The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-07-02


server that some two years since
wrote with the length of four or five
columns perhaps it was. of my ole
friend. Rev. Charge Force Deems, ID
d.. LII. d.. who died in New York
City on 18th November, 1893, lacking
a few days of being seventy-three
years old. l wrote concerning his
Life" by his two sons with high ap-
-" al. l have recently re-read it
and with positive increased Interest
and admiration. 1t contains an "Auto.
biography OF the Doctor in mis- boy
hood and early manhood and an ex-
cellent Memoir" by his two sons
men of parts. 1t is a handsome
volume. admirably printed, of some
3C5 pages. Its chief defect is its bre-
witty. At least 100 pages more should
have been given to the last ten or fif-
teen years of one of the most active
earnest. consecrated. useful lives In
so far as am acquainted with Ameri-
can biography, this is one of the
most entertaining and admirable. and
/ believe the best ever written of a
Southern minister of the Gospel. II
is full of personal charm to me as |
knew DR.. Deems from 1S47. and he
was my personal friend. / greatly adj
mired him ali through his brilliant
and brave life until the end came. The
biography gives ample testimony as TO
his tremendous labors. his great repu-
tation, and his manifold services to
religion and humanity. l wish to
make few additional notes. In 1859,
April 18th, he heard Edward Everett
In Wilmington on Washington. and he
gave the ve,- kind of judgment that
l have given in print often since l
heard him at Raleigh the same year.
DIR. Deems says that he was sadly
disappointed
He records that among men / pre-
fer Walter Scott as a pure and un-
adulterad story-teller among women,
ON the other side, George Eliot. and
upon this side CO. 50 Amelia Barr"
Capital selections. Scott was the
greatest and sanest and purest and
most creative genius. George Eliot
is by odds the foremost female novel
list of English literature. / have often
commended much Mrs. Amelia Barr.
British born, but resident in New
York. She is a strong and engaging
writer
He tells of the slow travel in 1899.
In the New York Evening Post 18th
June. the latest English news was
dated May goth. and five steamships
were all for an entire year. He says:
'Daguerre had just announced to the
world the process of taking pictures.
The Queen of England had courted
and married Prince Albert" He
notes two cents for postage in England.
while "a boy (himselD at an Ameri-
can college was paying a quarter of
n dollar for every letter he sent to his
sweetheart / remember we'll when
/ received letters the charge of which
was % cents each, and the law did
not require that letters should be pre-
paid. You sometimes get letters of
no value that cost you % cents
In in a n hafn inE
enson College, Carlisle, Pa, his Alma
Mater. he referred TO inventions and
discoveries in the forty years preced
ing. In 1899 there We're no railways
To speak of, no gas-works, no tele-
graphic communication, except be-
tween Baltimore and Washington; no
grain elevators, no street cars, nc
sleeping cars. no photographs, no Gel
IuIoId collars and cuffs. What may
we not expect forty years hence" OF
i'm A. ID. 1919? Since he spoke, many
great improvements and wonderful
discoveries have been made, and. as
il strikes me, the very greatest dis
covery of al the centuries has been
made and utiliZed-the Marconi mar
vellous wireless telegraphy. Only
few weeks ago a message was sent
from a steamer nearly 900 miles out
at sea to New York city, and by the
astounding procesS-no wire connect
ing ship and city.
ON page 271, DR.. Deems, who was
q most intimate friend of Commo-
dore Vanderbilt, tells of his last visit
his prayer and benediction given, al
the request of the dying old man. He
held DIR. Deems hand and said, That's
a good prayer. l shall never give ur
trust in Jesus; how could L let that
go?" In an hour and half he was
gone forever.
On account of his remarkable eff
forts and services, q Deems Lecture
ship of Philosophy was established
a sum of $4,000 being given by the
American Institute of Christian Phil
osophy, of which he was founder and
president. to the University of the City
Of New York for that purpose. That
was done only eight months before
the greatly gifted and eloquent ser
want of God was paralyzed and his
laborS ceased.
Let it be mentioned here, that DR.
Deems was a verv strong, active, untir
ing friend of temperance and prohib
ton. In 1852, when but thirty-tw
years old he edited an organ of ten
perance called the .Ballot-Box." j
tnaC year he started a movemer
which resulted in memorial to tt
Legislature of North Carolina to pro
hibit the liquor traffic. 1t had 1900
signatures. He was certainly "one o.
the pioneers Of the legal prohibiti"
movement" He never tried in tn,
good and important work. and 10 7
last insisted and proclaimed that thu
saloons must be swept away. III
was living now his noble heart would
he greatly rejoiced when he looked OF
ana saw how great the progress
the temperance reform in so man.
States. and in the old State he so love
and nobly served for decades. I.fin
that on June 9Th, 1852, he delivere
a temperance Grafton in Charleston,
c.. which was literally praised by tn,
press of that city. / believe that my
very remarkably endowed friend die
from his intense, long protracted
over-work. He was indeed the hard
est worker / ever knew. The verI
year he was attacked by paralysi:
that killed him in eleven months, after
completely disabling him for all tina
time. | find that he delivered in ser
mons, lectures and addresses 189 dis
courses. To do this he visited sever
States in various parts of the United
States. At the Silver Lake Assembly
i'm Western New York, the same
year "he delivered to vast congrega.
lions eight powerful discourses within
four DAYS." He came to Wilmington