Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-09-16
Sc0RKS HIS OWN MItl,ow
James Eads How Founder Of the Brother
hood Of Daily Lie.

hooo Of udtiy Lie.
When all the world is struggling worI,
ing and exertinG every effort To get rich.
an estate said 10 be worth a million, laws
1t aside To dress In homespun and take
his place beside III" lowliest of his felIny
men. lie Is a Well bred. educated man,
delicately nurtured. born TO enjoy the
best there is in life. and accustomed to il.
"A college athlete at Harvard a leading
football and baseball PLAYER also n gym
hast able TO DO STUNTS 10 walk on his
hands and to perform on traneZe Lat
er he was u student at oxford H, l.
withal n man of Drawn and sinew ana
strength of mind.
He arrived in This city one dav last
week from the West. feeling thar he had
great task before him and seeking the
means 10 perform il. He announced TO n
friend that he wanted work The friend,
who finds work Tor hundreds of unfortu
nate men every year in the bureau of
charities in Brooklyn. sought 1t for him
also, just as he does Tor tramps who
want 10 reform. Tor sailors who have out
grown their usefulness at sea and for the
rinrdff of humaniJv There was almost
nothing the rich man would nut do: even
a mental place lit was said. would be ac
somewhat dexterous with his hands.
quick al any trade almost but skilled in
none, and ambitious lust then to learn
how 10 nurse the sick in order that he
wanderings.
Imagine the Christ as the great Italian
masters have painted him and the reader
Will get an idea of this man. A great deal
more might be said. for his persona lity.
face and physical proportions carry an il
resistible suggestion of the Saviour to al.
most every one who meets him. He is a
gaunt, spare man. with a long slim face.
masters did not paint the Christ as a
man attenuated bv meagre diet and
privation. but this man is so suggestive
of the Christ of Italian art In his move
ments that to meet him is To receive an
impression that the Christ too was such
a man. Ii is to feel that Christ was more
like him than like His pictures. As for
his face. that of the man who impcrson
ates the Saviour in the Passion play NJ
Oberammerg1u has not more of the d.
vine attributes than his.
This interesting persons name is James
Eads How. James Il. Eads. the great en-
sineer. who built the Mississippi river
bridges at ST. Louis and the jetJies at its
mouth. was his grandfather. Mr.. How
reveres the memory OF his grandtathcr
above that of all men. He emulates his
grandfather's persistence. and ike his
grandfather he is determined to accom-
plish what he undertakes. 1t took nerve
and grit to become foremost as a college
athlete; ii has taken more grit To re-
nounce vast wealth and take monkish
vows
When Mr.. How arose one day laStw week
IL
Bile Of a college chum who was his host.
He did not eat 1t. not because he could
not afford it. for il was free. He went
instead to the medical mission. in Fulton
street. Brooklyn. Walked over a mile II
reach 1t. and there he bought breakfast
of pea soup. bread and coffee, which cost
three cents. He is a strict vegetaria n
and eats no meat 1t took grit. an OBJ
server thought. to leave the beefsteak and
savory coffee of his host and eat the pea
soup in the medical mission on hard
bench and at n wooden table without Il
cloth. II would take grit, at least on the
part of most men. but ii seemed 10 be no
effort for Mr.. How.
AS he sat at the table an orthodox
preache accosted him. The preacher did
not quite understand Mr.. How. but it
was apparent that he understood the
preacher.
What kind of Christian work are you
engaged in?" the preacher asked.
THE hardest thing have to do" Mr..
How replied. lis to get away from the
Christ and the church. as commonly an
derstood. as TO use what judgment l
You are a Unitarian. l believer" the
preacher asked
al am no, member of the Unitarian
church"
Then you are not a Christian re
Joined the preacher.
..Perhaps | am more of a Buddhist than
a Christian. though something Of Chris
tan. too" said Mr.. How. Sometimes |
think | am more of Buddhist tnan a
Christian Sometimes more Of Chris
tian than Buddhist.
The preacher would not understand.
He turned red in the face and looked
aghast Then he walked away and medi
tated while Mr.. How finished his frugal
meal.
MIR. How walked across the Brooklyn
bridge when it was finished. and uptown
in Manhattan: walked all the way, ap-
parently not for any reason except prin
ciple All the time he carried tin lunch
,is
TO factories only his pail had no cover
and was jammed and battered: he
picked it up the day before. It may
have been on a dump heap. or wherever
it had been thrown away. for all anybody
knows What he meant to do with the
pail, which was not wholly clean looking.
he would not say. He carried i empty
on his arm all day. and it gave him the
appearance of a workman-an amateurish
workman at that-if it served no other
use.
Mr.. How went back for his ideals to the
beginning of the Christian era, and start
ed on the plane of the early followers of
Christ He resolved to renounce the
world and to extinguish himself. HE VIII
not talk about himself. and he means 70
go through life with Just as little as he
can subsist on, doing all he can for other
men The vanity of ministers eager for
big salaries and preaching in superb
churches he contrasted with the early
apostles. and was not long in making up
his mind which to follow. for he had al
ready resolved to devote his life to Chris
tan work The early monks had subordi
mated themselves as the Christ did. Mr..
How would not take monkish vows, eX
cept by resolve in his own mind, but nav
ing once resolved. nothing should sWerve
him from his course. He began by eX
tinguishing self so far as he could by sim.
plicity of attire. abstinence and 1ruSai
living.
A friend remembers when he arrived at
Meadville Penn. from Harvard eight OF
nine years ago to attend the evanselical
school He had a banjo and dress suit
i'm his outfit. He was one of the fashlon
able young men and favorite with the
fair sex. When he left the banjo the
dress suit and his social pleasures had
been cast aside forever. Among his class
mates were Franklin Quinby, chairman
of the ways and means committee OF thc
national Democratic party in this. city;
Fisher Ames of St Paul: r. NJ. fischer.
long associated with the department OF
charities and correction in this city ami
a member of Tammany hall. and the Rev.
II. c. Farwell. a Unitarian. of Salem
Mass. They organized a series, Of PEG
ple's meetings and invited such men as
Francis Peabody of Harvard, and Judge