April 1, 1845, I commenced my labors in the town of F——, in Western Virginia. As soon as the object of my visit to that region was known, I received a cordial welcome from a large majority of the people, who did all they could to aid me in my work. Mr. P——, a young lawyer at that time, and since governor of Western Virginia, volunteered to go with me to every house in the town. His high position and universal popularity made the work pleasant and successful. In three days my buggy load of books were circulated in the village.
I immediately replenished my stock, and commenced my work in the country among the mountains. It was like a translation from sunlight into darkness—from a high civilization into one of ignorance and superstition, with here and there a family of wealth and refinement.
The very broken, rugged state of the country, with a sparse population, rendered itimpossible for the people to support either schools or churches. Consequently in many isolated communities whole families grew up without any one knowing the alphabet, and very few places had preaching more than once in a month, and that on a week-day in some log cabin to a few women. I have visited as many as ten families in succession, in one case fourteen, without finding a Bible. It will hardly be thought strange that youth of both sexes were often found who could not tell who is the Saviour of sinners, and that when they were told of Christ dying for sinners, they would look incredulous and say, we live so much out of the way that we never hear any news. They often lived in small cabins, without any furniture but such as they made with an axe and an auger. All they raised to eat was corn and potatoes, with a few hogs; most of their meat being that of the various wild animals which abounded in the mountains. They were mostly kind and hospitable, and seemed to be sorry that they could not accommodate me better. I shall endeavor faithfully to describe one journey, which will represent many more.
About the time I went into that region, a new missionary circuit had been laid out by the Methodist Protestant church through a broken mountain country, where the gospel had never been preached; and the Rev. Mr. C—— was appointed to go round it once in each month, which required a ride of more than one hundred miles, most of the way by mere bridle paths.
He had been once or twice round the circuit before I became acquainted with him. As soon as he learned my business he invited me to go with him. He told me the people were without books of any kind, that very few could read, and that many of them were not half civilized; that at one house, where he spent the night, they cut off the skirts of his saddle to sole their moccasins, and at another the woman cut off the tail of his overcoat to make a pair of pants for a little boy. I agreed to go, and at the set time we filled each of our saddle-bags with little books and tracts, and our pockets with lunch.
The first appointment was some twenty miles distant, and we had to start the evening before. We stopped over night with awealthy Christian family, and fared sumptuously.
The next day we rode twelve miles to the place where he was to preach. They had a church built of round logs. It had no floor but the ground, and was neither chinked nor daubed, consequently it was only used in warm weather. The house was full at the appointed hour. More than half of the congregation were barefooted, and but few had on them more than two garments. Most of the men came in with their guns in their hands, and a good supply of small game they had killed by the way. The guns were all set up in the corner of the church, and the game laid beside them.
At the request of Mr. C—— I conducted the service. The constant responses and loud amens indicated the deep interest they seemed to feel. At the close of the service I requested them to keep their seats, and told them I would go round and give each a tract or little book. More than half the families represented were destitute of the Bible. The tracts and books were received with very great joy, though few could read a word in them.
At the close we had to ride some miles to a stopping place for the night. We found the cabin small and destitute of any seats except stools. The beds were poles put through the corners, covered with the skins of deers and bears. Many of the spaces between the logs were wide enough for the dogs and cats to pass out and in at pleasure. The food was bread made of corn ground in a hand mill, or pounded in a hominy block. The meat was coon or opossum, and the coffee made of chestnuts. The night was spent in self-defence against unseen foes, and in dread of snakes. After partaking of a breakfast similar to the dinner and supper just described, and praying with the family, we left them.
Our appointment for that day was about twelve miles distant, with a constant succession of mountains to cross. We stopped at all the cabins by the way, which were about like that just referred to, with one exception; and as the house and family were different from any that I have ever seen, I shall try to describe them.
The cabin was about eighteen feet square; had been the birthplace of a large family;had neither floor—except the earth—upper story, chimney, chair, table, or bed, except a pile of straw in one corner, and an old spinning wheel and loom. The family we saw consisted of the father, mother, and five daughters, no one of which, we supposed, would weigh less than one hundred and fifty pounds. Each of the females had on a single garment made of coarse linen, held on by a drawing-string round the neck, all fleshy and hearty, while we could not see any thing for them to live upon.
No one of them knew a letter in the alphabet, or who was the Saviour of sinners. They were children of nature isolated from the world, equally ignorant of both its vices and its virtues. We spent more than an hour trying to teach them the alphabet of Christianity, and then commended them to God. They seemed amazed at what we said; God only knows the results.
We reached the place where our evening meeting was to be held after one o’clock, exhausted with hunger and heat. The cabin was but little better than the one just described; it contained some kind of table anda few stools, but had neither door nor floor, and cattle and hogs ran into it to avoid the flies when they chose.
Mr. C——, whose patience was nearly exhausted, told the woman that we were almost starved, and to hurry and get us something to eat, and to make it ascleanand as good as she could. The children were sent to borrow tools; a fire was soon blazing under an arbor made of bushes near the house; a pail of meal set beside it, waiting for theskilletto heat, out of which the hens helped themselves every time she turned her back to them. The children soon returned with a little coffee-pot minus the handle, and with a knife and a fork one prong lacking.
We were soon invited in to our dinner from under the shade of a tree where we had observed the whole process. The table was a block of wood, with four legs to hold it up, and a stool at each side for us to sit on. Some pet pigs were under it waiting for the crumbs: they tramped on our toes, which led us to kick them; but our kind hostess soon made the children catch them and confine them behind my back in a big gumm, a tubsawn off a hollow log, which treatment, from their noise, they seemed to dislike very much.
Soon after our meal was finished the people began to gather in to hear the gospel. The cabin was more than full, with the same appearance of the congregation as last described. We supplied all with books and tracts—in most cases with the first book they ever had. The night was spent much like the previous one, food and lodging about the same.
The next morning we rode nine miles to meet another appointment at eleven o’clock. By the time we reached the place I was so sick that I had to lie down, while brother C—— preached to the people from Jeremiah 6:16. At the close we supplied all with little books and tracts, and received many thanks. The dinner was set under a shed outside of the house, but the sight of it sent me out to the shade of a tree so sick that I could not stand on my feet.
I then told brother C—— that I should be compelled to make my escape to some place where I could get something to eat and take some rest; and asked him to take all thebooks and give them away at each appointment to the best advantage he could.
At two o’clock I was on my horse, which, happily for me, had been along the road before, and was suffering from hunger as much as his rider. In six hours he was standing at the steps of Mr. S——’s house, two miles from the town of F——, from which we started three days before. I was well acquainted with Mr. S—— and his family, having been frequently there; but fever had dethroned my reason, which did not return till I was taken in and my head bathed with cold water, and I had drank a cup of coffee.
It was three days before I was sufficiently recovered to resume my work. We had visited twenty-seven families, talked and prayed with them all, given them books and tracts, and held three meetings. One half of the people were without any part of a Bible. As for other books they had none, and not one in ten could read a word.
I have detailed this one journey of three days not only to show the condition of this portion of our country, but as little more than a fair representation of destitute parts ofmany states in the Union. If each colporteur of the Tract Society who has visited these dark, broken, isolated regions of our country for the last eighteen years, had kept a journal of all the ignorance and wretchedness he met, it would have been the most interesting missionary journal the world ever saw. Their reports would differ as widely as the reports of those whom Joshua sent out to visit the promised land. While some would bring in the rich clusters of Eshcol, others, with equal truthfulness, could say that the land was inhabited by giants, whose walls were ignorance and superstition.
I was often reminded in my journeys of the early pioneers of our country who went through the forests, tomahawk in hand, blazing the trees as a signal of their intended occupancy of the land at some future time. These visits were the Christian pioneer’s way-marks, not blazed on the trees with axe or tomahawk, but blazed on the hearts of men in a state of nature by kind Christian words, and sealed with earnest prayer; while the books and tracts, including many Bibles and Testaments, were deeds of trust to thosethat faithfully used them; and many by them have secured a title to eternal life.
The books were like Jacob’s well—the digger was gone—but they have quenched the thirst of many a weary traveller on life’s journey, and their smoked pages are still crying, “Ho, every one that thirsteth,” come and partake of the waters of life “without money and without price.” A poor woman who had a small tract given her, on her death-bed had it brought to her, when she kissed it, and said, “This led me to my dear Saviour.”
I visited an old woman, who told me that soon after she was married some one lent her Doddridge’s Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, and that it was the means of the conversion of herself and her husband; that he had died happily some years ago, but she had never been able to get a copy of the book since. I then presented her with one, and she wept for joy. I asked her if she had a Bible; she said, “No;” that they had a Bible when her husband died, but some time after a little school was opened in the neighborhood, and she wanted her four little boys taught to read, but had no books nor any way to get them, and she had to cut her Bible into four parts to make each of them a book, and they soon went to pieces, and she lost her Bible. I then gave her a Bible, and her joy seemed complete.
On another occasion I sent a notice that I would be at a little church in a certain neighborhood to aid them in organizing a Sabbath-school,and to supply the destitute with books. After exhorting for some time, and arranging for the Sabbath-school, I distributed all my stock, and was about to leave.
A young woman came up to me, having just reached the place, and asked me for a book. I told her I had given away all that I had brought with me. She burst into tears, and said, “I left my babe, three weeks old, in the field where my husband was hoeing corn, and walked five miles in my bare feet to get a book; and now I am disappointed.” In a few minutes an old woman who had seen seventy winters came to me with a crutch under one arm, and a cane in the other hand, and told me she had come two miles to get books for her sons, who were raising large families over the mountains, that were as wild as the deers. I returned soon, and gave the necessary supply.
One day a man entered my room wearing a hunting-shirt and moccasins, with a gun in his hand and a long knife hanging to a belt at his side, and asked me if I was the man that gave books to the poor people in the mountains. I told him I was engaged in thatbusiness. “Well,” said he, “we live in an out of the way place, where we have neither schools nor preaching; and we met together last Sunday to see if we could not raise a Sunday-school, and teach our children to read, but all the books we could find was one New Testament; and some one said there was a man in F—— that was giving books to the poor, and so I have come to see you about it.” I gave him all the light I could as to forming and conducting a Sunday-school, and added twenty Testaments, with fifty small volumes of Tract Society books, and some tracts. He soon had them all in the bosom of his hunting shirt, and I have seldom seen a happier man.
The next Sabbath the school was started. In six months a church was organized, and soon after a little church built, and a man of God was preaching to them once each month. That bosom full of books was the means God blessed to this result.
On another occasion I stopped over night with a good man, who related to me the following fact.
“A few years ago a minister came to myhouse late on Saturday night on his way to preach at L——, about thirty miles distant. Finding he could not reach the place in time to meet his appointment, he told me if I would gather in my neighbors, he would preach for us. There were but a few families in all this valley, and so far as I knew, he was the first preacher that ever had been in it, at least he preached the first sermon. I sent my boys out and gathered in my neighbors. At the close of his sermon he gave every one a tract. Among the rest he gave one to a poor widow with a large family, but neither she nor any one of her children knew a letter. She took it home with her without any knowledge of its contents.
“The next morning she returned and requested my wife to read it to her, which she did. ‘Well,’ said she, ‘it is a nice thing to read; I do wish I could do it.’ She took the tract home, and returned the next day to have it read again; and during the reading, the tears ran down her cheeks. ‘Oh,’ said she to my wife, ‘do you think I could learn to read?’ ‘Yes,’ she said to her, ‘no doubt you can.’ So my wife got a New Englandprimer we had, and went over the letters a few times with her. She took home both the primer and the tract. The next morning she returned again, and while the tract was reading, her face was lit up with joy, and peace came into her soul. In a few hours she was able to repeat the alphabet. ‘And now,’ said she, ‘if you will only learn me how to put two of them together, and give them aname, I can learn myself.’ This was soon done; and as soon as she went home, she taught her children all she had learned. In a few months she and her children could read all that was in the primer. We have now a good church here, and she and most of her children are members of it. She seldom sees a tract but with tears of joy she exclaims, ‘If it had not been for one of these little tracts, I and my children might have remained in ignorance and sin.’”
One of the great difficulties I had to encounter was the large number of families that could not read. These I found every day. When I would show my books and urge them to buy, the reply was, “Oh, none of us can’t read.” I soon saw the necessity of planningsome means to remedy this evil, and began to establish little Sunday-schools in each neighborhood. I would hunt up the best reader I could find for a teacher, furnish them with a small library of books, give them the best direction I could how to conduct it, and set them to work. Although some of these schools were very superficially conducted, and in many cases there was nothing done in them but teaching young and old to read, still they had the effect of rousing the mind to the acquisition of knowledge, and preparing the way of the Lord. Many of these schools accomplished great things, and resulted in the establishing of little churches. Others seemed to fail, except so far as they woke in the minds of some a thirst for knowledge.
Some families I could not prevail on to take a book as a gift, for fear there was some trick about it. Clock pedlars had been through some portions of the country a while before, sold the cheap clocks at thirty dollars apiece, and took notes for the pay, which had been collected in many cases by distress-sales. They would tell me how theyhad been treated, and that they were afraid I should send some one for the pay. I often avoided this objection by lending the book, and writing on it, “Loaned till I call for it.”
Another great difficulty we had to encounter with these unlettered masses was their prejudice against education. Almost every day I had to meet this objection: “Oh, I don’t want my children learned to read; it will spoil them. I have got along very well without reading, and so can they.”
I had now been about ten months in the colporteur work, and seeing the great necessity for scores of men to engage in it, I thought I could raise the salaries, and employ one or two others to carry it on. I soon raised $150 to pay a man for a year, and Providence directed me to a good man to do the work. I then succeeded in finding another good man, and raising his salary; and in one month, by the Divine blessing, I raised and paid over for the support of colportage $750, and these efforts were continued till the colporteur work was extended throughout the more destitute regions in all Western Virginia.
I had made an arrangement to visit R—— county, some forty miles distant, and spend a month in colporteur labor. On my way I had to cross a river by a ferry-boat. Two travellers crossed with me. When we mounted our horses on the opposite side of the river, one of them asked me if I was going ona long journey with such a heavy load on my horse over that mountain country. I told him I had my horse loaded with religious books, and some Bibles, and that I was engaged in supplying destitute regions with the word of life, and would soon lighten my load.
“Why,” said he, “are there any families to be found without the Bible?” Yes, I told him, there were many in all parts of our country. “Well,” said he, “I don’t believe there is a family in my county without a Bible.” Said I, “What part are you from?” “From Green county, Penn.” “How far,” said I, “from the town of C——?” “Five miles,” said he.
Four weeks ago, I replied, I was there, and made an address before one of the Presbyteries of the Cumberland church, in which I spoke of the destitutions of our country and our mode of supplying them, when the Rev. Mr. H—— followed me with a speech in which he said “he believed one third of the families in C——, in which we were then assembled, were without the Bible.” Another minister present doubted it. I told them I was there to visit the town, and would begin the next morning. A good man volunteered to gowith me. We spent three days at the work, and found that out ofone hundred and fifty-seven families, fifty-fourhad no Bible.
On my way to R——, late in the evening I began to inquire for some place where I could spend the night, as the indications seemed to be that a hard night’s lodging was before me. As I inquired at each little cabin, they told me that “Parson W——,” a few miles ahead, kept lodgers. As these mountain miles are slowly measured by a tired man and horse, I did not reach “Parson W——’s” till near nine o’clock at night. When I entered his little cabin, he and his wife and granddaughter were at a supper of corn-bread and buttermilk. I asked for lodging, which was granted, and was at once invited to supper. As soon as the parson was done eating, he went and put up my horse.
On his return, I asked him if he had any pastoral charge. “Yes,” said he, “I built a church on my own land close by, and preach there every other Sunday.” We were soon engaged in a religious conversation, and my views of truth were soon tested. “Well,” said the old parson, “I thought you was aMethodist preacher, but I find I was mistaken; but Iguessyou are a Presbyterian, which is no better.” Finding the old man belonged to what was called theIronsides, or rigid Antinomians, I thought it quite useless to talk to him.
Before I could get rid of him he made me tell my business. “Well,” said he, “you are going about plundering the country. It was the Bible, Tract, and Missionary Societies that broke up the country in 1837 and ’38.”
As I was tired, and proposed to go to bed, “Well,” said he, “there is a bed in that corner for you.” “As you are a preacher,” said I, “of course you have family prayer, and I would prefer waiting to join you in it.” “Ah,” said he, “every one does their own praying here.” “Is it possible,” said I, “that you are a preacher, and have no family prayer, when God has said he will pour out his fury on the families that call not on his name?” “Oh,” said he, “you may pray if you please.” Seeing an old family Bible on a shelf, I took it down, and read a part of the seventh of Matthew. I commented on the verse, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate,” etc. The momentprayer was over, he said, “I don’t believe a word you said.” I was soon in bed and asleep, being tired.
When I awoke there was a good fire, and the old man sitting beside it. I was up in a few minutes. “I am glad you are up,” said he, “as there is another point I must discuss with you.” In a few minutes I quoted proofs from the Bible too clear to be resisted; when the old woman, who was of huge dimensions, sprang out of bed in her night-dress, and presenting herself before me, said, “Don’t talk to that fellow; he is a Yankee, and he is setting traps to catch you.” The old man soon disappeared to attend to his still-house and cattle, and the old woman and granddaughter occupied the whole front of the fire, making their toilets; the old lady, in her earnest conversation, frequently using a long wooden fire-poker in close proximity to my head.
As the granddaughter was sitting near me, completing her toilet, I spoke to her about her soul, and offered her the Dairyman’s Daughter. This roused the old woman again; and the old man, returning about the same time, forbade her to touch the book. Thegirl cried bitterly, and said it was such a pretty book she did want it, and there was not a book except the old Bible in the house. The girl’s tears prevailed, provided I would write a receipt in it that it was paid for, which was done.
As soon as breakfast was over, and my horse ready, I asked for my bill. “One dollar,” said the old man; “I make it a rule, when any of you Yankees come this way, to fleece you as well as I can.” This man was rich; had a great distillery, and I was credibly informed would take a bottle of whiskey with him to the church, and at the close of his services tell his people what a fine run of whiskey he had just had, and to come and taste it.
About a month after, on my return home, I stopped to stay all night some few miles from there, when lo, Parson W—— had stopped to stay too; but as soon as he saw me, he ordered his horse, and left. I had told about my lodging with him; and as the laws of Virginia at that time imposed a fine of twenty dollars on any one who had no license charging for lodging, some one had told the old man that I was going to bring him before the court.
About this time an incident of peculiar interest took place. The Rev. Mr. Q—— had invited me to visit the town of C——, and I had set a day to be at his house. Late in the evening of the day appointed, I arrived in the town; and while driving along the street, looking for his house, I saw him standing on his portico, beckoning me to him.
As soon as I had alighted from my buggy, he gave me a cordial shake of the hand, and said, “You have come just in time to see and hear one of the greatest dignitaries in the state of Virginia.” I observed that I was perhaps a little different from many others; that I would not go a square to see a great man, unless he was agreat good man. “Well,” said he, “he ought to be a good man; he’s the bishop of the Roman-catholic church for this state; and as he is the first live bishop of theHoly Catholicchurch who has ever been here, he is attracting a great deal of attention. He preached in the court-house this morning,and it was crowded; and he is going to preach here for several days and nights. He has one or two priests with him, and they have come to plant a church here. Will you go and hear him?” “Yes,” said I; “if you go, I will go with you.”
As soon as tea was over, we went to the court-house, and it was crowded. In a little time the bishop arose, and without any introductory services, gave out his text: “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” He went on to define “the gates of hell” as the various Protestant sects, and wound up by trying to prove that Peter was the first pope, and got the keys, and that the successors of Peter still held the keys, and no one could enter heaven without going through the Catholic church. His sermon was delivered with earnestness and eloquence, and made a deep impression, as very few of all present were well informed on those matters.
He made much for his cause out of the denominational strifes with which that region had been afflicted, and I heard many say “Amen” to some of his thrusts. He announcedthat he would preach the next morning from the text, “Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me.”
We returned to brother Q——’s, and sat to a late hour consulting what we had better do. Here was a man of Jesuitical cunning, misrepresenting Protestantism before a community ill qualified to form correct opinions. I urged Mr. Q—— to contradict some of his false statements; and after praying over the matter, we retired.
The next morning, at the appointed hour, the house was crowded, though there were not one dozen Roman-catholics in the community. Owing to the crowd, Mr. Q—— and I got separated. I lost sight of him, and for want of a seat elsewhere, got up into a window. In a little while the bishop announced the text, “Search the scriptures,” and also announced that he would preach at night from the text, “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they searched the scriptures daily.”
The ground taken in this sermon was, that searching the scriptures by the common peoplehad led to all the religious heresies in the world, and had raised up more sects than there were chapters in the Bible. That there was but one true church, and out of all only one could be right. That Protestants called Luther a great reformer, and he was told there were no Lutherans in that town; consequently, if Luther was right they were all wrong; and if they were right, Luther was wrong, and could not be a great reformer.
He said the Catholic church could not be wrong; that she was infallible; she was “the pillar and ground of the truth.” He pictured the quarrels among Protestants in the most hideous manner, and described a heaven full of such uncongenial characters, till the picture was ridiculous; and I saw that many present were delighted with it.
At the close of his sermon, or tirade against the Protestant religion, he sat down. I rose up in the window, much excited, to see if the Rev. Mr. Q—— would not call him to an account, when I was much gratified to see the meek and gentle form of Mr. Q—— slowly rising about the middle of the house. Said he:
“Bishop, you said in your sermon last night that there were now two hundred millions of faithful Catholic children in the world, against which the gates of hell could not prevail. Will you be kind enough to tell us where they are?”
The bishop rose with a half-courteous and half-disdainful smile, and said, “You need not ask me such a question as that; the regions they occupy are all marked on your own Protestant geographies; your little boys in the streets can point you to them, where they have been marked in black lines,” and took his seat.
“Well,” said Mr. Q——, “I would prefer you would name the countries to which they belong.”
He rose again with a most indignant frown. Said he, “I suppose it would be rather humbling to one who calls himself a preacher to go to the little boys for information, so I will name some, at least, of the countries that are Catholic: France, Austria, most of Germany, Hungary, and Poland; and we shall soon have England, as part of the church there is only separated from us now by name; and Spainand Mexico are ours entirely;” and he took his seat again.
“Well,” said Mr. Q——, “do you think we should gain any thing as a nation by changing our Protestant religion for that of Mexico and Spain?” and he took his seat.
The bishop arose still more indignant in manner, and said, “I really cannot understand what you mean, sir, unless you refer to your boasted liberties in this country; but if that is what you mean, sir, I can tell you I would rather go to heaven from Mexico or Spain, than to hell from the midst of all your boasted liberties.”
By this time the audience had become intensely interested. Said I, “Mr. Bishop, I want to ask you a few questions by way of gaining information. If I understood you right last night, you said your church was infallible; that it never had erred, and never could err.”
He replied very indignantly, “I said, sir, that the Catholic church never had erred, and never could err.”
“Well, sir,” said I, “it was once right to put Protestants to death for their religion, and of course it is still right.”
He replied, “That is a Protestant falsehood, sir; the church never put any one to death.”
Said I, “Sir, I can prove what I say by the faithful records of history.”
“Protestant authority—we could not admit such testimony, sir.”
“Well,” said I, “whether you admit it or not, the blood of martyred millions is crying for vengeance, and the day of divine recompense will erelong come.”
After a number of questions from Mr. Q—— and myself of similar import, Mr. Q—— said, “The general opinion is that General Washington and General Jackson died good men and went to heaven. What is your opinion, bishop?”
He replied contemptuously, “Why, sir, we don’t pretend to know whether they are in heaven or not; those are the secret things that belong to God.”
“Stop, bishop,” said I, “you said last night that you held the keys of the kingdom of heaven in your church, and that to you it was given to open and shut the door; and I now demand of you as one of these door-keepers,to tell us whether you have let in the immortal Washington or not.”
In a few moments the call was coming from every part of the house, “Tell us whether you have let Washington into heaven or not.”
The bishop tore his surplice off in a rage, and put out of the house with one or two priests after him—the crowd following him, and calling out, “Come back and answer the question about our beloved Washington.” But he went on, ordered his horse, pronounced a curse on the place, closed his meetings, and left the town. The excitement of the crowd was most intense.
I had now been in my second year of labor for some months, during which I had made some long journeys, and seen some hard service.
I made an arrangement with Mr. M——, a very intelligent gentleman whom I had employed a few months before as a colporteur, to accompany me. The whole tour required us to travel near four hundred miles. More than two thirds of the way the country was wild and romantic, the population sparse and rude. Few thought it safe to go unarmed.
On the day set I met Mr. M—— at C——, where he resided. To my surprise he had provided a pistol for each of us. With some persuasion I took one, but soon got it to the bottom of my saddle-bags.
The first day we reached W——, where we found a young preacher who had been waiting there some days for an escort over the same route, fearing to travel the road alone. We all started in company early the nextmorning, with the understanding that we had to reach G——, a new county-town thirty miles distant, or lodge in the woods. Nothing special occurred that day, except that an enormous rattlesnake crossed the road before us and frightened our horses. We called at the door of all the cabins we saw, and preached Christ to the people, and gave them books. We reached G—— late in the evening, and found a pious lawyer who had just moved there, and owned the only Bible in the place. There were not a dozen families in it. By breakfast-time the next morning we had supplied him with a neat Sunday-school library, which he used to great advantage.
We were told we must ride thirty-five miles the next day, over mountain paths, to reach a place of lodging—that there was one house at thirty miles, but by all means to avoid that house. The reasons I cannot give; nor an account of the dinner wetried to eatthat day.
As the weather was excessively hot, we left G—— by six in the morning. We soon overtook a young man who was going some milesour way, and agreed to be our guide as far as we went together. We found him totally ignorant of sin, or a future state. He did not know whether he had ever seen a Bible or not. Though he had heard men preach, and seen them with a book in their hand, he could not tell what book it was. He told us his father was a county surveyor, and, he thought, a member of the church. I gave him a Testament and some tracts, which he looked at with amazement.
About ten o’clock we came to a number of men at work cutting timber out of the road, that had been blown down by a storm. On inquiry, we found eleven families represented, only one of which had a Bible. One or two others had lost their Bibles by having their cabins burnt. We supplied all with books, and left one or two reading for all the rest.
The want of dinner and the excessive heat of the sun brought on me sick headache, and by four or five o’clock I could scarcely sit on my horse. I told my companions it would be impossible for me to reach the house we were directed to, and let the consequence be what it would, I should be compelledeither to lie out, or lodge in the vile den of which we had been warned. The brethren seemed much alarmed, but said they would not leave me. Several times I had to alight, to prevent falling from my horse. Being thus detained, we only reached this dreaded place about sunset.
There was a very large grazing farm, and a large double log-cabin about the centre, with every appearance of plenty. As we drew near the house we saw quite a number of men at work haying in a large meadow. Every one seemed to be drunk. Such swearing and hallooing I had never heard. Our prospects looked gloomy.
We rode up to the door, and found the landlord under the same influence as those in the field. When we asked for lodging he seemed glad to have customers, and soon had our horses cared for.
In a little time all the drunken rabble on the place were gathered to the house, but such a set of men I have never seen before or since. Supper was soon ready, and all invited in. The food was very rough, but abundant. I was too sick to partake of it.
After supper I told the landlord that I was very sick, and must go to bed; but as we were all religious men, and accustomed to pray in our families night and morning, if he was willing, we would have prayers. The very announcement produced silence in a moment, as if some strange thing was about to happen. I requested him to bring all into the house that would come, and in a few minutes the house was well filled. I called on one of the brethren to read and pray; and soon after I was in bed, unconscious of all around me till morning, when I awoke as well as usual.
As soon as we were dressed I called on the old man to get our horses. “Oh no, you must stay for breakfast, and pray again,” said he. “Well,” said I, “if you will bring all in to prayers now, we will attend to worship with pleasure.” In a little time the whole household was present. I read a portion of Scripture, and made the most earnest exhortation I could possibly do, and prayed. A more solemn audience I never addressed.
As soon as breakfast was over, our horses were ready, when I asked the old man forour bill. “Not one cent, sir,” said he; “you haveprayed plentyto pay for every thing you got. Every time you come this way stop and get all you want, and pray, and it sha’n’t cost you a cent.” We supplied all present with a book or tract, and left well pleased on the whole with our visit.
During the day we called at all the cabins on our way. At one I found a man who told me he was seventy years old, had seldom heard a sermon, but that he had felt much concern about where he would bein the next world, if there was one. He said he never had a Bible, but would like to get one very much. I gave him a Testament and tracts. He seemed very thankful, and listened with great attention to all I had time to say.
At another house the woman told me they had a Bible, and plenty of religious books. I asked to see what kind of books they were. When she presented the stock, it consisted of an old copy of the history of George Washington. She believed it to be a Bible, as no one about the house knew a letter.
The same day we met a very aged man riding on a poor little pony, with a smallbag of meal under him. I handed him some tracts, for which he was very thankful, when the following dialogue occurred.
“Have you any preaching in this mountain country?” “Sometimes we have.” “Are you a professor of religion?” “Yes, I have been a member of the church forty years.” “How are you supplied with religious books?” “Well, wehaven’t got nonebut two or three spelling-books that I sent for many years ago to teach my children how to read.” “Have you no Bible in your house?” “No, I never had one. I have been trying to get a Testament for some time at the store; but it costs seventy-five cents, and I am not able to raise the money.” This was the regular price of a small Testament in that region at that time, and seldom to be got even at that price.
Said I, “Is it not hard to live the life of a Christian without the Bible?”
“Yes,” said he, “but I can’t help it; for even if I was able to buy one, it could not be got nearer than C——, which is forty miles distant. I never expect to be rich enough to buy a whole Bible.”
My soul was stirred within me, and I drewout my pocket Bible, a fine copy which I had received as a present, and gave it to him. He looked for a moment at me with surprise, when the tears gushed from his eyes, and he exclaimed, “I am now rich and happy.” This man was seventy-five years old, and trembling on the brink of the grave. This is a true picture of many cases found by colporteurs. I never felt so well paid or so happy as when I gave that man my only Bible.
During this whole tour of five weeks’ travel, many a scene similar to those described occurred; while, on the other hand, I visited villages and towns where I found fine churches and able ministers, with highly cultivated pious congregations. In this tour I raised over $500 in donations, and employed three excellent colporteurs, one of whom labored nine years. I met the most cordial coöperation from Christians and philanthropists everywhere I went. All said, “This is just what we need in this sparsely populated mountain country.”
While on this tour I visited the town of L——, near the centre of Western Virginia, and made arrangements to remove there in a few weeks. There are few towns of the size which I have ever visited where I have met with a more noble people. There was wealth, intelligence, and the highest degree of refinement. This town became the centre of my operations for three years.
The distance we had to go in moving there was about one hundred and fifty miles, up and down mountains most of the way, with scarce any thing like a road in many places: a family of five, two of them children, in a one-horse carriage, with the necessary equipage for such a journey.
On the afternoon of the third day we began to ascend the Cheat mountain, which required nine miles travelling to reach its summit, and eight miles down the other side to its base, with only one house all the way, and that on the top of the mountain, called at that time“the mountain house of entertainment.” It was a large rude log-house, without comfort. By the time we reached the top of it I found my horse very much fatigued, and the sun about setting. We concluded we could not descend the mountain that night with safety, as there was no moon, and the whole way was through a dense pine forest.
When we came to this house on the very top of the mountain, we found a number of covered wagons that belonged to families moving westward, and a crowd of people of all colors about the house. I asked for lodging. “Yes,” said the landlord, “lodging plenty!” My family went into the house, and I went to see my horse taken care of. On my return I found them without any place to sit down. After looking through the house, and finding but two or three apartments, and such a crowd of people, I asked the landlord how he would lodge us all. “Oh,” said he, “you can lie down a few at a time, and soon as you get asleep I can stand you up against the wall.”
Though it was in September, and very warm in the valleys, yet it was cold on thetop of this mountain, and we were all shivering. I asked the landlord, who by this time was playing the violin for our entertainment, to make us a little fire. But there was neither wood nor supper. The females were stowed away in one room for the night, and the rest lay on the floor or sat by turns till the morning came.
As we had no toilet to make in the morning, we were on the way down the mountain at an early hour. The first house we reached was a log-house, where they kept entertainment. All was neat and clean. We called for breakfast; and while it was preparing, we had our morning devotions, which had been noticed by the landlady. When we came to our excellent breakfast, she asked me to christen her children, of which she had quite a number. I told her I was not a preacher, and had no authority to administer ordinances. She insisted most earnestly that I must do it; that no one had ever prayed there before, and she did not see any reason why any praying man could not christen children; that they had been living there for years, and never heard a sermon or seen a preacher asthey knew of; and if I would only do it, they would not charge me one cent for breakfast. After preaching them the best sermon I could, and giving a good supply of little books, we went on our way. In two more days we reached L——, our place of destination, in safety, and in a few hours had a house rented and were living in it.
For three years I travelled almost constantly; sometimes in a buggy, but mostly on horseback, making from six to eight thousand miles each year, distributing tracts and books in cabins and mansions, collecting money, and employing men, till I had the cooperation ofover fifty colporteurs. The many interesting facts and incidents which occurred during these years would fill a large volume. A very few of them I shall attempt to relate.
A Mr. W——, whom we had employed for some years, a man of much more than ordinary piety and qualifications for the work, while visiting in the mountains, came to a poor cabin occupied by a man, his wife, and an only son. They were very poor. The father made his living by grubbing, and tookthe boy with him to pick the brush, he being at this time about sixteen years old. They carried home their wages on their backs, mostly in some kind of food. The mother made what she earned by her spinning-wheel; and while at that, had taught her son to read the Testament, though she was not religious. Mr. W——, after talking and praying with them, gave this boy a copy of Baxter’s Call, which was the means of his conversion. Before he could join the church, the neighbors aided in getting him a suit of clothes.
He immediately set about to improve himself in every possible way. There was no school near; and if there had been, he had no means to go. His first efforts in learning to write were, by copying the letters out of a book with his finger in the snow. He borrowed and read all the books he could get, and attended a little church where there was preaching once each month.
About two years afterwards I received a letter by some private way from this same boy, D. W. S——. On opening it, I made out its contents with some difficulty. It wasan application to become a colporteur. In the letter he referred me to the Rev. Mr. R——, who lived in town. I went to him, showed him the letter, and asked him if he knew the writer. He laughed: “Yes, very well; I received him into the church. D—— is a good boy, but he is without education, and knows nothing of the world; he has never been ten miles from home in his life.”
I wrote the young man a kind letter, saying I hoped he would make a colporteur some day, and advised him to go to school a while.
The next thing I heard from him was a rap at my door. When I opened the door, an awkward-looking youth near six feet high stood before me, with the same suit of clothes on him he had got over two years before. The pants were several inches too short, and the coat-sleeves as deficient; indeed, the coat was little more than a big patch on his back. Said he, “I am thefellowthat wrote you a letter about wanting tocolport, and I have come to see about it.” I invited him into the house. He was all in a tremor of excitement. When I opened the parlor door he looked in with amazement, and in walking to a seatavoided stepping on the white spots in the carpet, which was the first one he ever saw. He was so embarrassed he could scarcely speak.
After talking a little while about crops, etc., he became composed. He then told me his desires to do good, and all about his conversion, which was entirely satisfactory. As it was late in the evening, I invited him to stay for the night; and by the time we got his poor old pony of a horse, not worth five dollars, put away, tea was ready. When he sat down he looked confused. I had much conversation with him that evening. At length I invited him up stairs to bed. On the way up he held by the railing to avoid treading on the narrow carpet in the centre.
In the morning he was up whistling psalm tunes bright and early. As soon as I was dressed I called him and told him I had reflected over the matter very carefully, and had come to the conclusion that his want of education and knowledge of the world would not justify me in employing him.
I saw his countenance change in a moment and the tears start in his eyes. “Oh,” saidhe, “I do want you to give me work, for I do feel that all I want to live for is to work for Christ.”
I cannot describe my feelings as he uttered these words. Here was a depth of devotion beyond any thing I had met. After some minutes’ silence I said to him, “There is a region of country on the head-waters of the Elk river where there never has been any preaching; if you will go there a month without any commission, I will see you are paid.”
His countenance was changed in a moment, and lit up with joy. In less than two hours I had a pair of colporteur’s saddle-bags filled with books and tracts, and he was on his journey to that destitute region, some forty miles distant. Soon after, some stock raisers who had been in that region buying cattle, told me they heard that the Tract Society had a great man out there; that the people were wonderfully pleased with him; that he was giving them books, and teaching them to read them.
At the end of the month he returned, all his stock had passed into the hands of the people, and he gave me a glowing account ofthe people’s wants and his success. He said it would take another month to get over that region, and he wanted to go back. After aiding him to dispense with his boy clothes, I started him with another load of books, cautioning him to avoid showing off his new suit as much as possible.
Another month’s work was done with great success, when he returned almost a new boy in his whole appearance. He had gained confidence by being constantly among people that did not know as much as he did.
I then had him commissioned for P—— county, a very mountainous region, and very destitute of the means of moral improvement. In a few months he had visited every family in the county. In many families the bare mention of his name will start tears in the eyes of the people, and the tracts that he distributed have been sewed together and covered with deerskin as remembrances of the man that left them.
Often through the day when he would come in sight of a cabin, he would alight from his horse and kneel in the woods and plead with God for success in his visit.
He next visited the counties of M—— and R——, two large counties, with remarkable success. By this time he became a fine-looking young man, and by his constant application to reading the books as he rode along, he had become an intelligent, spiritual Christian.
We then sent him to the large county of P——, where there was in portions of it a high degree of intelligence and refinement.
In a few months he was licensed to preach the gospel. He married a lady of high moral worth, and settled in the county of H—— over four weak churches. In two and a half years he received over two hundred persons into the church on profession of their faith; then took typhoid fever, with which he soon died in the triumphs of a living faith.
Since his death I have met with five young men, who are now ministers of the gospel, who had been led to Christ by his labors, all of whom speak of him as an extraordinary man in point of piety and usefulness.
Here was a boy that in all probability would have lived and died in ignorance and sin if he had not been found by a colporteur.He has often put his hand on my shoulder, and said with tears in his eyes, “Brother C——, if it had not been for the Tract Society, I should have been a poor grubber to-day, on the way to death and ruin.”
The great secret of his success was his untiring zeal and industry. He read and studied on his saddle; the shades of the forest were his closet in the summer, and the cleft of some mountain rock in the winter. His congregations were mostly ignorant families, and his rostrum a three-legged stool in the corner. All his talents were put to use in the Lord’s work, and no doubt he has his reward. Reader, go thou and do likewise, and receive a like gracious reward.
On a Saturday evening while on my way to meet a Sabbath appointment, while descending a mountain, I met a man on his way home from mill, and offered him some tracts. “Oh,” said he, “they are of no use to me, for I can’t read, and I have no one about me that can.” I asked him if he had a family. “Yes, I have a wife and seven children.” “It is a great sin,” said I, “for you to raise a family in such ignorance.”“Oh,” said he, “there is so much harm in books, they are better without them.” I handed him two or three tracts, and told him to get some one to read them to him. One of them was, Fifty Reasons for Attending Public Worship. He took them, and when he got home showed them to his wife. “Oh,” said she, “we will be ruined now. I’ll bet that is a warrant that Middleton has got the sheriff to serve on you, and we will lose our land.” They spent a sleepless night, and early next morning they went to the nearest neighbor and told him they had got into sad trouble about their land; that Middleton had served a warrant on them, and here it was.
The tracts were presented to a man who was a class-leader in the Methodist church, and was my informer near a year after this occurrence. He took the first one, “Fifty Reasons for Attending Public Worship.” “Well,” said he, “this is a warrant, but not sent by Middleton, but from the court of heaven. God has sent you this, as you never go to church; and now you see how you have exposed your ignorance by not being able to read, not knowing the difference between asheriff’s writ and a religious tract; and I do hope you will now attend church, and have your children taught to read.” “Now,” said my informer, “this man and his wife are both members of the church, and they are sending their children to school as the result of the influence of those tracts.”
On one occasion I left home by a stage-coach before daylight on a long journey. We stopped after ten miles to take other passengers. As usual, the way-bill was taken into the stage-office to enter their names. A man was in the office who had travelled near one hundred miles to see me at L——. Seeing my name on the way-bill, he asked if that was the man that was thetractagent. About that time I stepped in to warm myself and distribute tracts, when some one acquainted with me told him I was the agent. He then told me how far he had come to see me, and how near he was to miss me, all the time interlarding his conversation with oaths, to the great amazement of all present who knew the nature of my work. When he was through, I told him I would tell him the nature of the work in a few words: that he must get agood horse and a large pair of saddle-bags, fill them with books, and ride over these rugged mountains, and live on hard fare. With an awful oath he said he could stand all that with any fellow about the diggins. In addition to that, said I, you must read the Bible, and pray at every house. I never saw a man so utterly confounded, while those present were convulsed with laughter. I gave him a few tracts, and talked to him till he wept like a child. Although I never heard of the man again, I have hope that the conversation was not in vain.
About this time I held a Colporteur Convention in C——, in which a number of colporteurs were present. The meeting was one of deep interest. Many facts were brought out in relation to the wants of that region, and the good resulting from the work, that were of the most cheering character.
During the three days of our meetings, an old man was present who was but little known to any that were there. When about to close the convention, I said that if any one present wished to give us a word of advice or exhortation we should be glad to hear it, when this old man rose, trembling with diffidence, and said:
“As soon as I heard of this meeting I made up my mind to attend it; and now I want to tell you what this Society has done for me. My name is C——. Ten years ago I was considered the wickedest man in this county. I was a profane drunkard. One day while at S——, about four miles above this place, oldMr. R——, who was always distributing tracts, handed me one with the wordEternityin large letters at the head of it. I was the worse for liquor at the time, and on my horse to go home, which was about fifteen miles distant. On my way I took the tract out of my hat to read it. My attention got fixed on the wordEternity, and I became alarmed about my state as a sinner. By the time I got home I was nearly sober. I read and reread the tract till I had it committed to memory. For near two weeks I had no rest. At last my distress became so great that I did not want to live. One day I was tempted to go away to the woods and destroy myself. While there I thought of praying, for the first time, and fell down on my knees and cried, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’ In a moment I felt relief, and went home with a joyful heart, and told my family all about the matter. I read the tract to them, and began to pray with and for them. In six months I had a little church built on my land, and a missionary there to preach once each month, and myself, wife, and six of my children and eight servants were members of it;and here is five dollars, all the money I have in the world, to aid in giving good books to others.” All present were bathed in tears at this recital.
As soon as he was seated, another man arose and said “he supposed all present had heard of Father B——, who died a few weeks ago, and many, no doubt, remember when he was a terror in the community. He had remarkable bodily powers, and could whip any man in all the country round. When the county of L—— was laid off, there was a violent contest about where to build the court-house; and the two parties agreed that B—— and another bully should decide the matter by a fist-fight, and B—— gained the site where that court-house now stands. He was often brought up at the court for assault and battery, and had crippled some men for life. Judge S—— on one occasion, when passing sentence on him, said, ‘B——, you have become too bad a man to live, and if ever you come before me again convicted of crime, I will make you suffer for it most severely. If you would improve the mind God has given you, you might be a blessing to the world;but now you are a disgrace. Here is a tract, ‘The Fool’s Pence;’ take and read it, and may God lead you by it to be a better man.’ That tract was the means of his conversion, and for the last fifteen years of his life he was one of the most successful preachers in South-western Virginia.”
Another fact was brought out at this meeting by the Rev. Mr. W——, who labored for some time as a colporteur in the county of W——. He entered a large settlement where there never had been any preaching, schools, or distribution of books. The Sabbath was the special day for frolicking and dissipation. In the house where he lodged on Saturday night, the family were busy preparing to go to a shooting-match the next morning. All he could say had no effect on them. After praying God to guide him in his duty, he determined to go with them. When they came to the place, a large collection of all classes were present, with a great number of articles to gamble for in different ways. He told them, as it was the Lord’s day, he would unite with them in prayer for God’s blessing. He prayed earnestly, and then told them thatif they would give him their attention he would preach to them. They seemed confounded at this remark, and all remained silent as death. He announced his text, and preached with unusual liberty. The attention was solemn, and they looked at one another with amazement. He then distributed among them his remaining stock of books and tracts, and as he was very unwell, went home. Soon after the news spread that some people in that region were concerned about their souls. A preacher visited them, and soon had a good congregation gathered, and over twenty converts. Sunday frolicking was abandoned, and many were led to observe the Lord’s day.
The same man stated another fact, which occurred in J—— county. While visiting in one of those sparsely populated regions, he came to a very large farm. He found the family to consist of the father, mother, and twelve children, the youngest about eight years old. The man was wealthy in land and stock, but to his surprise no one knew a letter in a book. After talking to them about their relations to God and eternity, he askedthe father why he did not have his children taught to read. The old objection was raised at once, that they learned enough ofbadwithout books; that he had got along very well without reading, and so could his children.
He then began to read to them, showed them the pictures in the Alphabet of Animals, and read them some account of them. Several of the children said, “Oh, I wish I could read.” He then gave them one or two books and some tracts. A few months after he was coming back the same way, and called to pay another visit. “Well,” said the old man, “you have give me apurty lot of trouble by leaving them books here. I had no peace till I got a man to come andlarnthem to read them.” So sure enough the teacher was there, and now they bought more books freely.
In travelling through a wild mountain region, where I was a total stranger, I came to a small village of about a dozen houses, with a little store and tavern. Before I reached it, I heard men hallooing in the most boisterous manner. When I drove up weary to the public-house, I was surrounded with such a set of savage-looking men as I never hadseen before, and all intoxicated. Every man had on a hunting-shirt, with a belt round him, to which hung a long butcher-knife. I felt afraid of the men, I must confess, and would have been glad to have been elsewhere, especially as my buggy and trunk seemed to attract rather too much attention.
After I had got food for myself and horse, and laid round some tracts as quietly as possible, I started, hoping to reach a point near twenty miles distant that night. Some part of the way I was told the road was very good, but mostly rough and mountainous.
As soon as I was out of sight, I drove rapidly, and made the first five miles in an hour, when I began to breathe easier.
But all at once I heard the most unearthly yelling behind me that had ever greeted my ears. My horse was frightened, and tried to run off. In a few moments I heard the clatter of horses’ feet, and concluded all was over with me. In a moment I was surrounded with some eight or ten of the most desperate looking men, and told to stop; that they wanted to know what I was loaded with. I told them I was loaded with good religiousbooks, which I was distributing among people that had none. I was then ordered to give them all up to them, and they would scatter them on the other side of the mountain, for there were no books over there. I told them I knew they were too generous to take all that I had.
I then told them to listen to me, and I would tell them what the books taught. So I began and preached them the most earnest sermon that I ever preached. One of them said, “Give me your hand, sir, for I never had a preacher by the hand in my life.” I held his hand firmly, and preached on, although the muzzle of his gun was frequently in very dangerous proximity to my person.
It was evident they began to feel uneasy under my wayside sermon, and for fear they would leave me without tracts, I began the distribution, and gave each one a number of the most suitable I could find. They invited me to come over the mountains and preach, and I would get plenty to come and hear me. Some of those tracts were found more than a year after by one of our colporteurs, carefully preserved and highly prized.