_THE MISSIONARY AGAIN VISITS THE WEST._
In that beautiful season of the year in which the missionary first
visited the West, he was again on his way thither, but not with his
pilgrim-staff--that was now laid aside. He could no longer travel
hundreds of miles on foot as he once did--he was now in a carriage with
the venerable Mr. Mason.
He had written to his people in the West, promising to visit them if
they would send a conveyance for him, as he was no longer able to walk,
and was too poor to go by stage. Yes, he was poor in this world’s
goods, but rich in Christ--an heir of Heaven!
No sooner was his letter received, than it was read in the churches
and Sunday-schools, and a liberal collection was soon taken up, to
insure every convenience necessary for his accommodation; and Mr.
Mason volunteered to bring him out. The journey proved to be a great
advantage to his failing health.
The appearance of things was very much changed to him, for eighteen
years had elapsed since he first came to this place. The little ones
had grown up, the youth were heads of families, and the locks of the
older persons were turning gray, and many had gone the way of all
the earth. Many new settlers had come in, the little hut villages
had become towns, the trails and wood-paths were now highways and
stage-routes, the log school-houses had become substantial frame
churches, and the wilderness in which the missionary had suffered was
now being settled and covered with new farms. His friends in the cause
of Christ, Mr. Brown and Mr. Wilson and Mr. Truman, the defender
of Temperance, were still alive, “Steadfast and unmovable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord.”
Many blessed seasons he enjoyed with them, and they were often “sitting
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” After a rest of some days, the
missionary felt able to preach and lecture among the people. The
opposition to Sunday-schools and the cause of Temperance had in a great
measure subsided; public opinion, that great leveler of uprisings,
had taken sides with the “new measures,” for the very elements of the
Western character demand progress and life. The missionary’s preaching
was especially blest to the Sunday-schools; through his efforts whole
classes, with their teachers, were brought into the Church.
During one of these gracious seasons, when many were turning to the
Lord, a dreadful murder was committed at one of the groceries in the
village. One of the Sunday-school teachers, and a noted advocate of
Temperance, heard that one of his class had been persuaded to accompany
a man to a grocery. The teacher resolved to save his scholar from
the influence of the fiends who were aiming at his destruction; he
succeeded in getting the boy to leave the place. They had taken but a
few steps, when some one rushed up behind the young man, and stabbed
him in the back under the shoulder blade, piercing his heart. The knife
did its work effectually, for he expired in almost a moment’s time.
The excitement following this event was intense. There were several
persons present, who held the murdered young man in high esteem; these
arrested the murderer and held him secure. In the meantime, the news of
the atrocious deed spread all over the country, and hundreds gathered
to the scene of blood. Had it not been for the high state of religious
interest prevailing, lynch law would have been executed upon the
heartless criminal, by hanging him to the nearest tree; but an officer
was allowed to lead him away to a place of confinement.
The young man’s body was conveyed to his father’s house amid weeping
and lamentations. This was too much for some of the people; and, as if
actuated by a sense of justice, they went back and demolished the den
as a common nuisance. All the liquors were destroyed and the owners
prosecuted. This was summary work; but the general temperament of the
Western people is such, that they not unfrequently take the law into
their own hands, when they fear that justice will be tardy or uncertain
from the courts.
On the day appointed for the funeral of the young man, hundreds were
early at the house of the dead. The Temperance Societies were all
present in mourning. Many who, through his instrumentality, had been
led to Christ were there, and shed tears of genuine grief over his
remains; aged Christians groaned in their sorrow. Indeed, there was
scarcely one present who was not moved to tears.
The missionary preached the funeral sermon from John xi, 25:--“I am
the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were
dead, yet shall he live.” He alluded to the consolation afforded in
the sentence referring to eternal life. He exhorted all to prepare
for death, and dealt the rumsellers a blow, which, connected with the
circumstances that brought them together, led them to think, at least,
of what they were doing. He concluded with a reference to the exemplary
Christian character of the deceased, and exhorted all to follow him, as
far as he had followed Christ.
Several other ministers were present, who also delivered short
addresses of a very impressive character. These were followed by Mr.
Truman, who made one of the most eloquent and masterly appeals in
behalf of the Temperance cause ever made in that country. An aged
minister then led in prayer, after which the painful exercises were
closed.
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