Year: 1878

life as Boy.


Rev. F. A. Spencer in N. Y, Evangelist.
ii Ingersoll's father was for two year


the minister of the church in my ma
tive town, and scores of people 4


that town ascribe their conversion I,


his ministry. But he was far from


being perfect man, and very fa


from being . perfect Christian. Ye


In the judgment of charity, he was


good man. He had many imperfec


tlons, many severe trials, and tha


portion Of his life which covered th


period of "Bob's" childhood was de


cidedly rough, and not well fitted t,


Impress the heart of a child with th,


beauty or tho authority of religion


His mother was an amiable, retirin,


and patient woman, but she dice


when he was very young. 1t ls doubt


lul II he has any remembrance of her


On the contrary, his father was aus.
tere, absolute, quick-tempered and


violent. He was impatient with what


ne thought to be wrong, severe in his
reproofs of the transgressor, and un.
charitable toward those who differed
from himself. On one occasion be
knocked his horse down in the public
street for some act of. disobedience.
But these were not the only unto
ward influences Of "Bob's" early life.
When he was little boy, his father
brought q second wife into the family,
She was lady of education and cul.
ture, some thirty years of age, and
from . prominent family Of neigh
boring county. In less than a year
she gave birth to child, aud as soon
% she was able to travel her brother
appeared in town, loaded up her
goods, and took her and her child
back to her native home. No explain
alton was given to the people, until
committee of the congregation visi-
ted her to learn the cause of her con-
duct. That committee reported that
in their judgment she was not justi-
fed in leaving her husband.


At the expiration of two years.
Bob's father with his children remov-
Ell to the State of Ohio, where, in a
few years, he married a third wife, a
lady Of his own age, of a highly reli-
gious aracte-, and well known TO
the writer. In less than year she
abandoned his house and took refuge
with her married children. This
caused so much scandal that he was
for time suspended from the minis
try, but upon rehearing of the case,
the sentence Of suspension was re-
moved, and he subsequently, for a
snort time, preached in the state or
New York.


These events occurred nearly thirty
years ago and are here noted not to
revive past scandals, but to show how
an unhappy childhood may bear fruit
In later life +; and how q boy of bright,
quick mind might thus early come to
associate religion with that which is
sour, morose and gloomy, unlovely in
character and in life.


Subsequent to these events, "Bob's"
father visited the writer, and gave
his own narrative of his life with the
two wives who had abandoned him,
and sought to establish his own inno-
cence in the minds of his friends. At
q later period still, his third wife vis-
tied the writer, also, to make her rep
resentation, and justify her conduct
in the matter. 1t is due to truth, that
it should be stated that no outrage
GUS abuse or vice was alleged, as the
ground of separation, by either of his
wives, but numerous petty and des-
potic intermeddlings and austerities
ON his part, which rendered life with
him intolerable, and which they could
not, and would not, endure.


Here, unquestionably, are the causes
which, in their bearing upon his
young life, have made Ingersoll what
he is. The tree was planted in q pois-
oned soil, and its fruit is bitter in
deed. The lack of q pleasant, genial
home, pcrvaded by the sweet spirit of
Christian life, and of the soft, yet
moulding influence of q mothers
love and in their place, the harsh and
bitter things which filled his memory,
were enough to make the boy as be
grew up to manhood, an infidel.