Voices; Birth-Marks; The Man and the Elephant

by Mathew Joseph Holt

  CHAPTER XVI.--A Wedding.

  Reverend David Rice, known to everyone as "Father Rice," was a graduateof Princeton, the first ordained Presbyterian minister of Kentucky, anda firm believer and practitioner of the three ideals of Presbyteranism:First, the family as a unit in human life; second, the necessity for atrue understanding of the faith; third, the importance of education.

  He came to Kentucky from Hanover County, Virginia, in 1783, and betweenthat time and 1785 organized three churches--at Danville, at Cane Runand at the Forks of Dick's River.

  The first Presbytery of Transylvania met in the court house at Danville,Tuesday, October 17, 1786. Father Rice was chosen as moderator and theother ministers present were Adam Rankin, Andrew McClure, James Crawfordand Terah Templin.

  He was the first teacher at Transylvania Seminary, founded at Lexingtonin 1793. For several years prior to that time, being deeply interestedin the education of young men for the ministry, he had conducted aprivate school for Presbyterian theological students at his home; andthe class or school was usually attended by from four to seven students.

  In January, 1790, John Calvin Campbell, a graduate of William and Mary'sentered Rice's Seminary, from which he graduated and was shortlythereafter ordained, after an examination and services conducted byFather Rice, James Crawford and Adam Rankin.

  Among those present at the service, were Dorothy and her mother, DavidClark and his wife and Richard Cameron.

  Clark and his wife were a lonely couple, broken and aged by sorrow. Theyhad never had word of their son, from the departure of the Spanishfrigate on which he had been taken as a prisoner; nor had they ever toldJohn the contents of Daniel Clark's letter; thinking it might bringsorrow into his life; and he was ignorant of the cause of their son'scontinued absence.

  Mrs. Fairfax's chief aim in life was her daughter's happiness; livinganew her own life in that of her daughter. She loved John because herdaughter did; not as a prospective son-in-law, but as a part of herdaughter's life. She seemed to have recovered from the shock of herhusband's tragic death; or at least treated the incident as a closedchapter in her life. It may have been that she dreaded to inflict hersorrows upon others; rarely speaking of him even to Dorothy. It may havebeen the easier borne because her husband for several years before hisdeath had been in the habit of making long business trips for Wilkinsonand these had severed the companionable relationship that had existed inVirginia.

  It was understood among the young people of Danville that Dorothy andJohn were engaged. They were much together. The comradeship that hadexisted between them when they were little children had been renewed bythe journey home after Dorothy's rescue. Each took it for granted thatthey were to be married and spoke of it as a matter of course. IfDorothy had been called upon to tell when and how John proposed, shefirst would have been amused, and then after a moment's thoughtembarrassed by the question. If John had been asked if they wereengaged, he would have answered: "Why, certainly."

  At the close of the service of ordination, Dorothy was the first tocongratulate him. As they stood talking Father Rice came up, and takingher left hand, because John retained the right, said:

  "Miss Fairfax, we have made a preacher of your sweetheart. As he stoodbefore us, I was impressed by his strong face, his great frame and hisdeep voice, thinking what a leader of men he would make, fighting thebattles of men among men; dress him in the uniform of a soldier and hewould look the part; place him in the Congress of our nation and hewould make a name for himself and be an honor to his State. Yet, he haselected to lay these opportunities aside and answered a call to service,which many consider an humble one. He is now a warrior of peace; may hein truth become Chief Cross-Bearer among us, as with the Mingoes. Hisgreatest reward shall come after death; but he shall find here the peaceof a clear conscience, the satisfaction of work well done and shall beblessed by the love of a woman, who will make him a happy home and helphim always in his work; though his wife should know that a preacherbelongs to his people rather than to his family. John, am I to be askedto marry Dorothy and you? If so shall it be within a day or two or afterthe Presbytery has assigned you a definite field and you areestablished? You know I think all preachers should be married and thatthe home next to the church is the most important institution."

  "Father Rice, that is as Dorothy wishes. We shall talk it over tonight."

  Mrs. Fairfax, Mrs. McDowell, Miss Logan and Mr. and Mrs. Clark comingforward, their intimate conversation was broken off and John forced torelease Dorothy's hand to respond to the congratulations of his friends.

  He walked home with Mrs. Fairfax and Dorothy. It was one of the mostattractive places in Danville. Practically all of its furnishing hadbeen imported from England to Virginia by Lord Fairfax and brought byhis nephew's family to Kentucky.

  In the drawing room were magnificent mirrors, fine tapestries, avirginal and hand lyre; the floor was covered with heavy velvet carpetsand the window curtains were of the finest linen lace; in an alcove wasa large and well-selected library. On the hall walls hung portraits ofpreceding generations, some by great masters; and in the beamed diningroom a massive sideboard was covered with silver plate which bore theheraldic symbol of one of the first families of Old England.

  After her mother left them, Dorothy, the aristocrat, talked with John,the newly-ordained circuit rider preacher about their marriage. Johnsaid: "I wish to impress upon you that I am a tramp preacher, a callingwhich in this new country, forces me to tramp long distances by foresttrails from one settlement to another and to be from home weeks at atime." Nor did Dorothy count such marriage a sacrifice, as after heleft, with eyes overflowing with tears of happiness, she thanked Godthat He had given her John.

  They agreed that they would marry as soon as his territory had beenassigned by the Presbytery; in the meanwhile he was to go home and helpwith the harvest.

  ----

  Mid-afternoon of the tenth of June, John, laying aside his cradle,sickle in hand was gleaning the last of the wheat about the fencecorners and stumps of the two-acre field. It is the first they havegrown since leaving Virginia. He planted it the October before, thinkingof his wife to be and his mother.

  Corn pone bread, baked in the Dutch oven, heated by being buried in thered hot coals of the great fireplace was all right for the Colonel andhimself, in fact, they preferred it; but Dorothy and his mother shouldhave wheaten bread, which could now be ground and bolted at the watermill at Cumberland Falls.

  As almost in tenderness he bound and knotted the last bundle, some onenear called.

  "John! John!"

  Thrilled, he turned, Dorothy stood before him--and he caught her andheld her in his arms.

  "Father Rice and mother are at the house. You have been assigned to thisdistrict, in which you are to live and establish new churches. It isnearly a hundred miles square; there is only one church and you are theonly preacher. You are to begin work on the first of July; and so to bewith you the longer before you leave, I have come to you, John. FatherRice and mother thought I should do this. We shall live here as it isnear the center of your district. He has all the papers ready and mustgo on at once to Powell's Valley, where he preaches tonight. Kiss me asmuch as you wish, but hurry, John. He is waiting to marry us; if you arenot ready, he can do it when he returns in about a week--I thought thatwould hurry you a bit."

  John, absent-minded in his happiness, picked up the sickle, and carryingit in his left hand, with his right arm around Dorothy's waist, hastenedtowards the house. There, after greetings, and without furtherpreparation on John's part, other than removing his hat, they weremarried.

  At the close of the service, Father Rice, in his prayer, calledattention to the sickle, which unconsciously John still held, and whenhe released Dorothy's hand, had transferred from his left to his righthand. "* * * Oh, Lord! We know that you will bless this union offaithful hearts; and the work which thy harvester will soon assume. Ashe now stands ready, make him fit and ready for thy
harvest in this hisfield, where the grain is ripe and waiting; and may he never leave itexcept to gladden a heart as he has done today, standing as now preparedto return. * * *"

  Only those who love as did these two, can understand the happiness ofthat Valley honeymoon, which lasted until John was forced to go to work.Though their journey was but to the Pinnacle and home again and thebride's trousseau in the main of homespun and buckskin, they knew ofnothing more and wished for no greater blessings than were theirs.

  One late afternoon, when the breeze blew cool, and the shadow of thewestern mountains covered half the valley, they left home; John carryinga hamper of good things and a blanket for Dorothy; and climbed to thePinnacle, just as the sun sank behind the distant western hills. Theywatched the red and the gold of the sunset shift and fade to purple andthen to a night gray; and while the stars were struggling to showthemselves in the light, half day, half night, the golden red harvestmoon came up over the eastern mountains and greeted them with his fullruddy face and broad smile--and Dorothy smiled back, saying: "The man upthere is an awful flirt. No wonder a woman grows less coy under firstthe golden, now the silver mantle of his smile."

  When the night grew old and was gray from the morning light they walkedhome again; knowing yet more intimately and loving the more, theirmountains, the valley and the trackless wilderness beyond.

  ----

  John brought the wealth of a princely intellect, an educated and quietlyhappy mind and tireless energy as his offering to the church. Charactertakes color from its surroundings and he seemed to possess theimpenetrable calmness of the mountains.

  His work called him from one distant settlement to another. It was hispractice to travel from twenty to forty miles a day and preach at night.Occasionally his work required him to stop for several days in a placeto organize a church or to hold a protracted meeting or to build achurch. He was called upon to marry couples, to organize schools, tovisit the sick, to bury the dead and to arbitrate neighborhoodcontroversies.

  Wherever he went, he carried a holy influence which in a year or twospread over his district and an improved social and spiritual influenceseemed to follow his preaching as a benediction.

  He broke no appointments because of swollen streams, deep snows or otherphysical causes. If the horse gave out or the stream was too turbid toswim horseback, he dismounted and picketing him, swam across, his Biblewithin his coon skin cap and the cap tied tight beneath his chin.

  He rode along the trails carrying his Bible and a reference book or twoin his saddle bags. When the trail was one the horse knew and wouldfollow, he gave him the rein and studied as he rode along.

  Wherever he stopped at night, after family prayers, which he asked theprivilege of conducting if not asked; he sat until very late before theopen light-wood fire and prepared the outline for his next day's sermon.Frequently he was forced to camp in the forest; then he built a greatfire and by its light worked long and zealously upon another sermon. Heknew the solitudes; and having lived the life of those to whom hepreached, he knew his hearers and from homely incidents in their livesor from the parables illustrated his sermons, talking to half a dozenprimitive settlers with the same conscientious fervor as when hisaudience was of considerable proportions because of some social orpolitical gathering in the neighborhood.

  After the first few months he was treated with respect by all theresidents of his district. Occasionally visitors were not so respectful.Once at a distant county seat, he put up for the night at a tavern whereseveral lawyers, attending court, were quartered. Seeing him reading hisBible before the fire, and rather to test his mettle than in anirreverent spirit, they began discussing the subject of religion; but heseemed not to hear. When the time came to retire the landlord, as wasthe custom of the country, invited him to lead the evening's devotions.He read a chapter, then all knelt in prayer. In his deep, kindly voicehe prayed: "* * * O Lord! Thou hast heard the conversation tonight,pardon its folly * * *" and the lawyers, impressed by his earnestnessand repentant of their folly, asked his pardon also.

  It was at no small cost of danger and privation that he preached thegospel to these distant settlements. He never carried a rifle and hadnever felt that his life was in danger. Several times when he sat aloneat night by his wilderness camp fire he would hear a stealthy treadbehind him, but knew better than to turn or even move in a startled way.Sometimes he would hear the steps approach very near and after severalminutes silently steal away again. He knew his girdle had againprotected him.

  Once or twice several Indians came out of the night and sat beside hiscamp fire talking with him in the Mingo tongue; and once several of hisMingo friends spent the night at his camp fire. They were in the countryfor the purpose of attacking some isolated settlement; and when he askedthem to leave the "Long Knives" of his district alone, they reluctantlyconsented.

  When it was rumored Indians were about, the settlers offered to act asguard to his next appointment; but he assured them he was in no dangerwhen unarmed and unaccompanied. This they came to believe.

  Slowly his reputation as an exemplary citizen and a preacher of powerand conviction was made, and his influence as an earnest advocate anddefender of the new Union made his district the strongest Federalistsection of Kentucky. Yet more slowly there spread about a belief that hewas gifted with the miraculous power of curing by laying his hands uponthe head of the sick. It was told that several times after he did thisand kneeling prayed beside his bed, the raving of delirium ceased andafter a long sleep the patient speedily recovered.

  As head of the Presbytery Father Rice began to get letters and to beimportuned: "Send us Reverend Calvin Campbell; our district is much morepopulous than the one to which he has been assigned and needs just sucha preacher. * * *" Special messengers were sent to him from the Can Runand Forks of Dick's River churches requesting that he help in theirprotracted meetings. These invitations were declined, because his largedistrict which was growing rapidly provided more labor than he couldperform.

  Thus it came about that Dorothy saw less and less of her husband. Shetoo was busy, else she might have rebelled at the loneliness or byimportunities have hindered her husband's work. Mrs. Campbell had grownfeeble; there were baby clothes to make; and many people visited them,coming to Kentucky or returning to Virginia; these must be cooked forand entertained. Every hunter or trader of the district thought it aduty to call at the preacher's house and stopped overnight or remainedfor a meal. They left a ham of venison or a brace of turkeys or a deerskin for Mrs. Campbell; and always wanted to know how soon theirpreacher was coming to their station. At the end of the first yearDorothy, because of these inquiries and John's mail, realized that herhusband, locally at least, was becoming a famous man and paying theprice of greatness.

  Father Rice in the spring of 1791 rode up to the house one afternoon andsaid to Dorothy: "I have come to help Calvin out for a couple of weeks;but he must pay me back by attending the Presbytery and filling myappointments at Danville, Lexington and Little Mountain."

  John came home that night; the next day they preached to a big gatheringat Powell's River Meeting House. After the meeting, which beginning inthe afternoon lasted until eleven o'clock, he rode home alone, leavingFather Rice to follow in the morning. It was nearly two o'clock when thelong ride was ended; but it gave him a few hours more with his wife.

  While Father Rice remained they held meetings at each of the fivechurches of his district, four of which had been organized by him. Itwas true they were little more than large pens of logs, covered by aclapboard roof and warmed by a great fireplace built of mud and sticks;but they were crowded at every service and many stood outside looking inand listening at the doors and windows. They were as sheep seeking afold and came great distances to find one.

  When the meetings closed they left to attend Transylvania Presbytery atDanville. There he met again an old acquaintance, Robert Marshall, whowhen a boy of sixteen had been wounded in the battle of Monmouth and ha
dcome home with Colonel Campbell to rest and grow strong again. Severalmonths before he had moved from Virginia to Kentucky.

  After the Presbytery adjourned the three went to Lexington and Johnfilled Father Rice's pulpit.

  The Lexington Gazette made favorable mention of his sermon:

  "Calvin Campbell, the young mountain preacher, who lives at CampbellStation and is a descendant of the Campbells of Scotland, filled FatherRice's pulpit last Sunday and preached one of the greatest sermons everheard in Lexington.

  "In a voice of great compass and power, without strain or apparentmental effort, and in a deft, finished and homiletic style, plain to allin its perfectness, he made plain the most difficult of truths; dwellingupon scriptural interpretation rather than doctrinal theme. All whoheard him were captivated by his magnetism and convinced by his earnestspirituality. We have never before heard a preacher who could picturethe life and mission of the Saviour so effectively, or who by aptlessons from the parables makes the truths they teach so personal toeach hearer."

  The following Sunday John preached in Danville, where he had manyfriends and acquaintances. A great crowd came to hear him. It was herehe had gone to the seminary, had married Dorothy Fairfax and at thepolitical club had answered most convincingly, considering his age,General Wilkinson's then popular argument. His sermon which followsindicates his liberal, and as Father Rice felt tempted to say, hisalmost unorthodox views.

  Making the World Christian.

  "Christianity is the development of a great universal partnership,organized for the redemption of man, between God in the Father, the Sonand the Holy Spirit and man; in which man before Abraham, and Abraham,Moses, Paul, Augustine, Savonarola and Luther have participated and menyet unborn will participate.

  "Though light was the first thing God made, man to shut out light drawsclosely about his eyes the curtains of conceit and prejudice. The whiteman, defining his God as a spirit, in his conceit says, he has amaterial white body and I am made in his image; while the red man givesto his god, a spirit, at times a material red body. This is logical inthat if God, a spirit, sees fit to appear to man, or if man appears tosee God, it will be in the highest comprehensive form known to man.

  "Again, though Christianity is one of the three religions that teachesuniversality and though God knows no race and no people, extending toall a universal promise, man in combined conceit and prejudice declaresI am of God's chosen people. The reason is obvious; take Judaism; it hasnever countenanced universality; to the Jew, God was the god of theJews--and surrounded by idolatrous nations--to their inspired prophetsthey were the chosen people of God, having been taught by precept and byexperience that God discriminates in his temporal blessings between anidolater and a follower. It took a vision to remove this prejudice fromthe mind of Peter; and today there are those in Christian churches whocould not learn the lesson of universality by many visions, and likeJonah sit by the roadside hoping and waiting for Nineveh's destruction.

  "God, infinite--that is, great past being measured--is not alone the Godof the Presbyterians, of any nation, of the men of today, of this littleworld, but all the worlds that have been and that make and are to makethe universe. What right have we to think that the universe was madesimply for the man we know? Is it an unreasonable flight of fancy toassume that God has spoken through his prophets and given his Son forthe redemption of the men of other worlds than our own? The Bibleliterally says, the universe was made for man, because, though inspired,it is man-worded and God spoke to man through his prophets in acomprehensive language. He told what was fit in language not to berestricted to the letter, which is not the custom of the East, but to beinterpreted as man grew in comprehension. Nor is it necessary to a truefaith in God and Christianity to believe that God's prophets never spoketo humanity or wrote down his messages on tablet or cylinder seal beforethose messages were given by the Bible to the Jewish nation.

  "Those who question the Bible as an inspired book, say the account ofthe creation follows too closely the Babylonian and Chaldean records.Prophets even figuratively recounting a fact or interpreting a message,would give it in such form that to the mind of man, the account would besimilar in essentials; and such similarity but tends to prove the truthof the fact and the same general source of information. A brief portionof the Chaldean account reads:

  "'When the upper region was not yet called heaven, When the lower region was not yet called earth, And the abyss of Hades had not yet opened its arms, Then the chaos of waters gave birth to all of them And the waters were gathered into one place * * The moon he appointed to rule the night And to wander through the night until the dawn of day. Every month without fail he appointed assembly days. In the beginning of the month at the rising of the night It shot forth its horns to illuminate the heavens. On the seventh day he appointed an holy day And to cease from all business he commanded.'

  "The supposed seat of earliest civilizations, as also the birthplace ofseveral religions, was in the valley of the Euphrates. There man,enjoying the benefits of a tropical region, which counted for much inthe beginning, had opportunity for intellectual leisure and gave thoughtto religion. These civilizations passed away and the seat passed on tothe Mediterranean coast, where attention primarily was given to thedevelopment of material government; again the seat passed on to Europeand seems passing to America and to nations devoting their energies tothe material wants of man. We are promised yet another; when 'the earthshall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover thesea;' and that is the task assigned to Christendom.

  "To make the world Christian must we modify our definition--'That God isa spirit, infinite, eternal and _unchangeable_, in his being, wisdom,power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth'--to 'God is a spirit,infinite, eternal, but not _immutable_, seeking to preserve all hiscreatures as the best of shepherds each of his hundred lambs; anxiousthat all find the shelter of the fold--not having decreed from thebeginning the fate of each lamb--but as time shows fitness culling forservice; so anxious to save all the flock as to send his Son as avicarious atonement.'

  "Thus there comes into the continuity of the partnership between God andman, the chief character, the Son; transformed into the lowly man ofsorrows, acquainted with grief, having no place to lay his head, huntedby enemies, stoned out of a city, disowned by kindred and by Peter,fleeing for his life, betrayed, crucified, suffering the fate of allreformers, to be despised and rejected, to be misunderstood, to livealone; yet not alone, because the Father was with him and he and theFather are one, and he had his mission of redemption.

  "His coming, consummating the purpose of the partnership, precipitated aconflict, which at its physical inception seemed a most uneven struggle.Arrayed on the one side were a few fishermen under the leadership of aNazarene, the son of a carpenter; and on the other, the educated,self-righteous Jew, the Jewish law, the Jewish church, Greece, decadentbecause of her many gods and voluptuousness, mighty Rome, mistress ofthe world, enthroned on seven hills and reaching out and drawing toherself all known realms and empires.

  "The trend of victory was first apparent on the land locked sea ofGalilee, the growth spread to Jerusalem, to Antioch, the east coastcities of the Mediterranean, Rome, Europe, America, the civilized world;because it offered a gift the world must have. If Scribes and Pharisees,priests and Levites stopped their ears, Gentiles and prodigals,Publicans and sinners listened. It preached the true faith, which isinherently inextinguishable and must live and grow. Some find it easierto crucify and to part His raiment than to grasp the spirit of Histeaching; yet many hear, and, born again, lead transformed and beautifullives.

  "Its growth is as 'a lump of leaven which a woman took and hid in threemeasures of meal until the whole was leavened.' When the path of prophetand believer is too easy the growth is slow. The sting of persecution isnecessary to fructify the seed, to make ready the field; but there areoccasional seasons of abundant harvest and never a failure. Gamaliel, inActs 5:34-39, gives
the reason.

  "'Then stood there up in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, adoctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and theapostles having been excluded, he said unto them: Ye men of Israel takeheed to yourselves what ye intend to do touching these men. * * * Andnow I say unto you, refrain from these men and let them alone, for ifthis council or this work be of men it will come to nought; but if it beof God ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found to fight againstGod.'

  "Who is to help in the growth? Missionaries who earn such credentials aswere given Paul and Silas by the Jewish colony of Thessalonica, whowrote to their orthodox brethren at Jerusalem: 'Those that have turnedthe world upside down have come hither also.' The world when wrong sideup must be turned upside down by men like Paul and Silas.

  "To make the world Christian the modern preacher must understand thatChrist's gospel is to be preached not alone to Presbyterians but to 'allthe world' and that not he but God brings about the transformation andconversion. That it is not his province to defend the faith, which needsnot defense, but to preach it. He must stick to his last with the samezealousness and persistency as is required in other lines of endeavor,or his message is soon delivered. A preacher who shirks his work,remouthing to a weary congregation his old sermons, must not complain ifmen do not listen. He must work in the vineyard; men do not go to atheatre to hear a sermon or to a church to see vaudeville. He is not togive his time to platitudes and polemics and phylacteries and lecturesand dissertations on doctrinal divergences. He must be free and mustspeak from his heart as the ambassador of Christ, preaching Christ; andpreaching is the giving of the message of Jesus to a needing soul.

  "The church must be more universal, laying aside doctrinal jealousiesand divergences; turn its energies to the harvest; self-sacrifice andco-operation must reign; love must seek her own and think no evil--thenwhen all ask, expecting to obey, 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me do?'--theMussulman will turn Christian and the wolf and the lamb lie downtogether.

  "The easy field of labor is not with the so-called Christian people.Canton may be converted before Boston and Timbuktu before Louisville.The most sterile earth is that overgrown with the tares of falsedoctrine and the most infertile seed is that mouldy with thesupercilious consciousness of no sin, or which having once sprouted hasdried out from inanition. God, tempering the wind to the shorn lamb, hasgiven to the heathen a mind to receive his truths as a little child.Life, two hundred fathoms deep in the sea, knows nothing of the stormsthat rile the surface, nor of the brightness and warmth of the sun, yetlife and light are there. The deep sea fishes are of vivid colors, manyhave an individual lighting system, the waters are phosphorescent, theplant growth, as near mineral as vegetable, spreads about tendrils andfilaments tipped by lamps, which transform that underworld into agorgeously illuminated garden.

  "Those who hearken to the final commission, 'Go ye into all the worldand preach the gospel to every creature' are armed with the promise that'in my name shall ye cast out devils,' speak with new tongues and travelabout unharmed. They have Christ for a companion and are builders ofGod's tabernacle, in which when completed, he shall dwell with men andwipe all tears from their eyes."

  ----

  John was very fond of his cousin, David Clark, and was worried by hiscontinued absence. Now, as always when he came to Danville, he stoppedwith David's parents and of course inquired if they had received anyword from him.

  His inquiries seemed to cause his uncle and aunt embarrassment; at leastthey answered so indefinitely as to give him the impression that theyknew more than they told.

  Near midnight of the Sunday he preached at Danville, Mrs. Clark came tohis room in great distress, saying: "John, Mr. Clark is very ill and Ihave sent for the doctor. He is deathly pale and complains of pain abouthis heart. He wishes to see you at once."

  He went immediately to his uncle's room, who took from under his pillowa much handled letter, and handing it to him, said:

  "You must find David for his mother, we have never heard a word from ourboy since Daniel Clark sent this letter to me; and it only tells why hewas made a prisoner and taken aboard a Spanish frigate which the nextmorning sailed for Spain. I am sure he is not dead because several timesI have seemed to see him; and tonight saw him very distinctly for thefirst time. I believe he would have spoken and told me how to find himhad not the pain in my heart awakened me. He was walking in a desertland beside a large white camel, heavily loaded with merchandise andwith him were some half-wild men with long muskets guarding a train orcaravan of camels. He is very far from here and in a strange way I aminformed that neither his mother nor I will see him again, but you will.He will grow happy in that distant land, make it his home and rear afamily. I have told his mother what I have dreamed; and she says, shetoo knows he is not dead. Since the receipt of the letter all we haveever learned is that the ship which sailed for Spain was wrecked on theshore of northwest Africa, a hundred miles south of Gibraltar; that apart of the crew were picked up in a boat at sea; part were drowned anda few reached the shore, where they were taken prisoners and supposedlysold as slaves. I believe this is David's fate and you must find out.

  "Raise me up a bit; that is better; my heart feels as though it werebeing torn in two--how I wish I might see the face of my boy. Give meyour hand, little David, and you too, Annie. It grows dark. Is thecandle burning or has the wind blown it out?"

  How quiet the house was the day after the burial; it seemed the soul ofthe place was dead. John went to his room and thinking of David wasreminded of the letter Mr. Clark had given him. It was near night; andlighting a tallow candle he read the copy of the letter GeneralWilkinson had sent by him to Governor Miro, requesting that the bearershould be held a prisoner. It was the letter he had promised Wilkinsonto deliver in person.

  Slowly it dawned upon him that whatever might be David's fate, whateverDavid might now be suffering, if alive, it was vicarious, a voluntarysubstitution for him, as the sufferer had hid his identity to shield afriend, to give him the opportunity to escape--and he had supposed thatDavid was under a cloud and afraid or ashamed to return home.

  Then he saw red with resentment against Wilkinson, the traitor, theconspirator. He wished that he might lay his hands upon him and rend himlimb from limb. His soul was torn with the thought that David had doneall this for him, perhaps submitted voluntarily to the supremesacrifice, laid down his life for a friend. He suffered as only twicebefore he had done; once when a boy of fifteen, sitting on the pinnacleoverlooking Jackson River Valley, he had suddenly appreciated and wasoverwhelmed by the sacrifice that Christ had made for him; and againwhen he had seen Dorothy swimming to escape from the Indians.

  He prayed throughout the night. When morning came, before the sun wasup, he was at the home of Father Rice; and giving him the letter toldall that was necessary to make it understood.

  "Father Rice, there is only one thing for me to do; find David and bringhim home to his mother. What Uncle David and Aunt Mary must havesuffered every time they saw me!"

  "I doubt that, in fact I would advise against you undertaking such athing, had you not promised Mr. Clark to do so. A promise given to onenow dead is certainly as binding as one made to the living. I believethat God disclosed to Mr. Clark that his son lived and had been givenwork to do. You are bound to conclude that if David cannot come home youcannot go to him. I think it your duty to find out if he is yet aliveand if so his whereabouts. Then if necessary the government must beappealed to to procure his release. You must remember you are not yourown master. You are the Lord's servant; and having put your hand to theplow you cannot turn back. This may be one of your crosses, to believethat your friend is suffering for you. If by the providence of God hehas been transplanted for particular service, he must follow, as youmust follow your predestined work, even though you should be called uponto leave the side of Dorothy. The destiny of David, as your own, is inthe hand of the Lord and if it is His plan that David shall live and
return to his own country and people he will. However, we must do forourselves and our friends all things possible. The Lord when he fed thethousands made use of the boy's loaves and fishes.

  "I would advise that you go to New Orleans and make inquiry for David;but do not disclose your identity to the Spanish Governor or tell anyone except Mrs. Clark your destination. Go at once so as to return themore quickly to your work. Robert Marshall, though not yet ordained,will be given your district until your return and will bear letters andmessages to your wife."