Chapter XVII: 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.