LIFE OF

PREFACE.

          THIS book is not the outgrowth of the author's mind, but the record of a life which was, in many respects, a very remarkable one. The material for the book consisted of the manuscripts of the deceased, reports of his work as found in various journals, both secular and religious, and the personal recollections of those who knew and loved him. The writer's work has been mainly that of collecting and arranging the material from the sources above mentioned. To one and all who have aided in the work I tender my hearty thanks, and feel that it will be a pleasure for them to know that they have helped to place in a permanent form an account of the life and labors of one so worthy of being remembered.

          That the hearts of the readers may be stirred, as mine has been while writing this brief story of an earnest, unselfish, and useful life, is the wish of the

AUTHOR.

CONTENTS.

Poem—What the "Christian" and "Standard" Said—Challen's Last Song—Farewell

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LIFE OF KNOWLES SHAW.

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CHAPTER I.

Birth and Parentage-Removal to Indiana-State of Society-A Disaster-Death of His Father-His Legacy-A Famous Fiddler-Jack of all Trades-Sowing Wild Oats.

Knowles Shaw was born in Butler County, Ohio, on the 13th of October, 1834. His father, Albin Shaw, and mother, whose maiden name was Huldah Griffin, were of Scotch descent. A few weeks after the birth of Knowles, their first child, they removed to Rush County, Indiana. That portion of the State was at that time a new settlement; indeed the whole State was then regarded as being "out West." The population was a poor but hardy class of people, but, as the sequel has proved, possessing the elements necessary for growth and prosperity. The extent of this growth since the time of which we write is indeed marvelous; from a forest it has become a fruitful field; from a new country, destitute of nearly all the comforts and blessings of civilized life, it has become, within the memory of those yet living, dotted over with large towns and cities, alive with busy trade and the hum of manufactories, while its railways, like the arms of a giant, gather the products of all the lands between the oceans. Its advancement in mental and moral culture has kept pace with its material prosperity; the change from the almost unbroken forest to the cultivated farm has not been greater than that from the scanty, as well as rude facilities fur instruction to those of every grade now so abundant, from the everywhere present common school to the university, rich in all the appliances of scientific and classic learning.

The parents of the subject of our story belonged to the humble hard-working class, which form the chief element of all new settlements, and his early days were spent amid the hardships and privations inseparable from a pioneer life. What he was in after life was not on account of any favorable surroundings in his earlier years, for the early-settlers in this then new country had too hard a struggle in subduing the forest and gaining a scanty subsistence to pay much attention to either moral or intellectual culture. The means and helps to such improvements, as in all new localities, were either wanting or of the rudest description, nor were the schoolmasters and preachers of the time wholly unsuited to the somewhat unsightly buildings in which the elements of learning and religion were taught. During the summer and fall, religious meetings were often held under the shade of the beeches, or in a grove of tall shapely sugar-trees, the hearers finding natural seats on fallen trees, or on the green sward—usually, however, the rude log building; with its puncheon floor, clapboard roof, openings for windows, admitting at the same time light and air, and benches with unsteady legs and without backs; which during the portions of the year that could not be profitably employed in out-door labor was used as a school-house, served as a church as often as some John the Baptist of a brighter dispensation not far distant was found to call the people to repentance or point them to a land, which to all seemed a better land because it was a land of rest.

In bad weather the leaky roof and open crannies, which permitted the cold blast to enter too freely, was a great cause of discomfort, and as stoves had not come into general use their place was sometimes supplied by huge iron sugar-kettles, in which charcoal fires were kept burning, making it more than warm enough for those who sat near them, while those more remote were often pinched with cold. Both heat and cold, however, were endured without complaint, for preaching was uncommon enough to be a luxury, no matter how cold or hot the house might be; and there are those yet who go back in fond memory to those days, and think that heaven seemed nearer then, with only a roof that could not keep out the rain, than now, with frescoed ceilings, cushioned seats, light softened by stained glass, spire pointing heavenward, and the bell calling all to the house of prayer.

It was in this very region that Edward Eggleston laid the scene and found much of his material for the ''Hoosier Schoolmaster," and "The End of the World "-novels and romances we call them-but many of the scenes are drawn from real life in Southeastern Indiana, less than forty years ago. The writer of these pages spent several days at a Millerite campmeeting in that region in the summer of 1843, when the " End of the World," the second coming of Christ, was looked for daily, nay hourly, and heard from the lips of those who were waiting and wishing for the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven, the wonderful dreams they had, and the strange portents written on the face of the midnight sky, which assured them beyond all doubt that the day of the Lord was at hand. The stirring exhortations and the sweet songs, which woke the forest echoes ever and anon during the night-watches, and which welcomed each dawn which might be the dawn of the last day of time, are still fresh in my memory, and the glad hopes of those who had given up all earthly interests in full assurance that the time was at hand, and the fears of those not fully convinced and wholly unprepared for suck an event, made an impression on my mind of which none but those who mingled in those scenes can form the slightest conception.

It was not far from this locality that young Shaw, then a boy of some nine or ten years of age, was then living. His lot in life, as already intimated, was a lowly one: toil and privation came as soon as he was able to endure the one and feel the other. Nothing in his horizon seemed hopeful, nothing to indicate that he would be known beyond the very narrow circle in which he moved. A heart here and there among companions as humble as himself he might bind to his own in friendship or love, but beyond this nothing but a toiler and plodder, who would soon leave as little trace of himself in the great world around as the traveler whose footprints on the sea-shore are effaced by the first returning tide. In the meantime two other children, a boy and girl, had been added to the family, making greater the demands upon the labors of the father, which were freely given-for children are even more welcome in the cottage of the poor than the abode of wealth and luxury-in the former case being the greatest and almost only joy.

Albin Shaw loved his children, and made every effort in an honorable way to secure for them such advantages as would fit them for usefulness in after life, or to leave them and their mother a competency in the event of his being early called away. To this end he labored with his hands, as farmer and tanner, traded in cattle at one time, and finally engaged in selling goods in a small village in Rush County. He would sometimes collect the three children around him and prognosticate their future by examining their heads. That of his oldest son was a puzzle to him: his conclusion was that he would make a terrible bad man or a very good one; that whatever he did he would do with all his might.

Knowles, though but a child, was always busy, and one of his early inventions came near proving a serious disaster. Like most boys he was fond of fire-arms; he made a wooden gun and loaded it, but all his efforts to make it go off were in vain. As a last resort he dropped a coal of fire into the muzzle, which produced the desired effect sooner than he expected, and his face was severely burned. Smarting with pain he got a coarse towel and rubbed off the blistered skin, to escape, as he afterward explained, being powder-marked. It is needless to say that this was an end to experiments in that direction.

But a sad and unlooked for calamity was at hand. The father, the bread-winner of the family, was taken sick, soon became worse, and one day feeling that the end was near, had Knowles called to his bedside to give him his parting words. They were few and brief-little more than, "My son, be good to your mother," and, "Prepare to meet your God." His last gift was a violin, which had often been a solace to him in his life of toil, and soon after the weary toiler closed his eyes on what had been a world of toil and care to open them on earth no more.

This event to the family was a great calamity, making their hard lot harder still, and brought upon young Shaw, then about twelve years of age, cares and responsibilities unknown before. Boy as he was, he strove to make his mother's burden lighter, and labored to the full extent of his ability to aid her in raising her dependent family. He grew to be a stout, hearty youth, able when but a boy in years to do a man's work; and this he did not only without complaint, but cheerfully, showing that the dying father's words, "Be good to your mother," had not been forgotten. Nor did he forget his father's legacy, the old violin. From infancy music had been a passion; and now all his spare moments, when the toils of the day were over, were devoted to his father's gift, and he soon was able to play upon it with the ease and skill known only to a born musician. A talent like this could not be kept secret. The neighbors would often drop in to see the widow Shaw, but never left until Knowles had been called on for a tune—one only paved the way for another, and the evening would wear into night before the listeners were aware how the hours had sped by. It soon came to pass that he was invited to play at other places than at home; and in a short time no social gathering or merry-making of any kind was complete unless enlivened by the merry strains of his violin.

But under all this there lurked a great danger; and when the circumstances are known there is little cause for wonder that he fell into the snare. One of the greatest evils of the times of which we write was intemperance. At all gatherings in a new settlement, no matter what the object might be, whisky seemed a necessity. A political gathering without this stimulant to patriotism was unknown; the candidate for office who was not willing to treat those whose votes he sought was very likely to obtain but few on election day, while he who furnished a good supply of the ardent did not lack a goodly number of ardent supporters. The harvest could not be gathered without liquor; a house or barn-raising, or corn-husking, generally ended in a drunken revel. At weddings and all merry-makings liquor was used without stint, and it was not even banished from funerals, for it seemed to possess the power of exciting mirth and assuaging the bitterness of grief. Large religious meetings were not entirely free from its presence, and if a preacher indulged in a little, he was thought none the less devout on that account. Whisky was indispensable at the meeting of friends, and a little was also deemed necessary at parting, and to refuse the proffered glass was a species of rudeness almost unheard of.

Brought up amid such surroundings it is not to be wondered at that young Shaw, who was of a social, lively and excitable temperament, should soon acquire a taste for strong drink. He was the life of every social gathering, a favorite especially with the young, his musical skill the admiration of the whole settlement, and it is not to be wondered at that he was often the soul of the revel and the gayest of the gay. Hundreds of young people in those days danced to his music; every year witnessed an increase of his skill, and with it was an increased demand for his presence and services. He sang a good song, had quite a vein of mimicry, and, though rude and unpolished, he seemed less so from his constant mingling in society than many of his rude companions, and, it must be added, came near being drawn into the vortex of dissipation beyond the power of successful resistance. In addition to what we have said above, there was another feature in the course he was pursuing that had a great tendency to keep and confirm him in it. His musical talent had become a source of profit. At every gathering where his services were in demand a sum of money, sometimes quite a handsome one, was the reward of his skill. This money he never wasted. He remembered well the injunction of his dying father: "Be good to your mother;" and into her hands went nearly all his gains. Even up to this period, when he was changing from boyhood to manhood, he seems to have thought of no higher career than that into which he had insensibly drifted. No one dreamed of him being very much different from what he was, and he had no higher ambition than that of being a good fellow and the best fiddler in the settlement.

Though content with this he had abilities in other directions; none, however, so marked, or in such demand as his talent for music. In other respects many of his companions were his equals, but in music he bore away the palm. His father, as we have seen, was merchant, stock-dealer, tanner, farmer, and also possessed of some musical taste and skill. In this ability to turn his hand to almost anything his son not only resembled, but greatly excelled him. He learned to make shoes in a single week, made grain-cradles for the neighbors, was a  carpenter, plasterer, and on one occasion greatly astonished a watchmaker from whom he obtained permission to use his tools, by taking his watch to pieces, cleaning it, and putting it together again in good order, as if cleaning a watch were an every-day affair with him. He knew so many things from the habit of close observation that he had cultivated, that one of the neighbors quaintly expressed the general sentiment in regard to him by saying that "Knowles Shaw's head was like a tar-bucket, for everything that touched it stuck to it."

After he grew older he spent a short time as a clerk in a store, taught school several terms, and having at one time fallen in with a teacher who professed to be able to give instructions in Greek and Latin, he became a pupil, and in one month learned all his teacher knew.  Whether this was due to the aptness of the pupil, or to the meager attainments of the teacher, tradition does not inform us. But we are anticipating the order of events, and must resume the thread of our narrative.

He was now nearly eighteen years of age, a man in size, tall, angular, somewhat awkward, but kind-hearted, good-tempered, and industrious, which rendered him a general favorite.

As far as book-learning was concerned, he was extremely deficient. The few facilities for improvement that might have been used he was obliged to neglect, in order to meet the demands made upon him by the family, which regarded him as their chief dependence. To labor for them seemed a pleasure, as well as a duty, and the self-denial he had to practice in order to provide for them was cheerfully endured.

It will not surprise the reader, in view of what has been said in regard to the company he kept and the habits he had learned, that he did not seem to be religiously inclined. His position to Christianity, however, was rather that of  neglect and indifference than of dislike and opposition. The gay and thoughtless were his companions. Like himself, many of them were "sowing their wild oats," without stopping to ask the question, What shall the harvest be? And nothing doubtless, at this period, would have seemed more improbable to him and all who knew him than that he should become a Christian, and also a preacher of that faith to others.

Previous to this time the movement called the Reformation, but more generally known as "Campbellism," had made considerable progress in Rush County, being advocated with great zeal and ability by several preachers whose names have long been household words, not only in that locality but all over the State and throughout the West—such as B. Franklin, H. K. Pritchard, R. K. Smith, and George Campbell. Several churches had been organized, and, among others, one known as the Flat Rock congregation, in the neighborhood where young Shaw was living.

The views of the new religious party of course had given rise to much discussion, and the controversial discourses of the ministers of other bodies, who disputed its claims, and those of that body, in turn in defense, gave more than usual interest to the preaching of that period, especially when a man of more than ordinary ability from either party was to hold forth. On such occasions large crowds were wont to assemble, and among them the young fiddler, not from any special interest, perhaps, in the subject under discussion, but because everybody was there.

Chapter II.

Sudden Change—Scene in a Ball—Room-Mental Conflict—Battle with the Devil—His Baptism—Thirst for Knowledge—Marriage—Decides To Be A Preacher.

But a nature like his was not to run wild and to waste; a nobler career than that of ministering to the pleasures of the thoughtless and mirth-loving was soon to open before him; instead of being the leader in every scene of gayety and folly, he was soon to enter upon a life of lofty purpose and toil, and to turn the feet of thousands into the way of righteousness and peace.

This great change in the current of his thoughts and life was sudden, and had a strange beginning. One night he was playing the violin for a large company of dancers, and in that most unlikely of all places for serious thought, there came into his mind the dying advice of his father, in the impressive words of the prophet: "Prepare to meet thy God." They came unbidden; they forced themselves upon him with a power that he could not resist; they seemed to him not only a voice from the grave but a message from heaven. Still the dance went on; but the gayer the crowd became, the sadder grew the heart of the player, whose mirthful strains were at such variance with the solemn thoughts with which his mind was occupied.

A young lady observing the sadness of his look, and the abstraction of his manner, approached him and said: ''Knowly, what is the matter?" He told without reserve the state of his mind; and it was with strange feelings that she resumed her place through the set, to music which she knew mocked the feelings of the sad-hearted player. The dance ceased; another set was formed, and all were waiting for the music to begin. To the astonishment of all, Shaw, in response to the call to "strike up," said he could not play any more. A dozen voices called on him to begin, when he gravely walked out into the middle of the floor and told all that had been passing through his mind; told of his father's dying words, neglected till then, and expressed his determination never to play for another dance. He expressed regret for his past course of life; that it was not such as it should have been; that it might do if this life were all; but in view of the life to come, he must pursue another course. He then asked the company, about forty in all, to promise that they would throw no hindrance in the way of his attempt to lead a new life. His sadness, manliness, and earnestness reached their hearts. They gave the promise he asked; and to their honor be it said, they not only kept it, but some of them even gave him help and encouragement to keep the resolve which under such strange surroundings he had made. This proved to be no passing fancy; it was the turning point in his life; and to the life which he had been leading he never from that hour longingly looked back.

It must be remembered that this was the act of a somewhat rough and uneducated country boy, but only the nobler and more remarkable on that account. It displayed a moral courage, heroic as well as rare, and showed the awakening of a great soul to the solemn duties and responsibilities of life.

In a mood far different from his usual one on leaving such scenes of festivity, he reached his home that night, and found his mother sitting up for him. But his manner was greatly changed; instead of a lively description of the great dancing party, and imitations of the various characters there, which his talent for mimicry often led him to indulge in, he was silent and thoughtful. He asked for a bowl of bread and milk, and when he had eaten asked for a blanket, and wrapped in this he passed the night on the floor. For several days he ate nothing but a little bread and milk, and spent the nights on the floor, wrapped in his blanket. During this time he seldom closed his eyes, and was evidently passing through a severe mental conflict. To his mother's frequent entreaties to tell her his trouble, he made reply that he was having a battle with the devil. All the difficulties of the course he had entered upon came vividly before him; the possibility of the family suffering for lack of the help his violin had enabled him to afford them; the difficulty of providing for them by manual labor; the power of appetite to which he had yielded; the associations which he had formed which must be broken, made those sleepless nights seem long and terrible. Any thought of yielding he regarded as the whispering of the devil; he struggled on and was victorious. He now began to attend the services at the Flat Rock Church with a feeling and purpose far different from that which had taken him there before; the clear scriptural views presented were like light from heaven to one who had long walked in darkness; and after a sermon from Gabriel McDuffie, and an exhortation by Elder George Campbell, he publicly confessed his faith in Jesus Christ, and was immersed by George Thomas, the elder of the church, on the 13th of September, 1852.

What a treasure now would be a full report of the doings of that bright autumn day; the discourse of "Uncle Gabriel," as the preacher was affectionately called; the exhortation of George Campbell, a Boanerges in zeal, and rising, as many still remember, when calling sinners to repentance, to the highest degree of tender and pathetic entreaty; the company gathered on the banks of the stream; the words of prayer at the administration of the solemn rite; the sweet song at the close, and the serene joy of the young convert, in the assurance that he was Christ's, and that Christ was his. All this must be left to the imagination. But one thing is certain: that there would have been even a deeper feeling and an intenser joy could the godly men who took part in the doings of that day have foreseen the multitudes the young convert should bring to the Master's feet. As it was, to young Shaw it was a day never to be forgotten. From that hour, life had to him a new meaning; it was no longer to be a mere struggle for the bread that perishes, but an endeavor for a better life beyond the present-a race in which an immortal crown might be won.

Many predicted that he would soon be as careless and jolly as ever; and when they observed the attention paid him by Uncle Gabriel McDuffie, under whose ministry he had been converted, and who strove to help and encourage him all in his power, they said, with a sneering smile: "The old man is wasting his time on Shaw; he'll soon be back in the ball-room, fiddling as lively as ever." This came to Shaw's ears, and he said that he hoped to prove himself worthy of the old brother's attention and care; he conducted himself toward him as a son in the gospel, and it cheered the old man's heart to find that the seed he had sown was not in vain.

He now felt more painfully than ever his lack of education, and at once set about to remedy that defect. In consequence of being compelled to labor constantly to supply the needs of those who were dependent on him, his progress was slow; still he contrived to gather and retain much useful knowledge. He had an excellent memory, a quick and lively fancy, some readiness of expression; and these all combined had the effect of making him seem better informed than many who had enjoyed far superior advantages, but who could not use as freely as he the stores which they possessed. It must not be inferred from the above that he had attained to any great degree of scholarship. Such was not the case. In every elementary training he was extremely deficient; but he made the best possible use of what he heard and read, and thus laid up a magazine of facts which he was able to turn to a good account in after years.

His thirst for knowledge increased with every acquisition; and while he had not the least idea at that time of entering public life, he was unconsciously preparing himself for such a work as that to which he afterward was providentially called. He was a faithful and consistent member of the church all this time, growing stronger every day, and highly esteemed by his fellow-members.

Over two years of such a life as we have described passed away, and we find him working as a farm hand for one of the neighbors, Mr. George R. Finley, for whose daughter Martha he in process of time conceived a high regard. This feeling was mutual, and ripened into something more than esteem; and it was soon the old story, that has been repeated over and over again. They became more than all besides to each other, and they were married on the 11^th of January, 1855. He was at this time only a few months over twenty years of age, poor in this world’s goods, but hopeful and buoyant in spirit. With a stout heart and strong hands, he saw no reason why life should not be a success.

Nearly four years of his married life passed, one of which was spent in Missouri, with little to mark it beyond what is common to an industrious, hardworking man. Each day brought its toil, and at the same time the simple home-born joys, which are the dearest heritage of the poor. During these years the young couple were blessed with two children, Georgie Anna, born on the 3d of June, 1856, and Mary Elizabeth, born on the 31st of October, 1858. All this time Knowles was faithful in the discharge of his religious duties; would now and then take some humble part in the sacred services, but gave no special promise of future usefulness beyond that of a humble, godly life. On one occasion, at a grove meeting, he was called on to say something. He rose and said: "Brethren and sisters, I have not very much to say; but I am thankful to the Lord for the mercy he has shown me. When I first joined the church I thought that was all I had to do; but one day Squire Layton said to me: 'Shaw, if you were out of corn, and some kind, good man, would say, "Come to my crib and get all the corn you want, and I will charge you nothing for it," would you take the corn and go away without thanking him?' I replied, 'No, sir.' 'Then,' added he, 'when the Lord gives you the hope of everlasting life, will you not thank him?' I said, 'Yes.' And I do thank him from the depths of my heart."

As already intimated, he had made some efforts at self-improvement, and not wholly in vain; but his knowledge was fragmentary, and as yet he was almost entirely without that training of the mind which alone deserves the name of education.

On the third Lord's Day of October, 1858, from some cause or other, he was called on to talk to the people who had gathered for worship. He made the attempt with some diffidence and confusion at first; but gradually gaining his self-possession, he made a brief address, marked by such good sense, and delivered with such unaffected earnestness, that his hearers were satisfied that they had before them one possessed of the elements of a successful preacher. As a trial sermon before an assemblage of ministers, it would doubtless have been regarded as greatly lacking in most of the elements of a popular address; but his hearers judged by their hearts, by what they felt, and the decision rendered by nearly all was, that Knowles Shaw would make a preacher. No one was more surprised at the effect of the discourse than the speaker himself. In his deep regard and warm admiration for the men upon whose ministry he had attended with such profit and pleasure, he had not thought it possible that he could ever become such an instrument of good to his fellows as they. The ice, however, was fairly broken; many were convinced that he possessed the elements of great usefulness. Frequent opportunities were afforded for the exercise of his newly-found talent, and each exercise of it served to confirm the first impression he had made.

He was now twenty-four years of age, with less confidence in his natural abilities for public life and usefulness, than most of those who were advising him to that course, and with a far deeper consciousness of his defective, nay, almost utter lack of education. This was one of the great turning points in his life, and what was duty, was pondered over with an intensity not inferior to that which marked the period described in the preceding portion of the chapter, when, during the watches of many a sleepless night, he struggled against Satan and gained a victory.

That one in such a lowly condition in life, and so little enlightened in point of learning, should feel so deeply may appear strange; but it must not be forgotten that he was both poet and musician, and though his powers as such had not been developed to any great extent at this time, he had even then the musician's sensitive nature and the poet's heart. There was slumbering in his breast at that time a power to move men which no man among the hundreds of thousands among his brethren ever possessed to the same degree—a power possessed by few in this generation—and it was this that made a mental struggle greater with him than with other men. Prayer, and deep, earnest reflection, marked these days. The advice of trusted friends, especially that of Uncle Gabriel, was carefully weighed; and the result was a decision to devote his days to the great work of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Chapter III.

Student and Teacher—Preacher and Temperance Lecturer—Success In the Ministry-Method of Working- Analysis of his Character-Sketch by T. W. Caskey.

His true vocation was found at last, and to it he felt all his powers must be made tributary; and his future life showed an entire consecration to his work. His education at this time was little more than begun, and for some time he was teacher and pupil—teaching what he knew in the district school, and at the same time learning as he could, what was most important for him to know in regard to the life work on which he had entered.

One of his pupils at that time, but now a lawyer in Rush County, says, "the district in which Shaw taught had rather a bad name, the boys generally managing the school instead of the teacher. The first day of the term we were all on hand, wondering how he would suit, and from what we had heard of him rather inclined to think that our rule would continue. Our teacher was a very tall man, three or four inches over six feet, rather slender, with large hands and feet—able, from all appearance, to enforce whatever rules he might prescribe. He had an agreeable voice, and quite a pleasant expression of countenance; and the first impression was a favorable one. He called the school to order, and gave us his rules; indeed, he had but one, which he announced somewhat as follows: 'Boys, I expect you to do as I do; what I do and say you are at liberty to do and say; if I lie, you can lie; if I swear, you can swear if I fight, you can fight; but if you do any of these things and I don't, you will get a whipping.' No one was whipped that term. There was crying done at the close of the term by nearly all of us, but it was because we had to part with our teacher, whom we had soon come to regard as our best friend. When there was any work to be done about the school-house or yard he was always first to begin, and then say, 'Come on' to the boys, who never refused to follow his example. We all got to like him, and when he preached we were sure to be present. We also got him to make temperance addresses, and we all did our part to make such meetings a success. I remember well when he was to make his first temperance speech, that an old toper who was there was talking very hard about Shaw before he came, on account of his views on temperance; but when he came the old man went in to hear him, and before the lecture was over he was crying like a child, and said he had never seen the subject in that light before."

All this time he was preaching, whenever and wherever, he found an opportunity. His improvement was very marked. He began to receive invitations to preach at various places in the county, and when scarcely a year had passed after he entered fully upon his work, he was regarded as a useful man, and one who gave great promise of increased usefulness in the future. His musical talent, too, now began to attract far more attention than when his skill on the violin was the admiration of all the pleasure-loving people for miles around; even more than by his preaching, were multitudes moved and melted by his songs; and soon he was widely known as the "Singing Evangelist."

He was now fairly launched upon his wonderful career, which brought so much toil to him, and so much blessedness to those for whom his labor was given. Conversions began to attend his labors, and this only stimulated him to greater effort. God, he felt, was thus owning his work in the salvation of his fellow-men.

The first record we can find of his success is in the Millennial Harbinger for 1861, only about two years after he began to preach. It is as follows: ''Brother Knowles Shaw, a young evangelist, writing from Rushville, Indiana, says: 'At all my meetings this year some sixty persons have enlisted under the banner of Christ.’” Under date of August 28th, of the same year, we hear from him again in these terms: "At our meeting in Hamilton County there were three additions by confession and immersion. Brother Van Winkle was with us during the meeting. At a meeting at New Hope, of ten days' continuance, there were fifty-one additions-forty-three by confession and baptism. Brother H. R. Pritchard was with us a part of the time. We also held a meeting in Madison County, where there were seventeen additions. And during our last visit to the brethren at Little Flat Rock there were four additions. We have determined to preach the gospel, the whole gospel, and nothing but the gospel, to the best of our ability."

His life had always been one of great activity. It was not less so now, but in an entire different direction. He knew nothing of the usual routine of a preacher's life, either in his preparation for his work or the actual performance of it. Of theology he knew nothing, only as he had heard it from the pulpits of the various religious parties, and he had no narrow creed of his own to cramp and fetter his powers. Instead of living in a library, with books only for his companions, and bringing before the people once or twice a week the results of his reading and study, he came before them with a message drawn from the one Book, and suited to the wants of men in all the various conditions in which they are found. He was the farthest possible remove from the conventional preacher in almost every particular—in dress, manners, habits, and intercourse with men; and the reader will fail utterly in his conception of him if he thinks of him as an average modern preacher, differing in only a few unimportant particulars from all the rest of his class. He lived among the people whom he taught and strove to save, as one of them; his visits were not of a solemn and formal character; he sought them in the shop, the forest, the field; a street conversation was often the occasion of impressing serious reflections on the minds of those he met. Instead of delaying the work of those he called upon, he would take hold and help while he talked, and thus release them from anything like constraint; learn all their wants, doubts, troubles, and also enter into their joys, and leave them better far for the call and with minds made up, even without an invitation, to hear him preach the next Sunday without fail. He had a song for the children of the families that he dropped in to see, and cheered the parents, while apparently seeking to please the children. If the clock was out of order, a few touches from his hand would often set it right; if the sewing-machine would not work it was soon in smooth running order, and the good wife thought no less of the preacher who was so handy, and not at all stuck up, but just like other folks.

Few men could get better acquainted in a strange place sooner than he. During one of his meetings he would be going nearly all the time, from morning till night, going into nearly every place of business, and getting acquainted with everybody. If a death took place he needed no invitation to attend the funeral, and sometimes gave consolation, which was all the sweeter to the sorrowing from the fact that it was the offering of a stranger. Once when in a strange city he wandered out to the graveyard. While there a young child was brought for burial; the parents were not members of any church; he joined the sad company, talked a little at the grave, sang one of his tender songs, and made such an impression on the mourning ones that they came to hear him preach that same evening.

In this way he made himself acquainted with human life in all its phases, and by mingling freely with society during the week, he knew how to meet their various wants when he met them on Sunday at the house of God. His chief studies were the Bible and human nature, and the great secret of his power over men consisted in first learning their precise needs, and then meeting those needs with what the word of God furnished. This made his sermons often lack in unity; but if varied they were not more so than the circumstances of his hearers, and when the greatest number of those was reached his end was accomplished. He was fertile in illustration; his knowledge of men and things gave him a rich store of striking similes and figures. He drew largely, also, from his own experience, and, though neither learned nor profound, he seldom failed in one way or other to reach every one of his hearers. But, above all, he was deeply in earnest; all who came in contact with him realized that. He needed not the inspiration of a crowd to call forth his powers; if he had hut few, or, as on a few occasions, but one or two, he seemed to realize the value of the soul, and talked earnestly and tenderly, as did the Master to a few disciples, or to the woman at the well. He did not seem to have the wish, even if he had the power, to make fine speeches; he spoke more for effect, to tell the sick of a cure, to point out the way to the lost.

One or two carefully-prepared sermons per week did not come up to his ideal; the souls of men were always in danger; to save them he felt that he must be always at work. A discourse for every day in the week even was not deemed enough; three per day were not uncommon, and sometimes four. Besides this, he labored much from house to house, doing good as he had opportunity—when opportunity seemed lacking he made one. His powers were so varied that during the progress of a meeting he reached the case of all the classes who came to hear him. One of our most eminent preachers in the South, Elder Caskey, a fine judge of human nature, and who met Shaw when in the height of his usefulness and made him his study, observed this peculiarity to which we have called attention, and to it attributed much of his success.

He says: "He had his peculiar style of saying things and doing things; he conformed to no standard, either of oratory or action; as a logician he was not profound; as a word painter I have heard him excelled; as for pathos, I have heard others who were his superiors in that respect. I am under the impression that his power was owing to a combination of these three elements, that, singly or combined, make up the greatness of all eminent speakers. This combination he possessed in greater degree than any speaker I have ever heard. The reason, perhaps, why he excelled in neither was the absence, to some extent, of what phrenological science calls continuity of thought. When he played the logician, which he could do, it was sharp, cogent, incisive, but always short, never exhaustive. He seemed not to have the power to drive his mental machinery along the track for any considerable length of time, or chose not to do it; his transitions from logic to rhetoric, from reasoning to description, from the serious to the humorous, from tragedy to comedy, were sudden and frequent; consequently there was often a mingling of smiles and tears among the impressible of those who heard him. Versatility was a leading element of his nature. As a musician he had few equals; his power of imitation was wonderful; he could imitate the joyous, strong-faithed Christian, by gestures, looks and words, until you could almost see the sparkle of his eye, the flush on his face, the happy smile on his lips, and hear his glad shout ringing in your ear; then suddenly he would put on a long face, the woe-begone look, the drooping form, and heave the burdened sigh of some poor, doubting, halting, and fearing, John Bunyan-made-Christian, on his way to the Castle of Giant Despair. "

This versatility, so well sketched above, was characteristic of him in the beginning of his evangelical labors, as well as at the period when the above picture was drawn—not under as perfect control, perhaps, at first, as in after years, but, nevertheless, the great and marked peculiarity of the man. With this key to his character we can understand fully why it was that success and usefulness were attained so early. What others reached, in even a small degree, after years of study and patient toil, he reached in a high degree without their advantages, in a much briefer period. In 1860 his work was only fairly begun, but in the ten years following he held more successful meetings than any man in our ranks. Within four or five years from the beginning of his public labors he attracted much attention, and met with great success; and at that early day, when only about thirty years of age, held meetings not inferior in interest and results to those with which we have become so familiar in the later years of his life. He was a growing, a successful preacher from the beginning; he never slackened his efforts, but worked while it was called to-day.

Among his earlier meetings, one held at Tipton, Indiana, is especially worthy of note. This was in May and June, 1864. It was held in the Courthouse, and was attended by great throngs of people. The excitement is compared, by one who was present, to that of a heated political campaign-the people coming from far and near, and resulting in one hundred and thirty-two additions to the church. Among them was a youth only thirteen years of age—at this writing twenty-eight years of age, who has been preaching the gospel for years, and has persuaded hundreds to turn from the evil of their ways. In connection with Brother Pritchard, he had even greater success in a meeting at Jonesville, Indiana, in 1865. This brings us to the most active period of his life, his work fully entered upon, his purposes formed to spend, and be spent, in the work to which he was providentially called. The future chapters will contain the progress of that work, which was one of battles which were victories.

Chapter IV.

Remarkable Meetings—Lebanon, Ohio—Wellsburg, West Virginia, and Other Places—Labors in 1875-6.

          The record of his meetings, and the matters of interest connected with them, would fill a volume, and, while it would be impossible to give all, yet it would be a serious defect to omit a notice of some of his most successful ones. We give a list of twenty of them, and the number added at each.

                                                Additions

Lebanon, Ohio, ….                        252
Buchanan, Michigan, ….               226
St. Louis, Missouri, ….                150
Harrison, Ohio, ….                       144
Jonesville, Indiana, ….                138
Jeffersonville, Indiana, ….          118
Wellsburg, West Virginia, ….      120
Dallas, Texas, ….                        112
Charlestown, Indiana, ….           112
Covington, Kentucky, ….             105
Centerville, Iowa, ….                  103
Quincy, Illinois, ….                        87
Canton, Missouri, ….                     78
Sterling, Illinois, ….                      79
Clarksville, Tennessee, ….           67
Hamilton, Ohio, ….                     122
Waynesville, Ohio, ….                  61
Rushville, Indiana, ….                  56
Little Flat Rock, Indiana, ….        56
Warsaw, Indiana, ….                    50
                                                 2,236

It must be remembered, however, that these are but a few out of a multitude. Only a few months before his death he stated that he had not been out of a protracted meeting for two weeks in succession for thirteen years. With regard to the first place on the foregoing list, he wrote, one year after the organization of the church, as follows:

“THE CHURCH IN LEBANON.

"Lebanon, Ohio, February 8, 1869.

“Brother Errett:—This day, one year ago, the Church of Christ was organized here with fourteen members.

"The meeting had commenced January 8, 1868, in Washington Hall. I knew of but two brethren and their wives here before coming to hold the meeting; found a few others after my arrival. Some of the members in the organization were new converts. Many were the prophecies of failure as this little band stood up and gave each other the hand of fellowship and Christian love, pledging to each other their unfaltering friendship and love in Christ, to stand by each other in persecution, trial, or prosperity, as it might best please our kind heavenly Father.

"The tear-dimmed eyes of that little company spoke eloquently to the crowd assembled, mainly from curiosity, of their sincerity and devotion to the cause of truth.

"The question, 'Does the church still live?' is one often asked. I will briefly answer.

"Yes, thank God, it lives; and not only lives, but prospers. 'Tis pleasant to look back over the year past and see the steps by which this advance has been made.

"We have gained every inch of ground by the severest contests. We can adopt the language of the old hymn: 'We have fought our way through.' We hope to be able to adopt the rest after awhile. The aggregate number of members enlisted during the year is nearly two hundred and ninety. Of these twelve have been withdrawn from, two or three of whom have returned; some have removed to other parts, taking letters; some have passed through the gate of death, leaving behind the sweet assurance of the all-sufficiency of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to cheer them in the valley of death's shadow; leaving us yet over two hundred and fifty struggling for the victory. The Lord's Day school, organized soon after the church was set up, has also prospered, averaging three hundred or more in attendance.

"There has never been a Lord's Day, since the commencement of the church here, but the Disciples have come together to break bread—not a week has passed without at least two prayer-meetings from house to house.

"We occupy the Hall yet, but hope to get a meetinghouse of our own during this year. The Hall we use will accommodate six hundred persons comfortably, and is filled every Lord's Day. We are contributing every Lord's Day as we are prospered, and feel confident of success. The church is poor in purse, but rich in spirit, and doing nobly. May the Lord bless this noble band, and make us all a blessing. To God be all the praise for all these things he has done for us. KNOWLES SHAW. "

During his meeting at Wellsburg, West Virginia, which began in December, 1869, he was called home by the sad tidings of the serious illness of his eldest daughter, then about thirteen years of age. Of this meeting W. K. Pendleton, then editor of the Millennial Harbinger, wrote as follows:

"We have just had the pleasure of spending part of a day with our earnest and devoted brother, Knowles Shaw, of Rushville, Indiana. He is holding a protracted meeting for our neighbors at Wellsburg. It has been two weeks in progress, and up to the present time over one hundred have been added to the church, most of them by baptism. He began the meeting in December, but was summoned home by the illness of a beloved daughter, a noble and lovely Christian girl, whom it pleased the Father soon to take home to himself. We have never been more strongly impressed with the power of the Christian's faith to lighten these heavy crosses than when hearing Brother Shaw speak of his bereavement. There is infinitely more than resignation; the door of the heavenly mansion seems opened to his view, and the radiance from within spans even the dark river.

"Returning to Wellsburg, He has been preaching every evening to crowded houses, and with continually increasing interest on the part of his hearers. A prominent feature in the character of Brother Shaw is earnestness, and God is blessing it as he ever delights to do. He is a man of his own sort, and works in a way all his own. His heart is full of the love of souls, faith in the gospel, and a sense of dependence upon the divine blessing for success; and in this spirit he works, day and night from 'house to house, on the streets, in the offices of business, and in all places where men do congregate. His success is a fine illustration of the power of love to win the prejudiced and to unite the divided. All classes and denominations throng to hear Brother Shaw. They feel that he loves them and the truth, and will sacrifice anything lawful to save them. We hope to have still further triumphs of the truth to record before this meeting is closed."

In the same year he held a meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, during which sixty were added; and immediately after that another in New Albany, Indiana, with twenty-six additions. In 1871 he was at Bellaire, Ohio, and twenty-nine were added as the result of his labors. And in the same year at East Cleveland, it is thus reported:

"Our meeting of three weeks continuance has just closed, with thirty accessions, all by baptism. The circumstances were most unfavorable for a hearing. The streets were blockaded by public improvements, the spring forward, and everybody busy. Notwithstanding, the hearing was large and attentive, the audience and the interest increasing till the close. Brother Knowles Shaw did the preaching, and, by the power of his clearness and earnestness, proved fully adequate for tile occasion and the circumstances. Not merely has he reaped from seed sown by our present pastor, the earnest J. B. Johnson, and other faithful laborers before him, but he has sown seed in other hearts, to bring forth fruit, we trust, to eternal life. Well and faithfully he labored, and God has given a blessed increase.            R. R. SLOAN."

Soon after this he removed to Neosho County, Kansas, and did much for the advancement of the cause of Christ all through that region, holding meetings, gathering together the scattered Disciples, and giving an impulse to the cause that was not soon forgotten. While residing in Kansas he made frequent visits to different States; in every instance holding meetings with marked success. Among other places he preached at Galesburg, Illinois, and also in Peoria, using the Eureka tent for his meetings.

Another meeting in Missouri is thus noticed:

"CLINTON, MISSOURI, June 6, 1872.

"On Lord's Day, May 12th we commenced a protracted meeting in Clinton. Brother Knowles Shaw, famed for his great success in such meetings, was with us. He attended Sunday-school in the morning, and sang several of the fine pieces in his new book, 'Sparkling Jewels.'

Then, just before preaching: he sang another piece or two, and, after service, appointed a meeting for 3½ P.M. for rehearsal. Nearly all the young people of the town came, and they had a grand time, such as Clinton had never seen. At night he had singing for half an hour; then he read and commented for perhaps fifteen minutes on a passage of Scripture, and, after prayer, preached over an hour. The attendance was large and the attention profound. Such was his course throughout the meeting, day and night—half an hour's rehearsal, then reading and comment about a quarter of an hour, then the prayer and the discourse. Our audiences continued to increase until our house was filled to overflowing. Never had the like been seen in Clinton, and the people wondered that a man could talk and sing, and preach and work almost incessantly, day after day, and keep fresh and ready, and never seem tired. Our meeting lasted just three weeks, and closed with fifty-one additions to the congregation. This, considering all the circumstances, is the grandest success I have ever known.

"The work done by Brother Shaw is of incalculable value. He managed by his good singing and good preaching to get the people to come. When they came once the most of them could not be kept away. We got what we have never had before in Clinton—a good hearing—and the people could see and appreciate the difference between what we really preach and what the clergy say we preach. Many who had been sprinkled in infancy, and others who had been persuaded to receive it for Christian baptism, had their sandy foundation taken away, and can never rest secure until they are buried with their Lord in baptism.

" J. A. MENG."

The next year we find him employed, as follows, in Iowa:

''DE SOTO, January 13.

"Brother Knowles Shaw has just closed a series of interesting meetings in this place. He delivered fifty-eight discourses, preaching generally twice each day. Fifty-five accession were made to this congregations during this series of meetings. We have had a very interest and happy meeting. The most earnest prayers and best wishes of this entire congregation go with our dear brother in Christ, who starts for his home in Kansas to-day. This congregation was organized a little more than two years ago. Since that time it has been strengthened by the addition of about one hundred and eighty members.

                                                                   “Wm. M. Roe.”

The following are a few of many meetings in 1874:

“Kansas.

          "Knowles Shaw writes from Atchison, under date of May 15th: 'I have been here four days, and a glorious meeting is already developed. Ten added, and more expected.’”

“Illinois.

"Knowles Shaw's meeting at Golconda continued just two weeks, and resulted in thirty-two additions—four restored, eight from the denominations, and the remainder by confession and baptism."

“Kentucky.

"Nine persons have recently been added to the congregation at Paducah. Knowles stopped at this point on his way from Golconda, Illinois, and remained five days, preaching to very large congregations."

“Indiana.

"At last accounts Knowles Shaw was engaged in a protracted meeting at Bethlehem Chapel, a mission point, we believe, in Indianapolis. He was preaching to crowded houses, and twenty-eight had been added up to August 28^th.”

L. D. Waldo, Rockford, writes, October 28:

"Knowles Shaw came to Rockford September 25, and preached and sung, and prayed and worked, as he only, of all the men I ever saw, can work, for four weeks. Thirty-two additions were made to the church; new zeal awakened in the old members; much prejudice removed from the minds of our religious neighbors, and seed sown that we hope will bring forth fruit to the glory of God.  We thank God and take courage."

"Knowles Shaw closed a meeting at Evansville, December 14, with fifteen additions to the church."

In 1875 he returned to Indiana, making his home at Rushville; but, as ever, his labors were spread over a wide field, as we shall learn from what we give below. The Paducah Daily Times gives the following:

"The meeting that commenced at the Christian Church in this city, in the latter part of last week, is still progressing. The handsome church edifice of the Christian brethren, on Oak Street, is nightly crowded with attentive congregations. A deep interest seems apparent on the part of both men and women, who mingle their voices in songs of praise and thanksgiving for the blessings which the God of love has bestowed upon the children of men. The hundreds that flock to the Christian Church, every morning and evening, to listen to the wonderful singing and preaching of the great revivalist, Elder Shaw, are unaware of the time passed in public worship, and return to their homes filled with the idea that if Elder Shaw is not a very great man he is certainly a very earnest and good man; that if he is not an accomplished scholar and an orator, according to certain fixed rules of the university and the forum, he is eloquent and enthusiastic after his own style; a natural orator, full of sentiment, and prompted in his labors for the good of mankind by what he believes to be ‘the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.’ Honest in his opinions, liberal in his feelings, of ardent temperament, and of manners entirely different from any and every body else in the world, Elder Shaw impresses himself upon his audience with peculiar strength and force. Filled with the spirit of his sublime calling, with heart overflowing with love and kindness for his fellow-man, it is no wonder that his presence in our midst is deemed a source of so much delight to our fellowcitizens of every denomination.

*             *              *                 *             *

"There was an immense audience at the Christian Church, on Oak Street, last night, to listen to the splendid singing and eloquent preaching of the 'Singing Evangelist,' Knowles Shaw. Every available seat was occupied; the altar, and even the pulpit, crowded with a delighted assemblage of our citizens, both young and old. Mr. Shaw has produced a decided sensation in this community. Never, in the history of the Christian Church of this city, has the interest been surpassed to listen to the music of the hymns of Sankey and Bliss, and other productions of the sacred muses. Mr. Shaw is an orator entirely like himself, and unlike any one else that we have ever heard of. He is sui generis in every undeniable respect; he is emphatically Knowles Shaw, and no one else. Some portions of his sermon, last evening, would have done honor to the head and heart of the great Spurgeon or Bascom, or to Bishop Elliott. Crowds nightly flock to the Christian Church to listen to our distinguished visitor, whose powers of song and speech seem inexhaustible. Many who go to scoff, remain to pray. We predict that great good must follow the efforts of Mr. Shaw to advance the cause of his Master among men.

*             *              *                 *             *

"By 7 o'clock last night the church was packed, and great numbers were compelled to go away, not being able to get in. We have never seen a deeper solemnity nor better behavior in a house so crowded. The first thirty minutes was spent in singing, and in some of the songs it seemed as if every one in the house was singing. A great number asked Mr. Shaw to sing ‘Drifting Away,’ which he did, after making a few heart-touching remarks about interference. Mr. Shaw then sang, by request, ‘The half has never been told.' The sermon, last night, was short, but we heard many say that it was the best sermon Mr. Shaw has preached. Numbers stood up without moving during the entire sermon. From the number of verses read and quoted from the Bible, it could be truly said that the word was preached. At the close of the sermon Mr. Shaw made one of his strongest appeals to the unconverted. The congregation then sang, 'Free from the law.' Seven or eight persons went forward to unite with the church, and a number of others were deeply interested. Baptism will be attended to to-night at the close of the meeting.

“We are told that the morning meetings are largely attended. Mr. Shaw's morning talks are short and pointed, and addressed especially to Christians. There are no useless speculations in Mr. Shaw’s preaching, no new theory; it is the 'Old, old story,' told by one who believes it and loves to tell it."

He reports from other points as follows:

"I closed a good meeting in Ohio, Bureau County, Illinois, after two Lord's Days' continuance, with sixty-eight additions—sixty of these by confession and baptism. This was a grand triumph for truth. Brother A. Ross preaches for them, and will help the new members along. Commenced here in Sterling our tent-meeting Friday last, and though at first but about one hundred and fifty came out, we now have the tent filled. Lord's Day and last night there were two thousand or more. Pray for us. Will remain here three weeks or more."

"I have just returned from a short visit to the church in Manilla, Rush County, where I spent eight days, preaching twice each day. The immediate result was nineteen baptisms, and a general stirring up of the community. This church used to meet at Mud Creek, and there I obeyed the gospel twenty-two years ago. It is a joy to meet old friends, but sad that so many are gone."

F. M. Kirkham, Centreville, Iowa, writes:

"The church in this place has just closed a meeting of twenty-five days’ continuance, rich in results-there having been added one hundred and three.

"Everything was ripe for a glorious meeting. The church having occupied, only a few weeks before the meeting commenced, for the first time, their beautiful and commodious new chapel, for the erection of which the brethren and friends had contributed freely and nobly of their means, thereby enlisting their sympathies in spiritual things, were thus to some extent ready to hear all things commanded by God.

“Brother Knowles Shaw did the preaching, delivering, in all, fifty-one discourses, doctrinal and practical, in his peculiarly clear, earnest and eloquent manner, and awakening a religious interest in this community such as we have never had before. His day discourses were directed mainly to the brethren, and have done much to build them up in the faith, hope and love of the gospel, and to strengthen and confirm the previous labors of the pastor of the church.

"This has been a meeting of peculiar interest and power, not only in its results here, but throughout this region—many brethren from different parts of the country, and even adjoining counties, lending their presence, and contributing otherwise to its success, and carrying home with them its leavening influences."

Other reports :

“INDIANA.

“Knowles Shaw remained at Greencastle three weeks, during which time thirty-four persons were added to the church. The meeting was continued by Brother Laughlin, but we have not yet learned the result. From Greencastle Brother Shaw went to Terre Haute."

"Knowles Shaw recently held a few days' meeting at Clarksburg, during which eight persons were baptized and the church much encouraged."

The aggregate of additions was four hundred and sixteen; the number of which was greatly increased during the year by his labors at other points. Although without a full report of his work and its results, we have fuller reports of the year 1876 than of any preceding it. A partial report is given below, much of it in the words of the laborer himself:

"CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, January  17.

"I have just returned from Buchanan, Michigan, where I spent three weeks by special permission of the congregation here, for which I am laboring. There were two hundred and twenty-six added in all two hundred and twelve by confession and baptism. On New Year's Day there were thirty-six, and on the first Lord's Day in the new year twenty-five additions. This, for the time engaged, is the crowning work of my life. The house used was the Advent Church, because larger and more central. Indeed, the work was a union effort, by the Advents and our church. A permanent union of the churches is anticipated. A committee of eight from each church have already agreed on the basis of union, and our congregation adopted it immediately, but there were thirteen of the Advent Church opposed, and they adjourned to hold another meeting to further consider the matter. The basis is our old plea: Christ the foundation; faith, repentance, confession and baptism the way to get on the foundation, and Christian character the test of fellowship, allowing all to enjoy their opinions. The name agreed upon for the church is, 'Church of Christ.' The cause in Buchanan is now in a most prosperous condition.

"I commenced a work here, yesterday, to continue for some days, as circumstances may require. We are progressing here in every way slowly; some accessions nearly every meeting by letter, and several baptisms since I came; The work on West Side is doing well. I preach there every Sunday at 3 P.M. 'Their Sunday-school attendance is good—one hundred and sixty-three yesterday, Our Sunday school numbered one hundred and fifty-six.

" Knowles Shaw."

A month later he writes from Chicago:

“Our work goes on gloriously here — fifty additions to date, and more are expected. House filled, and five added last night. Pray for us. The gospel triumphs over all error. We will continue another week."

Soon after we find the following:

"I recently spent a little over three weeks in Rush County, Indiana, my old home, where I preached, while resting, thirty-two discourses, and had forty-four additions—thirty of these at Ben Davis Creek and fourteen at Little Flat Rock. First meeting, ten days; the other, four days. So I rested during my vacation from city work.

“Knowles Shaw.”

“Chicago, Illinois, September 25, 1876.

"I closed a two-weeks' meeting on the 22d, at New Bedford, McDonough County, Illinois, with twenty-five additions, besides raising money to pay off all liabilities incurred in the erection of their new and beautiful house of worship just finished.                       “Knowles Shaw.”

In October he began a meeting in Covington, Kentucky. One of the city papers mentioned it as below:

"The meetings conducted by Elder Knowles Shaw, at Fifth Street Christian Church, in this city, have passed through four weeks, with ninety-six additions. The audience last night was larger than on any previous occasion; all the seats were closely packed. The aisles, and all the vacant spaces around the pulpit and in the gallery, were filled with hearers, and the half-way outside the main audience room was crowded with people who could hear, but could not see the preacher.

“This great audience paid the most profound attention, and the speaker well repaid them in one of his most brilliant and heart-searching discourses. The labors seem to give him new powers. He exhibits no signs of weariness or weakness, but preaches and sings as though he were just entering upon a new meeting."

The pastor of the church writes as follows:

"COVINGTON, November 10.

"Brother Shaw took leave of us on Wednesday evening last, carrying with him the good wishes of all. There were additions at the last meeting, and I believe there were many more 'almost persuaded.' He removed some prejudice, sowed a large quantity of very good seed, and, in addition, reaped a harvest of over one hundred souls; thus making our church record larger than it ever has been. The audiences were large throughout, sometimes immense, and the best of order prevailed. Brother Shaw sings well, and the work moved on. He is a good protracted meeting preacher, not easily discouraged, and physical strength equal to any emergency. He preached and sung for us nearly five weeks, and his voice—always loud and strong—was as clear at the close as at the beginning. He is willing to do all the work if necessary, and, like Alexander the Great, grieves that there are not more worlds to conquer. He is all zeal and activity, and exerts unsparingly his great energies to get people into the church. He refers, with apparent pride, to the multitudes that have joined under his preaching. He is never still, in the meeting-house or out of it; talks constantly about the meeting and the work he is doing; often alludes in his sermons to things which have transpired in his own experience, and sometimes with magical effect. He speaks with great boldness and plainness; he uses a broad-ax rather than a smoothing-plane; his sword is two-edged, and cuts down everything before it. Popular vices receive no countenance at his hands. Sectarianism and error in every form receive his unqualified denunciation. He preaches the old Jerusalem, Pentecostal gospel faithfully, and tells sinners with great emphasis what they must do to be saved. He exhorts Pedobaptists and Affusionists to obey the gospel, assuring them that their baptism is nothing. I have heard none of our preachers that planks matters down any plainer and more uncompromisingly than Brother Shaw. I had my fears from what I had heard that he was not quite sound on some of these questions, but my fears were soon dissipated. Brother Franklin himself, in his palmiest days, was never more tenacious for the integrity of first principles. I am glad to be able to bear this testimony. If Brother Shaw belonged to that class who pretend to believe the Reformation a failure, and who, therefore, preach liberalism, progression away from Jerusalem and the New Testament, anything, everything, and nothing, and smooth things over to get the good will of the sects, he might do us, as a people, immense harm. But he satisfied us here that he is a sound gospel preacher. If he preaches everywhere the same way he preached here, he will pass current for a good 'Campbellite,' which, being interpreted, means one who believes and practices as did Christ and his apostles.

"We feel thankful to God for his abundant mercies, and shall endeavor, by his grace, to make ourselves still more worthy of his love. Our additions are mostly young people—some few middle-aged and heads of families—and all of an excellent and promising class. The prospect is good yet for more, and we will be somewhat disappointed if others do not come soon.       P. B. WILES."

And a correspondent of the Standard says:

"Covington, October 31.

"I regret that you have not been able to attend our meeting, now in its fourth week, to hear the sermons and songs, and see Brother Shaw's methods, so that you, from actual knowledge and observation, could have made a true, full and faithful report.

"I am sure that Brother Shaw has been greatly misunderstood, misrepresented and undervalued. I myself had a great prejudice against him, produced by representations that his mannerisms were objectionable, his methods frivolous, and his preaching chaffy, and the effects produced evanescent. A greater injustice could not be done him than so to represent him and his work.

"I have been a member of the Christian Church nigh unto forty years; I have heard all the old preachers- Campbells, Scott, Burnet, Franklin, Errett, Johnson, Moss, Creath, Gano, Smith, Hopson, McGarvey, Lard, and a host of others, and now I find Brother Shaw preaching the same gospel, and, by his zeal, devotion, logic, pathos, and fervent love for Christ and his cause, moving, by the help of God, multitudes to cry out, 'What shall we do to be saved?' He is peculiarly adapted to the work of an evangelist, and should everywhere receive the cordial co-operation of all Christian workers.

“I wish he could remain and work in Kentucky five years. I believe he would warm up, and make alive again, all the elements in all our churches, and push forward the grand movement fifty years.         JOHN F. FISK."

Brother Shaw speaks thus of his last meeting for the year:

“Jackson, Tennessee, December 18.

"Our work at South Bend closed on the 6th, with thirty additions. Truly, for so short a work, this was great success, under existing circumstances. The time only little over two weeks. Large congregations from the first. Compelled to get the Opera House after the first week. There are true and noble Christians in South Bend. A letter from there gives encouraging news. Prayer-meeting large, prospects good. I have been here one week—two added. Will remain another week. I go next to Columbus, Mississippi, by the 28^th, and to Memphis by 15^th of

January.                        KNOWLES SHAW."

The aggregate additions from the above reports are five hundred and thirty, and, as stated, the reports by no means include all the results of the year. Imperfect as the reports are, however, few men have made such a record as we have given in a single year.

During this year, too, he was pastor of the church at Chicago, to which about one hundred persons were added. He preached, while in the city, three times every Lord's Day, except when he preached four times, and in two cases only twice. Although his work was successful, when compared with that of others, he felt that his real work was that of an evangelist, and he accordingly decided to make that his chief work, and resigned his position on the 4^th of September. The impression produced by reading such a record as the above is more like that produced by a life, than a single year of earnest and faithful labor.

CHAPTER V.

His love for the Lost—Blue Dick—Labors in the Murphy Movement—Singing "Lambs of the Upper Fold" at a Child's Funeral.

Brother Shaw was an enthusiast, but his enthusiasm was the farthest possible remove from fanaticism. It had its origin in deep and earnest convictions, which found an outlet in ceaseless effort for the welfare of humanity.  The world lying in wickedness was not a mere theory; to him it was a solemn, an awful fact. He realized the danger of his fellowmen, and warned them of their peril, and strove to snatch them as brands from the burning. Every human soul was, in his eyes, a gem of priceless worth—condition and circumstances went for nothing—under all surroundings, favorable or otherwise, he saw an immortal soul to be saved or lost. Where others saw only a helpless, wretched, hopeless outcast, he saw one for whom Christ died, who, under the influence of the gospel, might be cleansed from sin, have fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. He remembered that the Master came to seek and save the lost; that his condescension led him to seek and lift up the lowly, and this led him to care for the souls of those for whom none else on earth seemed to care.

Sometimes his brethren, with less faith in God and humanity than himself, would discourage his attempts to reform and save some who seemed utterly abandoned and vile; but such opposition only added to his zeal, and made him increase his efforts in behalf of those whom men had forsaken, and who deemed themselves forsaken of God.

Among those who called forth his deep sympathy was one who is still living—changed beyond all that was at one time thought possible, and whom we trust will be one of the brightest stars in Brother Shaw’s crown of rejoicing. He was holding a meeting at some point on the Ohio River, where it was necessary for him to cross frequently. The first night of his meeting he went down to the river, but found the only ferryman to be a poor, ragged, besotted wretch, no hat on his head, his hair matted, his whole person filthy in the extreme, and giving evidence that he was even then under the influence of drink. His appearance was so forbidding, and his condition such that he was doubtful as to whether it would be safe to entrust himself in a frail skiff with such a ferryman, and had there been any other and safer means of getting across he would have availed himself of it. But there was no other chance, and with some misgivings as to the result he entered the boat. He soon found that, though under the influence of liquor, he knew how to manage his skiff, and feeling at ease on that matter, he began to talk with him. He asked him his name.

“Blue Dick,” was the reply.

“But,” said Shaw, “that is not really your name.”

“Well,” said he, “if I have any other, it has been so long since I heard it, I have almost forgotten what it is.”

Changing the subject abruptly, he asked, “Why don’t you quit drinking?”

“I can’t,” said the poor wretch.”

“Yes, you can,” replied Shaw.

Wondering that a stranger should take any interest in him, he said, “Mister, do you think I could?”

“Of course you can,” said Shaw, in a kind and assuring manner.

The poor fellow sat for some time in silence. It was long since any word of sympathy, interest or encouragement had fallen upon his ear, and the kind words of the stranger reached the heart which all his neighbors thought had ceased to feel. Deeply moved, he looked up and said, earnestly:

“Mister, do you really think I could quit drinking?”

“Have you a wife and children?”

In a voice choked with emotion, and weeping bitterly, he said that he had. The way was now open. Shaw told him he was a preacher, and asked him to come and hear him.

“Why,” said he, “you would not let such a one me come; and if you were willing, others would not like to see me there.”

Shaw urged him to come, assured him that he should be welcome; that instead of being out of the reach of mercy, that it was such as he that Jesus came to save. Tenderly and earnestly he besought him to change his course, until the poor ferryman began to think that there might be hope even for him. On reaching the other side, Shaw paid him his fare, and, as he did so, he pointed to a saloon that was near, and said, “I do not like the idea of this money going to such a place as that; can’t you promise me that you will not drink any tonight, and I will come back, and you shall take me over the river again. “Blue Dick gave the required promise and they parted; the preacher going to the house of God, and the ferryman, with emotions such as had not stirred in his heart for years, standing in deep thought by the rapid river under the watching stars.  After meeting, Brother Shaw went down to the river, found Blue Dick waiting for him, showing by his manner that he had kept his promise not to drink. He gave him a few words of encouragement, and obtained his promise that he would come and hear him preach the following night. Great was the astonishment of many to see Blue Dick at church, and greater still to see the preacher, who had seen him come in and drop into the first empty seat that he found near the door, come up to him, take him by the hand, speak a few kind words to him, and ask him to come again. Night after night he came, and the warm hand of the preacher never failed to give that of Blue Dick a friendly grasp, and the fitting words spoken did not fail to strengthen the new purposes that were beginning to take shape in his mind. The coming of the one, and the marked attention shown him by the preacher, led some of the brethren to fear, yes fear, that this poor outcast might offer himself for membership; and they even expressed their fears to Brother Shaw, and predicted that it would ruin the church if one such as he should attempt to enter the fold. Brother Shaw, however, did not fail to show, in their loveliest colors, the tenderness and compassion of Him who came to give hope to the hopeless, to seek and to save the lost. The lost sheep, and the wayward, wretched, ruined prodigal seemed to point to Blue Dick, and Blue Dick himself began to think they meant him; and one night, when the preacher, with even more than his wonted earnestness, urged the despairing and lost to come to Christ as their only hope, Blue Dick rose to come forward and accept the gospel offer. The preacher went half-way down the aisle to meet him; angels doubtless, too, at that moment gave expression to their joy in glad song, and He who died to save the lost was, doubtless, glad to see that the lost was found. But, alas! while there was joy in heaven, the coming of poor Blue Dick to confess his Lord, to strive to lead a better life, did not send a thrill of joy through the church; some there were who, like the elder son in the parable, thought that the returned wanderer would never be other than a disgrace to the family, thought that Blue Dick had gone too far to retrace his steps, and that his newly-formed resolutions would be broken on the very first invitation to take a drink, and that he would soon sink to even a lower depth, if possible, than before. Such was the feeling of opposition with regard to him that Brother Shaw did not take his confession and baptize him for several days, feeling, doubtless, that until he could change their views on the subject, that their coolness would repel and discourage, rather than help and save. Before the meeting closed, to the wonder of the whole community, Blue Dick made a public confession of his faith in Christ, was baptized, and by his consistent life soon disarmed whatever of objection remained, and was regarded as a standing proof of the power of the gospel.

Years passed by; the faithful evangelist revisited the same place. Blue Dick was no longer there; he was transformed into Brother George M., one of the best members of the church; he was living in a comfortable home, surrounded by a loving and happy family, with every mark of neatness and thrift about them. As soon as Brother Shaw had entered this happy Christian home he who had been Blue Dick said: “Brother Shaw, kneel down and thank God for what he has done for me, that I, who when you met me was a poor, miserable, drunken sinner, have been lifted up, and, by the mercy of God, am what I am to-day.” Down they knelt; preacher, husband, wife, and children, all, all wept; but they were tears of joy; and when they parted it was in the glad hope of meeting in that blessed land where no partings shall be.

The fact that Shaw, at one period of his life, had contracted a taste for strong drink, and had strength and resolution enough to abandon at once and for ever that which had so nearly been his ruin, gave him great power over such as had been enslaved by the same appetite. His own escape from the snare made him feel great interest and hope for the escape of others; and to such his own case was a proof that, though they had wandered so long and far in the path of criminal self-indulgence, a return was not impossible. He not only approved the various temperance reforms which sprang up, but became a bold and fearless advocate of them. He did not wait for them to become popular, but was always in the advance of every movement upon that question. His labors in the temperance cause alone would have made him a man of mark, and yet his work in that field was only an episode in the labors of his life. He was quite prominent in what is known as the “Murphy Movement.” Indeed, few men did more to further it than he. He was never more at home than when before immense temperance mass meetings; hundreds have signed the pledge under the influence of one of his impassioned appeals. In quite a number of places, North and South, he inaugurated the “Murphy Movement,” and thousands under his labors were led to renounce the rule of the demon drink. During the last few months of his life he enlisted about fifteen hundred persons into the temperance army; gaining one hundred and fifty at a single meeting only a few days before his death. 

While engaged in a meeting in Kentucky he was greatly prostrated by his excessive labors. The sister at whose house he was stopping urged him to take some brandy, but he declined to touch it. The lady had some sent to his room and placed in his reach while he was asleep. When he awoke and found it so near him his old desire came back with fearful violence; he arose from his bed, fell upon his knees, and asked God for strength to overcome it, and, taking the bottle to the lady, told her how his long-slumbering appetite had been aroused, and begged her never again to place such a temptation in the way of any one who had ever been under the influence of that monster evil.

Being able to hold in check the fearful craving that early indulgence had created, gave him great power in persuading others, who had lost all confidence in their ability to control their appetites, to make a struggle to do so; and not a few did so successfully. Many of his religious converts were persons who had fallen into this fearful vice, but in his esteem none were so fallen as to be beyond hope of recovery; and many such to-day are worthy and useful members of the church, who attribute their present condition, under God, to the earnest and unselfish labors of him who had aroused them to make an endeavor to escape when hope had almost died in their hearts. He seldom held a protracted meeting without delivering during its progress one or more spirited temperance lectures, which in many cases proved to be a preparative for the successful sowing in many hearts the good seed of the kingdom of God. Much of this temperance work was performed in the open air, in public squares and like places, where large crowds, who seldom visited churches, could be reached. Some of these gatherings, as for instance at the Capitol grounds in Jackson, Mississippi, and Lafayette Square, New Orleans, were such as never had been collected before for a similar purpose, and impressions were made such as will never fade away.

A striking instance of his sympathy and power to adapt himself to circumstances took place in Humboldt, Kansas. A wealthy and prominent Presbyterian family had lost an infant. Brother Shaw went, uninvited, to the funeral; the Presbyterian minister preached a funeral sermon from a text in the Old Testament, and, after the discourse, the little white coffin, covered with flowers, resting on a marbletopped table in the parlor, was opened, that the friends and heart-stricken parents might take the last look at the little unconscious sleeper. The scene was painful, the parting severe, when, amid the sobs and weeping, there fell upon their ears, in one of the tenderest, sweetest voices they had ever heard, the following words:

“1. Many children, dear to us while here,
Have gone, but we are told
That our absent ones in heaven appear,
Among the saints enrolled,
As the lambs of the upper fold.
 

Chorus.
For Jesus leads the tender lambs;
They are now in the land where they ne’er grow old.
How dear to us are the loving lambs,
The lambs of the upper fold.

“2. I see the throng, I hear the song,
‘Mid the angels on the other shore;
In the pastures green they are ever seen,
On Canaan’s peaceful shore,
In the land where they weep no more.
Chorus.

“3. Now let us live, to Jesus give
Our strength while young and old,
So when we are gone we may rest at home,
And walk the streets of gold,
With the lambs of the upper fold.
Chorus.

“4. Then let us go to the land above,
And be with the saints enrolled,
To bear the palm and wear the crown,
And share the bliss untold,
With the lambs of the upper fold.”
Chorus.

The hearts of all were hushed, and the thoughts of the stricken ones were lifted from the lifeless clay to the dear lost one, in the arms of the Good Shepherd. Shaw, entering into the spirit of the occasion, had sung one of his own sweet hymns, under circumstances that gave it great effect. It was just what the broken hearts before him needed. He was warmly thanked by the friends. The mother afterward sent her grateful acknowledgments, and a request for a copy of the verses he had sung. And she reckons among her prized treasures the “Lambs of the Upper Fold.”

CHAPTER VI.

Meeting at St. Louis—Great Interest—Reports of the Press—Results.

As one is insensibly attracted to the hero whose progress from victory to victory he traces on the page of history, so in pursuing the life of this true worker for Christ, I find my interest and admiration for him continually increasing. This, I am aware has a tendency to render me more partial than I desire to be; and yet no one could follow the current of a life like his without being similarly affected. I am glad, therefore, at this, one of the most successful periods of his career, to be able to present to the reader the views of those whose feelings had not been enlisted like my own, namely, the reporters for the press in one of the largest cities of the west, who drew the picture of his labors as they passed before them, as they would have presented before the public the work of any one in any department whatever, who was creating an interest in the public mind. A great speaker on any theme, of any party in politics, of any school of philosophy, or sect in religion, would have been treated in the same spirit of fairness, and freedom from either prejudice or undue prepossession, as was he.

This was in the city of St. Louis, in the winter of 1874. It must be remembered that Shaw did not find the clergy and churches of that great city all ready to receive him and heartily co-operate with him in his work; not even a single large and influential religious party was thus prepared. His own brethren were neither numerous nor influential, and the influence of other denominations was rather against than in favor of the effort he was about to make. St. Louis did not prepare for his coming as did the various cities of the East for the coming of Moody—making success a certainty before he came. He came almost unheralded, and the success he achieved was his own. The reports of his meeting will be given at considerable length, and from them the reader will be able to draw a pretty correct idea of the course he pursued at nearly all the places he visited. A general idea of his manner and methods may be gained, the nature of his subjects and mode of treatment may be learned to a certain extent, but it must at the same time be remembered, as well as regretted, that neither in this place nor at any other, as far as I have been able to learn, was there a full and complete report of a single discourse taken and preserved; a synopsis of several is given. They are, however, meager in the extreme; outlines which the imagination will attempt in vain to fill up. But the greatest charms of all, the looks, tones, the earnestness and pathos of the speaker, are not, and can not be described; and yet, to those who never saw and heard him, even what has been rescued from oblivion by the reporter’s pencil will be read with interest and highly prized. We shall present several notices of the progress of his meeting, as nearly as