That was, without a doubt, the proudest day in Mrs. Carr's life when she
faced the expectant multitude, on the day of the corner-stone
ceremonies, and told in simple words, the story of her striving and
achievement. It was, in truth, the day most significant in her history.
She could cast her eyes over that plowed field, and in fancy see rising
before her, the outlines of the college which she had designed as her
monument. The money was all raised; never was Carr-Burdette to rest
under the shadow of mortgage, or suspend payments.
Fresh in the minds of her audience were many instances of plans for the
selling of lots to erect college buildings,--plans that had resulted in
forced sales, spasmodic flickerings of uncertain life, and humiliating
defeat. She and her husband had accomplished what well-organized boards
and influential committees with fleet financial agents, had not been
able to consummate. They had accomplished this, not because Texas felt a
great educational want,--a vacuum in the intellectual thermometer,--but
in spite of the fact that many Texans believed they had schools
a-plenty. This they had accomplished, although misunderstood and
misrepresented by different factions; although it was persistently
denied that the property belonged to the church; and although the State
papers, on more than one occasion, refused to print an advertisement of
the enterprise.
Mrs. Carr did not rehearse these difficulties, save in general and mild
terms. A record of her sad experiences was placed by her own hand in the
dark recess of the corner-stone; but we, who are unable to hide our
record in so sacred a receptacle, must be content to lay it before the
public eye, with all good-will, and, we trust, all fairness. In her
address, that January day of 1894, Mrs. Carr said:
"To sell 250 lots at $200 each and to collect the money, was the work to
be accomplished in order to secure the college--a work that demanded
enormous courage and indomitable will power and persistence. We struck
out the word "fail," and all its derivatives from our vocabulary, and
addressed ourselves to the task. We traveled in five different States;
and, amid the distraction of the most intense political excitement and
under the pressure of the severest financial crisis the country has
ever experienced since 1873, we completed the sale of the lots after
nearly two long years of labor, worry and anxiety inexpressible. The way
has been long and hard, but you have been kind to us and God has been
with us. The corner-stone of our life-work is laid to-day; we behold the
consummation of our heart's desire, and we feel generous towards all and
profoundly grateful to our Heavenly Father for the many and devoted
friends that He has given us to cheer us by their kind words and deeds
when our burden seemed ofttimes greater than we could bear. The
sacrifice that we have made and the trials and humiliations that we have
endured are too sacred to be told, even in this paper that shall be hid
in the silence and darkness of the corner-stone, whose peace the
cyclonic onrush of the Twentieth Century may never disturb. They are
known only to our own hearts and to God. But we count them all joy and
would endure tenfold more if need be, because we believe that for the
Christian girls who shall be educated here from generation to generation
there shall work out a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
We are building, not for ourselves, but for coming generations of
girls. This thought has been from the beginning our inspiration and our
strength; and it is useless to say that to donate this college to the
Church of Christ in Texas for the education of the daughters of the
South is the supremest happiness of our united lives. It is the child of
our adoption, and to its interests we consecrate the best energies of
our remaining years. Of all the glad New Years this is to me the
gladdest. The only thing that disturbs the fitness and happiness of the
hour is the unavoidable absence in Kentucky of my husband, who has
labored so long and so faithfully under circumstances the most painful
to "humor his wife (as he expresses it) in helping her to bring to a
successful issue the pet scheme of her life." But a gladder time is yet
before us--the Jubilee Opening next September, 1894, of the completed
college--when it shall be lighted by the faces of happy girls, and when
Mr. Carr will participate in person as well as in spirit, and nothing
will be lacking to perfect our joy in the crowning work of our lives.
And best of all, the years of blessed work that shall follow! Oh, I pray
that our Heavenly Father may give us health and strength, and length of
days, and that the fruits of our labors may be abundant; so
'That when our summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan that moves
To that mysterious realm where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
We go, not like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach our grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him and lies down to pleasant dreams.'"
But was the work now ended? It was only about to begin; all else had
been preparation. But how different to work in uncertainty, and to work
in confidence!
There were the catalogues to be thought of, and notices in the papers to
be judiciously given out, and furniture to be bought, and trees, and
shrubbery, and pianos, and charts, and all things else needful to
college life. Above all, there is the building itself to be erected.
And, of course, many who have subscribed for lots do not want to pay for
them, when paytime comes due,--and are indignant at being held to their
bond, and say bitter things, and spread unkind rumors. And some have to
be excused from paying interest, else they will pay nothing; and some
move away, one knows not whither!
"Mrs. O. A. Carr is in the city," says a daily paper. "Carr-Burdette
Christian College at Sherman will open in September. The college has
been donated to the Christian churches in the State, but will be open to
all denominations. Mr. and Mrs. Carr are doing much for the educational
interests of Texas, and their philanthropic devotion to this interest
sets an example which we hope will be emulated."
[Illustration: "The College is Built at Last."--Carr-Burdette.]
Mrs. Carr clips the foregoing and sends it to the _Gospel Advocate_,
hoping they will reproduce all, or a part, of the "local".
"My dear Sister," says the _Gospel Advocate_--it is in August of the
corner-stone year, "it is our settled policy not to advertise one school
more than another. We do not see any reason why we should advertise the
Carr-Burdette College any more than the Add Rann College. There are a
number of good schools controlled by the brethren, to whom we have never
given free advertisement. Yours truly and fraternally--" Very
fraternally, without doubt. So Mrs. Carr may be in our city as often as
she pleases, and she and her husband do all they can, for a dozen
colleges, but we mustn't mention the fact; such is our policy!
John A. Brooks, pastor of the Christian church at Memphis, writes to Mr.
and Mrs. Carr: "I am pleased to see that you are about to open a female
school in Sherman. I know your education and character are such as to
commend you to the public as most competent teachers. Most heartily I
wish you both a successful voyage on the sea of life."
This from Palestine, Texas, July 13th, to Mrs. Carr, is a voice from the
camp of misconception: "I have read your letter with much interest. I
accord to you the purest and best motives in your work, and believe you
to be a noble woman. But it is reported, on good authority, that you and
Brother Carr are not in sympathy with our work in Texas, the United
States and abroad. I shall not enter the lists against you and your
work, however--I shall attend to my own business, which will keep me
busy enough * * * Fraternally yours--"
That word "Fraternally," which we find closing so many bitter and
discourteous letters, seems to be used as a parting blow. They all write
"Fraternally"--that stereotyped phrase of a stereotyped brotherhood! But
the present biographer feels indeed fraternally toward these indignant
and suspicious and mistaken letter-writers, and shall prove it by
reproducing none of their letters.
For these writers who were so warmly "fraternal" did not understand, and
seemingly would not understand, that the Carrs had deeded the college
and the extensive grounds to the Church; that the Carrs furnished the
buildings throughout, at their own expense, to present them to the
Church fully and beautifully equipped; that the Carrs had insured, and
would keep insured, the buildings, not for themselves, but for the
Church; that they did not, and never would, receive a penny of
money-contributions from anyone; and that this Carr-Burdette College,
this monument to Mrs. Carr, was given to the Church as the most
priceless gift in her possession, to the cause dearest to her heart.
In the meantime, college-work did not wholly absorb the life of this
busy woman. Here comes a letter from the Christian Woman's Board of
Missions in Missouri; the state-secretary, at this time, is Mrs.
Elizabeth Bantz. Mrs. Bantz writes:
"This year marks the twenty-fifth year of the C. W. B. M. in
Missouri--1894. My board has authorized me to issue an historical
sketch of the work. We are publishing the faces of many of those who
served us officially. We want your picture for this book. Please, my
dear sister, send me a half-tone cut, as soon as possible."
Mrs. A. B. Jones of Liberty, Mo., seconds the request: "I have been
asked to write an historical sketch of our C. W. B. M. for a book which
our state secretary is preparing for our 25th anniversary. We want our
state officers from the time of our organization. Will you kindly send a
photo, or cut, to Mrs. Bantz at St. Louis? I would be so glad to have a
picture of yourself and Brother Carr. Both of you are lovingly
remembered by us."
Now that the college is built at last, and Mr. and Mrs. Carr have
assumed its management, the story of their lives enters the peaceful
channel of daily service together.
A few events of distinction stand out from among the minor affairs of
fourteen years. The incessant work in the school room, the canvassing
tours during vacations,--involving lectures with the stereopticon,--the
correspondence with new pupils, old pupils and prospective pupils, the
worrying over misunderstandings and misrepresentations; the struggle
against prejudice, and jealousy; the sweet companionship with each
other, and with congenial friends--all this is the story of daily
living, that does not belong to the world of books.
Let the reader imagine the interlinked events of these fourteen
years--the fourteen years that followed the accomplishment of Mrs.
Carr's life-work. The honors bestowed upon her and her girls at the
Confederate Reunion at New Orleans, and at the World's Fair at St.
Louis, may be found fully described in the great daily papers of those
days. The mass of printed programs that lie before me tell of brilliant
success before the footlights--and hint at long hours of nerve-racking
rehearsals. And here are confessions of school-girls who have done
wrong, and who ask to be forgiven; and other letters which wound cruelly
and do not ask for pardon. But shall we not forgive all? And how can we
forgive, if we do not forget?
Upon my table lies documents from disobedient pupils of Carr-Burdette
College, ungrateful pupils, narrow-minded pupils, and parents naturally
championing the cause of their daughters--in which, all these stand
self-accused. Here is one who has discovered how unjust were charges she
had made against the Carrs--but not until she had spread those reports
to willing ears. And here is one who asks with tears that she may be
forgiven; but who laments that the harm she has done can never be
overcome.
But what of it all, now! I should not mention these things if it were
not for this: that the evil reports live in some minds and, no doubt,
are handed down to strangers. Here are the refutations to several such
reports, but we push them aside. Can falsehood wound beyond the grave?
Nor would we expose anyone to shame by bringing her name upon the
printed page, with quotations of her own rash words. There is no
punishment for a malicious nature so terrible as the vengeance of its
own malice which reacts upon itself, dwarfing, embittering, deadening
the higher capabilities of the soul that harbors it. He who took the
snake to his warm hearth to nourish it to life, is not he who suffers
from the ingratitude of a friend, but rather he who admits hate to warm
it in his own bosom; for it wounds him, first of all.
Fourteen years of labor in the work Mrs. Carr loved best, amid
surroundings best adapted to call forth one's greatest capabilities,
and then--the last journey. The school year of 1907-8 had opened
prosperously. September passed, and in the warmth of its haze, and in
the tender blue of its Texan sky, there was no hint that its
sister-month would bring the chill of death.
It was on the thirty-first of October that there came the summons of
which she had spoken in her dedicatory speech. Not, indeed, as a quarry
slave, scourged to his dungeon, did she go to meet that call, but rather
as one who had followed her Lord across the seas, who had dwelt with him
in many lands, and who was now to abide with Him forever.
He who was left behind, dwells in the lofty halls her wisdom and her
love fashioned out of brick and stone. The great work of her life is
continued by President O. A. Carr, and when one visits that "College
Beautiful," that "College Home," tapestries and statuary, pictures and
mosaics, engravings and flowers--all seem instinct with the presence of
Mrs. Carr.
One passes through spacious reception-rooms and ample halls, into
parlors of refined and exquisite workmanship. Yonder is the winding
stairway, with its "Cosy Nook" behind the ferns. Here is the library
with its cheerful hearth. Nothing is to be seen to suggest Latin and
Geometry! It is, first of all, a home for young ladies.
But when we are shown the mystic way that leads to schoolrooms, we find
them stript, as it were, for service. Here is little or no adornment.
They are placed before us in stern reality--desk and blackboard and
floor--with no pretense that knowledge walks on velvet carpets. In this
wing, we find ourselves indeed in a school; and we feel instinctively
that if we do not immediately fall to, at some difficult textbook, we
have no business here, and should be sent home to our parents.
And that is just what Mrs. Carr would have done for us. Education had
always for her, meant something serious, something life-long, something
to become an integral part of one's character. First, Carr-Burdette
College is to be a _home_ in which young ladies are to be taught conduct
and hygiene; but it is a _College_ Home, where study is not play, any
more than play is study. We cannot determine where we feel Mrs. Carr's
influence stronger--whether in these unadorned schoolrooms, or in the
luxurious parlors. Taken together, they typify the extremes of her
character. She sought to build in every soul that came under her
moulding touch, the firm foundation of eternal truth; and upon this
foundation to erect a structure traced with all the beauty of eternal
love.
[Illustration: "He Who was Left Behind."]
THE END
APPENDIX.
By O. A. Carr.
(Page 31.)
Our mother made our clothes from the same piece, which, for many years,
was her own weaving; and our resemblance was such in childhood that many
thought we were twins. For sixteen years we were together day and
night--in the field, in the school-room, in the home. "Bud and Ol.," our
familiar names, were pronounced together, and the presence of one
suggested the other. Our separation came when I said good-by to go to
Kentucky University, and then to the other side of the earth. I can even
now recall my feelings when I would go into Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne,
Australia, where, alone, I would read Owen's letters over and over.
Though himself not a preacher, he came as near as any one I ever knew to
an identification of his life with the lives of those who preach the
word.
After my return from Australia it was our happiness to go together to a
church composed of many whom I baptized when I began preaching
forty-five years ago, some of them our relatives. The building was
within a mile of where we were born, and near the site of the first
school-house we ever entered. There were the boys and girls with whom we
played in childhood, heads of families now. Such an audience was an
inspiration to me, and especially the presence of "Bud." I ever felt
that I could preach better when he was hearing. We went over the
familiar roads planning a meeting to be held when the weather would
permit, and I thought this happiness would be mine, but alas! there came
the telegram: "Bud is very sick, come at once." We all came to him,
except one brother who was far away. There were the chairs my mother
used, my father's desk, the little chair in which I sat in earliest
childhood, and the pictures on the wall of those whom my brother loved.
There, amid all to remind me of early days, I took my seat beside him
with the sad duty on me to report to the physician his pulse and fever
day and night. What was revealed by his tearful eyes fixed upon us can
never be put in a book; but when the physician told him he must die, he
simply said "I am ready."
With the exception of a short sojourn in Missouri and Illinois Owen
spent his life in Kentucky, at May's Lick, also at Lexington, Maysville
and Mt. Carmel. The call for a young man who neither blasphemed nor
drank secured for him his first business engagement at Lexington. He was
engaged in Maysville many years, and he spent his earnings in helping
our afflicted parents; and from the needy he never turned away. After
the death of father and mother, Owen made his home with his sister, Mary
E. Goddard, near Mt. Carmel, whence he was called to go up higher,
Thursday, January 14, 1902.
Owen Carr was a Christian. His life was very quiet, but useful. His
faith was simple, his convictions were strong and he was true to them.
To maintain what he held to be truth I believe he would have laid down
his life. Yes, he did this in effect, toiling for the good of others,
bearing heavy burdens of suffering, fulfilling his mission to the
family, in the community, in the church. How can I speak his praise?
Does he know, now, how we all loved him? No words could ever tell it.
A companion wrote: "Though our association was not long at any one time,
yet he was so transparent and companionable that in a short time I knew
Owen Carr well. He was one of the few men in the world that I really
loved ardently; and I have his obituary on the 'Treasure page' of my
little scrap book. He was the divinest and sweetest impersonation of
unostentatious unselfishness and of transparent honesty and integrity
that I ever knew among men.
J. H. M."
IN MEMORY OF THE NOBLE.
(Page 46.)
"Not of the blood," though they were Englishmen: "nor of the will of the
flesh nor of the will of man", and yet the Myalls, Eneas, Jonas, George
and Edward, stand in memory as NOBLE MEN. In the days of their activity,
their motto seemed to be: "We will do more than any others". Of these
four men two--Jonas at May's Lick, and Edward, at Maysville,
Kentucky--still live, and they are my witnesses. Eneas and Jonas Myall
were blacksmiths; and they shod one hundred mules in a day, at a time
when mules were driven overland to market! Energy, perseverance,
generosity characterized these men--each in his own way.--Remembrance of
them has been with me and has been presented to the young men in many
lands and on both sides of the earth.
Of Eneas Myall Longfellow's words in "THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH" are true
in almost every line.
If money was to be raised for benevolent purposes Eneas Myall was the
one to secure it; for he headed the list with a liberal offering, and
while others did the talking, he did the work. He was more eloquent in
deed than they were in speech: hence May's Lick church was in the lead
of all churches in that part of the country in expenditures at home and
abroad. As a deacon in the church he was well nigh perfection. I have
never seen a better.
His constancy made him great in usefulness. For more than sixty years he
led the songs in the May's Lick church. For a period of twenty years he
was never known to be absent from the meeting on Lord's day morning and
night and the Wednesday night prayer meeting except on one occasion,
when he went to Paris to see his sick brother. His best singing was
done, as it seems, on occasions when the boy, his protege, was in the
pulpit. Such singing is seldom heard now-a-days as was heard when these
men, Ed., George, Jonas and Eneas Myall sang together with Eneas to
lead. There was only one occasion, as I remember, when Eneas Myall could
not sing, and that was the morning when my father came forward to
confess his faith in Jesus. He wept for joy; but could not talk--could
not sing. The circumstances seemed to me to magnify his sincerity; for
it was just at the close of the war. Eneas Myall was of strong
prejudice, and he was opposed to my father politically, but the welcome
he extended seemed to say: we differ out yonder in the world where
political troubles are, and war rages; but here, in the church, there is
peace, and we have fellowship. When I took my father down into the water
to bury him with Christ in baptism, Eneas Myall had recovered himself
so as to sing:
"How happy are they, who their Savior obey."
It is not strange that a man possessed of such firmness, such
perseverance and such energy should become wealthy. His earnings
increased: He sowed with an unsparing hand, and he reaped bountifully.
Wealth did not make him proud nor dry up the fountain of his generosity.
He seemed never so happy as when he was dividing what he possessed with
his friends. When he and his good wife, "aunt Sallie" would spread the
banquet, and he would gather all the preachers he could find and those
who loved such company to his house, and around the table where he
presided, what a feast for body and soul was there! What preacher who
has ever been at May's Lick does not remember Eneas Myall and his
family? He has gone; and shall we ever see his like again? Before him
across the silent river had passed his faithful wife and the elders of
the May's Lick church, as nearly models, as mortals could be expected to
be, of what the Scriptures say of bishops, elders, pastors. What a
church that was! over which Aaron Mitchell, Waller Small and Benjamin
James presided, and taught by precept and example and led and protected,
in those days when Walter Scott did the preaching and Eneas Myall led in
song!
MY SHEEP.
(Page 272.)
"A sheep can never become a goat!" True of the woolly quadruped but this
fact is no reply to my sermon; for the Savior was not talking about
animals. He meant people when he said "My sheep hear my voice and follow
me". That is what sheep (animals) do; hence people who hear his voice
and follow him he calls his sheep; and says "they shall never perish".
Who? His sheep; that is, people who hear his voice and follow him. If
they should cease to hear his voice and follow they would cease to be
his sheep and the Savior did not say of such, "they shall never perish."
But were they his sheep before they heard his voice.
They might have been called "sheep" on account of some other
resemblance, such as proneness to wander away, need of guidance, of
protection; but for these reasons it would not be true of them that
"they shall never perish". It is certain that they would perish; hence
the Great Good Shepherd came and called them home, saved and protected
them.
If you say they were his sheep because he died for them--"laid down his
life for the sheep", I answer: He called them his sheep before he laid
down his life for them; and when he died it was not for them alone but
"he died for all".
The truth is that the characteristic of sheep, to hear and follow, is
possessed by all mankind; and whose sheep they are depends upon whose
voice they hear and whom they follow. They are not the Savior's sheep
unless they hear HIS voice and follow HIM. When persons do turn away
from other voices and give heed to HIS they become HIS sheep. Would you
say, this is not true, and give as a reason, "a GOAT can never become a
SHEEP?" As well say this as to say "a sheep can never become a goat" as
a proof that a believer may not, can not, cease to be a believer.
The one expression is fate fixed as fatally as is the other; and neither
of them contains any Scripture idea.
* * * * *
The TRIAL was unique. The purpose was to determine whether I should be
permitted to use their baptistry; and this depended on whether I was
sound on what they called "the design of the ordinance." There were the
officers of the Baptist Church to hear and a lawyer to ask questions. He
put them in such a way that each question could be answered by simply
quoting the Scripture; and that was happy; it was right, too, whether he
intended it or not: "What do you believe baptism is for--what purpose
has it?" Answer. "Repent and be baptized--in the name of Jesus the
Christ FOR the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit." Acts 2:38.
"Do you regard it as a saving ordinance?" Answer--"He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved." Mark 16:15-16.
"Yes, we believe that: of course, we believe the Scriptures, but what do
YOU THINK? Do you think a person cannot be saved without baptism?"
Answer--"I think just what the Savior says: 'He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved.' It is not my privilege to THINK anything
except what the Savior said, and what his Apostles preached and
practiced. Aside from this I have no ability to think; for I have
nothing to think about." "Well, our Savior says: 'he that believeth not
shall be damned' and he does not say he that believeth not and is not
baptized shall be damned." "Does not this show that baptism is not
necessary to salvation, that it is not a saving ordinance?"
Answer--"Baptism is not named in that clause, hence, we cannot think
what that clause says and have baptism in mind at all; since it is not
there. The way to be saved, Jesus says, is: 'he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved;' but the way to be damned, he says, is, 'he
that believeth not shall be damned.' I think just what the Savior says
on the subject of DAMNATION; and I think just what he says on the
subject of SALVATION."
Then Brother Jones, a Baptist, addressed the meeting in substance thus:
"Brethren, I have heard every sermon our young brother has preached in
Hobart, and I have found no fault with it. He says just what the
Scriptures say, and surely you cannot refuse that. You heard the sermon
on, 'What must I do to be saved'"? Then Brother Jones gave an outline of
that sermon--the first I had ever heard that I understood--heard it from
W. T. Moore at May's Lick, Ky., and from him I learned how to preach it.
Thereupon a good man of the company of Baptists arose and said: "I would
rather give up my life than countenance FREE-GRACE preaching." I did not
want him to give up his life, and so the interview ended with my
resolution not to use the baptistry; I would use the public baths
instead.
MRS. CARR AND A LITTLE BOY--THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AGO.
(Page 198.)
A letter to be read between the lines. "Melbourne, Australia, September
5, 1909."
"DEAR BROTHER CARR:
"Father wishes me to express to you how very sorry he was to hear of
Mrs. Carr's death, and how deeply he was moved by the touching
references to and description of her beautiful life and character. She,
indeed, was a wonderful woman, and must be sorely missed by many. It
must be a terrible blank in your home and we deeply feel for you. Father
felt it very much and very often spoke of her. Indeed, I felt it too. My
mind goes back to my school days when my sister, Eliza (now gone many
years) and I attended Mrs. Carr's school in Melbourne. I was then but a
little fellow--about eleven years of age--(I am now forty-five and have
three children.) It was a school for young ladies, but four of us boys
were allowed to go--George Thomson, Willie Robinson, Willie Church and
myself--and many a heart ache, I think, we boys gave Mrs. Carr. I can
remember that Mrs. Carr put me in a room by myself for fighting Willie
Church. I was in terrible disgrace that day; and I remember you came
into the room and asked me what I had been doing. I told you I had been
fighting Willie Church; for which you gave me to understand how naughty
it was to fight. Then, I think, you were sorry for me, and said: 'Never
mind Nat., we will have some fun,' which we did; and in the midst of it
all Mrs. Carr came in and we both got in for it. The poor dear lady was
doing what she thought best for me, and instead of punishment I was
having a good time, with you. However, she was always very, very kind. I
do not know that during my young life anyone so impressed me as the dear
soul that has gone from us all; and I see by the book you sent us that I
am not alone in this respect.
"The Church at Lygon Street is still to the fore. What delight it would
give us all in Melbourne if you could manage to pay us a visit! Would it
be possible for you to do so? You know the distance now is not so great
as when you were here. The trip would do you good; and you could stay at
my house (and we would have some fun.) The fine, grand steamers now
running out to Australia should tempt you, and what a pleasure it would
give us all to know that you were coming--won't you come? NAT. HADDOW."
"AVOID ALL OFFENSE."
(Page 186.)
The admonition, so impressive then, and needed always, caused the
revision of many a manuscript from that time on. "That which offends
will never convince." But then, when one's position is assailed, the
very assault is considered an offense: such is human nature. Few are
sufficiently civilized to discuss religious differences and at the same
time "avoid all offense;" for each one holds his religious position as
sacred, whereas, it is sacred only when it is true, when it is divine.
The Rev. James Ballantyne, a prominent preacher in Melbourne, had issued
a tract. It was no offense for him so to do: it was right--even noble
from his view of it. But did he present the truth? was the question, and
it is the question even now, and ought to be inquired into by everyone.
To help in this it was resolved that a REPLY be issued. To "avoid all
offense" Mrs. Carr was requested to go over the manuscript word by word.
What she approved it is hoped will not be an "offense" to the reader.
The language of the author was quoted, his very words, and the reply
followed each paragraph, thus:
"BAPTISM"--"ITS ORIGIN."
"It is not of man, but of God. Jesus Christ himself instituted it. We
find it in the apostolic commission, 'Go ye therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in (into) the name of the Father, and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost.'"
TRUE.
"ITS DESIGN."
"It represents and seals the union of the soul with Christ. It is the
pledge that all covenant blessings will be bestowed. It is the visible
sign of our engagement to be Christ's, by receiving him in faith, and
laying ourselves on the altar of his service. It is our initiation into
the membership of the visible Church. It is the badge of our public
Christian profession, proclaiming our separation from the world and our
union with all who bear the name of Jesus."
THE ABOVE IS IN SUBSTANCE, WHAT THE PRESBYTERIAN CONFESSION OF FAITH
SAYS, INSTEAD OF WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS IS THE DESIGN OF BAPTISM. WHOEVER
READ IN THE BIBLE THAT BAPTISM IS A SIGN OR A SEAL, OR A SYMBOL OF
ANYTHING? PAUL SAYS, "YE WERE SEALED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT," EPH. 1:13
AND 4:30. THE REV. BALLANTYNE SAYS, BAPTISM IS THE SEAL. THE OBJECT OF
HIS TRACT, AS STATED IN HIS PREFACE WAS TO UTTER A WARNING WORD TO THE
YOUNG, NOT TO LET FEELING TAKE THE PRECEDENCE OF ENLIGHTENED CONVICTION,
AND NOT TO MAKE TOO MUCH OF BAPTISM. AND THIS IS THE WAY HE BEGINS: BY
PUTTING BAPTISM IN THE PLACE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND BY MAKING BAPTISM
SEAL THE UNION OF THE SOUL WITH CHRIST. REMEMBER THIS: "YE ARDENT AND
IMPULSIVE MINDS" WHAT SAITH THE SCRIPTURE ON THE DESIGN OF BAPTISM,
"THUS IT BECOMETH US TO FULFILL ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS," MAT. 3:15; "HE THAT
BELIEVETH AND IS BAPTIZED SHALL BE SAVED," MARK 16:16; "REPENT AND BE
BAPTIZED IN THE NAME OF JESUS THE CHRIST FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS, AND
YE SHALL RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT," ACTS 2:38; "AS MANY OF
YOU AS HAVE BEEN BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST HAVE PUT ON CHRIST," GAL. 3:27.
BAPTISM IS A BIBLE THEME, AND WHY NOT WRITE ABOUT IT IN BIBLE LANGUAGE?
"The words do not declare that Faith must go before Baptism. The Greek
word translated BAPTIZED is baptistheis. The proper meaning of this is,
HAVING BEEN BAPTIZED. Anyone who knows the parts of the Greek verb knows
this. The passage, then, reads thus: 'He that believeth, having been
baptized, shall be saved.' So then, after all, the passage is just as
favorable to infant baptism as any passage could be."
BAPTISTHEIS MEANS HAVING BEEN BAPTIZED. THIS IS STRICTLY TRUE. IT IS
ALSO STRICTLY TRUE THAT "PISTEUSAS" IS THE FIRST AORIST PARTICIPLE, AND
LITERALLY MEANS HAVING BELIEVED. "ANYONE WHO KNOWS THE PARTS OF THE
GREEK VERB KNOWS THIS." THE PASSAGE, THEN, READS THUS: "HE HAVING
BELIEVED, AND HAVING BEEN BAPTIZED SHALL BE SAVED." SO, THEN, AFTER ALL,
THE PASSAGE IS JUST AS UNSUITABLE TO INFANT BAPTISM AS ANY PASSAGE COULD
BE.
* * * * *
FROM THE ALUMNAE.
How often do we recall the mornings dear Mrs. Carr called us into the
study hall, or kept us in the dining room to give us those sweet,
motherly 'little talks.' How often her words come to us as we see her
standing there among us, and, in her gentle, tactful way, a way which
belonged only to her, telling us and advising us about those little
things which play such important part in the formation of habits and
character.
Well do we all remember the little talk about the dirt's being swept
into the corner, or left behind the door; how that in time such habits
would tell upon our characters; that a neatly kept room was but an
expression of a girl's inner self.
Her precious words we treasure in our hearts and value beyond all price.
How often have we heard her say: "My dear girls, this I say for your
good. It may be hard for you to receive it, and you may not know now the
value of it; but you will know in after life." And then would follow
those talks about decorum. "Think nothing, do nothing that you would be
ashamed for your father and mother to know. Write nothing to your
intimate friend that would not bear the light. Admit nothing here into
your college home that would defile. Carr-Burdette College is the child
of my brain and heart, dedicated to you. Our home is our castle, and let
us guard it sacredly. Character is everything in a young lady's life;
knowledge is good, but the wisdom which is from above is best. I know
that some of you girls think I am exacting, think that I am too strict;
but you will know hereafter that your best friend is the one who tells
you kindly of your faults and helps you to correct them; and you will be
grateful after awhile for having given heed to many things that you do
not like now. You will say in your hearts: 'I see now that Mrs. Carr was
right, and I am glad she said NO to many of my wishes and warned me
against so many little things that tempted me.' I would deny you nothing
you want except those things that I think will injure you. I am
sleepless at night, thinking of you, planning for your good, how I can
best discharge the weighty responsibility that is on me."
She was happiest when she knew she was pleasing us, would join in our
merry-making, and laugh aloud at our pranks. To reward us was her
delight. What happy talks she made when she bestowed medals and honors!
Talks, sparkling with wit and glowing with love and enthusiasm, on that
last night of the session before we all went home. She is on the
rostrum, the medals in their cases are on the stand; she takes them up,
displays them to the audience, one by one, and talks about each, its
meaning, what it is for, talks to the audience about the girl who is to
receive it and who could ever equal her grace of diction and
whole-souled sympathy? How she kept the audience in suspense, in
excitement; how she amused all by her wit, and then, with tearful joy,
pinned the medal on the girl whom she called to the rostrum to receive
it. Holding up the house-keeper's medal, she would say to the audience:
"This medal I esteem the best of all; the best house-keeper is to be the
most honored. To be neat, to be orderly, to show ability to keep a home,
to mind the little things that make for neatness, to sweep in the
corners, to be tasteful--all this is to be lovely in conduct; and,
remember, that all honors of every kind bestowed by Carr-Burdette
College have this meaning namely, every medal, every diploma is hedged
about by conduct."
* * * * *
TO MATTIE'S MEMORY.
[From a letter written by O. A. Carr.]
"Carr-Burdette College, Sherman, Texas, is the monument to the memory of
my dear departed wife. She gave the last thirteen years of her life to
the college. I feel that she literally sacrificed her life in the
accomplishment of her high purpose; for I know she toiled beyond her
strength, forgetful of self. She conceived of building the college as a
Home and School for young women, and of how the funds were to be
secured. She planned the building, which was erected under her immediate
supervision, and there is not an idea in it that is not hers. She
devised and toiled to within a few days of her death, and expended all
earnings on the college, that she might attain her ideal.
According to her heart's desire that the college should never suspend
its work, and that her purposes may be carried out as nearly as
possible, I, with the assistance of able and devoted teachers, continue
the struggle. I can not do the work my dear wife did; nor do I think
that any one else could do what she has been doing all these years; but
an honest effort will be made to accomplish her purpose--that
Carr-Burdette College may continue to be her IDEAL, as it is now her
MONUMENT.
Saturday, October 26, 1907, on her return from shopping with some of the
students, I offered to assist Mattie with the writing. She said: "I am
not able to think now; I must rest." The next day she was unable to
rise. The physician pronounced the trouble lagrippe, and he assured me,
even at noon, Thursday, that she would recover. Alas! at 7:30 p. m. the
same day, death came. There was no symptom of suffering. She seemed to
be sleeping.
The loving hands of students and teachers and kind friends arranged all
for the funeral--the first public assembly held in the college over
which she did not preside and direct in detail. Her lifeless body lay in
her own beautiful college parlor, where the funeral was conducted by
Brother J. H. Fuller and Brother A. O. Riall assisted by Brother R. D.
Smith, and Dr. Clyce, President of Austin College. Mattie told me years
ago that she wished Brother Graham, with whom she was associated at
Hamilton College, and Brother McGarvey, to preach her funeral; but
Brother Graham had gone where there are no funerals, and Brother
McGarvey could not be here. The students in a line of march descended
the stairway, preceded by a young girl in white, who bore their
beautiful floral offering. They stood on either side of the casket and
sang (1) "Some Day", (2) "Going Home", (3) "My Savior First of All", (4)
"I Am Only Waiting Here", (5) "Sweet By and By."
One who knew Mattie well wrote me years ago, saying, "I know of no one
who can show a more valid claim than yourself to have a living
commentary on the last chapter of Proverbs". That chapter was read from
the twelfth verse to the conclusion, by Brother Smith, and Brother
Fuller chose as the text for his beautiful, hopeful discourse, "The gift
of God is eternal life, through our Lord Jesus the Christ".
For nearly forty years Mattie and I have toiled together. She took
responsibility, financial and domestic from me, and bore it herself. I
trusted to her judgment, and felt that all was well when she approved.
And now, at night, I sit alone where we used to sit together. I look
around to see her, but see only her empty chair."
[Illustration: Mattie's Grave.]
* * * * *
Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent spellings and hyphenation have been retained. Obvious printer
errors fixed. Many punctuation errors repaired.
In the footnote of page 192 missing letters "Alex. would have me take
him to see the mother of Brother Be. sley who went to Australia..."
End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of a Life, by J. Breckenridge Ellis