give the 
 completest proof of her love, a son 1o perpetuate my 
 name — there I was, feelin' almost as if I had committed 
 an unpardonable sin for leavin' you even when you had 
 urged me to go — there I was, pantin' for some word of 
 hope, in sermon or prayer. But not one did he have, from 
 'first' to 'fifteenthly.' The 'improvement' with which he 
 closed was about the same as he always gives, and his prayer 
 was the stereotyped one he has pronounced for the twenty- 
 five years he has been at Dayville. You remember, per- 
 haps, how it starts off ? It is well enough, to be sure, but 
 when said continually to the same congregation, it appears 
 very much like one of the 'vain repetitions' which is men- 
 tioned in the old book as one of the sins cf the heathen. 
 It runs, ' O Thou most high and ever lifted up. Thou only 
 wise and eternal God, who hast ever been ; Thou Supreme 
 Ruler of the universe. Maker of our bodies and Author of 
 our being, we, the creatures of Thine hand, would come and 
 humbly bow as in the dust before Thee and cry, unworthy.* 
 
46 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 So, in regulation style he' ran on, and in all his well-wordec; 
 piece there was absolutely nothing that touched the heart 
 or inspired the soul. Even his words, that, in a general 
 way, mentioned the sufferings of mankind, were uttered so 
 coldly that no one could suppose he meant what he said. 
 And here's the way he terminated his speech to the Deity, 
 — the same piece I have heard him speak every time he 
 has honored the Almighty — ' Pity the poor and needy that 
 stand in need of the mercies which we enjoy, spread the 
 light of the gospel far and wide, build up Thy cause and 
 kingdom throughout the world until the islands of the sea 
 shall be given unto Thee, and the heathen for Thine in- 
 heritance, and until to Thee every knee shall bow and 
 until unto Thee all the nations come. And these and all 
 other unmerited favors we would meekly crave and humbly 
 beg, not because of any work or worthiness of our own, 
 for all our righteousness is as filthy rags, but in the name 
 of Thy Son, to whom, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, 
 be equal honors and undivided praises, now and ever, 
 world without end ; Amen ! ' His declamations to his con- 
 gregation and to God are just like himself and his people, 
 formal, cold, stately, correct as a granite post and as com- 
 forting for a pillow ; pure and bright as an iceberg in {he 
 moonlight, and — as warm ! His inquiries of me, after 
 the sermon, in reference to your health, had no more 
 heart in them than does the talk of Lawyer Cheatham, of 
 Wayfield." 
 
 " Well, I think you have the right idea of the man and 
 
JOHN PETERS. 47 
 
 his performances ; and, dear, at times in your earnestness 
 your language is elegant." 
 
 ''Thank you, dearest." 
 
 "Best one, in my compliment there's a hint that you can 
 still more improve." 
 
 "Thank you; I'll try." 
 
 "You will succeed, and I shall be grateful." 
 
 "You remember the kind messages from Mr. and Mrs. 
 Williams that Sunday, and that she seconded her words 
 with a vial of blackberry cordial and a dish of apple jelly, 
 saying she believed it right, even according to old stand- 
 ards, to do ' works of necessity and mercy ' on the Lord's 
 day ? You thought the delicacies just the thing, and said 
 her deed was the ' act of mercy ' necessary to be done for 
 your relief." 
 
 "Yes, I remember it all. When people are sick there 
 comes a time when some special kind of nourishment 
 seems vital to their recovery ; and, because it so really is, 
 or because so it seems, they must have the article, and 
 having it they're quite sure of recovery." 
 
 "But here comes Squire Williams with his lumber-box 
 wagon, to get those potatoes, and he has some one with 
 him. It is Widow Wilcutt, I think. Squire and I stopped 
 there yesterday, and asked her to come down and work for 
 you to-day, for you have more than you ought to do." 
 
 " Where's the pay for her work, Daniel ? " 
 
 " I have it, right here, Lizzie ; Squire Williams advanced 
 it as part pay on some veal he's to have ; an' more'n that, 
 
4^ JOHN PETERS. 
 
 Mrs. Wilcutt said she wouldn't take a cent from us, for 
 you'd been kind enough to her to pay for a dozen days' 
 work." 
 
 " How thoughtful you are ! " 
 
 Mrs. Wilcutt here made her appearance, and, greetings 
 done, Mrs. Smith called Agnes from the garden, and 
 Squire Williams declining to join them, the Smiths and 
 Mrs. Wilcutt partook of a steaming repast. Prayers over, 
 and the little girl made ready for school with sunbonnet, 
 dinner-basket and some flowers for the teacher, Mr. Smith 
 accepted Mr. Williams's invitation for a ride and the 
 squire said, " Come, Agnes, my little girl, take a seat with 
 us and ride to school." 
 
 With a hearty kiss Farmer Smith bade his wife good 
 morning, and tenderly, with his heavy hand, touched the 
 cheek of the blue-eyed boy in the cradle. At the school- 
 house, stepping from the wagon, he placed Agnes gently 
 on the turf by the roadside and the little one said : 
 
 " Good-bye, papa, I hope thu'll get back all thafe." 
 
 Words of love and caution — shall they prove prophetic 
 of a contrast to the wish they voiced } 
 
 As the two friends passed a little wood-colored house, 
 just out of Dayville, on the Wayfield road. Smith remarked, 
 
 " There's that Edward Atherton — what do you tnink of 
 him, Squire ? " 
 
 "Why, I hardly know; he hasn't amounted to much so 
 fur as gettin' along in the world is concerned, but I tell 
 you, Neighbor Smith, I don't like to join in the ' speech o* 
 
JOHN PETERS. 49 
 
 people' against him for bein' what they call 'shif'less.' 
 True, he hasn't done much that's counted to his worldly 
 advantage. He's a man of ideas and hasn't been able 
 yet to bring them to a head. Perhaps he's done all that 
 he could, and then again, neighbor, to tell the truth, — you 
 won't repeat what I say, will you ? " 
 
 "No, certainly not." 
 
 "To tell the truth, I don't know what sort of a family 
 he has. Bright-lookin' little boy I've seen at the door ; 
 he's been over to my house to borrow a paper, now and 
 then, for ' papa to read.' And he's always so respectful 
 and manly in speakin' to me and sayin' ' thank you,' and 
 so prompt in returnin' the papers, that I can't help likin' 
 the little fellow. More than once my wife has stopped 
 him to give him a piece of gingerbread or a Seek-no-fur- 
 ther apple, one o' the kind she sets a store by, and one 
 day I found him there with her, tellin' to her the story of 
 Joseph and his brethren, puttin' it all in, coat of many 
 colors, curious dreams, the selling into Egypt, and the 
 whole thing, clean through, till Joseph became second 
 in the land of Egypt, and his brethren came down to buy 
 corn of him. He placed the emphasis where it belonged ; 
 and I tell you. Neighbor Smith, my heart was touched a 
 great sight more than it ever was by Barber's sermons ; 
 and now I think it's a pity somethin' can't be done for 
 that boy, to give him a chance for schoolin'. 'Twould be 
 too bad to have the litle fellow slave his life away on a 
 farm, an' besides, he isn't strong enough for it. I don't 
 
50 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 think he's one o' the kind o' boys that get ' too big for 
 their breeches,' as the sayin' is. And I think he'd appre- 
 ciate every kindness done for him, and 'twould make a 
 feller feel good when he was gettin' old, — and Neighbor 
 Smith, 'twon't be many years afore my hair'll be white as 
 the driven snow, — 'twould make a feller feel good to have 
 a young, smart minister, from a city pulpit, comin' here to 
 Dayville to preach on exchange, or a young attorney 
 comin' from his law office at Wayfield, or some other town, 
 over here to try a case, and have him point out a fellow by 
 the name o' Williams as the one ^twas the makin' of him. 
 I've never said nothin' to my wife about my proposed 
 plans concerning the boy, but I must act afore long; and 
 I think that out of the money I have t'intrist I can take 
 ■what is necessary to give the boy a start, and then have 
 ^enough left to support my wife if I should be taken away. 
 And I'll have papers fixed up to that effect at once." 
 
 " By the way, Squire, did you, as we passed, see his 
 ■wife get up from her seat at the window, and toss her work 
 down impatiently, so unlike the way Mrs. Williams has, 
 and unlike the quiet little woman that swears by a man by 
 the name o' Smith ? " 
 
 " Yes, I did ; and that brings me to the rest of my story, 
 — Edward Atherton has the wrong kind of a wife — no 
 wife at all." 
 
 "Well, there, Mr. Williams, your idee is just like mine, 
 .and I think Mrs. Smith has the same notion, too." 
 
 " Neighbor, there are some things in this world that are 
 
JOHN PETERS. 5 I 
 
 unaccountable. Why Providence should allow such a man 
 as Edward Atherton to be cursed with so poor a piece of 
 humanity as Hetty Simpkins was and is, I can't see, for 
 the life of me." 
 
 " Nor I, either. It is a mystery indeed." 
 At Wayfield the two friends stopped at the savings 
 bank, where Smith deposited the silver dollars for his 
 children, and where he was introduced by Williams to 
 several acquaintances of the latter, as the " rising farmer 
 of our town of Dayville, whom it is a pleasure for any one 
 to know." One of these acquaintances was a young 
 lawyer, who had recently located at Wayfield, and who, 
 though new in the legal profession had been commissioned 
 a justice of the peace. After dinner with this Wayfield 
 magistrate, his guests walked to the registry of deeds, 
 where Smith read the record of the paper his friend had 
 given, making him owner of his farm ; and the two then 
 started for Dayville. They carried, each of them, the 
 card of " Andrew M. Harrison, Attorney and Counsellor- 
 at-Law," concerning whom and whose good prospects for 
 success in his profession, Squire Williams discoursed to 
 his friend, and as they neared Atherton's house, predicted, 
 as Mr. Smith always remembered, " I tell you, neighbor, 
 that lawyer '11 be heard from some o' these days, not only 
 in Wayfield, but all through the county, and all over the 
 state: — now you mark my words. What a difference be- 
 tween him and Cheatham ! One I've found to be the very 
 soul of honor, and the other's — well, he's rightly named, 
 
52 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 takin' out one letter an' changin' another — C-h-e-a-t-'e-m, 
 that's it. Though this other lawyer is one of the fold, ' in 
 good an' regular standing ; ' as the phrase runs, an' Har- 
 rison is said to be an infidel, I'd trust a case with him a 
 good deal quicker 'n with the church member. I verily 
 think, Friend Smith, that Harrison is an honest lawyer, an' 
 never takes up a case unless he thinks he's servin' the ends 
 of justice." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE ATHERTONS AND AN ACCIDENT. 
 
 THE neighbors of Edward Atherton did not overesti- 
 mate the infelicity of his domestic relations, and 
 they often wondered that a man of his great 
 superiority should have married the woman he did. And 
 yet, even the most observing and knowing of them did 
 not fully understand the excellence that contrasted with 
 the cheapness of the one who belittled his name, burdened 
 his life, and tortured his soul. 
 
 In the exhibition of his high qualities, Atherton took 
 care not to excite the jealousy that inferiority has of worth ; 
 yet his doing an act the most inconsequential possible for 
 an act to be, and still be the act of a noble nature, would 
 call forth her spleen who should have admired him and 
 counted it an honor to be associated with him. Although, 
 like others of his make-up, he was naturally sensitive, 
 having schooled himself into the perfection of patience, he 
 bravely and quietly endured the trials of his lot. And 
 the home by the roadside, unpleasant home though it was, 
 failed of many a tumult and many a battle that but for the 
 wisdom and fortitude of this manly man, would have been, 
 there enacted. 
 
 Not much concerning Atherton's history was known, at 
 
54 JOHN PETERS, 
 
 Dayville, beyond the fact that, ten years before, he came 
 from the town of his ancestors, in the vicinity of Boston, 
 and that he was supposed to be an inventor. An accident 
 had lamed him and laid him up with a fever, during 
 which, at the request of the physician — not Dr. John- 
 son, to his credit be it said — the nurse was Hetty Simp- 
 kins, daughter of a meddlesome Da3'ville "institution," 
 " Old Sam Simpkins,'' and she=— married the patient. His 
 character is warrant for the fact that, even though he was, 
 by the severe mental exertion of the work on his inven- 
 tions, and by illness, greatly reduced in will-power, had 
 she supplemented cunning and forcefulness of will with 
 other arts, she would have failed of the capture which she 
 accomplished by management and persisting in her pur- 
 pose. Two years after the ill-advised marriage a son was 
 born, who inherited his father's name and all his good 
 qualities and none of the traits of his mother, and who, 
 as he grew, more and more resembled the former, and 
 more and more contrasted with the other. 
 
 The gust of unpleasantness observed by Smith and 
 Williams on their drive heralded a specimen storm, pro- 
 logued a typical scene in the drama of the troubled life of 
 the brave but unfortunate man, a scene illustrating the 
 characteristics of the three occupants of the house where 
 he called it home, who, lacking a mate for his soul, had no 
 home, 
 
 " Edward, my boy," said Mr. Atherton, looking up from 
 his paper, and addressing his son and namesake, " you re- 
 
JOHN PETERS. 55, 
 
 member, do you, my asking you not to leave a board with 
 the point of a nail sticking up in it, where a person or a 
 horse could step on it ? It might do a great deal of dam- 
 age ; a horse worth two hundred dollars, by stepping on a 
 rusty nail, might be injured enough to lessen his value by 
 half; and a child might be lamed for life. You remember, 
 Edward ? " 
 
 " Yes, papa, and I'll try to be careful," said the boy, 
 looking up from the book he was reading. 
 
 "And remember, too, that a piece of paper, especially 
 white paper, if left by the roadside, where the wind could 
 blow it up suddenly in front of a horse, might so frighten 
 him that he would run and kill the people who were in the 
 wagon which he was drawing." 
 
 " Yes, papa, I'll remember." 
 
 And now the dissonance, to jar the harmonies. 
 
 "Well, just like you, fussy man, always full of your 
 notions, never doin' nothin' to get a livin', and fillin' your 
 boy's head with book larnin' and te^chin' him to be so 
 careful that he'll never do notbin' 't amounts t' anythin'. 
 You'll never have money 'nough t* own a horse. Never 
 had in the house, sence I knowed ye, more'n a bushel o' 
 taters to a time, nor more'n a piller-case o' flour; 'n I 
 have to slave myself just all my born days — so, there, now ! '■* 
 The waspish woman emphasized her closing utterance 
 with a spat of her foot on the floor, scratching her head 
 with a knitting-needle, throwing down her "work," and 
 going snappishly across the room to another seat, as if 
 
56 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 to get as far from her husband as possible. He answered 
 not a word to her tirade, but heaved a sigh full of mean- 
 ing, and the little boy looked up into his face, laid his 
 hands tenderly on his knee and said, "Papa, I love you." 
 A pressure of the father's hand on the lad's head was the 
 response. 
 
 "There," said Atherton, looking from the window, "is 
 that about which we have been talking, Edward ; Mr. 
 Barnes's hired man has been out to his back lot and torn 
 down that shanty, and a piece of board has dropped off 
 the load he is bringing ; I think I'll run out and pick it up, 
 for it has a nail in it, and it lies just where a horse would 
 step on it." 
 
 "That's so, papa;" and the little boy, as his father 
 arose to leave the room, drew him down and gave him a 
 kiss with more than his usual emphasis of tenderness. 
 
 " Mighty sweet you are towards your dad, Ed, ain't ye ! " 
 said the mother, when Atherton had left the room ; "ye 
 never think to kiss your mother, do ye, Ed ! " 
 
 " Mamma, please, why don't you call me Edward, the 
 same as papa does ? and what makes you always scold at 
 papa ? He wasn't scolding at you." 
 
 " Well, p'raps he wasn't, but " 
 
 " Oh ! " screamed the boy at the top of his voice. 
 
 " An' what's the matter now frightened ye, tender, good- 
 fer-nothin' son o' yer father? " 
 
 But the boy heeded not the spleen. He rushed out of 
 the door, to see the prostrate form of his father. And, 
 
JOHN PETERS. 57 
 
 kneeling by his side, he exclaimed, " Papa, papa ! " but no 
 response came. 
 
 That kiss was the last salutation to the one he loved. 
 How beautiful the parting ! how poetically fit ! Had the 
 child premonition when he gave that kiss ? 
 
 Atherton had picked up the board with the nail, and 
 stood holding it in his hand, as, looking up, he saw Es- 
 quire Williams and Farmer Smith nearing him on their 
 return from Wayfield. And, just as they had exchanged 
 greetings with him and he had told them of his errand to 
 the street, a horse and buggy burst around the turn of the 
 road from the village, at lightning speed, and in an instant 
 was upon the group. Attempting to pass Williams's team 
 on the side where Atherton was standing, he struck one of 
 the thills against the head of Mr. Williams, knocking him 
 from his seat to the ground, the other thill striking Mr. 
 Atherton down and killing him almost instantly. Smith, 
 in jumping from the wagon, caught his foot in the lines of 
 the harness of the runaway horse and fell to the ground 
 on the opposite side, twice breaking a bone of his right leg 
 and so stunning himself that he was for some time uncon- 
 scious. The owner of the team, Mr. Jameson, one of the 
 Dayville farmers, soon appeared, running in breathless haste 
 after his horse, which, after doing the damage, dashed 
 against the fence at the roadside with such force as to throw 
 himself down. Jameson exclaimed as he neared the scene, 
 " That air pesky paper flung out of the back door of the store 
 blew in front of my horse and caused all this trouble." 
 
58 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 He evidently supposed at the time that the accident had 
 resulted in nothing but a capsize and the breaking of the 
 harness and vehicle, and perhaps the stunning of the men. 
 Coming nearer, he saw the ghastly face of Williams, and 
 the blood oozing from the wound, in strange contrast with 
 the verdure of the turf on which his head was pillowed. 
 Near him was the motionless form of Atherton, with the 
 little boy by his side, sobbing almost to distraction, 
 
 " What on airth ! " exclaimed he, " what on airth ! if Squire 
 Williams and Edward Atherton ain't killed outright!'' 
 
 "Well, jus' like that foolish husband o' mine to foller 
 out his idees till they git him inter trouble," exclaimed 
 Mrs, Atherton, who now appeared upon the scene ; " it's a 
 wonder he didn't take Ed out and have him killed at the 
 same time," 
 
 " 'Most wish 't I had died, too," moaned the little fellow; 
 "father's all I had, and you never was good to me." 
 
 " Never will be till ye're different from the foolishness 
 of yer dad." 
 
 "Look a' here, Mis' Atherton," said Jameson, minding 
 nothing about his horse and beginning to scan the pros- 
 trate forms, to see what he could do in the case, " look a' 
 here, Mis' Atherton, I think you're speakin' rather harsh 
 right in the presence o' death. It's no more'n natural the 
 boy should take on," 
 
 " What now ? " exclaimed Dr, Johnson, as he, with sev- 
 eral other villagers, attracted by the running of the horse, 
 approached the scene of the accident ; " What now ? " 
 
JOHN PETERS. 59. 
 
 " Why," said Jameson, " I believe Squire Williams and 
 Mr. Atherton are both dead ; and Smith, there, is hard hurt, 
 and perhaps he'll die, too." 
 
 " Not if I can help it," said the physician ; "but I think," 
 he said, after examining Williams and Atherton, " these 
 neighbors are surely killed." Then he went to the other 
 side of the road and for some moments felt the pulse of 
 Mr. Smith, Jameson meanwhile gathering up the frag- 
 ments of his wagon and starting with the horses towards 
 Williams's barn. 
 
 "Jameson," said the doctor, thoughtful for the living as 
 well as for the dead, "you'd better take the horses to 
 my barn ; because, if you go to Williams's at once, the 
 shock of the accident may be too sudden for the good lady 
 there. Just stop at my house and tell Mrs. Johnson, who- 
 has good nerves for such an errand, what's happened, and 
 ask her to go around and break the news gently to Mrs. 
 Williams." And the physician continued at Smith's 
 wrist for some moments, when he exclaimed, "Thank 
 God ! he not only breathes, but opens his eyes." And he 
 paused to hear: — 
 
 " Doctor, go and see Squire Williams and Mr. Atherton ; 
 perhaps they need help more than I." 
 
 "Ah, my good sir," replied Dr. Johnson, "it's noble of 
 you to think of others before yourself. You are worthy to 
 be quoted with Sir Philip Sidney, who, wounded on the 
 battle-field, pushed aside the proffered cup of cold 
 water that it might be carried to another, suffering as he 
 
6o JOHN PETERS. 
 
 thought, worse than himself, and uttered the immortal 
 words, ' This man's necessities are greater than mine ! ' 
 But those friends of yours are gone." 
 
 " May Heaven pity that boy and Mrs. Williams ; how 
 glad I am to be alive for the sake of those at home." 
 
 " Brave man, and unselfish As brave ! " 
 
 Dispatching one neighbor for one article and another 
 for another, the Dayville doctor soon had a litter con- 
 structed, on which Smith was laid, to be taken to his own 
 home, where it was decided to perform the operation of 
 Setting the broken leg. The lifeless form of Atherton was 
 carried into his house, from which, half an hour before, he 
 had gone forth the recipient of the sweetest tenderness a 
 father could wish from a child, and the most unfeeling 
 bitterness it seemed possible for woman to pour upon man. 
 Returning to the road, the doctor, leaving a neighbor to 
 w'atch by Smith's side, himself walked with the men who 
 volunteered to carry the dead justice of Dayville to his 
 home. And the women of the village gathered at the 
 house, some from curiosity and some to proffer their 
 sympathy to Mrs. Williams. Returning to the scene of 
 the accident, the doctor found Elder Peters, who with 
 characteristic promptness exclaimed, "They've told me all ; 
 and now, doctor, what can I do .-• I'm acquainted down to 
 Smith's house, and I'll go, if you wish, and will try care- 
 fully to tell of the accident. Some one ought to go ahead 
 of those who carry the wounded man, and go before some 
 unthinking person carelessly speaks the harsh news." 
 
JOHN PETERS. 6l 
 
 "All right. Elder Peters, you're just the man ; drive fast 
 till you get near the house, and then go slow, so as not to 
 alarm good Mrs. Smith by any Jehu speed. You would, 
 yourself, have thought to be that careful, I doubt not." 
 
 " I had thought of it ; pleasant, isn't it, in an emergency, 
 to have two of the same mind ? " 
 
 As Elder Peters leisurely rode up to her house, Mrs. 
 Smith, who was sitting in the yard rocking the cradle of 
 her boy, greeted the preacher : 
 
 " I am glad to see you ; hardly expected you, though, so 
 soon." 
 
 " I was going to pass near here this afternoon, — that is, 
 come as near as the Cross-roads and go on towards Hard- 
 land, where I was to preach to-night, and thought I should 
 like to call here, but at the time didn't think of having an 
 errand, and the kind of an errand that I am commissioned 
 to bring. It's only a brave woman like yourself that one 
 wants to see around in an emergency, and I hope you are 
 in your usual health." 
 
 "I am ; but, Mr. Peters, what is it you have to say ? It 
 must be something unusual. Mr. Smith went to Wayfield 
 to day with Esquire Williams — nothing has happened to 
 him, I hope ? — and nothing to either of them ? " 
 
 " Mrs. Smith, you are leading me to my errand." 
 
 "Tell me, Mr. Peters!" 
 
 "An accident, — but your husband lives, and, though 
 seriously injured, will doubtless recover, in time." 
 
 " Thank God that he lives ! " and bending to the cradle 
 
62 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 on the turf, the mother kissed the blue-eyed sleeper, say- 
 ing as she did it, " Dear little man ! so like his papa ! " 
 
 " Yes, madam, thank God that it's no worse.'' 
 
 "And I am grateful to you, Mr. Peters, for your thought- 
 fulness in coming, in your good way, to tell me of what 
 has happened. And how about Mr. Williams .-' " 
 
 "Well, madam, he's gone." 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Williams, I wonder how she will endure it. 
 The two were thoroughly devoted to each other. She 
 was good to me, and Esquire Williams was a real neigh- 
 bor. Why, just think of it, Mr. Peters, it was only yester- 
 day that Esquire Williams, of whom Mr. Smith bought 
 this place, came over here to cut off fifty dollars of the 
 last hundred that was due him on the farm, and brought a 
 discharge of the mortgage and a warranty deed, all made 
 out, and signed Theophilus Williams ; and he told my 
 husband that he wanted nothing left against him if he, — • 
 that is, Mr. Williams, — should be taken away. But little 
 did he dream what was in store for him." 
 
 " That's it, madam ; little do any of us know what there 
 is in the future for us, and it stands us in hand to do with 
 our might what our hands find to do, especially if it's so 
 good a deed as that which you attribute to Mr. Williams." 
 
 "Well, Mr. Peters, how did the accident occur.?" 
 
 " It would take a long time to tell you ; but Mr. Jame- 
 son's horse was frightened up at Dayville, by a piece of 
 paper blown in his face, that had been thrown out of the 
 .'back store,' and he ran down the Wayfield road, and in 
 
JOHN PETERS. 63 
 
 front of Edward Atherton's house he came upon Squire 
 Williams and Mr. Smith, who were sitting in a buggy, talk- 
 ing with Mr, Atherton, The latter stood on the turf by the 
 roadside, and I learned from his little boy that he had 
 come out to pick up a board that had a nail in it, so that 
 it might not hurt a horse's foot." 
 
 "Just like the thoughtful Mr. Atherton, always careful ; 
 and I've heard that his wife just fills his life with misery 
 about his ' idees,' as she calls them." 
 
 "I presume that's true; and I drew from the little boy 
 the statement that she had been giving his father a real 
 scolding just before he went out to pick up the board. 
 'And,' said the little fellow, 'before he went out I gave 
 him just the best kiss I could," and sobbing he could say 
 no more." 
 
 " Precious one, who'll care for him now ! " 
 
 " Mrs, Smith, hadn't I better go back to the school- 
 house and ask Miss Sampson to send your girl home with 
 me, that you may tell her in your own mother's way what 
 has happened ? She can ride on the horse with me," 
 And without waiting for a reply, Peters spurred his horse 
 towards the school-house, soon returning with the child, 
 who exclaimed with wonder, " Why, mamma, what maketh 
 thu tho thad ? " 
 
 "My child," replied the mother, "your father is badly 
 hurt — but he's alive and is coming home," Looking up the 
 road she exclaimed, " There ! " 
 
 A woman who is never lackins: in tenderness has no 
 
64 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 compunctions to assuage in the emergency of her husband 
 in trouble, and needs not then to bestow on him that ex- 
 cessive amount of caressing which marks the course of an 
 unfaithful wife when called to such a trial ; and she has 
 more nerve and more wisdom in action than does the one 
 who is obliged to atone, in an exigency, for past unkind- 
 ness. When Dr. Johnson and his assistants arrived with 
 the injured man, Mrs. Smith gave one gentle kiss, that 
 meant volumes, and spoke these calm words of tenderness : 
 " Brave man, you will live through it." 
 
 "Yes ; and I am glad to be at home. I must not talk 
 much, though, for I think I'm more hurt than they supposed. 
 Besides the ache of the broken limb, there's a pain here ; " 
 and he laid his left hand upon his bosom and closed his 
 eyes, as if wishing to rest. Kneeling at his side the little 
 girl bathed his hands with kisses until her mother gently 
 drew her away, softly saying, " It is good and just like you 
 to be kind to papa, but a child who has always been duti- 
 ful and affectionate to her father needs not to tell him in 
 his trouble that she loves him." 
 
 " Thath tho, mamma, and when he took me down from 
 Thquire Williamtheth wagon, thith morning, I felt like 
 kithing him, and I did, before the whole thkool." 
 
 " Yes, my dear, and that kiss will be worth more than 
 gold for you to treasure in memory. And did you say 
 anything to him ? " 
 
 " Yeth, mamma, I thaid ' Good-bye, papa, and I hope 
 thu'll get back thafe.' " 
 
JOHN- PETERS. 65 
 
 "And who knows but that it was in answer to your 
 heart's wish that your papa came back alive and wasn't 
 killed like the others ! At any rate, Agnes, remember your 
 father's lifting you from the wagon, your kiss and yolir 
 good-bye." 
 
 "Yeth, mamma, I'll be thure ; and who were killed? 
 Wath Thquire Williamth one of them ? " 
 
 "Yes, and the other was Mr. Atherton, who lives up 
 there just beyond Dayville* village, on the Wayfield road." 
 
 And Mrs. Smith, to impress her child with the impor- 
 tance of keeping from the highway things likely to frighten 
 a horse, told Agnes of the circumstances of the accident, 
 closing with, 
 
 " Perhaps Mr. Peters will talk with you, Agnes." 
 
 And in tones of tenderness, as the two sat in the shade 
 of the maples, where often, of a summer's day, Agnes had 
 played "keep house " w;th her dolls, the disciple of Wes- 
 ley and of the Master who said. " Suffer the little children 
 to come unto me," talked to her of the Great Father and 
 the Savior ; while the child looked reverently and earn- 
 estly up to the face of the preacher, a most willing and 
 interested auditor. Laying his hand softly on her head, 
 he said, " Be a brave little lady, and keep as quiet as pos- 
 sible, and I think your papa will be able to sit up soon." 
 
 The operation of setting the broken leg completed, Mrs. 
 Smith said, as Dr. Johnson was about to give Mr. Smith 
 " something to make him sleep," 
 
 " Doctor, begging your pardon, I must object to that. 
 
66 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 Also, let me say, tincture of myrrh is a favorite remedy of 
 mine for overcoming pain and taking out soreness, and we 
 always have it in the house." 
 
 There was respectfulness, and yet firmness, in this 
 utterance — to which the physician responded, 
 
 "As to the sleeping-powders, do as you please. The 
 tincture you name isn't according to the practice of my 
 school. But I have long ago learned that doctors don't 
 know everything. So use the wash you desire." 
 
 And the wound was bathed with the soothing liquid, and 
 the patient soon sank into a refreshing slumber that was 
 far better than sleep induced by opiates. Awakening an 
 hour later he said to the itinerant, who was sitting near, 
 
 " That is you, Mr. Peters, isn't it .? " 
 
 " Yes, I came along about the time of the accident and 
 was here ahead of you, commissioned by the doctor to 
 break the news. I am glad to see you feeling better ; and 
 now as the sun is only an hour high, and I have to preach, 
 to-night, twenty miles from here, at Hardland, I've but a 
 moment to kneel and thank Heaven that it is as well with 
 us as it is; and God will hear us just as well with a dozen 
 words, spoken in reverence and faith, as He would hear ? 
 thousand words." 
 
 In that group of earnest ones, petitioning for blessings, 
 Agnes knelt by the side of the preacher ; and, folding her 
 hands, repeated of her own accord, in an undertone, the 
 words of his supplication, gratitude and praise : 
 
 " Father in heaven, in the midst of our afflictions we 
 
JOHN PETERS. 67 
 
 come to Thee in faith and thank Thee that Thy hand still 
 spares, and ask that out of all our trials we may come to 
 rejoice in Thy goodness and to see that Thou wast kind 
 even in the affliction which now appears to us so mysteri- 
 ous. If it be Thy will, grant restoration to him whom 
 Thou hast smitten. With us remember others who are 
 more deeply afflicted than are we. Pity the widow and 
 the orphan boy, and out of Thy mercies minister to their 
 wants. This, and all, we ask in the name of Thy Blessed 
 Son, and we ascribe to Thee the glory due to Thy name ; 
 Amen." 
 
 "Call when you return from Hardland, Elder Peters," 
 whispered Mr. Smith, as the preacher arose from his 
 knees, " I've something to say to you." 
 
 When a short distance from the school-house, on the 
 Hardland road, Elder Peters halted his horse, to inform 
 Miss Sampson, at her boarding-place for that week, how 
 the sufferer was faring ; and the errand done, said to his 
 horse, "Come, my brave Billy, it's you and I now." A 
 litrie farther along, the horse began turning into the yard 
 of a house where occasionally the itinerant had halted, on 
 his rounds, to give a word of religious admonition to the 
 lawless ones living there. And the preacher, in tones as 
 if conversing with a friend, said, " No, Billy, you're a faith- 
 ful horse and generally know where I want to go, but I 
 guess we won't stop to-night. You ought to have a rest, 
 my brave Billy, but keep along a few miles further and 
 you'll have oats and hay." As if understanding his mas- 
 
68 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 ter's words, the steed quickened his steps and bore the 
 itinerant over the hilly road that soon afforded the rider a 
 fine westward view of the meadows and the river. Beyond 
 this, meads and pasture-lands stretched away to the 
 wooded hills, that, bathed in the gold of the glorious sun- 
 set, spoke to the preacher of God's goodness and power, 
 and awakened in him thoughts of the grandeur and beauty 
 of the land beyond the tide, until, to voice his joy, he sang, 
 
 " Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood, 
 Stand dressed in living green." 
 
 And with other inspiring psalmody the itinerant delighted 
 himself as he rose still higher on the mountain way. At 
 the summit he halted his horse, and dismounting, drank 
 from a spring that gurgled from the granite rocks at the 
 side of the road, saying, "Ah, what a blessed emblem of 
 the gospel is this never-failing mountain spring ! " 
 
 It was not far beyond this that he reached the house of 
 a brother Methodist, who consented to keep the horse of 
 the traveler for the night, and who soon had his own 
 horse brought up from the near pasture and saddled for 
 the preacher's use. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 A PREACHING AND A BAPTISMAL CEREMONY. 
 
 HIS hearers at Hardland noticed an unusual unction 
 in the words of Elder Peters ; but, while his theme 
 was one with which evidently he designed to awaken 
 the impenitent to contrition, he, for some reason, thought 
 it best not to give the discourse the dramatic effect which 
 it would have had if emphasized with an account of the 
 tragedy at Dayville. Supplementing the preaching service 
 was the usual invitation to " rise for prayers," which was 
 answered by several of the company, for whom there were 
 heartfelt petitions by the itinerant and his class-leader, 
 Samuel Sumner. Words of hope and promise by the be- 
 ginners in the new life followed, when Elder Peters gave 
 them timely counsel and hearty encouragement, and 
 preacher and people sang, to the good old tune of Dennis, 
 
 " Blest be the tie that binds 
 
 Our hearts in Christian love; 
 The fellowship of kindred minds 
 Is like to that above." 
 
 After leaving the meeting, the preacher told the news of 
 the shocking accident to one of the hearers, who accom- 
 panied him, with Mr. Sumner, to the house of the latter, 
 where the itinerant was to be entertained for the night. 
 
70 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 This class-leader had been for years a member of the 
 church of the standing order, and had attended their 
 meetings faithfully, and that, with a sincere desire to 
 profit by the preaching of Rev. Abimelech Barrett, the 
 minister of this typical New England town. Yet it was 
 evident that he did not find much to please him in that 
 man^s ministrations. Were the truth known, it would be 
 found he had "groaned in spirit" to think that one hold- 
 ing all mankind to be totally depraved should do so little 
 for their salvation as did Mr. Barrett. So when Elder 
 Peters extended the bounds of his Wayfield circuit to 
 Hardland and established preaching there, he found Mr. 
 Sumner among his most willing and constant hearers ; and, 
 the good man casting in his lot with the Methodists, he 
 was naturally made the leader of a class which became 
 the nucleus of a society of that order. 
 
 In keeping with the plan prescribed by Wesley for the 
 private life of Methodist preachers, the itinerant rose 
 before the sun, read a chapter of Scripture and offered 
 prayer before coming from his room ; and he had fed his 
 horse before Mr. Sumner went to the barn. Breakfast over, 
 morning devotions with the Sumners began with the sing- 
 ing of 
 
 " Lord, in the morning Thou shalt hear 
 My voice ascending high." 
 
 There was a chapter from the Psalms, an earnest prayer, 
 and Mr. Peters, soon after six o'clock, was going towards 
 the Cross-roads. He made no errand on the way save 
 
JOHN PETERS. 7 1 
 
 changing horses and drinking at his favorite spring. It 
 was not yet nine o'clock when he neared the school-house, 
 where his little friend Agnes handed him a note request- 
 ing him not to forget his errand at the farm-house. 
 
 "All right, my little girl," said he; "how is your papa 
 this morning ? " 
 
 " Thum better, I gueth." 
 
 Remaining an hour with Mr. Smith, the preacher 
 rode away to visit the people who, he thought, might be 
 interested in the proposed meeting. Returning at four 
 o'clock, he was gladdened with a unique and beautiful 
 scene. Miss Sampson had closed her school a little 
 earlier than usual, and had assembled her pupils around 
 the doorway of the Smith farm-house, as if waiting for 
 something, though exactly what Mr. Peters could not 
 divine. Entering the house he learned the occasion for 
 the group, from the sick man, who said : " I have not told 
 you that, in conversing with me, Mrs. Smith made as good 
 a confession of faith in Christ as need be. On conferring 
 with her I also find that she would like to reaffirm her 
 profession, and, if you please, receive the ordinance of 
 baptism at your hands. I believe you Methodists hold to 
 Infant baptism, and we would like to have the children 
 baptized with her." 
 
 " Praise the Lord," quietly said Peters ; " how beautiful ! 
 And you have already been baptized ! '' 
 
 " I have." 
 
 The sunbeams, glinting through the maples, seemed not 
 
72 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 more genuine than did the preacher's reverent and earnest 
 words to Heaven for " that which God had wrought." 
 Words of pecuHar fitness were quoted from the Psalms, 
 and there, in the presence of husband and father and 
 teacher and pupils, the mother and children came before the 
 man of God, whose voice never sounded sweeter than, as, 
 placing the drops from the bowl upon her brow, he said, 
 
 " Elizabeth, I baptize thee in the name of the Father, 
 and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; Amen." 
 
 Increasing in sweetness as he progressed with the ser- 
 vice, his voice was tremulous with emotion, yet grand with 
 strength, as he, with beautiful fitness, questioned : 
 
 "Who shall say aught against these being baptized of 
 whom the Master said, " Suffer the litde children to come 
 unto me, and forbid them not ; for of such is the kingdom 
 of God." Still deepening in tenderness of tones he pro- 
 nounced the name of "Agnes Graham" and "Wesley 
 Daniel " Smith in the sacred ceremony, supplementing it 
 with a hymn of the people of fire and song and a bene- 
 diction that was eloquent almost to grandeur. 
 
 "Wasn't Mr. Peters real good ! '^ said one of the chil- 
 dren to Miss Sampson, as the teacher and her group were 
 going from the impressive scene. 
 
 " Indeed he was, my child, and I hope your parents will 
 come with you to the meeting next Tuesday evening." 
 
 " I guess they will, teacher." 
 
 "And I'm coming, too," said another. 
 
 "And I ! " "And I ! " chimed in a dozen other voices. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A PAIR OF MINISTERS, A MASTER OF CEREMONIES, AND A FUNERAL 
 AT WHICH THEY OFFICIATE. 
 
 TO a later day than elsewhere in New England contin- 
 ued, in the region of Dayville and Hardland, the 
 precedence of the "standing order" of religionists, 
 with the ancient regime of strict observances, the frigid 
 manners, and the angularities of character that had 
 there long been regarded as highest and best evidence of 
 real gbodness of heart. The cast-iron creed of the fore- 
 fathers of the people of those towns, as inscribed on the 
 church books, there, the century previous, with its various 
 parts matched together like mosaic work, remained intact, 
 not excepting the provision that, " from the foundation of 
 the world and from all eternity,'"' some were " in God's 
 sovereign pleasure foreordained and elected" to eternal 
 torment, and others were, in the " sovereign pleasure " 
 aforesaid, chosen " heirs of salvation." And these "once 
 in grace were always in grace," and could not "finally fall 
 away," but would come at last " to seats prepared for them 
 in heaven, and to mingle in the assembly of the saints on 
 high." Here still obtained the old time respect for author- 
 ity, respect which was thought to be equal to love for truth. 
 
74 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 And why not ? Did not this people hold that authority 
 was truth ? that the doctrine authorized as truth was there- 
 fore true ? As a principal feature of the creed in vogue 
 was the importance of doctrine, hence the importance of 
 those who indoctrinated. These were the Reverend 
 Jonathan Edwards Barber and the Reverend Abimelech 
 Barrett. They were singularly alike in physique and in 
 mental make-up. Each was of sturdy build and rather 
 above the medium height, while the gray, calculating eyes 
 of each spoke the discretion that springs from selfishness. 
 Each had a face and a head utterly lacking evidence of the 
 possibility of sentiment or of the vision for discerning 
 spiritual truth, and that indicated, instead, a forceful will- 
 power, a cold intellect that was strong for the mental 
 combat of an argument, and a memory retentive of facts 
 which the mind, not the soul, had gathered and stored 
 away to be used as ammunition in the conflict. Such a 
 make-up, with the perfect health insured by strong diges- 
 tive powers, that prevented dyspepsia and the resultant 
 despondency, commanded the respect of the unimagina- 
 tive, opinionated and matter-of-fact people who were their 
 parishioners, and led them to believe that he who possessed 
 such characteristics was not only one of God's very elect, 
 but was called to " dispense the word,^' as " an under-shep- 
 herd of the Master." 
 
 For the quarter of a century since, soon after graduating, 
 the one at Andover and the other at Yale, they were " or- 
 dained ministers and installed pastors,^' the one at Day- 
 
JOHN PETERS. 75 
 
 ville and the other at Hardland, the Reverend Jonathan 
 Edwards Barber and the Reverend Abimelech Barrett 
 had, "each in his appointed place, ministered, in sacred 
 things." But neither of them was much worn by the work 
 of his long pastorate. With the law of self-preservation 
 constantly before their eyes, they did not allow their duties 
 to overtax their powers of endurance. At funerals they 
 could don the semblance of weeping, without experiencing 
 any wearing sorrow ; weddings at which they officiated 
 gave them neither tumult of joy nor anxiety of mind ; bap- 
 tisms were to them never solemn to sadness, and commun- 
 ion-seasons never overburdened them with the pathos of 
 that supper scene which preceded Gethsemane. Each 
 having, W'Cll memorized, a stock of regulation phrases 
 appropriate for those occasions, it was easy to call them 
 into requisition. To their people these phrases, though 
 often used, did not appear hackneyed, but seemed to 
 acquire sacredness by repetition. Through all the Sab- 
 baths of their extended terms, these ministers preached 
 sermons that were sound in doctrinal teaching, and well 
 calculated to fill the hearers with dread of the " Sovereign 
 Ruler of the universe,"' and lead them to trembling and 
 ready obedience to His commands, and to respect those 
 He had " set as watchmen on the walls of Zion ! " These 
 " watchmen," whose pastorates were in a sense the result 
 of, and in a sense the cause of, the continuance of the old 
 order of things, were yet able to take vigilant care that the 
 old ways and theories should still obtain. Settled minis- 
 
76 JOHN PETERS, 
 
 ters of the gospel — and only their own sort were min- 
 isters of the gospel — were not then, as aforetime, paid 
 salaries that were raised by assessment on the taxpayers of 
 the towns and were collected by law on penalty of levying, 
 in default of payment, on goods and chattels of the delin- 
 quents. This was wholly wrong and a sign of the " degen- 
 eracy of the times ! " But, if, in " temporal matters,'^ things 
 were "at sixes and sevens," so much the more need of 
 having the people theologically correct. So the Rev, 
 Messrs. Barber and Barrett were watchful. Looking 
 beyond their own parishes, they had discovered in the 
 neighboring towns a few evidences of dissatisfaction with 
 the ancient standards of belief. A new sect had appeared 
 in some places, to change the current of things, with more 
 baptismal water than had been customary with the " stand- 
 ing order;" here and there. Unitarians or Universalists 
 had, for a time, maintained "stated preaching;" the 
 Episcopalians were doing something, in a quiet way, to 
 get a foothold ; and the Methodists appeared, to thaw the 
 icy Calvinism with their zeal, and, with the " whosoever 
 will " of the seer of Patmos as authority and inspiration, to 
 proclaim the gospel tidings to all mankind. At Wayfield 
 and Ridgeway, some of this new sect had made a little 
 headway, but at Dayville there was nothing to give alarm 
 to the "standing order." At Hardland, however, the 
 Methodists, whom the regulars regarded as more obnox- 
 ious than were any of the other novel religionists, had 
 made a beginning, and yet they had not done enough to 
 
JOHN PETERS. 77 
 
 break, or greatly weaken, the hold of Mr. Barrett on his 
 people. Still, these ministers, who had so long reigned in 
 undisturbed ecclesiastical authority, and consequent social 
 supremacy, had occasional misgivings that their order 
 would suffer damage from the work of the New Lights, 
 as they were pleased to style the advocates of free salva- 
 tion. So they frequently met, ostensibly to confer con- 
 cerning routine matters in their own parishes, but rather 
 to compare notes in reference to the progress of the 
 " strange doctrines " and to enjoin each other to guard 
 against the encroachments of false teachers, and to 
 preserve intact " the faith once delivered to the saints," 
 /'. e., the creeds inscribed on the church books at Dayville 
 and Hardland. These conferences evidently reassured 
 them, and where they had so long been dominant, they 
 thought themselves regnant still. And now, by a dispen- 
 sation of Providence, an occasion had come that would 
 bring them into still higher prominence ; for they must 
 officiate at the Williams and Atherton funeral, the first 
 event of so great importance of sadness that had marked 
 the history of the region in a century. 
 
 Mr. Barber, who was not lacking in ability to read 
 human nature, and who knew how to manage men and 
 get them to serve his ends, in a way that would not put 
 him under obligation to them., was cognizant of the fact 
 that Bildad Beals, who was " deputy sheriff of Dayville " 
 and perennial candidate for the shrievalty of the shire, and 
 who had now and then managed a funeral, had a great liking 
 
78 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 for opportunity for displaying authority, and thought it 
 good policy to invite the officer to act as master of cere- 
 monies at the occasion. The parish committee coinciding 
 with their minister's wishes concerning the conduct of the 
 obsequies, Seals was asked to officiate ; and the funeral 
 was appointed to be held at the meeting-house, at one 
 o'clock of the Saturday following the day of the accident. 
 Accordingly, on Friday, " word was given out " in all the 
 schools of Dayville and Hardland. But, as a minister was 
 held to be superior in importance to a layman, even 
 though the latter were acting in official capacity, while the 
 notices published in all the districts in the two towns 
 mentioned the fact that Mi. Barber was to preach, assisted 
 by the Hardland pastor, only the announcements in a few 
 of the districts of Dayville included the name of the con- 
 ductor of the funeral. 
 
 The day came with skies of cloudless blue significant of 
 the serene rest awaiting the just. Airs fragrant with odors 
 of apple orchards and wild flowers, were mellow with the 
 r»iurmur of brooks and glad with the liquid song of birds, 
 who seemed intent in voicing their own joy, to teach man 
 gratitude to Him who made so beautiful the csarthly abode 
 of His children. And bird, and breath, and brook, spoke 
 His promise of grace to comfort the bereaved and His 
 approval of the lives of the departed, and hinfed of choicer 
 fruitage, finer sweets, and diviner minstrelsy, in the star- 
 ward land to which the good men had gone. But no such 
 lessons of hope and joy would the stern CalviHsts 
 
JOHN PETERS. 79 
 
 officiating read in the serenity vouchsafed the time of the 
 sad memorial. To them there was no Divine Benignity. 
 They only thought of God as "great and mighty, high and 
 ever lifted up." And, of course, they being His ministers, 
 it was their prerogative to impress men with the dread 
 majesty of the Deity. This would make them tremble and 
 sob, and fear and sadness befitted the state of " poor, un- 
 worthy worms of the dust." And, again, impressing 
 folks would show their importance who impressed — a 
 reason which, whatever they might have said, was largely 
 the cause of their faithfulness in making people quake. 
 At funerals, faithfulness in this direction was especially 
 appropriate ; and here was the greatest funeral remembered 
 by the inhabitants or mentioned in the traditions of the 
 times of their ancestors ! 
 
 To begin the execution of Beals's carefully elaborated 
 plan of the doings of the great day at Dayville, prayer was 
 offered simultaneously by Mr. Barrett over the remains of 
 Atherton at the little brown house, and by Mr. Barber at 
 the house of the deceased magistrate ; and the mourners 
 from the former, preceded by Mr. Barrett and the bearers 
 with their burden, arrived at a designated point in the village 
 green, exactly in time to meet the group that under the 
 lead of Mr. Beals came with their bier from the Williams 
 house. Assuming charge of the completed column, at the 
 head of which, arm-in-arm, walked the stern-visaged min- 
 isters, Beals, with measured tread, in boots that were pain- 
 ful to hear, conducted the cortege to the meeting-house. 
 
So JOHN PETERS. 
 
 Being on "greater business bent," he had appointed 
 assistants to do the ushering-in-ordinary, and they had 
 completed their assignment just as the procession arrived. 
 One of these deputies was the marshal's son, Quintus 
 Martins Beals, who had been " dedicated to the gospel 
 ministry " by his parents, and who had been given a few 
 terms at an academy, where he had acquired enough 
 knowledge of what his father called " Latting," to make 
 the boy vain of linguistic accomplishments, and so the 
 object of the ridicule of the mischievous ones of the vil- 
 lage. He was cross-eyed ; and they, because of his vanity, 
 thought it not only allowable, but a duty, to emphasize the 
 fact of this strabismic peculiarity, and so dubbed him 
 " Squintus," a sobriquet by which he was ever after known. 
 His associate on this occasion was Selectman Barnes's son 
 Nelson, who, from his own disagreeable disposition, and 
 his father's authoritative bearing, was never well liked. 
 But for the solemnity of the day, the presence in official 
 capacity of these unpopular young men would have occas- 
 ioned the keenest jibes the wits of the village could 
 invent. As it was, the deputies went through the pro- 
 gramme without a break to mar the day. 
 
 Mr. Barber and Mr. Barrett, with faces drawn down to 
 a rigor of severity unusual on their stern features, now 
 walked up the aisle, their austerity of mien increasing at 
 every step, and climbed the winding stairs to their perch 
 in the pulpit. Here they surveyed the assembled throng, 
 that had. come from all parts of the town, from Wayfield, 
 
JOHN PETERS. 8 1 
 
 from Hardland, from Ridgeway. and from Brier Hill. 
 Many of them arrived long before the time appointed, and 
 tarried in front of the meeting-house, where they discussed 
 and sighed over the sad taking off. Some, to mingle 
 sympathy with their greed for querying, inquired in sub- 
 dued tones concerning the sick people in the localities 
 represented ; but for the most part curiosity was the motive 
 of the interest manifested. In the entry, where the 
 mourners tarried for a moment, Mrs. Beals was in waiting 
 with a spinster sister, who was good at making " currant 
 wine for communion purposes." The two gave lachrymose 
 evidence of their sympathy, Mrs. Beals supplementing her 
 tears with the proffer of caraway and other " meetin'-seed," 
 and remarking that " we feel for you, Mis' Williams and 
 Mis' Atherton, an' hope ye'll be able to bear up under the 
 jedgment o' the -Lord." In an aside to her sister, and 
 holding her fan, ostrich-like, to her face, as a guard, she 
 whispered, " There ! ef I didn't fergit what Quintus telled 
 me, th't 'twasn't proper to call married women ' Miss ! ' An' 
 I snum, ef I didn't say it in spite o' him ! " 
 
 Meanwhile the marshal had conducted the bearers up 
 the centre aisle, to the space in front of the pulpit, where 
 they deposited the coffins, Beals, thereafter, waving the 
 custodians to seats in the deacons' pews at the right and 
 the left of the open, where they would be in handy call 
 for acts further on in the sad drama of the day. Beals's 
 boots, that always squeaked, especially on funeral occas- 
 ions, had in this march given evidence of quality equal to 
 
82 JOHN* PETERS. 
 
 the agony of a double funeral, and appropriate to tUe fact 
 that their master was in official capacity. As he counter- 
 marched they seemed as if " well acquaint " with his ideas 
 of the gradation of torture upward to the culmination of 
 the solemnity, and still more intensified the excruciating 
 sounds, as he again moved up the centre aisle, leading the 
 mourners to their reserved seats. A bandanna which h?d 
 dangled from a pocket of his blue and brass-buttoned 
 swallow-tail, was now grasped in hand. And sighing in 
 good order, he again countermarched, the faithful boots 
 behaving in the admirable discipline appropriate to the 
 progress of the programme of the solemn sitting. Reach- 
 ing the entry, he surveyed the boys, "hired men," and 
 less "forehanded" of the farmers, there huddled, and 
 crowding the meeting-house steps and the yard in front, 
 and still others who occupied seats in the buggies in the 
 horse-sheds, that they might catch some of the coveted 
 misery of the occasion which some of them had driven a 
 dozen and even a full score of miles to feast upon. Then, 
 to emphasize his grief, — for who shall say that Beals, with 
 all his love for display of authority, did not sorrow that his 
 neighbors were gone ? — he blew, with the aid of the ban- 
 datina, a nasal blast that sounded throughout the meetings 
 house, to the horse-sheds and the nearer houses of the 
 village. It was afterwards an accredited remark that one 
 of the singers, Marion Belmont, had the audacity to 
 whisper " out loud," " I wonder if that noise from Beals is 
 the one told of in the hymn we are to sing, ' Hark, from 
 
JOHN PETERS. 83 
 
 the tombs a doleful sound ! ' " Of course they would sing 
 that hymn, for had it not been rendered at the rehearsal 
 on the Friday evening before ? was it not always sung on 
 such occasions ? For could it not produce more terror, 
 frighten more children, and quicker bring men and women 
 to a " realizing sense of their condition as poor dying 
 mortals " than any other piece of elegiac verse extant ? 
 It was the perfection of lachrymal lines, the standard of 
 solemn psalmody. It excelled even the torture of Bildad's 
 boots, that now once again announced that he was moving 
 up the centre aisle. Other boots there were to squeak as 
 well. Those of " Squintus " came next in degree of agony to 
 those his father wore, while Nelson Barnes's squeaked a 
 little less than those of " Squintus." And " Squintus " and 
 Barnes, "leftenants" of Beals, now moved up the side 
 aisles and took the stations assigned them with the bear- 
 ers, while in an altar chair Bildad at last sat down and 
 surveyed the assembly, the marshaling of which was the 
 greatest achievement of his life. It exceeded in import- 
 ance even the celebrations on the Fourth, whereat, as 
 should have been previously stated, he was not only 
 marshal but toast-master, the presidency at such celebra- 
 tions going of course, without dispute, to Lemuel Barnes, 
 selectman of Dayville. 
 
 There they were, in "order due and sad array," all 
 seated according to station in life. Selectman Barnes and 
 family, first after the Williams mourners. Mr. Thompson, 
 the merchant, who was second selectman, with his family, 
 
84 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 sat with a face a trifle less solemn and consequential than 
 that of Barnes, while Third Selectman Bacon and family 
 were in the next pew, displaying solemnity and importance 
 graded down from that of the Thompsons. Widow Mer- 
 win and son, who "had property,^' supplemented the 
 Bacons, and so the gradation ran down through the pews 
 on that side of the broad aisle ; while other families of 
 distinction in Dayville society were arranged in order of 
 rank from the Atherton mourners down through the pews 
 on the opposite side of the aisle. In the most eligible of 
 the remaining pews the ushers-in-ordinary had disposed 
 people of distinction from adjoining towns. And if the 
 courtesies shown lacked the perfection which would have 
 been shown in seating them on the broad aisle, with the 
 Dayville elite, the omission must be overlooked, in the 
 first attempts of the youths to place a congregation on a 
 day of such importance. In the rear of the auditorium, 
 and filling the wall pews, were some of the general public, 
 among whom were the Jones boys, who "worked out," the 
 Crane boys who didn't work at all, a town pauper who was 
 white, a town pauper who was black, a negro who was not 
 a pauper, Mike Tobin and two other Irishmen, and Peter 
 Piper, a half-witted habitu^ oi Dayville, namesake, and, it 
 is said, kindred of the one who is hero of the peppery and 
 immortal song of the nursery. The women skilled at 
 weeping were present, including Sally Simpkins, sister of 
 Hetty Simpkins Atherton, and who wept almost to dis- 
 traction. There, too, was Jeremiah Joslyn, who had in 
 
JOHN PETERS. 85 
 
 prayer-meetings from time immemorial bemoaned " the 
 backslidings of the children of Zion, whose harps were 
 hung on the willows, down by the waters of Babylon." He 
 had wailed to the entire satisfaction of Mr. Barber, con- 
 quering from him the frank admission, made to Mr. Bar- 
 rett, that " Brother Joslyn is one of God's very elect," and 
 winning from the average man of Dayville the distinction 
 of being "the weeping prophet." 
 
 The marshal had noticed that Joslyn's boots squeaked, 
 that day, but less than those he wore, and therefore they 
 augmented, rather than eclipsed his glory. While those 
 who excel a man in that which is his boast excite his 
 ■jealousy and destroy his peace, those who imitate him add 
 to his importance and heighten his enjoyment. This 
 philosophy obtains even at funerals. 
 
 And now Beals raises his eyes to the gallery whose 
 semi-circular throng waits, intent on the scene below. 
 There beam the rosy features of sturdy " Judge " Jones, 
 so dubbed because of ability to determine the quality of 
 potations at the Dayville " tarvurn stand," which it is his 
 delight to test. A marked figure in the crowd is the un- 
 kempt and " Cross-eyed " Crane, father of the Crane boys, 
 who "makes baskets up to Scrabble Holler." "Ben" 
 Keyes, the " hoss-trader," sits meditating, whether on the 
 sad event which the proceedings are to emphasize, or the 
 probabilities of his " striking a deal," with advantage to 
 himself "after meetin'," does not appear. "Lem " Keyes 
 is present, the cobbler who " whips the cat from house to 
 
86 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 house.'" " Eb " Whitney, the one who placed the " utensils " 
 of his name on an ax-handle, and who was eloquent of the 
 view fronn the " pizarro " of his house, has come to attend 
 the " obloquies ! " And wood-choppers and coal-burners, 
 from Scrabble Hollow and Brier Hill, add to the pictur- 
 esqueness of the array. 
 
 Exchanging glances with his " leftenants," Bildad, as if 
 to voice his approval, gives another nasal blast, caressingly 
 folds the bandanna, places it on his knees, and looking 
 up, gives an answering nod to the inquiring gaze of Mr. 
 Barber, who, thereat, reads the regulation rhythmic wail 
 above mentioned, all of the doleful stanzas of which the 
 singers render to the mournful cadences of old " China." 
 Then follows Solomon's "vanity of vanities," pro- 
 nounced by the Hardland minister, who, as if the Deity 
 needed information concerning the " mutability of all 
 things earthly," proceeds for ten minutes to instruct the 
 Throne on that subject, and then reads 
 
 " Our days are as the grass, 
 Or like the morning flower," 
 
 which is given by the choir to the tune of " Bileston." 
 The dirges done. Reverend Jonathan Edwards Barber 
 arises to his feet, with a gravity of mien that well substan- 
 tiates his claim to the name of the stern theologian he 
 bears, and begins a discourse in which is often repeated 
 the complaint that " man is of few days and full of trouble." 
 Other textual terror frequently occurs in the sermon, which 
 runs up to the " twelfthly " and includes narration in full 
 
JOHN PETERS. 87 
 
 of all the harrowing details of the great accident. Then, 
 to complete the " application," which terminates an hour 
 and a half of dolor ousness, in which there is scarcely a word 
 to give the bereaved a " glimmering ray of hope " concern- 
 ing the good men who have gone, Mr. Barber reaches 
 this 'perfection of patroni/iing : " Let us hope that although 
 Esquire Williams had shown a great leaning toward the 
 New Lights, he had space given him for repentance of 
 the error of beginning to follow such a damning heresy, 
 and thai God in His soveieign mercy forgave him and 
 allowed him to be saved, ' so as by fire.' There is per- 
 chance a possibility, also, that, although Mr. Atherton was 
 strangely visionary and never engaged in any real work to 
 enable him to get a living, and so disobeyed God"s Holy 
 Word that commands one to be diligent in business, he, 
 too, may have been forgiven, at the eleventh hour, for the 
 great sin of shiftlessness and for the added offence to 
 Deity of holding doctrines counter to Holy Writ, a»d in 
 God's boundless grace may have been admitted to a low 
 place in heaven ! " 
 
 The programme, from the opening of the doors for the 
 concourse to gather, had now run through two hours and 
 a half, and yet Mr. Barber did not think of omitting the 
 closing hymn, which, after being read by Mr. Barrett, was 
 sung through all its stanzas to remind the people 
 
 " How vain are all things here below." 
 
 The welcome benediction by Mr. Barber was followed by 
 
88 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 his nod to the master of ceremonies, who arose, and, after 
 a moment's pause, in which, as it proved, he was thinking 
 of the caution given him by his son against mispronounc- 
 ing words, — for instance, saying " ile " for oil, — announced 
 that " the friends wishing to see the corpses of the diseased 
 will pass up the right oil and down the left oil! " Evidence 
 of dawning merriment on the faces of the more intelligent 
 of the audience faded with thought of the solemnity of the 
 hour, and Beals's self conceit blinded him to the fact 
 that he had made a great blunder, while Marion Belmont 
 in the singers' seats was too far removed for him to hear 
 her disgusted whisper — " The fool ! " 
 
 A full half-hour was occupied in viewing the remains, 
 and the bearers, under conduct of Beals, whose boots held 
 out bravely in their faithfulness, carried the cofifins to the 
 hearses in waiting ; and, the mourners having been con- 
 ducted to the buggies assigned them next in order, and 
 others coming into line under the direction of Beals's 
 deputies, the procession, headed by the marshal himself in 
 a carriage with the ministers, moved slowly to the " grave- 
 yard," a half-mile out on the Ridgeway road. 
 
 The place chosen for the burial of Atherton was near 
 the family lot of Esquire Williams, and so it was conven- 
 ient that both interments should be attended by the same 
 closing ceremonies. The coffins were simultaneously 
 lowered by the respective sets of bearers, when Beals 
 threw, as was the custom of those days, a few spades of 
 dirt into each grave. Amid the shuddering at the rattling 
 
JOHN PETERS. 89 
 
 of the gravel on the boxes, came the " dust to dust, ashes 
 to ashes," pronounced in tones of the sternest gravity, by 
 Mr. Barrett and followed with his prayer, asking that 
 " the people may profit by this judgment of the Lord, and 
 that, before others are removed by the grim monster, 
 they may be better prepared than it is feared were 
 these two, for standing in the presence of Thy dread and 
 awiul Majesty ! " At this climax of agony Jeremiah Jos- 
 lyn gave fresh and copious proof of his right to the sobri- 
 quet that distinguished him ; Sally Simpkins wept as 
 never before ; and Hetty Simpkins Atherton was " clean 
 broke down," as Sally afterwards acknowledged to Mr. 
 Barber's wife, while Mrs. Bildad Beals and her spinster 
 sister outdid all the other women at weeping. 
 
 As the people left the " burying-ground " the two farm 
 hands of Selectman Barnes joined each other, and this 
 colloquy gives their ideas of the great event of the day : — 
 
 " I'll be consarned to kingdom come, and back agin, ef 
 that air Barber an' that air Barrett, them ' twin priests,' 
 as the boys call 'em, haint outdid theirselves in keepin' 
 folks furever an' furever more to a fun'ral. Priest Barber 
 was alius longer nor the way round ole Barnes's fiirder 
 keow-pastur', but this ere puts on the cap-sheaf." 
 
 "An' bedad, Bill Joanes, it's thrue fur ye, an' ef me praste 
 hayers o' me 'tendin' the fun'ral, I guess he'll be aisy on 
 me, seein' I've hed thrub'ble 'nough fur me sins av a 
 wake." 
 
 "Wall, there, Mike, we'll hev to be hurryin' about them 
 
go JOHN PETERS. 
 
 air chores 'o ourn, milkin' ' Old Yaller ' an' ' Lop Horn ' 
 an' that grizzly heffer thet's so hard to milk, an' tother 
 half dozen, an' feedin' the pigs an calves, an' fetchin' in 
 the wood fur the back kitchen. What a lot o' chores old 
 Barnes has, anyway, — 'nuff ter keep one feller stiddy to 
 work 'thout liftin' a hand to anythin' else." 
 
 " Bill Joanes, yer right, an' shure ; but, fur the loife o' 
 me, I can't see th't ye give yer imployer a divil o' bit o' 
 respict, an' shure. Bill Joanes." 
 
 "Ah, Mike Tobin, I ain't afraid o' old Barnes." 
 
 But Bill didn't tell or hint the reason for lack of 
 reverence that so puzzled his fellow laborer, but re- 
 marked, 
 
 " Mike, they say Lem Keyes got an extra half dollar 
 fur puttin' the squeak inter them air boots o' Bildad's ; an' 
 'twan't any too much, nuther, jedgin' by the saw-filin' 
 screech Bildad made. I swanney, 't'll take more 'n a half 
 dozen times singin' ' Swanee River ' by— wall, I aint a 
 goin' to tell you, Mike, who 'tis— more'n a half a dozen 
 times to git my feelin's smoothed out agin." 
 
 " It's thrue fur ye, Bill Joanes ; but fwhy would ye be 
 disthrustin' the loikes o' honest Mike Tobin ? thet ye'd 
 withould the name o' yer gerril, an' shure, Bill Joanes ? 
 The divil a bit would Mike Tobin disturb ye an' yer 
 honey, shure." 
 
 " Wall, Mike, we'll hev ter line it fur old Barnes's." 
 
 Some of this colloquy was overheard by Peter Jones 
 and Samuel Nason, the meek and discreet deacons of 
 
JOHN PETERS. 9 1 
 
 the Dayville church, who, shocked with the irreverence of 
 Bill Jones, thus freed their minds : — 
 
 " Well, Brother Nason, how irreverent for that man 
 Jones to speak so lightly of one of the elected.'' 
 
 " You're right. Brother Jones ; and it seems as if some of 
 our young men were jest possessed." 
 
 "And it stands us in hand to gird up our loins with 
 righteousness and be a pattern to the people in all good 
 words and w^orks." 
 
 " Verily, Brother Jones." 
 
 "And let us pray that this solemnizing time have its 
 desired and designed effect on the prayerless ones of our 
 Zion, and that they be brought to a realizing sense of their 
 condition as poor dyin' mortals and unworthy worms of 
 the dust." 
 
 " You're always right, Brother Jones." 
 
 This account of the occasion, which gives so much 
 prominence to ministers and marshal, and which was, in 
 a sense peculiarly grateful to them, "their funeral," is 
 hitherto unmarred by mention of those they did not care 
 to see, but whose names may come in as addenda. One 
 of these was Esquire Albert Belmont, father of the out- 
 spoken singer of the Dayville choir. Another was Dr. 
 Johnson the Dayville physician. Samuel Taylor, the 
 miller of the Cross-roads neighborhood, was there with 
 Mrs. Taylor ; ]\Ir. Harrison quit his briefs at his Wayfield 
 office, to pay his respects to the memory of his brother 
 magistrate, and was accompanied by his neighbor Deacon 
 
g2 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 Payson Sherwood ; and Mr. Jameson, whose frightened 
 horse was the cause of the tragedy, came with his wife. 
 These, drawn by mutual Hking, came in company from 
 the burial to the house of their departed friend, Mr. Wil- 
 liams, to condole with the bereaved. At the suggestion of 
 Mr. Belmont, the Wayfield jurist voiced the sympathy of 
 the group : — 
 
 " We come to tell you, Mrs. Williams, of our great 
 respect for the one who is gone, of our sympathy for you 
 in the sorrow that has darkened your days, and of our 
 belief that you will bravely endure the grief to which you 
 have been brought by the great calamity that has shocked 
 us all and robbed you of the partner of your life. Assur- 
 ing you of the sincerity of our professions, and asking you 
 to regard us all as your friends, we will leave you to the 
 sacredness of your sorrow." 
 
 As Harrison started homeward on the Wayfield road, a 
 villager was standing in the door of the " back store " of 
 Mr. Thompson, who heard the lawyer say, — 
 
 " Friend Sherwood, if that bigotry, sanctimoniousness 
 and utter disregard of the feelings of the sorrowing — that 
 accumulation of assumption of superiority over one's fellow 
 men and irreverence for God — if there is a God— if this is 
 religion, I want none of it. And if it goes unrebuked of 
 God — if there is a God — I shall think there is no God ! 
 Why, Sherwood, the principles of infidels teach them 
 better manners than such an insult of patronizing as that 
 with which Mr. Barber and his fit associate heaped the 
 
JOHN PETERS. 93 
 
 programme of an occasion which ought to have been 
 characterized at least by the considerateness of the speech 
 of gentlemen ! " 
 
 " Harrison, you are right, and I, who am a member of 
 the standing order, tell you that such performances as 
 those which have blotted this beautiful June day which 
 God sent as emblematic of the mercy of Him who is 
 kind even when he sorely afflicts — that such performances 
 do more to hinder the advancement of tri;e religion than 
 the faithful can in a long time counteract." 
 
 "Sherwood, I always thought you sensible. And, by 
 the way, how would your minister. Rev. Dr. Robinson, 
 regard such authoritativeness and conceit .? He is too 
 sensible to countenance such egotism, is he not, even if he 
 is a brother minister of what you so fittingly call the 
 * standing order ' who perpetrates it .-' " 
 
 "Of course he is. And he will be quite likely to hear 
 of the high-handed way of his brother clergymen. You 
 know his opinions count among the ministers of his 
 denomination." 
 
 The dialogue was continued through the drive to Way- 
 field, and as the manner of the " twin priests " at the 
 funeral became known in that town it awakened not a 
 little criticism. 
 
 Mrs. Taylor remained with Mrs. Williams for the night, 
 to cheer her, in her loneliness, and remarked as Mr. Taylor 
 drove away, 
 
 " Please stop and tell Mrs. Smith that I'm here — the 
 
94 - JOHN PETERS. 
 
 dear, good woman, how faithfully she'll watch by her 
 husband." 
 
 Of course " the funeral " was the chief topic, before and 
 after the meeting, on Sunday, and, of course, there was an 
 impromptu conference in front of the meeting-house at 
 noon. Mr. Barnes, Bildad Seals and the deacons were 
 not present to participate. They were wanted at the par- 
 sonage where Mr. Barber, speaking in an undertone that 
 meant " keep it dark," thus made known a project of his : — 
 
 " Brethren, works of mercy and necessity are in keep- 
 ing with the solemnity of the Lord's day, and I thought it 
 necessary to apprize you of my fears lest the strange doc- 
 trines of the New Lights should get so much headway as to 
 be beyond control, and to ask you, brethren, to be present 
 with me at the meeting which that pretender, Peters, is 
 going to hold, up at the Cross-roads school-house, on 
 Tuesday evening. He ought to be silenced." 
 
 "You are eminently wise. Brother Barber," said Mr. 
 Barnes, " I will be there to assist you, and I presume the 
 others will be ready to help." 
 
 The " others " assented, for they dared not do otherwise. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE MEETING AT THE CROSS-ROADS. 
 
 AT the appointed time the Cross-roads school-house 
 was filled to its utmost capacity of sittings and 
 standing room, and many gathered outside, to 
 hear through the open door and windows. Lighted by 
 candles stuck in tallow on bits of shingles tacked on 
 desks and window-sills, the meeting-place, with its com- 
 pany of plain people, animated by curiosity that was evi- 
 dent on every face, presented a scene that was indeed 
 picturesque. Elder Peters, who had arrived at the Smith 
 farm-house an hour before meeting-time, now came in and 
 seated himself at the teacher's desk. He placed thereon 
 his hymn-book and Bible, and there bowed his head for a 
 moment of prayer. 
 
 At the farm-house there had been a conversation be- 
 tween Agnes and her mother, which explains itself : — 
 
 " Mamma, didn't thu thay onth that flowerth tell Godth 
 thoughth of kindness to uth, thuth the same ath if He 
 thpoke to uth in wordth ? " 
 
 "Yes, my child ; but why do you speak of this now .'' " 
 
 "Why, mamma, thu thee, Mithter Peterth will be telling 
 uth in wordth thum of Godth thoug-hth of kindneth to 
 
t)6 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 uth, and not be telling about ' decreeth, foreor ' 
 
 mamma, what ith that word ? " 
 
 " Foreordination, you mean." 
 
 " Yeth, ' foreordination, elected to be thaved, elected to 
 be damned,' and that about thum children going to 
 Heaven and otherth mutht be burnt up even if they die 
 before they re old enough to underthtand about Jethuth — 
 thothe thingth that Mithter Barber preacheth." 
 
 " You're right, my child ; I do not think Mr. Peters will 
 talk about those things. He is likely to say something 
 about what he calls 'glad tidings of salvation.' " 
 
 "That will be God'th kindneth to uth, won't it 
 mamma ? "' 
 
 " Certainly, my child." 
 
 " Well, mamma, I thought 'twould be tho good to have 
 thum of God'th thoughth of kindneth in flowerth near 
 Mithter Peterth when he ith telling uth Godth thoughth 
 of kindneth in wordth. The more thuch thoughth we 
 have the better." 
 
 "Agnes, you precious one, it is a beautiful idea you 
 have. And you wish to carry some flowers to meeting, 
 do you } " 
 
 " Yeth, mamma." 
 
 " Flowers at meeting will be a new thing, but it will be 
 a good thing." 
 
 "And we'll have thum flower. h for papa, too." 
 
 One of two vases filled with marigolds, sweet peas and 
 striped grass was placed by the couch of the father, the 
 
JOHN PETERS. 97 
 
 mother whispering as she held it for him to inhale the 
 
 fragrance, 
 
 " Dearest, mine, that noble Agnes of ours is just like 
 
 her father. She wished me to bring these to you." 
 " The precious one — and who gave her to me ! " 
 The other vase, Agnes, accompanied by Mrs. Wilcutt, 
 
 carried to the school-house, and placed upon the desk 
 
 before Mr. Peters, just as he lifted his eyes to survey the 
 
 company. Reading the hymn, 
 
 " Come, Thou fount of every blessing, 
 Tune our hearts to sing Thy grace," 
 
 he thus supplemented the lines : — 
 
 " Brethren, how good the Lord is, to give us such a 
 beautiful world, with its shining rivers emblematic of the 
 waters of life, birds whose song suggests the harmonies of 
 Heaven, and flowers," — and the speaker lifted the vase 
 before him to inhale the fragrance — " and flowers to re- 
 mind us of those blooming on the eternal hills ! " 
 
 Preacher and people joined heartily in singing the 
 stanzas to the tune of Nettleton. Then, for a moment bow- 
 ing his head as if studying some thought that had sud- 
 denly come to him, Mr. Peters arose and, looking benignly 
 down to Agnes, said, 
 
 " Does the little girl before me who brought these 
 flowers know that God made them .-' and does she wish to 
 love that good Being ? and the Christ whom He sent into 
 this world to save people from their sins ? And will she 
 believe in the Great Father above, and be saved through 
 
98 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 Christ who said, ' Suffer the little ones to come unto me ' ? 
 I know the dear little girl wishes to love God and follow 
 Jesus. Will she be a brave child, and just now in the 
 morning of her life bear the cross for that One who died 
 on the cross for her ? He rose again, and He is in Heaven, 
 where He is waiting to see her brave enough to tell these 
 people she loves Him. Will Agnes be the brave one He 
 asks her to be ? " 
 
 And the preacher's voice increased in tenderness, and 
 the benigiiity of his face became radiance as the child, 
 disengaging her hand from that of the woman by her side, 
 arose and said, 
 
 " Mithter Peters, I do want to love Jethuth." 
 
 " Dear girl," said the preacher, " He will bless you. He 
 does bless you."' 
 
 " Yeth, He duth." 
 
 " Thank God for thrt testimony, which I would believe 
 against a world to the contrary ! And," said the itinerant, 
 a sudden thought lighting his features, '* is there not an- 
 other here who will, with this child, begin the new 
 life ? " 
 
 Mrs Wilcutt quietly arose and was followed by several 
 others. One of these was Thomas Stedman, "Terrible 
 Tom," as he had been named because of his ability and 
 his liking to " whip anything that came along." Penitents 
 and preacher knelt as he spoke with Heaven in their be- 
 half. The group arising from their knees, he asked any 
 conscious of God's blessing them in their act, to acknow- 
 
I 
 
 JOHN PETERS. 99 
 
 ledge it by rising to their feet. All responded, Agnes 
 first ; whereat the man of God exclaimed, ''And a little 
 child shall lead them ! " and began singing, 
 
 "Angels now are hovering 'round us." 
 
 Then quoting the words, — " Come unto me, all ye that 
 labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," he 
 discoursed from it, emphasizing in his remarks the 
 word " all "' : — 
 
 " The child, the man of mature years, those who have 
 led respectable lives and those who have been a trouble 
 to their neighbors and a disgrace to themselves, those who 
 accept the proffered blessings before they have often 
 grieved the Spirit, and those who are so unwise as to wait 
 until the eleventh hour of their lives — to these, to all of 
 these, the Master says ' Come unto me and I will give you 
 rest.' Not one class is taken and another left, not one is 
 elected to be saved and the other predestined to eternal 
 damnation, but all are invited, and to all He will give 
 rest." 
 
 Elder Peters, though a man of great earnestness, was 
 not given to controversy. Yet he could not have uttered 
 words more likely than were these to awaken the ire of a 
 minister of the standing order. And, unknown to the 
 itinerant, such a minister was present. It was the ver- 
 itable Reverend Jonathan Edwards Barber, who occupied 
 a seat in a corner, where he was surrounded by Selectman 
 Barnes, Deacon Jones and Deacon Nason, Bill Jones, a 
 
lOO JOHN PETERS. 
 
 tythingman, and Bildad Beals. This last named worthy- 
 was clad in blue and brass, and was evidently inflated 
 with the consciousness of his recent achievements and 
 honors. The first intimation that Mr. Peters had of the 
 presence of Barber and his men was this sudden interrup- 
 tion by the Dayville minister : — 
 
 "I demur against these proceedings, which, under the 
 name of worship of God, are such that I must denounce 
 them as blasphemy ! Here we have the spectacle of a 
 man pretending to be called of God to preach, and yet 
 sanctioning a child's bringing flowers to a religious meet- 
 ing, thus leading the people to ' worship the creature 
 instead of the Creator ! ' This man pretending to be a 
 minister has the effrontery to say that those who are ' born 
 in sin and conceived in iniquity ' can be saved and begin a 
 Christian life in so short a time as one candle-light meet- 
 ing. Presuming still further, he scoffs at one of the 
 fundamental doctrines of the Scriptures that is taught in 
 all our churches, the good and helpful doctrine, that God 
 in His wisdom has chosen some for seats in His kingdom 
 and others He has from all eternity decreed to be cast 
 out forever ! This pretender assumes that children of 
 unelected parents can be saved in infancy, and here 
 furnishes an -illustration of his heresy in the case of the 
 child Agnes, daughter of one tainted with the dangerous 
 and unsound doctrine of the New Lights. I protest 
 against further proceedings of this kind. Being the 
 minister of the gospel in this parish, which includes 
 
JOHN PETERS. lOI 
 
 the Cross-rnads district, I forbid the New Light speaker 
 from further utterance ; and I shall call on Sheriff Beals 
 and his posse to sustain me." 
 
 Turnina: towards the itinerant, Barber said, looking with 
 the severity of a judge and increasing the iron-like quality 
 of his voice : — 
 
 " Mr. Peters, will you accept this rebuke and cease your 
 ranting ? If not, you shall suffer the provisions of the law 
 for public blaspheming, of which I pronounce you guilty ! " 
 
 There was a stillness as of death as Mr. Peters, calmly 
 turning his face toward the irate Barber, said : — 
 
 " I will not accept the rebuke, for I do not deserve it. 
 And, God helping me, I shall not cease to speak in the 
 name of Christ wherever I may be invited to speak by any 
 of the good people of the Wayfield circuit, which also 
 ' includes the Cross-roads district ' ! And, sir, denouncing 
 me though you do, as a blasphemer, I yet have that 
 respect for this place and this hour, and for the name of 
 the Master who taught His disciples to suffer rather than 
 do violence, that respect which leads me to refrain from 
 fitly describing your abuse. Yet abuse I must call it, if I 
 keep the spirit of a man within me. But from my heart 
 I pray God, for the sake of the Christ I love, to forgive 
 you. You and all yours I wish but good. Nothing have 
 I said to make myself personally obnoxious to you. But, 
 sir, speak I will the words I am moved to say." 
 
 Not to be defeated, Mr. Barber turned to his helpers 
 with : — 
 
I02 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 " Mr. Barnes, see that this man is put out of the house ! 
 Wait, however, till I say the word. Mr. Peters, do you 
 persist ? " 
 
 " I most certainly do." 
 
 Mr. Barber evidently had a new thought, and he took 
 the vase of flowers from the desk ^nd started for the door 
 to throw it out. And the itinerant bowed his head on the 
 desk, and in quiet earnestness of voice prayed, " God 
 lielp me.'' Help did come, and that in the person of 
 none other than " Terrible Tom," who arose to his feet 
 and thundered : — 
 
 " Priest Barber, you let them air flowers alone ! I'll 
 give you one half-minute to set that crockery down on 
 that air desk, or I may forgit my promise not to fight 
 any more. An' you can bet yer life, if Tom Stedman gits 
 his blood up, you'll have your hands full, 'foreordained 
 an' elected,' an' all the rest, if you air ! " 
 
 Not accustomed to interference, and from habit think- 
 ing himself master of this as he was of every situation, 
 Barber remained motionless where he had been halted by 
 the backwoods athlete, until Tom again commanded, 
 
 " Put them air flowers on that air desk instanter ! " 
 
 And seconding his orders by drawing up his sleeves and 
 striding towards the " priest," Tom brushed aside the 
 hands of Barnes and his men, that were stretched to 
 clutch him, and stood squarely in front of the preacher to 
 prevent his exit by the door. Glowering at the astounded 
 parson, Stedman again commanded, 
 
JOHN PETERS. 103 
 
 " Drop them air flowers or /'// drop you /" 
 
 Reluctantly turning, Barber placed the vase on the 
 desk ; and Stedman patronizingly addressed him : — 
 
 " There, now. it's a purty sayin' ef a little girl can't bring 
 posies to a meetin' and a preacher kind o' put 'em into his 
 sermon without bein' molested. You ought ter have more 
 manners 'n to raise a row in other folks's meetin's. Why 
 don't you go to your own gospel-shop 'n speechify ? Jest 
 'cause you couldn't git a baker's dozen to hear your stuff. 
 An' more'n all, it seems to me 't my poor dead mother 
 cnce read sunthin' out o' the Bible 'bout considerin' the 
 lilies, and that's what these flowers is here for. Ain't 
 that so, Mr. Peters.?" 
 
 " I think it is." 
 
 "And," Tom continued, " 'twon't be well, Priest Barber, 
 for you, or any other man, or a dozen like ye, to tackle 
 Mr. Peters, in or out o' meetin' ; for ' about these days,' 
 as the alminic says, Tom Stedman thinks a heap sight more 
 of Elder Peters than he used to, and Tom knows enough 
 about Scriptur' to know that if the Bible does say that 
 when a feller strikes ye on one cheek ye must turn to him 
 "tother also, there aint nothin' said about lettin' yer friends 
 git hit on either cheek. And Mr. Peters, allowin' he's 
 willin', is one o' Tom Stedman's friends. And Tom hopes 
 sometime to be good enough to be one of the kind that 
 Peters is, though grace has got a big work to do, Tom 
 Stedman allows. And if Elder Peters will let him, Tom 
 will tell how it all came about." 
 
I04 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 The preacher, thinking that his defender would say 
 something that would be pertinent if it was picturesque, 
 nodded his assent. 
 
 Mr. Barber had resumed his seat, and Barnes had not 
 the egotism to suppose that he was able to cope with Tom, 
 and was evidently strengthened in his conclusions to let 
 Tom alone by the fact that he noticed one or two others 
 whom he thought to be Tom's friends who would delight 
 to " make a meal of a fellow about Barnes's size," as one 
 of them whispered to another, " but I guess Tom won't 
 need any of our help, — if he does, here's what's goin' in." 
 And so Mr. Lemuel Barnes, " selectman of Dayville, fore- 
 ordained," etc., sat as meek as a lamb in a precinct of a 
 town where he supposed himself supreme. And Tom 
 proceeded with his " experience " : — 
 
 "Well, ye see, friends, one time last spring when I come 
 from choppin', on the mountains, over beyond Wayfil', 
 ' I hearn tell that Elder Peters was a-goin' to have a meetin' 
 over to Scrabble Holler, a mile from my mother's house. 
 Poor woman, my ways 'most broke her heart and she's 
 dead now, and I tell ye, Mr. Peters, it kind o' gits me, to 
 think how she prayed for me. It's no use to be hangin' 
 back, an' Ive got to come into ' the fold ' for her sake. Well, 
 ye see, when I hearn o' that meetin' I telled Bill Andrews, 
 that was kinder a chum o' mine, purty light-footed an' able 
 to run, while he 'lowed that I could do the stand-up-and- 
 knock-em-down part of the business, that we'd have some 
 fun that night ; that when Elder Peters went home a-horse- 
 
JOHN PETERS. I05 
 
 back M^e'd jest step out of a place back of the hemlocks, 
 down there in that long stretch of road beyond Scrabble 
 Holler, an' make him hold another meetin' by the road- 
 side an' preach us a sermon from a text thet we'd give 
 him, an' have him stand on a rock fur his pulpit. Well, 
 we wuz there waitin' fur him, an' when he come along, Bill 
 stepped out kind o' nimble, follered by me, and Bill sed, 
 ' Ole Peters, you stop,' — and grabbed the horse's reins. 
 And that air preacher sot there as cool as a cowcumber 
 and telled us th't we must let him go along, for he'd got 
 to be about his Master's business. ' No,' sez I, Bill still 
 holding the straps, 'you've got to be about our business 
 now.' ' Let me go,' said Peters ; but Bill still hung to the 
 luther and I told Peters 'twas no use, he'd got to git down 
 off that air horse. But I'd no sooner spit out them air 
 words than that preacher struck such an all-fired blow be- 
 tween Bill's eyes, that Bill, he give one screamin' yell, and 
 with his hands on his eyes, cut sticks for home, the best he 
 knew, leavin' me to fight it out with the parson. And 
 Peters didn't let much space o' period come a-tween 
 that side-winder on Bill's eyes and his lightin' down of'n 
 his horse with his hand a-hold o' my throat and me a-fallin' 
 flop in the road, and him skyward to me. ' Now Tom 
 Stedman,' sez he, ' blessed be the Lord that teacheth my 
 hands to war and my fingers to fight,' or sunthin' like that. 
 And sez he, 'Tom, I'll let ye up when ye promise me that 
 ye'll never merlest a Methodist preacher agin in all yer 
 life.' ' Nary a promise,' sez I, 'Tom Stedman don't knock 
 
Io6 JOHM PETERS. 
 
 under.' 'Then,' said he, a tightenin' his g,np that he'd 
 kinder loosed up on, 'you may find that Elder Peters 
 belongs to the church militant and also to the church 
 triumphant.' An' I tried an' tried to git away from 
 Peters, but 'twasn't no use, an' I said, ' Elder, ye've got me, 
 an' I guess I'll have to strike my colors ; and now, Parson, 
 what's yer terms o' surrender ? ' And he said, ' Promise 
 me ye'll never merlest a preacher on this or any other 
 circuit, and that ye'll read yer Bible every day, allowin' for 
 time that ye're sick, and say the Lord's prayer and try to 
 lead a better life.' 'Well,' sez I, 'that's fair, but how 
 about the Lord's prayer ? My mother would ha' teeched 
 me, but I never would learn that, and I don't hardly know 
 how to read.' ' Well,' said he, ' now Tom, sit up here and 
 I'll teech ye the Lord's prayer ; ' and he began, ' Our Father,' 
 and went on through the rest on it, I follerin' in the path, 
 though it was a new road for me and I kinder stumbled. 
 An' then he said over some verses he said was a hymn, 
 suthin' about a soldier of a cross, an' I must ' fight if 
 I would reign.' Then he made me kneel down, an' 
 he prayed. So, ye see, Tom Stedman and Elder Peters 
 had a meetin', but Peters was boss instid o' Tom Stedman, 
 And now, folks, I've been a-thinkin' o' this matter a long 
 time, and the more I thought on it the more I felt like 
 sayin', 'Tom, jest turn round now and make a man o' 
 yourself.' With that idee I come up here, havin' heard o' 
 this meetin'. When Peters axed em to stan' up for Jesus, 
 I said, 'Tom Stedman, that's' you,' and I riz right up, and 
 
JOHN PETERS. 107 
 
 I meant it. But it takes a good deal o' grace to keep a 
 fellers temper, and when Priest Barber went to orderin' 
 folks around, where it wasn't his meetin', I thought I'd 
 not only stan' up for Jesus but fur Elder Peters, too. 
 Barber's dried up now, an' I guess things'll be all 
 right." 
 
 The woodman's speech needed not an " application," 
 and the itinerant, seeing his opportunity to return to the 
 theme with which he had begun the services, said : — 
 
 " My friends, God is indeed good, to give us such a 
 beautiful world. And I thank this child for bringing her 
 offering to the house of the Lord. Let me predict that 
 her act, the first of the kind, I venture to say, ever done 
 in this region, will not be the last by many ; that her 
 bringing flowers to the place of prayer will be copied 
 again and again. So shall be fulfilled the scripture, 
 *A little child shall lead them.' " Lowering his voice to 
 the sweetest tenderness, he said, " Will Agnes come to 
 me ? " Encouraged by the winsome tones, the girl 
 stepped before the desk and whispered, as she looked up 
 to the kind face, " Yeth thir,"' and Peters continued : — 
 
 " It must have been vexing to you to see a man rudely 
 take those flowers to throw them away. You were hurt at 
 heart, and I think Jesus felt hurt, too. Not for the 
 flowers; for He is in heaven, where rarer flowers bloom 
 than ever sweetened the zephyrs of earth — but He was 
 grieved to see a man offend a child. Yet He did not hate 
 that man, but hated his wrong-doing. He loves that man, 
 
I08 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 for He loves all men. And now, He asks you to forgive 
 the man." 
 
 " It ith pretty hard, Mithter Peterth," said Agnes 
 sobbing. 
 
 " Yes, I know it, but Jesus asks it. Will you do it .'' " 
 
 " Yeth, I will," and the great tears told of the tenderness 
 of the wounded heart, that, touched by the spirit of the 
 Master, could forgive one who had wronged her. 
 
 And the good man look her up gently in his arms, 
 where she sobbed aloud. Touched to tears and to silence 
 by this scene, the audience waited, with reverence and 
 respect evident on every face. Even that of Mr. Barber 
 showed for a time an apparent approach to tenderness, 
 which, however, soon gave place to his native severity. 
 
 When Agnes had joined Mrs. Wilcutt, Elder Peters 
 began another colloquy : — 
 
 " Will Mr. Stedman come here ? " 
 
 " Yes, Elder Peters." And the tall man came forward, 
 extending his hand and saying, " Glad to see you. Elder 
 Peters ; and ready for anything you ax me.'' 
 
 " You have told how you promised that you would begin 
 to lead a better life, and I believe you have kept your word. 
 You have read your Bible as well as you could and have 
 said the Lord's prayer, have you ? " 
 
 " Not as often as I ought to, but a good many times 
 since I promised." 
 
 " Now you have said you came here to begin to be a 
 better man." 
 
, JOHN PETERS. IO9 
 
 " I was one o' them that riz for prayers." 
 
 " By that act you asked God to forgive you." 
 
 "I did." 
 
 "And he declares that if we want to be forgiven we 
 must forgive our enemies, those that oifend us, as Mr. 
 Barber offended you and the little girl." 
 
 " Is that in the Book, too ? " 
 
 "It is." 
 
 " Well, 'twas rather hard to ask a little girl to forgive a 
 big man what took the flowers that she sot such a store by 
 that she would fetch 'em to meetin', but she forgived him 
 like a little lady. And I s'pose you're thinkin' the likes 
 o' me ought to do as much as a little girl and forgive 
 Priest Barber, too." 
 
 " That's it, Mr. Stedman." 
 
 "Well, Elder Peters, it would ha' been nuff sight easier 
 for Tom Stedman to thrash Priest Barber and the fellers 
 what came to help him than to forgive 'em. But if I must 
 I must, an' — an' — an' — I — well, Tom Stedman, this is the 
 toughest fight yet ; but here goes, and here. Elder Peters, 
 is my hand, from this out." 
 
 "And I know you mean it all. You thrashed the 
 Devil by conquering yourself enough to forgive Mr. Barber. 
 And by that conquering you developed the power for self- 
 control, which is one of the best elements of character, and 
 you have fulfilled your part of the obligations that give 
 God the opportunity to keep his word and forgive you, 
 and I know He will keep His word." 
 
no JOHN PETERS. 
 
 " Wh}-, Elder Peters, it seems 's ef He has already. 
 Leastwise, Tom Stedman never felt so well in his life." 
 
 " Of course He forgives you now. It doesn't take God 
 long to do His work when we fulfill our part." 
 
 And thus, quick to see his opportunity, did the man of 
 God preach Christ and give an illustration of the doctrines 
 of the gospel. 
 
 Tom Stedman, whom the standing order regarded as a 
 reprobate, " elected to eternal damnation,"' had really 
 manly qualities, such as are the foundation for a grand 
 character. Though known as a fighter and dreaded as 
 the terror of the region, he never attacked the defenseless, 
 and the worst pounding he ever gave anyone, and the only 
 " punishment '" he had inflicted in a long time was 
 administered to pay the fellow for an assault on a help- 
 less old man. An act or word that wounded the feel- 
 ings of the sensitive would touch Tom to the quick 
 and enlist him in defense. He was a man of clean 
 lips and of respect for \vomen. His new experience, 
 especially exercising the spirit of forgiveness, awak- 
 ened his better self to that growth which is sure promise 
 of high fruition. 
 
 After noting a list of names of those wishing to join a 
 class, and appointing a meeting for the next Tuesday 
 evening. Elder Peters pronounced the benediction, and 
 left the Cross-roads school-house with the neighbors who 
 were going in the direction of his lodgings. Two of the 
 people who had been getting acquainted with each other, 
 
JOHN PETERS. Ill 
 
 were Agnes Smith and the wood-chopper. Shying up to 
 him she said : — 
 
 " Tom Thtedman, they thay thuthe been a naughty man. 
 But thuthe going to be better. It wath real good in thu 
 to thtop Mithter Barber from thwoing thothe flowerth 
 away. And I'm glad thu forgave him." 
 
 This was too much for the man, and, acting up to the 
 best impulses of his heart, he caught the child in his arms 
 and kissed her, saying, " No wonder some one said in the 
 Bible, suffer the likes o^ ye to come unto Him. May- 
 Tom Stedman be your friend as long as he is good ? " 
 
 "Thu may." 
 
 " Tom Stedman will ; and he hopes to live so you will 
 not be ashamed of him.*' 
 
 When, just as the group neared the Smith house, Mrs. 
 Wilcutt came up to resume charge of Agnes, and hastily 
 took the girl's hand and walked ahead of the company, 
 she had no thought of rudeness, but her admiration for 
 Tom was so much that she did not wish to manifest it in 
 his presence. As the group were tarrying at the door, to 
 learn from one of their number the condition of Mr. 
 Smith, Agnes, who had disengaged herself from Mrs. 
 Wilcutt, came up to Stedman, saying, " Where do thu 
 live ? " 
 
 "Over most to Scrabble Holler, in an old houge mother 
 lived in. An' I oughter fixed it up afore she died." 
 
 " It mutht be too fur for thu to go there to-night." 
 
 " It's ten miles, little one." 
 
112 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 Then springing up the steps, into the house, Agnes 
 whispered to her mother, 
 
 " Tom Thtedman livth ten mileth off, and I Avith he 
 could thtay here ; but all the roomth will be full." 
 
 Stedman, who had divined the child's errand, entered 
 the door, saying, " It is too far for me to go tD Scrabble 
 Holler, to-night, an' ef your father has a buffalo robe and 
 has some hay in the barn, I'll stay there, and talk Avith the 
 stars that I'll see shinin' through, tellin' me of God and 
 those you Call angels." 
 
 "Stay and welcome," said Mr. Smith, "and be sure 
 you come in for breakfast." 
 
 " Good-night, little girl, an' all you folks — "' and Tom 
 was soon in the barn repeating the Lord's prayer as a 
 prelude to his talk with the stars. 
 
 " How would you like to come and do my farm work, 
 Tom ? " said Mr. Smith the next morning, " We will treat 
 you well here. I must have some one to work for me, 
 for the fates have fixed me so that I can do nothing." 
 
 "I ruther think I'd like to Avork for you; an' here, I 
 shall be purty likely to be rid o' them fellers down thar to 
 Scrabble Holler, and p'r'aps that's your idee in askin' me. 
 So I'll be up here next week, bright 'n airly Monday 
 mornin'. An" here's wishin' ye good-bye an' quick mendin' 
 that broken leg o' yourn." 
 
 In the discussion of the all-absorbing topic of the meet- 
 ing of the New Lights, great prominence was given the 
 
JOHN PETERS. II3 
 
 discomfiture of Mr. Barber in his attempts to silence 
 Elder Peters. This was anything but pleasant to the 
 minister of the standing order, and he thought to retaliate by 
 prosecuting the itinerant for unlawful meetings and teaching 
 heresy. Accompanied by Selectman Barnes, Mr. Barber 
 called on Esquire Albert Belmont for warrants for the 
 arrest of the Wesleyan preacher and his convert. Mr. 
 Belmont, who was the justice remaining to Dayville after 
 the death of Esquire Williams, was regarded as having " a 
 mind of his own," and showed it, by declining to comply 
 with their request for a precept. On hearing the refusal, 
 Mr. Barnes said : — 
 
 " You remember that note of five hundred dollars, 
 the note with the mortgage on the pasture ? It would be 
 difficult for you to raise the money ; the note will be due 
 very soon, and that lot would be a fine addition to my 
 farm ! " 
 
 Looking, as if for assurance, to his daughter and con- 
 fidant, the justice replied : — 
 
 " Sir, you have gone altogether too far ! The attempt 
 to intimidate a magistrate clearly makes you amenable 
 to the law. Yet, wishing to take no undue advantage of 
 you, I will copy the excellent Elder Peters and forgive you 
 for this instance of insolence, which, if repeated, I shall 
 rebuke with a fine for both offences.'' 
 
 Though hindered in their purpose. Barber and his man 
 could not yet give it up, and that very day drove to Way- 
 field in quest of the coveted papers. One magistrate, to 
 
114 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 whom they appeared, frankly avowed his belief in the New 
 Light doctrine and his liking for Elder Peters. The com- 
 mission of another magistrate had expired, and the last 
 resort was Esquire Harrison, who not only refused the 
 desired warrant, but who, when his visitors had gone, re- 
 marked to his clerk : — 
 
 •'Jameson, if what I have learned is correct, there was 
 some law-breaking done at that meeting at the Cross- 
 roads, and the offender is not Elder Peters, but the very 
 man who seeks his prosecution. Make out a warrant for 
 signing and I'll carry it to Peters and see if he will con- 
 sent to the prosecution of his persecutors. It's little I 
 care for New Lights or standing order, but I do care for 
 justice, and I confess to a liking for that preacher Mr. 
 Peters, because of his manliness and evident sincerity." 
 
 When, the next day, Mr. Harrison called on the itinerant, 
 at his lodgings at Smith's, and proposed legal interference 
 in his behalf, pointing out to him, also, the abundance of 
 proof of Barber's disturbing a religious meeting, Mr. 
 Peters replied : — 
 
 " You are right, Mr. Harrison, and I thank you for the 
 interest you manifest in me by your offer to prosecute Mr. 
 Barber. But I guess we'll forgive him. The very fact of 
 your coming to me with this errand will give me encour- 
 agement, and when, in time, your visit becomes, through 
 others than myself — and I shall never speak of it — when 
 it becomes known to the people it will heighten their esti- 
 mate of me. And let us hope that no disturbance of the 
 
JOHN PETERS. II5 
 
 kind caused by Mr. Barber happens again. My refus- 
 ing to accept your kind proffer will be in keeping with the 
 doctrine of forgiveness which, at my asking, two of those 
 who attended the meeting illustrated on the spot. One of 
 them was Mr. Stedman, who publicly forgave Mr. Barber 
 after he, Stedman, had by his peculiar methods, restored 
 order. The other was Agnes Smith, the little girl, who 
 brought to the meeting an offering of flowers, one of the 
 features of the occasion which incensed the Dayville 
 minister." 
 
 " What, any man cruel enough to dislike the beautiful 
 act of a child bringing flowers to a meeting ! And Tom 
 Stedman, who could have whipped Barber and a dozen 
 others, the man who so delighted in ' regulating ' things 
 with his fists, this man who could have driven the whole 
 company from the house, he forgave one who had offended 
 him ? " 
 
 " Verily, Mr. Harrison ; and Mr. Stedman is going to be 
 a different man." 
 
 " He always would keep his word. Once he told me 
 if I would not issue a warrant for his arrest he would 
 come to my office and settle for a little affair wherein the 
 other man was the most to blame ; and Tom came 
 around on time, when he might have absconded. I be- 
 lieved in him ; the belief did him good, and he honored 
 my trust in him. I will never call him ' Tom ' again, but 
 Mr. Stedman." 
 
 " That is right ; addressing him as Mr. Stedman is 
 
Il6 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 saying, without saying, that he is entitled to respect and 
 that you wish to accord him that respect." 
 "Just how came the issue at the meeting?" 
 " Mr. Barber undertook to throw the vase of flowers out 
 of doors, which, of conrse, wounded the feelings of the 
 child who brought them. The cruelty touched the manly 
 heart of Stedman and he ordered the minister to desist 
 and made him do it. After a little, acting up to the 
 impulse of the moment, I asked the little girl, and then 
 Stedman, to forgive the intruder ; and, one after the other, 
 they did. This, you see, was illustrating the teachings of 
 the Master, who said * Love thine enemy.' Should I not act 
 in keeping with the spirit which I ask others to exhibit ? " 
 "Your teachings are indeed beautiful, and the effect 
 can be only good. Your practice is consistent with your 
 preaching. Your religion, as you call it, or philosophy, as 
 I should term it, is indeed admirable, I can but commend 
 your course, and if you ever need more friends than you 
 have, call on Andrew M. Harrison." 
 
 Conscious of the increasing importance of the religious 
 situation at Dayville and vicinity, the loquacious farm 
 hand of Barnes's, on entering the potato-field, of a morning, 
 soon after the Cross-roads meeting, thus exclaimed over 
 the latest developments : — 
 
 " By the seven-fold shield of Ajax, the great horn spoons 
 of Noo Hampshear, and kingdom come ! I'll be gol 
 darned to Texas an' back agin ef " 
 
JOHN PETERS. ixy 
 
 And Mike Tobin, who had been at work an hour before 
 his associate arrived, dropped his hoe and rushed up to 
 him, exclaiming, in mingled wonder and merriment: — 
 
 "An' fwhat is it, Bill Joanes ? Yer flourishes is so long 
 I didn't know but ye'd bust, an' shure ; an' I thought, 'pon 
 me sowl, I'd hev ter prevint an accidint ; bedad, an' I did ! " 
 
 " No, Mike ; but I'll be blasted to blazes ef that air 
 Priest Barber an' ole Barnes " 
 
 " Bill Joanes, ye'd bether be more rispictful to yer 
 imployer, bedad. Bill Joanes." 
 
 "Ah, Mike, I aint afeared uv ole Barnes. An' as I 
 wuz sayin', ef Priest Barber an' ole Barnes haven't ben to 
 swear out the dockeymuntz ter 'rest Elder Peters fer 
 holdin' unlawful meetin's an' publicly teechin' heresy, an' 
 to 'rest Tom Stedman fer ' salt ' by timurdation ! though 
 what timurdation means I don't know. I hearn thet they 
 fust tried ter get the dockeymuntz fer takin' Peters fer 
 unlawful meetin's and teechin' what-do-ye-call it an' Tom 
 fer 'salt an' butter'; but Square Belmont said thet ef 
 Tom didn't tech any one there was no ' butter ' 'bout it an' 
 'twas all ' salt,' ef 'twas anythin'. An' thet Peters hadn't 
 teecht anythin' bad nor held meetin's agin the law, An' 
 he thought he'd not gin 'em the dockeymuntz 't all, fer 
 'restin' fer heresy, er ' salt,' er ' butter.' An' thet Priest 
 Barber blustered up sunthin' 'bout encroachin' on the 
 prorogatives of the watchman of Zine wouldn't be thought 
 well on in the churches. An' Barnes, he, undertook to play 
 a game o' bluff. But the square, he, didn't budge er inch. 
 
Il8 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 So Priest Barber an' the ole man went over ter Wayfil', 
 ter git the dockej'muntz from one o' the squares there. 
 Two on 'em refused p"int blank, one 'cause lie'd let his 
 kurmission run aout, an' t'other 'cause he didn't like the 
 idee uv the thing. An' when the Priest an' the guv'ner 
 come ter Square Harrison, thet feller drew hisself up an' 
 said Priest Barber'd orter be in better bizness thun stirrin' 
 up strife 'mong his nabers. An' ef them air two fellers 
 didn't come back from Wayfil' with heads daown, then 
 Bill Jones haint no good at guessin'," 
 
 " Is that so ? An' I hayered Barber made a hape o' 
 fuss about a little gerrl hevin' some fluers to meetin' ; 
 an' shure fwhat harrum was there in fluers at the 
 meetin' ? " 
 
 " Well, I'll be blamed, Mike Tobin, ef I dont venture a 
 V thet Peters is comin' aout ahead in the hul bizness. 
 Yer see, when the ole man an' Barber'd gone frum Square 
 Harrison's, the square thort it over, an' started with the 
 papers fer havin' both on 'em 'rested, instid o' the New 
 Light man, ef he would say the word. An' though the 
 square urged that air preacher to put the two fellers 
 through an' tole him the right wuz on his side, he wouldn't 
 take the law on 'em, an' fergived 'em there an' then. 
 That's doin' good ter yer enemies, sartin sure. An' nobody 
 ken say thet Peters is takin' 'vantage of any one." 
 
 "An' shure. Paters is a dacint man, thin, bedad, an' he 
 is, an' shure. Bill Joanes ! " 
 
 Here the dialogue was interrupted by the appearance 
 
JOHN TETERS. lig 
 
 of two of Bill's Scrabble Hollow acquaintances, whom he 
 thus greeted, as they entered the held : — 
 
 " Hello, Sam Biggs an' Jake Andrews ; how are ye, 
 fellers ! " 
 
 " Booty considerable. Bill Jones ; an' we jes want ter 
 see if you'll jine us in some fun fer next week." 
 
 And there was a brief confidential conference near the 
 road- side fence, in which the trio participated, and the 
 result of which Mike learned as Bill started to return, and 
 said in very emphatic tones : — 
 
 " No sirree, fellers, ef the court understands herself. 
 Bill Jones don't perpose ter jine in no sech doin's, an' ye'd 
 better let out the job. Haint ye hearn tell as haow Tom 
 Stedman's gin aout word thet he's not gwine ter let Peters 
 be merlested .-' " 
 
 "What," said Biggs, "Tom Stedman helpin' Elder 
 Peters ! An' I'll hazard a fou'-punce-ha'-penny, six times 
 ov^r, thet he'll turn New Light, too ! " • 
 
 " Dun it a-ready, fellers, sartin as the sunrise ! " 
 
 As Sam and Jake reentered the highway, the former 
 took a large quid from a roll of " fine-cut " and stowed it 
 away in the " ofl'-side " of his mouth, and, with the air of 
 one seeking to establish or continue fraternal relations, 
 passed the precious package to his confrere, remarking : — 
 
 " Dip deep, Jake — an" ef thet air don't beat the Dutch, 
 Tom Stedman turned New Light ! \\'al I swa-o-u-w to 
 goodness gracious! 'Sartin as the sunrise,' sez Bill 
 Jones; an' who knows but Bill's thinkin' o' jinin', tew? 
 
I20 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 An' Jake, sposin' this thing should be too many fer fellers 
 like us ? " 
 
 " Wal, Sam, jes likely uz not. An', then we'll hev ter 
 gin up some o' aour loafin, an' try ter be somebody. An' 
 mebbe we'll hev ter quit terbacker an' those big words o' 
 cum. Fer, they say Peters makes 'em do suthin' besides 
 perfessin' — them what starts aout in his meetin's. " 
 
 " You're jes' right. But Peters don't feel erbuv a feller ; 
 leastwise ef he don't git daown inter the mud hisself, — 
 an' he don't — he puts out a han' to a feller an" lifts him 
 aout on't." 
 
 " I say, Sam, ef you jine I'll foller suit." 
 
 "Agreed, fer. next time thet Peters holds forth ter the 
 Cross-roads er Scrabble Holler, 'cordin' ez we ken fetch it 
 'bout." 
 
 And the " agreement" was carried into effect, not long 
 after, and the names of Samuel Biggs and Jacob Andrews 
 were duly inscribed on the " class-book " at the Cross- 
 roads, they preferring to become members there rather 
 than at the " Hollow," thinking it best to leave their 
 former belongings and in a new place begin a new life. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HEREDITY AND INDENTURE. 
 
 THOUGH it may seem strange and incredible, it is 
 nevertheless a truth, that, while the physical self of 
 a child must have two parents, the soul of a child, 
 and therefore the child's real self, may have but one 
 parent. And, another truth being that soul or spirit is 
 transmissible and must be transmitted to offspring, it 
 follows from the two truths that one of the parents of the 
 physical self of a child who has a soul of single parentage, 
 must have had no soul. For, did that parent have a soul, 
 then, another truth being that spirit is, and must be, 
 harmonious with itself, that soul, blent with the soul of 
 the other parent of the physical self of the child, would 
 have been transmitted the inheritance of that child, who 
 would th'js have a complete soul, or rather who would 
 thus be a complete entity and not the incomplete soul of a 
 single parentage. Fortunate beyond computation the 
 child with soul of dual parentage. Fortunate in that, he 
 will be likely to carry his spirituality dominant, serenely 
 and constantly regnant, over the animal, the earthly, the 
 selfish, of his composite being, and likely to build a 
 symmetrical character, develop a full and strong person- 
 ality, and lead a beautiful life. 
 
122 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 With a soul from one of the parents of his physical self, 
 a child may inherit, O, terrible fate ! the earthliness, the 
 selfishness of the soulless parent of that physical self. * And 
 if the child with the inherited incomplete soul have no 
 special inheritance of selfishness to overcome, it will be a 
 great undertaking to bring that child to his best develop- 
 ment, and so to his best ability for achievement, to the 
 right of possession of which ability even his incomplete 
 soul points. Yet to this, to which his soul, if completed, 
 would entitle him, he can not attain until that soul be 
 thus developed. And that result will come, must come, 
 in a degree at least, through the influence, the inspiration, 
 of some soul that shall be his foster parent. If hard the 
 work of developing the incomplete soul, against which 
 there is not arrayed a great selfishness of nature, how 
 difficult, and in cases how almost impossible, the task of 
 bringing the incomplete soul to its full development when 
 there is earthliness and selfishness in the child for the 
 spirituality, the soul, to combat ! And what must be the 
 result when there is earthliness, selfishness, enough to 
 require a complete spirituality to conquer, and little, if any 
 soul to war against that selfishness ! What a work for 
 culture ! What a work for divine grace ! And what a 
 demand for charity in judging those who err ! What 
 battles the spiritual self of the fallen man may have fought 
 with the earthliness, before he fell ! What persistency of 
 patient work, what magnificent bravery, may his soul have 
 displayed before it was vanquished ! 
 
JOHN PETERS. 1 23 
 
 How suggestive in this connection and of what tremen- 
 dous importance is the question of the sage of Concord, 
 " Can you help a soul ? " O, ye of high spirituality, to 
 what grand mission do that question and the needs of 
 humanity summon you ! Have you the acquaintance of 
 one whose soul has no father and who is possessed of the 
 idea that because the man, the male human, who is the 
 father of her physical self, is selfish, all men are selfish ? 
 Lead her up to a noble womanhood, where, rid of the 
 idea to the possession of which, though it is false, she 
 honestly and inevitably came, she shall be admired by 
 noble men and true women. Has a boy's soul the incom- 
 pleteness of a lack of the parentage of a mother soul ? 
 Noble woman, you whose spiritual ken discerns his needs, 
 are you not by that power to discern, by the words of the 
 great Emerson, and by the numberless hints, injunctions, 
 and commands that gleam on the pages of the Old Book, 
 called to be his foster mother? called to develop his 
 spirituality or to teach him to develop it ? called to lead 
 him up from his earthliness, from his selfishness, to the 
 estate of noble manhood, wherein he shall be admirable in 
 the eyes of noble women and fit to be companion of one 
 of them ? In that estate he will be wise enough to seek 
 one fit for him, and brave enough to seek, even if fearing 
 defeat in the quest, and sensible and strong enough to 
 accept defeat, and just enough to think even kindly of the 
 one who refuses, knowing that it is something to his credit 
 to have been defeated by one " worthy of his steel." And 
 
124 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 such an one will, in the very refusal, give the manly suitor 
 hint and help to further search and final success. Honest 
 effort leads, at last, if not at once, to achievement. 
 
 This kinship of soul determines love, and should be 
 allowed to determine the control and culture of the child. 
 But laws of human making do not take note of such kin- 
 ship. So, when the child with soul of single parentage is 
 robbed by death of the parent of that soul, whom, of 
 course, he loves, the law gives full control of the child to 
 the remaining parent of his physical self, who is not in the 
 least akin to the child's soul and who is, therefore, not 
 akin to his real self. 
 
 The boy Edward Atherton, now fatherless by the death 
 of the one from whom he inherited his soul, and whose 
 real self has always been motherless, how sadly orphaned 
 is he ! How worse than orphaned, with the only parent 
 gone that his real self ever had ! Why was not the other 
 parent taken and the boy left to the teaching of the one to 
 whom he was akin and whom he loved ? Or why was not 
 the little one taken with the father to heaven and the 
 tuitioning of the angels ! Instead, he is left to the control 
 of the one who is only the mother of his physical self, 
 who is not akin to him, and who despises him for all the 
 high qualities which make him akin to the one who is 
 gone ! This, in a day when it is thought that the best 
 thing to do for a child is to govern him, that is, to tyrannize 
 over him. And all the more important the tyranny if the 
 child is possessed of a fine nature, of sentiment, of imagi- 
 
JOHN PETERS. 12 5 
 
 nation, of a soul ! Control of this child of gentle nature, 
 the finest quality and the beginning of the noblest aspira- 
 tions, given to one whose only fitness for control is the 
 capacity of a coarse will-power to tyrannize ! Control of 
 this rare child given to one who, had she one spark of soul 
 about her, would ask to sit at his feet and learn of him ! 
 
 And the week following the funeral did Mehetabel 
 Simpkins, " she that was," for the circumstance of the 
 ceremony by which she acquired the legal right to the 
 name of Atherton, — which she disparaged, — write the full 
 name of Mehetabel Simpkins Atherton on a paper, "binding 
 out" the boy, who, because of the aforesaid circumstance 
 of ceremony and the circumstance of her being the 
 mocher of his physical self, was legally in her control ! 
 
 Lemuel Barnes, selectman of Dayville and foreordained 
 and elected to be saved, " conferred with the bereaved "' 
 and thought it would be well " to place the boy in the 
 keeping of one who would hold a firm and even hand 
 over him,'' and suggested as the man eminently fit "for 
 the master of the boy," Deacon David Grout of Hardland. 
 And " hoping the God of all grace would comfort the 
 hearts of the widow and the fatherless," he retired, taking 
 with him several " ole papers with sum pensul marks on 
 'em th't my man used to spend his time a-makin'," as the 
 aforesaid Mehetabel Simpkins Atherton remarked when 
 she brought them forth, at Barnes's asking, from " 'tother 
 room." This asking was made in a manner that did not 
 indicate the papers to be of importance. And she did 
 
126 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 not know, and Barnes did not know, that the lot was 
 minus one paper. But it was. Finely drawn plots some- 
 times lack their essential feature, and that feature, in other 
 hands, may become the central element in the scheme to 
 overthrow them. Concerning his drawings of the model 
 of an invention Mr. Atherton had chanced to speak when 
 calling at the house of the Cross-roads miller. This fact 
 was remembered by Mrs. Taylor when, on the Monday 
 after the funeral, she saw Edward coming to the house of 
 Mrs. Williams, with whom she still remained as com- 
 panion in her sorrows. A motherly woman like her will 
 inspire the readiest response from a boy, especially one 
 who is starved for a mother. And when she asked him 
 to bring one of his father's drawings he answered in a 
 trice, running to the little brown house and returing with 
 a paper labeled with his own name, in his father's 
 handwriting. 
 
 " This is a good thing to remember our neighbor by," 
 soliloquized Mrs. Taylor, and placing her hand on the 
 boy's head she said, " My little man, this ought to be 
 saved for you. I'll keep it, if you wish. It is marked 
 ' For Edward.' " 
 
 " Yes, Mrs. Taylor, keep it safe ; I shall want to see 
 where father wrote my name." 
 
 " Indeed I will, Edward, and when you are grown up 
 you shall have the paper." 
 
 Did something whisper to the good woman as she 
 soliloquized, " Who knows but that paper will be of im- 
 
JOHN PETERS, 127 
 
 portance some time ? A good deal has been said about 
 Mr. Barnes's getting drawings from Atherton for little or 
 nothin'. And somehow Barnes's great house, and fine 
 furniture, and four-horse carriage, big stun walls round his 
 'home lot,' and Mrs. Barnes's silk gownds, and Nelson's 
 silk hat and all the rest, seem more than one farm in 
 Dayville can pay for." 
 
 The day after Barnes's call on Mrs. Atherton, the 
 Reverend Jonathan Edwards Barber called, and of course 
 he found the woman " pleased to see her dear pawster." 
 He "came to suggest the propriety" of her heeding Mr. 
 Barnes's advice about Edward, and to say that he would 
 write and have Brother Barrett inform her corcerning the 
 one to whom she meditated committing the boy. 
 
 By due course of mail passed the following correspond- 
 ence, which explains itself : — 
 
 " Hardland, June — , 185—. 
 Mrs, Mehetakel Simpkins Atherton :— 
 
 Dear Madam : Pleased that the Lord has moved the Reverend 
 Jonathan Edwards Barber, your pastor, to request me to write to you 
 concerning Deacon David Grout, to whom you propose indenturing 
 your boy, I respond by saying that I consider Deacon Grout, as does 
 every one else in the church, a most excellent man. He is one who 
 ' ruleth well his own household ' and is a man of well ordered life and 
 godly conversation. He is industrious and eminently practical in 
 secular affairs, and is faithful in matters pertaining to Christ's king- 
 dom. I most thoroughly believe him to be a man of deep piety, sound 
 on the decrees and minor points of doctrine, and one of God's elect 
 unto eternal salvation. Fortunate for your boy will it be if you place 
 him in the care of this worthy man. May we not confidently hope 
 that, in this fact of your son's coming to live in his family and under 
 
128 JOHN PETERS, 
 
 his care, there is evidence that the boy is also one of those whom the 
 Divine Will has elected to be saved? May we not believe that he to 
 whom God shows such marked favor as to order that he have this 
 golden opportunity for improvement, especially the benefit of the ex- 
 ample of this servant of the Lord, is one of God's chosen on earth, 
 who, in the fullness of time, shall be gathered into the heavenly king- 
 dom, to go no more out forever I 
 
 Dear Madam, you must have found a terrible ordeal, in the dispen- 
 sation of Providence which removed from you the partner of your 
 joys. And of that bereavement the necessity to part with your son is 
 one of the unpleasant results. But may we not see, in this trial, a new 
 proof that you also are one of God's foreordained and elected ? For 
 'whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.' Trusting that j'ou will see 
 the divine hand in these events, that culminate in your son's going to 
 so good a place to live, going where he will have ' line upon line, and 
 precept upon precept,' and be under the very ' droppings of the sanc- 
 tuary,' asking you to make this entire subjet a matter of prayer, and 
 always in your aftlictLon to remember that 
 
 ' G( d moves in a mysterious way, 
 
 His wcinaers to perform; 
 He plants His footsteps in the sea 
 And rides upon the storm ; ' 
 
 and to remember that, in your experiences, as in the lives of all His 
 
 elect, 
 
 ' His purposes will ripen fast. 
 Unfolding every hour ; 
 The bud may have a bitter taste. 
 But sweet will be the flower,' 
 
 I am, dear madam, respectfully yours, 
 
 ' Abimelech Barrett, 
 Pastor of the Hardland Church of Christ." 
 
 " Dayville, June — , 185—. 
 Dear Brother Barrett :— 
 
 Your letter has been received by Mrs. Atherton, and although she 
 seems loth to part with her son, she has acted on the suggestions of 
 yourself, Mr. Barnes and her pastor, and will send the boy to Deacon 
 
JOHN PETERS. I29 
 
 Grout. The papers of indenture are being made out this (Saturday) 
 afternoon, and a week hence Mr. Barnes will take the boy to his 
 master. I hope he will instruct the lad how to work and will not 
 allow him to acquire the habits of shiftlessness which his father had, 
 and that both yourself and Mr. Grout will see to it that he is instructed 
 in the Westminster Assembly's catechisms, longer and shorter, and 
 will take care that in all things he is ' brought up in the nurture and 
 admonition of the Lord.' 
 
 Wishing you grace, mercy and peace, I am. 
 
 Fraternally yours in the gospel ministry, 
 
 Jonathan Edwards Barber, 
 Pastor of the Dayville Church of Christ." 
 
 According to plan, Lemuel Barnes, "selectman, foreor- 
 dained," etc., carried the boy to his " master " at the ap- 
 pointed time ; and Mr. Barnes's farm-hands thus discussed 
 the event as they strolled toward the Cross-roads the 
 evening following the lad's departure : — 
 
 " I'll be consarned, Mike Tobin, ef 'taint too gol darned 
 bad that Dr. Johnson, or somebody else like him, couldn't 
 a-tuck the Atherton boy and gin him a good bringin' up ! 
 Instid o' that, ole Barnes has got him bound out up to 
 Hardland, to a feller just like the ole man, — Grout, I 
 b'leeve's the name o' the feller. Barnes might a-tuck the 
 the boy himself, but th' ole chap knowed better 'n to have 
 Ed where Bill Jones is. Fur that air Jones, ef he does 
 say it himself, an' ef he is a harum-scarum feller, is jes' 
 what don't allow no 'busin' a young one. An' Bill 's what 
 ken spell able to back up his bi aggin' ! An', agin Mike, — " 
 
 "Well, fwhy don't yer spake yer moind, Bill Joanes, 
 an' kape on wid yer gintle kind o' swearin' ? But, bedad, 
 
130 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 Moike Tobin can't tell how Mishter Barnes allows the likes 
 o' ye to be spakin' in contimpt." 
 
 " You bet yer bottom dollar, Mike Tobin, th' ole man 
 won't say nothm' 'gin Bill Jones. But, as I was sayin', 
 that boy Ed oughter stayed here. What a perlite little 
 feller he'd a-ben ter run errands fer the doctor ! An' he 
 could a-got sum skulin' to the centre deestrick, too. But 
 he's gone, like a ' lamb to th' slorter,' as I once heerd Priest 
 Barber reedin' out o' the Bible up to the meetin'-house. 
 Barnes druv off with the boy toward Hardland bright 'n 
 airly this mornin', I wan"t axed to go, but you bet I went, 
 an' ole Barnes didn't hender nuther. You wuz out 
 .a-milkin', you know." 
 
 "An bedad, Moike had ter do the chures himself alone 
 — an' that's the raison of it, is it ? An' ye tuck nairly all 
 the day ter yerself, comin' back jes' afore Misther Barnes. 
 'The divil of a Joanes ye be, an' shure ! " 
 
 " Mike, that little feller looked so kin' o' sorry it jes' 
 made me e'enmost cry. I'd tuck along three dollars on 
 the Wayfil' bank ter give ter him, an' when ole Barnes 
 stopped up ter the water-troth fur his hoss ter drink an' 
 was busy fixin' the boss's bridle, I jes' telled the young-un, 
 ^Ed, Bill Jones is sorry fur ye, as much as this,' an' I gin 
 him the money. An' he, takin' it, sez perlite, ' Thank you, 
 Mr. Jones,' — the fust time 't anybody called me ' Mr. 
 Jones.' An' he axed me to take it over ter the miller's 
 an' gin it ter Mis' Taylor, ter keep fur him. Thinkin' I 
 laadn't done enough, I gin him an' ole Spanish dollar 't 
 
JOHN PETERS. I31 
 
 I'd ben keepin' for the notion on't. Then I telled him 
 good-bye, an' ole Barnes druv along; an that air leetle 
 man, lookin' down inter the brook, seemed as daown ter 
 the mouth az ef lie'd ben liavin' a whippin' an' another 
 wuz a-comin'. I'm goin' over ter see Mis' Taylor naow, 
 with the money. Ef Ed's mother wuz anythin" at all she'd 
 'a' never let her boy ben bound aout. But I spec's she's 
 ruther pleesed ter git red o' carin' fur him. Well, here 
 we are, to dad's. I'll stop a while afore goin' ter Taylor's, 
 an' I s'pose you'll go back." 
 
 "An' fwhen ye laive the miller's, would ye be shtoppin' 
 at the house beyant, to see the gerrl, bedad, Bill Joanes ? 
 An' shure, MoUie Jenkins is a dacint gerrl, then." 
 
 " Gol darn yer, Mike Tobin, you jes' cut sticks 'n draw 
 yer sled ! " 
 
 Mike, chuckling at the success of his thrust, dodged 
 the pebble that Bill sent whirling after him. 
 
 " Consummate hypocrites ! " exclaimed Dr, Johnson 
 that evening, as he looked up from a letter he had been 
 perusing, "do they think their fine-spun circumlocution 
 of verbiage can befuddle me ? ' Ministers of the gospel ' 
 indeed ! Schemers, with a shrewdness of management 
 equal to the cunning of a politician ! " 
 
 "What is it, dear?" 
 
 " Why, that Mr. Barber of the Dayville church, with his 
 man Barnes and the Reverend Abominable Barrett, Bar- 
 ber's ' twin priest ' at Hardland, have indentured Ather- 
 
132 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 ton's boy to one of the Hardland Grouts ! After making 
 my calls, to-night, I stopped at Mrs. Atherton's to get the 
 boy to work for me ; and of course I didn't tell her that one 
 reason for seeking him was to take him from, her keeping. 
 She said to me, with much satisfaction, ' I've got him 
 bound aout where he'll be larnt to stan' 'roun' an' not be 
 dreamin', like his dad avuz.' She seemed elated over a 
 letter from the Hardland minister, which she gave me to 
 read. Just look at the audacity of it ! Cowper's noblest 
 taken to voice the hypocrisy of the prince of Pecksniffs ! 
 Stanzas filched from the grandest lyric of the language, to 
 aid the lies of a letter written in furtherance of a plan of 
 Lemuel Barnes ! A scheme consigning to the keeping of 
 a tyrant one of those whom the Great Teacher declares 
 as nearest, among the dwellers on earth, to the lovable- 
 ness of the inhabitants of the skies ! And that tyrant, 
 Deacon David Grout of Hardland, foreordained to 
 heavenly bliss ! A Grout predestined to a place in the 
 kingdom of the gentle Christ ! A seat in heaven to pay a 
 Grout for memorizing the catechism and assenting to its 
 doctrines ! I verily believe Barber and Barrett prize the 
 ' decrees ' more than the beatitudes of Jesus, the Saybrook 
 platform than the sermon on the Mount ! '" 
 
 " Doctor, I relish your vehemence ; and just think of 
 Mrs. Atherton's great grief at the death of the 'partner of 
 of her joys,' as your 'Abominable' Barrett phrases it! 
 What torture that Atherton had ! Some good angel at- 
 tend the boy that is left fatherless and worse than mother- 
 
JOHN PETERS. I33 
 
 less ! By the way, doctor, Marion Belmont, indignant at 
 Barber's behavior at that Cross-roads meeting, declared 
 she "would have some flowers at the meeting-house here ; 
 and she was as good as her word, and last Sunday she set 
 a pitcher of sweet peas, marigolds, larkspur and phlox on 
 the communion table, and carried another to the singers' 
 seats. It's a wonder I didn't hear of this before to-day; 
 but it's no wonder that you should fail of hearing it, — 
 you're too busy to learn of anything but the condition of 
 your patients." 
 
 " Good for Marion Belmont ! — There's the knocker." 
 
 The physician returned with Esquire Belmont, who at 
 Mrs. Johnson's request told the story of the first flowers 
 at the Dayville meeting-house, closing his account with : — 
 
 " When Marion took that pitcher at noon to carry it home 
 for fresh water and more flowers, she held it up for Mr. 
 Barber's inspection, saying, ' Looked well in the meeting- 
 house, didn't they ! ' And he replied, ' Yes-er-but-we-won't 
 
 €r-have-any-m .' ' Yes, we will,' said Marion. And we 
 
 did, that afternoon. And I predict that Marion '11 have 
 her way about it every Sunday ; so Mr. Barber will find 
 before him a rebuke of his unkindness to Agnes Smith." 
 
 " How cruel it is, Friend Belmont," said Dr. Johnson, 
 "for a minister of the gospel to hurt a child's heart! 
 Give my compliments to Miss Marion, and I'll warrant 
 that if the flowers in your garden give out, Mrs. Johnson 
 will be glad to contribute from our grounds." 
 
 " That I will, Esquire Belmont." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ARROGANCE REBUKED. 
 
 LEMUEL BARNES, who was never known to manifest 
 excessive meekness, more than ever felt his impor 
 tance as he returned from delivering the boy to his 
 master. Why should he not be conscious of his conse- 
 quence ? Did not he, " selectman of Dayville, chairman of 
 the standing committee, and foreordained and elected unto 
 eternal salvation," as he had often thought himself and 
 soliloquized himself to be, did not he design, and with 
 the aid of the minister execute, the plan of " binding out " 
 the lad where he would be governed and worked enough 
 and scantily enough fed to " keep down the evil " that was 
 in the child of one " tainted with the doctrines of the New 
 Lights," and given to high notions, as was this child .-' Of 
 course Lemuel Barnes was of great consequence ! So 
 thought he, and so thought Reverend Jonathan Edwards 
 Barber as he received his leading layman in the parsonage 
 parlor the day of his return from Hardland, and so 
 certainly thought the minister, as, on arising to depart, 
 Mr. Barnes proffered him, a fortnight before it was due, 
 the quarterly instalment of his salary, remarking that the 
 sum included " an X thrown in as his personal gift 
 because the salary was too small." 
 
JOHN PETERS. 1 35 
 
 " I thank you, Brother Barnes, for your efforts to main- 
 tain the cause of our Zion, showing, as you do, great 
 interest in keeping aUve sound doctrine, and also doing 
 so much for the temporal affairs of the church." 
 
 With such pleasant words as a " sweet morsel " to rumi- 
 nate upon, the layman visited the Dayville post ofhce, 
 where he received, as he expected, a monthly remittance 
 of one thousand dollars for the use of an invention, which 
 he acknowledged on the spot and returned home, thinking : 
 Atherton was gone, who, for the trivial circumstance of 
 being the inventor, insanely thought he had some claim to 
 the income from the invention, a claim above the great 
 sum of two hundred dollars which Barnes paid him for 
 that for which he, Barnes, had received thousands, with tens 
 of thousands to come in the twelve years the patent had 
 to run ! Atherton was dead, and where he could not 
 again trouble the " foreordained " aforesaid, and the boy 
 was indentured and out of the way. Were not these facts 
 proof of the divine favor toward Lemuel Barnes ? Of 
 course they were. Yet Barnes was not happy, but, 
 like the ancient, sighed for " more worlds to conquer." 
 His next point of attack was Esquire Belmont, to whom 
 thus he addressed his errand : — 
 
 " That note will be due three days hence, and on non- 
 payment I shall promptly foreclose on the lot mortgaged 
 as security.'' 
 
 Though disliking to ask a financial favor of any one, 
 Mr. Belmont appealed to his brother magistrate, and 
 
136 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 received a request to come at once to Wayfield. There 
 he saw his creditor, Mr. Barnes, in the presence of one 
 who was wholly fearless and whose musical voice assumed 
 a chilling severity as he commanded : — 
 
 " That note, sir, which you hold against Mr. Belmont ! " 
 It was produced and Harrison again demanded : — 
 
 " The mortgage, too, and at once ! " 
 
 Quietly but carefully scanning the papers, Harrison 
 handed them to Mr. Belmont, and, softening his voice, 
 said : — 
 
 " Mr. Jameson, my personal check for the amount of the 
 note^get it cashed at the bank, at once, and in coin." 
 
 The money paid over, Mr. Harrison, resuming his 
 severity of voice, said, turning to the Dayville selectman : — 
 
 " Mr. Barnes, you have behaved of late in such a man- 
 ner as to make you clearly amenable to the law."' 
 
 " What ! " thundered Barnes, his old pride of position 
 reasserting itself. But he had met more than a match in 
 the will of Harrison, who, conscious of the righteousness 
 of his cause, increased his intensity, as he said : — 
 
 " Bluster and insolence will not avail you. Hear what 
 I have to say, or I will at once order you under arrest for 
 the offence committed in attempting to intimidate a 
 magistrate, to say nothing of that affair of yours in trying 
 to silence a man who was speaking in an orderly manner 
 to those who wished to hear him speak. Your pride, and 
 the fact of your being allowed always to have your own 
 way, have so blinded you th,.t you may not have thought 
 
JOHN PETERS. 137 
 
 your action criminal. But it was so, and I shall not 
 allow the act to pass without due apology to the one you 
 offended." 
 
 "I — I — think — I owe no apology," said Mr. Barnes, 
 encouraged by the sight of the face of Mr. Barber, who 
 had driven to town with him, and who now came in to 
 await his departure for home. 
 
 " Sir, at once apologize to Mr. Belmont, or a warrant 
 for your arrest will be issued forthwith, and an officer 
 next door will serve it. And Mr. Barber will make no 
 interference or he'll be arrested on the spot, as well." 
 
 The apology was stammered out. 
 
 "One thing more, Mr. Barnes: Never again interfere 
 with a New Light preacher who behaves in an orderly 
 manner, as Mr. Peters has always done, — never, sir, never. 
 Heed this injunction and the other matter will rest ; other- 
 wise it will not ! " 
 
 " Papa," asked Marion Belmont, when her father, on his 
 return, told her of the scene at Harrison's office, " isn't 
 that noble of Mr. Harrison ! I believe Mr. Jameson likes 
 him." 
 
 " I believe Mr. Jameson likes some one else ! " 
 
 " Papa ! " 
 
 " Mr. Jameson, you bring me a letter from Dayville," 
 said Esquire Harrison, of a morning in August, as he 
 opened a missive handed him by his former clerk and new 
 partner, " and I thank you for your politeness." 
 
138 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 And the magistrate read aloud, and evidently for his 
 associate to hear : — 
 
 Dear Mr. Harrison :— 
 
 Returns have at last been received from an investment which I 
 had begun to think was beyond recovery; and I am glad to be able to 
 forward, as I do, herewith, the amount due you for getting that mort- 
 gage discharged two months ago. Thanking you for your financial 
 aid and especially for compelling an apology from one who had 
 wronged me, I am. Yours sincerely, 
 
 Albert Belmont. 
 
 " By the way," said Mr. Harrison, as he laid away the 
 letter, " you are acquainted with the Belmonts, I think, Mr. 
 Jameson." 
 
 " I have met Esquire Belmont." 
 
 " Ever pleaded a case before him ? " 
 
 " No, have you ? " 
 
 " Yes, several times ; and you have a case to present 
 before him, ere long." 
 
 ** Is that so ? When is the case to be heard ? " 
 
 " I have not learned of the date ; but you ought to 
 know " — and the merry twinkle of Harrison's eye suggested 
 the real meaning of his words to Jameson, who thus 
 struck back : — 
 
 " Mr. Harrison ! " 
 
 " O, it's all right, Mr. Jameson, and I congratulate you. 
 Marion Belmont is a bright girl, and I hope you will look 
 up all the authorities who have anything on that class of 
 cases, and yet rely more on your own heart and your own 
 good sense than anything in the books, that you will have 
 
JOHN PETERS. I39 
 
 all your arguments well in hand, and that you win the 
 favorable findings you deserve ! " 
 
 "Thank you; and were senior counsel in order, I should 
 at once retain the gentleman I address, who, great in the 
 legal attainments that entitle him to the high respect he 
 receives in the courts of law, possesses, also, those fine 
 qualities that would make him a welcome and effective 
 pleader at Hymen's court, as well 1 " 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 GROWTH AND ACHIEVEMENT. 
 
 MR, PETERS, whose wise Improvement of the cit' 
 cumstances attending the first meeting at the 
 Cross-roads gave such impetus to the movement 
 inaugurated, and won for him not only the admiration of 
 his helpers, but the good-will of those not specially inter- 
 ested in the cause that engaged him and his, found both 
 the work and the people's appreciation of it growing 
 through the summer, and he awoke to new diligence as 
 duties multiplied, and grew in meekness as his fame in- 
 creased. Humility is accordant with self-respect. He who 
 is self-respecting will, can, and must seek to improve ; and 
 he who thus seeks shows less pride than does he who does 
 not try to grow or mend. The proudest man, in the worst 
 sense of the word, is he who, uncultured, willingly thus 
 remains. There is a pride which is commendable, com- 
 patible with self-respect and with humility. It was noted 
 that the unassuming man, who was chiefly instrumental in 
 the awakening, while remaining, with the heightening of 
 the importance of his undertaking, as modest in behavior 
 and as unegoistic of word as ever, and, in fact, increasing 
 in unselfishness of speech and of demeanor, grew in power 
 of utterance and in elegance of expression. He had evi- 
 
JOHN PETERS. I4I 
 
 dently kept in mind both the promise of improvement given 
 Mrs. Smith and the pledges to betterment then and since re- 
 quired of those enlisting as itinerants. His sermon showed 
 finer workmanship and his management of each occasion 
 evidenced the growing sagacity of the man. An illustra- 
 tion of his knowledge of human nature and of his loyalty 
 to the voice within was given at a meeting in September. 
 It was evident at the opening that the preacher was in f n 
 unusual " exercise of mind," and all bowed their heads, as 
 he knelt in silent prayer. No one noticed the entrance of 
 a stranger lady. She was superbly attired in a velvet 
 habit, and looked with contempt on the humble worshipers, 
 intensifying her scorn as the preacher rose and read for 
 
 singing : — 
 
 " Weary souls that wander wide 
 From the central point of bliss, 
 Turn to Jesus crucified, 
 Fly to those dear wounds of His ! " 
 
 The psalmody done, a prayer followed, and, arising from 
 
 his knees, the preacher said : "I had thought of speaking 
 
 to-night concerning God's mercy ; but I must take quite a 
 
 different topic. There appears no reason for the change, 
 
 other than the leadings of the Spirit, — and those I have 
 
 learned to follow. The text that comes to me is, ' Be sure 
 
 your sin will find you out,' and I am led to instance, as the 
 
 wrong-doer to be specially considered, the one who, seeking 
 
 and winning a woman worthy of him, without reason 
 
 deserts her — leaves her to the chill of blighted hopes, 
 
 the bitterness, the agony, the darkness of despair ! It is 
 
142 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 a mystery that I should be moved to preach on such a 
 subject to a people among whom I have seen no indica- 
 tion of a need for warning against wrong-doing of the 
 kind indicated. Still, such is the speaking of the voice 
 within. 
 
 " Disastrous as are the effects of falseness, when the 
 parent deserts the child, the physician his patient, the 
 sentinel his post, — equal to the wrong and the wreck 
 •caused by these, or by any other act of unfaithfulness, un- 
 less it be the disciple's deserting his Master, and in quality, 
 and in effect, like even to that, is the crime, of him who 
 deserts the one who has given him her all ! I refer not to 
 Jiim who seeks release, before marriage, from one whose 
 liking is unaccompanied by evidences of qualities that fit 
 her for his mate, one who has not character for him to 
 respect, the heart to love him adequately, the soul to 
 inspire him to his best. By going from such an one he 
 could enchance the interests of both. But he who wins 
 one who has a soul to love and a character to admire, one 
 who, like a real woman, wishes to acknowledge him lord 
 of her love, — he who wins such an one and deserts her 
 deserves punishment of a severity beyond the power of 
 language to describe. However well the reticence of the 
 deserted one may keep this man's wrong-doing from the 
 knowledge of the people, he may ' be sure that his sin will 
 iind him out ! ' Heaven spare me from applying to some 
 one present the central truth of my theme, and yet the 
 voice within commands me to speak — to whom I know 
 
JOHN PETERS. 143 
 
 not, yet, I am sure, to some one present — commands me 
 to pronounce the dread words, ' Thou art the man ! ' " 
 
 A breathless silence of a moment, and the stranger 
 lady, rising to her feet, exclaimed : — 
 
 " No ; it is not a man, but a woman ! not a man, but I to 
 whom you refer ; I, who spurned the love that was mine, 
 and might have been mine forever. In keeping with that 
 scorn I came here to behold, to sneer at, the scene of a 
 school-house meeting. The text startled me, and I was 
 about to leave, when the clergyman introduced a man as 
 the offender, I concluded to remain. A sense of my sin 
 oppresses me, and burdened with a crushing responsibility, 
 my soul cries for pardon, if pardon there be for one so 
 ungrateful to God as I have been, so devoted to fashion 
 and given to frivolity, so cruel as to break the heart and 
 make miserable the life of one whose love would have 
 been high honor ! Can I enough repent ? Is there for- 
 giveness for so great wrong-doing as this ? " 
 
 Calm and clear was the voice of the man of God : — 
 
 " There is for all, through Christ, mercy with the Most 
 High. It is He, of whom it is said, ' as far as the east is 
 from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions 
 from us.' If that utterance is not enough, cheer your 
 heart with the ' whosoever will ' of the Revelator's vision. 
 Does that prove insufificient, another invitation is, 'Look 
 unto me, all the ends of the earth, and be ye saved.' And 
 culminating all the promises is the one existing in the fact, 
 attested by the solemnity of Calvary, that Christ in the 
 
144 * JOHN PETERS. 
 
 hour of His agony, forgave a supplicant for pardon, and 
 promised him Paradise ! Aye, trembling one, 'whosoever 
 will ' may be saved ! shall be saved ! and that, not in the 
 future only, but here and now! He who suffered, to make 
 possible your salvation, only asks that you acknowledge 
 your need as you have done, and your faith in Him as I 
 believe you will ! " 
 
 In the group of kneeling supplicants she bowed who 
 had been Fashion's queen and who had trampled without 
 compunction on a human heart. Pouring out his soul in 
 prayer, the preacher then arose and, with an earnestness 
 that dispelled diffidence and inspired response to his 
 invitation, he asked " those who had found peace " to 
 indicate by rising the fact of their new possession. And 
 the stranger was one among those who " witnessed." 
 
 Mr. Peters prefaced the benediction with cautioning his 
 people to speak little of the occurrences of the evening, 
 and to mention them in a way that would not feed the 
 greed of the curious, " Happenings of such high signifi- 
 cance," said he, " are too sacred to be bandied about by 
 the unthinking, and I promise to denounce as in utter disre- 
 gard of honor, any ridicule of the confession of the brave and 
 sincere woman who has, in the stress of her contrition, 
 told of the ways that have troubled her." 
 
 The meeting closed, the minister explained to the new 
 convert the meaning of the six months of probation for 
 beginners in the new order, and asked for her name on 
 one of the " class books." Removing her right glove, 
 
JOHN PETERS. T45 
 
 with a jeweled hand she wrote the name of Claire Belmont. 
 And when other probationers had inscribed their names, 
 she said, in an " aside " to Elder Peters, " I live at Phila- 
 delphia, where I have been the rounds of gayety. One ot 
 my faults is holding myself above my poor relatives, the 
 Belmonts of Dayville, who are good people and respected 
 by all the best who know them. Cousin Marion is fully 
 worthy of me, but I snubbed her in company at my father's 
 house, where she should have been regarded with all con- 
 siderateness, and I have shunned her since then. It is right 
 for me to humble myself before her, and I'll do it to-night. 
 For the summer I am at Wayfield, whence I came to- 
 night. My horse is outside. I came here circuitously, 
 that I might not go near uncle's house. But the road that 
 way shall be my route of return, and I'll beg Marion's 
 pardon, and tell her what her proud cousin has done here 
 to-night." 
 
 As Esquire Belmont laid down his paper and gazed out 
 on the September sunset he said, " Marion, I cannot 
 account for the injustice there seems to be in the lot of 
 many really worthy men and women. There is with me 
 nothing that should lead to murmuring. Although I have 
 not wealth, I have the comforts of life, and although called, 
 a few years ago, to part with that worthy woman, your 
 mother, I have you for confidant and friend, one who is 
 everything a daughter should be. But others, many 
 others, are loaded with burdens too great for endurance. 
 
146 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 There's a striking instance of this hardness right here in 
 Dayville, the case of a young man who came here in June, 
 and whose forlorn appearance has excited much curious 
 remark from those who should have been moved to pity. 
 I doubt if he has received a kind word from " 
 
 " From any one except you, father ; it's just like you to 
 be interested in those in trouble."' 
 
 " I have spoken kindly to him. And when he chanced 
 to go by the house, the day you were on your last shopping 
 drive to Wayfield, I called him in, he looked so hungry. 
 And he shared with me the lunch you had prepared. It 
 was a right hearty ' thank you ' he gave me as he left. I 
 learned the fact that he ' did something at painting ; ' of 
 course I could not ask any ' leading questions,' as a lawyer 
 would phrase it, but there was something about the man 
 to indicate that he had seen suffering. Perhaps it was an 
 affair of the heart that gave him his grief." 
 
 " Did you learn his whereabouts ?" 
 
 " He is stopping at Farmer Jameson's." 
 
 " And his name .? " 
 
 " Let me see — yes, I have it, Henry Evartson, and — 
 Marion, I hear the knocker." 
 
 As the door opened, a voice : — 
 
 " Marion Belmont, will you forgive one " 
 
 " Claire, with all my heart." 
 
 And the two sobbed in each other's arms. 
 
 *' And uncle, you too ? " 
 
 " Of course I will ! " 
 
JOHN PETERS. 147 
 
 The account of the scene at the Cross-roads completed 
 by the new comer, her steed was housed and fed, Claire 
 remarking as her uncle returned : — 
 
 " They'll think it strange at the stables that my horse is 
 not back, but it is not the first night that he has failed to 
 report to his groom. Never did the good courser bear his 
 burden on such a pleasant errand as that to which this 
 night he has brought me." 
 
 " Well, my niece, I'm right glad to see you, and Marion 
 will be more than happy ; and you can change your head- 
 quarters from Wayfield to your uncle's house as soon as 
 you please." 
 
 " Claire," said Marion, " you might as well obey. 
 Father is a justice of the peace, you know, — has his say 
 about things, and doesn't allow any back talk against his 
 orders, for that would be contempt of court ! " 
 
 " I don't see as there is any alternative for me but to 
 submit. I like your pleasantry, and the scene at the 
 school-house this evening is delightful to remember ; but, 
 still, I am not fully happy. The rather, I am far from it. 
 You who are my friends will surely keep something which 
 I wish to tell you, and give me your sympathy, that my 
 heart break not with its remorse." 
 
 " Rest assured that you can trust us, and dear, troubled 
 heart, tell us all." 
 
 " Indeed you can trust us, my niece." 
 
 Kneeling before her cousin, Marion Belmont, looking 
 tenderly up to the weeping one, said, " Dearest, tell me." 
 
14S JOHN PETERS. 
 
 "Ah, could I somewhere see him, and undo the wrong I 
 have done — could I but see — Henry Evar — could I but 
 see " 
 
 " Marion, the knocker again." 
 
 "A gentleman to see you, father." 
 
 " Why, Mr. Evartson, I believe," 
 
 " Yes, but I see you have company." 
 
 " We have, Mr. Evart " 
 
 " Henry Evartson ! " 
 
 " Claire Belmont ! " 
 
 And the sacredness of the scene witnessed by Albert 
 Belmont and his daughter Marion, let them treasure among 
 the choicest memories of a life-time. 
 
 Farmer Jameson had retired long before his boarder 
 returned that evening. 
 
 There was another stranger at the Cross-roads meeting, 
 the week following, another " inquirer," and another pro- 
 bationer's name on the class-book. A meeting of more 
 than usual import was held at the school-house six months 
 later, and among a group to whom Elder Peters extended 
 the right hand of fellowship were Claire Belmont and 
 Henry Evartson, who, for the occasion, had come up from 
 Philadelphia, where the latter was beginning to be recog- 
 nized as an artist, and where the fact of Miss Belmont's 
 reconciliation with her former lover was pleasant news in 
 
JOHN PETERS. 1 49 
 
 the best circles. Another of the band was a child whose 
 responses to the preacher's words showed not only that 
 she was making good headway in conquering her inclination 
 to lisp, but also that she fully understood the significance 
 of the vows of discipleship. Before taking her place with 
 the others she laid an offering of flowers on the com- 
 munion table, beside the bread and wine that were used 
 in the sacramental ceremony following the completion of 
 the work of organizing a church of the New Lights. A 
 mother's eyes glowed with satisfaction as she looked on 
 the womanly girl, and Daniel Smith, who had dispensed 
 with crutches, was present, and radiant with serene joy. 
 The woman with half the Cross-roads school-children clus- 
 tering around her was Miss Sampson, who was in high 
 delight over the pleasant scene. Mrs. Wilcutt was there, 
 and hand-in-hand were two who heartily responded when 
 the names of Samuel Taylor and Mary Taylor were called. 
 Another of the company was one who by his self-respecting 
 ways and the improvement he had made in speech was 
 fast outgrowing the sobriquet that had marked him, and 
 was coming to be known as Mr, Stedman. With him were 
 Samuel Biggs and Jacob Andrews, who had for six months 
 lived up to the required standard. After coming to the 
 Cross-roads they worked 
 
 " 'mang the farmers roun' " 
 until winter, when they became " hired men " for Stedman, 
 who, at the suggestion of Farmer Smith, embarked in the 
 enterprise of clearing the timber from a forest on the 
 
150 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 estate of the latter. The two lived *'on the lot," in a 
 house of the most primitive architecture, a dwelling which, 
 however, their ambition to mend in all their ways led 
 them to keep scrupulously neat and which they made 
 cheery with wood-fires and the inspiring songs that voiced 
 their new-found joys. Their employer saw them daily and 
 found them good axe-men. He divided the rest of his time 
 between marketing at Wayfield the wood and timber they 
 cut, and studying reading, writing and arithmetic, at his 
 lodgings at the farm-house, where he recited to Mrs. Smith. 
 At the next meeting of the annual conference, to which 
 it belonged, the " Wayfield circuit " ceased to exist and the 
 "minutes"' of the meeting included, on the list of appoint- 
 ments of the " preachers-in-charge," " Dayville Cross-roads, 
 John Peters," with six younger and less experienced min- 
 isters for the other places in the territory of the circuit 
 where societies had been established or classes gathered 
 that asked for regular preaching. It was this year that 
 the custom of circuit-riding, once in vogue with the itiner- 
 ants throughout the country, but gradually going out of 
 fashion, was abandoned in this region where it obtained 
 later than in others of the older sections of New England ; 
 and here as elsewhere the "traveling preacher" became a 
 stationed man. In spite of the hardships incident to it, 
 the life he had led possessed charms for him, and he was 
 no doubt loth to relinquish the freedom it afforded 
 and confine himself within parish boundaries. These^ 
 however, were not often narrow, and nearly every charge 
 
JOHN PETERS. 151 
 
 contained outlying districts that gave him scope for his 
 capacity and his liking for exploration and his desire to 
 advance the cause in which he was enlisted. This was 
 true of the Cross-roads station ; and Elder Peters found 
 that the nature of his work made it necessary for him to 
 keep a horse. Rejoicing that he should not have to part 
 with his favorite " Billy," that had so long been the com- 
 panion of his journeys, he laid saddle-bags aside to treasure 
 as relics, and his plain buggy became known to all the 
 country folk of the neighborhoods around the Cross-roads 
 and of the other stations where he was called by his 
 juniors in the ministry, who naturally sought the counsel 
 and companionship of the wise, kindly and helpful man. 
 
 Mr. Harrison, who naturally became the administrator 
 of the estate of Esquire Williams, found, on examining the 
 titles to the lands of the deceased magistrate, that the 
 farm which he had deeded to Daniel Smith was larger than 
 had been supposed, and included a tract in the north-east 
 triangle of the cross-roads that named the neighborhood. 
 In this lot was the site of the school-house, the use of which 
 land had been leased to the district, the ownership remain- 
 ing with the proprietor of the farm. Advised of the facts 
 and informed that Mr. Smith would deed in fee simple a 
 site for the school-house farther north on this triangular 
 tract, the authorities accepted the proposition, and the 
 school-house was removed to its new location in time for 
 occupancy at the beginning of the summer term. The 
 people did not at first understand the full significance of 
 
152 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 Mr. Smith's gift. This, however, became apparent at a 
 meeting of the New Lights in June, when Elder Peters 
 announced that "the brethren and friends will be glad to 
 know that the Lord has put it into the heart of one of our 
 number to give us land on which to erect a house of 
 worship. It is the very spot whereon, at that time, stood 
 this school-house, in which was held the first meeting of 
 our order in these parts ; and the plan of the structure, 
 which is under advisement, places the pulpit where stood 
 the teacher's desk. Our friend also offers us timber 
 enough for the building, to be cut from his forest on the 
 hill overlooking the river, and the young men and strong 
 who will ' lift up the axe upon the thick trees ' may report 
 to Brother Stedman on the ground, to-morrow, on the first 
 anniversary of the first Methodist meeting at the Cross- 
 roads. By the middle of September the timbers will be 
 sufficiently seasoned for the carpenters to begin their work ; 
 and at that time we hope to have the foundations laid. 
 These are to be cut from the granite quarry on the Hard- 
 land road. The raising will come in October, and we trust 
 to complete the work in November and hold our dedica- 
 tion and Thanksgiving service at the same time." 
 
 This programme was carried out to the letter ; and at 
 the appointed time the elegant gothic meeting-house of 
 the Methodists was ready for the ceremony of consecration. 
 A committee of ladies, with the girl Agnes Smith at their 
 head, had tastefully adorned the pulpit with flowers. 
 Prefacing the exercises came a pleasant surprise in the 
 
JOHN PETERS. 153 
 
 shape of the announcement that an indebtedness of five 
 thousand dollars incurred on the building " is liquidated on 
 the spot, through the generosity of Mrs. Henry Evartson 
 of Philadelphia, who makes the gift as a thank-offering to 
 God for His goodness manifested to her in such abundance." 
 A choir selected for the occasion sang with unction the 
 rhythmic part of the service, and clear and strong was heard 
 the voice of Marion Belmont, while the voice of Elder 
 Peters kept fully even with the highest notes of the choir. 
 In the audience were members of the church of the stand- 
 ing order at Wayfield, while the face of their minister 
 beamed benignly on the congregation during the sermon 
 of the itinerant from the text, " for the people had a mind 
 to work," and his voice in the benediction, which Elder 
 Peters desired him to pronounce, gave unmistakable evi- 
 dence of his good will for the New Lights and his interest 
 in the movement they had inaugurated. 
 
 Specimens of the conversations overheard as the congre- 
 gation were dispersing from the grounds of the new church, 
 testified of the popular estimate of the movement : — 
 
 " I'll be consarned to kingdom come, Mike Tobin, ef 
 that air Peters ain't a good deal of a feller, any way." 
 
 "Thrue fer ye. Bill Joanes, bedad an' it is." 
 
 " I swaow to goodness, an' the seven-fold shield of Ajax, 
 ef Bill Jones don't think he'll hev ter jine the New Lights 
 some time 'r other. C?uess he'll hev ter bite off his by- 
 words mighty short fer him." 
 
 "An' ye will, thin. Bill Joanes, bedad." 
 
154 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 "An' what'll yer priest do about }er goin' to 'heretic' 
 meetin's so much ? He'll be skemunicatin^ ye, won't he ? " 
 
 "Let 'im, thin. Divil a bit Moike Tobin cares for the 
 praste, an' shure." 
 
 " What would the Reverend Abominable Barrett say 
 to this, Mrs. Johnson .'' " 
 
 " Well, well. Doctor, hasn't it been a day ! How beauti- 
 fully Marion Belmont sang." 
 
 " Well, Deacon Sherwood, this is a good day for our 
 Methodist friends." 
 
 "You are right. Dr. Robinson." 
 
 " I tell you. Deacon, it stands us in hand not to call 
 anything common or unclean that is evidently chosen of 
 the Lord to aid in His work. These earnest people who 
 make so much of the Revelator's ' whosoever will ' are 
 sent of the Master, and I heartily wish them God-speed in 
 their good work." 
 
 " Father, how charmingly the Methodists get on to- 
 gether ; what a fine spirit they manifest ; how sincere they 
 appear in their regard for each other. What do you say, 
 father, to my singing for them ? " 
 
 "All right, Marion, if you wish." 
 
 The man walking away without speaking to any one, is 
 the Reverend Jonathan Edwards Barber. The New Lights 
 
JOHN PETERS, 1 55 
 
 whom he had despised are growing in influence and num- 
 bers, and even he is not so wholly blinded by self-conceit 
 as to be unable to see that they are making progress. 
 
 Bill Jones was as good as his word, and "jined" the 
 Methodists. He surprised Elder Peters one day at his 
 lodgings, at the Smith homestead, with a visit and this 
 announcement : — 
 
 "I'll "be gol darned, Elder Peters, ef Bill Jones don^t 
 think he ought ter jine yer sort of folks." 
 
 " Is that so, Mr. Jones ? "' said the elder, vainly trying to 
 repress a smile at the familiarity of the man. 
 
 "I snum, ef 'taint naow ; an' haow's the way to jine? 
 The fact is Bill feels mighty oneasy in here,'' — and Bill 
 placed a hand on his breast, "an' haow's the way to git 
 red o' this ere load ? " 
 
 " Repenting and abandoning the wrong of the past, and 
 doing right in the future." 
 
 " But haow's a feller ez hez alius ben more wrong than 
 right goin' to spell able ? " 
 
 " I think he would need the Lord's help — in fact we all 
 need it — and also the inspiration of the fact that the 
 experience in the Garden and at Calvary was for him." 
 
 " The best way is to begin at once, aint it, Elder Peters ? " 
 
 "It is." 
 
 '■ But afore I make a break, there's suthin' I must tell 
 ye an' ax ye to be sartin sure ye don't tell it agin." 
 
 " If it is anything I can conscientiously keep — " 
 
156 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 "I've got to tell it any way. It's bothered me long 
 enough." 
 
 " Out with it, then, my man ; ' with the mouth confession 
 is made unto salvation.' " 
 
 "Well, yer see, ole Barnes, who I'se ben workin' fer, 
 somehow got hold er some 'venshuns th't Atherton made, 
 what used ter live up thar on the Wayhl' road, an' I 
 knowed about it, an' ole Barnes he knowed that I did- 
 An' I s'pose ter keep my mouth shut, he's gin me a mighty 
 easy job ter his place. An' naow ter come ter the case in 
 p'int, is't right ter be hol'in' the pesky secret ? Bill kinder 
 thinks 'taint." 
 
 " It is not ; but know it you do, already ; and if you are 
 not party to his defrauding the inventor of what he should 
 receive for the inventions, there is for the past' no sin at 
 your door. But you are just where temptation would 
 come."' 
 
 " That's so, an' ole Barnes once tried ter git me ter write 
 my name on a paper showin' th't he'd got 'n' paid fer the 
 right ter the 'venshuns, when I was sartin't he hadn't. I'm 
 mighty glad't I didn't put the ink on that air paper." 
 
 " Be sure that you resist any temptation to take, from 
 fear or favor, the keeping of any more dark secrets. If 
 by so refusing you suffer any loss, my word for it, the 
 Lord will make it up to you." 
 
 " It's clear as the mornin' over the mountain, what Bill 
 Jones has afore him, an' he's a gwine ter turn over a new 
 leaf an' jine the Methodists." 
 
JOHN PETERS. J57 
 
 " I am glad to hear it, and pardon me, Mr, Jones, if I 
 suggest that it will be well to drop a few of your by-words. 
 I do not refer to that fine expression, ' clear as morning 
 over the mountain.' " 
 
 "You're just right, I must stop some o' that tother kind 
 o' talk ; but I'll be con- — there, ef Bill Jones hain't got a 
 job to bite olf them air words." 
 
 "The Lord will help you, Brother Jones." 
 
 " An' you help me, too, by callin' me ' mister ' an' 
 'brother,' showin' that ye don't feel above sech as me." 
 
 " I should respect every hones: seeker for light, and 
 why should I not call myself brother to one for whom the 
 Master suffered and died .-' " 
 
 " An' d'ye think 'twould be anythin' wrong ef we jest 
 kneeled right down here, an' you ask Him what's up in 
 heaven, ter hev a kind thought for sech a poor feller as 
 Bill Jones, what feels as ef— " 
 
 The penitent did not have time to finish his question 
 before the two were kneeling to supplicate favor from that 
 place where all are alike accountable, where all are 
 regarded as brothers, and where there is unspeakable joy 
 over one that repenteth. 
 
 There was a surprise at the Dayville meeting-house 
 shortly after, when the inquirier, announcing the stand he 
 had taken and the peace he had found, wrote on the class- 
 book of Thomas Stedman, the name of William Jones. 
 He found by-words to be his "besetment," but succeeded 
 in cutting down his volubility to an infrequent '" gol- 
 
158 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 darn," and to dropping, at last, the first syllable of the 
 expletive. 
 
 It was not long after this that Barnes tried to induce 
 him to become party to another instance of his dishonesty 
 in the matter of the Atherton inventions, and met a prompt 
 refusal. The employer rebuked this by discharging the 
 man. Although this removed all obligations he had been 
 under to Barnes, Jones did not retaliate by instigating a 
 prosecution as he might have done, but, in keeping with 
 the teaching and example of Mr. Peters, he rendered 
 good for evil to the one who had wronged him and whom 
 he had it in his power to humiliate. The preacher was 
 not only a correct religious teacher, but a safe adviser in 
 business affairs ; and the illustration he had given of his 
 wisdom in the one direction he supplemented with proof 
 of his capacity in the other. At his suggestion Jones 
 began raising, on the heretofore unfilled land at his 
 father's house, vegetables for market at Wayfield. A few 
 quiet hints from Mr. Peters to his acquaintances among 
 the first families of the town, resulted in an increase of 
 the business until the cart of " William Jones, market 
 gardener " became a familiar object in all Wayfield, and 
 there was a demand for another cart. This was promptly 
 met and Mike Tobin, who had tired of the service of 
 " owld Barruns," was installed as driver. Gains from the 
 enterprise exceeded the additional outlay enough to suggest 
 to the gardener the further improvement of his lands and 
 remodeling and enlarging the Jones house. This better- 
 
JOHN PETERS. 159 
 
 ment, which greatly excited Mike's interest, preceded by- 
 only a few weelvs an event that showed that his thrust, pre- 
 viously made, was not only pointed, but prophetic ; an 
 occasion at which the officiating clergyman was Eev. John 
 Peters, and at which Miss Mollie Jenkins became Mrs. 
 William Jones. At a subsequent occasion of this kind a 
 German girl, by the name of Gretchen Schmidt, became 
 the wife of Michael Tobin, whom she had induced to 
 forsake the ancient church of his fathers and join the 
 New Lights. 
 
 The limit of the pastorate of a preacher of the new 
 order was then, by General Conference legislation, fixed at 
 two years ; and when the close of the term of Mr. Peters 
 approached, the lay officials of his charge planned to take 
 advantage of some one of the exceptions to the rule that 
 they might retain him among them. But he counseled 
 them to desist from carrying out their purpose and let 
 him go where the " powers that be " should direct, even if 
 it sundered him from a people that were " dear to him as 
 his eyes." But for other reasons than those discussed by 
 pastor or people he was to remain with them. Unknown 
 to him or them the promotion of this preacher, for which 
 they, had they stopped to think, would have deemed him 
 fully worthy, and of which, in his modest estimate of 
 his own consequence, he had never thought, had been 
 considered and advocated by the men prominent in the 
 denomination outside of his field, a promotion that 
 would not only give him for four years to the people he 
 
l6o JOHN PETERS. 
 
 loved, but would make their station the head-quarters of the 
 district. 
 
 The reports at the next session of the annual conference 
 showed that the membership of the new church had 
 increased to one hundred, and that a Sunday-school, with 
 nearly as many members, had been established, with 
 Daniel Smith for superintendent. To those in his coun- 
 sels it was evident that the bishop presiding had great 
 respect for Mr. Peters ; and as it was proposed to make a 
 new district that was to include the stations where this 
 preacher had won his success, he was conferred with in 
 reference to the interests of the order in that region. At 
 his suggestion the name Wayfield was given this district, 
 and the word " Cross-roads " was omitted from the con- 
 ference name of the church in the locality it had pre- 
 viously designated. He had no hint, however, of the 
 plan of the bishop and his cabinet for the promotion with 
 which he was surprised at the close of the session, whep 
 the secretary announced: "Wayfield district, John Peters 
 presiding elder." Though busied with answering the 
 congratulations of the preachers sitting near him, he did 
 not miss hearing the appointments, which ran : Dayville, 
 Wilbur F. Warren ; Brier Hill, to be supplied ; Ridgeway, 
 Wesley Merrill; Hardland, Embury Cramner, and so on 
 through the list of thirty charges. As those who had been 
 given oversight of the other districts came, after the 
 bishop's benediction, to congratulate Mr. Peters, he re- 
 sponded : — 
 
JOHN PETERS. l6l 
 
 " Thank you, brethren, for your interest. I regret, how- 
 ever, giving up the work of a pastor, but I gratefully 
 accept the honor conferred and will endeavor to meet the 
 obligations which the assignment brings. It gives me the 
 right to choose, in the district, my place of abode, and I 
 shall not have to leave Dayville, where the Lord has been 
 so good to me. Preachers with ' gifts, grace and useful- 
 ness ' have been appointed to the charges, and the one to 
 be near me will by his name remind me of a dear boy who 
 is gone, and the sweet, sad pleasure of thinking of whom 
 is always accompanied with the inspiring hope of meeting 
 him beyond the tide ! " 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 HIS WISDOM AND HIS LOVES. 
 
 IT was gratifying to the Smiths to think that the itiner- 
 ant, to whom, when on his travels in the humble begin- 
 nings of his career, they had given welcome, had be- 
 come distinguished as an organizer of churches of the new 
 order and that, when the promotion came that gave him 
 oversight of the charges of a wide region and the right to 
 choose his place of residence, he still sought their house 
 for his home and made the parish in which they were the 
 foremost leaders, the head-quarters of the district. Such 
 distinction would have elated some people. But Mr. and 
 Mrs. Daniel Smith, who were too genuine to become vain 
 over success, were also too busy with their own affairs and 
 with the work of their growing church to note the evi- 
 dences of its growth or to dwell on the fact that it was, in 
 a sense, proof of their own consequence. It was indeed 
 their sincerity and their humility which gave them 
 their good fortune of continued relations of friendship 
 with Elder Peters. Those not possessing such qual- 
 ities he indeed sought to lead into a religious life, for the 
 good it would do them ; but he did not fraternize with 
 them closely, even when obliged to associate with them in 
 church work, and he certainly did not seek a home with 
 
JOHN PETERS. 163 
 
 them. Though having Httle if any pride, his humility was 
 the genuine kind that accords with self respect and not 
 the craven spirit which would accept the gift that, from 
 the selfishness in which it is bestowed, belittles rather 
 than blesses the recipient. In his experience of meeting 
 all sorts of people he had learned that those vain over 
 their own importance proffer their favors only from sel- 
 fish motives, and he had learned to read, from the manner in 
 which courtesies were offered, the motives prompting 
 them; while the business of declining those that smacked 
 only of a wish to obligate him he had reduced to an art 
 which it was refreshing, instructive and even entertaining 
 to see him exhibit. His "no, thank you," which always 
 followed a selfish proffer, was spoken with that politeness 
 that made it unobjectionable but with that firmness which 
 plainly said that further attempts to secure the acceptance 
 of the courtesy would be useless, and which finally so 
 discouraged the patronizers that at the time of his promo- 
 tion he was well rid of them ; and this advancement, 
 though giving work that called him about more than did 
 the tours of the circuit-riding days, did not increase the 
 probability of meeting these objectionable people ; for to 
 them it seemed that the elevation, over which he never 
 gloried and concerning which he rarely, if ever, stopped to 
 think, had invested him with that importance through 
 which it would not be safe for them to attempt to ob- 
 trude. Busied formerly with the duties of a pastor and 
 now caring for many churches, he had no time to -make 
 
164 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 acquaintance merely for the sake of acqifaintarice, and he 
 knew only those whom he met in the prosecution of his 
 work. From these he selected with great care those he 
 wished for friends. Yet, as his life showed, he was a man 
 of democratic views and had a heart for all humanity. 
 His exhibitions of reserve never resembled the exclusive- 
 ness of the self-righteous and, rather than repelling those 
 to whom they were made, invited them to a higher and 
 better life in which they would naturally be at one with 
 him. 
 
 A man of the finest social qualities, he was companion- 
 able to a friend and pleasant company to any with whom 
 he cared to associate. Delighting in the graciousness 
 manifested towards him by genuinely courteous people, 
 he accepted that proffered by no others, even though so 
 worn by his work, that, had he been less noble and less 
 discerning, he would have accepted even the counterfeit 
 of kindness which the kindness of the selfish always is. 
 And he needed more than graciousness ; he needed friend- 
 ship ; and he needed even more than friendship. He 
 who is alive wdth interest for those he is pledged to bless ; 
 he who walks in spirit side by side with the one strug- 
 gling to rid himself of a load of remorse, aids him to find 
 relief at the cross and then rejoices with the forgiven one ; 
 he who is called again and again to minister to the suf- 
 ferer and nerve him for the final conflict, inspiring him 
 with the faith to see, beyond the grave, the towers and 
 groves of the city of rest and joy — he who thus thrills, 
 
JOHN PETERS. 165 
 
 agonizes and bleeds for his fellow man, needs the enheart- 
 ening, the inspiration of genuine love ! love that is fre- 
 quent and emphatic in its expression ; love whose glow, 
 outshining the stars " that sparkle on the midnight," and 
 shining through every night, gives lustrous, abundant and 
 abiding proof of its eternal constancy ! 
 
 And Mr. Peters, who so much needed this high help, 
 had it only as he could make vivid a memory. To his de- 
 termination to keep that sacred he had bravely adhered. 
 And soon after his promotion there was a talk between 
 himself and Mrs. Smith which showed this bravery and 
 the wisdom he exhibited in dealing with that class of pat- 
 ronizers whom a minister without a wife has to meet. As 
 his hostess and friend, she had been a3ked for an intro- 
 duction by a lady who supposed that his well known dis- 
 inclination to become specially acquainted with any 
 woman arose from the fact that he had not found the 
 right one. 
 
 "Tell her," said Mr. Peters, "that I thank her for the 
 hon:r she has shown me, but that, with a vow registered 
 on high to love no other woman than the one who is there, 
 I shall seek aJiliations with no other." 
 
 " I admire your wisdom and your courage, Mr, Peters ; 
 for your life must be lonely, and the woman who asks for 
 your acquaintance is indeed not only attractive but excel- 
 lent, though mistaken in the idea that she is specially 
 fitted for a companion for Rev. John Peters. It is noble 
 of you to keep alive, as you do, the respect for the mem- 
 
l66 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 ory of the one who is gone. And I will bear witness that 
 you give no woman whom you meet occasion to think you 
 have especial regard for her. " 
 
 "And I am helped in my decision to keep single by the 
 love of my daughter, who is all the more affectionate and 
 faithful for the respect I cherish for her mother's memory. 
 And my longing for a child's friendship, all the stronger 
 because of the absence of the living presence of her whose 
 name I cherish, is well met by the affection of your own 
 bright Agnes." 
 
 "Thank you for your friendship." 
 
 "Will you allow her to journey with me on my visits to 
 the nearer charges of the district ? " 
 
 " I presume her father will consent, and if he does, I 
 shall coincide." 
 
 " With all my heart I thank you, and I take the child's 
 friendship not only as a gift from her parents, but as a 
 gift from her and as a sacred trust from God to whom I 
 am accountable for all I have. And she shall be more 
 than ever yours." 
 
 " I doubt not that from her experiences when in your 
 charge, she will grow in goodness and blossom towards 
 womanhood." 
 
 And Agnes Smith, the first convert of Elder Peters at 
 the Cross-roads, became more than ever his friend. On 
 his drives en Saturday, to meet a quarterly appointment 
 in the adjoining towns, she was his frequent companion. 
 Under his tuiiioning she became an expert with the reins, 
 
JOHN PETERS. 1 67 
 
 and " Billy " came to know and heed her voice as readily 
 as he did that of his master. What educating experieijces 
 were these drives for the bright child ; and what oppor- 
 tunity for her to see and appreciate the noblest kind cf 
 manhood ! And this association, in childhood, with a 
 worthy man was a sure preventive against future en- 
 croachments by any man unworthy of her. What an 
 inspiration was her presence to the preacher with whom 
 she journeyed ! How suggestive her artless words as she 
 exclaimed in delight over a brook purling by the roadside, 
 a cascade dancing down a rocky glen, the robins caroling 
 their joys in the trees, flowers looking up among the 
 grasses, or a view that opened at some turn of the way 
 ihey traversed ! No wonder that he thought, as the 
 traditions of the district credit him with saying, that 
 " some of the brightest thoughts that came to him were 
 suggested by the innocence, the sincerity and the joyous- 
 ness of that dear girl."' 
 
 These journeys gave her many opportunities to study 
 human nature at its best. Often, too, she sat in the 
 quarterly conference meetings of the churches visited, 
 and so had a chance to learn the workings of the ma- 
 chinery of the polity of the New Lights. 
 
 On her first trip to Wayfield Agnes was introduced to 
 Mr. Harrison, who afterwards said to his partner : " Mr. 
 Jameson, that is the brightest girl I ever saw. How nat. 
 ural she is, how fearless and yet how modest." On her 
 next visit, a fortnight later, she was introduced to Mrs. 
 
l68 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 Harrison, who at once fell in love with the girl and in- 
 sisted that Elder Peters allow her to remain until he 
 returned, the ntxt day, from his official visit to Scrabble 
 Hollow and Brier Hill. 
 
 " All right," said Mr. Peters, " but remember you have 
 a borrowed jewel." 
 
 " Indeed, I will." 
 
 On her return home Agnes said : " Why, mamma, do 
 you believe, I stayed with Mrs. Harrison, and she has the 
 finest house in all Wayfield, and such a lovely woman as 
 she is, not cold and haughty if she does have such nice 
 things. She is just as good as she can be. She showed 
 me flowers, lots of them, and I read to her out of the 
 Bible the story about Joseph down in Egypt. Then I 
 read from the Psalms something real good, and then we 
 kneeled down and, putting her arms around my neck, she 
 prayed for me ever so good and it seemed as if she was 
 talking right up to heaven. And I asked her afterwards 
 if Mr. Harrison ever prayed. Then she just waited a 
 minute and said that he didn't pray, but he was real good 
 to her and she prayed for him every day, and she wanted 
 me to pray for him, too; and that is what I am going to 
 do, mamma, if you think it's best. He is real good to 
 Mrs. Harrison, mamma, just as kind as he can be, and 
 when I told Mr. Peters about this that I am telling you he 
 said Mr. Harrison can talk so in court that the judges 
 have to do what he says. It is fine, mamma, to have such 
 a chance to see good folks ; and when I am with them I 
 
JOHN PETERS. 1 69 
 
 just love you and papa all the more. And I think it's real 
 kind of you to let me go with Elder Peters." 
 
 " Ah, my child, thank you, thank you ! " and the over- 
 joyed mother, as she clasped the girl for a kiss and an 
 embrace, thought the words of Elder Peters were indeed 
 realized and that Agnes was not only more hers than 
 ever before, but that she was nobler than ever she had 
 been. 
 
 " And, mamma," said Agnes between kisses, " just 
 think, I can carry flowers to her and she will be so 
 pleased. So I can pay her for making my visit pleasant. 
 For I ought to do something for her as well as she does 
 something for me." 
 
 " Right, my child. Pay your indebtednesses, especially 
 those you owe such people as Mrs. Harrison." 
 
 " She has flowers of her own, but I know she will like to 
 be remembered by me.'"' 
 
 " She will, indeed." 
 
 The child who inaugurated in a plain back-district 
 school-house the beautiful custom of flowers to adorn the 
 place of religious worship, carried a floral offering every 
 time she visited the first lady of Wayfield. This generous- 
 hearted woman did not keep to herself the blessing of the 
 friendship of the bright child, but took occasion to have 
 her friends call when Agnes was to make her visit. And 
 Dr. Robinson, when he came one evening to accompany his 
 wife home, laid his hand tenderly on the child's head, say- 
 ing, " Agnes, I think it kind of Elder Peters to give you 
 
170 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 such charming drives, and it is just fine for him to have a 
 young friend to cheer him." 
 
 When Agnes returned from this visit she said, " Mamma, 
 all the standing order people are not lil<;e Mr. Barber, are 
 they? Mrs. Sherwood, Mrs. Robinson and Mrs. Har- 
 rison are not, are they?"' 
 
 " No, indeed they'are not ; I think Dr. Robinson and 
 many v\'lio attend Iiis churcli are genuine Christian people. 
 Dr. Robinson,and Deacon Sherwood have a very kind re- 
 gard for Elder Peters." 
 
 And so they did, and showed it too. The next time 
 Agnes returned from Wayfield she said : — 
 
 " Do you believe it, mamma, I went to church with Mrs. 
 Harrison and sat in the best pew in that fine meeting- 
 house where Dr. Robinson preaches. When he rose up 
 to open the meeting, he could hardly speak because he 
 felt so good. And he said, * It is not right for us to call 
 that common or unclean which God has chosen, and I 
 am glad to introduce Rev. John Peters, who has kindly 
 consented to preach for us to-day. For him I bespeak 
 an attentive hearing, and I have asked him to read that 
 grandly sweet hymn, " Jesus lover of my soul," written 
 by the great hymn-writer of the New Lights, Charles 
 Wesley.' Everybody kept so still while Elder Peters 
 was reading, that you could hear a pin drop. And 
 the singers just did sing as if they liked to do i) : and 
 then Elder Peters prayed right up to heaven. Dr. Rob- 
 inson read the psalm, * Behold how good and bow ple^is- 
 
JOHN PETERS. 171 
 
 ant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity/ 
 And when he sat down he was almost crying for joy. 
 Elder Peters preached about ' this is the Lord's doing, 
 and it is marvelous in our eyes.' He spoke just as if he 
 was all alive with what he was saying. I never before 
 saw him so like what I think the angels are. When I 
 looked up I saw tears of joy in Mrs. Harrison's e3'es ; and 
 she was holding my hand so lovingly ! Then I looked 
 around and saw Mrs. Sherwood ; her face was just as joy- 
 ous as it could be. Mamma, isn't that the way folks are up 
 in heaven ? " 
 
 "Yes, Agnes, dear." 
 
 When Mrs. Smith narrated to her husband the account 
 Agnes had given of the meeting he replied : — 
 
 " Elizabeth, I remember, I remember — that twenty- 
 five cents for flowers, eleven years ago, that little money 
 and giving up my will, has made me the richest man on 
 earth ! " 
 
 The fraternizing of Dr. Robinson with Elder Peters was 
 too much for the Reverend Jonathan Edwards Barber, 
 and he wrote to the Wayfield minister inquiring into the 
 reason for his catholicity and demurring against the liber- 
 ality exhibited. The letter was written in that dictatorial 
 spirit which led the recipient to think it beneath him to 
 notice the missive, so he declined to reply, but, instead, 
 sent the Dayville minister a courteous invitation to an oc- 
 casion the make-up of the programme of which showed 
 that the fraternal feeling; between the standing; order of 
 
172 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 Wayfield and the Cross-roads New Lights was on the 
 increase. The day following his declining to accept the 
 invitation of Dr. Robinson, Mr. Barber read further 
 evidence of this cordiality in the following paragraph 
 from the Wayfield News of that week, which announced 
 that : — 
 
 " We are glad to note that the good will shown by Dr. Robinson in 
 inviting the eloquent Elder Peters to address his people is to find still 
 further expression on the coming Fourth of July, when the Wayfield 
 Congregational Sunday-school will make an excursion to Dayville 
 Cross-roads, and there with the Sunday-school of the New Lights, 
 whom Reverend Jonathan Edwards Barber has so bitterly opposed, 
 unite in a celebration. The grove selected for the scene of the pro- 
 posed occasion is on the farm of Daniel Smith and overlooks the 
 river and a wide reach of country. Mr. Barber's congregation have 
 been invited to participate in the festivities of the day, but he has de- 
 clined: yet we venture to predict half his people will be present. 
 The programme for this unique and beautiful occasion, at which Mr. 
 Thomas Stedman will be marshal, includes an address of welcome by 
 Elder Peters, response by Deacon Sherwood, prayer by Rev. Dr. 
 Robinson, reading of the Declaration of Independence by Mr. Henry 
 Jameson, singing of the ' Star Spangled Banner ' by Mr. Theodore 
 Cushman as tenor and Miss Marion Belmont as treble, and an oration by 
 Mr. Andrew M. Harrison. Rev. Dr. Robinson, who is not only a good 
 sermonizer but has the bright wit that aids the joyousness of a festive 
 occasion, will be toastmaster at the dinner provided by the ladies 
 under the direction of Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Harrison, ; and among 
 those to respond to the sentiments of ' Our Country,' ' The Old Flag, 
 long may it wave,' etc., will be Mr. Jameson, Mr. Harrison, and 
 Rev. Mr. Peters. We predict that the demonstration will be a 
 complete success. And hoping for our friends favoring skies on the 
 ' day they celebrate,' we commend, as worthy to be copied by all who 
 wish to bury sectarian differences, the spirit of which the event we 
 announce will be a most beautiful expression." 
 
JOHN PETERS. I 73 
 
 The prediction of the paragraph was realized in all its 
 fullness, and the Cross-roads observance of the day of 
 national independence, that closed with a vote to repeat 
 the programme, the next year, at Wayfield, was quoted by 
 everybody except Mr. Barber, Lemuel Barnes, and others 
 of like frigidity and narrowness, as one of the pleasantest 
 occasions they had ever known. 
 
 As Agnes was about starting, of an August Saturday^ 
 on a trip to Wayfield, she asked her mother for permission 
 to carry some flowers to a girl whom she met at the time 
 of her last visit, and who, as Mrs. Harrison had written, 
 was ill. 
 
 " So you want four bunches of flowers," said Mrs. Smith, 
 " one for Mrs. Sherwood, one for Mrs. Robinson, one, of 
 course, for Mrs. Harrison, and one for the sick child.'' 
 "Yes, mamma ; but can you spare so many .? " 
 " Yes, dear ; we have more flowers than formerly. Papa 
 likes them very much and every season urges me to ' raise 
 more flowers this year than we did last.' " 
 "Mamma, isn't papa just as good as gold ? " 
 " Better than that, and better than I can tell you, now." 
 " Say, mamma, I can take good care of Wesley ; and 
 it's a fine day and I wish you would let him go with me. 
 I know Mrs. Harrison would like to see him." 
 
 "All right, Agnes. Although papa will feel lonesome if 
 Wesley is absent only a day, I know he will consent to 
 his going, for that will relieve me of the care of the boy 
 for the time. And papa is always concerned about my 
 
174 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 having so much to do. So get your brother ready and I 
 will be back from the garden soon, with the offerings for 
 your Wayfield friends." 
 
 Called from his work to bid the boy good-bye in the 
 event of his going, for the first time, from the keeping of 
 his parents, Mr. Smith kissed him, and thrice tossing him 
 up, placed him in the lap of Elder Peters ; and Agnes, 
 pulling the reins, said, " Come ' Billy,' " and drove off, as 
 the boy said : — 
 
 " Good-bye, papa, I'll come back all right." 
 " Of course you will ; good-bye, my little man." 
 Driving through Dayville village, Agnes saw Mr. Barber 
 standing in the parsonage door, the man who wounded 
 her heart by rudeness exhibited as a rebuke for a beauti- 
 ful act which he translated as the idolatry of a pagan. 
 And looking up to Mr. Peters, she said, " I am glad you 
 asked me to forgive him that time, because ever since 
 then I have pitied him rather than hated him." 
 
 " That is right, Agnes," said the preacher ; " it is follow- 
 ing the Master to cherish pity rather than hate, for wrong- 
 doers." 
 
 "Come, Elizabeth" — and Mr. Smith, who, with his 
 wife, had watched the departure of their children on the 
 drive, walked with her in the garden, where the fragrance 
 and bloom reminded him of an act, in the other days, of 
 which he could never think without tears to attest the joy 
 which its multiplying results of good gave him, tears that 
 
JOHN PETERS. 175 
 
 spoke the gratitude of a glad heart, gratitude to God, and 
 the one He had bestowed on his life. " Elizabeth '' — and 
 he looked down into the eyes that read him through and 
 that reflected a soul which said, " I know you are all 
 mine." And he quivered with joy to hear the words that 
 came as if in response to a question of faith not of doubt 
 — which she read in his eyes, " Yes, dearest, all yours."' 
 
 As they reached the arbor and entered to tarry for a 
 time, he said : — 
 
 " Dearest, you do not spare yourself enough. To-day, 
 please work but little ; and I'll quit the field early, and, if 
 you choose, we'll drive over to see the Taylors, They 
 must be lonely since their son died. We have two 
 children to comfort us, and what cause we have for thank- 
 fulness ! " 
 
 " Indeed we have." 
 
 "And I ought to have seen our neighbors before this." 
 
 " Do not too much blame yourself ; for your farm and 
 the interests of the church have rightly occupied your 
 time to the exclusion of all else. And I rarely cease work." 
 
 " Rarely, unless it is to get rested that you may meet 
 me with cheerfulness of spirits when you expect me to 
 come in fatigued." 
 
 " Thank you ; and to-day we will visit our neighbors and 
 cheer them, that, if possible, they endure their great loss." 
 
 " Yes ; and what an indescribable sorrow must be 
 theirs ! " 
 
 " Great enough, surely, without the added thorn of the 
 
176 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 unkind words of a minister who should have sympathized 
 with them." 
 
 " What, has Mr, Barber vented on them, in this time of 
 their trial, his spite against the order with whom they have 
 cast their lot ? '*' 
 
 " Just that. It was a fortnight ago that he uttered his 
 spleen, but I heard of it only to-day. '^ 
 
 "A minister of the Gospel, isn't he ! What a contrast 
 between Mr. Barber and the man God has given us. 
 How full of comfort were those beautiful words at the 
 funeral." 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, whose son Albert had been taken 
 from them, were crushed with grief. And, to add to their 
 sadness, came the aggravation of strictures by Mr. Barber, 
 who, opposed to the doctrines of the New Lights which 
 they had imbibed, and uneasy over the success of that 
 order, thought it right to do anything to hurt their adher- 
 ents, and declared the death of the boy to be " a judgment 
 of the Lord, sent to rebuke the parents for harboring false 
 doctrines and for setting their hearts on the child." He 
 was a fine boy and gave promise of growing up to a man- 
 hood that would reflect credit on the family. But, if there 
 ever were parents who, loving a child, still recognized the 
 fact that he was given them of God not to be idolized but 
 to be taught, by those who regarded him as a treasure, 
 that he could rightfully have nothing in this world but 
 what he earned, and that he had responsibilities to meet 
 as well as privileges to enjoy, those parents were the 
 
JOHN PETERS. 177 
 
 Taylors of Dayville. They were deeply wounded by the 
 words of Mr. Barber, that, with the speed at which " things 
 said about folks " travel in a country town, reached them 
 the next day after the minister of the standing order spoke 
 about them to Lemuel Barnes, the foremost of his " fore- 
 ordained and elected to be saved ! " 
 
 But the childless parents had good help to enhearten 
 them to endure their sorrow and to "rise above" the 
 effect of Mr. Barber's unkind sayings. There was genu- 
 ine sympathy breathing in the funeral words of Elder 
 Peters, utterances that told the rnellowness of a heart 
 which knew what bereavement meant, funeral utterances 
 that were not funereal, but that " glowed with the hues of 
 the heavenly dawn that awaited the young soul and seemed 
 trembling with the cadences of the carolings of the brooks 
 and the birds of the upper Eden ! " Mrs. Williams, who 
 naturally felt grateful for the neighborliness shown her, in 
 the early days of her own bereavement, by Mrs. Taylor, 
 had now, in turn, driven daily to the house of the latter to 
 speak words of real sympathy and carry blooms that were 
 as eloquent with tenderness that soothes and inspires as 
 are even the words of one who has endured sorrow and so 
 earned the right and acquired the ability to bless the 
 sorrowing. 
 
 Thus cheered in her grief, Mrs. Taylor, whose sunny 
 nature was not only the proof against most thrusts to pre- 
 vent them from wounding, but was a medicine that cured 
 from the cuts of daggers it could not ward off nor quench, 
 
178 JOHN PETERS, 
 
 had also conquered the effect of the Barber slanders and 
 had encouraged her husband bravely to bear the loss and 
 the stings. 
 
 They received thankfully the sympathy of the Smiths, 
 but surprised and delighted them with their very evident 
 determination to forget,' as much as possible, the loss 
 which, of course they could never fully forget. Mrs. 
 Taylor's interest in church work helped to this end, and 
 Mr. Taylor had a project which he thus made known, that 
 evening : — 
 
 " Friend Smith, that Elder Peters of ours is not only a 
 wonder of wisdom in managing church matters and a 
 model of piety for church members, but he 'knows a thing 
 or two ' about business. He told me that a saw-mill in 
 this neighborhood would be a paying institution and that 
 I am the man to have one. I had saved money enough 
 during a dozen years to send Albert to an academy and 
 perhaps to college. But the Lord has taken him to a 
 place where he'll have the best kind of teaching. And, 
 while I mourn the loss of the boy, as no words can tell, 
 I am going to drive off grief by business. With the 
 money saved I can buy a circular saw, a log-carriage and 
 other machinery necessary for the saw-mill. The expense 
 of an addition to the grist-mill building will not be much. 
 I have enough power from the water-wheel for both mills, 
 and it will be easy to ' belt through ' from one mill to the 
 other." 
 
 "The project is a good one, and I'll furnish you a 
 
JOHN PETERS. 1 79 
 
 customer. Farmer Jameson, who wants to live nearer the 
 New Light meetings, and who has sold his place east of 
 the centre, has bought of me a lot of five acres on the 
 road between my house and the river, and he purposes 
 soon to erect a cottage there." 
 
 " Mr. Smith, I have already ordered the machinery and 
 shall have the mill running by November, when a ' bill of 
 timber ' will be wanted by the man who is to start black- 
 smithing hereabouts. But your order shall be filled next." 
 
 "And so we are to have a blacksmith. And what is the 
 name of the Vulcan .'' " 
 
 " Sanders, I believe. And I think he has bought a 
 half-acre lot on the road jusr south of the school-house. 
 By the way. Brother Stedman thinks his friend Biggs the 
 right man for sawyer, for me." 
 
 " The right one, I am sure." 
 
 Thus was established the new industry at the Cross- 
 roads, and it was destined to be followed by another, the 
 way to which was paved by a real estate transaction that 
 was consummated at the Smith house, the week after the 
 visit at the miller's, a transaction between Mr. Harrison 
 and Mr. Smith, wherein the latter became owner of a lot 
 of thirty acres fronting on the Ridgeway road, next west 
 of the Jameson purchase and bordering on the river. It 
 extended back to the rapids of the stream whereon a dam 
 of little height would give a great head of water. This 
 *' privilege " had been " improved " with a fulling-mill, 
 which cleansed the home-made cloth of the farmers for 
 
l8o JOHN PETERS, 
 
 a dozen years, when the fuller abandoned the business, 
 which was never reestablished, and went to the West. 
 His death brought the land into market, and Mr. Harrison, 
 acting for the heirs, sought a purchaser, and naturally 
 gave his friend the first opportunity to buy the property. 
 With this acquirement Mr. Smith became — with the ex- 
 ception of the Jameson lot — owner of all the land on the 
 Ridgeway road between the cross-roads and the river and 
 extending back on the west side of the Hardland road 
 half a mile, with a lot on the road east of the cross-roads, 
 Mr. Barber's desire to hinder the New Lights did not 
 die out with the defeat of his attempts to stop the progress 
 of their movements, but prompted him, with each repulse, 
 to renew the attack with redoubled vigor. He had pre- 
 viously allowed it to carry him — as in the case of the 
 Cross-roads meeting — beyond the bounds of propriety 
 obtaining with laymen, to say nothing of the standard of 
 behavior recognized by the ministerial profession. And 
 now, again, he let that desire get the best of his discre- 
 tions ; and, politic though the selfish man aimed to be, he 
 went so far that some " had fears " that his opposition 
 would help the very cause it was designed to hinder. One 
 cannot too much oppose even that which is wrong, without 
 awakening sympathy for the wrong-doers. To the Day- 
 ville minister it seemed "great foolishness" to be so 
 " wrapped up in children as that Peters " was. And so, of 
 course, thought Deacon Nason, to whom Mr. Barber told 
 his " ideas of the man that would take up precious time 
 
JOHN PETERS. l8l 
 
 with showing excessive attention to children, thus teach- 
 ing them to be conceited, when they, especially the chil- 
 dren of New Light parents, should be taught the humility 
 befiting ' poor unworthy worms of the dust.' " And so, 
 of course. Deacon Nason told, with his indorsement, the 
 opinion of his " dear pawstor " to Deacon Jones, Bildad 
 Beals, and Jeremiah Joslyn, whom he met at " preparatory 
 lecturV a few evenings later, when the " weeping prophet " 
 sighed with more than wonted pathos, over such evidence 
 of " forgetfulness." Thus voiced, the censure of Mr. 
 Barber went the rounds with many of the people in good 
 and regular standing with the old style religionists. But 
 others thought his strictures would " help Peters, rather 
 than hinder him," while still others declared it was a fine 
 thing for him to have such a liking for children, and one 
 lady was even heard to say that " Elder Peters is but 
 following the Master who took the little ones up in His 
 arms and said kind words to them," an idea, that to Mr. 
 Barber seemed " preposterous and dangerous." He 
 "called to expostulate with her," but she reasserted her 
 opinion, and he thought it well not to press the matter 
 and left the "misguided sister" to her notions. 
 
 Mr. Peters continued his attentions to Agnes and 
 Wesley, and occasionally took them with him on his winter 
 drives about the district. Well covered with blankets and 
 buffalo-robes, they enjoyed the trips right heartily, and the 
 boy was never better pleased than when anticipating a 
 ride with his sister and the minister. On one of these 
 
l82 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 drives they met a party of men and teams breaking a 
 path through the drifts that had choked the mountain 
 road. Behind the party was Solomon Dawson, a peddler 
 of tin and wooden ware from New Hampshire, who had 
 for several years taken his journeys through the Dayville 
 region, and who, when the path-makers had cleared the 
 way, drove up and thus addressed the elder : — 
 
 "This is Mr. Peters, the New Light minister, I believe, 
 and I want to talk with an honest man about a notion 
 o' mine that I don't want to get out too quick." 
 
 "All right, I'll respect the confidence with which I am 
 honored by 
 
 " Solomon Dawson — excuse me for not introducing my- 
 self — Solomon Dawson, a peddler from New Hampshire." 
 
 "And the errand you have .'' " 
 
 "Well, you see, I've always had such good luck in this 
 region that I thought it wouldn't be a bad idee to have a 
 lot of my goods on sale all the time, perhaps at the Cross- 
 roads, and that thought led me to another, and I've about 
 come to the determination to start a store. You see, my 
 son Frank would just like the notion of comin' down to 
 tend it. We could keep a few other things besides 
 wooden and tin-ware, say groceries and a few plain dry 
 goods and notions. Now Mr. Peters, what do you say ? 
 and who has the spot to buy for a store and perhaps for a 
 house ? " 
 
 " The idea is a good one, and my friend Mr. Daniel 
 Smith will have the land if any one has." 
 
JOHN PETERS. 183 
 
 "And who are these little folks you have with you, all 
 covered up so cozy and warm ? How their eyes sparkle 
 with joy ! " 
 
 " Friend Smith is their father, and their mother is a 
 mother indeed." 
 
 " Here, wait a minute ; I suppose one of them attends 
 school ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "And I am going too, next summer," said the boy. 
 
 The peddler, throwing into the elder's sleigh a bright tin- 
 pail, said, " There, my little man, that will do for you to 
 carry your dinner in, and I hope you'll live to be a hun- 
 dred years old, and I am sure you'll try to be good." 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. Dawson, and I'm going to live a good 
 while, I guess, and I'll try to be good." 
 
 The third "bill of timber" produced at the saw-mill was 
 for the store of S. Dawson & Son that was erected on the 
 Dayville centre road, where it stood for years, until, with 
 the growth of business to demand enlargement, it gave 
 way to one more pretentious. Another " bill " sawed at 
 the Taylor mill was one with which to enlarge the Smith 
 farm-house. And, later in the season, the saw was run 
 night and day, to keep pace with the demand for " building- 
 stuff," to stack up and season against the time "when a 
 company organized for the purpose " would begin the 
 erection of a paper-mill on " the old fulling-mill property 
 of Daniel Smith," as the Wayfield paper mentioned in its 
 chroniclings of " a busy neighborhood that promises to 
 
164 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 become a thriving town." Later transactions included 
 the purchase of the granite quarry, on the Hardland road, 
 by Elder Peters, whose savings, for years, from his meagre 
 quarterage had amounted to twelve hundred dollars, the 
 sum asked for the ledges. He confessed to a long cher- 
 ished hope to own the quarry spring from which he had so 
 often drunk, as it seemed fit that he should possess it. 
 And when, in due time, it came to be known that he pro- 
 posed to devote the income from the quarry to charitable 
 purposes and public improvements, everybody was pleased 
 to think it was his, at last. In a time when most Wes- 
 leyan ministers could truthfully say, as it was held that 
 every one of them should be able to say, 
 
 • " No foot of land do I possess, 
 No cottage in the wilderness," 
 
 the fact of this man having worldly gocfds was not only 
 thought allowable, but was admired as " a thing of beauty 
 and a joy forever." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Taylor's mills; daniel smith, postmaster. 
 
 THE wise and good man confides his plans to his wife, 
 unless she is an untrustworthy woman. That un- 
 trustworthiness may consist simply of a lack of ca- 
 pacity to comprehend those plans, and so, to understand 
 how great is the trust confided, how strongly that trust 
 should be held and how vigilantly it should be guarded. 
 Or that untrustworthiness may be the falseness, which, 
 however well the plans entrusted are comprehended, can 
 and will, if selfish occasion demand, prove recreant or 
 cruelly treacherous. And the fact that the wife of the 
 wise man and good, is, from selfishness or from incapacity, 
 or both, untrustworthy, is, his misfortune, and is only that; 
 and does not, in arguing his misfortune of choice, nec- 
 essarily argue his lack of good sense in choosing. But 
 his misfortune, the rather, argues, especially if falseness is 
 her untrustworthiness does it argue, that the one he chose 
 is selfish and is not only selfish but has a capacit}- for du- 
 plicity and a willingness to assume and skill in assuming, 
 for selfish ends, the role of unselfishness. In this she 
 acts, until the man of the genuinely unselfish heart, who 
 supposes, and has a right to suppose, he is winning an un- 
 selfish and trustworthy woman, is, himself, won by a su- 
 
l86 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 premely selfish woman and placed by ceremony of magis- 
 trate or minister where law and public opinion give her the 
 right to call him husband and where law and public opin- 
 ion command him to be loyal. Often in the irony of life 
 selfishness that deserves starvation, and for the perishing 
 of which the world would be better, finds an abundance 
 of rich sustenance of an unselfish nature to feed upon. 
 And the further irony is that, while selfishness grows by 
 that upon which it feeds, it becomes in nature more unlike 
 the quality of the nutriment in its original state, showing 
 that in the alembic of the selfishness that devours this 
 wealth, it is transformed into the opposite of its essential 
 qualities. 
 
 In pleasant contrast to this was family life among the 
 New Lights, especially that of the Smiths. Not only did 
 Mrs. Smith know all her husband's plans ; but she did 
 not have to ask concerning them. From his wisdom in 
 matters of business, and from the fact that he had learned 
 that she would take no selfish advantage of his frankness 
 and trust, he was anxious she should know all he pro- 
 posed to do. And not only did he confide to her the un- 
 dertakings he proposed, but he advised with her before 
 determining upon them. It was naturally difficult for him 
 to be expressionless in looks, and it was easy for people 
 to tell from his face and his manner when he was anima- 
 ted or depressed, in a deep study or unburdened with 
 care. And yet, heeding the suggestions of his wife he 
 had schooled himself until he could assume the sphynx 
 
JOHN PETERS. 187 
 
 almost to perfection. But with friends he was very frank 
 and in her presence he was transparent as a sunbeam; 
 and when, on the Monday morning following the purchase 
 of the fulling-mill lot he came into the house, she looked 
 up with expectancy as he said : — 
 
 " Elizabeth, the people of this neighborhood ought to 
 have a post-office. They receive and send about as many 
 letters and papers as the centre people do. This fact I 
 had from Mr. Thompson, who keeps the post-office at his 
 store. He might forget his statement if it was ^Yanted for 
 evidence in favor of establishing an office here, for that 
 would, of course, reduce the business at his office. And, 
 again, he might reaffirm his statement. He is getting to be 
 well-to-do in the world and is, withal, quite a reasonable 
 man, especially since he broke with Lemuel Barnes. He 
 is tired of Barnes's conducting town business on the one- 
 man-power plan." 
 
 " You are very right ; there is need of an office here. 
 Will you enlist Mr. Harrison in aid of the project ? " 
 
 "Yes; he has great influence in all this region and he 
 is acquainted with the member of Congress from this dis- 
 trict. 
 
 " And when will you move in this matter .'' " 
 
 " At once, now that I have your approval. Something 
 has been telling me for days that I ought to do this. 
 Good-bye." 
 
 Mr. Thompson heard the proposition for the new post- 
 office, and, drawing up a petition to the Postmaster-Gen- 
 
l88 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 eral, signed it, and then called in Selectman Bacon, in- 
 duced him to sign the paper, and said : — 
 
 " Of course, Mr, Smith, you cannot expect Mr. Barnes 
 to indorse your project, and he may make it warm for Mr. 
 Bacon and myself at the next town election. But the 
 office is needed at your place ; and for one, I shall not 
 longer endure the dominance of that selfish and arrogant 
 man." 
 
 Mr. Smith found Mr. Harrison alone in his office and 
 told his story with the animation which genuine interest in 
 a project always gives and which the presence of a man 
 of kindly nature stimulates. But the announcement he 
 made produced no surprise ; for Mr. Peters, unknown to 
 any at the Cross-roads, had consulted several days before 
 with Mr. Harrison in reference to better postal facilities 
 for the people of that locality. The attorney concluded 
 his account of the minister's calling, by declaring in favor 
 of the new office, and saying, " You are the man to have 
 charge of it." 
 
 "No, I — " 
 
 " Yes, you must accept the trust. In fact, I have al- 
 ready written to our Congressman concerning the office 
 and mentioned you for the position. He is to meet me 
 here to-morrow on business connected with a case in 
 which I am retained, and your matter will be presented 
 with all the reasons I can urge in its favor. By the way, 
 Mr. Smith, Mr. Stedman, in whom you New Lights have 
 such an interest, took my fancy the first time I saw him, 
 
JOHN PETERS. 189 
 
 as you may have heard. And when, a year or two ago, 
 Sam Simpkins Jr., son of " old Sam " the despicable, and 
 'a chip of the old block,' boasted of sharp practice in 
 settling with Stedman, who, as I learned, gave him gen- 
 erous paced-off measurement of wood he had chopped, I 
 determined to teach the boaster that there are exceptions 
 to the rule that lawyers delight in smart tricks. Securing 
 the evidence necessary to make out a case against Simp- 
 kins for defrauding, I confronted him with the facts and 
 gave him the alternative of standing a criminal prosecu- 
 tion or disbursing the balance rightfully belonging to 
 Stedman. He blustered lustily, but found that was use- 
 less. The fifteen dollars which a sworn measurer of 
 wood decided was due, was paid. And since then it has 
 been on interest at the savings bank, as you will see by 
 the book which I send by you, with my compliments, to 
 Mr. Stedman. Men of his large nature think it mean to 
 £tick for the last cent ; but he that deals with a Simpkins 
 should be as vigilant and stern as a sentinel on guard be- 
 fore the enemy. Forgiveness of an enemy is, indeed, one 
 of the ideas in the beautiful philosophy of Elder Peters, 
 which, strange as such counsel from me may seem, I 
 advise Mr. Stedman to continue following ; but even the 
 ancient WTitings in which Mr. Peters believes, enjoin 
 justice, and L have simply compelled a Simpkins to be 
 just." 
 
 " And I thank you for Mr. Stedman." 
 
 " In the search for evidence I visited the wood-lot with 
 
tgo JOHN PETERS, 
 
 the measurer ; and while he was busy with his tape, I 
 noted the regularity of the piles and the carefully laid 
 windrows of brush, facts from which I argued that Sted- 
 man, even in his ruder life, had an eye for exactness and 
 a liking and the capacity for order, qualities desirable in 
 one in any position, and qualities that, with others pos- 
 sessed by Stedman, are essential in the make-up of a 
 good soldier. Tell your friend that a military company is 
 to be formed here which is to contain some of the best 
 young men in town. They have indicated their wish to 
 give me the captaincy, and I know they would like Sted- 
 man to join. Ask him to call on me soon in reference to 
 the matter." 
 
 " I will." 
 
 " And now," said Harrison, scanning the petition to 
 note the name of the proposed office, " good fortune 
 attend the first postmaster of "Taylor's Mills " and all who 
 dwell in that pleasant neighborhood." 
 
 " Thank you ; good-bye." 
 
 Mr. Smith was busied with his errand when a car- 
 riage drove from the house of Esquire Belmont towards 
 the Cross-roads, and himself and Mr. Harrison were so 
 engaged with the matter in hand that neither thought of 
 the other member of the law firm, who, about that time 
 had halted his team in the Ridgeway road west of the 
 Smith farm-house and was discussing some question with 
 Marion Belmont, whose delight at the result of the con- 
 
JOHN PETERS. I9I 
 
 sultation was thus expressed, as the carriage started 
 towards the Smith house : — 
 
 " That will be fine, a cottage next to your uncle's and 
 land enough so you can. hold a lot till Mr. Evartson can 
 buy it, fot a studio, and a house for a summer home for 
 him, Claire and their little Marion." 
 
 A deed was placed on record at Wayfield the next day, 
 averring that tor the sum of six hundred dollars, Daniel 
 Smith of Dayville " did grant, bargain and sell to Henry 
 Jameson of Wayfield aforesaid, to him, his heirs and as- 
 signs, to hold and to have for their use and behoof for- 
 ever, a certain parcel of land situate in Dayville aforesaid, 
 and described and bounded as follows, to wit : beginning 
 at a stake and stone on the Ridgeway road west of the 
 cross-roads, thence northerly, etc. etc. * * * The same 
 being an acre from the lot deeded to the said Daniel 
 Smith by Theophilus Williams, Esquire, late of Dayville, 
 deceased." 
 
 The petition of Edward Thompson and others received 
 unusually prompt attention at Washington, and six days 
 later papers were forwarded to Mr. Smith establishing the 
 office of " Taylor's Mills " and appointing him postmaster. 
 His bond signed by the proper sureties, he located the 
 office with Mr. Taylor, appointing him and Mrs. Taylor 
 his assistants. The movement had not been mentioned 
 to any one but those immediately concerned, and the re- 
 sult was a surprise to Lemuel Barnes, who saw in the suc- 
 cess of the undertaking proof that he was not the only 
 
iq2 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 Dayville man of influence, and that even the despised 
 New Lights were by some thouglit worthy of respect. Of 
 course ''that would never do;" and, again, of course, it 
 would have to do ; for, what could even he, Lemuel 
 Barnes, "chairman etc." though he was, and chief of the 
 fore-ordained and elected etc., though he was, what could 
 he accomplish if he tried to crush the project consum- 
 mated by those he despised ? Yet vigorously did he, at 
 the next town election, try to realize Mr. Thompson's pre- 
 diction and " made it so warm " for the opposition ticket 
 that it was elected, Mr. Thompson receiving more votes 
 than were ever before cast for a town ofBcial, and Daniel 
 Smith even a higher number, with Mr. Bacon third on the 
 list. And Lemuel Barnes was no longer selectman of 
 Dayville, where for twenty years he had enjoyed suprem- 
 acy. And the headquarters, for town business, were trans- 
 ferred to the locality of the New Lights, where they ever 
 after remained. 
 
 Minus the office that had so long been source and 
 evidence of his importance, Barnes had to fall back on 
 church functions for opportunity to show his consequence. 
 He was still chairman of the standing committee and still 
 remained chief of the foreordained and elected, and these 
 facts were something to encourage him to hope for still 
 other means for gratifying his desire for office ; and n.ot 
 long did he have to wait, as appears by the following 
 utterance of Bill Jones to his helper : — 
 
 " I say, Mike Tobin, ef they hain't made ole Barnes 
 
JOHN PETERS. I93 
 
 'ust deacon, in place o' Nason th't died, jes' 's I thort 
 they would when, 'tother Sunday, jest fer the notion on't, 
 I 'tended meetin' up to the centre. That air Priest 
 Barber he got up an' remarked to God jest 's ef he was on 
 familiar terms with Him, tellin' how glad he wuz th't God 
 wuz a-temperin' the wind to the shorn lamb and th't by a 
 dispensation of Providence Deacon Nason had been 
 called to serve in the ' higher courts,' an' ' Brother 
 Jones had resigned because of advancing years.' An' I 
 suppose that priest didn't think anybody was disgusted 
 with his tork an' thort that no one could see through it 
 all, an' see that all 'twuz he wuz glad there wuz 
 another place for Barnes to show off in. The idee 
 of Barnes out o' office bein' a ' shorn lamb ! ' An' 
 they've ben an' chose ' Squintus 'Beals second deacon, 
 partly 'cause they think th't a feller what squints can 
 look sharp an' figger clus in money matters pertainin' 
 to Zine, an' 'cause his nazul way o' torkin' shows th't 
 he's piurs ! How it sounds — Deacon * Squintus ' Beals ! 
 I'll bet, Mike, the fellers '11 call him Deacon Squint, 
 kin' o' makin' a bob-tail name, yer see." And they 
 did, the two lay officials of the Dayville church coming 
 to be known as " Deacon Lem and Deacon Squint," and 
 more often mentioned as " Lem and Squint." 
 
 Rev. Wilbur F. Warren, the second pastor of the New 
 Light church, who had been absent for a month in North- 
 ern Vermont, returned with a wife, and the trustees of the 
 
194 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 charge selected a site for a parsonage west of the cross- 
 roads, on the Ridgeway road, which had already begun to 
 be known as " Main street." Mr. Smith claimed the 
 right to give both the lot and the timber for the house, 
 and a jolly time the young men of the church had felling 
 the trees and drawing them to the mill, and the " bee " 
 was supplemented with a supper, after which there was an 
 address by Rev. Dr. Robinson and verse by the pastor. 
 The workmen had the house "closed-in" when came the 
 first snow of winter, and at the " house-warming " the 
 minister's bride wore arbutus buds given her by Agnes 
 Smith. Though a man of poetic fancies, Mr. Warren 
 showed a good deal of method and exactness in his work 
 and began a record of the Dayville church, which has been 
 kept up with varying degrees of faithfulness, by his suc- 
 cessors to the present day. The allusion to the remarks 
 of Elder Peters at the Taylor funeral is a quotation from 
 that record, and from the same source come many other 
 facts of this truthful history of the rise and progress of 
 the New Lights. 
 
 The post-office at Taylor's Mills retained that name for 
 several years, when, with the growth of the neighborhood 
 it served, there was a movement to have the name 
 changed to Dayville. This the people of the old village 
 took as the " unkindest cut of all," and sent in remon- 
 strance after remonstrance against the measure ; but all 
 to no avail. The petitioners, who equalled the remon- 
 
JOHN PETERS. I95 
 
 strants in numbers, hajd also the influence of their Wayfield 
 friends and the member of Congress ; while, called to 
 Washington on professional business, Mr. Harrison gave 
 the project of the petitioners his personal attention, and 
 the name asked was granted. The postmaster at the old 
 village was informed that the office there would be known as 
 " Dayville Centre." To this there was objection, which was 
 met with the order that if that name was refused, the name 
 " Old Dayville " would be given. The other was accepted. 
 
 The " Wayfield Guards,"' Andrew M. Harrison captain, 
 and Thomas Stedman and Payson Sherwood, Jr., lieuten- 
 ants, was long a favorite organization in the town whose 
 name it bore and many of whose best young men were in 
 its ranks. Their orderly behavior and their skill at man- 
 ual and maneuver caused much pleasant comment among 
 those who visited the muster-field where they paraded, 
 and the company was in frequent demand as escort. 
 The remark of Bill Jones concerning the efficiency of the 
 "guards " gave the popular estimate of the company, and 
 some had his notions concerning the Mexican war : — 
 
 " I say, Mike, ef that air Cap'n Harrison, Tom Stedman 
 an' the rest on 'em what trains ain't about the finest sojers 
 a-gwine, then yer ken jes' call Bill Jones no good at 
 guessin'. Jes' think haow they'd walk inter a lot o' 
 Britishers er any other fellers what wuz merlestin' the 
 peace o' this kentry o' ourn. It must be suthin' like 'em 
 what ole ' Rough an' Ready ' had to the battle o' Buny 
 
196 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 Visty, where he said them air hallelujer kin' o' words, ' a 
 little more grape, Cap'n Bragg,' an' then went in an' 
 heaped up the ded Mexikers what wuz gwine to scoop up 
 Taylor'n his sojers ! But still twuz mity mean bizness 
 'vadin' the kentry o' the Mexikers — twuz naow ! Hadn't 
 they er right to San Jewin de lower, an' the halls o' the 
 Montyzumys an' Sary Gordy, an^ the rest o' them air 
 places where Taylor'n ole ' Fuss n' Fethers ' made them 
 bite the dust ? I say, Mike, aint that air erbout ez true 's 
 preechin' ?" 
 
 " Yer right, BJl Joanes, an' shure.'' 
 
 " Ef I wuz ole Polk I sh'd want the Catholickers' idee 
 true so'st I could get prayed out o' purgatory, fer no 
 prayers o' a life time would be ernuff to dew the bizness," 
 
 "Who is Polk an' shure ? Bedad an' I niver hayerd o' 
 him, thin." 
 
 "A mighty small man ez wuz head o' this kentry when 
 the slave owners got us inter a fuss with the Montyzumys' 
 nashun an' made this nashun take Texas, jes' fer a state 
 to work niggers in. The Whigs didn't like Polk an' their 
 chil'n took up the idee. One o' the skulemarms what teecht 
 to the Cross-roads useter ax one o' the classes, arter 
 spellin', gineral questions, an' gin answers, the boys an' 
 gals foller'n sute. An' when she said, ' Who is the gover- 
 nor o' Conneckticut ' an' gin his name, she speekt solemn 
 an' important ez a sermon. So tew with the governor o' 
 Massachewsits, the name o' George N. Briggs sounded as 
 ef he ruled the hull wurld. But when she cum tew ' who 
 
JOHN PETERS. I97 
 
 is Pres't — 'Ni — Sta — ? James K. Polk,' she flung out 
 them air words ez ef they was tater peelin's th't she was 
 gittin' red on, Yer see, Mike, ez I learnt arterwards, 
 that air skulemarm's father wuz er Whig, an' she had his 
 noshuns, an', 'thout a tryin', teecht 'em to the chil'n, and 
 there's a good many young Whig voters here ' erbout 
 these days.' But that ain't sayin' that Demmercrats is 
 not all right, that is,ef they's the Jackson sort." 
 
 "An' who was Jackson, shure, Bill Joanes.''" 
 
 " Why, he was the feller what knocked the consate aout 
 ■uvthe Britishers at Noo Orleens, an' teecht the ' nullifiers ' 
 better manners th'n they knowed afore." 
 
 " Yer see. Bill Joanes, Moike Tobin didn't see 'Meriky 
 till all this was owver wid ; an' ye knows owld Barruns — 
 I spake o' him disrispictful now — fer whom I wurked 
 since I landed, niver talked, an' shure, about such things 
 ez ye's ben tellin'." 
 
 "An' I never thort much erbout 'em until, fired up by 
 tryin' to be er New Light an' think o' tother wurld, I 
 wuz led to think there wuz in this wurld suthin' hdgger'n 
 aour taown." 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CONFESSION. 
 
 WHETHER, to either of them, the discovery be a 
 surprise or not, the place where Love finds his 
 mate at prayer is to him and to her sacred at 
 once and forever. To him her words of praise and 
 gratitude to heaven will be sweet as orison of angel. If 
 there be, in the outpouring, confession of remissness, it 
 will to him seem excessive, and that in proportion to the 
 sincerity evident in the prayer and in proportion to the 
 sincerity and depth of his affection. And Love never 
 found his mate in contrition but her penitence, if it was 
 for unfaithfulness to Heaven, led him to search his own 
 life and see if he had not need to placate the skies. And 
 were it falseness to him that she mourned, her humility 
 led him to like self-reproach, whether deserving it or not, 
 and to a determination to mend ; while her supplication 
 for help from above aroused his soul to the grandest 
 anxiety of faith for answer to the petition she spoke. 
 Dear to them both will ever be this place of prayer ; and 
 dear to Him whose name is Love will it ever be, and 
 guarded by the trustiest of His hosts. 
 
 Mr. Smith, a director of the new corporation, and 
 charged by the board with supervising the work of erect- 
 
JOHN PETERS. 199 
 
 ing the proposed paper-mill, visited the scene of opera- 
 tions daily during the time of excavating for the founda- 
 tions, and frequently during the whole period of construc- 
 tion. Of a June morning, soon after the work had been 
 laid out for the diggers, he left his house, to note the 
 progress of preparations for the structure, and informed 
 Mrs. Smith that he should not come back till noon. But 
 he found that the engineer, in order to fix the boundaries 
 of the new site, would have to ascertain more definitely 
 the " metes and bounds " of the lot as given in the deed 
 conveying the property, and so, in an hour, returned to 
 get the instrument for a second inspection. Habitually 
 light of step, especially when in a house, he entered 
 noiselessly the open door of the living-room and his walk 
 across the floor to the desk where his papers were kept 
 was not heard by Mrs. Smith, whom, through the half 
 open parlor door, he saw kneeling. Taking the paper he 
 sought, he stood, hat in hand, listening to the prayer she 
 offered : — 
 
 " Father in heaven, I come to Thee with gratitude, with contrition, 
 and with supplication. I thank Thee for the many mercies that crown 
 my life — for a husband who is loving and loyal, for children who are 
 dutiful and kind, for a home wherein comforts abound, for neighbors 
 who are all that neighbors should be, for friendships that are a source 
 of constant inspiration, for air, for water, for the beauty and fragrance 
 of the flowers which Thou hast made to teach me of Thee, and that, 
 in their history, speak the nobility of a manly heart dearer and more 
 beautiful than the rarest blooms ! For the birds and the brooks that 
 sing to lull me to rest, awaken me to the joys and the hopes of the 
 morning and make the day melodious, and for all the 'bliss of being,' I 
 
200 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 thank Thee, O Thou Divine Benignity. And I thank Thee for the 
 Gospel of Thy dear Son that makes attainable by Thy children the 
 joys of heaven ! Grateful for what Thou hast bestowed, I mourn that 
 I am no more thankful and that 1 have not shown my appreciation for 
 Thy blessings by fitly improving them and seeking to bless others. I 
 have remained complacent in the enjoyment of Thy favors, when I 
 should have been awake to the fact that they were bestowed not more 
 for my comfort than to give me means for blessing those in need, 
 of whose wants I should have known. Forgive my ingratitude to 
 Thee and my neglect cf the needy. Forgive me whom Thou 
 hast placed in a world of suffering where I have comforts, in a 
 world of sadness where I have joy, in a world of thorns where I 
 have thornless roses! in a world where, by the beautiful ministry 
 of kindness I could have multiplied for myself the blessings I dis- 
 pensed to others ! Do Thou, Father in heaven, forgive for all this 
 thoughtlessness. Forgive me for not thinking of the orphan boy 
 and caring for him ; nay, forgive me for not heeding the voice within 
 that reminded me of him and bade me seek him out and minister to 
 his needs ! And what words can tell how much an orphan boy needs a 
 mother ! How much, O how much, does he need a mother who has no 
 father and whose soul never had a mother! To such an one I could 
 have ministered, but I have failed of the duty and privilege of the 
 beautiful ministrjM Forgive, O Father in heaven, and help me to do 
 works meet for repentance. For the sake of Thy Son, hear Thou in 
 heaven, and when Thou hearest, forgive Thine unfaithful servant 
 that, appointed almoner of Thy blessings, didst selfishly keep them to 
 herself! For the sake of Thy Son, forgive. Amen." 
 
 The supplicant remained kneeling awhile, when, speak- 
 ing in tones of reverence and assurance, the words : " Yes, 
 Father in heaven, Thou dost forgive," she arose to see her 
 husband coming towards her. With tears attesting his 
 emotions, he took her hand, and the two kneeling in her 
 place of petition, he prayed " for forgiveness for neglect- 
 ing the helpless and for grace to be helpful in the future.'' 
 
JOHN PETERS. 20I 
 
 " Yes, husband," said Mrs. Smith, when, with confess- 
 ions done, the two had entered the living room, " I ought 
 to have thought of Edward Atherton more than I have, 
 and ought to have ministered to him. If God gives the 
 opportunity, I will make amends for the past. I wish 
 Elder Peters were here. The Hardland charge is not in 
 his district this year, but he might want to visit that 
 former field of his pastoral work and he would be the one 
 to ascertain the boy's- condition." 
 
 " He is the right man for such. an errand, and he will be 
 here soon. He took one of our horses to make a tour of 
 the churches of the district and is due here this morning 
 — there he is now, coming into the yard." 
 
 " Husband, dearest, before he comes, a word to you — 
 forgive me for not being helpful enough to you." 
 
 " Forgive .'' Of course. But you need no forgiveness. 
 Do not too much charge yourself with fault. Here is a 
 kiss, and my heart, anew, and forever ! " 
 
 Elder Peters wore an unusually anxious look as he 
 entered the living-room, with his customary " Good morn- 
 ing, friends," uttered with that sincerity which would keep 
 it from appearing hackneyed to those who heard it a 
 thousand times. 
 
 "Good morning, Mr. Peters," said Mrs. Smith, "you 
 look as if concerned about something." 
 
 "I have been anxious over a voice within, and in 
 answer to it have determined to do something that is 
 unusual for me, something which I always thought 
 
202 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 unwise to do, because it would seem like proselyting, a 
 mission against which I have argued for a week." 
 
 "What is it that agitates you ? " 
 
 " Something tells me to visit Deacon Grout of Hard- 
 land, and ask him to become a Christian. Strange 
 message, this, surely, to an official member of a church. 
 Membership in a Christian church is by no means proof 
 positive that the, member is a Christian. But it is a 
 delicate task to do an errand which presupposes he is not 
 a Christian, that he is not that which he professes to be," 
 
 " Indeed, it must require courage, discretion and firm- 
 ness. And you propose to undertake the mission ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "We have an errand — will you see how the boy, Ed- 
 ward Atherton fares, who is indentured to the same 
 Deacon Grout whom you are moved to call upon ? I 
 have once or twice heard that the lad was not well 
 treated and have neglected to look after him as I should." 
 
 ''And your confession leads me to acknowledge my own 
 failure in reference to the same matter." 
 
 Where two had knelt, three supplicants bowed, while 
 the minister of Christ implored forgiveness for his unfaith- 
 fulness in the ministry of blessing the little ones. And 
 to his " God bless the dear boy Edward," there were 
 hearty " amens " that spoke the determination to act 
 helpfully to those in need. 
 
 " There," said Elder Peters, as he was ascending to his 
 chamber to prepare for his drive, " I can see it all. Now 
 
JOHN PETERS. 203 
 
 that I have surrendered to God's will my ideas of the unfit- 
 ness of a message He gave me and have decided to obey 
 His command, I find the journey I was commanded to 
 make, is to be taken for another errand, and one concern- 
 ing the fitness of which I should not hesitate. Tell Mr. 
 Stedman to have ' Billy ' ready soon ; and I am glad the 
 horse is fresh for the drive. Ask Mr. Stedman to go with 
 me, for something tells me that I shall have to meet an 
 emergency." 
 
 Taking a basket of cake, apples and cheese which Mrs. 
 Smith had prepared as a remembrance to the boy, and 
 luncheon that she had made ready for the minister and 
 Stedman, Elder Peters, responding " Thank you " to the 
 promise of his friends to pray for him, said " Good-bye " 
 and " God help me, to-day," and, springing into his buggy, 
 where Stedman awaited him, drove off, uttering this 
 confidence and summons : — " Come, ' Billy,' you have an 
 errand, to-day. Carefully at first, ' Billy/ and then God 
 give you good speed and abundant breath." Acting as if 
 he understood the demand and the caution, the horse 
 trotted slowly up the road to the cross-roads, and when 
 nearing the school-house he slackened his gait to a walk. 
 It was recess time, and seeing Agnes, the horse stopped, 
 and the girl patted his face and mane. 
 
 " Pray for us, little lady," said the minister as he drove 
 on. 
 
 " Yes, Mr. Peters ; good-bye, and I hope you'll come 
 back safe." 
 
204 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 " Go, ' Bill}',' go," said the minister ; and the horse sped 
 gently along the smooth road for a time, and then, after 
 walking up a hill, struck into a trot, at which Stedman 
 exclaimed, " How like lightning he flies ! " 
 
 " Brave ' Billy.' on, on ! " said Peters, and still faster 
 fared the horse, till wheels seemed not to touch the track, 
 and equine, wagon and riders flew as if driven by the 
 fleetest wind. 
 
 Reaching the farm-house where his master had formerly 
 left him, to take another horse in his stead, " Billy," not 
 waiting to be reined, turned into the yard. "An urgent 
 errand to-day,'^ said Mr. Peters, " and I must have your 
 horse, Brother Sloan." 
 
 In a trice the horse was hitched up, and looking a 
 second time to the straps and buckles, Sloan said, " Do 
 your best ' Jack.' " 
 
 " Good care of * Billy,' if you please, Brother Sloan," 
 said Peters ; and the fresh horse bounded into the road, 
 eager to begin the flight he divined was demanded of 
 him. 
 
 "How the fine bay enjoys the tremendous gait," said 
 Stedman ; " I have sometimes thought it possible there 
 may be horses in heaven. What say you. Elder Peters ? " 
 
 " The man who has a spirit that could take pleasure in 
 abusing a horse, as some men do, would find it hell in 
 heaven ! " 
 
 " You are right, Mr. Peters." 
 
 "And if unkindness to a horse keeps one from final 
 
JOHN PETERS. 205 
 
 happiness, how much more unkindness to a human being? 
 What must his fate be who is unkind to a child ? " 
 
 "What a crime that must be ! " 
 
 " Verily ; and Mr. Smith told you the errand for which 
 we are going? " 
 
 " He did. And Mrs. Smith has once or twice spoken 
 about the boy and her anxiety for his welfare. I hope we 
 shall be successful in accomplishing our mission of compel- 
 ling Grout into humane treatment of the bo3\ For such 
 as Grout can be made to do well only from the fear of the 
 consequences of wrong doing, and we'll array before 
 him the consequences of abusing Edward." 
 
 "Yes, we'll ' array the consequences' of cruelty." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 "qui facit per alium, facit per se," etc. 
 
 BE not afraid ; it is not a college professor who is to 
 be introduced, nor a college graduate proud of his 
 parchment and the learning he has stored away and 
 has not the power to use, and who worships learning for 
 its own sake only, without thought of it as a means for 
 accomplishing good in the world. Neither of these is it, 
 but, rather, two hearty young men from New Hampshire, 
 full of life, naturally bright and with such education as 
 they could get at a district school, and one of them 
 possessing also the additional advantage of what learning 
 he could acquire in three terms at an academy. This 
 was Lewis Darling, and to him the preceptor of the institu- 
 ition had given a paper certifying that he was " qualified to 
 teach a common school." With his learning and the 
 capacity to use it, he possessed high moral sense, a love 
 of justice, and a genial nature. To these characteristics 
 he added firm health and great physical strength, for the 
 man of less than medium height that he was ; while the 
 other, his cousin, Timothy Edgerley, contrasted strikingly 
 with him in size, being " six feet, four " in his stockings, 
 and otherwise built to bring his weight up to two hundred 
 and seventy-five pounds, and possessed of strength far 
 
JOHN PETERS. 207 
 
 beyond even his great proportions, yet resembling the 
 smaller man in natural brightness and his other good quali- 
 ties. " Tall Tim," as he had been dubbed by his mates 
 in a logging-camp experience, of a winter " away up in 
 Coos,"' had earned the reputation of being able to "walk 
 furder, run faster, ' rastle better, lift a bigger stun', an' dig 
 more taters nor any other feller " in his native region of 
 the Ammonoosuc. And the list of excellences, believed 
 by all the neighbors and enumerated to visitors, noted also 
 the fact that " he could cut, rake and bind more rye, drop 
 more grass an' pitch more hay th'n any other man o' his 
 inches an' twice ez much ez common folks, an' put up two 
 cord o' wood a-tween sun an' sun, jes ez easy." His true 
 eye and the steadiness of nerve of a man of good health 
 and free from bad habits enabled him to bring down with 
 his rifle the eagle from his highest perch and loftiest 
 flight, and he could 
 
 " dror a furrer straighter " 
 than any man of his acquaintance that ever " drove a team 
 a-field." And he would like nothing better than, with 
 one team tired at night-fall, to take another and plow for 
 six hours longer, by the " light of the moon," whistling, or 
 with his clear tenor voice that had caught the cadences of 
 the stream of his native valley, singing " Swanee River," 
 " Yankee Doodle," " Hail to the Chief " or " Old Hundred." 
 Six hours of the sweet, unbroken, dreamless slumber 
 insured by health, a clear conscience in reference to the 
 past and the consciousness of right aims for the future, 
 
2o8 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 made him as good as new and eager for the work and the 
 joys of another day. 
 
 Timothy Edgerley and Lewis Darling, cousins, of exactly 
 the same age, and resembling each other in traits of 
 character though contrasting with each other in physical 
 make-up, were not only akin but had always been friends, 
 emphasizing in their liking for each other, more strongly 
 than did any other members of the two families in New 
 Hampshire, the high regard that had existed between the 
 Edgerleys and the Darlings from the earliest days of those 
 races "away down East.'' From there came one of the 
 best of the Edgerleys to the Granite State, where he 
 married a girl by the name of MacDonald, whose sister 
 became the wife of a Darling, who, the next year, moved 
 from Maine. Blessed with wives who possessed the 
 honesty, courage and sense of honor characteristic of all 
 genuine Scotch people, and who were womanly enough to 
 hold them through life, absolutely loyal, not only each to 
 the one he married, but each to the ideal for wedded life 
 which was his in his wooing and his honeymoon — thus 
 blessed and thus kept at their best, how could they but 
 be happy, and how could their children be other than the 
 bright and good children they were. And now, in 1853, 
 Timothy and Lewis, just turned twenty-one, and with 
 brothers old enough to be sufficient help to the fathers in 
 the management of the paternal acres, were to leave home 
 and make their way in the world. Everybody liked them, 
 and, on the bright June morning set for their departure, 
 
JOHN PETERS. 209 
 
 some of the nearest neighbors gathered, with the Darlings, 
 at the Edgerley farm-house on the stage road, to say good- 
 bye to the " best young men in town." 
 
 Mr. Edgerley's voice was husky as he said, " God bless 
 you, my son ; and God bless you, Lewis. We shall miss 
 each of you ; but I have no doubt that you'll take good 
 care of yourselves and do well, and will not forget the 
 homes where you will always be welcome." The mother 
 of each promised to each her prayers, as did the minister, 
 who came bringing certificates of good character, signed 
 by himself and the chairman of the town school board, 
 and concerning which he remarked: "Well worthy the 
 testimonials, your worth renders it needless for you to 
 have the papers, but you can take them as keepsakes, you 
 know." Mrs. Edgerley and Mrs. Darling prepared an 
 ample luncheon for the cousins and were assisted by — 
 two young women. It was in the "square room" where 
 the taller of the young men took leave of bright little 
 Jennie Davis, whose blue eyes looked through tears, up, 
 away up, to eyes that wept responsive and attested the 
 truth of his words, — " Yes, Jennie, yours, here and every- 
 where ! " 
 
 "And, my own, I am always yours, and I am just glad 
 that I am." 
 
 "Jennie, ye can do me a favor by talkin' up to some- 
 where an' askin' Him ye pray to if He'll bless a feller like 
 Tim Edgerley an' keep him good as a man an' true to jest 
 the best " 
 
2IO JOHN PETERS. 
 
 His emotions were too much for the giant, and tears 
 that rained down on the auburn locks of the woman stand- 
 ing by the chair in which he was sitting spoke a tenderness 
 of soul too great for speech. " Come," said he, and as 
 though she was but the weight of a rose, he lifted her to 
 his knee as she said : — 
 
 "Yes, dearest, as powerless in your hands as a lamb in 
 in the clutches of a tiger, I am as safe with you as when, 
 a child, I nestled in my mother's arms." 
 
 O blessed trust of woman in her own ! was there ever a 
 ■diviner thing on earth than this ! 
 
 His emotions under control, Edgerley said, "You know, 
 Jennie, I promised you, some time ago, that I would leave 
 off all swear words an' try to be a man, an' that I'd never 
 "drink liquor, — an' I never did drink it, — an' that I'd keep 
 from gittin' mad, as much as possible, an' you remember 
 'how determined you was, an' how I telled ye th't ye 
 Taroke my will, th't you was the first one th't conquered 
 Tim Edgerley ? " 
 
 " Yes, dearest ; and that was so grand of you." 
 
 " Well, you mind an' keep up the prayin' an' I'll 
 practice accordin' to the 'greement." 
 
 "All right, you noblest of men." 
 
 "Perhaps I'll hev' ter break a big stick on a rock or 
 kick suthin', to vent my feelin's when any one acts mean, 
 like a man 'busin' a child or a woman." 
 
 " That will be better than swearing, and you shall have 
 my prayers, every day." 
 
JOHN PETERS. 
 
 " Here, then, now an' forever 
 
 The kisses that gave soul to soul when each gift be- 
 stowed was a genuine, undiminished, unmortgaged soul, — 
 guard, good angels, ever guard from all unfit beholding, 
 the scene of such high bestowment ! What enactment 
 this, by these grandly simple people, who, mated in soul, 
 pledged to be united in life ! Ah, those pledges that 
 did not need to be spoken ! pledges whose source and 
 foundations were in the qualities of the souls plighted, 
 qualities that, beginning and growing on earth, should 
 grow and blossom in the eternities ! 
 
 The two walked to an orchard seat, and their place of 
 tryst in the house was, in turn, witness of a scene in 
 which Lewis Darling and his Scotch Mary Ronald said 
 words too sacred for others than themselves and "the 
 gods that see everywere " and hear even the voices of the 
 silences ! O, souls pure as the airs that wafted to the 
 perpetual summer above the words that made forever 
 memorable those moments of that June of Time, are there 
 not thoughts too high for words ? are there not heavenly 
 joys on earth ? Aye, verily, to such as ye, on earth be- 
 ginneth the bliss of the Beyond ! cometh rich, and true, and 
 constant foretaste of the joy of the grand Consummation. 
 
 " I might as well begin now," said Tim, as, approaching 
 Mrs. Davis, who had come with her daughter to bid the 
 boys good-bye, he stooped down and gave her " a kiss 
 equal to the occasion," as the young man's father re- 
 marked amid the laughter of the company. "And," 
 
212 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 continued he, " Lewis, you might as well follow suit and 
 make peace with your future mother-in " 
 
 " Take care, Mr. Edge ,"' but poor Mrs. Ronald did 
 
 not have time to complete her protest ere the challenged 
 young man was bestowing full promise of future affection 
 and tractability. 
 
 Well clad, with good health, high hopes, and twenty- 
 five dollars each, and carrying, one his testimonial of fit- 
 ness for teaching, which he did not need, each the needless 
 certificates of good character, and each a copy of the New 
 Testament and Psalms, the cousins mounted the waiting 
 stage-coach, and, waving their adieux to the group of dear 
 ones, bade good-bye to home and boyhood associations 
 and started " down country," Tim Edgerley whistling 
 
 " The girl I left behind me," 
 and 
 
 'Hail Columbia, f^appy land." 
 
 Three miles out, the cousins took seats inside, and, there 
 being no other passengers, improved the freedom of 
 the coach in reminiscences and resolutions, Edgerley 
 beginning : — 
 
 " Say, Lew, what was them sayin's th't I hearn you an' 
 the Latin teacher to the academy goin' over, when I 
 was there tew see you last term, you remember — that 
 about 'purrin' an' ailin' ' an' ' purrin ' an' seein',' an' 
 * dose it ' an' * did sit ? ' I say, Lew, what was they ? " 
 
 "O," said the cousin smiling at the attempt of his 
 questioner to quote " the languages," " I remember, now ; 
 
JOHN PETERS. 213 
 
 some maxims in Latin which tlie professor was asking me 
 to commit — qui facit per alium, facit per se, which means, 
 he who by another does a thing, himself does it ; qui docit, 
 discit, he who teaches learns; errare est humanum, to err is 
 human ; and nulla vestigia retrorsum, no steps backward." 
 
 " What was that last one you telled on ? " 
 
 "Nulla vestigia retrorsum — no steps backward." 
 
 " That's jest me, Lew — ' no steps backward ' in the 
 undertakin' to be a man out in the world, 'no steps back- 
 ward " frum keepin' my promise made tew Jennie not 
 tew git mad more'n I ken help, an never tew use swear 
 words, and when I'm mad only break a stick on a rock or 
 kick suthin' tew vent my feelin's. ' No steps backward ' — 
 yis, there's piles o' meanin' in them words, more'n a 
 sermon full o' idees, an' such as wakes a feller up tew dew 
 his best. I sh'll think on that one an' the one about folks 
 errin'. A feller sh'd look well that he's not gwine wrong, 
 when he thinks he's very good." 
 
 " Right, cousin." 
 
 "But I sh'd like the sayin's better written in the speech 
 of this kentry." 
 
 " No better language than the English." 
 
 "You understand books. Lew, an' '11 be teachin, an' 
 folks '11 say ' Mr. Darling ' tew you, an' I spose they'll look 
 down on me an' call me simply * Tim.' That's a name you 
 ken call me, fur with you it means what ye call fellership. 
 But tothers, they'll find theirselves barkin' up the wrong 
 tree ! " 
 
2 14 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 " Good for you, Tim ; for more reasons than one people 
 cannot look dow7i on my tall cousin." 
 
 And they didn't. At Ridgeway he was respected by 
 the leading farmer, Mr. Robinson, for whom he exceeded 
 even his New Hampshire record for work, at whose table 
 he was one of the family, by whom he was addressed as 
 "Mr. Edgerley'' and by whom he was introduced as "my 
 friend Mr. Edgerley, from the Granite State." Was not 
 this acknowledging equality with a mere farm hand 
 degrading to the citizen ? Wait a few years and see the 
 result of recognizing as a man, one who had real manliness, 
 if he did lack polish and was engaged in a humble call- 
 ing. He had at once the reward of the peace-giving 
 consciousness of bestowing this recognition and the 
 equally comforting consciousness that the employee re- 
 spected him in turn and showed that respect by giving 
 him the best work ever done on his farm. 
 
 Darling's first experience was teaching at Ridgeway. 
 The following spring he pursued his studies under the 
 private tutorship of Rev. Dr. Robinson at Wayfield, and 
 Edgerley began work for Samuel Sumner of Hardland, 
 who agreed to " respect him as a man and not treat him 
 like a servant." Apprised by Edgerley of the promise not 
 to use " swear words " and of the novel method of work- 
 ing off the ire occasioned by an emergency, the farmer 
 was not surprised, when Edgerley, of a morning in June, 
 came into the potato-field and seizing his hoe, broke the 
 handle over a rock, kicked a barrel into pieces, and, 
 
JOHN PETERS. 215 
 
 taking a rail from a fence near by, demolished the same 
 before he had quieted himself. 
 
 " I guess you found Grout abusing the boy, when you 
 went on that errand, this morning," said Sumner. 
 
 "Well, I reckon I did." 
 
 "Mr. Edgerley, I'll willingly get a new handle for the 
 hoe, and if you'll think of any means to shame or scare 
 Grout into humane treatment of the boy I'll help you 
 carry out the plan." 
 
 " It's a bargain, Mr. Sumner ; an' I'll hatch out suthin' 
 afore night that'll cook his goose for a while. I have it 
 now ; if you're willin' to give a day's work in the cause o' 
 blessin' the fatherless, I'll go there to Grout's and jest 
 stump him tew mow along with me. He boasts th't no 
 one kin git ahead o' him." 
 
 " How will your mowing help the boy ? " 
 
 "You see, I'll jest git Grout tew 'change work,' an' turn 
 in the boy for two days' work for you, agin one day o' my 
 work for the deacon. An' then you kin have a chance to 
 be good to the boy, an' 'twill be your givin' a day's work 
 for one o' the needy — more'n the 'cup o' cold water' the 
 Bible tells on. Tim's a great feller to be quotin' Scripter, 
 though. But if you'll give one day's work, Tim'll give 
 another, an' that'll make four days for the boy out o' the 
 keepin' o' that tyrant." 
 
 "You could not better please Mrs. Sumner and my- 
 self than to get Edward over here, where he'll not 
 suffer." 
 
2l6 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 " I'm jest achin' to foller the deacon and teach him how 
 a Nog Hampshear boy kin drop grass. If he don't take 
 to my idee, I'll jest fetch it round how Tim Edgerley knows 
 suthin' that, when he was wurkin to Ridgeway, he learnt 
 o' Bill Jones, one time, down to Dayville. An' he'll think 
 to wunst o' some connivin' he's ben doin' at the way ole 
 Barnes has been a-gittin' rich out o' venshuns o' the boy's 
 father, th't he got 'thout payin' fer. I happen to know 
 that ole Barnes and Grout had sum tork erbout the sub- 
 jeck when Barnes fetched Edward up here four year ago. 
 If Barnes and Grout did evil — as they did — ^^we'll make 
 good come out on't, by holdin' over them, as a kind o' 
 whip, our knowledge o' their wrong-doin'.^' 
 
 " Good for you ! Is Mr. Edgerley goin' to apply for a 
 license to preach } Elder Peters wants a new man or two." 
 
 " It's practicin' ruther'n preachin' that Tim Edgerley's 
 doin' erbout these days, though such preachin' as Peters 
 does is the right sort, 'lowin' Tim's a jedge o' sermons." 
 
 " By the way, Mr. Edgerley, what did you see this 
 morning, that started your ire ? " 
 
 " The ole tyrant gin the boy cuts with his ox-whip, jest 
 because he stopped a bit to look at some white chickens 
 that was a-dippin' their bills into a dough-dish ; an' I 
 hearn the little feller, kind o' joyful saying, ' Chicky, 
 chicky, nice chickies ! ' Then came the lash o' that ox- 
 whip, with two snappin', stingin' blows 'round the boy's 
 legs, and he had nothin' on but a pair o' denim pants. 
 And Grout said, ' I'll teach ye not to be wastin' precious 
 
JOHN PETERS. 217 
 
 time. Thet's a cryin' sin, forbidden in Scripter, and ye 
 must be taught better than thet, livin' as ye do in the 
 house o' one o' the foreordained and elected.' An' all the 
 time the old Herod an' hippercrit was a-preachin' that 
 little feller was jest a-cryin' as if his heart would break. 
 I said nothin' 'cause I thought I'd play the purty with Grout. 
 And I said, all smilin', right then, when I was boilin' with 
 mad, 'Good mornin', Mr. Grout,' an' he said, 'Good 
 mornin', Mr, Edgerley,' as perlite as you please, and 
 there I was jest longin' to give him a blessin' that 
 he couldn't buy tew the store. Sech dewin's ginerally 
 make me collar the feller, but I thort I'd dew better 
 and perhaps hurt wus. It's dewin' a man good tew 
 stop him frum sinnin'." 
 
 "That's so." 
 
 "That's what I'd like tew dew fer Grout." 
 
 "Why, Edgerley, you're a friend of the needy and a 
 missionary to the heathen, as well ! " 
 
 " Grout a heathen — not a bad idee ! " 
 
 Edgerley's plan was carried out, the first week of the 
 haying season, which began the Monday after the Fourth. 
 Edgerley's friendship for the boy must have counted with 
 Grout, for he was more reasonable in his treatment of his 
 ward, who, the next winter, found still another friend. 
 At Edgerley's suggestion Mr. Sumner mentioned to the 
 school committee, all of whom were members of the 
 Hardland church. Darling's name as applicant for the 
 centre school to teach, and told not only his qualifications 
 
2l8 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 as teacher but his "good and regular standing '' with the 
 regulation religionists. Darling's application was received 
 with favor by the whole board, not one of whom saw that 
 ,Edgerley had a hand in the matter. When learning of 
 this interest, they did not think he had other object than 
 securing a place for his cousin ; certainly they did not 
 think he sought a teacher for the school who would be 
 friendly to the New Light orphan boy. Supplemented 
 by a bit of shrewdness by Darling the plan worked better 
 than was hoped, and not only did the committee, after a 
 brief examination, "approbate Lewis Darling to teach the 
 school at Hardland centre for the winter term of 1854-5," 
 but their certificate of approval bore the indorsement of 
 Rev. Abimilech Barrett, who had been invited to " sit with 
 the committee," and who testified that he found "the 
 bearer, Lewis Darling, sound on the decrees and minor 
 points of doctrine."' 
 
 "Decrees an' minor p'ints," said Edgerley after the 
 examination — "well, Lew, ain't that good? Haow'd ye 
 work it, Lew ? " 
 
 "Why, Tim, you see, Mr. Barrett, as you may have 
 heard, has a daughter Huldah that he's been trying to get 
 married off. I was invited to dinner at the parsonage, 
 and, of course, I was polite to Miss Barrett — politeness, 
 and that was all that was shown by a man pledged to 
 Mary Ronald. At the examination I showed the certifi- 
 cate from the minister up home, and daughter and docu- 
 ment did the business ! The committee, who had evi- 
 
JOHN PETERS. 219 
 
 dently been 'given the wink' by Mr. Barrett, asked me 
 but few questions and those that any child could 
 answer, and ten minutes after the hearing began the 
 examiners made out their certificate, on which Mr. 
 Barrett indorsed his approval of your cousin, theologically 
 considered !" 
 
 " I say. Lew, you're jest sum punkins an' a hull team 
 an' a hoss tew let ! "' And the compliment was empha- 
 sized wirh a friendly slap on the shoulder that made the 
 dust fly even from the neatly dressed Darling, as Edgerley 
 concluded his eulogy with, "Jest think o' Jennie and 
 Mary larfin' over what they'll hear erbout this fun, ez 
 quick ez the stage can dror a letter frum Tim Edgerley 
 up tew Noo Hampshear ! ^' 
 
 It had been the rule with the Hardland centre school to 
 " put the master out ^' every other winter, and this was the 
 season for the ejection, when, of course, the boys would 
 do their best to keep up their good record for prowess. 
 But Mr. Darling, by his vigororous handling of two of the 
 "big boys'" for acts indicating the incipient stages of a 
 rebellion, prevented its culmination and so fully demon- 
 strated his ability to "govern the school," that the com- 
 mittee were more than ever pleased with their choice ; 
 while Rev. Mr. Barrett, who still " had hopes for Huldah," 
 as Edgerley wrote in his second letter to his "Jennie in 
 Noo Hampshear," was unctious in praise of " the excellent 
 master of our head school," and continued to vouch for 
 him as fit for welcome in that aristocracy of theological 
 
220 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 correctness, "the foreordained and elected." Thus in- 
 trenched in the good will of these educational and ecclesi- 
 - astical authorities, Master Darling, whose natural polite- 
 ness counted well with the women of the district, soon 
 had a hold on his position as teacher which not even 
 punishing a child of one of the foreordained and punishing 
 him for an offense against the child of a reprobate, could 
 jeopardize. The New Light boy, because of the theologi- 
 cal stigma on his parentage was thought to have " no 
 rights that the foreordained and elected were bound to 
 respect." And Deacon Grout's son thought that, although 
 Mr. Darling had made hazing "off color" that year, it 
 would do for the son of the deacon to practice it, and, 
 certainly, to practice it on the son of unelected parents. 
 But, fearing interference in behalf of fair play, if he 
 assaulted Edward, he induced another boy to give the 
 " licking," which, with its supplementary " rubbing " in tho 
 snow, was the depth of humiliation. On reentering the 
 school-room, the offender was called to the floor and given 
 a "dose of birch tonic," at the completion of which 
 the teacher, who gave no hint that he surmised there 
 was another offender, seized the young Grout by the 
 collar, and, pulling him to the floor, demanded in a 
 stern voice : — 
 
 " Do you understand Latin } " 
 
 '< N'— n'— n' no, sir". 
 
 " I propose to teach the meaning of one Latin saying so 
 you'll not forget it, if you live to be as old as Methuselah ! 
 
JOHN PETERS. 221 
 
 You, sir, led the other boy to inflict indignities on Edward, 
 and that's the same as if you did the act yourself ; and 
 now " 
 
 " I w' — w' — won't do so no more ! " 
 
 " I think you will not. The saying well fits the offense. 
 And," continued the indignant master, as he took from an 
 inner pocket of his coat a raw hide and began belaboring 
 the Grout, "you deserve a blow for every letter in 
 the maxim, but I'll use only three words, ' Q-u-i f-a-c-i-t 
 p-e-r.'" 
 
 "There, sir," concluded Darling, " ^ Qui facit per alium, 
 faatper se,'' He who by another does a thing, himself does 
 it — and in this school shall be held responsible for it ! 
 Do you understand ? " 
 
 "Y' — y' — yis, sir.'^ 
 
 " Down on your knees, sir. And Edward, you come 
 here and let this Grout beg your pardon. '^ 
 
 " I'd rather not, if you please, Mr. Darling, but I'll for- 
 give him." 
 
 "All right, my noble fellow ; that's forgiving your ene- 
 mies, surely. And now. Grout, you beg my pardon for 
 the offense and the pardon of the boy you led into the 
 wrong doing for which he was punished." 
 
 " Y' — y' — y' — yis sir," sniveled the kneehng culprit. 
 
 " Go to your seat ! and behave yourself here and do not 
 molest Edward in or out of school." 
 
 This punishment insured Atherton's safety through the 
 term ; but, when, in the spring, Darling went to Wayfield 
 
222 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 to teach a " select school," and Edgerley, by death in his 
 father's family, was called home to remain until June, the 
 boy was made to endure hardness enough to pay, cent per 
 cent, for all the previous amelioration of his lot. Return- 
 ing to Hardland the day before the drive of Elder Peters 
 and Stedman on their mission, Edgerley was with Mr. 
 Sumner, in a field, as the Dayville team drove up. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 RESCUE. 
 
 ELDER PETERS, how do " but the salutation 
 of Mr. Sumner was unanswered, and Peters, listen- 
 ing, said : — 
 
 " Brother Stedman — that sound — do you hear it ? blows, 
 and some one sobbing ? Quick, Stedman ! Sumner will 
 care for the horse." And minister and Stedman hastened 
 on tip-toe toward Deacon Grout's barn, whence came the 
 sounds. 
 
 " In there ! — stable door — barn floor — I'll — this way- 
 through back barn doors," said the flying Peters. Inside 
 the stable, Stedman saw Grout on the barn floor, whip in 
 hand, uplifted above the prostrate form of a boy with 
 hands tied, and heard, " There ! reprobate, will you mind 
 now ? " and faintly came the moaned reply, " I didn't do 
 wrong; I didn't take them." Then the gruff voice, 
 " You did — and now lying like Annynyus and Soffyrya, 
 
 thet wuz struck ded by the jedgment of God. I'll " 
 
 and the blow was about to fall that might kill or drive to 
 'madness, when forward sprang the great Stedman, and 
 thundered his voice : — " Monster ! Hold ! " 
 
 A hay-fork quickly seized by Grout struck the plunging 
 man in his right cheek. Pulling the tine from the wound, 
 Stedman, heeding not the flowing blood, grappled Grout, 
 
224 JOHN TETERS. 
 
 and the two fell to the floor, Grout above Stedman and 
 clutching his throat to cause almost the faintness of death. 
 Peters, baffled in trying to open the rear doors, rushed 
 back to the stable, and at one bound, as if suddenly re- 
 informed with the fire of his athletic youth, cleared the 
 whole distance to Grout, who, rising from the murderous 
 clutch at the throat of Stedman, soon found himself ten 
 feet from where the itinerant grasped him and lying, back 
 down, on the floor, with Peters kneeling on his breast, but 
 not engaged in prayer ! 
 
 " I'll not harm you, sir," said the minister, " and you 
 ought to be giateful that I came in season to prevent you 
 killing Stedman and that he came in time to prevent you 
 crushing to insanity that one of God's children who was 
 committed to your keeping. Look at him ; see, sir, what 
 you have done to one of the little ones who is especially 
 dear to the Heavenly Father ! Hear the moans of the 
 boy. Did you ever read the curse recorded in the sacred 
 Book against such as you — the millstone and the depths 
 of the sea .-• What ! no sign of compunctions when you 
 ought to cry to God for mercy ! " 
 
 Elder Peters, who, as he began the " exhortation," knelt 
 at the side of his "hearer" but still kept a firm hold on' 
 him, now arose, as did Grout, who said : — 
 
 '* I have a right to whip the boy, because he's bound to 
 me. He is not one of the elect, but is a reprobate, and 
 has stolen from one of the elect and then lied about it, 
 like Annynyus and Soffyrya." 
 
JOHN PETERS. 225 
 
 " Stolen from one of the elect ! " exclaimed Mr, Sumner, 
 as he, with Edgerley, appeared on the scene, " what has 
 he stolen ? " 
 
 "A peck measure full of last year's apples, the last I 
 had." 
 
 " Stolen apples ! you ought to have suspected your own 
 son ; for, while you have called him one of those elected 
 to heaven he has been going to the devil ! I saw him in the 
 road with the measure of apples, munching one of them, 
 giving some of them to his mates and chuckling over the 
 fact that ' Dad would think that Ed stole the apples an' 
 give him the gel blastedest lickin' he ever got.' " 
 
 Sumner left Grout and knelt by the boy, untied his 
 hands, and for a time listened to the whispered wander- 
 ings of a mind worn by the dominance of an overpowering 
 A^ill and insane from fright. Edgerley, laying on Grout's 
 ihoulder a hand that could have shaken him as if he were 
 but a plaything, said : — 
 
 " If you'd hurt Edward only half as bad as you have, I sh'd 
 la' gin you a whalin', as a means o' grace, but now you're 
 beyond the power o' grace to save, an' I pity ye, for if 
 thar's a hell, Dave Grout has ahead o' him that which 
 none o' the preachers can foreshadder, the dreddin' o' 
 which must be wusser a thousand times nor anythin' Tim 
 Edgerley kin dew tew a feller, an' the realizin' o' which 
 no folks kin tell what live in the kentry this side of the 
 dark river ! Yis, Dave Grout, I pity ye, I dew ! " And 
 the mild blue eyes of the giant, that contrasted strangely 
 
226 JOHN PETERS. 
 
 with his great form, filled with tears and his face was ashv 
 pale as he turned, shuddering, from the cruel man and 
 repeated, " Yis, Dave Grout, I pity ye, I dew ! " 
 
 " You reprobate, why are you talking to one of God's 
 elect about hell ? " said Grout. 
 
 " Dave Grout, I pity ye, yis I dew ; " and the giant as 
 he neared Grout's victim, knelt and laid his heavy hand 
 tenderly on the sufferer's shoulder, saying, " Tim Edgerley 
 loves ye." 
 
 " Mr. Sumner," said Peters in tones indicating arouse- 
 ment for action and the consciousness of ability to do what 
 was necessary to be done, " if Mr. Edgerley will assist 
 Stedman to his feet and walk with him to your house, you 
 and I will carry Edward there, and I presume Mrs. 
 Sumner will make up a couch for him and another for 
 the wounded man. And," continued he on the way to 
 house, " you have a horse — it is twenty miles — tell Dr. 
 Johnson all that has happened and say that he's wanted." 
 
 "All right. Brother Peters, ' Dan ' will take me there in 
 just two hours." 
 
 In an hour and fifty minutes from receiving the errand, 
 Mr. Sumner halted his " Dan " at the house of Dr. 
 Johnson of Dayville. In five minutes the physician, 
 supplied with medicines, instruments and restoratives, 
 was whirling on his way towards Hardland, where, in 
 an hour and forty minutes his lithe, black " Flyer," white 
 with foam, was reined down from a keen run in front of 
 the house of Mr. Sumner Watching the boy intently for 
 
JOHN PETERS. 227 
 
 a time, the doctor said as he took his hand from the 
 pulse of the sufferer, " One more blow, and his reason 
 would have been gone forever ! But now there is hope." 
 "Thank God, Dr. Johnson," said Elder Peters, " Brother 
 Stedman and I followed the leadings of the Spirit, and 
 were just in time. I shall never forget — 'One more 
 blow and his reason would have been gone forever ! ■ " 
 
RARE BOOK 
 COLLECTION