The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1864-07-20
New Stories About Dr. Beecher.

An agreeable little sequel to the biography OF Rev.
Lyman Bcecher is continued in the Congregational
Quarterly for july in the Sketches and Recollections
of the Ola Clergyman" contributed by C. T.. Stowe.
of Hartford Here of the anecdotes:
reecher's simplicity buoyancy and impertubrable
good humor dsarIned opposition when he cams
IN personal contact with an opponent An old wood
sawyer whom will call W--,a rough, strong,
shrevi man. who belonged t. rival sect violent
~ preudced aains! to Doctor. especially ON account
OF his total abstinence principles. lie had
him. and would not hear him preach. This man bad
a large lot of wood t. opposite 10 the Doctors
house The Doctor depended upon constant manual
labor for keeping up his health aud in Boston,
where he could not enjoy the luxury OF garden to
dig in, he often puzzled To find means To keep
himself in good working order The consequence was
that ne sawed all the wood for his large family,
and fading that little, would beg the privilege OF
saving the wood pile of neighhor. He was fas
tiiuus in the OF his wood-saw, having it always
hand in his study, half concealed among minutes OF
conncils, incomplee magazine articles and sermons.
AMI the setting OF his saw was often duly accomplished
while he settled nice points of theology with his boys
or took counsel With brother ministers.
Looking of his stglY window one day, when his
own wooipie r. iucel to a dscouraging state of
orier-evcry stick sawed and sphthe saw. with envy
the pile of oh w in the street Forthwith he seized
hs saw and tie old of the street beheld
without and in shirt sleeves, issuing from,
DR. Beecher's house who came briskly up and asked
If he wanted hand at his pile and forthwith fell to
work with right good will, and soon proved to his
brother sawyer that he was no mean hand at the
craft.
Nodding his head significantly a. the opposite
house. ". said
You live there ?"
W. Work for the old man ?"
W "what sort of an old fellow is he %
u. "Oh, pretty much like the rest of us. Good
enough to work for
W. Tough old.chap, amt he ?"
b. Guess 50. to them that try to chaw him up
SO the conversation went on till the wood went So
fast with the new couier that W. exclaimed,
First rate saw tlat of yourn.'
This touched the Doctor in tender point. He had
set that saw as careuiZ as the articles OF his creed
tt.fl. seritf 4Iiu -sI md has
Il saw said W ..wherc can / &c, a saw like
that r.
u. Il don't know, unless you buy mine"
win you trade ? What do you ask q
B. 81 don't know. I'll think about it. Call at t,s
house to- rrow and I'll tell you"
The aext day the old man knocked, and met the
Doctor at the door fresh from the hands OF his wife,
with his coat brushed aud cravat tied, going out to
W. gave a start Of surprise
"oh, said the Doctor, you re the man that wanted
% buy my Well, you shall have it for nothing;
only let m, have some OF your wood TO saw when you
work my street"
w said that he then felt ne wanted crawl in
70 augiir hole.
MANUSCRIPT.
His habits Of composition were peculiar. His So
csl nature active that he had
written sentence which pleased him he had irro-
pressible desire read il somebody. Many time
he has rushed into the dining room, where Aunt
Esther washing dshes"Herc. Esther hear this
Aunt Esther, with martyr-like patience, would stand,
towel in one hand AMI an unwipei plate in the other
for Ia must have her undivided attsnton, till h. had
read his paragraph AMI troet back To his study again.
Ii sometimes seemed as If he would never get
tence done. He would write and re-write, and
nter,ine, tear mp AMI begin anew, scratch cut and
scribble in, almost endessy. In the latter part Of
his lite this habit became morbid, and actually shut
him out from the possibility of publishing his
writings. He was the torment OF printers both by the
delay of his manuscript; and by the condition in which
they fuunl Il when they got ii. One o his daughters
said there were tree negative rules by which she
could read her fathers writing, wit: l. II there is
letter crossed IL isn't Z. 2 III there IL letter dot
t il isn't 3. II there is capital letter, il snt
the beginning Of a word.
At Lane seminary he lived more than two miles
from the city One tims after the printers had been
on teHter-hooks fortT-eight hours for their copy he
hastily finished hs manuscript ia bis study crushed
II into the OF the hat that lay 10 him.
clsppej another hat bis bead. drove down 70 the
city rshel up to tie printing Office and snatched Of
his hat. 'Here's your eopy-h IN h'Tn-vs, it isn't
here, its somewhere else" The copy still in tina
hat that hc had left al home. But who could b,
CRY with 50 much good nature, If il a
70 ACNE