The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-05-26


which awaited him in life II he fhlled
TIC totnply with the prisoners demands,
/ and alghnd aloud over that grcatcst OF
Inll mysteries the prcdicnmcnt OF iinv-
ing been born ut all upon any hypothe-
sis. In after years we became Ereht
/ friends, and the dear, genial soul was
much amused by my accounts of our
PARKWAY primary interview.
/ did not find the Rev. Dr.. Johns,
| the Rev. pr Grntnmer or the Rev. DR..
! Cumnins particularly sympathetic to
/ the needs and requirements of boy life.
| They had no stories to tell and nothing
to suggest in the line of amusement.
So was glad when tho order Of march
was sounded. "On to Washington"
Here there was an abundance of things
visible md tangible to nmuse n boy,
and while the committee of clergy
men held daily sessions In the Inter
ests of the new missionary society,
the little boy visited the Capitol and
the White House and the monument
of Washington. with its tall. white
shaft reaching heavcnward. This visit
to Washington was Immediately after
the close of the war, and the city
looked even then like n great war
| camp. with troops and artillery NOV
Ing back and forth ut every turn. The
cruel assassination of Mr.. Lincoln had
just taken place, and President john
son was beginning his perturbcd and
stormy administration Of REIMBURSEMENT
of the Southern problem and tns re-
SUMPTION of specie payment.
This clerical committee must needs
visit Alexandria to see Bishop johns
of Virginia and the Rev Drs. Packard
and Sparrow of the Theological Semi
nary. These latter gentlemen were
very kind to the little boy. but tailed
utterly. like the Baltimore clerss'
eu,gestinc any new forms OF ANUS
ment There were many volumes
the library of the Alexandra iiheo'os
cal School. but no picture DOORS, "a
hoo,.s nv Jacob Abbott. no iilustra.eu
magazines or reviews. ! reif'eii''u,
Rishop Johns came into the walt'ns
room Of the seminary. with cap an"
riding whip and spurs. like whi,'
wind. exclaiming. as he huegeu
older visitor to his breast, hicial
# does my soul good to see YOU
tbon added to the ubiquitous boy as
If he were not already impresseu
this familiar Cassandra-ike cry
bow, T only hope you VIII De us
80, ne your father" All! If the
worlds great and good men could only
remember that they We're once boys
Themselves, and that the human BOY
like little Joe in "Bleak House, keePs
moving on continually to the front
and that the boy Is an articie VI on.
original and peculiar type. how wen
would be for them In the matter o@
acquiring and giving forth an lhilu
cncc ~
II is said of Bishop Johns. of VIZ
rinia. in those days. that ne WIS !
customed to come to church FREQUENTLY
upon week days. hitching his horse u
the front gatepost. and putting ms rid.
ing cap and whip under the Go,'i ninm ~
table of the church. and leading IN
prayer, without prayer
book or vcstments of any kind. ..o,.
But these were great men IN .helF
day and se nnd nrnnti nnu minds Minds '
n was Bishop Johns who snatched
from n selfish and worldly life the
soul of Henry A. Wise the ys GnnEu;se
Young Wise was converted by the
preaching of the bishop. and came TO
the Alexandria Seminary to STUDY LOT
the ministry. He had been d the f, and
petted son of the great war governor
of Virginia, and this unexpected cnahss
in its life. with its future career as
n clergyman. was n great surprise TO
the C;oyernor's family. While at the
Sc rninary, studying for holy orders with
rapt and devout mien and bearing.
there came from Boston the young ana
mysterious Phillips Brooks. sent thither
j
Vinton, of st. Paupsf Church, ana AZ
once there sprang up devoted friend
ship between the kinsman of Newell
Phillips the New England Abolitionlst;
and the son of the war Governor OF
Virginia, who had sentenced John
Brown to death. Together these Two
young men, n pair of poetic spirits;
like Keats and Shelley. studied ana
took exercise and tramped the Virginia
roads, and finally went to Philadelphia
to begin their ministry in the Episco-
pal Church. Wise was about SIX
months earlier on the ground, and had
earned his following first Crowds
hoclSed to hear him preach and fol-
lowed him from church to church. as
he went through the city, occupying
the pulpits which were flung open to
him at every turn. as he delivered MS
wonderful discourses, which were COM
mitted to memory. When philips
fall of 1859 he found that the city had
gone wild over his fellow-student at
the Virginia Seminary, and none re-
joiccd In 1t more than the young deacon
from Boston. But Wise had the shad-
.ow of death upon his brow even then.
| People said: How wonderful but 1t
| means an early grave" and thus this
precocious youth. with his trembling
voice and his hectic cough, paled, glin-
| mered like a Slowworm. and was gone.
| The attack on Fort Sumter cut short
his sphere of influence. and he hurried
back to his ancestral home In Virginia
to die, leaving the field which he had
! by his friend and successor, Phillips
| Brooks.
But the story of tho ministry Of Phil
| lips Brooks in Philadelphia must be
left to another chapter.