The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1878-04-17
FOB rur CEsTaAL PREssYrEEIAN.
"REMINISCENCES OF PRESBYTERIAN
MINISTERS.
BY AN OCToGENARIAN.

WILL1Am M. ATKINsON.

NV "reminiscences Of this gentleman are
quite pleasant. We took to each other but
q few days after he came to Nassau Hall, at
which institution he was graduated in 1914.
The writer was pleased with the kindness ne
manifested to his fellow students. College
friendships seem to last through life, not
withstsnding the distances by which the par
ties may be subsequently separated. There
is something sacred in academic groves,
where in their walks students are prone to
build castles in the air by the auticiPations
in which they indulge of after life.
We suppose, of course, that our uiniate-
rial brother was a native of Petersburg. The
place was with him a theme for conversation.
He told US anecdotes about its inhabitants,
and gave US an account of the many duels
which had been fought in its vicinity. The
one that interested the writer most of all,
was that between Burk, the Historian of
Virginia, and Frenchman, in which the
former, a native of Ireland, was killed. 1t
was an affecting incident, but We hope that
this Gothic practice has for the most part
disappeared from the enyirons of the Cock
cade town Having occasion to visit Peters
burg in the winter of 1889, the writer was
;n,r-esssd hy the smenigv of manners pre-
vailing among its people. They surely
could no. have countensnced the laWless
custom Of duelling which is forbidden ia the
DecalOgue.
After his graduation at Princeton, my
frisnd returned to Petersburg and applied
himself TO the reading Of Law AID in due
time became an Attorney. An honorable
profession. It is true that Wat Tyler aud
Jack Straw, in the reign Of Richard H.,
came out in thunder against the barristers
for living on the distresses of their fellow
creatures, and Hume alleges that their de-
mapd on the the crown and aristoeracy were
perfectly reasonable. There have been
Judges and lawyers whose names are enclr-
cled with the halo of eternal infsmy. Bacon
and Jefries are examples in point; bat who
can withhold his admiration from Cicero
when he rose in the Foram to defend Ar
chias his preceptor, or Erskine whom he aP-
peared in behalf of Lord Gordon, or Patrick
Henry when he opposed the expressions of
the Virginia cIergy. We venerace such
lawyer and Judge as Sir William Jones lie
established English Jurisprudence In India,
studied the Sauscrit language, translated the
Hindoo and Persian poets, searched into the
literature of Wales, followed Milton into his
most sequestered retreats, and except for MS
early decease would have elevated England
bv noble Epic Poem. P.ety was coupled
with all his seieati6c and literary attain
ments. Revelation vas the sun which shed
its lustre on all the lunar requirements Of
his expansive mind. Acting for years as an
Interpreter of law, no doubt my Petersburg
friend acquitted himself honorabIy in all
branches of his profession. Kind in his
feelings, good humored and ahablo, gense-
man in his manners, and Christian in bis
department, he could say with Sir William
Jones,
sB Before thy mystic altar heavenly Truth
/ kneel Ia manhood, as l knelt in youth"
He changed his vocation by passing from
the study Of law to the study Of divinity
This is a change which has often taken
place. Many names might be given in proof
of this assertion, but this is not necessary.
So far as talent for popular speaking may be
concerned, the vocatons are akin. No per-
son acquainted with William Mayo Atkinson
would ever have doubted the sincerity Of his
motives in entering the sacred ministry
Sincere meaDs without wax and it aIudes to
tine honey separated FROM the materials by
which it may be encumbered. He left toe
law for a csllil 9 more eongenial to his pious
impressions. He loved his Divine Lord, and
wished to honor hun by the change II
forming his resolution he was above all Pecu
mary considerations, for ne was passing to :
profession far less lucrative than the enc h'
had embraced Sail we cannot agree viii
Brockton Brown, tho Novelist of Poilaiel
pbia, in his beautiful memoir Of John Blai
Linn. He states that when the pastor o
Market Street church relinquished the Law
he sacrificed the fame Of Erskine. But fam
is not the chief end Of man. Lord BacOi
acquired q reputation wide as the world, bu