both of mind and body. Having also access to all kinds of books, I then formed habits of general reading, and by some assistance and close application I qualified myself for entering the Junior Class in Jefferson College. How often do I now revert in thought to those pleasant by-gone days. Within a few months past, I was once more permitted to revisit those scenes of my youth, after an absence of twenty years. But alas, how changed! Nature was there. There were the bold Alleghany Mountains, the green hills, the beautiful stream of the Juniata. But almost all the companions of my youth and my kindred were no more. Strange faces looked upon me, and I found myself more at home among the tombs of the dead than in the dwellings of the living.

In the Spring of 1825, I left Mifflintown for Jefferson. College, Cannonsburg (Pennsylvania). Stopping at Pittsburg for a few days, I had the opportunity of seeing the distinguished General La Fayette, the companion of Washington, the early and devoted friend of the struggling American colonies, who was then revisiting the scenes of his early battles in the cause of liberty, and whose progress through the country resembled a continued Roman triumph.

I entered the Junior Class in Jefferson College half advanced. The class consisted of thirty members. Jefferson College, at the time I entered it, was in its zenith. It was the most prominent institution west of the Alleghany Mountains, and under the long presidency of Dr. Matthew Brown, it furnished the ministry which gave character to the Presbyterian Church in all that vast region of country. Rev. Aaron Williams and Rev. Dr. A. T. McGill, now professor at Princeton (New Jersey) were my associates in study. I entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton in the Fall of 1826.

My health failing in two years, I became an inmate for a few months in the family of the Rev. Dr. E. S. Ely, pastor of the Pine Street Church, Philadelphia. Dr. Ely was at that time at the height of his fame as a popular preacher, a leader in ecclesiastical courts, a man of wealth, a skillful financier, a patron of all public institutions, and the liberal friend and helper of all young men seeking the ministry of the Gospel. Though a man of eccentricity, "full of fat, fun, and fortune," yet he exerted for many years a controlling influence in all matters connected with the Presbyterian Church in the Middle States. About the year 1831, he became a prominent leader in an effort to found a great Western city on the Mississippi River. Many persons, by his influence and wealth, were induced to unite with him in this plausible scheme. Many widows, and others having the control of small means throughout the country, cast in their lot with him and invested their all-and Marion City, near Hannibal, for a short time bid fair to rise to some eminence. But the pecuniary revulsion which spread over the whole country in 1837-8, fell upon all such enterprises with a stunning blow. The greater portion of the people assembled at Marion City were dispersed, their means were squandered, their health and spirits broken, their chief leaders abandoned the project, and Dr. Ely, broken in fortune and spirits, returned to Philadelphia. Though Dr. Ely's course in the incidents. just narrated, and also in the part he took in the division of the Presbyterian Church into Old and New School, is certainly to be condemned, yet he deserved great honor while he lived, and his memory should be still cherished since his death, for the great good he accomplished in the earlier period of his life. Multitudes of young men were aided by him in their efforts to enter the ministry. His residence in Philadelphia was the

abode of elegant hospitality. The Jefferson Medical College was founded mainly by his efforts. Many widows and orphans were clothed and fed by his money; and for many years he expended the whole of his salary from his congregation in acts of benevolence. I must place on record this tribute to the name of Dr. Ezra Stiles Ely.

On the 22d of April, 1829, and when in my twentysecond year, I was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of Philadelphia, at Frankfort, a village some miles from the city. Two other young men were licensed at the same time: Rev. Nicholas Murray, now deceased, for many years pastor of the First Presbyterian Church at Elizabethtown (New Jersey), a man eminent for his learning, and particularly a popular writer against Catholicism, over the name of "Kirwan." The other was the Rev. Alexander Aikman, of Bordentown (New Jersey), a young man of varied attainments in learning and theology, who was sent to New Orleans in 1832 to take charge of the First Presbyterian Church in that city, rendered vacant by the deposition from the ministry of Rev. Theodore Clapp by the Presbytery of Mississippi. Mr. Aikman commenced his labors under most encouraging auspices, and did much to divest Presbyterianism of the odium under which it had been suffering for many years from the misrepresentations of Mr. Clapp. But in a short time his health failed, and, leaving New Orleans, he came to Natchez, where, after lingering for some weeks, he died. His sun went down at noon.

My first appearance in the pulpit was at Norristown, in Montgomery County, about twenty miles from Philadelphia. In the month of October, 1829, I started for Mississippi, landed at Rodney, walked out to the residence of Dr. Rush Nutt (two miles from the river);

remained in that vicinity, preaching at Rodney and Bethel, until July following, when I removed to Baton Rouge (Louisiana); succeeded Rev. John Dorrance as pastor of the church; married on the 20th of September, 1832; in January, 1834, became connected with the College of Louisiana at Jackson; went as a delegate to the General Assembly at Pittsburg in May, 1836; visited New England during the summer of that year; returned to Louisiana in the fall; accepted a call to the church of Vicksburg, with a salary of $3,000, where I remained pastor for six years; then accepted a professorship in Oakland College, which I held for twelve years; then resigned in 1854, and removed to Covington (Louisiana), where I had charge of a private seminary of learning for three years, preaching also during the same time at Covington and Madisonville; then removed to New Orleans, and purchased the property called the Brick House Station, on the Carrollton Railroad, where I established a male high school, and, at the same time, preaching at Carrollton Church and the Prytania Street Church in the city. In the fall of 1860 I removed to Houston, in Texas, and took charge of the Public Academy; was removed from the institution by the military authorities of the Confederate States, which converted the establishment into a hospital; then opened a private male and female academy at Turner's Hall, where I also preached to the Presbyterian Church until their edifice, which was burned down, was rebuilt. At the close of my superintendence of the Public Academy of Houston I had one hundred and fifty male and female pupils.

At the close of the war, in 1865, I became deeply concerned as to my duty in reference to the spiritual desolations of the villages and churches within the bounds. of the Brazos Presbytery, and accessible by railroads

from the city of Houston. My convictions of duty in this matter led me to open a correspondence with my ministerial brethren in the region referred to, asking their advice and co-operation, and inquiring whether my entrance into the field would meet their approval, and in no way interfere with their respective fields of labor. From all with whom I corresponded I received cordial encouragement. And then the question presented itself to my mind, "How shall I obtain a pecuniary support?" for, up to the close of the war, no reorganization of the Presbyterian Church had been effected within the bounds of the Confederate States. The Corresponding Secretary of the Board of Domestic Missions at Philadelphia, intimated, through a third party, that, on evidence of "loyalty," a sufficient salary would be secured to me, if I would enter upon the same field. Such a proposition I could not entertain. In the fall of 1866, in a conference with some prominent members. of the Church, I was urged to carry out my original purpose; and the late Thomas M. Bagby, of Houston, and Mr. James Sorley, of Galveston, placed in my hands $50 each, as a salary for the month of January, in 1867, to justify me to leave my home and commence my work. It was agreed and understood that I should explore the whole field, ascertain the Presbyterian element in each destitute community, preach the Gospel, organize churches, and prepare the way for the settlement of pastors and stated supplies. On the 1st of January, 1867, I commenced my labors, visiting as soon as possible the towns of Hempstead, Chappell Hill, Navesota, Richmond, Harrisburg, Columbus, Alleytown and Beaumont. Within six months from the commencement of the year, I had reorganized the churches of Hempstead and Chappell Hill, and organized new churches at Navesota and Bryan City. During the first year of my