The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-06-24
MRS. MARY A. LIVERMORE
A TALK WITH A WOMAN WHO BE-
CAME FAMOUS IN WAR TINE.
Practical Common Sense Her Distin-
gushing Character in Commits
sary and Reform Work.

Well, if you must go to hell go like a
1 had asked Mrs Livermo1e if she had
ever seen any one afraid of death, or that
which would follow death, at the actual
hour of dying.
Never but once" she replied. land then
it was the fault of an evangelist 1t was
after the fight at Fort Donelson. Eighty
mortally wounded men had been brought
into my ward at the St. Louis hospital,
among them a soldier with both legs and
an arm shot off. This man was lying in
that stupor that usually pr'ecedes death,
when an evangelist entered, and, bending
over the bed, said Have you made your
peace with God? If not, you will be in
hell in less than an hour Instantly the
mans stupor was replaced by the most hor-
rible fright. Pray for me- he groaned.
I can't stop was the reply as the speaker
hurried on to give his gruesome message
to other sufferers. You must pray for
yourself Delirious with pain and wholly
possessed by this new and terrible idea,
the soldier sent out Shrek after Shrek of
agony. cannot die! 1 have been wicked
man! was his repeated wall. His cries
aroused and excited the other men, and
the ward became a pandemonium of groans
and screams and beseechings. In vain
urged and the surgeon commanded quiet.
L directed the doctor to send the evangelist
out of the ward, and 1 got upon the bed
of the man who had first been aroused.
Taking him by the shoulders and looking
straight into his eyes, / said Stop this
screaming at oncer But I am going to
hell! he cried Well If you must go to
hell, go like man. 1 replied But why
must you go? What is Christ for If a man
like you, who has stood up to be riddled
and torn and killed for his country, is going
to hell? 1t is d libel upon God
II had dispatched a messenger for a
chaplain. When he came 1 said, Don't
say a word, but sing and gradually peace
settled over the ward, while the poor fell
low listened to Jesus, Lover of My Soul
'There'll Be No More Sorrow There Rock
of Ages and many other comforting
hymns. / kept my place on the bed, soft
ly repeating prayers and reassuring pass
ages of Scriptures till my patient whis--
He died that night.
THE overzealOus evangelist received
summary treatment at the hands of Mother
Bickerdyke. When he began to question
her boys she approached him with the
words: Look here; You leave this ward
mighty quick, or m take you by the nape
Of the neck and pitch you out
You see,' said Mrs Livermore, as she
wiped away her tears .,rof recollection,
brought up a Calvinist. l never enjoyed
day of my childhood, 1 was so anxious
about the people l supposed would be
damned. l was the eldest of six children,
and used often, after lying awake for
hours, to creep out of bed and seek my
parents, begging them to pray for my 1T
favorite recreations were playing meeting
where | sometimes preached to my sisters
and sometimes to the sticks in the wood
shed, and enacting drama which we chill
dren had composed, called The Resurrec
ton Play in which the patient was sick,
died was buried, and came forth at the last
day. | preached and prayed, and we sang
doleful hymns, to doleful tunes, and were
often so affected that we Wept IN real
earnest. | have seen many a spectacular
play which moved me less than did this
homemade drama. "
1t was when Mary was seventeen that
che of the sisters over whom she had ago.
nized-a most sweet and lovely maiden
died and. according to the theory of her
father and her minister, died ',unsaYed.
One must have a nature and belief like
Mary'S to understand what she then suf-
fered. The thought that her darling was
in he'll kept this allowing sister in hell for
BECAME A TEACHER.
When she was nineteen Mary went to
Virginia as the governess of six children.
All her previous life had fitted her for
such a position. In addition to the care of
her sisters she had taught in the Boston
mission schools at nine and later had been
the instructor of fifty little vacation pupils,
whom she gathered together and taught for
% cents a week each, that she might help
pay for her own education. When asked to
go to Virginia she was pupil-teacher in the
private high school which Martha Whiting
had opened at Charlestown, there being
nothing of the kind for girls in Boston
After two years in Virginia. where, on ac-
count of her Abolition tendencies, she suf-
fered terribly, she was called to DuXbury,
Mass, to teach a school which correspond
ed to the high school of the present day.
Here the attention of a young UnlVersallSt
clergyman, Daniel Z. Livermore, was called
to the sufferings of this Calvinst teacher.
Numerous must have been the intellectual
battles between the two before she, TO
whom these new and saner doctrines must
needs have beenras oil ON a parched wound.
adopted the views which were SO blessed
relief. 1t was not long after the meeting
of the two that Mary Ashton Rice became
Mrs. Livermore. Since the time When lhlS
change of views took place she has ever
been on the trail of truth. i care not
whether there are three gods or twenty
three !" she declares. u want to know what
the Creator meant by putting US mere, ana
If we have a hereafter, and the meaning
of life. Either immortality is true or eX-
istence is the jest of a demon 1t
is much more wonderful that should nave
been born into this life than that L shouid
be born into another. WMe 90
not believe in the genuineness of the Sc
ances and the exhibitions Of the Spiritual
lists, | do believe that the veil between the
two worlds is being rent and that one
day it will be no matter of surprise for one
to say to another, The spirit Of man from
Mars came to my office to-day. or our Ola
neighbor who passed over ten years ago;
called on my family this morning
People being so constantly Killed shows
that death is a mere incident. why
would God destroy His own work any more
than man who has labored for all his
life to perfect a wonderful steam engine
would destroy his invention before 1t has
reached perfection? .er,r,or
taIitv'' is so logical and convincing that 10
many it seems an absolute proof OF a fu7
ture life and heavenly Fathers care ana
After his marriage Mr.. ,Liyermore ac-
cepted a passionate in Fall River, Mass:
Here the young couple made the mistake OF
saving to members of their congregation,
''our home is yours Come any time, day
or night" ''They took us at our WORD, de-
cIares Mrs. Livermore Il was doing my
own work and many days we were so over
whelmed by visitors that ! never combed
nv hair or made my bed. The people were
hungry for knowledge and eager for help
in all directions. We organized number
of societies and between these and our
work with private individuals we had not
a moment we could call our own except
in sleep and then we were liable to be