The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1908-01-30
Our New York Letter.

Maynard was lodged in Jail.
Our New York Letter.
Who or where can be the person
that has not heard Of Henry Ward
Beecher? The great preacher, think
er, agitator, is dead, and has been
for 20 years. yet his memory is as
green as ever and he is really one
person that seems to live, though
dead.
TheNorthem people worship, ideal
ize the name of Beecher, while he
South, not as vindictive as at 6ne
time, when they fairly hated the
mere mention of the name.
Beecher, his brother Lyman Beech
er. his sister Harriet Beecher Stowe
with her t'Uncle Toms Cabin',')-.
these three did more to hasten hostil-
tiles and bring about the civil war
than any forces on earth. All this is
past history; forgiving spirits must
forgive; others must try to forget,
while admirers and adherents pursue
the work of perpetuating the name,
fame, labors of the>deceased preach
er. Plymouth church, where Mr..
Beecher did his greatest work, is now
served by Rev. DR.. Newell Dwight
Hills.
DR.. Hills has for two or three years
been actively at work, with active
committees endeavoring to raise ST..
600, 900, to be expended in perpetual
Henry Ward Beecher memorial: The
first step in the establishing OF this
memorial was the recent unveiling of
eight stained glass windows, so that
now, for the first time, the memorial
has assumed tangible form. It is
proposed to have a whole city block
taken up with memorial buildings
"a crypt for the final resting place OF
Mr.. Beecher and his wife-am amuseum
containing hundreds Of objects which
were associated with Mr.. Beecher
during his life.
An interesting relic will be the
pulpit and chair of the orator preach
er. At the unveiling Of the windows
the chair for the first time in 38 years
stood in it's old place on the platform.
The story of the chair is told by re-
cent Herald writer.
i. In the summer of 1867 Charles c.
Duncan, returned sea captain and a
member of Plymouth church, at the
request of Mr.. Beecher, organized
party, made up principally OF mem
of the church, for trip to the Holy
Land.
At that time Mr.. Beecher was writ
ing his Life of Christ" :" He had
never visited the scenes in which
Jesus passed his life and he decided
to do so before finishing certain
chapters of the book.
At the last moment, Mr.. Beeeher
was unable to join the party, which
left New York on the steamship
Quaker City in August. But in spite
of the absence of the noted pulpit
orator the journey was destined to
become famous, for one of the voya
gers was Mark Twain, who gathered
material for one of his most fascinat-
ing stories, ''Innocents Abroad"
Mr.. Clemens also acted as cor
RESPONDENT for the Herald, and his
letters published in this paper at that
time, contained many of the Incidents
that afterwards became apart of the
adventures of the ''Innocents."
Among other persons in the party
were Moses Beach, owner of the New
York Sun, and Stephen M. Griswold.
While in Jerusalem, Mr.. Beach pur-
chased and arranged for the trans
portation to the seaport of Joppa the
trunk of a large olive tree which
grew at the foot of the Mount of
Olives, in the Valley of Kedron, near
the Garden of Gethsemane.
On his return to Brook lyn, Mr.:
Beach had the present pulpit and
pulpit furnishings in Plymouth con-
structed out of the olive tree from
the Holy Land. He took the old
pulpit to his summer home at Peeks-
kill but the discarded chair in which
MIR. Beecher had sal during the ser
vices for 20 years, was carried to the
cellar of the church. ,
Plymouth church has connected
with it much of interest to readers
everywhere.
H. w. FINLAYsoN.
$50 Broadway, New York.