UNIVERSITY OF CA R'VERSipE LIBRARY 3 1210 01850 1211 LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D., FIRST PRESIDENT OF TUFTS COLLEGE His Origin, Life, and Letters. HOSEA STARR BALLOU, Member of Bhode Island Historical Society, Virginia Historical Society, Neio-England Historic Genealogical Society, and Societe de I'Histoire du Frotestantisme Frangais, Paris. BOSTON: E. P. GUILD & COMPANY. 1896. IDS COPTRIGHT, 1S96, BY HosEA Starr Ballou. PREFACE. Estimates of Dr. Ballou's character, ability, and work; and the popular demand for such rare wit as was his, it has long been felt should prompt a competent hand to write, in permanent form, the story of his life. Such a hand would have been Thomas Starr King's, or Edwin H. Chapin's, but both are vanished, and a memoir planned thirty years ago — to the deep regi-et of many — was never written. "With extreme reluctance, I undertook, neai'ly a year ago, the difficult task of preparing this centennial memorial, as an avoca- tion, in the midst of exacting and engrossing duties. May it help to make us duly grateful for the work Dr. Ballou did so well, and prove interesting and profitable to the reader ! I take pleasure in acknowledging courtesies extended to me by the following, namely : the officers of Harvard University and of Tufts College, in granting access to manuscript records ; the lamented Lucius R. Paige, d.d., in granting access to valuable files, and for interesting recollections ; the venerable Thomas J. Sawyer, d.d., in the use of Dr. Ballou's letters to him ; Prof. Charles H. Leonard, D.D., and Prof . W. R. Shipman, d.d., for helpful suggestions; the Universalist Publishing House, for access to its files and for the use of three steel plates ; the Class of 1897 in Tufts College, for the use of two half-tone plates ; Mr. J. M. Usher, for the use of a half-tone plate ; and several archivists and others whose names will appear in their proper places, respectively, in the following pages. H. S. B. Brookline. Mass., September 7, 1896. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. Ancestry and Inherited Tendencies 5 II. Early Environment 22 III. Youth: Its Impressions and Expressions 49 IV. At Stafford, Roxbdry, and Medford 67 V. Counsels Union and Peace 109 VI. The Ancient History of Universalism ....... 127 VII. The Expositor and the Quarterly 143 VIII. Honors Bestowed 158 IX. Travels 168 X. Wit and Wisdom 19Q XI. Students in Theology 216 XII. Endeavors for Denominational Education 250 XIII. Tufts College 265 XIV. Estimates of his Character, Ability, and Work . . . 297 ILLUSTRATIONS. Dr. Ballou at 50 Frontispiece (Engraved from an early daguerreotype.) OPPOSITE PAGE St. Mary's, Ashford, Ivent, England 17 Birtiiplace 32 Winchester Cliurcli, 1S03 39 Early Home 42 Facsimile of Asahel Ballou's Handwriting 47 Mountain Views 49 The District Sctiool, ftnd where he " went a-coui'ting " 50 Asahel Ballou in his seventieth year 52 (From a painting by Giddings Hyde Ballou.) Hosea Ballou, senior, as Teacher 55 Universalist Church, Portsmouth, 1813 55 Portsmouth Home and School 58 First Universalist Church in Connecticut 69 First Universalist Church of Roxbury, 1821 79 First Universalist Church of Roxbury, 1896 90 School Street Chui-ch, Boston 91 First Universalist Church of Medford, 1854 107 Hosea Ballou, senior, at about 55 Ill Hosea Ballou, 2d, at about 30 112 Thomas Whittemore at about 26 112 Hosea Ballou, 2d 145 (From an oil painting by Giddings Hyde Ballou.) Five Presidents of Harvard University: Josiah Quincy, Edward Everett, Jared Sparks, James Walker, and Cornelius C. Felton . 163 Notch House, White Mountains, 1844 170 Hosea Ballou, 2d, d.d 181 (From a crayon portrait by Giddings Hyde Ballou.) Thomas A. Goddard 190 Mrs. Mary T. Goddard 191 Cornhill 200 First Parish Church of Orange 220 Levi Ballou 220 ILL US TEA TIONS. — Continued. H. S. Ballou 222 Lombard University 223 William Starr Ballou 223 Thomas Starr King 233 Edwin Hubbell Chapin 233 Amory Dwight Mayo 238 St. Lawrence University 243 John Stebbins Lee 243 First Universalist Church of Boston 246 Sumner Ellis 246 Oliver Dean, m.d 255 Charlestown Universalist Church 257 Charles Tufts 259 Mrs. Hannah (Robinson) Tufts 259 Silvanus Packard 274 Hosea Ballou, 2d, d.d., first President of Tufts College 281 (From a lithograph portrait by Cyrus and Darius Cobb.} Tufts College, 1855 • 285 Ballou Hall 287 Faculty and Students, 1854 291 Facsimile of Dr. Ballou's Handwriting 295 Tufts College, 1896 301 Faculty of Tufts College, 1896 303 Model of Bust of Dr. Ballou, by W. W. Story 307 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. CHAPTER I. ANCESTRY AND INHERITED TENDENCIES. " HoSEA Ballou — was born October 18, 1796." This is an entry in the family record in my grandfather's neat handwriting, strongly suggestive of French penmanship ; and he interlined, " my eldest." A century ago ! The child was the second to bear the name. " Honor thy father and thy mother," says Holy Writ. What blood, what tendencies, what traits of character, did the child inherit from his ancestors ? Who were his ancestors ? " Do you know that with the bias which came to you, or to me, from your ancestor, or mine, there came also a potent force speaking from the souls of the heroes of old ? " ^ At an early age Benjamin Ballou, the child's grandfather, at whose house he was born, felt deep interest and modest pride in his an- cestry ; and at twenty-seven years of age, in 1774, he wrote the first genealogy of the Ballous in America, from Mathurin Ballou or Belleau — for in the first fifty years I find the name spelled as often the one way as the other — down to the time of the American Revolution. As a genealogist of the family, it is truly said, he had " no rival or imitator for more than two centuries." 1 George F. Hoar, at Fiftieth Anniversary of the N. E. Hist. Gten. Soc. in Old South Church, Boston, April 19, 1895. 5 6 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Benjamin Ballou's manuscript begins as follows, namely : — SciTUATE, March 20, 1774. This writing was Written by Benjamin Ballou of Scituate, in the County of Providence, in the colony of Rhode Island. Having undertaken to write this small Book for myself that I may remember my Fore Fathers, and not forget them, I shall begin as far back as I have any intelligence of them. And have with care and pains diligently made inquii-y. But can find out but little of their births and deaths. And finding it very difficult to find any great about them, I think it high time to write what little I know about them. Not knowing any one who hath undertaken this work, or have any account of them. The first that bore the name was Matturiean^ Ballou that was ever known in these parts, or in New England. . . . This Mattu- riean Ballou arrived first at Rhode Island, which makes me think he did not come before the year 1637, ^ because Rhode Island was not purchased of the Indians until about that time. Matturiean Ballou, 1st, had 5 Sons and one Daughter The sons' names were John Ballou, 1st, Peter Ballou, 1st, James Ballou, 1st, Nathaniel Ballou, 1st, Samuel BaUou, 1st. His daughter's name was Hannah B. Nathaniel Ballou, 1st, Died a young man. Samuel Ballou, 1st, was drowned when he was a small lad. This is the first stock of the Ballous as I understand. Hosea Ballou, 2d, painstaking historian, and accustomed to 1 This spelling suggests the silent ft, the trilling r, and the final in in the original Prencti name Mathurin, now Anglicized Maturin, and his father's own pronunciation. Said Hosea Ballou, 2d, in the Quarterly, April, 1854, p. 176 : " He was doubtless of French descent, as both his Christian name and his surname indicate." And again : " Mathurin, as a Chris- tian name, is frequently met with in French families, and, so far as we know, in none others except cases in which it has been derived or borrowed from them." 2 By a tradition written down in 1773, he " came to this country in 1638, by some said to have landed at New Port." ANCESTBY AND INHERITED TENDENCIES. 7 weigh evidence with a critical eye, as he was, always firmly believed that the ancient tradition of the French Huguenot origin of the Ballou family was entitled to unqualified accept- ance as historical fact. In a manuscript memorandum now before me, bearing his familiar signature, under date of June, 1863, he quotes from the French Biographical Dictionary, pub- lished at Paris under the direction of M. le Dr. Hoefer : " Jean de la Balue, cardinal, born 1421, at Verdun [possibly at Limoges, others say at Poitiers] ; ^ died 1491. His father became a magistrate of the Bourg of Augle (some twenty miles north of Poitiers) in Poitou. He was private minister of Louis XI, and did him much service in some of his exigencies, but entered into a secret correspondence with the court of Charles of Burgundy, and advised Louis to make the famous visit to that prince.^ Louis afterward sent him to Loches, and confined him there in a cage ^ such as the cardinal himself had invented." According to Sir Walter Scott,^ " He wa-s tall and un- gainly in his person." He was a man of affairs.^ Through him despatch carriers were established, the foundation of the present postal system of France ; public roads and canals were improved ; the diffusion of knowledge was promoted by the es- tablishment of universities, and more especially through the great invention of the fifteenth century by establishing print- ing offices at Poitiers, Lyons, and elsewhere ; and perhaps second to none of these in preparing the way for the Refor- mation in France were his efforts to promote foreign trade on the high seas. What Cardinal Wolsey was to Henry VIII of England, all that was Cardinal Balue to Louis XI of France 1 See " Memoires of Philip de Comines," edited by Scoble, vol. I, p. 94. -For causes of his arrest see "De Troyes' Secret History of Louis XI (Chronicle)," vol. II, pp. 35&-358. 3 For this iron cage Louis XI paid, February 11, 1469, sixty livres, his accounts show. * See " Rise of the Huguenots of France," by H. M. Baird, vol. I, p. 34. 5 See " De Troyes' Chronicle," vol. II, pp. 311, 346, 349. 8 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. a full generation earlier. But Louis XI was crafty, faithless, dissipated, and cruel, and whether rightly or not, his prime minister, Balue, was suspected of the same characteristics. That the powers at Rome still had full confidence in him, however, is significant. Pope Sixtus IV secured Balue's lib- eration,! and, not content to heap wealth and honors upon him, vindicated him in the very eyes of the French by sending him as legate to Paris. By appointment of Pope Innocent VIII, the last seven years of his life he was successively bishop of Albano and of Preneste, and protector of the Order of Malta.2 Cardinal Balue was a Catholic, but in his day Protestant Europe there was none. At the time of his death France had not yet given birth to John Calvin, and Martin Luther, in Ger- many, was eight years old ; and long years afterward both Luther and Calvin preached Roman Catholicism.^ He did much to prepare the way for the Reformation in France. His epitaph might well read*: " Here rests one who never knew rest." Hosea Ballou, 2d, appears to incline to the opinion that his first American ancestor, Mathurin Ballou, and Cardinal Jean de la Balue had a common family origin, but he was not able to trace the line of descent, did he indeed care to make the attempt. A century and a half spans the gap between them. Probably Poitou,* possibly Picardy, "pas de Calais,"^ was the ancient home of the Ballous in France. There is an idle fancy that the name is derived from the Greek BaUw (Ballo, with a long o), I throw, referring to some Athe- 1 See Comines' " Memoires," vol. II, p. 39. 2 In Quarterly, April, 1854, p. 176, Dr. Ballou also speaks of the French Deputy to the Legislative Assembly Ballue. 3 See H. Ballou, 2d, on The Reformation in Quarterly for April, 1844, pp. 136-163. * For rise of Protestantism in Poitou from about 1545, see H. M. Baird's " History of the Rise of the Huguenots of France," vol. I, p. 434, vol. II, p. 71 and pp. 323-328; also " His- toire des Protestants et des Eglises Reformes du Poitou," 3 vols, by Auguste Lievre. s See " Recueil des Historias des Gaules et C. W. Balrd's " History of the Huguenot Emigration to America," vol. I, p. 269. 2 See numerous letters, 1643-1651, in Massachusetts Archives, vols. 240 and 241, from D'Aulany and La Tour, and replies of Governor Endicott, Governor Winthrop, E. Saltou- stall, etc.; also Parkman's History, vol. I, p. 399. 12 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. der Working Providence," Johnson says : " This town is the very mart of the land ; Dutch, French, and Portugalls come here to trafique." A letter dated June 27, 1654, from the Providence Colony to Sir Harry Vane complaining of " most unrighteous plundering " by Mr. Dyre of " Dutch, French, and English also," ^ proves that French so early visited Narragan- sett Bay. Again, among the prominent Huguenot refugees at New York about 1676 was Jean Baptiste du Poitiers, sieur du Buisson, son of Pierre du Poitiers and H^lene de Belleau, of St. Martin d' Annecour, diocese of Amiens, — " evidently a person of character, and of standing and influence among the refugees," says Riker.^ Was his mother a sister or relative of Mathurin ? Says Macaulay : " Among the Huguenots who had fled from the tyranny of the French king were many persons of great fame in war, in letters, in arts, and in sciences ; and even the hum- blest refugees were intellectually and morally above the aver- age of the common people of any kingdom in Europe." ^ Referring to his visit among the sights of Paris in 1854, Hosea Ballou, 2d, wrote to his brother, the Rev. Levi Ballon : " Taking a cab at the depot, I had not ridden far through the streets when I saw the name Ballue on a sign. I afterward made acquaintance with the proprietor, and with another family in Paris of the same name, but could not ascertain whether we were of kin." Twenty-seven years later, while in Paris, I made the acquaintance of M. Ballu, son of the architect of the Hotel de Ville, or City Hall, of Paris, but we were not able to conjecture what degree of relationship, if any, there might be between us. From the evidence thus briefly adduced^ we may assert that 1 See R. I. Hist. Society's Magazine, vol. V, p. 107. 2" Harlem, Its Origin and Early Annals," p. 416. 3" History of England," vol. IV, p. 535. * My researches have discovered abundant corroborative evidence. ANGE8TBY AND INHERITED TENDENCIES. 13 Mathurin Ballou was not an Englishman, descended from a " Nor- man Chieftain," but a Frenchman, a Huguenot ; and that the ancient tradition which the subject of this memoir found a stimulus to heroic endeavor in his youth and early manhood, and a cherished belief of his old age, is fully established as authentic history. We only know on the authority of the second Thomas Olney, many years town clerk of Providence, and minister of the First Baptist Church, as quoted in a deposition of Deputy Governor Joseph Jenckes of date October 2, 1718, that when Mathurin Ballou's wife, Hannah, " came first to providence, her father and mother [Robert ^ and Catherine Pike], her husband and Shee kept Some Time at his father's house, in which time they had Discourse about their age, & found they were both born in one year [1632], & he was then Eighteen years of age," that is, in 1650. His father, the first Thomas Olney ,^ joined Roger Williams in 1636 or 7 and had " one of the better houses" in Providence. The homestead where the Ballous first " kept Some Time " was on North Main Street, south of the State House in Providence, and Arsenal Lane runs through the land. The name first appears as Mathurin Bellou, in a list of " 26-acre " men ^ at Providence subsequent to " the 18th of 11 mo., 1645" (January 18, 1646). Robert Pike's family were probably from Severls, parish of Crewkerne, Somerset, England,* and no doubt sailed from Bristol, the nearest seaport, as did Roger Williams,^ and Thomas and William Harris, founders of Providence. His sister Justina,^ ' Captain Robert Pike, wlio represented tlie Massachusetts Bay government at York, Me., in May, 1662, and again in September, 1667, was probably another person. 2 The first American ancestor of Hon. Richard Olney, at present Secretary of State at Washington. 3 See W. R. Staples' " Annals of the Town of Providence," pp. 60, 61. * See cases 1280-1, Suffolk Co. Clerk's office, An('ient Records. ^ The last record of Roger Williams at Dorchester is in the winter of 1636-7. c She is first mentioned there " '29 of 8 mo., 1641," when she joined the Dorchester church. 14 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. — wife of Nathaniel Patten, " New England Planter " and money lender, and owner of a wharf and five houses, each with large lots of land, in Boston, besides his Dorchester plantation, — lived in Dorchester, Mass., and died there an aged widow and childless. In her will, dated January 2, 1673, she made her " Sister Pike aforesaid, her daughter and her daughter's chil- dren " residuary legatees to one half her estate. It was a con- siderable estate ^ for Boston town, and the Ballon family, for several generations, reaped substantial benefits from it. Hosea Ballou, 2d, was descended from Mathurin Ballou's oldest son, John, whose services in the Indian War were recog- nized by the General Assembly in 1684. Two filial and devout letters from him, written at or near Newport, dated respectively February 4, 1677, and April 1, 1678, are preserved. "Loving Brother," in each he begins, " My love is remembered unto thee and to my grandmother and to Peter. . . . We are all in health — thanks be to God for his mercy." He had also courage and tenacity to defend what he believed to be right. His third child was Peter Ballou, who prospered as farmer and cooper. " Tradition reports him to have been a very conscientious and morally exemplary man." He had eleven children, of whom the fifth, and the eldest son, born in 1722, he named for his grandfather, Matturiean.^ His ancient bull's-eye watch is pre- served with his signature in this form. He manufactured spin- ning wheels at' Pawtucket, and "taught a large school" at Foster, R. I., and elsewhere for a livelihood, and was a Baptist preacher for fifty years, — preaching, as Plato taught, from a sense of duty, never for stipulated compensation. He married Lydia Harris,^ a descendant of Thomas Harris,* Quaker, who sailing from Bristol, England, to Massachusetts on the ship iSee Suffolk Probate Records, Lib. VII, p. 236. 2 See note, p. 6. 3Lyi-lia,5 Richard, Jr.,-* Richard,^ Tiiomas, Jr.,^ Thomas. i * He is a beneficiary under the first will entered in Suffolk Probate Records. ANCESTRY AXD INHERITED TENDENCIES. 15 Lyon, Dfecember 1, 1630, became from the first a prudent and distinguished leader at Providence in the affairs of both town and colony. Four of their sons, Benjamin, Maturin, David, and Hosea, were later known as preachers. Rev. Maturin Ballou was a large man, taller than his youngest son, Hosea, and broad in proportion. Some still remember Hosea, his graceful and imposing figure as he rode on horseback about the streets of Boston. All the sons were good horse- men, but Rev. Maturin was accounted a better horseman still. Visiting his son Hosea once, at Barnard, Vt., the saddle horses were brought to the door. Maturin mounted easily and grace- fully, but the son, it appears, was not so easily seated in the saddle. And the old gentleman said, with a twinkle in his eye, "Ah, Hosea, shall I help you to mount?" " Elder Maturin Ballou, the father, died in Richmond, 1804, aged 82," says Hosea Ballou, 2d. " Once, in my childhood, I saw him ; . . . I recall a faint image of a benignant, lovable countenance, a tall person, with a peculiar native grace in his air. I have also a strong impression that it used to be said that he became a Universalist before he died. . . . He had the reputation of great gentleness, goodness, and piety ; was respected and much esteemed ; but was not eminent as a public speaker." Benjamin Ballou, the eldest son, was also a large man, en- dowed with a strong constitution ; he inherited a vigorous mind, which was trained to systematic thought, and he occasionally preached, although never ordained. In deeds he was styled "shipwright," later "tradesman." Says the Trumpet,^ he "sus- tained a religious and a moral character honorable to the Chris- tian and the man." He was living in Providence County, Rhode Island, where the family had always lived, when his wife, Lydia Horton (probably from Rehoboth, Mass.), gave 1 March 1,1834. 16 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. birth to their first child, at Foster, "Friday, January 18, 1771." He was named Asahel Ballou. Three months and twelve days later, April 30, 1771, Benja- min Ballou's youngest brother, Hosea Ballou, the first of the name, was born at Richmond, N. H. When the two boys, Asahel and Hosea, were about eleven years old they first met. That was a fortunate meeting. Hosea, motherless since he was two years old, now spent much of his time in his oldest brother's home. After he was sixteen he was employed there at least one summer. The boys became fast friends, and remained devoted friends as long as they lived, — for nearly seventy years. Hosea Ballou has said that they " became, while quite young, much attached to each other ; and had we been twins, children of one mother, I know not that we should have loved each other better than we did." ^ Asahel grew up a tall, well-proportioned, dark-haired young man, modest and retiring, with intelligent, expressive face, and mild bluish brown eyes ; of industrious habits on the farm and in his father's shop ; an accurate mechanic whether in making a spinning wheel, or a loom for the manufacture of homespun, or in building a house, and withal fond of natural scenery, and a lover of poetry and of all good popular reading. His "twin," Hosea, is described as "an erect, muscular lad of vigorous health and ruddy countenance, with dark hair and blue eyes in which a pleasing light gleamed." ^ In 1851, in a leading editorial in the Trumpet, Thomas Whittemore spoke of Asahel Ballou as " one of the brightest examples of virtue and integrity," and again, eight years later, he says : " Asahel was of the happiest, tenderest disposition, which endeared him to all who knew him." ^ His was, nevei- 1 The Trumpet and Universalist Magazine, Boston, April 5, 1851. 2Sa£ford's " Hosea Ballou: A Marvellous Life Story," p. 21. * The Trumpet, June 18, 1859. Hi N "m^'^r ST. MARY'S, ASHFORD, KENT, ENGLAND. ANCESTRY AND INHEBITED TENDENCIES. 17 theless, a strong character, and not very unlike his line of Ballou ancestors, who have been wittily described as "an undrivable, unhurryable race." He was slow in reaching a position, and firm in maintaining it. But dearer than Asahel's fiiendship for his " twin," Hosea, became his love for a slight, auburn-haired, blue-eyed girl, Martha Starr, daughter of Captain Comfort Starr, who was five years his junior. They were near neighbors. The district school, held a month in one farmhouse, then a month in another through the neighborhood, they attended together, and later perhaps in a schoolhouse ; the Baptist church on the outskirts of the little village both attended. They had congenial tastes; she was of good family and in every way worthy, and Decem- ber 3, 1795, they were married. She was of domestic habits and a devoted wife. On his mother's side Hosea Ballou, 2d, had four grandfathers named Comfort Starr. The first of them was Comfort Starr, "chirurgeon" (surgeon), who, in 1631, was warden of St. Mary's in " Eshitisford" (now Ashford), near Canterbury, England, and at present distinguished as the home of Britain's poet laureate. In 1634 he was one of a committee chosen to repair the beautiful church, for it was then already ancient, its tombs bearing date 1490, 1564, and 1591 respectively. On March 21,, 1634-5, under an act then in force, the follow- ing certificate was filed at the seaport of Sandwich in Kent : — " Comfort Starr of Ashford, chirurgeon, Three children and Three servants, embarked themselves in the good ship called the Hercules of Sandwich, of the burthen of 200 tons, John Witherly, master, and therein transported from Sandwich to the Plantation called New England in America, with the certif- icates from the ministers where they last dwelt of their con- versation and conformity to the Orders and discipline of the Church, and that they had taken the Oath of Allegiance and ]8 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Supremacy." But his house and lands in Old England he always retained. Arrived in New England, Dr. Comfort Starr settled in New Towne, shortly called Cambridge, near the tree under whose branches the elections of the colony of Massachusetts Bay were held. As a Puritan, it appears, he sought to bring about reforms within the Church of England, but three years ^ later joined the Separatists or Pilgrims and became a neighbor of Captain Myles Standish and William Alden at Duxbury.^ In 1642 he was deputy from Duxbury to the General Court, as the quaint record recites, " to pwide forces against the Indians for an offensive and defensive Warr." After some years the doctor settled in Boston on " the high- way leading to the Charlestown Ferry." His " dwelling house and ye little house [office?] adjoining" were on the west side of Prince Street, and the land ran down to the " mill pond." In natural attractiveness and social distinction the location is to be compared with the water side of Beacon Street in these later days. We have a pleasing picture of his domestic life there and of his large professional practice.^ Of books he had a goodly number, and it is important that at the beginning he moulded the traditions of the family in favor of education. What part he may have taken, in 1636, in founding the infant college, near his house in Cambridge, we do not certainly know ; but of his sons, — Thomas, Comfort, and John, — Com- fort spent the four years 1643-47 * in the new college to which Rev. John Harvard had lately given his name, and when. May 31, 1650, the present Charter ^ of the " President and Fellows of • See deeds and grants dated June 19, .July 2, and August 7, lOSS, in Plymouth Records. -See deed in Pilgrim Hall, Starr to Wadsworth, witnessed by Standish. It mentions the " mantion and dwelling lious," also " orchards, Barnes, outhouses," etc. 3 See inventory in Suffolk Probate Records. ^See Sibley's " Harvard (graduates," vol. I, p. 1G5. * See original Charter in the Librarian's office. Gore Hall, and copies in all Harvard ANCESTRY AND INHERITED TENDENCIES. 19 Harvard College " was granted by the General Court, he was one of the seven original incorporators, with rights of *•' per- petual succession." Thomas and John were also well edu- cated, the former having been appointed " chirurgeon," May 17, 1637, at twenty years of age, in " the voyage against the Pequots "; the latter was a builder in Boston. Dr. Comfort Starr's deep solicitude for the welfare and educa- tion of his children, and particularly of his grandchildren, is shown in his will,i a venerable document which does great credit to his head and heart. "• In the name of God, Amen," it begins, and continues in quaint phrase : " The two and twen- tyeth day of April in the year one thousand, sixe hundred fiftie & nyne, I, Comfort Starr of the towne of Boston in the County of Suffolke in New England," thus describing himself a few months before he died.- To each of his twenty-four grandchildren he makes liberal bequests ; to each of his orphan grandchildren "' Ten pounds a yeere "; ^ to his "• Grand Child, Simon Eire, sixe pounds p. annii to be paid him yeerely, untill he come vnto the age of eighteen yeeres, it being so given by me vnto him, for ye advancement, helpe, and furthering him in Learning, to be paid yeerely by my Executor [John Starr] hereafter named. ... But my mynde & will is that if the said Simon Eire desist going forward in Learning, that is, that he do not go into some Gramer Schoole, & to some Academia, or to be with some godly Minister, whereby he may be instructed in the Toungs, Arts, and Sciences, then the said Annuall pay- ment of the said Sixe pounds shall cease." What a hallowed University catalogues. It is amusiug now to read on the certified copy in the English Public Record Office this endorsement: " No power given in this Charter to confer degrees unless under the name By-laws." 1 It is No. 233 in Suffolk I^robate Records. In the past year I have had facsimiles made which are highly prized by many of his descendants. - January 2, 1659-60. He was buried near his " late wife" Elizabeth, in King's Chapel Burial Ground, Boston. 3 " A yeere " the will clearly reads, — not " apiece " as the recorder copied it. 20 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. benediction became those traditions ! Hardly second to the importance Dr. Starr attaches to the higher education of his descendants is the atmosphere of devout faith in Almighty God which pervades his will. He gives " t^nto Samuell Starr, my Large Booke of Marters, with ye frame belonging there- vnto," a book then highly prized. Dr. Starr's daughter Hannah married John Cutt, son of Richard, of Strawberry Bank, who was a member of Cromwell's Parliament. He was one of the " foure or five " richest men at Portsmouth, and in 1679 was appointed, by Royal Commission, President of His Majesty's Province of New Hampshire. His son, John Starr, married Martha Bunker, daughter of George Bunker, owner of Bunker Hill, for whom the famous hill was named. Two years after Dr. Comfort Starr died, his son John had a son born into his family at Boston, the fifth of seven children, whom he named Comfort Starr. In character and intellect he proved worthy of the honored name. His mother's sister, widow of Eleazer Lusher of Dedham, being childless, made him resid- uary legatee of her estate by will dated January 8, 1672-3, when he was eleven years old. She gave him her "dwelling house, orchard, home lot," etc., ..." to be delivered unto him at the age of 21 years." So it happened that the third Comfort Starr left his father's home in Boston and settled in Dedham. He became a deacon in the church, held several im- portant civil offices, and was accounted one of the wealthy men of the town. There, in the suburbs of Boston, his son Com- fort 1 was born, who in turn — having, in 1723, bought 1,000 acres of land in Windham County, Connecticut, and settled there — had a son Comfort, the father of Martha Starr. The family traditions which had been handed down through a long 1 The records of the Killingly church, in 1728, read, " Comfort Starr and others worked on the new meetiuL'-house." ANCESTRY AND INHEBITED TENDENCIES. 21 line of worthy ancestors he too cherished — high ideals of manhood, belief in the value of education, and reverence for things holy. Martha (Starr) Ballou was " endowed by nature with a gifted mind." ^ Who can estimate the strength of the " crimson thread " of kinship in determining the destiny of individuals, as of nations? On both the paternal and the maternal side, Hosea Ballou, 2d, came of long acclimated and the purest of New England stock. He was never known to boast this fact ; his innate modesty would not permit it. But so sure as he inherited from his ancestors a physical constitution which enabled him in after years to endure hard work and, indeed, perform herculean labors, so sure is it that he inherited from them an almost irresistible bias, which, in a measure, determined the intel- lectual, the moral, and the spiritual quality of the man. 1 Hosea Faxon Ballou, in Trumpet, November 2, 1839. CHAPTER 11. EARLY ENVIRONMENT. To see New England at her best one needs to rest day after day in mid-autumn among her famed mountains in some deep valley and calmly watch the ever-changing foliage. What bril- liant decoration, harmoniously blending everywhere to meet the dawning consciousness of infancy ! What Titian could so beautify the nuptial chamber ! I have been awed by the sur- passing loveliness and undimmed freshness of the mural decora- tions of a long-buried palace at Pompeii as I stood by on the ancient pavement and saw the workmen remove load after load of Vesuvian cinders, and as the ashes slowly rolled away our eyes were the first in eighteen hundred years to see the masterly work of some Greek artist, possibly Apelles or Protogenes. What prince might not be well and happily born in such sur- roundings to cement the love of two lives ! But open your eyes and you shall see that Nature has done more than Greek art could ever have done to beautify the hills and valleys of rugged New England, and nestled in many a valley can be found the brilliant nuptial chamber — still bright as in years long past — touched by the rosy -fingered Aurora, goddess of the morn, where a great man was born. Such was the birthplace of Hosea Ballou, the second of the name. It was in the town of Guilford in the southeastern corner of Vermont, which, from the "New Hampshire Grants," five years before his birth became a State. Near by was Fort Dummer which the Massachusetts Bay Colony had built on its northern frontier to repel attacks of the Indians and to protect EARLY ENVIRONMENT. 23 the few settlers, from Grand Monadnock in the east to the Green Mountains in the west. Halifax adjoins it on the west, Brattleboro on the north, and on the east are the towns of Vernon, Vt., and Hinsdale, Winchester, and Richmond, N. H., in the order named. Prior to 1787 all those towns were in Massachusetts ; but for the removal of the boundary line a few miles south both Hosea Ballous had been natives of Massachu- setts. That great waterway, the Connecticut River, marked the line of march to and from Canada, and here in 1704 passed Deerfield's Redeemed Captive,^ who, strange to say, had been reared in the identical house at Roxbury where John Eliot, the *' Apostle to the Indians," lived, probably spent the first night on that tragic march to a living death. But hardships which men then living there had endured no doubt made a deeper impression on the future historian. Guil- ford, Halifax, and one hundred and thirty -six other towns west of the Connecticut River had been chartered and sold by Benning Wentworth, governor of the Province of New Hamp- shire, which belonged to the Province of New York, and to which he had not the shadow of a legal claim.^ Settlers from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and a few from Richmond, N. H., were the innocent purchasers. They built houses and barns, and each grantee was to plant live in every fifty acres of his grant within five years, and was also to pay rent of one ear of Indian corn per acre annually, besides one shilling promotion money for each one hundred acres. In each township Wentworth also appropriated to himself and members of his family considerable tracts of land which he hastened to 1 See Rev. John Williams' " Redeemed Captive," p. S. 2 See grant of Charles II to Duke of York, March 12, 1634-5, also N. H. Provincial Papers, vol. I, p. 23, and State Papers of N. H., vol. XXIII, p. 94, for grants by President and Council of New England to John Mason, November 7, 1629, and April 22, 1G35, and to his son-in-law, John Wollaston, April 18, 1635, and Belknap's " History of New Hamp- shire," p. 164. 24 HOSEA BALLOU, 2(1, D.D. turn into cash at the earliest opportunity, at whatever price he could get. Thus it is estimated that during four years, as governor of New Hampshire, he gave fully seventy thou- sand acres of these lands, west of the Connecticut River, to himself and seventy thousand acres more to members of his family. In Guilford he took five hundred acres comprising Governor's Mountain. His motive appears to have been per- sonal avarice and greed of power. The people complained, his biographer reluctantly admits, that " too many of the important offices were in the hands of his family." ^ He appears to have been a spoilsman of that dangerous type which, even in 'modern times, we discover waging a stealthy warfare against the public weal. Had we space it would be interesting and instructive to make a critical study, as no doubt Hosea Ballon, 2d, did, of the plan of these townships, each six miles square like the modern town- ship of the Government Survey, but it is divided into sixty- four equal shares of three hundred and twenty acres each usually, instead of thirty -six equal shares of six hundred and forty acres each, the modern " section." There were the glebe lands, the lands of the Society for the Propagation of the Gosj)el in Foreign Parts, the lands allotted to the first settled minister, and the public school lands. By these charters power was vested in " the inhabitants," and each town had the usual New England right of government in March meeting. But appar- ently Wentworth never anticipated that they would claim the right of New Hampshire towns to representation in the Pro- vincial Assembly, and they were never granted the right of such representation in New York. But had Wentworth and his successors protected his grantees in their property rights they would have been content. ' " Wentworth Genealogy," vol. I, p. 285. EABLY ENVIRONMENT. 25 The misfortunes which befell settlers in Guilford and else- where in the " New Hampshire Grants," as a result of Went- worth's conduct, have no parallel in American colonial history. Many of the original grantees, finding their title insecure, and that the government of New York lay claim to that territory, made quick sales at low prices by quitclaim deeds to unsuspect- ing immigrants. When the repeated letters of protest from the governor of New York to the governor of New Hampshire were enforced and confirmed in 1764, by a royal decree of the King in Council, that the Connecticut River was the dividing line be- tween New York and New Hampshire, the inhabitants appealed in 1765, 1766, and again in 1767, to the governor of New York for re-grants, but he began to grant patents to others to Guil- %)rd lands where the forests had been cleared, fields cultivated, orchards started, and houses and barns built by the Green Mountain Boys, thus increasing the value of the lands ten and even twenty fold. In due time the new patentees appeared to take possession of the lands and improvements without com- pensation to the occupants, — peaceably if they could, otherwise by force. One Colonel Howard received from New York a patent to one thousand two hundred acres in Guilford, which resulted in depriving a number of inhabitants of all their property. To the plain, honest, hard-working first settlers, unaccustomed to legal Ji7iesse, it seemed preposterous that they should be thus driven from their homes which they had bouglit and paid for with their own money. But their original grantor, Wentworth, had no valid title, and therefore his grantees, the original pro- prietors, to whom they had paid their money, could not give a valid title ; their title rested on little if anything more than " squatter sovereignty." Still the settlers refused to yield pos- session to the newcomers from New York, and united to defend their homes. The last memorial of the inhabitants of Guilford to the governor of New York was dated May 11, 1772. It was 26 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. fruitless. However, the government of New York endeavored to pacify them by offering to grant patents to the occupants of the farms tliemselves, but at a large advance over the price that had been paid to Governor Wentworth, years before, for the same lands in a wild state. Few consented to buy their own farms and pay for them a second time. The governor and council of New York set a time limit of three months within which settlers might bring their deeds to Albany and prove their claims, all claims not so presented to be legally barred. Under this ruling most of the settlers forfeited their titles. Large grants were now made to speculators, and writs of eject- ment were served on the settlers. The Green Mountain Boys now sent a representative to England to lay their grievance before the king in person. George III granted the petition of the Green Mountain Boys so far as to interdict the granting of any more patents there by the governor of New York. But did the king recognize as valid, then, the patents already granted by the governor of New York ? So the new grantees interpreted the order, and the court at Albany sustained their interpreta- tion. Ejectment suit followed ejectment suit, and as often the defendants, the original settlers, defaulted, for they felt no con- fidence in the justice of New York courts, where the sympathies and the financial interests often of judges and juries were against them. The settlers were urged to make terms with their new landlords. " The gods of the valleys are not the gods of the hills," was Ethan Allen's reply to such advice, and when in 1770 the sheriff first attempted to serve a writ of possession, it was found necessary to call to his aid the posse comitatus to overcome the armed "rioters" who had come to the rescue of their neighbor, and who more than once in such cases treated the sheriff to a " chastisement with the twigs of the wilderness." To uphold the dignity of the law, the governor of New York issued proclamation after proclamation, offering a bounty of EABLY ENVIRONMENT. 27 twenty pounds first, then fifty (and in the case of Ethan Allen one hundred and fifty) pounds, to any person who should appre- hend and secure the " rioters " and " felons." Nothing daunted, the Green Mountain Boys offered a bounty of five pounds to any person who should secure and deliver the attorney-general of New York to them. The position of the settlers was tersely stated by Ethan Allen as follows : " If we do not oppose the sheriff and his posse, he takes immediate possession of our houses and farms ; if we do, we are immediately indicted as rioters."' Riots and bloodshed were of frequent occurrence. Many of the Guilford people finally tired of guerilla warfare, and appear, through emissaries from New York sent among them, to have reached some sort of a settlement with the New York patentees. Not *so Comfort Starr. He was captain of militia^ and in 1773 was in command of a company which went to West- minster to break up an English court then in session there. The public mind in Guilford, Halifax, and adjoining towns became more and more inflamed. Law and order were un- known. Everybody took sides. Neighbor was arrayed against neighbor, sometimes brother against brother. Neither party regarded the property rights of the other ; physicians were not allowed to visit the sick without a pass from the appointed committees, and inflammatory handbills were spread broadcast, adding fuel to the flame. To quell the insurrection against " the pretended State of Vermont," in the summer of 1783, General Ethan Allen came over the mountains from Bennington to Guilford with one hundred armed men, and on reaching Guilford issued the fol- lowing proclamation : — " I, Ethan Allen, declare that unless the people of Guilford peaceably submit to the authority of Vermont, the town shall be made as desolate as were the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, by God!" 28 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d. D.D. Shots were exchanged, but Allen quickly established martial law, and seizing the horses, cattle, sheep, produce, etc., of the J Yorkers, sold them for the benefit of Vermont. September 23, 1784, the following vote of the town I find in the Guilford records, namely : " that the collector of the old town tax for the year 1781 be directed to take the same in grain att the selaing price : wheate 4/8 par bushel, Rye att 3/4 par bushel, corn 2/5 par bushel, and flax att 0/8 par pound." When Cornwallis surrendered to Washington at Yorktown, the original proprietors of the " New Hampshire Grants " or their grantees had held adverse possession of their homes for nearly twenty years, but the validity of New Hampshire titles was not affirmed until 1785.^ Titles were more secure how- ever. Immigration increased. But for the rest of the eigh- teenth century and well down into the present century, the people retained a vivid recollection of their final victory, and the air in Guilford and Halifax was teeming with tales of hero- ism. Many of the actors in that long struggle for the posses- sion of home and for statehood still went in and out among the people, and before the blazing log in the big, open fireplace many a long winter's evening was spent, with apples and cider to cheer, listening to some tale of hairbreadth escape in which the narrator himself took part. Such an atmosphere and such scenes make a vivid and lasting impression on the plastic mind of childhood, and so they did on young Hosea Ballon, the self-educated historian. In earliest childhood he acquired a courage that could look obstacles — to others insur- mountable — in the face without shrinking. For all time the Green Mountain Boys will be honored for "what was accomplished " by a bold and hardy enterprise, and an indomitable spirit of freedom, which have rarely been equaled ; '^ See " Governor and Council of Vermont," vol. I, p. 17. EARLY ENVIRONMENT. 29 and afterwards by the steady perseverance of an enlightened and industrious population." ^ Guilford is encircled by hills. A line of hills on the south separates it from Massachusetts. The foothills of the Green Mountains come down almost to its western border, culminat- ing in two peaks, Richmond Hill and Governor's Mountain. Extending six miles along its eastern border, and about one mile wide, separating the town from the Connecticut valley, is East Mountain. As one looks north he sees hills rising tier upon tier, higher and higher, and in the dim distance the lofty peaks of the Franconia Range and the Green Mountains. The prophet spoke volumes for noble manhood and high ideals when he said, " I will lift mine eyes unto the hills." Guilford is the republic of Switzerland in miniature. Nature built up barriers to separate the town from foreign influence. The sur- face of the town is rolling, often hilly, but the broad sweep of sloping hillside is fertile, and the rich foliage of the cornfield, and a billowy sea of wheat, barley, or rye, waving in the breeze, are seen on every hillside and in every valley. Enormous apple orchards, beautiful and fragrant with blossoms in spring, or laden with luscious grafted fruit in autumn, abound every- where. The sturdy maple is the forest tree one sees most often, with its bright autumn foliage. The beech, the hemlock, the graceful elm, the walnut, the butternut, and the ash, with rarely a birch and a pine, diversify the landscape. The hills are now largely wooded ; where cleared, there is excellent grazing for horses, cattle, and sheep. Water-courses abound, and aged people there tell us that in the olden time, before the steam mill and the lumbermen had stripped the hills and mountains of the primeval forests, the streams were fully twice their present volume. The evidence collected by scien- 1 Sparks' " Ethan Allen," p. 229, ed. 1856. 30 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. tists tends to confirm their assertion. The principal stream is Green River, which flows in a southeasterly course through the northern part of Halifax, now slowly, in a broad, open valley, and oftener foaming and dashing along its rocky bed down the narrow defile between precipitous hillsides that converge to its very banks. Entering Guilford in the northwestern part of the township, south of Richmond Hill, the valleys become broader and more fertile, and it now takes a southerly course along the westerly side of the township, on its way to join the Deerfield, and shortly the Connecticut in Greenfield, Mass. Great Brook takes its rise in the hills beyond the north- western borders of Guilford, and flows down, a broad stream, winding through the picturesque valley between Governor's Mountain and Richmond Hill, and emptying its waters into Green River where that stream sharply turns from an easterly to a southerly course, soon after entering the limits of the town. Broad Brook with its branches flows through the north- ern and eastern part of the town, and Fall River skirts East Mountain. But Great Brook, and especially Green River, are dear to us for their association with the birth and childhood of Hosea Ballou, 2d, and the intense love he ever bore them. At the close of the eighteenth century, Guilford was enjoy- ing the golden age of its prosperity. It was more populous than Brattleboro, and one of the most populous towns in Ver- mont. In the Hinesburgh school district there were sixty to eighty school children. The iron horse had not then come to determine the inland centres of population, and it was to be long years before the ends of the continent would be brought near and bound together by the steel bands of the railway. Great Brook in Guilford then furnished power for two sawmills, a gristmill, a carding machine, and a woolen mill, all within a quarter of a mile of the Ballou homestead, and more manu- facturing in chair stock, in spinning wheels and ponderous EABLY ENVIRONMENT. 31 looms, in woolen goods and in the product of grist and flour- ing mills was done there than at Brattleboro or Manchester or Lowell or Lewiston or Holyoke or Buffalo or Minneapolis. Indeed, most of those now thriving cities had not then found a place on the map. In manufacturing, those were the days of small things. Man had not then the audacity to attempt to bridle the Connecticut, the Merrimac, or the Androscoggin, much less the Mississippi, the Father of Waters, and the floods of the Great Lakes concentrated at Niagara Falls. Benjamin and Asahel Ballou at Guilford manufactured on a small scale, traded in a small way, and, as was the way of the world, still looked to the large farm (parts of four one-hundred acre lots^) as the chief means of support. The young man, in his twenty-sixth year when Hosea was born, in 1796, had not yet attained to the dignity of a real-estate owner. The young family lived at home with Asahel's father and mother, Benjamin and Lydia (Horton) Ballou, and of the nine children, seven were living ; and nearly all found the comforts of a home in that large, square-roofed house. The next younger than Asahel was Mary, then in her twenty-fourth year, who married Caleb Carpenter ; Martin was nineteen years old, and four years later married Annie Briant, of Marlboro, Vt., and at Monroe, Mass., became postmaster for more than thirty years, where also he was esteemed as a country squire and was elected several times a representative to the Legislature ; Lydia was seventeen years old, and later became the wife of Jacob Briant; Amy was fourteen years old, and later became the wife of Elisha Briant ; Barbara was nearing her tenth birthday, and eight years later became the wife of Daniel Gore ; Sarah was seven years of age, and as a young woman became the wife of John Parsons. Two boys, both named Benjamin, had died, the youngest when a little less than three years old, 1 Lots Nos. ]48, 161, 16J, and 163. 32 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. August 19, 1795, and a little more than a year before Hosea, the first grandchild, came to gladden the household. Loved and petted by the grandparents and by the uncle and aunts, the younger of whom were like older sisters, the fond parents saw their babe grow day by day, basking in perpetual sunshine. There stood Governor's Mountain, a mighty sentinel, and op- posite, Richmond Hill, decked in their brilliant autumnal garb, watching over the little one to delight his eyes. The music of Great Brook sounded in his ears. From across the road often came the sound of the upper and nether millstone,^ grinding the neighbors' corn. The child early learned the lesson that steady, persistent work, well directed, will surely yield abundant fruit. In the house, on the farm, in the shop, in the mill, — there was industry everywhere. Nothing was done in a hurry, but everything in a methodical, orderly way. With such environment the child received his earliest and deepest im- pressions. At this time Europe was passing through the greatest change in centuries. Seven years before his birth, the States General of France were called together for the first time in one hundred and seventy-five years (1614), about the time that his first Amer- ican ancestor in the direct male line was born in France. Thanks to that kinship, the rise and rapid progress of the French Revo- lution and the unparalleled conquests of the French under Napoleon Bonaparte were closely followed in the Ballou household. The cruel persecution of the Huguenots of the seventeenth century was avenged, and they gloried in the new France. All over America the echoes of the French wars rung, but in the Ballou household those echoes were peculiarly audible. ' This gristmill was sold by Peleg Hicks, " Baptist Elder," to IK'njamin Ballou, "Traidsman," for twenty -two pounds, by deed dated August 29, 17U4, and recorded in Book 5, p. 68, April 5, 1804. Only the grass-covered millstones are now left. BIRTHPLACE. EABLY ENVIBONMENT. 33 The plain, common people of Guilford and vicinity had a high average of ability, force of character, and moral worth, which they transmitted to their descendants. At Brattleboro, Rutherford Hayes, grandfather of the future President, was farmer, hotel keeper, and by trade a blacksmith, which he called " a dirty, black business, but it brought white money." The celebrated artists, William M. Hunt and Larkin G. Mead, were born in Brattleboro, a generation later. Besides the Carpenters, the Starrs, and the Ballous, Henry Seymour, Royall Tyler, James Elliot, and Micah Townsend were familiar and honored names in Guilford when the subject of this memoir was a child. A third of a mile or more away from the Ballou home, over the hill on the east side of Governor's Mountain, the maternal grandparents lived. Captain Comfort Starr, styled " gentleman " in deeds and leases of that date, and his wife, Judith Starr. In their old age they had given a lease of the three-hundred acre farm ^ to their son, Timothy Starr, " yeoman " ; and there for sixteen years Hosea continued to visit his grandparents until the grandfather, and shortly after the grandmother, died. Only a half-filled, grass-grown cellar hole, thirty-six by forty- eight feet, with an ancient apple tree and a fine well of water nearby, now mark the site of their house. It is known in the neighborhood as " Starr Knoll," and by a change of course of the highway to Brattleboro it is left far to the right in the field. South and west of it are orchards, east of it a ravine with remnants of a large orchard beyond in the pasture. As far as the eye can reach there are orchards everywhere. In its day it was also a famous horse farm. Of the buildings, only the large barn is now standing, after two removals, on the neighboring Thurber farm, the huge hewn timbers apparently as sound and solid for the most part as when first put in posi- tion, perhaps one hundred and thirty years ago. As captain of 1 Lots 117, 121, and 147. 34 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. militia, Comfort Starr had been a leader in the Revolutionary- period and in the struggle between the Yorkers and the New State men, and his rehearsal of those exciting events, in wliich he had taken so prominent a part,^ must have made a deep impression on the child's mind. But if those tales of war which he heard at his grandfather's knee fired his young soul with patriotism, he early learned the brutality of war, and per- haps the strain of Quaker blood in his veins made him all the more ardent a lover of peace. In matters theological the Ballous and Starrs had been Bap- tists ; but while his father and mother had been members of a Baptist church, and Benjamin Ballou a Baptist teacher, it happened that Hosea Ballou, 2d, was born into a Universalist household. The change of religious faith was due first, to Caleb Rich, a farmer in the nortlieasterly part of Warwick, Mass., near the township lines of Richmond and Winchester, N. H., who, about 1781, began to preach Universalism in schoolhouses, private houses, and barns in those towns and in Orange, Mass., for the modest compensation of about twenty dollars a year ; second, to James Ballou of Richmond, and Silas ^ and James, his " somewhat famous " sons, who were among the first of Mr. Rich's converts ; and chiefly to two other converts, David and Hosea, Rev. Maturin Ballou's younger sons. But it was the younger James Ballou, "the Conjurer," who was able to secure the attention of these Baptists. He was the grandfather of James A. Garfield, and > See " The Rangers, or The Tory's Daughter," pp. 78-124. Published by B. B. Mussey. »" Silas was a rustic poet, whose songs, or verses as they were called, used to be circu- lated iu uiauuscript, and sung, forty or lit'ty miles around," said Hosea Ballou, 2d (in the Quarterly, April, 1854, p. ISO). He taught " universal salvation on the ciebt and credit plan, or by bubstiiutiou and federal headship." He was the author of the first Uuiversal- ist hymn book published in America (1797), which contains 150 original hymns, often uncouth, aud twenty of the " Psalms of David turned into verse." See copy in Boston Public Library.— Hare. " Afterwards," says Dr. Ballou, " he was one of the committee who composed the Universalist Couveution Hymn Book, published in 1808." EABLY ENVIBONMENT. 35 his mother, Elizabeth Ballou Garfield,^ so revered her father's memory that she named her first James, who died two years before the future President was born, for her father, James Ballou Garfield. But credit is mainly due to David and Hosea Ballou, senior .2 In 1791, it is true of the Guilford as well as of the Richmond household, " The children were diligently impressed with religious ideas, according to the doctrine and sentiments of the Rhode Island Calvinistic Baptists. Though it was supposed that nothing but a supernatural conversion, after the distressful manner of those times, could save them, their father was careful by his prayers, precepts, and example to train them uj) in the fear of the Lord. ... It is difficult for one who has never stood in similar circumstances to con- ceive how commanding, how almost despotic, is this topic among a generally religious community of poor people, in a new and secluded settlement.'" ^ Now David Ballou began to preach Universalism in Guilford, and in the autumn of 1791, Hosea made his second attempt at preaching at a Mr. Butter- field's house, about two miles north of Benjamin Ballou's home. Eyewitnesses often pictured that event to the subject of this memoir. It is a family tradition that, for years, on those visits at Guilford, they sat about the fireplace late into the tiight, quoting texts and arguing pro and con. So Ben- jamin and Asahel were confirmed in the faith. David Ballou was " an earnest but cautious thinker," says Hosea Ballou, 2d. " While young I often listened to him, iThe small one-story house where Mrs. Garfield lived as a child still stands, a half-mile from " Richmond Four Corners," on a side road some twenty rods from the highway lead- ing to North Orange, Mass. - David and Hosea Ballou, senior, first attended a session of the General Convention of Unlversalists in 1791 at Oxford, Mass., the birthplace of the Convention. It was at Oxford, also, that Bernon, Bowdoin, the two Faueuils, and their compatriots founded that ill-fated colony of French Huguenots in 1CS5. At Oxford, in 1794, Hosea Ballou was ordained, and at Oxford was one nf his four reirular preaching stations for the rest of the century. s Hosea Ballou, 2d, iu Quarterly, April, 1854, p. 178. 36 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. both in public and in private ; and, when I recall the visage of that good man, my heart warms towards him to this day." ^ He was "unselfish, unaspiring, devoted," and a farmer by vocation, yet he traveled often thirty miles and preached, extempore, every Sunday, but "he never received much pecuniary com- pensation, and often none." His method was the Socratic. "Alas, for the opposer who once began to answer the simple and easy questions ; while he yet could discover no dilemma towards which they were carrying him, he suddenly found him- self fast enclosed, helpless, bound tight with his own chain." ^ Hosea Ballon, senior, had his first settlement at Dana, Mass., from 1796 to 1803 ; his salary about five dollars a Sunday. Meanwhile his study was his saddle, whether riding over New Salem and Orange hills, or to keep more distant engagements.^ He was a frequent and welcome visitor at Guilford, in the home of the zealous new converts. Benjamin Ballou, who like others of his family had a foible for rhyming, gave expression to his new faith in the following : — THOUGHTS ON THE SUN.4 Why not my Saviour shine as bright, With his refulgent rays? Why not my God extend his light In one eternal blaze ? Is there not goodness in the Lord Enough to overcome ? Is there not power enough in God To brino; the strangers home ? 1 In Quarterly, April, 1854, p. 1S6. 2 Ibid., p. ISG. 3 It was here that Joel Foster, a.m., sixteen years his senior, had " A Literary Corre- Bpoiulence " with him, which he published at Noithampton in 1799. ^These lines maybe found in full in liallou's "Voice to L'niversalists," pp. 281,282. It was there erroneously credited to Rev. Hosea Ballou, says Dr. Whittemore. EABLT ENVIBONMENT. 37 When everything shall hear His voice, He makes an end of sin ; Will not the angels more rejoice When all are gathered in? The lum'nous sun extends his light To all the human race ; Will not my Saviour make as bright The kingdom of his grace? Later he wrote verses " On Moving." How shall I make my last remove And find a lasting home, Where blust'ring winds shall never rove And storms sliall never come? I 'm near to threescore years and ten ; I quickly shall depart. My God, teach me to say amen, With confidence of heart. All that defiles, when swept away, The soul, as pure as light. Into those realms shall move away, With infinite delight. Among the verses written by Asahel Ballon, the following lines he wrote after " two loving sisters died : " — The gloom of summer spreads a shroud O'er every joyous scene, — O'er field and flowers a sable cloud. And o'er the meadow green. 38 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. 'T was here the ouce loved sisters went, AdcI culled the fragrant flower ; In contemplation sweetly spent The leisure twilight hour. But why should gloom o'erspread the scene, Since hope has wiped the tear? How can we wish them back again To share our sorrow here ? We trust these loved ones are at rest On Canaan's happy shore, Where friends, erelong with union blest, Will meet to part no more. Martha Starr, the mother, too, early professed the larger faith. Union and peace were her watchwords. " Emphatically, she was a Christian." ^ From his earliest childhood Hosea had not only been taught the doctrine of Universalism, and seen and heard leading Universalist preachers, but, geographically, in the district in which he was reared there had been perhaps the greatest activity on the part of the then hated sect, and the principal events in the history of the denomination after he was four years old he remembered well as they occurred. His uncles, David and Hosea Ballou, particularly of the itinerant Universalist preachers, were then sowing the seed which soon bore fruit in the vicinity of Halifax in organized Universalist societies and a devoted con- stituency of the best families. In Guilford after some years the Universalists supplanted the Congregationalists, and bought their meeting-house, the only church at the centre of the town. At West Halifax, the nearest village to the Ballou homestead, in like manner the Congregationalist society ceased to exist, and 1 Hosea Faxon Ballou in Trumpet, November 2, 1839. WINCHESTER CHURCH, 1803. UXIVERSALIST PROFESSION OF FAITH. Article I. We believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments con- tain a revelation of the character of God and of the duty, interest, and final destination of mankind. Article II. We believe that there is one God, whose nature is Love, revealed in one Lord, Jesus Christ, by one Holy Spirit of Grace, who will linally restore the whole family of mankind to holiness and happiness. Article III. We believe that holiness and true happiness are inseparably connected, and that believers ought to be careful to maintain order and practise good works; for these things are good and profitable unto men. EABLY ENVIBONMENT. 39 its meeting-house became and is now the Universalist church. Whitingham has two Universalist churches, Wilmington one, Newfane one, Brattleboro one, Vernon one, and the only church in the town, and these societies, while now in new homes, were active forces in the palmy days, in his childhood, of those hill towns of Vermont, as also were the bodies of devoted Univer- salists, organized or not, often worshiping in " union churches " ^ at Putney, Londonderry, Wardsboro, Athens, Dover, Wind- ham, and elsewhere in Windham County. Across the Con- necticut River in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, Hinsdale, Winchester, Swanzey, Richmond, Marlboro, Jaffrey, West- moreland, Chesterfield, all had devoted Universalists whose united effort, earlier or later, crystallized in organized societies. All of these movements were fully discussed in the Ballou household. Indeed, about four weeks before he was born, in 1796, the General Convention of Universalists met for the first time at famous Winchester, N. H., which he passed through as a child to visit his great-grandsire. The Convention had then been in existence onl}- eleven years. In 1800, it met in the neighboring town of Orange (now North Orange), Mass. ; in 1801, at the still nearer town oj. Swanzey, N. H. ; in 1802, at Strafford, Vt.; and in 1803, again at Winchester, N. H., when Walter Ferris ^ drafted the admirable Articles of Faith, the "Winchester Confession," which the Convention then and there so wisely adopted. In 1805, the Convention met across the Connecticut River from Brattleboro at Westmoreland, N. H. ; 1 At these union cliurclies ministers of different denominations proaclied as itinerants could arrange. It was not fifty miles from Halifax, at a union churcli, that " Granny " T , Orthodox, heard one of the Universalist fathers, and in the tavern parlor between services said, " Who is the ^oung minister? It was the varry best sermon I ever heered in my life." When told he was a " Univarsaler," she exclaimed, " The filthy stufl", it was not fit for the pigs to hear," and she forthwith put up her half-eaten lunch and went home. = We say this on the authority of Rosea Ballou, senior, who with Zebulon Streeter, George Richards, Walter Ferris, and Zephaniah Laithe had the subject in charge. 40 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. in 1809, at Barnard, Vt., where Hosea Ballon, senior, was then about to close his second pastorate; in 1813, for the third time at Winchester, N. H. ; in 1814, again at Westmoreland, N. H., and in 1815 at Whitingham, the town adjoining Halifax on the west. During these nineteen years, thanks to earnest, self-sacrificing missionary work by the handful of pioneer Universalist preach- ers, the growth of the denomination and of its ministry was rapid. At the time of his birth, in 1796, there had not been more than twenty professed Universalist preachers in America. Of these, Adam Streeter and Zebulon, his brother, Elhanan Winchester and Moses, his brother, Thomas Barnes, Caleb Rich, David Ballon and the first Hosea Ballou, his brother, and others had, like the father and grandfather of Hosea Ballou, 2d, been Baptists. The doctrine of religious liberty taught at Provi- dence a century and a half earlier in God's appointed time bore its legitimate fruit. These Universalist preachers, it is understood, all at first founded their belief on Calvinistic principles. In 1795, the first Hosea Ballou, without aid from other thinkers and solely by force of his own thought, as he rode over the hills of Richmond, North Orange, New Salem, and Dana, and by his study of the Scriptures, was led to announce his Unitarian views of the per- son of Christ and of the nature of atonement. Ten years later, in 1805, he published his " Treatise on Atonement." ^ The Universalist denomination, preachers and laymen, gradually followed him in his change of views. He converted the de- nomination. In the Universalist Quarterly for 1848,^ Hosea Ballou, 2d, makes the following statement: "As early as 1805 the work may be said to have been completed, though Mi-. iSee Edward Turner's full statement In Universalist Quarterly, Januaiy, 1S19, pp. 5 to 14. 2 Article, " Dogmatic and Religious History of Universalism in America," p. 102. EABLY ENVIRONMENT. 41 Murray at Boston, and Mr. Mitchell at New York, still main- tained the former views with great strenuousuess. But from this time onwards, the Universalist ministry in this country has, with only three or four exceptions, publicly avowed and often defended Unitarian sentiments upon these points, both in the pulpit and fi-om the press." For twenty years before the controversy between William E. Clianning and Samuel Worcester, in 1815, led to the organization of the Unitarian de- nomination, the first Hosea Ballou had publicly proclaimed his Unitarian theology with courage and with convincing power. Possibly he inspired certain of his aristocratic, but feeble-hearted co-religionists with courage to come forward at last, and honestly avow their views. In a sense, particularly in point of time, he was the prophet of Unitarianism as well as of Univer- salism in America. The Unitarian denomination cannot be said to have begun its organic existence in this country until the organization of the American Unitarian Association in Bos- ton in 1826. In a little less than three years after the birth of Hosea, namely, August 26, 1799, Asahel and Martha (Starr) Ballou were blessed with a second son, whom they named Asahel, junior. They now felt the need of a house and home by them- selves for their growing family. Four miles due west from their Guilford home, and about five miles by the highway as it fol- lows the tortuous course of the Green River, up among the hills, in the northerly part of the town of Halifax, on the main road from Brattleboro to Wilmington and Jacksonville, where three roads meet, Asahel Ballou found a tract of land ^ with a log house which he bought by warranty deed of date October 5, 1799, for the sum of six hundred and ^ty-six dollars and sixty- seven cents. To this, his first purchase of real estate, he added adjoining lands, until his farm comprised about two hundred 1 Parts of original lots 51 and 59. 42 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. acres. To the little log house he brought his wife and two children, and there they lived for a few months, while the spacious farmhouse still standing was in process of construction, after the general plan of the Guilford house where their home had been. The log house stood about two rods southeast of the site of the frame house. Often as the weeks and months and years rolled by, the child Hosea went back and forth, on visits to his grandparents, over the picturesque road skirting the Green River, and he early became enamored of the stream. William Cullen Bryant's poem, " Green River," could not better describe this stream, although intended to describe its namesake in the Berkshire hills.^ It begins : — When breezes are soft and skies are fair, I steal an hour from study and care, And hie me away to the woodland scene. Where wanders the stream with waters green, As if the bright fringe of herbs on its brink Had given their stain to the waves they drink ; And they, whose meadows it murmurs through, Have named the stream from its own fair hue. Yet pure its waters — its shallows are bright With colored pebbles and sparkles of light. And clear the depths where its eddies play. And dimples deepen and whirl away, And the plane tree's speckled arms o'ershoot The swifter current that mines its root, Through whose shifting leaves, as you walk the hill, The quivering glimmer of sun and rill With a sudden flash on the eye is thrown, Like the ray that s^-eams from the diamond-stone. Oh, loveliest there the spring days come, With blossoms and birds and wild bees' hum ; 1 Hosea Ballou, 2d, once wrote to Mr. Bryant to know if the Green River of Halifax and Guilford were the one the poet referi'ed to. EARLY HOME. EARLY ENVIRONMENT. 43 The flowers of summer are fairest there, And freshest the breath of the summer air ; And sweetest the golden autumn day In silence and sunshine glides away. Beyond Green River was dear Barney Hill. To the "Rose of Sharon," for 1842 (pp. 72-75), Hosea Ballon, 2d, contributed a poem which was familiar to his inti- mates half a century ago, and as revised by him in October, 1860, we herewith present it : — BARNEY HILL. Old Barney Hill ! Abrupt and high He stands against the northeast sky, Beyond the stream and valley wild I loved so fondly when a child ; — Broad forests cumbering all his base ; Then shrubbery climbing his steep face Up to his rounded summit, where Dwindle the trees in middle air. Half down his right trends off a rude Lawn-checkered hillside backed with wood ; While from his left, the range comes forth, Sweeping round heavily towards the north. Childhood and youth seem present still At thought of thee, old Barney Hill ! From my home that, in the west, Fronts thee on the upland's breast, How oft I 've seen the seasons change Over thy wild and heavy range ! Autumn, all thy woods o'erspread With yellow, sere, and flaming red ; Winter put his mantle on Of snow-crust, glittering in the sun ; And the young Spring hang out her pride 44 HO SEA BALLOU, 2(1. D.D. Of light-green tassels on thy side, Weaving her clouds of foliage new, O'er cliffs and ledges peeping through. When the sunset threw its veil Across the intervening dale, I loved to mark the shadow grow High and higher towards thy brow ; And the twilight from thee fade, As Night came down with deepening shade ; Till rose the moon at length, to pour Her silver light the darkness o'er. And when the Night was wearing gray. Over the hills and far away I 've watched the dawn behind thee rise, Briudling all the eastern skies ; While yet beneath thy craggy height, Stream, vale, and forest lay in night. Sleeping to the breezy sigh Of waters murmuring fitfully, That, sinking now, now swelling clear, Chimed upon the fresh, cool air ; Till morn, full risen, threw her ray Bright o'er the heavens, and all was day. Then the early note of bird, Then the voice of man was heard ; Soon the fields and woods wei-e ringing With a thousand warblers singing ; And the countless dewdrops shone. Trembling, to the orient sun. In that low vale, before the hills, Green River, yet a streamlet, steals Its channeled bed through clusters gay Of furze, and wheels in curves away. On either side the mazy glades Run out, between thick alder shades, EARLY ENVIBONMENT. 45 To many a nook and circlet green, Here partly open, there unseen. Bower and tangled copse are there, And wild flowers that perfume the air ; Rising amid a colonnade Of elms, their gothic arches spread ; While, glimmering through the sylvan bound, Woods, hills, and upland close around. Oh, scenes of Fancy's earliest dream ! There, sitting by the shaded stream, I ranged the world of young Romance ; But sought in vain fit utterance For thoughts that would not be at rest. Till in some rustic lay expressed. By secret bower, by sunny glade, By trees high-arching overhead, I mused the enchanted hours away ; And Eden all around me lay. Years long gone by ! And change has been, — Sad change, — o'er yon remembered scene. Where are they now, the young and fair, Who met on summer evenings thei'e, With kindly glance and sportive strain ? Ah, never there to meet again ! They scattered soon to many a laud ; Even the few remnants of that band, Whom death had spared, are strangers now, Aged and worn, with whitened brow ; And who returns to look upon These haunts of youth, returns alone. I see old Barney Hill once more. But not as he appeared of yore : The forest broad that darkened on His swelling base, is open thrown ; And the young shrubbery changed to trees 46 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Along his high acclivities ; The range of woods that closed the view On the eastern height is broken through ; And from the stream and lowland mead Has gone the ancient alder shade. Yet the old scenes I held so dear Have a mysterious presence here, Unchanged in look, though shadowy quite. All bathed in that empyreal light Which glorifies our life's young morn, Ere Age has dimmed or Care has worn ; Memory restores and traces o'er Each feature as it was before. And as 't will ever hallow still Green River vale and Barney Hill. Southward, across' the highway from the house, the farm extends up through the large apple orchard to the pasture and the sugar orchard of rock maples well toward the summit of Camp Hill beyond. North of the buildings is the main body of tillage land, set with more fruit trees here and there. The large meadow aside, it is a hilly, somewhat stony farm, its soil only fairly productive, — such a New England farm as has supported many a large family, and in rare instances has added an overplus to be laid aside for old age or a rainy day, never, however, without good management, industry, and strict economy. These qualities Asahel Ballon had in an eminent degree, and he was ably seconded by his noble helpmeet. The house, the shop, the horse barn, the cow barn, the sheds, still stand substantially as Asahel Ballou built them, nearly a century ago. The house stands well back from the highway, — a spacious lawn with shade trees in front. It is a large, two-story, square-roofed house, now white, but originally painted red. It faces south precisely. With characteristic pre- ^ 5^ 'vJ k? K ^|5 4 i: f ^ H 1^ >^^ Y t ot i i ■ 1^ v|' V ;. ^ ^ G ^ 1- ^-^ ^ < ■' 5 ^ ft 5 I: vJ r •, EARLY ENVIRONMENT. 47 cision Asahel Ballou made the four sides point exactly to the four points of the compass. The front door opens directly into the large living room, perhaps twenty-four by twenty feet in dimensions. Opposite the front door was the large fireplace, nine feet wide and high, where the veritable logs were brought and rolled in to give warmth and light on cold winter even- ings. High up, above the reach of small boys, a small book- case is built into the wall. Hooks with drying poles hang from the ceiling. At the right of the fireplace, the large brick oven ; next to it, the entry to the shop, and the pantry beyond. To the left of the front door are the stairs to the sleeping rooms and attic above, and to a high, well-walled, and dry cellar below ; and beyond the stairway on the ground floor a sleeping room, and back of it the parlor. In the olden time the fire- place and big chimney took up a large part of the middle of the house. Back of it, extending through the L, were the shop and the timber room beyond, — the shop with its lathe and tools for the manufacture of spinning wheels and chairs. Many a pretty penny was made in that shop, for Asahel Ballou was handy at woodworking tools as his direct ancestors in the male line had been for four or five generations before him. He had an inborn liking for accurate workmanship, and he instilled into the minds of his children the importance of accu- racy in everything. Asahel Ballou was an exceptionally fine penman. His style of penmanship his children learned, and never unlearned, but in point of accurate penmanship they never equaled him. For example, in his leisure moments he would write out the Lord's Prayer in the space of a square inch, and with the shar]) goose quill every line so fine and distinct that the writing — preserved still among the family curiosities — is easily legible to the naked eye. Again, for amusement he would divide the square inch into sixteen equal parts, and in each one sixteenth 48 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. part of a square inch would write legibly the form of a note of hand. In Halifax, Asahel Ballou was looked up to as a country squire. He was a justice of the peace, drew up legal papers for his neighbors, and was many years " lister " or assessor. There was not much sociability in the neighborhood ; ^ the people were all hard-working farmers. Muster day was the chief holiday, and then, tradition says, the young Hosea shone as fifer of the Halifax militia. The social life of the family was confined mainly to the home circle. Sundays, and many an even- ing after the day's work was done, the family gathered about the large, open fireplace and read or sang to the accom- paniment of the flute. In their reading, the Bible, theological discussions, popular science, and poetry each had its place. The father sang more or less ; the mother a good deal, before, through sickness and advancing age, she partially lost her voice. It was an orderly, harmonious, intelligent, and mutually affectionate home circle in which Hosea Ballou, 2d, was reared. 1 The story goes that at a " sewing circle " in ye olden time not far from Halifax, a world-wise woman said : " I would rather marry a rich man who was fuU-middling cross than to marry a good-natured man who was poor, for I would rather lack for one thing than for everything." H > H-i ^ 51 i s i^ ^ o > H C/2 o o > -^ o H W ?! r^ O O W^ W f^ o c^ > S3 ^^ as O C1 H a O &j > H ^^ ^ > ^ O CI >* fel Oi H < b hH 5^ t?j :^ >► t?^ ^ o O 5 H C' C/J o > S > > »-n w > rV W ;> H JH f g o O d cl c^ !^i H > CHAPTER III. YOUTH, ITS IMPRESSIONS AND EXPRESSIONS. A MILE west of the Asahel Ballou farm, at the crossroads, still stands the little schoolhouse — modernized and moved a few feet from its old foundations a little nearer to the road, but still the same frame — where, at four years of age, Hosea Bal- lou, 2d, first went to school, and for ten years continued to go three months in winter and a few weeks in summer. Now painted white, it was then the typical little red schoolhouse. At school Hosea was a precocious boy. He applied himself and learned rapidly the rudiments that sucli a district school could offer. He walked to school and back morning and after- noon over the hills, with such a panorama spread out before his eyes to the south as in after years he climbed many a high mountain only to view. Down the valley of Branch Brook to its confluence with North River, and still on southward almost to its confluence in turn with Deerfield River at Shelburne Falls, Mass., his eye could reach as he stood on the highest points in the road on his way to and from school. From neighboring heights he viewed Ascutney, Round Top, prob- ably Kearsarge, and Monadnock mountains. " Auf der Hohe^'' say the Germans. Indeed and in truth, in his childhood he lived on the heights. As I lately walked over that road to the schoolhouse, I felt something of the inspiration that he felt there nearly a century ago. To me every foot of the way was hallowed ground. To the young student it also had historic associations, for over this road, it is said, Ethan Allen and his Bennington men marched in the summer of 1783, on the expe- dition to subdue the Yorkers in his native Guilford, as already 49 60 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. related, in their protracted struggle with the New State men. Morning and night he drank in the lessons of patriotism and heroism. The road he traversed was then, as it is now, thinly settled. In the mile from his home to the schoolhouse he passed less than a dozen farmhouses. It was the time of large, " old- fashioned " families, and each farmhouse contributed its quota to help fill the little schoolhouse. A few rods beyond the schoolhouse, and nearest to it, was the James Hatch homestead, where Clarissa Hatch, one of the school children of whom we shall have more to sa^^ later, lived. The house appears in the picture of the schoolhouse at the left in the background among the trees. Beginning with the " three R's," the course of study in the district school was eminently practical. Its central object then, as now, was not scholarship in the strict sense, but first such knowledge as is necessary in the con- duct of everyday affairs and as, among the masses, best con- duces to good citizenship. Very few of the pupils were expected to prosecute their studies beyond the distnct school. But more than one of Asahel Ballou's children were excep- tions to the rule. Hosea was an exception. " His bosom burned with aspirations for higher knowledge." ^ Asahel, junior, born, as we have said, August 26, 1799, and Pearley, born January 4, 1802, were content with a common-school edu- cation ; but Levi, born May 10, 1806, and William Starr, born September 17, 1808, were, like their oldest brother, exceptions to the rule, and prepared for the Universalist ministry. And of the four younger children, Reuben and Martin, twins, born July 25, 1812, and Alvin and Almon, twins, born January 11, 1816, Martin prepared for the practice of law, and Alvin for the practice of medicine ; Reuben died in his second year, and Almon, with a farmer's life in view, finished his school days at the little red schoolhouse. I " Ballous ill America," by Adin Ballou, p. 756. THE DISTRICT SCHOOL AND WHERE HE -'WENT A-COURTING." YOUTH. 51 It was the death of his little brother Reuben, October 15, 1813, that prompted Hosea to compose the first of the manu- script poems he thought fit to preserve in his collection. He was then nearly seventeen years old. It was the first death in the immediate family, and the few stanzas that we quote show how deeply he was afi"ected : — Cold blows the blast o'er Reuben's grave, And robes the broken turf iu white ; Emblem of innocence, that sleeps Beneath, in deathlike shades of night ! Oh, could the light again illume Those brilliant eyes that shine no more ! Oh, could those features reassume The former lustre which they wore ! Tho' faucy still the scene surveys. Where late the infaut cherub shone, Points to the shades of pleasiug days, And tells us they were once our own ; Those pleasing days can ne'er return ; Since he who gave that pleasure birth Lies mouldering in the silent urn. And mingling with the clods of earth. But see, in climes of endless rest. Beyond the flight of death or pain, There Reuben lives among the blest. And smiles amid the happy train. It calms my troubled soul to peace ; While Resignation wipes the tear; I cannot mourn for his release From all our imperfections here. 52 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. It was the earnest desire of Martha (Starr) Ballou that such of their nine boys — they had no girls — as desired it should have a liberal education. Asahel, her husband, was " a man of strong native common sense, intelligent without scholastic privileges by force of his own mental culture, observation, and experience, high-toned in moral sentiments, conscience, and character," ^ and, while he cherished a certain distrust of col- lege-bred men, he was scarcely less desirous than was his wife that they should have the opportunity for further study than the common school offered ; but with his limited means, how was it possible ? Morning and night and during vacation from school the boys had helped about the farm, and two of them at least ^ were skilful with tools in the shop. As they grew older and stronger, their time was more valuable to him to plant and cultivate the fields, to graft and prune the large orchards, to go out to the sugar camp and make maple sugar in spring, to make hay in the meadow and on the hillsides in summer, to go into the wood lot and cut timber in winter, to take care of the large herd of cattle on which the profits of the farm in large measure depended, and to perform a thousand and one tasks known only to the farmer's boy. But Asahel Ballou did not hesitate at the loss of time and labor. How meet the expense of further schooling for his children ? That was the question. With a growing family to support, by industry and thrift he had been able to save only a little from the farm and the shop each year. It would have been an easy matter for him to have sent 07ie of the boys to college, and it was seriously proposed to send the eldest son to college. But could he afford to give the younger children equal opportunities ? Document- 1 Adin Ballou, " The Ballous in America," p. 293. See also poem of ten stanzas written by Hosea Ballou, senior, as a tribute to Asahel Ballou, and printed in the Trumpet, Boston, April 5, 1851. *Pearley and Levi. ASAHEL BALLOU IN HIS SEVENTIETH YEAR. [Fru.ai an Oil Painting by Giddings Hyde Ballou. Owned by HosEA Starr Ballou.] YOUTH. 53 arj evidence ^ is before me that he was scrupulously careful to treat all his children alike, with absolute impartiality. Asahel Ballou was a veritable prince in his own home, revered, loved, and all his decisions were accepted there as wise and just beyond question. Four miles away, at Halifax Centre, lived Rev. Thomas H. Wood, who was glad to supplement his salary as Congregation- alist minister by tuition fees as teacher. At fourteen years of age, Hosea began reciting Latin to him. We have three pages in manuscript of his translation into Latin at this time of a sermon on James i. 17, by Rev. Hugh Blair, d.d., — a very creditable translation. From this beginning he became a pro- ficient Latin scholar. It was while studying Latin at home, late evenings after the labors of the day, that he first acquired the habit of putting bits of tobacco into his mouth to stimulate him to keep awake, — a habit which, though scarcely observable, went with him as long as he lived. He also attended a " select school " at Halifax Centre. What he learned there he never forgot. It was not a wide curriculum, but it ploughed deep. He secured an average preparation for college, but, above all else, he learned there how to study. The aged daughter of Mr Wood wrote a few years ago from a distant State that she remembered well seeing, as a child, three of the Ballou boys — Hosea, Levi, and William Starr, no doubt — one after another coming on horseback on a black mare with three white feet to recite to her father. At the early age of fifteen years, Hosea — a slight, light- haired, blue-eyed young man, perhaps five feet eight inches in height, boyish, yet mature for his years — first assumed in the adjoining town of Marlboro, Vt., the r61e of a public school- 1 Receipts from his sons to each of whom he allowed $200, " in neat stock," on their attaining their majority, with which to begin life's battle ; also letter, October 10, 1839, from tiim. 54 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. teacher. He " boarded around." Once given a sleeping room on the ground floor which was open to the elements under- neath, he used to relate how the midwinter winds and snows rushed in through the broad cracks in the floor and danced about the room. There were hardships many. Two winters he taught in Marlboro and one term at a village on Green River, studying meanwhile ; and summers he worked on the farm. His experience as a teacher was of the highest possible value to him in its educational effects, as such experience has been to hundreds of young men. In learning to control others, one learns best to control himself. Born and reared in a Universalist family, and under the influence of Rev. David Ballou, and more especially of the first Hosea, it was probably due largely to Rev. Mr. Wood, his teacher, that at seventeen years of age he had a deep religious experience. Shortly, however, it served only to confirm his faith in the doctrine of universal salvation. There is reason to surmise that a few months after Hosea had passed his fifteenth birthday, while he was teaching his first winter school at Marlboro, Vt., his father was visited by Rev. David Ballou, his uncle, on a preaching tour through South- eastern Vermont, and that he discussed with him the advisabil- ity of sending his eldest son to college. The question was discussed by relatives near and far, and from his new home in Franklin County, Massachusetts, the grandfather, Benjamin Ballou, wrote the following letter to iiis son Asahel Ballou : — The Gore, February 10th, a. d. 1812. It is a pleasant morning with us. Beloved son and daughter : The feelings of my mind are such that I want to inform you that we are all well as common, through the good providence of God hoping these few lines will find you enjoy- ing the same blessing. W M < w O oa H > cd >- > o H h C > W - O CK a H H !2J YOUTH. 55 Yesterday and the Sabbath before, we had good meetings at your Uncle Nathan's. Elder David Ballon preached, where there was quite a goodly number. Somebody hath told me that your son Hosea is thoughtful of study on Divinity, that some advise you or him for him to go to college, on which I would make some remarks. There was one Elder Smith, a Baptist, having a very promising son handy at learning as a mechanic is at handling tools. He was sent to college some years ago. This sou Smith was settled minister in Rowe in the standing or Congregational order. He is now settled in some of the lower towns in the same way. It is thought by many that he is at heart a Uuiversaler.^ Esq. Briggs' father was a Baptist ; he sent one of his sons to col- lege, and he settled a minister in the standing order. . . . I want to give you these ideas in full. But they are waiting for this letter. Farewell, from 3'our father and mother. Keep this until I can see you : from this I can recollect my mind. [Signed] BENJAMIN and LYDIA BALLOU. In 1812, Harvard College, as well as Yale, Williams, Dart- mouth, indeed practically all New England colleges, were under the control of the Congregationalists, a sect which the Ballous, whether Baptists or Universalists, had always dis- trusted. To make proselytes was an acknowledged mission. It was finally decided that the youthful Hosea should not be sent to college. In October, 1813, thanks to the War of 1812, Hosea Ballou, senior, was teaching a private school at Portsmouth, N. H., to add to his income as pastor of the Universalist society; and he then called as his assistant in the school his namesake, Hosea Ballou, "Cousin," he called him, then seventeen years of 1 No doubt Rev. Preserved Smith of Warwick, Mass., wtiose grandson, Prof. Henry Preserved Smitli, of Lane Seminary, Ohio, was recently tried by the Presbyterians on a similar cliarge. 56 HOSE A BALLOU. 2d, D.D. age, who now for the first time found it necessary to add to his signature " 2d." It was in the other half of the double house in which he lived that Hosea Ballou had his school. Regularly occupied by the master of a ship, in his absence at sea it was occupied by the master of a school. It was a new experience to the Green Mountain boy. Portsmouth, a great seaport, was still at the height of its prosperity, — in shipping, in its busy navy yard, with its four forts all manned. It had ceased to be capital of the State only six years before. There Dr. Comfort Starr's daughter, Hannah, had dispensed gracious hospitality as the wife of John Cutt, President of the Province. There, for nearly forty years, there had been Universalist preaching more or less regularly, sometimes in " the separate meeting-house " on Brimstone Hill, but since 1807 in the large church, then built, with a seating capacity of thirteen hundred, which has lately been burned. It was the first Universalist Church edi- fice in which Hosea Ballou, 2d, regularly worshiped. Here Hosea Ballou, 2d, became the first student in theology of his " Uncle." Precisely what course of instruction he had in theology we do not certainly know. The Bible he had studied from early childhood, and no doubt had read his teacher's "Literary Correspondence," "Treatise on Atonement," and "Notes on the Parables." In his case, no doubt, as in the case of Lucius R. Paige,^ nine years later, Hosea Ballou, senior, 1 The venerable Rev. Dr. Lucius R. Vaige, now in his ninety-fifth year, —and a living benediction to all by his gentle, loving, noble nature, — recalls distinctly his experience as a student of theology in 18:!3 with Hosea Ballou, senior, in Boston. He says : " He asked me what I had read. I replied, the Bible a gi-eat deal; I had read his 'Treatise on Atonement,' and contributions to the Universalist Magazine, little besides of a religious character that made an impression upon me. I was accepted as a student with Massena B. Ballou, whose room I shared in Father Ballou's house. At the outset he asked me to write a sermon. At my request, he gave me a text and I wrote a sermon, and read it to him. He commended it, and told me to write another. I listened and thought and wrote, but he did not at the outset, nor indeed at any time, suggest a single book that I should read. " In a few weeks it happened that the minister of the Cliarlestown parish fell sick, and YOUTH. 57 merely helped his pupil to help himself. He believed the way to learn to do a thing was by doing it ; the way to learn to write a sermon was by writing sermons. Conversations and discus- sions with his teacher, and long-continued close personal con- tact with him, learning to reason and to think as the teacher reasons and thinks, are often the most valuable and lasting ele- ment in a student's education. So it was with Hosea Ballou, 2d, Lucius R. Paige, Thomas Whittemore, and the rest of Hosea Ballou, senior's, pupils. To him education was not a " cram- ming " process. To him education had its etymological mean- ing, — e-ducation, e-duco, I bring out, I lead out. Twenty-two hundred years and more before, Socrates, at Athens, had his Plato ; Plato was not a more faithful pupil than was Hosea Ballou, 2d, and under methods of instruction that have many points in common. Often in the " Dialogues " of Plato, Socrates wittily speaks of himself as " a person devoted to the same call- ing as his mother Phsenarete, who practised the obstetric art ; the only difference between them being that, whereas she assisted women with her skill, he helped to deliver the minds of men of the ideas of which they were in labour." ^ In 1813 the teaching of the orthodox clergy was mainly dog- matic. The old habit of receiving a creed and its interpreta- tions from men with, if not papal, at least almost infallible authority, still held the young men at the great seats of learn- Deacon Gould called on Hosea Ballou to furnish a supply for the pulpit. ' Yes,' said he, •Brother Paige here can go.' I said nothing till the deacon was gone. ' But what shall 1 preach? ' said I. ' Preach one of the sermons you have read to me.' my teacher rejjlied; •they would do for my pulpit, and they will do for Cliarlestowu.' A few weeks later he sent me to Haverhill by stagecoach one Saturday to remain two weeks and preach three Sundays. " Two months after I first came to him he told me that I could live cheaper in Hardwick than in Boston, and from there preach as opportunity offered, and, with kind expressions of interest, I finished a course of instruction which I had planned to cover in two years in as many mouths." [In one of my last interviews with Dr. Paige he approved this statement, and since it was printed, full of years and of honors, he has quietly passed away.] 1 J. F. Fen-ier's " Philosophical Works," vol. II, p. 258, 2d London Edition. 58 HO SEA BALLOU. 2d, D-D. ing as in an iron vise. " Believe and ask no questions," was still in effect the rule of the " standing order." With students who already had a good general education, Hosea Ballou, senior, treated them as men, with a right of private judgment, and encouraged them in the habit of questioning blind authority and of appealing to reason. He had reasoned out his theology ; they must reason out theirs. He asked few questions. Such as they asked he helped them to answer. He was in advance of his time. Herbert Spencer saj^s : " The old educational regime was akin to the social systems with which it was contempo- raneous ; and similarly . . . our modern modes of culture cor- respond to our more liberal religious and political institutions." ^ The young theological student and assistant teacher had scarcely reached Portsmouth, in the autumn of 1813, before the passion for rhyming which sometimes took possession of Hosea Ballou, senior, also possessed him. He sought the Muses. "The great fire at Portsmouth, N. H., December 23, 1813," furnished him a theme, and his verses appear to have been published in the New Hampshire Gazette ^ the following year. These verses, with others on the " The Battle of the Beech Tree," " The Hartfordian Muse, a Satire," etc., are contained in "An old Manuscript" which, he wrote July 4, 1822, "I once supposed to contain marvelously good poetry ; but which I now discover to contain little which can be called even tolerable ; and it grieves me to say, still less good sense." We may safely quote a few of the verses, however, as they were originally written : — The air was calm, when Phoebus shed, Ou Portsmouth's spires, his parting ray ; And unobscur'd the pensive sky, While evening shades absorb'd the day. 1 " Essays on Educatiou," p. 99. 2 Also revised in Universalist Magazine, vol. VI. PORTSMOUTH HOME AND SCHOOL. YOUTH. 59 December's frosted hand had cast, O'er nature's face, an aspect drear ; But now she's hush'd her wintry blast, And calmness rules the closing year. Ye busy crowds, that slowly part, Soon shall you meet in sad amaze, When Desolation's awful arm Shall wrap your dwellings in one blaze ; The pealing bell, the mingled voice Of supplication, grief, despair. Shall rouse you from your peaceful joys, And crowd you on to that bright glare. Where smoky flames, ascending, burst Thro' broken roofs, and sinking walls ; Or where, amid the ruin crushed, The shapeless building silent falls. There see amidst surrounding night, On high the blazing tempest tow'rs. While from its waving summits bright. It fills the streets with fiery showers. The first winter in Portsmouth passed, we find him in June, 1814, back on the farm at Halifax, working and musing and dreaming, and writing a poem which begins : — Evening comes with western breeze. Three months later, in September, still at Halifax, the " Scene on an Intervale bordering Green River " fires his muse, and he writes ; — Now evening comes, and misty clouds Descend upon the vale. And hang incumbent o'er the floods That murmur in the gale. O'er this same spot, an artless child, How often have I stray'd ; 60 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Gaz'd on the neighboring mountains wild, Or slept beneath the shade ! "What lengths of time have interven'd, Since all our childish band Have sported on this shaded green, Or o'er yon pebbled strand ! Here I trace the wand'ring way My devious life has run ; Where folly taught my feet to stray ; Or prudence what to shun. Almighty Father, 't was thy hand. Unseen, protected me ; Oft from the snares of vice restrained ; From dangers oft did free. Then, when deep gloom my future shrouds, Let me thy goodness own ; Alike beneficent, Avhen clouds Or smiles surround thy throne ! Again in Portsmouth in the autumn of 1814, he found lei- sure to write " The Newsboys' Address to the Patrons of the New Hampshire Gazette, on New-Year's Day, 1815." [Re- vised.] Welcome, day of joy and gladness, Shed once more thy annual ray ; Let all murmuring, grief, and sadness Fly the dawn of New-Year's Day ; Which now coming in rotation Calls me forth with lively cheer. To renew my salutation, Wishing all a happy year. YOUTH. 61 Joy be with you, kind employers ; Cheerfulness inspu-e you all ; Farmers, priests, mechanics, lawyers, Proud and humble, great and small ; Merchants, students, politicians. Soldiers, sailors, proud employ ! And preceptors and physicians. Welcome to this annual joy. Aged soldier, on whose features Care and hardships, deep impress'd, Tell me that dissolving nature Soon will give thy soul to rest, — Thrice, thrice welcome to this pleasure Those whose persevering sword Purchased dear the hard-bought treasure, Independence, for thy blood ! Ye, who fight my country's battles (Bold t' avenge her freemen slain), Where the British thunder rattles O'er the wide Atlantic main, — Oh, how glad will I your glory Publish in my weekly round ! Proud to tell the blood-red story Of your deeds with victory crown'd. May fresh laurels wreathe your temples, Still new victories raise your fame, Till the British navy trembles At a Yankee sailor's name. Thou, too, soldier, gallant warrior, May I greet you with success ; May your arms strike deeper horror To the cruel Briton's breast. 62 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Patriot, ye whose burning ardor Kindles for our country's weal, Who with filial eyes regard her, And with an unshaken zeal, — Oft have heav'n's peculiar favors Crown'd her arms with victory ; Oft succeeded her endeavors To maintain her dignity. They who fought by Erie's waters, Wellington's European band, — Foil'd the foe with dreadful slaughters, • Have immortalized the land. Son of glory, brave McDonough, And Macomb, an equal name. They have gain'd eternal honor, Raised themselves to endless fame. Playmates, while this day enliv'ning Wakes to universal cheer, Gayly let our sports reviving. Hail the opening of the year. And may heav'n crown with enjoyment Splendid seats and humble cells ; Him that 's plac'd in high employment,- Him that in retirement dwells, — Thro' each change and alteration. That completes the annual scene : When that passes in rotation, I'll salute you all again. Now to favor are you willing ? It was I your papers brought ; 'T is but one third of a shilling, Give the printer's boy a groat. YOUTH. 03 In the youthful enthusiasm of his eighteen years — true to his Bunker Hill blood — this patriotic poem for the newsboys was written ; and in April, 1815, shortly before leaving Ports- mouth, when his teacher and fellow-teacher accepted the call to Salem, he was able, happily, to write for the New Hampshire Gazette the poem "Peace." In early time, while Saturn sway'd The sceptre in Hesperia's land, The Virtues sought the happy realm, And gave the Golden Age to man ; Till frightened by increasing crimes That oft assail'd their wond'ring eyes, The band forsook their fav'rite climes And sought a refuge in the skies. So Peace, astonish'd at the roar Of war and carnage in the East, With horror fled the scene of gore. To rear her temple in the West : Where o'er Columbia's thousand hills She spread her harvests, waving wide ; And poiir'd the products of her fields. In commerce, o'er the roaring tide. By pleuty nurs'd, her childreu rose To boundless empire and renown ; And ev'ry bliss which earth bestows She pour'd in vast profusion 'round. Go, soldier, lay those arms away Which have so oft declar'd you brave, For peace resumes her gentle sway ; Go, till the soil you fought to save. Again the herds and flocks shall spread Wide o'er the spacious hills and vales ; 64 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Again the harvest wave its head In frolic to th' autumnal gales. The depth of wood that shades the West Where wild Missouri's flood appears, Shall hear the axeman break the rest And silence of a thousand years ; The blooming flow'r shall cheer the shade Thro' which Ohio's bounty pours ; And as by magic art portray'd, New meads shall glitter on his shores. Th' unnumber'd streams that roll their tides Throughout Columbia's whole domain Shall draw the treasures from their sides And bear them to the distant main. Fair science here with steady ray The paths of early life shall cheer ; Till in her courts of perfect day The whole enlightened world appear ; — Or from the sun of genius pour The philosophic blaze abroad, And teach th' expanding mind t' explore The beauties of the works of God. And as the mental pow'rs advance, Religion in her native light Shall banish with a single glance The horrors of a long, dark night. From her shall flee each human crime ; While beaming from Columbia's shore, Her rays shall fall on ev'ry clime, And war and carnage be no more. In August, 1815, we find him again at home in Halifax writing a poem for a Federalist paper, the Brattleboro Reporter. Subject, "I Wisdom dwell with Prudence. — Proverbs." I select a few verses : — YOUTH. 65 Ye, who o'er youth's illusive tract Ascend the busy stage, Where you, in manhood's garb, must act The part of ripened age, — Pause for one moment, ere you gain That varied scene of joy and pain. Which now before you lies ; And if my verse shall aught descry, Which else had passed unheeded by, A pause may make us wise. Would you unfold the changeful scene Of life with dauntless breast? Let Prudence sanction every scheme. Or be the scheme suppressed. For youth is wild ; their untaught minds, The glare of ardent fancy blinds, When brightest seems its ray ; But if you guide that wandering flame, 'T will prove a cheering, faithful beam, To light you on your way. In April, 1815, a young lady for whom he appears to have had a warm affection died at Leicester, Mass. After he had cherished her memory two years, his feelings found expression in verse. We quote two stanzas from " The Fragment : " — And twice the changeful year has roU'd Its seasons o'er thy relics dear ; And twice we 've seen the flow'r unfold, And shed its lonely blossoms here ; But Spring has lost her power to raise The thrilling bliss of former days. What varied scenes have marked our lives, Since we receiv'd thy last adieu ! 66 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. How oft tbe soothing tear revives, Lucinda, and it flows for you ; For oh ! our brightest earthly trust Is gone — to slumber in the dust. In his two years at Portsmouth, Hosea Ballou, 2d, learned the Ballou theology which had already supplanted the Trini- tarian Universalism among all the clergy of the denomination, excepting only John Murray and one of his Calvinistic fol- lowers ; and here, too, the elder Ballou taught him there might be a period of suffering after death for some before the eternal joys of immortality should be realized,^ — and we may add, this doctrine the second Ballou always believed and taught, even when, after the Turner discussion, his teacher so far changed his early theology as to teach that all human suffering ends with death. 1 In 1798, Joel Foster says in Letter X of the " Literary Correspondence " addressed to Hosea Ballou (p. 58) : " I recollect what you observpd, on the road to Orange (now North Orange) , concerning your not being established in the point respecting any punishment after this life. You now profess yourself satisfied in the idea of a future state of disci- pline, etc. . . . How can you know that the miseries of the future life are disciplinary and not rather strictly penal? " CHAPTER IV. AT STAFFORD, ROXBTJEY, AND MEDFOED. HoSEA Ballou, 2d, preached his first sermon extempore and without special preparation, the expected minister not appearing, at a schoolhouse (not now standing) near his grandfather, Benjamin Ballou's home at "The Gore," in western Franklin County, Massachusetts. His record of the event reads simply: '-April, 1816, Uncle D. Ballou's, S. H. W. pt. Rowe, Rom. i. 25." It is said that he " acquitted himself with credit." At the end of the year 1816 he had delivered forty- nine sermons, mostly in schoolhouses, in twelve towns in South- eastern Vermont and adjoining parts of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. One year later, April 3, 1817, when twenty years old, he entered upon his first pastorate in the town of Stafford, in Northern Connecticut, declining a call to Waterville, Me., as it was farther from home. The Universalists of Stafford had erected a meeting-house (thanks, perhaps, to Rev. Isaac Foster), which was dedicated on the fourteenth of November, 1816, when Hosea Ballou, then of Salem, preached the sermon. It was the only Universalist meeting-house in the State. " The place where the old church was located," writes a more recent pastor ^ of the society, " is known as ' Stafford Street,' extending about one mile, and very wide, so as to leave a broad margin of land on either side of the carriage road running through it. In later years, and probably earlier, these margins were grown up with blueberry bushes and other shrubbery, 1 Personal letter of Eev. C. W. Biildle, d.d., to the author dated April 30, 1896. 68 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Stafford Street, in the earlier part of the century, was the centre of the business, social, and religious interests in the town. Before the days of railroads it was on the direct stage route from Boston to Hartford, and was a busy thoroughfare, passengers and horses stopping to be refreshed at the old Hyde tavern kept by Jasper H. Hyde, who was a prominent supporter of the new Universalist movement in Stafford. On either side of this long, broad highway were dwellings and sundry other buildings. They were erected on the extreme sides of the street, and stood opposite to each other, the long distance inter- vening. Here stood the district schoolhouse, and probably the Presbyterian meeting-house (which was torn down within a score of years past), and the village store, and other points of trade and activity. Upon this broad avenue, now almost deserted, except for the lingering of a few private residences, stood the church in which Dr. Ballon began his ministry. . . . The church did not stand on the line of the other buildings, but out in the open land, not far from the Hyde tavern before mentioned, and, if reports are true, there was very familiar intercourse in the interim of the services between the con- gregation and the famous hostelry, — a not uncommon thing in those times, given the like facility, with church people gener- ally. The church was a frame structure with prominent steeple, well supplied with windows, with considerable carving and filigree work, and galleries running round three sides. It is said that one of the pastors of this church — whether Dr. Ballon or a successor, I know not — had great difficulty in con- trolling his risibles upon seeing a sleepy member of his congre- gation directly under the cage of the gallery, with his head thrown back and his mouth wide open, while directly above him in the gallery, was a young chap holding in his hand a quid of tobacco which he was poising so as to have it enter the cavity made by the extended jaws. FIRST UNIVERSALIST CHURCH IN CONNECTICUT. BUILT 1816. AT STAFFOBD. 69 " This edifice remained standing many years after its use for worship was discontinued, was frequently visited, and gradually [about 1865] demolished, some of its ornamentations being car- ried away by relic hunters." The picture of the church here presented, in its dilapidated condition, is the only one left to us. " But the diversion of travel and trade from the street, the discontinuance of the great stage line, and the coming in of the manufacturing interests which are still prominent in the town at several centres, made it necessary for the Stafford Universalist parish to build a church nearer a larger number of the population. Accordingly, in 1845, the present edifice was erected in the village of Stafford proper, sometimes known as * Furnace Hollow,' from the smelting of iron ore in the furnaces there — a business in the olden time of great moment. The fiftieth anniversary of the erection of the present church was celebrated last year, when the historian of the occasion paid a fitting tribute to the pastorate and subsequent labors, both in church and college, of Dr. Ballou. But few now remain who have any recollection of him. The Hydes, the Cadys, the Scriptures, the Pinneys, the Fairmans, the Converses, prominent in the later days of the parish, and whose memories would have run back to the early days of which we speak, have passed away, leaving in some instances representatives in the present generation who are still active in the work started by Dr. Ballou when he was in the freshness and fulness of his youth. . . . Ephraim H. Hyde, ex-lieutenant governor of Connecticut, still survives, and is intimately associated with all the events of the Stafford church. . . . Dr. Ballou did a faith- ful and, as it has proved, a lasting work." In effect, the whole State was his parish. He preached at E. Stafford, W. Stafford, Preston, Hampton, Norwich, Hartford, Conn., and Weston (Warren), Brimfield, Charlton, Monson, and Springfield, Mass. As he journeyed from place to place, " his /^ 70 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. abounding yet quiet humor, which made sunshine under every roof that covered him," ^ made him always a welcome guest. He did much to arouse the Universalists in Norwich to build their first church in 1821,^ and in 1824 the first Universalist church was built in Hartford. In 1817 alone, he delivered ninety-nine sermons in eighteen towns. Still he found leisure in August, 1817, to contribute to the second volume of the " Gospel Visitant " the following poem.^ Isaiah xxxii. 2 : "As a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." When Fortune's unpropitious frown Has darken'd all the prospect 'round ; When woes deject, and ills assail, We find our wonted vigor fail. But when the thousand tempests rise, And roar thro' all the troubled skies, Where shall the lonely pilgrim gain A covert from the wind and rain ? I've seen, I 've felt the torrent shed Cold and unsparing on my head, And yet I found a refuge near. From beating storms and every fear ; It was the shelter of thy grace, My Lord, which form'd a hiding place ; And rais'd a flam'e of mercy there. To cheer the wayworn traveler. When wand'ring o'er the desert bare Of burning sands and sultry air, My soul has sought the region thro' And found no stream to greet my view ; iRev. G. H. Emerson, d.d., in Universalist Quarterly, vol. XVIII, p. 322. * See Universalist Miscellany, December, 1844, p. 231. 3 Revised and published in the Universalist Magazine, vol. V, No. 8. AT STAFFORD. 71 'T was then the rivers of thy love, Desceudiug from thy throue above, Suppli'd my wants, and sooth'd my pain, And rais'd my fainting soul again. "When in a weary land I tire. And all my nerveless pow'rs expire ; While gathering foes permit no rest. And swelling cares torment my breast ; And hardships still, an endless throng. In sad perspective pass along ; Can dying pow'rs, can feeble man The languor and the toil sustain? Ah, who could bear the ceaseless strife. That falls on ev'ry scene of life. Were not a Rock in Zion found O'ershading all this weary ground ! Again at Stafford, in May, 1818, he writes for the " Gospel Visitant:" — A HYMN OF PRAISE. 1 Praise ye the Lord ! around whose throne All heav'n in ceaseless worship waits ; Whose glory fills the worlds unknown, — Praise ye the Lord from Zion's gates. With mingling souls and voices join. To him the swelling anthem raise. Repeat his name with joy divine. And fill the temple with his praise. All gracious God ! to Thee we owe Each joy and blessing time affords ; Light, life and health, aud all below. Spring from Thy presence. Lord of lords. 1 Republished also in the Universalist Magazine. 72 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Thine be the praise ! for Thine the love That freely all our sins forgave ; Pointed our dying eyes above, And show'd us life beyond the grave. Immortal life ! this thought disarms The terrors of our mortal shore ; It brings to view immortal charms, When other comforts are no more. And Jesus ! let Thy deathless name In concert with the Father's rise ; For Thou hast borne for us the shame, — Thou wilt exalt us to the skies. Thy name be praised ! for worthy thou Unbounded honors to receive ; To Thee shall ev'ry creature bow. And everlasting glory give. The first reference to Hosea Ballou, 2d, in the early records of the General Convention of Universalists appears in 1817, when, at Charlton, Mass., he was appointed on two committees, one to secure subscriptions for a " Seminary of Science," show- ing his educational bent thus early, before he was twenty -one years of age. In 1819 the Convention recognized Nichols Academy as its first denominational school. It is interesting to observe his trend of thought and mode of expression at this early period of his career. On September 14, 1819, at the General Convention of Universalists, holden at Lebanon, N. H., the first sermon was preached by H. Ballou, 2d, from the text : " The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works." — Psalms cxlv. 9. "In selecting a text for the subject of discourse " (he began) "it was very desirable that, on such an occasion as this, one should be chosen whose primary and essential meaning is so AT STAFFORD. 73 manifest as to be understood alike by all denominations. And I am happy in reflecting that the passage which is now laid before this mixed assembly is of that kind ; that the general truth which it expresses is not a point of dispute between our opposers and ourselves. For there is, perhaps, no Christian of any denomination who would be willing to say that God is not good and merciful in some way, nor at some time, to every creature he has made. Here all our jarring sentiments harmo- nize ; here we all stand together like brethren. And from this common landmark in our faith, we venture forth into doctrinal inquiries and researches, we shall have the uncommon satisfac- tion of knowing that we commenced our course together ; and this landmark will remain in view, like a pillar of fire, to point us to our way, when doubt obscures, when stormy passions or the strong currents of sectarian prejudices separate us. ... In short, every denomination would strenuously defend the simple fact that the Lord is good to all, that his tender mercies are over all his works, though they may differ in determining how long this will continue to be the case, or in what respects the goodness is exercised." To suppose the contrary, he says, " would be more blasphe- mous than to deny his power or wisdom ; for it would be a direct attack on his moral character." He then proceeds to show that " the common doctrine of endless misery inevitably con- tradicts our text; and would prove that the Lord is not good to some, in any period of their existence ; neither in creating nor in preserving them ; nor in giving them temporal comforts, nor in sending his Son to die for them ; nor, finally, in consign- ing them to endless woe." " We have been taught that God knew, from all eternity, that some men, if created, would become infinite sufferers by their existence, either through their own perverseness or his inexorable decree ; and still we are told that with all his fore- 74 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. sight he voluntarily brought them into being ! What can be plainer than that God could not be good to such wretches, in creating them, when he foresaw the awful consequence? Could he even imagine that he was conferring a benefit ? No. In the very act, God must know it would be mercy beyond compare to relent and leave the yet unconscious beings uncre- ated ! " " The father, who knowingly neglects to call his child to an account till it may grow wicked enough to justify tenfold fury in torturing, is an angel of mercy compared with the char- acter which this conduct gives to our Father in heaven." Having " sought for the mercy of God towards the supposed heirs of endless woe ... in their creation and in their preservation," all in vain, he asks : " Will it now be said that the Lord is good and merciful toward them, at least, when he gives them the comforts of this life, the blandishments of for- tune, and the endearments of society? But I appeal to you, rational and candid hearers, does not the doctrine under con- sideration teach that all these flattering enjoyments will be brought into the condemning account at that tremendous bar where hope expires and mercy is unknown ? " But it is said, the Scriptures " speak of everlasting punishment in so many ivords ; and of the smoke of torments ascending up for ever and ever.''' "■ But surely, men and brethren," he replies, "the fallacy of this objection is now too generally known to render a labored reply necessary. What Christian pretends to believe that every subject to which these indefinite words are applied is endless ? They are certainly no more proof of the eternity of punishment than of the eternity of the ancient Mosaic rituals. Everlasting^ for ever and ever, with forever are in the Scriptures applied to the ceremonies of the law, to the Jewish possession of the land of Canaan, to the mountains and AT STAFFORD. 75 hills ; in short, to such things as all Christians believe temporal, about seventy times ; and but about a dozen times to the idea [of] suffering, in all the Bible. If the objection had any force, what an overwhelming proof should we have of the end- less duration of these temporal objects ! " In conclusion he says : " For eighteen hundred years have the prayers of all saints arisen like a great cloud of incense before the altar, entreating God to save the world. The truth of our text is a pledge that he will not despise these prayers, which his own spirit dictated.'' ^ Hosea Ballou, 2d, at only twenty-two, already held a high place in the esteem of the denomination. In 1819, the General Convention chose " Bros. S. Streeter, H. Ballou, 2d, and E. Turner " a committee to visit the Eastern Association to be held at Paris, Me., in June, 1820. The General Convention in 1820 was holden at Claremont, N. H., in the hall of the Chase tavern. Daniel Chase, the proprietor, was a devoted Universalist, and the cause is still dear to many of his widely scattered descendants. Hosea Ballou, senior, was appointed moderator, and Hosea Ballou, 2d, also took part. After nearly three years' toil alone at Stafford, Conn., Hosea Ballou, 2d, returned to Halifax to find a helpmeet in the schoolmate of his childhood, Clarissa Hatch. She was the daughter of James and Esther Hatch, whose substantial farm- house was the nearest to the little red schoolhouse in Halifax where both received the rudiments of education. She was born in Halifax, May 7, 1795, and there they were married January 26, 1820. She was a tall, slight woman of quiet manners and retiring habits, industrious and thrifty in the management of her household, and a true helpmeet. Their first child, Giddings Hyde Ballou, was born November 10, 1820, and named for 1 For full report see Universalist Magazine, April 15 and 22, 1820. 76 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Giddings Hyde of Stafford. In their social life at Stafford they made many warm friendships. In May, 1821, their removal from Stafford was no doubt arranged during a visit from Hosea Ballon, senior. " Leaving Boston on Monday after the second Sabbath in May," he writes (in company, no doubt, with Hosea Ballon, 2d), he " stopped at Stafford where I preached on Thursday the same week." Then he journeyed on to Hartford,^ where he preached several times at the State House, also to Berlin, Middletown, and Wind- sor, and preached at each place. Then, his record of the journey reads : " Left Hartford on Monday morning, and preached at Stafford in the afternoon, and returned to Boston on Tuesday." 2 Before he returned to Boston, Hosea Ballon, 2d, had accepted the invitation of a new Universalist society in Roxbury, Mass., — now a part of Boston, — which had been extended to him May 8, 1821, to become their first minister, and the third Sunday in June he closed his Stafford pastorate. [n 1798, Rev. Elhanan Winchester spoke in the First Church, Roxbury, by courtesy of Rev. Eliphalet Porter. Twenty years later, on November 29, 1818, Rev. Hosea Ballon, senior, de- livered the first distinctively Universalist sermon or evening "lecture " in Roxbury, at the Town Hall, with view of starting a society. Early in 1820, by arrangement with Rev. Paul Dean, Rev. John Murray's ^ successor, the ministers of the two Universalist churches in Boston began to preach regularly on alternate Sunday evenings in the Roxburj* Town Hall, a two- story brick building erected in 1810-11. At this time the First Religious Society (Congregational), which was founded two years afier the incorporation of the town in 1630, and long iHe particularly notes a visit to the grave of Rev. Elhanan Winchester in Hartford, which was marked by a gravestone, erected by the General Convention of Uuiversalists. 2 See Universalist Magazine, June 9, 1S21. s Murray was born December 10, 1741, at Alton, England, which I found in ISSO to be Still, as he described it, a town " environed by a plantation of hops." AT EOXBURY. 77 ministered to by the Apostle Eliot, in its early days, continued to be the only church for a growing population now numbering 4,135 inhabitants. It was determined to establish a church in Roxbury on broader foundations. Forty-three signatures to a " Petition for Incorporation " from Samuel Parker, W. J. New- man, Samuel S. Williams and associates secured from the Legislature " An Act to incorporate the First Universalist So- ciety in Roxbury," and on February 24, 1820, it was approved by the governor.' A week later, Thursday evening", March 2, the first parish meeting under the charter was held at the Town House ; in three weeks the by-laws of the society were adopted,^ and on March 30 a committee, chosen at the first meeting " to select a piece of ground," reported a site at a cost of one thousand dollars. It was a central lot of 36,659 square feet,^ between Roxbury and Dudley Streets and Guild Row, and facing Washington Street as now laid out, the great north and south thoroughfare, — Shawmut Avenue came about thirty -five years later, — and admirably suited to the needs of a church, and at the same time, from the point of view of the shrewd real-estate investor, had the elements of large growth in value, as population increased, for business purposes. The deed was executed on May 8, 1820, by " Samuel Wait, Esquire, Eleb Faxon, blacksmith, and Isaac Davis, yeoman," their wives respectively duly releasing to "the First Universal- ist Society in Roxbury," conveying "■ a certain tract or parcel of land in said Roxbury near the Grammar School House, bounded Westerly by land of Cheney Clark, Southerly by Dudley Street, Easterly by a town way, and Northerly by the paved street." * This grammar school was " The Free School 1 See leaflet in Boston Public Library, shelf 7465, 16. ''See Rules and By-Laws, printed by H. Bowen in 1820, in Boston Public Library. *See plans of 1827 and 1829 iu Records of the Society. * See Parish Records, vol. I, p. 14. It appears, then, that Drake's statement (" Town of fioxbury," p. 51) that Roxbury Street was lirst paved in 1824 is erroneous. 78 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. in Roxburie," ^ established on the same site about 1645 in order that "the scollers should not keep scool in the meeting hous." Erected in 1742, the third schoolhouse on the site, in 1820 a second story was added to the building to meet the increased needs of the growing town, and in 1834 it was converted into a business block. Dudley Street had been laid out nine years before through the Dudley estate. The " town way " between the church and the grammar school probably already covered Smelt Brook, a clear stream of considerable size, once a good brook for fishing, which the Roxbury historian^ identifies as the spring referred to by John Dane, in " Remarkable Provi- dences." He says : " My first coming [1638] was to Roxburey. There I toke a pese of ground to plant of a frind, and I went to plant and having cept long on the shep, the weather being hot I spent myself, and was veary wearey and thurstey. I cam by a spring in Roxburey Street, and went to it and drunk and drunk againe and againe manie times, and I never drank wine in my life that more refresht me, nor was more pleasant to me, as I then absolutely thout." Thomas Dudley, second governor of Massachusetts, was once asked by a body of Dutch and of French Huguenots in Holland whether those differing from him in opinion, "yet holding the same foundation in religion, as anabaptists, anti- nomians, seekers, and the like, might be permitted to live among you," and he gruffly replied : " God forbid our love to the truth should be grown so cold that we tolerate errors." He took an active part in the banishment of Roger Williams, Harris, Coggeshall, Bull, and Mrs. Hutchinson ; and it is prob- able that but for the Puritan intolerance of his age, the first Mathurin Ballon and his young bride would have lived, reared 1 See Charles K. Dillaway's history of this school — the nursery of many noted states- men and divines. 2F. P. Drake, " Town of Roxbury," p. 303. FIRST UNIVERSALIST CHURt'H OF ROXBITRY, 1821. AT ROXBUBY. 79 their family, and died in Dorchester or Roxbury, without ever setting eyes on Narragansett Bay. But the whirligig of time brings its revenge. In 1821, on the site of the dwelling of Thomas Dudley, the most intolerant of Puritans, stands a Universalist church, with a Ballon, the descendant of those hated heretics of the early days, as its minister. In that old Dudley mansion, too, lived his son, Governor Joseph Dudley, his daughter Anne, wife of Governor Brad- street, who was the first in America to publish a volume of poems, it is said ; and scarcely less famous, the grandson, Paul Dudley. And when, a few days after the battle of Bunker Hill, the mansion was destroyed, there American batteries were planted when Washington occupied Dorchester Heights. To a young man, who, like Hosea Ballon, 2d, has a passion for history, such associations are an inspiration. The corner-stone was laid in August, 1820, and on the fourth day of January, 1821, the completed church was dedicated, Hosea Ballon, senior, preaching the sermon from Mai. iii. 10. No doubt, Hosea Ballon, 2d, was present, for the preceding day he was in Boston, and offered the concluding praj-er at the installation of Rev. Elias Smith as pastor of the sliort-lived Third Universalist Society. He had rarely been in Boston then ; his first sermon in the vicinity was.delivered in the Universalist Church in Charles- town, July 3, 1819, and his second sermon the third Sunday of the following September in the School Street Church. The dedication services were most impressive. The plan of the church was as follows, namely : " House, 74 feet long and 60 feet wide, with a Tower IG feet square, and 55 feet high, with a pro- jection on each side of 10 feet, making the Tower 36 feet at the Bottom. The Posts of the main House to be 28 feet high." ^ With " 94 pews on the floor," the probable expense was esti- mated at i9,000. The plan was slightly changed to make 1 See Records of Society, vol. 1, p. 13. 80 HOSE A BALLOU. 2(1. D.D. ninety-six pews on the floor and twenty-four pews in the gallery. The former were appraised ^ at from 860 to 8200 each, a total of 813,000 ; the latter at from 850 to 8t)5, a total of 81,350. By the treasurer's accounts, as audited and approved February 27, 1821, he had paid out 810,853.24, but part of it was borrowed money .^ The society "Voted, That eight per cent be paid ... by those that hire pews on the valaation towards the support of preaching and other necessary expenses." Also, '' Voted, The Standing Committee be authorized to procure preaching for a term not exceeding six months."^ By vote, the society also invested in a " bass viol." The first, second, and third Sundays in January, 1821, Hosea Ballon, 2d, preached, morning and evening, in the new Roxbury Church ; again on Fast Day, and again on the first and second Sundays in May ; and on the fourth Sunday in June, he began to preach regularly there. At a meeting on the eighth of May, 1821, the society " Voted, That Major Seth JohnsoD, William Hannaford, Elisha Wheeler, Isaac Gale, Edward Turner, Thomas Mayo, and Samuel S. Williams be a committee to ascertain on what terms the Rev. Hosea Ballon, 2d, will engage with the society." ^ May 11, the committee reported that Mr. Bt^llou '• informed them that he was under an engagement to a society in Stafford, Conn., which he must consider as binding on him unless they would consent to release him from their society, in which case he should be happy to enter into an engagement with this society. With lespect to the terms, he informed them that he should choose that the society should make him such compen- sation for his services as they should deem proper and reason- able in preference to his naming any definite sum himself." A characteristic reply ! 1 January 11, 1S21, Records of Society, vol. I, pp. 23-25. 2 See Records of Society, vol. I, p. u3. ^ md., pp. 34, 35. * Ibid., p. 37. AT BOXBUBY. 81 The society at Stafford was requested " to relinquish their claim to his services," and it was " Voted, That the society offer Mr. Ballou six hundred and fifty dollars to preach for them one year." ^ The installation was Thursday, July 26, 1821. The large choir in attendance rendered the anthem " The Great Jehovah is our awful Theme " in opening the services ; Rev. Joshua Flagg, of Scituate, offered the opening prayer; Rev. Richard Carrique, of Attleboro, the prayer of installation ; Rev. Paul Dean, of the First Universalist Society, Boston, preached the installing sermon from 2 Corinthians vi. 3,4: "Giving no offence in anything, that the ministry be not blamed, but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God ; " ^ Rev. Hosea Ballou, of the Second Uiiiversalist Society, Boston, gave the charge ; Rev. Edward Turner, of Charlestown, the right hand of fellowship ; and Rev. Elias Smith (he of the changeable mind), of the new Third Universalist Society in Boston, offered the concluding prayer. The services ended with an original hymn by Mr. John Howe of Roxbury. A printed copy of the hymn, as well as of Mr. Turner's admii-able address, and of Hosea Ballou's charge, is preserved.^ In the " delivery of the Scriptures and charge," Hosea Ballou said with deep feeling as he called vividly to mind the twenty-four years of the young man's life : " God having opened your eyes, even in tender youth, to see and to believe in the impartiality of his goodness to the human family, it will, no doubt, be your peculiar pleas- ure and delight to dwell on those sweet and soul-rejoicing sub- jects which present a God of boundless love and mercy to your congregation ; a Saviour who gave himself a ransom for all men, who is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. . . . 1 See Records of Society, vol. I, p. 38. - See a copy of this sermon printed by H. Bowen, 24 pp., 8vo, in Boston Public Library. No. 25 in shelf 7465, 16. 3 See copy in Boston Public Library, pp. 17-23. 83 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. And may it please the Head of the Church to make you a last- ing blessing to the people of your charge, that many may say, in days which are to come, ' This is our friend, who taught us the religion of Jesus Christ, the love of our Heavenly Father, and the hope of eternal life.' " And when your ministry shall be brought to a happy, a peaceful conclusion, may your memory be as sweet as your labors shall have been faithful, as a good steward of the mani- fold grace of God." On returning home to Charlestown, Rev. Edward Turner wrote he had " attended the solemn exercises at the installation of our worthy brother, Mr. Ballou. The house was filled to admiration ; and the same glow of spirit, the same fervor of affection, seemed to glow in every countenance. . . . The charge by the Rev. H. Ballou was in glowing language, and most powerfully and feelingly expressed." ^ In 1821, Roxbury was a sparsely settled suburban town of about four thousand one hundred people. Even Boston, with about forty-three thousand inhabitants, was like an overgrown town of our day ; witness the change of the date of dedication of the School Street Church from Wednesday to Thursday, October 10, 1817, " as there was a misapprehension of tlie day of the Cattle Show at Brighton."^ Those who did not go to Boston for business were chiefly engaged in tanneries and in tilling the meadows and the arable land about the huge rocky ledges which in 1630 gave to the town its name, Rocksborough or Rocksbury. There were no street lights, no newspapers, no banks. The few stores were in Roxbury Street. From the new church to the State House the distance was about two and three fourths miles. The peninsula of solid land on which the origi- nal town of Boston was built was joined to the mainland only 1 See Universalist Magazine, August 4, 1821. ^ Records of Second Society of Universalists in Boston, vol. I. AT ROXBURY. 83 at Roxbuiy by the present course of Washington Street, and by a neck of land so low and narrow that the ocean in a storm, particularly at high tide, often washed across Roxbury Neck, as it was called, and joined the waters of the Charles River basin. Even the old-time milldam had not then come. No one then had dreamed of the possibility of the vast areas of made land which have converted unsightly wastes of early daj's into the densely populated Back Bay and South End of the present day. Roxbury's two gates alone separated Boston from the mainland, the inner gate at Dover Street, the outer gate at about Woodbury Street. Roxbury Neck had an unsa- vory reputation ; lawlessness aside, it was indeed forbidding and desolate. It was attractive only when covered deep with snow, when it was the favorite resort of sleighing parties. The only public conveyance to Boston was a two-horse stagecoach, leav- ing once in two hours. Five years later the " hourlies " began to run. But most people walked to and fro, and fond of pedes- trian exercise as he always was, Hosea Ballon, 2d, could be seen walking across the Neck several times a week in all kinds of weather. The Roxbury historian says : " Even the ladies walked in and out of town over the Neck, and carried home the bundles containing their purchases."^ But sometimes it was hardly safe for them. It was a rendezvous for marketing, and the " Point," especially, was the scene of many drunken brawls. Intemperance was prevalent. To bring about a reform the young pastor bent his energies. Fifty years later. Rev. Dr. W. H. Ryder said : " Dr. Ballou found in a layman of the town, Edwin Lemist, a faithful coworker, and they, for a time, led in the warfare against intemperance and disorder. And so thoroughly did the faithful pastor do his work in this respect, that he impressed his views and feelings upon the entire parish, so that through all its history the First Universalist Society in 1 '• The Town of Roxbury," by F. S. Drake, p. 51. 84 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Roxbury has been the friend of temperance as well as relig- ion." ^ A year before Hosea Ballou, 2d, came to Roxbury, it is recorded that " two young men, to close a drunken nocturnal frolic, broke into Rev. Dr. Porter's church, tore the cushions in pieces, destroyed the Bible, removed the hearse from the grave- yard, and performed other acts equally disgraceful." In the same year an observer wrote : " The interest in religion had so far declined, that although there are in the First Parish of Roxbury, completed and building, three churches within the compass of a few rods, those who prefer to spend their Sabbath in regular worship to lounging about taverns and pilfering in the fields but half fill a single one." ^ At the outset he found that the present needs of the society would have been as well met with a church only half as large ; yet he went to work at once to fill it. But his aims were intensive as well as exten- sive. Especially he directed his efforts to the organization in the society of a " Church of Christ " — an unusual thing among Universalists in, those days — and on the first anniversary of the dedication of the church edifice, January 4, 1822, a church of twenty-two members was publicly recognized. He preached morning and evening. ^ From the picture of the church on another page the reader may get an accurate impression of its exterior. Not so the interior. Large square pews were in use, similar to those still in use in King's Chapel, Boston. Opposite the entrance a high pulpit, and no organ. The choir loft was in the front gal- lery over the vestibule, and opposite the minister. An orchestra of stringed and wind instruments played accompaniment to the choir. A youthful worshiper ^ in that church gave us, in 1871, 1 " See " Semicentennial Memorial of tlie Universalist Church of Roxbury," p. 71. 2 " The Town of Koxbury," by F. S. Drake, p. 295. 3 See sermon by H. Ballou, 2il, prciiched the evening of third Sal)bath in .January, 1822, from Gal. iii. 8, in Bo'^lon Public Library, No. 7465, 16. * Rev. Benton Smith. See Memorial volume, p. 85. AT BOXBUBY. 85 the following recollections: "I remember this church as it was, with its uncarpeted floor, its high pulpit, its stovepipes carried through the windows upon either side, because tlie house was built without chimneys. I can remember carrying the foot- stove into our pew for mother and sisters. How well I recall the familiar scene of the loved pastor of those days coming up the centre aisle, introducing his family to their pew, and then disappearing through that mysterious door which led to the large and wonderful pulpit ! " The venerable Dr. Lucius R. Paige tells me he distinctly remembers Hosea Ballon, 2d, as he appeared in 1823, — bright blue eyes, smooth shaven face, hair auburn with a tinge of red, and head carried a little forward from the erect posture, as in later years. In those early days before it became second nature for Hosea Ballon, 2d, to utter his thoughts chiefly through his pen, his carefully prepared sermons he delivered usually with- out notes. Says one ^ who first knew him early in his Roxbury pastorate, and lyiew him well : " As a preacher he was somewhat slow of utterance, simple, plain, lucid, direct to the point, emi- nently instructive, — free from all rant and fanciful rhetorical flourish." And again : " He had none of that brilliancy that dazzles, astonishes, and captivates the multitude, or even the comparatively small multitude who gyrate in the literary atmos- phere and sip only intoxicating nectar from the flowers of genius. Such would deem him dull and commonplace. His whole make-up was of solid and intrinsic worth, free from glitter, ostentation, assumption, and pretension. . . . He was a pro- foundly religious man, without the help of artificial stimulants, and without exuberant demonstrations or formalistic sanctity. He was an exemplary moralist from well-settled general prin- ciples, and with few specialities. He was a clear, discriminat- ing thinker and reasoner, under the inspirations of patient 1 Rev. Adin Ballou, in " Ballous in America," p. 756. 86 ROSEA BALLOU 2d, D.D. common sense, downright honesty, and unsophisticated natural logic. . . . Few pastors ever watched over their flocks more diligently, faithfully, and successfully, and few were more beloved by the old and young." Referring to his social charac- teristics, the same writer says : " In private life and ordinary social intercouise, though both [Hosea Ballon, senior, and Hosea Ballou, 2d] were kind-hearted, Hosea, 2d, was the more winsome to strangers and diffident persons, and more adapted to inspire confiding personal friendship. He was a man to be loved, as well as respected and trusted. What such a man must be in his domestic circle and intimate associations need not be specifically described. He must be pleasant, agreeable, and lovable ; especially when inexhaustible and witty good humor, as in this case, spiced all the other qualifications." Says an honored layman ^ who was a child at the Roxbury church under Mr. Ballou : " With all my veneration for him, he did not inter- est me as a child — perhaps no one would ! I used to turn my attention to building houses with hymn books." ^ Thomas Starr King once said : " I can hardly remember when in childhood I did not look up to that forehead and those blue eyes as the ex- pression of a noble Christian integrity, wisdom, and purity." ^ Rev. Dr. W. H. Ryder, in referring to Hosea Ballou, 2d, and the early days of the society, a half century later, says : " The young pastor began his work at once and in earnest. He had almost everything to do. The affairs of the society not only required his attention, but the unorganized condition of the de- nomination, and the imperfect state of biblical criticism among his brethren in the ministry, elicited his sympathy and kept him constantly at work. He was a thorough student, both by nature and habit, and soon took the foremost place in the denomina- tion as a clear thinker and trusty scholar. 1 Henry D. Williams. " Richard Frothingham's " Tribute to Thomas Starr King," p. 45. AT EOXBURT. 87 " At the time of Dr. Ballou's settlement here there were in the United States some fifty preachers of our order. They were for the most part widely separate from each other, connected with small, poor parishes, if settled at all, and everywhere ' spoken against.' The General Convention was then always a memorable occasion. The facilities which now exist for social intercourse were then unknown, so that the preachers seldom met. In the autumn after Mr. Ballou came to Roxbury he attended the Convention, which met that year in Hudson, N. Y. He went in a chaise, accompanied by Father Ballou. They left Roxbury at the close of the morning service on Sun- day, and reached Hudson on Tuesday afternoon." ^ Tuesday, September 18, the Convention met, and was opened with prayer by the venerable Rev. David Ballou, of Rowe, Mass., the father of Rev. Moses Ballou, and elder brother of Father Ballou. Tin-ee days before, he had passed his sixty -third birthdaj^ and the best of those sixty-three years had been devoted to itinerant preach- ing, in Northwestern Massachusetts and in Southern Vermont and New Hampshire, of the doctrine of universal salvation. In their youth he had been an influential religious adviser to the two Hosea Ballous now present.^ On June 17, 1822, after a year's service, it was "Voted, unanimously, That the society give the Rev. Hosea Ballou, 2d, the decided preference to supply the Pulpit for the year ensuing. Voted, That the Standing Committee be authorized to contract with the Rev'd Hosea Ballou, 2d, to supply the pulpit for the year ensuing, for a sum not exceeding Seven Hundred Dollars." ^ The sum of two hundred dollars was also voted to provide music for the year. At the annual meeting held in the vestry March 2, 1826, the 1 The " Semicentennial Memorial of the Universalist Church, Roxbury, Mass.," pp. G9, TO. - See tribute to David Ballou ;n Quarterly, April, 1854, pp. Ib5, 186, by H. Ballou, 2d. 3 Records of Society, vol. I, p. 4.'j. 88 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. society voted the pastor's salary of seven hundred and thirty dollars,! a^j^(j regularly at every annual meeting thereafter this sura was voted, until the annual meeting held March 3, 1836, when tlie pastor's salary was again increased, now to eight hundred dollars ; and March 2, 1837, and March 6, 1838, this sum was voted for the pastor's salary. But at the outset, in building the church the society burdened itself with a heavy debt. Hosea Ballon, 2d, was extremely anxious that the debt should be reduced to a safe limit, if not indeed wholly paid off, at the earliest possible moment. On March 7, 1822, a committee was appointed "to consider and devise the most speedy and best method to extinguish the debts of the society." ^ Two weeks later it was announced that while it had been expected that certificates of stock would be taken in payment of pews, there was pressing need of money, and it seemed necessary for every one to pay for his pew a second time. " This proposition was presented," says Rev. A. J. Patterson, " and received united approval." It was " one of those acts of heroic self-devotion and self-sacrifice which are so rare among men, and which should be held up forever as worthy of emula- tion and praise."^ It was voted that pews sold be paid for by September 25, 1822. A few who were able to pay still delayed paying. On May 23, 1823, John Lemist got judgment against one J. W. Gay in a suit at law for fifty-five dollars and thirty- four cents, the amount said Gay owed on pew No. 93, and for non-payment of the judgment Gay was sent "to Gaol at Ded- ham."* From our present point of view, at the close of the nineteenth century, it was perhaps a severe remedy ; it was not 1 Thirty dollars to meet the expense of attendance on the General Convention of Uni ver- salists. -Records of Society, vol. I, p. 41. 3" Semicentennial Memorial," p. 12. ■* Recoi'ds of Society, vol. I, pp. 52, 53. John Lemist was a brother of Eilwin Lemist, merchants on Washington Street. He lost his life in shipwreck in Long Island Sound. AT ROXBUEY. 89 only legal, however, bat usual in those days, and presumably efficacious. Nevertheless, six months later, on Monday, Novem- ber 24, 1823, the society authorized the treasurer to demand pay due for pews, or to accept " note of hand payable on de- mand."^ On March 29, 1824, all pews unsold were then offered for sale at public auction. From this time on the society appears to have prospered financially, as it did also in the number who attended its services and in its social and spiritual life. I trust I shall not be charged with giving undue prominence to the financial side of a religious society as a business corpora- tion. It is the proper — sometimes improper — attention paid to its financial management that has made of the Roman Catholic hierarchy a formidable power for good or ill ; shrewd foresight and sound business management have played no in- considerable part in making other Protestant sects — the Con- gregationalist, the Presbyterian, the Unitarian, the Episcopalian, etc. — the prosperous and powerful organizations they are to- day. A religious society as a business corporation must be managed on business principles ; and those who, in the future, have the responsibility of organizing new Universalist societies cannot overestimate the importance of starting right. The far- seeing real-estate investor seeks a central corner at a moderate price ; the experienced and successful retail merchant locates where the buyers congregate ; if a church is to have a lasting, prosperous existence, it must have a permanent home, so located as to meet present needs and, in a measure, to anticipate the growth of the near future. The struggle of the First Univer- salist Society in Roxbury, the first few years of its existence, to keep expenses within the income of the society, and to pay off the debt of the society, made possible the magnificent new church in which that society now worships. 1 Records of Society, vol. I, p. 54. 90 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. It came about in this way : The lot of ground for which the society paid, in 1820, one thousand dollars, and the use of which it has since enjoyed free of taxes, has increased in market value for seventy-six years an average of fully one thousand dollars a year, or one hundred per cent per annum on the origi- nal purchase price. Does the statement seem incredible? Here are the facts : For two street widenings the city has paid the society for land taken, free of betterments, about four thousand dollars ; there are remaining of the original purchase 34,179 square feet of land which were valued by the city in 1895 for purposes of taxation at iB71,800, and for which a bona fide offer of f 80,000 has been made. Nor is this experience unique. If I may be permitted to digress so far as to cite an illustration in the society to which the First Universalist Society of Roxbury mainly owes its birth, the Second Universalist Society in Boston, of which the first Hosea Ballou was the first pastor, had a similar experience. On April 28, 1817, John Brazer, acting for the new society, bought of Joseph Foster a lot of irregular shape, with a front- age of forty feet on School Street, Boston, with a depth of about one hundred and sixty feet, for seven thousand dollars, and at the same time gave back a mortgage for the full pur- chase price payable in eight months.^ On May 2, 1817, he bought of the estate of Dr. John Warren another lot of irregu- lar shape adjoining the first purchase on the west, and having a frontage of thirty-seven feet and six inches on School Street, and a depth of about one hundred and seventy-three feet, for ■^4,845, and he also gave back a mortgage for the full purchase price, payable one half in eight months and one half in twelve months.^ On May 15, 1817, an indenture was executed by " John Brazer, Esquire, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk of 1 See Suffolk Deeds, Book 254, pp. 2S-2-2S4. 2 See Suffolk Deeils, Book 2J1, pp. 297, 29S. i- p/' AT ROXBURY. 91 the one part, and Edmund Wright, Levi Melcher, and Samuel Packard, Jr., merchants," a committee for and in behalf of thirty -six persons named, and others unnamed, " subscribers for the purpose of erecting a meeting-house in School Street for the Second Society of Universalists in the Town of Boston," for a nominal consideration, they assuming and agreeing to pay the above-named mortgages. On January 2 and 3, 1818, respectively, the mortgages were released on the margin of the record. For fifty-five years that society enjoyed the use of the School Street property, free of taxes, when (in 1872) they erected a store and office building on the site, and erected a new church in the new residential quarter of the city ; but the land ^ for which (improvements aside) $11,845 was paid in 1817, was in 1895 valued by the city for purposes of taxation at -$269,200, and it is doubtful if it could now be bought at a much larger sum, with the cost of building added. On the basis of assessed valuation, there has been an average increase in land value of $3,300 a year for seventy-eight years, or about twenty-eight per cent per annum on the original purchase price. That original investment has proved a tower of strength to the society for many a long year, and appears to assure a yet longer record of usefulness in the future. These are not exceptional cases. In New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, and many other large and growing cities these two instances may be paralleled. These facts of finance are not, and ought not to be, mentioned in a boastful spirit, but merely to impress upon those who, in the future, have the responsibility of organizing new Universalist societies, the paramount importance of starting right in locating and estab- lishing a permanent religious home. No doubt there was some feeling of rivalry on the part of the iThe dimensions of the lot have been somewhat changed, the area now being 7,690 square feet. 92 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. old First Parish Church at Roxbury, for more than one house- holder took his family down the hill to the new church. Among them was Mrs. Dudley Williams,^ who, with five sons, came over from Dr. Porter's church to attend the initial meet- ings of Hosea Ballou, senior, in the Town Hall. When the Sunday-school was organized, August 15, 1830, she became its first superintendent. Later her son, Dudley Williams, was elected to that office. A story is told of Nehemiah Monroe, then a deacon in Dr. Porter's church, and popularly called " Deacon Roe," which is to the point. The story goes, that stand- ing in his doorway one morning soon after Hosea Ballou, 2d, settled in Roxbury, he was accosted by a stranger who asked him if he had " seen a stray white horse passing that way." " No," he rephed. " Where had I better look for him ? " asked the stranger. " Oh, well," said the deacon, " p'r'aps you 'd better go to the Universalist grounds ; 'bout everything fetches up there nowa- days." ^ Unwittingly, he paid a deserved compliment to the young Universalist minister. The new society inherited many of the traditions of the old : lengthy sermons,^ measured by an hourglass standing on the sacred desk before the preacher's eyes, to measure out his stint ; scholarly and powerful sermons — for Dr. Porter and his seven predecessors were men of great ability ; religious education of the young— for so early as December 6, 1679, the records of the First Parish read : " this day we restored our primitive 1 She was grandmother of the well-known layman Henry D. Williams, of the firm Wil- liams & Everett, Boston. = See F. S. Drake's " Town of Roxbury," p. 159. 3 " Note. — As this sermon had not been written when it was delivered, the author trusts that they who were there present will not expect to find the following copy verbatim." Such is the note on the fly-leaf of the printed sermon preached by Hosea Uallou,2d, at the installation of Rev. Thomas G. Farnsworth in Haverhill, April 12, 1826. It is not prenerally known that in early life, until his auburn hairs turned gray, he usually spoke extempore. r;~n uaa Bca Jig taa, -^=== SECOND UXIVERSALIST CHURCH, SCHOOL STREET, BOSTON. AT BOXBURY. 93 practice for the training up of our youth ; first, our male youth, in fitting season after the evening services in the public meet- ing-house, where the elders will examine their remembrance that day, and any fit point of catechism ; second, that our female youth should meet in one place, where the elders may examine their remembrance of yesterday, and about catechize or what else may be convenient ; " ^ like Nehemiah Walter, who as " teaching pastor " united in himself the functions of Welde, the pastor, and Eliot, the teacher, of olden time, Hosea Ballou, 2d, was peculiarly a teaching pastor ; in hymnology — for was it not Thomas Welde and the Apostle Eliot, both of this church, who, with Richard Mather of Dorchester, in 1639, prepared " The Bay Psalm Book," the first book printed in the English colonies ? However, the relations between Rev. Hosea Ballou, 2d, and the venerable Rev. Eliphalet Porter were very cordial, as also with his successor, Rev. George Putnam, who, long years after Dr. Ballou had passed on, said of him : " He welcomed me cordially as a neighbor. . . . He was a scholar, a Christian, a wise, a prudent, sound, earnest, kindly man." AtRoxbury, in February, 1837, Hosea Ballou, 2d, completed the " Universalist Collection " of hymns, a 16mo volume of five hundred and forty pages, for which B. B. Mussey, the publisher, paid him two hundred dollars. In his preface, Mr. Ballou says : " It should be observed that not every species even of good poetry, and of the religious kind, is suitable for hymns. They should be as plain as possible, easy in their versification, and yet full of vigorous or moving spiiit. On very impressive sub- jects, the austerest simplicity is doubtless preferable to the more brilliant style which is too often sought after." In 1849 the tenth edition was issued. Says Rev. Thomas Whittemore : " The hymn book went into general use among Universalists, and would have continued so until the present day had it not 1 See F. S. Drake's " Town of Roxbury," p. 295. 94 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. been for the appearance of a book not more valuable, but of a more popular character, issued by another publisher who had facilities for controlling the market among Universalist soci- eties." 1 Here, too, in 1833 he wrote a Reply to Tract 224 of the American Tract Society, which added to his reputation. But I shall speak at length of his literary work in Roxbury in other chapters, and will only add now that in preparation for his great work, as means to an end, he learned to read French, German, and Greek with ease, becoming familiar not only with their language but with their literature ; he perfected his early knowledge of Latin, and he acquired a considerable knowledge of Hebrew. In 1838 few college-bred linguists were more pro- ficient than was he, unless, indeed, in the colloquial use of the modern languages they had perfected their pronunciation by resi- dence abroad. Still he never neglected his pastoral duties for his linguistic studies, and he kept in close touch with passing events. His zest for the town life is well expressed in an INVOCATION TO WINTER. From polar workis, where endless frost Has chained the ocean to the coast, Parent of storms, chill Winter ! rise And roll thy clouds o'er southern skies. On Greenland's hills of cheerless white Descend, in mingled storm and night, Burst her tall rocks with frightful roar. And hurl their fragments round the shore. Thence, driving on the murky wave. Where Davis' flood and Hudson's rave. Thine ice-fields urge, through midnight seas, To their tremendous revelries. Sweep o'er the mountains, from the shore > The Trumpet, June IS, \>'t'^. AT ROXBUBY. 95 Of bleak aud barren Labrador : And, sailing down the frozen globe, Spread forth thine all-investing robe O'er Canada's outstretching scene, And Brunswick's hills of evergreen, Till, last, amid our southern skies, Thy gathered tempests o'er us rise. Come, "Winter, come ! and bring again Health, vigor, pleasure in thy train. The town shall pour a joyous throug In gliding cars, the streets along. To breathe fresh vigor from thy gale^ As forth they rush o'er hill and vale With merry bells, whose mingling sound Shall ring through all the country round. Open Mirth and Jollity, Dance and Frolic, come with thee. Labor looks with hearty smile. And even Drudgery rests awhile. But chief, O Winter, with thee bring Thy long and hallowed evening. Soon as the short-lived day is past, We '11 close the doors and shutters fast ; A blazing fire shall light the room, And friends with gladdening looks shall come To spend an hour, — yet heedless stay, And charm the evening all away. Or books shall cheer its lonely flight. In study, till the depth of night ; While still with ceaseless sigh, and slow, Descends, without, the drifting snow ; Or in loud gusts the howling blast Shakes the firm roof, and hurries past.^ 1 In Expositor, January, 1832; revised 1860. &6 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. At the home of Hosea Ballou, 2d, on Zeigler Street, Rox- bury, might have been seen three fourths of a century ago a worthy New England example of plain living and high think- ing. It was in an unpretentious two-story house, facing south, with the end toward the street, with ample lawn about it, that he lived. Harrison Avenue has obliterated the site. His parish- ioners, the Morses, lived on both sides of him. In his study, upstairs, he stood a great deal at a high desk in writing, the necessary box of sawdust always near. This desk is at Tufts College. Some interesting pieces of furniture in cherry, black walnut, and mahogany, and a handsome mirror which he had at Roxbury, are still preserved and highly prized. They suggest an air of quaint gentility. A cottage on Dearborn Street, which, it is said. General Dearboin once occupied, was his first Roxbury home. With an increasing family to support, about 1826 he opened a private rchool for boys in his house on Zeigler Street — later at the corner of Warren Street — to supplement his salary as pastor. The school increased in numbers and prospered. But in 1836, thanks to the removal of the Roxbury Latin School into more attractive quarters, the number of pupils had fallen to twenty- five. His brother Levi Ballou, ten years his junior, who had earned a considerable reputation in Halifax and Guilford, Vt., as a teacher of public schools and singing schools, was his assistant. Says an aged Roxbury Universalist ^ who knew them both : " My father was a close friend of the Doctor's and took ray brother out of the public school and passed him over to the Doctor for an education, which was of very great benefit to him, as to all who received instruction from him. . , . He took in tlie Doctor's enthusiasm for the science of astronomy." A New York clergyman used often to converse with him and once 1 A. W. Newman, who he writes is " 83 years youug the 4th next July. Yea, the day Is ever celebrated ! " AT liOXBUBY. 97 said, Mr. Newman " was the best informed man in that science he had ever met . . . and both he and I gave the dear Doctor the credit for it all." Before Hosea Ballon, 2d, opened his private school in Rox- bury, he had been identified with the public schools of the town. Indeed, by right of his sacred office, he had no sooner settled in Roxbury than he was a Visitor of Schools by virtue of the following vote of the town, in usual form, on March 5, 1821, namely : that the " Visitors of Schools " consist of "• the Rev'd Clergy of the Town, Selectmen and Town Clerk, Town Treas- urer, and Chairman of each of the [District] School Commit- tees." 1 From its general funds, the town appropriated in 1821 only two thousand dollars for schools. On February 15, 1825, " the committee appointed by the Town of Roxbury to visit the several schools " reported (Jamaica Plain included) : Number of schools, 11 ; whole number of scholars present, 593 ; whole number of scholars on lists of masters, 771. They " found the schools in a state of gratifying improvement ; but believe still that were each District Com- mittee to visit their scholars at the first opening," ^ they would thereby promote the best interests of the schools. The two evils against which the school committee contended most were : first, truancy (in 1829, the report states, more than thirty per cent were in the habit of being absent), and second, lack of uniformity in schoolbooks (if, indeed, the children had any books at all) ; and by vote, the town now, in 1829, for the first time supplied schoolbooks. In 1830, Hosea Ballon, 2d, was again elected by ballot, with Hon. Henry A. S. Dearborn and three others in the reorganized school board. From an agricultural community the town was now fast assuming a metropolitan character, and the school 1 See Roxbury Town Records, at City Hall, Boston. 2 See Roxbury Town Records, vol. IV, p. 370. 98 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. committee recommended the establishment of graded schools. In April, 1830, it was voted that the schoolhouses in districts Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 be used thereafter as primary schools, con- sisting of pupils under eight years of age, to be taught by females ; and a new school for the four districts be established for pupils over eight years of age, one department for boys and one for girls, to be taught by two masters. In 1882 the town of Roxbury was expending only sixty cents per citizen for public schools, whereas Boston was then spending about one dollar for every citizen on common schools and " double that sum," the report ^ states significantly, " is spent for education in their private establishments." It was a time when private schools in Roxbury, as well as in Boston, prospered. It was a time when, the records show, in Roxbury, as elsewhere in the Commonwealth, there were great expectations of supplanting private with public schools through tlie greater efficiency they could attain by means of "sales of land in Maine" for the School Fund, — an expectation which has been largely realized. ^Vith the increase of population, in 1838 there were a thousand pupils enrolled in the public schools of Roxbury, and the town now appropriated five thousand dollars " for instruction and fuel for schools." 2 During these seventeen years, education, public as well as private, was promoted in Roxbury to a high degree ; and it is not too much to say that improvement in methods as well as the increase of appropriations, — an increase more rapid than that of population, — was due as much to the exertions of Hosea Ballou, 2d, as to any one member of the school committee. During these seventeen years his domestic circle was singu- larly happy. Blessed Vvith one child, Giddings Hyde Ballou, seven months old when Hosea Ballou, 2d, and his estimable wife removed from Stafford to Roxbury, their hearts were 1 Roxbury Town Recnnls. vol. V, p. 12. 2 ibid., vol. V, p. 20C. AT liOXBUBT. 99 gladdened by a little girl, Clarissa Hatch, February 20, 1824 ; then by a boy, Charles Hosea, December 1, 182G ; then by a daughter, Julia Crehore, July 10, 1828 ; then by another daughter, Harriet Eliza, December 1, 1830 ; then by still another daughter, Mary Jane, January 17, 1833 ; and finally by Caroline Maria, the seventh and last of their children, June 28, 1837 ; but she, like the first daughter, died when a mere child, a source of deep grief to their fond parents. Giddings was quick to learn, and fitted for college. With a passion for brush and palette, he painted industriously, and if not a genius, pro- duced tolerable portraits which are now highly prized. He also later wrote articles on the history of art for the Quarterly,^ illustrated articles for Harper's and other magazines, and some light fiction for the Lily of the Vallej^- and the Ladies' Re- pository. He was long in government service at Washington. An apt scholar, a lack of ability to govern only prevented his adopting the profession of teaching as his life work. His father would gladly have seen him permanently engaged in teaching, or in his own profession of the ministry, had he shown a liking and aptitude for it. Charles was full of fun, and of good native ability, but cared little for books. Julia had her father's quiet wit, — often very funny when one least expected it. All were bright, fun-loving, affectionate children. But the father found little leisure to play and romp with his children ; lie was absorbed in his books and in writing. Says one who lived some years in the family at Roxbury, " He was often in a ' brown study,' and it took him a long time to answer a question." Still he was a rare raconteur. After living seventeen years in Roxbury, why, it has often been asked, did Hosea Ballou, 2d, choose to terminate the pastorate ? to leave a larger society for a smaller one ? Perhaps 1 e. g.. Historical sketch of Painting, January, lS4.i, pp. 23-38. ^e.g., " Gaspar Toiissin," 1851. 100 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. he was too profound for some of his hearers. For this reasou Jonathan Edwards was fairly driven from Northampton, and was glad to find a refuge at Stockbridge, where, at a salary of X6 15.S, 4:d. (about $34) a year and "found in fuel," he could think his thoughts and write his books. But such was not the case with him ; he left Roxbury voluntarily, the records prove, but not for a larger salary ! In a book written half a century ago by one who, at the time, was no friend of his, the writer no doubt refers to him in the following language : " A Universalist preacher, who stands at the head of the denomination, was settled seventeen years in the vicin- ity of Boston. He had under his charge the largest and best Uni- versalist society. He was very sick, and supposed to be in a con- sumption. He told me that the moral condition of his society, and the moral results of his preaching made him sick, and almost carried him to his grave." ^ Of this and other state- ments derogatory to the society, Hosea Ballou, 2d, wrote ^ that it was, " so far as respects its evident gist, untrue ; that is, if it was meant to refer to me and the Universalist society in Roxbury, as I cannot but think was the case. ... I was often out of health, though never ' very sick,'' — often seemed wear- ing down, as it is sometimes expressed. Possibly, some might suppose that I was approaching 'a consumption,' though I never knew that this was supposed. But it is impossible that I can ever have told Mr. Smith ' that the moral condition of my society, and the moral results of my preaching made me sick,' etc., because this was not the fact." After answering the aspersions with great particularity, he says : " During the latter part of my ministry at Roxbury there was apparently a great and growing improvement of the society. . . . But," he con- 1 M. H. Smith's " Universalistn Examined;" etc., p. 315. 2 Letter to Rev. Edwin Leigh (Cougregationalist), Woonsocket, R. I., April 26, 1844, in response to one from him dated April 23. See chap. XI on M. H. Smith. AT BOXBUEY. 101 tinues, " I am reluctant to appear before the public in this business. I do not think I am called upon to do so. Mr. Smith's character in respect to credibility is either already notorious, or at least it may be easily ascertained. The ortho- dox clergymen of Salem, say Dr. Worcester, who witnessed the rather singular manoeuvre of his professed conversion from Universalism, can be written to. So can the orthodox clergy- men of Nashua, where Mr. Smith has resided long enough to have some of his peculiarities known, — to say nothing of the testimony of Universalists." ^ On March 3, 1836, the society voted to increase his salary from seven hundred and thirty dollars to eight hundred dollars a year, and the increased salary was voted him annually March 2, 1837, and again March 6, 1838. In the records of the society, under date of March 19, 1838, we find the following in usual form : " Voted, That the Standing Committee be author- ized to wait on Mr. Ballou and request him to supply the pulpit the ensuing year for the sum of eight hundred dollars." ^ But that the society suffered from the hard times which, as the cycles come and go, followed upon the industrial crisis of 1837, is evident by a vote passed in March, 1838, to omit the usual appropriation of two hundred dollars for music, and inviting the choir leader " to sing in the seats without pay or price, after stating to him the state of the finances of the society." ^ In business, collections were slow ; it was to be expected that taxes on pews would be in arrears more than in prosperous times. At such times, necessarily, some people are discouraged. At a legal meeting of the society in the vestry, holden 1 The Register for 1842 (p. 52) says of M. H. Smith : " He had ceased to be in our fellow- ship from a dislike to our too rigid discipline ! and is now engaged as a Congregational cleriryman, in vilifying us for our iaxity in morals, and organization, and zeal." ' Records of First Universalist Society of Roxbury, vol. I, p. 109. s ibid., vol. I, p. 107. 102 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Wednesday evening, May 2, 1838, Mr Chester Guild, moderator, in the chair, the following letter of resignation ^ was read : — RoxBDRY, April 28, 1838. To THE Committee of the First Universalist Society in ROXBURY : Brethren, — I have deliberated much and long with myself whether to request a dismission from the pastoi'al charge of the religious society with which I am connected. I have come, at length, to the conclusion that it is my duty to lay such a request before you ; and through you, before the Society, The reasons which induce me to this step, I beg leave to state frankly, that there may be no misap- prehension in any quarter. In the first place, the death of so many of the older members has long weighed heavily on my spirits, and recent afflictions of this kind have increased the oppression till it has become extremely painful. When I stand in the desk to address you, I look around for the fathers of the Society, but, with very few exceptions, they are not there. I wish, however, to state distinctly, and I wish to have it on record, that I see no occasion for apprehen- sion with respect to the prospects of the Society in future, if its members be united and true to their profession. This is not my trouble. But I have felt our continued and unparalleled bereavements so painfully as, in a measure, to paralyze my efforts. I am satisfied that with better spirits I can do better, I can do more good else- where ; and that a preacher who has not these depressing recollec- tions may do better for the Society. In the second place, I have long been aware that some of ray friends do not find my ministrations edifying, and that their taste is for a different style of performance. So far from blaming them for such a taste, I feel it a duty to accommodate them in this respect, — I mean, when no sacrifice of principle is involved ; and I have confidence in my other friends to believe that they will heartily join with me in the spirit of accommodation. Let all unite in the mutual endeavor to satisfy themselves and each other. If this be effected, you will then have the entire strength of the Society brought into 1 Society Records, vol. I, pp. 110, 111. AT ROXBURY. 103 (_ you will then have the entire strength of the Societ\' brought into J lively action in every undertaking that concerns the common good, instead of leaving a part indifferent, and in many respects inactive. Brethren, I have spent the best part of my life with this Society. I have been with most of its members in trouble and in joy. The younger have grown up under my eyes, and are to me as sons and daughters. With most of the older, I have been an associate of equal age. If the sacred relation I have so long sustained to them gives me any right to an earnest expression of my heart's desire, I would entreat that the change of pastor may not alienate a single member from the Society, nor abate the zeal of any one in avowing and supporting the gospel of " the grace of God that bringeth sal- vation to all men." I will not suppose that any can be so blind to their reputation, as well as indifferent to moral principle, as to change their profession ; and should temptations of this kind be presented .from abroad, I doubt not that every member will have respect enough for himself, and respect enough for truth, to treat such suggestions as they deserve. In asking this dismission, I remember the many kmdnesses and attentions I have received from tliose of my charge. I return them my unfeigned, my warmest thauks, and im- plore the blessing of God to rest upon them, now and forevermore. Your affectionate and devoted pastor, HOSEA BALLOU, 2d. Messrs. C. Guild, Z. Hersey, S. H. MoOke. P. S. The committee would gratify me by laying this before the Society to-morrow after divine service. H. B., 2d. The letter of resignation caused, deep grief in the Roxbury society, and beyond its limits. He had " discharged his duties with exemplary fidelity," says one who had observed closely from without. " His talents and acquirements were of the solid kind ; not such as blaze for a moment, and then grow dim and expire. The beauty of the pastor's life, his spirit of peace, his discreetness and quietness, drew many to him. He 104 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. was beloved by such men as Dr. Porter of Roxbiny, Dr. Pierce of Brookline, and Dr. Harris of Dorchester, three of the most honored of the Unitarian clergy in the whole Commonwealth." ^ But his letter must not be final ! A special committee was at once appointed by the society to urge Mr. Ballon to reconsider his resignation. They could not, however, persuade him to remain. A quarter of a century has now passed since the First Univer- salist Society of Roxbury celebrated its semicentennial. In show- ing "-wherein Dr. Ballou's ministry was so fruitful," Dr. W. H. Ryder ^ said : " He began right ; he laid a solid and sure founda- tion ; he turned the hearts of the people in the very beginning of their parish work to the necessity of personal religion." ^ At that celebration, Rev. Dr. J. G. Bartholomew, Dr. Ryder's successor, said : " Dr. Ballou was a peculiar man in this, that while he was one of our profoundest thinkers, and one of our most finished writers, he was always simple as a child."* And again he says : " The stamp of that good man's life and ministry is on the parish yet ; and every man who has succeeded him here has felt the influence of it. The memory of him is like a continual benediction. Now, a church with such a beginning, unless the children prove utterly recreant and forgetful, can- not but thrive and prosper." ^ Rev. C. H. Fay, d.d., has sung his praise in verse : — His daily walk within his fold Of prayer aud meditation told ; And touched all hearts to issues higher, Like David's sweet, immortal lyre. Beyond his flock the shepherd threw Influence greater than he kuew ; Whose still pulsations over-passed 1 Rev. Thomas Whittemore, in the Trumpet, June 18, 1859. - Dr. Ryder was pastor of the society, 1S49 to 1859. 2 " Semicentennial Memorial " (Roxbury, 1871), p. 74. * Ibid., p. 79. ^ Ibid., p. 80. AT ROXBUBY. 105 Sectarian walls, so grim and fast, And prejudice gave way at last. To human welfare ever true, He bridged the gulf 'tween old and new, By sympathy with all that's good, And love baptized in Jesus' blood ; And thus united youth and age In life's divinest heritage. ^ As he was leaving Roxbury, Hosea Ballou, 2d, was a young- old man. The mere physical strength to do all he had done — say nothing of the strain on his native intellectual force, even with the most methodical habits — is not easily estimated. At forty-one, bald and gray, " the general judgment of those who met him " a year before, says E. G. Brooks, d.d. (who " first really made his acquaintance in May, 1837 "), " was that he was at least fully sixty, and I well remember with what amazement a company of friends at my father's house received his statement of his actual age." ^ In parting I fancy it was no mere acci- dent that he translated from the German and published GOETHE'S DEDICATION TO HIS FAUST.3 Translated from the Gejuiun. [The following Dedication, as Goethe calls it, seems to have been written alter the first edition of his " Faust," and in the advanced age of the poet. The first two stanzas allude to those shadowy representations of the various scenes in man's ex- perience, which he had embodied in his poem. The translation may claim to be tol- erably literal, at least for verse; but every one who has read the original will feel how far short of that it falls in melody and touching simplicity of expression.] Ye gather near, dim-hoveiiug forms, again ! Such as, of old, ye crossed my troubled mind. And seek I well t' arrest your phantom-train? Feels my heart still to that vain task inclined ? ^ See pp. 33-49, " Roxbury Semicenteuuial Memorial." •2 See Quarterly, October, 1878, p. 393. s Expositor, March, 1838, p. 148. 106 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Ye press around ! — and be ye welcome, then, As forth ye come from out the mists behind ; My aged bosom feels a youthful beating, Fanned by the magic airs around you flitting. Ye bring the images of joyful days, And many a once-loved shadow meets my view ; Like notes of old and half -forgotten lays. Come my first Loves and early Friendships true ; My Griefs return ; the ever anxious maze Of life's sad labyrinth, I trace anew ; Recall the joys that shone, at moments, o'er me By hope deceived, — but vanished all before me. They hear not — ne'er will hear — the following song, The souls to whom I first attuned the lay ; Dispersed forever is that friendly throng. And their first echoes all have died away. My grief resounds an unknown crowd among ; Even their applaudings on my spirit weigh ; For all, whose heartfelt praise my numbers flattered, Are in their graves, or through the wide world scattered. And long-unwonted yearnings seize my breast For that still, solemn spirit-realm unknown. My trembling notes, now hovering into rest, Waver, like the ^olian harp's wild tone. A shuddering takes me ; tears flow unrepressed ; This vigorous heart — it feels its firmness gone; The present seems but as a distant vision. And what has vanished is my sole fruition. H. B., 2d. On the third Sunday in March, 1838, it appears, he preached for the first time in Medford, a town five miles from Boston, on the opposite side of the city from Roxbury, and on the ban^s of the Mystic River at tide water ; it was then at the height of FIRST UNIVERSALIST CHUECII OF MEDFORD, 1854. AT MED FORD. 107 its prosperity as a shipbuilding town. The society was organ- ized March 22, 1831, and was still small and in debt. James O. Curtis, O. M. Gale, and Lewis Richardson were authorized " to supply the Desk as far as they have funds," — so the records read. To settle here meant self-sacrifice. Here Hosea Ballou, 2d, came, on the third Sunday in May, 1838, nevertheless, taking John ix. 4, as his text,^ and began his third and last pastoral engagement. He found a home on Washington Street, six or seven minutes' walk from the church. He was in his forty-second year, and in the zenith of manhood's strength. Looking at his removal to Medford in a large way, it meant little more to him than the removal of his household gods, a few years before, from the Dearborn Street cottage to the Zeigler Street house in Roxbury. He walked regularly to his familiar haunts in Boston and met the old faces as heretofore, — merely by a different road. His intellectual interests were still centred in Boston, but the horizon of his intellectual vision was now world-wide, and now and ever after it was his greatest ambition, as indeed for a decade or more it had been, to pro- mote the highest welfare of the Universalist denomination, and to spread the truths it represented. " As St. Jerome, from his monk's cell in Bethlehem, wielded a potent influence over all Christendom," says Rev. Dr. Thomas J. Sawyer, " so Dr. Ballou from his quiet study in Roxbury and Medford touched the heart of our whole church he loved so well, and did so much to benefit and bless." ^ The happiness of his life at Medford rose above and was scarcely affected by his mere physical environ- ment. In the church, in the public schools, in society, — in his labors for education and for temperance,^ — he affected it profoundly, but the reaction was hardly perceptible. The im- 1 See hi8 MS. Record of Sermons, 1816-1845, in Tufts College Library. 2 Christian Leader, April n, 1893. 3 See MS. Lecture on Temperance in Tufts College Library. 108 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. pressionable period of youth and early manhood had passed. We need not, therefore, dwell on his mere outward life at Medford; his correspondence in this period, his labored writ- ings, and his public duties, all faithfully performed, are matters of public record, and in them we find the fullest, truest expres- sion of his maturer life. We would not, however, be misunderstood. He was a devoted pastor ; numbers increased ; the church — still standing opposite the new Medford High School — was enlarged to its present size. Soon after his removal to Medford, many tender ties bound him to his adopted home. Cotting, Curtis, and Lawrence were household names. Old Roxbury friends, too, often came to see him, and he held them all in affectionate remembrance ; and his deep solicitude in the eight months which elapsed before his successor at Roxbury, Rev. Asher Moore, was chosen, is well known. He took part in those installation services, and Thomas Whittemore records: "The members of the society were deeply moved " by his affectionate sentiments;^ and he occa- sionally preached to his former flock in after years. When, August 8, 1853, he concluded it was his duty to accept the presidency of Tufts College, and he resigned the pastorate, he said : " It is a trial which I have dreaded, and to which I hardly feel reconciled, even now." 1 See Trumpet, June 18, 1859. CHAPTER V. COUNSELS UNION AND PEACE. It was in the r81e of peacemaker that Hosea Ballou, 2d, first won his spurs as a leader in the Universalist denomination. In that capacity the means he chiefly used was his pen, and in the editorial chair. The story has often been told of the small beginning of the Universalist Magazine, July 3, 1819, by Henry Bowen as printer and publisher, and Hosea Ballou, senior, as editor. The first religious newspaper in America had been published at Portsmouth, N. H., only a few years before,^ and this was the first distinctively Universalist newspaper. I have examined the early files of the Universalist Magazine ^ to ascertain when Hosea Ballou, 2d, first became one of its contributors. Like Junius, however, nearly all of its contributors wrote over a nom de plume, and, even with the aid of a subsequent editor's key,^ often their identity is now unknown. We may say, on the authority of Thomas Whittemore,* that he began to write for that paper so early as 1819, but the first contribution we can certainly identify is a letter dated Stafford, June 12, 1820, an- nouncing that a clergyman. Rev. Hollis Samson of Wilmington, Vt., had " come forth in public vindication of the doctrine of Universal Salvation." 1 The Herald of Gospel Liberty, under date of September 1, 1808. = Thanks to Rev. Dr. Lucius li. Paige of Cambridge, who owns one of the two complete sets of the paper now known to be in existence. 3 See " Life of Rev. Hosea Ballou," by Thomas Whittemore, vol. II, footnote, p. 165; for H. B., 2d, we find " B * * * :^ ^," presumably because while his name began with B. he was more Starr than Ballou! He sometimes wrote over the nom de plume of " Marcus," the venerable Dr. L. R. Paige informs me. *See the Trumpet of June 18, 1859, p. 10. 109 110 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. After his settlement in Roxbury his contributions — no doubt by prearrangement — became frequent. In the Magazine of August 22, 1822, he published a letter to him from Adin Ballou, a distant cousin, then resident in Cumberland, R. I., saying that. "after his conversation with him at Mr. L B 's," he accepted Universalism ; and Adin Ballou became one of the most influential of his early converts. In the Universalist Magazine at about this time the leading article is a " compendium of a sermon " on Regeneration, from John iii. 3 as a text, namely : " Except a man be born again, [or from above] he cannot see the kingdom of God." After showing by specimens of three ancient conversions what con- version is not, " Marcus " — for so Hosea Ballou, 2d, was then in the habit of signing his contributions — proceeded to show what conversion is : • — "What was the Ethiopian's conversion? Answer: He beUeved in Jesus Christ with all his heart. What was the jailer's ? He be- lieved in the Lord Jesus, and received his words. In what did the conversion of the three thousand consist? They gladly received the gospel, and continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine and fellow- ship. Saul was converted from a violent persecutor, to a sincere advocate of Christ's religion. Their conversions were all effected by one simple and rational process, namely : They were first convinced that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and that he taught by divine authority ; and then they received his doctrine with honest hearts, rejoicing in it, inhaling its spirit, and practising its injunctions. . . . In one word, the whole spirit of the gospel is universal benevolence ; and whoever, through believing in Christ, has obtained this spirit has, according to the language of Scripture, been born again." In all his writings, he urged the essentials of Universalism, on which all were agreed. Another frequent contributor in 1821-2, three years his junior, was Thomas Whittemore, formerly a bootmaker's ap- REV. HOSEA BALLOU, SENIOR. AGE ABOUT n5. COUNSELS UNIOX AND PEACE. HI prentice, and the presiding genius at the bass viol on Sundays in the choir of the Second Universalist Church on School Street, Boston. Entering Father Ballou's study, January 1, 1821, on reaching his majority, his first sermon he had already written while at his shoemaker's bench, and had preached it to the new Universalist Society in Roxbury on December 10, 1820. Then " a young, awkward, and by no means prepossessing young man," Thomas Whittemore did not afterward feel proud of his first effort, and good " Mother Parker," one of his audi- tors, years afterwards said that " the young man's sermon was about the size of Streeter's H3'mn Book, and just about as thick. He blundered badly in his reading," said she, '-and we were all glad when he had finished." ^ But he became a force- ful speaker, and developed a remarkable ability, not more as writer than as financier ; and Johnson had not a more faithful biographer in Boswell than, after liis decease in 1852, Father Ballou had in him. Settled first for a year over a new society at Milford, Mass., in April, 1822, he became the first pastor of the First Universalist Society in Cambridge, which had been organized through the missionary work of Hosea Ballou, senior. On May 4, 1822, Henry Bowen made the following announce- ment : " The publisher has the satisfaction of announcing to the friends of the Magazine, and to the public, that he has engaged the Rev. Hosea Ballou, of Boston, the Rev. Hosea Ballou, 2d, of Roxbury, and the Rev. Thomas Whittemore, of Cambridgeport, to edit this paper in future. It is presumed that these gentlemen are too well known to render any remarks respecting their abilities necessary." Owing to the ill health of its first editor, he resigned on com- pleting the second volume, and for more than ten months the paper had been in charge of a Mr. Foster as editor, " who was totally unfit in every respect for the task " ; ^ and in the mean 1 Rev. W. H. Ryder in " Semicentennial Memorial of Roxbury Chui-ch," p. 69. 2 See Thomas Whittemore in Trumpet, February 26, 1853. 112 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. time discussions over no-future or limited-future punishment after death " sprang up as thickly as weeds in a garden, and threatened to bear an abundant harvest of discontent." ^ The Magazine had been the medium of the publication of these dis- cussions, and the new editors set themselves the task of putting " an end to the petty war, and it was done." ^ In the Magazine of May 11, 1822, Hose a Ballon, 2d, and Thomas Whittemore wrote to " Restorationist," — who afterward proved to be one Jacob Wood, — making the usual requirement that the writer should sign his own name as evidence of good faith before his articles would be admitted to its columns. The senior editor, as a party to the controversy, did not sign this article. Two weeks later, they again announced that that was the " last notice * that will be taken of the Proposals " without a real signature. It was held that the subject of discussion was a non-essential in the faith of the Universalist denomination, on which the editors themselves held different views, still with the warmest devotion to the unity and welfare of the denomination, and they urged that it was a proper subject for diverse individual opinions ; let each individual speak for himself. But the controversy ^ had gone so far that a schism was threatened. In December, 1822, an " Appeal to the Public," signed " Restorationist," and a " Declaration," signed by Jacob Wood, were published in Ver- mont, which by the author's request and by concurrence of the three editors were republished in the Universalist Magazine on January 25, 1823.* Briefly, they opposed " the doctrine of universal salvation at the commencement of a future state," but held to " the final restoration of all men by Jesus Christ, through faith and repentance." The article was followed by the significant paragraph : " Reply to the above in our next." 1 Thomas Whittemore's •' Life of Hosea Ballou," vol. II, pp. 193, 194. 2 ibid., vol. II, p. 195. 3 For a history of this controversy, see Eddy's " Universalistn in America," vol.11, pp. 261-342. *See Universalist Magazine, vol. IV, p. 122. COUNSELS UNION AND PEACE. 113 In the same paper, however, Father Ballou wrote to his Chris- tian brethren that it was a most painful task to publish what he knew must produce " surprise and grief of no ordinary- character," and that many a night his pillow had received " the teSrs of grief, occasioned by the increasing symptoms which portended the unhappy schism which is now made manifest to the public." But to Hosea Ballou, 2d,i — yo^iig ra&n of twenty- six years that he was, — was assigned the delicate and respon- sible task of making the formal reply, which occupied seven and a half columns of the Universalist Magazine of February 1, 1823. " In last week's Magazine, we repul)lished from the ' Christian Repository,' " said he, " An Ai)peal to the Public,' signed ' Restor- ationist ' ; and a Declaration (as we shall call it) signed ' Jacob Wood,' in behalf of others. " It is now ahout seven weeks since those pieces were first pub- lished. In the mean time, we have labored with our brethren who were the authors, for the purpose of persuading them to recall their publication ; but to no avail. We now submit to the alternative of publicly disproving their representation and exposing the real char- acter of their procedure, in preference to permitting it to stand un- contradicted before the world, alienating the hearts of brethren, and exciting suspicion and discord. " It may be proper to lay open the mystery which at first hung over the origin of those two pieces. " Altho' one of them represented us to the public as fomenters of discord among the brethren, we were left without any certain knowl- edge who the authors were, till about three weeks after the publica- tion. Finding that we waited in vain for the authors to avow them- selves to us, we sent to Brother Dean, whom we suspected to be one of them, requesting him to inform us whether he was one, and to state who the others were, if he knew. He refused to give us any information in reply, unless we would first agree to terms of secrecy. 1 So Whittemore states iu " Life of Uosca Ballou," vol. II, p. 222. 114 HOSE A BALLOU, 2il, D.D. We then sent the same request to Brother Edward Turner, of Charles- town ; who frankly informed us iu answer, that he and Brothers Jacob Wood, of Shrewsbur3% Paul Dean, of Boston," and three others, — who, however, within fifteen da3's publicly disclaimed all connection with the Appeal, — were the authors. After showing " a most condemning absurdity on the very face of those two pieces, when they are compared," and that their authors' desire " to preserve peace and tranquillity " was mere pretence, Hosea Ballou, 2d, continues in the performance of "the most painful duty that has ever devolved on us as editors or as ministers " (for all three editors signed his "Reply") in the following examination of the Appeal, which, while pacific, is worthy of his Bunker Hill blood: — ' ' How desirous they have been ' to preserve peace and tranquillity ' is evinced by the manner in which they published their Appeal. Let it be here observed, however, that in tlie Appeal they endeavor to make the public believe that those brethren who deny the doctrine of future punishment, together with the editors of the Magazine, have conducted so inconsistently with the rules of good fellowship as to provoke towards a separation. Now, this Appeal the authors pub- lished to the world, with all its items of complaint against their own brethren, without having exchanged one word with them on the sub- ject. They had not informed us that they were even dissatisfied with that part of our management of the Magazine of which they com- plain in the Appeal, although some of them had been frequently in company with us, and had conversed with us particularly about the Magazine. They had preserved the same silence too, at least, as far as we can learn, toward those brethren (or that party, ^ as they call them in their 'most conciliating spirit') who deny the doctrine of future punishment. Of them they complain that they at length ' seemed to attach more importance to " the idea " that all misery is confined to this life.' The authors had not before told them that they I " We believe the authors are the first, and we hope the last, to call those brethren who do believe in future punishment, and those who do not, PARTIES. It is a word of bad Influence." COUNSELS UNION AND PEACE. 115 felt dissatisfied with this circumstance ; they had not even told them that such a circumstance existed. They complain also, that these brethren were wont to dwell on that idea ' in their public discourses, and this, too, on conventional occasions, and when they exchanged desks with their brethren who differed from them on this subject.' They had not before mentioned a word of all this to those brethren, so far as we can learn ; to many of them we know they had not. " In one word, they have published those complaints without pre- viously endeavoring to dissuade their brethren from the commission of the pretended abuse. . . . When the Appeal was published, the authors still remained silent. We were occasionally in company with some of them, and once with all of them, except Mr. Hudson ; but they said nothing about their publication, i nor gave us an intimation that they were the authors. And when we at length sent to Mr. Dean requesting him to inform us whether he was one, and, if so, who the others were, he refused to answer unless we would first agree to terms of secrecy. When we wrote to Mr. Streeter of Salem, expostulating with him for his breach of the rules of fellowship in publishing com- plaints against the brethren without a previous labor with them, he attempted to conceal the fact that he was one of the authors, and affected much surprise that we addressed him as such. " The foregoing is chiefly an account of the circumstances con- nected with the publication of the Appeal. We now come to an examination of the Appeal itself. " We shall first prove that the following representation, which is kept up through the whole of the Appeal, viz. : that the authors have sought ' to preserve the peace and union of the order,' is entirely false. "In the year 1816, Mr. Jacob Wood applied to the General Con- vention of Universalists for a letter of fellowship, and received one. In this very year (more than six years ago) he persuaded one of the 1 " One of the Editors, on one of these occasions, attempted to expostulate with Mr. Wood for publishing the Appeal without a previous labor with the brethren complained of; Mr. W. neither said, nor denied, that he was one of the authors; but would not hear the expostulation, and said he would do nothing on the subject except by writings or publications." 116 HO SEA B ALLOC/, 2d, D.D. Universalist ministers to believe that it was necessary ttiat the Con- vention should take a decided stand in favor of the doctrine of future punishment ; and at the same time privately instilled prejudices into his mind against Mr. Ballou, then of Salem, (now of Boston,) who was supposed to doubt that doctrine. At this period, Mr. Wood was preaching in Haverhill, Mass., where he talked so much against Mr. Ballou that the society became dissatisfied with him as their preacher. All this while he pretended much friendship in Mr. Ballou's presence, as he likewise generally has since. Soon after this he represented to Mr. Ballou that Mr. Turner was desirous of a correspondence with him on the subject of future punishment, and persuaded Mr. Ballou to write to Mr. Turner and invite such a correspondence. Let it be noticed that until this correspondence, which was carried on in the 'Gospel Visitant,' there had been nothing special said or written against the doctrine of future punishment. After engaging Mr. Ballou and Mr. Turner in the controversy, Mr. Wood obtained letters from almost all the Universalist ministers in New England, stating their belief in future punishment ; and then publiphed extracts from those letters, without the knowledge of the writers, in an Appendix to a ' Brief Essay on Future Retribution.' He said he did this for the purpose of making known that the Universalists were believers in future punishment. The Essay, with the letters, was published under the approbation of Messrs. Turner and Dean, who had written their own letters for publication in it. . . . This pamphlet came out about the first of September, 1817, and within a week or fortnight after- wards, the General Convention met at Charlton, where Mr. Wood was then preaching. At this Convention, Mr. Wood privately endeavored to persuade a number of ministers (among whom was one of the editors) to join him in a separate Association under the title of ' Restorationists,' but did not succeed. It would seem from several circumstances, that Messrs. Turner and Dean then knew and approved of this attempt. " Mr. Wood had previously agreed, with one of the ministers, to bring the subject of future punishment before this Convention at Charlton ; and, if there proved to be a majority of members who COUNSELS UNION AND PEACE. 117 would not assent to that doctrine, to declare their separation from them, and declare it openly. However, when the period agreed on had arrived, Mr. Wood refused to act according to agreement ; but took the clandestine manner we have described. We wish the reader to bear in mind that at this period there had existed no excitement against the doctrine of future punishment ; there had been so little said or written against it, tliat very few of the Universalist ministers knew each other's opinion on the subject. " At the Convention, in Charlton, Mr. Wood pursued his former practice of privately instilling prejudices, some of them of the most cruel kind, against Mr. Ballon ; and boasted that ' he had got to come down.' He had likewise pursued the same practice in his conversa- tion with the members of his society in Charlton, till it had become a subject of very general complaint among them. " Ever since that Convention, he has, both in conversation with the ministers and in letters to them, confidently declared that there would be a separation of the Convention. Of himself and his associates, he has said, that they do not think that a union ought to be main- tained, or can be justified, between two so opposite theories as are professed by the members of the Convention. (Mark this, reader, for they, in the Appeal, pretend to have labored for union.) He has almost uniformly maintained that the doctrine of no future pun- ishment tends to immorality ; and that the professed believers of it are, in general, infidels. The following is only a specimen of his representations : Returning from Boston, he stopped at Mr. Na- thaniel Whittemore's in Lancaster. Mr. Whittemore asked him, ' What news?' to which he replied, ' Bad news, bad news, Bro. Whitte- more. I am really sorry ! ' ' What is it?' rejoined Mr. Whittemore. Mr. Wood answered, 'Nine tenths of Mr. Ballou's society are infidels, — I am really sorry.' As to his common practice of talking against Mr. Ballou, it may be well understood by considering the fact that he has repeatedly declared to the ministers that it is his design and determination to lessen Mr. Ballou in the public esteem ; and the societies where he has preached can bear him testimony that he has shewed himself in earnest in the prosecution of that design. 118 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. " When we consider all these facts, — the part that Mr. Wood has acted with the knowledge, and, often,' cooperation of Messrs. Turner and Dean, — and the course that Messrs. Turner and Dean them- selves have pursued, though not so openly, — we stand in utter astonishment at the falsehood of the Appeal. Have they endeavored to preserve union ? Are we the authors of the threatening separation ? Why, Mr. Wood himself has voluntarily and deliberately stated that he knew ENVY to be the cause of the threatened schism ! Bro. B. Whittemore had asked him the cause of Messrs. Turner and Dean's opposition to Mr. Ballon. 'Bro. Whittemore,' said Mr. Wood in answer, ' I know human nature so well as to know that envy is the cause of the impending schism.' He likewise told one of the editors that he had no doubt that the opposition of Messrs. Turner and Dean was caused by envy towards Mr. Ballou. "Mr. Dean has reported, secretly, that Mr. Ballou retained noth- ing of Christianity but the name ; and has talked against him in such a manner, to some of the brethren, that they have told Mr. Ballou they never should repeat the conversation, nor tell him what it was, unless they saw him in real danger from it. About two years ago, Mr. Turner intimated an unwillingness to proceed on in harmony ; for, said he, ' then there would be nobody but Ballou.' " But we desist from the enumeration of the facts in our possession. ' ' We shall now attend to the particular statements which they have made in the Appeal. . . . "The first of those statements, which we shall attend to, is that those brethren who believe that all misery is confined to this life, were wont to dwell on that sentiment in their discourses on conven- tional occasions. " Now, the fact is, that not even one sermon has been preached at our General Convention against the idea of. future punishment. Mr. Turner himself preached a sermon at the Convention in Lebanon, 1819, in support of that doctrine ; and he is the only one who has preached directly on that subject on those occasions. We beg not to be misunderstood ; we do not deny that there have been sermons preached before the General Conventions, both by those who believe, COUNSELS UNION AND PEACE. 119 and those ivho deny the doctrine of future punishment ., in which par- ticular texts were applied to this life, that some Uuiversalists would refer to a state of punishment after death. Let it be understood, too, that we do not mention the fact that Mr. Turner preached a sermon at the General Convention in favor of future punishment, as an impropriety ; the impropriety lies in his making the above statement in the Appeal. "Their next statement is, that those brethren who believe that all misery is confined to this life were wont to dwell on that sentiment when they exchanged desks with their brethren who differ from them on that subject. " We have not authority to deny that there have been instances in which brethren have dwelt on the idea that all misery is confined to this life, or preached against the doctrine of future punishment in the desks of those who believe that doctrine ; hut we neither Joiow, nor have heard of such instances, and therefore venture to say they are not numerous. Let us, however, apply the remark we made in the preceding paragraph : we think that sermons have been preached in the desks of those wlio believe in future punishment, in which par- ticular texts were applied to this life, which some Uuiversalists would refer to a state of punishment after death. But this is no more than what Mr. Wood himself has repeatedly done in his writings. But, after all, how trivial is the statement we are replying to ! Is there any impropriety in preaching directly on this subject in any desk? If we are not misinformed, some of those brethren who believe in future punishment have preached that doctrine in the desks of those who do not believe it ; and we confess we never have been able to discover any impropriety in this practice. Our union will never be jeopardized by frankness ; it is only the secret plotting of a domestic enemy that can endanger it. " They also state, in the way of complaint, the treatment they have received in the editorial management of the Magazine. " To show that this complaint is without cause, we offer the fol- lowing statement. It is abridged from a long and very particular account which one of the editors gave, in writing, to Mr. Turner, 120 EOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. more than a month before he finally approved of the Appeal. It may be proper to state that after giving Mr. Turner this account, the writer added, ' if, contrary to my expectation, it should still appear to you that we have injured, I ask of you the boon of a brother, — forgiveness.' This forgiveness, it seems, is not for us. STATEMENT. " ' 1. The " Proposals " (so called) by " Restorationist " had been published in the Magazine about eight weeks before we, at Mr. Bowen's request, became the editors. In the mean time, there was a controversy {not about future punishment) but about the ijropriety of acceding to the plan ivhich the Proposals offered, viz. : to write a state- ment of doctrine on each side of the question, etc. 2. When we engaged to become editors, Mr. Ballon, 2d, of Eoxbury {ivho has never held " that all human misery is confined to this life "), told Mr. Ballou, of Boston, that he wished that controversy about the Pro- posals to be stopped immediately. Mr. Ballou replied that having been himself engaged in the controversy, he would have nothing to do in the editorial management of it, but leave it entirely in the bauds of the two other editors. Mr. Ballou, 2d, then persuaded Mr. Whittemore (the other editor) to join in stopping the controversy; and himself wrote the notice to " Restorationist," excluding, in future, the controversy concerning simply the Proposals. This notice was inserted in the first paper that came out under our care. 3. After this notice teas jrrinted, we received the "two communica- tions from Restorationist " which he says were in our office when we closed the controversy " by an editorial edict." (Be particular to observe that this controversy which we had closed was not about future punishment, but about the propriety of the Proposals .; let it be observed, too, that if auy wished to accept of those Proposals, they were at perfect liberty so to do, — our exclusion of the controversy notwithstanding.) 4. Afterwards we gave the following notice : " if any person or persons think proper to accept those Proposals, we shall be ready to make known such acceptance through the medium of this paper." 5. After this, " Restorationist," over the signature " Lover of COUNSELS UNION AND PEACE. Ill Truth,*' sent another Proposal. This secoud Proposal we published, altho' nobody (either one Party or the other, to use his own darling epithet) had seen fit to accept his first Proposal. But we pointed out some faults in it. He then sent us the reply (published in the Appeal), which contains a third Proposal. This we rejected ; and it is the only one that we can with propriety be said to have rejected from this author.' " Let the reader remember that the whole of that management of the Magazine, of which the authors of the Appeal complain, was in con- sequence of the counsels of that editor who has never held ' that all misery is confined to this life,' and that in complaining, they as much complain against their own Party (to borrow their favorite term) as against any other Party in the universe. Of what importance, let us ask, was the controversy about Proposals which everybody' had the opportunity to accept? Had we written the Proposals ourselves, we would have stopped any controversy about them which was likely to occupy much of the paper. "Three more particulars we will insert from the account sent to Mr. Turner, and we have done : '"6. We have not, we think, rejected one communication in favor of the doctrine of future punishment. 7. We had rejected at least eight communications designed to support the doctrine of no punish- ment after death. 8. We had rejected many communications, on other subjects, from the friends and supporters of the Magazine.' " We now take our leave of the Appeal. " It seems necessary carefully to caution those brethren who live at a distance against supposing that the disaffection, manifested in the Appeal, is between those ivho believe in future imnishment and those who do not. The whole of that aft'air was got up solely by the authors, whom we have named ; and with them it will end. It has not, and will not extend to one single minister beside them in the whole Convention. The indubitable proofs of anxious devotion to the union of our Convention, which we have received from all quarters, have exceeded our expectations. "We cannot conclude without expressing our gratitude to our 122 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. brethren who have so magnanimously stepped forward and furnished us with the testimony we needed. It has been an unspeakable con- solation, in this season of affliction, to see those brethren who believe in future punishment and those who do not, manifesting but one spirit, and equally assisting in exposing the enemy that sows discord. We cannot particularize, — God bless them all. "The respected editor of the 'Christian Repository' we beg to accept of our thanks for the friendly and impartial feelings he mani- fested in his editorial remarks on inserting the Appeal. It may be proper to give this public testimony of our confidence in his brotherly afifection, in order to prevent unfavorable suspicions in the minds of readers. "We sympathize in the general grief of our brethren. Some of us can remember the friendship of former days ; and the recollection brings up so many scenes of lost happiness that it is more than the heart can endure. "HOSEA BALLOU, HOSEA BALLOU, 2d. THOMAS WHITTEMORE." In this document Hosea Ballon, 2d, showed himself possessed of the fighting qualities that characterized the Yorkers and the New State men, as we have seen, in his native Guilford. Always for peace, he could wage a wordy warfare when it seemed to be the only sure means of honorable and lasting peace. " It produced a stunning effect," says Thomas Whitte- more. No rejoinder was attempted, " and it seems to have had the force of demonstration among the people." ^ In the office of the Magazine, at the Southern Association in June at Stafford, Conn., and in December at Milford, Mass., and at the General Convention held at Clinton, New York, in 1823, and elsewhere in the councils of the denomination, Hosea Ballou, 2d, acted the part of a moderator and a peacemaker in the various "settlements," private and otherwise, which averted, 1 Whittemore's " Life of Hosea Ballou," vol. II, p. 222. COUNSELS UNIOX AND PEACE. 123 or at least delayed several years, the threatened schism.^ It has indeed been questioned whether, had he remained in the editorial chair, his wise and conciliatory attitude would not have made the temporary remedy a permanent cure.^ But Jan- uary 1, 1831, Rev. Adiu Ballou began the publication of the Independent Messenger as a Restorationist organ, and the Massachusetts Association of Universal Restorationists was organized, numbering at its best thirty-one preachers, but as Hosea Ballou, 2d, stated in a public letter to Charles Hudson, November 25, 1831, the Universalist General Convention "now counts among its members, as it ever has done, more Restora- tionists than belong to that party that seems to identify all its movements with that appellation." But few in numbers and scattered over Massachusetts and Rhode Island, their organiza- tion soon became extinct and " to a considerable extent fused " into the Unitarian denomination. " Thomas Whittemore and myself," wrote Adin Ballou in The Universalist, February 4, 1871, "were the hotspurs of the war — its fiercest antagonists in battle," but years before, " the last remains of the hatchet were buried forever." Said Dr. Brooks, in 1878, of Hosea Ballou, 2d : " There has come to be a very general settling of thought among us on the ground he occupied ; " ^ which is confirmed by the following lan- guage formally adopted by the Universalist ministers of Boston and vicinity: "Salvation, secured in the willing mind by the agencies of divine truth, light, and love, essentially represented in Christ, — whether effected here or in the future life, — is sal- vation by Christ, and gives no warrant to the imputation to us of the ' death and glory ' theory, alike repudiated by all." * 1 For fuller account see Eddy's " Unlversalism in America," vol. II, pp. 307-342. 2 In 1830 Adin Ballou called Hosea Ballou, '2d, to Milford to solemnize his marriage, and in his old age he averretl he " always loved and respected him." 3Quarterl>-, October, p. 400. 4 The Universalist, March 2, 1878. 124 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Aside from the difficult Restorationist problem which con- fronted Hosea Ballon, 2d, when he became one of the editors of the Universalist Magazine in 1822, his four years' service in that capacity were comparatively peaceful. His was the restraining influence that often held his more aggressive co. editors in check. The publication office of the paper, at first at 10 Congress Street, near the present Congress Street en- trance to the Boston Exchange building, was removed in February, 1824, to " 4 Province House Row," ^ being that part of Washington Street in front of the ancient Province House and nearly opposite the Old South Church. There was the trysting place of the Universalist clergy in Boston, and there the three editors met at least twice every week.^ As standing clerk, or secretary, of the General Convention, succeeding Edward Turner, for the critical fifteen years, 1824-1839, Hosea Ballon, 2d, was able to exert a beneficent influence for union and peace. Had he and his followers joined the separatists, how different would have been the history of the Universalist denomination in the past sixty years ! Throughout New England, at least, he was omnipresent at dedications, installations, and associations, and there his efforts for union and peace, in a broader sense, became better known. At an installation service, in his charge to the- society he would say : — " Judging by what we have seen in other societies, we must expect that, occasionally, or in process of time, there will spring up among you some personal resentments, in one mem- ber towards another, — some blunders on one side that will give offence on another side. Yes, my friends, the season will come when some of you will get involved in the mutual jeal- 1 The records at City Hall show that Province House Row was so named in 1817 to avoid renumbering the " Marlboro' Street " of those days. - See T. Whittemore, Trumpet, June 18, 1859, p. 10. COUNSELS UNION AND PEACE. 125 ousies and personal dislikes which all bodies of men are at times subject to. And if any of you who now hear me should ever fall into these petty discords, I pray you, when the time comes, remember not to stay away from this house of worship in order to show off your anger or resentment. Now it is the very first step with some, in such cases, to revenge their peevishness on their religious connection. That is the first thing to be given up by them, because it is what they care least about. They will sacrifice nothing else, neither their political relations nor even their amusements, because they love these. If there is a political election, their resentments will not keep them away from the ballot box ; if there is a social party or some public diversion, they are as ready as ever to go there ; but they will not go to church, because they would rather leave this off than anything else. Take care, my friends, we beseech you take care, when the time comes, that you do not expose yourselves in this broad and ridiculous light, and thus bring disgrace upon us all." " In union is strength." He knew full well that " united we stand ; divided we fall." And Dr. Ballon urged union and peace the more persistently because he looked far into the future. At the re-dedication of the School Street Church, Boston, in December, 1851, to cite one of many instances, he said: — " We cannot shut out from view the long future, which reaches away, beyond the limits of our own lives, into more distant periods, when all who are now assembled will be gone from the stage of action ; and through the successive years, near and remote, of that yet untrodden tract of time, we con- template you and your children after you to the third and fourth generation, coming up hither, on each returning Sun- day, to pay their devotions within these walls, and to listen to the gospel of the grace of God which bringeth salvation to all 126 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. men. We join with you in prayer to God that these anticipa- tions may be fulfilled in coming years and generations ; and that the future multitudes who shall kneel around this altar may bless your memory, not only for the conveniences you have provided, but for the religious institutions and saving influences which you shall have sent down to them." CHAPTER VI. ANCIENT HISTORY OF UNIVERSALISM. " It was some time in 1823 or 1824 that Mr. Ballou, 2d, first proposed to Mr. Whittemore the plan of getting up a history of Universalism. He called Mr. Whittemore's attention to the fact that there was no history of our precious doctrine anywhere to be found and never had been. He said it would be a great task to seek out the fragments of knowledge scattered abroad ever}'^ where and briug them together. 'But,' said he, 'we can do it. We are both young and in good health. We live in the vicinity of Harvard College Library, you only a mile from it. Let us begin and feel our way along, and pursue the labor when we have nothing else to do, for we must, in the nature of things, have some leisure. I will take the Ancient part ' (said he), ' and bring up the history to the epoch of the Reformation ; and you take it up at that time and bring it forward. You will have to learn some of the European languages ; and I advise you to begin with the French.' This fired up Mr. Whittemore's soul; and the two went to work." So wrote Rev. Thomas Whitte- more, late in life.^ It was a work to which Hosea Ballou, senior, with two others had been appointed by the General Convention in 1816, and for which a prospectus was issued in 1820,^ but it was never written ; neither he nor his associates were made for historians. For four years and a half Hosea Ballou, 2d, visited the Harvard College Library once a week, sometimes oftener, in prosecuting his undertaking. The original research requisite ^ In Trumpet, June 18, 1859, p. 10. * See Universalist Magazine, October, 1820, for copy of prospectua. 127 128 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. to the successful accomplishment of the herculean task he had set himself means a liberal education in itself. He performed the task of his own sole motion, and at his own risk and cost, unless indeed we except the mere pittance he received for his work. Although the preface to the first edition of "The Ancient History of Universalism " was written October 22, 1828, and he applied for copyright October 30 of the same year, it purports to have been published in 1829, and one of the first volumes he received from the publishers,^ handsomely bound in leather, he inscribed and presented affectionately to his father on March 5, 1829.2 It is hardly possible, in the space now at our command, to give the reader an adequate suggestion of this monumental work of three hundred and twenty-six pages. The work was finished when he was thirty-two years old, but so vast is the original research it exhibits, yet so simply and at the same time accurately expressed, that his name and fame would have been secure upon that work alone. " The ease with which he read works in Latin was of immense advantage to him," says Whitte- more, and he adds : " Mr. Ballon exhausted the subject so far as the first six centuries of the Christian era are concerned." ^ Happily, the author himself prepared a brief resume of this work in 1838,* only portions of which we have space to present. "THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF UNIVERSALISM. " [The Ancient History of Universalism, from the time of the Apostles, to its Con- demnation in the Fifth General Council, a.d. 553. With an Appendix, tracing the Doctrine down to the Era of the Reformation. By Hosea Ballon, 2d, etc. Boston, 1829.] "With the subject here proposed many of our readers are, per- haps, already acquainted, through the work which we have presumed to name, for want of any other, at the head of this article. It is 1 Marsh & Capen, 362 Washington Sti-eet, Boston. 2 This volume is now in my possession. sin Trumpet, June 18, 1859. * See The Expositor, May, 1838, pp. 184-209. ANCIENT HISTORY OF UNIVERSALISM. 129 thought, however, that an epitome will be found convenient, and that it will be welcome to all. If properly executed, it will prove instructive, especially to those who have not read the detailed account, and who yet wish to know something of a science so requi- site to a well-informed Universalist as the early histoi-y of this important doctrine of Christianity. We shall aim to give an im- partial view, in as brief a space as practicable, of the opinions held by the Christians concerning the future condition of mankind, from the time of Christ down to the end of the fourth century : — the most important of all periods in dogmatic history, excepting perhaps our own times. We say an impartial view ; meaning a faithful repre- sentation of the case as it appears in the mutilated and often scanty remains which a prejudiced church has transmitted to us from the first centuries. But as these original documents are such only as the disbelievers of Universalism have preserved out of the gen- eral wreck, it may well be doubted whether they afford an impartial view of the case as it actually existed. An entire restoration of the ancient writings, were it possible, would probably be more favorable to the reputation of a doctrine which was afterwards so much abused, and finally suppressed. The duty of the historian, however, is to confine himself to the authentic materials, without attempting to supply, from conjecture, the traces which it is natural to suppose must have perished. "It should be observed here that in the course of the present article we may avail ourselves of several particulars which have been gathered, or marked for insertion, since the larger work was pub- lished. Whenevei' such additional matter is introduced, the author- ities will be carefully subjoined ; but when we merely abridge the former narrative, it will be unnecessary to repeat the references which are there so fully presented. TIME OF CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES. ' ' Jesus Christ not only revealed God in the specific character of a Father, and declared the love of God to the world, even to the evil and to the unthankful, as the cause of his own mission, and laid 130 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. down other distinguishing principles of Universalism,^ but he also professed, explicitly, to be the Saviour of the world — not of a part merely ; asserted that he would actually draw all men unto him ; and maintained that all who shall be raised from the dead will be equal unto the angels, and be the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.2 Should these intimations be thought in any degree indefinite with respect to the ultimate extent of his salvation, we may turn to the more particular statements which his apostles gave of their doctrine on this subject. St. Paul taught a gathering of all things into Christ, in the dispensation of the fulness of times ; a universal reconciliation to God, through the blood of the cross ; that God had included all in unbelief in order to have mercy upon all, for, that of him, and through him, and to Mm, are all things ; that Christ must reign till all things be subdued to him, till all be made alive in him, so that when he shall deliver up the kingdom to the Father, God will be all in all.^ "With this doctrine, both Christ and his apostles taught that God will render to every man according to his work ; and they announced certain special judgments of the most terrible kind, which have been commonly taken for eternal torment, but which appear, on examin- ing the passages, to be referred to the present life, and to be iden- tified with certain signal retributions of divine Providence on nations and individuals. " Such, then, was the form in which Christianity was first sent forth into the world. Was it always received in this, its perfect form, wherever it was received at all? This can hardly be supposed. With respect to other important points, we know that it was widely modified by the previous notions and religious sentiments of its new converts ; and why not in respect to this ? Even during the lifetime of the apostles Christianity was, in the most of cases, adulterated, more or less, with errors brought over from Judaism or heathenism. Mingling, as it did, with a mass of different opinions and pre- possessions in the minds of its first believers, it was like a river of 1 " John iii. 16, 17, Matt. v. 44-48, Ix. 12, 13, etc. The name by which Christ usually spoke of God was the Father." 2" John It. 42, vi. 33, 51, xii. 32, Luke xx. 35, 36." 3 " Eph. i. 9, 10, Coloss. i. 19-21, Rom. xi. 32-36, 1 Cor. xv. iS-ae." ANCIENT HISTORY OF UNIVEBSALISM. 131 pure water, discharging itself into a turbid lake. Its current would indeed be strongly marked to a considerable distance, but mixed in various degrees with the impurities around. FROM A.D. 90 TO A.D. 150. " Remark. During the age of the apostles, and onwards, the course of Christianity separated into three main currents ; or, rather, its professors became distinguished into three principal divisions, differ- ing widely from each other in their doctrines and manners. The first was that of the Judaizing Christians, the oldest branch, who retained the Mosaic rituals, and many of the Jewish opinions and prejudices. The second was that class of converts, chiefly Gentile, which gained the ascendency, and at length assumed the title of Orthodox, or Catholics. The third, composed also of Gentile con- verts (mixed, perhaps, with a few of Jewish origin), made a great figure in the world, under the comprehensive name of Gnostics. " Judaizing Christians. This body was small in comparison with either of the others, and disappeared at an early date, leaving few traces in ecclesiastical history. We cannot ascertain whether it held any peculiar views respecting the future state. . . . " Orthodox, or Catholics. Judging from the Apostolical Fathers, the only remains which this class has left us from the period under consideration, the Orthodox appear generally to have held a doctrine of future punishment ; and some of them vehemently denounced those (meaning the Gnostics) who denied a future judgment. Whether they supposed that retribution to be temporary, or endless, cannot be determined, though some of them applied to it the epithet aionios, or everlasting. This, indeed, was the invariable practice, as we shall find at a later period, even of those who maintained explicitly an end of all punishment. . . . " Remark. The Orthodox received some converts from the philo- sophical schools of the Greeks ; but the writings of these scholars are lost. The Apostolical Fathers, on the other hand, were illiterate men ; and their works are tainted with the vulgar notions rather of heathens and Jews, than with traces of what was called philosophy. 132 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. " Gnostics. These, by amalgamating Christianity with the Ori- ental philosophy, as well as with the Grecian, introduced a mass of fables and allegories concerning God, the emanation of spirits, the creation of the material world, and the origin and nature of man. . . . The mission of Christ was to give mankind the knowledge of the true God, who is pure love, and to teach them to return to him. Most of them denied a future judgment ; some, all punishment after death; and a large part held the salvation of all souls. . . . *' Their bitter enemies, the Orthodox, do not seem to have im- peached their doctrine of the final salvation of all souls, though some of that party regarded the denial of a future judgment as a damnable heresy. There was no communion or fellowship between the body of the Orthodox and that of the Gnostics. . . . FROM A.D, 150 TO A.D. 190. " In all the [Orthodox] writers of this period we find the doctrine of a future judgment, and also the doctrine of future punishment. To this, the most of them, like the authors of the Sibylline Oracles, i applied the epithet aionios, or everlasting. Some of these, however, believed it would at length be terminated by annihilation ; some, as we have seen, by a restoration ; of the rest we cannot ascertain the precise views. Justin Martyr, who passed the active portion of his life (a.d. 140-166) partly at Alexandria and partly at Rome, habit- ually calls it aionion, or everlasting punishment, fire, etc. In one passage, however, in which he more strictly defines his views, he asserts the ultimate annihilation of the wicked. The same may he said of Irenaeus (a.d. 180-190), originally of Asia Minor, but at that time bishop of Lyons in France. ^ . . . ' ' The Orthodox prosecuted an incessant and bitter controversy with the Gnostics, objecting against some of them, among innumera- ble other things, their denial of a future judgment and punishment ; but they appear not to have impeached their doctrine of the ultimate restoration of all souls. 1 " SibylUna Oracula Lib. II, pp. 201-213, Paris, 1607." 2 " Justini M. Opp. Paris, 1742. Praefat. Part II, cap. XII. Irenaei Adv. Her,, Lib. V, cap. XXXVI, §§ 1, 2." ANCIENT HISTOBY OF UNIVERSALI8M. 133 FROM A.D. 190 TO A.D. 270. ^'■Remark. Thus far, all the Christian writers extant used the Greek as their vernacular language. But henceforward we shall find it convenient to divide the Orthodox themselves into the Eastern or Greek, and the "Western or Latin. ... In one respect the Greek fathers had a manifest advantage over the Latin ; they read, in their own mother tongue, the original of the New Testament, and the Septuagint version of the Old ; and they have always been accounted more skilful interpreters of the Sacred text than their Western brethren, who relied on the Latin translations. The latter were often guilty of criticisms that could never have occurred to a Greek writer. . . . "Greek Orthodox, or Catholics. Titus Flavins Clemens (a.d. 195), or Clement of Alexandria, president of the renowned Cate- chetical School in that city, was the most leai*ned and illustrious of all the Christian fathers before Origen. Alexandria, the degenerate successor of Athens as the mistress of literature, had become, what Germany now is, the seat of all the various philosophisms under heaven ; and Clement partook deeply of the spirit of the place and of the age. He was the great advocate for the sacred honor of phi- losophy, as the coadjutor of revealed religion ; and there can be no question that his Christianity was modified by the Eclecticism of his day. The class to which he belonged saw in the Scriptures a far-reaching sense, that, while it included the obvious signification of the text, did not stop there, but went onward, through the allegorical and the mystical, into the infinite depths of unexplored truth. . . . "He is distinguished from other Universalists among the ancient Greek fathers by one remarkable circumstance : he rarely (perhaps only once) applies the epithet aionios to future punishment. It should be observed, also, that his Universalism does not appear to have occasioned any complaint among his contemporaries, nor to have incurred the impeachment even of after ages. " The extent of his learning, joined to his labors and sufferings in the cause of Christianity, secured him a high place in the lasting respect of the Church. It will be readily judged that, as president 134 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. of the great theological school of his time, he must have exerted a wide influence, and given a direction to the opinions, especially of his scholars. Among these were Alexander, afterwards bishop of Jerusalem, and the celebrated Origen. " The name of Origen needs no eulogy of ours, accounted, as he always has been, one of the most illustrious examples of learning, piety^, and Christian meekness that have arisen in the Church. He was born (a.d. 185) of Christian parents, at Alexandria, and suc- ceeded his master Clement (a.d. 203) in the pi'esidency of the Catechetical School, which he raised to its highest point of renown. Scholars from among the heathen, as well as Christians, flocked to his instructions ; the sciences, philosophy, morals, religion, and especially the holy Scriptures, were the subjects of his lectures ; and the number of his converts attests the skill with which he made the entire field of literature contribute to the confirmation of Christianity, and illustration of its doctrines. After nearly thirty years of un- paralleled exertion and success in his school, the jealousy of his bishop drove him fi'om Alexandria (a.d. 230), when he retired to Palestine. " Like his master he was a devout admirer of the New Platonism, and developed his scheme of Christianity in accordance with the principles of his Eclectic philosophy. Like him, also, he adopted the allegorical method of explaining the Scriptures ; and, improving upon his master, he reduced it to a definite, but most extravagant, system. " His doctrine of Universal Salvation was connected with nearly the same views that Clement had entertained respecting the state of the dead, and the consummation of all things. Before the death of Christ all souls went to the under-world. But when Christ descended thither, he released the souls of the righteous, and introduced them into paradise ; which, however, is not heaven, but a preparatory place, situated on some part of the earth. Ever since Christ's descent to Hades^ the way into paradise is open, and the souls of the righteous enter therein at death. Here they are clothed with pure ethereal bodies, and instructed and disciplined ; and, as they ANCIENT HISTOBY OF UNIVEB8ALISM. 135 advance in spiritual improvement, they rise to higher regions, though none can reach the seats of perfect blessedness before the general judgment. But, on the other hand, when the wicked die, their souls receive a subtle body (probably of gross air) , and hover about the earth, forlorn and disquieted, suffering a foretaste of the punish- ments that await them at the day of doom. The world will at length be' destroyed, or renovated, by a universal conflagration; and all souls, both of saints and sinners, will be subjected to the searching operation of the fire, with more or less pain, according to the degree of their sinfulness. This is also the period of the gen- eral resurrection and judgment ; when the righteous shall be received to heaven, with various degrees of glory, and the wicked consigned to aionion^ or everlasting punishment. This is the epithet that Origen habitually applies to it. But he holds, with Clement, the salutary nature of all the divine inflictions, and maintains that the torments of the damned will result in their reformation. They will be appor- tioned, both in length and sevei'ity, to the wickedness and obstinacy of the sufferers ; the way of repentance will still be open to all ; and they who shall embrace it will be accepted. At last the whole intelligent creation shall be purified, evil be extirpated from the universe, and God become all in all.^ It should be observed that although the doctrine of Universal Salvation abounds in his works, in his popular lectures as well as in his more labored treatises, yet in two or three passages he recommends caution in declaring it, lest it should be abused by the thoughtless and licentious. "Both Clement and Origen held this doctrine, partly on philo- sophical grounds, and partly on the testimony of the Scriptures. Origen, especially, quotes most of the texts that are now adduced, as directly in point, by Universalists ; but a host of other passages also are pressed into his service, by means of his allegorical inter- pretations. Neither Clement nor Origen ever treats the subject as a matter of dispute among the Orthodox ; and we may repeat of the latter, what we have said of the former, that his Universalism 1" Besides the references in the 'Ancient History of Universalism,' see MUnscher's ' Handbuch der Clirist. Dogmengeschichte," Bii. II, pp. 402, 403, 496-509." 136 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. does not appear to have occasioned any complaint during his life- time. . . . " We have a few words to add respecting the subsequent course of Origen's life and the relations he held with the principal dignitaries of the Church. After his final departure from Egypt, in a.d, 231, he resided chiefly in Palestine, though he visited Athens, Nicomedia on the Propontis, Cappadocia, and Bostra in Arabia, He died at Tyre, a.d. 253. While in Palestine he maintained a school at Caesarea, where his instructions were sought by students from all quarters. Most of the distinguished bishops of the East were either his scholars or his ardent admirers. . . . " Latin Orthodox, or Catholics. Among these we find no cer- tain traces of Universalism. The most eminent of their writers, Tertullian, a presbyter of Carthage, in Africa (a.d. 204), is thought to have been the first who asserted explicitly that the torments of hell would be of equal duration with the bliss of heaven. Minucius Felix (a.d. 210), probably a native of the same country, teaches that the misery of the wicked will be without measure and without end, and appears to represent that such was the common faith of Christians. The renowned Cyprian, who was bishop of Carthage in Africa, from a.d. 249 to a.d. 258, followed his favorite author, Tertullian, in the belief of the absolute eternity of punishment ; and both of them betray a savage exultation in the thought, which shows that the doctrine was but too congenial with their hot African temper. . . . " General Remark. From the survey now taken it is seen that both the doctrine of endless punishment and that of Universal Salvation existed in the Orthodox Church of this age. The Greeks, especially those of the Alexandrian school, appear to have inclined to the latter ; the Latins, to the former. No disturbance, however, no reproach was occasioned by this diversity ; and the standard of Orthodoxy, on the point, went no farther than to require a belief in future punishment, leaving every one to judge for himself of the result. . . . ANCIENT HISTORY OF UNIVERSALISM. 137 FROM A.D. 270 TO A.D. 390. " Remark. In the Greek churches the influence of Origen was deeply felt throughout this period ; not more, however, in its relation to the particular tenet of Universalism, than in respect to the general system of doctrine he had maintained. . . . It is remarkable that neither in the Western churches, nor in the Eastern, do we meet with any complaints whatsoever against the doctrine of Universal- ism, even from those who did not believe it ; although nearly every other tenet in the entire range of theology was called in question, and subjected to the severest scrutiny. " Greek Orthodox, or Catholics. Many of the fathers belong- ing to this period held the salvation of all.^ Indeed, the doctrine was so far from being deemed heretical, that it was not regarded as a subject of the least offence, or as affording occasion for any un- favorable remark. . . . " Latin Orthodox, or Catholics. Among these we discover but few traces of Universalism during this period. There was, how- ever, a diversity of opinion respecting the future state and the final condition of mankind. ... OOlSrCLUSION. "Till the year 390, or rather 394, the doctrine of Universal Salva- tion was never impeached in the Christian world. Orthodox or heretic. Among the heretics we find broad traces of it from the beginning ; and many of them denied all future punishment. It must be confessed, however, that they were led to this denial by the principles which they had adopted from the Oriental philosophy, rather than by their interpretations of Scripture. Among the Ortho- dox it is uncertain whether their earliest writers, the Apostolical Fathers, believed in the salvation of all, or in endless damnation, as they do not express themselves definitely on this question, though some of them held a future punishment. With regard to this latter particular, it is curious to mark the progress of sentiment. In their very earliest works, the Epistle of Clement of Rome, and those of 1 "Neander's ' AUgemeine Geschichte,' etc., Bk. II, Abth. Ill, p. 946." 138 HOSEA JBALLOU, 2d, D.D. Ignatius of Antioch, it is either wholly omitted, or else expressed in the most indefinite manner. Afterwards we find it introduced as a peculiar motive of terror ; and as such it became more and more employed. From the year 140 or 150, onwards, we meet with dis- tinct traces of Universalism, but always in connection with future, or, as it was then called, aionion, punishment. That the Orthodox, however, derived their views of hell from the heathen and Jewish religions seems unquestionable, on account of their similarity. When the Greek philosophy and the heathen superstitions began to prevail in the Church, they soon succeeded in delineating the entire topogrcqjhy of the infernal realm, pointed out its divisions, described its regulations, and familiarly brought to light all its secrets. From the year 200 we find three distinct opinions received in the Church, concerning the final state of mankind: 1, Universal Salvation; 2, the annihilation of the wicked ; 3, theu' endless damnation. The second, however, was confined to a very few, was never prevalent, and soon disappeared altogether. The doctrine of Universalism was patronized chiefly by the Alexandrian and the Antiochian Schools of divines. " In the year 394 a quarrel broke out in the East, between the Origenists and their opponents, in which some of the latter attacked, for the first time, the particular tenet of the ultimate salvation of the devil ; and in the year 399 some of the councils that were con- vened against the Origenists condemned, expressly, the doctrine of the salvation of the devil and his angels, though they passed by the kindred belief in the salvation of all mankind without a censure." Of Hosea Ballou, 2d's " Ancient History of Universalism," Rev. Thomas J. Sawyer, d.d., says : " It is a monument to his in- dustry, his learning, and his candor ; and had he never written another line, would have entitled him to the highest place among our ministers. I entered the ministry the very year this history was first published, and I remember vividly the surprise and pleasure with which I read it. Associated as I had been for five or six years while getting my education almost wholly with ANCIENT HISTORY OF UNIVERSALI8M. 139 orthodox people, ... I had always heard Universalism spoken of as a new doctrine, a peculiar heretical phase of these last times," ^ — a graceful tribute of the aged theologian to the author, who, on a September afternoon in 1829, at historic Winchester, N. H., gave him the right hand of fellowship at his entrance into the ministr3^^ In the columns of the Trumpet, in 1829 and 1830, Hosea Ballou, senior, lavished unstinted praise on the work of his grandnephew. He had longed to see the work done since Joel •Foster, of New Salem, wrote to him,^ August 1, 1798, " I am sensible that Origen, of the third century, and some other an- cient Fathers, doubted the strict eternity of this punishment." It was a work which he and his associates nine years before, under instructions from the General Convention, had despaired of accomplishing, — a work which presented "a most interest- ing view of the twilight in which the bright and glorious faith, taught by Jesus and his apostles, was seen after their times, before it became shrouded by the intense darkness into which the apostasy carried the Church," and he expressed his gratitude for the "immense labor, patience, and perseverance," on so grand a theme, which had "not been labored by any other histo- rian." What would have been his amazement could Father Ballou have seen the authorship of " The Ancient History of Universalism " ascribed to him, as the writer discovered in the catalogue of the British Museum in London sixteen years ago, and indeed more recently in the catalogues of many libraries in our own country, not indeed excepting — thanks to some care- less librarian — the Sunday-school library of the very society in Boston to which he ministered ! Hosea Ballou, senior, never claimed credit for any but his own work. 1 See Christian Leader, Boston, April 13, 1893. - See Whittemore's " Life of Hosea Ballou," vol. Ill, p. 58. 3 Letter VIII, p. 52, "A Literary Con-espondence," etc., published in 1799 by Mr. Foster. See rare copy in Boston Athenaeum. 140 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. A half-century after its publication Adin Ballon wrote : " It gives the doctrine of universal salvation a preeminence, dignity, and influence which time will only magnify." ^ The second edition of " The Ancient History of Universalism " was published at Providence, R. I., and in the Preface, dated January 1, 1842, Hosea Ballon, 2d, expressed the feeling that " this history needs to be written anew, and on a more philo- sophical plan, especially in the former part." The third edition was published in Boston, December 1, 1871, with notes by Rev. A. St. John Chambr^, a.m., and Rev. T. J. Sawyer, d.d., and reprinted in 1885. Hosea Ballou, 2d, had a burning desire to come face to face with original authorities to learn the theology of the early Church, and his passion was in large measure realized. Con- temporaneously with Von Ranke in Germany, he applied the methods of science to the study of history, let it lead him wheie it would, — in no polemic spirit, — and his scholarly work did much to convince fair-minded men of all, even of orthodox, creeds that Universalism was in large measure •the theology of the Church in the first four centuries of the Christian era. In " The Scriptural Doctrine of Retribution," published in 1878, Dr. Edward Beecher says (p. 123) : " Dr. Ballou also has written a ' History of Ancient Universalism,' in which is pre- sented a very different state of facts from that alleged by Mr. Lecky and Prof. Shedd. He claims, and truly, a much wider range and far greater power for the doctrine of universal salva- tion than they admit. The work is one of decided ability, and is written with great candor and a careful examination of authorities. In our opinion it would benefit Mr. Lecky and Prof. Shedd attentively to consider all the facts and authorities presented in it. We think, however, that he, and especially his 1 " The Ballous in America," p. 757. ANCIENT HI8T0BY OF UNIVEBSALI8M. 141 editors, in a number of cases, draw conclusions that go beyond the authorities to which they refer." This work turned attention to the early Christian faith ; and among the thinking clergy of all creeds it performed the valu- able service of providing an historical basis for the most glorious Christian faith in the universal Fatherhood of God and Brother- hood of man. In January, 1833, B. B. Mussey published the first American edition of the " History of the Crusades against the Albigenses in the Thirteenth Century," from the French of J. C. L. Simonde de Sismoudi, being a sort of episode in his great work, " His- toire des Fran9ais." Hosea Ballou, 2d, planned the undertak- ing as a continuation of his " Ancient History of Universalism " ; he edited the work, and wrote the Introduction, for which he was paid " about sixty dollars," but the editor's name does not appear anywhere in the 286 pages. In the Introduction Mr. Ballou " traced the previous fortunes of the Albigensian sects " and "pointed out their origin." The body of the work is an English translation published anonymously in London in 1826. " The period of which it treats begins with the early part of the thirteenth century, when the first crusade against the Provengals was attempted, and runs onward through nearly forty years of succeeding carnage and desolation. "At the beginning of the period this ill-fated region [of France] appears a bright and sunny spot, like Goshen of old, while darkness lay around on all the face of the land ; at its conclusion, to use the words of the English translator, ' it seems as if the night of ignorance and tyranny had closed upon the nations forever.' Nor was it till three centuries afterwards, if we except the appearance of Wickliffe and Huss, that the Reformation again dawned upon Europe and effectually dissi- pated the shades which had enveloped the world for ages." 142 HOSE A BALLOU, 2(1 D.D. In the appendix of thirteen pages is an account of the Waldenses and Albigenses, from Venema's " Historica Ecclesias- tica," tome VI, §§ 115-126.1 On the organization of the Universalist Historical Society, at the session of the General Convention at Albany in 1834, it was eminently fitting that Hosea Ballou, 2d, became the first president. 1 See H. Ballou, 2d, on " The Cathari or Albigenses," in the Quarterly, October, 1850, pp. 363-393. CHAPTER VII. THE EXPOSITOR AND THE QUARTERLY. Hardly had the *' Ancient History of TJniversalism" "proved to its publishers, Marsh & Capen, that there was a demand among Universalists for heavier and more scholarly treatment of theological s' ''ejects than was feasible in the seven or eight weekly publications of the denomination, than Hosea Ballon, 2d, persuaded them to undertake the publication of a bi- monthly magazine, entitled The Universalist Expositor. The plan originated with the younger Ballon and was mainly promoted by him ; he was indeed " the soul of the work," ^ although at the outset Hosea Ballon, senior, was associated with him as editor, and was a frequent contributor. In the early numbers fully one third of the contributions are from the pen of Hosea Ballon, 2d. The first two annual volumes, sub- stantially bound in leather, are before me, and contain 380 and 384 octavo pages, respectively. It was the importance, indeed the necessity, of education in the ministry that, lirst of all, prompted the work. But with only about one hundred and fifty clergymen in the denomination at that time, the financial outlook was not brilhant. The undertaking was an act of heroism. " It would be difficult," says Dr. Sawyer, " to estimate the influence exerted by the Expositor on our condition." ^ In the announcement of the Expositor it was said : " It will consist chiefly of Dissertations on points of Biblical Literature ; Critical Interpretations of Texts ; Explanations of Scriptural 1 Thomas Whlttemore, in the Trumpet, June 18, 1859. 2 Christian Leader, April 13, 1893. 143 144 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Phrases and Subjects ; Doctrinal Discussions ; and Expositions, both illustrative and historical, of Religious Truth in general. . . . The embellishments of Poetry will not be wholly neg- lected, of which the best original pieces which our resources afford will be selected for insertion." The publishers hoped " that, should the work maintain its proper character, we shall be able, before the end of the current year, to propose a suitable reward for the encourage- ment of the correspondents. Meanwhile we ask the commu- nications of those who are qualified and willing to aid in the establishment of such a publication." The first article of twenty pages in the first number of the Expositor (July, 1830), " A Dissertation on the Phrase, King- dom of Heaven, as used in the New Testament," bears the signature which was ever after familiar, " H. B., 2d " ; and the second — an article of six pages — bears the initials " H, B," It in turn was followed by a poem from each of them ; the following from '^ H. B., 2d " : — God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. — Habakkuk iii : 3. The mighty God from Teman came, The Holy Oue from Paran hill ; His glory wrapt the heavens in flame, And all the earth his name did fill. Before his feet, a baleful light, The pestilence moved ou in wrath ; The nations scattered at the sight, And fled asunder from its path. He stood — and while his eye surveyed The quaking earth and heaving main, The hills bowed down, the mountains fled. The streams rolled backward through the plain, HOSEA BALLOU, 2d. [From an Oil Painting by Giddings Hyde Ballou. Owned by Tufts College.] THE EXPOSITOB AND THE QUARTEELY. 145 Th' o'erflowing deep, by thunder riven, Came rushing where the land had been ; The sun and moon stood still in heaven, And looked, in silence, on the scene. I saw — and terror struck me dumb ; My joints dissolved, my senses froze — I saw the God of judgment come. To cheer his saints, and crush their foes.^ Walter Balfour contributes two pages, and is the only other contributor to the first number of sixty-four pages. Henry Bacon, William S. Balch, William S. Ballou, Edwin H. Chapin, Thomas F. King and his son Starr, Horace Greeley, Sarah C. Edgarton, Sebastian Streeter, Stephen R. Smith, Samuel C. Loveland, Thomas B. Thayer, Lucius R. Paige, Alonzo A. Miner, and, second to none of these, Thomes J. Sawyer and his gifted wife, Caroline M. Sawyer, are among those remembered as his contributors. On completion of the second volume, in May, 1832, the pub- lication was suspended for lack of patronage. It did not " pay." But to Hosea Ballou, 2d, it was not a question of dollars and cents ; in six months he yielded to the imperative " ought," and January 1, 1833, gave to the public the first number of the Ex- positor and Universalist Review, through anonymous "pro- prietors," and it was continued through the year — a volume of 440 pages. Still undaunted, after an interim of four years, January 1, 1838, the Expositor was revived and continued through three years, to the end of 1840, completing the sixth volume. Each number contained seventy-two octavo pages, or " 432 pages in the course of the year, at two dollars per annum, payable, in all cases, on delivery of the first number." Sub- scriptions were few ; some subscribers were delinquent ; $300 1 Expositor, vol. I, pp. 30, 31. 146 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. was lost by its publication in 1839 ; and in November, 1840, Abel Tompkins announced, " The Expositor must stop ! " Three years pass, and in January, 1844, with better times, Hosea Ballou, 2d, as editor, and Abel Tompkins as publisher, issued the first number of The Universalist Quarterly and General Review, containing 108 pages, or 432 pages per volume, at two dollars per annum. " While it covers all the ground that was formerly occupied by the Expositor and Universalist Re- view," says the Introduction, "it is proposed to take in a much wider field, embracing such departments of general literature, both secular and religious, as shall be deemed of popular interest." Twelve years he edited the Quarterly alone — two years with the aid of Rev. George H. Emerson. A total of twenty volumes ! For eleven years he modestly refused to have D. D. added to his name as editor, until 1856. " Can you give me anything for the next Quarterly? I can- not get much of the kind I really wish for. If you have any- thing on hand, or that you can readily put in shape, pray send it on. Give my respects to Mrs. Sawyer, and tell her that though I would not be importunate, it would gladden me much to see another communication from her." So Dr. Ballou used to write Dr. Sawyer. A valued contributor died, and he writes : — " Alas ! Mrs. Mayo is taken from us in the morning of her days. When I saw the paper announcing her death, whom I saw alive and well so little while ago, the news seemed incredible; nor can I realize it as yet." That beautiful annual. The Rose of Sharon, was, in a peculiar sense, the creation of Sarah C. Edgarton Mayo. From his study in Medford, December 31, 1849, he writes : — Brother Saivyer, — My opinion is that the old proverb ought always to be read with a condition, thus : " Ride not a free horse to death, if you can get along well without ! " I think it so stands in THE EXPOSITOR AND THE QUABTEBLY. 147 the original. And the truth is, I cannot get along well without. I want another article from you for the Quarterly. . . . I ought to have written, ere this, to thank Mrs. Sawyer for her excellent review of Mrs. Mayo's biography and poetry. It has given great satisfaction. I think she has hit on the finest specimens of poetry in the volume, and presented them with effect. If she can find any leisure to spare from the preparation of the next Rose, I would most respectfully request her to let us have an article, — say on the German poets or poetry, or on the female poets of our own country. I only suggest these as topics in case she should have none already in mind. . . . The following is a characteristic letter : — Medford, April 18, 1850. Brother Saivyer, — I have been looking for something from you, but as it does not come I take Mohammed's alternative, and so, here 's something from me. Can you let us have an article for next Quarterly ? This is the everlasting question number one. You recollect you said something of a letter of Luther's ; will that answer for an article? historisch-dogmatische oder litterarische. If you can favor us in this way, you know how glad we shall be, though I do not use the vehemently urgent expostulatory style with which I make applications to some of our writers, knowing that your time and strength are already tasked severely. But if there be an opportunity in which you can reasonably furnish something for us, just suppose my request carried up to the fortieth power, thus : pra^/ do 4". Question number two. Can you inform me whether there has been of late an edition of Clemens Alexandrinus in Germany or France? And if there has been, where I may find its title and price? Brother Ryder gave me a Catalogue of Lippert and Schmidt's Antiquarischen Biicher-Lagern, in which I find " Clementis (Alex.) opera gr. et lat. ed. Potter, 2 vol. Oxford 1715 fol." at 15 Thaler,— which is cheap. If there has been no recent edition I am disposed to order a copy of Potter's from Lippert & Schmidt (Halle). At 15 Thaler there, it probably would not cost me, on delivery here, more 148 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. than about $15. I want Clemens, in order to try my hand at a radical "de novo "-cal essa}' on his writings, genius, and doctrines, — not that I am quite vain enough to think myself adequate to the undei'taking ; but there has been so little said of Clemens, in com- parison with the notices that are constantly appearing of Origen, that something seems needed to make him better known. . . . Yours truly, H. BALLOU, 2d. Rev. T. J. Sawyer. Dr. Ballou's familiarity with the work of German scholars is shown in some of his articles. Schleiermacher and Schelling were just finishing their work, and Eduard Zeller's great work on Greek philosophy had only begun. Dr. Ballou's trend of thought back to Athens and Alexandria appears to have been established independently, however, in 1828, before he became familiar with them. It was on the appearance of the first number of the Quarterly that he wrote the following letter : — Medford, December 6, 1843. Brother Satvyer, — Yours of the 20th ult. did not come to hand till day before yesterday (Monday), as I had not been in Boston for a fortnight before ; or rather my hand did not come at it till then, when I found it in my box at the Trumpet office. But, what a letter ! ! I take it to be, chemically speaking, the basis of all acidity, and shall communicate the discovery to some of the eminent chemists of the day, if I can find out who they are. Why, sir, it had eaten away one half of the box where it lay at Whittemore's, it destroyed three pockets for me in bringing it home to Medford, and here I am forbidden by law to keep it, except under a covering of four feet of water, and at least eighteen inches from the bottom and sides of the reservoir, and the water in which it is immersed becomes aqua fortis in thirty minutes, producing about 240 gallons per day, — all which is simple unexaggerated fact, howsoever astounding it THE EXPOSITOR AND THE QUABTEBLY. 149 may be. It is possible that I sometimes write in the way of rhodomontade (by the way, is there any such word, and if so, what does it mean?), but now I write seriously, in strictly scientific language. Well, to fall at length into the freer epistolary style. I found all Boston sky-high on Monday, respecting your critique on the edition of Mrs. Scott's poems ; but I could not find a copy of the Mes- senger containing it, and so had to form my idea of it from repre- sentations compared with what you say in your letter. I am a cold- blooded animal of the frog species, I take it, and cannot get the circulation up to fever heat short of about a fortnight's boiling ; in fact, I have endured Miller's second advent and found it only just comfortable. ... I am somewhat comforted by your agreement with the doctrine of " Sin and its Desert," for some of our brethren think it a piece of mystified metaphysics, of no interest or concern, and some that it is but a hauling at the air, a reaching after a shadowy idea that has no substance. ... Is not our Convention the only one of its kind that has given a formal and decided ex- pression of its thorough disapproval of slavery? I mean the only General Convention of a religious sect in our country. Having had occasion, not long since, to write Mr. Gibon, I sug- gested to him the plan of making out one number of the Theological Library, with translations from the Uuiversalist Fathers, say Clement Al. and Origen. What think you? If Brother G-. has not written you on the subject, why will you not prepare such a volume and put it into the hands of some publisher? I think it would " go" ; at any rate, I am confident that you would find some who would take the risk of an edition, and give you a percentage on the sales, if they would not offer more favorable terms. I should be highly delighted with such a work, and I think many others would be. Then, might not another volume be made out of dissertations on Universalism, collected from English divines? say, from Bp. Newton, and others in the Establishment, and from eminent English writers? Both of these works you have the means of making, if you approve the suggestion. Pray think of this. When they 150 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. appear I will review them in the Quarterly, and condemn them with all my soul. If it were not for the exceptions which you make in favor of my articles in the first number of the Quarterly, I should agree in your judgment of it, abating a little of the tartness ; but to all your strictures on it I do reply with consciousness that I have all reason on my side, give us something better yourself. I put Greeley's article, however, considerably higher than you do. If we can get such as his, I never shall complain. In the mean time, can you not direct me to somebody who will write ? Pray do not forget this ; but if you can think of any one just mention him. So Dr. Ballou wrote far and wide to properly fill the columns of the Expositor and the Quarterly. Some contributions from his dearest friends, he tells us, he felt in duty bound to reject, and a temporary coldness ensued. So he had a full share of the conscientious editor's trials. As regards Notices, he wrote in May, 1840, to Rev. T. J. Sawyer : — " There is a task that must be done by a hand, steady, kind, and at the same time faithful — the writing of a notice (not a regular review) of the Guide to Universalism. I have been looking over all the list of contributors, in esse et in posse, to the Expositor ; and I have found one that can do it, and but one, namely, T. J. Sawyer, of the city of New York ; and he must do it, in the sense in which Fitz interprets must. There are half a dozen that would do it, if asked ; that is, they would give us the title-page, an abstract of the table of contents, say it was printed and bound handsomely, tell what good it will do, pray for the blessing of Heaven upon it, and Amen. Or, they would extol it ; or having extolled it, they would pick a few trivial flaws ; or they would put on a fierce air, and trample it — who so bold ! But a regular scientific notice of it, according to the real object of the book, its pretensions, and its execution, it is an affair that I will trust to no hand but yours. So, I pray you, make up your mind for it. . . . It will be under- THE EXPOSITOB AND THE QUABTEBLY. 151 stood that I aiu responsible for all the notices, though I do not write them all ; at any rate, you have the privilege of iucognitoship if you choose. Our rule is, no notice of a book till the writer has read it through, unless he advise us to the contrary, telling what he has read of it, and confining his remarks to that part." His two articles on " The Doctrine of Necessity " were the last Dr. Ballon contributed to the Quarterly, in October, 1858 and 1859, respectively, and, in 1858, following is the last paragraph : — " What if we should conclude to let the unknown remain unbridged, till it shall become known ? What if we should content ourselves, for the present, to abide by the knowledge which the Scriptures, as well as our moral and religious nature, give us, that we can do contrary to the will of God, that we are responsible for our conduct, that we are deserving or blame- worthy, and are really virtuous or sinful ; and, at the same time, that God disposes of the results of our agency, and can influence our course, and our disposition, without violating our personality"? This is the truth which every man recognizes, howsoever he may speculate ; it is the truth on which every religious man acts. And it is enough for all practical and doctrinal purposes ; though it does not answer the demand for a factitious omniscience, nor a desire for the irresponsibility of Fatalism." " In these two periodicals," says Dr. Brooks, " Dr. Ballon gave us the finest gold of his thought, and did the work upon which his fame will chiefly rest — the work that entitled him beyond all others to the name of the clarifier and systematizer of our theology." ^ Says Rev. Dr. C. H. Leonard : — *' The Quarterly at once took rank with the best theological iln the Quarterly, October, 1878, p. 398. 152 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. reviews in the land ; and it detracts nothing from the manifest ability of other contributors to its pages to say that the Quarterly won its way to favor, in and out of the denomination, through the energy of the one man who put his best life into it. His broadly conceived, well-reasoned articles, braced with vigorous sentences, and adorned with almost every idiomatic and rhetorical excellence, gave to our highest periodical its character. It was through these rare produc- tions that so graced the pages of the Quarterly that very many who thought they knew him well, first found out the man and the student. Month after month he poured out the great wealth of his learning, winning the most thoughtful readers by the accuracy of his knowl- edge, the strength and beauty of his style, and the nameless charm with which his own strong sense and genial humor invested every- thing which he wrote." ^ In the opinion of Rev. Dr. Sawyer, to Dr. Ballou " belonged most of the scholarship, and the discussion of all topics that demanded solid learning. . . . Many of the articles of the Expositor were either republished entire or in part, or their doctrine repeated in our other papers, so that what had been prepared with so much care for its columns really became the common property of our Church. ... It may seem a matter of regret that so large a part of the fruits of his life should now be shut up in this series of periodicals that never had a wide circu- lation, and are now not only unattainable but inaccessible to the great majority of even our ministers. . . . They proved eminently the educational and formative force in moulding our thought and shaping our institutions." ^ To the first number of the Universalist Miscellany (1843), edited by Otis A. Skinner and Edwin H. Chapin, Hosea Ballou, 2d, contributed the first article, " Haman the Agagite," and a few of his writings in his lighter moods appeared elsewhere, but 1 In the Ladies' Repository, July, 1S69. « In the Christian Leader, April 13, 1893. THE EXrOSITOR AND THE QUAJiTEBLY. 153 most of his articles in the Expositor and the Quarterly have permanent value. It is with the view of making Dr. Ballou's articles in the Expositor and the Quarterly more accessible that I have prepared the following INDEX. Absurdities of Philological Hypercriticism. Qr.,' April, 1847. pp. 173-181. Analogy between the Present State and the Future. Qr., April, 1847. pp. 113-128. Ancient History of Universalism (The). Exp., May, 1838. pp. 184-209. Apostolical Churches, and the Apostolical Administration of the Lord's Supper (The). Exp., May, 1840. pp. 212-216. Ballon, Rev. Hosea : His Parentage and Early Life. Qr., April, 1854. pp. 174-194. Biblical Argument for Capital Punishment as a Divine Ordinance (The). Qr., July, 1849. pp. 341-358. Birth of Jesus Christ, and its Consequences (The). Exp., January, 1840. pp. 52-65. Book of Enoch (The). Exp., September, 1840. pp. 360-363. Case of Judas Iscariot, as it is presented in the Sci'iptures. Exp., January, 1831. pp. 208-226. Catharior Albigenses-^ (The). Qr., October, 1850. pp. 363-393. Change in the Jewish Doctrines after the Destruction of Jerusalem. Exp., September, 1838. pp. 360-362. ChapterfromCarlylethe Younger (A). Qr., July, 1844. pp. 324-326. Chapter from Carlyle the Younger (Another). Qr., April, 1845. pp. 214- 217. Christ's Temptation in the Wilderness. Exp., May, 1831. pp. 370-377. Christianity the Bread of Life. Exp., September, 1833. pp. 333-342. Christ, the Light of the World, and the Life of the World. Qr., January, 1854. pp. 83-89. Church of Christ and of the Apostles (The). Qr., October, 1850. pp. 403-416. Commentators on the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Exp., July, 1831. pp. 65-68. Commentators on the " Sin unto Death." Exp., May, 1833. pp. 186-193. Condition of Men after Death. Qr., January, 1853. pp. 29-51. 1 Abbreviations: Qr., Quarterly; Exp., Expositor. 'See " History of the Crusades against the Albigenses in the Thirteenth Century," by Siamondi. Edited by H. Ballou, 2d, 1833. 154 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Course of Biblical and Theological Study. Exp., September, 1839. pp. 351-361. "Destroy both Soul and Body in Hell," etc. Exp., May, 1838. pp. 164- 169. Disadvantageous Influence of former Translations on our present English Version of the Bible. Exp., March, 1831. pp. 321-334. Dissertation on the Phrases, End of the World, Last Days, Last Time, etc., as used in the New Testament (A). Exp., September, 1830. pp. 95-113. Dissertation on the Phrase, Kingdom of Heaven, as used in the New Testa- ment (A). Exp., July, 1830. pp. 3-23. Divine Goodness versus Endless Misery. Qr., October, 1853. pp. 404-412. Divine Purpose in the Reconciliation of All (The). Qr., January, 1846. pp. 79-89. Doctrine and Life of Maximus the Confessor. Qr., January, 1852. pp. 5-21. Doctrine of Necessity (The). Qr., October, 1858. pp. 346-373. Doctrine of Necessity (The). Qr., October, 1859. pp. 329-353. Doctrine of Original Sin, its late Modifications, and final Abandonment by Orthodox Divines. Exp., September, 1833. pp. 352-362. Dogmatic and Religious History of Universalism in America. Qr., January, 1848. pp. 79-103. Eloquence. Exp., September, 1840. pp. 302-325. Equality of Divine Providence, in its Dealings with Mankind. Exp., July, 1838. pp. 256-265. Evangelical Conversion. Exp., July, 1831. pp. 38-58. Explanation of John viii. 21. Exp., January, 1832. pp. 253-255, Explanation of Matt. v. 29, 30, and the similar texts. Qr., April, 1844. pp. 170-17S. Explanation of Matt. x. 14, 15, and of the parallel texts. Exp., January, 1833. pp. 26-33. Faith Requisite to Christian Fellowship (The). Qr., October, 1846. pp. 366-393. False Representations of the Trials attending a Christian Life, countenanced by the popular Misapplication of certain Texts. Exp., January, 1831. pp. 236-243. Foster's, John, Letter on Endless Punishment. Qr., October, 1849. pp. 391-397. Fourierism and similar Schemes. Qr., January, 1845. pp. 52-76. Fulfilment of the Prophecies against Edom. Exp., July, 1838. pp. 266-286. Funeral and Sepulchral Rites. Exp., September, 18.33. pp. 292-312. Gieseler's Ecclesiastical History. Exp., March, 1838. pp. 145, 146. THE EXPOSITOR AND THE QUABTEBLY. 155 Goethe's Dedication to his Faust. Poem. (Translated from the German.) Exp., March, 1838. p. 148. Gospel History; its Genuineness and Truth (The). Qr., April, 1848. pp. 179-196. Great Moral Conflict (The). Qr., April, 1855. pp. 113-142. Hazael. Qr., April, 18.53. pp. 158-166. Historical Sketch of Interpretations of 1 Pet. iii. 18-20, and iv. G. Qr., July, 1853. ("To be continued.") pp. 221-248. Importance and best Method of studying the Original Languages of the Scriptures. Exp., November, 1832. pp. 193-205. Importance of Universalisni in Keligious Culture. Qr., April, 1852. pp. 129-144. Inaugural Address at the Opening of Tufts College, August 22, 1855. Qr., October, 1855. pp. 329-344. Interpretation of Figures in the Prophetic and Poetical Parts of the Scrip- tures. Exp., March, 1840. pp. 129-145. Interpretation of Parables. Exp., March, 1833. pp. 101-106. Invocation to Winter. Exp., January, 1832. p. 256. Jewish Usage of the Word Gehenna. Exp., May, 1832. pp. 351-368. Josephus (Selections from), illustrating Expressions and Allusions in the New Testament. Exp., January, 1839. pp. 5-21. Justification by Faith and Justification by Works. Qr., April, 1853. pp 182-191. Justin Martyr ; or, The Orthodox Faith, a.d. 150-165. Qr., July, 1846. pp 272-.301. Meaning of the Book of Eevelation. Exp., March, 1838. pp. 101-104. Methods of Interpreting the Book of Revelation. Exp., May, 1833. pp 193-210. Millennium; or. The Golden Age to Come (The). Qr., April, 1847. pp 144-153. Modifications of the popular Doctrine of Endless Misery. Exp., July 1831. pp. 69-78. Nature and Conditions of Salvation, according to the New Testament (The) Qr., April, 1850. pp. 194-206. New Testament Doctrine of Personal Righteousness; or, of Faith and Works with regard to Justification (The). Exp., January, 1833. pp 7-26. New Testament Doctrine of Salvation (The). Exp., January, 1840. pp 33-51. New Testament Usage of the several Terms translated Spirit, Soul, and Life (The). Qr., April, 1850. pp. 138-155. Nicodemus. Qr., October, 1848. pp. 395-403. 156 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Nineveh and its Remains. Qr., July, 1849. pp. 275-301. Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Chapters of the Epistles to the Romans. With Notes (The). Qr., July, 1852. pp. 270-293. Notice of Recent Publications. Exp., September, 1830. pp. 124^128. Notice of Recent Publications. Exp., March, 1833. pp. 145-147. Noyes's Translations. Exp., May, 1838. p. 220. Oberlin, John Frederick. Exp., March, 1833. pp. 119-128. Observance of Sunday among the Primitive Christians. Exp., July, 1830. pp. 45-54. Opinions and Phraseology of the Jews concerning the Future State; from the time of Moses to that of their final dispersion by the Romans. Exp., November, 1833. pp. 397-440.* Opinions of the Christians in the next half century after the Apostolic Age; or, from a.d. 95 to a.d. 150. Qr., July, 1844. pp. 329-363. Opinions of the Christians, before the Council of Nice, in Relation to the Doctrine of the Trinity. Exp., 1832. pp. 282-308. Opinions of the Christians, before the Council of Nice, concerning the Na- ture of Redemption. Exp., May, 1840. pp. 149-172. Orthodoxy against Uuiversalism. Exp., September, 1838. pp. 331-346. Paige's Commentary. Qr., October, 1844. pp. 39G-399. Parallelism of Hebrew Poetry (The). Exp., January, 1838. pp. 57-65. Philosophy and Doctrines of John Scotus Erigena (The). Qr., January, 1850. pp. 90-100. Phrases, " Born again," " New Creature," etc. (The). Exp., November, 1831. pp. 191-194. Phrase, ' Day of the Lord," as used in the Old and New Testaments (The). Exp., January, 1832. pp. 214-226. Phrases "That it might be fulfilled," etc. (The). Exp., July, 1839. pp. 245-251. Prescott's History of the Conquest of Mexico. Qr., April, 1844. pp. 210- 215. Principles of interpreting the Language of the Scriptures. Exp., May, 1833. pp. 221-238. Proper Method of studying the Scriptures in our common English Version (The). Exp., March, 1831. pp. 273-294. Public Attacks on Uuiversalism. Exp., March, 1833. pp. 137-144. Pulpit Eloquence contrasted with Superficial Rhetoric. Exp., July, 1839. pp. 276-280. Rationalism in Germany. Qr., April, 1851. pp. 186-206. Reformation (The). Qr., April, 1844. pp. 136-163. » Eeprinted at Philadelphia, 1844. It is the first in a volume of twelve pamphlets on the Future State, No. 5451.54 in Boston Public Library. THE EXPOSITOR AND THE QUARTERLY. 157 Keserve of Universalists in urging the Denunciations of the Scriptures. Exp., July, 1833. pp. 259-269. Kesult of the Proposition, that God is good to all. Exp., September, 1830. pp. 117-123. Revelation of St. John the Divine (The). Exp., May, 1833. pp. 210-220. Review of the Denomination of Universalists in the United States. Exp., March, 1839. pp. 77-105. Rich Man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (A). Exp., No- vember, 1831. pp. 194-196. Rise and Prevalence of Unitarian Views among the Universalists. Qr., October, 1848. pp. 370-395. Scriptural Usage of the Terms '' Son," and " Child." Exp., March, 1831. pp. 312-316. Scripture Geography. Exp., January, 1840. pp. 65-74. Seared Conscience (The). Qr., Januar}% 1845. pp. 90-99. Sin and its Desert. Qr., January, 1844. pp. 73-84. Slavery in the United States. Qr., July, 1848. pp. 321-328. Sources of National Prosperity and Ruin (The). Qr., October, 1846. pp. 421-431. Standing still of the Sun and Moon (The). Exp., November, 1839. pp. 404-410. State of Opinion in the Churches of the Apostolic Age. Qr., January, 1844. pp. 84-109. Streeter's Familiar Conversations. Exp., July, 1833. pp. 269-275. Sufferings of Christ (The). Exp., March, 1838. pp. 105-124. Suffering the Vengeance of Eternal Fire. Exp., May, 1839. pp. 162-168. Tei-m "Mystery," as used in the New Testament (The). Exp., July, 18.33. pp. 239-250. Twenty-fourth Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, illustrated with Notes, etc. (The). Exp., July, 1839. pp. 221-245. Twenty-fifth Chapter of St. Matthew's GosiJel, illustrated with Notes (The). Exp., September, 1839. pp. 293-310. Ultimate Results of Divine Government. Exp., January, 1838. pp. 7-20. Universalism in the Greek Church. Exp., November, 1840. pp. 411^15. Unquenchable Fire. Exp., September, 1838. pp. 306, 307. White Mountains (The). Qr., January, 1846. pp. 113-143. Whittemore on the Revelation. Qr., July, 1848. i)p. 304-321. Whittier's Poems. Qr., April, 1849. pp. 142-160. Wicked shall be turned into Hell, etc. (The). Exp., January, 1838. pp. 65-68. CHAPTER VIII. HONORS BESTOWED. From the time that Hosea Ballon, 2d, gave to the world " The Ancient History of Universalism," in 1829, his reputation for profound scholarship among scholarly people everywhere had been steadily growing. When the death of the great William EUery Channing, on October 2, 1842, left a vacancy in the Board of Overseers of Harvard University, many uninformed people, particularly Unitarians, were nevertheless surprised to learn that, where family prestige counted for so much, Hosea Ballon, 2d, a Universalist, was elected to fill the vacancy. His election was based simply on his merits, without reference to the fact that Comfort Starr, a member of his family, was one of the founders of Harvard College. We doubt, indeed, if the fact was known to the electors.^ It was that politic states- man and ex-mayor of Boston, Josiah Quincy, then president of Harvard University, who, I suspect, was largely responsible for his nomination and election to the honored position. The official record of his election reads as follows: — ^ "At a meeting of the Overseers of Harvard Uaiversity, in the Senate Chamber, Boston, ou Thm-sday, 2 March, 1843, at 1 p.m. '•'■ Present : His Excellency Governor Morton, His Honor Lieutenant Governor Childs, the Hon. Council, the Hon. Senate, Spealcer of the House, Hon. D. A. White, Hon. R. Sullivan, Hon. J. I. Austin, Hon. L. Lincoln, Hon. J. Savage, President Quincy, and 1 See pp. 18, 19, on Comfort Starr. 2 See Records of the Overseers of Harvard University, vol. VIII, p. 393, in the Ar- chives of the Library. 158 HAEVAED UNIVEBSITY. 159 Rev. Messrs. Gray, Peirce, Jenks, Lowell, Codman, Parkman, P'ield, FrothinglKun. Brazer, Lamson, Barrett, Gannett, Young, Miller. "His Excellency Governor ^Morton in the chair. . . . Proceeded to fill the vacancy in the Board of Overseers occasioned by the death of Dr. Channing. Whole number of votes, 64; necessary to a choice, 33. The Rev. Hosea Ballou, II, had 38 votes, and was chosen.'* Twenty-six votes were divided among six other candidates. ^ Hosea Ballou, 2d, took his seat in the Board of Overseers of Harvard Universitj'- at a special meeting held in the Council Chamber, Boston, Thursday, 20 July, IS-iS ; and from his point of view as an historian it is interesting to note that the first business brought before the Board was that of conferring certain degrees, among them the degree of LL.D. on William Hickling Prescott and George Bancroft, perhaps the two greatest his- torians America has ever produced, and upon Jared Sparks, who was hardly second to them as a popular historian. The records show that Hosea Ballou, 2d, was very regular in attendance upon the frequent meetings of the Board of Over- seers. The meetings were usually held in the State House, Boston, Harvard University being then more of the nature of a State University than it is now. On August 23, 1843, the Board met in Gore Library, Cambridge, and adjourned "to attend the public exercises of Commencement at ten o'clock in the First Church, Cambridge, jt?ro more solito^^ — the first of many Commencements he attended in his official capacity. Imagine the stately scene ! How it must have impressed him ! A few years before, the First Church had reared its quasi-Gothic lines and taken its place as "sentinel" across the ancient burial ground from the mournful " nun," Christ Church, so well de- scribed by Holmes : — iRev. George Putnam, Rev. Jacob Ide, d.d., Rev. G. W. Blagden, Rev. G. B. Terry, Rev. C. W. Upham, and Rev. S. K. Lothrop. 160 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Like sentinel and nun they keep Their vigil on the green ; One seems to guard and one to weep The dead who lie between. At the meetings of the Board, July 18 and August 22, 1844, he was first absent after his election, through modesty, no doubt, obviously having been advised that at those meetings the usual steps were to be taken to confer the honorary degree of Master of Arts upon him.^ In the records his name is followed by that of the eminent botanist, Asa Gray, also a self- educated man, upon whom it was likewise then voted to confer the honorary degree of A.M. These degrees were formally conferred on Wednesday, August 28, 1844, in the First Church, Cambridge, in the list preserved Hosea Ballou, 2d, being the first of five so honored. At the meeting, January 16, 1845, a movement was started in the Board of Overseers to raise the standard of admission to College, and so to get students of more advanced age. At the meetings, February 25 and March 6, 1845, steps were taken to disconnect the College and the Divinity School, and to separate their funds. Mr. Ballou appears to have taken inter- est in both these movements. A year after Harvard University conferred upon him the degree of A.M., namel}^ on August 21, 1845, the Overseers had become so impressed with the learning and solid worth of their associate that they voted to confer the degree of D.D.^ on "Rev. Hosea Ballou, II," — so the record reads. And it was probably at his suggestion as a member of the Board that the honorary degree of A.M. was at the same time conferred on 1 Records of Overseers of Harvard University, vol. VIII, p. 421. 2 Records of Overseers of Harvard University, vol. VIII, p. 445. The Index of the Records, however, reads S.T.D., " Doctor of Sacred Theology." HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 161 Rev. Edwin Hubbell Chapin, then of Charlestown.i Thus Hosea Ballon, 2d, became " Dr. Ballou," as he was ever after called (although he preferred " Brother Ballou "), except by Hosea Ballou, senior,^ who still clung to the time-honored word "Cousin." He was the first in the Universalist ministry to receive the degree of Doctor of Divinity, and no one ever questioned that the honor was worthily bestowed. It has been said by E. G. Brooks, d.d., that America's oldest and greatest university " more honored itself than him by bestowing upon him the degree of D.D., . . . which, once significant, as in his case, of learning and high scholarship, has now become so cheapened as to signify only — what ? " ^ He bore the honor modestly, but, as his intimates at Cornhill for many years could say, " solitary and alone." At Harvard Commencement, August 27, 1845, it is interesting to note, among other celebrities, the great lawyer, Rufus Choate, to be crowned a Doctor of Laws. Josiah Quincy, having made of Harvard a " working institu- tion," tendered his resignation of the presidency, July 24, 1845,* and on April 30, 1846, Edward Everett, already famous as a statesman, a diplomat, and an ex-governor of the Common- wealth, was inaugurated, and the records read significantly : " Dinner was then served in Harvard Hall, for the first time since the foundation of the College, without wine." ^ It is not within the scope of this work to sketch in detail Dr. Ballou's labors as an Overseer of Harvard University at Board and Committee meetings, in the long series of years he faithfully served it ; of the intimate knowledge of courses of I It was, no doubt, also at his suggestion tliat, in 1850, Harvard conferred the honorary degree of D.D. on Thomas Jefferson Sawyer, and that of A.M. on Thomas Starr King and Lucius Robinson Paige, and in 1856 that of D.D. on E. H. Chapin. 2 It was once proposed, it is said, to make Father Ballou a D.D., when he replied : " I was not aware that Divinity was sick! " s In Quarterly, October, 187S, p. 392. *See Josiah Quincy's " History of Harvard University." * Records of Overseers of Harvard University, vol. VIII, p. 467. 162 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. instruction and methods of government, tlie duties of the office presuppose, — for some who in after years spoke of him as un- familiar with the details of college life knew not whereof they spoke. It was not enough that the president reported, in stately form, at each May and October " Exhibition," to ''the Honor- able and Reverend Committee of the Board of Overseers," that the undergraduates had been " quiet and orderly," that their " attention to their studies" had been "generally faith- ful," " obedience to the laws for the most part exemplary," but the Overseers received semi-annual reports on each department, both from the head of the department and from a " Committee of Examination," investigated "study hours," attendance at chapel, misdemeanors, and by their votes degrees were con- ferred. At the Commencement in 1847 the honorary degree of A.M. was conferred on Evangelinus Apostolides Sophocles, long the quaint senior professor of Greek in Harvard University ; and thirty years afterwards he casually informed the writer that he knew Dr. Ballon intimately, and that he had a remarkable knowledge of the Greek language. But it was not so much the Greek as the history department and the library that received his attention. He was also familiar with the festal duties of a college overseer ; on July 16, 1851, for the lirst time in eight years, he was absent from the Harvard Commencement. After serving as Overseer ten years. Dr. Ballon was, in 1853, reelected, and from 1852 he was the senior clerical Overseer, by right of seniority his name heading the lists. At the annual meeting, January 28, 1858, he attended the meeting of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University for the last time. He had entered the Board in the presidency of Josiah Quincy; he had continued in office through the remainder of his presi- dency, through the entire presidency of Edward Everett and «^ O CO 1— 1 > w ^ d l-H !2J C H^ ^ > c ^ ^ < < H w w ri Ki ^ H H H CO l-H o -_i H >! 2i Kl O ►=1 ^ > rV K* P<^ <1 GO >* ^ c i^ d >► 2 t?3 02 ^ h- ( ^ f W H ^^O o so ^ Eg t- HABVARD UNIVERSITY. 163 of Jared Sparks, and five years into the presidency of James Walker — a long period of service. He also enjoyed intimate acquaintance with Cornelius C. Felton, then a professor, and later President Walker's successor. Dr. Ballou was early familiar with college boys' pranks, for May 7, 1844, President Quincy reported this sophomoric inci- dent : " Trespasses were committed in the night time," and three of those concerned were dismissed from the college-, whereupon a carpenter's shed in Harvard Square was burned, bonfires were frequent, and a considerable portion of the class met and voted to wear crape to show their sympathy for the dismissed students ; now the}^ burned a farmer's load of hay on Cambridge Common, again they planted a barber's pole at the president's back door,i etc. ; in a word, with younger, more sophomoric students, Mr, Quincy found it no easy task to enforce submission to authority. With older, maturer students at the end of Dr. Ballou's term of service,^ the conditions of Harvard University are well described by Dr. John Fiske,^ as follows : — " The examination days . . . were more searching than at other American colleges. The courses of study were on the whole better arranged than elsewhere, but during the first half of the course everything was prescribed, and in the last half the elective system played but a subordinate part. The system of examinations did not extend to the law school, where a simple residence of three terms entitled the student to receive the baclielor's degree. . . . " For laboratory work the facilities were meagre, and very little was done. We all studied in a book of chemistry ; how many of us ever really looked at such things as manganese or antimony ? " Here one is naturally led to the reflection that in that day of 1 See Ladies' Repository for December, 1866, p. 442. 2 See also an excellent article by Edward Everett Hale in Harvard Graduates Magazine for June, 1896, pp. 562-568. » Address at Cambridge, June 2, 1896. 164 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. small things, as some might call it, there were spiritual influences operative at Harvard which more than made up for shortcomings in material equipment. There is a kind of human presence, all too rare in this world, which is in itself a stimulus and an education worth more than all the scholastic artifices that the wit of man has devised ; for in the mere contact with it one's mind is trained and widened as if by enchantment. Such a Imman presence in Cambridge was Louis Agassiz. " Can one ever forget that beaming face as he used to come stroll- ing across the yard, with lighted cigar, in serene obliviousness of the university statutes? Scarcely had one passed him when one might exchange a pleasant word with Asa Gray, or descry in some arching vista the picturesque figure of Sophocles or Peirce, or turn- ing up Brattle Street encounter with a thrill of pleasure, not untinged with awe, Longfellow and Lowell walking side by side." President Charles W. Eliot ^ says : — "As to the income of the college in the '50's, much can be said of interest. The gross income was from $105,000 to $120,000 a year. . . . Salaries paid to instructors were low. . . . The condi- tion of the library at that time marks distinctly the state of teach- ing ; there were few volumes, and the reading room was about twenty feet square ; and it was never crowded. In the '50's this began to change. Librarian Sibley had come in, and had with him as assistant Ezra Abbott, who spent several years in devising a card catalogue for the books. Every detail was carefully looked after, and this catalogue has made an epoch in the library work, for it has become in almost universal use. " Discipline in those days meant penalties, and the records of the college for this period are largely filled with this sort of thing. " There were only about three hundred undergraduates at this time. . . . There were only three recitations each day in the college, and they were arranged so as to give one to each student in the morning, noon, and afternoon." iln Sanders Theatre, March 27, 1896. MASSACHUSETTS BOABD OF EDUCATION. 165 Shortly after Dr. Ballou severed his official connection with Harvard University, his accumulated labors and exhausted strength admonished him to resign another highly honorable office in the educational world ; namely, as a member of the Massachusetts Board of Education. His term of office regu- larly expired in 1860, but he was absent from the meetings of the Board February 1 and March 24, 1858, and on the latter date it was announced that he had resigned his seat. The Massachusetts Board of Education, consisting of eight members and the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor ex-afficio, was established by an Act ^ approved April 20, 1837, and had as its first secretary a famous educator who resembled Dr. Ballou in many respects, Horace Mann.^ It was December 20, 1854, that Dr. Ballou was appointed to a seat in the Board by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Council, and the records of the Board, under date of March 28, 1855, say : " Rev. Hosea Ballou, d.d., appeared and took his seat." ^ His associates on the Board at that time were Dr. Henry Wheatland, Hon. George S. Bout well. Rev. Edward Otheman, Rev. Dr. E. Davis, Rev. Dr. Mark Hopkins, Hon. Isaac Davis, and Hon. George B. Emerson. The records show that he was regular in attendance and faithful in the performance of his official duties to the State. The better his shy nature unveiled itself, the more he was appreciated by his associates. When Dr. Barnas Sears resigned the office of secretary of the Board to accept the presidency of Brown University in 1855, Dr. Ballou was one of the com- mittee of three to whom his resignation was referred.* In 1856 1 Chapter 241, Mass. Statutes. = Horace Mann was born in 1796, — so was Hosea Ballou; Horace Mann was self-edu- cated,— so was Dr. Ballou; Horace Mann worked for reform in education,— so did Dr. Ballou; Horace Mann spent his life to found a new college (1853), — so did Dr. Ballou. 3 See MSS. Records in State House, Boston, p. 167. * See MSS. Records in State House, Boston, p. 176, for Resolutiona. 166 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.I). he was a member of the Executive Committee, with Professor Cornelius C. Felton and Dr. Henry Wheatland, which recom- mended and secured the appointment of John W. Dickinson as principal of the Massachusetts Normal School at West- field, a position which, having filled with signal ability for nearly a score of years, he resigned only to serve the Common- wealth for another score of years in the yet more responsible position of secretary of the Board, and in effect superintendent of public instruction in the State. Serving on the Executive Committee also in 1857 and 1858, Dr. Ballon was instrumental in bringing forward D. B. Hagar to public notice as a promis- ing educator. For years he was one of the two State visitors to the Massachusetts Normal School at Bridgewater. Was there a vacant State scholarship available for Tufts? Once, for example, he secured the appointment of a needy student who has since gained affluence and fame as an able lawyer and a wise judge. Dr. Ballou believed in popular education, and that no expense should be spared to afford the best. From the nineteenth an- nual report (1856) of the Massachusetts Board of Education we quote : " The appropriations for the school year 1853-4, including only the wages of teachers, board, and fuel, were $1,013,472.26 ; and for the year 1854-5 the appropriations for the same purpose were $1,137,407.76, being an increase of $123,935.50, equal to twelve per cent. This is a larger ad- vance than has ever before taken place in the Commonwealth, whether we regard the aggregate or the ratio. ... It is thought that the operations and measures of the Board of Edu- cation, in connection with its agencies, the Teachers' Institutes and Normal Schools, have been favorably received." From the time when, in 1826, at thirty years of age, the General Convention of Universalists chose him its moderator, Hosea Ballou, 2d, bore all his honors modestly. The less there MINISTEBIAL CIRCLE. 167 was of ostentation, the more the honor pleased him. Indeed, more than the honors of Harvard University and of the Com- monwealtli of Massachusetts, I think he prized marks of love and esteem like the following note : — Boston, January 1, 1850. Dear Sir, — Several months ago, the old members of our minis- terial circle [about fifty members] consulted together and decided to present you with some work or set of books, to be purchased from the funds in the hands of the Treasurer, as a token of their respect and esteem. For various reasons, the execution of their purpose was too long delayed, and I am now directed to send you the gift herein contained, in the name of the brethren, and with our ardent wishes that you may enjoy a happy new year. I need not tell you how pleasant is the duty thus laid upon me, nor with what cheerfulness it is performed. Allow me to hope that you will not deny us the privilege of honoring Universalism thus in our respect for its most faithful advocate and its most illustrious name. . . . With the deepest feelings of attachment and regard, I am yours ever, T. 8. KING. Rev. H. Ballou, 20, D.D, "We cannot resist the conviction," says Dr. Emerson, "that the moral and intellectual character of Dr. Ballou was extraor- dinary, — extraordinary we mean even when compared with the moral and intellectual qualities of other men of acknowl- edged preeminence. There was an indefinable quality in both his nature and attainments that compelled other men to rever- ence him as a superior." ^ 1 In Quarterly, July, 1861, pp. 309, 310. CHAPTER IX. TRAVELS. How sweet and ever fresh is the love of nature inspired in earliest childhood ! " Green River Vale and Barney Hill " never lost their hold on the affections of Dr. Ballon, but, on the contrary, the fond recollections of them served to spur him ofi to behold new and distant scenes of beauty and gran- deur. Grand Monadnock was the first high mountain he climbed. In August, 1844, he made the first of oft-repeated visits to the White and Franconia mountains. " From Concord, N. H., to Centre Harbor, Monday, August 5," he begins a journal. " Left Concord, by Meredith stage, a little before noon." The note- books he kept on his travels, partly in ink, often in pencil, — usually in English, with Latin and occasional French phrases interspersed ; here a specimen of freehand drawing in pencil, showing the outline and lights and shadows of mountain ranges, as they rise tier upon tier, the peaks named and their relative and actual heights shown, or again an impromptu map showing the mountain peaks, the defiles, the water courses, and villages, — are among the heirlooms of the family. Picture him on the top of a mountain coach, before the day of railways there, book and pencil often in hand, or more likely — for nothing appears to have escaped his notice — at the inn, after a day's journey, jotting down from memory what he has seen. Or, perhaps, climbing a mountain on foot, scaling with infinite zest an Adams or a Lafayette, he stops on the brink of a preci- WHITE MOUNTAmS. 169 pice for rest and to enjoy the view, and figures out some prob- lem ot distance or height by algebraic formulae, or in sport writes out a witticism like this : — " Let a = transcendentalism, b = no-faitli-ism, c = byper-spiiitualism, d = nihilism. Then, ad=bc." Or when, on another page, a table, " Height of Mountains," has been disfigured, he writes : " Impression on paper of the opposite page. N. B. — Here is an impression in oil colors, — the real oil color, derived from an overflowing lamp, — we may call it whale-oil color, since whale is its basis, if the salesman spoke true." His passion for history and familiarity with the historical features of his itinerary find expression in brief notes like these : — " Adpetentibus Nobis d Concordia. "1. Concord, east of river. Turtle pond, near line of Loudon. Junction of Contoocook with the Merrimack is the island where Mrs. Dustin made her escape in 1698, March 15. She had been taken from Haverhill, Mass., when her infant was but six days old. " Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford) settled in Concord in early life. He was a native of Woburn." Under Sanbornton he writes: "On Winnipiseogee, at head of Little Bay, are remains of an ancient fortification, six walls, one along the river, and across a point of land into the bay ; the others at right angles, connected by a circular wall in the rear ; also on an island in the bay. When first settlers arrived, in 1765, the walls were breast high, and large oaks growing in the enclosure." Again the composition of the rocks, the character of the 170 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. grasses, the species of trees are jotted down, like all the rest, with that critical accuracy to which he was bora and bred, and which always characterized whatever he did, whether as mathe- matician, naturalist, poet, linguist, historian, or theologian. The pocket maps which he studied with painstaking care in prepa- ration for each trip, none of his traveling companions ever had so clearly in mind as he. His knowledge of geography was remarkable. A traveler lately returned from Rome once met him at Cornhill, and struck with Mr. Ballou's minute knowl- edge of its geography, said : " Doctor, when were you last in Rome ? " and was astounded to learn that he had gathered his information from maps and books and pictures, and that he had in fact never visited the Eternal City. For accurate description of mountain scenery there is per- haps nothing in the language that surpasses the article which appeared as a review in the Universalist Quarterly for January, 1846,1 after his first two visits to the White Mountains. It stimulated Thomas Starr King, in turn, to write his " White Hills." The tide of mountain travel had not then set in. Said Hosea Ballon, 2d, in 1845: "I think the only dwellings in the long pass through the mountains are, First : An old farm hut with a little clearing around, three or four miles below Old Crawford's, and not far from where the valley turns again to the north. Second : Old Crawford's, a large two-story tavern, with barns, outbuildings, etc., and a considerable clearing along the bottom of the valley. Third: Five miles onwards, the Willey House. . . . Fourth : The Notch House, a decent-look- ing two-story tavern, with outbuildings. Fifth: Four miles and a half to the north by northwest, Fabyan's (formerly Ethan A. Crawford's), a large and rather splendid hotel, with* out- houses, and a large cleared farm on the banks of the Ammo- noosuck. Sixth: Half a mile farther northwest Ethan A. 1 Pages 113-143. MONADNOCK MOUNTAIN. 171 Crawford's, a two-story tavern, built within a few years, but apparently not very well kept." His method of observation is well illustrated by the follow- ing quotation from his notebook on the " Ascent of Monad- nock," August 16, 1851 : — " Remark. Many years ago I visited Monadnock. ... It was in the early part of June [probably 1838], on one of the clearest days I ever saw. We reached the summit before noon I think, and saw the horizon unshaded by a single cloud, and scarcely obscured by any smokiuess. In the extreme north there stood a long range of mountains, white as a pile of clouds. These, I suppose, were the Frauconia and White mountains ; but as T had never then seen those ranges, I did not fix their forms precisely in my mind and cannot now recall their particular appearances. " August 16, 1851. — Arrived at Mr. Mann's, at the southern part of the mountain, about one o'clock p.m., in company with my brother Levi, of North Orange. . . . Followed up the ravine to the north through the forest for a mile, perhaps, over a good footpath, quite steep, till we came out in sight of the immense ledge of rocks that forms the summit above us to the north. Climbed up over and be- tween scattered rocks, mixed with low bushes, and reached the little level plot of ground between the highest eminence to the north and the lower spur of the mountain that runs off south. This level plot is grown up with bushes. Coming out of them we climbed over the huge fragments that have fallen down from the shattered cone of rocks, directing our course up around towards the eastern side of the summit ; one of the wildest scenes of ruin and confusion I ever saw ; the vast piles of fragments, many of them hundreds of tons in weight, lying under the everlasting cliffs of solid rock. Climbed up the eastern side and reached the top, — all solid rocks, shivered and cracked in various forms. "The top, and the summit of the shoulders north, east, aud south, were all rock, somewhat broken on surface but underlaid with the permanent ledge. To the west or northwest the same, only the sur- 172 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. face seemed more broken into huge fragments sticking up in bound- less confusion down tlie inclined plane. "The very summit seems, as we approach it from the south, to be a castellated crown of rock of %several rods in width east and west. . . . "View from the Top. 1, North. The first object that attracted our eye in this direction was Kearsarge in Wilmot and Warner ; and this served as a landmark from which to calculate the position of other objects. . . . " We could not discern the Washington range as the horizon was obscure, on account of the clouds which nearly covered the sky, and the atmosphere was in some parts vapory. I think that Washington must have been wrapt in clouds. Lafayette was dimly discerned ; and so was the Sandwich range. Washington must stand on a line a little to the right of Kearsarge. Moosehillock was visible. " Nearer than Kearsarge, and considerably to the left, was Suna- pee Mountain. Farther to the left, Granthau Mountains. " Ascutney stood up in plain view. A little to the left of Ascutney, a distant heavy mountain, with two or three points, was perhaps Shrewsbury Mountain or Killington Peak. " To the north of west, and considerably to the left of Killington Peak, was Stratton Mountain. And behind that, and coming out faintly at the right edge of it, was another more distinct mountain, perhaps Monument Mountain in Manchester. "About west of us, we saw a peaked cone among the mountains rather overtopping them, which may have been Haystack in Wil- mington. . . . " To the south of west we looked for Saddleback or Graylock ; but though there were several roundish points overtopping the general summit of the Green Mountains, we could not positively identify it. The sun did not shine on this side of the Green Mountains, and we could not determine whether the highest points were on the summit or beyond. . . . "Down the Connecticut River Valley, saw Mount Grace in War- wick ; and farther to the left, and much farther off, a mountain SAGUENAY. 173 notched on the summit, which we thought to be Montague Mountain. Did not distinguish Mount Tom and Holyoke. " Saw Mount Tully and North Orange meeting-house. Wachu- sett, with its round head, in plain view. " To the east, or somewhat north of east, stood up the two sum- mits of the Peterborough Mountains, both of them round summits. They are seen from Pine Hill in Medford, bearing to the north of Monadnoek. . . . " Northeast the two round summits in New Boston or Goffstown are seen. . . . " A line drawn from Ascutney to Wachusett would pass a very little to the north of the top of Monadnoek, these three mountains standing almost in range." In 1847 Dr. Ballon prepared, with accurate information, to visit Moosehead Lake, but we are not sure that he ever visited northern Maine. In a humorous mood Dr. Ballon dashed off the following , letter and mailed it to his publisher, " A. Tompkins, 38 Corn- hill, Boston, Mass.," namely : — Medford, June 29, 1852. Brother Tompkins, — I think I must go to the Saguenay, eome what may afterward. As the poets say. It is a chance not to be sneezed at ; or, as the Psalmist expresses it, A bird in hand is worth two in the bush; or, as the Latins have it, Carpe diem, — hoc est, Fugit irreparabile tempus, festinanter advenit senectus, nunc sola opportunitas, dolores quinquaginta non spernendi sunt si speres unquam Saguenay videre in hac vita mortali. Quare, O Tompkins, si fata sinent, me videbis, proximo Die Martis, paratum ad iter. Multse gratiae donantibus vel donanti. Pax et barba magnifica Ursae Majori, H. BALLOU, 2d. Mr. Tompkins did not know a word of Latin ; the writer no doubt anticipated that he would call upon their mutual friend, 174 HO SEA BALLOU 2d, D.D. Starr King, then a young man twenty-eight years old, to trans- late it for him. Together they went to Montreal, Quebec, Montmorenci, and Saguenay ! A memorable trip ! Dr. Ballou commemorated it by the following humorous correspondence and descriptive verses [revised 1860] : — A DESCRIPTIVE POEM. BY A. TOMPKINS, U.M. ADVERTISEMENT. For having originated this, Mr. Tompkins was fined ten dollars ; which will appear very moderate, when we consider that it makes the poem a fine-one, and him a fine-poet ; as neither he, nor it, could otherwise have been. FROM CACOUNA TO TADOUSAC. Three o'clock by the stars ! and 't is time to weigh ; O'er th' expanse of St. Lawrence 't is break of day ! Yet the darkness and light undivided lie On the waves, and above in the ragged sky ; While the chill breeze of dawn comes with flickering scud. As we loose from Cacouna to cross the flood. We are leaving Cacouna all hushed in night ; Now we pass her dark islands upon our right ; And the streamers of mist by our prow flit past, Or, like spectres, stalk round on the watery waste ; While the broadening northeast sends the dawn on high Mid the night-clouds that patch yonder whitening sky. Far amidst the dim flood ! lo, yon fiery beam. That has peered through the dusk, — how it leaps in flame ! And is flashing out wan from its rock in the deep, Out against the pale morning, as past we sweep ; And wc sweep on amain into mutfling cloud. That infolds us for leagues in its thick, chill shroud. EUROPE. 175 But huzzah ! for at length we have broken through, And the morning shines bright from the heavens all blue. There the mountains, pine-clad, skirt the wild north shore ; And, among them, the jaws of the Saguenay tower Over lone Tadousac, and the solitudes Where St. Lawrence and Saguenay join their floods. In the leather-covered pocket notebook, with clasp, which tells the story of his European trip.^ I find the following initial entry : " May 9, 1854. On board the packet Star of Empire, at about 10 a.m. Messrs. Tompkins, Maxham, and Curtis left the packet below Boston Light, about one half after one P.M. and returned to the city by the tow-steamboat." Twenty-two days pass, and he writes in pencil the following amusing description of the passage : — Ship Star of Empire, Lat. 50° 30', Long. 30°, June 1, 1854. Dear Tompkins, — Having taken my walk this evening, and done up ail the chores, and having nothing else to do till bedtime, I mav as well occupy an hour in writing a note as a continuation of some former communications to you. Not that I can put it in Latin, for there is no Latin dictionary on board ; nor can I favor you with a Cacouna strain, for my Muse is a Land Muse, and does not go to sea, being rather queezy at the stomach and easily affected by any swell of the ocean. Ah, Tompkins, were you ever seasick? What a delightful sensation ! head all dizzy, ship and ocean all swaying about, eyes incapable of seein^ straight, and stomach ready to turn inside out ! Very comfortable, truly ; at least I so imagine, from a slight affection of the kind which I experienced for a day or two in the beginning of our passage. . . . But, aside from seasickness, is not life at sea a very pleasant life ? Nothing but the same sheet of water to gaze upon for three weeks and more ; nothing that one can do, except to eat, sleep, and »B. B. Mussey, the publisher of Dr. Ballou's hymu book and Sismoudi's "History of tiie Crusades against the Albigenses," bore the expense of the trip ($600 or $700), as he had done for Chapin a few years before. No doubt he already had "value received." Dr. Ballou also had charge of Mr. Mussey's son Frank on the trip. 176 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. read novels, varied perhaps now and then by a little exercise in tnat peculiar rule of arithmetic, entitled "Casting up Accounts." I have read some less than fifty novels, — all at any rate which are on board, — "Vanity Fair," "Modern Flirtations," several of the Pamphlet Novelettes, etc. Besides this meritorious reading, I have followed exactly the course of life described by Teufelsdrockh in his Latin Epitaph, which King will find, and translate, for you in Sartor Eesartus. Please remember, and ask him about said Epitaph ; for it is the most pathetic, as well as the truest one, that was probably ever written. I say, I follow the very sort of life therein described, bating the shooting of partridges, ^'' plumho." "Well, here we are pawing about still in the middle of the Atlantic, 1,000 miles from Liverpool, the twenty-third day of our passage, with a head wind, against which we have been tacking for the last sixteen or seventeen days, except when we have been becalmed. Pretty dull work, though we have got used to it, and don't mind it so much as at first. And then 'Ahr-cop rouses us every morning with the cheering note he gave us in your oflSce the day before we sailed. It is a pleasure to have the representative of so distin- guished a man on board with us, especially as we both look forward to the time when he shall entertain us with the substance instead of the sound. Five and a half months later, November 18, 1854, on Dr. Ballou's return to Medford, he wrote to his very dear brother Levi : — " Well, sir, I've been to Europe. ... I enjoyed the sight-seeing much ; I had opportunities to realize many scenes that had dwelt in my imagination from childhood, but which I had as little thought of ever seeing, as I now have of ever seeing the chasms, glens, and fields in the moon. "Our passage out, in the sailing packet, was very long, — five weeks with a day, — and it trenched considerably upon our arrange- ments for traveling in Europe. But our company was very agree- able, and we spent the time on the whole quite pleasantly ; had EUROPE. 177 only a slight touch of seasickness ; had two storms to vary the scene ; the most of the passage, pleasant weather, sometimes a dead calm, sometimes a slight breath of air, the face of the ocean as smooth as glass ; many moonshine nights ; two or three nights the face of the sea all around to the horizon covered with sheets of flame, and the wake of the vessel a long track of fire, from the phosphoric substances that abound in certain parts of the ocean. A storm at sea is a stirring scene when there is no danger ; the ship drives like mad, rearing her head halfway up to the zenith, and then plunging as if she would go under; all her noble array of masts, shrouds, and sails rocking with her, and the wind piping its thunder tones through her rigging, while the surges like little hills chase her, roll up as if they would come headlong upon her deck, but generally miss their aim. Going up the channel between Ireland and England, we had what the captain allowed was a gale, though a moderate one, and we dashed about for a da}^ near the coast of Wales, part of the time in Caernarvon Bay, unknowing precisely where we were ; for the land was covered with clouds, through which we now and then saw a promontory or mountain half revealed. "We landed at Liverpool about the fourteenth of June. The first thing that struck me, as we came near the shore, was the deep, lively green of all the Euglish fields and foliage. I have seen nothing in our country to compare with it, except in some very highly cultivated spots after a shower in the beginning of summer. But I must not attempt to describe, for that would require a book instead of a sheet of paper. " At Liverpool, called on Dr. Thorn, a social and kind man. . . . Left Liverpool I think on the sixteenth, went down about thirty miles south to the ancient city of Chester — the first old place I ever saw, for Liverpool is of recent growth. After spending some hours in visiting the antiquities of Chester, proceeded still south about five miles to Eaton Hall, the country seat of the Marquis of Westminster, where we saw the rooms, princely furniture, gardens, etc. It is in the midst of a park about nine miles square. Back to Chester ; took railroad west through North Wales, green, dark, 178 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d. D.D. glowing green all around ; passed the river Dee, crossed the mouth of the celebrated valley of Cloud (pronounced Clood), up which we snatched a view to its head among the mountains eight or ten miles off south ; reached old perished Conway, where we spent an hour and a half exploring the ruins of its immense castle, six hundred years old ; on, again, in the cars, through the bold heads of Penmanmaur, that are pierced by tunnels ; and arrived at old Bangor about sunset. This is the first day's work. In the evening, traversed the old town which lies deep in a narrow valley with bold cliffs over- hanging it at the east ; heard the Welsh gutturals on every side, though most of the people can speak English also ; and saw the "Welsh dress, — beautiful young women wearing steeple-crowned hats and looking well in them too ; shriveled, dried-up old women wearing all kinds of men's hats, and driving jackasses as dried up as themselves. Next morning, took a ride out four miles to the great suspension-bridge over the Menai Straits, and a mile farther to the great Tubular Bridge through which the railroad passes over the straits ; then some nine or ten miles south to Caernarvon ; after examining its great castle, where the first Prince of Wales was born, six hundred years ago, and seeing Snowdon Mountains, about ten miles off southeast and east, returned to Bangor, took the cars, passed through the Tubular Bridge on to the island of Anglesea, which we crossed to Holyhead at the west point ; there took steamer to Kingston, seven miles south of Dublin, and arrived at the capital of Ireland about midnight. This is the second day's work. Stayed in Dublin one and one half days ; went into St. Patrick's Cathedral, where Dean Swift used to officiate ; saw his monument ; attended Episcopal service Sunday forenoon at Christ Church, and also at the Chapel of the University ; heard the organ pray, with a mess of men and boys to help it; 'Bless the (haw — aw — haw) Lord, O my soul (haw — aw — haw),' was the way one of them performed, he being sleepy and gapish, having been out late the night before on a spree. Afternoon, Sunday, took the cars and went north through the richest fields of vegetation I ever saw, — beautiful lawns and groves in the distance, all like a park, for some forty miles to the EUROPE. 179 Boyne River, which we crossed at Drogheda, about two miles east of the scene of the battle of the Boyne. Onwards, still north in a still beautiful country, passed the head of Carlingford Bay and through the Carlingford Mountains to Belfast. Next morning, partly by rail and partly by stage and partly by a nondescript Irish sort of a one-horse wagon, went through Ballamena, Ballamoney, in sight of Lough Neagh, to Bushmill and the Giant's Causeway at the north end of Ireland ; here we spent about three hours in surveying this wonderful coast, taking a boat and passing around its promontories, into its caverns, and walking over the Causeway itself. Towards night hired one of the aforesaid nondescript wagons and driver and kept down near the northeast coast to Ballycastle. Next morning, still along in sight of this remarkable coast, and in sight of some of the Scottish islands far off to the north, we proceeded to Larne and thence to Belfast again, where we arrived about eight in the evening, in season to take the steamer for Scotland. Next moi'ning, when I came on deck, we had passed the Isle of Arran (which I regretted, as I intended to see it), and had entered the Clyde, with its rich green fields on either hand, and its mountains pastured to the very top in the background. Soon we passed Greenock ; soon, Dumbar- ton, with its celebrated castle on a mountain rock that towers up out of the river, and at about eight in the morning reached Glasgow — a vast city, the commercial emporium of Scotland. Here spent this and the next day ; went into the old cathedral, leaned against the pillar in the crypt against which Scott makes Osbaldistone lean in ' Rob Roy.' Friday morn (I think, or else Thursday morn) took steamer down the river to Dumbarton, then up the Leven water to Loch Lomond (wild and fantastic, and beautiful beyond my anticipa- tions), passed by Ben Lomond, landed at Inversnaid, went over the mountain moor to Loch Katrine, which we ci'ossed lengthwise in a miniature steamer, with Ben Venue, Ben Ledi, Ben A'an, and other scenes of the ' Lady of the Lake ' in full view, passed ' Ellen's Isle ' ; landed at east end of lake in the mouth of the Trosachs, through which we rode and stopped for the night at the eastern end of the pass on the bank of Loch Achray. It is a wild pass, but we have 180 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. many wilder in our own country. Next morning went on, and got out of the Grampian Mountains a little before we reached Callander, on the banks, I think, of the Teith Eiver. From Callander to Stir- ling, where we went through the lofty castle that overlooks all the beautiful country around, and commands a view of the Grampian and Ochil mountains. One mile south from Stirling is the village of St. Ninians, where I called on a cousin of Father Balfour, who told me the story of his early life, and showed me the house in which he was born and brought up. It appears that what I have long sus- pected was true, that Father Balfour never went to the University of Edinburgh. He studied a year at a Mr. Erving's, a minister of Glasgow, in preparation for the ministry, and then went out to preach under the patronage of the Haldanes. From St. Ninians it is only a mile or less to the field of Bannockburn. I stood on the spot where Bruce's standard was fixed during the battle. Returned to Stirling and took railroad to Edinburgh, where we arrived in after- noon. Called on Robert Chambers, the author and publisher, with a letter from Brother Laurie. Went over the Old Town, Holyrood Palace, out to St. Leonard's, under Salisbury crags. Visited the castle on its high rock like that of Stirling. Sunday morning break- fasted with Robert Chambers, and was conducted by his daughter to the church of Dr. Candlish, the most noted Presbyterian preacher of Edinburgh, — a very earnest preacher without rant, an earnest and strong-minded man. Went over the New Town, a very magnif- icent city. Visited Scott's monument (indeed our hotel was near and in full view of it), Burns' and Play fair's and Nelson's monu- ments on Carlton Hill, etc. Edinburgh is the British Athens. One fancies that there is a peculiar literary air about it. The waters of the Forth, the green country to the west and south, Arthur's Seat towering up over the Salisbury crags at the southeast, and the ven- erable, majestic castle heaving up at the southwest corner of the Old Town, form a panorama around the city such as few places can boast. But I must shorten my tether, or write a book instead of a letter. " From Edinburgh, southerly, to Melrose Abbey, and Abbotsford HOSEA BALLOU, 2o. [From a Ckayox Poimhait by Giddixgs IIydk IJallou.] EVBOPE. 181 (Sir "Walter Scott's seat) on the Tweed. Saw his study, library, aud several rooms as he left them, and the collection of old armor and other curiosities he had gathered. Then still south aud down through the Cheviot Hills (passing some miles to the west of Jedburgh, Thompson's native place), to the English border at the Solway, and to Carlyle, the first city on the English side. Thence south to Penrith ; then southwest to the Cumberland Lakes, where I saw Southey's and Wordsworth's dwellings, the cataract of Lodore, and the Skiddaw and Helvellyn Mountains. Derwentwater, Windermere, Grasmeer, etc., the houses where Coleridge and Wilson died. Then to Kendall, Lancaster, Manchester, Birmingham, Warwick Castle, Stratford-on- Avon, . . . Oxford and its ancient University, Reading aud London. Stayed in and about London eleven days ; visited British Museum where the monuments of Nineveh are kept ; National Institute and Gallery of Paintings, Crystal Palace, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's ; went out to Hampton Court ; to Twickenham and saw Pope's villa ; to Richmond Hill, justly noted for its ravishing prospect (see Thomp- son's ' Seasons ') , and rode out to Chelsea and called on Carlyle ; went into House of Lords and heard some of the debates ; plain-spoken and plain-dressed men, talked and looked like first-rate farmers or men of business ; saw the splendid carriages of the nobility and gentry driving around Hyde Park, etc. London is a world of itself ; seems without bounds ; smoky, grimy, weather and fog stained, but over- whelming in its magnitude ; a river of human life eternally pouring through its principal streets. "From London, by steamer, down the Thames, and across the Channel to Ostend in Belgium. Then to Bruges, Ghent, Malines, Brussels, field of Waterloo, back to Brussels and Malines, on to Antwerp ; over the Scheldt into Holland ; to Breda, Dort (where the famous Synod was held), to Rotterdam, Delft (where the Delft ware is made), to the Hague, Leyden, to Haarlem (where we heard the great organ for an hour) , Amsterdam ; then past Utrecht to Arnhem, where we took steamer on the Rhine ; went up to Diisseldorf, where we stopped a day to see the Galleries of Paintings ; still up the Rhine to Cologne, where we visited the great cathedral that has 182 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. been building six hundred years, — one hundred and ninety feet from floor to ceiling, — a mountain of architecture that is seen miles before the city is visible ; up the Rhine to Bonn, to Coblentz, to Mayence ; then off east to Frankfort-on-Main ; northeast to Giessen, and called on Dr. Kredner ; back to Frankfort ; south to Heidelberg, and called on Professor Umbreit of the University there ; south to Strasburg on the Rhine ; southeast to Freiburg ; southwest to Basle on the Rhine, where we finally left the river and steered for Zurich in Switzerland. First view of the Alps from a hill halfwaj' between Basle and Ziirich, — they were the Alps in the eastern part of Switzerland. Saw them very plainly from Zurich. From Zurich over the Albis to Lake Zug ; at east end of which, saw the site of old Goldau, covered for miles around by the fall of a mountain ; ascended the Rhigi ; crossed the Lake of Lucerne lengthwise, passing the stirring scenes in the story of Tell, with the mountains springing up almost perpendicular all around, and topped with glaciers ; went to Lucerne ; then to Stan- stad, Lungern, over the Brunig down into the valley of Meiringen ; up along the glaciers of the "Wetterhorn, over the Scheideck into the valley of Grindelwald ; to Interlachen between the Lakes of Thun and Brienz ; up the valley of Lauterbrunnen on to the "Wengern Alp, immediately under the Jungfrau ; back to Interlachen ; across the Lake of Thun, and on to Berne ; from Berne, by the lake and battle ground of Morat, through Avenches, to Lausanne on the Lake of Geneva. Put up at Lausanne, in the Hotel de Gibbon, on part of the grounds occupied by Gibbon's garden where he finished ' The Decline and Fall.' One of the most interesting views over the lake and mountains beyond, and the country on the western shore, that imagination can picture ! Went along the west and north shore of the lake, through Vevay, Clarens, by the Castle of Chillon (which we explored), to Villeneuve, at the northeast end of the lake, where the Upper Rhone enters it. Then by steamer across the lake lengthwise to Geneva at the southwest end. I have not room to speak of the air of enchantment that hangs over all this region. Attended service in the church where Calvin used to preach ; saw the house where he lived ; his manuscripts in the library, etc. ; could not find out where EUROPE. 183 the place is in which he burned Servetus. Started for Chamouny ; at Cluse, halfway between Greneva and Chamouny, entered the narrow part of the valley of the Arve, a stupendous defile of several hours' ride, the sides loftier and more imposing than even that of Lauter- bruunen. Caught first view of Mont Blanc about twelve miles off, at St. Martins or Salenche ; he was covered with clouds while we were on the Lake of Geneva, or we should have seen him from thence, as we afterwards did see him. After some steep ascents and descents, partly on foot, partly in a car-a-hanc^ arrived in Chamouny about sunset ; passed the lower end of the great Glacier des Bossons, and saw the rose tint fade away on the head of Mont Blanc. Stayed in Chamouny two days ; ascended the Montanvert, went on to the Mer de Glace and saw the structure of the glaciers ; passed Sunday afternoon by myself up high on the side of the Br^vent, which fronts Mont Blanc, and could see almost every rod in the course pursued by those who ascend to the summit ; next day rode to the top of the Fleg^re, whence my view of Mont Blanc, in my parlor, was taken. The evening of our arrival in Chamouny, an English gentleman arrived there on his descent from the summit ; and on Monday another Englishman returned from the top. Since then, a French lady had made the ascent ; and, a brother of our brother Talbot has also performed the feat, and, what is remarkable, in less time than it had ever been performed before. All the time we were in Chamouny, the whole range of mountains stood out clear both by day and by night. Left Chamouny, and went over the dizzy pass of T6te Noire, north, and over the Foiclaz into the valley of the Upper Rhone, at Martigny ; from the top of the Forclaz saw the great road running up the deep valley, as straight as a line could be drawn, for ten miles. From Martigny, up the valley, on the aforesaid road, and onward, till we reached Brieg, early next day. Here the great Simplon Road begins. Took an open one-horse wagon ; swept up, for several hours, around the brink of the tremendous gulf of the Saltine and the Ganter, passed through one or two galleries to shield from the avalanches, saw the heights above beginning to be spotted with glaciers, gained the summit of the pass, and looked back on the whole 184 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. range of Bernese Alps, over on the north side of the Rhone valley, all covered with snow — the Jungfrau, the Monch, Eigher, Wetterhorn, Finster-Aarhorn, etc. From the summit of the pass we descended through similar scenes, with glaciers overhead, past the village of Simplon, throngh tlie great gallery or Gondo, through other galleries, along the brink of terrific chasms, and entered the valley of Doveria, which beats even the valley of the Arve. That night we reached Domo d'Ossola in Italy, — weather as hot as blazes- We had been told, weeks before, that it would not be advisable to go below Flor- ence till at least the middle of Septembei' ; and as we had not time, after that date, to go to Rome and Naples, and be back in season for the middle-of-October steamer at Liverpool, we had concluded to give up the Italian tour. So we turned back next morning from Domo d'Ossola, recrossed the Simplon, rode all night down the valley of the Rhone, and took steamer the following morning at Villeueuve for Geneva, where we arrived a little after noon. Rode out some ten miles to Ferney, where Voltaire used to live ; we had already been at Coppet, on the west side of the lake, where Necker and his daughter, Madame de Stael, lived. Left Geneva in the diligence, or stage, through the passes of the Jura range, keeping near the Rhone, on our way to Lyons in France, — a long day's ride of about one hundred miles, through suffocating clouds of dust that drove us almost to desperation. We should have got out, but our baggage was booked for Lyons, and could not be claimed short of that city. Stayed in Lyons two days ; went up to the heights, where the old Roman city stood, and into the underground church where St. Irenaeus (a.d. 180) preached ; saw Mont Blanc staining the sky, more than one hundred miles off, air line, and the mountains of Dauphiny in the southeast horizon, etc., traced out the courses of the Rhone and of the Saone from the point where they meet ; went out into the new part of the city, where the inhabitants were butchered, or rather shot down, in the old French Revolution, etc. From Lyons, up the Saone to Macon, Chalons-sur-Saone, to Dijon, once the capi- tal of the old kingdom of Burgundy, where Charles the Bold held his court, — a rich antique city, with old decayed palaces, now put EUBOPE. 185 to better use ; a rolling plain, watered with rivers, and varied by great heavy swells, all planted with vines, or cultivated in grain fields, forms the bright prospect around. From Dijon to Paris north- west, nearly a day's ride on the railroad, through a country of plains and gently swelling hills. Passed through Fontainebleau, where Bonaparte abdicated before he went to Elba ; then through Melun ; and soon afterwards reached Paris. Taking a cab at the depot, I had not ridden far through the streets when I saw the name Ballue on a sign. I afterwards made acquaintance with the proprietor and with another family in Paris of the same name, but could not ascer- tain whether we were of kin. One of them promised to write me at Medford. Stayed in Paris five days, including one day at Versailles and its unrivaled gardens, of which it would be impossible in one sheet to give any adequate idea. Paris itself is distinguished for tasteful magnificence and imposing elegance above every other city I have seen — far above. I thought beforehand that I should not like it ; but I did admire it, excessively perhaps. Still, I would not like to live in it ; there is no home in it, as there is in London, — which also I thought beforehand that I should not like, but which I did like right well, in spite of its everlasting smoke, and frequent fogs, and eternal thunder. To return to Paris, however, it seems to me like a dream of some enchanted land, when I call up the range of grounds and buildings from the Louvre and Tuileries up to the Arch of Triumph. I will be bold to say there is nothing to be compared with it on the face of the globe. The remembrance of the evenings in which I walked iu the Place de la Concorde (which stands in the middle of the range just mentioned) haunts me with its strange magnificence and beauty. And yet this very Place de la Concorde was the scene of the guillotines in the old French Revolution ; it is where Louis XVI and Antoinette suffered ! . . . I visited the place occupied by the old Bastille ; the Champs de Mars ; the spot where the Temple stood in which the family of Louis XVI was confined ; the old Palais Royale ; Palais de Luxembourg and its gardens ; the Observatory ; the Artesian Well ; ascended the dome of the Pantheon, whence is a view of about all the city ; the Hotel de Ville ; the Fau- 186 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. bourg St. Antoine and St. Houore ; Montmartre ; the Church of St. Germain I'Auxerrois, whence the tocsin sounded both for the mas- sacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve, and for the insurrection that forced Louis XVI from his palace ; the Cathedral Church of Notre Dame, that of the Madeleine ; of St. Roch ; P^re Lachaise, the Mount Au- burn of Paris, which I do not think worthy to be compared with our Mount Auburn ; it is filled full with monuments and wants the foliage that adorns and giyes life to our ' city of the dead.' I called on Coquerel, the celebrated Protestant preacher, who is also a Uni- versalist, but he was not at home. "From Paris, down the Seine to Rouen, the old capital of Nor- mandy ; a fine city with a good deal of activity apparent in its streets. In the old market place is the statue of Joan d'Arc, on the spot where she was burned. Thence leaving the Seine, across the country to Havre, at the mouth of the river ; a very busy city. Here we took leave of the Continent forever, went on board a steamer, got our passports viseed for the last time ; crossed the channel in the night, and next morning were steering past the Isle of Wight for Southampton, on the southern coast of England. The Isle of Wight is distinguished for its rural beauty, and we could see its fields and rows of trees from the deck. Landed at Southampton and proceeded to Salisbury. Went into its cathedral, one of the largest and finest in England. Afternoon, drove out about seven miles to Stouehenge, on Salisbury plain, — that old Druidical monu- ment, enormous stones iu their rude state set up in a circle, with mounds all around. From Salisbury took stage for Bristol in the southwestern part of England, going through Bath. Stayed in Bris- tol overnight, and then turned about for London. Took the great Western Railroad and went like lightning to Reading, and then to Slough, near Windsor. Stopped overnight at Windsor ; next morning took a cab, drove down to Eaton Colleges, then through Slough still northward to Stoke-Pogis, the ' Country Churchyard,' on which Gray wrote his celebrated ode. It is truh' an old country churchyard, lying out alone in a highly cultivated tract, only two or three houses in the neighborhood ; an ancient church, built at different EUROPE. 187 times and in fantastic shape, or shapes, with a little smooth-shaven lawn in front all surrounded with trees. Here is the grave of Gray, near the church wall ; there, among the graves, are the aged yew trees ; on the rising ground at the end of the lawn is Gray's monu- ment, overlooking the road hidden by foliage, and commanding a view of the country far around, even to the castle of Windsor, I think. Back to Windsor ; traveled for miles through the stately old park, then went into the castle and saw the queen's staterooms and furniture. The castle overlooks the Thames at its base, and all the level country to great distance on every side. Some miles to the east is Windsor Forest, away beyond the park, or rather it is a continuation of the park. From Windsor by railroad to London, where we put up again in our old lodgings, glad to get badi, and the family apparently glad to see us. Stayed three or four days in London to settle up our business, that is, to get our bills exchanged for drafts on America. Started north for Cambridge, went into the colleges of the university,^ saw the old mulberry tree planted by Milton while a student here ; went on still north through Ely, passing its cathedral, and put up at Peterborough. Went into its cathedral, saw where Catherine, the first queen of Henry VIII, lies, and the tomb in which Mary Queen of Scots was first buried, though after- wards removed to AVestminster Abbey. Next morning turned to the west, went through Rugby, Litchfield, Tamworth, etc., and reached Liverpool before night. Stayed here two or three days, called on Dr. Thom, who was kind enough to invite a number of clergy,meu and professors ; had a pleasant evening. Took steamer America on Saturday p.m., four days before the ill-fated Arctic left. She was the next steamer after ours. Put into Halifax, and saw Brother Hooper. Reached home Saturday morning, a fortnight after leaving Liverpool, — rather a long passage, with head winds and rough seas till we reached the Newfoundland banks. "By an oversight I missed the direct way to Ayr and Kilmarnock, the scenes of Burns' early life, and to punish myself for my careless- 1 In his notebook Dr. Ballou says he was more favorably impressed with Cambridge than with Oxford University. 188 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. ness, I would not go there from Glasgow. This, I think, was the only thing I failed of seeing which I had set my heart upon when I undertook the tour. The objects that I most love to recall are the old huge churches of Holland, Belgium, and the Rhine ; the few old cathedrals of England ; the green fields of P^ngland and Ireland ; the Giant's Causeway ; the Clyde, Loch Lomond, and the route to Stir- ling ; Edinburgh, Abbotsford, Stoke-Pogis, the Lakes of Cumberland ; "Windsor, Richmond, the immensity of London ; (I ought to mention 8tonehenge ; ) Waterloo ; the rolling plain of Belgium ; the watery low- lands of Holland ; Haarlem Organ ; the Rhine ; the Alps, and lakes of Switzerland ; Paris ; and the interviews I had with Chambers, Carlyle, Kredner, etc. I never knew what was the significance of the Gothic architecture till I saw it where it belongs, — in the immense cathedrals for which it was designed. We have nothing like them in our country ; Trinity Church, New York, being a toy in comparison. Of the Alps I had formed some notion beforehand, often as correct as a drawing on paper would give. But it is a different thing to see the reality itself. The cities of Europe, generally, wear an aspect much more antique than I had imagined ; they are, for the most part, solid old blocks of building with narrow stirred-up streets between, — dead as the men who founded them. In Holland and in some places on the Rhine they are partly surrounded with thick groves, or close parks, into which you step almost from the very streets. This adds a peculiar beauty. " Well, here is the longest letter I have written for many a year.^ I began it at noon, and now it is into the evening. Please drop us a line soon, that we may know how Mrs. Ballou is. Yours truly, H. BALLOU, 2d. "Rev. Levi Ballou." A friend of Dr. Ballou once said, of him : " I think of the man who, more than any other I ever knew, loved the Creator's nature, and whose soul was full of ' all sweet sounds and harmonies.' There were few regions on this earth in which, 1 For the first part of this letter see chap. XIII. EUBOPE. 189 by thought and feeling, he had not traveled. . . . When from Lake Geneva he first saw the dome of Mont Blanc, as it lifts above the lower hills, he met its mighty welcome as an old friend. When from the spires of Berne and the hills of Ziirich he first saw the beautiful Oberland, he counted all the peaks by name. And so wherever he went, he seemed to have sent himself on before, so familiar by study had he become with the scenes amid which he was moving. Years before he went abroad, he made a map of the one hundred and twenty snowy summits, which, as seen from a few great points in that marvelous land, fill all the horizon ; and when from the slopes of the Jura, and the turrets of Milan, he saw these same domes of living white, he knew and verified their out- line, and marked their groups from his own little picture, so rudely and yet so accurately drawn." ^ 1 Eey. C. H. Leonard, d.d., in Ladies' Repository, July, 1869. CHAPTER X. WIT AND WISDOM. Glad to return to his home and to his friends, who congre- gated every Monday at Cornhill, Dr. Ballon was somewhat lionized, after the manner of those days when a European trip meant more of an undertaking than it means now. Referring to her " old, valued, and revered friend. Dr. Ballou, 2d," Mrs. Mary T. Goddard writes to the author: "I have no letters to send you, for his intimacy at our house was so great that there was no bar to personal intercourse. My recollections of the pleasure those visits gave us, and the friends from Cornhill who often came with him of a Monday to dine, are clear and delightful to this day, — and I am over eighty years old ! But I cannot frame any details for your use now. Dr. Chapin, T. Starr King, Mr. Tompkins, my brother, Richard Frothingham, met many times together at our house in those days with Dr. Ballou, 2d, and not only the religious and literary matters of the passing age were discussed, but the fund of wit and humor so largely possessed by these gentlemen was used almost without limit at times ; and among them all, no one had a quieter or more irresistible archness of manner, or a slyer or more demure mirth-provoking sparkle of the eye, than Rev. H. Ballou, 2d. I remember one day in particular (we dined at two P.M.), just as Dickens' great work, the ' Pickwick Papers,' made its appearance in Boston, how he, with Dr. Chapiii and T. Starr King, was with us, and several others also. Very soon that remarkable book became the subject of conversation, and each recited from memory, after probably once reading, scene after scene of that comic history in their own inimitable ^^^^^<=^,^ "^^^^^^^W^^^^iC^ WIT AND WISDOM. 191 manner, so that all other things were forgotten ; even my dear husband putting business matters out of his mind ! Not until the clock had struck five p.m. did the gathering break up ! I often used to say to Mr. Goddard after these meetings, how much I wished many more of our friends could enjoy what we enjoyed." Alas ! Chapin and King and the rest who formed that charmed circle of wits have nearly all departed, and not only their per- sonal recollections but many witty notes from Dr. Ballon, worthy of the greatest of the old-time English and French wits, sacredly treasured -by them, have now gone past recall. But fortunately we are able even now to gather together in this chapter some worthy examples of Dr. Ballou's wit, and so, in a measure, enjoy what they enjoyed. For delicacy of wit we know of nothing that surpasses the following composition, which Dr. Ballou addressed to " Rev. E. H. Chapin, Boston, Mass.," in 1847 : — "FOR THE llavrioyr,. "The Pilgrimage of Childe Edwin and Childe Cyrus. A Ro- maunt. In Two Cantos. Seventeenth Edition, from the Original Imprint in 1621, London: Arms &. Co., Paternoster Row. 1847. Small 4to. pp. 297. " No poem since the days of Spencer has been so much sought for as this renowned pilgrimage. It is well known to the learned that several of the first English poets drew from it their inspiration, in the most admired passages of their works. Indeed, it has stamped its character on most of the higher poetry in our language. Thomp- son, in the Advertisement to his ' Castle of Indolence,' acknowledges, ' I should never have thought of the subject which I here attempt had I not read, in my younger days, that unequaled production, " The Pilgrimage of Childern Edwin and Cyrus." I hope my readers will pardon me, if I sometimes borrow its language as well as its thoughts ; for it is impossible to keep clear of imitation when one 192 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. has been so profoundly moved.' Even Milton has not disdained to avail himself of its descriptions in the sublimest scenes of ' Paradise Lost,' especially in his portraits of fat old Belial, and the gaunter Mammon. Lord Byron, we all know, has been accused of the gross- est plagiarism in his ' Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.' Not only the title, but the invocations and many of the stanzas, are obvious imitations of the ancient romaunt; and all that is new in his principal char- acter or hero is, that he has happily blended the vices of both the original Childern in his one Childe Harold, thus attaining perhaps a greater degree of artistic unity, but at the expense of that almost infinite variet}' of mischief and wickedness, which distinguishes the characters in the poem from which he drew. " We wish to make this master-production of genius more generally known to our countrymen. Why it has been so long unnoticed among us we cannot conceive. In England it has been not only classic but a household book for more than two centuries. Like Shakespeare, the author appears to have anticipated the form of our language at the present day, for his style is not in the least anti- quated, and but few of his words have gone out of use. "Mark the opening of the poem. What a combination of senti- ments, of reverence, tender reminiscence, sadness even, and terror, mingled with sprightliness, and, if we do not mistake, with a gleam of humor, but all underlaid by a very earnest spirit, — in the "■ Invo- cation ! ' And then, the unfolding of the story, — how simple and how rich ! "O thou, who, on the heights of Barney Hill, Didst whilome listen to my passioned vow When life was young ! O hearken to me still. Now age has dimmed mine eye and scathed my brow, And fancy's fire is glimmering faint and low. If ever fife was pleasaunt to thine ear On training-days or musters, aid me now ; And while I chaunt this lay of penance drear, Do thou inspire my notes ! O Muse of Fifery, hear ! MRS. MARY T. GODDARD. WIT AND WISDOM. 193 " There were two rude aud graceless imps of sin, Who served the Devil, their Dad, with all their might, (Ah ise ! the wicked pranks they gloried in ! ) Childe Edwin this, and that Childe Cyrus hight. Were horse and chaise left fastened, in his sight, Childe Edwin stole them straight, in open day ; Or, bolting into houses, he would dight Himself in pilfered coats, and then away Swift through the country in his harlequin array ! " Childe Cyrus, more afraid of the police, Chose as his safer part, impiety ; Turning all sacred service to a piece Of fun uproarious and wild mockery. Preaching at solemn Installation, he Would sometimes end it with a horse-race home ; Whipping and shouting, in mad revelry. Scattering the passengers, with terror dumb, Who whispered, with white lips, Th' Old Scratch has come ! He 's come ! " Ah, then and there was scampering to and fro. And many a swoon and many a frightful screech ; Faces all pale, which, but an hour ago. Were upturned to the Childe to hear him preach ; And there were desperate leapings o'er the ditch On either hand, to clear his clattering wheel. And gain a space beyond his whip's wide reach ; While — click ! he passed his rival, with a peal Of blackguard mirth, that wound off in a kind of squeal ! " (Pp. 6, 7.) " The next twenty stanzas excel, for description, everything that perhaps is to be found in our language. But we have space only to give a bald abstract of the story. After a reckless career of mischief, our two roysterers become alarmed at their own excesses. 194 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. and, to quiet their consciences, consult an ancient, white-haired doctor. He . . . bowed his venerable head, And heard them whisper their confession dread. For penance, he appointed them only a short pilgrimage to the nearest station, but they, unsubdued by so slight a discipline, returned and abused the venerable sage. " With scornful words and challenges to fight, Childe Edwin dared him out into the street. While he, Childe Cyrus, sneered with all his might. But kept behind his partner a few feet ; For much he feared the Doctor's eye to meet ; That saintly eye, he could not stand before, As pictured in a lithographic sheet. Which, whoso seeth, will never wonder more That terror seized the Childe and made him tremble sore." (Pp. 126, 127.) "In such a desperate case, the reverend man condemned the two sinners to a long and weary pilgrimage by night, and through miry ways, Childe Edwin with nails in his boots, on account of his more daring insolence. Then follows the story of their nightly journey- ings ; how they at first gnashed their teeth, but still dared not dis- obey ; then, how their hearts began to fail them as they got out on the open road with nothing but the dark misty heavens above and the unpeopled solitude around and mud beneath ; how they bemoaned their fate to the dumb rocks and ghastly brick-kilns ; and apostro- phized the dim marshes all wrapped iu darkness ; and how by much suffering and wearing away of the flesh they were at length sub- dued, etc." ^ 1 The venerable Rev. Dr. Cyrus H. Fay says : " The following circumstances led the way to this production : Brother Chapin and I, by previous agreement, went to Medford to spend a few hours, one pleasant afternoon, with Brother Ballon. The time limit of our call soon expired, and we arose to depart; our genial host and hostess, however, per- suaded us to tarry longer, and take an early ' tea ' with them ; assuring us that we could return to our homes iu good season, either hj the omnibus or steam car. As the days were long, and the afternoon pleasant, we had good reason for the belief that we could reach WIT AND WISDOM. 195 Among many witty notes to his publisher,^ the following is one of the earliest : — " To the Honorable A. Tompkins, portly and quarrelsome gentleman, and undoubtedly the chief of all the booksellers of Boston, the single and solitary Doctor of the Uuiversalist Theology makes obeisance with profound heartiness and sends salutations : To thee, O incom- parable benefactor, be given prosperous maturity ; upon thee be showered the gracious smiles of ladies ; for thee be granted thousands of purchasers and of offices under Taylor (Hurrah for him !) ; by thee be enjoyed breakfasts and many suppers, with wine and turtle soup, among the fathers of the city ! " Having firm faith, and even enjoying the consciousness that thou art on the eve of presenting me with an edition of Shakespeare's dramas in eight volumes appropriate for the use of venerable age, I now return to thee great thanks, and, with a heart full of joy, accept the magnificent gift in anticipation. If the expectation is so inspir- ing, how much moi*e exhilarating will the possession be ! O days of transport ! O nights of bliss ! Then day and night shall I revel in the songs of the Swan of Avon ; then from them shall I draw inspira- tion for another ' Barney Hill ' in the Rose of Sharon ! And then immense fame shall accrue to thee, the publisher, through all lands, even, it may be, throughout the Univercoelum. But no words, not our city abodes before the shadows began to fall. Immediately after the repast we bade good-by to our entertainers, and started for the headquarters of the omnibus line, near by. On reaching them we were informed that the last 'bus for the day was, probably, nearer Charlestown than Medford. As quickly as our legs could carry us, we made our way to the railroad depot, to meet with another disappointment! The last train had started for Boston; we saw that we must ' foot it,' as the saying is, and so ' nerved our spirits to the proof.' But, before beginning our tramp, we made a slight detour to reach the house we hail so recently left, and give the Medford pastor some expression of our feigned in- dignation. With unnecessary noise, perhaps, we summoned him to the door, shook our fists in his face, and utterad words in liarmony with our ferocious gesticulation ! We then started on our long and lonely way. Before we had passed the last brick-kiln which frowned upon us, Chapin I)ecame footsore and weary; and our progress was both painful and slow. Happily on the outskirts of Charlestown, we discovered a livery stable ; and there we secured a vehicle which conveyed us easily to our homes." Not many days afterward the Medford seer wrote the above production. 1 As in the days of barter, Comhill publishers appear to have paid authors more in goods than in cash. 196 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. the Latin speech itself, can express the gushes of my feeling. Let my tongue keep silence. However, send quickly the volumes afore- said. *'Medford, December 26, 1848." For his publisher he wrote BYRON'S SONG. (" Don Juan," Canto III, Stanza 36.) The Views of Greece ! The Views of Greece ! On which my raptured eyes have hung, Which Tompkins tells me, if I please, He '11 give me for my song, when sung, — They 're safe in Burnham's bookstore yet ; But I shall have them soon, I '11 bet. The Barney Hill and Medford Muse, The Trainer's fife, the Elder's flute. Will not their grateful strains refuse, In notes that echo soft, or 'cute. As soon as Tompkins makes me blest, Of Williams' Views of Greece possessed. There, mountains look on Marathon ! There, Marathon looks on the sea ! Oh, while those Views I gazed upon, They seemed already given to me ; Nor did I think that I should have To ask again the boon I crave. I leaned against the dusty brow Of Burnham's counter, lost in bliss O'er so magnificent a show Of prints by dozens, — all of Greece ; I counted them, that very day. And sixty-two before me lay ! WIT AND WISDOM. 197 And where are they ? not, Where art thou, O Tompkins? For within thy store I know thou sittest, planning how To grant my prayer, as heretofore ; 'T is but to make that vohime thine, Then pass it to these hands of mine. So may no barber touch thy face. Nor barberize thy chin for thee ; So may thy beard in growth keep pace With thine abounding charity, Till it shall spread from head to feet, And Ursa Major "give up, beat." The following letters and verses addressed to his publisher need no introduction : — Medford, January 18, 1854. A. Tompkins, Esq. Dear Sir, — There 's a book at Button & Ide's that I am going to accept of you as a present, namely, " Spruner's Ancient Atlas," a magnificent work ; call and see it ; you will say that it is the most splendid thing you ever saw, and costs only ten dollars. As to my part in the business, that is, the acceptance of the gift, there will be no difficulty whatever ; in fact I made up my mind on that point two days ago, and I think you may set your heart at rest about it. The only difficulty we need apprehend is in getting you to do your part. Should you prove to be obstinate we may have some trouble, though none but what will be easily obviated. All that will be requisite for this purpose, even in the utmost ex- tremity, is for you to defy me to get that book of you. This will enable me, as it always has done, to devise some way to overcome your reluctance. For this, then, I wait — for a hearty ore rotundo defiance, emphasized with a shake of the paw, which if you will please to give me the next time we meet all will go well. Or should you, like the wise coon we read of, give in at once and make no attempt to stand it out, it would be rather an accommodation to 198 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. ♦ me just now; for, to tell the truth, I can hardh^ spare the time to bring you down. Either way, however, I do not know that I have much choice. At all events, you will have to give the book, and I suppose I ought to accommodate you as to the manner. Your greatly obliged, in future, H. BALLOU, 2d. A. Tompkins, Esq-. Donation Place, March 24, 1854. Bounteous Ursa Major ^ — It seems to me that you do not quite understand the philosophy of human action, which I will therefore try to explain to you ; I mean with respect to remunerating a bene- factor. Somehow, you appear to have confounded the chronology of the business. Now, if I understand the case, the time to look for anything in the way of recompense, or equivalent for a favor, is before the favor is conferred, not afterwards. For when it has been actually received by the donee, what motive can he then have to return a quid pro quo f Before he obtains it he has desii'e to stimu- late him, an urgent want to goad him, hope to call forth all his faculties in their freest play, ambition to buoy him up to the sticking point. Then no obstacles are too great for him to overcome, no sacrifice which he will not cheerfully submit to. He will not fail ; he will, at any expense, accomplish what he has, as it were, pledged himself to do. And if some extraordinary effort, or rare contribu- tion on his part, is necessary, he makes it with pleasure, for he has an object ahead. But after he has got all that he wants, these im- pulses flab away at once and he cannot then do what he could before. Is it not so? Now, to exemplify this philosophy by the case in hand : Before you gave me the book that I demanded, my soul was all in unrest, haunted by the image of the longed-for Spruner's Atlas. My wits worked spontaneously, day and night (I could not prevent them), contriving all manner of devices to get it ; and when they had fixed on a plan for the purpose, they wrought at it as a relief from the intolerable sense of want that drove them on. But now, the case is quite changed. I 've got the Atlas and glad am I; 'tis the best thing of the kind I ever saw, and richly worth to me the ten dollars WIT AND WISDOM. 199 you gave for it. So much do I prize it that I hardly feel the ex- pense ; it seems as clieap to me as a song. It is true I could, if disposed, make you a first-rate poem, grand, or thrilling, or exqui- sitely pathetic, such as would even melt you down into a puddle, so that you would have to be dipped up with a ladle. But then I won't do it, because what I want now is to enjoy the Atlas, not to go at work to pay for it when 't is already mine. No, indeed, I am not so ungrateful as thus to spoil the enjoyment of j'our gift. Consider yourself, dear Ursa Major ; would you have your favor rendered worthless, after you have been at so much expense in bestow- ing it? . . . Now, your purpose is to get some further contribution from me, some poem, some letter, some effusion of wit or genius or nonsense. This, I promise you, you shall have when the time comes, though I trust you '11 be patient ; I always meant you should have it, that is, in the shape of a fresh draft for another gift, only do not hurry me, let it be by and by, for I want at present to enjoy Spruner's Atlas. Still, if you say it must be done immediately, why, I suppose I ought to accommodate you. But, at all events, what a cheering prospect opens before us ! As I look forward I seem to contemplate applica- tion after application for costly books, and each application followed by the gift of the rich volume asked for. How beautiful ! and all in agreement with the " philosophy of human action " ! Yours truly, CACOUNA. Ursa Majok. Again he muses in verse : — So many tomes of mine still bear The ever-honored name Inscribed of Abel Tompkins, 'squire, From whom the volumes came. Here 's Carter's Letters, volumes two ; Here 's Southey's Life of Cowper, do. ; On Romans Calvin's Commentary ; A French work on the Virgin Mary. 200 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. The memory of these gifts comes o'er My soul, like dews of even When summer sleeps on all the shore, And moonlight fills the heaven. There 's Milman's Christian History ; Gay's, Moore's, and Cotton's poetry ; The Student's Bible, double-columned, And Shakespeare's dramas, seven-volumed. How freshly I recall the scene, When, ringing at ray door. The driver rolled the bundles in Upon the entry floor ! And there 's King Arthur, Turkey cover, The Views of Greece, superb all over ; And Spruner's set of ancient maps (His MeditBval, too? — Perhaps). I 've known how blessed to receive, And keep receiving so ; I hope 't is yet more blest to give. But that I do not know. And by the by, here should we reckon Such works as Prescott's Philip Second, With all you 've got me from the press, These dozen seasons, more or less.^ To he continued when I 've time. If time I ever get, But, for the present, let my rhyme Just hold upon the bit. As for the Quarterly, pray put Both Names, as Editorial to 't, And send it me without delaying, That I may see what I 've been saying. December 30, 1855. 1 All of these books are now in the Tufts College Library. CORNHILL. WIT AND WISDOM. 201 The following letter to his brother Levi is characteristic : — Medford, July 23, 1842. Elder Ballou. Dear Brother^ — This is to inform you that you are married. I was in Boston to-day, when I saw the Vermont Watchman ; and in that I found a fuU and unequivocal statement of the fact, without an}^ ifs or couditionalities. So the matter is settled. And as you did not write to let me know it, I thought it proper to send word to you forthwith. Accordingly, I have seized my pen as soon as I got home from the city ; and here I am, down at the table, this hot day, in the act of inditing a letter. How I shall get through with it is uncertain. I think, however, it will be expedient to divide it off into heads, as I would a sei'mon, so that if I come short of matter in to-morrow's discourses I may avail myself of some help from my present effort. And in the first place : We send all manner of greetings, con- gratulations, felicitations, good wishes, loves, and affectionate sal- utations to yourself and lady, hoping you may see many years of happiness together, be well and hearty as the very genius of health itself, get as rich as Croesus, have twenty or thirty children, etc. Secondly : Have you made a journey since j'our marriage, except in removing from Guilford to Newport? I suspect not. Now, be it known unto you that this thing must be done. It is always customary (I think the law requires it) for the newly married couple to make a tour soon after their wedding, and carry a piece of the wedding cake to their relations and friends, besides seeing the country, enjoying a visit or two, etc. Medford is the place for the accomplishment of all these objects. What say you to harnessing your carriage and jogging down this way? Or, if you prefer it, taking the stage to Nashua, and then coming like lightning to our depot, where I will see that a means of conveyance shall be ready to bring you to our house ? . . . Fourthly — Miscellaneous : I suppose you have seen father since his return from Medford. I received a letter from him soon after 202 ROSEA BALLOU 2d, D.D. he reached home. But I have not heard from Brother William. ^ I suppose, of course, that he has left New York. . . . What will he do? Will he take pattern from your example and learn that great Scripture truth, which is one of the first in the Bible, that "it is not good for man to be alone "? The Lord open his eyes and give him an understanding heart ! Have you concluded, up your way, to bring the world to an end next year? There is some talk among us of trying it. How they will make out is rather doubtful ; it will be so great a job that, like smaller jobs, it will hardly be finished, I think, at the time set. And, indeed, I am told that some of Miller's workmen begin to talk of putting it off a few years longer. Please write as soon as you receive this ; and if you have nothing else to say, say, "I'm married." Say, too, "I'm going to see you." Yours most affectionately, H. BALLOU, 2d. Rev. L. Ballou. When R. A. Ballou was studying with Dr. Ballou and keep- ing company with his daughter Harriet (his future wife), he once enlivened the usually'" witty dinner hour by putting this "poser" to the doctor: "In Joshua x. 12, when the Lord said, ' Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon,' why did he stop the moon too ? " " It is perfectly plain," replied the doctor ; " he knew if he did not stop the moon, the sun would be running along after her ! " A lazy student of history once tried to cover his ignorance of the subject by a bold face, but he could not deceive the doctor. " How high were the walls of Sparta ? " he asked. Nonplussed, the student guessed, " Fifteen feet." Then Dr. Ballou quietly observed that Sparta had no walls ! To a question put by Dr. Ballou, " I have forgotten," stam- 1 Rev. William Starr Ballou, who never married. WIT AND WISDOM. 203 mered a college student. " No, you have not forgotten," said the doctor ; " you never knew." Dr. Ballou's government was paternal ; he kept mischievous students under close surveillance. One evening a student was blowing a tin-horn at his window, when a fellow-student's hand, as he supposed, seized the horn. " Oh, let 's have one more toot ! " said he, not looking around. Imagine his surprise to hear the doctor's voice at his ear answer, " No ! " In 1848 Taylor was nominated for President, and he wrote his brother Levi : " If the people are crazy enough, they will elect him, ' by a most overwhelming majority of two thirds,' as Flagg told the Lord in his prayer at Brother Sawyer's ordination." Once, under provocation similar to that which prompted " English Bards and Scotch Reviewers," Dr. Ballou expressed his disgust as follows : — " Mankind are queer chickens. Did you ever see a brood of them get around a poor worm ; the old hen cluck, cluck, clucking, and bristling up her feathers and sounding her alarm, and the chicks all hurrying to the awful spot, each to have a share in the business? Be cool, biddies ; don't be fussy ; take it fair and easy ; such things have been known to happen before now." On Christmas, 1847, he wrote to his brother Levi, congrat- ulating the denomination on the withdrawal of certain men : — " God save us from this stupid Blockheadism, for there never was anything more stupid than the attempt to infidelize Christianity ! Infidelity itself, on its own ground, may be respectable enough to deserve computation ; but no-faith-Christianity, anti-Bible-gospel is a peg a little lower than the bottom of the ladder, and is so infinitely absurd that one knows not what to say to it." This letter is from the late Professor Benjamin F. Tweed, who never tired of repeating Dr. Ballou's bonsmots : — 204 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Tufts College, January 27, 1860. Dr. Ballou. Dear Sir, — As an official guardian of the purity of the English language, it seems to me proper not only to condemn what is con- demnable (damnable) in its current use, but to commend whatever tends to enrich it, and to render it more precise and vigorous. It was Coleridge, I think, who said that any one who desynonymizes two terms which have been used indiscrimiuately, is a public bene- factor. Is he less worthy of our gratitude who culls simples from the roots of the language, and so compounds them as to express the exact value of a new idea which has dawned on humanity ? With this semi-apologetic exordium, allow me to call your attention to what seems to me one of the most felicitous examples of neology to be found in the whole range of English literature. It occurs in the last number of the Christian Freeman. ... It is this : The editor, it is presumed, speaking of Mr. H , says, " It is reported that he has left his wife and is wandering about with a ' she-creature,' called his affinity." A she-creature ! What precision in that term ! Not a woman, with no matter how many depreciating epithets, it being impossible so to eliminate from that term the ideas of fidelity, purity, beauty, and goodness which it connotes as to render it an equivalent for the thing denoted. . . . Yours foi' the purity and vigor of the English language, PROFESSOR. Dr. Ballou replied as follows : — Professor Tweed. Dear Sir, — I fully agree with you in the fact that our friend is felicitous, beyond any other living author I know of, in the selection of a term to express the most complicated idea in just the light that he wishes ; sometimes, in one single phrase only, out of the many that belong to it ; sometimes, in all the possible phrases, philosophi- cal, political, historical, etymological, theological, economical, poetical, nine-pencical, or blunderical, which it admits. With him (as Byron says) — " Words are things ; and a small drop of ink, Falling, like dew, upon a thought, produces " WIT AND WISD03I. 205 a crystallization of it, in the narrowest compass, and at just that angle which answers the purpose. It is what Dr. Johnson somewhere, if I mistake not, calls " a vigorous contraction of thought" by means of a well-chosen term. But notwithstanding that I so fully agree with you in the fact, and acknowledge my indebtedness to the very lucid scholia with which you have illustrated the matter, yet I look at the fact from a some- what different standpoint ; and therefore it will not surprise you if I am interested chiefly in some other excellences than those you have specified, though I very highly appreciate these which you have pointed out. In the example which you quote, '• she-creature," I am struck, first, with the pure grammatical propriety of the compound. It is according to the primitive style. An old grammarian, whose name I have forgotten, lays it down expressly, and in form, that the masculine or feminine gender is sometimes distinguished by pre- fixing he or she to the substantive. Perhaps it is common with grammarians, even at the present day, to say the same. But as I am not familiar with them, I repeat only what I distinctly remember, that one of them lays this down as a scientific position. And Indeed, Webster (whom I shall take for ultimate authority, till they send me Worcester, when, by the law of human development, I shall doubtless expand anew, — as I have once or twice expanded already, — witness my old lithograph compared with later ones) , — I say, Webster asserts that, " She is used, in composition, for female, representing sex, as a she-bear, a she-cat." Now, as this is the simplest of all forms to distinguish sex, I take it to have been the primitive form ; the one that was originally used in all cases, and that continued to be used in all cases till some additional ideas, the growth of subsequent and artificial refinement, became associated with certain objects and personalities. Even in our present sophisticated state we continue to use the primitive form about everything in respect to which our ideas and sentiments remain purely primitive. Nobody ever yet said a " bearess," a " catess " ; everybody says, directly and simply, a she- bear, a she-cat, a he-bear, a he-cat. And these are the true unsophis- ticated forms. Should it be objected that we sometimes say " Tom- 206 • HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. cat," it may be observed that this is evidentW of recent origin, and suggested by the Christian name of some person notorious for purring and scratching. I admire the expression, then, as an example of the primitive grammatical form, restored to us in our factitious age. And in the next place, I admire it for the austere purity of the sentiment it enunciates. God forbid that we should say anything against those tenderer and more profoundly respectful sentiments to which we have attained in the course of sixty centuries, and which we have come to associate so intimately with the name of woman. These are the very flowers of the Tree of social Life, beautifying the path of our pilgrimage, and rendering fragrant all the atmosphere around us. But in order to preserve even these flowers, we must pay some attention to the more unseemly roots, out of which they, by long processes, have grown, and from which they still receive their daily vitality. The expression quoted points us back, behind all these precious outgrowths, to the bald fact, stripped of all senti- ment, whether of love or of disgust, of contempt or of respect, of passion or of indifference. " She-creature ! " that is the everlasting granite, standing up out of the blooming plains, the sighing forests, and all the " rich garniture of fields," of which it is at once the founda- tion and the heaven-pointing summit. " She-creature ! " how Hebraic ! or rather, ante-Hebraic ! grand in its severe austerity, and filling the soul with an awe that lifts us above all other feeling ! It expresses neither approval nor disap- proval ; it enunciates only the Absolute. Rare, indeed, is the genius that can fully appreciate this excellence, — which I do not pretend to do ; still rarer is the genius that can recover the idea from the primitive element of human thought, and originate anew the ex- pression of it ! PR^X. After an " interminable Lent," in December 1858, — the whole week " a protracted Friday," — Dr. Ballon wrote for Pro- fessor Tweed's amusement WIT AND WISDOM. 207 A BORDER ODE. Staple food on Walnut Hill ! Victual-fund, for drafts at will ! Ready in all exigents, Minutenian of esculents, Substitute for every dish, — Hail, all hail to thee. Salt Fish ! When the rain comes pouring down, And no market-carts from town, Naught abroad but waving gale. Streaming hills and flooded vale, — " What for dinner do you wish? " Asks the wife. The same, — Salt Fish ! When the winter's smothering blow Drifts the roads fence-high with snow, Shrouding Nature all in white. As for her funereal rite, — If a dinner-thought intrude On our awful solitude. Can we feel blue-devilish? Blest resource ! there 's some Salt Fish ! Rain, nor snow, nor cold, nor heat May disturb our high retreat ; AH within is cheery, still. In our homes on Walnut Hill. Does a friend, or guest, drop in Just about the hour to dine ? Though the larder 's void, what matters? Out with cups, and knives, and platters, — Help him, till no more he wish. From thy bounty, O Salt Fish ! Thou, of eatables the chief! Whether called Atlantic beef, 208 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Mutton, caught off Newfoundland, Poultry, served on ocean-strand, Venison, from the shoaly Banks, — Still, for thee we render thanks. O thou universal dish, Hail, all hail to thee. Salt Fish ! Blessings on thy face antique, * Mummy ichthyologic ! Drawn from caves beneath the tides, Older than the Pyramids ! What a wizard-power thou hast ! Who canst make us feast and fast * All at once, — and keep our Lent With carnival incontinent ; Making all time Fridayish, — Thaumaturgical Salt Fish ! Starr King used to say that had these lines been written by Leigh Hunt, ••' for humor, versification, and fancy, they would have been considered as one of his best effusions." In the beginning of the Tufts College Library, without funds to purchase books, Dr. Ballou became Frater Mendicus. Almost in despair, he repeatedly " called on Providence," — witness the following letter au fait : — Medford, January 28, 1861. Dear Brother, — Since it seems likely to turn out, as I feared, that there are no books in Rhode Island, or that, if there be any, the people there do not know what they are, it has occurred to me, while meditating on this curious phenomenon, to offer a statement, which may be of service in the case. Now, books are things in the form, usually, of a parallelogram, though sometimes square ; covered on the two sides and on the back with leather, or cloth, or rarely with paper, drawn tight and the back usually lettered with gold leaf, sometimes, however, with common printing ink on paper. Books are opened in front, the backs serving as sort of hinges on which the WIT AND WISDOM. 209 two covers turn. While they have this general form, they are of various sizes, — from five or six inches long and three or four inches wide, to two feet long and twelve or fourteen inches wide. Litemally, they consist of printed leaves of paper, sometimes five hundred of these leaves, sometimes only a few of them, but all fastened at the back. Should anything of this description be dis- covered in Rhode Island, please to send it this way ; for it is prob- ably a book. But in case that nothing of the kind can be discovered there, per- mit me respectfully to submit a suggestion ; namely, that you send on something that can.be found in that State and that has a market- able value, so that we may sell it, and, with the proceeds, buy books here. Are not cooking-stoves, for instance, made there? If so, send on a number of them, say, twenty-five or thirty, with the names of the donors ; and the books that we obtain here, in exchange, shall have those names as the donors affixed to the volumes respectively, to- gether with mention of the places of their residences. It will doubt- less astonish visitors to the Library to find books there labeled as having come from Rhode Island. But no matter ; we will keep the secret. Let them puzzle over it ; it will be amusing to mark what hypothesis they will get up to account for it. . . . There is one thing which perplexes me. A lady who said she was from Providence, and I took it to be Providence, H. I., told me last September that she had a collection of Spanish and perhaps French books, which she wished to give to the Library. I referred her to you, as one who would very cheerfully take charge of them and forward them to us. It seems that there must have been some mistake, as it does not appear that anything further has been heard or seen of her. Was it the Rhode Island Providence where she belonged? She was a widow; her husband had been captain of a vessel, and traded, I think, to the West Indies, or at least to some of the Span- ish dominions. It really seems to me worth inquiring into, whether there be this collection of books in your city, in Providence, R. /., and if there is, to get them forwarded, as a curiosity. They will be a new feature in our College Library ; for as yet there 210 EOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. is not a book in it from Rhode Island; no, not a solitary volume from that State. Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, California, New York, Pennsylvania, District of Colum- bia, North Carolina, and Iowa are represented in it, — several of these States by some hundreds of volumes each. Neither Rhode Island nor South Carolina has even one volume in the Library. Yours truly, FRATER MENDICUS. In the following letter Dr. Ballon doffs the garb of mendicant friar, and asserting his prior claims, since a French philosopher had usurped the name he had long borne among his intimates, again signs himself " Cousin " : — OFFICIAL. Tufts College, May 5, 1855. To our well-beloved Cousin, William H. Richardson, Esq. Dearly Beloved, — Greatly was our heart gladdened by the an- nouncement in your letter that a gentleman in Maiden would be written to, instanter, and requested to send a catalogue of the library in that place to our address. But, alas ! human life is full of disappointments ; our gladness has subsided and turned first into the painful suspense of hope delayed, and finally into the horror of despair, as day after day passed and no catalogue came to hand. The spu-its have been consulted on the cause of failure, and they declare that you have forgotten to write on the business to Maiden. They furthermore affirm (they were the seven spirits of Matthew Hale Smith, of veracious memory) that you would in like manner forget to call on the Philadelphia publishers in behalf of Tufts College Library ; that you would forget to communicate on the sub- ject with our Brother Collins, and that the whole matter would lie undone in your hands. We had a sharp dispute on these points with the aforesaid spirits, whom we accused of lying with a rush ; and when they stoutly maintained their assertions, we consented to leave the whole matter to the practical decision of the event, on the WIT AND WISDOM. 211 following terms, which they accepted in black and white, namely, that, if within four weeks of the date of this, you shall have faith- fully performed the service of begging agent with the principal publishing houses of your city, and fully discharged all the precau- tionary, prudential, importunative, skilful, come-rouud-them like, wise-as-serpents duties incident to that office, and given us formal notice that the books are on the way, or at least secured, then Matthew's spirits shall be considered as liars, and scouted back to the Seventh Sphere, where they belong; but, on the other hand, if that period shall elapse and no such results accrue, then I shall be hooted at as a defamer of true witnesses, an Unbeliever in Revela- tions, and a shameless maligner of Matthew the Righteous. Where- fore, beloved, take heed, and save me from public scorn and indigna- tion. Let not your memory give you the slip, nor your resolution faidiev. Consider the saying of the Wise Man: "Oh, can these things be slid over with in this kind o' way ? " And now, dearly beloved, farewell for a short season. Trusting that we shall soon receive a thrice welcome report of your gatherings, I have the honor to be, COUSIN. P. S. — Being an excellent hand for selecting books for the college from private libraries, I would, if it be any accommodation to you, go to your place in Maiden and take such of your books as I think it would be an honor to you to give to Tufts. Do not object from any fear of putting me to trouble ; I assure you it would give me the greatest pleasure to accommodate you in this way, and I should regard the trouble as little or nothing. Indeed, if I do not soon hear from you to the contrary, I will take your silence as an ear- nest request, which your modesty withholds you from making in direct terms. July 31, 1845, he wrote to Rev. T. J. Sawyer : — "On returning from a journey to Vermont, I found a couple of volumes at Tompkins', directed to ' Quarterly,' and on opening them discovered what I had before suspected, that I was become a great man, though I had had no thought that I was so great. For I 212 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. saw that I was honored with dedications of learned works by learned authors, members of foreign historical and theological societies, and presidents of literary institutions that will soon be colleges. Oh, that you could have seen me in that moment of magnification ! The room at Tompkins', which I used to think spacious, grew at once too small for my august presence. I seemed to dilate, till I filled all Cornhill, and indeed all ' the Literary Emporium of the East,' and instead of walking home, as I had been wont, through dust and heat and sweat, an undistinguished traveler on a lonely road, I chartered a train of cars with streamers flying, trumpets sounding, and amidst the thunder of artillery entered Medford to receive the acclamations of the thousands who lined the streets. Forthwith, it was resolved to have a railroad built to this town, and the route is now under survey." A well-known theologian asked Dr. Ballou's advice on receiv- ing a call to Charlestown. " I see, however, that you are troubled with the difference be- tween your manner of preaching, and that of Brothers Chapin and King," he replied. " I think this very difference is one thing which has determined the minds of the more knowing ones at Charlestown in your favor. The fact is, some of them, at least, want a little dry, tough, stringy meat to chew. Soups, high-flavored soups, are good, very good in their place. I like them. They warm one's stomach, after one has lived for months on Graham bread. I think they are then wholesome, decidedly so, and help to ' develop ' one's activities. But after soup again, a little solid meat. Pass a slice this way, if you please ; the folks at this end of the table want some." To Dr. Ballou's pen we are no doubt indebted for an anony- mous article in his vein of humor, entitled " Absurdities of Philological Hypercriticism," which was published in the Quarterly for April, 1847.^ It purports to be a "letter to the editor " from Alt-Bauen in Hanover. The author represents 1 Pages 173-181 . In its general plan, this article suggests the most popular of the works of my late lamented teacher, Edouanl Laboulaye, long at the head of the College de France in Paris, namely, " Paris en Amerique," published 1863. WIT AND WISDOM. 213 . himself to be a tourist who finds in that little dorf, or village, "among the Harz Mountains" — presumably near Teufel's Miihle, Devil's Mills — the queerest of all curiosities he had met with, a " little company of monomaniac philologers who have gathered from various parts of Germany " and formed a society called the Worter-Klauher- Vereinigung . His friend, " honest Herr Ludwig," introduces him to the society. He says: "Never was I so amused, — diverted almost into convulsions, by the incredible mixture of great learning with stone-blind ignorance of things and of the world. You must know that their only science is that of words, and of verbal interpreta- tion." Under the pretence of discussing American prisons, the article is an admirable caricature of certain phases of theo- logical discussion on the duration of punishment. Half a century ago two anonymous articles in the Quarterly, from Dr. Ballou's pen, created consternation among imitators of Carlyle : — CHAPTERS FROM CARLYLE, THE YOUNGER.i "Ein grosses Muster weckt" — Papageyung— Schiller. " Perhaps the sorriest, certainly the mournfulest, thing in this monstrous-fecund literature of our Ninteenth Century of Grace, is the Evangel of Parrotry. ' Thou shalt parrotize ! ' Heard man, ever, a stranger, awf uler best ? Thou shalt not speak, as a Man, from thine own heart and understanding, in such words as thine own spirit clothes itself withal ; thou shalt speak as a Parrot from another's heart and understanding. With infinite grimace shalt thou bring that wide, bill-less mouth of thine to peak out, and to utter his words with his tone and cadence, and make thyself, to the best of thy limited ability, a Parrot. Would thou hadst feathers, and wert green, as thy brother Orator of the woods ! Then thou wert, at least, a reality, though on 1 Quarterly, July, 1844, pp. 324-326; April, 1845, pp. 214-217. 214 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. a small scale, yet of Nature's own forming ; and not a simu- lacrum. " O reader, dost thou not often meet with these huge, six- feet-high Brobdignag Parrots, seeming to the outward sense like Men, and speaking so like Men as to move thy wonder at the verisimilitude, and almost to excite thine admiration, as of something divine ? Even as now I see, at that open window, down in the Gansstrasse yonder, my neighbor's Parrot hath drawn together an admiring audience to her Praelections this morning, — whom she edifies, after a fashion. Look! how the urchins, old and young, press forward to catch ' poor Poll's ' utterance ; to them a miraculous and divine word ! how their eyes stand out sparkling, how their uncontainable glee bursts forth, their souls stirred to their inmost depths, by her speech, so human-like ! while the conversation of two real Men at the opposite corner is, I see, passed by unheeded; according to universal law of urchinhood! Thank God for making Par- rots ! it is the cheapest way we have heard of, to provide us with Hero-worship, of a kind." So Dr. Ballou begins the first chapter. The second chapter from " Carlyle the Younger " begins with the motto, "'Eritis sicut Dii.' — Die Schlange." We have space to quote only one paragraph : — " Thou thinkest, it may be, that Man is yet, as formerly, a Worm-of-the-dust, beholden as heretofore to some little speck of solid Ground for foothold, quite Finite in his Ablenesses, groping his way painfully through the Immense-obscure with uncertain skill and dim vision, and needing Blessed Guides from above to lead him into Heaven's light. Dearest Reader, I can- not but smile at thy simplicity! — all this was done away, some half-dozen 3^ears ago, if I read aright. Look narrowly ; thou WIT AND WISDOM. 215 shalt see, now iu process, the queerest Transformation under the sun : Humanity (I think they call it) passing from its old Grub-state into a tiny Firefly, with a pair of nascent wings ; for flight rather sublime. Wonderfulest to behold ! sundry of the Species already out, — soaring moonward, buoyed up on empty Aether, disporting themselves in the Azure Void with rapid circumgyrations, somersaults, and convolutions, hitherto, thitherto, innumerable, untraceable; while others, down yonder, have got as far as the Chrysalis, and but few are left in the Vermiform condition, — memorials of what was. Mi- raculousest Palingenesia, going on before our eyes, and yet we mark it not ! for want of suitable microscopes, which, it is hoped, we shall be furnished with, in due time. To see Men, not 'as trees walking,' but as little-gods, or godicules, aerializing ! " CHAPTER XI. STUDENTS IN THEOLOGY. A FEATURE of the home life at Roxbury. and Medford was the presence of young men who were preparing for the Univer- salist ministry. The fact that Hosea Ballon, 2d, was prepared to receive such students was made known through the columns of the annual Register ^ and other publications in the follow- ing language : " Rev. H. Ballou, 2d, receives students for the ministry into his own house for instruction in the languages, Biblical criticism, etc." About twelve years after he first engaged in this work he published a " Course of Biblical and Theological Study " in 1839.^ He did so " after long hesitation, and with a degree of reluctance," having entertained the hope "that some of our brethren would undertake it, whose early advantages and regular education better qualified them for the work." It was "intended to embrace a course of three years," but could be " easily modified to any shorter period," and it " laid down, in addition to the regular studies, certain courses of read- ing to be pursued if 'convenient,'" or "in subsequent life." For the convenience of non-resident students, who might plan to study at home, and wished first to count the cost, he annexed to the titles of books " the regular bookstore prices, in dollars and cents." The " Course " is systematically arranged under nine sec- tions, and, to be brief, comprises : — 1 The Register was originally compiled by Eev. A. B. Grosh, and published at Utica, N.Y. 2 See Expositor, September, 1839, pp. 351-361. 216 STUDENTS IN THEOLOGY. 217 (1) Hebrew Language^ " with the points," — beginning with Leixa's or Burk's Grammar, Robinson's Gesenius, or Gibbs' Lexicon, and Hahn's Hebrew Bible, or at the outset, Stuart's Hebrew Chrestomathy. (2) Biblical Criticism^ — Home's or Jahn's Introduction, Robinson's Calmet, Gerard's Institutes, and Marsh's Lectures. (3) Careful Reading of the English Bible, in course, and attempts at expounding, " with particular reference to the con- text and continuity of thought." (4) Scripture Gieography, — • Worcester's Outlines, geograph- ical articles in Robinson's Calmet, the Modern Traveler, Maun- dell's Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, Buckingham's Travels in Mesopotamia, Sir Robert Kerr Porter's Travels in Armenia, Babylonia, etc. (5) History, — Jahn's History of the Hebrew Common- wealth, Milman's History of the Jews, Turner's Sacred His- tory of the World, Abbott's edition of Carpenter's Script. Natural History, (6) Septuagint, — • Van Ess' edition, Donnegan's or Lever- ett's Greek Lexicon, Fiske's Greek Grammar, Griesbach's Greek Testament or Bloomfield's New Testament. (7) Biblical Archaeology, — Jahn's or Home's. (8) Biblical Criticism, — Gerard and Marsh, and on Hebrew Poetry, Lowth's Lectures and Dissertation, Noyes' Prophets, De Witte's Introduction, Herder's Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, and article Poetry in Calmet. (9) Interpretation of Scripture, — Stuart's or Terrot's Trans- lation of Ernesti's Elements of Interpretation, Ballou's or Whittemore's Notes on the Parables, Balfour's First Inquiry, Paige's Selections from Eminent Commentators, and " with caution," Dr. A. Clarke's, Barnes' Notes, Whitby, etc. (10) Ecclesiastical History, — Gieseler, Neander, and Mo- sheim. 218 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. (11) Dogmatic History^ — Murdock's translation of Miin- scher's Elements of Dogmatic History, Ancient and Modern Histories of Universalism, and Priestley's History of Corrup- tions of Christianity (caution — "• both superficial and partial "). (12) Natural Theology^ — Paley, Lord Brougham's Discourse, Goode's Book of Nature, and works on Astronomy, Geology, and Physiology (e.g. Coombe). (13) Evidences of Revealed Religion^ — Lardner, Paley, Thayer, Alexander, Jenyns, and Wiseman. (14) Pastoral Duties. (15) Composition of Sermons., — Porter's Lectures to be " used only as helps," writing and delivery, in public or private (last half of course). (16) Examination of the Character and Errors of the common Orthodoxy., so called, — the Presbyterian Confession of Faith, and Buck for Old-School Orthodoxy, Stuart's Commentary on Romans V, New Haven Christian Spectator, and Barnes' Notes for New-School Orthodoxy, and "in contrast with both schemes, but chiefly with the old," Smith on Divine Govern- ment, Ballou's Treatise on the Atonement, and Lecture Ser- mons, several articles in the Expositor, Sawyer's Letters to Remington, Thomas and Ely Discussion, Balfour's First In- quiry, and Whittemore's Notes on the Parables. The " Course " concludes with suggestions for the study of the History of Philosophy. Levi Ballou. While teaching in his brother's private school in Roxbury, Levi Ballou became the first student in theology of Hosea Ballou, 2d. In childhood he had received instruction at the same little red schoolhouse, and later had ridden the same " black mare with three white feet " to Mr. Wood's house, to learn there the LEVI BALLOU. 219 elements of a classical education. He was a taller, larger man than his brother Hosea, of darker complexion, resembling more the Ballous than the Starrs. Like Hosea Faxon Ballon, eldest son of Father Ballon, Levi Ballon did not begin preaching young. Indeed, he was always a very warm friend of Hosea Faxon Ballon, seven years his senior, who had his first settle- ment of twenty-five years in the hill town of Whitingham, adjoining Halifax, and to him Levi submitted his first sermon for criticism. " And you want me to criticise it ? " said Hosea Faxon, after Levi had read it through aloud. " There is only one fault I find with it ; if, instead of sewing a seam on the edge, you sew it through and through" (suiting the action to the word), " it will lie down better on the desk." That was his criticism ! On his formal entry into the ministry Levi also studied and preached on a circuit with his younger brother, William Starr Ballou. After itinerating from Hartland and Randolph, Vt., and brief settlements at Chester, Vt., and Newport, N. H., Levi Ballou, having married the previous year, settled in midsummer, 1843, as minister of the "First Parish of Orange," a beautifully located hill town in northern Massachusetts, known in recent years, since the growth of a larger manufacturing village five miles away, in the south part of the town, on the Fitchburg Railroad, as North Orange. It is nine miles from Richmond, N. H., where the first Hosea Ballou was born and reared, and here as a young man he preached and often visited as long as he lived. As early as a.d. 1800 it was a stronghold of Uni- versalism, when the General Convention of Universalists met here, with Hosea Ballou as clerk. In 1803 the society sent Ebenezer Cheney as its lay delegate to the General Convention at Winchester, N. H., twelve miles away, when the Win- chester Confession was adopted. Here Hosea Ballou, 2d, came every summer, coming often unannounced, to remain a 220 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. week, perhaps two weeks, for many years, and he often preached from the high pulpit in the large, old-fashioned parish church, with the box pews, and the galleries on four sides filled with attentive worshipers. After more than a century of service ^ the church is still standing, in an excellent state of preservation, and bids fau- to do service for another century. It is one of the few instances where practically the whole population early discarded orthodox theology and became Universalists en masse, taking the church building with them, so that to this day the few worshipers of a revengeful God worship in a small building which is known as " the chapel." The excellent reputation the town has borne for neighborly helpfulness and sturdy morality does credit to the Universalist faith, intelligently and earnestly interpreted, as a standard of correct living. Hosea Ballou, 2d, always brought a few good books lately from press to read ; and late in life especially, his strength exhausted, he would sit in the great armchair and read and fall into a doze, and after a few minutes, suddenly rousing himself, he would walk up and down, back and forth, in front of the house, with the splendid panorama spread out before him from the hills of Warwick and Richmond and Grand Monadnock in the north, with Tully Mountain in the foreground, two large sheets of water and a thriving manufacturing village at its base, and beyond the broad valley, six miles away to the east, the long range of Royalston hills, the counterpart of North Orange hill, stretching away to the south, with scarcely an obstruction to the view, as far as the eye could reach, until lost in the dim summits of Petersham and Phillipston. He was refreshed and delighted with this view. Then back to the great armchair and his books for an hour, when the promenade was repeated. With a clear atmosphere the view from the 1 It was built in 1783, marking the centre of the new town. LEVI BALLOU. 221 Levi Ballou house of Mount Monadnock, twenty miles away, from its summit down to the white " halfway house," and on down to its very base, is superb. Grand Monadnock was the first high mountain that Hosea Ballou, 2d, ever climbed ; as a child he knew it, and he always felt a certain gratitude toward it for arousing in him a grand enthusiasm for rugged mountain scenery. With his home in the " First Parish of Orange " as a centre, for twenty-two years Rev. Levi Ballou was a sort of bishop of the whole country around in the radius of about twenty-five miles, extending north to Richmond and Westmoreland, N. H., east to Westminster, south to Dana ^ and Hardwick, and west to Bernardston ^ and Ashiield, Mass. For twenty-two years he drove over the hills and through the valleys of this region, early and late, in the heat of summer and in the bleak storms of winter, for little pay, often for none, to preach the gospel of the universal Father, to solemnize marriages, to give consolation at the hour of death — always an eminently useful public servant. As one reviews it now he is astounded at the vast amount of work that Levi Ballou did in his " bishopric," and the enormous distances he traveled with a horse ; but he always owned a good horse, in those days an indispensable adjunct of his office. " Clear-minded, gentle, and 3^et forcible was he," says Rev. Dr. J. G. Adams, " making good proof of his ministry " ^ Two young men in his parish who stud- ied with him became widely known as Universalist preach- ers; namely. Rev. Jonathan Forrester, D.D., and Rev. Sumner Ellis, D.D. Himself an earnest student and many years a successful teacher, he always took a deep interest in education. In Orange for twenty years, till the time of his death, he was 1 Where Hosea Ballou, senior, was first settled. 2 Where David Ballou and the two Hosea Ballous were the means of forming the Franklin County Association of Uuiversaliste, October 10, 1822. 3 " Fifty Notable Years," p. 96. 222 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. one of the committee elected to visit the public schools, usually its chairman ; he was a trustee of New Salem Academy, and he felt a deep interest in the foundation of Tufts College. In his annual report, October 15, 1846, Horace Mann, then Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, makes the following quotation from Levi Ballou's report as chairman of the Orange School Committee : " In closing our report, we would say that no one can overestimate the importance of common schools. To them are committed the training of those minds that are to be our statesmen and rulers, and who are to give character and stability to our government and its various institutions. And if parents cannot bequeath legacies of wealth to their children, they can give them what is far better, a good education and principles of sound morality. With these they can do more for themselves, and for the good of the world, than though they possessed the wealth of the Indies and were destitute of these important qualifications." ^ And in his report for 1859, Mr. Ballou urges " the importance of more attention in many of our schools to good manners and morals and pure- ness of speech, that there grow not up among us a class of reckless, irreverent youth ; believing that the prosperity and welfare of the individual, as well as the stability of our insti- tutions, rest more upon the virtue of the people than upon the training of the mind to mere intellectual force." ^ With his brother, William Starr, as a partner, he was largely interested late in life in Illinois real estate. He proved to be not only a good preacher, but a prudent, far-sighted business man. October 27, 1865, he passed away. He was a true man. Honored and loved, he found contentment in his sphere of usefulness. He was twice married, first to Mary Chase, second to Elvira B. Goodell, and of his seven children five survive, 1 " Report of Massachusetts Board of Education," 1846, p. 215. ^Ibid., 1859, p. 168. HOSEA STAKR BALLOU. [From "Massachusetts of To-day," page 158.] willia:h stare ballou. 223 two daughters and three sons, of whom Maturiii Baliou of New York, and Hosea Starr Ballou of Boston, have devoted their attention to financial interests, and Rev. William Ballou, of Fargo, is esteemed a sort of bishop of Liberal Christian faith for the whole State of North Dakota. William Starr Ballou. The next younger brother of Rev. Levi Ballou was also in the early thirties a student of theology with Hosea Ballou, 2d, at Roxbury.i William Starr Ballou, born at Halifax, Vt., September 17, 1808, in what environment we have seen, was first settled six years as a Universalist minister at Hartland, Vt., then at Randolph, West Brattleboro, Springfield, a second time at West Brattleboro, at Strafford, Vt., at Cheshire, Mass., and at Galesburg, Chillicothe, and Sheffield, 111. Like liis two older brothers above named, he never enjoyed robust health, but he was more vigorous and demonstrative than either of them in his pulpit utterances, and it has been well said of him that " Whoever listened • to his preaching had the privilege of hearing the discussion of important themes in clear and concise reasoning." He was a frequent contributor to Universalist periodicals.^ For several years he was standing clerk of the Vermont State Convention of Universalists (1842- 1846), and he took a deep interest in the establishment by the Goodenough brothers, in 1847, and the prosperity of Melrose Seminary at West Brattleboro, a half century ago an emi- nently useful denominational school. He was also instru- mental in the founding of Lombard University at Galesburg, 111., in 1856, and in adding to its financial resources. The following letter from him gives us a glimpse of life at Melrose Seminary : — 1 The fourth Sunday in May, 1832, he first preached at Roxbury. 2See, for example, Universalist Miscellany, April, 1840, pp. 449-454; July, 1847, pp. 24-28; and June, 1818, pp. 455-4.'J8. 224 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. West Brattleboro, August 17, 1849. Dear Brother, — Yours has been received a few clays, and I would say in respect to board, that the two young ladies from Orange can board, if they please, at Mr. Stockwell's, where Harriet boards (Hosea's Harriet) , and have the same accommodations for the same price. I consider this a first-rate boarding place. They will give up their parlor and parlor bedroom, and another sleeping-room in the chamber for four boarders — the parlor to be occupied by the four alike — besides each two boarders having a room for their own to study and sleep in. But the parlor is the only room in which they will have a fire, which will not be needed, only now and then, until the latter part of the term. Harriet and Brother Curtis' daughter, from Medford, I have engaged board for there, at $1.50 per week, and the scholars find their own lights and do their own washing. Mr. Stockwell finds what wood they will want. The rooms are well furnished and pleasant. This I presume is as cheap as good board and good rooms can be obtained near the school. We have advertised to board for $1.25 to $1.50. We mean by this, as usual by such advertisements when nothing contrary is stated, so much for mere board, while fire- wood, lights, and washing are extra. . . . Uncle Hosea Ballon, from Boston, was here and preached for me last Sabbath on his way to Whitingham. He was well, and calcu- lated to spend two Sabbaths more while up, before he returns to Boston. Hosea F. Ballon came here on Sunday night and carried him to Whitingham, otherwise I should have done it. . . . Yours truly, W. S. BALLOU. Rev. Levi Ballou. lu the early fifties, while still living in New England, he became financially interested in Illinois real estate, through his brothers. Judge Martin Ballou and Dr. Alvin Ballou, at Prince- ton, 111., and by increase in land values, as well as by thrift and good business judgment, he accumulated a considerable estate. S3 PI c« 'a 5 « o re o K! 03 _ o5 tS c oi ri R t2i 3 2 ^ > >< b r" o WILLIAM STAEE BALLOU. 225 Hosea Ballou, 2d, once wrote to his brother Levi : — " They say that Brother WilUam has made heaps o' money, a great fortune, out iu Ilhnois. Brother Skinuer, who saw him at Galesburg iu May, says he is estimated at $75,000, — rather hirge, 1 guess. But if he is worth $50,000, or even half that sum, he might just as well hang up his fiddle and enjoy his ease, as to keep on w'earing himself out with fever and ague, travel, and business. I am going to write to him to this purport iu a few days. But if he has got $75,000 it will be of no use to advise him to stop, — there'll be no whoa to him ; he'll be crazy for $100,000, and then for $200,000, and so on, till he lose the whole, and then he'll be contented again." He never married. The last few years of his life he lived on his large farm of six hundred and forty acres near Manlius, and, by frequent trips from there to Chicago and elsewhere, personally superintended his affairs. There he died Thursday, August 31, 1865, and his ashes rest at Princeton, 111. Matthew Hale Smith. The fifth Sunday in August, 1829, Hosea Ballou, 2d, preached in Watertown, and against the date in his record he made this memorandum : " Matt. Smith at Roxbury." It is the first mention we find of M. H. Smith, some time a student in his family, and a son of Rev. Elias Smith. Like Ms father, he was a "changeling," and after brief settlements in Guilford, Vt., Hartford, Conn., Quincy, Haverhill, and Salem, Mass., he had, in 1840, renounced Orthodoxy twice and Universalism twice, every last change having been due, as he was in the habit of saying, to an " unbalanced mind." He finally, in 1841, with- drew from the Universalist ministry, but as was then claimed not for disbelief.^ The following year, however, he published ^ See Universalist Companion and Register for 1S41, p. 61. 226 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. a volume of shameful slanders of Universalists, and the Ortho- dox at once flooded the country with copies of the book ^ upon the theory that " All is fair in the warfare against Univer- salists." In 1846 the book was reviewed at length by Rev. L. C. Browne,^ against the advice of Hosea Ballou, 2d, and others, however, whose " contempt of the man led them to think him unworthy of notice."^ A "false-hearted, unscrupu- lous, dishonest man," whom the Universalists had disciplined for lying, his conduct was a source of grief and mortification to his former teacher, who sometimes alludes to him in his letters as the " veracious Matthew Hale Smith." The prejudice created by M. H, Smith's writings still exists in the minds of many, notwithstanding "his conduct is the most convincing argument that can be adduced in favor of total depravity."* Even his son, a reputable professional man in Athol, Mass., had his name legally changed to escape the obloquy attaching to the name M. H. Smith. Thomas Starr King. Perhaps the most brilliant and best known of the students of Hosea Ballou, 2d, and certainly the one with whom, so long as he lived, he was on the terms of the closest intimacy — his brothers Levi and William Starr excepted — was Thomas Starr King. Born in the city of New York, December 17, 1824, his father, Thomas Farrington King, was a Universalist clergyman, then living at Norwalk, Conn. ; his mother, Susan, was at the time visiting the family of Thomas Starr, her father. The Kings were of English descent ; Thomas Starr, it has been claimed, was of German descent,^ but it appears to us extremely 1 1 was lately surprised to find two copies of the book in a small town library. 2 A volume of 360 pages, published by A. Tompkins, Boston. 3 Universalist Miscellany, vol. IV (1847), p. 479. •> Ibid., vol. IV (1847), p. 480. 5 See "A Tribute to Thomas Starr King," by Richard Frothingham, pp. 10, 178, 179. Stan- King wittily cites the German adjective sta7-r, stiff, unyielding; also see " Memoir Of Thomas Starr King," by Edwin P. Whipple, p. viii. THOMAS STABB KING. 227 probable that this Thomas Starr was from Danbiiry, Conn., and was descended in the fourth generation from Dr. Thomas Starr, surgeon in the Pequot war, the eldest son of Dr. Comfort Starr, from whom also Hosea Ballon, 2d, was descended.^ Starr King, like his teacher, may be said to have had the intellectual traits of the Starr family. T. F. King was called to the large Universalist society at Charlestown, Mass., and there, in the public schools, Starr was under the tuition of Mr. William D. Swan, later o'f Mr. Joshua Bates. Mr. Bates says of him : '• The chief distinguishing characteristic of his school life consisted in his sincerity, purity of heart, honesty of purpose, and uniformly gentlemanly de- portment." In youth, as at maturity, "his beaming eye, his expressive face " made a deep impression. He began to fit for college with the ministry in view as his profession, but his father was suffering from a deep-seated disease, and was in so straitened pecuniary circumstances that the boy was placed in a dry-goods store in Charlestown. He never returned to school, for in September, 1839, his father died. Left at fifteen the mainstay of his mother and five younger children, his earnings from now on contributed to the support of the family. He was faithful to his employer, but he did not forget his mission. He organized a debating and dramatic club, and the practice there gained proved invaluable to him in after years. His father's successor in Charlestown was Rev. Edwin H. Chapin. He became Starr King's lifelong friend. Another lifelong friend was Benjamin F. Tweed, then principal of the Bunker Hill Grammar School, and at sixteen (December 6, 1840) he was appointed assistant teacher in that school. Out of school he studied with the ministry in view. At seventeen he read Kant's " Critique of Pure Reason," and enjoyed it. This he read in translation from the German, as also Cousin's " Psycholog}'^," from the French. iSeep. 10. 228 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. In 1842, thanks to Hosea Ballon, 2d, who had been a very- dear friend of Starr King's father,^ and was now a member of the school committee of Medford, he was elected, young as he was, to be principal of the West Grammar School in that town. This event was a turning point in his life. Frothingham well says, it looks like " Providence shaping his ends." ^ He wrote, " I am very much pleased with the change, and delighted with the Medford people." Dr. Ballou said to Mr. Frothingham, " that while Medford had gained a faithful and competent teacher, he had found a rare and precious friend." " He had the advantage," says E. P. Whipple, "of being the personal friend of one of the most accomplished scholars that the Univer- salist denomination has produced, — the Rev. Dr. Hosea Ballou (2d), — a friendship which years only deepened and made more intimate."^ Soon after he began teaching in Medford, Starr King began a systematic preparation for the ministry, under the counsel of Dr. Ballou. At a festival in Boston some fif- teen years afterward. Rev. A. D. Mayo said "that all the theological education he enjoyed was three months' study in the library of Dr. Ballou, and that such an association with him was enough ; " to which Starr King, who followed him, responded: "I have been more fortunate. More than three months, more than three years, more than three times three years, I have been receiving influence from that noble man ; for I can hardly remember when in childhood I did not look up to that forehead and those blue eyes as the expression of a noble Christian integrity, wisdom, and purity." 4 " What love and confidence grew up between those gifted and kindred souls ! " exclaims Frothingham ; ^ " and how interesting 1 The elder King, as well as his son, used to pi-eserve witty notes he had received from Hosea Ballou, 2d, and read them to his friends. The author regrets that painstaking search has failed to discover them. 2 "Tribute to Thomas Starr King," p. 42. ^ Whipple's " Memoir," pp. xiv, xv . *" Tribute to Thomas Starr King," pp. 44, 45. ^Ihid., pp. 42, 43. THOMAS STARE KINO. 229 it was to see them together ! One of silver locks, rich in ancient and modern lore ; the other of boyish face, athirst for knowledge and scaling the heights with the scholar's enthu- siasm ; and both of wit that was quick, of easy flow, elicited by the commonest things, and, diamond-like, sharp and sparkling. Intimate and sweet was their lifelong communion ; much in the quiet seclusion of the study, occupied with great themes, and much among the sublimity of the mountains, feeling the grand inspiration of Nature, for both were loving worshipers at her shrine. Then their views of Christ and Christianity were similar. Both accepted in like form the centralisms of the paternity of God and the brotherhood of man ; both thought alike of the dignity of human nature ; both reached like conclusions as to discipline and the great restoration ; both had a faith in immortality that rose to the sublime ; and both, too, were the subjects of dogmatic criticism from good and true men of their own denomination, whose minds were not given to philosophy, who measured fidelity to principle by devotion to sect, and stood like Cerberus at its gates to warn off intrusion or to keep up interior discipline. The sympathy between the two friends was noble. Nothing could exceed the admiration which Dr. Ballon habitually expressed for the intellectual gifts of his young friend, and no one ever heard from the lips of Thomas Starr King aught but love and gratitude for his theological father." On August 1, 1843, Starr King resigned his position in Medford to accept a more lucrative clerical position in the Navy Yard at Charlestown, but he continued his studies of philosophy and religion, and in 1845 Dr. Ballou considered that he was well prepared for the Christian ministry. His first public address was in the r61e of a Fourth of July orator at Medford in that year, before he was twenty-one, and Starr King himself said, " When the doctor's face was all aglow with 230 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. satisfaction, I knew it was all right." At the same time, in July, 1845, he appeared as an essayist in the Universalist Quarterly, in an article on " Philosophy and Theology." i In the autumn he began preaching in Woburu, Medford, and Maiden, and in the winter to a new Universalist society lately- gathered on Chardon Street, Boston ; and July 16, 1846, he was called to his first pastoral settlement as the successor of Rev. E. H. Chapin in Charlestown. The delivery of the Scriptures and the charge by Dr. Ballon was peculiarly impressive ; the sermon by the eloquent Chapin was from the text, " Whosoever will be the greatest among you, let him be your minister ; " and the graceful pen of Sarah C. Edgarton wrote for the ordination service one of her mellifluous hymns.^ Boy that he was to the Charlestown people, Starr King "still satisfied the raised expectations of bis hearers."^ His training in Dr. Ballou's study, and in the writings of Plato, Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, Hamilton, Cousin, Shakespeare, and Goethe, equipped him well for the work. His earnest delivery, his deep, rich voice, his expressive eyes gave peculiar impressiveness to the spiritual truths he uttered. The fame he acquired in his vocation of preacher was percep- tibly increased in his avocation of lecturer. When Starr King first received a call to the HoUis Street (^ Unitarian) Church in Boston, he declined it. When the call was more urgently repeated, he sought the advice of Dr. Ballou. I would go, said Dr. Ballon, but let it be distinctly understood that you go as a Universalist. Dr. Ballou and Dr. Chapin took part in the installation service, and Mrs. T. J. Sawyer contributed an original hymn. As a Universalist, Starr King never lowered his flag. His new Unitarian friends some- 1 See Article No. XX, pp. 221-249. 2 See this hymn in Frothingham's " Tribute to Thomas Starr King," p. 85. 3 Whipple's " Memoir," p. xvi. THOMAS STARE KING. 231 times asked him the difference between the two denominations, and this was his characteristic reply in a public address : "The Universalist believes that God is too good to damn us forever," said he, " and you Unitarians believe that you are too good to be damned." He frequently sought Dr. Ballou's advice, as in the following humorous letter : — Boston, May 11, 1858. Mr DEAR Dr. B. The Great Hosee, — I have been re-reading lately a celebrated work by some learned and perverse heretic of the last century — to whom the gods had not denied the gift of a most excellent English style — to wit: "The Ancient History of Universalism." I find that my principles have become somewhat corrupted by the show of fairness and erudition and the insidious style of the awful volume. After perusing it I am in doubt touching the doctrine and topic of Rev. Dr. Nehemiah, South Side, Calvin Adams. Yet I fear to trust myself unreservedly to the statements and implications of a book evidently written by an oily and plausible, but reckless and godless man. How much better to be under the guidance of a sleek and serious Christian who does not tamper with the Holy AVord, and who admires the arrangements of this world as the neat and symmetrical portico of hell ! Yet three points in this wily volume above mentioned disturb me and forbid that serene yielding of my intellect to the influence of the saintly and cheei-ing Nehemiah, which seems so advisable. The treacherous writer asserts (page 45) that the Sybilline Oracles use the word " everlasting " concerning the punishment of the wicked — still teaching Universal Restoration. Also (page 88) that an old scamp — a spurious, Capon-Christian, an Egyptian-gelding, the father (so far as a wretch in his situation can be called father, in a correct use of language), at any rate, the Origen of Universalism, used the same word touching the overhaul- ing which scoundrels will experience in the life to come. Still 232 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. further, the pestilent book affirms (pages 179 and 180) that Gregory of Nyssa knew so little of Greek as to use " everlasting" again of temporal discipline, and also that the wicked are to be saved by means of everlasting purgation. Now I cannot think that the writer of the volume or even these old numskulls are to be trusted against Dr. Adams. But I do want to know, before I settle finally into a poor opinion of their scholar- ship, whether it is the word aionios which, in these instances, they so ignorautly apply to that punishment which, for Dr. Adams' sake, and the justice due to the other pro-slavery clergy, we devoutly trust is to be literally unending. Can you inform me touching this matter? If you have any knowledge of the puerile but pernicious publication referred to, will you drop me a line as soon as possible ? and believe me, Yours in suspense, T. S. KING. I am to preach a sermon next Sunday evening in which I wish to use the fact. Dr. Ballou's enthusiasm for mountain scenery, particularly his thirty-page article on " The White Mountains," printed in the Quarterly, in 1846,^ turned Starr King's attention to the " White Hills " which he first visited, he tells us, in 1849,^ and, making his summer home at Gorham, he never tired of revisit- ing them. His volume " The White Hills " was published in. October, 1859, on the eve of his final departure for California. When he decided to accept the call to San Francisco, he replied : " I shall go to you in the hope of using all the powers that may be continued to me for your permanent strength as a Liberal-Christian parish." His affectionate letters to Dr. Ballou from the Yosemite and the Golden Gate, with gifts for Tufts College Library, — what cheer they brought to Dr. Ballou ! On April 29, 1860, he preached his first sermon in iVol. Ill, pp. n3-143. = See "The White Hills," p. 222; Frothingham's statement (p. 137) that he visited the White Hills at thirteen appears to be an error. EDWIX HUBBELL CHAPIX. 233 California as the first threats of rebellion were distinctly heard. In the fonr years he was spared to the world in Cal- ifornia, he built a magnificent church as an enduring monu- ment; but the great monument of those four years of severest, most anxious toil is the fact that Starr King more than any other one man contributed to inspire loyalty and patriotism, and to save the Pacific Coast to the Union, — a monument that will not be forgotten when the pile of brick and mortar shall have crumbled to dust. On Friday, March 4, 1864, Thomas Starr King passed away, in the prime of life, leaving a widow (now Mrs. Norris) and two little children, a daughter, now the wife of Horace Davis, and a son, Frederick R. King, now a lawyer, — all still resident in San Francisco. His contributions to the Universalist Quarterly, " Patriotism and other Papers " (1864) and " Sub- stance and Show " (1877), comprise his principal literary work. Edwin Hubbell Chapin. On the very day that Hosea Ballon, 2d, bid farewell to all that was mortal of his dear friend. Rev. Thomas F. King, in September, 1839, it happened that a young man, less than twenty-five years old, preached his first sermon in the draped Charlestown pulpit, — a young man who was to become the most intimate of his friends at Cornhill, excepting only the elder King's son. Edwin Hubbell Chapin was born in Union Village, Wash- ington County, N. Y., December 29, 1814, in a humble home, the son of Alpheus and Beulah (Hubbell) Chapin. His father was a pronounced wit and a portrait painter ; his paternal grandfather, an educated physician in Vermont. The pulpit orator himself whs disposed to give credit for his intellectual traits to his ancestry : he was of the eighth generation from Deacon Samuel Chapin, English emigrant, who, in 1642, left 234 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Dorchester to found a home with Pynchon and Holyoke in the Connecticut Valley at Springfield ; and on his mother's side, Richard Hubbell, in the middle of the seventeenth century, was the first American ancestor. His father a wandering artist, from the earliest years of his recollection, his parents had no fixed abode to call home, and the child had no systematic training in school. A dozen sum- mers had scarcely passed over his head when the family at length made a protracted halt in Sudbury Street, near Court Street, Boston, and the lad began service as an office boy in a broker's office on State Street. In his leisure hours he amused his comrades as a member of an amateur theatrical company, the late tragedian E, L. Davenport being of the number. At this critical moment, when at fifteen the drama was his ambition, his parents sent him to the Pioneer Academy at historic Ben- nington, Vt., to keep him off the stage. Here for four years he was fortunate in having one James Ballard as his teacher, to guide and not restrain his bursts of enthusiasm, to cultivate devotion in his exuberant nature, and to give aim and method to his studies, and in having home influences in the family of Deacon Aaron Hubbell. His muse, too, now voiced poetic sentiment in creditable verse. Among his schoolmates he was immensely popular. " He was facetious and funny, but large- hearted, manly, and noble." The two years following he was postmaster's clerk at Bennington, and lived in the home of Henry Kellogg, a prosperous lawyer, whose wife was a Hub- bell. Gradually the law supplanted the drama as his ideal, and four months after he had passed his twenty-first birthday, in May, 1836, he bade a fond good-b}^ to Bennington and " with a new suit of clothes and forty dollars in his pocket," ^ went to Troy, N. Y., and entered a law office ; shortly he entered the political arena as a stump orator for the Van Buren party. It 1 Sumner Ellis' " Life of Edvnn H. Chapin," p. 38. EDWIX HUBBELL CHAPIN. 235 was at this time that he became the subject of a religious revival of the Calvinistic type, and was for a time mentally unbalanced by it. In less than a year from his arrival in Tro^^ he abandoned the study of law. " In great distress of mind," he went to his father's home at Bridgewater. Then going with him to Utica, N. Y., in his search for light, happily he became a frequent visitor to the office of the Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate, a Universalist paper then published in Utica by Rev. A. B, Grosh and O. Hutchinson. There he found and read Hosea Ballou's " Treatise on Atonement," I. D. William- son's " Argument for Christianity," Smith on " Divine Govern- ment," etc. Shortly he was received into Mr. Grosh's home as a boarder and became an employee in the office; and in two months, on September 22, 1837, he was announced as the assistant editor of the paper. Now he donned the editorial spectacles, the need of which, to remedy nearsightedness, he had not before discovered, and ever after used them. New convert that he was, oddly enough, he rarely referred to his new faith in his editorials, as indeed is true of his pulpit utterances later in life. On March 16, 1838, the Utica paper announced : " Last Sunday Brother E. H. Chapin, our worthy associate, delivered his first sermon in Spencer's schoolhouse, Litchfield. . . . Those who heard it speak of it as very credit- able to him, both in manner and matter." In two months (May, 1838) he was invited to the pastoral charge of the Independent Christian Church in Richmond, Va., and for four months performed the duties of the office without ordination. He was ordained at Knoxville, Madison County, N. Y., Sep- tember 27, 1838, and on the fifteenth of the following month was married by Rev. A. B. Grosh to Miss Hannah Newland, of Utica, his lifelong companion. A year and a half after he first went to Richmond, on November 4, 1839, he was invited to occupy the vacant Charles- 236 HO SEA BALLOU 2d, D.D. town pulpit several Sundays. In February, 1840, he came and delivered three sermons and several " Lectures to Young Men," which resulted, the twenty-third of that month, in "a frank, cordial, and unanimous invitation to assume the pas- toral charge of this society." In ten months to a day he was installed as pastor of the Universalist Church in Charlestown, the two Hosea Ballous, the two Whittemores, Sebastian Streeter, Otis A. Skinner, Henry Bacon, and E. G. Brooks joining in the service. It was the happy duty of Hosea Ballou, 2d, to give the charge and put a copy of the Bible in the hands of the elder King's successor, " as the true light of his life and the guide of his preaching." ^ From that time dates the close intimacy between the two men. The fourth Sunday in April^ 1841, they first exchanged pulpits. Dr. Chapin never had a systematic theological training, but the writer has heard the opinion expressed that so far as his theology was systematic it was due to Hosea Ballou, 2d, more than to any other one man. " Of all the years of his life," says Rev. Sumner Ellis, referring to Chapin's five years in Charlestown, "they were, perhaps, the most plastic and formative ; and, while the ore of his being was thus at its whitest heat, it was brought under the most favorable pressures. He had come to the best school the country could offer him, a school truly polytechnic and with competent teachers ; and he came in the true humility and ambition of a pupil." ^ It was often Dr. Ballou's highest mission not so much to instruct as to suggest and direct. And it was at Dr. Ballou's suggestion — he then being an Overseer of Harvard University — that in 1845 the degree of A.M. was conferred upon him, and in 1856 the degree of D.D. Later Tufts College gave him the degree of LL.D. " We have been not a little amused with public notices of Mr. Chapin, wherein his vast range of deep and intense study was announced," 1 Sumner Ellis' " Life of Edwin H. Chapin," p. 91. 2 md., p. 92. EDWIX HUBBELL CHAPIN. 237 wrote Rev. John G. Adams in August, 1847.^ " This is a pretension which need not be made for Mr, Chapin. Though a passionate lover of reading, he is no bookworm." And again the same writer said of his pulpit eloquence : " He is all alive, and keeps his hearers so. Often, when filled with his theme and roused to strong inspiration therewith, will he hold an audience spellbound, swaying them as the swift wind the forest or grain field." ^ When in a social mood, a wit among wits at Cornhill, and the prince of story-tellers, he often ap- peared lost in abstraction. In Chaiiestown and later for two years as Father Ballou's colleague at School Street, Boston, — where again Dr. Ballou delivered the charge, January 26, 1846, — Chapin's face was smooth shaven, and but for his grow- ing corpulence he would have appeared youthful. Says one^ who knew him at Charlestown, and sat under his preaching at School Street, Boston, and for twenty-five years was a pillar in Dr. Chapin's society in New York : " A marked change was •noticeable in Chapin's appearance three or four years after he went to New York," — physically larger, his features became heavier, which were further changed by the growth of a beard. It was on the seventh of May, 1848, that Rev. Edwin H. Chapin became pastor of the Fourth Universalist Society in New York, then occupying the church on Murray Street, Their offer to assume certain debts which he had incurred with characteristic prodigal generosity and open-handedness, and an increase of a thousand dollars a year in his salary, determined his removal from Boston. In four years and a half a larger auditorium was required to accommodate the people who thronged to hear him, and a new church on Broadway, near Spring Street, was purchased, and there the society's home 1 See The Universalist Miscellany, vol. V, p. 59. = I'he Universalist Miscellany, vol. V, p. 56, — of which Mr. Chapin had lately ceased to be eilitor. ■* Mr. Nathaniel Cheney, of North Orange, Mass. 238 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. remained for fourteen years, prospering marvelously. Mean- while his reputation as an author and a poet continued to grow. With all his pastoral duties and engagements as a lecturer he was a prolific writer ; and for literary merit and helpfulness two dainty gift books, "Crown of Thorns" (1848) and " Hours of Communion " (1851), are not the least notable of his writings, and are worthy of being read and re-read to-day, as well as " Moral Aspects of City Life " (1853), and "True Manliness" (1854). In December, 1866, Dr. Chapin began in the new Church of the Divine Paternity, on Fifth Avenue and Forty-fifth Street, the last period of four- teen years' service to his New York society. In his last message to his congregation, a few months before his death, December 26, 1880, when neither his beautiful city home nor the delightful quiet of Pigeon Cove could help him in his wast- ing strength, he wrote : " I exhort you to be firm in your faith and your loyalty to the Church and the great truths and in- terests associated with it. Do not forsake these or become indifferent or discouraged." Amory Dwight Mayo. Amory Dwight Mayo was born in Warwick, Mass., January 31, 1823, and he acquired the rudiments of education in his native town and at Deerfield Academy. He writes: — ^ " My intimate relations with Rev. Hosea Ballou, 2d, . . . were confined to a few months' residence in his home in the autumn of 1845, and an occasional interview in the following nine years, during eio-ht of which I was the minister of the Independent Christian Society (Universalist) at Gloucester, Mass. I had been compelled by ill health to leave Amherst College in the second term of Freshman year and, on my partial recovery, had decided to enter the Christian ministry. Through the introduction of Miss Sarah C. Edgartou I 1 Letter to Hosea Starr Ballou, July 27, 1896. x^ f^- AMORY DWIGHT MAYO. AMOBY DWIGHT MAYO. 239 became acquainted with Mr. Ballon, and spent several months in Med- ford in daily intimate consnltatiou on the preparation for the ministry. '• It was soon apparent that I was in no physical condition to under- take a course of severe study in anything. The two years between my retirement from college and my settlement at Gloucester were given to a course of preliminary reading on matters pertaining to philosophy, ecclesiastical history, and the careful reading of the New Testament. . . . The more severe professional studies, like those of Dr. Ballou, Chapin, and King, came in the years of my parish minis- try in Massachusetts, at Gloucester and Springfield, Albany, N. Y., and Cleveland and Cincinnati, Ohio. " In 1880 I entered my present work — a Ministry of Education in the Southern States. . . . Dr. Ballou gave me the Charge at my ordination and officiated at my marriage to Miss Edgarton. My first essays were religious talks at his prayer-meeting in Medford, and my first sermons were preached at Woburn, Mass., October 12, 1845, Starr King assisting, as I had at his first preaching in the same church, on a previous Sunday. " As a theological teacher I always regarded Dr. Ballou with great respect and reverence, and still believe his method of preparation for the ministry the best. It was largely, at first, a thorough acquaintance with the geography and history of the world in the time of the appearance of Jesus in Palestine. With this environ- ment, he counseled the reading of the New Testament in the original with sparing use of commentaries, but rather by the light thrown on the life and words of the Master by all the culture and experi- ence the student could bring to that supreme study. "Whatever might be the accumulation of knowledge in the usual departments of professional' study, he believed that all this was dead rubbish until illuminated, locked into shape, and vitalized all through by a personal experience, and that knowledge of life which often comes at the beginning rather than the end of a genuine career. It was by this method that he and a score of the ablest and most influential preachers of the last half century have been trained for leadership in that great reformation known as Liberal Christianity." 240 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. In 1873 Amherst College conferred the honorary degree of A.M. on Mr. Mayo, and in 1896 Berea College that of LL.D. As a religious teacher he is still active, having delivered at the Boston Young Men's Christian Union, in the summer of 1896, a course of nine addresses on " Privilege and Peril in American. City Life " ; but for sixteen years his has been a Ministry of Education in the Southern States ; he is also writing a work on our common schools from the colonial to our own time. John Stebbins Lee. For seventy years Captain Eli Lee was a leading Univer- salist of Vernon, Vt., the town adjoining Dr. Ballou's native Guilford. There Captain Lee's son, John Stebbins Lee, was born, September 23, 1820. He writes : — ^ " In the winter of 1845, while I was a student in Amherst College, I wrote to Rev. Hosea Ballon, 2d, asking hhn if I might study theol- ogy with him. ... I was about to graduate from the college, I was the only Universalist in my class, and I had been treated so unchari- tably, and my sentiments had been so persistently misrepresented, that I was determined to avail myself of all the advantages possible to acquaint myself with Universalist theology. I had decided to enter the ministry, but 1 had accepted an invitation to take charge of Mount Ca?sar Seminary, in Swansey, N. H., and it was not until June, 1846, that I was free to go on with my studies under him. I became a boarder in his family and studied under his direction for several months. It was a great privilege and I appreciated it highly. Indeed it was the turning point in my life. There were then no theological schools in our denomination, and it was neces- sary to seek out some good scholar as a teacher or to plod on alone. Dr. Ballon stood at the head of our theologians, and many young men sought his services. So I eagerly availed myself of his consent to receive me as a pupil. The few months I spent with him afforded me a glorious opportunity. He opened before my receptive mind 1 Letter to Hosea Starr Ballon, July 8, 1896. JOHN STEBBIXS LEE. 241 the treasures of his vast knowledge ami wide experience, and I reveled in them. I studied Hebrew and read the Greek Testament and works on the different departments of theology. I composed sermons for his inspection and received the benefits of his friendly criticism. I received cautions and dire(;tions in the management of parishes. He was one of the most patient and skilful of teachers. Everything which he treated he made plain. As a wise exegete he threw light on difficult passages of Scripture. " He infused his personality into the mind of every one with whom he came in contact, and thus gradually moulded their char- acter. He was simple in his tastes and deportment, but he exhibited a depth and originality of thought that were truly wonderful, yet he made no pretensions. He put on no affectation. He was deferent to all. He would often ask questions of his pnpils, seemingly to get information, but really in tbis manner communicated it to them. The idea would flash upon their minds before tliey were aware of it. He was one of the most candid and conscientious of men, and this feature marked all his utterances. He was not an unscrupulous opponent. He stated fairly his positions before proceeding to over- throw them. If he erred at all, it was on the side of leniency. P^'or instance, in his ' Ancient History of Universalism ' he hesitated to claim certain theologians, as Theodoret and Gregory Nazianzen, as Universalists, because the evidence was not deemed quite conclusive, whom Farrar, Beecher, and AUin pronounced decided Universalists. " He was courteous in his dealings with all who came into collision with his opinions. He did not cease to respect those who differed from him if he thought them sincere. For instance, he did not accept the views of his uncle concerning the relations of man to the future world. He held opinions more in consistency with the nature of man and the philosophy of the human mind, yet he did not vio- lenth' assail those of his uncle. He gently touched upon them, and in the expression of his dissent exhibited in the highest degree the esteem which he felt towards the recognized leader of the Univer- salist denomination. "In his family he was mild and unobtrusive. His views of 242 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. domestic economy were marked by common sense. His manner towards all the members of his family and transient guests was genial and kind. Every one who was invited to his house was made to feel at home. In a word he was a Christian and a gentleman in every sense of these words. " While studying with him we used to walk into Boston on Mon- day mornings from Medford, five miles, and ride back at noon. Those walks gave me great pleasure, as they afforded the best oppor- tunity for conversing with him. The anecdotes which he related and the wise counsels which he uttered have been treasured up and re- membered all my lifetime, and given me useful hints of which I have made free use in my studies and theological teachings. I recall one instance which will serve as a specimen of many others. I was not naturally fluent. All the fluency I possess was gained by practice. To encourage me he said that fluency was a positive injury to the public speaker. He is tempted to rely upon this and to make little or no preparation. The consequence is he uses an abundance of words and rambles all over the lot without system or effect. His words mean little or nothing to the hearer. But if he is not fluent, he will be compelled to make thorough preparation, arrange his thoughts systematically, and get a clear idea of what he wants to say. In this way he will make a much better expression. And to illustrate, he related an incident. When he was called upon to speak he made thorough preparation ; his mind became filled with the mat- ter of which he was to treat. On one occasion he had arranged a Christmas service and had invited a neighboring clergyman to preach the sermon. The hour arrived for the service, but the clergyman did not appear. He opened the service and it was not until the choir was singing the hymn preceding the sermon that the thought dawned upon him that the speaker was going to disappoint him. He im- mediately selected a text and hastily marked out the train of thought he would pursue. At the close of the singing he arose with the line of thought clear in his mind and spoke with unusual power, as the hearers afterwards acknowledged. So much for having his mind filled with the subject. JOHN STEBBINS LEE. 243 " On those Monday mornings the ministers of Boston and vicinity used to gather at the Trumpet office, 37 Cornhill, and talk over incidents pertaining to the Sunday service, arrange exchanges for the next Sunday, and offer suggestions and give advice as to the management of parishes and the composition of sermons. " He was a humorous man as well as a scholar. He dealt not in low slang or stale wit. His humorous sallies were always full of meaning. On these occasions he was the centre of interest. Many gathered around him to listen to his wise remarks and sharp sayings. His fund of humor and satire was inexhaustible. His talk with Thomas Whittemore attracted all. They were unlike in tempera- ment, but genial spirits in wit and sarcasm. He was a man of great logical powers, but when the subject would admit of it, he would settle the matter iu dispute by pouring a broadside of ridicule upon his opponent's head, from which he would scarcely ever attempt to rally. "In June, 1847, he preached my ordination sermon at West Brattleboro, Vt.^ In it he had occasion to speak in strong, if not severe terms of parishes that were indifferent or negligent in maintaining the cause in which they professed to feel an interest. After the service was over some of the friends ventured to question the propriety of thus castigating those who failed to do their duty. He replied : ' There are birches in the forests, and what are birches good for except to lash the backs of the criminally negligent?' Severity is sometimes necessary, and he knew when to use it. When the subject demanded it, he would discuss it reverently and with the tenderest regard for the feelings of those who sincerely opposed him. We could not wish for a kinder opponent." At West Brattleboro Rev. J. S. Lee, a.m., was principal ^ of Melrose Seminary, which, in 1848, had two hundred and twenty- five students, " average fifty-six per term " ; in 1849 it had two hundred and fourteen students enrolled, one hundred and three ladies and one hundred and eleven gentlemen.^ Mrs. E. B. Lee 1 As successor to Kev. William S. Ballou. 2 Register, 1849, p. 42. = Ibid., 1850, p. 41. 244 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d. D.D. was the efficient preceptress. In 1855 he was principal of the Green Mountain Liberal Institute at South Woodstock, Vt., and with one hundred and twenty students/ he sent from his school nine of the nineteen ^ students who entered Tufts College at the opening in August, 1855. Had financial conditions permitted, he would have been a member of the first faculty of Tufts College. In April, 1859, the Collegiate and Preparatory Depart- ment of the St. Lawrence University was opened at Canton, N. Y., " for students fitting for college, or pursuing an advanced collegiate course," with " Rev. J. S. Lee, a.m., principal and professor of Greek and Latin languages." ^ From its foundation Dr. Lee, more than any other man, has been identified with and contributed to the prosperity of St. Lawrence University, of which one of his scholarly sons, John Clarence Lee, s.t.d., is now president. Two other sons, Leslie A. Lee, PH.D., professor of biology in Bowdoin College, and Frederick S. Lee, PH.D., professor of physiology in Columbia College, have also won fame in the department of higher education. Sumner Ellis. Sumner Ellis was born of Universalist parentage, the young- est of ten children, at the Ellis farmhouse, near the base of Tully Mountain, in Orange, Mass., May 17, 1828. He was the son of Sethand Susanna (Cheney) Ellis, and grandson of Ebenezer Cheney, who, in 1803, was the lay delegate of the Universalist Society in Orange (now North Orange), at the General Con- vention of Universalists at Winchester, N. H., which adopted the Winchester Profession of Faith ; and a descendant in the seventh generation from William Cheney, who came from Derbyshire, England, and settled in Roxbury, where he " died June 30, 1667, aged sixty-three." From his mother Sumner 1 Register, 1856, p. 36. i! There were thirty stuilents in the course of the year. 3 Register, 1S60, p. 37. SUMNER ELLIS. 245 Ellis derived that thirst for knowledge and alertness of mind which so characterized the man. Reared a farmer's boy, fond of fishing and hunting and of athletic sports, with school privileges limited to the district school three months in the year, it was his good fortune that in June, 1843, Rev. Levi Ballou was settled as the pastor of the First Parish in Orange and came to live in the old Ellis house, where three generations of Ellises had lived, and directly opposite the newer farmhouse where Sumner was born. Fif- teen years of age, with a natural thirst for knowledge, his father, who was one of the leading men in the then populous parish, observed the boy's frequent visits to Mr. Ballou's library and ttudy. If the father did not encourage those visits, Mr. Ballou did ; he aroused the boy's higher nature and kindled the fires of enthusiasm for a professional career. He was regular in attendance on the church and the Sunday-school and Bible class ; and the three years that he continued to work on his father's farm, Robert Thomas' Almanac, which had been the chief literature in the Ellis household, was supplanted in the boy's leisure moments by Weems' " Life of Washington," Worces- ter's " Epitome of History," Milton's " Paradise Lost," Moore's Poems (both pocket editions), and others, not to mention Blair's Sermons in two large volumes, and Hosea Ballou's " Treatise on Atonement." " Mr. Ballou helped him in many ways about his studies," says an intimate friend of all his maturer years ;i such a "wise and tender friend." at the turning point of his life proved invaluable. Rev. Levi Ballou was a trustee of the Academy at New Salem, and it was probably by his advice that Seth Ellis sent his son Sumner there when eighteen years old for a full year's tuition. The following year, in the autumn of 1847, Rev. John S. Lee, a friend of the Ballous, opened Melrose Seminary iRev. C. R. Moor's " Memorial of Sumucr Ellis," p. 12. 246 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. at West Brattleboro, where Rev. William Starr Ballou had been preaching, and Sumner Ellis and other young men and women from Orange were among the first students. He had already fully determined upon the ministry as his profession. Dr. Lee says : " He began the study of Latin and afterwards took up Greek, at the same time pursuing his studies in English. His essays were marked by simplicity and earnest- ness, elevated in tone and thought, spiritual, devotional. He was connected with the seminary about three years, going out to teach winters." At West Brattleboro he preached his first sermon, and while a student there in 1849-50 continued to preach in the adjoining town of Guilford. " He is going to make a fine speaker," wrote Rev. W. S. Ballou, November 12, 1849, to his brother Levi, — "a very promising young man for our ministry." It was in his twenty-third year that Sumner Ellis formally be- gan preparation for the ministry. Rev. Levi Ballou introduced him into the household of his brother. Rev. Hosea Ballou, 2d, D.D., at Medford. "Nobody has ever yet written just what should be written of his remarkable private life and character," says one of Sumner Ellis' fellow-students in Dr. Ballou's home. After less than two years of preparation at Medford, Sumner Ellis received a call as colleague of the venerable Rev. Sebas- tian Streeter, at the First Universalist Church,^ on Hanover and Bennet Streets, Boston. On October 28, 1851, Rev. Levi Ballou joined him in marriage to Mary Jane Morton, whom he had known and loved from childhood, and who had also been a fellow-student with him at Melrose Seminary; and on November 11, 1851, the ordination and installation services were solemnized at Boston. 'This church was built in 1838 to replace the frame meeting-house (see picture in " Memorial History of Boston," vol. Ill, p. 489), purcliased in 1 785, where Murray preached until a stroke of paralysis, October 19, 1809, made him " helpless as a new-born babe " until Ms death, September 3, 1815. SUM.YEB ELLIS. 247 When Rev. Sumner Ellis began his work at the Hanover Street Church, the foreign population had already begun to crowd out the native-born population from the North End of Boston. Some of the Protestant meeting-houses in that quar- ter of the city were already abandoned.^ As a preacher he had presence, a pleasing manner, and " there were but few in that large audience who detected any failure to feed the flock continuously with all that the hungry and weary soul needs." After two years' service there, on the first Sunday in 1854, Mr. Ellis assumed the duties of pastor to the First Universal- ist Society in Salem, as successor of the Rev. Ebenezer Fisher. At Salem he '' worked easier and preached better," and he was '" more widely felt among the general public." Twice every Sunday he was encouraged and stimulated by large audiences, and the Sunday-school outgrew the vestry. It was preeminently a successful pastorate. In August, 1858, he halted for a period of rest and study. After a year and a half he settled in Lynn, where he remained two years and a half. Then for a few months in the winter of 1862-63, Mr. Ellis assumed the duties of pastor of the Church of the Divine Paternity in New York during the absence of Rev. E. H. Chapin, d.d., abroad. He was associate pastor with ReVo T. B. Thayer, d.d., of the Shawmut Universalist Church, Boston, about two years and a half, and then, taking Horace Greeley's advice, he departed for the West, at first on a busi- ness venture ; but concluding very soon that he "was not made for that sort of thing," we next find him doing faithful service at Milwaukee, Wis., at Dubuque, Iowa, as supply at St. Paul's, Chicago, in the absence of Rev. W. H. Ryder, d.d., and then after little more than a year at Newark, N. J., in pastoral work, ^The property was finally sold, May 28, 1864, for $30,000 above the incumbrance of $15,000, and the twenty -four proprietors divided the proceeds pro rata among them. See Suffolk Records, Lib. 843, folio 248. 248 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. he returned to Boston in 1872, and began the preparation of his first book, " At Our Best ; or, Making the Most of Life," — a book distinctively Emersonian in style. In the five years, 1874 to 1879, Mr. Ellis was pastor of the Church of the Redeemer, in Chicago. During this time he wrote " Hints on Preaching." In 1880 his companion, who had worshiped him in her childless love of nearly thirty years, passed on, and her mortal dust he bore tenderly back to the valley under the shadows of Tully Mountain, in the native North Orange where, every summer, they had spent weeks of recreation and rest together. Rev. Sumner Ellis' scholarship was formally recognized by Buchtel College, in 1880, by conferring upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He began in 1881 the labor of a year and a half in writing the " Life of Edwin H. Chapin, D.D.," a carefully prepared volume of over three hundred pages, which appeared in September, 1882, — probably his greatest work. While pastor of St. Paul's Church, Chicago, in 1883, he married Mrs. A. M. Hall, a friend from her girlhood, and together they spent fifteen months in travel abroad. Six weeks after their return he passed away, — January 26, 1886; and a marble shaft at North Orange marks the resting-place he had chosen. " Gentle, unobtrusive, kind, and helpful," says Dr. H. W. Thomas, of Chicago, "he was loved by all." Possibly he lacked in self-confidence, which resulted in frequent change of pastorates when trifling obstacles appeared in his pathway ; »but Dr. Elmer H. Capen well says, he "did an important and a noble work." We cannot now make a complete list of Dr. Ballou's students in theology. Many, like Massena Goodrich, made use of his "Course of Study " under his personal direction, but we can STUDENTS IN THEOLOGY. 249 add to those already named the following, who for some time lived in his family : Addison G. Fay, Eben Francis, Isaac Brown, J. J. Locke, Charles Spear, John M. Spear, J. W. Talbot, George Bradburn, J. A. Coolidge, Edwin A. Eaton, J. D. Peirce, — who were nearly all preaching half a century ago, — and, among his latest pupils in Medford, Russell A. Ballon, a distant cousin, who married for his first wife Harriet, Dr. Ballou's youngest daughter. One after another, he sent his students in theology out into the world, with "counsel and encouragement," and through them the circles of his beneficent influence were largely extended. CHAPTER XII. ENDEAVORS FOR DENOMINATIONAL EDUCATION. Scarcely had Hosea Ballou, 2d, reached his twenty-first birthday when, at the General Convention of Universalists held at Charlton, Mass., in 1817, he was appointed one of a committee " to carry into effect a subscription of Five Thou- sand Dollars," and "to make any further provisions for the success " of a seminary " embracing the united interests of Literature and Religion." Subscriptions were difficult to ob- tain, but a year later, thanks to the liberality of a devoted Universalist layman, Mr. Amasa Nichols, a merchant of Dud- ley, Mass., a new school building was completed to replace one that had been burned in that town, which, unaer the name of Nichols Academy, was incorporated in 1819. Rev. Barton Ballou was the first principal. Essentially unsectarian, it was the first educational institution in America wholly under the auspices of the Universalist denomination. At academies and colleges under Orthodox auspices the children of Universalist parents were '" frequently ill-treated, their cherished convictions were ridiculed, and unjust asper- sions were cast upon them," — this in addition to a persistent effort to make proselytes of such students. Ten years after his first appointment by the General Con- vention on an educational committee, in 1827, Hosea Ballou, 2d, was appointed with two others a committee to devise and report a plan for establishing a theological seminary. They reported in 1828, but nothing was accomplished more tangible than " an interesting discussion." He was also one of a committee of three on whose report, 250 ESDEAVORS FOR DENOMINATIONAL EDUCATION. 251 in 1836, the Boston Association of Universalists cautiously voted : " That when circumstances render it convenient to establish and support schools for instruction in those branches of learning proper for young men entering the ministry, such institutions are desirable, and that they be commended to the attention of our brethren." In 1839 he prepared a " Review of the Denomination of Universalists in the United States," which he published in the March number of the Expositor ^ of that year, and which being widely copied by the nine weekly, two serai-monthly, and one monthly publications then issued in the denomination,^ was probably read in whole or part not only by some four hundred and thirty clergy then in the denomination, but also by a large share of the half million persons^ who, it was then estimated, were connected with Universalist societies. We haive space to copy only three paragraphs of the article : — "The present is emphaticall}' an age of popular education. Already has great progress been made iu this respect, aud a system of measures is coming into operation that promises to elevate the community to a far higher degree of culture and intelligence than it has ever attained. Who are the leaders iu this enterprise ; ourselves or others? Who are traversing our country from State to State, from town to town, rousing the public mind to the subject, and call- ing forth its energies in the work? We fear that we should be found, on inquiry, to have taken but little active part in the move- ment and to have yielded to it, rather than to have carried it for- ward. Again : the sects around us, the Presbyterians, Congrega- tionalists, Episcopalians, Baptists, and lastly the Methodists, are entering with all their spirit into the higher departments of educa- tion. Their high schools are established in all our large towns ; academies are rising up under their patronage on every hand ; their colleges, with liberal donations, are multiplying over the country. 1 Pages 77-105. 2 The sum total of their subscribers In 1839 was said to exceed thirty thousand. 3 " Not far from the true computation," Dr. Ballou thinks (p. 77). 252 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. It needs but little philosophy to perceive what must be the influence of these measures, extending as they do, in their ramifications, through the whole mass of society. To think of measuring the amount of their effects merely by the number of scholars in the several institutions would be like estimating the quantity of light in an illuminated hall by the solid contents of flame on the lamps. In both cases the influence is abroad on all the face of the scene, in every nook and corner. To these schools go our young men and women in a constant succession, there to be imbued with new senti- ments and tastes ; and from these schools, in return, come our teachers, our lecturers, writers, the living host of minds that bear sway in every department of life and thought. What have we done towards providing for the demands that grow out of this state of things? In New York we have, indeed, an institution under our patronage that bids fair to become, ere long, a hona-fide college, — thanks to the life-devoted exertions of a brother ^ whom no apathy could discourage. In New England we have passed votes, starved two academies to death, and apotheosized another into a university, and so sent it up to its home in the clouds. In the farther part of Maine, however, w« have a high school which appears to be doing well; also an academy or two in Ohio, and — this is all. Should it now be asked. What can be done? How can we compete with the other sects which have so much the start of us in this enterprise? — the answer is, This is not required of us at present. We have not, as yet, the means of going so far. What we need, first of all, is to arouse our denomination at large to a thorough sense of its wants, and to a steady, abiding will to supply them, cost what it may. We need to begin, and to begin in concert, with some thoroughly matured system of action which all understand, and in which all can join. Would we establish schools? Let them be very few at first; let their location be selected with the utmost caution, and generally agreed on ; see that they be placed where they are specially needed and where the people will support them. Commence on small plans, and, above all things, with humble pretensions, that we may not iRev. Stephen R. Smith, then of Albany, founder of Clinton Liberal Institute. ENDEAVORS FOR DENOMINATIONAL EDUCATION. 253 incur failure aggravated by ridicule ; and then let us work ; — every- thing is expressed in that one word, tvork. Earnest, sober, persevering action will be a satisfactory pledge of success, and will bring us in friends and aid from every quarter, by reviving the hopes and confidence of those who long to see us fairly under way. " Much has been said on the importance of raising the standard of intellectual and literary qualifications among our ministers. We wish to offer a few remarks on this topic. To us it seems that the first efficient step towards so desirable an object is, for the ministers frankly to come down before our denomination to their real level in this respect, by discarding, every one of us, all affectation of attainments that we do not actually possess — a mortifjnug task for many, and perhaps for the writer himself! — but indispensable, whether we value our reputation among judges or regard the cause of improvement. It is one of the absurdest things to imagine that we can set up a standard of real excellence so long as we suffer a fictitious one, the mere show of one, to be maintained with impunity. Down, then, with all pretence; away with all Latin, G-reek, and Hebrew parade, by such as are unacquainted with those languages. Expose, lash all affectation of literary research. . . . Now, pretence is so cheap a thing that if we suffer it to pass current among us, we may well despair of obtaining much of the hard-earned reality. Let us see to this matter, in the first place. If our editors, writers, and preachers will exercise a censorship over it, no matter how geutle, so it only be faithful, they will speedily remove whatsoever evil of the kind remains in our connection ; and we shall then be ready to con- centrate our energies, and direct them efficiently to the proper objects. " It is true that arrangements of a more definite character will still be necessary for carrying on the work of ministerial education ; but hearty devotion to the object wjll, of itself, lead us to measures of some kind that will answer the purpose. Of these there is a variety out of which we may select, according to our judgment and circumstances. We may require, in ordinary cases, a certain amount of study, or certain specific literary attainments, as conditions for 254 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. a Letter of Fellowship ; and let no one imagine that this would impose a hardship on the candidate, unless, indeed, we suppose it would be a favor to lead him into the work unqualified, to his per- petual regret in after years. Or, perhaps, we may trust, in a great degree, to certain facilities and encouragements that we shall provide for this end. It appears to us that were we but generally agreed on a school designed specially for candidates in the ministry, — no matter what the name. Theological Seminary, or anything else, — this would be the means best adapted in every way to our object, and attended with the least inconvenience. AVho can meddle with this topic without giving or taking offence ? We think we can ; at any rate, we will try. We wish to speak with all deference, knowing that our opinion is opposed to that of some good judges of the sub- ject, and ardent advocates of clerical education. A school of the kind proposed would, of course, have the same advantages in this department that other schools have over a haphazard or even private mode of instruction ; since the candidate for the ministry studies by the same mental laws as do the candidates for other professions. But it is alleged that evils result from these schools ; no more, however, than from all other schools, at least so far as we have discovered. Now, there is a very great oversight to which we are liable here ; when we speak of any error or fault in the sects around us, we may hastily charge it, as a matter of course, to their theological seminaries ; just as if they formerly had no such errors and faults, the Orthodox, Congregatioualists, and Presbyterians till within thirty years, the Episcopalians and Baptists till within twenty, the Unitarians till within fifteen, and the Methodists till within half a dozen years ! for such are the dates of their earliest theological schools respectively. And, indeed, we ought to take off about ten or a dozen years from each period, to allow these institutions time to produce much effect, good or bad, on their denominations at large. Compare the sentiments and character of the clergy in these sects, before and since, and if it is not found that, generally speaking, the V have grown more liberal in doctrine, and less aristocratic and domineering, less confined to one form of words and one manner of /^/U^-M. (^I^> r ENDEAVOBS FOB DENOMINATIONAL EDUCATION. 255 speaking and thinking, we have certainly read their history back- wards. Not that we would attribute all the improvement barely to their theological seminaries, nor intimate that there are not faults enough for them yet to correct. We cannot resist the conviction, however, that the fears which many of our brethren entertain on this point are, to a great degree, unfounded in the nature of the case, and in the matter of historical fact. Still, we would not urge the measure in opposition to the wishes of others. There are other methods that will unquestionably answer, at least for a while. Let us agree on some plan, and ' go to work.' " Referring to the remarkable impulse given to educational and other Universalist institutions just prior to 1840, Rev. Dr. T. J. Sawyer says : " To Dr. Ballou and his Expositor much of this impulse was undoubtedly due." ^ The year following the publication of Dr. Ballou's plea for education, in 1840, the Massachusetts Convention resolved that it was expedient to establish a " seminary for the preparation of young men for the gospel ministry," and appointed a com- mittee to nominate a " Board of Trustees, whose duty it shall be to select a site for an institution, to take a deed thereof in trust for this Convention, to raise funds, and to erect a suitable building, to appoint its principal and other officers, and to hold said property in trust, and have the charge and supervision of the concerns of the institution." Before the trustees were nominated and organization effected, "in consequence of an offer made by Mr. Charles Tufts, of Charlestown, to make a gift of ten acres on Walnut Hill ^ as a site for the institution," the name " Walnut Hill Evangelical Seminary " was adopted. At the organization of the Board of Trustees, January 25, 1841, Dr. Oliver Dean^ was chosen president, Rev. Thomas 1 See Christian Leader, April 13, 1893. = Later the site of Tufts College. 3 Oliver Dean, born i a Franklin, Mass., February 18, 1783, was tlie founder and first president of the Manchester mills, and was a substantial supporter of Dr. Ballou's educa- tional enterprises. 256 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Whittemore, secretary, and Timothy Cotting, Esq., treasurer, — the latter, it is to be observed, the treasurer of the First Universalist Society in Medford. Of the fifty thousand dollars which was to be raised by subscription to establish the semi- nary, each of the above-named officers subscribed one thousand dollars, as did also Mr. B. B. Mussey, the Boston publisher, and Hosea Ballou, 2d, obtained in smaller subscriptions twelve hundred dollars, — a total, so far as known, Mr. Tufts' gift of land aside, of five thousand three hundred and twenty-five dollars, a little more than a tenth of the amount required to make the subscriptions binding. Although trustees were ap- pointed from all the New England States and New York, and an agent (Rev. Calvin Gardner) was put in the field to solicit subscriptions, and meetings were held in Boston in June and October, and in Worcester in September, to promote the object, yet on October 3, 1841, the agent wrote : " Some pre- liminary measures were deemed needful ; and it was thought, upon the whole, by some of the trustees, that I had better delay for a short time active operations." But it is, perhaps, sig- nificant that this letter was not written until the General Convention at its annual session in New York in September ^ had stopped short of decisive action for one seminary, with the mere expression of the opinion that " the interests of the denomination seem to render it important that theological institutions be established." ^ The Universalist Register for 1842 announced " Measures are still pursued to establish a theological school at Walnut Hill, in Medford," ^ and for 1843 it made the same announce- 1 See sermon on Gen. ii. 15, urging work, preached by Hosea Ballou, 2d, on this occa- sion, in volume of " Convention Sermons, 1841," pp. 82-95. - This formal avowal was a point gained, for some of the older clergy who had taken young men into their families, and found it easy to make preachers, would have young men " go alone to the school of Christ — to the Holy Bible — to obtain their divinity," as Na- thaniel Stacy said, " and not to human, theological institutions." s Page 49. CHARLESTOWN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH. WALNU7 HILL EVANGELICAL SEMINABY. 257 ment,i but the Register for 1844 announced: "The Walnut Hill Theological Seminary appears to be dropped, at least for the present." ^ So the generous intentions of Charles Tufts, the quiet and unpretentious member of the First Universalist Society in Charlestown, were not at once realized. No doubt Mr. Tufts met Hosea Ballou, 2d, often on the way to and from the Medford farm which he had inherited, and Mr. Ballou could be trusted to inspire the confidence of even so distrustful a man. For Mr. Tufts was deaf, and it is said that while blindness tends to make one trustful, deafness makes the unfortunate suspicious. By nature and acquaintance he was fitted for the task. His first sermon in Boston or vicinity Hosea Ballou, 2d, had preached, Sunday, July 3, 1819, in " Br. Turner's M. H. " (so his record reads) in Charlestown, where George Bunker and Martha Bunker,^ his ancestors, had lived, and for twenty years the records show there had scarcely been an occasion of great joy or of great sorrow in that society in which he had not been invited to take part. Mr. Tufts was " land- poor " ; asked once what he would do with that " bleak hill over in Medford," he replied, " I will put a light on it." An act was passed February 27, 1 811, incorporating Moses Hall, Timothy Thompson, Jr., Thomas Edmands, and others as the First Universalist Society in Charlestown, — so says the copy made by James K. Frothingham * in vol. I, pp. 1, 2, of the Society records. The new church was dedicated and Rev. Abner Kneeland installed first pastor, September 5, 1811, Rev. 1 Page 50. 2 Page 46. 3 See p. 20. George Bunker, lor whom Bunker Hill was named, came to Charlestown in 1634. His second grunt (1638) consisted of '• 2i lots (the most numerous grant within the town)," says Wymau. The records say he was admitted "21 (12) 1634-5," and his wife " 17 (2) 1636," to the church which shortly called Rev. John Harvard, the future founder of Harvard College, as its minister. It was their second daughter, Martha, who married John, son of Dr. Comfort Starr, and brother of Dr. Thomas Starr, the Charles- town "Chlrurgeon" and, in 1654, "clerk of the writs." George Bunker was a patron of the infant college, and, like John Harvard, bequeathed his possessions by a nuncupative will. ■> His brother, Richard Frotliingham, father of Richard, Jr., the historian, and of Mrs. Mary T. Goddard, was also a member of the society in Its early days. 258 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Hosea Ballou, then of Portsmouth, N. H., preaching the ser- mon from Rev. ii. 10 : " Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." March 30, 1812, the name Tufts first appears in the Society records when, at the annual meeting, it was ^ voted that Mr. Daniel Tufts " and six others "• be a committee for the Society the year ensuing," and Mr. Tufts was reelected the following year, and declined a third election. He was a brickmaker and farmer. Says Hon. Timothy T. Sawyer : ^ " He represented the town in the Legislature of 1811 and 1812 as a member of the House of Representatives. His sons were Daniel, Jr., Gilbert, Charles, and Nathan." Daniel Tufts lived "outside of the Neck." He was descended from Peter Tufts, who was born in England in 1617, and emigrated about 1638 from Maiden, County of Essex, near which was a "place or villa called Tuftes." According to Wyman he " kept the ferry, 1646-7." ^ Dying May 13, 1700, he left " a large estate in lands situated in Maiden and Medford which were held by his descendants for a very long period after." His son John had a son Peter, " housewright," who had a son Nathan, " cordwainer " and farmer in Medford, the father of Daniel, above named. Daniel's son, Charles Tufts, " was a farmer and brickmaker, and a large landowner in that part of Charlestown set off to Somerville when it was made a separate town. He was a member of the First Universalist Society, and for many years his horse and carriage could be seen every Sunday in one of the sheds which formerly stood in the churchyard, while with his wife (he had no children) he was occupying his pew in the church. Both Mr. Tufts and his wife took great interest in the Universalist denomination." ^ 1 In Charlestown Enterprise, March 16, 1889. - See Wyman's " Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, " vol. II, p. 968. 3 Hon. Timothy T. Sawyer, in Charlestown Enterprise, March 16, 1889. CHABLES TUFTS. 259 Charles Tufts was born July 17, 1781. Although he enjoyed only limited educational advantages, the Tufts family were believers in higher education. Of the eighteen Medford men who graduated from Harvard College in the eighteenth cen- tury, nine bore the name Tufts. Excepting Charles Tufts, his father, Daniel, and Peter Tufts, Jr., the family in Charlestown were rigidly orthodox in religious views. But Charles Tufts' wife, Hannah Robinson, shared his deep interest in Univer- salism and encouraged his generous designs. Born April 25, 1795, Mrs. Tufts ^ was the daughter of Jacob Robinson, of Cambridge, and a descendant of William Robinson, who first settled near the site of Auburndale. A tall woman, more forceful than graceful, she was a sensible woman, and at her best took a liberal view of life. She was ambitious for Univer- salism. Not only did she approve Mr. Tufts' offer in 1840, and his gifts to the new college which — after the example of John Harvard's beneficiary — in due course took his name, but she urged it with characteristic energy and confirmed it by legal action on her own part. When the town of Somerville was set off from Charlestown she approved Mr. Tufts' gift of the land on Tufts Street for the new Universalist Chapel, and when the new church on Cross Street was built she gave the bell. She was very much vexed about forty years ago to learn that a young lady of Universalist parentage was playing the organ at a Methodist church, and promptly proposed to pay the musician liberally herself to secure her services for the Universalist Chapel. Economy and thrift were the order of the Tufts household, and street beggars might find the Tufts house an armed fortress, but the great benefaction to Tufts College is enduring proof that, in the cause for which Hosea Ballon, 2d, labored, and which they loved, they were second to no contemporary Universalists in generosity. On Sunday, iThe late Gov. George D. Robinson and Hon. Charles Robiuson were her nephews. 260 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. December 24, 1876, Charles Tufts died in his ninety-sixth year, and Mrs. Tufts soon followed him to the spirit world. Meanwhile, however, to take up our narrative, efforts were made in another direction. In 1845 an effort was made to give this movement definite shape by the establishment of a theological department at Clinton Liberal Institute, where for several years Rev. Stephen R. Smith and Rev. Timothy Clowes had prepared students for the Universalist ministry ; it was proposed to raise a fund of $10,000 to endow the department, and for the income derived from such fund Rev. Thomas J. Sawyer, the newly elected principal of the Institute, was to give two hours' instruction each day. July 31, 1845, Hosea Ballon, 2d, wrote Mr. Sawyer: — "I am rejoiced to learu through Brother Chapin the arrangements which have been made for Clinton Institute. The only drawback is the thought of Orchard Street, and of the cause in your city. But still I think that, whatever may be the effect there, we have good reason to anticipate an important advantage to the cause of truth at large, from your labors at Clinton. You will probably find your task a very laborious one for a while, demanding much patience and forbearance as well as activity, in order to get things into shape and to put them in motion. I have had no opportunity as yet to inquire into the arrangements for securing the necessary pecuniary assist- ance. No doubt, however, this has been looked to. I trust some plan will be pursued to secuve. a permanent fund. Temporary con- tributions may suffice to set the school a-going ; but there ought to be something more substantial to maintain it. And now, at the com- mencement, is the best time to interest the public, while the thing is new, and before the excitement of novelty has subsided. Do you propose to bring the subject before the General Convention at its approaching session ? If so, ought not a plan to be well matured beforehand, with most of its details marked out, and the cooperation of some influential and wealthy laymen secured in different parts of the country? The public deliberations of such a body as our Con- A COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY. 261 vention are so little adapted to originate a plan of this kind, that I should very much fear the result, should the matter in its unformed state be submitted to the Council. However, you have doubtless thought of all these points, and provided for them. The only reason why I mention them at all is, the importance which I attach to present action, — do all we can while the first impulse lasts." The preamble and resolution adopted by the General Con- vention in September, 1845, at the School Street Church, Boston, in relation to the Theological Department at Clinton,^ it is thought were drafted by Dr. Ballon. At the General Con- vention at Troy, N. Y., September 16, 1846, H. Ballon, 2d, T. J. Greenwood, J. Boyden, Jr., K. Haven, and C. H. Rogers reported through the chairman of the committee, Hosea Ballon, 2d, a recommendation 2 that "one or more Agents" be ap- pointed "in every State in the Union in which there is a Uni- versalist Convention," " with proper instructions, to solicit sub- scriptions from individuals to the funds of said [Clinton] Institute, for the purpose of erecting it into a College or Uni- versity ; which subscriptions shall become due, when sums to the amount of $50,000 shall have been thus subscribed." In 1846 Mr. Sawyer wished to be relieved of charge of the Theological School, and Dr Ballon, fresh with the honors of Harvard University,^ was elected principal, and requested " to remove to Clinton and enter upon his duties as soon as pos- sible," at a salary of $800. Suffice it to say, neither the en- dowment nor the salary was ever raised, and from the quiet of his study in Medford, Dr. Ballon continued his crusade in favor of denominational education, as appears by a letter, March 16, 1847, to " Brother Sawyer." He concludes : — "And now, as to Clinton Institute and Theological School. What are the trustees doing? You say, 'We are doing nothing ^ See Universalist Miscellany, vol. Ill, p. 153. ^Ibid., vol. IV, p. 195. » See p. 161. 262 ROSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. effectual.' By ' we,' I suppose you mean the trustees and patrons, or those who should be patrons of the institution. If so, that is bad, though no more than I feared. I fear they have not the faintest conception of the nature of the task they have undertaken. What we told the few trustees whom we met with in Clinton last fall, is the simple truth, — that, if they intend to do anything available, they must go to work immediately, and work hard, just as they would do if they were getting up a new factory village, — spare no pains, nor time, nor even cash, if they have any. If they will not do all this, and do it now, this very spring, we may just as well give up all hopes of Clinton at once, as to have them die the lingering death of protracted suspense. ... If there be any pros- pect whatsoever that the trustees and New York friends of Clinton will act, I hope you will not leave the Institute. Should you have to sacrifice much, the object is important enough to justify you in doing so, — and I will add, — to make it your duty, I think, to do so. The hona-fide establishment of a college would be worth the sacrifice of one's life, and would repay it, in the grateful remem- brance of future generations, as well as in the consciousness of con- ferring a lasting blessing on the cause of true religion. It is my ardent prayer that this honor may be yours, without the sacrifice ; but even with the sacrifice, I feel what thousands of others will feel, that blessed is the man to whom the lot fall. . . . " I have given up all expectation of being myself called to Clin- ton. Nothing will be done to found the Theological School. Brother Smith's proposal to our ministers to give $100 apiece, is not the way to begin the work, though it might have come in well enough at the end of a heavy subscription to the Institute. Beginning with this, I will stand security under $30,000 bonds, that he shall not get $1,000. All notion of wheedling the necessary amount out of the people, in small sums from each, — of making it a soothing, pretty, titillating process, will fall to the ground, as it ought. We have got to go to one rich old fellow, and say, point-blank, ' Sir, you must put down $10,000 on this subscription paper, to be paid so and so. There is such a professorship to be endowed, and the college cannot A COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY. 263 be, without it. You are the man to do it, and to give what name you please to the professorship. You are worth $300,000 ; A. B. of such a place, and B. C. of such a place, and four others are worth each $100,000 ; and their names are down for $5,000 apiece, on con- dition that we get the $10,000 from you.' Never leave him until the sum is subscribed. . . . This will bring the amount required with the help of smaller sums, which will be easily obtained when once a few leading donations have been made. It is the supreme height of folly to take any other course. So, at least, I prophesy. Why, I myself, as poor as I am, would give $100, if I saw the thing going on with spirit ; and there are hundreds of others who would do the same, with no more means, on that condition, — but not otherwise. "As to a convention on the subject, — if you mean a sort of mass meeting, I have no faith in it. They would run wild with a thousand puerile projects, or at least with some half dozen, each contrary to the rest, and none of them practicable, or of any worth, even if practicable. Magniloquent votes, and resolutions on paper, would be the sole permanent result. "There are so many considerations in favor of Clinton, or of that region, as a central point between New England and the west of New York, etc., that, if the institution were to be located anew, I should rather wish that it might be placed somewhere thereabouts. I may have some mere local prejudices ; I think not very inveterate ones, however. At present, and for a long time to come, there would be some advantages of another kind, in having it in New England ; but I do not know that they would even now outbalance those of your part of the country, and they would gradually gather around a respectable college wherever it might be ; so that the longer the period to which we look forward, the less would be the peculiar considerations that now point toward New England. I have not, therefore, any preference, on the whole, for a more Eastern location. . . . " Lo, now, what an expanse of scrawl! pity on the President of Clinton, who has to decipher the whole. Be propitious, ye gods, 264 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. and give him large store of strength, patience, good ej'esight, imper- turbability, and sovereign contempt of my scarecrow representations. Yours with respect and esteem, H. BALLOU, 2i>. Eev. T. J. Savtyer. "P. S. — On looking at your letter again, I catch you tripping. You speak of the song of one Joseph Young, about ' Procrastina- tion.' Holla, for the President of Clinton Liberal Institute, who mistakes Dr. Edward Young for Joseph ! Hollah ! Hurrah ! Whoor-r-r-r-rah ! " CHAPTER XIII. TUFTS COLLEGE. " The movement resulting in the founding of the college," says the Tufts College Catalogue, "was set on foot in 1847, through the efforts of the Rev. Thomas J. Sawyer, of New York, the Rev. Hosea Ballou, 2d, of Medford, and the Rev. Thomas Whittemore, of Cambridgeport." Reference is fre- quently made to the " Educational Convention " held in New York City, May 18, 1847, of clerg}'- and laymen of New York and the New England States, in which those three men were the leading spirits, and to the " Occasional Sermon " preached before the General Convention of Universalists, in the same place, on Wednesday morning, the fifteenth day of the follow- ing September, by Rev. Hosea Ballou, 2d, d.d., as the first steps in the establishment of Tufts College. Vital as these two events were, however, it seems to the writer that the time had come for the seed planted in 1817, 1827, 1839, and particularly in 1846, in Dr. Ballou's plans for a " College or University," as we have shown,^ to spring up under more favorable conditions and bear fruit. Be it far from me, however, to detract one iota from the influence ascribed to Dr. Ballou's sermon on " The re- sponsibilities of Universalists in the position they now hold before God and the world," ^ before a crowded house of repre- sentative Universalists from all parts of the country, not only in the establishment of Tufts College, but also of St. Lawrence University at Canton, N. Y., and Lombard University at Gales- 1 See chap. XII. - This discourse is printed in full in the Trumpet of October 2, 1847, also lu " Counsel aud Encouragement." 265 266 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. burg, 111., shortly after, in the full tide of prosperity and enthu- siasm. Said the Trumpet : " The large audience were kept in- tensely interested for nearly an hour and a half, and those who were obliged to stand during the whole delivery declared, many of them, that not a single thought of their position entered into their minds during the whole discourse." In conclusion Dr. Ballon said, the people are " more ready to act than we are to give them a proper opportunity. Only touch the sleeping giant, and the nightmare spell is broken." It was a fortunate preparation for the Educational Conven- tion, which was held two days later, September 17, 1847. After an experience of some years as an Overseer of Harvard Univer- sity, and the recollection of repeated disaster through insufficient endowment of Universalist schools. Dr. Ballon had declared at the May meeting that one hundred thousand dollars must be subscribed at the outset, and the Educational Convention had accepted his opinion by a formal vote, and had also appointed him one of a " business committee " of five " to procure an agent, or agents, to raise the amount." ^ A contract was en- tered into with Rev. Otis A. Skinner to get one hundred thou- sand dollars subscribed, " or receive nothing for his services." The consideration was the liberal commission of ten per cent to him, which was interpreted to include certain large subscrip- tions already practically assured.^ Ten months passed, and Dr. Ballon wrote the following letter : — Halifax, Vt., July 18, 1848. Brother Saivyer, — . . . As to the change of location for the pro- posed college, I do not know whether it was a wise measure or not. I am sure it is a thiug perfectly indifferent to me whether it be in the » See Tufts College Records, vol. I, p. 3. 2 By report of Committee on Finance, August 16, 1855, appropriations were made in pay- ment of Mr. Skinner's claims as Agent (including " salary for two years at $800, $1,600") of $8,336.71. LOCATION OF THE COLLEGE. 267 neighborhood of Springfield ox' in the valley of the Hudson. Brother Skinner thought it better to take the ground he adopted, — suppos- ing that it would be more acceptable to the New Englanders. I do not think, however, that it will make much difference in their feelings. I wish that you may find time, when you are at Hartford, to run up to Springfield, and cast an eye over the appearance of the country there, with a view to any action that you may be called upon to take in Committee. It is certainly a delightful region ; but it strikes me (who am no more qualified to judge, than I am empowered to do so in the case) that if the institution be located in that vicinity, it would be better to have it placed about a town's width back from it now. As to your presidentship of the thing (if it ever becomes a thing), I hope you will not speak disparagingly or deprecatingly of it. In my view the fact is this : We must have you for president, for want of anybody else who is at all qualified for the office. Just cast over in 3'our mind our resources for this purpose, and you will see, that of all who are now on the stage, you are the only one who can be seri- ously thought of for that oflSce — no matter how poorly qualified you may think yourself. I say, you are the only one ; for I do not sup- pose the choice will fall on any one who has not shown himself a decided Universalist in his attachments as well as in his belief. So, do not allow yourself to throw cold water on the enterprise, by refus- ing to listen to any suggestions which may point to you. If the project succeeds, the presidentship will be an office not to be sneezed at, as Homer says. If it does not succeed, there's the end on't, and no more said. December 31, 1849, he again wrote to Rev. T. J. Sawyer : — " As for the college, Brother Skinner has got on to the last $25,000 ; and this he will obtain, and no mistake. So, put it down as a cer- tainty, humanly speaking. There is one thing that troubles me with respect to the concern. Some of the donors seem to prefer Walnut Hill, between Medford and Old Cambridge, for the site of the col- lege. I should have no objection to placing a Theological School there, if separate ; but a college there would be exposed to the dis- 268 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. advantage of competition, at least comparison, with old, richly endowed Harvard, right before its face. When the question comes up, it appears to me we ought to do all we can to dissuade from that selection. I differ from you in thinking that the Mohawk Valley is the place. By far the larger part of the subscriptions are from New England ; and when New England has one Universalist College in full operation, another will soon be wanted, and established, in Central New York. Only get the ice fairly broken, and our people will not think it is so great an undertaking to build a second college, as they do the first." ^ lu reply to a letter of January 14, Dr. Ballou wrote again, January 21, 1850, to the president of Clinton Liberal In- stitute : — " I have often had the hypochondria in excelsis, or rather in pro- fundis, when observing the practical indifference of our folks with respect to education, their contempt of systematic culture, their mag- netic attraction to foolish hobbyhorses. I have spent half my life thinking that I was a gone goose, and exclaiming, ' Wherefore have I humbled myself, and thou takest no knowledge?' But it does no good to give way to these despondencies and vexations. We do make some progress, after all, and thanks for that little progress. Somebody must purchase every step of advance by suffering and privation ; why should it not be you ? Your labor will not be lost. The seed you sow may not spring up so early in the season as you may wish. I think it is a late season, as they say ; our spring has been very cold and dry, and our crops look singed-cat-ish, and of course the farmers are loud in their apprehensions that we shall have no harvests, as they always are in such cases. But I have observed one thing : that about the second week in July always brings the growth up to the standard size, whether the earlier part of the season were promising or discouraging. We shall have a College yet, and we shall slowly grow into a well-informed and cultivated 1 In this, Dr. Ballou's highest expectations were more than realized, for the founding of Tufts College, in 1852, was followed in 1856 by that of St. Lawrence University, at Canton, N. Y., and by that of Lombard University at Galesburg, 111., also in 1856. LOCATION OF THE COLLEGE. 269 people, though not till after a good many temporai*y relapses that are yet to come. I think, however, that we have already sowed our worst crop of wild oats. I do not anticipate that any future growth will turn out from any ministry such a proportion of Dodses, Burrs, Matthew Smiths, lecturers on phrenology, Thompsouian doctors, Fourierites, Dairsites, conjurers, electro-biologers, devil-mongers. Great Ideaists, frogs, flies, and lice of Egypt. It appears strange to me that our Omniscienteulffi disbelieve Moses' miracles before Pharaoh. Have they not been brought ovei- again in our own day? Let us take heart ; we 've done about our worst, and if we do any- thing in future, it must be better. I do not wonder that you often feel quite down in the mouth. It is enough to vex patience itself. You have read the life of Luther, — wUat vexation and despondency towards the close of his days ! And yet, that Reformation turned out to be no small affair in the world's history. I think that Univer- salism may yet be made to do its ' mission,' as our great geniuses say. Only, we must not think it is going to be done by ease, and honor, and glorification. We, or somebody, have got to labor like hired servants under our ' great Taskmaster's eye,' and, like our Exemplar, ' the Man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs' we shall have to bear with sloth and perversity, and well-meant mistakes and follies, even among ourselves, as well as with opposition from without, — which is a trifle in comparison. I once used to preach that the text ' through much tribulation ye must enter the kingdom ' had no deeper signification than was to be found in its application to the then existing state of persecution. But I left off preaching so, more than a dozen years ago. It is God's universal ordinance that all great works, especially every important reform, should be accom- plished only with proportionate toil, privation, and suffering. If we will not submit to the condition, hard as it may seem, we must not look for the position. Thank God, there 's enough for us to do, yet ; and in my better moods, I only repine that I have done so little, and that I am doing so little, in the great task that is given us. I once had some visions, or dreams, of competence and ease in the latter part of life, should I live to old age. All that is past ; and at times, 270 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. even now, my heart utterly misgives me on this account, and, such is my weakness, I sink into hopeless despondency. But this is folly, perfect folly. It does me no good, nor anybody else. It unnerves what little power I have to work ; and work, not ease, is the business and blessedness of life. Could we dare to aspire so high, what greater reward could we hope for, than that beatitude, ' Blessed are they that die in the Lord ; yea, and their works do follow them ' ? " From Dr. Ballou's point of view, forty-five years ago, the following private letter is of public interest, now that Tufts College has, by slow growth, become strong, and proved its right to exist in the suburbs of Boston. But in his day, and for years afterwards, was not his prophecy fulfilled ? Medford, August 23, 1851. Brother Sawyer, — "Will you be at the General Convention next month? I hope that you will attend, in spite of all avocations, ordi- nary impediments, and the expense of the journey. Besides the usual motives for your presence on the occasion, there is the meeting of the subscribers to the proposed College. I do not know whether you are a subscriber, or a donor, nor consequent^ whether you are entitled to a seat among them ; but that makes little difference. Your counsel will be needed and sought for, and it will weigh much, — far more than that of any other man who is not a rich donor. I see by the public notice that the meeting is called for the purpose, among other purposes, to fix on the, place for the College. I have been absent on a journey, and therefore have not yet seen Brother Skinner or the Committee, to ask them whether they mean to decide on tho location by a general vote of the meeting, or to choose a committe to examine and determine. I have always supposed the latte. method would be adopted ; but do not know what to make, in that case, of the language of the notification. The fact is, I fear they will place it on Walnut Hill, in Medford. There seem to me very formidable objections to that site, notwith- standing a natural preference for my own town, all other things being LOCATION OF THE COLLEGE. 271 equal. In addition to the objections that arise from its vicinity to a large city, — making board and other expenses dearer, and exposing the students to an unhealthy moral atmosphere, — there are the follow- ing, which stand paramount to all the rest in my mind : 1. We crowd ourselves in too near Cambridge, where there is no need of another college on merely literary grounds, upon which we must get oui- charter, if we get one at all ; and it will be felt by the community at large as an attempt at a sort of rival institution to Harvard. 2. Wc shall at least stand before the public in comparison with Harvard, — and what a comparison, especially for the first years ! — with our two or three professors, of name unknown in the literary and scientific world, with our library of perhaps two or three thousand volumes at most, with but the embryo of a philosophical apparatus, — in contrast with the oldest, richest, best-appointed university on this side of the Atlantic, which stands in plain sight, with its army of professors, many of them distinguished in the walks of literature, and some of them, as Agassiz, Guyot, of a world-wide reputation, — to say nothing of its library, cabinets, scientific school, law school, medical school, etc. AVe put ourselves into competition with all this ; and it is an incalculable disadvantage before the world. A respectable begin- ning, if we were off by ourselves, will be an abortion in such a jux- taposition. Our comparative leanness will starve us. 3. The in- fluence of the neighboring university will work upon our students in college, in spite of all we can do. Here is a young man, am- bitious to climb the heights of science, or to distinguish himself in literature, as all good scholars are ; and he sees every day the neighboring university, where are an Agassiz, a Guyot, a Pond, not to mention those of less note, who are nevertheless famous, — can he help longing for the patronage and eclat which their instruc- tions will give? It will be a sieve to sift all our best and most emulous scholars out from our institution. 4. The Influence of the Unitarians, who best know how to exert an influence unseen and unsuspected, will be brought to bear upon our students ; and the community will feel that it is good enough for us, seeing we would put ourselves in the way of it. 272 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. So the matter appears to me. I kuow of but one reason for placing the College in so unfortunate a position ; a large sum, given by Mr. Tufts, is granted on condition that a literary institution of some kind, under the control of Universalists, be placed on Walnut Hill. But with my views of the case, it would be better even to sacrifice that donation than to incur the disadvantages which seem to be attached to that site. Besides, it might not be necessary to sacri- fice it ; perhaps another institution, say a theological school, might occupy the spot ; and I could risk our theological alongside of the Cambridge one. The subscribers were called together in the Warren Street Universalist Church, Boston,i of which Mr. Skinner was pastor, on Tuesday, September 16, 1851, at ten o'clock a.m., Benjamin B. Mussey, Esq., in the chair, to decide upon a location for the College and to choose a Board of Trustees. Rev. T. J. Sawyer, for the committee appointed in 1847, reported : — t Subscriptions in good faith $61,000 A bond by a wealthy citizen ^ of Boston for payment at his death (and $1,000 a year till then) of ... . 20,000 A deed of twenty acres of land in Somerville, Mass.,^ valued at ." 20,000 Total $101,000 Meetings were held morning, afternoon, and evening in for- mulating plans for the new College, and adjourned from day to day, and large numbers of the leading men in the Universali t denomination were present. But it was novel business for most of them. Harvard College was often cited as a pattern. A " Board of Trustees (or Overseers) " ^ was finally nominated 1 Later the Jewish Synagogue on Warrenton Street. ° Mr. Silvanus Packard. 3 Ten acres of which Mr. Charles Tufts had given conditionally for the Walnut HiU Evangelical Seminai-y. eleven years before. See p. 255. * College Records, vol. I, p. 15. LOCATIOX OF THE COLLEGE. 273 Wednesday evening, and Thursday morning, September 18, 1851, with entire unanimity the regular nominees, twenty-three in number, were elected, of whom nine (Dr. Ballou of the num- ber) were clergymen, and fourteen laymen, — among the latter some of the best known benefactors of the College, like Oliver Dean, m.d., of Franklin, Mass. ; Mr. Silvanus Packard,^ of Bos- ton ; and Mr. P. T. Barnum, of Bridgeport, Conn. Two of the trustees were residents of Maine, two of New Hampshire, one of Vermont, eight of Massachusetts, one of Rhode Island, one of Connecticut, five of New York, two of Pennsylvania, and one of Ohio. At the first (informal) meeting of the trustees, held on the same day at 27 Cornhill, the following " Committee on Loca- tion " was appointed : H. Ballou, 2d, O. A. Skinner, L. C. Browne, B. B. Mussey, and Eli Ballou ; and they were instructed "to notify the friends in Brattleboro, Vt., Worcester, Mass., and Springfield, Mass., that the trustees are ready to receive proposals for the location of the college," — to be made " before the nineteenth of November, 1851," when the next meeting was to be held. The following "Committee on By-Laws " was also appointed: I. Washburn, Jr., C. Gardner, T. J. Greenwood, and H. Ballou, 2d. At the first formal meeting of the trustees at 27 Cornhill, Boston, November 19, 1851, the proceedings of the informal meeting of September 18 were confirmed. Dr. Ballou, for the Committee on Location, reported : " Brattleboro, Vt., has offered to give $3,766 if the trustees will locate the College in that place. A very beautiful site can be obtained at about one hundred dol- lars per acre, and thus twenty acres can be obtained for two tliou- iMr. Packard was born April 6, 1789, at North Briilgevvater, Mass.; he accumulated his fortune in Boston, and died April 23, 1866. See sketch of Silvanus Packard in Ladies' Repository, August, 1866. 274 HOSEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. sand dollars. This would leave $1,766. The value of the land would be greatly enhanced by locating the College upon it." " Some additions have been made to the offer in favor of Somerville. Bonds securing three acres of land have been ob- tained, and subscriptions to the amount of over one thousand dollars. There are responsible persons who stand ready to take ten acres of the laud given by Mr. Tufts at two thousand dollars per acre, providing a square is laid out of about ten acres, in the centre of the whole lot, and is kept for a college common. Your committee deem it perfectly safe to say, that the offer from Somerville, if accepted, will be worth twenty-four thousand dollars besides land for the College buildings. " Within a few days your committee have had their attention called to a location in Franklin, Mass. A perfectly responsible gentleman ^ offers twenty acres of land handsomely situated in one of the most healthy and pleasant towns in the State,^ and in addition thereto, in money the sum of twenty thousand dollars. " All which is respectfully submitted. « (Signed) H. Ballon, 2d, L. C. Browne, Eli Ballon, B. B. Mussey, and O. A. Skinner." ^ The report was accepted, and it was ••'Voted, To visit Walnut Hill, the site given by Mr. Charles Tufts." Returning from Somerville, " considerable time was spent in informal conversation upon the location of the College. It was agreed that the choice lay between Walnut Hill, in Somerville and Medford, and Franklin. As Mr. Tufts would not give his property for Franklin, and as it was understood that Dr. Dean, who had made the offer for Franklin, would ultimately do about the same for the College in one place as the other, it seemed to 1 Oliver Dean, m.d. See sketch of Dr. Oliver Dean in Ladies' Repository, July, 1868. - The present site of Dcau Academy. 3 College Records, vol. I, p. 21. SILVANUS PACKARD. LOCATION OF THE COLLEGE. 275 be the opinion that Wahiut Hill should be selected. After this free intercourse of opinion it was unanimously "(1) Voted^ That the location of the college be referred to a special committee, with power to locate either in Franklin or on Waluut Hill. "(2) Voted, That said committee consist of Oliver Dean, S. Pack- ard, B. B. Mussey, H. Ballon, 2d, I. Washburn, Jr., Otis A. Skinner. "(3) Voted, That said committee be instructed to obtain a char- ter as early as possible at the next session of the Legislature." At a meeting of the Committee on Location, January 8, 1852, at 38 Cornhill, Boston, " Dr. H. Ballou, 2d, gave a report of his visit to Franklin, in company with Messrs. O. Dean and O. A. Skinner. He reported that the site in Franklin was in his opinion pleasant, and in all respects good. He gave his reasons at considerable length for preferring Franklin to Walnut Hill.^ Mr. Skinner concurred with Dr. Ballou with regard to the beauty and pleasantness of the location, but was decided in his preference for Walnut Hill. After considerable discussion, on motion of S. Packard, — ''Voted, That the college be located on Walnut Hill." 2 In pursuance of legal notice in the Lowell Tri-weekly Ameiv ican, the first meeting of the proprietors of Tufts College was holden on Thursday, May 27, 1852, at nine o'clock a.m., in the vestry of the Universalist Society in Charlestown, where it was '•'•Voted, To accept the Act of Incorporation entitled ' An Act to Incorporate the Trustees of the Tufts College,' " ^ which received the Governor's signature April 21, 1852; also, " The Act in Addition " thereto, so as to apply whether the College were located in Somer- ville or in Medford. 1 See letters to Dr. T. J. Sawyer, pp. 267, 268, and 270-272. 2 This decision, it appears, was due to the belief of some that without the donation of land by Mr. Tufts, the conditional subscriptions secured by Mr. Skinner would not be binding, ami the undertaking would fail. 3 See College Records, vol. I, p. 28, also copy in College Catalogues. 276 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. At the meeting of the trustees, July 21, 1852, B. B. Mussey, O. A. Skmner, and Timothy Cotting were appointed a commit- tee " to devise a plan for college buildings." It was also ''Voted, That Rev. H. Ballou, 2d, Rev. T. J. Sawyer, Rev. O. A. Skinner, Rev. L. R. Paige, be a committee to report, at the next regular meeting of the Board, the outlines of a system of instruction for the College." For President of the College, " Rev. T. J. Sawyer, of Clinton, N. Y., was unanimously chosen." At the meeting of the trustees, September 21, 1852, Dr. Ballou was chosen moderator, his Committee on By-Laws sub- mitted a partial report,^ which was accepted, and a " Building Committee," consisting of B. B. Mussey, Timothy Cotting, Otis A. Skinner, Thomas Whittemore, and Silvanus Packard, were instructed " to proceed immediately to erect a building for the use of the College,^ on the land donated by Charles Tufts," at an expense " not exceeding $20,000," the foundation, at least, to be in before winter. But the sum was found to be inadequate, so that on May 3, 1853, they were authorized to expend not exceeding $50,000 in preparing the college grounds, and erecting boarding houses and other buildings, and Otis A. Skinner was engaged to superintend the work. Meanwhile Dr. Ballou wrote, March 11, 1853, to his brother Levi : — "What little spirit has been created in favor of the enterprise will, I fear, evaporate in this long delay, and we shall by and by find trouble, where with proper alacrity, everything would have gone on easily. I have given up the hope that I formerly had of doing any- thing myself in the college ; if I live to see it in operation, I shall be too old to begin a new course of life, such as would be required in a new institution of the kind. These, however, are thoughts that I keep to myself ; and I do not allow myself to say anything abroad 1 See College Records, vol. I, p. 38. 2 Now Ballou Hall. See College Records, vol. I, p. 38. PRESIDENCY OF THE COLLEGE. 277 of the tardiness with which the committee manage the business. The public need to be kept in expectation of due progress to come, instead of being disheartened by the delay." Another obstacle now presented itself; after visiting Rev. T. J. Sawyer twice, " once at Clinton, N. Y., and once at New York City," and " after a free conversation upon the subject, he had signified liis willingness to accept the appointment [of president] ^ if he can receive a salary of 12,500 per annum." ^ On May 24, 1853, the trustees '•'• voted. That it is not in the power of this Board to comply with the condition on which Rev. T. J. Sawyer has expressed a willingness to accept the office of president, and therefore that the office of President of the College is vacant." Two days later. May 26, a committee, appointed May 24, consisting of Rev, Messrs. Thomas Whittemore, C. Gardner, T. J. Greenwood, and Otis A. Skinner, recommended " that Rev. Hosea Ballou, 2d, d.d., be appointed President of Tufts College," and he was thereupon " unanimously elected." ^ He was also chairman of a "Committee on Instruction," of six members, " to arrange the Course of Studies for the College, and also report what Professorships are necessary and what persons will be suitable to fill those Professorships." At the meeting of the Board of Trustees, July 12, 1853, it was reported that "• Dr. Ballou was willing to accept the office, without any definite arrangement with regard to the salary he should receive at the opening of the Institution, providing that till that time the Trustees would make his salary equal to what he has been receiving from his Parish. He had been receiving eight hundred dollars per year, and as, till his services on the Sabbath should be required in the College, he would find opportunities to preach most of the Sabbaths, it was thought 1 Oliver Dean, m.d., was " President of the Board of Trustees." 2 College Records, vol I, pp. 41, 42. ^ Ibid., vol. I, p. 45. 278 HO SEA BALLOU, 2d, D.D. that the expense to the College would not exceed six hundred dollars per year. It was also stated that he wished to visit the principal colleges of New England, in order that he might combine in the system of Instruction and Government of Tufts College as many of the excellences of the different colleges as possible." It was therefore, " voted, That Dr. Ballou be paid at the rate of eight hundred dollars per year, ft-om the time he commences his labors in preparing for his duties as President." A week later he performed his first official duty. " The corner stone of Tufts College was laid, by appropriate public services, July 19, 1853.^ The day was pleasant, and the attendance very large, filling the mammoth tent," — so reads the College record. Dr. Ballou laid the corner stone,^ and Rev. Messrs. Thomas Whittemore, T. J. Greenwood, A. A. Miner, Henry Bacon, and W. H. Ryder took part in the exercises, and Mrs. N. T. Monroe and Mrs. Mary T. Goddard^ wrote hymns for the occasion which were sung. The same day Dr. Ballou wrote to his brother Levi, who was always the confidant of his joys and his sorrows : — " I have a mind to come up to Orange on the Monday of Com- mencement week at Amherst. ... I suppose you have heard that the Trustees of Tufts College have ventured the hazardous game of appointing me presklent. You will be still more surprised to learn 1 College Records, vol. I, p. 49; not July 23, as stated in the " History of Tufts College, published by the Class of 1897," p. 23. It was "Tuesday forenoon," July 19, and the Boston Chronicle of that day adds, it was cool under Yale's tent, " although in the valley below the thermometer indicated 90 degrees." 2 •' The Doctor is said to have been very particular," says the " History of Tufts College," p. 23, " that the fine block of Connecticut sandstone should be laid absolutely fair and true, — a fact which is symbolic of the care with which he attended to each minutest detail of his work in connection with the college and elsewhere." 3 Mrs. Goddard writes to the author, July 31, 1S96 : " I hardly know whether to be glad or sorrj' that I cannot grant your request with regard to that hymn, now safely housed under the corner stone of Ballou Hall at Tufts! But in those days so long ago, when, as there were not so many rhymers as in these times, 1 wrote in my poor way hymns for Installations, dedications, and Sabbathschool wants, I never thought of keeping them on hand— so I have no clew now to that hymn you inquire for." OPEMNG OF THE COLLEGE. 279 that I think of accepting the office, — not on the ground of being fit for it, which the Lord knows I am not, but because I do not know who they can get that is fit for it, since Brother Sawyer lias disap- pointed us. But I have asked of the Trustees a year for prepara- tion, which they have granted. . . . You will think me very pre- sumptuous in undertaking the office of President, and I perfectly agree with you therein. But I shut my eyes to the consequences, and rush forward." Not content to model Tufts blindly after the plan of Harvard College, of which after ten years' service as Overseer he had perfect knowledge, he visited all of the New England colleges, and many of the endowed college-fitting schools. After his return from Europe, Dr. Ballou wrote again from Medford, November 18, 1854, to Rev. Levi Ballou : — Dear Brother, — Yours of the thirteenth inst. has just come to hand. . . . You judge right concerning our College matters. "We have only seven students ; but in this I am not at all disappointed, though others are. I put it down, more than a year ago, that it would not be surprising if we opened with no more than half a dozen ; nor, on the other hand, if we had even twenty to begin with. I should have been disappointed if we had less than half a dozen, and equally so if we had more than twenty, — I mean, at the regular opening of the College. No such opening, however, has yet taken place. I under- stand that the Trustees declined to open last September, inasmuch as they had not erected a boarding house, nor provided any conven- iences. Brother Skinner and Mr. Mussey, however, thought that something must be done to meet public expectation, — that it would not do to delay any longer, — and therefore took on themselves the responsibility of fiudiug means to defray the expenses for the cur- rent year. Accordingly, when I got home from Europe, the last of September, I found the College in blast ; Mr. Drew established as resident professor, Mr. Marshall and Mr. Tweed in attendance, — the former once a day, the latter once a week, — and the course of instruction going on regularly. I went in, the Monday after the 280 HOSE A BALLOU, 2d, D.D. Saturday on which I arrived, and have been there every week day since, — the most of the time twice a day, which gives me as much walking, especially in bad weather, as I wish for, and sometimes a little more. I have full reason to be perfectly satisfied with the plan of instruction, and with the tlioroughness and promptness of the Professors. Our principle is to ivork, work, and to let the work speak for itself before the world. With only the germ of a library, and with no philosophical apparatus, I am still persuaded that we are making our students more thorough scholars than those of other colleges which I have visited. The smallness of our classes gives us a peculiarly favorable oppoi'tunity for effecting this result. We have received donations of books from booksellers in Boston, and from one in New York, to the amount of six or seven hundred dollars, though we have not yet got all their donations into the Library. Other donations of the kind I think we may calculate upon, that will bring the amount up to somewhere about a thousand dollars. Brother Skinner is building me a house on the grounds, which was to have been ready by the beginning of winter, but which grows so slowly towards completion that I fear it will not be ready till next spring. He begged the funds for the purpose, on condition that the house should be secured to me during my lifetime and that of Mrs. Ballou, and then revert to the College. It was after long hesitation, following a period of absolute refusal, that I accepted the Presidency of the College. I was fully aware that it might involve me in pecuniary ruin, and in all the disparage- ment of reputation which would attend an unsuccessful course of the College at the beginning. Could they have found any other proper person who was willing to accept the place, no earthly consideration could have moved me to put myself and family in the hazard at my period of life, — as I cannot hope to live long enough to see the Institution outgrown all the perplexities, privations, and difficulties of its commencement, and in unembarrassed operation. But the question seemed to be whether there should be a breakdown at once, for want of a President. Brother Sawyer refused, except upon terms that would make him secure. For this he has been blamed by ..•-«'"' -.'••-V