CHAPTER XXXIV.
Leave Louisville.-Travel Through Missouri.-Call to St Louis.-Social Meetings.-Presidency of Christian University Urged upon Him.-Acceptance.-Silver Wedding.-Removal to Canton.-Felt Settled for Life.-Bible College and Students. -Prospects Promising.-Trip in the Interest of the University.-His Illness.-Mr. Cave's Arrival and Invaluable Aid.-His Mother's Death.-His Partial Recovery.-Unable to Teach.-Able to Preach.-Returned to Lexington, Ky.-
Relaspe.-His Old Church in Palmyra.-His Last Field of Labor.-His Patience Under Affliction.
Before the summer trip was over he received a call to take charge of the church meeting at the corner of Seventeenth and Olive Streets, St. Louis. The brethren were very urgent, and, though preferring to evangelize, he accepted the invitation. The church was small compared to the church in Louisville, not numbering half the membership, and the work was not so arduous. The first six months we boarded with our old friends, John G. Allen and wife, formerly of Lexington, where we were made very happy. The Doctor then began to long for his mother, and we went to housekeeping on Pine Street, near the church, where the dear old people could go to church night or day. The Doctor sent for them as soon as we were settled, and they came, bringing Aunt Mima with them, who had been with Sadie since we left Louisville. January, 1875, found us at home once more. Father was especially delighted to be in St. Louis again. His only son, Wm. G. Fife, was living there, and he
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himself had so long made it his home it was very pleasant to be there again.
We found a warm-hearted and generous brotherhood in the church. Brethren Allen, Patterson, Christopher, Ellis, Harrison, Verden, Rhorer, Fife, Russell, et al., with their good wives, made the church a desirable home for a preacher.
We used to have delightful gatherings there. Most of the congregation lived a long distance from the church. It was usually so late when the gentlemen returned from their business that they could not come to prayer-meeting. The sewing circle met one afternoon in the week, the prayer-meeting one evening, the class for singing another. I proposed that we meet Wednesday evening for sewing, at 3 P.M.; all of us take a lunch, including tea, coffee, cream and sugar, and that at 6 P. M. we would kindle a fire in the stove in the robing-room, make our tea and coffee, set our table with the lunches provided, and invite the brethren to sup with us instead of going home. Then at 7 P.M. everybody would be ready to enjoy the prayer-meeting; we could sing an hour after that, and be ready to go home at 9 o'clock.
The result was just what we anticipated. The gentlemen were delighted with the arrangement. We had full prayer-meetings, good attendance at our sewing circle, and saved two trips a week on the street cars, costing twenty cents at least each week, and, where there were several in the family to attend, from fifty to seventy-five cents per week.
Those who had the privilege of attending those meetings will never forget them; they were seasons of intense social as well as religious enjoyment,they were feasts for body and soul.
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One feature of the St. Louis church was especially commendable,no stranger entered the house and left it without being sought out and introduced. It did not matter whether that was a member of the church or not, they were made to feel that they were welcome in the house of the Lord.
Our work with this church was one of unalloyed pleasure, and the year, I hope, was not unprofitable to the brethren and sisters. I think there were from thirty to forty additions during the time.
Sometime in June Brethren B. H. Smith and Henderson Davis came down from Canton, Mo., in the interest of Christian University. They came to see the Doctor, and spent the night (it was nearly 2 A. M. when they left) trying to induce him to consent to become President of that institution. I never knew him to be as much concerned in regard to taking any step before.
They represented the importance of the work to him in such a light, and that there was a crisis in the history of the school demanding sacrifice on the part of some one, that he hardly felt he could refuse. They told him they believed the brethren throughout the State would rally to him as to no one else, and plead with him so earnestly that he told them he would give them an answer the following day. When he came to our room he told me the proposition made by the brethren, and asked me for my advice. I told him I could not advise him to accept or refuse; that the decision was one that would affect all our future lives, and I was incapable of offering a suggestion on the subject.
The only point that turned the scale in favor of accepting was the good he might accomplish in training young men in the Bible school to go forth and preach
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the gospel to a dying world. We talked until daylight, and then he said, "I will go, God willing, and do my best."
Once more the ties that bound us to a devoted and noble church had to be sundered. It seemed to me that every parting became harder. They were very, very kind to us during our sojourn among them, and when we left them we carried many tokens of their loving remembrance with us.
At the earnest solicitation of many friends, we celebrated with the St. Louis church the twenty-fifth anniversary of our marriage the 30th day of September, 1875. We received many valuable gifts from friends everywhere. Our dear old Louisville church sent us an elegant waiter and coffee and tea set, and other articles both beautiful and useful. The church in St. Louis supplemented what was lacking in spoons, knives and forks. It was a most generous gift from generous hearts.
The following contribution is from the pen of a valued brother:
"'Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway.'
"The gifted and beloved Samuel A. Kelley had preached for the Seventeenth and Olive Street Church, St. Louis, Mo., two years. He had tendered his resignation, that he might return to Kentucky, the field of his useful labor before his call to St. Louis. The church here had passed through trying ordeals before he came, and the wounds received during the conflict had not healed. Much was accomplished in love and faithfulness by Bro. Kelley during his two years' work, yet an anxiety bordering on apprehension for the future was apparent, now the tried and earnest servant of peace was about to depart.
"The membership looked to the officers inquiringly. Who shall succeed to the pulpit, and minister before the people? The elders and deacons held joint sessions. The matter of vital in-
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terest to the church was discussed, and the field canvassed. For intelligence, business management, and devotion to the cause of Christ, few churches were so blessed in their official Board as this the first Christian Church of St. Louis. Among its officers at this time may be mentioned Dr. H. Christopher, J. G. Allen, J. W. Ellis, R. D. Patterson, T. A. Russell, W. G. Fife, Edward Wilkerson, and others.
"The name of Dr. Hopson, who had closed his labors with the Walnut Street Christian Church in Louisville, Ky., for the purpose of evangelizing, was suggested. The suggestion met with universal favor, and the elders at once wrote to the Doctor pressing upon him the church's extremity and great need, and endeavored to show him that he would serve them as no other could. The Doctor's large sympathetic heart never received such a call with indifference. Many reasons might he given to show the happy choice made by the officers and approved by the church�not only approved, but with enthusiasm confirmed. The oldest members of the congregation remembered Dr. Hopson when he came to St. Louis as a medical student to attend lectures preparatory to graduation. He had practiced medicine for some years before this time. It was in 1846 and '47 that his efforts first began with the church in St. Louis. These early labors were of reciprocal advantage to the church and to the young student. Later, when Bro. Joseph T. Patton was preaching for the church, we find the aspiring young preacher and student again in St. Louis attending medical college, reviewing and ready to receive his degree. It was during this time that Bro. Patton fell ill, and during his long absence from the pulpit Dr. Hopson preached to the church, with the positive understanding that full salary should be paid to Bro. Patton during his illness.
"Bro. Jacob Creath, Jr., succeeded Bro. Patton, and it became necessary that much of Bro. Creath's time, like that of his predecessor, should be filled by another. A like arrangement was made as before; the Doctor would preach for the church, but the salary of Bro. Creath should be continued and paid him in full. The course of lectures completed, the Doctor received his diploma and left for home.
"The oldest members of the church, I say, remembered Dr. W. H. Hopson. They recalled from the past, over an interval of more than thirty years, the magnanimity, faithfulness and Christian generosity of a brilliant young orator, whose voice was clear,
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whose words were burning with logic and love, and whose devotion and earnestness in a sound faith were unquestioned. In addition to all this, his name was familiar to all as a pulpit orator of the Church of Christ, as a man of noblest integrity, as a companion of peculiar and eminently social qualities, as a neighbor ready to respond, even to self-sacrifice, as a friend to all in need.
"In view of all these considerations, it may well be conceived that now, in 1874, the Doctor was called to this post with a singular and enthusiastic unanimity. The call was accepted, and the engagement began Oct. 1, 1874, to continue for one year, in which time it was believed the church would be placed on the highway to prosperity, Christian usefulness and love. To show that all this was accomplished, one has only to review the results of that year's labor with the church. Larger audiences assembled at the corner of Seventeenth and Olive than ever before; many and valuable accessions were made to the membership; the finances of the church were put on a more satisfactory footing than ever before. An atmosphere of brotherly feeling, of dignified demeanor, gentleness of spirit, confident hope, and intelligent faith, characterized the whole body. It might be tedious to the reader to go through the details of this memorable year, however interesting to the writer, who was an officer of the church at this time, and so they are passed over with the generalization given, except with reference to the occasions thought to be of too much interest to omit.
"Dr. Robert A. Holland, of the Episcopal Church in St. Louis, had promulgated views concerning hell and eternal punishment which seemed contrary to the expressed words of the New Testament. These views were delivered before large audiences, at St. George's Church, St. Louis, and were making a profound sensation, if not an injurious impression. Dr. Hopson announced, in advance, that he would review these opinions and declare the scriptural position concerning them. When the appointed time arrived, the church was crowded to its utmost capacity with people from all churches, and from various walks of life. The Doctor appeared just a little flurried when he read his text and began his address. The cause was not known, and it created some anxiety on the part of his particular friends. But this was only momentary. Soon that noble bearing and characteristic composure which he uniformly exhibited, plainly told
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that the 'Old Man Eloquent' was fully himself, and confident of the truth of his cause. "If there was a slight agitation on the part of the speaker, the ground of it is at once seen when the reader is told that when the Doctor left his study to enter the audience-room, the former was filled with smoke and the church was on fire. This fact was known only to the Doctor and the sexton, whom he left to fight the fire alone. To give an unnecessary alarm would defeat the object in view. The people would rush precipitately from the house, and they could not be restored to order soon. Not to do so might still prove disastrous if the sexton should fail to subdue the blazing fire below. Under the circumstances, most men would have been more excited than he was.
"The fire was subdued by the sexton, and forgotten by the speaker; but a fire was kindling in the eye of the orator as he rose with his theme. The reporter in front at times ceased his curious writing, and gazed intently and rapt at the speaker. The audience leaned forward to gather, not only the spirit of the utterances, but to catch every intonation and articulation. There were passages of power and passages of beauty, of rhetoric and of logic; as when the waters of the great deep lap the shore, their harmony delights and charms, although while you look and listen you are conscious of the presence of superhuman power�so with the gentlest, softest speech, you may discover overmastering power in that very gentleness. When that power is presented without restraint and unsoftened, everything is swept before it; and emotion is swallowed up in a sense of helplessness. There was something like this as the speaker reached the climax. A painful breathlessness was upon all. The prayer of the speaker seemed to possess the hearts of the people,
" 'That to the height of this great argument
I may assert eternal Providence,
And Justify the ways of God to man.'
"From the height to which the audience was carried the descent was as graceful as it was masterly. The two hours address did not appear half that long. An imperfect report of the speech appeared in the next day's Globe-Democrat, and, imperfect as it is it bears marks of a giant's blows. To the credit of Dr. Holland be it known, he attempted no reply,none, at least, known to the writer.
"The Doctor's engagement with the church ended the 30th,
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day of September, 1875. The Doctor had been unanimously elected President of Christian University at Canton, Mo., and had accepted the call to that honorable and important position. The church in St. Louis must lose his services. The 30th of September was his last day with the Olive Street Church. It was also the twenty-fifth anniversary of his marriage-his silver wedding day. The occasion will never be forgotten by the many friends of the Doctor and his wife.
"The ladies of the church supplemented the elegant silver service from the Louisville church, with knives, forks, spoons and other beautiful and useful articles needed. J. W. Ellis, one of the elders before mentioned, delivered an address to the happy and grateful couple when they entered the parlor; after which the company repaired to the dining room, where a sumptuous wedding supper was awaiting them. The writer recalls the faces of Joseph Harrison and wife, Dr. Hiram Christopher and wife, W. G. Fife and daughter, Julia, his wife, being too ill to come, R. C. Weirick and wife, George Rhorer and wife (the latter presided in the dining room, as did Mrs. J. G. Allen and Mrs. J. W. Ellis in the parlor), Henry Rhorer and wife, Edward Wilkerson and wife, John Burns and wife, Walter Burns, Robert Stockton and wife, Thomas A. Russell and wife, Cyrus Jones and wife, Gen. Boyle and wife, John G. Allen, Dr. McPheeters, of the Missouri Medical College, an early friend of the Doctor's. Besides these, there were more than one hundred others. The occasion was one of the pleasantest in the memory of the church, most of whom were present. Friendship and Christian love blended in an indissoluble chain of sincere affection.
"The Chair of the university was awaiting the newly-chosen occupant. The time of the scholastic year was passing, and the Doctor hurried away to his new field of labor, followed by the benedictions and prayers of a devoted people.
"J. W. Ellis, Platsburg, Mo."
The following day we left them, and moved to our new home at Canton. His salary was not as much by $500 as in St. Louis, but he thought it would go as far, as living was much cheaper.
He felt now that he was settled for life. An oppor-
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tunity offered to secure a valuable piece of property for a home, on time to suit purchaser. He bought the place formerly owned by Dr. Samuel Hatch. It was by far the most desirable place for us in Canton. The following year the Doctor added two rooms to it, and we soon had ten boarders. Our family now numbered seventeen.
The Doctor entered upon his work with zeal and energy; he loved it, and determined to make it a success. He was especially proud of his Bible college, and regarded his class of students in that department as very promising. He had a corps of young but thoroughly competent professors, all eager to do all they could to build up the University. Prof. Carter, the senior professor, was a graduate of Bethany College, and subsequently at the University of Virginia. He was Professor of Ancient and Modern Languages, and a thorough scholar.
The session of' '75 and '76 was promising, considering the little time allowed for advertising the change of faculty in the university.
The summer of '76 the Doctor spent canvassing the State for students. The summer was very hot and dry. I accompanied him on his tour; very often we would have water to drink that had been hauled a long distance, and had stood in barrels two or three days. The middle of July we were both attacked with flux. The Doctor had no time to stop for rest and take medicine, but spoke nearly every night to a new audience, and traveled every day. By the time we arrived at home, the last of August, the disease had become chronic with both of us. The week following, the State meeting met in Canton.
A large number of strangers were present from different portions of the State. Dr. H. was busily engaged all the time in attending to the interests of the meeting, the en-
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tertainment of the guests, and preparation for opening the college. Before the close of the meeting the students began to arrive, and everything was bustle and confusion.
When the Doctor felt assured of the success of the school, he had written to Mr. Cave, then living in Gordonsville, Va., and obtained his consent to take a position as professor in the Bible school. This was most fortunate for the Doctor as well as for the University. He arrived with his family a few days before the session opened, and was ready to assist in every way in organizing, and carrying out the plans proposed by the Doctor. He was in every sense a tower of strength to him.
Notwithstanding we were both unfit to do anything, we were compelled to enter upon the arduous work of teaching,the Doctor in the college proper, and I in the preparatory department. Father and mother presided over our domestic affairs. The Doctor felt that in a few weeks, with a little care, he would be entirely restored to health.
With Mr. Cave to assist him in his work, a full school, earnest and competent professors, a house full of boarders, surrounded by his whole family, he said he had all he could ask his heavenly Father for. Instead of his health improving, it became worse. The disease was so insidious in its progress he did not realize the extent of its inroads until he was prostrated in February, 1877. By care and good nursing I had fully recovered my health, and was now ready to nurse him. For a month his life hung by a slender thread. His physicians fought the attack of the grim monster inch by inch. One of them was with him nearly all the time, night and day. All that human skill could do was done, and all it could avail was to save his life, not restore him to health. But
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to show what a brave, heroic struggle he made for life and health, and how patiently he bore his deep disappointment in not being able to build up an institution of learning worthy our large brotherhood, I would write Finis here. Mr. Cave spent every hour he could spare from his duties at the college by the Doctor's bedside; an own son could not have done more. All night he was lying on a couch in the room, and at the slightest move on the Doctor's part was beside him; and for four weeks I never undressed to retire for the night. But there was one there whose great grief overshadowed all,his mother. She felt she could not live to lose her boy, her only idolized one, and night and day she prayed that God would take her and spare him. Her prayer was answered. By the middle of March the Doctor was able to sit up a little while, and pronounced out of immediate danger. Thursday mother was not well, but staid part of the day in the room with him. Friday she spent most of the day in bed; that night she grew worse, and died Saturday morning at 10 o'clock,I believe of a broken heart. Who can measure the depth of a mother's love for an only child?
The people of Canton were all so kind, but to the kind physicians I feel we owe a debt of gratitude we can never pay, Drs. Hawkins, Tompkins and Turner, of Canton, and Dr. Christy, of Monticello. Bro. Dr. Lucas often came in from his country home to stay all night or spend a day. May God reward them all, as we never can.
My niece, Miss Lord, had taken my place in school while the Doctor was so ill. She married early in March, and I was obliged to resume my duties as teacher. I was now compelled to attend to my own housekeeping, and how I did miss mother, no one can tell. I had to go up
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to the college by 7:30 A. M.; before I left I would cook the Doctor's slight breakfast myself, give out dinner and supper, eat my breakfast, and prepare lunch for seven boarders who did not come home to dinner. Father remained with us until the middle of April, and attended to my marketing still; when he left, it all devolved upon me. He felt anxious to spend his last days with his son in St. Louis. He only lived a year and a few days after mother's death.
A very short time after he left, Prof. Kay, a noble young man greatly beloved by us all, left us to go home, and to die three months later. He was the eldest son of Bro. Wm. Kay, of Louisville. He had several hemorrhages from the lungs before we could persuade him to rest. The whole burden of managing the school now fell upon Mr. Cave, and he sustained himself with such dignity and judgment beyond his years that, upon Dr. Hopson's resignation, he was elected President of the University.
The Doctor improved steadily, but slowly, the rest of the year; but he felt his work in the school was done. By January, 1878, he was able to preach, and the church in Lexington called him again to take charge of it. He consented, believing the change would benefit him. And it did; he improved for several months. He purchased the Apostolic Times, his old paper, and he and Bro. Cozine continued it more than a year. Still dregs of his old disease were in his system, and he determined to seek some quiet home where he would have but little care and could rest.
His old church in Palmyra gave him a call. We left Lexington for the last time in January, 1880, for our last field of labor. We met a warm welcome from our old
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friends of ante-bellum days, and for a while he seemed to rally; but it was evanescent. In a little over a year he was at death's door again. Dr. J. N. Coons was called in, and in three months the Doctor was relieved of the disease; but the physician could never give back the wasted nerve force, and from that day to this he has been steadily growing weaker and weaker. Not a murmur or complaint has ever escaped his lips. I have never heard him question why he was stricken down in the very zenith of his usefulness, when the ripe experience of years would have made him invaluable in the councils of his brethren; when, as an educator, he could have had a mighty influence in molding the minds of the rising generation.
We spent one year with Mr. Cave in Nashville, but I thought the climate did not agree with him; and our house in Canton being unoccupied, we returned there. I was able to secure some boarders, and a small art class; the two supported us very well. The second year I taught a private school in the house, still retaining my boarders. Before the close of the school the Doctor became so feeble I was compelled to dismiss my pupils.
At this time Dr. Ringland of Riverside Sanitarium, opposite Keokuk, Iowa, made me the proposition to accept the position of matron of the institution, and for my services I was to receive board and treatment for the Doctor and myself. I thought there was some hope of the treatment doing him good, and as a last resort I accepted. He did seem to improve the first four months, but his strength began to fail him again, and for the first time I gave up all hope of a cure. If the various treat-
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ments there given could not benefit him, I felt sure nothing would.
He wanted to come to his children. I wrote Mr. C., and he and Sadie met us in Hannibal, Mo., and from there we came to Nashville, where, surrounded by all he loves best, he is waiting for the summons to come up higher.
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