A Sabbath at Cincinnati--The Second Presbyterian Church--Mutilation of
a Popular Hymn--The Rushing Habit--A wrong "Guess"--A German
Sunday-School--Visit to a Church of Coloured People--Engagement at the
Welsh "Church"--Monthly Concert--The Medical College of Ohio--Tea at
the House of a Coloured Minister.
On the previous Friday, Professor Allen called to request me to preach
in his stead at the Second Presbyterian Church on Sunday morning, the
28th of February, as he had to go some twenty miles into the country to
"assist at a revival." I agreed to do so. Sunday morning was
excessively cold, with a heavy fall of snow. On arriving at the
"church," I found there was no vestry. Indeed, a vestry, as a private
room for the minister, is seldom found in America. The places are
exceedingly neat and comfortable, but they want _that_ convenience. I
had therefore to go with my hat and top-coat, covered with snow, right
into the pulpit. This church outside is a noble-looking building, with
massive pillars in front, and a bell-tower containing a town-clock; but
the interior seemed comparatively small. It had a gallery at one end,
which held only the singers and the organ. The seats below were not
more than one-third full. Dr. Beecher ministered in this place for
about ten years. It was now without a pastor, but was temporarily
supplied by Professor Allen. The congregation was far more decorous and
attentive than those in New Orleans. After the introductory service,
and while the hymn before sermon was being sung, a man came trudging
down the aisle, bearing an immense scuttle full of coals to supply the
stoves. How easy it would have been before service to place a box of
fuel in the vicinity of each stove, and thereby avoid this unseemly
bustle! But in the singing of the hymn, I found something to surprise
and offend me even more than the coal-scuttle. The hymn was--
"O'er the gloomy hills of darkness," &c.
I had selected it myself; but when I got to the second verse, where I
had expected to find
"Let the Indian, let the negro,
Let the rude barbarian see," &c.,
lo! "the Indian." and "the negro" had vanished, and
"Let the dark benighted pagan"
was substituted. A wretched alteration,--as feeble and tautological in
effect as it is suspicious in design. The altered reading, I learned,
prevails universally in America, except in the _original_ version used
by the Welsh congregations. Slave-holders, and the abettors of that
horrid system which makes it a crime to teach a negro to read the Word
of God, felt perhaps that they could not devoutly and consistently sing
"Let the Indian, let the negro," &c.
This church, I heard, was more polluted with a pro-slavery feeling than
any other in Cincinnati of the same denomination,--a circumstance
which, I believe, had something to do with Dr. Beecher's resignation of
the pastorate.
At the close of the sermon, having pronounced the benediction, I
engaged, according to our English custom, in a short act of private
devotion. When I raised my head and opened my eyes, the very last man
of the congregation was actually making his exit through the doorway;
and it was quite as much as I could manage to put on my top-coat and
gloves and reach the door before the sexton closed it. This rushing
habit in the House of God strikes a stranger as rude and irreverent.
You meet with no indications of private devotion, either preceding or
following public worship. A man marches into his pew, or his pulpit,
sits down, wipes his nose, and stares at all about him; and at the
close, the moment the "Amen" is uttered, he is off with as much speed
as if the house were on fire. In this instance, the service had not
exceeded an hour and a half; and yet they hurried out as if they
thought the beef was all burnt, and the pudding all spoiled. Of course,
there were no thanks to the stranger for his services,--to say nothing
of the _quiddam honorarium_, which to a man travelling for health, at
his own expense, with an invalid wife, might have been supposed not
unacceptable.
When, however, I got to the portico outside, a gentleman, with his
wife, was waiting to see me before they stepped into their carriage.
Here was some token of politeness and hospitality,--an invitation to
dinner, no doubt.--"Thank you, sir, I am very much obliged to you; but
I left my wife very ill at our lodgings this morning, and therefore I
cannot have the pleasure to dine with you to-day," was the civil excuse
I was preparing. Never was expectation more beside the mark. My "guess"
was altogether wrong. "What are you going to do with yourself this
afternoon?" was the gentleman's blunt salutation. "What have _you_ to
propose, sir?" was my reply. "I am the superintendent," he said, "of a
German Sunday-school in the upper part of the city, and I should like
you to come and address the children this afternoon." I promised to go,
and he to send to my "lodgings" for me. We both kept our appointment.
The number of scholars was about 100. This effort to bring the Germans
under a right religious influence is very laudable; for there are about
10,000 of that people in Cincinnati. One quarter of the city is
entirely German. You see nothing else on the sign-boards; you hear
nothing else in the streets. Of these Germans the greater part are
Roman Catholics.
After visiting the school, I found myself in time to attend one of the
chapels of the coloured people at 3 P.M. A medical student, whom I had
met in the morning, and again at the German school, accompanied me. He
was a New Englander, and a thorough anti-slavery man. When we got to
the chapel--a Baptist one--they were at prayer. Walking in softly, we
entered a pew right in the midst of them. The minister--a mulatto of
about thirty years of age, with a fine intelligent eye--was very simple
in dress, and unostentatious in manner. His language, too, was
appropriate and correct. He was evidently a man of good common sense.
His text was Psalm li. l2, l3. He referred very properly to the
occasion on which the Psalm was composed, and drew from the text a
large mass of sound practical instruction. The chapel (capable of
containing about 150 people) was only half-full. Before the sermon, I
had observed a very old negro, in a large shabby camlet cloak and a
black cap, ascending the pulpit-stairs. I supposed that, being dull of
hearing, he had taken that position that he might better listen to the
service. However, when the sermon was over, this patriarchal-looking
black man rose to pray; and he prayed "like a bishop," with astonishing
correctness and fluency! He was formerly a slave in Kentucky, and was
at this time about eighty years of age. They call him "Father Watkins."
At the close I introduced myself to him and to the minister. They both
expressed regret that they had not had me up in the pulpit, to tell
them something, as "Father Watkins" said, about their "brothers and
sisters on the other side of the water." The minister gave me his card,
and invited me and my wife to take tea with him on Tuesday afternoon.
This was the first invitation I received within the city of Cincinnati
to take a meal anywhere; and it was the more interesting to me as
coming from a coloured man.
In the evening I went, according to appointment, to the Welsh Chapel.
There I met a Mr. Bushnel, an American missionary from the Gaboon
River, on the western coast of Africa. He first spoke in English, and I
afterwards a little in Welsh; gladly embracing the opportunity to
exhort my countrymen in that "Far West" to feel kindly and tenderly
towards the coloured race among them; asking them how they would
themselves feel if, as Welshmen, they were branded and despised
wherever they went! I was grieved to see the excess to which they
carried the filthy habit of spitting. The coloured people in _their_
chapel were incomparably cleaner in that respect.
In the morning a notice had been put into my hand at the Presbyterian
Church for announcement, to the effect that Mr. Bushnel and myself
would address the "monthly concert at the church in Sixth-street" on
the morrow evening. Of this arrangement not a syllable had been said to
me beforehand. This was American liberty, and I quietly submitted to
it. The attendance was not large; and we two missionaries had it all to
ourselves. No other ministers were present,--not even the minister of
the church in which we were assembled. The people, however, seemed
heartily interested in the subject of missions. At the close, a lady
from Manchester, who had seen me there in 1845 at the missionary
meeting, came forward full of affection to shake hands. She was a
member of Mr. Griffin's church in that city, and had removed to America
a few months before, with her husband (who is a member of the "Society
of Friends") and children. I was glad to find that they were likely to
be comfortable in their adopted country.
Next morning I went with Dr. Reuben D. Mussey, a New Englander, to see
the Medical College of Ohio. Dr. Mussey is the Professor of Surgery and
Dean of the Faculty, and is highly esteemed for his professional skill
and general character. He and his son, who was my guide on the Sunday,
very kindly showed and explained to me everything of interest in the
institution. The cabinet belonging to the anatomical department is
supplied with all the materials necessary for acquiring a minute and
perfect knowledge of the human frame. These consist of detached bones,
of wired natural skeletons, and of dried preparations to exhibit the
muscles, bloodvessels, nerves, &c. The cabinet of comparative anatomy
is supposed to be more extensively supplied than any other in the
United States. Besides perfect skeletons of American and foreign birds
and other animals, there is an immense number of detached _crania_,
from the elephant and hippopotamus down to the minuter orders. The
cabinet in the surgical department has been formed at great expense,
chiefly by Dr. Mussey himself, during the labour of more than forty
years. It contains a large number of rare specimens,--600 specimens of
diseased bones alone. Other departments are equally well furnished. The
Faculty is composed of six Professorships,--Surgery, Anatomy and
Physiology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, Materia Medica, Obstetrics and
Diseases of Women and Children, and the Theory and Practice of
Medicine. The fees of tuition are only 15 dollars, or 3 guineas, to
each professor, making an aggregate of 90 dollars. There were 190
students. It will probably be admitted that this institution, formed in
a new country, has arrived at an astonishing degree of vigour and
maturity. It is only one of many instances in which the Americans are
before us in the facilities afforded for professional education.
In the afternoon my wife and myself went to take tea with the coloured
minister. His dwelling, though small and humble, was neat and clean.
With his intelligence and general information we were quite delighted.
He spoke with feeling of the gross insults to which the coloured
people, even in this free State, are exposed. When they travel by
railway, though they pay the same fare as other people, they are
generally put in the luggage-van! He had himself, when on board of
steam-boats, often been sent to the "pantry" to eat his food. Nor will
the white people employ them but in the most menial offices; so that it
is nearly impossible for them to rise to affluence and horse-and-gig
respectability. The consequence is that they are deeply and justly
disaffected towards the American people and the American laws. They
clearly understand that England is their friend. For one month all the
free coloured people wore crape as mourning for Thomas Clarkson.