I/I E> RARY 
 
 OF THL 
 
 UN IVERSITY 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
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 C593p 
 cop. 2 
 
 IlloHist. Survey

 
 "FATHER CLARK, 
 
 OR 
 
 nath 
 
 SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS 
 
 ^ 
 
 re 
 
 OF 
 
 * 
 
 KEV. JOHN CLARK, 
 
 " 
 
 BY AN OLD PIONEER. 
 
 - 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 SHELDON, LAMPORT & BLAKEMAN, 
 
 No. 115 NASSAU STREET. 
 
 1855. 
 
 
 into
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by 
 
 SHELDON, LAMPORT & BLAKEMAN, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
 Southern District of New York. 
 
 JOHN J. REED, 
 
 Stereotyper and Printer, 
 
 16 Spruce street,
 
 n 
 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE incidents, manners and customs of fron- 
 tier life in the country once called the " Far 
 West," now the valley of the Mississippi, are 
 interesting to all classes. The religious events 
 and labors of good men in " works of faith and 
 labors of love " among the early pioneers of this 
 valley, cannot fail to attract the attention of 
 young persons in the family circle, and children 
 
 "v. 
 
 in Sabbath schools. 
 
 The author of this work, as the commence- 
 ment of a series of PIONEER BOOKS, has chosen 
 for a theme a man of singularly benevolent and 
 philanthropic feelings ; peculiarly amiable in 
 manners and social intercourse ; with habits of 
 great self-denial ; unusually disinterested in 
 his labors, and the first preacher of the gospel 
 who ventured to carry the " glad tidings " into 
 
 I I 54043
 
 IV . INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the Spanish country on the western side of the 
 GREAT KIVER.* 
 
 The writer was intimately acquainted with 
 this venerable man, who, hy all classes, was 
 familiarly called " FATHER CLARK," and indu- 
 ced him to commence sketches for his own bio- 
 graphy. His tremulous hand and enfeebled, 
 powers failed him soon after he had gotten to 
 the period of his conversion, while a teacher in 
 the back settlements, and he was unable to 
 finish the work. 
 
 By correspondence and personal interviews 
 with many who knew Father Clark, and from 
 his verbal narratives in our interviews for many 
 years, the writer has been enabled to give a 
 truthful sketch of the most important incidents 
 of his life. 
 
 While seriously disposed persons of every age 
 and station may derive pleasure and profit in 
 contemplating the moral portraiture given, it is 
 to the young reader, more especially, the author 
 dedicates the memoir of FATHER CLARK. 
 
 * The true aboriginal name of the MISSISSIPPI.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BirthAncestry Misfortune of Becoming Suddenly Rich A 
 Religious Mother Fate of an Elder Brother Mathematics 
 Purposes of Life Deportment in Youth Views of War. - 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Clark becomes a Sailor Privateering His Subsequent Reflec 
 tibns Last Visit to his Parents Sails as Mate to the West In- 
 diesPressed on Board the Man-of-War Tobago A Fight and 
 Death of the Gunner Admiral Rodney Escapes from the 
 Tobago Visits his Brother Ships for England Taken by the ' 
 Spaniards Obtains his Freedom, and again Pressed on Board 
 the Narcissus Deserts a Second Time, aad Swims Ashore on 
 James' Island, off Charleston, at Great Risk. ... 16 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Mr. Clark arrives at Charleston Meets with Friends Interview 
 with John Scott The Story and Fate of Duncan Alarmed, 
 and Relieved by an Old Shipmate Stationed on Cooper River 
 Returns to Charleston Protected by Three Scotch Tailors 
 They all Escape Adventures in a Swamp Reach Gen. Mari- 
 on's Army Clark Proceeds to Georgetown Enters a Row- 
 galley and reaches Savannah Sails to St. Thomas Voyage to 
 New York Proclamation of Peace Returns to the West In- 
 dies Shipwreck Various Voyages Distress of Mind For- 
 sakes a Sea-faring Life. 37
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Retires to the Back Settlements in South Carolina Teaches a 
 School Self-righteousness His Experience for Twelve Months 
 Despondency Reads Russell's Seven Sermons Conversion 
 and firm Hope Removes to Georgia and Becomes a Teacher 
 there First Methodist Preachers in that Quarter Mr. Clark 
 joins the Society. .' - - 51 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Appointed Class Leader Desires to Visit his Native Country- 
 Takes a Berth on the Royal George Singular Notions on 
 Board A Storm Interview with Tom Halyard His Conver- 
 sion Arrival in London Sabbath Morning Visits the Foun- 
 dry and hears Rev. John Wesley Parting with Halyard 
 Sails for Inverness. -------- 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 At Moorfield in London Returns to Georgia Received as a 
 Preacher on Trial Richmond Circuit Testimonials Charac- 
 ter as a Preacher Walked the Circuit Views on the Metho- 
 dist Episcopal Government Views on Slavery Blameless 
 Habits Thoughts on Marriage Love Cured by Prayer 
 Gradual change of Views Contemplates a New Field Quar- 
 terly Conference Conscientious Scruples Philanthropy to 
 Negroes Withdraws from the Conference Parting Scene. - 86 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Clark Journies towards Kentucky His Dress and Appearance 
 Colloquy Hospitality of Mr. Wells Recognized by a former 
 Convert Description of a " Big Meeting" Persuaded to Stop 
 and Preach Effects Produced Mr. Wells Converted A Re- 
 vival Shouting Family Religion Departs The Wells Fam- 
 ily turn Baptists. 105
 
 CONTENTS. vii 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Mountain Range Manners of an Itinerant Preaching in a Tav- 
 ern-house How to avoid Insults Hospitality Reaches Crab- 
 Orchard Preachers in Kentucky Baptists, "Regulars" and 
 "Separatists" Principles of Doctrine School-Teaching 
 Master O'Cafferty and His Qualities. 134 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Schoolmaster Equity in 1796 New Customs introduced Mr. 
 Birch Discarded Enrolment Books Used New ones Pro- 
 cured Astonishing Effects Colloquy with Uncle Jesse The 
 New School-House A Christmas Frolic Shocking Affair by 
 the Irish Master A Political Convention Young Democracy 
 A Stump Speech New Customs A True Missionary 
 Trouble about Money Mr. Clark leaves Kentucky. - 152 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Journey to Illinois Story of the Gilham family, captured by In- 
 dians Hard fare Mr. Gilham attempts to recover them In- 
 dian War Peace made The Family Redeemed Removes to 
 Illinois with Mr. Clark Navigation of Western Rivers Story 
 of Fort Massac Terrible sickness Settlement of New Design 
 An ungodly race First Preacher in Illinois A Stranger in 
 meeting First Baptisms Other Preachers First Church 
 Formed Manners and customs of the French Indian War 
 Stations or Forts Described PIONEER BOOKS projected. - 179 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Religious families noticed Cstpt. Joseph Ogle James Lemen, 
 Sen., The three associates Upper Louisiana Attack on St. 
 Louis The Governor a Traitor The assailants retire Ame- 
 rican Emigration encouraged Baptists and Methodists go 
 there. 208
 
 Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Forms a Methodist Class in Illinois Gradual change of Views 
 Mode of Inquiry Circumstances of his Baptism Practical 
 progress in Baptist Principles. Zeal and influence in promoting 
 education Early Schools in the Illinois country A formida- 
 ble obstruction to a pupil Three fellows in the way Want of 
 books A whiskey-loving teacher rightly served Effects of 
 Father Clark's teaching Visits Kentucky again Visits to 
 West Florida Interview with a Sick man Efficacy of Prayer 
 A Revolution. 235 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Baptists, " Friends to Humanity "Their Anti-slavery position 
 Mr. Clark joins them Manner of his reception His Views 
 of African Slavery Views of African Colonization Made 
 Life-member of a Colonization Society Circulars on Slavery 
 Personal behavior Conversational Gifts Writes Family 
 Records. - 250 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 His mode of Traveling Excursion in Missouri, 1820 His 
 monthly circuit in Missouri and Illinois A night Adventure 
 A Horseback Excursion Origin of Carrollton Church Faith 
 and Prayer Interview with Rev. J. Going A "Standard" 
 Sermon An Affectionate Embrace Comforts of Old Age 
 Last Illness and Death 268
 
 SKETCHES OF "FATHER CLARK." 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Birth. Ancestry. Misfortune of Becoming Suddenly Rich. A Re- 
 ligious Mother. Fate of an Elder Brother. Mathematics. Pur- 
 poses of Life. Deportment in Youth. Views of War. 
 
 CAST your eyes, reader, on a map of Scotland. 
 Look towards the north-eastern part, and you 
 will find distinctly marked, the Frith of Mur- 
 ray, a narrow channel of salt water, like a bay, 
 penetrating a long distance into the interior of 
 Scotland, and named after the Earl of Moray, 
 or Murray. 
 
 Follow up this channel to the city of Inver- 
 ness, once regarded as the capital of the Scot- 
 tish Highlands. Near this city is the small and 
 secluded parish of Petty, which we notice as the 
 birth-place of Father Clark, on the 29th of 
 November, 1758. Here his father, grandfather, 
 and other ancestors, for several generations, 
 were born, lived and died. A brother of his 
 grandfather, whose name was John Clark, be- 
 came an eminent scholar, and taught the parish
 
 10 FAMILY ADVENTURES. 
 
 school for many years. All the family connec- 
 tions, for many generations, were strict Presby- 
 terians, who paid careful attention to the morals 
 of their children. The classics and mathema- 
 tics, the Presbyterian catechism, and their forms 
 of religious worship were taught the children in 
 the parish schools, and in families, in that part 
 of Scotland. They were taught to do justly, 
 love mercy, and always speak the truth. 
 
 The father of our John Clark was named 
 Alexander, who, in the early part of his life, 
 owned and worked a farm. He had a brother 
 named Daniel, who was educated for the min- 
 istry in the Presbyterian church ; but he had 
 no taste for that business, and became qualified 
 for a merchant. In this capacity he sailed for 
 South Carolina ; then went to Georgia in com- 
 pany with some Scottish traders by the name of 
 Macgilvary, who monopolized the trade with the 
 Creek Indians. In that connection he gathered 
 a large fortune, and dying, left his estate to his 
 brother Alexander, who had previously married 
 a respectable and religious woman. They had 
 two sons, Daniel and John, and three daughters, 
 one of whom lived many years after her mother's 
 death. 
 
 The fortune of Daniel the elder Droved the
 
 THE MOTHER OF CLARK. 11 
 
 ruin of the father of our hero. He neglected his 
 farm, kept open house for his friends, drank 
 intoxicating liquors freely, lived in a style 
 of luxury and grandeur, gave his name 
 and credit on the notes of his companions ; 
 loaned his money to sharpers, and in a few years 
 was reduced to bankruptcy. He lived to old 
 age, and after a long period of intemperance 
 and wretchedness, was reclaimed and died a pen- 
 itent, past the age of three-score and ten. 
 
 The mother of John Clark became a very re- 
 ligious woman, and taught him to pray in early 
 childhood, and that he was a sinner against God, 
 and must have his heart changed, be converted 
 and saved through Jesus Christ. Before he was 
 eight years of age he had many serious impres- 
 sions about his salvation, many alarming fears 
 about death and hell, and thought he experienced 
 a saving change at that early period of life. He 
 often declared to his Christian friends, that to 
 the instruction and prayers of his mother at that 
 tender age, as means under God, he was indebt- 
 ed for his salvation. And rarely have we known 
 a man more earnestly devoted to the religious 
 instruction of children and youth. It would 
 come out from a gushing heart in almost every 
 sermon, and by kind and gentle hints and friend-
 
 12 DISLIKES THE CLASSICS. 
 
 ly expostulations leave a deep impressioii on 
 every family he visited. 
 
 His elder brother Daniel was a moral and 
 amiable youth while under the charge of his 
 mother ; but he was sent from home to a gram- 
 mar school at an early age. He became an ex- 
 cellent scholar, was taught the mercantile busi- 
 ness, went to Jamaica where he soon became 
 rich. But he . lost two ships, taken by priva- 
 teers in the war between Great Britain and the 
 American Colonies, became disheartened, gave 
 way to temptation, and followed the footsteps 
 of his father by becoming intemperate, and died 
 a bankrupt and a miserable drunkard in 'the 
 37th year of his age. 
 
 John Clark's father knew the benefits of a 
 good education, and spared no pains or expense 
 in providing his children with the best means of 
 instruction that Inverness could afford. John 
 was sent to school at the age of five years. He 
 read the Scriptures and other English books be- 
 fore he was seven ; and at that period was put 
 to study Latin. He learned the grammar, read 
 Corderius, and studied the elementary classics 
 for two years ; but he disliked the study of 
 Latin and Greek, for which he often sorrowed 
 in after life. During this time he was at a
 
 SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION. 13 
 
 boarding school, away from home and all the 
 kind influences of his affectionate mother. 
 
 " All these circumstances," he writes in the sketches be- 
 fore us, " laid the foundation for an invincible prejudice 
 against the acquisition of that useful language ; useful be- 
 cause much of the English tongue is derived from it. Al- 
 so it disciplines the mind, corrects desultory habits, and 
 forms a taste to imitate in oratory and composition, class- 
 ical authors. I think it highly necessary for those, who 
 aim at common education, to memorize a Latin vocabulary. 
 Study mathematics to discipline the mind, and study well 
 our English classic writers. 
 
 But my early and deep-rooted aversion to the dead lan- 
 guages prevented me from receiving much advantage from 
 Latin and Greek authors, so that I acquired but a smat- 
 tering knowledge of those languages." 
 
 When his father learned his aversion to class- 
 ical studies he sent him to an excellent school 
 in the parish of Nairn, to learn arithmetic, book- 
 keeping, mathematics and natural philosophy. 
 The purpose of his father was to qualify him to 
 join his brother in the mercantile business in 
 the island of Jamaica. At this school he stu- . 
 died geometry, trigonometry, mensuration, sur- 
 veying, astronomy, and navigation in all its 
 branches. 
 
 Two objects occupied his youthful mind, and 
 which he craved in all his studies. They en- 
 gaged his thoughts by day and flitted through
 
 14 DETERMINES TO BE A SAILOR. 
 
 his dreams by night. They were the only airy 
 castles his fancy ever built. First, to spend 
 about eight years on ship-board, and visit for- 
 eign countries and see the manners and customs 
 of other nations. And, secondly, then to settle 
 for life in one of the American colonies. With 
 his mind fixed on these objects, with a steadi- 
 ness of purpose that never tired, he entered on 
 those studies connected with navigation with an 
 eagerness and zest rarely equalled in youth. 
 He could not divest himself of this propensity 
 to a sea-faring life for the period proposed. 
 He had no inclination to be a mere sailor, or to 
 spend his days with the profane and drunken 
 of that class of men. He saw enough of such 
 specimens of degraded humanity in the port of 
 Inverness to excite feelings of disgust and sym- 
 pathy. In all his longings to be on ship-board, 
 his benevolent nature sympathised with the 
 heedless and wicked sailors. He would often 
 retire and weep over their miseries, and think of 
 plans for their reform and relief, when he 
 should attain the command of a ship. 
 
 During the period of youth, Clark was singu- 
 larly amiable, moral, kind-hearted and gene- 
 rous. He lost no time by idleness, had no 
 inclination to the vain amusements and frivoli-
 
 ENTHUSIASTIC LOVE OF LIBERTY. 15 
 
 ties of youth, and sustained an estimable char- 
 acter for personal sobriety, good order and 
 morality. The unfortunate example of his 
 father excited pity and disgust ; the devoutly 
 religious character of his mother confirmed and 
 deepened the impressions of childhood. There 
 was more of puritanical strictness, form, and 
 rigid orthodoxy, than active piety and the out- 
 pourings of the religious emotions, in the Church 
 of Scotland at that period, and young Clark 
 neither felt or manifested those feelings of 
 ardent love to the Redeemer, and comfortings 
 of the Holy Spirit, that had been awakened in 
 his young heart at the early age of eight years, 
 or which distinctly marked his religious charac- 
 ter in after life. 
 
 Our youthful friend became an enthusiastic 
 lover of liberty and of the rights of man, at an 
 early age, and which continued the ruling pas- 
 sion during life. In the period of old age he 
 records these facts. 
 
 " When I was very young, I deeply imbibed the spirit 
 of war owing chiefly from hearing much of the success 
 that attended the British arms by land and sea, during the 
 war in Canada. "When in the seventeenth year of my age, 
 the Revolutionary war between Great Britain and her 
 Colonies commenced, and I soon found myself as much 
 opposed to the spirit of war as I was formerly in favor of it."
 
 16 CLARK BECOMES A SAILOR. 
 
 This feeling remained after he "became con- 
 nected with the navy, and caused him to desert 
 the service, into which he had been forced by 
 the press-gang. And yet, as if to show us that 
 a young man so amiable, kind-hearted, and 
 philanthropic as Clark, was far from perfection, 
 or even consistency of character, he engaged in 
 the business of privateering ; a business now 
 regarded by civilized nations as barbarous and 
 immoral. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Clark becomes a Sailor. Privateering. His Subsequent Reflections. 
 Last Visit to his Parents. Sails as Mate to the West Indies. 
 Pressed on Board the Man-of-War Tobago. A Fight, and Death of 
 the Gunner. Admiral Rodney. Escapes from the Tobago. Visits 
 his Brother. Ships for England. Taken by the Spaniards. 
 Obtains his Freedom, and again Pressed on Board the Narcissus. 
 Deserts a Second Time, and Swims Ashore on James' Island, off 
 Charleston, at Great Risk. 
 
 The propensity of young Clark to a sea-faring 
 life remained ungratified until he was twenty 
 years old. Much as he desired to see the world, 
 and repulsive as was the conduct of his father' 
 to his sensitive feelings, John had no wish to 
 run away clandestinely to leave his affection- 
 ate mother and sisters, or to reject the monitions 
 of his conscience. He patiently waited until
 
 "ENGAGES IN THE TRANSPORT SERVICE. 17 
 
 the proper time should come ; until he attained 
 the period of manhood, and could go with his 
 parent's blessing. And then, even filial affec- 
 tion and true philanthropy, prevailed over a 
 churlish and selfish temper, and prompted him 
 to regard the welfare of his parents to his own 
 personal interests. 
 
 It was in the summer of 1778, in the twen- 
 tieth year of his age, that John Clark embraced 
 the opportunity of carrying into effect his 
 darling purpose of life, by engaging in the 
 transport service. But to this he was induced 
 by higher motives than a selfish indulgence. 
 His education had been completed, and he had 
 spent some time copying in the town and county 
 office of Inverness. To the close of his life he 
 wrote in a style of uncommon neatness and 
 accuracy. This employment furnished no in- 
 come beyond ordinary expenses. The extrava- 
 gance and dissipation of his father, had nearly 
 reduced the family to want. The riches real- 
 ized from their uncle Daniel's estate, gained 
 doubtless by fraud and extortion, from the 
 Indians of Georgia, had made themselves wings 
 and flown away.* The farm in Petty was left, 
 but the income was barely sufficient for their 
 
 * Prov. xxiii : 5.
 
 18 PRIVATEERING. 
 
 support, and nothing can prosper under the 
 management of an intemperate husband and 
 father ; and John piously and resolutely re- 
 solved to do his best in the business of his choice, 
 to keep their heads above water. 
 
 He embarked in the transport service, at low 
 wages.* Finding, on his return, that his father's 
 extravagance was fast wasting away their means 
 of support, and hoping to obtain in a more 
 speedy way the means of relief, he went to 
 Greenock and entered onboard a privateer; and 
 the voyage was so successful in capturing two val- 
 uable merchant vessels, that in less than a year he 
 returned home with his wages and share of the 
 prize money, amounting to more than $200. 
 Of that business then regarded lawful and hon- 
 orable in war, fifty years after, he writes thus : 
 
 " This unchristian, inhuman, and almost piratical prac- 
 tice, was never permitted in Scotland before that war. 
 But my moral feelings by this time began to be im- 
 paired, for my situation in life deprived me of the com- 
 pany of the godly, and ' evil communications corrupt good 
 manners.'! Although my conscience recoiled at doing 
 that which I was not willing others should do to me, yet 
 I made necessity my excuse, and plead the example of 
 those whom I then thought knew more and were better 
 than I was." 
 
 * Transport ships are engaged in carrying soldiers and munitions 
 of war from one country to another. 
 1 Cor. xv : 33.
 
 PARTING WITH HIS PARENTS. 19 
 
 After remaining with his parents a few days, 
 and leaving all the money he could spare, for 
 their use, he gave them the parting hand, and 
 in accordance with a promise made with one of 
 the owners of the privateer, he entered as mate 
 one of the prize ships taken, called the Hero, for 
 a voyage to the West Indies. There he intend- 
 ed to join his brother, and engage in business 
 with him. 
 
 Little did he anticipate this was the last 
 parting time with his parents, but let him tell 
 the story. 
 
 " I shall never forget the morning I left them. My 
 mother, who loved me most tenderly, when we parted, ex- 
 pressed, with the greatest confidence, without shedding a 
 tear, that God would preserve me by land and by sea, 
 from every danger. My father walked with me about one 
 mile to a small river where I had appointed to meet a 
 young man with a horse for me to ride to Port Glasgow, 
 near Greenock, where the ship was to fit out ; and as we 
 parted, my dear old father wept like a child. Very likely 
 he had forebodings he would never again fix his paternal 
 eyes on me, for he was infirm, and his constitution much 
 broken by intemperate habits. This was in May, 1779, 
 and he died in the autumn following. I left my friends 
 mourning, while I went away rejoicing ; for though I in- 
 tended to follow a sea-faring life for a few years, I fancied 
 it was in n^ own power to see them whenever I pleased. 
 I little imagined that man may appoint, but God may dis- 
 appoint.
 
 20 PRESSED ON A MAN-OF-WAR. 
 
 " I went on my way merrily, without the least thought 
 that Unerring Wisdom had set the day of adversity over 
 against the day of prosperity, to the end that man should 
 find nothing after him.* According to my engagement, 
 I shipped with my friend, the owner's son, on the Hero 
 as second mate, from Port Glasgow, to the Cove of Cork 
 in Ireland, where we waited for a convoy. There we were 
 joined by a large fleet of victuallers, store ships, and 
 transports, with one or two regiments of Hessians, for the 
 port of New York. Our vessel and some others was 
 bound for the West Indies. We set sail under convoyf 
 of the frigate Roebuck, of forty-four guns. The convoy 
 and transports were destined for New York, and we that 
 were bound to the West Indies sailed in company to a 
 certain latitude, when we parted, and were then under 
 convoy of the Leviathan, of seventy guns, and a sloop of 
 war of sixteen guns. Then I began to notice and ex- 
 amine God's marvellous works in the boisterous deep. 
 Nothing transpired during the passage worth relating 
 until we got to Barbadoes, and there I was pressed on 
 board the Tobago, a British war vessel of eighteen guns. 
 Here ended my prosperity and adversity came. Or shall 
 I say this seeming affliction was a blessing in disguise, in- 
 tended by Infinite Wisdom for my everlasting good ? 
 
 " My wages on the Hero were forty-five dollars, for 
 which I sent an order to my mother that she might re- 
 ceive it. Although my mother out-lived my father seven 
 years, I afterwards learned with great satisfaction neither 
 iny father or mother suffered for want of the necessaries 
 or comforts of life while they lived ; for many years after 
 
 * Eccl. vii : 14. 
 
 f A convoy is one or more ships of war sent to protect 
 merchant vessels and transports.
 
 UNHAPPY FEELINGS. 21 
 
 I learnt my mother left upwards of sixty dollars of the 
 wages I had sent her." 
 
 * Mr. Clark was now a sailor, pressed by arbi- 
 trary authority on board the British man-of- 
 war, Tobago, and lying in the harbor of Car- 
 lisle, in the Island of Barbadoes, to prevent 
 American and French privateers from plunder- 
 ing the plantations in the bays and road-steads 
 of that Island. This business was against all 
 his principles and feelings ; for in all his long- 
 ings for a sea-faring life, it never entered into 
 his calculations to serve on board a man-of-war. 
 Let him give his own views and feelings : 
 
 " I was continually unhappy while in the navy, and 
 would have ventured my life to have obtained my former 
 liberty. I made an unsuccessful attempt to escape the 
 night before the ship left Barbadoes, but was detected, 
 and both my feet put in irons, and a sentinel placed over 
 me, with a candle and a drawn sword, the whole night. 
 Next morning the ship weighed anchor, and steered on 
 our course. Great Britain was then at war with three 
 maritime nations, and we suspected every ship that passed, 
 especially if alone, to be a cruiser and an enemy. 
 
 ' : Before night we espied a ship bearing down towards 
 us. when our ship prepared for action. The boatswain blew 
 his pipe, and hoarsely bawled, 'All hands to quarters, 
 ahoy !' My irons were taken off, and after a severe repri- 
 mand, I was ordered to my post. When we came within 
 hailing distance, we found the ship to be the Venus, a Bri-
 
 22 ON A CBUISE. 
 
 tish frigate, and passed, after giving and exchanging three 
 cheers." 
 
 They were about three months lying off and 
 on, upon cruizing ground, in the Caribbean Sea, 
 very short of provisions. Their butter, cheese, 
 flour, lard, and fruit, failed entirely, and for 
 much of the time were on short allowance, when 
 they joined the fleet lying at St. Lucia. The 
 force consisted of two squadrons, one command- 
 ed by Admiral Parker, the other by that truly 
 pious Admiral Holly, as Clark denotes him. 
 The French fleet lay at Martinique, not far dis- 
 tant, but were too numerous and powerful to 
 risk an encounter. So the British lay in the 
 harbor, with springs on their cables, waiting for 
 a reinforcement, and fresh supplies of provisions 
 and naval stores. The French were waiting to 
 be reinforced by the Spanish fleet and land- 
 forces from Hispaniola, (now Hayti,) and both 
 united, purposed to invade the Island of 
 Jamaica. The British Government, knowing 
 the precarious situation of that valuable island, 
 made every effort to send relief, but they were 
 hard pressed by the war in the American 
 Colonies, and they needed an energetic, and 
 skillful commander, to save their West India 
 possessions.
 
 ADMIRAL RODNEY. 23 
 
 They had a naval officer of great skill and 
 courage, but he had been absent many years on 
 the continent of Europe. This was the cele- 
 brated Sir George Brydges Kodney, who had 
 distinguished himself in the West Indies, in 
 1761, by the capture of Martinique. He was 
 an admirable commander in the navy, but while 
 on land, was profligate, and had wasted his es- 
 tate, and become hopelessly in debt. In this 
 situation he left England to reside on the con- 
 tinent of Europe. His biographer says, " He 
 injured his finances in a contested election for 
 Parliament in 1768." The French government 
 made some overtures to him, which would have 
 repaired his fortune, which he rejected with in- 
 dignation, and remained true to his native 
 country. 
 
 Such was the alarming state of affairs in the 
 West Indies that the government called home 
 Sir Gr. B. Kodney, paid his debts, redeemed his 
 estates, and gave him the chief command of the 
 fleet in the West Indies. This policy, proba- 
 bly, prevented Jamaica from falling into the 
 hands of France or Spain. Admiral Kodney, 
 with a reinforcement, joined the fleet at St. 
 Lucia ; and, as Clark says, " It was the best 
 equipped squadron I ever saw."
 
 24 PREMONITION OF THE GUNNER. 
 
 Kodney soon captured a Spanish squadron, 
 and used the prisoners with great humanity. 
 This became known to Charles III., the venera- 
 ble king of Spain, and he issued orders to his 
 naval and military officers to treat all British 
 prisoners humanely. 
 
 The arrival of Admiral Rodney at St. Lucia, 
 was the occasion of great joy in the fleet, which 
 had been penned up there for many months, and 
 the French in turn were blockaded in the Island 
 of Martinique, and could not join the Spanish 
 fleet in Hispaniola. While Rodney was watch- 
 ing the French and Spanish fleets, the Tobago, 
 on which our friend Clark had been forced by a 
 press-gang, was ordered to Jamaica with des- 
 patches in all possible haste. On this voyage 
 Clark narrates an incident deserving a place in 
 this little work. 
 
 " We had a venerable man on board our ship for chief 
 gunner, who, from some unknown cause, had taken a dis- 
 like to me, and never gave me a kind word. One beauti- 
 ful, moonlight night, while sailing near Hispaniola. it was 
 my turn at the helm, and I was astonished at the unex- 
 pected behavior of the gunner to me. He approached me 
 with as much respect as if I had been his superior in rank 
 or station. Had he been an intemperate man, I should 
 have accounted for his conduct, as some men are remark- 
 ably good natured while under the influence of liquor, and
 
 CHASED BY A BRIG. 25 
 
 others are very cross and surly. But he was a moral 
 man and never became intoxicated. He appeared in his 
 conversation like a person who had done with this world, 
 and in kind and respectful language gave me a sketch of 
 his life. He had been in the British navy forty years ; 
 but the subject on which he dwelt with the most feeling 
 was the bursting of cannon in action ; and expressed with 
 an emphatic tone of voice, he had never known a gun "ex- 
 pended "* but that a gunner was expended with it 
 
 Next day after dinner as we were sailing near the 
 same Island, an armed brig popped out from the Island 
 and gave us a chase. Our business required haste, and we 
 could not stay merely to fight, and we endeavored to decoy 
 her near by housing our guns. Suspecting our manoeu- 
 vres, she fired two guns, and altered her course. We, in 
 turn, intended to fire a broadside soon as we could bring 
 our guns to bear. But, alas ! the sixth gun we fired 
 burst, and mortally wounded three men, and maimed sev- 
 eral others for life. 
 
 Our venerable gunner had one foot entirely cut off, and 
 the other hung by his leg. The surgeon told him, he 
 could not survive, and he called for his mate, and told him 
 to adjust his temporal affairs with the Board of Admiral- 
 ty, and with great composure of mind, and in hope of 
 mercy, he yielded up his spirit." 
 
 This incident made a lasting impression on 
 the mind of Clark. The manner of his approach 
 the preceding night, the long and somewhat re- 
 ligious conversation he held, the premonition 
 he seemed to entertain of the approaching cal- 
 
 * Technically burst."
 
 26 DEFEAT OF COUNT DE GRASSE. 
 
 amity, and his sober, orderly and correct life 
 left the fixed impression that the gunner was a 
 Christian. A young man had his skull fractured 
 by the same gun, and Clark stood by and saw 
 the surgeon trepan him, while he exhibited the 
 greatest degree of fortitude and patience. The 
 wounded men were all sent to the hospital in 
 Jamaica, where this youth died. 
 
 The fleet they had left behind under Rodney 
 soon had an opportunity to act on the offensive. 
 The French fleet that had been blockaded were 
 reinforced by Count de Grasse, and made an 
 attempt to join the Spanish fleet. They were 
 followed by Admiral Rodney, who sunk one of 
 the largest vessels and captured five others. 
 For this act of naval heroism, he was created a 
 baronet, had a pension of two thousand pounds 
 sterling per annum settled on him by the crown, 
 and at his decease in 1792, a monment was 
 erected in St. Paul's church, London. 
 
 The Tobago, on which Clark was, needing 
 repairs, she was hove down for the purpose in 
 Port Royal. In consideration of his fidelity 
 and good conduct after his attempt to desert, 
 Mr. Clark was promoted to the station of quar- 
 ter-master. This did not reconcile him to the 
 war, nor to the despotism of the officers, and
 
 DESERTS THE MAN-OF-WAR. 27 
 
 the sufferings of the men on board of a war 
 vessel. He was still resolved on escaping the 
 first opportunity, for as he had been forced on 
 board a man-of-war, in violation of his rights, 
 he thought it no wrong to escape the first op- 
 portunity. In company with two other young 
 men he escaped one night, and reached Savannah 
 La Mar, a port on the south-western part of the 
 Island. Here he found a ship taking in lading 
 for London ; and so weak-handed, that they 
 scarcely had men enough to heave the anchor. 
 Clark and his comrades were employed at once 
 and helped load the ship ; and in great haste to 
 be off, or the time of their insurance would ex- 
 pire. " Here," he states, " for the first and 
 last time in my life, I worked on the Sabbath 
 for double wages." 
 
 When the Captain paid off Clark and his 
 companions, he used a stratagem to induce 
 them to work the ship to England. The wages 
 then were forty guineas and forty gallons of rum 
 for the voyage ; but John Clark had resolved to 
 visit his brother, according to a promise he 
 made his mother when he parted with her, and 
 no high wages or other inducement would tempt 
 him to break his promise. The Captain pro- 
 fessed great generosity, and proposed treating
 
 28 EFFECTS OF INTEMPERANCE. 
 
 Clark and a young man who was to be his 
 traveling companion, to French brandy ; and as 
 Clark suspected with drugged liquor, in order 
 to detain them. He drank but little, while his 
 comrade praised the liquor and took it freely. 
 They had not proceeded far before the young 
 man's legs gave out, and they were compelled 
 to stop at a strange house till next morning. 
 During the night, the young man was robbed 
 of all he had, and being destitute, Clark, as a 
 genuine sailor, and benevolent withal, divided 
 his purse with his unfortunate friend. And he 
 moralizes on it in this language : " So here I 
 saw .the fruits of Sabbath-breaking and trifling 
 company." But on looking back on the events 
 of providence from the pinnacle of three score 
 and ten, he says : 
 
 " I now find that it was the interposition of a particu- 
 lar providence of Him, who is loving and mindful of all 
 his creatures, that the forty guineas and forty gallons of 
 rum, and the French brandy made no impression on my 
 mind to induce me to alter my intentions, and especially 
 my promise to the best of mothers." 
 
 He learned at a later period, that though the 
 ship got to her place of rendezvous, yet before 
 the fleet was ready to sail to England, it was 
 overtaken by a most furious hurricane, arid the
 
 A TERRIBLE HURRICANE. 29 
 
 ship he aided to load, was stranded, about a 
 quarter of a mile from the beach. The cargo 
 was lost, and the wicked Captain and every 
 sailor on board perished. Clark adds, " So 
 fatal was that storm on that ungodly people, 
 (the inhabitants of Savannah la Mar,) that 
 there was scarcely as many left, as would bury 
 the dead in proper season." 
 
 Mr. Clark traveled across the Island to find 
 his brother, and then went to work to obtain 
 money enough to purchase decent clothes, 
 before he would venture into the presence of 
 his brother, who lived in a decent family, and 
 was much respected. He earned money, but 
 Providence seemed to frown on him, for he lost 
 it, and all he had. So he says, " I resolved at 
 last to see my brother, just as I was in my tar- 
 paulin dress, as sinners ought to come to the 
 Saviour, without any righteousness of their 
 own." 
 
 After informing his brother of his career, he 
 blamed him much for leaving the navy ; for the 
 education he had and the position he attained 
 would have insured his promotion, and he 
 might have obtained wealth and dignity. 
 He soon found there was no employment he 
 could obtain at Montego bay, and be near his
 
 30 TAKEN BY THE SPANIARDS. 
 
 brother, unless it was that of book-keeper on 
 some plantation, and that was an unprofitable 
 business. His brother had become addicted to 
 intemperance, and seemed to be following the 
 course of his unhappy father. 
 
 While waiting and undetermined what to do, 
 a Letter of Marque* belonging to Glasgow 
 came into Montego bay, and Mr. Clark engaged 
 as a hand, and set out for his native country. 
 
 All now seemed encouraging, and he felt 
 thankful to God that he should soon see his 
 parents and sisters again. But while sailing in 
 the Gulf of Mexico, the vessel was attacked and 
 taken by two Spanish frigates of superior force, 
 and the crew were carried prisoners to Havana, 
 in the Island of Cuba. Here Clark remained 
 a prisoner of war nineteen months. Formerly 
 the Spanish authorities treated their English 
 prisoners with great cruelty, but since the hu- 
 mane regimen of Admiral Kodney and the 
 orders of the King of Spain, already noticed, 
 their treatment was kind and humane. But to 
 be confined in a prison, though provided with 
 wholesome food and other necessaries, was by no 
 means pleasant ; and the time wore away slowly. 
 
 * A Letter of Marque is a merchant vessel, licensed to go 
 armed, and fight in defense in time of war.
 
 RELEASED BY A CARTEL. 31 
 
 A cartel being arranged, Clark and other 
 prisoners were liberated and soon on shipboard.* 
 With gladsome hearts and active hands, they 
 heard the boatswain sing out, " heave !" as 
 the anchor was raised and the sails unfurled to 
 the winds of heaven ; and soon they were 
 ploughing the rippling waves towards a land of 
 freedom. The wind proved favorable, and in a 
 few days they were at anchor off Charleston, 
 outside the bar. Here the good fortune of 
 Clark was again reversed. The eye of an infi- 
 nite Providence was fixed on this man ; his 
 steps were mysteriously directed in all his wan- 
 derings, and it was needful he should pass 
 through other and more severe trials, until as 
 gold well-refined, he should be fitted for the 
 Master's use. Mr. Clark expected to be land- 
 ed in a maritime port, and have eight days 
 allowed him to choose a vessel and berth. But 
 an hour had not passed before a recruiting offi- 
 cer and press-gang were on board, and poor 
 Clark and several others were again pressed on 
 board another man-of-war by British authority. 
 
 Surely there is no condition of servitude so 
 galling to humanity, and so directly a violation 
 
 * A cartel is an agreement between nations at war, for ex- 
 change of prisoners. It is also used for the vessel that brings them
 
 32 FORCED ON BOARD THE NARCISSUS. 
 
 of human rights, and so subversive of rational 
 liberty, as the infamous press-gang in the Bri- 
 tish navy. We rejoice that the just and 
 humane sentiments of the age, have mitigated, 
 though not entirely removed, this odious form 
 of despotism in the British government. 
 Through the operation of such oppression, 
 Mr. Clark found himself on board the Narcis- 
 sus, of twenty guns, and most unwillingly held 
 in the service of George III. Read his own re- 
 marks on the subject. 
 
 " Now, I was more determined than ever to obtain my 
 liberty. The love of liberty is implanted in our very 
 nature, and nothing can supply the lack of it. We fared 
 well on board the Narcissus ; we had the best of fresh 
 meat when it could be obtained, besides butter, cheese, 
 plum-pudding, and a pint of Madeira wine for each day, 
 but all that could not supply the lack of rational liberty. 
 
 " The people of the slaveholding States ought to con- 
 sider this well ; for the spirit of liberty is like a magazine 
 full of powder. If it takes fire, it will consume all with- 
 in its reach, and the danger increases daily. Many slave- 
 holders sincerely conclude that if they work their slaves 
 moderately, clothe and feed them well, the slaves ought 
 to be contented, but Scripture, sound philosophy, and ex- 
 perience yes, my own experience prove such arguments 
 to be sophistry. For although I fared on board the Nar- 
 cissus as well as I could reasonably desire, yet I was 
 more discontented than ever. So I found the old saying 
 verified,
 
 THOUGHTS ON LIBERTY. 33 
 
 ' Feed me with ambrosia ; 
 Wash it down with Nectar ; 
 And what will it avail, if liberty be wanting.' 
 
 My desires for liberty and peace were so great, that 
 death or liberty was t4ie constant language of my heart." 
 
 About this time the British evacuated 
 Savannah, and the Narcissus was appointed a 
 convoy to the transports that moved the refu- 
 gees from that city to St. Augustine. After 
 performing this duty, the ship returned and lay 
 oif Charleston again. Orders were issued to 
 sail to New York, and the night previous Clark 
 and his mess-mates were employed in making 
 preparations for the voyage. 
 
 After being discharged from duty, and while 
 at their mess, John Scott and John Clark were 
 invited to join another mess and take grog. 
 The proposal was then made to Clark and his 
 messmate, to obtain their liberty that night by 
 swimming to James' Island, it being from one 
 and a-half to two miles distant. The plan was 
 arranged by Clark to strip in the bow of the 
 ship, all but their trowsers, and swim at first 
 straight ahead in a quartering direction, until 
 they could no longer be seen from the ship, and 
 then turn in the course of the island. He was 
 chosen to take the lead, and he dashed ahead in 
 the direction he had chosen. The others made
 
 34 HAZARDOUS ADVENTURE. 
 
 some delay, as Clark was to turn on his 
 back and wait for them. He found, on trial, 
 the salt water so dashed over his face, that he 
 was compelled to swim for his life. His situa- 
 tion became extremely perilous ; the rippling 
 waves dashed in his face and he began to despair 
 of life. And now he became alarmed at the 
 prospect of immediate death, and his sins rushed 
 on his conscience to that degree that even in 
 the perilous condition he was, he dared not to 
 pray for deliverance. The prayers of his mother 
 seemed to ring in his ears, and in his disturbed 
 imagination the spray that beat upon his face 
 were her scalding tears. Like flashes of light- 
 ning his sins pierced his conscience, and the 
 terrors of the law, like peals of thunder, rolled 
 over his sinking soul. Such were his views of 
 his sin and guilt, while swimming for his life, 
 that he dared not pray, lest his cries to heaven 
 for mercy should provoke the vengeance of an 
 angry Grod to sink him in the deep. But let 
 him tell his own experience from his journal at 
 this terrible crisis. 
 
 li I expected to launch into the presence of a frowning 
 and sin-avenging God. whose tender mercies for many 
 years I had trampled under my ungodly feet ; I had 
 broken many promises of amendment ; a yawning hell 
 Deemed moving from beneath, at the ocean's depth, to
 
 AWFTJL CONVICTIONS. 35 
 
 meet me on my sinking. Human language cannot express 
 the agitation of my mind, and such was my perturbation 
 for a time, that my strength failed me to such a degree 
 that I could hardly keep myself from sinking. I would 
 willingly have sunk, but the thought of dying without the 
 hope of mercy, was so terrible that I resolved to swim as 
 long as I could keep my head above water, or until de- 
 prived of my senses, or till some greedy shark, of which 
 the harbor was never clear, should devour me. and put an 
 end to my struggling." 
 
 The impression of dying under the curse of 
 God's violated law, thrilled through his nerves 
 like an electric shock, and he felt in an instant 
 increased vigor, and swam with greater ease. 
 He could not see the land, and when despair- 
 ing of deliverance, he found a ship at anchor 
 about 200 yards from him, and two miles from 
 any other vessel, and hope inspired his heart 
 and nerved his arms to further effort, and he 
 resolved to board the vessel, knowing that some 
 of the sailors would give him clothes and help 
 him to land. But all was still. Both officers 
 and men were on shore, or in the city of Charles- 
 ton. He found an old, ragged, and greasy 
 shirt, and a small boat moored to the ship, but 
 conscience demurred : " How can you be guilty 
 of such iniquity, of taking other men's property, 
 when God has wrought such a deliverance ?" 
 But reason responded : " It is no more than I
 
 36 DELIVERED AT LAST. 
 
 would cheerfully allow others to do to me under 
 a change of circumstances." 
 
 He got into the boat with the least noise 
 possible, cast her loose, and sculled toward the 
 land. A light breeze springing up he hoisted 
 his oar for a mast, the old shirt for a sail, 
 shipped the rudder and sailed for James" Island. 
 After tying the boat so that it might be found 
 by the owners, he crept into a hay-stack and 
 rested till morning. After waking, much re- 
 freshed from the fatigue and exposure of the 
 past night, Clark sought a position where, un- ? 
 discovered, he might watch the movements of 
 the Narcissus. At sunrise her morning gun 
 boomed over the waters, and with joyful emo- 
 tions he saw the signal hoisted for her departure. 
 The wind was fair, and the dreaded ship was 
 soon under weigh, and was soon out of sight.
 
 MR. CLARK ARRIVES AT CHARLESTON. 37 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Mr. Clark arrives at Charleston. Meets with Friends. Interview 
 with John Scott. The Story and Fate of Duncan. Alarmed, and 
 Relieved by an Old Shipmate. Stationed on Cooper River. 
 Returns to Charleston. Protected by Three Scotch Tailors 
 They all Escape. Adventures in a Swamp. Reach Gen. Marion's 
 Army. Clark Proceeds to Georgetown. Enters a Row-galley and 
 reaches Savannah. Sails to St. Thomas. Voyage to New York. 
 Proclamation of Peace. Returns to the West Indies. Shipwreck. 
 Various Voyages. Distress of Mind. Forsakes a Sea-faring 
 Life. 
 
 At that time transport ships were collect- 
 ing in the harbor, and waiting to carry 
 off the troops, for the British were about to 
 evacuate the town. This was in 1782. James 
 Island, where Mr. Clark got on land, is a large 
 island south-east and opposite Charleston, 
 across Ashley river, and is separated from the 
 ocean by Folly Island and a channel between ; 
 and has several other islands contiguous. 
 Clark says, after noticing the departure of the 
 ship : 
 
 " The next thing that occupied my mind, was, how I 
 would get to Charleston, and what would I do there ? I 
 thought that with an old, greasy and torn shirt, and a pair 
 of trowsers as my only covering, every one would take 
 me for an idiot, or at least a worthless vagabond. Could 
 I have seen then as I now see, the hand of HIM who makes
 
 38 TRUST IN GOD. 
 
 sparrows, ravens, lions and other creatures objects of his 
 care ; and that all his dispensations towards the children 
 of men are tokens of his paternal love, and means to in- 
 struct us ; that without HIM we can do nothing ; if I 
 had then seen these things as I now do, I might have en- 
 joyed peace with God, and been delivered from all tor- 
 menting fear. But I was blinded by unbelief, or I should 
 have known that what I had experienced the night before 
 of the goodness of God in my preservation would have in- 
 spired me with hope for the future." 
 
 He soon found a negro hut where he obtained 
 food, and was told he could get a passage to 
 Charleston in a fishing boat. All this time Mr. 
 Clark knew nothing of the fate of his four com- 
 rades, whom he was confident had followed him, 
 and who, he supposed, were in the ocean, or in 
 nautical language had " gone to Davy Jones' 
 locker." He was taken in a fishing boat across 
 the wide river, and landed at the upper wharf, 
 which he regarded as a providential favor, for 
 it gave him opportunity to keep out of the way 
 of the officers of the navy, and find amongst the 
 common sailors some old shipmate who might 
 aid him in his necessities. He found sailors, in 
 great numbers, at every wharf, and there were 
 many ships taking in lading for British ports, 
 expecting the war would soon close. The great 
 men of France, England, and the United States, 
 were then arranging terms of peace.
 
 THE DEAD ALIVE. 39 
 
 Mr. Clark continued his tour along the 
 wharves until he almost despaired of seeing any 
 one who would hefriend him. When almost at 
 his wits' end, he espied three men putting to- 
 bacco into the hold of a vessel, and to his as- 
 tonishment and joy he knew them ; for many 
 months before, he and his mess-mate John Scott 
 had showed them what they thought was a 
 great favor. It is a peculiar trait of sailors to 
 be grateful, and never forget an act of kindness. 
 But let the interview be in his own language. 
 
 " I made towards them with quick steps, and a gladsome 
 heart. I found they were gentlemen indeed, though at 
 first they did not seem to know me. Their disinterested 
 generosity exceeded any thing of the kind I ever met with 
 before. They clothed me from head to foot, and gave me 
 refreshment.* I then went into the hold, to assist the 
 second mate to stow away tobacco. I was not long en- 
 gaged in that business before I heard the voice of John 
 Scott on deck my mess-mate, who I supposed was 
 drowned. I concealed myself as long as I could, while lis- 
 tening to his conversation ; for he was narrating the tragi- 
 cal story of the death of John Duncan and myself to the 
 captain." 
 
 We will give John Scott a chance to tell his 
 own tale, as recorded from the memory of our 
 friend John Clark. 
 
 * They proved to be the captain and two mates of the vessel.
 
 40 JOHN SCOTT'S STORY. 
 
 u The men who proposed the hazardous undertaking to 
 me and my mess-mate, John Clark, set out from the ship 
 after him, but in a contrary course from mine. One of 
 them, after swimming about one hundred yards, concluding 
 he could not hold out to reach the shore, returned and 
 got on board without being discovered. Another swam 
 about one hundred yards further, and found he would fail, 
 hailed the ship and was taken up by the boat. But I and 
 John Duncan held on our course about halfway to the land, 
 when Duncan began to fail ; and the last words I heard 
 him utter, were, ' Lord, have mercy on me.' I got to the 
 island, but entirely naked, except a silk handkerchief 
 around my waist. I then ran up and down the sand 
 beach to keep warm till day-light, when I walked on the 
 island and came to a large brick house, where a lady stood 
 in the door-way and directed me to the barn, where a Bri- 
 tish sergeant lay, who gave me a pair of trowsers, and the 
 lady sent me a fine, ruffled shirt, and a half- worn beav er 
 hat, and gave me a hearty breakfast." 
 
 Scott got a passage to Charleston on a fish- 
 ing boat, for which he paid two dollars ; so it 
 seems they weighed his purse by his fine clothes. 
 While John Scott was narrating the desperate 
 adventure, and how two of the number got back 
 to the Narcissus, and Duncan was drowned, 
 with sobs and tears he mentioned his dear mess- 
 mate, John Clark, who, he doubted not, had 
 perished, or been devoured by a shark, for 
 though an excellent swimmer, he could never
 
 AFFECTIONATE MEETING. 41 
 
 reach land in that direction. " And here," 
 said .the generous-hearted sailor, " is the purse 
 he knit and gave me, and I am determined to 
 keep it as long as two meshes will hold to- 
 gether ; for he was the "best friend I ever had." 
 Clark could listen no longer, but called out 
 JOHN SCOTT, while the tears like rain drops, 
 gushed from his eyes, as he sprang on deck, and 
 in a moment the two ship mates, each suppos- 
 ing the other dead, were in each others' arms ! 
 They now pledged themselves to each other, 
 never to part, but to live together like brothers. 
 But it is not in man that walketh to direct his 
 steps.* They heard of a Captain Kelly, who 
 was fitting out a privateer and wanted hands. 
 On application for berths as privates, they 
 learned he wanted officers, and would take them 
 as lieutenants. Clark was deficient in practice, 
 and Scott lacked knowledge in the art of navi- 
 gation. After some further consideration they 
 went on board the privateer, and to their satis- 
 faction found one of their former fellow-prison- 
 ers engaged as surgeon. They now thought 
 they were provided for and should be contented, 
 but before they were ready to sail, a ship of war 
 came into the harbor, with a full description of 
 
 * Jer.z:23.
 
 42 FEARS OF APPKEHENSION. 
 
 the deserters from the Narcissus, and orders to 
 search every vessel for them. This so alarmed 
 Clark and his mess-mate that they were at their 
 wits end. At this crisis Clark fell into the 
 company of an old shipmate by name of John 
 Stewart. They had been captured in company 
 by the Spanish frigates and were messmates 
 while in prison in Havana. Stewart advised 
 Clark to take a berth on an armed sloop, em- 
 ployed as a guard ship, and stationed in Cooper 
 river, a few miles above Charleston. What be- 
 came of his friend Scott we learn no more. 
 They separated and probably never met again 
 on earth. 
 
 Mr. Clark now felt his mind relieved from 
 the fear of recapture, but the respite did 
 not last long. For wages he had nineteen dol- 
 lars per month, and a complete asylum from 
 the dangers to which he had been exposed ; 
 plenty of good rations, and very little to do ; 
 so he had two-thirds of his time to improve his 
 mind, which he did not neglect. But God had 
 wise and gracious designs to accomplish by him, 
 and his measure of afflictions was not full. His 
 rest was of short duration, for the sloop was 
 ordered down to Charleston to undergo repairs. 
 There he was peculiarly exposed to apprehen-
 
 FINDS SCOTCH FRIENDS. 43 
 
 sion as a deserter, and knew not how to escape 
 detection. But the Friend of mankind pro- 
 vided another asylum, as unexpected as his 
 former deliverances. Connected with the rem- 
 nant of the British army that still occupied 
 Charleston, were three Scotchmen, brothers, 
 who came from his native district. They were 
 tailor.s, and employed in altering and fitting the 
 military clothing, so as to suit each person. 
 With them he became acquainted, and they 
 concealed him until they were about to be 
 shipped off with the regiment to New Provi- 
 dence. They told him, in confidence, their 
 parents lived in North Carolina, that the time 
 of their enlistment had nearly expired, that 
 they disliked the army, and desired to escape to 
 a country that was now free. Finally, they 
 entreated Clark to procure a boat, and take 
 them across Ashley river ; and if he wished to 
 accompany them, to obtain a man to row the 
 boat back to Charleston. This was a providen- 
 tial opening for Clark to escape, and he engaged 
 his friend Stewart to help them off. 
 
 At eight o'clock at night, Clark, the three 
 tailors, and Stewart as boatman, were on the 
 water, and hailed by every ship they passed : 
 " Boat ahoy what boat is that ?" Clark regu-
 
 44 ESCAPE FROM CHARLESTON. 
 
 larly responded in the true marine accent, 
 " Guard-boat ;" and thus they escaped un- 
 molested. The last ship they passed ordered 
 them to stop and come on board, but they kept 
 on directly towards the margin of a large swamp 
 that lay close by the river. They intended to 
 turn up the river when on the border of the 
 swamp, and land on dry and firm ground above. 
 After considering themselves out of danger, 
 they leisurely plied two oars, while Clark sat in 
 the stern and steered. Not a word had been 
 spoken by the party, until one of the men broke 
 silence in a low but emphatic tone, " Lord, have 
 mercy on us there's a boat close on us put 
 ashore put ashore !" 
 
 Clark instantly put the boat towards the 
 shore, struck the muddy bank, and all plunged 
 into the swamp but Stewart, who turned down 
 stream. A palmetto .swamp, when covered 
 with water, is a horrible place in day-light 
 what must it have been to these wretched 
 wanderers in a dark night ! What the boat 
 was after that alarmed them, or who manned 
 it, they never learned. It might have been 
 sent from the last ship who suspected the 
 " guard-boat" was not its real character ; or it 
 might have contained a party of runaways like
 
 TROUBLE IN THE SWAMP. 45 
 
 their own ; or some of the native inhabitants 
 might have made a stealthy visit to town. 
 
 Mr. Clark and his friends were frequently up 
 to their knees in mud and water, and tearing 
 their clothes and skins with the rough palmetto 
 leaves. The Scotch tailors were, excessively 
 frightened, quite panic struck, expecting every 
 moment to be made prisoners ; or perhaps shot 
 down in the swamp. The grass was higher 
 than their heads, and they could not see five 
 yards distant. Clark allayed their fears by 
 assuring them there was no danger from soldiers 
 or marines, for no person, unless insane, would 
 attempt to follow them in such a swamp. He 
 urged them to keep together while he led the 
 party. After a terrible struggle, they got 
 across the swamp about four o j clock in the 
 morning. Next day they secreted themselves 
 in a thicket and rested till night, and then 
 traveled on a south-western course by the 
 direction of the stars. They knew the camp 
 of General Marion was somewhere in the pine 
 barrens, and steered their course in that direc- 
 tion. Next day they were so far within the 
 American lines, they ventured to call on the 
 inhabitants and found them truly generous, and 
 were made welcome and comfortable. The day
 
 46 CAMP OF GENERAL MARION. 
 
 following they reached Marion's camp, reported 
 themselves as deserters from the British in 
 Charleston, and were received by the heroic 
 General and his men with true politeness. 
 Next day the three Scotch tailors applied for 
 passports to. North Carolina, and Clark for one 
 to Georgetown in South Carolina, which were 
 readily granted. Though the war had practi- 
 cally ended, peace had not been proclaimed, and 
 every thing was in an unsettled state. Mr. 
 Clark reached Georgetown, sixty miles north 
 of Charleston, but found no employment there. 
 The British had evacuated the place, but the 
 inhabitants were left destitute, and subsisted on 
 rations furnished by the American army, and 
 every thing was in confusion. Being almost 
 destitute of clothes and money, Mr. Clark 
 engaged for a short voyage on a coasting vessel, 
 and came very near being captured by a British 
 whale-boat. It was only by a desperate effort 
 they escaped. Soon after returning from that 
 trip, an American row-galley, with thirty oars 
 when she had a full complement of seamen, came 
 into port. She was armed with swivels, mus- 
 kets and cutlasses, and bound on a cruise to 
 Savannah. As the boat wanted seamen, Clark 
 obtained a berth on board. On their voyage
 
 MAN AMERICAN ROW-GALLEY. 47 
 
 they lay by one night at Bull's Island, and in 
 the morning found two British whale-boats 
 lying near, and all hands fast asleep. The 
 Americans fired a musket and halloed to arouse 
 them, but' as it was understood the war was 
 over, neither party was disposed for a fight. So 
 they parted in peace. The American boat staid 
 at Bull's Island another night, to see that the 
 British boats did no injury to the inhabitants, 
 and then went to Savannah. 
 
 By this time Mr. Clark had become heart- 
 ily tired 'of war on both sides, and his con- 
 science was reproaching him for engaging in 
 such exploits ; he was continually unhappy, for 
 God was calling him to enter his service, and 
 like Jonah he was trying to escape. But he 
 felt it to be his duty to obtain the means of 
 subsistence, and a Sweedish neutral vessel from 
 St. Thomas, being in Savannah, he shipped on 
 board and sailed for that island. As the vessel 
 belonged in that port, all hands were paid off 
 and discharged. The captain, who had taken a 
 fancy to Clark, offered him the post of mate if 
 he would sail with him, but the mate had 
 treated Clark with so much friendship, he would 
 not take his place. The mate, Clark, and sev- 
 eral hands, made arrangements to lodge on
 
 48 TROUBLE IN ST. THOMAS. 
 
 shore with a Mr. Campbell. The town of St. 
 Thomas was a neutral port, and ships from five 
 nations, who had been at war some years, were 
 frequently in the harbor. To prevent collisions 
 among the sailors of these different nations, 
 especially when intoxicated, and to preserve 
 peace and good order, the town authorities re- 
 quired each seaman who lodged in the town, 
 to obtain a license from the officer who had 
 charge of that business. Mr. Campbell told 
 Clark and his comrades if they were in bed by 
 nine o'clock, they need not apply for a license. 
 But they found their host was mistaken, or else 
 he purposely deceived them. Though all were 
 in bed and perfectly quiet, they were aroused 
 up by the police, sent to the fort, and amongst 
 hosts of flees, and heaps of filth, were kept 
 until ten o'clock next morning. And then they 
 got released by paying fines and costs at the 
 rate of about twenty dollars per head, for a 
 most wretched night's lodging, 
 
 Next day .they went to Tortola, a small 
 island that belonged to Great Britain. Here 
 they shipped on the Peggy, a vessel bound to 
 the port of New York, and laden with rum and 
 sugar. Clark's friend was first mate, and he 
 was made second mate. His friend left the
 
 A SHIPWRECK. 49 
 
 ship at New York, and our friend John Clark, 
 who was amply qualified, was advanced to the 
 post of chief mate. While they lay in the 
 harbor of New York, peace was proclaimed, and 
 Clark, though an officer on board a British 
 merchant vessel, on the day of public rejoicing 
 could not resist the impulse to unite with the 
 Americans in their shouts to Liberty. He felt 
 thankful to Grod that though he had been forced 
 sorely against his will and all his notions of the 
 rights of man as a creature of God, to perform 
 service on board of British war ships, he had 
 never been compelled to fight that people who 
 were contending for their just rights, and whose 
 banner was freedom. The truth is, Mr. Clark 
 was innately and by conviction, a true republi- 
 can, and an enemy to oppression in every form. 
 The vessel in which he was now second in 
 command, took in a cargo of lumber and sailed 
 for Tortola, where they loaded with a cargo of 
 wine and West India goods, and again sailed 
 for New York. A terrible storm drove them 
 ashore near Cape Hatteras, off the coast of 
 North Carolina, where the vessel was lost, but 
 the crew and cargo saved. Cape Hatteras is 
 the extreme point of a long bow island that 
 separates Pamlico Sound from the Atlantic
 
 50 CONVICTIONS RENEWED. 
 
 ocean. From North Carolina he made a voyage 
 to Cape Francois, now Cape Haytien, in the 
 island of Hayti ; from thence to Charleston in 
 South Carolina, thence to Jamaica and back 
 to Charleston. Nothing special occurred in 
 these voyages in which Mr. Clark had the berth 
 of first mate. He now made some preparations 
 for a voyage to London, but he was a very un- 
 happy man, and had been, at times, since his 
 escape from the Narcissus. We will hear his 
 own story. 
 
 " 'TVas now the Spirit of HIM who died on the crossto 
 save sinners, that alarmed me continually with an assur- 
 ance that I should never see the face of God in peace un- 
 less I quit the sea-faring business. I resolved to go into 
 the country and teach a school, where I could have oppor- 
 tunity to read the Bible, meditate, and attend to the salva- 
 tion of my soul. My conviction and repentance increased 
 to despondency, and I now found no difficulty in refraining 
 from the use of ardent spirits, which had been growing by 
 long habit, until it had become truly alarming. Before I 
 met with this distressing but gracious and salutary change. 
 I was a willing slave to sin and Satan ; but now I was 
 still a slave, but a very unwilling one. I have believed 
 for many years that there is an important difference be- 
 tween being awakened and being penitent. A person who 
 is thoroughly awakened and doos not repent, is filled with 
 tormenting fear, which maybe the beginning of wisdom."* 
 
 * Job xxviii : 28. Ps. cxi : 10. Prov. i : 7 ; is : 10 ; xv : 33. 
 Luke xii : 5.
 
 LEAVES THE SEA. 51 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Retires to tho Back Settlements in S. Carolina. Teaches a School. 
 Self-righteousness. His Experience for Twelve Months. Despon- 
 dency. Reads Russell's Seven Sermons. Conversion and firm 
 Hope. Removes to Georgia and Becomes a Teacher there. First 
 Methodist Preachers in that Quarter. Mr. Clark joins the Society. 
 
 It was early in the month of March, 1785, 
 that Mr. Clark, after much struggling of mind 
 and conscience, came to the determination to 
 quit the seas and become a religious man. The 
 captain and hands were anxious he should re- 
 main, and make the voyage with them to Lon- 
 don. The only defect they perceived in his 
 character as a sailor and officer, was, his despon- 
 ding temper, and singular habit of being much 
 alone. None of his friends knew the nature of 
 his troubles ; none could sympathize with him ; 
 and had he known himself and the true nature 
 of the Christian religion, he might have ex- 
 claimed with the ancient patriarch, " Miserable 
 comforters are ye all."* But he then had no 
 clear views of gospel truth, nor how a holy and 
 righteous God could justify and save a sinner 
 consistent with his law which saith " The soul 
 that sinneth, it shall die."f But he can best 
 
 * Job xvi : 2. f Ezek - xvffi : 20.
 
 52 PROTRACTED EXPERIENCE. 
 
 describe his own case in the language he left in 
 the sketch before us. 
 
 " I have already mentioned being afflicted with that tor- 
 menting fear that precedes repentance, and which is un- 
 speakably great. Had I then known as much of the gospel 
 as I now do, I need not have made such mistakes as I did, 
 nor suffered the hundredth part I was made to suffer. For I 
 firmly believe that when an awakened sinner can say with 
 all his heart, ' God be merciful to me a sinner,' like the 
 publican,* ; or with Saul of Tarsus, ' Lord, what wilt thou 
 have me to do ?'f ; or in the language of one of our sweet- 
 est hymns, 
 
 c Here, Lord, I give myself away ; 
 'Tis all that I can do ;J ' 
 
 he is then m a state of salvation, though he may not have 
 received the spirit of adoption. 
 
 " I had been in great distress as a sinner, off and on for 
 more than two years. At times I would be in the great- 
 est distress, and have a horror of conscience beyond des- 
 cription, and then it would wear off and I would return to 
 my sinful courses. The first of my permanent conviction 
 was while in the port of Charleston in March, 1785, after 
 I had engaged to make a voyage to London, as second 
 mate, when I became continually alarmed, lest if I went 
 to sea another voyage I should never see land, nor the face 
 of God in peace ; my day of grace would be past. In 
 this awful distress of mind I obtained my discharge, and 
 under this salutary but distressing conviction, I set out 
 for the back settlement of South Carolina. On Saturday 
 
 * Luke xviii: 13. t Acts ix : 6. 
 
 J Psalmist, II. 472. Rom. viii : 14-17.
 
 INTERIOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 53 
 
 I came to a tavern house near the Eutaw Spring, and told 
 the family, 1 made it a matter of conscience not to travel 
 on the Sabbath, and wished to tarry with them till Mon- 
 day. But they misunderstood my case, and got some of 
 the neighbors to watch the house on Sunday night ; ima- 
 gining I was a robber, and had accomplices to aid in rob- 
 bing the house. But I did not blame them, for I felt 
 deeply my wickedness against God, and appeared to my- 
 self worse than any robber on earth. 
 
 " On Monday morning I fell in company with some 
 backwoods people, who had been to Charleston and were 
 going to Fishing river settlement on the frontiers. Both 
 parties soon became well suited ; for I wanted to teach 
 school, and they wanted a teacher. They treated me 
 kindly, and I went home with them, and in a few days a 
 school was made up, and I engaged to teach for them one 
 year. I now endeavored to abstain from every appear- 
 ance of evil, read the Scriptures, and prayed in secret 
 several times in a day. I was so far from knowing the 
 gospel method of salvation, that, notwithstanding the 
 instruction given me in childhood, from the Bible and the 
 Presbyterian catechism, I sincerely thought that true re- 
 ligion consisted only in outward reformation of conduct. 
 My moral and serious deportment* surprised my em- 
 ployers, who were irreligious and not over much righte- 
 ous. They thought it very singular that a man who had 
 followed a sea-faring life, should be so humble and relig- 
 ious, and often spoke of it. But they no more compre- 
 hended the state of my mind, nor understood my case 
 than they could lessons in Latin, Greek, or Hebrew. 
 
 " I spared no pains to attain to the highest degree of 
 self-righteousness, and really thought that would stand 
 by me in the great day of final accounts. Yet notwith-
 
 54 CONTINUED DISTRESS. 
 
 standing all my efforts, my besetting sins would return 
 upon me with all their force. The more I strove to be 
 righteous, the stronger it seemed my sins grew ; and 
 what is always an inseparable companion, despair tor- 
 mented me to such a degree that my life became an in- 
 tolerable burthen. After hearing my classes read in the 
 Old and New Testament, I often went out of my school- 
 house to weep and pray. I would go into a thicket, 
 throw myself on the ground and cry for mercy ; yet for a 
 twelve month I was trying to prepare mj^self that I 
 might deserve mercy. No pen can describe the horrible 
 temptations that beset me, and the sore trials that I ex- 
 perienced. My whole life seemed to me to have been 
 a series of the vilest actions, words and thoughts imagin- 
 able. I had agreed to board round with the scholars, but 
 Mr. Andrew Love, a generous, kind-hearted gentleman, 
 offered to board me gratis. This gave me more time for 
 reading, and opportunity for retirement. At times, I 
 thought I was so bad the Almighty could not have 
 mercy on me ; and then it seemed as if a curse hung over 
 every thing I set my hand to do. It seemed to me at 
 times it was an imposition on the people for one so 
 wicked, as I regarded myself, to attempt to instruct the 
 youth. I could blame no person but myself. My life 
 was a burden, and I often wished I could be annihilat-ed. 
 " It is a most laudable custom with the pious Presby- 
 terians where I was brought up, for all the family that 
 can read, to spend the Sabbath, when not at Church, in 
 reading the Scriptures, and some good religious book. 
 But I even thought it wrong for such a sinful person as 
 I was to look into a good l\ook ; and such books were 
 very scarce in Fishing river settlement. I made inquiry 
 for such books, and one of my employers sent me ' Rus-
 
 CONVERSION AND PRAISE. 55 
 
 sells's Seven Sermons.' I ventured to read the discourse 
 on the sin against the Holy Ghost, though with a very 
 trembling heart. But the happy change that came over 
 my mind tongue cannot express. It was the mere glim- 
 merings of hope that through Jesus Christ there was 
 mercy for me. I now felt a degree of reconciliation to 
 God that I cannot describe. I knew before my heart was 
 enmity against God, and at times. I felt angry that God 
 would not have mercy on me. I was now astonished be- 
 yond expression how I could have had such feelings, and 
 what had become of my sinful nature. My past sins, 
 which seemed to be unpardonable, were gone, and it 
 seemed that nothing but love to God and man had been 
 left in their place. Although I had been taught from my 
 infancy the doctrine of salvation through the merits of 
 Christ, yet I never before believed truly in his divine 
 merits and gracious intercession, but held on to my own 
 righteousness ; and yet I was rationally convinced I had 
 none, and I learned by bitter experience I could get none 
 by my own working." 
 
 Mr. Clark now enjoyed peace of conscience 
 and faith in the Lord Jesus, yet for some time 
 he did not know this was a state of salvation. 
 He had learned this lesson, that no man can 
 say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy 
 Ghost.* But it was several years after, as he 
 grew in knowledge and the grace of our Lord 
 and Saviour Jesus Christ,f that he became 
 established in faith and hope, and for more 
 
 * 1 Cor. xii : 3. t 2 Peter iii : 18.
 
 56 EVIDENCE OF A GRACIOUS STATE. 
 
 than forty years, he had no doubts of divine ac- 
 ceptance. 
 
 The inquiry was once made of a shrewd, old 
 Scots divine, " What is the lest evidence of a 
 gracious state ?" The prompt reply was, 
 " Forty years close walk with God." Our old 
 friend gave this evidence and something over. 
 According to his own narrative which we have 
 copied, his experience of a great and gracious 
 deliverance from the bondage of sin (which he 
 always ascribed to the mighty agency of the 
 Holy Ghost,) took place in March, 1786 ; just 
 one year after he left ship-board in Charleston. 
 He lived to the autumn of 1833 ; the period 
 of more than forty-seven years ; and during the 
 whole time, without any drawing back, he ex- 
 hibited daily living evidence of the wonderful 
 and gracious change he experienced. He was 
 remarkable for meekness, humility, and godly 
 fear, and yet he never expressed a doubt of his 
 adoption. 
 
 We do not find in his narrative any account 
 of religious meetings, or that he heard any one 
 preach for more than a yeat ; nor call we find 
 any evidence of any church having been or- 
 ganized in this remote settlement, by any de- 
 nomination. His school, which had been a
 
 GOES TO GEORGIA. 57 
 
 large one, closed a few weeks after he met with 
 the change by which he passed from death to 
 life. About that period the country south of 
 the Savannah river, now in the middle part of 
 Georgia, was new, and attracted the attention 
 of a large immigration from Virginia, and Mr. 
 Clark supposed the work of surveyors would be 
 in demand. He thought he might obtain a 
 contract, and then look out and purchase land 
 for a farm and settle down for life. But he 
 piously observes, after nearly half a century had 
 past away, " The Author of all events had a 
 higher and more responsible calling than any 
 that occurred to my mind, and that was to 
 preach the gospel." 
 
 He went to Georgia, to the country on Broad 
 river, a branch of the Savannah, some where 
 in the region of the present counties of Elbert, 
 Wilkes, Oglethorpe and Madison, then all new, 
 and to which immigration was rapidly tending. 
 But he found no demand for surveying, and 
 again took up a school, near Colonel Wootten's 
 residence on Broad river. A school was raised 
 in the following manner. The teacher, after 
 consulting some of the heads of families, and 
 learning the probability that a sufficient num- 
 ber of pupils could be obtained to justify the
 
 58 SCHOOL-TEACHING. 
 
 engagement, on his part, drew up an article in 
 the neatest style of penmanship he could, form- 
 ing a contract between himself and the signers ; 
 he engaging to teach the branches named, at a 
 certain rate per quarter, and they engaging to 
 pay him a specified sum at the close of each 
 term. The subscribers would put opposite 
 their names the number of scholars they en- 
 gaged to pay for, and if they sent more, the 
 expense would be in proportion ; if less, they 
 were still bound to pay their subscriptions. A 
 popular teacher would soon have a third more 
 scholars than at first subscribed. This mode 
 of contract for teaching the common English 
 branches has been almost universal through the 
 south-western States, and prevails to this day. 
 In some instances two or three persons will 
 make a contract with a teacher, and bind them- 
 selves to pay a salary, and then look to their 
 neighbors to aid in making up the school. 
 
 The school houses, if that term be applicable 
 to the most inferior of the whole race of " log- 
 cabins/' were constructed of rough, unhewn 
 logs, with a chimney of sticks and clay at one 
 ond ; the door- way in front, and the shutter, if 
 it had one, made of split slabs or boards. A 
 log cut out of one side left an aperture for a
 
 JOINS THE METHODISTS. 59 
 
 window, and a slab placed under it, running the 
 length of the room answered the purpose of a 
 writing-desk. The floor was of earth and 
 seldom cleansed. The surrounding forest, in 
 the border of which this rough abin was 
 located, furnished ample supplies of fuel, and a 
 spring of water near poured out the . refreshing 
 and primitive draught for the thirsty pupils. 
 
 About the time Mr. Clark began his school, 
 as he states, 
 
 <; Two Methodist preachers, by name of- John Major 
 and Thomas Humphries, formed a circuit in those parts, 
 and preached at Col. Wootten's house, where I boarded. 
 They pleased me so well that I joined them." 
 
 Turning to the Minutes of the Methodist 
 Conference, we find the names of these minis- 
 ters placed on the Georgia circuit for 1*786.* 
 
 * Looking into the History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, by 
 Rev. Dr. Bangs, Vol. 1, p. 253, we find the following under 1786. 
 
 " At the Conference in Virginia, a proposal was made for somo 
 preachers to volunteer their services for the State of Georgia, and 
 several offered themselves for this new field of labor. Two of thoso 
 who offered themselves, namely, Thomas Humphries and John Major, 
 were accepted, and they went to work in the name of the Lord, and 
 were made a blessing to many. They formed a circuit along settle- 
 ments on the banks of the Savannah river, round by Little river, in- 
 cluding the town of Washington. During the year they formed 
 several societies, containing upwards of four hundred members so 
 greatly did God bless their labors." 
 
 The preceding year (1785) Thomas Humphries was on Tar river
 
 APPOINTED CLASS LEADER. 
 
 Their labors were abundant and efficient, and 
 several societies were formed in that part of 
 Georgia. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Appointed Class Leader. Desires to Visit his Native Country. 
 Takes a Berth on the Royal George. Singular Notions on Board. 
 A Storm. Interview with Tom Halyard. His Conversion. Ar- 
 rival in London. Sabbath Morning. Visits the Foundry and 
 hears Rev. John Wesley. Parting with Halyard. Sails for Inver- 
 
 We are unable to give anything very definite 
 about the religious employment of Mr. Clark 
 while he remained in Georgia. He was prompt 
 and gifted in prayer-meetings, and before many 
 months was appointed class-leader. We never 
 learned when he commenced regular preaching. 
 Without a license he gave exhortations in the 
 prayer-meetings ; but his private conversations 
 were probably the most effective means at that 
 period in bringing sinners to Christ. 
 
 Gradually, and with many misgivings, on his 
 part, his mind became impressed with the duty 
 of preaching the gospel to his fellow men. He 
 
 circuit, N. C., and John Major on Mecklenburg circuit in Virginia. 
 Very probably the emigration of Methodists from his circuit to Broad 
 river in Georgia, drew him there.
 
 PAKTING WITH HIS FKIENDS. 61 
 
 was meek, modest, humble, and thought far less 
 of his gifts than others did. His sensitive con- 
 science shrunk at undertaking a work for which 
 he felt so poorly qualified, and we suppose he 
 did not appear before the public as a preacher 
 until after his return from his native country. 
 His amiable temper, courteous manners, and 
 kind feelings, without any effort on his part, 
 gained him the confidence and good will of all 
 with whom he held intercourse. 
 
 It was not more than one or two years after 
 he joined the Methodists that he resolved on a 
 visit to his native land. He had received the 
 avails of teaching for several terms ; his dress 
 was plain, cotton homespun, and cost but little ; 
 and his board had been gratuitously bestowed 
 by Colonel Wootten. It was a beautiful morn- 
 ing in April that he led for the last time, by the 
 solicitations of his host, in the family devotions, 
 and after breakfast, and again singing a favorite 
 song, he gave the parting hand to each of the 
 family, white and black. 
 
 " I'll go with you, brother Clark, to the forks 
 of the road," said the venerable Colonel. As 
 they walked along the lane, Clark thought, 
 though kindly repulsed before, he would again 
 tender payment for his board and several articles
 
 62 RELIGIOUS GRATITUDE. A SCENE. 
 
 of clothing he had received as gratuities, and 
 he mentioned the subject as they arrived at the 
 junction where they must part. " No, my 
 dear brother/' said the kind-hearted old 
 Methodist, " you have done a heap more for 
 my family than they can ever do for you. For 
 until you talk'd to that wayward boy, our 
 George, who was wild like, and had been after 
 cards and whiskey, I felt orfully afeared he 
 would be lost and ruined te-totally. But when 
 I know'd you'd tuk him in hand, and Fd he'rn 
 you pray so ail-graciously for him in the tobacco 
 house, I sort'r pluck'd up heart, and concluded 
 my poor prayers for him would'nt do no harm. 
 So I prayed too as hard as I could. An' now 
 he's so steady and cheerful, and sings so pretty 
 sin' he join'd Society. 0, brother Clark, I hate 
 to part with you ; but do pray for me and 
 mine, when you're on the great ocean ; and 
 should you ever get back ag'in to Georgia, re- 
 member my house 's your home, as long as I 
 live. And ef George lives and holds out as 
 he's begun, he'll never let you want, for I do 
 believe he loves you better nor his father and 
 mother." 
 
 The old Colonel was full and he could say no 
 more his heart was gushing out of his eyes
 
 TAKES A SAILOR'S BERTH. 63 
 
 like a snower of rain, as he gave the hand of 
 Mr. Clark such a parting squeeze as caused him 
 never to forget this old Methodist brother. 
 
 He might have paid his passage and gone in 
 the cabin of one of the slow sailing vessels of 
 that period, which were usually from two to 
 three months in crossing the ocean to Europe. 
 But though he never knew the feeling of 
 avarice ; though he never hoarded up money 
 for its own sake, but believed steadfastly in the 
 same providence that clothes the lilies of the 
 field, and feeds the birds of the air, he went 
 aboard like a true-hearted sailor, before the 
 mast. Arriving at Charleston, he found the 
 Royal George, a trim, snug, merchant ship, 
 just fitting out for the port of London, and 
 shipped as a regular seaman. 
 
 The wind proved fair, and for some weeks the 
 weather was favorable ; then a terrific storm 
 overtook them which lasted three days. Clark 
 manifested due courtesy with his shipmates, and 
 showed prompt obedience to the officers. The 
 Captain eyed him closely, but during the storm 
 he found him to be a prime sailor, and that he 
 understood both the theory and practice of 
 navigating a ship. The sailors in the forecastle 
 thought he had queer wings, but all concurred
 
 64 SAILOR NOTIONS. A. STRANGE FELLOW. 
 
 in the opinion of the Captain and mates that 
 he had smelt salt water before ; and yet he was 
 singular. 
 
 When he first came aboard, they spoke of 
 him as a " green 'un ;" " a land-lubber." 
 " He might do to punish grub, but he'd never 
 do in a storm." 
 
 The storm came on, and Jack Clark, as he 
 was called, was found to be the best hand in the 
 mess to work ship. He could run up the 
 shrouds and out on the yard arms, like a 
 monkey ; hold on with one hand and take in a 
 reef with the other in the quickest time. From 
 the captain, whose keen look was on him as he 
 walked the quarter-deck in sullen dignity, to 
 the cabin boy whose laughing eye watched the 
 new hand ; all perceived he was a regular 
 " old salt ;" and if he had commanded a ship, 
 as some one intimated, he had never crept into 
 the cabin window. 
 
 But he was a strange fellow, for when grog 
 time came John was seldom seen coming for his 
 allowance. When fair weather came, and the 
 sailors lay about the deck sunning themselves, 
 and spinning long yarns, John Clark was read- 
 ing in his berth. Thus days and weeks passed
 
 JOHN CLARK PRAYS WITH A SICK SAILOR. 65 
 
 away, with the usual monotony of an old 
 fashioned sea voyage. 
 
 " What book is that Jack Clark reads' so 
 much ?" said one old salt to another as several 
 hands lay basking on deck one day. " It's the 
 BIBLE/' was the reply from a pale looking 
 sailor, who had just got out from a sick-berth, 
 " for he read a long yarn out of it the other 
 day to me." " Hurrah," shouted a wicked and 
 witty fellow, who was listening ; " Is Jack 
 what <T call 'em a PARSON ?" " I don't 
 know about that," said pale face, " but I think 
 there are not many parsons about Lun-nun that 
 know more about the Bible than Jack Clark. 
 And I can tell ye more, shipmates, he can pray 
 too, and make his prayers as he goes along with- 
 out the book ; for I he'rn him not long sin'." 
 " You he'rn him pray !" shouted two or three 
 voices in quick succession. " A sailor pray, 
 and that without a book ? Well, that's more 
 than the parsons can do." 
 
 The sailor who had let out the secret of 
 John's praying, was in a serious mood. He had 
 taken a kind of sailor prejudice to Clark when 
 he first came aboard, and manifested no dispo- 
 sition to be on terms of intimacy. This sailor, 
 who we will call Tom Halyard, (having forgot-
 
 66 HISTORY OF TOM HALYARD. 
 
 ten his real name) had been sick for several 
 days, and was neglected by his shipmates, 
 even those of his own mess, except Clark, who 
 nursed him, obtained from the cook a little 
 nourishing soup, and showed so much sympathy 
 as to spoil all his prejudices and win his confi- 
 dence. There is nothing like sympathy and 
 kindness to work one's way into the heart's 
 core of a true sailor. Taking advantage of a 
 convenient interview in private, when he was 
 beginning to recover, Clark had a long conver- 
 sation with this man on personal religion, and 
 the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. 
 
 Thomas Halyard had a pious mother, who in 
 giving him some of the formal lessons prescribed 
 by the English church, talked to him about his 
 state by nature as a sinner in such a way as no 
 one but a mother can talk. Tom's mother died 
 when he was a little boy. His father was a 
 profane drunkard, and cared nothing for godli- 
 ness, and hated God-fearing people. His re- 
 peated acts of outrage and abuse of the poor 
 motherless boy, drove all filial feelings from his 
 heart, and made him disgusted with his father's 
 brutal manners. He ran away while quite a 
 youth, and went on board a ship. He soon 
 learned the habits of a sailor, and could swear
 
 CLARK TELLING HIS EXPERIENCE. 67 
 
 as profanely and drink as full an allowance of 
 grog as the best of them in the ship. Yet 
 there were moments when the image of his 
 mother, and especially her dying words to him, 
 and prayer and praise to God, would come with 
 power on his memory. He had once heen sick 
 when he was a little child, and his kind mother 
 nursed him, placed her hand on his feverish 
 brow, and spoke words of kindness and love in 
 his ear, which he could never forget. The 
 kindness and conversation of Clark, during his 
 recent illness, had broken through the crust 
 that the world and a wicked life had encased 
 his softer nature, and unsealed the fountain. 
 Tom wept like a child as he lay in his hammock, 
 and listened to the simple teaching of his 
 brother sailor, and heard him read lessons of 
 instruction from the Book of God. 
 
 John Clark told him some thing of the his- 
 tory of his own life, how he left the man-of- 
 war and swam ashore, and how God mercifully 
 preserved his life in that perilous adventure. 
 But when he told him how the Lord brought 
 him to see his wretched state as a sinner, and 
 the wonderful deliverance and joys of pardon- 
 ing mercy in the interior of South Carolina, 
 and the new life he since lived ; all was so
 
 68 COURTEOUS MANNERS AND COMMON SENSE, 
 
 strange and wonderful, so unlike any thing he 
 had heard before, and with all so touching, that 
 the tears rolled down the weather-heaten cheeks 
 of this tar ; he sobbed aloud, and before he was 
 aware of the scene he was enacting, John Clark 
 was on his knees beside his hammock, praying 
 in an audible, but low, musical voice for his 
 salvation. No wonder the sin-struck sailor 
 thought John could pray better than the par- 
 sons could with a book. True, he knew very 
 little about parsons, for he had followed the sea 
 more than twenty years, and during that time 
 had seen " divine service" performed on land 
 not half a dozen times. Sometimes he heard 
 the burial service read by a captain over the 
 mortal remains of some shipmate, who had been 
 sent to " Davy Jones' Locker,*' over the ship's 
 side. 
 
 From the time Mr. Halyard disclosed the 
 character of John Clark to the crew, he was 
 treated with particular respect. Wild and 
 wicked, and as little disposed to knock off 
 drinking and swearing, and put on religion, all 
 respected their ship-mate John Clark. The 
 officers found out the " cut of his jib/' and 
 treated him accordingly. Sailors find out the 
 peculiar traits of human nature quite as soon
 
 ARRIVAL IN LONDON. 69 
 
 as any class. Had Clark put on a sour face 
 and assumed the airs of a religious man ; had 
 he heen unsocial and moody, and reproved them 
 in a harsh and unkind tone of voice, and in 
 presence of others for their drinking, swearing 
 and frolicking habits, and taken pains to appear 
 peculiarly righteous, he would have seen trouble. 
 They would have regarded him a graceless 
 hypocrite, and treated him with contempt and 
 persecution. He gave them no direct reproofs, 
 and yet his manners and intercourse, courteous, 
 kind and winning, impressed their consciences 
 more than a hundred moral lectures would have 
 done. They feared him, respected him and even 
 loved him. 
 
 The voyage finally wore away, and they were 
 in the port of London and safely moored, on 
 Saturday ; after sailing up the river Thames 
 from its mouth at the Norse, about forty-five 
 miles. At that period London was a great city, 
 though since that period, its population has 
 more than doubled ; its fine houses and long, 
 winding streets have extended, and its blocks 
 and squares, have gone far out into what was 
 then open country. Boarding-houses for sailors 
 were then a horrible " den of thieves/' and the 
 abodes of intoxication and other infamous vices.
 
 70 SABBATrf MORNING. 
 
 And, even in this age of philanthropy and re- 
 form, there are numerous places in London and 
 all other large seaports where decoys are em- 
 ployed to entice the newly arrived mariner to 
 places where he can be filched of his money, his 
 senses and his life. But Christian philanthropy 
 has hoisted the Bethel flag, as the signal where 
 sailors can worship God in comfort and peace, 
 and hoarding-houses have been established as 
 places of virtue, good order, temperance and 
 comfort for this useful class of humanity. John 
 Clark had no inclination for accommodations in 
 houses of infamy, and Tom Halyard seemed 
 very much inclined to follow his example. 
 
 Sabbath morning came ; the sun shone dimly 
 through the smoke and haze of a London at- 
 mosphere, and the sailors generally were. making 
 preparations to desecrate the Lord's day by 
 their customary visits to rum shops and infa- 
 mous houses. Mr. Clark had risen early and 
 performed the service required of him as a sail- 
 or, put off his tarpaulin dress, and appeared on 
 deck with a smiling countenance, in a neat and 
 cleanly suit, having, as the sailors said, the 
 " cut and jib of a land-lubber/' One of his 
 shipnrates cried out, " halloo, Jack, whither 
 ahoy now ?" I'm going to find a place to wor-
 
 FOLLOWING PROVIDENCE. 71 
 
 ship Grod, with his people." Clark lingered on 
 deck for a few moments on the Sabbath morn- 
 ing, when Thomas Halyard appeared in his Sun- 
 day suit, rigged out in real sailor trim. 
 
 " Where away now, Tom ?" enquired one of 
 the sailors, while he cocked his eye at another, 
 with the true sailor leer, and rolled his quid 
 from one cheek' to the other. "Only going a 
 short voyage on land with Jack Clark " was 
 the response, in a serious tone. 
 
 " I'll be harpooned if Tom Halyard is not 
 a-going to turn parson/ 7 said one. " Not yet/' 
 replied another. " Tom was on the sick list not 
 long since, and thought he was bound for 
 kingdom come ; and Jack Clark physicked the 
 old boy out of him, and he's now going to chapel 
 to pay off old scores." " And I'll tell you what, 
 shipmates," said another, " we've all been bad 
 enough to be keel-hauled, and John Clark and 
 Thomas Halyard are as good sailors as I ever 
 wish to mess with. 'Spose we follow them and 
 hear what the parson says to-day ?" a Agreed," 
 said several voices, and away they went up the 
 street, headed by Clark and Halyard, who walk- 
 ed lovingly arm in arm. 
 
 It became a fixed principle in the mind of 
 Mr. Clark, at that early period of his religious
 
 72 A METHOI>IST CHAPEL. 
 
 history to follow as Providence led ; or, which 
 was the same thing to him, after a season of 
 prayer for divine direction, to follow such im- 
 pressions of his own mind as appeared to spring 
 from a truthful and right source. Neither he, 
 nor his companion knew any chapel in London, 
 or where to go ; but they walked on in a 
 friendly manner. Mr. Halyard asked questions 
 how they were to conduct themselves in church, 
 and Mr. Clark described how the meetings were 
 managed in Georgia. 
 
 They had passed through several streets, 
 when Mr. Clark saw a man walking in the same 
 direction, and ventured to inquire if he could 
 direct them to some chapel where the gospel 
 was preached. (C And it's being afther the gos- 
 pel ye would be axing ? Well, it's mesel' that 
 answer ye, for I'm a going there mesel 7 "Pis 
 to the Foundry ye'd like to go ?" Clark re- 
 plied they were strangers in London, just from 
 ship-board, and wished to find some church 
 where they could hear the gospel. The honest 
 Hibernian with whom they had come in contact, 
 was a zealous Methodist, then on his way to the 
 "Foundry," in'Moorfields, where the celebra- 
 ted John Wesley established his regular meet- 
 ings in 1739. This venerable patriarch of
 
 MR. WESLEY. 73 
 
 Methodism was still there, and though four- 
 score years old, preached on the occasion of the 
 sailors' visit. Mr. Clark had heard of tho 
 achievements of Mr. Wesley, from the preach- 
 ers in Georgia, and it had been among his 
 warmest aspirations to see and hear this distin- 
 guished divine before his return to America. It 
 was a singular providence that guided him to 
 the Foundry chapel the first Sabbath he spent 
 in London. The scene was almost overpower- 
 ing, and he listened with rapt attention and 
 drank in every word the preacher uttered. 
 
 Halyard wept profusely, though on board 
 ship, and before his illness, and Clark's conver- 
 sation, he had been singularly hard-hearted. 
 No distress could bring a tear from his eyes. 
 
 The other sailors behaved with decorum. The 
 scene was new to all. None before, except Mr. 
 Clark, had ever known a " parson," as they 
 called all ministers, pray without a book, or 
 preach anything but a written or a printed dis- 
 course. Whether any lasting impressions were 
 made on their companions is not known ; but 
 Halyard was an altered man, and one of the 
 " first fruits " of John Clark's labors. 
 
 They spent the day at the Foundry ; some 
 of the generous-hearted, Christian brethren
 
 74 PLEASANT AND PAINFUL EMOTIONS. 
 
 shared with them their lunch, and invited them 
 to attend class-meeting in the afternoon. The 
 next week they obtained their discharge from 
 the ship, and Thomas Halyard went into the 
 country to find some distant relatives, and John 
 Clark entered a coasting vessel and sailed along 
 the coast of England and Scotland, and up the 
 Moray Firth to Inverness, on his way to his na- 
 tive parish. 
 
 Mr. Clark had not heard from his surviving 
 friends for several years. He learned the news 
 of the decease of his father when he visited his 
 brother in Jamaica, but his mother and two sis- 
 ters were then alive and well. No mails were 
 then carried across the ocean, and it was a rare 
 thing that opportunity presented to send a let- 
 ter. He had written two or three letters while 
 in the sea-faring business, but he knew not 
 whether they ever reached their destination ; 
 and they were never received. 
 
 A mixture of the most pleasurable and pain- 
 ful emotions agitated his mind as the rough hills 
 and mountains of his native land hove in sight, 
 and the schooner on which he engaged to work 
 his passage, entered the estuary of Moray Firth. 
 And as they passed Nairn, where he attended 
 the boarding school and studied the sciences,
 
 SCOTTISH SCENERY. 75 
 
 his feelings became overpowering. The scenes 
 and incidents of youth, and his airy visions of a 
 sea-faring life ; the wonderful providence of 
 God that led him in a way that he knew not, 
 preserved -him amid a thousand dangers, and 
 brought him back to his native hills, were so op- 
 pressive that he could no longer look on the hills 
 and vales around him, until he had retired, 
 wept heartily and offered a prayer of thanks- 
 giving to God for his mercies that endureth for- 
 
 *0 
 
 ever. 
 
 Coming again on deck as they slowly sailed 
 with a light breeze up the Firth, towards the 
 mouth of the river Ness, every feature of the 
 landscape appeared natural and familiar. There 
 in the distant perspective were the alpine 
 mountains of Scotland, as range on range ex- 
 hibited features of the wildest grandeur. Again, 
 as they approached the city, his eye caught the 
 aspect of the rich lowland country lying along 
 the Ness and Spey rivers. Here was a mari- 
 time landscape scarcely equalled in great Bri- 
 tain. Mr. Clark had a natural taste for the 
 beauties of nature. He delighted to gaze and 
 meditate on the works of God, as seen in the 
 natural scenery of the earth. But now he could 
 not keep his mind on these displays of divine
 
 76 AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE. 
 
 power, wisdom and goodness around him. Other 
 and more powerful emotions controlled his 
 thoughts. More than a hundred times during 
 the last twenty-four hours had the question 
 arisen out of the depths of his heart, " Is my 
 dear mother alive ?" Alas ! the affectionate 
 son, whose longings to embrace his mother, and 
 pour into her bosom the story of his wanderings 
 and his conversion ; and pour out his soul to 
 God, and mingle his prayers with hers in 
 thanksgiving and praise, never enjoyed such a 
 happy meeting. His mother had been dead 
 two years and yet he knew it not. 
 
 The schooner was safely moored at one of the 
 docks in the harbor of Inverness, and Mr. Clark, 
 having obtained his discharge, and bid the kind 
 officers and crew a friendly farewell, proceeded 
 up the city towards his native parish. A fami- 
 liar name on the sign of a shop-keeper caught 
 his eye, and he stepped within, and instantly 
 recognized an old acquaintance. Mr. Clark in 
 youth, as in old age, was of very light complex- 
 ion, blue eyes, and light-colored hair, of mode- 
 rate height, and light, slender make. The man 
 who stood before the shop-keeper, was sun- 
 burnt, swarthy, robust, and dressed in sailor 
 trim. He could perceive some lineaments in
 
 LEARNS THE DECEASE OF HIS MOTHER. 77 
 
 his countenance which seemed familiar, but 
 could not recollect when, or where, if ever, he 
 had seen the person that now stood before him, 
 while he leaned over the counter. Soon as 
 Clark gave his name and parentage, both hands 
 were seized with a friendly grasp, and a shower 
 of welcomes was poured out in genuine Gaelic ; 
 for though Mr. Makenzie spoke English like a 
 native, he never failed to resort to his Highland 
 tongue, when moved by strong emotions. 
 
 Upon inquiry Mr. Clark for the first time re- 
 alized he was an orphan. His mother was 
 dead ! The generous Highlander had the tact 
 to understand that under the pressure of such 
 intelligence, his guest would ,do best alone. 
 Again he bade him welcome in plain English, 
 and insisted his house should be his home while 
 he remained in Inverness ; at least he must not 
 leave that night ; introduced him into a neat 
 parlor, and, pleading special business for ab- 
 sence, left him to his own thoughts. This re- 
 tirement exactly suited the feelings of Mr. Clark. 
 He pondered over the parting scene with his 
 father and mother ; counted up nine years and 
 some months since that time ; recollected his 
 mother was more than three-score and ten years 
 old ; that she was a true child of God, and died
 
 78 FILIAL AFFECTION. 
 
 with a full hope of eternal life, and that the 
 only trouble she felt was about the uncertain 
 fate of her youngest son John. He learned also, 
 from the Highlander, that his father ceased his 
 intemperate hahits soon after their parting, and 
 appeared to have become a true penitent, and 
 died in peace. A married sister who lived near 
 Inverness had died in child-bed shortly after his 
 mother. 
 
 With a chastened spirit of submission he fell 
 on his knees, and with mingled feelings of thank- 
 fulness and grief, he found relief in commit- 
 ting himself and his surviving relatives to God. 
 Before he left Scotland he heard of the untimely 
 death of his brother Daniel in the island of Ja- 
 maica. 
 
 Next morning Mr. Clark left his hospitable 
 host, and directed his course to his birth-place, 
 the parish of Petty. He had learned that his 
 only surviving sister was there, in comfortable 
 circumstances, and managing the farm (held by 
 a lease-hold) with the aid of a laboring man and 
 his wife as domestics. He felt a desire to find 
 out if his sister knew him, before he gave any 
 intimations of relationship. He called at the 
 house as a stranger, asked for a cup of water 
 and the privilege to rest himself a short time,
 
 AFFECTING INTERVIEW. 79 
 
 and entered into conversation on general topics, 
 but could perceive no evidence of recognition. 
 As if an entire stranger, he made inquiries about 
 the country and its inhabitants, and finally drew 
 her into conversation about the family, and ask- 
 ed many questions. The young woman appear- 
 ed cheerful and communicative, and answered 
 his questions truthfully and with frankness ; 
 told him of her father's death, without exposing 
 his frailties ; then of her mother, and a sister 
 who had followed her mother. Then she men- 
 tioned her brother Daniel in the West Indies, 
 who had been rich but lost his ships by being 
 captured in the late war. The family history 
 seemed closed, and no mention was made of any 
 other brother, until with a careless air he made 
 inquiry if these were all her immediate rela- 
 tions. His eyes being fixed on her countenance, 
 he perceived a change. Her chin quivered 
 slightly, her lips were compressed, and a tremor 
 was in her voice as she named another brother, 
 the youngest of the family, who went to sea be- 
 fore his father's death. But they had never 
 heard from him, only that he had been pressed 
 on board a war ship, and a vague rumor that he 
 had been taken prisoner by the Spaniards ; and
 
 80 I AM YOUR BROTHER. 
 
 she supposed him dead, but would give any- 
 thing to know his fate. 
 
 John Clark had commanded his feelings 
 through all the conversation, hut he could stand 
 it no longer. Every fihre of his heart gave way, 
 and hardly conscious what he did, seized her 
 hand, and exclaimed, while the tears gushed out 
 like a fountain, " I AM YOUR BROTHER JOHN." 
 
 We have heard him narrate this interview, 
 when old and grey-headed ; and he could not 
 refrain from sobbing and weeping. Many per- 
 sons are now living in Illinois and Missouri who 
 have heard the same tale and seen the outpour- 
 ing of fraternal affection, forty years after the 
 event. The interview between the brother and 
 sister, the only survivors of the family, was too 
 sacred to be exposed to profane eyes. Though 
 it failed not to work powerfully on his feelings, 
 he would rehearse the tale of the interview on 
 the request of his religious friends. 
 
 It was some hours before either party could 
 obtain self-command to attend to the avocations 
 of life. Each had a long story of trials and 
 deliverances to tell. Clark found his sister de- 
 voutly pious. Her countenance bore the image 
 of her mother at her age, and the mental and 
 moral features held a close resemblance. As
 
 THE MOTHER'S GRAVE. 81 
 
 the evening approached they walked together 
 towards the parish church. Around its moss- 
 covered walls, was the parish cemetery, where 
 slept the congregated dead of many generations. 
 The sister led the way to a sacred spot she often 
 visited. Here were a row of grassy hillocks, 
 under an overspreading larch, with rough and 
 plain monuments. There lay his father, 
 mother, and sister, all buried since he left his 
 native parish. Mr. Clark gazed mournfully on 
 his mother's grave ; on the head stone with dim 
 eyes and quivering lips he read, " MARY 
 CLARK." Taking his sister gently by the hand, 
 he said, " Let us pray here" and as he knelt on 
 the grave, holding the hand of his sister, he 
 poured his heart out to the prayer-hearing God 
 in streams of thankfulness and humble devo- 
 tion. He praised the Lord for the gift of such 
 a mother, so pious, devout and affectionate ; 
 and for entire submission to the will of heaven 
 in the loss sustained. He prayed for his sister, 
 in language affectionate, kind and spiritual ; 
 that they had been spared to meet again in 
 time ; arid that she was a child of grace, and 
 was walking in the footsteps of her mother to- 
 wards the heavenly Canaan. 
 
 ]S or was the brother in a distant land forgot-
 
 82 THE PROPER LANGUAGE OF PRAYER. 
 
 ten, if Tie was alive, and that God would have 
 mercy on him and turn his feet into the path- 
 way of righteousness. Alas ! That brother 
 had been dead many months, as the letter that 
 conveyed the mournful intelligence, testified, 
 that reached his sister a few days after their 
 first interview. 
 
 Mr. Clark had a gift of prayer quite uncom- 
 mon. His language was simple, chaste, solemn 
 and dignified, devoid of all cant, and peculiarly 
 expressive. He seemed to hold converse with 
 the Lord of heaven, as with a familiar friend. 
 His prayers were singularly fervent and 
 effectual, and remarkably adapted to the occa- 
 sion and circumstances. He used no repetition 
 of vain words, and * despised all high sounding 
 phrases and incongruous imagery, which some 
 persons of inflated minds and heated imagina- 
 tions employ in prayer. 
 
 Oppressive feelings were ever removed from 
 the heart of Father Clark, in seasons of prayer. 
 He arose from his knees with a smiling coun- 
 tenance, and wiped the tears that fell in streams 
 from the eyes of his beloved sister, and cheered 
 her heart by repeating the blessed promises of 
 the gospel with which he was familiar. 
 
 Next day his sister called him to her room,
 
 THE MOTHER'S LEGACY 83 
 
 and told him she had a solemn duty to perform, 
 enjoined on her by their sainted mother, on her 
 dying bed. She then -presented him with a 
 purse of gold and silver, of more than sixty 
 dollars value. " This our mother made me 
 sacredly promise to give you, should you ever 
 return. It is your own ; the avails of your 
 wages and prize money, the last you sent her, 
 when we heard from you the last time. We 
 managed by careful economy to do without it, 
 and it is her legacy/' 
 
 She then took from a drawer a set of silver 
 spoons, and divers other family relics, all of 
 which had been preserved for her lost son. The 
 scene was most affecting, and it was more than 
 an hour, and not until he had retired and held 
 communion with God, he could obtain control 
 over his feelings so as to reply : 
 
 " My dear sister, the memory of our mother is exceed- 
 ingly precious, and her maternal love and kindness over- 
 powers me. I need not those articles to keep her in re- 
 membrance. Like my blessed Master, I have no home in 
 this world, and I have really no use for these gifts. I feel 
 that God has called me to preach the Gospel, and in a few 
 days I must leave you again, and return to London, and 
 spend some time with that great and good man, Mr. Wes- 
 ley, and study with his ministers, and then go back to 
 America, and spend my days instructing the ignorant and
 
 84 SCOTCH THEOLOGY. 
 
 preachia- the gospol of Christ to the destitute. We must 
 soon part, probably never to meet again on earth, but let 
 us so live that we may be united with our dear mother in 
 heaven." 
 
 After much urging, he consented to keep one 
 spoon, and two or three other little articles, and 
 told his sister to keep the rest, and to use the 
 money for her comfort, or to relieve the poor 
 and distressed. He had enough for present 
 wants, and his trust for the future was in the 
 same beneficent providence that covers the 
 earth with herbage and is kind and bountiful 
 to all his creatures. 
 
 Time fled away rapidly in their affectionate 
 intercourse. Mr. Clark visited such of his old 
 acquaintance as were living in the vicinity, 
 amongst whom were several distant relatives. 
 His habits of cheerfulness and his earnest re- 
 ligious conversation filled them with surprise. 
 They did not quite relish so much spirituality 
 and holy fervor. Some were eager for disputa- 
 tion on doctrinal points, and tenacious of their 
 metaphysical speculations. They could repeat 
 whole paragraphs from the larger and shorter 
 catechism, and numerous texts of Scripture ; 
 and as Clark thought, with frequent misappli- 
 cations. Not a few could talk eloquently about
 
 THE PARTING HOUR. 85 
 
 the "Solemn League and Covenant," and 
 " David's psalms," while they condemned in the 
 strongest language the versification of the 
 pious Watts. But his story of his long and 
 pungent conviction of sin, the views he enter- 
 tained of the sinfulness of fallen, corrupt 
 human nature, and the sensations of the new 
 birth, and the joyful emotions of living in com- 
 munion with God daily, were matters too ab- 
 struse and incomprehensible for their concep- 
 tions. 
 
 The most of persons with whom he conversed 
 were very orthodox, according to the creed of 
 their forefathers and the catechism in which 
 hey had been taught from childhood. All 
 were church members and had been from infancy. 
 They believed in original sin, effectual calling, 
 divine decrees, fore-ordination, and final perse- 
 verance. They were quite clear in the doctrine 
 of justification, and redemption in Christ ; but 
 Mr. Clark could not find many who could nar- 
 rate what he called " an experience of grace ;" 
 his sister and a few others excepted. 
 
 The parting hour soon came, but the scene 
 was too sacred to be exposed to vulgar gaze. 
 On a pleasant morning, a modest looking man, 
 about thirty years of age, drest in a sailor's
 
 86 MR. CLARK IN LONDON. 
 
 garb, with a change of clothes, tied up in a 
 parti-colored handkerchief, was seen walking 
 pensively along the highway towards the city 
 and port of Inverness. The Caledonian shop- 
 keeper was visited, but no persuasion could in- 
 duce the traveler to tarry. A coasting vessel 
 lay at the wharf ; and thither John Clark wended 
 his way. He had visited the port a few days 
 previous, engaged a berth as an ordinary sea- 
 man, and knew the day she was to sail for Lon- 
 don. In a few hours, the wind being fair, they 
 were moving down the channel of the Firth of 
 Moray. 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 At Moorfield in London. Returns to Georgia. Received as a Preacher 
 on Trial. Richmond Circuit. Testimonials. Character as a 
 Preacher. Walked the Circuit. Views on the Methodist Episcopal 
 Government. Views on Slavery. Blameless Habits. Thoughts 
 on Marriage. Love cured by Prayer. Gradual change of Views. 
 Contemplates a New Field. Quarterly Conference. Conscien- 
 tious Scruples. Philanthropy to Negroes. Withdraws from the 
 Conference. Parting Scene. 
 
 In a few days Mr. Clark found himself in 
 London, and located at a cheap and retired 
 boarding house in a pious Methodist family. 
 He now sought acquaintance with several of the 
 more intelligent class of Mr. Wesley's preachers, 

 
 VIEWS OF BENGELIUS. 87 
 
 told them his trials and convictions of duty, and 
 solicited advice. He was directed to the publi- 
 cations of Mr. Wesley, and also those of Rev. 
 John Fletcher, of Madeley, and by reading and 
 conversations with the venerable John Wesley, 
 who treated him with great kindness, he ob- 
 tained full and clear views of the doctrines they 
 taught, the discipline they enforced, and their 
 reasons for separate action from the Church of 
 England. 
 
 We have no facts to narrate particulars of 
 the extent of Mr. Clark's studies, nor how long 
 he remained in the vicinity of Moorfields. 
 
 His interviews with the venerable founder of 
 Methodism, then in the 85th year of his age, 
 were frequent, and as he thought highly instruc- 
 tive. And though in a few years he found rea- 
 sons to withdraw from the society he founded 
 and the creed and discipline he adopted, he often 
 referred to him in his preaching and private 
 conversations as the " great and good Mr. Wes- 
 ley '" and he would state his views on various 
 points with accuracy and in kind and courteous 
 language. He also became acquainted with the 
 writings and peculiar views of the noted German 
 Bengel, or, as his name was given in Latin, 
 Benrjelius, and imbibed some of his peculiar 

 
 88 RETURNS TO AMERICA. 
 
 notions. Those especially relating to the mil- 
 lennium found in Bengel's exposition of the 
 Book of Kevelation, were often given by Father 
 Clark. Bengel figured up the periods, and 
 taught that the forty-two months, or twelve 
 hundred and sixty days, expired in 1810, and 
 the Millennium would commence in 1836. The 
 Millennium, in the sense Father Clark under- 
 stood it, was not the personal, but the more 
 gracious and glorious reign of Christ on earth 
 as Mediator and Saviour. On this topic he 
 would dwell with a holy ecstacy, while his great 
 modesty and humility led him to express him- 
 self as uttering the opinions of a man merely. 
 He never attempted to make proselytes to 
 speculations or opinions, but to Christ and 
 entire submission to him. 
 
 We have no knowledge whether Mr. Clark 
 commenced preaching in London, but as what 
 was called "lay-preaching" was customary by 
 persons not in " orders" in the church, or not 
 officially authorized by dissenters, we are of 
 opinion our friend did engage in this manner. 
 We are equally deficient in the particulars of 
 Lis return to America, but think it was in 1789 ; 
 and to his late residence on Broad river in 
 Georgia. No family received him \vith more
 
 CLARK A CIRCUIT PREACHER. 89 
 
 tokens of Christian affection and joy than that 
 of Colonel Wootten. His mind was now deeply 
 impressed with the duty of devoting his life as 
 an instrument -of salvation to his fellow crea- 
 tures. It is supposed he commenced preaching 
 in company with the regular circuit preachers 
 soon after his arrival in Georgia. In 1791, his 
 name appears for the first time on the Con- 
 ference Minutes of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, when he was received on trial and 
 placed on Kichmond circuit*. This was in the 
 region of Augusta. The Conference was held 
 in February, and he went forth, as was eve 
 afterward his custom, like his blessed Lord, with 
 staff in hand, and on foot to perform the work 
 whereunto he had been called. We find his 
 name on the Conference Minutes from 1791 to 
 1796, passing through the regular grades of 
 probationary service, until ordained as deacon 
 by bishop Asbury in the winter of I794f . 
 
 * Conference Minutes, vol. 1, pp. 39 and 41. 
 
 f Many of our readers require telling that Episcopal hierarchies 
 have what they call three " Orders" in the ministry, in ascending 
 grades ; as, deacons, presbyters or priests, and bishops. The last 
 named communicates the official gift to those below him, by " laying 
 on of hands." The Methodist Episcopal Church has the same orders, 
 though in a modified form. W,ith them the term Elder is used to 
 express the second grade.
 
 90 
 
 FIELDS OF LABOR. 
 
 The circuits on which he labored, in most in- 
 stances, were new ones, and in that part of 
 Georgia which lies above Augusta and between 
 the Savannah and Oconee rivers. 
 
 TABULAR STATEMENT. 
 
 
 
 
 .- 
 
 1 ' 
 
 
 
 YEAR. 
 
 CIRCUIT. 
 
 *{ 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 ?T 
 
 
 
 1791 
 
 Richmond, 
 
 500 
 
 72 
 
 
 
 1792 
 
 Oconee, 
 
 220 
 
 21 
 
 
 
 1793 
 
 Bush River, 
 
 555 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 1794 
 
 Broad River, 
 
 435 
 
 68 
 
 
 
 1795 
 
 Union, 
 
 376 
 
 39 
 
 
 As a Methodist preacher, he was faithful in 
 the ministry, and successful in the conversion 
 of sinners. We have seen persons who were 
 under his ministerial charge, and who spoke of 
 him in strong terms, as an interesting and 
 spiritually minded preacher. Of these we will 
 name one, Mr. Thomas Hatton, who resided in 
 1834 in the upper part of Boone county, Mo., 
 an old man, whom we visited for the purpose of 
 learning the characteristics of the ministry of 
 Father Clark in Georgia. Mr. Hatton was a 
 class-leader and steward on the circuit of Mr. 
 Clark in 1794. His house was one of the 
 preaching stations, and he. was with him at the 
 quarterly conferences in the district, and spoke
 
 WALKS THE CIRCUIT. 91 
 
 of him as a lively, spiritual preacher, greatly 
 beloved by the people, and his labors very suc- 
 cessful. He walked the circuit, and could not 
 be induced by his brethren to ride a horse. 
 When asked for the reasons of his objections to 
 traveling on horseback, he pleasantly remarked, 
 " The Saviour walked on his preaching excur- 
 sions in Judea." There were other reasons as- 
 signed, and to his intimate friends he would 
 say, " As long as my fellow creatures are made 
 beasts of burden, I cannot feel easy on horse- 
 back." The fact is, he had never been accus- 
 tomed to exercise on horseback, had no skill in 
 managing one, and was distressingly fearful he 
 should injure the horse, or the horse would 
 harm him. No animal exceeds a horse in 
 sagacity to find out the feelings and fears of his 
 rider, and his behavior corresponds. No man 
 felt more uncomfortable than Father Clark on 
 horseback, and hence preferred .walking, until 
 it became to him the least fatiguing mode of 
 traveling. 
 
 We have given a sketch of his strong feel- 
 ings and conscientious principles in favor of per- 
 sonal liberty when pressed on the man-of-war. 
 These feelings and principles increased and be- 
 came the more firmly established as he advanced
 
 92 VIEWS OF THE METHODIST GOVERNMENT. 
 
 in life. He never disguised his sentiments ; 
 and never announced them in any public form, 
 without the clearest conviction of duty and in 
 the way of doing good. Mr. Hatton stated 
 that generally on his circuit he put up at 
 houses where there were no slaves, while his in- 
 tercourse and demeanor were such as to give no 
 offense, or excite suspicions of improper designs. 
 The same views of equality and freedom, led 
 him to investigate, prayerfully and scripturally, 
 the ecclesiastical government and code of dis- 
 cipline instituted "by Mr. Wesley, and intro- 
 duced into the American conferences. Person- 
 ally, and as a great reformer in the church of 
 England, Father Clark had great veneration for 
 John Wesley, but he was singularly scriptural 
 and conscientious in all his religious views, and 
 learned from the New Testament that a church 
 was a local society, with all its members on 
 terms of social equality ; that church fellow- 
 ship involves personal acquaintance ; and that 
 all discipline should begin and end in the local 
 society or church, in which the members are in 
 covenant relation. The more he considered the 
 form of government of the Methodist Episcopal 
 church, the more did he become conscientiously 
 opposed to giving it the sanction that a minister 

 
 ASPECTS OF SLAVERY. 93 
 
 and ruler necessarily implied. Yet he came to 
 no hasty conclusions, made no denunciations of 
 his brethren in authority, but continued calmly 
 to investigate the subject and offer up prayer 
 daily for divine illumination. He never set 
 himself forward as a leader in schism, nor is 
 there any evidence that he made the least at- 
 tempt to produce disaffection among his breth- 
 ren, or lead off a party, or even make a single 
 proselyte. 
 
 At the same time, his sympathies were 
 awakened and his humane feelings much afflict- 
 ed with the treatment of slaves around him. 
 That class of people w r ere increasing, and their 
 well-being less an object of concern to their 
 masters, than the profits of their labor. Large 
 numbers were imported annually into Charles- 
 ton, by northern ships, and as the demand for 
 laborers increased, many natives of Africa in the 
 most abject condition were purchased and 
 brought within his circuits. These were igno- 
 rant and stupid, and seemed almost beyond the 
 reach of gospel ministrations. A single object 
 was the aim of all his labors ; to glorify the 
 Lord by promoting the salvation of sinners of 
 every nation, condition and color. 
 Being perfectly frank, open, undisguised and
 
 94 THOUGHTS OF MARRIAGE. 
 
 courteous in his intercourse with the planters, 
 he had freedom of access to their slaves for pur- 
 poses of religious instruction ; a privilege he 
 never abused, nor caused any one to doubt his 
 sincerity. 
 
 Still the customs and usages of the planters 
 were not congenial to the simplicity and humil- 
 ity of his nature, and it had been a matter of 
 anxious inquiry, and prayer for divine direction, 
 where the Lord would have him labor. He did 
 not expect any other revelation from heaven 
 than that contained in the Bible, yet he had 
 that degree of simple faith in the divine prom- 
 ises, and that unshaken confidence in God's 
 directing providence, as to believe in and look 
 for specific answers to prayer when in doubt and 
 difficulty. He expected, and received impres- 
 sions of mind, in answer to prayer, that to him 
 were satisfactory, and we are not aware in a 
 single instance in which he was misled by fol- 
 lowing these answers to prayer, as he called 
 them. 
 
 It was at some period of his labors as a circuit 
 preacher in Georgia, that his thoughts were 
 directed towards marriage ; and he became ac- 
 quainted with a pious and sensible young woman, 
 of excellent character and well brought up,
 
 A CRISIS. 95 
 
 towards whom he thought he felt that attach- 
 ment as would justify a more intimate ac- 
 quaintance. Her society was agreeable and 
 pleasant, her conversation intelligent and 
 serious. He made no direct proposals, but 
 their intercourse had been such that she might 
 naturally look for a more explicit explanation 
 of his views. He found his heart was drawn 
 out after this young woman, and her parents 
 treated him with more than customary respect. 
 She became the object of his thoughts by day, 
 and her image flitted through his imagination 
 while in dream-land at night. He discovered 
 that when he ought to have been pondering 
 over the topics of his next discourse, as he was 
 slowly walking the pathway to his appointments, 
 he was meditating plans of future happiness in 
 the domestic relation. His spiritual intercourse 
 with heaven was less frequent, his devotional 
 feelings grew languid, and his sermons were 
 dull and unimpressive. Spiritual joys were 
 fled. It was now a crisis in his spiritual course. 
 He dare not forsake the calling to which God 
 had directed him, nor lessen his usefulness as a 
 minister of Christ, by any earthly associations, 
 or any schemes of domestic happiness. He had 
 one antidote for all his troubles ; one guide
 
 96 PRAYER AN ANTIDOTE TO LOVE. 
 
 through every labyrinth of trial and duty ; that 
 was PRAYER, prolonged and repeated until he 
 was effectually humbled, and entirely willing to 
 know and do his duty. He could deny himself 
 of any lawful gratification, take up the cross 
 and follow Christ with resolute determination 
 and untiring perseverance. He had acquired 
 this power by growth in grace, and the know- 
 ledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
 
 The answer he obtained in deep and lasting 
 impressions of mind, was, never to marry and 
 thereby entangle himself with the affarirs of this 
 world. The conflict was over ; the victory was 
 won, and he went on his way preaching, with 
 renewed unction and great enlargement. 
 
 Though he had not mentioned marriage to 
 the young woman, much less gained her affec- 
 tions and raised hopes, by solemn protestations 
 and promises to be now blasted, he had that 
 nice sense of honor ; or shall we say Christian 
 duty, to make her a final visit and avow his 
 feelings, and the conclusion to which he had ar- 
 rived on a point of duty to God and the church. 
 He expressed the hope she would ever regard 
 him with Christian friendship. His age at this 
 period must have been about thirty-five years,
 
 ANXIETY ABOUT LEAVING THE CHURCH. 97 
 
 and no one after ever heard him express a desire, 
 or a regret concerning the connubial relation. 
 
 His anxieties about leaving the Methodist 
 Episcopal church, and his feelings relative to 
 slavery, were at a culminating point in 1795. 
 His views of slaveholding were not discordant 
 with the expressions of the church he served. 
 This subject had been agitated in the Confer- 
 ences for several years. In the minutes for 
 1784, we find this rule, in the forms of question 
 and answer, and it remained in force during the 
 whole period of Mr. Clark's connection with the 
 Conference : 
 
 " Ques. 12. What shall we do with our friends that buy 
 and sell slaves ? 
 
 " Ans. If they buy with no other design than to hold 
 them as slaves, and have been previously warned, they 
 shall be expelled, and permitted to sell on no considera- 
 tion."* 
 
 In answer to his oft repeated prayer for 
 divine direction as to the field of his future 
 labors, he received the impression, and it be- 
 came a conviction of duty, that he must travel 
 in a north-western direction. Tennessee and 
 Kentucky were in that direction, and the Illi- 
 nois country, and the Spanish province of Upper 
 Louisiana far in the distance beyond ; but he 
 
 * Minutes, Vol. 1, p. 20.
 
 98 WITHDRAWS FROM THE CONNEXION. 
 
 felt a calm confidence in Divine Providence, 
 and that the specific field of usefulness would 
 be pointed out in due season. All these ques- 
 tions were agitated and settled in his own judg- 
 ment and conscience, before he made known 
 his decision to his brethren. 
 
 The next Annual Conference would be in 
 Charleston, January 1st, 1796, but it was not 
 necessary for him to be present. His with- 
 drawal could be tendered by some of the 
 brethren. He attended the last Quarterly 
 Conference in the district, where he gave notice 
 of his intention of a withdrawal from the gov- 
 ernment and discipline of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church. This he had a right to do 
 without any forfeiture or implication of his 
 ministerial character. His brethren respected 
 his feelings and scruples, and would give a fair 
 representation of his case to the Annual Con- 
 ference. 
 
 The schism caused by Rev. James O'Kelley, 
 in Virginia, had commenced in 1792, and at 
 one period threatened a formidable rupture in 
 the Methodist connexion throughout the South- 
 ern States. Mr. O'Kelley was troubled about 
 the appointing power of the bishop, and other 
 features of ecclesiastical authority. He was P
 
 POINTS OF DIFFERENCE. 99 
 
 very popular preacher, and had the qualifica- 
 tions and desire for the leader of a party. He 
 made both personal and official attacks on 
 bishop Asbury, but the Conference sustained 
 the Bishop by a large majority. Doubtless Mr. 
 Clark accorded with the opinions of Mr. 
 O'Kelley in his views of the undue authority 
 conferred on the bishop by the constitution of 
 the Society, but he had none of his spirit as a' 
 partizan, was in both theory and practice a 
 peace-maker, and respected the views and feel- 
 ings of his brethren, though he conscientiously 
 differed from them. His views were deeper 
 and covered far more ground than those of 
 O'Kelley. All his notions of church govern- 
 ment and discipline were drawn from the New 
 Testament, and he regarded that as sole author- 
 ity in the case. 
 
 There were also points of doctrine wherein 
 he differed from his Methodist brethren. He 
 could not reconcile the dogma of " falling from 
 grace," with the entire dependence of the be- 
 liever on the righteousness and grace of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ ; nor of sinless perfection with 
 the universal fact of the moral infirmities and 
 soul-humbling confessions of the best of Chris- 
 tians. And he preached repentance in a more
 
 100 HIS CIRCUIT LABORS. 
 
 evangelical form than many of his brethren, and 
 always made the distinction plain between the 
 awakened sinner, though under the most pun- 
 gent convictions, and the truly penitent. 
 
 Such being his moral temper, and course of 
 action, no unkind feelings took place when he 
 announced his intentions, and sent to the 
 Annual Conference the report of his circuit 
 and announcement of his withdrawal. 
 
 His field of labor for most of the years he had 
 been connected with the Conference, was on new 
 circuits. Though not in name, he was in fact, 
 the Conference missionary, and each year had 
 extended the appointments in his circuit. At 
 the Quarterly Conference to which we have 
 alluded, the steward's brought in the collections 
 for the preachers, and the deficiencies were 
 made up. It had caused some uneasiness to 
 the sensitive conscience of Father Clark that 
 much the largest contributions came from the 
 wealthy who were slaveholders, and he thought of 
 the perquisites bestowed as the proceeds of the 
 sweat and toils of servitude. He had heretofore 
 received his share in the collections with many 
 misgivings, and now as he was about to leave, 
 he hesitated about taking such proceeds with 
 him.
 
 THE BLACKS BELIEVED. 101 
 
 The amount of salary then allowed a circuit 
 preacher, without family, was sixty-four dollars, 
 and he had received but a small amount of it. 
 The balance, about fifty dollars, was paid to him 
 by the stewards, all in silver coin. He took 
 the money, tied it in his handkerchief, and re- 
 , tired from the Conference room to a grove, his 
 feelings agitated with the question of duty 
 about receiving this money ; and sought for 
 direction in prayer, as he was wont to do in 
 every perplexity. Obtaining relief, he returned 
 to the Conference room, laid the money on the 
 table, and calmly said, " Brethren, I cannot 
 take it. You know my trials ; the Conference 
 may use it as the brethren please ;" and again 
 went out. 
 
 There was within the bounds of this district 
 a case that called for relief. A society of blacks, 
 of course slaves, had purchased a house and a 
 few acres of land for a burying-ground. They 
 had paid in .part, but their last instalment of 
 about seventy dollars would soon be due, and 
 if not met, the property would be forfeited ; 
 and they applied to the Conference for aid. 
 The case was called up during preacher Clark's 
 absence, and one of the brethren suggested that 
 the money returned by " brother Clark," still
 
 102 THE LAST INTERVIEW. 
 
 lying on the table, be applied to this charitable 
 purpose. A smile oi ? joy lighted up the features 
 of the Conference, when, on the suggestion that 
 there would be lacking some twenty dollars, 
 brother K. arose and proposed to be one of ten 
 to liquidate the debt. Mr. Clark having re- 
 turned from his place of prayer, and being told 
 by the president of the motion to dispose of his 
 money, and how that disposition would suit his 
 views, by relieving the black brethren, he re- 
 plied : " Brethren, I could not conscientiously 
 use the money myself, and I returned it to the 
 Conference ; it is theirs, to do as they please ; 
 but as they have kindly inquired about my 
 feelings in the case, it meets my hearty appro- 
 bation. It goes where it ought, to relieve those 
 who have produced it." 
 
 In this last interview with a brother, who 
 doubtless they pitied for his singular notions, 
 there was not an unkind word said, nor a sour, 
 unpleasant look seen. They understood he was 
 about to leave that part of the country, and 
 kindly inquired where he would direct his 
 course. 
 
 " Like the good old patriarch, I am going to 
 a country I never saw, and rejoice in the same 
 Lord to direct my steps."
 
 CHANGING ONE'S RELIGION. 103 
 
 The business of the Conference being ended, 
 they engaged in the parting exercises. The 
 brother who presided gave a few words of part- 
 ing advice, and called on brother Clark to lead 
 in prayer, when with loud and tremulous voices, 
 and the tears streaming down their cheeks, they 
 sung the well-known hymn, 
 
 " Blest be the tie that binds 
 
 Our hearts in Christian love ; 
 
 The fellowship of kindred minds 
 
 Is like to that above ;" etc. * 
 
 while hand was clasped in hand, and arms 
 thrown around each others necks, and loud 
 shouts of praise ascended to their common 
 Father. It was in this manner Father Clark 
 parted with his brethren in Georgia, and took 
 his leave of the Methodist Episcopal Church as 
 an ecclesiastical institution. 
 
 It is nothing new or strange for a man to 
 change his religion, or leave one sect and go 
 over to another. And nothing is more natural 
 when men are actuated by prejudices, piques, 
 or partizan feelings, to turn all these passions 
 against the party they have left. Not so did 
 the good man whose history we are surveying. 
 His religion was that of love ; and his natural 
 
 * Psalmist Hymn 1068.
 
 104 TREATMENT OF HIS BRETHREN. 
 
 temper, mild, placable, and forbearing, was so 
 much under the controlling influence of the 
 love of God as to sanctify and give a heavenlv 
 tinge to his natural disposition. 
 
 Though he differed from his brethren, and in 
 all honesty of intention thought their church 
 government and some of their doctrines and 
 practices unscriptural, he still loved them as 
 Christians, and knew they were performing a 
 great work in Georgia. Had he been denun- 
 ciatory, overbearing, ambitious of ruling, obsti- 
 nate, or petulent, their dislike of these offensive 
 traits of character, might soon have degenerated 
 into hatred of his person. We never knew a 
 man more nice and discriminating in the line 
 between his own rights and privileges, and those 
 of his brethren. They might have felt emo- 
 tions of pity and regret, for what they regarded 
 as singular notions, and fancied these notions 
 would hinder, if not destroy his usefulness. 
 Still they loved him and gave him their good 
 wishes. 
 
 His connexion was not formally dissolved un- 
 til .the Annual Conference met in January, 
 when the following entry was made on the 
 Minutes, 
 
 " Ques. 8. What preachers have withdrawn
 
 JOURNIES TOWARDS KENTUCKY. 105 
 
 themselves this year from our order and con- 
 nexion ? 
 
 " Ans. William Ball and John Clark." 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Clark Journies towards Kentucky. His Dress and Appearance. Col- 
 loquy. Hospitality of Mr. Wells. Recognized by a former Con* 
 vert. Description of a "Big Meeting." Persuaded to Stop and 
 Preach. Effects Produced. Mr. Wells Converted. A Revival. 
 Shouting. Family Religion. Departs. The Wells Family turn 
 Baptists. 
 
 It was early in the month of February, and in 
 the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hun- 
 dred and ninety-six, that a stranger was seen 
 passing along the path-way that led down the 
 range of low bluffs toward the Savannah river. 
 He was on foot, with a small bundle of clothing 
 tied in a handkerchief which hung over his 
 shoulder, and was supported by a stout walk- 
 ing stick. His countenance was cheerful, as 
 he tripped lightly along, without seeming to be 
 wearied with the day's weary journey through 
 the forest, with seldom a house on the public 
 road. His dress was the ordinary ga.rb of the 
 country, coarse cotton and wool mixed, and of 
 a greyish or light blue color. The outside gar-
 
 106 DRESS OF A MINISTER. 
 
 ment was a hunting-shirt ; an article then worn 
 by all classes on the frontiers. This was a loose 
 open frock that reached half-way down the 
 thighs, with large sleeves, and the body open 
 in front, unless fastened by a girdle or belt 
 around the breast ; the large cape fastened to 
 the collar, and the edges fringed with strips of 
 reddish cloth. The materials of all his garments 
 were cotton with a mixture of wool, and spun 
 and wove in the families where he had lived. 
 On his head was a low-crowned felt hat, and his 
 feet were shod with a kind of moccasins called 
 " shoe-packs." These were made of thick 
 leather, tanned by the farmers with oak bark 
 in a trough, and dressed with the oil or fat of the 
 raccoon, or opossum. The soles were fastened 
 to the upper-leather by a leathern thong, called 
 by backwoodsmen, a " whang." 
 
 " And is that strange-looking man a minister 
 of the Gospel ?" 
 
 " Yes ; that is our excellent friend, Father 
 Clark ; called by all the religious people of that 
 time, Brother Clark. Why do you ask ?" 
 
 " Because he is dressed so singular and 
 shabby." 
 
 " Why do you say ( shabby ?' I said no such 
 thing. His garments are not ragged, for that 

 
 COLLOQUY ABOUT DRESS. 107 
 
 is what you mean by shabby, if you understand 
 the English language. His hunting-shirt, jack- 
 et,* and trowsers were new, whole, and less 
 soiled than yours will be in a single day when 
 you run through the dusty streets, and play- 
 ground at school ; though he has traveled more 
 than fifty miles." 
 
 " But he looked so strange and odd in such 
 clothes, and he a minister of Jesus Christ ? I 
 never heard of a minister being dressed in such 
 a singular manner." 
 
 " Ministers of the Gospel certainly ought not 
 to be singular in their dress, lest the people 
 think they desire to be noticed for their gar- 
 ments. I told you before, his dress ' was in 
 the ordinary garb of the country/ Mr. Clark 
 wore such garments as the men did to whom he 
 preached, and therefore he appeared plain and 
 equal with them. And his loose garments, 
 especially in a warm climate, were far more 
 comfortable than to be yoked up in a modern 
 fashionable dress-coat, like the ministers in 
 these days." 
 
 " But I should laugh so to see a minister in 
 
 * We give old English names for these garments, purposely ; such 
 as they were called before finical and apish people changed them for 
 the unintelligible ones now used.
 
 108 SIMPLICITY AND ECONOMY. 
 
 
 such a dress as Father Clark wore ; it would 
 look so funny." 
 
 " That would only prove you to be very 
 foolish ; or, to know very little. Suppose 
 preachers of the Gospel should appear in our 
 costly and fashionable church-houses, dressed 
 just as Jesus Christ and the Apostles did in 
 Judea ? Would you be silly enough to laugh 
 at them ?" 
 
 " How did they dress ?" 
 
 " Have you forgotten your lesson in the 
 Biblical Antiquities, from the Sunday- School 
 library, you read a few weeks since ? There you 
 learn about the dress worn in Judea."* 
 
 "Why don't our ministers dress as Jesus 
 Christ did ?" 
 
 " Because you would laugh at them. Nor 
 would Father Clark have worn the same dress 
 he did in Georgia and Illinois, had he been a 
 pastor in Boston, New York, or Philadelphia. 
 In such matters as were not religious and did 
 not pertain to the service of God, but were 
 earthly comforts, about which God has given no 
 revelation, but left every one to his own reason 
 and common sense, Father Clark, as did Paul, 
 
 * Bib. Antiq., vol. 1., Chap. V., pp. 115-129. Amer. S. S. Union.
 
 THE BLACK-COATED PROFESSION. 109 
 
 would have become ' all things to all men/* 
 According to his notions of propriety, the dress 
 he wore in Georgia was convenient and com- 
 fortable. The women who loved and respected 
 him as a minister of Christ, made the cloth and 
 cut out the garments, and gave them to him in 
 the same form as they made for their husbands 
 and sons ; and he felt thankful and comfortable. 
 Besides, he preferred to live plain, and economi- 
 cal, and by that means had money to give away 
 to purchase the house and burying-ground for 
 the poor Africans. 
 
 "But had he received a large salary as your 
 ministers do, or possessed millions of property 
 as the rich merchants, speculators, bankers, and 
 railroad brokers now do, he would still have 
 dressed very plain, and lived in such a manner 
 as to have had the means of doing good amongst 
 men. I very much doubt if even the force of 
 custom would have induced him to appear be- 
 fore the people in a lugubrious garb of black, 
 as clergymen do." 
 
 "What causes ministers to dress in Hack 
 clothes ?" 
 
 " Doubtless because they like to be fashion- 
 able, and be noticed a little for their distinctive- 
 
 * 1 Cor. ix : 19-23.
 
 110 WHY BLACK IS WORN. 
 
 dress. Some folks think black looks solemn, 
 and therefore suited to the clerical profession. 
 But, after all, a solemn, sour appearance is a 
 species of clerical trick, which Father Clark 
 never would perform. He was always pleasant 
 and cheerful, and was the more useful for it." 
 
 " But still I do not see why our ministers 
 should be so fond of black clothes." 
 
 " We will answer that question, and then 
 follow Father Clark. Black was introduced as 
 a clerical garb, after the church became apos- 
 tate, and was one color of the priestly garb. 
 Probably nine-tenths of those who have worn 
 it, both Catholics and Protestants, have been 
 any thing else than the true followers of Christ. 
 An eccentric writer of a former period, in a 
 satire on this fashion of an ungodly priesthood, 
 gives this reason why they wore black as an 
 official garb : " That they might the more ex- 
 actly resemble their great master Beelzebub, 
 whose garments are all very dingy" 
 
 We left our old friend Clark, wending his 
 way down the range of low hills that looked 
 over the expansive bottom lands on the oppo- 
 site side of the Savannah. Near the river was 
 a house where lived a plain, rough frontier man, 
 who kept the ferry. The house was a double
 
 A HOSPITABLE RECEPTION. Ill 
 
 cabin of hewn logs, and a space between the 
 rooms about ten feet in width. The owner was 
 sitting in this passage as Mr. Clark came to the 
 stile, or steps by which the door-yard fence was 
 passed. The sun was descending towards the 
 western hills, and its face would soon be hid- 
 den by the range of forest-land along the river. 
 
 " Good evening, friend. Can I stay with 
 you to-night ?" 
 
 " I reckon you can, if you will get along with 
 such fare as we have. Come in, stranger. 
 Kitty, run and get the gentleman a chair ; 
 that's a good gal." 
 
 A blue-eyed little girl, apparently about ten 
 years of age, brought from one of the rooms a 
 plain, country-made chair, and Mr. Clark was 
 soon seated. In the meantime the host eyed the' 
 stranger, as though he had seen him^somewhere, 
 but could not recollect. *. /:V 
 
 " Sort'r pleasant weather, these days, 
 stranger ?" 
 
 " Yes : and we ought to be thankful to a 
 merciful Providence for good weather, and all 
 other good things in this life." 
 
 " Traveling far, stranger ?" 
 
 " Some distance. I'm bound for Kaintuck."
 
 112 A DISCOVERY. 
 
 " Law me 'way to that country ? And do 
 you calkelate to walk all the way there ?" 
 
 " Yes ; I prefer walking to riding." 
 
 " Now, stranger, I begin to s'pect you are 
 the preacher I he'rn tell of, who was at the big 
 meetin' on 'Coon Creek, a year or two sin'. 
 What mo ugh t your name be ?" 
 
 " John Clark." 
 
 " That's the very thing. Here, old 'oman ; 
 Patsey, come here ;" he called to his " better 
 half," who was in the kitchen in the rear of the 
 house, attending to her domestic concerns. 
 
 " What's wan tin', old man ? I'll be in soon." 
 
 Presently a decent looking female, appa- 
 rently about forty, with a sun-bonnet on her 
 head, and dressed in a short gown and petticoat 
 of the same stuff as her husband's garments 
 cotton and wool mixed came in. No sooner 
 did she cast her eyes on the preacher than she 
 knew him, and broke out 
 
 " Dear me, if this ain't Brother Clark, sure 
 as I'm alive !" and she sprang forward and 
 shook hands with him, with as much rude, but 
 hearty simplicity, as if he had been her own 
 brother ; and bid him equally welcome. 
 
 This recognition of one who appeared as a 
 stranger needs a little explanation. 

 
 A SCRAP OF HISTORY. 113 
 
 More than two years before this period, 
 Preacher Clark, and two other Methodist min- 
 isters, held a meeting for several days in a 
 frontier settlement, some twelve or fifteen miles 
 from the ferry, and Mrs. Patsey Wells was 
 there. Mr. Wells had emigrated from Pitts- 
 sylvania county, Virginia, to Georgia, about 
 eight or nine years previous. He was not a 
 professor of religion, but accustomed to hear 
 the Baptists in his native State. His wife's 
 father and mother were Baptists, and she had 
 been in the habit of attending their meetings, 
 and at times was under serious impressions. 
 She thought she must wait the Lord's time, 
 when, if she was to be converted, she would be; 
 at least she understood the matter in this way 
 from what she heard the preachers say. In the 
 new region of Georgia, where they settled, there 
 was no preaching, or preacher of any kind. Her 
 husband got hold of a valuable tract of land 
 lying along the Savannah river, on the south, 
 or Georgia side, at a convenient crossing-place, 
 where he established a ferry. In the course of 
 a few years it became a thoroughfare on one of 
 the principal roads leading from the settlements 
 on the Upper Oconee and Broad river, across
 
 114 A CARELESS, IRRELIGIOUS MAN. 
 
 the upper part of South Carolina towards Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 Mrs. Wells felt unhappy that her chil- 
 dren were growing up without any religious 
 instruction, and she could hear no one preach. 
 But she had the care of a family to claim her 
 attention, and withal became quite worldly in 
 spirit, as their landed property rose in value, 
 and the comforts of life increased. She was 
 industrious, tidy, and kept on well after a 
 worldly sort, but still felt at times unhappy, as 
 if there was some great want unsupplied. 
 
 Mr. Wells was a good-natured, -hospitable 
 man, seldom got in debt, and then got out soon 
 as possible. He was reasonably industrious, 
 and with four stalwart sons, who were from 
 twelve to eighteen years of age, he had opened 
 a large farm and made some tobacco for the 
 Charleston market. The reason he gave why 
 he bought no negroes was, " he thought them 
 more .plague than profit," and he was de- 
 termined his sons should learn to work, and get 
 their living as he had done, by hard labor. 
 
 He really thought he was a good man, 
 though he never served the Lord, nor thought 
 of the high and responsible relation he sus- 
 tained to his Creator and Redeemer, and made
 
 A VISIT WITH TWO OBJECTS. 115 
 
 no provision for another world. True he loved 
 a big dram, and the habit increased on him, but 
 he only got tipsy, and behaved very foolish 
 when he attended courts, elections, and horse- 
 races ; and mortified his wife Patsey by his silly 
 behavior when he came home late at night. He 
 was good-natured when drunk, boasted of his 
 wife, children, and property, and never abused 
 Patsey or the children ; and would laugh, and 
 tell jocular stories about himself, when he was 
 sober. 
 
 His wife Patsey, as he called her when 
 talking about her to others, heard of the 
 Methodist meeting and felt very much like 
 going. She had heard Methodist preachers in 
 Virginia, but did not like their ways, and would 
 have preferred to hear the Baptists ; but none 
 came into that settlement. One of her old 
 Virginia female acquaintances lived at the place 
 of the meeting, and she had intended for a long 
 time to make her a visit ; and now it would be 
 economical in time and expense to gain two 
 objects in one journey. So she left the " old 
 man" and younger boys to tend ferry and keep 
 house with the two little girls ; and she, and 
 her eldest son, went each on horseback to the 
 meeting.
 
 116 MEETING ON COON CREEK. 
 
 
 It was a powerful time on the frontiers ; 
 there was a shaking among the dry bones ; and 
 many a stout-hearted sinner fell as if slain 
 before the Lord. There were three preachers 
 present, each with gifts differing from those of 
 his brethren. The first we shall describe, was 
 considered as a sort of Boanerges among his 
 brethren ; at least so far as lungs and voice were 
 concerned. And he used many " big words," 
 quite beyond the comprehension of plain, illit- 
 erate people. Some supposed him to be a great 
 preacher, and very learned, because they could 
 not understand him. The second preacher was 
 what the people called " a powerful exhorter." 
 He could not work in the lead to any advantage, 
 but he could follow a clear-headed preacher, 
 and enforce the things said' on the consciences 
 of the people by persuasive language and apt 
 illustrations with great effect. Mr. Clark after 
 all did most of the real preaching, and every 
 one on the ground heard him with fixed atten- 
 tion. 
 
 The meeting was held in the shade of the 
 forest, where a " stand" had been prepared for 
 the purpose. This was an elevated platform of 
 split slabs, and a book board, breast high in 
 front of the preacher, on which he might lean.
 
 PREACHING IN THE WOODS. 117 
 
 Seats were made of the halves of small timbers, 
 the ends of which were placed on logs, and 
 covered over a space of ground large enough to 
 accommodate several hundred hearers. In 
 front of the stand was an open space, with low 
 seats around, and called the altar, where the 
 "mourners," or persons who were seriously 
 impressed, were invited. At a late hour they 
 separated and went to the houses of the people 
 who lived within a convenient distance for re- 
 freshment and lodging. Prayer meetings were 
 held at the houses at night, until late bed-time. 
 Some families that came from a distance with 
 wagons, brought provisions and encamped on 
 the ground. Others, as did Mrs. Wells and 
 her son, were accommodated by the hospitality 
 of the people, and invitations were given 
 publicly each day, if any strangers had arrived, 
 they would find a welcome. This was not a 
 regular camp-meeting, for those religious 
 gatherings had not been instituted. 
 
 The husband of the woman whom Mrs. 
 Wells came to visit, was a Methodist, and per- 
 formed a principal part in getting up and sus- 
 taining this meeting. His wife had not joined 
 society, but was a seeker, and gave evidence of 
 conversion at an early stage of the proceedings.
 
 118 MRS. WELLS IN TROUBLE. 
 
 1 
 
 Mr. Clark took his meals and lodged with 
 brother Lowe and family, where Mrs. Wells 
 stopped, and it was under his preaching and ex- 
 hortations that she became powerfully wrought 
 upon, and was in great distress. In kind and 
 sympathizing language Mr. Clark conversed 
 with her freely. She had heard persons narrate 
 their experience and conversion in the church 
 meetings where her father and mother belonged, 
 and had obtained some general knowledge of 
 the gracious change all true Christians must 
 experience before they are fit to join a church 
 of Jesus Christ ; that a sinner must be under 
 conviction, and have a " law-work/' as the 
 preachers called it, and obtain a " hope/' as it 
 was termed. But she knew very little about 
 the nature of a real conversion, and the way of 
 salvation through the righteousness of Jesus 
 Christ. Her female friend told her she must 
 pray earnestly and strive powerfully " to get 
 religion ;" and Mr. Clark showed her from the 
 Scriptures the sinfulness and helplessness of 
 fallen, corrupt human nature, and the infinite 
 ability and gracious willingness of Jesus Christ 
 to save her, and the mighty agency of the Holy 
 Spirit in that work. He told her something of 
 his own experience in trying to make himself
 
 A SUDDEN CONVERSION. 119 
 
 righteous, instead of receiving Christ in all his 
 fullness, and " who of God is made unto us 
 wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, 
 and redemption."* 
 
 This instruction had its due effect on her 
 mind. Very soon she despaired of making her- 
 self better, and felt her- dependence on the 
 Lord to that degree, as to beg the preacher to 
 pray to God to have mercy on her ; while with 
 an audible voice she cried out in agony, " Lord, 
 have mercy on me, a miserable sinner." We 
 have given some account already of the simpli- 
 city and effect of the prayers of Father Clark, 
 but in this, as in other cases of prayer for sin- 
 ners in distress, his whole heart seemed to go 
 out in strains of the most moving supplications, 
 as though he could .take no denial ; as though 
 the eternal salvation of the deathless spirit 
 hung on the issue. Before he closed, Mrs. 
 Wells, who lay prostrate across her chair, 
 groaning and crying for mercy, as if wholly un- 
 conscious of what she said or did, sprang to her 
 feet, clapped her hands in a joyous ecstacy, and 
 at the top of her voice, in exultant tones ex- 
 claimed, "Glory to the Lord Jesus ! Glory to 
 
 * ICor.i: 30.
 
 120 A SHOUTING SEASON. 
 
 the Lord Jesus ! lie's pardoned my sins ; he's 
 pardoned my sins !" and with continuous 
 shoutings and exclamations, until nature was 
 exhausted, she sunk into the arms of Mrs. 
 Lowe, who placed her in the chair. Here she 
 sat, still rubbing her hands in ecstacy, and in a 
 subdued voice, nearly powerless, still cried, 
 " g loi 7> glory." 
 
 " Well, I don't believe in such conversions 
 as that," says a sentimental lady ; a church 
 member ; though she spent the half of the 
 preceding night over a specimen of the yellow- 
 colored " light" literature that now fills all 
 our highways and by-ways ; and sighing and 
 sentimentalizing over an unreal and mawkish 
 story of love and suicide. 
 
 " 'Tis all fox-fire," declares a grave and 
 reverend divine, whose intellect is as clear and 
 as cool as an iceberg, and who has not enough 
 of impulse to raise the slightest emotions in his 
 soul. 
 
 " What a lamentable thing it is to have igno- 
 rant persons carried away with such enthusiastic 
 notions," responds a metaphysical philosopher, 
 who can map out the whole field of the human 
 mind, and describe to the tenth part of a grain 

 
 RELIGION WITHOUT EMOTIONS. 121 
 
 the degree of emotion one ought to have under 
 all circumstances. 
 
 Those who weigh the impressions and emo- 
 tions of gospel truth in one metaphysical scale ; 
 who cannot endure any excitement in others 
 above their own passionless temperament ; 
 who never had a muscle agitated nor a nerve 
 affected by the unseen workings of the inner 
 man, will have very orthodox notions about 
 such impulsive feelings as Mrs. Wells mani- 
 fested when she suddenly felt herself relieved 
 from the burden of her sins, and enjoyed the 
 gracious conviction of the power and mercy of 
 Jesus Christ in her salvation. 
 
 It is a very queer kind of philosophy that 
 admits persons to faint, fall, and even die under 
 the pressure of some sudden and overwhelming 
 calamity ; or from ecstacy from hearing joyful 
 news of an earthly kind, and yet account such 
 paroxysms as Mrs. Wells had "fox-fire," "en- 
 thusiasm," and the fruits of " ignorance." 
 Mrs. Wells was a woman of strong emotions, 
 easily excited, and never trained to disguise her 
 feelings under a cold, conventual exterior. She 
 behaved natural, and under the circumstances 
 quite decorous enough. No one was disturbed 
 or interrupted by her shouts, but every uncon-
 
 122 A METHODIST SOCIETY GATHERED. 
 
 verted sinner in the room became most deeply 
 impressed, and the revival became general in 
 the congregation. The meeting continued and 
 the excitement kept up for more than a week ; 
 during which a large society was gathered, 
 chiefly of those who professed to be converted, 
 and Mrs. Wells joined. A new circuit was 
 formed, and a preaching station fixed in the 
 neighborhood of Wellsburgh ; as some waggish 
 traveler named the ferry farm. 
 
 It was not strange or singular that Mrs. 
 Patsey Wells greeted Father Clark so joyfully, 
 or that her husband, who had heard her describe 
 the preacher at the meeting on Coon Creek 
 should have guessed so readily. He not only 
 spent the night with this hospitable family, but 
 could not get away even had he desired, until 
 he had made an appointment, and word was 
 sent through the settlement for the people to 
 gather for preaching. 
 
 In all frontier settlements in the south-west- 
 ern States, it makes very little difference in 
 gathering a congregation, whether the preach- 
 ing is on the week day or the Sabbath. All 
 classes turned out in their ordinary working 
 dress, for which they had a change of clean 
 garments ready. They knew nothing and cared
 
 ANOTHER BIG MEETING. 123 
 
 little to which Christian sect the strange 
 preacher belonged ; as all preached very much 
 alike, and iterated the same common place 
 truths of the Bible on such occasions. Men 
 wholly worldly, and not very moral ; who 
 fingered bits of spotted pasteboard, drank 
 whiskey, and attended horse-races and shooting 
 matches, would turn out to hear a strange 
 preacher, or go to a " big" meeting, as these 
 large convocations were called ; where several 
 preachers of diverse gifts were expected. 
 
 The youngsters of the family were on their 
 horses before the sun peered his bright face 
 over the hills of Georgia, and rode throughout 
 the settlements, and hallooed at every cabin to 
 give the inmates notice that " mother's 
 preacher" had come, and would preach at 
 ' Squire Redman's that day. Of course every 
 body understood the hour for meeting would 
 be twelve o'clock. Though the people were 
 scattered over the hills and along the vallies for 
 many miles distant, the news spread, and by 
 eleven o'clock men, women and children, two 
 and three often on one horse, were approaching 
 'Squire Redman's plantation from every point of 
 the compass. A full complement of dogs to 
 every family were on foot, coursing along the
 
 124 THE CHILDREN AND DOGS AT MEETING. 
 
 margin of the woods near the pathway, smell- 
 ing for game, and barking up hollow trees. 
 The children of course, large and small, had to 
 be taken, or the mothers could not go, and the 
 dogs, accustomed to follow their masters and 
 the horses would go, whether wanted or not. 
 And should the young children cry and the dogs 
 bark, both the preacher and hearers were used 
 to such trifling annoyances, and never went into 
 spasms, as we have seen a preacher, or a new 
 corner from a particular section of country. 
 In the vicinity of Mr. Kedman's house, and 
 near a large spring, was the " stand" for the 
 circuit preacher, when the weather was favor- 
 able ; and the dwelling house afforded shelter 
 in stormy weather, for which the owner had 
 provided rough moveable seats for the accom- 
 modation of his neighbors. 
 
 The preaching of Father Clark on this oc- 
 ,casion was interesting, instructive, and impres- 
 sive. Several of the hearers, besides Mrs. 
 Wells and her son Jacob, had heard him at 
 Coon Creek meeting. Wet eyes were seen, and 
 sister Wells was in raptures ; alternately 
 praying with internal agony for her husband 
 and children, and then smiling in ecstasy, as 
 the preacher described, with an occasional inci-
 
 MR. WELLS IN TROUBLE. 125 
 
 dent or anecdote, the amazing love, power and 
 grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to save the lost. 
 Mr. Wells heard the text and the introduction 
 with reverent attention-; as the speaker ad- 
 vanced he was ohserved in an unusual position ; 
 his hody was bent forward, his eyes fixed, and 
 his mouth half open as^ though he would take 
 .in every word. Again, his posture was changed, 
 his elbows rested on his knees, his hands sup- 
 ported his head, and a tremor seemed to agitate 
 his whole frame. Those who sat near him saw 
 the tears dropping fast to the ground, and it 
 was evident he was unusually and powerfully 
 affected by the sermon. This did not escape 
 the notice of his wife, who was seated among 
 the females on the opposite side of the stand, 
 and every one could see she was exceedingly 
 agitated. Others were affected, amongst whom 
 were some rough looking, stout-hearted men, 
 who never before discovered any agitation under 
 preaching. Two of the youngsters of the 
 Wells' family were among the anxious. Jacob, 
 or Jake as he was familiarly called, who accom- 
 panied his mother to the great meeting on Coon 
 Creek, had been serious at times since ; while 
 at other times he seemed to be more thought-
 
 126 ANOTHER PAROXYSM OF SHOUTING. 
 
 less, wayward and wicked than ever. He was 
 there, said nothing ; but held his head down. 
 
 Father Clark's sermon did not exceed an 
 hour, hut. there was singing, prayin g, and con- 
 versation with persons in distress. 'Squire Red- 
 man, who was class-leader, gave a warm and 
 feeling exhortation, prayed two or three times, 
 and finally held a private conversation with our 
 friend Wells, and pronounced him to he 
 " powerfully convicted/' and " not far from 
 the kingdom of God." 
 
 We hope our fastidious, cold-hearted, philo- 
 sophical readers will not get offended and throw 
 the hook aside because good Mrs. Wells had a 
 paroxysm of shouting on this occasion. Those 
 readers, whose emotions were never excited 
 until every fibre of the heart seemed ready to 
 give way for a husband and children, as she was, 
 who she knew by her own sad experience were 
 in the broad road that leads to the gates of 
 eternal death, may retain their cold, calculating 
 fire-side philosophy. But we shall permit this 
 impulsive, warm-hearted woman to shout, and 
 express her thankfulness to heaven in the 
 strongest manner, and to her heart's content. 
 A little too much heat and moisture are in- 
 finitely more fructifying in faith and holy living,
 
 A DINNER PARTY. 127 
 
 than ice-bound cliffs and a region of perpetual 
 frost. She had been praying for more than two 
 years for her " old man, and little ones/' as 
 she called them, and now she had evidence that 
 Lord was at work with them. Under these cir- 
 cumstances it would not dp to stop the meeting, 
 and the appointment was given out for that 
 night at 'Squire Kednian's house, and next day 
 at the stand. 
 
 Father Clark, the Wells family, and several 
 others tarried for dinner, and a good opportu- 
 nity was presented to converse with Mr. Wells. 
 Mrs. Wells and two or three other women 
 turned into the kitchen with mother Eedman, 
 and by four o'clock, two or three tables were 
 filled in succession by hungry guests, the men 
 first served, the females next, and then the 
 children. Bountiful were the supplies of meat, 
 chickens, eggs, corn-dodgers, and sweet pota- 
 toes, with pickled beets, cucumbers, and divers 
 other condiments ; enough to supply a whole 
 settlement, including the dogs. 
 
 It would have been t'he season of winter in a 
 northern climate, but it was then the opening 
 of spring, in the early part of February ; the 
 weather was pleasant and not disagreeably 
 warm. After the first table was through, Mr.
 
 128 EFFECTUAL, FERVENT PRAYER. 
 
 
 Clark gave our friend Wells a jog of the elbow, 
 and they walked together into the forest to a 
 retired place. Mrs. Wells saw the movement, 
 tried to partake of the refreshment at the 
 second table, but her appetite failed. She was 
 too deeply affected to speak, and with another 
 female who belonged to the same society, was 
 seen moving pensively in another direction, to- 
 wards the thick forest. We will not intrude. 
 Her husband, whom, under all the rough ex- 
 terior of unpolished nature, she truly loved, was 
 in a most critical situation. She had conversed 
 with him, kindly and affectionately, about his 
 eternal interests, when he seemed in a mood 
 to listen ; she had told him incidents of her own 
 experience ; her agony of distress and the 
 efficacy of Mr. Clark's prayers on her behalf. 
 He had offered no objection to her joining so- 
 ciety, though she knew he disliked the Metho- 
 dists before she joined, and seldom attended the 
 meetings since the circuit had been established. 
 For the first time within the period of their 
 acquaintance, he was anxious about his soul ; 
 she knew it, felt it, and who will blame her if 
 she and her female companion prayed for him 
 audibly and fervently, while Father Clark had 
 him on his knees in another direction, where no
 
 FAMILY REJOICING. 129 
 
 eye but the eye of God was upon them, and no 
 other ear was listening. 
 
 Towards the setting sun, and as the people 
 : began to collect for the night meeting, Mr. 
 Clark and his friend Wells were seen coming 
 out of the woods, arm in arm, engaged in con- 
 versation. Mr. Wells seemed cheerful, if not 
 happy, while the countenance of Mr. Clark was 
 lighted up with a heavenly smile. From that 
 day Samuel Wells was an altered man. 
 
 The meeting continued over the Sabbath, 
 during which several others gave evidence of a 
 change of heart and life, and when the newly 
 appointed preacher from the Conference made 
 his appearance at this remote station on the 
 circuit, the following week, he found a revival 
 in progress, and that his old acquaintance who 
 had left the " connexion," had been at work in 
 the Lord's harvest, and the Methodist society 
 had sustained no damage by his independent 
 labors. 
 
 Mr. Clark returned to the ferry with his 
 friends, the Wells family, but there was enough 
 of rejoicing and friendly conversation to occupy 
 him that day. Besides, he must not think of 
 departing on his journey before his clothes
 
 130 A BIBLE WANTED. 
 
 were in order, and everything ready ; so mother 
 Wells argued. 
 
 And there was another duty to perform which 
 no itinerant, or faithful pastor, will neglect. 
 Keligious meditation, and especially prayer in 
 the hearing of others, was a new business to Mr. 
 Wells, and it required just such a man as 
 Father Clark to encourage, instruct and lead 
 him into the practice of household religion. 
 Though his speech was somewhat incoherent, 
 and a tremor shook his brawny limbs, in mak- 
 ing the first attempt in presence of the preacher, 
 his wife and children ; he had decision enough 
 to go forward, and soon acquired a gift that was 
 profitable in the society and class-meetings. 
 And now there was another serious difficulty. 
 He had no Bible in his house ; only a torn and 
 shattered Testament, which his wife had read 
 over and over, on the dreary Sabbaths she had 
 passed with her family. Her husband had pro- 
 mised on two occasions, when he visited Charles- 
 ton and sold his toba.cco, to buy one. But on 
 one journey he had made inquiry at several 
 stores and found none ; the other time "get- 
 ting a little overtaken," as he called it, he had 
 forgotten the business, though he did not fail 
 to bring his wife a new calico dress, and several
 
 THE PARTING SCENE. 131 
 
 other luxuries she had not requested. The idea 
 of Bible Societies, and special efforts to supply 
 the destitute with the Word of God, had en- 
 tered into the mind of no one. Nor could such 
 books be found for sale in any of the interior 
 settlements of the South or West. 
 
 Father Clark had a neat pocket Bible, which 
 he obtained in London, and which was his daily 
 companion. He was now in a strait betwixt 
 the conflicting claims of duty. Generosity and 
 sympathy spoke loudly to his heart to give this 
 family his Bible. Conscience and reason seemed 
 to say, " You cannot spare this book. How 
 can a preacher do without a Bible. ?" After a 
 season of prayer on the subject, faith turned 
 the scale, " Leave the Bible, and trust in the 
 Lord for another ;". and so it was decided, and 
 he never regretted it. 
 
 The parting scene was affecting. Mr. Wells 
 and his wife both wept like children, and begged 
 him not to forget them in his prayers, and if he 
 ever came that way again to make their house 
 his home. The whole family walked with him 
 to the river bank, and Mr. Wells and his two 
 eldest sons worked the ferry-boat over the 
 river. As they turned into a slight bend in the 
 river, they could see mother Wells still sitting
 
 132 THE EFFECT OF CONVERSION. 
 
 on the bank, with her handkerchief to her eyes, 
 deeply affected that she should see her preach- 
 er's face, and hear his voice no more ; yet de- 
 voutly thankful that the Lord had sent him 
 that way as the instrument of salvation to her 
 house. 
 
 The boat was tied to the shore, and the old 
 man and his two sons walked with the preacher 
 through the low bottom-land that lined the 
 bank of the Savannah river, to the bluffs and 
 up-lands of South Carolina. As they were 
 about to part, the preacher kneeled down and 
 prayed with them, and especially mentioned the 
 young lads, that they might be like young Tim- 
 othy, and serve the Lord from their youth. Mr. 
 Clark was now seen slowly but cheerfully 
 ascending the sloping hills, that led towards 
 Greenville district, while in silence the father 
 and sons returned to their home. 
 
 Leaving father Clark to pursue his journey 
 towards the mountain range in the northwest, 
 we will continue a while on the banks of the 
 Savannah, to learn a little of the future his- 
 tory of the Wells family. 
 
 The rule of the Saviour, to judge of religious 
 excitements and conversions, is, " By their 
 fruits shall ye know them." Our metaphysical
 
 BAPTISTS IN GEORGIA, 133 
 
 and philosophical friends, with the class of c'old- 
 blooded, grave divines, who measure the charac- 
 ter of others by their own passionless natures ; 
 with the sentimental ladies who are dreadfully 
 shocked at religious ebullitions, may be assured 
 that the excitable Mrs. Wells, and her more 
 sluggish husband, never " fell from grace," as 
 our Methodist friends denominate the result of 
 spurious conversions. It is true they left the 
 Methodist society, and were baptized into the 
 fellowship of a Baptist church, but this was in 
 accordance with their original predilections and 
 previous training. 
 
 During the period of Mr. Clark's sojourn in 
 Georgia, Baptist churches and preachers were 
 more numerous than Methodists. In the region 
 south and east of Augusta, they were by far 
 the most numerous class of Christians. In 
 1792, there were about fifty-seven Baptist 
 churches, fifty-eight ordained preachers, twenty- 
 five candidates, and about 2,400 communicants 
 in Georgia. The Georgia Association had been 
 constituted in 1784, and in 1792 included about 
 twenty-five churches. The Hepzibah Associa- 
 tion was organized in 1794, and the churches 
 extended along the waters of the Ogeechee and 
 Oconee rivers. The ministers who itinerated
 
 134 MOUNTAIN KANGE. 
 
 in upper settlements, on Oconee and Broad 
 rivers, after Mr. Clark left the country, were 
 Mr. John Cleveland, who crossed the Savannah 
 river from South Carolina, D. Thornton, Wil- 
 liam Davis, Thomas Johnson, and Thomas 
 Gilbert. Mr. Cleveland became acquainted 
 with the Wells family by crossing their ferry, 
 and they liked his style of preaching and that 
 of his brethren, and being taught the way of 
 the Lord more perfectly, with others, were bap- 
 tized, and a church was raised up near their 
 residence. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Mountain Range. Manners of an Itinerant. Preaching in a Tavern- 
 house. How to avoid Insults. Hospitality. Reaches Crab- 
 Orchard. Preachers in Kentucky. Baptists ; " Regulars" and 
 " Separatists." Principles of Doctrine. School-Teaching. Master 
 O'Cafferty and His Qualities. 
 
 A range of high mountains are to be seen on 
 the map, running in a south-western direction, 
 and separating the State of Virginia from Ken- 
 tucky ; and then passing in a diagonal direction 
 across Tennessee into Georgia. This range 
 gives rise to the Sandy, Kentucky, and Cum- 
 berland rivers, on the north-western side, and
 
 MOUNTAIN SCENERY. 135 
 
 the Clinch and Holston, the principal branches 
 of the Tennessee river, on the south-eastern 
 side. Through this range of mountains is a 
 singular depression, called the " Cumberland 
 Gap/' through which the first emigrants from 
 Virginia and North Carolina passed to Ken- 
 tucky. And through this " Pass" runs the 
 great highway that has been traveled for three- 
 score years, from the south-eastern to the north- 
 western States. The range of mountains is 
 from thirty to fifty miles in width, and in the 
 central part rises up in immense rocky ranges. 
 The " Gap" is at the south-western corner of 
 Virginia, and the south-eastern corner of Ken- 
 tucky, where the extreme points of these States 
 touch the northern boundary of Tennessee. 
 Mountains are piled on mountains through this 
 region. In the vicinity of the Gap is a ledge 
 of black rocks near the summit, which extends 
 thirty miles, with a perpendicular fall to the 
 south-east, of two hundred feet. The Pine 
 Mountain is on the border of Knox county, in 
 Kentucky, and presents to the eye of the trav- 
 eler a scene of sublimity and grandeur, not ex- 
 ceeded in mountain views. There is a view, 
 the wildest and most romantic, where the Cum- 
 berland river passes through a gorge, dashing
 
 136 OUTLINE OF THE JOURNEY. 
 
 and foaming at a terrific rate. Here the lime- 
 stone cliffs rise to the height of thirteen hun- 
 dred feet. 
 
 Standing on a high precipice, from which the 
 eye could range over a vast extent of country, 
 on a clear and pleasant day in the month of 
 March, a traveler was seen gazing on the 
 scenery around him. Though his dress was 
 soiled by a long journey, every feature and 
 action were familiar to the observer. It is the 
 Itinerant preacher, whom we left near the 
 Savannah river a few weeks since ; and he has 
 ascended the mountain several hundred feet 
 above the Gap, to feast his eyes on the stupen- 
 dous works of Infinite wisdom and power. His 
 mind expands with the mountain scenery ; his 
 imagination has carried him back to his native 
 land ; his adoring thoughts ascend to the 
 Bestower of every good, for the protection he 
 has enjoyed ; hope burns bright in his eyes, for 
 in the direction he is now gazing are spread out 
 the fertile vales of Kentucky, to which he is 
 bound. 
 
 He has traveled through Greenville District, 
 in South Carolina, Buncombe County in North 
 Carolina, and across East Tennessee. He has 
 forded or swam the creeks and rivers on his
 
 HOW ITINERANTS OUGHT TO BEHAVE. 137 
 
 route, but makes no complaint of fatigue, suf- 
 fering, or danger. He had a small sum of 
 money to pay his expenses, was never obtru- 
 sive, yet rarely did he fail of finding friends, 
 and frequently religious families, who delighted 
 to exercise their hospitality on so inoffensive 
 a traveler. Unless the weather proved stormy, 
 he traveled five days each week, and put up for 
 Saturday and Sabbath in the bounds of some 
 religious congregation, or in some destitute 
 settlement where he could preach the Gospel. 
 
 Some ministers, even while young, are very 
 annoying to families, by expecting personal at- 
 tentions, seeming not to think how much they 
 impose on hospitable families. Father Clark 
 was particularly careful never to give the least 
 trouble that he could avoid, and hence all who 
 knew him were the more ready to receive him. 
 He expected and desired no special attention as 
 a minister ; attended to his own personal affairs, 
 and put no family to any inconvenience. He 
 never assumed the ministerial character, put on 
 no airs of dignity, and if he led the conversation, 
 he could give it a religious turn without offence 
 ;o any one ; and he would leave the best im- 
 pressions on the family without any apparent 
 effort. Again and again, he was solicited to
 
 138 A TAVERN SCENE. 
 
 stay and preach with the people, with assurances 
 of every aid he might need. On two or three 
 occasions contributions were made privately and 
 handed to him, where he spent a Sabbath and 
 preached the Gospel, until it became painful to 
 his feelings to receive such gratuities, as he 
 needed nothing. 
 
 Two days before we found him on the moun- 
 tain summit, he had tarried at a noted tavern 
 at the foot of the long and steep mountain 
 called Clinch. Here were men with pack- 
 horses and peltry, on their way to the settle- 
 ments in the old States. Explorers to the new 
 countries of Tennessee and Kentucky, put up 
 at this tavern. There was drinking, gaming, 
 profane swearing, and all manner of vulgar and 
 blackguard language. Mr. Clark supposed the 
 time would pass very unpleasantly, but an 
 elderly gentleman, who was on his way to Ken- 
 tucky as an explorer, happened to fall into con- 
 versation, and found him to be a religious man, 
 and on putting the question direct, the fact was 
 acknowledged that he was a preacher. This 
 gentleman conferred with two or three other 
 persons of his acquaintance, and after consult- 
 ing the landlord, proposed they should have 
 religious worship before they retired. It met
 
 HOW TO REFORM THE WICKED. 139 
 
 with general approbation. Every one present 
 knew it was a free country, and he might stay 
 or retire. Those' in the heat of gaming, and 
 half-sprung with whiskey, could have had a room 
 for their favorite amusements, but cards were 
 laid aside, and the landlord declared he never 
 heard 'one say they regretted having spent an 
 hour that night in hearing the stranger give a 
 lecture. His preaching and exhortations were 
 never in the form of denunciation, though 
 pointed and plain, and well adapted to touch 
 and arouse the slumbering consciences of sin- 
 ners. He never failed to give evidence that his 
 sympathies were awakened on their behalf ; that 
 he felt for guilty sinners, and desired to do them 
 good. 
 
 He did not rail against drunkards, gamblers, 
 and profane swearers, in his discourse, or mani- 
 fest the least annoyance in conversation with 
 any person ; and yet all these vicious indul- 
 gences ceased, and every swearing reprobate 
 seemed to put a double guard on his lips. All 
 the company rested quietly, and arose cheer- 
 fully in the morning. The gentleman who had 
 invited Mr. Clark to preach, approached the 
 landlord privately, and proposed to pay the 
 stranger's bill when he settled his own. " No,
 
 140 HOUSES OF ENTERTAINMENT. 
 
 sir," said the landlord, "that gentleman has 
 been a welcome guest in my family, for they 
 have had comfortable rest, and if it had not been 
 for him, we should have had drinking, swearing, 
 and fighting through the night, to the annoy- 
 ance of all quiet people." 
 
 When Mr. Clark called for his bill after 
 breakfast, as he was about to depart on his jour- 
 ney, he received for answer, " Your bill, sir, is 
 more than paid. It is not customary to charge 
 preachers, though every one of that class who trav- 
 els this road don't keep the house in as good order 
 as you did last night. But you are welcome to 
 the best I have, every time you pass this way/' 
 
 Down the mountain range, towards Crab- 
 Orchard, the country was thinly settled. Every 
 eight or ten miles was a cluster of log-cabins, 
 with stabling of the same materials, a rack to 
 hitch horses at in front, and occasionally a 
 rudely daubed sign on a post, that on close in- 
 spection might indicate that "private enter- 
 tainment" could be had there. No public 
 houses existed in that region, unless in a town 
 or county seat, where lawyers and clients, 
 judges and jurymen, could purchase intoxicat- 
 ing liquors to wash down their corn-bread and 
 bacon on court days. Every farmer through
 
 DRESS OF A KENTUCKY PREACHER. 141 
 
 the country, who lived on a great road, and 
 had a supply of " corn and fodder" for horses, 
 " and chicken fixin's," and " corn dodgers," 
 with comfortable beds for travelers, kept " pri- 
 vate entertainment." No one thought of getting 
 a license and selling intoxicating drinks. The 
 bottle or jug of whiskey was always set on the 
 table at such houses of entertainment, with a 
 bowl of sugar, and a pitcher of water fresh from 
 the spring, and "help yourselves, strangers," 
 was the courteous invitation. Whether the 
 traveler drank more or less, or none at all, made 
 not the least difference in his bill. Fifty cents 
 for horse-keeping, supper, and lodging, was the 
 uniform price for nearly half a century, at these 
 countiy houses of entertainment throughout 
 this valley. And if any one had charged Father 
 Clark, a quarter or three bits* was ample com- 
 pensation. 
 
 It was early in April when OUT Itinerant 
 reached the vicinity of Crab-Orchard, in Lin- 
 coln County. Hearing there was an appoint- 
 ment for preaching in the neighborhood, he 
 went with the family with whom he had put 
 up. The preacher was a plain frontier-looking 
 man, dressed in the costume of the country ; a 
 
 * 37 1-2 cents.
 
 142 MB. CLARK TNVITED TO PREACH. 
 
 hunting-shirt of dressed deer-skins, and trow- 
 sers of ootton and wool mixed, of very coarse 
 texture, colored brown with the bark of a species 
 of the white walnut tree.* The house where 
 the people assembled was a double log cabin, 
 rough hewn, and when all had gathered, it con- 
 tained about seventy-five or eighty persons. 
 The name of the preacher was Jolliff ; and he 
 preached the Gospel to his neighbors and the 
 people generally, as opportunity offered, without 
 any thought about compensation in this life. 
 He was a plain, unlearned preacher, and en- 
 forced such truth as he understood on the minds 
 of his hearers. He had been, and perhaps was 
 still a Methodist preacher of the local order, 
 but he afterwards joined a class of Baptists 
 called Separates in Kentucky. 
 
 Mr. Clark's dress we have already described, 
 but it was in a style somewhat in advance of 
 the good people in Kentucky, who lived many 
 hundred miles distant from any market, and 
 were compelled to live in a plain, rough way. 
 Mr. Jolliff fell into conversation with the 
 stranger, while the people were gathering, 
 found out his business in the country, and in- 
 sisted he should preach. Apologies and ex- 
 
 * Butternut Juglans alba oblonga.
 
 PIONEER PREACHERS OF KENTUCKY. 143 
 
 cuses are useless on such occasions for those 
 ministers who keep their minds in habitual pre- 
 paration to say something to the people on any 
 sudden call, and Mr. Clark, though a modest 
 man, who never put himself forward, consented. 
 The people listened with attention, and spoke 
 of him as " a right smart preacher." Some 
 doubted what others affirmed, that he was a 
 learned man, for he was so plain and simple 
 his language, and his illustrations were from 
 things so common, that they understood every 
 word. 
 
 Mr. Jolliff, who lived several miles 'from the 
 place of meeting, was so much pleased with the 
 discourse, that he persuaded Mr. Clark to at- 
 tend the meeting in his neighborhood on the 
 following Saturday and Sabbath, and to come 
 to his house on Friday evening. 
 
 There were a number of preachers in Lincoln 
 and the adjacent counties, all Baptists, though 
 somewhat divided on certain points'of doctrine, 
 and not altogether friendly in ministerial inter- 
 course. Each possessed his share of the imper- 
 fections of human character ; each was more 
 or less selfish ; petty rivalries prevailed, and 
 small differences were magnified, as each party 
 looked at the other through the medium of pre-
 
 144 REGULAR AND SEPARATE BAPTISTS. 
 
 judice. In a word, the pioneer preachers of 
 Kentucky, were very much like the ministers 
 of the G-ospel in every age, nation, and country; 
 no better, no worse ; only a little more frank, 
 and even blunt in their personal intercourse, 
 and did not conceal their thoughts and enac- 
 tions with the same ingenuity and tact as has 
 been done in some places. Hence, if there 
 were petty jealousies, rivalries, and surmisings, 
 of -which traits <are wrong and unchristian 
 every where,) they let their passions be seen, 
 and the want of union and mutual cooperation 
 was the natural result. 
 
 There were two principal divisions amongst 
 Baptists in Kentucky, which were brought with 
 them from Virginia and the Carolinas. The 
 parties were called " Regular" and " Sepa- 
 rate." These parties originated more than 
 forty years before the period of our history. 
 
 The Regular Baptists in the Middle States 
 originated from Wales ; and in several in- 
 stances, churches already organized came over 
 as colonists. They settled mostly in New 
 Jersey, Pennsylvania, and a corner of Delaware 
 and Maryland, towards the close of the seven- 
 teenth, and during the eighteenth centuries, 
 previous to the American revolution. At a
 
 CONFESSION OF FAITH." 145 
 
 later period, the descendants of these early 
 colonists removed south, and formed the nucleus 
 of churches in Virginia, and even in North and 
 South Carolina. The doctrines they taught, as 
 they interpreted the Scriptures, may be found 
 in- a little book commonly called the " Phila- 
 delphia Confession of Faith," because it was re- 
 vised, adopted and published by the Philadel- 
 phia Baptist Association in 1742. * 
 
 All true Baptists take the word of God, the 
 inspired writings, as their sole rule of faith and 
 practice. There were some diversities among 
 the Regular Baptists about certain doctrinal 
 
 * The edition before us is the seventh, and " printed by John Dun- 
 lap, at the newest printing office in Market street, Philadelphia, 
 MDCCLXXIIL" [1773.] The title page reads, " A Confession of 
 Faith, put forth by the Elders and Brethren of many Congregations 
 of Christians, (Baptized upon Profession of their Faith,) in London 
 and the Country." 
 
 Adopted by the Baptist Association, met in Philadelphia, Sept. 25, 
 1742. This " Confession" had its origin in fact from " seven congre- 
 gations gathered in London, 1643," and revised and adopted by 
 " Ministers and Messengers of upwards of one hundred baptized 
 congregations in England and Wales," in 1689. The "Confession" 
 of that year is signed by thirty-eight persons, as a committee, " in the 
 name and behalf of the whole assembly." The name of the re- 
 nowned Hanserd Knollys stands at the head of the committee. The 
 object of this Confession, was not to have a " standard," or rule of 
 faith, separate from or in addition to the Scriptures, in the churches, 
 but " for the satisfaction of all other Christians that differ from us in 
 the point of baptism."
 
 146 ORIGIN OF SEPARATE BAPTISTS. 
 
 principles, as there were also among the Sepa- 
 rates. These diversities in some localities pre- 
 vented for a time cordial union, correspondence 
 and cooperation, chiefly because they misunder- 
 stood each other in their modes of explanation. 
 The differences in all the parties consisted in 
 the way each party reasoned on abstruse points. 
 Each put that construction on the language 
 employed by the other that accorded with the 
 peculiar technical meaning he attached to the 
 same words. 
 
 The " Separate- Baptists" originated in Vir- 
 ginia and the Carolinas from two leading minis- 
 ters who, with their adherents, came from New 
 England about 1*754. The leaders were Shubael 
 Stearns and Daniel Marshall. These men were 
 Congregationalists, and belonged to a party that 
 separated from the old Puritan Congregation- 
 alists of New England ; being less Calvinistic 
 in doctrine, and believing that such men as had 
 grace, gifts, and a " call of God" to the minis- 
 try, ought to preach the Gospel if they had no 
 collegiate education. This party were at first 
 Paedobaptists ; that is, they believed and prac- 
 ticed infant baptism on the faith and the coven- 
 ant relation of the parents ; but gradually they 
 gave up this practice, and in the end most of
 
 147 
 
 the ministers and members of this party joined 
 the Baptist churches. 
 
 Elder Stearns became a Baptist, and was or- 
 dained in Connecticut, but led by impressions 
 of mind, with several relatives and brethren, 
 removed south to Virginia, where Mr. Marshall 
 joined him ; and then to Guilford county, N. 
 C., where they constituted a church. While 
 in New England, these Separates had acquired 
 a warm, pathetic style of preaching, and ex- 
 hibited intense feelings. They had a sing-song 
 tone, and their manner of preaching got hold 
 of the hearts of the people and produced much 
 preternatural excitement. Their hearers shed 
 tears, cried out under great distress, and 
 shouted in ecstacy on a revulsion of feelings. 
 In a few months they had baptized about six 
 hundred converts. Several warm-hearted, zeal- 
 ous preachers were raised up ; one of the most 
 gifted was James Bead, who was very success- 
 ful in Virginia. 
 
 At the first no distinctive names were at- 
 tached to these parties, but the Separates from 
 New England kept that name, which provoked 
 the other party to call themselves " Regular 
 Baptists." This name originated with Elder 
 David Thomas, of Virginia, who possessed
 
 146 ORIGIN OF SEPARATE BAPTISTS. 
 
 principles, as there were also among the Sepa- 
 rates. These diversities in some localities pre- 
 vented for a time cordial union, correspondence 
 and cooperation, chiefly because they misunder- 
 stood each other in their modes of explanation. 
 The differences in all the parties consisted in 
 the way each party reasoned on abstruse points. 
 Each put that construction on the language 
 employed by the other that accorded with the 
 peculiar technical meaning he attached to the 
 same words. 
 
 The " Separate Baptists" originated in Vir- 
 ginia and the Carolinas from two leading minis- 
 ters who, with their adherents, came from New 
 England about 1754. The leaders were Shubael 
 Stearns and Daniel Marshall. These men were 
 Congregationalists, and belonged to a party that 
 separated from the old Puritan Congregation- 
 alists of New England ; being less Calvinistic 
 in doctrine, and believing that such men as had 
 grace, gifts, and a " call of G-od" to the minis- 
 try, ought to preach the Gospel if they had no 
 collegiate education. This party were at first 
 Paedobaptists ; that is, they believed and prac- 
 ticed infant baptism on the faith and the coven- 
 ant relation of the parents ; but gradually they 
 gave up this practice, and in the end most of
 
 
 REGULAR BAPTISTS." 147 
 
 the ministers and members of this party joined 
 the Baptist churches. 
 
 Elder Stearns became a Baptist, and was or- 
 dained in Connecticut, hut led hy impressions 
 of mind, with several relatives and brethren, 
 removed south to Virginia, where Mr. Marshall 
 joined him ; and then to Guilford county, N. 
 C., where they constituted a church. While 
 in New England, these Separates had acquired 
 a warm, pathetic style of preaching, and ex- 
 hibited intense feelings. They had a sing-song 
 tone, and their manner of preaching got hold 
 of the hearts of the people and produced much 
 preternatural excitement. Their hearers shed 
 tears, cried out under great distress, and 
 shouted in ecstacy on a revulsion of feelings. 
 In a few months they had baptized about six 
 hundred converts. Several warm-hearted, zeal- 
 ous preachers were raised up ; one of the most 
 gifted was James Read, who was very success- 
 ful in Virginia. 
 
 At the first no distinctive names were at- 
 tached to these parties, but the Separates from 
 New England kept that name, which provoked 
 the other party to call themselves " Regular 
 Baptists." This name originated with Elder 
 David Thomas, of Virginia, who possessed
 
 148 UNION OF BAPTISTS. 
 
 great influence, and was regarded by his breth- 
 ren as a leader. Occasionally, and especially 
 in seasons of revival, the ministers would co- 
 operate, but the parties remained distinct, with 
 the usual amount of shyness and non-inter- 
 course, common in such divisions. 
 
 From the position we now occupy,- it is easy 
 to perceive that both parties had mistaken 
 views, and employed inappropriate language to 
 express gospel truth. The things for which 
 they were the most tenacious were their 
 opinions, or speculations ; and many points 
 were discussed in their discourses that were of 
 no advantage to truth. On the disputed topics 
 both parties " darkened council by words with- 
 out knowledge."* 
 
 An extensive revival of religion in Virginia 
 brought about a union between the Regular 
 and Separate Baptists in 1787 ; a religious 
 platform expressing their views in common was 
 adopted, and the parties laid aside their dis- 
 tinctive names and took that of UNITED BAP- 
 TISTS. 
 
 The emigration of Baptists from Virginia to 
 Kentucky commenced near the close of the 
 revolutionary war, and the old lines of distinc- 
 
 * Job xxx viii : 2.
 
 WANT OF SCHOOLS IN KENTUCKY. 149 
 
 tion were kept up there for about sixteen years 
 longer. South of the Kentucky river, a 
 majority of the churches were Separate Bap- 
 tists, at the period of the visit of Father 
 Clark.* 
 
 Mr. Clark attended the appointment on 
 Saturday and Sabbath with Mr. Jolliff, and 
 preached with his accustomed fervor and ability. 
 The people who heard him were much in- 
 terested, and urged him to stay amongst them. 
 He found the settlements very deficient in 
 schools ; young men and women could not read, 
 and very few books could be found. In many 
 instances the teachers were incompetent, and 
 in some instances too immoral to be trusted 
 with the training of youth. He saw around 
 him a wide field of usefulness. There were oc- 
 casional revivals, but in general a religious 
 dearth prevailed over the State. Kevivals had 
 
 * At that period (1796,) the Methodists had five circuits in Ken- 
 tucky, ten preachers in the traveling connection, and 1880 whites and 
 G4 blacks in their societies. Their preachers, learning that Mr. Clark 
 had left the Methodist connection, gave him no direct encouragement 
 as a preacher. Mr. Jolliff, Rev. J. Lillard, and two or three other 
 preachers were Independent Methodists, and affiliated with Clark. 
 
 According to Asplund's Register, there were 57 Baptist churches, 
 50 ordained ministers, 16 licentiates, and 3,453 members, in 1792. 
 Twenty per cent, increase at least should be added for their number 
 in 1796. This would give 4,150 communicants.
 
 152 SCHOOLMASTERS EQUITY. 
 
 in the direction of " Holy Mother Church." 
 In this particular item his services were gratu- 
 itous ; but he was unsuccessful in all he under- 
 took, whether publicly or privately. He lacked 
 every qualification for a successful emissary in 
 the charitable designs of the good father. Mr. 
 O'Cafferty made slow progress in retailing 
 science and literature during the six months he 
 engaged to teach school on Flat Creek, and 
 such was the turmoil among his subjects, and 
 so much whiskey did he punish weekly, that he 
 found it economical to accept the compromise 
 proposed by his employers and be off, on half 
 pay for the last term. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Schoolmaster Equity in 1796. New Customs introduced. Mr. Birch 
 Discarded. Enrolment. Books Used New ones Procured. As- 
 tonishing Effects. Colloquy with Uncle Jesse. The New School- 
 House. A Christmas Frolic. Shocking Affair by the Irish Master. 
 A Political Convention. Young Democracy. A Stump Speech. 
 New Customs. A True Missionary. Trouble about Money. 
 Mr. Clark leaves Kentucky. 
 
 The relation of the teacher and the pupils 
 heretofore in most instances had been that of 
 belligerents. It was his prerogative to rule and 
 compel obedience, and hence " fightings/' as 
 the customary whippings were called, was the
 
 NEW CUSTOMS INTRODUCED. 153 
 
 order of the day. Those pupils who were from 
 fifteen to twenty years of age, and thought 
 themselves young men, their proud spirits 
 could be easily aroused to a state of rebellion. 
 They descended from a hardy race, and had 
 learned the tactics of warfare on the frontiers, 
 where their fathers and mothers had to contend 
 with untamed savages, and it would have been 
 a dangerous business for even a brawny Irish- 
 man to flog such spirits into submission with a 
 full supply of bone, sinew and muscle. Hence 
 the boys from eight to fourteen, who had no 
 brothers and cousins among these stout young- 
 sters, had to bear their own share of flaggella- 
 tion, and also the amount that in equity be- 
 longed to their older neighbors. The school 
 house had remained vacant for six or eight 
 months previous to Mr. Clark's entrance, and 
 the youngsters gathered around him as we have 
 narrated. 
 
 Instead of the expected order, in a surly 
 voice, and corrupt dialect that was any thing 
 else than the English language, Mr. Clark 
 opened school by a friendly conversation with 
 each scholar ; beginning with the eldest. Divers 
 questions were asked, in a pleasant, musical 
 tone of voice, as " How far have you made
 
 154 
 
 progress in studies?" " What branches do you 
 wish to learn ?" etc. He addressed the young 
 men as though they were gentlemen, and as if 
 he was desirous of consulting their interests, 
 and do the best to serve them. Instead of their 
 usual boisterous manner of reply, their voices 
 were subdued, and they felt what they never 
 before realized, sentiments of reverence and 
 respect to a school master. 
 
 In his examination of the older female pupils, 
 there was some difficulty at first, to draw from 
 them the answers he desired. They had heard 
 him preach in the neighborhood, and were in- 
 spired with awe, and could scarcely speak above 
 their breath. The little ones, boys and girls, he 
 called to him, patted them on their heads, 
 spoke encouragingly, and soon had their confi- 
 dence and affection. 
 
 The next movement was to take down their 
 names, ages, and the number of quarters, or 
 terms, each had attended school. He told them 
 frankly, he could not endure a school where 
 mutiny and war were the order of the day ; 
 that his sole object in teaching, was to do them 
 good and not harm, and he regarded it as the 
 right and privilege of all who desired to learn, 
 and improve their minds and acquire useful
 
 A YOUTHFUL DEMOCRACY. 155 
 
 knowledge, not to be interrupted by the im- 
 proper conduct of others ; that he compelled 
 no one to attend, and expected that all who 
 came to his school to conduct themselves in 
 such a manner, as to make the school comfort- 
 able and creditable to all. He read a few plain, 
 simple rules, and proposed them to the scholars/ 
 for adoption, and even gave opportunity for 
 objections to be made, or alterations proposed. 
 This was another new feature in school-discipline 
 and called forth expressions of astonishment and 
 approbation from the older scholars. He was 
 not anxious to enforce these rules on them, but 
 to give every pupil time to consider their bear- 
 ing, and suggested they could be postponed 
 until next day, if all were not prepared to de- 
 cide. The code appeared so reasonable and 
 proper, that a large majority seemed anxious 
 for its adoption at once, and every one present 
 gave a hearty assent. 
 
 The next movement was to make inquiry 
 about books ; and here no small difficulty and 
 inconvenience appeared. Each pupil had 
 brought such an article for the reading lessons 
 as first came to hand. One had a mutilated 
 copy of Dil worth's " New Guide to the English 
 Tongue ;" another showed a volume of old ser-
 
 156 COMMON-SCHOOL DEMOCRAOF. 
 
 mons ; a third had the " Eomance of the 
 Forest," an old novel, and a specimen of the 
 " yellow covered literature" of a former age. 
 A fourth, fifth, and sixth, could show Testa- 
 ments or pieces of Bibles, with the binding in 
 tatters, and the print dim, and paper brown, 
 such as were gotten up for sale to merchants in 
 that day. Some came without books or any aid 
 to learn the art and mystery of spelling and 
 reading. The Psalter that had descended from 
 some Virginia families whose ancestors belonged 
 to the Colonial English Church, was presented 
 by three or four more. The marvellous story 
 of "Valentine and Orson," answered for the 
 whole stock of literature for a family of three 
 children. What was now to be done ? Mr. 
 Clark neither scolded or ridiculed his pupils for 
 their deficiency in books. He knew they were 
 not to blame, and he surmised their parents 
 could, not readily remedy the evil. There was 
 not a book in the three little retail stores in 
 Lincoln County, for sale, and it was between 
 fifty and sixty miles to .Lexington where pur- 
 chases could be made. The world-renowned 
 ..Noah Webster had commenced the great work 
 of providing his young countrymen with the 
 means of learning their mother tongue, about
 
 NEW BOOKS OBTAINED. 157 
 
 thirteen years previous. His "First Part of a 
 Grammatical Institute of the English Lan- 
 guage," more popularly known as the "Ameri- 
 can Spelling-Book," was published for the first 
 time in 1783, but it had scarcely found its w^y 
 into the wilderness of Kentucky. Fathejr 
 Clark had obtained a copy in Charleston ; he 
 liked every thing American, and Webster's 
 Spelling Book struck his fancy, above all others, 
 from' which he would like 
 
 " To teach the young idea how to shoot." 
 
 None had been seen in Lincoln County. 
 Transylvania Seminary had been in operation 
 in Lexington, ten or twelve years, where some 
 of the higher branches of literature and science 
 were taught, and many of the young men who 
 became distinguished in law, politics, and medi- 
 cine, in that commonwealth, received their edu- 
 cation in that Seminary. After Mr. Clark had 
 left the State in 1798, a Grammar School was 
 opened in Lebanon, near the Royal Spring, in 
 Fayette County, where the elements of Latin, 
 Greek, and the sciences, were taught by Messrs. 
 Jones and Worley. 
 
 The old books had to be used until Mr. 
 Clark's new method of teaching became known, 
 and one of the employers visited Lexington on
 
 158 THE FABLES EXAMINED. 
 
 business. He returned with two dozen of Web- 
 ster's Spelling-Book, and more other school- 
 books than ever before reached Lincoln County 
 at one time. It was a real holiday for the boys 
 and girls to look over these books. 
 
 The rude cuts, or coarse illustrations, as they 
 would now be called, over the fables in the 
 Spelling-Book, were examined and criticised,and 
 the stories read, until they were " gotten by 
 heart." There was the boy that stole apples, 
 then on the tree, and the farmer throwing tufts 
 of grass to bring him down, and threatening " to 
 try what virtue there was in stones." Then 
 came the country girl, with the pail of milk on 
 her head, calculating the value when exchanged 
 for eggs ; these hatched into chickens, and the 
 chickens sent to market at Christmas, and the 
 profits invested in a new silk gown, in which she 
 would eclipse all her female companions during 
 the holidays. Inflated with vanity in her bril- 
 liant prospects, she acted out her feelings with 
 a toss of the head, when down came her pail of 
 milk, and with it all her imaginary happiness. 
 And then there was the cat covered with meal, 
 in the bottom of the meal-tub, while the young 
 rats were about to enjoy themselves around the 
 heap, until warned by an old and experienced
 
 INFLUENCE OF THE MASTER. 159 
 
 rat, who " did not like that white heap yonder." 
 " The hear and the two friends/' furnished 
 another fruitful source of mental speculation to 
 the pupils of Mr. Clark in the recess of school ; 
 while the fahle of the Farmer and Lawyer, and 
 the amazing difference "betwixt " your hull and 
 my ox/' caused hursts of laughter. 
 
 Thus the school went on, and the influence 
 of the master in controlling the feelings, the 
 minds and hahits of the pupils in school, or even 
 on the road-side, or at home, was overwhelming. 
 This was effected by an unusual commixture of 
 firmness and kindness, dignity and familiarity, 
 never known "before in a Kentucky school. 
 
 It was some weeks after the new hooks were 
 introduced, that Mr. Jesse Bush came into the 
 settlement from Old Virginia, to see the coun- 
 try and make a visit to his hrother, one of the 
 patrons of the school. Thonlas and Susan 
 Bush were two "bright eyed pupils of Father 
 Clark, and were discovered one evening hy their 
 uncle as he walked along the lane that led to 
 the house, gathering strips of loose, dry hark 
 from the fence rails for " lightwood." Such 
 comhustihle articles in the fire-place were an 
 excellent suhstitute for candles and lamps in 
 new and frontier settlements. Uncle Jesse had
 
 160 UNCLE JESSE, THOMAS AND SUSAN. 
 
 taken quite a fancy to his nephew and niece. 
 They had left the old dominion with their 
 parents several years before this period, and 
 had grown so much that their affectionate uncle 
 would not have known them,, had he met them 
 any where else than at their parents' on his ar- 
 rival. Susan was now eleven and Thomas 
 thirteen years old, and delighted to play and 
 romp with him, no less than he did with them. 
 
 It was in the month of October the days had 
 perceptibly grown shorter and the nights longer. 
 A fire was pleasant and comfortable, and the 
 lightwood threw up a cheerful blaze, while the 
 industrious scholars were getting their lessons 
 until interrupted by their uncle. 
 
 " Tommy, my boy, come here. You and I 
 have not had a frolic to-day. You are at that 
 new spelling-book every moment. What do 
 you find in that' book ?" 
 
 Thomas ran to his accustomed place between 
 the knees of uncle Jesse, and looking him in 
 the face, and catching hold of his beard of a 
 week's growth, responded : 
 
 " I find a heap of things. Here are pretties.* 
 Jest look at that "ere boy in the tree. He's 
 stealing apples, and sez he won't come' down." 
 
 * Pictures.
 
 A DIALOGUE ABOUT JOE SIKES. 161 
 
 " 0, pshaw, Tom, that's all a story. You 
 don't b'lieve a boy would get into an apple 
 tree in the day time, when he know'd the old 
 farmer would see him ?" 
 
 " Well, I don't know, but the master said 
 it's jest like bad boys, and he knows." 
 
 " Now, Tommy, tell me honestly, how do you 
 like the master ?" 
 
 " He's fust rate ; and all the boys say so." 
 
 " How many times has he whipped you ?" 
 
 " He duz no such thing. He says ef he can't 
 get along without fighting, he'll jest quit." 
 
 " Has Sis' got a flogging yet ?" 
 
 " No, sir-ee Sis' and the Master are great 
 friends." 
 
 " Does Joe Sikes come to school yet ?" 
 
 " I recon he duz. Joe can't stay away, no 
 how he can fix it." 
 
 " But Joe Sikes in old Virginia, was the 
 hardest case in school. He had Mr. Birch hold 
 of him regularly as the day came round." 
 
 " So he did here. Mr. O'Cafferty gave him 
 some of the all-firedest thrashings I ever seed, 
 and he only got worser." 
 
 " How in the world does Mr. Clark contrive 
 to manage that fellow ?" 
 
 " He jest talks it into him. And I he'rn Joe
 
 162 THE COLLOQUY CONTINUED. 
 
 say he'd no heart to insult so good a man as the 
 master." 
 
 " Now, Tom, tell me honestly which you'd 
 rather do stay at home, play with the dogs, 
 and hunt coons at night, or go to that school ?" 
 
 "I'd go to school as long as I liv'd ef I 
 could have such a master as Mr. Clark." 
 
 " Well, Tom, I must give you up. Mr. 
 Clark's bought you, that's certain. You're a 
 gone coon for huntin."* 
 
 Calling up Susan, he said, 
 
 " Come, Sis', and tell uncle what you think 
 of the master ?" 
 
 " He's the best man in all Canetuck." 
 
 " But some of those big girls down the creek 
 don't like him." 
 
 " Yes, they duz," responded Susan, whose 
 whole soul had become enlisted in the myste- 
 ries of the new spelling book. 
 
 " Now, Susy, let me hear you read your lesson 
 for to-morrow." 
 
 * It will not be thought strange that such a boy as Thomas Bush 
 (which is a fictitious name for a real personage) became a graduate of 
 Transylvania University, studied law in Lexington, was elected to 
 Congress, and became a Judge of the Court. In all these stations he 
 was an honor to himself, and to those who trained him for usefulness 
 and respectability. He also became a Christian professor, lived a life 
 of faith in Jesus Christ, and died in the full hope of a blessed immor- 
 tality.
 
 SCHOOL HOUSE WANTED. 163 
 
 Susan had just commenced the table for 
 " easy readings," and of course she had to pro- 
 ceed with great care. She took her station by 
 her uncle, with the new copy of Webster in 
 one hand, and pointing the fore-finger of the 
 other to the word as her eyes passed along the 
 line, she read slowly and distinctly, without 
 missing three worcls : 
 
 " No man may put off the law of God ; 
 My joy is in his law all the day. 
 I must not go in the way of sin. 
 Let me not go in the way of ill men." 
 
 "Well done, Susan ; you are right smart, 
 and do your master much credit." 
 
 Time passed away ; the school increased, 
 until the dirty old cabin was more than crowded. 
 During the warm season, those who studied 
 their lessons (and this was one of the new 
 fashions introduced), could retire to the shade 
 of the forest, and in groups of two, three and 
 four, might have been seen by passers by, in- 
 tently conning their lessons. But cold weather 
 approached, the people became quite spirited 
 in providing a new and better house for winter ; 
 and the whole settlement turned out with their 
 axes and teams. Large trees were felled in 
 the adjacent forest, and rough hewn on two
 
 164 THE NEW SCHOOL EDIFICE. 
 
 sides to a suitable thickness. Clap boards, 
 four feet long, were split from a straight 
 grained oak for the roof ; the ends of the logs 
 were securely notched together and were placed 
 one on top of another, as the four sides of the 
 house were raised. In a few days a commo- 
 dious house, about twenty feet square, and 
 covered in, stood a few yards from the old log 
 cabin. The spaces between the logs were soon 
 " chinked and daubed ;" that is, filled with 
 small flat stones and chumps of wood, and mud 
 plastered over the cracks both within and with- 
 out. 
 
 For windows, a log was cut out from each 
 side at a suitable height for the light to shine 
 on the writing desks, which were slabs placed 
 under the windows. The apertures were a foot 
 wide and extended the length of the room, 
 over which paper saturated with coon oil was 
 placed as a substitute for glass. The chimney 
 was built in the end opposite the door, and ran 
 up outside of the wall. An aperture about 
 ten feet wide was made through the logs for the 
 fire-place. The chimney was built of rough 
 stones from the neighboring quarry. And as 
 quite an advancement in the style of frontier 
 school houses at that period, planks, as the
 
 A NORMAL SCHOOL PROVIDED. 165 
 
 term was in Kentucky, or boards an inch and a 
 quarter thick, cut at a saw-mill on a branch of 
 Crab Orchard Creek, made a tight floor. It is 
 doubtful if out of Lexington, and a half- 
 dozen other towns, a school house existed in the 
 country settlements with any other floor than 
 the natural earth beaten hard, until this im- 
 provement was made both as an accommodation 
 and a compliment to their teacher. 
 
 Mr. Clark had two or three young men from 
 eighteen to twenty years of age, who had been 
 under his tuition from the openiog of the 
 school, and who desired to qualify themselves 
 for teachers. They were good tempered, affable, 
 constant in their studies, and made good pro- 
 gress. The school now promised to have a 
 greater number and variety of pupils than Mr. 
 Clark could attend to and do justice to all. 
 He proposed to these young men to assist him 
 in the smaller classes, and by that means they 
 would be qualified the sooner and the more 
 thoroughly to teach and govern a school. 
 
 Time sped on, and Christmas, the real holi- 
 day amongst Southern people, was approaching. 
 We are anxious to know how the tact and skill 
 of Mr. Clark in governing rude, thoughtless, 
 overgrown boys and precocious young men
 
 166 TKAPTTIONARY LAW ENFORCED. 
 
 availed him on Christmas week ; and as hap- 
 pened with other teachers in those days, whether 
 he was " turned out" of the new school house 
 hy his mutinous subjects. 
 
 " To the time whereunto the memory of man 
 runneth not/' so reads the law phrase, a cus- 
 tom had prevailed amongst the southern young- 
 sters, that as Christmas approached, the author- 
 ity over the school house was reversed ; the 
 young folks seized the reins of government. 
 Judge Lynch held his court, and pronounced 
 the authority from ancient traditions, that the 
 pedagogue must resign all authority with the 
 school house itself, until the holiday season was 
 over, and make up the lost time at the close of 
 his term. 
 
 The reversal of authority was usually effected 
 the day before Christmas. This singular cus- 
 tom of turning out the master was brought 
 from old England into the South by the cava- 
 lier branch of that nation in contradistinc- 
 tion from the puritans who .settled New Eng- 
 land. It can be traced back to the feudal age, 
 and ranks among other frolics in which the 
 common people were permitted and encouraged 
 to indulge their passion for fun and riot, by 
 both the priests and magistrates. A mere ab-
 
 A SHOCKING SCENE. 167 
 
 dication of the office for the time being did not 
 satisfy this ancient custom in all cases. If the 
 mutinous party took the notion into their heads, 
 and lawlessness and disorder were winked at by 
 the parents, as in some settlements, the master 
 must treat all the pupils to cherry bounce,** 
 whiskey sweetened with honey, peach brandy, 
 or some other equally pernicious liquor. The 
 same custom often prevailed at Easter. 
 
 The penalty of not complying with every ex- 
 action imposed by the rebellious scholars, was a 
 severe ducking in the river. On some occasion^ 
 serious personal injury has been inflicted. This 
 feudal right had been claimed heretofore, and 
 the master compelled to abdicate, and make up 
 lost time in the school on Flat Creek. Mr. 
 O'Cafferty had done more than his pupils ex- 
 acted, for he had procured a supply of cherry 
 bounce, whiskey and honey, and was so gener- 
 ous in its distribution, and set such an impres- 
 sive example in favor of its qualities, that one 
 half of his pupils were dreadfully sick, some 
 had to be carried home to their parents, and 
 the master required a wide path, and made 
 tracts in a zigzag form, in reaching his lodging 
 place. This hospitable trait in his character 
 
 * Whiskey in which cherries have been steeped.
 
 168 AN IMPORTANT CONVENTION. 
 
 was no small item in the list of complaints, 
 which induced his employers to get rid of him. 
 Indeed, a large majority of the people in this 
 settlement regarded this ancient custom more 
 honored in the breach than the observance. 
 
 On the morning preceding Christmas, as Mr. 
 Clark approached the new academy, he saw a 
 number of the older scholars in a group, talk- 
 ing very earnestly ; and he supposed mischief 
 was brewing. He entered the house, arranged 
 the benches and books, and gave the customary 
 signal for all to come in, and take their places, 
 preparatory to the morning's lesson. This con- 
 sisted in reading a portion of the Old or New 
 Testament, by each scholar who had advanced 
 that far in scholastic attainments. All came 
 to their places, when three of the company 
 arose, and approached the master in a respectful 
 attitude, as a committee on behalf of the 
 scholars, who had that morning held a meeting 
 on the due observation of the Christmas holi- 
 days. 
 
 We regret that at the period of which our 
 history pertaineth, no newspaper was published 
 in Lincoln county, and but one, the " Kentucky 
 Gazette" in the State. Hence we can find no 
 printed record of these important proceedings,
 
 A RESPECTFUL ADDRESS. 169 
 
 and left for the benefit of posterity. Especially 
 do we lament the inability to give, literally, the 
 able and eloquent speech made before the 
 schoolmaster by the youthful chairman, who 
 spoke " without notes." As he is reported to 
 have made quite a noise at the "bar" and on 
 the " stump," after the era of newspapers, 
 the loss of a verbatim copy of this maiden 
 address is irreparable. The original copy in 
 manuscript (if one was ever made) cannot now 
 be found among the antiquarian documents of 
 Lincoln county. Our readers would like to 
 peruse it, but all we can give is the mere sub- 
 stance which tradition has preserved. 
 
 The speaker referred to the ancient and 
 honorable custom of turning out the master at 
 Christmas. He even expressed some doubts of 
 the real value of such a usage, though it might 
 be unfavorable to that manly independence that, 
 belonged to young Americans. He alluded to 
 the unfortunate issue of Mr. O'Cafferty's 
 liberality on a previous Christmas ; indeed the 
 last one the high minded young gentlemen of 
 Flat Creek had observed (himself having been 
 a sufferer on that memorable occasion ;) that 
 the " old folks" at home disliked it ; -that the 
 young gentlemen who loved a frolic, really
 
 170 MR. CLARK'S RESPONSE. 
 
 " had no heart," (these were the very words) 
 to do any unpleasant thing to their present 
 schoolmaster. Him they all respected and 
 loved, and, therefore, the committee had heen 
 instructed to present a respectful petition, that 
 the master would please to adjourn the school 
 to the following Monday. 
 
 To which Mr. Clark responded to the com- 
 mittee in the hearing of the whole school in the 
 following speech. 
 
 " MY DEAR FRIENDS AND PUPILS : I thank 
 you for your courteous and respectful treatment, 
 and the address through your chairman on this 
 occasion. I have labored to convince you that 
 good order, kindness to each other, and a due 
 regard to the wishes of your instructor are ne- 
 cessary to your own happiness. When we com- 
 menced our present relation as master and 
 pupils, you adopted rules for your behavior, 
 and you have enjoyed much happiness in obey- 
 ing them. One of the most useful and im- 
 portant lessons for you to acquire and practice 
 is that of self-government ; for if you are not 
 trained to govern yourselves, you will never be 
 qualified to perform the duties of American 
 citizens in this great and growing republic. 
 
 " It affords me pleasure to accord with your
 
 ANOTHER RELIGIOUS MEETING. 171 
 
 wishes, and give you a vacation during the 
 Christmas holidays. I have been requested by 
 preacher Jolliff and the people to attend a 
 meeting with him in the settlement down Crab 
 Orchard, and it will be quite convenient to 
 dismiss the school this evening, until the first 
 Monday in January. Now please take your 
 books and go through the lessons of the morn- 
 ing." 
 
 Eyes shone bright, hearts beat joyfully, the 
 books were opened, and all parties felt happy. 
 The influence of Mr. Clark over his pupils re- 
 ceived additional force from the manner in 
 which the momentous question of observing 
 the Christmas holidays was settled. 
 
 The religious meeting was held during four 
 successive days and nights, about a dozen or 
 fifteen miles from the school house, and at- 
 tended by the people for several miles around. 
 Amongst others, there were seen several of the 
 students of Father Clark, who listened to his 
 discourses with serious attention, and tradition 
 testifies a number were converted. 
 
 But we must hasten forward with our story, 
 for we have a long series of years yet to travel 
 over, and many new and interesting scenes to 
 portray.
 
 1*72 A REAL CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY. 
 
 The six months Mr. Clark at first proposed 
 to teach the school on Flat Creek turned out to 
 be a twelve month. A wonderful change had 
 been produced in the settlement ; indeed, we 
 may say truthfully, an entire revolution had 
 been made in public sentiment concerning 
 schools and teachers. At the close of the year, 
 he could have had one of the largest schools in 
 the new and growing State of Kentucky, on 
 any terms he had chosen to ask. 
 
 For more than two months, during the winter, 
 his mind was solemnly impressed with the para- 
 mount duty to preach the gospel in a more des- 
 titute region. If ever there was a true mis- 
 sionary in modern times, Father Clark was that 
 man, for he conferred not with flesh and blood, 
 made no calculations of ease or a support, 
 stopped not to see whether the churches, or 
 other ministers were prepared to move forward 
 according to the divine commission in preaching 
 the gospel to every creature. He had imitated 
 Paul the apostle in denying himself the com- 
 forts and happiness in the connubial relation, 
 that no earthly tie might hinder him from going 
 wherever Providence directed. He cast him- 
 self on that providence that so mysteriously 
 had preserved him in perils by land and by sea,
 
 LEARNING THE PATHWAY OF DUTY. 173 
 
 and engaged in the work of a Christian mis- 
 sionary with his whole soul. 
 
 When he left Georgia, his thoughts ran to- 
 wards the Illinois country, where, as he had 
 learned American families had gone from the 
 south branch of the Potomac in Virginia, and 
 the new settlements of Kentucky. During 
 his residence in Lincoln county, he had seen 
 several men who had visited the Illinois country, 
 and even the " Far West/' which was then 
 the Spanish province of Upper Louisiana, 
 west of the Mississippi river. There the gospel 
 had never been preached ; and yet, allured by 
 the gift of uncultivated land for farms, and in- 
 spired by the daring enterprize of backwoods 
 and frontier people, many families had crossed 
 the Great Kiver.* The government of Spain 
 was very despotic, but the commandants, who 
 represented the crown of Spain in the province 
 of Louisiana, were liberal, and encouraged 
 Americans to migrate and settle there. 
 
 Of course with Father Clark, it was a subject 
 of daily prayer that God would direct him to 
 that field of labor HE desired him to occupy. 
 He expected and received satisfactory impres- 
 sions, or a full conviction of mind, after much 
 
 * This is the aboriginal meaning of Mississippi.
 
 174 REGRET AMONG THE SCHOLARS. 
 
 prayer, examination of the field in Illinois and 
 the Spanish country so far as he could obtain 
 information, and watching the leadings of 
 providence. The pathway of duty became 
 plain, and to that country he must go, and see 
 what the Lord would have him do there. We 
 never knew a man who consulted his personal 
 convenience less, and the entire will of God 
 more. No man was more discriminating, looked 
 at secondary causes with a steadier eye, and 
 then trusted himself entirely to the Divine 
 guidance. 
 
 As the last quarter of the school drew to- 
 wards the close, there was evidently dissatisfac- 
 tion and regret among the scholars. They had 
 learned the intentions of the master, and they 
 trembled at the prospect of losing a teacher 
 who had treated them like reasonable creatures, 
 and who led them in such pleasant paths by 
 the strong cords of affection and respect. 
 They really dreaded lest some illiterate whiskey 
 drinking, brutal Irishman, like master O'Caf- 
 ferty with his shelalah, should be engaged to 
 tyrannize over them, and dry up every stream 
 of true happiness in the school. But their 
 fears were imaginary. Every parent and 
 
 i
 
 A NEW SCHOOLMASTER PROVIDED. 175 
 
 guardian would now have protested against such 
 an imposition on the community. 
 
 Before the close of the last term under mas- 
 ter Clark, it was whispered about that Joseph 
 Helm would take charge of the school. Joseph 
 was one of Mr. Clark's assistants, and showed 
 much interest in the employment. He was a 
 stout Kentuckian, six feet in his shoes, with a 
 commanding appearance, and seriously dis- 
 posed. The little ones had learned already to 
 call him master Helm ; and on the whole he 
 was worthy of the mantle of master Clark. - 
 
 The parting day came, and when about to 
 dismiss the school for the last time, the affec- 
 tionate master was so overpowered by his feel- 
 ings as to be incapable of making his farewell 
 address. He attempted to utter a few words, 
 but his voice choked, tears fell like heavy rain- 
 drops, convulsive sobs heaved his breast, and he 
 could only grasp their hands with nervous ener- 
 gy, as they passed him towards the door-way. 
 
 And now another trial came on. The women 
 in the settlement had provided him with more 
 articles of clothing than he could take with 
 him, of their own homely making. Every 
 house in the settlement had been open for him
 
 176 BEAL TROUBLE ABOUT MONEY. 
 
 both as a visitor and a boarder, but the generous 
 hearted men were resolved he should not de- 
 part empty handed. 
 
 Bank bills at that period were wholly un- 
 known in Kentucky, silver coin was very scarce, 
 and much of the business among the people 
 was done by barter. The proclamation had 
 been made for the employers to meet at the 
 school house, and every one knew what was 
 wanting. No one held back, and two or three 
 who could not attend the meeting sent their 
 perquisites by their neighbors. With no small 
 sacrifice, about fifty dollars were collected by a 
 sort of average, according to the number of 
 scholars from each family, after excusing several 
 families on account of inability. A committee 
 of three gentlemen was appointed to wait on 
 Mr. Clark, explain why no larger amount had 
 been raised, and present the acknowledgments 
 of the whole settlement for his very useful ser- 
 vices, and their kind wishes for his welfare, and 
 should he ever return, how rejoiced would they 
 be to receive him again. 
 
 Mr. Clark had still a small sum left of his 
 resources in Georgia, including the gratuitous 
 offerings on the way from that country, and 
 really felt that he had no need of money. When
 
 A DOUBTFUL COLLOQUY. 177 
 
 he heard of the meeting, he thought it had re- 
 ference solely to the future school ; but what 
 was his surprise, and even distress, when the 
 committee called on him that very evening, with 
 their report, and the fifty dollars all in silver 
 coin ! He desired to treat them courteously ; 
 he respected and loved their hospitable and gen- 
 erous motives, but told them again and again 
 that the people owed him nothing that all he 
 asked when he commenced the school was his 
 board and clothing that, in fact, he had no use 
 for the money, and finally, that he might be 
 robbed and murdered in the wilderness should 
 he carry such an amount of wealth about him. 
 This last objection struck the committee as hav- 
 ing at least some practical sense in it, and after 
 much parleying, he compromised the matter by 
 consenting with great reluctance to receive a 
 small gratuity as an expression of the friendship 
 of the people. 
 
 " What a strange sort o' man that Master 
 Clark is," said one committee-man to the others, 
 as they were returning homeward after night- 
 fall. 
 
 " Yes, he is sartin'ly mighty singular, not to 
 take money for his labors when he arn'd it, and 
 tis offered him."
 
 >178 HIS MEMORY IN KENTUCKY. 
 
 "An't lie a leetle sort o' crack'd?" asked 
 another. " It looks like it," was the reply ; 
 "but, then a crack'd skull never could 'av' 
 managed the youngsters as he did." 
 
 " Well, I reckon he'll suffer for that money 
 yet, way in that Elenoy country, 'fore he'd find 
 a chance to get more. I b'lieve a man ought'r 
 get all the money he can honestly, 'specially 
 when he's arn'd it, as Master Clark done." 
 
 " I'm mind he'll yet die a poor man, and it 
 mought be he'd suffer a heap ef he lives long in 
 that new country, and gets no money to pay 
 'xpenses." 
 
 " Well, I an't sorry we raised it, no how ; 
 for he'd orter been paid ; for he's done the 
 childer a mighty heap of good." 
 
 " And he's a good man, that's sartin'," re- 
 plied the first speaker ; " and ef John Clark 
 don't get to the ' good country ' he talks of 
 when he preaches, I'm mighty fear'd nobody 
 else will." 
 
 And John Clark was net forgotten in Ken- 
 tucky for many a year, nor his singular ways, 
 neither. There are a few old people still living, 
 who attended school under his instruction, who, 
 as they express it, " never seed the like on't." 
 They do not believe, with all the "new fangled
 
 JOURNEY TO ILLINOIS. 179 
 
 ways," and " heap o' larnin," and practical wis- 
 dom teachers now have, that thej can come up 
 with preacher Clark. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Journey to Illinois. Story of the Gilham family, captured by Indians,. 
 Hard fare. Mr. Gilham attempts to recover them. Indian War. 
 Peace made. The Family Redeemed. Removes to Illinois with 
 Mr. Clark. Navigation of Western Rivers. Story of Fort Massac. 
 Terrible sickness. Settlement of New Design. An ungodly race. 
 First Preacher in Illinois. A Stranger hi meeting First Bap- 
 tisms. Other Preachers. First Church Formed. Manners and 
 customs of the French. Indian Wat. Stations or Forts Described. 
 PIONEER BOOKS projected. 
 
 And now we find the pioneer preacher trudg- 
 ing along the obscure pathway that guided him 
 down the country in a western direction, towards 
 the Green river district. He made appoint- 
 ments and preached in all the principal settle- 
 ments as he journeyed, and was treated kindly 
 and hospitably by all classes of people. It was 
 in the Green river country he became acquainted 
 with James Gilham, who was then preparing to 
 remove his family and settle in the Illinois coun- 
 try, and wanted three or four able bodied men 
 to accompany him, and work the boat down the 
 Ohio and up the Mississippi. Mr. Clark had
 
 180 STORY OF THE GILHAM FAMILY. 
 
 started from Lincoln County with the intention 
 of passing through the wilderness on foot, but 
 he had now a good opportunity of proceeding 
 in a keel boat, or French pirogue, by water. 
 They fitted out at the Ked-banks, on the Ohio. 
 While pursuing their journey of several hun- 
 dred miles, Mr. Clark, in accordance of a long 
 cherished wish, had a fine opportunity to learn 
 much of Indian character and habits from this 
 family. Mrs. Gilham and three children had 
 been redeemed from a long and distressing cap- 
 tivity but two years before, and the story of her 
 sufferings, privations, and wonderful preserva- 
 tion, as told to Mr. Clark, while sitting around 
 their camp fire at night, deserves a place in 
 our narrative, 
 
 Mr. James Gilham was a native of South 
 Carolina, where he married his wife Ann, and 
 commenced the battle of life as a frontier farm- 
 er. He removed his young family to Kentucky, 
 and pitched his station in the western frontier 
 settlements of that district. There he pur- 
 chased a claim to a tract of land, and cleared a 
 farm, cheered with the hopeful anticipations of 
 i peaceful and happy life ; but, like many 
 others, he and his wife were doomed to disap- 
 pointment. They had three sons and one
 
 CAPTURED BY THE INDIANS. 181 
 
 daughter living, between the ages of four and 
 twelve. 
 
 It was in the month of June, 1790, that he 
 was ploughing in his corn field, some distance 
 from his house, from which he was hidden by a 
 skirt of timber, while his eldest son Isaac was 
 clearing the hills from weeds with the hoe. At 
 the same time several "braves" of the Kicka- 
 poo tribe of Indians, from the Illinois country, 
 were lurking in the woods near the house, where 
 Mrs. Gilham, the two little boys, Samuel and 
 Clement, and the daughter, were sheltered, 
 wholly unsuspicious of such visitors. The In- 
 dians, finding the door open, rushed in ; some 
 seized the woman and gagged her, to prevent 
 her giving the alarm ; others seized the children, 
 who could make no resistance. Mrs. Gilham 
 was so alarmed that she lost her senses, and 
 could not recollect any thing distinctly, until 
 aroused by the voice of Samuel, tc Mamma, 
 we're all prisoners." This excited her feelings, 
 and she looked around to find out whether the 
 other children were all alive. Indians never 
 walk abreast, as white people do. One leads 
 off on the trail, and the others follow in single 
 file, and are sometimes half a mile apart. One 
 stout, bold warrior, went forward as a guide,
 
 182 DISTRESS IN THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 and another kept many yards behind as a spy, 
 watching cautiously to see if they were followed. 
 They kept in the thick forest, out of the way 
 of all the settlements, lest they should be dis- 
 covered. 
 
 Mrs. Gilham and the children were in great 
 distress. They were hurried forward by their 
 savage masters, whose fierce looks and threaten- 
 ing gestures alarmed them exceedingly. The 
 Indians had ripped open their beds, turned out 
 the feathers, and converted the ticking into 
 sacks, which they had filled with such articles 
 of clothing as they could conveniently carry 
 from the cabin, but were in too much haste to 
 be off with their captives, to lay in provisions. 
 They were used to periods of starvation, and 
 could go three or four days without food, but 
 the mother and her little ones suffered to an 
 extent beyond the conception of our readers. 
 But human nature can endure much in extreme 
 cases. The feet of the children soon became 
 sore and torn with briers ; and the poor woman 
 tore her clothes to obtain rags to wrap around 
 their feet. The savages, as they thought, 
 treated them kindly, just as they would have 
 done to their own children, and Mrs. Gilham 
 and the children had been familiar with the
 
 A RACCOON FESTIVAL. 183 
 
 privations of frontier life, but they always had 
 enough of plain, coarse food to eat ; now they 
 were starving. The Indians had with them a 
 morsel of jerked venison, which they gave the 
 children, but for themselves and the suffering 
 mother there was not a particle of food to eat. 
 One day they encamped in an obscure place, and 
 sent out two of their best hunters, who crept 
 stealthily through the thick brush and cane, 
 and returned towards night with one poor rac- 
 coon. Mrs. Gilham afterwards told her friends 
 that the sight of that half-starved 'coon was 
 more gratification to her at that time than any 
 amount of wealth could have afforded. She 
 was in great distress lest her children should 
 perish with hunger, or the Indians kill them. 
 They dared not hunt rear the settlements, lest 
 they should be discovered. 
 
 The coon was dressed by singeing off the hair 
 over a blaze of fire, and after throwing away 
 the contents of the intestines, the animal was 
 chopped in pieces and boiled in a kettle with 
 the head, bones, skin and entrails, and made 
 into a kind of soup. When done, and partially 
 cooled, the children, mother, and Indians sat 
 around the kettle, and with horn spoons, and
 
 184 ROUTE TO THEIR VILLAGES. 
 
 sharpened sticks for forks, obtained a poor and 
 scanty relief from starvation. 
 
 They approached the Ohio river with caution, 
 lest white people might be passing in boats. 
 
 /They camped in the woods near the present 
 site of Hawesville, and made three rafts of dry 
 logs, with slender poles lashed across with 
 thongs of elm -bark, and placed them near the 
 river, that they might push them in and cross 
 over before they became soaked in water and 
 heavy. The wily Indians were too cunning to 
 cross by daylight lest they should be dis- 
 covered, and Mrs. Gilham was exceedingly ter- 
 rified at the danger of crossing by night. How- 
 ever they all got over safely. 
 
 The warriors considered it a great achieve- 
 ment to capture a white woman and three chil- 
 dren in Kentucky, and elude all pursuit, and 
 reach their own villages on Salt Creek, in the 
 Illinois country, without being discovered. And 
 they exercised all their cunning and sagacity to 
 accomplish this daring feat. 
 
 When they reached the wilderness south- 
 west of the Ohio river, they were in the Indian 
 country, and proceeded slowly. They hunted 
 with such success in the country between the 
 Ohio and White river that they had plenty of
 
 MB. GILHAM AND HIS SON. 185 
 
 provisions. They kept to the right of the 
 white settlements near Vincennes, and along 
 the valley of White river, and crossed the 
 Wabash helow Terre Haute, and proceeded 
 through the present counties of Clark, Coles 
 and Macon to their towns in Logan bounty.* 
 
 There they held a season of feasting and 
 frolicing with their friends for their successful 
 enterprize. And here we will leave Mrs. Gril- 
 ham and her children, distributed as they were 
 among different Indian families, and suffering 
 all the hardships of Indian captives, until the 
 war was over in 1795. 
 
 We now return to the father and son in 
 Kentucky. They continued their labor in the 
 cornfield until dinner time, when the horse was 
 ungeared, and they returned to the house. 
 There every thing was in confusion. The 
 feathers from the beds were scattered over the 
 yard, the mother and children were gone ! The 
 "signs" were too plain to leave any doubt on 
 the mind of the husband and father of their 
 fate ! They were Indian captives, unless some 
 were killed. The first natural impression was 
 
 Their towns were situated about twenty miles a little east of 
 north from Springfield, and not far from where now the Chicago and 
 Mississippi railroad crosses Salt Creek, in Logan county. Kickapoo, 
 a branch of Salt Creek, may be seen on the sectional map of Illinois.
 
 186 FOLLOWS THE INDIANS. 
 
 that in attempting to flee they were butchered 
 by these monsters of the woods. Isaac began 
 to cry and call loudly for his mother, until he 
 was peremptorily told by his father to hold his 
 tongue and make no noise, as some of the, 
 Indians might lie concealed, watching for him 
 and his son. He knew the character and habits 
 of these cunning sons of the forest, and 
 stealthily examined in every direction for further 
 signs. He soon fell on their trail, as they left 
 the clearing and entered the woods, and saw in 
 one or two places the tracks of his wife and 
 little ones. He now felt encouraged, for he 
 knew that Indians more generally kill persons 
 on their first attack, and that when they take 
 possession of women and children they take 
 them to their towns that they may adopt them 
 in the place of those they have lost, and train 
 them up in Indian ways, and thus increase the 
 number and strength of the tribe. White 
 children who are trained by Indians make the 
 smartest and often the most ferocious savages. 
 
 The country where Mr. Gilham resided was 
 very thinly settled, and it was not until the 
 next day he could raise a party strong enough 
 to pursue them with any prospect of success. 
 He and his neighbors followed the trail for some
 
 DISTRESS OF MR. GILHAM. 187 
 
 distance, but Indians when they expect pursuit 
 are very cunning and skillful in concealing their 
 tracts, and turning their pursuers in the wrong 
 direction. When a large number are together, 
 they divide into small parties, and make as 
 many separate trails as they can. They will 
 step with singular caution, so as to leave no 
 marks, and they will wander in opposite direc- 
 tions and make their trails cross each other. 
 When they come to a stream of water they will 
 wade a long distance in the water, and fre- 
 quently in a contrary direction to that of their 
 journey, and unless their pursuers understand 
 all their tricks, they will not fail in deceiving 
 them. Mr. Gilham and his friends understood 
 their strategy, but could not find their trail 
 after they once lost it. It is probable they 
 struck the Ohio river some distance from the 
 crossing place of the Indians. 
 
 No one who has never experienced the same 
 affliction, can fully realize the distress of poor 
 Mr. Gilham, when, after a long search, he was 
 obliged to yield to the advice of his neighbors, 
 turn back, and leave his wife and children in 
 savage hands. But hope did not desert him- 
 He knew they must be alive, and he hoped the 
 time was not far distant when he might hear of
 
 188 INDIAN HOSTILITIES. 
 
 them. He sold his farm in Kentucky, put 
 Isaac in the family and charge of a friend, fully 
 determined to reclaim his lost family, or perish 
 in the effort. He visited post Vincent (now 
 Vincennes) and Kaskaskia, and enlisted the 
 French traders, who held personal intercourse 
 with the Indian tribes of the north-west, to 
 make inquiries and redeem them if they could 
 be found. He visited General St. Clair at Fort 
 Washington, now Cincinnati, who was governor 
 of the north-western territory, and who had 
 just returned from tne Illinois country. He 
 learned that the Indians, stimulated by British 
 agents and traders in the north, were medi- 
 tating hostilities. Anthony Gamelin, an intel- 
 ligent French trader, had been sent out by 
 Major Hamtramck, with instructions irom Gov. 
 St. Clair, on an exploring mission to the 
 Indians along the Wabash and Maumee, to 
 learn their designs, and he had just returned 
 with abundant evidence of their hostile inten- 
 tions. General Harmar had commenced his 
 unfortunate campaign, and the prospect was 
 dark and discouraging. It was the intention 
 of Mr. Gilham to penetrate the Indian country, 
 and go from tribe to tribe until he found his 
 lost family, but Governor St. Clair and all
 
 I 
 
 THE CAPTIVES FOUND. 189 
 
 others acquainted with the state of things in 
 the north-west dissuaded him from such a hope- 
 less attempt. After a lapse of five years of 
 doubt, trial, and disappointment, he learned 
 from some French traders they were alive, and 
 among the Kickapoos of Illinois. At the treaty 
 of Greenville, the chiefs of the Indian tribes 
 promised to give up all American captives, but 
 a French trader had made arrangements for 
 ransoming them ; the goods having been fur- 
 nished by an Irish trader at Capokia, by the 
 name of Atcheson. With two Frenchmen for 
 interpreter and guides, Mr. Gilham visited the 
 Indian towns on Salt Creek, and found his wife 
 and children all alive, but the youngest, 
 Clement, could not speak a word of English, 
 and it was some time before he knew and would 
 own his father, or could be persuaded to leave 
 the Indian country, and he was left for a time 
 among the savages. 
 
 Mr. Gilham had become enamored of the 
 Illinois country, and after he had gathered his 
 family together in Kentucky, resolved to re- 
 move them to the delightful prairies he had 
 visited. As an honorable testimonial of the 
 hardships and sufferings of her captivity, Mrs. 
 Ann Gilham, in 1815, received from the
 
 190 NAVIGATING WESTERN RIVERS. 
 
 national government, one hundred and sixty 
 acres of choice land in the county of Madison, 
 where they lived. Mr. Gilharn died about 
 1812, like a Christian. His widow and most of 
 the children professed religion, and some joined 
 the Methodists and others the Baptists. A 
 large number of the Gilham connection followed 
 this pioneer to Illinois, where their descendants 
 are yet living. 
 
 Mr. Clark and the Gilham family met with 
 no difficulty on their voyage. They floated 
 down the Ohio with the current, aided by the 
 oars and setting poles, but to stem the strong 
 current of the Mississippi, they used the cor- 
 delle and setting-poles, and occasionally crept 
 along the shore by "bush- whacking."* 
 
 * The cordelle is a long rope attached to the bow of the boat, and 
 drawn over the shoulders of the men, who walk along the bank. The 
 setting-pole is about ten or twelve feet long, with the lower end shod 
 with iron, and the upper end terminating in a knob, which is pressed 
 against the shoulder, and the men who use them walk forwards on the 
 narrow gunwale, in a very stooping posture, with their faces towards 
 the stern. This shoves the boat against a strong current. When the 
 hands on the gunwale next the shore drop their poles and catch hold 
 of limbs and bushes that overhang the river and pull the boat forward, 
 it is called " bush-whacking." Oars are used in crossing the river 
 from one shore to the other. A long heavy oar with a wide blade is 
 attached to the stern so as to move on a pivot, and the steersman, who 
 is commandant for the occasion, directs the boatmen. This was the 
 mode of ascending western rivers before the " Age of Steam."
 
 THEY REACH KASKASKIA. 191 
 
 Mr. Clark made a capital hand on the 
 boat, and cheerfully engaged in the labor and 
 toil of the voyage. His experience in seafaring 
 business made him an acquisition to the com- 
 pany, and laid the foundation for friendship in 
 this family and with all of the name until 
 death parted them. Many of the Gilham con- 
 nection became Methodists in Illinois, but 
 Father Clark was the most welcome guest who 
 entered their houses. 
 
 When night came on, they tied their boat to 
 a tree at the shore, made a fire, and camped in 
 the woods, where they provided their two meals 
 for the day. They moved up the strong and 
 turbid current of the Mississippi at the rate of 
 twelve miles each day. Indians occasionally 
 hailed them from the shore, but they were 
 friendly, and only desired to barter venison for 
 whiskey, tobacco, corn-meal, knives and trin- 
 kets. 
 
 When the company reached Kaskaskia, Mr. 
 Gilham disposed of his boat to some French voy- 
 ageurSj and made his first location in the Amer- 
 ican bottom, about twenty-five or thirty miles 
 above the town. Both him and his family were 
 hospitably received by the settlers, for they knew 
 their trials and the history of their captivity.
 
 192 ORIGIN OF MASSAC. 
 
 Mr. Clark soon formed religious friends, and was 
 ready to preach the gospel on these remote 
 frontiers. 
 
 The Indians of tne northwest had been so 
 severely chastised by " Mad Anthony," (as the 
 soldiers call General Wayne,) that they were 
 glad to make peace ; and now, after many years 
 of distress, and the massacre of many families 
 in the Illinois country, the people had opportu- 
 nity to cultivate their little farms, and provide 
 the necessaries to enable them to live comfort- 
 ably. The people then travelled from the older 
 settlements to this frontier country, and even 
 caravans of moving families went down the 
 Ohio in flat boats, with their horses, cattle, 
 provisions, and clothing, to a place called Mas- 
 sac by the French, from whence they followed a 
 trail through the wilderness, with their wagons 
 or pack horses, to Kaskaskia, and to the settle- 
 ment of New Design, and the American bottom, 
 thirty miles further. Massac was a contracted 
 form of speech for Massacre, in the French 
 mode of abbreviating proper names. It is on 
 the Ohio river, near where the town of Me- 
 tropolis is now situated, which is the seat of 
 justice for Massac County. Its name is a me- 
 mento of a fearful calamity in the early part of
 
 INDIANS DISGUISED AS BEARS. 193 
 
 the last century. The French established a 
 trading post and a missionary station on the 
 right bank of the Ohio, then called Oudbache. 
 The southern Indians, then hostile to these 
 Europeans, laid a stratagem to obtain posses- 
 sion of the fort. A number of them appeared 
 in the day-time on the sand-bar of the opposite 
 side of the river, each covered with the skin of 
 a bear, and walking on all fours. They had 
 disguised themselves so completely, and played 
 pantomime so successfully with each other, that 
 the French people did not doubt they were 
 really wild bears from the forest who came there 
 to drink. A party crossed the river in pursuit 
 of them, while the rest left the fort and stood 
 on the bank to see the sport. They did not 
 discover the deception until they found them- 
 selves cut off from returning within the fort. 
 They were soon massacred by the tomahawk 
 and scalping knife of the savages. The French 
 built another fort on the same spot, afterwards, 
 and called it Massacre, or, as they taught the 
 American pioneers to call it, MASSAC. 
 
 Early in the same season that Mr. Clark 
 came with the Q-ilhani family, a colony of one 
 hundred and twenty -six emigrants from the 
 south branch of the Potomac in Virginia, set
 
 194 
 
 A TERRIBLE SICKNESS. 
 
 out for Illinois, At Bedstone, on the Monon- 
 gahela, (now Brownsville,) they fitted out 
 several flat boats, on which, with their horses 
 and wagons, they floated down the current 
 to Pittsburgh, and thence down the Ohio 
 to Massac, where they landed and went across 
 the country to the settlement of New Design. 
 That season, and especially after they left the 
 Ohio, was unusually rainy and hot. The 
 streams overflowed their banks, and covered the 
 alluvial, or bottom lands on their borders ; and 
 the low ground in the woods and prairies were 
 covered with water. They were twenty-one 
 days traveling through this wilderness, the dis- 
 tance of about one hundred miles, and much 
 of it through dreary forests. The old settlers 
 had been so long harassed with Indian warfare, 
 that farming business had been neglected, their 
 cattle were few in number, and bread corn was 
 scarce. Their cabins usually contained each a sin- 
 gle room for all domestic purposes ; and though 
 hospitality to strangers is a universal trait in 
 frontier character, it was entirely beyond the 
 ability of the inhabitants to provide accommo- 
 dations for these "new comers, who arrived in 
 a deplorably famishing and sickly condition. 
 They did all they could ; a single cabin fre-
 
 SETTLEMENT OF NEW DESIGN. 195 
 
 quently contained four or five families. Their 
 rifles could provide venison from the woods, but 
 the weather that followed the severe rains in 
 midsummer was so unusually . hot and sultry, 
 that their fresh meat spoiled before they could 
 pack it from the hunting grounds ; and they 
 were destitute of salt to preserve and season it. 
 Medical aid could be procured only from a great 
 distance, and that very seldom. Under such 
 circumstances, no one need be surprised that 
 of the colony, who left Virginia in the Spring, 
 only one-half of their number were alive in 
 autumn. A ridge in the western part of the 
 settlement, adjacent to the bluffs, was covered 
 with the newly formed graves. They were 
 swept off by a putrid fever, unusually malig- 
 nant, and which, in some instances, did its work 
 in a few hours. The old settlers were as healthy 
 as usual. No disease like this ever appeared in 
 the country before or since. Mr. Clark had 
 good health, and found work enough among 
 these suffering families in nursing, instructing, 
 and praying with the sick, and consoling the 
 dying. The settlement of New Design had 
 been commenced by American families about 
 a dozen years previous. Its situation was on 
 the elevated plateau, about thirty miles north
 
 196 AN UNGODLY RACE. 
 
 of the town of Kaskaskia, and from ten to 
 twelve miles from the Mississippi, and from 
 three to six miles east of the American bottom 
 and contiguous bluffs. Along the wide alluvial 
 tract, or bottom, there were American families 
 settled at intervals from Prairie du Bocher to 
 the vicinity of Cahokia. The character of the 
 American families was various. Some were 
 religious people, both Baptists and Methodists ; 
 some were moral, and respected the Sabbath ; 
 others were infidels, or at least skeptical of all 
 revealed truth. They paid no regard to reli- 
 gious meetings, and permitted their children to 
 grow up without any moral restraint. They 
 were fond of frolics, dances, horse-racing, 
 card playing, and other vices, in which they 
 were joined by many of the French population 
 from the villages. They drank tafia* and 
 when fruit became plenty, peach brandy was 
 made, and rye whiskey obtained from the Mon- 
 ongahela country. 
 
 There has been a very marked difference be- 
 tween these two classes of pioneers, down to 
 the third and fourth generation. But a very 
 few of the descendants of the immoral and irre- 
 ligious class are to be found amongst the present 
 
 * A species of New England rum, brought from New Orleans.
 
 rflE FIRST PREACHER IN ILLINOIS. 197 
 
 generation of the religious, moral, industrious 
 and enterprising class. They followed the foot- 
 steps of their fathers, and have wasted away. 
 Even the names of a number of these pioneer 
 families have been blotted out, while the chil- 
 dren's children, of the virtuous class, are nu- 
 merous and respected. 
 
 There were several families in the very com- 
 mencement of these settlements, before a 
 preacher of the Gospel brought the glad tid- 
 ings here, or a single person had made a pro- 
 fession of religion, that held meetings on the 
 Sabbath, read portions of the Scriptures, or a 
 sermon, and sang hymns, and thus set a good 
 example to the others. They and their descend- 
 ants have been favored of the Lord.' 
 
 The first preacher who visited the Illinois 
 country, was James Smith, from Lincoln Coun- 
 ty, Ky. He was a " Separate Baptist," and 
 came on business, in 1787, but preached to the 
 people repeatedly, and many of those who had 
 kept up the meetings just noticed, professed 
 conversion under his preaching. Of these the 
 Hon. Shadrach Bond, Captain Joseph Ogle, 
 James Lemen, Sen., his son-in-law, were con- 
 spicuous persons. He made another visit to 
 the country in 1790, after the Indians had be-
 
 198 A STRANGER APPEARS. 
 
 come troublesome, and preached with similar 
 effect. While riding to the meeting place, on 
 a week day, in company with another man, and 
 a Mrs. Huff, they were fired at by a party of 
 Kickapoos in ambuscade, near the present site 
 of Waterloo, in Monroe county. Mrs. Huff 
 was killed and scalped. The other man was 
 wounded, but escaped with his horse, and Mr. 
 Smith taken prisoner. The Indians took him 
 through the prairies to their town on the Wa- 
 bash, but he was afterwards ransomed through 
 the agency of a French trader. After the 
 visits and preaching of Mr. Smith, there were 
 persons who could pray in these social meetings, 
 and when it was safe to live out of forts, they 
 met at each others houses, and Judge Bond, 
 James Piggott, James Lemen, and some others, 
 conducted the worship. 
 
 It was in January, 1794, while Judge Bond 
 was officiating in this informal manner on the 
 Sabbath, that a stranger came into the log cabin, 
 where the people had assembled. He was a 
 large, portly man, with dark hair, a florid com- 
 plexion, and regular features. His dress was in 
 advance of the deer-skin hunting shirts and In- 
 dian moccasins of the settlers ; his countenance 
 was grave and dignified, and his aspect so serious,
 
 AMEN AT A WENTURE. 199 
 
 that the reader was impressed with the thought 
 that he was a professor of religion ; perhaps a 
 preacher, and an invitation was given him " to 
 close the exercises, if he was a praying man." 
 The stranger kneeled, and made an impressive, 
 fluent, and solemn prayer. 
 
 There was a man in the congregation, of 
 small talents, and rather narrow views, who, 
 from his national origin, bore the soubriquet of 
 Dutch Pete among the people ; or Peter Smith, 
 as his name appears in the land documents. 
 Pete was a zealous Methodist, and when his own 
 preachers prayed, he felt moved by the Spirit 
 to utter Amen, at the close of every sentence. 
 While the people were on their knees, or with 
 their heads bowed low on their seats, Pete mani- 
 fested much uneasiness at the prayer of the 
 stranger. He fidgetted one way and then ano- 
 ther, uttered a low, but audible groan, and to 
 those near him seemed to be in trouble. The 
 very impressive and earnest prayer of the speak- 
 er excited his feelings beyond suppression. He 
 might not be a Methodist ; but Pete could hold 
 in no longer, and bawled out, at the top of his 
 voice, "Amen, at a wenture !" 
 
 The stranger proved to be Kev. Josiah 
 Dodge, from Nelson county, Kentucky. Ho
 
 200 REV. JOSEPH LILLARD. 
 
 had been to St. Genevieve on a visit to his 
 brother, Doctor Israel Dodge, and hearing of 
 these religious people being entirely destitute 
 of ministerial instruction, he had arrived op- 
 portunely to preach to them. 
 
 Mr. Dodge spent some time in the settle- 
 ment, preaching daily, and visiting from house 
 to house, and in February, the ice was cut in 
 Fountain Creek ; all the people for many miles 
 around were present, and there he baptized 
 James Lemen, Sen., and Catharine his wife ; 
 John Gibbons and Isaac Enochs, who were the 
 first persons ever baptized in this territory.* 
 
 During the next two years, the people re- 
 mained without preachers ; but both Baptists 
 and Methodists, without organized societies, 
 united in holding prayer-meetings, in which, as 
 formerly, the Scriptures and sermon books were 
 read, prayers offered and hymns sung in praise 
 to God. 
 
 The year previous to the visit of Mr. Dodge, 
 Kev. Joseph Lillard made an excursion to the 
 Illinois country. He was a Methodist, and in 
 1790-'91, was in the traveling connection in 
 
 * James Lemen, Sen., became a Baptist preacher, and died Janu- 
 ary 8th, 1823. He left four sons in the ministry, all of whom, vene- 
 rable men, are still living in 1854.
 
 REV. JOSEPH CHANCE. 201 
 
 Kentucky, but he withdrew from that connec- 
 tion from objections to the government and dis- 
 cipline, and like Mr. Clark occupied an inde- 
 pendent position. He preached to the people 
 and organized a class, the first ever formed in 
 this country, and appointed Captain Joseph 
 Ogle the leader. Mr. Lillard was esteemed by 
 all who knew him, as a pious and exemplary 
 man ; but while in Illinois he became tempora- 
 rily deranged, made his escape from his friends 
 and outran them, and followed the trail towards 
 Kaskaskia. On the route he came across the 
 body of a man by the name of Sipp, whom the 
 Indians had killed and scalped. While gazing 
 at this horrid sight, he became calm ; his reason 
 and consciousness were restored, and he re- 
 turned to his friends at New Design, and made 
 report of the discovery. The people made up 
 a party who visited the place and buried the 
 unfortunate man. 
 
 From time to time, Baptists came into these 
 settlements, so that by May, 1796, there were 
 ten or a dozen men and women in the country 
 who had been members of churches in Virginia 
 or Kentucky, from whence they came. Among 
 these was Joseph Chance, who was an exhorter, 
 and also a lay -elder, from Shelby county,
 
 202 REV. DAVID BADGLEY. 
 
 Kentucky. This office, now unknown in Bap- 
 tist churches, was regarded in Virginia and 
 afterwards for a time in Kentucky, as an ap- 
 pendage to the pastoral office. Lay-elders had 
 no authority in government and discipline, as in 
 a Presbyterian church, but aided the pastor in 
 conducting religious meetings by exhortation 
 and prayer, visiting the sick, instructing the 
 ignorant, and confirming the wavering. Mr. 
 Chance afterwards became an ordained minister. 
 He did not possess great talents as a preacher, 
 but was faithful in the exercise of the gifts be- 
 stowed on him, loved religious meetings, de- 
 voted much time in preaching and visiting des- 
 titute settlements, and died while on a preach- 
 ing tour in 1840, aged seventy-five years. 
 
 The Baptists in Illinois did not appear to 
 know they could have formed themselves into a 
 church, and chose such gifts as they had amongst 
 them as leaders ; and kept up the worship of 
 God without the authority of an ordained min- 
 ister. In the spring of 1796, Kev. David 
 Badgley, of Hardy county, Va., made a visit to 
 the Illinois country. He arrived in the settle- 
 ment of New Design on the 4th of May, and 
 preached night and day until the 30th, during 
 which time he baptized fifteen persons on a pro-
 
 /RENCIJ MANNERS AND CtJSTOMS. 203 
 
 fession of faith in Christ, and with the aid of 
 Mr. Chance organized the first Baptist church 
 ever formed in this country, of twenty- eight 
 members. He returned to Virginia the same 
 season, and the next spring (1797,) carae hack 
 with his family and several others to settle this 
 new country. 
 
 At that period the white population of the 
 Illinois country, numbered about 2,700, of 
 which about two-thirds were of French descent, 
 spoke that language, and followed the customs 
 of the Canadians, from whence most of their 
 forefathers originated. They were a contented 
 race of people, patient under hardships, with- 
 out ambition, and ignorant of the prolific re- 
 sources of the country. They never troubled 
 themselves with political matters, engaged in 
 no schemes of aggrandizement, and showed no 
 inclination for political domination. They were 
 a frank, open-hearted, joyous people, and care- 
 less about the acquisition of property. Their 
 houses were small, built of logs set upright, 
 like palisades, with the spaces filled in, plas- 
 tered, and neatly white-washed inside and out. 
 They cultivated fruits and flowers, and in this 
 respect showed taste and refinement beyond the 
 Americans. In religion they were nominally
 
 204 REV. HOSE A. BIGGS., 
 
 Eoman Catholics ; in the morning of the Sab- 
 bath they attended mass, and in the afternoon 
 visited, played the violin, danced, or engaged in 
 other recreations and ruder sports out of doors. 
 Another pioneer who was an exhorter in the 
 Methodist connection, and came to the country 
 in 1796, was the late Eev. Hosea Riggs, and at 
 first settled in the American bottom. Mr. 
 Kiggs was born in Western Pennsylvania in 
 1760, became a soldier in the revolutionary 
 war ; and when twenty-two years of age, he en- 
 listed in the army of Jesus Christ and joined 
 the Methodist Episcopal church, became an ex- 
 horter, and proved himself a diligent and faith- 
 ful soldier of the cross. When he arrived in the 
 Illinois country with his family he found Capt. 
 Joseph Ogle and family, Peter Casterline and 
 family, and William Murray from Ireland, the 
 remains of the class formed by Mr. Lillard. 
 These he re-organized into a class at Captain 
 Ogle's house, and at a subsequent period formed 
 another class of immigrant Methodists, in 
 G-oshen settlement. This was in Madison 
 county, between Edwardsville and the American 
 bottom. Mr. Biggs, though then only a licensed 
 exhorter, attended these Methodist classes, and 
 made appointments for meetings for six years,
 
 FKONTIER LIFE. 205 
 
 He attended the " Western Conference" in 
 Kentucky, 1803, raised a Macedonian cry, and 
 the Conference sent Rev. Benjamin Young as a 
 missionary, who was the first preacher of the 
 Methodist Episcopal church who traveled the 
 circuit in Illinois. Mr. Biggs was tenacious for 
 the Methodist government and discipline, and 
 hence did not so readily cooperate with Father 
 Clark. He was a good man, a faithful preacher, 
 lived a Christian life, and died a Christian 
 death, in St. Clair county, in 1841, at the age 
 of eighty-one years. 
 
 We have now brought up the religious his- 
 tory of Illinois to the period of the arrival of 
 Mr. Clark. But to give our young readers a 
 fuller picture of frontier life, and of the people 
 with whom he lived and labored, and their de- 
 privations, we must again look back on their 
 condition for a few years past. 
 
 From 1786, to 1795, the American settle- 
 ments in the Illinois country, as was the case 
 throughout the north-western territory, were 
 harrassed by hostile Indians. A part of the 
 time the families were compelled to live in 
 forts, or as they were called, " stations."" 
 
 A square was marked out, in proportion to 
 the number of families. On two sides log
 
 206 SAVAGE BARBARITY. 
 
 cabins were erected in rows, with the roof 
 sloping to the inner side of the enclosure. 
 Block houses were put up at the corners, and so 
 constructed that in the upper part which jut- 
 ted over the lower story, the guard could watch 
 the approach of the enemy and attack them 
 successfully. The spaces not occupied by cabins 
 were filled up with palisades. Strong doors 
 made of thick slabs, or split timbers protected 
 the places of ingress and egress. These stations 
 were a sufficient protection against the small 
 marauding parties, that came stealthily into the 
 settlements. When no signs of hostile Indians 
 were seen for some months, the people, tired of 
 living in these stations, would remove to their 
 cabins and attempt to raise a crop, when the 
 first alarm would be by some family being mas- 
 sacred, or individual killed, in attempting to 
 pass from one settlement to another. We 
 could give many thrilling instances of savage 
 barbarity, but our space is limited. They shall 
 all be told, if we are successful in getting out 
 our projected series of PIONEER BOOKS. 
 
 While the women and children were com- 
 pelled to stay in forts, the men cultivated a 
 field in common within sight of the station, and 
 one party with their trusty rifles scouted around
 
 THE KASKASKIA INDIANS. 207 
 
 as a guard, while another party plowed and 
 planted corn. No schools nor regular religious 
 meetings could be held during these Indian in- 
 vasions. 
 
 When they ventured out of the forts, and 
 resided on their farms, in the absence of the 
 men, pious mothers barricaded the door lest 
 Indians might come on them suddenly, and 
 gathered the little children around the huge 
 fire place, for the light that shone down the 
 large chimneys, and taught them the rudiments 
 of learning. No log cabin had any glass 
 windows, and if apertures were cut in the logs, 
 it was not safe to leave them open when Indians 
 were about. 
 
 The Americans in these early settlements in 
 Illinois did not trespass on Indian rights, by 
 taking their country. The Kaskaskia Indians 
 and their allies sold this part of the Illinois 
 country, and gave possession to the French 
 nearly a century before the period of these 
 depredations, and the Kickapoos, Shawanoes 
 and other Indians, whose country was from one 
 hundred and fifty to five hundred miles distant, 
 committed all the murders and robberies. The 
 Kaskaskias remained peaceable during the war, 
 lived within the range of these settlements, in
 
 208 RELIGIOUS FAMILIES NOTICED. 
 
 the American bottom, a few miles above the 
 town of Kaskaskia, cultivated corn, beans, and 
 other vegetables, and hunted in the vicinity of 
 the white settlements. 
 
 Savage Indians have astonishing propensities 
 for war and plunder. Before the European 
 race came to this continent, the different 
 nations and tribes were fighting and plundering 
 each other, and they still keep up the practice, 
 unless prevented by the strong arm of our na- 
 tional government. Nothing short of the in- 
 fluence of the gospel on their hearts can cure 
 these diabolical passions. 
 
 The Indians who were hostile to the Ameri- 
 cans did not attack the French inhabitants, for 
 they had been accustomed to trade with them, 
 and had been on friendly terms for half a cen- 
 tury. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Religious families noticed. Capt. Joseph Ogle. James Lemen, Sen. 
 The three associates. Upper Louisiana. Attack on St. Louis. 
 The Governor a Traitor The assailants retire. American immi- 
 gration encouraged. Baptists and Methodists go there. 
 
 With the religious families we have named, 
 both Baptists and Methodists, Mr. Clark found
 
 A PIONEER CAPTAIN. 209 
 
 himself at home. All were hospitable, kind 
 and generous ; no one begrudged him the com- 
 forts of life, in their frontier mode of living. 
 As he studiously avoided making any trouble, 
 and never appeared in the character of a 
 preaching lounger, each family made him wel 
 come to their homely fare. As he was more 
 frequently the inmate of the families of Capt. 
 Joseph Ogle, the Methodist class leader, and 
 , James Lemen, a leading Baptist in the com- 
 munity, it will be entertaining to our readers 
 to have a sketch of these two pioneers. 
 
 CAPTAIN JOSEPH OGLE migrated with the 
 Messrs. Zanes and other families, from the 
 south branch of the Potomac to the vicinity of 
 Wheeling in 1769, where he distinguished him- 
 self in the siege of Fort Henry, in 1777. In 
 the summer of 1785, he moved down the Ohio 
 river to the Illinois country, and at first settled 
 in the American bottom, in the present county 
 of Monroe. Being well qualified, he was chosen 
 for a leader of the little band of pioneers, who 
 had to defend themselves from Indian assaults. 
 Indeed he was just such a man as the people 
 in all exposed and frontier settlements look to 
 as their counsellor, guide and commander. He 
 possessed uncommon firmness and self-posses-
 
 210 CAPTAIN OGLE. 
 
 sion, had great energy, and yet was mild, peace- 
 able, and kind-hearted in social intercourse ; 
 always striving for the maintenance of peace, 
 good order and justice in the social relations. 
 From the spring of 1784 to 1790, there was in 
 fact no organized government in the Illinois 
 country. Some of the forms of law were kept 
 up, but in a truthful sense the people were " a 
 law unto themselves," and Captain Ogle, whom 
 every body respected, was exactly the kind of 
 man to preserve order. Other pioneers, who 
 had talents and influence, occupied the same 
 position. And this too was the period of Indian 
 alarms, and the people had to do their own 
 fighting. What the poet says of the fictitious 
 Kolla, applied with much pertinence to Captain 
 Ogle- 
 
 " In war, a tiger chafed by the hunter's spear ; 
 In peace, more gentle than the unwean'd lamb." 
 
 He was scrupulously honest, punctual and 
 strict in the fulfillment of all his engagements, 
 and expected from all his neighbors the same 
 degree of honesty and punctuality. The fol- 
 lowing anecdote will furnish an illustration of 
 his true character. 
 
 A neighbor, by the name of Sullivan, who 
 was not quite as punctual in performing prom-
 
 BORROWED HOUSE-LOGS. 211 
 
 ises as he ought to have been, borrowed some 
 house-logs of Mr. Ogle to finish his cabin, 
 promising to cut and return as many on a 
 certain day. Capt. Ogle had arranged to raise 
 his own cabin the day after the logs became 
 due, but they were not returned. He went 
 with several men to Sullivan's cabin, told the 
 family to remove any articles that might be in 
 the house on the side he was about to pall 
 down, and with handspikes proceeded with 
 great coolness and deliberation to raise the 
 corners and take the logs from the cabin. 
 
 The owner alarmed, came out and exclaimed, 
 " Why, Mr. Ogle, what do you mean ? Do 
 you intend to pull down my house over my 
 head ?" " By no means, neighbor Sullivan, I 
 am only getting out my own logs." " Now, 
 Captain Ogle, do stop, and I will go right off 
 to the woods and get you the logs." " Very 
 well, Mr. Sullivan, if you will have the logs at 
 my place to-morrow morning at sunrise, which 
 you promised to have done to-day, I will forbear, 
 else I shall take these logs for my cabin to- 
 morrow." This was said with the most impas- 
 sive coolness and deliberation, and Mr. Sullivan 
 was obliged to perform a most unpleasant 
 night's labor for slackness in his promises.
 
 212 JAMES LEMEN, SEN. 
 
 With uncommon firmness and energy, he 
 united kindness and gentleness, and ruled the 
 people by a happy blending of fear and love. 
 He was always a moral man, but became a de- 
 vout Christian professor from the first visit of 
 James Smith to the time of his death, in Feb- 
 ruary, 1821, at fourscore years of age. For 
 twenty years he had resided in St. Glair county, 
 about eight miles north of Belleville, and to 
 this day he is spoken of by the old pioneers in 
 the vicinity with the endearing epithet of 
 "Grandfather Ogle/' This man's house was 
 one of the homes of Father Clark for several 
 years. 
 
 JAMES LEMEN, Sen., who married the eldest 
 daughter of Capt. Ogle, was another home for 
 the pioneer preacher. There is a pleasant tra- 
 dition among their descendants, relative to their 
 earliest acquaintance. Both were young, moral 
 persons, religiously educated, and at first sight 
 both were impressed with the idea they were 
 destined for each other. They were soon mar- 
 ried, and their mutual attachment was strong, 
 steady, and lasted through life. Not a discord- 
 ant feeling, or an unpleasant word ever passed 
 between them. His grandfather was an emi- 
 grant from the north of Ireland to Virginia, and
 
 A KESOLUTE PIONEER. 213 
 
 he was born in Berkeley county in the autumn 
 of 1760. His father belonged to the church of 
 England (a branch of which existed in Virginia, 
 before the revolutionary war,) but died when he 
 was only a year old. His mother married again, 
 and he was brought up by a strict Presbyterian. 
 James Lemen was rigidly honest, humane, kind- 
 hearted, and benevolent, independent in judg- 
 ment, very firm and conscientious in whatever 
 he believed to be right, and showed strong traits 
 of decision. Though he served two years in 
 the revolutionary army, under General Wash- 
 ington, he was opposed to war as an aggressive 
 measure, never combative or cruel ; yet he 
 would fight like a hero, when impelled by a 
 sense of duty in defending the settlement from 
 Indian aggressions. 
 
 He followed his father-in-law to the Illinois 
 country in the spring of 1786, by descending 
 the Ohio river in a flat boat. The second night 
 after he left Wheeling, the river fell while they 
 were tied to the shore, and his boat lodged on a 
 stump, careened and sunk, by which accident 
 he lost all his provisions and chattels. His 
 eldest son Robert, then a boy of three years, 
 floated on the bed where he lay, which his father 
 caught by the corner of the ticking, and saved
 
 214 A PIONEER ACCIDENT. 
 
 his life. That boy is now a hale old man, with 
 silvered locks, and past the age of threescore 
 and ten, honored and beloved by all who know 
 him. 
 
 Though left destitute of provisions and other 
 necessaries, James Lemen was not the man to 
 be discouraged. He had energy and persever- 
 ance, and got to the mouth of the Ohio, and 
 from thence up the Mississippi to Kaskaskia, 
 where he arrived on the tenth of July. His 
 family was one of the first to form the settle- 
 ment of New Design, on the old hill trace be- 
 tween Kaskaskia and St. Louis, and his house 
 became the half-way stopping place for many 
 years. No travelers were turned away. 
 
 He had been the subject of religious impres- 
 sions from childhood, but was not clear in his 
 mind to make a profession of faith in Christ, 
 until Rev. Mr. Dodge came to the country and 
 preached, as already stated, when he and his 
 wife, with two other persons, were baptized. 
 
 He was generous and hospitable, and often 
 divided his corn with the destitute. He ob- 
 served the Sabbath strictly, kept good order in 
 his family, yet was never harsh or severe with 
 his children. 
 
 In the same settlement, and frequently for
 
 A THREE-FOLD CORD. 215 
 
 weeks in succession, at the cabin of Mr. Lemen, 
 there was an Irish Methodist by the name of 
 William Murray. His name indicates Scots 
 descent, and he and Mr. Clark were quite inti- 
 mate. Indeed, these three men claimed national 
 affinity, for, as we have shown, Mr. Lemen's an- 
 cestors were from the north of Ireland, where col- 
 onies from Scotland had taken possession in the 
 seventeenth century. There was just enough 
 diversity in their opinions, to invite controversy, 
 and enough Christian virtue as a controlling prin- 
 ciple to keep them within the bounds of modera- 
 tion and fraternal intercourse. They attended 
 each others meetings, and Mr. Clarjk preached, 
 and exerted an influence on the young men in 
 the settlement that has never been lost. 
 
 We will now pass over a few months, till 
 some time in the spring or summer of 1798, 
 when Mr. Clark carried out his long cherished 
 project of visiting the Spanish country west of 
 the Mississippi river, and which made him in a 
 peculiar sense the pioneer preacher. 
 
 LOUISIANA was discovered, settled, and held 
 in possession by France until 1762, when, by a 
 secret treaty, it was sold to Spain by that infa- 
 mous king, Louis XV, and his more infamous 
 mistress, Madame Pompadour, and his corrupt
 
 216 ST. LOUIS FOUNDED. 
 
 ministry. The first permanent settlement in 
 Upper Louisiana was commenced ' with the 
 founding of St. Louis as a trading post in 1764. 
 In 1763, an enterprising trader by the name of 
 Pierre Ligueste Laclede, obtained a grant from 
 the Director General of Louisiana, with the 
 "necessary powers to trade with the Indians 
 of the Missouri, and those west of the Missis- 
 sippi, above the Missouri river, as far north as 
 the St. Peters," now Minnesota. A small ham- 
 let had been previously established by a few 
 French families, and called St. Genevieve, west 
 of the Great River, and a few miles below the 
 town of Kaskaskia, and some temporary sta- 
 tions made in the lead mine country, west of 
 St. Genevieve. 
 
 The Spanish authority became regularly es-" 
 tablished in Upper Louisiana, in November, 
 1770. Piernas, the Spanish commandant, ar- 
 rived in St. Louis at that date, but there is no 
 official document or record to show that he 
 exercised the functions of his office previous to 
 February, 1771. Other towns or villages were 
 settled in the vicinity from 1769, the date of 
 St. Charles, to the period of 1780. 
 
 On the transfer of the Illinois country from 
 France to Great Britian in 1765, many of the
 
 THE GOVERNOR A TRAITOR. 217 
 
 French inhabitants removed from that side of 
 the river to St. Louis and St. Charles, and many 
 more went down the river to the lower province. 
 
 After Colonel George Rogers Clark had taken 
 possession of the Illinois country, under Vir- 
 ginia, in 1778, he became personally acquainted 
 and held frequent interviews with French citi- 
 zens of St. Louis, and the official authorities. 
 
 While at Cahokia, in 1779, only five miles 
 distant, holding treaties with the Indians, and 
 from confidential agents he sent into the Indian 
 country northward, he learned that British 
 agents from Canada, with a large force of north- 
 ern Indians, were projecting an invasion of St. 
 Louis. Being on terms of friendly intercourse 
 with Governor Leyba, the Spanish commandant, 
 he gave him intimation of these treacherous 
 designs, as he did to several French gentlemen, 
 and tendered his services with the forces he 
 commanded, in case of an attack. St. Louis 
 then was enclosed with short palisades, and 
 gates opened in the pathways that led to the 
 common field, and to the country without. The 
 sequel gave proof that the governor was a 
 traitor, purchased, doubtless, with British gold. 
 
 In the month of May, 1780, a large band of 
 warriors from different tribes of Indians from
 
 218 THE INDIANS ATTACK ST. LOUIS. 
 
 the Upper Mississippi and the northern lakes, 
 with a number of Canadians, amounting in all 
 to twelve or fourteen hundred armed men, ap- 
 peared in the forest east of the Mississippi, 
 above St. Louis. The 25th of May was the fes- 
 tival of Corpus Christi, a day highly venerated 
 by the inhabitants who were Catholics. Had 
 the assault been made on that day it would 
 have been fatal to the town ; for after the ser- 
 vice in the church, nearly all the inhabitants, 
 men, women and children, flocked to the prairie 
 to gather strawberries, which were abundant, 
 and delicious at that season. A few Indians 
 had crossed the river as spies, and secreted 
 themselves in the thickets near where the people 
 
 Ne"xt day the main body crossed the river, 
 and attacked the town. A few persons who 
 had gone to the field, were attacked from an 
 ambuscade ; some were killed ; others fled to 
 the town and gave the alarm. The soldiers 
 under the command of the Governor, and his 
 subalterns, either from fear or treachery, hid 
 themselves, and the citizens alone had to defend 
 the place. They found some government can- 
 non, and fired grape shot as the invaders ap- 
 proached the gates. ^A few days previous the
 
 A MARVELOUS ESCAPE. 219 
 
 treacherous governor sold all the public ammu- 
 nition to some traders, but the people supplied 
 themselves with eight kegs of powder they 
 found in a trader's house. 
 
 The governor kept within his house, but 
 hearing the firing, and learning the citizens were 
 making a manful resistance, he came out, or- 
 dered the firing to cease, and the cannon to be 
 spiked and filled with sand by some of his 
 minions. Fortunately the men at the lower 
 gate did not hear the peremptory order, and 
 continued the firing. The governor, perceiving 
 this, ordered a cannon to be fired at them. They 
 threw themselves on the ground, and the mur- 
 derous volley of grape shot passed over their 
 heads. This horrible procedure, with his 
 general conduct, fixed the indelible brand of 
 traitor on his name, and such the French 
 citizens reported him to have been, to the im- 
 mediate representative of the crown of Spain 
 in New Orleans. 
 
 The inhabitants of St. Louis were in a criti- 
 cal situation. With evidence of treachery 
 among the officers, who were Spanish ; the 
 place invaded by a force nearly double to the 
 whole population, men, women and children ; 
 and these invaders infuriated with the spirit of
 
 220 MISSTATEMENTS CORRECTED. 
 
 war and plunder, what could they expect but a 
 general massacre ! But after killing and scalp- 
 ing twenty persons in the field and prairie, and 
 meeting with such determined resistance at the 
 gates, the Indians retired suddenly, and refused 
 to cooperate with their Canadian allies, who 
 kept themselves at a safe distance. 
 
 The cause of this sudden and unexpected re- 
 treat has been a mystery. The most probable 
 solution is the tradition among the French in- 
 habitants, that the Indians were told they were 
 going on a war party to fight the Spaniards ; 
 but when they discovered the defenders of the 
 town were all Frenchmen, and recognized 
 amongst them some of their personal friends, 
 who had lived and traded in their villages ; and 
 that they had been deceived by British agents, 
 they withdrew in ill-humor with their em- 
 ployers. 
 
 Divers misstatements of this assault have 
 been handed down by writers and oral tradition. 
 A popular error has been propagated, that 
 Colonel Clark was at Cahokia, (some say Kas- 
 kaskia) and suddenly appeared on the bank of 
 the Mississippi, opposite the town with a strong 
 force. Colonel Clark left the Illinois country 
 with all the men whom he could persuade to re-
 
 FATE OF GOVERNOR LEYBA 221 
 
 enlist, the preceding February, went down the 
 Mississippi, and at the date of the attack was 
 establishing fort Jefferson, below the mouth of 
 the Ohio. From thence he traveled on foot 
 with a single companion through the wilderness 
 to Harrodsburg in Kentucky. 
 
 The traditional fact of his giving information 
 to Governor Leyba, in 1779, of the projected 
 invasion, and the offer of aid, has caused this 
 error. The register of the old Catholic church 
 in St. Louis of the funeral obsequies of the 
 persons massacred, furnish incontestable evi- 
 dence that the attack was on May 26th, 1780. 
 
 Aware that a report of his treasonable con- 
 duct had been forwarded to the Governor Gene- 
 ral at New Orleans, fearful of the consequences, 
 and unable to sustain the scorn and indignation 
 heaped upon him, Governor Leyba died shortly 
 after the attack ; having poisoned himself, as 
 the creditable report was. Cartabona, his 
 deputy, performed the functions of the office 
 until the next year, when Don Francisco 
 Cruzat, the predecessor of Leyba, and who had 
 been supplanted by him in 1778, returned and 
 assumed the command a second time. 
 
 In a few years after an important change was 
 made in the government of Upper Louisiana,
 
 222 EMIGRATION ENCOURAGED. 
 
 by the appointment of a commandant-general, 
 or governor for that province, and a command- 
 ant, or lieutenant-governor for each district. 
 The commandant-general was Don Carlos 
 Dehault Delassus, and the lieut. governor of 
 St. Louis district was an intelligent French 
 gentleman of liberal principles, M. Zenon Tru- 
 deau. 
 
 We have given these facts of St. Louis his- 
 tory to explain why so many Americans had 
 settled in the province before Father Clark 
 made his first visit. 
 
 The attack on St. Louis from Canada, the 
 detection of the meditated invasion by Colonel 
 Clark, and the friendly intercourse between the 
 French citizens of St. Louis and those of Illi- 
 nois, induced the authorities of Louisiana to en- 
 courage the immigration of Americans from 
 the United States to the Upper province. To 
 this intent a movement was made by Don 
 Guardoqui, Spanish minister to the government 
 of the United States at Philadelphia, as early 
 as 1787, when he proposed a plan of emigra- 
 tion from the western settlements to the coun- 
 try from Arkansas to the settlements on the 
 Misssouri.* Instructions were given to the 
 
 * Judge Martin's History of Louisiana, vol. ii, p. 90.
 
 RELIGIOUS RESTRICTIONS. 223 
 
 commandants regulating the grants of land, 
 and the conditions of admitting this class of 
 immigrants. Instructions were issued by 
 Gayoso, commandant-general, the first of Jan- 
 uary, 1798, from which we give an extract.* 
 No settler was to be admitted in the province 
 who was not a farmer or mechanic. 
 
 Of course practically, this included all who 
 came. The sixth article provided for a limited 
 degree of toleration to Protestants. 
 
 " Liberty of conscience is not to be extended beyond 
 the first generation ; the children of the emigrants must 
 be Catholics." [This of course required their baptism in 
 the Catholic form, but it was not enforced.] " Emigrants 
 not agreeing to this, must not be admitted, but removed, 
 even when they bring property with them. This is to be 
 explained to settlers, who do not profess the Catholic re- 
 ligion." 
 
 We shall see in the sequel, how the liberal 
 minded commandants interpreted this ordi- 
 nance. 
 
 The seventh regulation, " Expressly recom- 
 mended to the commandants to watch that no 
 preacher of any religion but the Catholic, 
 comes into the province." 
 
 After the attack on St. Louis of 1780, meas- 
 
 * Ibid, p. 153.
 
 224 DEPENDENCE FOR PROTECTION. 
 
 ures were adopted to fortify the town more 
 effectually, and in 1794 the garrison on the hill 
 (now Third street, or Broadway) and the 
 Government house were completed. In 1797, 
 apprehensions were entertained of another in- 
 vasion from Canada, and four stone towers, at 
 equal distances, in a circular direction around 
 the town, and a wooden block-house near the 
 lower end, were erected. But their chief de- 
 pendence for protection was the American emi- 
 grants who had been invited into the province 
 by the liberal policy of grants of land, and the 
 indulgence shown by the commandants. They 
 were permitted to locate themselves in the 
 country, and make farms, whereas the French 
 families were required to live in villages, and 
 cultivate their farms near by under an en- 
 closure in common. At the transfer of the 
 country in 1804, more than three-fifths of the 
 inhabitants of Upper Louisiana were English 
 Americans from the United States.* 
 
 * Stoddard's Sketches of Louisiana, pp. 211-224. Annals of the 
 West; St. Louis Edition, 1850, p. 543. The aggregate population of 
 Upper Louisiana at the period of the cession, was about 10,120, of 
 which 3,760 were French, including a few Spanish families ; 5,090 
 were Anglo-Americans, who had come into the country after 1790 ; 
 and 1,270 black people, who were slaves, with a few exceptions. 
 Indians were not counted, although several bands had their villages 
 within the bounds of the settlements.
 
 EXAMINATION OF IMMIGRANTS. 225 
 
 The Koman Catholic faith was the estab- 
 lished religion of the province. American im- 
 migrants were examined by the commandants 
 as to their faith, but by the use of a pious 
 fiction on the part of the examiners, and the 
 provision in the ordinances already quoted, 
 large toleration actually existed. 
 
 The mode of examination gave great latitude 
 for Protestants to come in. A few general and 
 rather equivocal questions were asked, which 
 persons of almost any Christian sect could con- 
 sistently answer ; such as, " Do you believe in 
 Almighty God ? In the Holy Trinity ? In 
 the true, apostolical church ? In Jesus Christ 
 our Saviour ? In the holy evangelists ? etc. 
 An affirmative answer being given to these and 
 other questions of a general character, " Un Ion 
 Catholique" (a good Catholic) closed the cere- 
 mony. 
 
 Many Baptists, Methodists, and other Protes- 
 tant families, settled in the province, and re- 
 mained undisturbed in their religious principles. 
 Much the largest proportion of American Protes- 
 tants came into the country after 1794. They 
 held no religious meetings publicly, and had no 
 minister of the gospel among them. There were 
 about fifty persons who had been members of
 
 226 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD. 
 
 Protestant churches in the United States, in 
 the districts of St. Louis and St. Charles, at the 
 period of Mr. Clark's first visit, besides as many 
 more in the districts of St. Genevieve, and 
 Cape Girardeau. 
 
 The Catholic priests of Upper Louisiana re- 
 ceived from the Spanish treasury a stipend 
 rating from $350 to $400 a year, besides the 
 perquisites for mass, confessions, marriages, and 
 funerals. No tithes were levied in Louisiana, 
 and hence Protestants and free-thinkers felt no 
 burdens in pecuniary demands from the priest- 
 hood. There were three curates, one vicar, 
 and a few missionary priests who resided in the 
 upper province. The rite of marriage must be 
 performed by a Catholic priest ; and it is prob- 
 able the administration of baptism, or the Lord's 
 supper, by a Protestant, would have sent him 
 to prison, but no minister 'made the attempt. 
 
 The American settlers in general were peace- 
 able, industrious, moral and well disposed per- 
 sons, who, from various motives, had crossed 
 the "Great Kiver ;" some from love of adven- 
 ture some from that spirit of restlessness that 
 animates a numerous class of Americans but 
 a larger number went with the expectation of 
 obtaining grants of land, for the trifling expense
 
 TREATY WITH SPAIN 227 
 
 of surveying and recording the plat. We have 
 been personally acquainted with many of these 
 emigrants, conversed with them freely, knew 
 their character well, and have heard so many of 
 them declare their expectation that in due time 
 the country would be annexed to the United 
 States, that we have no doubt such an impres- 
 sion did exist largely. Yet they projected no 
 filibustering enterprise ; no schemes of a revo- 
 lution-; nor were there amongst them any san- 
 guine spirits at work to excite such feelings. 
 
 From the time of the definitive treaty of 
 1783, the government of the United States 
 had been negociating with Spain for the free 
 navigation of the Mississippi river to the ocean, 
 secured, as was understood, by that treaty. 
 The inhabitants west of the Alleghany moun- 
 tains were deeply interested in such a meas- 
 ure. It was a topic of conversation in all 
 circles, and discussed freely in the newspa- 
 pers. It is not strange that the public mind 
 in this valley should entertain the conviction 
 that by some form of negociation the country 
 would be annexed to the American Union. 
 They did not realize that a removal to the west 
 of the great river would expatriate them and 
 their posterity, nor did they lose their attach-
 
 228 THE PIONEER PREACHER AT HIS WORK. 
 
 ment to the Republic by a residence in the do- 
 minions of the crown of Spain. 
 
 Such was the character, and such were the 
 circumstances of the people to whom Mr. Clark 
 was the pioneer preacher. Certainly, no minis- 
 ter of the gospel, in the scriptural sense of that 
 term, ever passed the boundary before him. He 
 visited the American families from house to 
 house, in a quiet and peaceable manner, con- 
 versed and prayed with them, and was received 
 with great cordiality. There were men and 
 women, disciples of Christ, who had not heard 
 the precious gospel for a long period. A few 
 gathered, on the Sabbath, in some log cabin, 
 with fearful forebodings. They might be ar- 
 rested, and, with the preacher, sent to the 
 calabozof* or to the Mexican mines for their 
 heretical practices. A larger number came out 
 stealthily by night. Mr. Clark found the 
 American families dispersed over the country, 
 for some miles distant, and living in log cabins 
 of the most primitive sort. Of the Baptists 
 who were pioneers to this country before Mr. 
 Clark, we can call to recollection the names 
 of Abraham and Sarah Musick ; Abraham Mu- 
 sick, Jun., as he was called, to distinguish him 
 
 * The Spanish prison. Jail.
 
 BAPTIST FAMILIES. 229 
 
 from his uncle, and Terrell, his wife ; Adam 
 and Lewis Martin, who were brothers, and their 
 wives ; Mr. Kichardson and wife ; Mrs. Jane 
 Sullens ; Sarah Williams, (who lived to see 
 her son and four grandsons ministers of the 
 Gospel) ; Mrs. Whitley, all in St. Louis dis- 
 trict ; and David Darst and wife, William 
 Hancock and wife, Mr. Brown and family, and 
 several others, who settled in the district of St. 
 Charles, north of the Missouri river. There 
 were three settlements in the district (now 
 county) of St. Louis, where, after two or three 
 casual visits, Mr. Clark made regular appoint- 
 ments, and crossed the river monthly. These 
 were the settlement near the Spanish pond, 
 north of St. Louis ; the settlement between 
 Owen's station (now Bridgton) and Florrissant ; 
 and the settlement called Feefe's creek.* He 
 was threatened repeatedly with the calabozo, 
 for violating the laws of the country. M. Tru- 
 deau, the lieutenant-governor of St. Louis dis- 
 trict, was a liberalist in principle, who, with his 
 parents, had been driven out of France by the 
 storm of the revolution, and their estate confis- 
 cated. He obtained the appointment of deputy 
 
 * This is Fife in French orthography, and the name of a French- 
 man who first settled on it.
 
 230 A LIBERAL COMMANDANT. 
 
 commandant, through the influence of the prin- 
 cipal French citizens, as the means of sustain- 
 ing his aged parents, -who had suffered for their 
 loyalty. He ahhorred all kinds of persecution, 
 but, in his official station, in accordance with 
 the ordinances, he was compelled "to watch 
 that no preacher of any religion but the Catho- 
 lic came into the province." 
 
 Abraham Musick, Jun., who had formed a 
 friendly acquaintance with the lieut. governor, 
 and, in their social interviews, had given him 
 information of the distinctive principles of the 
 Baptists, as contradistinguished from the Cath- 
 olic and Protestant Paedo- Baptists, made appli- 
 cation to M. Trudeau for liberty to hold meet- 
 ings in his house. We give the colloquy in 
 substance as we received it from the pious and 
 
 intelligent widow of Mr. M , twenty-five 
 
 years after the interview. 
 
 M. "My friend, John Clark, is in the coun- 
 try, on a visit to his friends. He is a good man, 
 peaceably disposed, and will behave as a good 
 citizen should. The American people desire to 
 hear him preach at my house occasionally. 
 Will the commandant please give permission, 
 that we may not be molested ? We will hold 
 our meetings quietly, make no disturbance, and
 
 AN AMUSING COLLOQUY. 231 
 
 say nothing against the king of Spain, nor the 
 Catholic religion." 
 
 The commandant was inclined to favor the 
 American settlers, but he was obliged to reject 
 all such petitions officially, and replied, with 
 seeming determination : 
 
 (7. "No, Monsieur Musick. I can not per- 
 mit no such ting ; 'tis against de law ; you 
 must all be bon CatJwlique in dis contree. 
 Very sorry, Mons. Musick, I cannot oblige you, 
 but I must follow de ' Regulacion.' " 
 
 Discouraged at this decision, in a tone so 
 magisterial, Mr. M. regarded any farther effort 
 hopeless, and arose to depart from the office, 
 when, with a gracious countenance, the com- 
 mandant said : 
 
 " Sit down, Mons. Musick ; please sit down ; 
 I soon get dis paper fix for dese gentlehomme 
 who wait ; and den we talk. You must eat 
 my dinner, and drink a glass of my bon vin. 
 You and I are good friend, though I cannot let 
 you make a church house." 
 
 After dispatching the business on hand, M. 
 Trudeau insisted on the company of Mr. 
 Musick to dinner. While discoursing with vol- 
 ubility in his imperfect English, the wily com-
 
 232 A PERPLEXING QUESTION. 
 
 mandant adverted to the petition, so uncere- 
 moniously rejected in the office. 
 
 C. " You understand me, Monsieur Musick, 
 I presume. You must not put what do you 
 call him un colcher,* on your house and call 
 it a church ; dat is all wrong, you must 
 make no bell ring. And now hear me, Mons. 
 Musick, you must let no man baptize your en- 
 fant but de parish priest. But if your friend 
 come to see you your neighbor come there, 
 you conversez ; you say prayer ; you read 
 Bible you sing song dat is all right you all 
 bon Catholique." 
 
 Mr. Clark from the time he left Georgia had 
 been reading the Scriptures, to find out the 
 character of a church, such as those congrega- 
 tions named in Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, 
 Corinth, etc. He was then a Baptist so far as 
 infant baptism was concerned, and he doubted 
 much whether any uninspired human authority 
 could change the form approved by Christ, 
 without destroying the institution. And the 
 majority of the people, being Baptists, had no 
 use for the parish priest for that ceremony. 
 The interdiction of spire and bell was no incon- 
 venience in their simple form of worship. Un- 
 
 * Clo-shaia steeple.
 
 A THREATENING MESSAGE. 233 
 
 like the Catholic, their religion had no connec- 
 tion with bell-ringing. 
 
 While this disposition of a perplexing ques- 
 tion to the commandant accommodated the 
 American settlers, it gave no legal countenance 
 to the visits of a preacher from another nation, 
 and a different religion, but the people came 
 out to the meetings with less fear of the prison. 
 Mr. Clark continued his visits nearly every 
 month, which did not escape the notice of the 
 commandant. He soon learned the period of 
 his visits, and some two or three days before his 
 return to Illinois, he never failed to send a 
 threatening message into the country that, " If 
 Mons. Clark did not leave the Spanish country 
 in three days, he would be put in the calabozo." 
 So regularly came this message that it became 
 a standing jest with his v friends to enquire, 
 " Well, brother Clark, when do you go to the 
 calabozo ?" " In three days," would be the 
 reply, which all understood to mean crossing the 
 river to the Illinois side. 
 
 In the autumn of 1801, Kev. Thomas K. 
 Musick, a relative of the Musick families, came 
 to the province on a visit. His residence then 
 was in the Green river district in Kentucky, 
 and he had been in a revival of religion for
 
 234 ANOTHER PIONEER PREACHER. 
 
 several months, and about one hundred con- 
 verts had been baptized. His brother was the 
 one who petitioned the commandant for privi- 
 lege to hold meetings, and his uncle was one of 
 the residents in the Spanish country. Coming 
 from the midst of an extensive and powerful 
 revival of religion, he was in the spirit of 
 preaching, and cared little for the Spanish cal- 
 abozo. He visited every family, in which pro- 
 fessors of religion were to be found, in the dis- 
 tricts of St. Louis and St. Charles, and during 
 three weeks' sojourn, preached fifteen times to 
 congregations assembled in log cabins and in the 
 woods, on short notice to hear him. He was 
 threatened with the calabozo repeatedly. In .a 
 frontier settlement above St. Charles, he 
 preached the funeral sermon of a Baptist by 
 name of Brown, from Kentucky, who had died 
 there that season. 
 
 Mr. Musick left the province with the deter- 
 mination to return with his family and settle 
 there, soon as he could be permitted to remain 
 and preach the gospel ; and with this end in 
 view, he removed to the settlement of New 
 Design in Illinois. 
 
 Soon as the news of the cession of the coun- 
 try to the United States reached his ears, with- 

 
 FORMS A METHODIST CLASS. 235 
 
 out waiting for its confirmation by the govern- 
 ment, and the actual transfer, he went across 
 the great river in the autumn of 1803, and 
 made that country his home. Mr. Musick was 
 the first preacher of the gospel who, with his 
 family, settled in the country, became one of 
 the constituents of Fefee's Creek, and was its 
 pastor for more than thirty years. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Forms a Methodist Class in Illinois. Gradual change of Views. 
 Mode of Inquiry. Circumstances of his Baptism. Practical pro- 
 gress in Baptist Principles. Zeal and influence in promoting educa- 
 tion. Early Schools in the Illinois country. A formidable ob- 
 struction to a pupil. Three fellows in the way. Want of books. 
 A whiskey-loving teacher rightly served. Effects of Father Clark's 
 teaching. Visits Kentucky again. Visits to West Florida. In- 
 terview with a Sick man. Efficacy of Prayer. A Revolution. 
 
 We shall now confine our attention entirely 
 to Father Clark. Soon after he began his reg- 
 ular visits to the Spanish country, he gathered 
 into a society a small class of disciples, and 
 held regular meetings with them near Belle- 
 fontaine, some three or four miles north of New. 
 Design. He still regarded himself a Methodist, 
 though independent of that ecclesiastical con- 
 nection. He was scarcely conscious at that
 
 236 RELIGIOUS CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 
 
 period, that he was gradually diverging from 
 the peculiarities of Wesleyism and approaching 
 the fundamental principles of Baptist faith and 
 practice. He had held his intellect and con- 
 science open to conviction from the time he left 
 the conference in Georgia, by the prayerful re- 
 solve to follow the Scriptures, and bring all his 
 religious practice in strict conformity to that 
 divine rule. His habit of praying in every per- 
 plexity, until his mind became satisfied that he 
 was in the pathway of duty, continued and in- 
 creased with advancing years. At the same 
 time, as ever after, he was liberal to all other 
 Christians, and made no efforts to proselyte 
 them to his own peculiar views. Se explained 
 the Scriptures, and urged on all whom he- ad- 
 dressed in public, or conversed with in private, 
 the duty of studying the Word of God, and 
 follow wherever it led. Christ was ever held 
 up as sole law-giver in Zion. For several 
 years the conviction had increased that he was 
 unbaptized, and that by this ordinance more 
 than any other, the disciples of Christ made a 
 profession of faith in him. He had become 
 convinced that the ceremony performed in un- 
 conscious infancy, by virtue of some mystical 
 covenant relationship of his parents, and by the
 
 A TWO-FOLD BAPTIST. 237 
 
 pastor of the church where he was born, was to 
 him no part of Christian obedience. 
 
 In the little society he had gathered was a 
 good man by the name of Talbot, who had 
 been a local Methodist preacher. Mr. Clark 
 and this man became quite intimate. Both had 
 about the same views of Christian ordinances 
 and a gospel church state. Mr. Talbot re- 
 garded himself unbaptized, and repeatedly re- 
 quested baptism from the hands of his brother. 
 We have repeatedly shown that Father Clark 
 was subject to very serious impressions of mind 
 concerning his duty, made it a subject of fervent 
 prayer, and was conscientious not to resist the 
 impressions he felt in answer to prayer. His 
 judgment had become clear on the scriptural 
 form of baptism, but who should baptize him 
 was with him a momentous question. After 
 another season of private prayer, the conviction 
 was felt that he must baptize Talbot, and 
 Talbot administer the same ordinance to him. 
 And so it happened. A meeting was appointed 
 at Fountain Creek, a small stream that still 
 meanders among the hills in Monroe county, 
 where a large congregation, compared to the 
 present population of the country, came out. 
 After preaching, and a relation of their religious
 
 238 PROGRESS OF BAPTIST PRINCIPLES. 
 
 experience, views of the kingdom and ordi- 
 nances of Jesus Christ, they both went down 
 into the water, and Mr. Talbot baptized Father 
 Clark, and Clark baptized Talbot, and then bap- 
 tized several other persons. 
 
 If a regular and uninterrupted succession of 
 baptisms from the days of the apostles is indis- 
 pensable to qualify the administrator, and give 
 validity to the ordinance, then there was cer- 
 tainly a broken link in the chain here, as there 
 was in that of Koger Williams and Deacon 
 Holliman. He who thinks he is in possession 
 of such an unbroken chain is bound to show 
 every link. Assertions and imaginings are not 
 historical proofs. 
 
 At the next regular meeting, a month later, 
 Mr. Clark again baptized two or three others 
 of his society, one of whom, a venerable and 
 pious member of the Methodist society, yet 
 lives within the vicinity of the writer. Both 
 Mr. Clark and Mr. Talbot, were regular ad- 
 ministrators of religious ordinances according 
 to Paedobaptist usage, for they had been duly 
 authorized by the Methodist Episcopal church, 
 had left that connection in an orderly mode, 
 and still sustained the ministerial office. It 
 was ten or twelve years after this before he be-
 
 FRONTIER SCHOOLS IN ILLINOIS. 239 
 
 came regularly connected with the Baptist de- 
 nomination. 
 
 Amongst his other services that implanted 
 him in the confidence and affections of the 
 people, was his ability, zeal and influence in the 
 cause of education. In this department of 
 labor, as in his gospel ministrations, he engaged 
 from no personal or pecuniary motives. His 
 services were offered to all who would come 
 under his tuition and behave properly. For 
 his board and clothing, he relied on the liberal- 
 ity of his patrons. He was in fact the pioneer 
 teacher in this country, for all before him were 
 unfit for that business. 
 
 In the French villages, common school educa- 
 tion was neglected. Some of the priests and 
 elderly females taught the children the elements 
 of their religion, and to read their native 
 language, but a large proportion of that class 
 of people grew up to manhood with little 
 knowledge of science and literature, and less 
 learning. 
 
 The first school ever taught among the 
 American settlers in the Illinois country, was 
 by Solomon Seely, in 1783. Francis Clark, an 
 intemperate man, came next, and had a small 
 school in Moore's settlement near Bellefontaine,
 
 240 A LESSON IN DANIEL. 
 
 in 1785. He did quite as much harm as good. 
 Next after him for two or three years was an 
 insignificant Irishman by name of Halfpenny. 
 He possessed very little learning and less skill 
 in teaching. School "books were scarce and 
 more difficult of attainment than in Kentucky. 
 Each pupil carried such a hook from which to 
 say his lessons, as could he found in his father's 
 log cabin. One little fellow, whose memory was 
 not in the best order and his perceptive facul- 
 ties slow of development, had the Bible for his 
 book for " easy readings." Master Halfpenny 
 had no more schoolmaster sense than to give 
 out his lessons from the book of Daniel, and 
 third chapter. Partly by spelling out the 
 words, and partly by the aid of a school-fellow, 
 he had made tolerable progress in pronouncing 
 the " hard words" and proper names through 
 eleven verses. In the twelfth verse he met 
 the formidable obstruction of the three Hebrew 
 names,. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, 
 which he could not surmount. The master was 
 petulent, surly, and uttered a series of strange 
 sounds, in jabbering Irish, which the poor 
 afflicted pupil could neither understand nor 
 imitate. He did his very best to pronounce 
 these names in the way the master ordered,
 
 THREE FORMIDABLE FELLOWS. 241 
 
 and was dismissed with the formidable threat 
 of a striped jacket the next day if he forgot 
 them. Next day came, and the little fellow 
 was in his seat, toiling at his lesson, for he 
 really tried to learn. His turn came to " say 
 his lesson," and he stood beside the master in 
 a tremor that shook his little frame and the 
 perspiration streaming down his cheeks. His 
 lesson commenced with the thirteenth verse. 
 Nebuchadnezzar was one of those long words 
 that had gone round the school on divers occa- 
 sions, and little Tommy, as he was familiarly 
 called in the family circle, had mastered that 
 before the stupid master had put him into the 
 book of Daniel. He read two lines distinctly 
 with a tremulous voice, for the threat of a 
 'striped jacket had not escaped his memory, 
 when he stopped suddenly. " Th'read on," 
 sounded in his ears like the crack of the hazle ; 
 "why don't ye th'read on, ye spalpeen," 
 came again with the expectation of the whip. 
 The trembling pupil, unable to recollect or 
 repeat any thing, burst into tears and sobs, and 
 made an effort to explain his inability " Why 
 here are these three fellows again, and I don't 
 know them." Master Halfpenny for once was 
 disarmed. There was so much simplicity and
 
 242 DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED. 
 
 honest effort in the boy that the master made 
 a kind effort to relieve his pupil. " Why, boy, 
 cannot ye mind th'em ? They ar' Mister Shad- 
 eracJc, Mes-hack, and Abed-ye-go. Now ye 
 mought go on with y'r lesson ; and don't ye 
 miss 'em agin/' 
 
 Spelling, reading, writing and the mere 
 elements of simple arithmetic were all that 
 these and many others pretended to teach. The 
 difficulties encountered in obtaining a small 
 amount of education by children in Illinois, 
 from the earliest American settlements to the 
 close of the last century were greater, and 
 books more difficult to be procured than when 
 Mr. Clark taught in Kentucky. The price of 
 a single copy of " Dilworth's New Guide to 
 the English Tongue," as the title page read, * 
 was one dollar. And none but old copies of 
 the coarsest paper, the refuse of old stores and 
 printing offices, sold at auction, were brought 
 to this remote frontier. No classes were organ- 
 ized, nor could there be any uniformity of books. 
 The masters ruled, not with " a rod of iron," 
 but a wand of hickory, four feet long. The 
 teachers were turned out at Christmas, when 
 the king of misrule took the chair, and lawless- 
 ness prevailed. Not only were the scenes en-
 
 WHISKEY-LOVING TEACHERS. 243 
 
 acted, we described in chapter ninth, in Ken- 
 tucky, but even more lamentable and ludicrous 
 ones. 
 
 A few years later, one of the whiskey-loving 
 sons of Erin attempted to teach in a settle- 
 ment known to the writer, who received the 
 tale from one of the employers. Our inform- 
 ant, who loved his dram, despised all meanness 
 and selfishness, and he regarded a man who 
 would " suck a jug ; ' in secret, as about the 
 meanest of the race. Hence he " abominated" 
 the school-master, and gloried in the tricks 
 some of the youngsters played him. The 
 master was observed by the shrewd young men 
 under his charge, to retire from the cabin to a 
 ^ thicket during the hours for lessons, and in pro- 
 portion to these occasions of retirement, his 
 eyes grew dull, his tongue wagged heavily, and 
 his natural jabbering as an Irish pedagogue, 
 became more unintelligible. 
 
 A search warrant in a verbal form was issued 
 and served on the thicket by two smart young 
 men ; the whiskey bottle was found, and in 
 quite a private way received a full allowance of 
 tartar-emetic, and then carefully deposited in 
 its accustomed hiding place. Next day the 
 master was seized suddenly with an alarming
 
 244 SKILL AND SUCCESS AS A TEACHER. 
 
 illness. It would have been called cholera, 
 but that disease was unknown on these fron- 
 tiers at that period. But, as our informant 
 expressed it, " he was orfully skeered, and glad 
 enough to have us let him off from his article." 
 Mr. Clark taught the youngsters about Belle- 
 fountaine, New Design, and the " Bottom," at 
 various intervals for eight or ten years. Though 
 other teachers met with the customary Christ- 
 mas frolic, and were dethroned, Mr. Clark was 
 an exception. Not one of the roguish young 
 men in the settlements would offer him such 
 an insult. Those pupils who were kept under 
 proper government at home, made no trouble 
 in the school. But there were wild and rude 
 young lads, who were devoid of self-respect, 
 and required the application of the hazel and 
 hickory. One of our old friends, now past the 
 age of threescore and ten, was a student of Mr. 
 Clark, at times, for several years, and received 
 ample qualifications under his tuition for the 
 official duties of marshall under the territorial 
 government, and who also has been a useful 
 teacher. Of him we have made special inquiry 
 how he managed these insubordinate youngsters, 
 and how their rebellious habits affected his tem- 
 per and patience. His response is, that on
 
 TESTIMONIALS. 245 
 
 some occasions he thought him to be slightly 
 irritated, that occasionally he had to \ise the 
 rod, that he would have order in his school, and 
 that he always discriminated between crimi- 
 nality and dullness.* The modern contrivances 
 for teaching arithmetic and the elements of 
 mathematics were then unknown. The rules 
 were written out by the teacher, and the sums 
 when worked right were all copied in a book. 
 Not long since we looked over a book preserved 
 by another student, with the date of 1806, then 
 twenty-one, now verging to seventy years of 
 age.f A third, and one who for almost half a 
 century, has been esteemed as one of our ablest 
 and most successful ministers, (as has also his 
 brother just named,) acknowledges himself as 
 having received special aid from this pioneer 
 preacher in preparing him for the ministry. 
 This person in earlier life performed a promi- 
 nent part in the public affairs of the territorial 
 and state governments. In addition to minor 
 branches, he studied mathematics, logic, rhe- 
 toric, history and philosophy. This minister, 
 as several others have done, acknowledges his 
 indebtedness to Father Clark for his valuable 
 
 * Kobert Lemen, Esq., of St. Clair county, Illinois, 
 f Rev. Joseph Lemen, ibid.
 
 246 ANOTHER VISIT TO KENTUCKY. 
 
 aid in those branches specially relating to the 
 profession of the ministry.* Many others who 
 shared the benefits of his instruction have long 
 since followed their beloved teacher to "that 
 bourne from whence no traveler returns." 
 
 Mr. Clark made a visit to Kentucky before 
 the period of his baptism, but what year we 
 find no one who can recollect. It was probably 
 about 1800, or 1801, during the period of the 
 great revivals there, for he had large congrega- 
 tions wherever he preached, and unusual suc- 
 cess followed. He was absent several months, 
 and his friends in Illinois were anxious for his 
 return, and sent William Murray as a messen- 
 ger through the wilderness to recall him. Mr. 
 Murray came into a crowded congregation soon 
 after Mr. Clark had commenced his sermon. 
 While his quick eyes were glancing over the 
 deeply affected congregation, they lit on the 
 well known form and features of the messenger, 
 and a suspicion of his errand flashed on his 
 mind. 
 
 " There's brother Murray, from the Illinois 
 country, and no doubt the Lord has sent him 
 for me to return there. I had an impression 
 this morning in prayer that I must go back to 
 
 *Rev. James Lemen, then junior, now senior.
 
 A MESSENGER ARRIVES. 247 
 
 that destitute field. Try to get a seat, brother 
 Murray, and wait patiently, for I must finish 
 my sermon. It is probably the last time I shall 
 ever preach in Kentucky, and I can't leave 
 without warning poor sinners once more to flee 
 to the Saviour." 
 
 There was nothing extravagant in this style 
 of address. In that congregation, it would 
 have turned no one's thoughts from the subject. 
 It is no unusual thing for ministers, while 
 preaching, to throw out a parenthetical sentence 
 to individuals present, and receive responses. 
 It causes no interruption to persons who are 
 not tied up by forms, and restrained by conven- 
 tualities, as in older communities. 
 
 The meeting continued till a late hour that 
 day. Anxious persons desired instruction, and 
 Father Clark was called on repeatedly to offer 
 prayers for sinners in distress. Then the con- 
 gregation must sing some familiar songs, give 
 him the hand of fellowship, and beg him to 
 remember them in his prayers when far away. 
 Next morning Mr. Clark and his friend were 
 on the trail for the Illinois country. 
 
 It was about the year 1807 or '08, that Mr. 
 Clark, after a long season of prayer and impres- 
 sions, went down the Mississippi river on a mis-
 
 248 VISIT TO WEST FLORIDA. 
 
 sion to West Florida.* The tract of country, 
 exclusive of the Island of Orleans, now belong- 
 ing to the State of Louisiana, and called West 
 Florida, was retained by the Spanish govern- 
 ment, after the cession of Louisiana, though 
 understood by both the French and American 
 governments to be included in that cession. 
 The laws of Spain and the Catholic religion 
 existed in that district. Baton Ronge. was the 
 site of a Spanish fort, in which a small garrison 
 was stationed. A large part of the population 
 were emigrants from the south-western States, 
 and claimed the right of transfer with the people 
 of Louisiana. They made an unsuccessful effort 
 to throw off the Spanish yoke in 1805. In this 
 district, and amongst these Americans, Mr. 
 Clark spent several months, preaching and 
 teaching. The towns of Baton Rongef and 
 Bayon Sara were on the river, and the settle- 
 ments in the country extended over the district 
 of East Feliciana. Mr. Clark made a second 
 visit to this country about 1810, or '11, and we 
 
 * For about twenty years, we depend wholly on the recollections of 
 his surviving friends, for the incidents of his life and labors. The 
 facts have been obtained, but after protracted and diligent search, we 
 cannot hi all cases accurately fix the dates. In no instance do we 
 vary from the exact period more than four or five years. 
 * Ked Staff, from the color of the flag-staff.
 
 VOYAGE DOWN THE RIVER. 249 
 
 can give several incidents that occurred, but 
 cannot distinguish on which tour. On his first 
 voyage he started in a small canoe from the 
 Merimac river in St. Louis county, and Mr. 
 Baly, one of his friends, aided in fitting him 
 out. To balance the frail craft in which he 
 embarked, poles of light papaw wood were 
 lashed across the canoe. In this light vessel 
 thus trimmed he floated with the current, and 
 steered with a single paddle by day, and en- 
 camped in the dense forest that lined the shore 
 at night. The voyage of more than one thou- 
 sand miles, down this turbid, foaming river, was 
 made in safety. He was alone, and yet not 
 alone, for a deep conviction of the all-seeing 
 and everywhere-present God rested on his mind 
 wherSTer he traveled, by night and by day. 
 Through the Mediator and mercy seat he held 
 communion, habitually, with the Father of 
 spirits, and felt the most childlike confidence in 
 his gracious arm for protection. 
 
 It was while on one of his excursions to 
 Florida, that he heard of the illness of a Mr. 
 Todd, with whom he had some acquaintance in 
 the Illinois country. Mr. Todd had gone down 
 the river on a flat-boat with a load of produce, 
 which he had sold out, and with one of his
 
 250 THE AFFLICTED INFIDEL. 
 
 companions, was making the long and perilous 
 journey on foot to the upper country. This 
 was the common mode of transportation down 
 the great rivers of this valley to market before 
 the period of steam navigation. Flat-boats 
 never return up the strong current, but are 
 sold and broken up for old lumber, and the men 
 return through the Indian country and inter- 
 vening forest on foot. This was a perilous busi- 
 ness, and caused great destruction of human 
 life. Many perished of whom their friends 
 never learned the particulars. Bands of rob- 
 bers roamed through this wilderness, and doubt- 
 less many a farmer from Tennessee, Kentucky, 
 and the country along the Ohio and Wabash 
 rivers, who never returned, was murdered for 
 the money he attempted to transport. 
 
 Mr. Todd belonged to a family in Illinois 
 who were infidels of the Paine creed. That is, 
 they believed in Almighty God, as the creator 
 and governor of the world, but disbelieved the 
 supernatural birth, divine nature and office- 
 work of Jesus Christ as a mediator, and the 
 divine authority of the Scriptures. Mr. Clark 
 found Mr. Todd very sick with the bilious fever, 
 nursed him, anil continued with him until he 
 thought himself able to travel. While at the
 
 EFFECTUAL PRAYING 251 
 
 worst stage of the disease, the sick man was 
 given over, and thought himself he must die in 
 that dreary wilderness, and desired Mr. Clark 
 to pray for him. This was done repeatedly in 
 his presence, and the preacher "became unusually 
 exercised, and spent some time in secret prayer 
 for him, that God would spare his life, and en- 
 able him to reach his friends in the Illinois 
 country. As Mr. Todd was about to depart on 
 foot, with his traveling companion, for a long 
 journey through the wilderness and Indian 
 country, under great despondency, and with 
 faint hopes of reaching the end of his journey, 
 Father Clark again prayed with him, gave him 
 encouragement, and assured him that the GOOD 
 ONE, as he denominated our Heavenly Father, 
 would not leave him to perish in the wilderness. 
 He felt assured of a gracious answer to his 
 prayers on his behalf, and that he would reach 
 his friends, though a thousand miles lay between 
 them. 
 
 It was a terrible affair for a sick man to 
 travel through the swamps, cane-brakes and 
 pine forests, and cross the rivers and creeks that 
 lay in the route. On several occasions the sick 
 man, in despair of reaching the end of his 
 journey, lay down to die, when the recollection
 
 252 HOW TO TREAT INFIDELS. 
 
 of the prayers of Father Clark, and the as- 
 surance he gave of seeing home, inspired him 
 with new vigor, and urged him onward. He 
 reached his brother's house in the American 
 bottom, under the firm conviction that his life 
 had been spared, and preternatural strength 
 given him in answer to the prayers of that 
 good man. 
 
 This man's constitution was broken down. 
 He lingered along in a feeble condition, and in 
 a year or two died of a pulmonary disease. 
 While on his death-bed at his brother's house, 
 (who, though he possessed some fine traits of 
 character, remained a hardened infidel,) he sent 
 for a minister of the gospel to visit and pray 
 with him.* He had previously told his friends 
 how he had experienced the efficacy of the 
 prayers of Mr. Clark, and he again repeated the 
 story to his visitor, and stated with great frank- 
 ness that he had serious doubts of the Bible 
 being a revelation from God, but he had no 
 doubt that God did hear and answer the prayers 
 of good men. 
 
 The visiting minister, as was his habit in all 
 such instances, conferred with the infidel 
 brother in whose house he was, and with whom 
 
 * Rev. James Lemen, who narrated the incident to the author.
 
 MINISTERS SHOULD BE COURTEOUS. 253 
 
 he Lad been personally acquainted for many 
 years. " Mr. Todd, your brother appears to be 
 failing. He has not long to live with us. I 
 know your principles, that you do not believe 
 in the Scriptures as a revelation from God, nor 
 in Jesus Christ as a Saviour. This is your 
 house, and I desire to do nothing that appears 
 obtrusive. If I pray with your brother as he 
 requests, I must pray in the name of Jesus 
 Christ. This may be offensive to you." Mr. 
 Todd replied, " Mr. L., my brother wishes you 
 to pray for him. I desire you to exercise your 
 own privilege in my house as freely as if it were 
 your own. In every thing I desire my brother 
 to be gratified while he lives, and I think with 
 him that the prayers of good men are heard. I 
 know he cannot live long." 
 
 A portion of Scripture was read, a hymn 
 sung, and all the household kneeled around the 
 bed, and behaved with decorum, while the min- 
 ister made his petition to the throne of grace 
 for the dying sinner. 
 
 No good, but much injury has resulted from 
 the assumption of ministerial dignity and 
 authority, with such people as the Todd family. 
 Nothing is lost but much gained by courtesy 
 and condescension. Such were the lessons
 
 254 FAITH IN PROVIDENCE. 
 
 taught and the example set by the successful 
 pioneer whose life we are tracing. 
 
 In one instance, if not in both, Mr. Clark re- 
 turned on foot from West Florida to the Illinois 
 country through the intervening wilderness. 
 His second tour was made by land, and on foot, 
 and he preached wherever settlements existed, 
 and left a series of appointments, which he 
 filled on his return. In the Arkansas country 
 he attempted to reach a settlement, but got 
 lost in the woods and cane-brakes, and wandered 
 for some hours without finding the signs of a 
 human habitation. He was a thorough woods- 
 man, bufc he despaired of finding the way out 
 by his own skill. Believing in the constant 
 protection of Divine providence, which he could 
 obtain by prayer, he knelt down by a large tree, 
 and continued to pray until his mind became 
 calm, and he felt relieved of all perturbation 
 and anxiety. Pursuing the direction to which 
 he was led by the impressions of mind he re- 
 ceived, he soon came to a path that led him to 
 a house on the border of the settlement he was 
 trying to find. 
 
 West Florida became revolutionized in 1810, 
 and if we rightly conjecture, at the time or just 
 before the second visit of Father Clark. That
 
 A REVOLUTION. 255 
 
 portion of Florida that lay west of the Perdido 
 river, was originally a part of Louisiana, but 
 the Spanish government held possession, and 
 the government of the United States, desirous 
 of avoiding collision with Spain, did not take 
 forcible possession of this district. In the sum- 
 mer of 1810, the people of the territory, aided 
 by their friends from Mississippi, effected a suc- 
 cessful revolution, with very little bloodshed. 
 A party of French, headed % Captain George 
 Depassau, and a party of Americans, command- 
 ed by -Captain H. Thomas, made a bold and suc- 
 cessful attack on the fort at Baton Rouge, 
 which surrendered at discretion, and the civil 
 and military authorities of Spain were permit- 
 ted to retire to Pensacola. In October the dis- 
 trict was annexed to the United States, by the 
 proclamation of the President, announcing that 
 William C. C. Clairborne, governor of the ter- 
 ritory of Orleans, was empowered to take pos- 
 session of West Florida, in the name of the 
 United States, as a portion of the territory 
 under his jurisdiction. 
 
 While on a visit to this district in 1842, we 
 found persons who had heard Father Clark 
 preach, and remembered him as a pioneer 
 school teacher.
 
 256 "FRIENDS TO HUMANITY/' 
 
 On his return from his second tour, he was 
 taken sick, and continued in a feeble condition 
 for some time. His friends in St. Louis county 
 hearing of his situation, went after him, and 
 there being no carriage roads, they hauled him 
 on a sled, dragged by a single horse, through 
 the wilderness to the settlements near St. Louis. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Baptists, "Friends to Humanity." Their Anti-slavery position. ' 
 Mr Clark joins them. Manner of his reception. His Views of 
 African Slavery Views of African Colonization. Made Life-mem- 
 ber of a Colonization Society. Circulars on Slavery. Personal 
 behavior. Conversational Gifts. Writes Family Records*. 
 
 A class of Baptists had commenced organ- 
 izing churches, first in Illinois and then in Mis- 
 souri, denominated, as a kind of distinction from 
 other Baptists, as " Friends to Humanity." 
 They were frequently called emancipators by 
 others. They were opposed to slavery, and 
 being desirous of operating in a quiet and 
 peaceful manner against the commerce in human 
 beings, this class adopted rules by which they 
 were to be governed in the admission of slave- 
 holders into the churches. The organization 
 originated in Kentucky, in 1807, and made a
 
 PRINCIPLES OF " FRIENDS TO HUMANITY." 157 
 
 division in a small association in Illinois in 1809. 
 They would not receive persons to membership 
 "whose practice appeared friendly to perpetual 
 slavery ;" that is, those who justified the hold- 
 ing of human beings as property, on the same 
 grounds of right as they claimed their horses 
 or other kinds of property. They did admit 
 to membership in the churches of Christ slave- 
 holders under the following exceptions. 
 
 1. Persons holding young slaves, and recording a deed 
 of emancipation at such an age as the church should agreo 
 to. 
 
 2. Persons who had purchased slaves in their ignorance, 
 and who are willing the church should decide when they 
 shall be free. 
 
 3. Women who have no legal power to liberate slaves. 
 
 4. Those that held slaves who from age, debility, in- 
 sanity, or idiotcy were unfit for emancipation. And they 
 add, " some other cases which we would wish the churches 
 to judge of, agreeable to the principles of humanity." 
 
 These Baptists differed widely from modern 
 abolitionists of the Northern States and Eng- 
 land, at least in the following particulars. 
 
 1. They never adopted the dogma that slave- 
 holding is a " sin per se" a sin in itself, irre- 
 spective of all the circumstances in which the 
 parties might be providentially placed. Hence 
 they could consistently buy slaves and prepare
 
 258 NEGATIVE PRINCIPLES. 
 
 them for freedom ; or contribute funds to en- 
 able slaves to purchase themselves, with a clear 
 conscience. 
 
 2. They never aided fugitive slaves to escape 
 from their masters, or secreted them, in viola- 
 tion of the constitution and laws of the land. 
 
 3. They never interfered in any objectionable 
 way, with the legal and political rights of slave- 
 holders. They preached the gospel in an accept- 
 able and successful manner among slave-holders. 
 
 4. They aimed to do good both to master and 
 servant, in a quiet, lawful and peaceable mode. 
 
 5. They endeavored to consult the true in- 
 terests of all parties concerned. 
 
 6. They ever upheld the constitution and 
 laws of the country in a peaceful way. Some 
 of this class were chosen to official stations in 
 both the territory and state of Illinois, and 
 took the oath to support the constitution and 
 laws of the United States without quibbling 
 and evasion. 
 
 Their general faith and practice corresponded 
 with the principles of Baptists in general Union. 
 
 Mr. Clark had gradually become a Baptist in 
 all respects. For eight or ten years after he 
 had been baptized in the manner already 
 described, he remained in an independent posi-
 
 JOINS THE " FRIENDS OF HUMANITY " 259 
 
 tion. Witli the exception of his visits to the 
 lower country, the larger portion of his time he 
 spent on the western side of the Mississippi, 
 with occasional visits to his Illinois friends. 
 The members that remained of the society he 
 organized near Bellefontaine in Illinois, had at- 
 tached themselves to other churches, some to 
 the Baptists, and others to the Methodist Epis- 
 copal church. Those about the Spanish pond 
 and Coldwater settlements in St. Louis county 
 gradually became Baptists, and regarded him 
 as their pastor and spiritual guide. For some 
 years he watched the course of his old friends, 
 the Lemans' and others of that class. He felt 
 deeply interested in their anti-slavery position. 
 Their quiet, unobtrusive method of managing 
 the perplexing question of slavery corresponded 
 with his own views and experience. The 
 father, his old friend and associate, had become 
 an ordained minister, and two of his sons, who 
 had studied under Mr. Clark, were now heads 
 of families, and joint pastors of Cantine, (now 
 Bethel) church, and, with their compeers in 
 the ministry, were performing much itinerant 
 service in the destitute settlements. Benjamin, 
 the eldest son of Captain Joseph Ogle, was an 
 ordained minster in this connection of Baptists.
 
 260 MANNER OF UNITING. 
 
 Father Clark and these brethren had always 
 enjoyed fraternal intercourse, though no formal 
 church connection had been formed. His man- 
 ners were so inoffensive, his labors in the minis- 
 try were so. disinterested and unremitting, his 
 views were so scriptural, and his daily conduct 
 so fully exemplified a life of faith on the Son 
 of God, that no one thought of calling in ques- 
 tion his regular standing in the ministry. He 
 might have lived and died without reproach, 
 and enjoyed the confidence of all good men in 
 the same isolated position he had occupied from 
 1796. But his sound judgment guided him, v 
 and the impressions received in prayer prompt- 
 ed him to unite with others in a formal associa- 
 tion. He was fearful he might set an example 
 for erratic preachers to follow. 
 
 The class of Baptists held an annual meeting 
 within the bounds of their churches on each re- 
 turning autumn, though they had not assumed 
 the form of a regular association. Such a 
 meeting Mr. Clark attended, with some of the 
 brethren from Coldwater, and proposed union 
 and co-operation. Not from any necessity of 
 knowing more of his character, but as a prece- 
 dent for subsequent cases he was examined on 
 his Christian experience, views of doctrine, and
 
 VIEWS OF AFRICAN SLAVERY. 261 
 
 practice. The result being highly satisfactory, 
 lie was received by the hand of fellowship being 
 given by all the brethren present, while an ap- 
 propriate hymn was sung. 
 
 His views on African slavery gradually ac- 
 quired firmness and consistency. We have 
 traced his convictions on this subject to his ex- 
 quisite sense of human rights, his innate prin- 
 ciples of natural liberty, his sympathies with 
 afflicted and oppressed humanity, his own de- 
 privation of liberty by the British press-gang, 
 and his imprisonment for nineteen months by 
 the Spaniards in Havana. In a personal ac- 
 quaintance of fifteen years, and the examination 
 of various fugitive papers, we find no confusion 
 of thought, and no lack of just conceptions of 
 the subject. His intercourse with slave-holders 
 was ever courteous and kind. He never ob- 
 truded his opinions where no good impressions 
 could be made, nor in any way disguised his 
 sentiments before any person. His frankness 
 and candor were so well known, that all classes 
 had entire confidence in his motives and mode 
 of treating this subject. 
 
 When the subject of the colonization of free 
 colored persons in Africa was brought to his 
 mind by the formation of the American Coloni-
 
 262 VIEWS OF AFKIOAN COLONIZATION. 
 
 zation Society, he hailed it as an omen of good. 
 He understood the strong objections -to the em- 
 ancipation of slaves and remaining amongst us. 
 He understood well the prejudices against the 
 peculiarities of the African race, as one of the 
 barriers to amalgamation with white people, 
 and amidst the gloom that surrounded the hope- 
 less bondage of that race, he saw one luminous 
 spot in the moral hemisphere. The star of 
 hope appeared to him to arise in Africa. The 
 finger of providence pointed in that direction, 
 and he abounded in faith and prayer for success 
 in the enterprise. He was not so visionary as 
 to imagine there would be no defects in its 
 management, or no drawbacks in the coloniza- 
 tion movement. He well understood it was an 
 object not to be accomplished in one generation, 
 and that its influence upon emancipation must 
 be gradual and indirect. He desired to have 
 an influence produced in the minds of slave- 
 holders towards the moral and religious interests 
 of the slaves. 
 
 So long known and so well understood were 
 his anti-slavery principles, and his interest in 
 the colonization scheme as the means of re- 
 moving one of the most formidable obstructions 
 to emancipation, that the ladies of Lofton's
 
 HIS LIFE-MEMBERSHIP. 263 
 
 prairie, then in Greene, (now Jersey) county, 
 Illinois, one of his. monthly preaching stations, 
 paid him the compliment of making him a life 
 member of the county auxiliary society.'-' 
 
 * We extract the following correspondence from the WESTERN 
 PIONEER, of which the author was editor, of February 16, 1831. 
 
 " The following letter from Judge Brown to the editor will be read 
 with pleasure by many of our subscribers. The venerable Father 
 Clark has long been known in Illinois and Missouri as a prudent, but 
 uncompromising advocate of human freedom and the rights of man. 
 The ladies could not have paid the worthy father in the ministry a 
 happier compliment than making him a member of the Colonization 
 Society. 
 
 CARROLLTON, 111., December 25, 1830. 
 
 DEAR SIR : The cause of Colonization is gaining ground in our 
 county, and many, both male and female, take a deep interest therein. 
 The Rev. John Clark was constituted a life member of the auxiliary 
 society of Greene County, on the 12th inst., by the patriotic ladies of 
 Lofton's prairie and its vicinity, who is the first person, so far as I 
 know, who has been constituted by the ladies a member of that most 
 benevolent institution. I hope for the honor of those ladies, and to 
 stimulate others to follow the example they have sef, you will publish 
 the following resolution, with such remarks as you may deem proper 
 to promote the cause of colonization, which I consider a most efficient 
 means that ever have been adopted to civilize and Christianize 
 the uncultivated and barbarous tribes of Africa, as well as to wipe 
 away a foul stain from our national character. 
 
 Respectfully .your obedient servant, JEHU BROWN. 
 CARROLLTON, 111., Dec. 25, 1830. 
 
 At a called meeting of the Auxiliary Colonization Society of Greene 
 county, it was 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of this society be presented to the ladies 
 of Lofton's prairie and vicinity, for their generosity and benevolent 
 feelings in constituting Rev. John Clark a life member of this society. 
 
 By order of the President. MOSES 0. BLEDSOE, Secretary.
 
 264 HOSPITALITY OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 Mr. Clark wrote several circulars for the an- 
 nual association of Baptists, to which he be- 
 longed, on the subject of Slavery, which were 
 published in their minutes. They were dicta- 
 ted by a courteous and christian-like spirit, 
 plain, pointed, impressive and efficacious. 
 
 After he joined the Baptists, his labors were 
 the same as before, except in a wider range of 
 traveling, and more extended Christian inter- 
 course. No time was wasted in idleness or friv- 
 olous pursuits. Always cheerful, always the 
 same devout, praying man. There were two or 
 three families in Missouri, as Upper Louisiana 
 was called from the period of the organization 
 of the territory in 1812, where he made his 
 home. All his earthly wants were cheerfully 
 provided for by his friends. Certain mothers 
 in Israel vied with each other in providing his 
 annual supply of clothing ; the domestic man- 
 ufacture of their own wheels and looms. The 
 cloth was the same as was then worn by the 
 farmers of the country, but was kept by the 
 wearer in a neat and tidy manner. He did not 
 live to enter on the era of this frontier, when 
 dress, equipages, furniture, and houses, as in 
 the old states, were used for the special benefit 
 of other people's eyes. Nor at that period would
 
 PERSONAL BEHAVIOR, 265 
 
 rank, or social position be detected by the dress 
 a man or woman wore. 
 
 Mr. Clark was noted for refinement and sim- 
 plicity. His personal appearance and dress 
 were noticed for neatness. His habits, of which 
 he scarcely appeared conscious, were those of 
 the gentleman. Though he used tobacco, he 
 never acquired the filthy practice', still very 
 common in this country by rude and ill-manner- 
 ed young men, of spitting about the fire place, 
 stove, and furniture. If he had occasion to dis- 
 charge the saliva, he invariably stepped to the 
 door, though it might have been in a log cabin. 
 He used the bath frequently by resorting to 
 some retired spot in the creek or river. For 
 many years, and until the close of life, he bathed 
 his feet in cold water at all seasons of the year. 
 We have known him walk a quarter of a mile, 
 in extreme cold weather in the winter, to a 
 spring or creek that he might lave his feet and 
 wade in the cold water. Long practice made 
 this habit a luxury,* 
 
 * The author tried the practice of bathing the feel! ia cold water in 
 the morning, while traveling on these frontiers, and found it invaria- 
 bly injurious to him. The application of cold water to the feet and 
 body of more than one-fourth is positively injurious. To others it is 
 highly beneficial. This depends on the temperament. Mr. Clark had 
 a sanguine-nervous temperament, and received benefit. The writer
 
 266 CONVERSATIONAL GIFTS. 
 
 In all his personal intercourse, and manner 
 of address, one could perceive not only good 
 breeding, but a nice sense of propriety. His 
 visits in families were no less effective in moral 
 cultivation, than his public preaching, though 
 that was impressive and interesting, and the in- 
 struction given highly scriptural and evangeli- 
 cal. He possessed a gift not very common, and 
 probably little cultivated by ministers, in intro- 
 ducing the subject of personal religion, in a 
 pleasant, conversational way. 
 
 A stranger, on witnessing his mode, would have 
 seen nothing ministerial, dignified, or profes- 
 sional. There was no change in the tones of 
 his voice, and effort made to introduce a sub- 
 ject not relished by the party. There was no 
 affectation of concern for others, no cant, noth- 
 ing in style or mode that differed from his conver- 
 sation on ordinary topics. Young persons, un- 
 used to be addressed on such a subject, soon 
 found themselves in the presence of a familiar 
 friend. No man could make a more touching 
 appeal to the mother of a young family, and 
 
 has a bilious-nervous temperament, and the circulation sluggish. To 
 such, the experience and observation of fifty years have taught that 
 the cold bath is injurious, while the hot bath is exhilarating. Careful 
 observation and experience are the only safe guides. It is sheer 
 quackery to prescribe the same treatment to all persons.
 
 FAMILY RECORDS. 267 
 
 while lie awakened her maternal feelings to the 
 moral and eternal welfare of her offspring, he 
 scarcely failed impressing on her own conscience 
 concern for her personal salvation. 
 
 It was a pleasure to him, and a gratification 
 to the families he visited, to write out the fam- 
 ly record in his peculiarly neat and correct chi- 
 rography, in the household Bible. And when a 
 new Bible was purchased, its possessors waited 
 many weeks, and even months, until FATHER 
 CLARK, as every one familiarly called him, vis- 
 ited them and made the record. These Bibles 
 are preserved to this day, and may be found 
 among the descendants of the pioneer families, 
 dispersed as they are over a wide extent of ter- 
 ritory. The first immigrants to Iowa, and sev- 
 eral families who went to Oregon, carried these 
 copies as choice memorials of a much venerated 
 man. 
 
 For the last fifteen years of his life there was 
 so much uniformity in his labors, that were we 
 to follow out this period in detail, it would be 
 but a repetition of the same things from year 
 to year. Such incidents as are necessary to spin 
 out the thread of the narrative and finish the 
 portraiture of this good man, will bo crowded 
 into the concluding chapter.
 
 268 CONCLUSION. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 His mode of Traveling. Excursion in Missouri, 1820. His monthly 
 circuit in Missouri and Illinois. A night Adventure. A Horseback 
 Excursion. Origin of Carrollton Church. Faith and Prayer. In- 
 terview with Rev. J. Going. A " Standard" Sermon. An Affec- 
 iionate Embrace. Comforts of Old Age. Last Illness and Death. 
 
 One of the peculiar physical characteristics of 
 Father Clark, even to old age, was his habit of 
 walking. The ordinary mode of traveling for 
 ministers and all other persons who journeyed, 
 both men and women, was on horsback. Car- 
 riage roads were infrequent, and buggies, the 
 vehicle of modern times for traveling, were sel- 
 dom seen on these frontiers. Females rode on 
 horseback to Kentucky and Tennessee, to see 
 their friends, on journies from four to eight hun- 
 dred miles. But Father Clark had some singu- 
 lar scruples against using a beast of burden ; 
 and to one of his personal friends he intimated 
 a religious vow while on the circuit in Georgia, 
 that so long as man oppressed his fellow man, 
 he did not feel free to use a horse. He was 
 never accustomed to the management of a horse, 
 as every frontier man has been from childhood, 
 and he felt unhappy, if not in real fear, while
 
 HIS PREACHING CIRCUIT. 269 
 
 riding one. Hence in nearly every tour he 
 made, he walked. 
 
 In the summer of 1820, he made a preach- 
 ing tour through the Boone's Lick country to 
 the extreme frontier settlement north side of 
 the Missouri river, to a place called Bluffton. 
 There was Dr. B. F. Edwards, a baptist, with 
 his young family from Kentucky, who received 
 him cordially. No preacher of the gospel had 
 then gone thus far in the vast west. Only a 
 few families had reached that remote position, 
 then on the border of the Indian country. 
 There he preached the gospel in a small log 
 cabin, and not even crowded with all the fam- 
 ilies within several miles. 
 
 In the Boone's Lick country, as the central 
 part of Missouri was then called, he found a 
 number of Baptist families, who claimed affini- 
 ty with the " Friends to Humanity," and aided 
 them in forming themselves into a church con- 
 nection. In going and returning, he preached 
 almost daily, as he passed from settlement to 
 settlement. 
 
 For ten years before his death, he made a 
 regular circuit, monthly, extending from Fox- 
 creek on the Merrimac, twenty miles, west- 
 south-west from St. Louis, round by Coldwater
 
 270 LABOR AT THREE SCORE AND TEN. 
 
 ter, where was the church to which his mem- 
 bership was attached, and of which he was pas- 
 tor. There, and near the Spanish pond, a set- 
 tlement farther east, he held meetings for two, 
 and sometimes three days in succession. At 
 one period he crossed the Mississippi at a ferry 
 a short distance below the mouth of the Mis- 
 souri. That ferry being stopped, he turned 
 down the course of the river to St. Louis, and 
 passed over on the ferry-boat there. His route 
 then was through the Six-Mile prairie, where 
 he had a regular preaching station. From 
 thence he occasionally diverged to Edwardsville, 
 but more frequently went up the American 
 bottom to Upper Alton, thence to Lofton's 
 prairie, Judge Brown's, near the Maconpin, 
 Carrollton, and above Apple Creek to a settle- 
 ment called Henderson's Creek, where he col- 
 lected a small church. Keturning, he would 
 deviate from this route to visit other settle- 
 ments, on the right or left, as occasion called. 
 The whole distance on these routes and back to 
 Fox creek, was about two hundred and forty 
 miles, and in the excursion he preached from 
 thirty to forty times. 
 
 Some three or four times each year he visited 
 the churches and his friends in St. Clair, and
 
 A NIGHT'S TRAVEL. 271 
 
 Monroe counties. At that period a congrega- 
 tion coull be gathered on any day of the week 
 by timely notice. 
 
 The ferry-boat already noticed below the 
 mouth of the Missouri, was destroyed in a flood, 
 and the ferry not again established. Without 
 knowing this, Mr. Clark started from the Spanish 
 pond, intending to cross at this upper ferry, 
 which would have been a gain of thirty miles. He 
 was obliged to turn down to St. Louis. His ap- 
 pointment next day was at Judge Lofton's, six- 
 teen miles above Alton. Eesolute on fulfilling 
 his engagements, though threescore and ten 
 years had brought on him the infirmities of 
 age, he made his way by St. Louis, and crossed 
 the ferry about dark. In traveling along the 
 muddy pathway, in thick darkness, twenty-four 
 miles to Upper Alton, through the dense forest 
 of the American bottom, he became fatigued, 
 and was repeatedly compelled to rest, by lean- 
 ing against a tree. He reached the hospitable 
 family of a Presbyterian friend at breakfast. 
 He was excessively fatigued, and on inquiry, 
 the family were astonished to learn he had trav- 
 eled the whole night and preceding day. Ke- 
 garding such an effort as an undue sacrifice 
 from a feeble old man, his hospitable friend
 
 272 A LONG WALK. 
 
 ventured an admonition that he should not ex- 
 pose himself. He received a response in the 
 mildest language and intonations of voice, 
 "0, my dear brother, souls are . precious, and 
 God sometimes uses very feeble and insignifi- 
 cant means for their salvation. The people ex- 
 pect me to fill my appointments, and the only 
 way was to reach here this morning. This is 
 nothing what our divine Master did for us." 
 
 Mr. L., in rehearsing this incident, stated he 
 felt humbled and rebuked at the patience, per- 
 severance, and ceaseless energy of this old min- 
 ister in the service of the Lord.* 
 
 He had walked eight miles to his customary 
 crossing place on the river, thence eighteen 
 miles to St Louis, twenty-four miles to Upper 
 Alton, and by two o'clock he was sixteen miles 
 further, preaching to the congregation in 
 Lofton's prairie. This made sixty-six miles 
 walking in a muddy path, without sleep, so con- 
 sciously strict was he to fulfill his engagements. 
 
 The spring and early summer of 1824, was 
 unusually wet, the rain poured down from the 
 clouds almost daily, the mud was deep in tne 
 paths, and it was exceedingly difficult and un- 
 pleasant on foot. His friends in Missouri fur- 
 
 * This was Enoch Long, Esq., now of Galena, 111.
 
 WORKS OF USEFULNESS. 273 
 
 nished him a small, gentle horse, called a pony, 
 put on him a new saddle, bridle and saddle- 
 bags, and after much persuasion induced Mr. 
 Clark to mount, and ride his customary circuit. 
 He consented, and was placed on the ambling 
 pony, and, much to the gratification of his 
 friends, started on his journey. He was troubled 
 le_st the horse should hurt himself, or hurt him. 
 At every creek, pond and slough, he dismounted, 
 threw his saddle bags over his own shoulders, 
 took off his nether garments, as he was accus- 
 tomed to do when walking, and carefully led 
 the horse through mud and water, often three 
 feet deep. The care of the animal distracted 
 his thoughts, and, on his return, he begged his 
 friends to take back the horse and relieve him 
 from a burden that seriously interfered with his 
 religious and ministerial duties. 
 
 When Sunday schools, Bible societies, and 
 missions were brought before the people on 
 these frontiers, he entered at once into these 
 measures, and threw his influence in that direc- 
 tion. He carried a small Bible, or two or three 
 Testaments, in his little wallet to supply the 
 destitute families he visited. He took a deep 
 interest in the first seminary in these frontier
 
 274 CARROLLTON CHURCH. 
 
 States, and encouraged his brethren to co- 
 operate in the good work."* 
 
 When the first periodical that advocated the 
 interests of religion, education, and social or- 
 ganizations for philanthropic purposes, was pub- 
 lished and circulated in his range, his influence 
 gave it impulse. He not only circulated 
 periodicals and tracts among the people, but 
 read such publications in the families he visited, 
 and impressed the subjects on the minds of his 
 listening auditors, by familiar conversation. 
 
 In the vicinity of Carrollton, 111., were a few 
 Baptists from Vermont, New York, and Ohio, 
 who were dissatisfied with the anti-mission, do- 
 nothing policy of a class of Baptists that had 
 a little church in that vicinity. Carrollton was 
 the seat of justice for Greene county, and situ- 
 ated in the centre of a large farming popula- 
 tion, and it was desirable to have a Baptist 
 church organized there, without being impeded 
 by the influence and prohibitions of the anti- 
 mission party. To this station Father Clark 
 devoted a portion of his labors. Meetings were 
 held in the court-house, an unfinished wooden 
 structure. Two males and five females having 
 
 * This was the seminary at Rock Spring, which proved the embryo 
 of Shurtleff College.
 
 DISHEARTENING WEATHER. 275 
 
 entered into covenant relation in church-fellow- 
 ship, under the instruction and guidance of the 
 pioneer preacher, a call was made on three 
 preachers in St. Glair county, to visit the place, 
 preach to the people, and give the hand of fel- 
 lowship to these brethren as a church in gospel 
 order.* 
 
 These ministers left the north side of St. 
 Clair county on Friday morning, the 27th day 
 of April, 1827. The weather was unpleasant, 
 and a succession of showers continued through 
 the day. They had to ride forty miles to reach 
 Judge Lofton's, where they were to pass the 
 night. Their breakfast place was twelve miles 
 further on, at Judge Brown's residence. An- 
 other twelve miles would bring them to the 
 place of meeting, and the time to commence 
 was twelve o'clock on Saturday. 
 
 At night, when the party reached Judge 
 Lofton's residence, the weather was most un- 
 favorable. A thick, dark mantle covered the 
 sky, and sent down a steady chilling rain. So 
 
 * This is the usage amongst Baptists. No ecclesiastical authority is 
 required to constitute a church. Any number of the disciples of 
 Christ, when baptized on a profession of faith, can unite in church 
 fellowship. Ministers and other brethren, on invitation, meet with 
 them, and give them public recognition as being in union.
 
 276 A GLORIOUS MORNING, 
 
 it was at nine o'clock. The road had "been 
 quite muddy and the traveling unpleasant. 
 The small streams that crossed their path began 
 to rise, and might be in swimming order by 
 morning. They lay down to rest with despond- 
 ing expectations of reaching the appointment 
 in season. 
 
 Next morning, as the first gleams of light 
 glanced over the prairies, the party was up and 
 on their horses. But what a change in the 
 aspects of nature ! The clouds were dispersed, 
 the air was soft and exhilarating ; and as the 
 sun rose, with healing in his beams, and threw 
 streams of light through the rain drops that 
 glistened on every shrub ; gold, emeralds, 
 rubies and diamonds reflected their mingled 
 hues on every side. Birds were celebrating 
 their matins in every spray. The path was 
 muddy, and the streams were at fording places 
 past the mid sides of their horses, but these in- 
 conveniences were of too small moment to 
 cause uneasiness. The party dashed on with 
 their high-spirited horses, and arrived at the 
 
 cabin of their hospitable friend, Judge B 
 
 just as the coffee, corn-cakes, chickens, and 
 other edibles, smoking hot, were ready for the 
 table. The party, both men and horses, were
 
 A HAPPY MEETING. 277 
 
 soon refreshed, and being reinforced by a dozen 
 or more persons on their way to the meeting, 
 they proceeded. Just at the time of high noon 
 they entered the village of Carrollton, and 
 made their way across the open area, left for 
 the public buildings, to the house of a Baptist- 
 minister,* who lived for the time being in the 
 village where they knew the pioneer preacher 
 would be found. He was standing in the door- 
 way, and as his eye caught a glimpse of the 
 ministers, he stepped out ; his head was bare 
 and his silvered locks gently agitated by the 
 balmy breeze. The sun shone in meridian 
 splendor, and every thing in nature was a type 
 of the calm and joyous spirit that reigned with- 
 in. Seizing the hands of his three brethren in 
 the ministry, he exclaimed with the pious ejac- 
 ulation, " Bless the Lord, my soul, and for- 
 get not all his benefits. I knew you would 
 come. I prayed for you all day yesterday until 
 I got an answer ; and I felt strong in the faith 
 the clouds would disperse, and we should have 
 fair weather and a good time." 
 
 The unexpected change of the weather had 
 been a topic of conversation by the party during 
 their morning's ride, and one remarked, "I 
 
 * Kev. Elijah Dodson.
 
 278 PHILOSOPHICAL SPECULATIONS 
 
 should not be surprised to learn that Father 
 Clark has been praying for us." 
 
 We leave it to that class of speculatists, who 
 fancy that the Almighty does not concern him- 
 self with human affairs, to explain the philos- 
 ophy of this sudden and unexpected change. 
 Doubtless they can solve the mystery by re- 
 ferring to an occult female, without either in- 
 telligence, goodness, or power, called NATURE, 
 by whose LAWS every change is produced. 
 Their progenitoi s lived about 3 ; 680 years ago, 
 and in their superabundant wisdom exclaimed, 
 " What is the Almighty that we should serve 
 him ; and what profit should we have if we 
 pray unto him"* 
 
 The little church in Carrollton received the 
 fellowship of the brethren, and was visited by 
 Father Clark nearly every month, while he was 
 able to travel, while Mr. Dodson, who lived in 
 that county several years, furnished occasional 
 aid. The mystical number of seven members 
 remained, but the fallow ground was broken up, 
 the seed was sown in the congregation, and the 
 year before his death, when he could no longer 
 walk the long circuit of two hundred and forty 
 miles, the spirit of the Lord was poured out, 
 
 Jobxxi: 15.
 
 VISIT OF REV. DR. QOING. 279 
 
 and large accessions were made. He labored in 
 faith, prayer and feebleness, and other men 
 gathered in the harvest. 
 
 The year 1831 was signalized by the visit of 
 the late Rev. Jonathan Going to this valley. 
 He spent some time in Illinois, and Father 
 Clark heard of him, and so arranged as to meet 
 him at the first annual session of the Edwards- 
 ville Association. The writer had given Mr. 
 Going some outline ^f his character, labors and 
 peculiarities. Each was desirous to hear the 
 other preach. The congregation was unusually 
 large for that period, especially on Sabbath. It 
 was mid-summer, the weather hot, and the 
 people were provided with rough seats, under 
 the trees, adjacent to Upper Alton, and not 
 many yards from the present site of Shurtleff 
 College. Two and three discourses were then 
 listened to with interest and patience at one 
 sitting. The meeting continued without inter- 
 mission for about four hours. The people 
 gathered from fifteen and twenty miles distant, 
 and would return the same day. No one was 
 fastidious of the dining hour, or cared a straw 
 for the conventualities of a higher civilization. 
 Mr. Clark had several peculiar sermons, not on 
 paper, for he never used notes ; but in his
 
 280 THE STANDARDS OF EACH COHORT. 
 
 mind, one of which he would draw forth on 
 such occasions, and preach to large and Chris- 
 tian audiences. One had the text from one of 
 the prophets, and the imagery of the STANDARD, 
 or military ensign, under which the cohorts were 
 marshalled. 
 
 Allusion was had, prophetically, to the army 
 of Christ in the gospel day. In his illustra- 
 tions he referred to the order in the army of 
 Israel, as given in the first and second chapters 
 of Numbers, and their march, each tribe under 
 its own banner. The application of the figure 
 was made to the various denominational forms 
 of organic Christianity. Each standard had its 
 appropriate emblem. 
 
 The Protestant Episcopal cohort had in- 
 scribed on their liturgical standard, " Let all 
 things be done decently and in order." 
 
 The Presbyterians inscribed, " And ye, 
 fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but 
 bring them up in the nurture and admonition 
 of the Lord." 
 
 The Methodists hoisted their banner, with 
 letters of fire, " Work out your own salvation 
 with fear and trembling:' 
 
 The Baptists had on their flag, which they 
 held with great tenacity, " To the law and to
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS PREACHING. 281 
 
 the testimony ; if they speak not according to 
 this word, it is because there is no light in 
 them." 
 
 Under each head he touched on the peculiar- 
 ities of each sect, and showed that each held a 
 portion of divine truth, and did valiant service 
 in the army of Prince. Emanuel. 
 
 There was just enough of quaintness and 
 eccentricity in this mode of preaching the gospel 
 to keep every one wide awake, and cause every 
 hearer to remember and " inwardly digest " 
 what he heard. Few men would crowd into a 
 sermon more evangelical thoughts, or make 
 more vivid and happy illustrations. 
 
 The old pioneer was not less interested in the 
 impressive sermon of Mr. Going on missions, 
 and the woiaderful progress made in the work of 
 translating and publishing the Scriptures, and 
 preaching the gospel to the heathen. 
 
 At the close of such exhilirating meetings, a 
 lively hymn is sung, and the friendly grasp of 
 the hand of Christian fellowship extended 
 through the highly excited congregation. 
 
 Brethren crowded towards the stand to reach 
 
 the hand of the " strange brother," who had so 
 
 opportunely appeared in the " Far- West." 
 
 <ome one called on him to come down from the
 
 282 AN AFFECTIONATE EMBRACE. 
 
 platform, where all the people, could approach 
 him. 
 
 Father Clark, whose day of discharge every 
 one knew could not be far distant, approached 
 with light in his eyes and joy in his countenance. 
 He first seized one hand with a nervous grasp, 
 then the other ; then struck both palms on his 
 shoulders, and before there was time to reflect, 
 threw both arms around his body with an affec- 
 tionate embrace, and gave him the ancient 
 salutation on both cheeks. The vast congrega- 
 tion were melted, and many voices became so 
 tremulous that the singing almost ceased. 
 
 But " the end of all things is at hand." The 
 friends of Father Clark saw the infirmities of 
 age pressing on him. His walks were limited, 
 his preaching less frequent, and ls visits to 
 families were fewer and at longer intervals. 
 
 He had gained a home in every family he 
 visited, and a place in every Christian heart. 
 There was no murmuring ; nor fretfulness ; no 
 complaining of the degeneracy of the age, which 
 is the common failing of old men. 
 
 His friends gave him money whenever he 
 needed it. He was seldom known to have a 
 larger sum than fifty cents at one time, and 
 then he felt uneasy until he found some deserv-
 
 A PROJECTED MEMOIE. 283 
 
 ing object of charity to relieve him. He desired 
 nothing, sought nothing, and needed nothing of 
 this world's wealth. His wants were few and 
 promptly supplied by his friends. He had every 
 comfort he desired. He lived among a people 
 where hospitality is a cardinal virtue, and the 
 kind feelings of his friends were exhaustless. 
 
 Knowing his increasing infirmities, the author 
 made an effort to visit him at William Patter- 
 son's house on Cold water, but found he had gone 
 to another home on Fox Creek, and pressing 
 engagements prevented going there. The pen 
 was substituted for a personal interview, and a 
 sketch of his eventful life was commenced, but 
 failing strength prevented its completion. * 
 
 * COPT. Coldwater, Mo., Sept. 20th, 18327" 
 DEAR FATHER IN THE GOSPEL: 
 
 I have come this way on my tour to the Missouri Association, with 
 the hope of seeing you, and having one more interview on the shore 
 of time. I imagine you have gotten to the banks of Jordan, and are 
 waiting for the boat to carry you safely across. 
 
 I have some special business with you, on behalf of your friends, 
 which I meant to have done by word of mouth, but now must do it 
 with the pen. During your long pilgrimage, you have been trying to 
 do good, and no doubt wish to keep trying the inch of time you may 
 remain with us. Some of your Christian friends are anxious you 
 should do some good on earth, after you have joined the ranks above. 
 
 Your friends think a memoir of your life, including your conversion, 
 experience, travels, and labors would be interesting and useful to the 
 living ; and they are not willing to part with you without having the 
 materials left. 
 
 Tour labors in this country are intimately connected with the roll-
 
 284 HIS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 
 
 He lingered along, growing more and more 
 feeble until the autumn of 1833. A letter from 
 one of his brethren, with whom he always found 
 a hospitable and comfortable home,* written to 
 his friends in Illinois after his decease, tells the 
 story of his decline in a few words. 
 
 " For two years before his death, he had been 
 in a bad state of health, but still traveled 
 through the settlements (St. Louis county) and 
 preached till the 22d of September., when he 
 preached his last sermon at the house of Mr. 
 Quick. He was seized with a severe bowel 
 complaintj which lasted several days, but from 
 which he partially recovered. 
 
 "As in health so in his sickness, he must be 
 traveling. We moved him four times in his 
 sickness. On Friday morning, he breathed his 
 last at the house of Elisha Patterson." 
 
 This we suppose to be the llth of October, 
 1833. Had he lived to the 29th of November, 
 he would have attained seventy-five years. 
 
 gious history of the country, and to have an accurate account of the 
 one, we must have a sketch of the other. We wish you to commence 
 writing, the mere facts and dates, without regard to style, soon, and 
 continue as your strength permits Yours with due respect, 
 
 * Mr. William Patterson.
 
 PLACE OF SEPULCHRE. 285 
 
 His funeral was attended the next day by a 
 large concourse of people. It is not known that 
 he had a relative on earth living, but the Chris- 
 tian people over the whole country where he 
 preached were his sincere mourners. 
 
 His mortal remains were deposited in a bury- 
 ing ground, on which the church, with which he 
 lived and died, had erected a house of worship 
 of hewn logs, and his friends placed at the head 
 and foot of his grave a pair of neat marble tomb- 
 stones, with a suitable inscription. 
 
 The place is now an obscure one, out of sight 
 from all public roads. A lot has been provided 
 by a liberal and philanthropic gentleman of St. 
 Louis for the special purpose of a resting place 
 for the Pioneer Preachers of Missouri. Thither 
 it is proposed to convey the remains of FATHER 
 CLARK, THE PIONEER PREACHER.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 In the " Western Christian Advocate," Cincinnati, 
 of October, 1834, we found a communication from 
 Rev. John Glanville, the circuit preacher of the Me- 
 thodist Episcopal Church, in St. Louis county, dated 
 Sept. 25th, from which we give the following extract, 
 relating to Mr. Clark. 
 
 " The first preacher that brought the gospel, as un- 
 derstood and taught by the Methodists, across the 
 mighty Mississippi, was the Rev. John Clark. While 
 this country was unde* the Spanish Government, it 
 was an illegal act ; but not in reference to that law 
 which makes the minister of God a debtor to the Jew 
 and to the Greek ; to the wise and the unwise. 
 Having received a commission to preach the gospel to 
 every creature, God sent him not on a warfare at his 
 own cost. Seals to his ministry yet remain in this 
 circuit. 
 
 " I saw him on his death-bed. He insisted on being 
 taken to the meeting place. It was done. He enjoyed 
 himself under preaching. Class meeting followed. 
 The old man seemed like a person returned to his 
 home and his friends like a long absence, exulting, re- 
 joicing, and declaring that for many years he had been
 
 APPENDIX. 287 
 
 subject to. doubts about his acceptance with God ; but 
 that for fours years past, he had not a doubt, and was 
 calmly waiting for his departure. The next time I 
 came to the place, I laid him in the tomb. He had 
 returned to the same house to be at meeting, but on 
 the preceding day was called to the great assembly 
 above." 
 
 FUNERAL DISCOURSES. 
 
 It has been customary throughout the south and 
 west to preach funeral discourses, after interment, at 
 such time as may accommodate the largest number of 
 friends or relatives. Rev. Messrs. James and Joseph 
 Lemen had been selected by Mr. Clark for this pur- 
 pose. After conferring with those more directly con- 
 cerned, the following places were selected, and due 
 notice given in the papers. 
 
 Bethel meeting-house in St. Clair county, the first 
 Sabbath in February ; New Design, in Monroe coun- 
 ty, second Sabbath Judge Arrowsby, in Greene 
 county, on the third Sabbath; and Coldwater,in 
 Missouri, at William Patterson's, the fourth Sabbath 
 in February. It was stated in the notice, " The 
 object in preaching at these several places, is to afford 
 opportunity to the friends of our deceased Father to 
 join in paying this last tribute of respect to his worthy 
 memory. These places furnish central localities in the 
 great moral vineyard, where his labors were ordinarily 
 bestowed." Immense congregations attended these 
 appointments

 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 FATHER CLARK, OR, THE PIONEER PREACHER