Given to Abstraction of Thought. Cases in Point. Opinion of Debating
Societies. Perseverance. Consumption. Endurance. More Comfortable
Home. Death of his Father. Love of Fashionable Amusements. Meets his
Future Wife. Is Married. Tribute to his Wife. Her Father and Mother.
During early life I was much given to abstraction of thought, and I am
still down with the same disease. From morning till night, between the
plow-handles or swinging the maul, I was absorbed in reflection. My
reading and other studies raised many questions that I sought to find
out. Natural philosophy and the elements of astronomy were subjects of
peculiar delight, and would cause me to become oblivious of all
surroundings. This frequently got me into trouble. It vexed my father
very much that my mind was not more on my work, and he had but little
patience with me. When about the house I would often realize that I had
been told to do something, and I would start at once about it, and
perchance when I came to myself I would find that I was at the barn or
spring, wholly forgetful of what I had been told to do. On one occasion
I was told to go to the lot and catch a horse and come to the crib, and
my father would put the sack on for me, and I was to go to mill. I went
and caught the horse, got on and went, but when I arrived the mill was
in ashes; it was just through burning. On my return I saw that my
father was not as serene as a May morning. But not till he spoke of it
did I discover that I had gone off without the sack. I at once taxed my
eloquence to give a glowing account of the fire, and thus divert his
attention from my neglect.
Many a time have I acted ridiculously on account of this absorption of
thought. While at Eminence College, there was a public exhibition one
evening in the chapel. A few minutes before it began I went into the
room of Prof. Henry Giltner, just across the hall from the chapel, and
here I saw McGarvey's "Commentary on Acts" for the first time. I
thought I would look into it for a moment before the exercises should
begin; and that was the last I thought of the exhibition till some one
came into the room just before its close, hunting for me.
One more instance of this nature must suffice. About 1872, I was
holding a very successful meeting at Burksville, on the Cumberland
river, and while I was preaching one night there came up a terrific
thunderstorm, with vivid lightning and hard rain. A young man occupied
a front seat who had just been reclaimed from a life of sin, and who is
now a preacher. I had a faint recollection of seeing him leave the
house. He had become alarmed at the storm and left, but I knew nothing
of the confusion till the services closed.
Every fall and winter we would have debating societies at the
school-house, and at these, men of considerable attainments would be
present and participate--teachers, preachers, and lawyers. In these I
took a deep interest. My reading enabled me to become well posted on
most of the questions discussed; and by careful preparation I soon came
to be recognized as a good debater for one of my age. These discussions
were of great advantage to me, and I am clearly of opinion that
debating societies, when properly conducted, can be made useful to
aspiring young men.
From childhood my under front teeth passed up on the outside, and, when
a good sized boy, I concluded that that was not just the right thing,
and that I would bring them into their proper place. By an effort in
drawing back my under jaw, I could barely get the edges to so pass as
to make a pressure of any value. But with this slight purchase the
operation was continued from day to day, till the work was
accomplished. The teeth became very sore from pressure, and the muscles
of the jaw very tired from the unnatural strain, but in about ten days
it was all over, and the job complete for life.
Another case required much greater perseverance. My older brother was
very hollow-chested, and died of consumption; several others of the
family were afflicted in like manner, and met the same fate. When about
sixteen, I had strong tendencies in that direction. My chest was
becoming "hollow," and I decided upon an effort to counteract it. To
this end I slept on my back with no pillow under my head, and a
good-sized one under my chest. I would awake of a morning feeling
almost too dignified to bend forward. This I kept up for two years,
holding myself erect during the day, till my chest expanded and the
threatening trouble was overcome. But for that I should have been in my
grave long ago. The simple fact is, I have been fighting consumption
since I was sixteen years of age.
While I was never robust in health or appearance, I was exceedingly
tough, and had great power of endurance. One of my physicians told me
long ago that in all his practice he had never seen anything that would
compare with it. This enabled me to do as much work as men of much
greater strength. In those days reapers were generally unknown in our
country, and the grain was all "cradled." At this I was an adept, never
meeting any one that could excel me. The same was true of jumping and
running foot races. Hundreds of men could no doubt beat me, but I never
happened to meet them. I kept up these exercises till I left college.
When I was about twelve years of age my father built a large and
comfortable house on another part of his farm. It was of hewed logs,
and a story and a half high, with a large kitchen and dining-room,
porches, etc. It was subsequently weather-boarded, and it is still a
comfortable, commodious dwelling, owned by my mother, who never left it
till her children all married and went to themselves. Father died of
typhoid fever in 1860, in the fifty-third year of his age. He left my
mother in comparatively easy circumstances, with nearly three hundred
acres of land, plenty of stock, and a considerable amount of money on
interest. By industry and economy on the part of himself and the whole
family this property was accumulated, and he died in the assurance that
with prudence on our part we could all make a respectable living. My
mother now makes her home with her oldest daughter, Mary Crenshaw, wife
of Mr. O. B. Crenshaw, a few miles north of Simpsonville, Shelby
county, Ky. She waits in confident expectation that before long she too
will depart to be with Christ and His redeemed, where the families of
his saints will be reunited for ever.
After I grew to be a young man, I became very fond of fashionable
amusements; I liked dancing, and went far and near to engage in the
fascinating exercise. I gave a great deal of attention to dress;
priding myself on being a gentleman; hence I found a welcome in the
best society. In those years of wildness and wickedness, some things I
was careful to avoid. I never learned to play cards, to gamble, or to
tolerate the company of immodest women. For the latter I had an
invincible repugnance that grew stronger with my years.
In the summer of 1855, while harvesting for her uncle, I first met at
the dinner-table Miss Jennie Maddox, the lady whom I afterwards
married. I looked as rough and unprepossessing that day as she ever saw
me afterwards. I was as brown as a Florida "cracker," and my dress was
anything but elegant. Had I anticipated the forming of such a
captivating acquaintance, I should have made some preparation, but I
was caught, and I had to make the best of it. We were married September
11, 1856; I was twenty years and a half old; she ten months younger.
From that time to this she has been a loving, faithful wife, prudent in
all things, industrious and frugal, caring for me and her children;
and, above all, a consistent disciple of Jesus Christ, whom she had
obeyed several years before our marriage. When we first met I thought
her very handsome; she was rather small, had auburn hair, blue eyes and
fair skin.
"And to-day you are fairer to me, Jennie,
Than when you and I were young."
As to myself, I was six feet one inch in height, weighed a hundred and
forty pounds, had brown eyes, and was, and am still, of a
nervous-bilious temperament. My complexion was then, as now, very dark.
My wife's father, G. W. Maddox, was an elder in the Pleasant Hill
church, Oldham county, Ky., near which he lived. The church is about
two miles south-east of Baird's Station, on the Louisville & Lexington
Railroad. He was a man of a firm logical mind, good general
information, and more intelligent in the Scriptures than any man I ever
met, outside of the ministry. I have heard several preachers make the
same remark. He was, however, a timid man, and it was difficult to get
much out of him in public. He began too late in life, and had no
training in that direction. But he was a very popular man, both in and
out of the church, and his counsel was generally taken. His wife was a
timid, unassuming, good woman, very conscientious and religious. They
reared a family of six girls and one boy, all of whom obeyed the gospel
in good time. I myself baptized several of them.
My father-in-law and I soon became very much attached to each other,
fond of each other's company, and I loved him as I loved few others.
His fine information, philosophic Christian spirit and wonderful
self-control first won my admiration, and this ripened into the
strongest friendship. He, more than all other men, caused me to see the
error of my way. We spent the first winter of our married life in his
pious home, and this gave us much time for investigation and
conversation upon the subject of religion.