The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-08-05
MEMORIES OF LYMAN BEEcHER.
Some Interesting Notes About the Famous
Old Divine.
Henry III. Po1neroy in New York Evan
gelist.)

ton, o., to which he came from Cincin.
natl, where he then lived, by stage coach.
A very little shaver 1 was then and felt
quite af raid at first of so stern looking
man as he seemed to be. After the
heartiest of greetings, for he and my
father were old friends, we sat together in
our modest parlor conversing, when
father was called out of the room for
something. The grave man saw me sit
ting in a corner ON my little stool, called
me to him, took me up in his lap, asked
my name, and very soon we were the best
of friends. 1 asked him If he had any
little boys. "Oh, yes" he said, land
big ones too" He then took from his
pocket kite string and gave it to me,
and what q long one it was! ran and
found my little brother Tommy; shortly
we had that ssstring unwound and l am
very sure that a cord which would reach
from the top of Trinity. church steeple to
the head of Wall street would not seem
as long to us now as that one did then.
Two very happy boys the good mans gift
made that day. The impression fastened
upon my childhood memory then and
there, which can never forget, though
not conscious of it at the time, was that
of strength, force and power The firm
lines about his massive face made you
feel that you were in the presence of a
master. He was indeed power in the
land for full forty years. His "Six Ser
mons on Temperance, delivered, I think,
in 1929, have never been surpassed, rarely
equaled, and are today published in q
small volume as psf of our standard
temperance literaru g. In those 'good
old times" it was no very uncommon
thing for clergyman to get bit groggy
or trifle eight and DR.. Beecher was
one of the very first to rebuke and strike
sledge hammer blows against it.
And what revivalist he was. Two
long sermons day would he preach for
month together and never seem to be
tired. A splendid physique he had, with
great vital force, and was too wise to
abuse it. Oftimes at night, after preach
ing red hot revival sermon, he would
before retiring take his violin, and while
its strings were up to concert pitch, he
would let himself clear down by playing
such tunes as the DEVILS Dream,
Sailors Hornpipe," Cinderella Waltz,
etc., and thoroughly relax all the mental
strings he was the owner of. An exam
pie many poor weary minister might
we'll follow even now.
A man more original it would be hard
b. L.
once said of him, ''He initiated no one
and was himself inimitable.' Very &C.
centric, too, as all who knew him we'll
could testify, he always had way of his
own and that way, like himself, was orr
ginal, fact that no one could deny or
gainSay.
His second courtship terminated in a
manner sui generis. There is no other
like it on record since Noah left the ark,
a brief period of wooing, and he thought
there had been talking enough, his short,
sharp, decisive way of doing things came
to the front. Early one morning he called
on the lady fair he wished to we'd and
after the usual salutations without vast
ing moment in preliminaries, said,
well, Miss P, I've come to see if you'll
marry me; will you do it?" eyes, sir, ;"
was the prompt response. "Let us
pray!" and suiting the action to the
word, they both knelt down and the good
man poured forth most fervent prayer
that God would bless that union abun-
dainty to his honor and glory and their
own true usefulness and happiness. And
how that prayer was answered the world
well knows. AS part of the fruit of that
union his two most illustrious children
were born, Henry and Harriet-the one
the greatest preacher America has yet
produced, and the other the author of
''Uncle Toms Cabin" Well has it been
said that Lyman Beecher was the father
of more brains" than any other man in
America.
In 1925, when the battle of the giants"
was fought in Boston between Unitarian
ism and Trinitarianism, DIR. Charming
led the hosts on one side and DR.. Beecher
on the other. That the victory was on the
side of the latter goes without saying.
When DR.. Beecher was at Lane semi
nary, the celebrated Kentucky divine, DR..
Robert j. Breckenridge was the head and,
front of the "old school, wing of the
Presbyterian church The cast-iron the.
tanned had crossed the Ohio river and
dominated to large extent the presby
terry Of Cincinnati. DR.. Beecher was
soon marked as altogether ''too liberal, :"
and then came the memorable heresy
trial. long and bitter, of which l doubt if
There are SIX living witnesses. Out OF
that trial he came without the smell of
fire upon his garments, more than vindi-
Gated, and, as my father joyously ex-
pressed it, with flying colors.' A few
years after the contention waxed so warm
that the grand old Presbyterian church
was split in twain, so that for thirty
years it was 'old SCHOOL, and "new
school, Of course DIR. Beecher could
only be in the ranks of the latter, and
there he wrought nightly for God and
humanity to make the world better.
The terrible and inexpressibly sad
tragedy that caused the instant death Of
his brilliant and gifted Oldest son, George
by the accidental discharge of a shot gun
at Chillicothe, 1 well remember. He
was a class1nate of my fathers in college,
pastor of the Presbyterian church in
Chillicothe, and in the zenith of his
splendid young manhood. For long
time his father, strong as he was, could
not bear to speak of it. even to his most
intimate friends. He bowed before the
awful stroke in silence. His sorrow was
too deep for words, and rugged nature
such as his could only say, Be still and
know that [ am God" Though he has
long since gone to his reward, generations
yet unborn will feel the influence of the
good he accomplished by his energy in
=, a.