Chapter II: Part 2

Well, in distributing "Registers" through the State I have come
across a very interesting, appreciative young man of twenty-one, in
Ravenna, Ohio, and I have reason to think we have created quite a
stir in the little town. Mr. Woodruff, my correspondent, writes a
very good letter, and is quite enthusiastic on the subject of
Unitarianism, and is willing to do missionary work, distributing
widely the documents I send him, and has recommended a young man,
formerly a student of theology, an intelligent, thinking man, who
is much interested in our views. He now works on a farm and teaches
school, in order to gain an education. On Wednesday last we
organized our Women's Auxiliary Conference, at which I read Mr.
Woodruff's letters, and the ladies at once moved that we should
propose Meadville to our young friend, whose name is ----. I am to
write and ask whether he would like to go to the college at
Meadville, and in the mean time am to find out through you the
conditions on which he could be admitted. I should be only too
happy if I prove the means of assisting one young man to the
ministry, and shall feel that all these many years of interest in
the church have not been lost, if we only succeed in doing this
much good. Besides all this other work, I find the ladies are much
in favor of a Circulating Library in the church, so I am going to
found my library soon.

The journal, March 20, shows the indomitable will that ruled the feeble body:--

Yesterday [Saturday] I was at the church all day to get the library
in order. Was taken with vertigo, and for over an hour and a half
couldn't walk straight. J---- S---- happened to be at the church at
choir-meeting, and brought me home. By bedtime could walk alone,
and to-day have been attending to duties at church. Succeeded in
getting the Library settled to my satisfaction, and was glad there
was no one there. Opened my library March 19. Mr. W----announced me
"Miss Sarah Ellis" in the papers.

_March 28._ Have felt quite encouraged this week by applications
for documents. Have just mailed to Rev. ----, "Statement of
Unitarian Belief in Bible Language." [This applicant is now in a
Unitarian pulpit.]

_April 3._ A beautiful sermon in "Register" to-day--"Life's
Shadows"--by Rev. J. Ll. Jones. [She copies two pages.]

_May 1._ Feel deeply interested in a correspondent we have in
Springfield, ... who confesses himself something of an atheist, and
I am hunting up all the convincing articles upon the subject of God
and Immortality that I can find, and came across a "Unitarian
Review," of June, 1876, which seems to have been written for his
very case.... Hope these will be convincing to the Springfield
Club, which was formed last Sunday, with ten members to begin with.

_June 2._ Am now quite interested in trying to manage it so as to
keep the church open two hours Sundays during the vacation, for
persons to come and read and take home books. Hope I may succeed.

_June 12._ Have felt tired to-day, but enjoyed the day, for Mr.
Wendte and mother dined here. He tells me I may "run the church"
during the vacation, which will make me very happy.

_June 29._ The hottest day of the month for ten years, and the
hottest of the season so far. Intense. One hundred in the shade at
noon. Have been reading W. R. Alger's "School of Life," from which
the following abstract....

Then follow three pages of the "abstract," in a close, minute handwriting, ending this volume of the journal,--the last submitted to the writer's inspection, because, as has been previously said, there was almost no personal matter in the diaries of the remaining years.

Miss Ellis's ardent desire to keep the church open during the summer vacation had to be abandoned, owing to the reluctance of her family to have one so feeble at the church alone; and she went Saturday afternoons instead, when the sexton was there.

The Cincinnati branch of the Women's Auxiliary Conference, on its organization in March, 1881, looking about for work to do, remembered occasional letters received by Mr. Wendte in response to the documents sent out by him and Miss Ellis. These letters seemed to hint at a possible opportunity awaiting this Unitarian church, standing so isolated in the heart of the great rich West, where the multitude of Ingersoll and Liberal clubs, and of intelligent people outside all churches, seemed to indicate a want that the evangelical denominations did not meet. It was therefore resolved to attempt extending the work begun by Mr. Wendte, by advertising in the daily papers Unitarian literature for free distribution,--an experiment never before tried. Miss Ellis entered upon her duties as Corresponding Secretary "without money and without price" (though later a small annual salary of one hundred dollars was raised for her), but with an immense zeal. The advertisement's line or two of fine print, almost lost, apparently, on the broad side of the daily paper, inserted only once a week, nevertheless soon began to bring Miss Ellis letters that equally surprised and delighted us, showing that we had not over-estimated the demand for Unitarian literature in the West.

Rev. J. Ll. Jones being in Cincinnati, the first bundle of letters was read to him, and his opinion, as an experienced Western missionary, anxiously awaited. It was given in these words:--

"I think you Cincinnati women have got hold of the _little end_ of
a _big thing_, and if Miss Ellis's health and your enthusiasm hold
out, something is bound to come of it. Go on, by all means." He
added, "I wish I knew that Miss Ellis had ten years more to live."

Four years and a half, however, was the short term of service allowed her in her mission, found at last after years of longing and groping towards it vainly. But now it was seen that all these years of suffering had not been in vain. She who had endured so much was quick to sympathize with others. The religious studies undertaken for her own consolation enabled her wisely to direct the reading of her correspondents. Even her deafness seemed specially to fit her for her work. Shut apart from the din and bustle of modern life in a quiet world of her own, from its peaceful communings she sent out light and strength to others. The poor, denied life, like a plant severely pruned by the careful gardener to insure a late, full bloom, now reached out and touched many lives with a wonderful uplifting power.

Her records of this four and a half years' work show that she received 1,672 letters and postals, wrote 2,541, distributed at church and by mail 22,042 tracts, papers, etc.; sold 286 books, loaned 258 books, and obtained about sixty subscribers to religious papers.[3] Mere figures, however, but poorly tell the story. Several young men have entered or will enter the ministry, as one result of her efforts. Many souls wrestling in utter loneliness with doubts they dared not confide to their nearest friends, received, from her wise sympathy and counsel, restoration to religious faith, and strength to bear heavy burdens with renewed courage, animated by trust in a loving Father hitherto concealed from them behind the outgrown phraseology of antiquated creeds,--creeds which their reason rejected. Many, indeed most of these correspondents, overjoyed with their new faith, hastened to share it with friends, and many a little missionary centre began to grow in localities far from any Unitarian church, fostered by people who had never heard a Unitarian sermon. So the ground was being prepared for the State missionary. Her work, too, opened the eyes of her denomination to its opportunities, and did much to promote that missionary activity in which lies our brightest hope for the future. She is the acknowledged pioneer of the Post Office Mission.

[Footnote 3: Besides this, much reading matter was sent to the City Workhouse, to the Old Men and Women's Home, and other institutions.]

As her work began to attract attention, many letters came from those desiring to undertake like work, both East and West, asking advice, full and explicit accounts of her methods, etc.; and many long letters were written in reply. A Unitarian Club formed among the soldiers in the Columbus barracks was one of her interests, until its dissolution by the ordering of its members to other posts. She supplied much reading matter to, and corresponded occasionally with, soldiers at the Dayton Soldiers' Home. A soldier in Wyoming Territory was for a long time a most grateful recipient of reading from her, which he shared with his company. Small clubs in several localities were supplied by her with matter for discussion and study during their existence. Wherever she had two or three correspondents, she always urged the formation of reading or Unity clubs. For some months she had an interesting correspondence with a young man of more than usual intelligence in our City Workhouse, loaning him such books as Channing's "Life and Works," Dewey's "Human Nature," and Merriam's "Way of Life." She never heard from him after he left the workhouse, but always had faith that he was somewhere living up to, or towards, the good resolves so often expressed to her. Through him, and Mr. Beach, of Joliet, Ill., our attention was called to the need of supplying prisoners with good reading matter, both religious and secular. Correspondence was opened with the warden and chaplain at the State Penitentiary, Frankfort, Ky., which led to the sending of their "Registers" there regularly by two Boston ladies, and eventually to the sending of many barrels of reading matter both to Joliet and Kentucky by the Women's Auxiliary Conference of Boston.

A great pleasure of her last years was attending the Western Conference at Chicago in May, 1883. Published accounts of her work had made her well known in the denomination; so that, as the Cincinnati party reported on their return home, "Miss Ellis was decidedly the belle of the Conference." Every one wanted to see and talk with her, ask her advice, etc. It was an immense satisfaction to her to meet personally, to see and hear (for she almost seemed to hear through the eager eyes), men and women whose fame and writings were so familiar to her. Every session of the Conference saw Miss Ellis seated in the front pew, audiphone in hand, eagerly intent on the exercises. Social beguilements might make other people late at the morning devotions, but never Miss Ellis, who took her conferences, like all else, conscientiously.

In May, 1885, she again attended the Western Conference at St. Louis, though in great feebleness of body. Rev. W. C. Gannett, in "Unity," thus speaks of her:--

"A last summer's letter from the little mother of the Post Office
Mission, who has just died in Cincinnati, will be of interest now.
Some who were present at the last May Conference in St. Louis may
remember the pathos of the quiet figure sitting in the front pews
and trying on her echo-fan to catch the patter of the words said
round her. The wee, sick, deafened body in which she did her work
so strong-heartedly makes that work all the more an example and an
inspiration. Strange enough should it prove that this bit of a
lady, almost caged from the world by cripplings, had opened the
most effective channel yet made for carrying our liberal faith to
the world. Perhaps it _takes_ a thorn in the flesh to make a
missionary. She certainly has done more than many a stout _son_ of
the Gospel to keep her name remembered in our Western churches.
This letter hints her pluck and her joy in the work, and the
struggle of it. She had been urged to go into the country for a
short rest, but replied:--

The country is not the place for me to stay in any time. The
morning and evening air keep my head roaring so, and increase
catarrh. I have learned that to stay home during the summer, make
no special effort, and work on slowly, is the better plan. If I go
away, there is constantly an effort over something. I return tired,
work has accumulated. I have to work doubly hard, and soon use up
the little gained. I am too weak in summer to wish to come in
contact with people to whom I have to be agreeable. Another
difficulty,--the country is too _quiet_ for me. I am inclined to be
a "hermit," and when I do go out, which I do daily, even now I am
so sick, I need the stir, bustle, commotion, and the stores to
change the thoughts. I loved the country before I was so deaf,--now
city life is better for me; but I love to refresh myself by a ride
into the country in the street cars, where I can study _human_
nature on the way.... I work on principle, and for the real love of
working. I am not happy unless at work, and can't bear to tear
myself away from my little congregation, my papers, books, etc.
_They_ suffer for it. The family do not wish me to keep so busy,
but I am better for it, and my physician is on my side. "Keep up!"
[The next few sentences have already been given, in reference to
Mr. Noyes.] Don't give me undue credit for my appearance at the St.
Louis Conference. I tried to kill three birds with one stone (I
don't wear bird's wings in my hat, however),--to attend the
Conference, visit a brother, and gain strength. The last I failed
in.... I have written this long letter in two sittings. I have
improved decidedly within the past few days, and with pleasant
rides and good food and care shall soon be better. Most sincerely
and cordially your friend, SALLIE ELLIS.

CINCINNATI, July 28,1885."

Strangely enough, one's first thought of Miss Ellis was never as an invalid. She so ignored the poor, weak body that she made you forget it too. She was always so _alive_, so full of interest and joy in her work. With what delight would she say, "This new tract is exactly the thing to send ----," or announce, "such a good letter from ----." Even during the last months, when the ravages of disease could no longer be concealed, she _would_ not be sick. She set aside your sympathy. She was always "better," "only my limbs are so weak to-day," or "my breath is so short," or "it always makes me cough to walk," as if these were mere casual incidents quite unworthy of notice.

The last of her life, it was pitiful to see her still clinging to her work, still persisting in caring for her own room, declining all offers of help. She often rose at five o'clock Sundays, because obliged by weakness to work slowly, that she might reach church early, to prepare her Tract Table before the congregation arrived. When no longer able to remain to the services, she still came and ministered to her own special congregation at the Tract Table, though obliged by weakness to sit. When she no longer had strength to arrange her hair, she quietly cut it off. But she went on with her work. To one offering help she said, "When I cannot do my work, I don't want to live." Again, she said, "There are many who need me, and they keep me alive." To the last she declined being considered an invalid,--did not wish any one to walk out with her, although the family were very uneasy to have one so weak and so deaf on the street alone. She walked out every day, until the last time she was forced to lean against the door-post and gain breath and strength to take the final step up into the house.

All this time she was writing letters of cheer and strength, seldom intimating that all was not well with her. When finally obliged to keep her bed, she faded away rapidly, only living about two weeks. The last postal card to a correspondent was begun in bed, in a trembling hand, ending abruptly, "Too sick to write," and it was finished for her. Although at times she had a little of the consumptive's feeling that she might possibly rally, and even recover strength to work again, yet she perceived, as she said to her mother, that "the sands are running out fast," and made all her preparations for death in the quiet spirit of one merely going on a journey into a familiar country. One who watched with her one of the last nights spoke of a beautiful prayer she offered in the middle of the night. She was unable to turn herself in bed, and said to this friend with a smile, "This body wants turning so." Poor body! not much longer had she to endure its weaknesses. Her religion was too habitual, too much a part of her very soul, for many outward words or professions. It was her life, her self. Why should she talk about it?

Mr. Thayer had always given her a list of the hymns and the full order of service, and the sermon to read. The Sunday before her death the sermon was returned, with the message that Miss Ellis was unable to read it, but had asked her mother to copy the text for her. A week before her death a friend, finding that in her excessive conscientiousness she was letting business details of the Women's Auxiliary Conference trouble her lest she should forget some item, went over all the books, wrote business letters, and settled accounts, at her dictation. Speaking of her work, she expressed faith that "God will raise up some one to do it." She said earnestly, "I have always wanted to do something for my denomination." It had evidently been a little of a struggle for her to leave the work she loved, just as it began to be so successful in many places, to die and be forgotten. In her modesty, she had no foregleam of the afterglow of praise and public testimony to her worth that was to follow the setting of her sun. Speaking once, near the end, with great pleasure, of Mrs. Paine's successful work in Newport and New York, she added, sadly, "They must increase, but I must decrease." But at last she was "ready not to do," able to give all up and repose in perfect peace upon the Father.

She had always thought much of Christmas, always remembered her friends' birthdays. Her skilful fingers and untiring industry made the slender means go a long way in devising innumerable tasteful presents on these days for a large circle of friends. She loved children, and loved to make them happy, and her little friends were always remembered. This year, a day or two before Christmas, when so weak that only by the closest attention could the feeble, broken utterance be understood, she directed Christmas gifts, prepared long before, sent to all her friends. To one whom she knew needed it, went "Daily Strength for Daily Needs;" to one, a teacher, the little "Seed Thoughts from Browning." "I thought it might help her in her work, tell her." Even her washerwoman and her little girl, and the postman,--"he has brought me a great many letters," she said,--were not forgotten.

A friend took her a Christmas card sent by a little girl. Her feeble vision could barely discern the design. "Birds and flowers," she said; "what could be more beautiful? It cheers me so. Yet I hardly need that. I am very happy and cheerful. I feel that everything is right." Afterwards she spoke of the "Happy, happy Christmas-tide," saying, "We must try to make it bright for the young." To the last, her thoughts were of others.

Having closed all her earthly affairs, she lay awaiting the end in great peace. Sunday, Dec. 27, 1885, in the evening of the peaceful day she always loved, just as her little clock was striking seven, she passed gently away in sleep. Well may we believe that hers was a joyful wakening into a bright New Year.

Her funeral was attended in the Unitarian Church, December 30,--a service of rare beauty and appropriateness. A thoughtful friend had covered the Tract Table in the vestibule with moss, ferns, and flowers, among which were placed a few tracts. In the church, wreathed with Christmas evergreens, a large concourse of friends assembled. To the strains of the Beethoven Funeral March, the coffin, nearly concealed beneath emblematic palm branches and lilies, was borne by the brothers whose loving-kindness had brightened all the life now ended, to its resting-place beneath the pulpit, close to the front seat where, for so many years, Miss Ellis's familiar form had never been missing. The choir, composed of young friends of hers in the church, sang the first three verses of "Nearer, my God, to Thee," and Whittier's appropriate hymn, "Another hand is beckoning us."

From the text, "She is not dead, but sleepeth," Rev. George A. Thayer paid a just and beautiful tribute to the spirit passed from our midst. To few, he said, could these words of Jesus be so fittingly applied. Though seemingly dead, she would live in ever-increasing power in the influence she had exerted over other lives. If, from cities and villages far away, from lonely farm-houses, all could to-day be assembled within these walls who had received help and strength from her, large indeed would be the concourse. More truly of her than of most might it be said that she had

"joined the choir invisible
Of those immortal dead who live again
In minds made better by their presence."

It would be well could we all imitate her example in cultivating a love of religious reading, and that habit of religious meditation and communion which was the source of her strength. Her leading characteristic was conscience, an all-dominating power of conscience. Whatever she felt it her duty to do, that she did, at all costs. He closed by reading Bryant's

THE CONQUEROR'S GRAVE.

Within this lowly grave a Conqueror lies,
And yet the monument proclaims it not,
Nor round the sleeper's name hath chisel wrought
The emblems of a fame that never dies,--
Ivy and amaranth, in a graceful sheaf,
Twined with the laurel's fair, imperial leaf.
A simple name alone,
To the great world unknown,
Is graven here, and wild-flowers, rising round,
Meek meadow-sweet and violets of the ground,
Lean lovingly against the humble stone.

Here, in the quiet earth, they laid apart
No man of iron mould and bloody hands,
Who sought to wreak upon the cowering lands
The passions that consumed his restless heart;
But one of tender spirit and delicate frame,
Gentlest in mien and mind,
Of gentle womankind
Timidly shrinking from the breath of blame:
One in whose eyes the smile of kindness made
Its haunt, like flowers by sunny brooks in May,
Yet, at the thought of others' pain, a shade
Of sweeter sadness chased the smile away.

Nor deem that when the hand that moulders here
Was raised in menace, realms were chilled with fear
And armies mustered at the sign, as when
Clouds rise on clouds before the rainy East--
Gray captains leading bands of veteran men
And fiery youths to be the vulture's feast.
Not thus were waged the mighty wars that gave
The victory to her who fills this grave.
Alone her task was wrought,
Alone the battle fought;
Through that long strife her constant hope was stayed
On God alone, nor looked for other aid.

She met the hosts of sorrow with a look
That altered not beneath the frown they wore,
And soon the lowering brood were tamed, and took,
Meekly, her gentle rule, and frowned no more.
Her soft hand put aside the assaults of wrath,
And calmly broke in twain
The fiery shafts of pain,
And rent the nets of passion from her path.
By that victorious hand despair was slain;
With love she vanquished hate, and overcame
Evil with good, in her Great Master's name.

Her glory is not of this shadowy state,
Glory that with the fleeting season dies;
But when she entered at the sapphire gate,
What joy was radiant in celestial eyes!
How Heaven's bright depths with sounding welcomes rung,
And flowers of Heaven by shining hands were flung!
And He who, long before,
Pain, scorn, and sorrow bore,
The Mighty Sufferer, with aspect sweet,
Smiled on the timid stranger from his seat;
He who returning, glorious, from the grave,
Dragged Death, disarmed, in chains, a crouching slave.

See, as I linger here, the sun grows low;
Cool airs are murmuring that the night is near.
O gentle sleeper, from thy grave I go
Consoled though sad, in hope and yet in fear.
Brief is the time, I know,
The warfare scarce begun,--
Yet all may win the triumphs thou hast won.
Still flows the fount whose waters strengthened thee,
The victors' names are yet too few to fill
Heaven's mighty roll; the glorious armory,
That ministered to thee, is open still.

On the pleasant slope of a lovely hillside in Spring Grove, where everything around breathes of Nature's peace and repose, among graves very dear to her, the worn body was laid to rest, while the gentle winter rain fell not unkindly into the open grave. Much seemed to have gone out of the world when the echoing clods covered that which was "Miss Ellis."

The Sunday after her death, as some of her friends were sadly trying to replace the tracts in the table drawer just as she would have liked them arranged, a white dove flew down and rested on the window-sill outside. Only a coincidence, but one that touched us, nevertheless. If the spirits of the departed ever revisit earth, surely Miss Ellis would return to the church she loved so much; and possibly it is not wholly fancy that still feels her in her old-time seat under the pulpit.

As soon as possible after Miss Ellis's death the Women's Auxiliary Conference of Cincinnati prepared a four-page leaflet, containing a brief sketch of her life and death, and sent it to all her correspondents, many of whom were ignorant that she was even in ill health. The little memorial's first page reads:--

In Memoriam.
SALLIE ELLIS.
DECEMBER 27, 1885.

So many worlds, so much to do,
So little done, such things to be,
How know I what had need of thee,
For thou wert strong as thou wert true.
TENNYSON.

It reprinted from "Unity," Jan. 9, 1886, this tender tribute from a personal friend and a member of the Women's Auxiliary:--

SALLIE ELLIS.

She only did what lay at hand,--
Work that her own hand found to do:
With no thought of a "mission" grand,
Yet, bit by bit, her mission grew.

She did--what others left undone;
She gleaned behind the harvesters:
The scattered ears of grain let stand
By careless ones,--all these were hers.

Patient, unresting, still she wrought,
Though life beat fainter and more faint:
And only as her soul took flight,
We saw--the aureole of the Saint.

ALICE WILLIAMS BROTHERTON.

CINCINNATI, OHIO.

The memorial closed as follows:--

"At the regular monthly meeting of the Women's Auxiliary Conference
of Cincinnati, Jan. 12, 1886, the programme for this meeting was
omitted, and the afternoon devoted to tender recollection of the
dear friend and valued secretary so recently taken from us, to the
reading of many letters from East and West containing loving
tribute to her worth and sympathy for our loss, and to devising
such plans for continuing our work in future as should be our
friend's best commemoration, the tribute she would chiefly have
desired. Mrs. George A. Thayer offered the following expression of
the feeling of our Society, for entry on our records:--

"'It is fitting that we should place upon the records of this
Association some words of grateful remembrance of our late
fellow-worker and Secretary, Sallie Ellis, who went up higher on
Sunday, Dec. 27, 1885.

"'She was called to her office four years and a half ago, and took
up its work from the beginning as one who felt its consecration,
and saw the opportunity it offered of being a ministry of the
highest things to many souls yearning for a word of religion both
reasonable and spiritual.

"'Her long and loving study of Unitarian principles gave her a rare
fitness for teaching others the _thought_ of our church. Her
personal faith in the deep things of God enabled her to speak ever
the needed word to inquirers of the _religion_ of our church. And
her sacred sense of duty, not only illustrated in every act of her
life, but shining always through her written words, made her an
admirable exemplar of the _moral quality_ of our church. So she was
all that we could ask as our missionary leader, for she not only
taught the stranger from afar of the surpassing beauty and
greatness of our Liberal Christianity, but she quickened in us at
home new love for its truths, and a deeper sense of our privilege
and obligations in being of its disciples.

"'In her life she guided and inspired us, and being dead she abides
with us, ever a constant presence, to make us humble that we do so
little for our great work, and to stir in us desire to be more
faithful to our task in the Master's vineyard.'

"The following extract from a letter of directions left by Miss Ellis in the event of her death was then read:--

"'All the books in the loan library I bequeath to the use of the
church, and when not so used, my family shall have the disposal of
them.'

"This library comprises over one hundred and thirty religious books,
chiefly by Unitarian authors. It was voted that this library 'shall
always be known as The Sallie Ellis Loan Library.'

"Mrs. M. E. Hunert, 177 Betts Street, Cincinnati, was appointed
Corresponding Secretary. All communications may hereafter be
addressed to her. She will continue the free distribution of
Unitarian papers, tracts, and sermons, to any names furnished her of
persons desiring them. She will also receive subscriptions for
Unitarian publications and sell books, when desired, and will loan
the books of the Sallie Ellis Loan Library, the borrower paying the
postage only. It is earnestly wished to continue Miss Ellis's work
in her spirit, and it is hoped correspondents and friends will
co-operate with us in this effort.

"Though saddened and greatly bereft, the Cincinnati Auxiliary would
still strive to 'look forward and not back,' working on in the
spirit of Whittier's poem,

OUR SAINTS.

From the eternal silence rounding
All unsure and starlight here,
Voices of our lost ones sounding,
Bid us be of heart and cheer,
Through the silence, down the spaces,
Falling on the inward ear.

Let us draw their mantles o'er us,
Which have fallen in our way:
Let us do the work before us
Calmly, bravely, while we may,
Ere the long night-silence cometh,
And with us it is not day!"

The "In Memoriam" called out letters of deep regret--the regret of those who mourn a personal friend--from every correspondent. A few of these letters appear in the correspondence, selected from many of similar tenor.

CORRESPONDENCE.

* * * * *

The letters of Miss Ellis's correspondents here given are selected from an immense number of like purport and interest. She had kept all the significant letters neatly filed in bundles, each correspondent by himself. It has been a disappointment to receive so few, comparatively, of her own letters. Our busy age is not given to saving its letters. It is therefore all the more touching to know that so many of her correspondents have treasured even every postal card from her hand. Her letters given here, however, well illustrate her spirit and ideas on many topics, also her method of work, and reveal something of the secret of her success.

Literary style and fine effects were the last things aimed at in her letters. Their characteristics are plainness, directness, intense earnestness to convince and impress, and a warm sympathy with people of all kinds and degrees. Strongly conservative in her own theology, she yet did not set up her views as a fixed standard for others, or assume to hold all truth. Some of her warmest friends were among our younger, more radical ministers, whose purity and sincerity of life and faith quite offset in her eyes their theological vagaries.

The letters first given are to fellow-workers who had asked about her methods, materials, etc. In an article which Mr. Gannett had asked her to write, and which appeared in "Unity," March 1, 1884, she wrote:--

"We keep a standing weekly advertisement in two of our chief daily
papers,--those which have the widest circulation, one Saturday
morning, and the other Sunday, under the head of 'Religious
Notices.' One of these papers advertises free for us.[4]

[Footnote 4: The advertisement read thus: "Unitarian papers,
tracts, etc., sent free to any one addressing Miss Sallie Ellis,
Auburn Ave."]

"On receiving an application we respond, being guided somewhat by
the style and character of the application, by sending one or two
tracts, with a copy of the 'Christian Register' or 'Unity.' [Many
people of the church, after reading their religious papers, handed
them to Miss Ellis for distribution.] After sending the papers and
various tracts for several weeks, we write a postal of inquiry as
to whether Unitarian literature is satisfactory; and if the person
cares to subscribe to either of the papers, _which_ he or she
prefers; which tracts have given the most satisfaction; and whether
they care to borrow any books by mail, paying the postage on them.
Frequently we receive no reply [in which case the name was
dropped], but mostly the answer is gratifying. If the person cannot
subscribe for the papers, but enjoys them, we continue to send
them.... In sending tracts, we begin with 'Unitarian Principles and
Doctrines,' by Rev. C. A. Brigham, the 'New Hampshire Statement of
Belief,' and 'What Do Unitarians Believe?' by Rev. C. W.
Wendte,--because we wish to show what our faith has grown from, and
what it is now. These we think fairly represent the denomination;
and we have found that they all give general satisfaction. Next,
'Why Am I a Unitarian?' by James F. Clarke, D.D., which is also
well liked, and 'Discourse on Distinguishing Opinions of
Unitarians,' by William E. Channing, D.D., as creating a thirst for
his 'Works.' Then we branch off from this into whatever we think
best.... _Promptness_ in replying and _regularity_ in sending
papers, etc., will do more towards showing our deep interest in the
work, and bring the individual seeking into vital connection with
the church sending the literature. A _little_ at a time frequently,
to insure _careful_ and _thorough_ reading. Recommend books
extensively.... We believe in loaning the books of the early
ministers of our denomination as a good stepping-stone to the
Unitarianism now taught in our pulpits."

In a letter to Miss F. L. Roberts, of Chicago, then Secretary of Western Women's Unitarian Conference, March 14, 1884, she wrote:--

"I agree with you that no _one_ tract or sermon will satisfy the
questions of inquirers. They have to 'grow into the light,' as we
all have done and still are doing. Did any one thing settle our
doubts or questionings? I think not.

"'What is our _aim_ in the Post Office Mission Work?' It occurs to
me it should be to give inquirers the fairest statement of our
teachings, from Channing up to the present time. Not the thought of
any one man or woman, but that of the greatest number of our best
minds in the several eras of our denomination. In many cases ...
people have not the _slightest_ idea what Unitarianism is, farther
than that we do not believe Christ was God. They not only do not
know what we believe, but think us a kind of 'outcasts.' It almost
seems like being in the Dark Ages of the world to hear of such
ignorance as we _know_ exists with regard to our doctrines.
Therefore we are talking, as it were, to children. Let us then
begin at first principles, and send fair, clear statements."

After alluding to several of her correspondents who were thinking of entering the Unitarian ministry, she adds:--

"It seems to me the A. U. A. tracts, and the books, papers, etc.,
sent with them, have produced good results; have made deep,
earnest thinkers. It is through these very things our own ministers
have been made to think, and they have gone beyond these same
things; and so will our correspondents in time. But at present few
of them have access to books, or come in contact with people who
can converse on all these points with them; therefore it is well to
intersperse with our tracts on doctrines, good _practical_ sermons,
and the newer tracts occasionally, leading them up gradually to
Unitarian ideas, and showing them especially that while we _have_
doctrines in our church, character is the most important to us.
There is no one book that has done more effective work than Rev. J.
F. Clarke's 'Orthodoxy,' etc., which proves that we need good,
_clear_, strong doctrine. [The Post Office Mission, she adds] is
only a larger church, and we want to bring these people into vital
connection with us,--making not Unitarians of them, or merely
intellectual men and women, but practical Christians working with
us and for humanity. Rev. ---- is the prophet of his age. We shall
all _grow_ up to his ideal some day, and bring our Post Office
Mission members with us. Hope he will be willing to wait. 'It is
good that a man should both hope and quietly wait' (Lam. iii. 26)."

A bit from another letter to Miss Roberts is interesting as showing the untiring industry which enabled Miss Ellis to accomplish so much:--

... "Next week we hold our fair, and I shall be very busy all the
week. Have had so many orders for mittens, that I am a perfect
knitting machine. I can knit and read, however, and therefore have
looked over many sermons for distribution in the mean time. Am
tired, and thankful for the blessed Saturday night followed by the
quiet of Sunday."

In answer to a letter of inquiry from Miss F. Le Baron when that lady first entered on her work as Secretary of the Western Women's Unitarian Conference at Chicago, Dec. 2, 1884, Miss Ellis wrote:--

"'How much time do you give to all this work?' Doing it at home, I
cannot calculate exactly, for there are many moments thrown in that
I cannot well count; but this much I _can_ say. I begin about 9 A.M.
Monday to collect my materials about me, and usually by
dinner-time (1 P. M.) I have put away all papers, etc., and have
ready my week's papers, etc., for the postman to take. Nearly every
evening I write an hour or more, excepting Sunday, when I won't
write business letters. This is all the work I can _calculate_; but
there are many moments spent reading my letters, assorting papers,
tying up books, setting down items, making purchases, etc., besides
the time spent Sunday and on Wednesday at the church, over the
library, etc. However, I am very systematic in everything, and
accomplish more in that way.... Of course, new applicants I reply
to at once; but every new applicant is then added to my Monday
list. Being at an office, you have more interruptions; and then
deafness has its reward, and one can pursue her work in peace many
times, whereas another would be disturbed."

In answer to another letter from Miss Le Baron, full of warm congratulations on her success, she writes, Dec. 11, 1884:--

"I am very much obliged for your high opinion of me. I read it to a
dear friend, who always sends me to the Conference at Chicago, and
she said, 'It's all true, but I hope you won't get so far above me
in the next world.' I never have stopped to 'understand' what I am
doing, or the 'name' I am making. To do the good comes from my
heart, and I leave the results to the Good Father, and know if I
merit a reward it will be given me. It is a pleasure in _this_
world, to feel I am giving satisfaction to so many in the
denomination. I am a thorough Unitarian, and have read our
denominational works more than anything else, which has prepared me
for this very work. I am an ignoramus in literature outside of
Unitarianism, only that you cannot be a Unitarian and not come,
more or less, in contact with general literature.... By the way, I
always read tracts, and M. J. Savage's and Chadwick's and Clarke's
weekly sermons, going to and from the city [Miss Ellis was living
at this time in Avondale, three miles from the city], and carry
_big_ packages of papers home on Sunday. Think the conductors must
know I am a missionary."

Rev. Joseph May, Rev. Charles Allen, and Rev. F. L. Hosmer sent Miss Ellis many of their printed sermons for distribution, which did good service. Rev. William C. Gannett early saw the possibilities of this work, and has done much to systematize and further it in many ways. He christened it the "Post Office Mission," and, seeing the need of more fresh material for distribution, devised and edited the "Church Door Pulpit" series of sermons, and has also been the chief promoter of the "Unity Mission" series of tracts. The following extracts are from Miss Ellis's letters to him.

SEPTEMBER 12, 1882.

Received to-day, from ----, your letter of September 5, asking
about our "Missionary Work by Letter." ... I will very gladly
afford you my assistance in that respect. However, I am rather more
conservative than yourself,--rather of the E. S. Gannett
type,--still have visited Omaha, where I have had brothers settled,
and know some little of the style of religion which is requisite in
the Northwest.... Will give you a list of the tracts I have used
most profitably. Most people state, when they ask for literature,
"Want something that teaches the _doctrines_ of the Unitarian
Church." Thereupon I have forwarded, from time to time, "Unitarian
Doctrines and Principles" (Brigham); "Word of God" and "The Rising
Star of the Liberal Faith" (W. P. Tilden); "New Hampshire
Statement of Belief;" "Unitarian Belief in Bible Language;" "Why Am
I a Unitarian?" "Inspiration of New Testament," "Revivals"
(Clarke); "Our Common Christianity" (A. P. Stanley); "Mission of
Unitarianism" (Heber Newton); "Spiritual Christianity." (Starr
King); and "What Do Unitarians Believe?" (C. W. Wendte).... The
serial sermons of Chadwick, Clarke, Hale, and Savage always gladly
received.... But do not be afraid of a little doctrine, Mr.
Gannett, for there are some people in Orthodox churches who are
hungering and thirsting for just our doctrines. They cannot do
without doctrine just yet, but want something better than they have
known, and think it a great blessing to find it. I try my
congregation to see what each requires, and lead them on and up. My
church is composed of a very mixed set.... I am deeply interested
in this work, and know we have done much good.... We keep books to
loan, and also recommend books from time to time, and ask our
correspondents to subscribe to the periodicals.... Dr. Dewey's
sermons on "Human Nature" and "Human Life," and his "Two Great
Commandments" benefit some people very much.

* * * * *

March 11, 1883.

I never omit the "Pulpit" column [of the Register], and read
"Wrestling and Blessing" with much interest.... I set each
difficulty down as just suited for some one, or two, or three of my
correspondents. Of course, I _don't apply sermons to myself any
more_. It is a beautiful sermon; and this brings me to the point
we are all so interested in,--the wider circulation of the fresh
thoughts of all the pulpits. I surely think, with you, that it will
help the work to "give it name." Am glad you are stirring them all
up. I do not, as you say, feel the need of it so much, but
occasionally do.... A new case in Tennessee, who never knew
_anything_ of the Liberal Church, till we sent him papers. Is much
pleased, and wants to read till he knows still more about us. He
writes, "Not one per cent of the people here know there is such a
church. Tell me, do the majority of Unitarian ministers believe in
the resurrection of Jesus; that he healed the leper, cast out
devils, and raised Lazarus? I ask for information, and hope you
will reply at some future time." He is evidently in a benighted
region. Says he has "heard nothing outside the Cumberland
Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist Churches, and am none of
these;" and I presume is very little of anything yet, and is
longing for a nobler life than he has known, or sees about him. The
longer I go on, the more need I see of getting this work fully and
well organized. It will be brought about ere long. Even reading
over papers is beneficial. The publication of our hymns, the most
inspiring, will do a great deal of good. In several cases I have
copied them, and to good purpose.

Jan. 20, 1885, in answer to the question, what twenty names she would prefer in the "Church Door Pulpit" series the coming year, she wrote:--

"Revs. Grindall Reynolds, Rush R. Shippen, J. F. Clarke, E. E.
Hale, Joseph May, Dr. William Furness, H. W. Bellows, T. Starr
King, J. Ll. Jones, J. T. Sunderland, George Bachelor, William C.
Gannett, F. L. Hosmer, David Utter, George A. Thayer, C. W. Wendte,
S. J. Barrows, Albert Walkley, J. C. Learned, James Martineau. Am
afraid I haven't left any room for those who do not bear the
'Unitarian' name, but feel that Unitarianism is so little known,
that I would first make our own best writers known, and then branch
out and take in others. All of the above names I should like to see
in 'Church Door Pulpit' for 1885-1886.... I think generally people
wish to become acquainted with the Unitarian pulpit. 'What do
Unitarians preach?' is the cry. 'I want to hear a Unitarian;'
'those who have been educated in that denomination.'"

* * * * *

February 20, 1885.

Your article in "Unity," February 16, on "A Blessing on the Day,"
pleased me very much.... We haven't quite the right book yet, and
with you I say, "about twelve verses from the Bible well knitted
around some central thought," as we principally want to become
acquainted with the Bible as the "Book of man." Think something
more like "Daily Praise and Prayer," with different Scripture
selections, perhaps, and omitting most of the prayers. I would only
have a prayer to lead to a prayer of one's own,--that is, to
inspire one to pray in their own words. Have often thought I should
like to compile a book of "Daily Worship" from the Scriptures, our
Hymn Books, "Daily Praise and Prayer," "Day unto Day," "Helps to
Devout Living," and the "Responsive Service," and now, from "Daily
Strength for Daily Needs," "Aspirations of the World," and
"Spiritual Life" in the "Register," but principally Scripture
selections.... "Daily Praise and Prayer" is doing much good in a
very troublesome family of one of my correspondents. I remembered
to have sent the lady "Wrestling and Blessing," and wrote a short
time since to call her attention to the "Inherited Burden," asking
if she still had the tract. This morning received a reply, in which
she wrote, "Yes! I still have 'Wrestling and Blessing,' for it did
me so much good when I first read it that I felt as if I could not
part with it." Many, many homes need "A Blessing on the Day" to
create the true feeling.

To Miss Holmes, of the Davenport, Iowa, Post Office Mission, Miss Ellis wrote:--

August 20, 1884.

... Yes, I do use the A. U. A. tracts freely, and more than any
others, those marked on our list herein enclosed, and also "Word of
God," "The Doctrine of Prayer," and "Wrestling and Blessing,"--the
latter to those who need encouragement particularly. I find
generally that people want to get at the first principles,--the A
B C of Unitarianism. We do not use Higginson's "Sympathy of
Religion" at all. Our aim is to make practical Unitarians, and let
doctrines and theory gradually fall into the secondary place.
Therefore I object to Mr. ----'s list of books, because they are
more historical and theoretical. They do well where one wants to
study religion; but where one wants a Christianity to live by, I
think something that comes down to practical life, or that is more
simple, better adapted to the generality of people. As knowledge of
Unitarianism spreads, they will naturally seek deeper works. But at
present, something as clear and concise as possible, with the
"Christian Register," "Unity," and the "Dayspring," which further
illustrate our principles, we find very popular. The difficulty is
to get a large enough supply and variety enough. The A. U. A.
tracts only answer as an explanation, and we must have the sermons,
and papers, and books enough in addition. As I have been at the
work for three years, it is hard work to find sufficient supplies
for between thirty and forty every week, and these extending the
papers and tracts elsewhere.

I cannot think, with Mr. Judy, that it is the best method to divide
the work. It seems to me that causes confusion. It seems a much
better way that the person who sends the tracts and papers should
distribute the books too, as being better able to advise the books
to read; for he or she learns the "bent of mind" of the seeker. So
many different persons at work causes confusion and mistakes. I
mail papers, tracts, etc., attend to all the correspondence, to
loaning and mailing the books, to all printed matter received, to
all the advertising orders of every kind, to money received and
expended,--consulting the President frequently, and the details are
brought up before our monthly meetings. I do not believe the work
can be so well done as by one person; but of course no one could
devote so much time to it unless they have some compensation for
it. I took up the work at first voluntarily, but soon found there
was a great deal in it, and therefore wished to give it earnest
attention, and the ladies felt me particularly fitted for it, and
preferred to give me a small salary. It never is "irksome" to me,
but a work of real love to me. I have always been a
missionary,--distributing all the papers and tracts which contained
anything of a practical nature or of a pure Christianity.

* * * * *

_To Miss Holmes._

AUGUST 29, 1884.

Have just been re-reading "A Little Pilgrim." To tell you the plain
truth, the ideas are beautiful, but I do not like prying into the
next world. No one really knows anything concerning it. I am
willing to rest where Jesus left us. He told us little of it, but
enough for the "health of our souls." "In our Father's house are
many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you;" and I believe when
our friends leave us they go to another division of God's kingdom
and "prepare a place for us," in that through their deaths we are
naturally drawn heavenward, and our lives are different from ever
before. I am not so much interested as to what the future world is.
It is enough to me, to know that it is, and that I am doing the
best I can while I am living here. The future world will be made
plain to me when my time comes to go there; and if I have only
lived rightly here, there will be nothing to fear.

I can trust in God. Still such books seem to be necessary to some
persons, but I do not consider them healthy reading. When you have
finished such a book the query comes, "Is it fact?" Who can say it
is? I feel that my friends are in the hands of a loving Father as
they were while on earth, and that he will still do for them what
is best, and their spirit and affection remain with us to comfort
and guide us. I never lose them. They are only "gone before."

* * * * *

_Miss Ellis to Rev. A. A. Livermore._

JUNE 2, 1880.