Connecticut western news., 1902-04-24
wItn ori&naI,y.


 thirty-f1ve years his pulpit was the solt business of his life. He lived and breathed and ate and slept and walked and nursed his strength only for that. He had the most tremendous capacity for work of any man 1 ever knew, and even after he was turned seventy his form was as straight as q mountL n pine, his eye as clear as the eagles a!.d his mental force unabated. On that last gospel journey upon which he s,t out on Feb, l2 he preached in rar.d succession to great audiences at Ma con, Charleston, Richmond and New Orleans with his wOnted eloQuenc, and power, and it was not until tht deadly Mexican climate had sapptd his strength that he succumbed. Never from the first day of his ministry til! the day of his death did he put off tho harness of the Lords service. When he went on featuring tours, it was moi to make money or to take pleasure, but to get away from his home tasks, SO that he could come back refreshed tC do more valiant service for Christ Every family physician who entered our home declared that the rest of rail, road travel had been his physical sal, vation. It forced him to the repose that he would not otherwise allow tc himself.
 A HardwOrkinE Genius.
 He was z genius. but he developed every one of his ten talents by the hardest kind of mental and physical ap- plication. No labor for him was too full of drudgery. Morning. noon and night found him in his study. He took phys ical exercise not for pleasure, but to it himself for the pulpit. He lived not to eat, but he ate so that he could live. He placed his standard very high, and into every sermon he put his best thought. He used to say to me: Frank, do not make the mistake of many literary men. They say to themselves, l will save that thought and put it into anoth- CT speech or article. Give to the world the best you have. Crowd everything in that strengthens an argument, but always strive for quality and not for quantity" When theological student. I wanted to occupy for some weeks the pulpit of a small country church. He uttered his protest. saying, You ought to spend at least three months upon your first sermon, writing upon it from six to ten hours a day" What a testi- mony is this to his own careful work. coming from the cold lips which are now closed in the casket. What a homiletic lecture it is for the young ministers, for the young lawyers and budding statesmen who maintain that the oratorical art is divine gift which has no need for struggling upon the rough mountain side of drudgery. What a clarion note it is, summoning all men and women to do their best under all conditions. The lesson is as powerful for the merchant of ten talents as for the clerk of two talents. To him that hath shall be given. From him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
 There is, however, a warming that comes from my fathers intense appli- cation to work which deserves the at tention of all those who are bending their physical, mental and spiritual energies to accomplish something in nfes struggle. My father had one of the most robust physical frames ever given to man. He had wonderful mind. He had a wonderful body. He could speak out of doors for two long hours and address 10000 auditors. Yet the last sentence would be heard as distinctly as the first. He could do a ten mile tramp more easily than some men could walk around city square. His chest was broad and deep. His heart went on with the steady regu- larity of a pumping engine. He thought he was taking care of himself, but he was not. About twenty-five years ago the first danger signal was lifted when insomnia, like hideous specter. sat at the foot of his bed and refused to let him sleep. Night after night he would be up four and five times walking tie floor. After awhile the children be- came used to It. We would greet him at breakfast, saying, "Father, how did you sleep?' and when he answered. Not very we'll" he would look so fresh and vigorous that we, too, were deceived. and we would hope that he had slept better than he thought he did. But he could not be induced to spare himself. He overestlmated his reserve of strength My father ought to have lived with that magnificent body at least fifteen years longer. Had he economized his strength the best years of his life might have been those last fifteen years. He died from over- work.
 Ye brain workers, listen to this warn. ing. Ye literary men. who are full of great thoughts which you are eager to utter, beware of overdriving the brain! Remember that you cannot take your workshop to bed with you and work in the dark without undermining your mental strength. Heed today the mes sage which comes to all. Stop before 1t Is too late. God did not intend my father to go on as he was doing, wrecking his magnificent physical frame:
 A Minister of CheerfuInesa.
 My father was gospel minister of unbounded cheerfulness. He believed that there was as much true religion in the smile seen at the wedding of Cana of Galilee as in the sob heard in q house of mourning. He was an opti- mistic Christian whose mind was free from gloomy presentiments. In his youth he grasped the great truth that God is love. Because God is love he felt that God approved of his being strong and well and happy. He always ex- pected good things to come to him from the Divine Father as little child nat urally expects good thingS to come to him from an earthly parent. A falling tear may, ere it drops, lodge in the wrinkles of smile. A rainbow can climb over the dark clouds of storm If q member of the family was dangerous ly sick, he was not dismayed, but all ways felt that she would get well. If financial trouble threatened the home, he never was apprehensive, having un- wayering faith that the God who cares %. Ia x~RA 4 l.. T IL