The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1868-06-02
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elgaty third year, and known through
oui tao Southwest for the past thirtl
years As tbe Fighting parson, is ii
attendance at toe Chicago general con
ferouce he delivered lecture ou,
night last week, during which be reia
ted the following reminiseneo Of him
self aud his circuit labor
The state Of the country and churel
in my earlier days are necessarily con
nected with myself Therefore, you vii
excuse any egotism which may appear
am a Nirglnian by birth, and the sol
Of revolutionary soldier. In my sixtl
year my parents emigrated 10 Ken
lucky, and | spent the greater part o
my life IN that state when il was vii
derness, Young America has outstripp
ed me. ! cannot possibly identify my
self with the present generation, th,
young people Of to-day pass me Will
an air do not undertake. lhaye boel
a citizen Of the West seyenty-sever
years. ! did not see q newspaper, To
hgious or secular, for twelve years O
my hlo. We never beard Of steam
boat or a rail-car, and # had seen a loco
motive on the prairie | would have tho
the devil was after me. Our little cab
in, about fourteen by sixteen. was il
the wilderness. Bishop Asbury, hear
ing that my mother was a professor
called aud preached there, and it wa
from that time thai ! da,o my eonyer
slou.
Just about that time a gentleman
from Georgia called at cur cabin whc
possessed deck of cards, fiddle and q
race horse. was an apt scholar, and
soon won the cards, the fiddle aud the
race horse. There was "a good deal o.
whiskey about the country AZ that time
and one evening ! took toG much. and
that was the fIst and last time ! was
drunk. We had az old Scotch doctor
in the settlement who was an intidel.--
He heard from my friends that / was
much troubled in mind, 80 he called
examined my tongue, felt my pulse, &c,
and finally determined that had q
rush Of blood to the head, and advised
that my head be shaved and blister
applied 80.
Shortly after this, l became so i'm
pressed with the truth Of religion, that
/ used to go from house TO house, ex-
horting all to turn from the errors OF
their way and embrace the gospel
One evening | invited the old doctor to
attend That evening q young lady
swooned away. She happened to sit
near the old doctor, who attempted to
revive her by the usual means, when
she, coming to, threw her arms about
his neck, and cried, "Glory to God,
which very much discomposed the old
doctor.
1t is a question with mo to this day,
how | managed with my first sermon,
but at the close of it there came an old
gentleman and handed me $6-quarter-
age, There WAS young sea- egrace IN
the village whom l ireQpoatiy entiogd
into the woods TO pray; ! usually pray
with my eyes shut, and when l opened
my eyes he was generally absent, which
mode of procedure was very annoying
to my religious flesh Ny experience
at this time was very varied, and soon
found the avocation had selected was
no sineoure Ihad eleven or twelve cir
cults, and / presume ] am the Oldest
travelling preacher in the United States
If there is an older preacher | should
like TO see and know who beis. When
/ joined the Methodist church, sixty
seven years ago, there was only one
conference west of the Alleghanies; /;
there were only twenty-five ministers to
cover the whole Northwest and South
west, and | am the only survivor Of
them. ] have no father, mother, sister,
nor brother, and sometimes feel lone
ly. But although ! have Travelled thous-
ands of miles, and brought hundreds
into the Methodist church, and suffer
ed many hardships, yet / say to you
that if / had my life to live over again,
! should choose TO be II Methodist tray
cling preacher.
This is the thirteenth general confer
ence that ] have been elected to serve
At one Of my meetings long time ago,
there were two young ladies, very nice
dressed, who appeared TO be very much
affected. After meeting I ascertained
that they lived about half mile away,
and that their mother was, accordin TO
my informant, a pretty hard case. /
determined 10 call on them, and did 80
When visited them / found the moth
er at the door and immediately knew
she was angry. ] asked her if the
young ladies were her daughters, and
she said they were; but that was none
Of my business / said Madam
have come over to talk with your
daughters and pray with them" She
said should do 70 such thing, shook
her fist udder my nose, told nae that l
should not pray and that / must leave
her house told bar - it douu ,for
i aa0uId pray, and .has Il size cut up
any Of her tantTums / should pnt her
out Of doors. Then said she. Put mo
cut u doors II you dare" I then com
menced, but knew that had 10 watch
as we'll as pray 90 Lord. this lady
wants to lead her husband and dnugh-
tars to he'll She has more devils in her
than Mary Magdalene had. II there Is
any mercy for her. show it now; If
there is not, kill her instantly" for
was afraid she would be after mo with a
stool Three weeks after / came back,
and the first person / met was the old
lady, who shouted GLORY to God, and
told me that if was the happiest ny Of
her life that she met me.
As q politician ] am jackson man,
and not asbafned of IL Once when