Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1875-03-25
THE LATE REV. DR.. BE-EUME
I. WHEATON SMITH, D. D.

AS conversationalist, the Doctor
was distinguished It was not that he
talked so much, but that he talked so
well. Indeed, he often impressed me
with what he did not say. He knew
how to withhold an utterance for a
fitting time. One great merit of a
good conversationalist he had in a
large degree; he was an honest listener.
This listening was not from art, but
from soulful interest, which sprang
from his sympathy with human kind.
1t was not in obedience to a rule of
mere politeness that he waited for the
end OF you sentence, as he sat looking
earnestly in your face; but somehow
that great soul Of his was shining into
yours, encouraging you to frank and
genial utterance. He talked thus not
only to the cultivated, but to all He
could say things as few men could say
them, and rarely without success. 1
remember one day when he sat down
to dinner at a wayside inn in Canada,
the only meat on the table was veal,
and that not altogether dry Or tasteless
on the contrary, it was somewhat
odorous Calling the landlord, who
was also the waiter, and fixing his
broad, genial glance upon him: he
said:
"My friend didn't this calf die7"
60, sir, was the reply. "He sort
o gin out, and we had to kill him.
TIE loud, hearty laugh Of the Doctor
capped the climax, and I verify think
he could have stopped there week
without charge, on the strength of it
Even our Indians fell in love with
him. One of them said to me, on a
Sunday, in praise of sermon the
Doctor had preached that day.
sole man hard to beat. He preach
fustrate. He just as good as priest"
One one occasion, when the Doctor
was residing in Philadelphia, he went
for few days rest to trout stream
he had heard of in the interior of the
state. Arriving an entire stranger, at
house kept by man who had been
accustomed to entertain those who
came there to fish, he was coldly re-
ceived. The man sold him frankly
that he had attended protracted
meeting during the winter, that he
hoped the Lord had forgiven his sins,
and that he had joined the Methodist
Church, and meant to give up gong
with the kind of men who came up
there to fish. The Doctors humor
overcame his scruples so far as to gain
admittance for the night, and the next
morning succeeded still further, pre-
vailing upon the man to go out with
him, and show him the best places of
the stream. They spent most of the
day together, and, on returning to the
house in the afternoon, the man slapped
him on the shoulder, saying:
"Doc., like you.
"Why do you like me, my friend?"
'Well, Doc, I'll tell you. We've
been almost all day, he haven't caught
much, and fell in and got wet, and 1
haven't heard you swear once.
After supper as the Doctor was
smoking his pipe in front of the house
his host came out, and, with some
hesitancy, said:
"Doc., since .ind the church I've
had prayers every night, we are going
to have them now, and maybe you
wouldn't object to come in"
Certainly not, my friend" aud he
went in to listen to the reading of
passage in broken way, and to join
heartily in a good old Methodist hymn.
During the singing the man watched
him closely, and at the end said
anxiously; "Maybe you wouldn't mind
leading us in prayer" The Doctor
knelt and offered one of those full and
hearty, yet simple, supplicarions, which
are so well remembered by all who.
knew him. He was hardly seated in
front of the house again before the mar
reappeared, saying:"
"Doc., kinder suspicion You.
"What do you suspect me Of?
Nothing bad, hope"
"No, nothing bad, and maybe I'm
wrong; but | kinder o'think you are q
minister"
"What makes you think I'm a
minister"
SWELL I'll tell you; l haven't heard
you swear since you came; then the
way you iined us in the hymn; then
the way you prayed, made me think
you were minister"
The Doctor laughed heartily as he
that be was indeed
minister While ever willing to be
known for what he was he never par
AIDED his calling, but stood simply upon
his dignity and worth as Christian
gentlemen, asking no favors for himself
but such as he accorded generously to