The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1909-10-17

reported his sermon for the news
/ papers. travelled with him on lecturinp
/ tours. and knew him intimately He
/ was The ablest pulpit orator we ever
had. Yet his sermons at Plymouth
/ Church would be OF little effect now
perhaps. OratOry has lost ground in this
country, but it will be restored by popu-
( lar demand. However. there will be nc
more yelling, or rantlng, or hair pulling
: II Beecher had lived he would have
! changed his methods 20 meet modern
/ conditions and been as great as ever
| Nowadays ancient oratory in a trial OF
lawsuit would make everybody laugh
even the judge on the bench and the
! felon at the bar"
How the school Grew.
Tell me about the college and the hos
pital that you founded?"
"A young man with no more than 2
common school education having moth.
er and three young brothers TO support
wanted to be a preacher. He asked II J
would help him. I told him I would teach
! him at night. He spread the news. and
seven other young fellows came with him
I for the second lesson. Inside Of a month
I was teaching a class of forty 1 got
I instructors, the school grew, and We now
have 3 university with several depart
ments, including law. medicine. and den
/ tistry. This year we shall have 4.OOC
students.
Not one Of our graduates has ever
failed at the State examination when he
! has presented himself for a license 10
practice his profession in Pennsylvania.
We have classes day and night-for young
men who are not compelled to work and
/ for those who must get employment and
pay their own expenses. The university
gives its instruction to everybody, Jew
and Christian alike, and asks no ques-
| tons concerning religion. The hospital
was begun in two rooms. with 4 volun-
teer nurse. Then we obtained a house
Now we have two separate hospital or.
! CARNATIONS, together with the necessary
buildings"
do you remember your first sermon %
"Only indistinctly. I was four years
old, perhaps, and, using a huge rock near
| the door of the family kitchen for a
pulpit. addressed myself to my mother
and the chickens"
a SchoOlbOy at Three.
You were brought up in the country -
"On a little sterile farm among the
| hills Of Massachusetts. NY father was
also stonemason. Ny mother read the
Bible. Beecher's sermons, Uncle Toms
Cabin and the New York Tribune TO us
/ in the evening. started to school M
the age of three. walking two miles each
way with Charley, my brother. who was
six When was older 1 boiled manic
sap all night, and by the light of the
J fire committed a considerable part OF
Millions Paradise Lost 20 memory. Rv
and by John Brown came TO our house
and talked slavery with my father. Fred
Douglass accompanied him on one occa.
sion. After that while in bed. 1 would
sometimes hear a wagon stop at orr
barn. and I knew a black man was he
| ing passed along 20 freedom. Rev. Asa
Niles. my fathers cousin. a Methodist
! preacher, as well as a farmer, talked 10
me about an education. I looked at tine
Berkshire Hills and imagined 1 was a
prisoner.
zone night crept out of the attic
window to the roof Of the woodshed and
I jumped to the ground. A few articles oI
clothing and little bread and meat were
! in a bundle. 1 was running away from
home. At Huntington. the nearest vii
| lage. conductor let me ride In a bag
gage car to Boston. I hadn't q cent of
money. 1 reached Boston at night and
1 slept in an empty cask on the banks of
the Charles River. The next day was
Sunday. Hungry, penltent, and home
sick, I walked the streets. George w
Chapman. a deacon at fremont TemnIa-
met me and took me to Sunday school
When he heard my story he put me on a
railway train and sent me home. Many
years after that taught class In TrA-