LIBRARY OF THE COMMANDERY OF 
THE STATE OF MASSACH US ETTS MILITARY 
ORDER OFTHE LOYAL LEGION OF THE 
UNITED STATES 

CADET ARMORY, BOSTON 






5 - 




WIIHDRAI^ 



.'^ 



""^-i^wim 



THE UNIVERSITY OF 

NORTH CAROLINA 

LIBRARY 




THE WILMER COLLECTION 

OF CIVIL WAR NOVELS 

PRESENTED BY 

RICHARD H. WILMER, JR. 



UNCLE JOHN 



IN THE ARMY 



AND 



AMONG THE FREEDMEN. 




PUBLISHED BY THE 
AMEEICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK. 



A sketch of "Uncle John," prepared by Eey. E. J. Ham- 
ilton, chaplain in the army of the Potomac, was published 
in the Appendix of "Toils and Triumphs of Union Mission- 
ary Colportage for Twenty-five Years." Its vivid and ac- 
curate delmeation of the characteristics of this remarkable 
man, awakened so much interest in those who were famil- 
iar with his work, that it has been thought advisable to 
issue it in the present form. The nai-rative of his labors 
since the war on the field of the Richmond Agency of the 
American Tract Society, is continued to the present time ; 
and a condensed view of the OTj^en^tious of the Society in 
its efforts to evangelize the South is presented. 

July, 1867. 



UNCLE jonx 



IN THE ARMY. 



If one sliould visit the army of the Poto- 
mac, and stay for some time in any part of it, 
he would be pretty certain to meet an odd 
little man going round among the boys. He 
generally has a satchel slung over his shoul- 
der, or a package under his arm, or both ; 
and if you should see him approaching your 
home, where scenes are peaceful, you would 
prepare for an interview with an old-fashion- 
ed, energetic dealer in some kind of small- 
wares. His appearance, though not remark- 
able, excites interest ; and you say to your- 
self, "I wonder what that man iff doing in 
the army." He is about five feet six inches in 
height, and of a square-built, chunky frame ; 
he wears a soft felt hat and a brown coat, both 
of which have done good service ; his vest and 



4 UNCLE JOHN. 

pantSj a little soiled, suggest that he works 
actively sometimes ; his warm shirt, of gray 
stocking-web, has been selected for comfort 
rather than beauty ; the paper collar, without 
an}" necktie, buttoned carelessly on the shirt, 
is the only mark about him of any deference 
to fashion ; and the plain, unpolished shoes, 
which are of the kind that soldiers have, put 
it beyond denial that the little man is given 
to walking. His face has a somewhat ab- 
stracted expression, yet indicates kind-heart- 
edness, vivacity, humility, and shrewdness. 
He seems between fifty and sixty years of 
ago; time and care have made furrows on 
his cheeks, and his dark brown hair is grow- 
ing thin and sparse. But his eye is bright 
and restless ; and he shoves along with his 
bundle under his arm, as though he had 
plenty of business on hand. 

Mark him as he enters a camp and is rec- 
ognized by the soldiers. "Hey, Uncle John, 
is that you?" says one, who starts to meet 
him. "How are you, Uncle John?" echoes 
another from within his tent. " I am glad to 
see you, Uncle John. Have you any soap 



turn 



IN THE AEMY. 5 

to-day ?" cries a third ; aud a fourth nephew 
inquires, "Uncle John, have you brought the 
writing-paper and envelopes you promised?" 
The wide-awake, earnest man is at home among 
them, and answers in a cheery, lively way, 
"How are you, dear boys? I 'm glad to see 
you. I guess I 've got a little something for 
you — I was thinking you'd be wanting a 
little paper and needles, for the paymaster 
has n't been round for a good Avhile, has he ? 
Just step up, boys ; I can't carry much, you 
know, but I '11 give you what I 've got." He 
is instantly surrounded by a circle of our 
blue-coated heroes, ready for his little gifts, 
and yet more ready for what Uncle John may 
have to say ; for they know well that he 
never finds himself among soldiers without 
saying something that is worth listening to. 

Hark to the merry laughter, as Uncle John 
makes some singular observation ! See the 
fixed attention, as he relates some stirring 
news, or interesting incident ! Listen to 
"That's so, Uncle John; that's so," as he 
renders some excellent sentiment or advice, 
in his terse, striking way ! And all the time 



UNCLE JOHN. 



both his hands are busy dispensing sheets of 
paper, and pens, and thread, etc., with skil- 




ful and impartial generosity. After these 
gifts, tracts and religious reading are produ- 
ced from the black satchel, and distribu- 
ted to many glad recipients. Uncle John 
meanwhile continuing his remarks. Now 
his stock is exhausted ; and he earnestly 



IN THE APtMY. 7 

repeats an invitation wliicli he lias already 
given incidentally, perhaps half-a-dozen times. 
"Now boys, don't forget the prayer-meeting 
the chaplain is going to have this evening. 
Come, come, dear boys, and let iis ask God 
to bless us." "We will. Uncle John, we 
will," is the response of many voices ; and 
possibly the evening hour will show that the 
invitation has been also accepted by many 
silent, softened hearts that did not dare to 
speak. The next moment "Uncle Johnnie's 
gone," but the influences of his genial soul 
are scattered all around. 

The full name of this ubiquitous wide-awake 
man, who has all the soldiers in the army of 
the Potomac for his nephews, is known to but 
few of those who are familiar with his coun- 
tenance and. person ;,but it is a name which 
is enrolled for everlasting life and honor in 
the blessed book above. He labors as dis- 
tributing agent for the Sanitar}^ Commission, 
and as army coljDorteur of the American 
Tract Society, by whom he is supported ; but 
he is so. original a genius, and such an active, 
whole-souled, liberal-hearted philanthropist. 



8 UNCLE JOHX. 

that it is difficult to think of him as connect- 
ed with any particular institution. I was 
struck with the remark of a colored man, as 
some were discussing the character of Uncle 
John : "I '11 just tell you, then, what I thinks ; 
I thinks this — I thinks Uncle John is a real 
Christianity y The truth could scarcely -be 
expressed better. While entertaining decided 
denominational sentiments and attachments, 
Uncle John labors everywhere with such a 
largeness of spirit, and such a loftiness of 
view, that one can regard him only as be- 
longing to the church of God and the religion 
of Jesus Christ. 

The first half of his life was passed in his 
cousin's brewery, and was thoroughly given 
to business ; but about fifteen years ago God 
touched the brewer's heart, and claimed him 
for a higher service. A severe struggle with 
old views and habits terminated in complete 
'triumph, and he consecrated to the cause of 
Christ those energies which had been devo- 
ted to secular concerns. Uncle John aban- 
doned his position in the brewery, and with 
it flattering prospects of wealth. He felt that 



IN THE ARMY, 



it could bjo his calling no longer. " Heaven," 
I have heard him say, " seemed too far away 
-when I looked up at it fi-om among the beer 
barrels." Disengaged from worldly pursuits, 
he gave himself with zeal to tract distribu- 
tion, exhortation, prayer-meetings, and vari- 
ous evangelical labors, so that tlie good peo- 
ple of P were astonished ; many even 

thought him crazed. They did not under- 
stand the case. A mind of natural strength 
and fervency had received a strange and 
powerful impulse from new-born faith and 
love. To him, religious things, no longer in- 
visible and distant, were seen and present. 
His awakened soul accepted Bible truths as 
living and Avonderful realities. Christ's cross 
and judgment-seat seemed very near, radiant 
with tender attractions and with awful glories. 
The curtain concealing futurity had fallen ; 
and from beholding the endless destinies of 
the righteous and the wicked, he turned to 
his fellow-men, and earnestly besought them 
to seek the divine favor and preparation for 
heaven. 

This practical zeal for God and souls, ari- 



10 UNCLE JOHN. 

sing partly from natural character and yet 
more from yivid realization of the truths of 
religion, was no temporary flame. Burning 
to-day with its original brightness, and with 
more than its original fervor, it is the imme- 
diate source of the ceaseless Christian activ- 
ity of our beloved Uncle John. He found 

but a limited sphere of usefulness in P , 

and possibly had cause to feel that it was 
*' his own country." Going westward, he 
spent some years traversing the prairies of 
Illinois with horse and wagon, as colporteur 
of the American Tract Society. God went 
with him over those grassy solitudes, and 
blessed his labors, and filled him with joy 
and praise. It was in this service that he 
gained that experimental familiarity with the 
best thoughts of Christian authors, and that 
Avonderful command of religious language 
which have compensated in great measure 
for the want of a liberal education, and which 
have contributed greatly to his success in the 
work of the Lord. 

Returning to P , he began visiting the 

churches as Providence opened the door, and 



IN THE ARMY. 11 

became instrumental of untold good in seve- 
ral wide-spread re\dvals. He went from place 
to place, " feeling liis way" and working with 

tlie pastors. P county especially thrice 

witnessed a great outpouring of the Divine 
Spirit, chiefly in blessing upon his efforts. 
Finding an interest in some members of a 
decayed backsUdden church, he would spend 
the day visiting in the congregation from 
house to house, conversing and praying with 
every one, and in the evening he would attend 
a i^rayer-meeting at the residence of some 
pious family ; "for," says he, " it would never 
do to commence in a cold church ; but after 
God pours down his Spirit in answer to 
prayer, then the lecture-room will be needed, 
and the church too." In those times his 
soul overflowed with happiness, when sanc- 
tuaries were nightly crowded with inquirers, 
and God came down in love and power, and 
many souls were saved. 

As one of the almoners of the royal bounty 
of the Sanitary Commission, Uncle John is 
indefatigable. It is his special dehght to find 
unseen and neglected spots, and to secure for 



12 UNCLE JOHN. 

them their share of comforts. Thousands of 
poor fellows bless him for timely and thought- 
ful care. Indeed, I never met any one who 
combined in a similar degree prompt and ex- 
act attention to items of business with unre- 
mitting spiritual aims and efforts. It seems 
part of his religion to neglect nothing. Those 
evangelical labors, however, to which his 
other j)ursuits are subsidiary, are the chief 
exponents of his character and power. In 
these — I can exj^ress myself in no other way — 
in these Uncle John is great. His pleading, 
particularizing prayers ; his varied, choice, 
and ready store of hymns ; his rapid, yet un- 
offending directness of personal appeal ; his 
easy and quick command of thought and lan- 
guage ; his homely, pointed, and solemn 
method in public address ; and his very 
appearance, and voice, and manner, unpre- 
tending and deferential, yet as earnest and 
sympathetic as they possibly could be — all 
qualify him to succeed anywhere, but espe- 
cially with soldiers. 

I have been amazed sometimes at the 
beauty of his prayers. On one occasion, dur- 



I'X THE AKMY. 13 

ing the heats of summer, we rode together 
through the woods to a distant pasture, that 
our horses, then fed only on gram, might en- 
jo}' grazing for an hour. Uncle John had 
been somewhat depressed, and we sat under 
the shade of a little tree. Suddenly he ex- 
claimed, " Brother H , let us pray," threw 

himself forward upon the grass, and instantly 
began, " O God, on this 'beautiful day, amid 
these old woods, and beneath thine own clear 
heavens, we lift up our souls to thee." His 
voice, at first slow and full, was rich with 
melody and pathos ; and as petition after 
petition, exquisitely expressed, followed each 
other in beautiful succession, I thought the 
sacred eloquence of that unstudied prayer 
such as I had never heard before. While the 
prostrate body rested on hands and knees, 
crouching in lowliest humility, and the face, 
with close shut eyes and intensity of expres- 
sion, sometimes almost touched the ground, 
the longing, believing spirit seemed to rise, 
as on angels' wings, into the presence and 
glory of its God. AVhile we were returning, 
he said that he seemed to have had a glimpse 



14 UNCLE JOHN. 

of heaven, and was refreshed and comforted. 
I could easily believe it. 

Uncle John is a great power in a soldier's 
prayer-meeting, for he generally imparts to 
his fellow-worshippers much of his own spirit. 
"With excellent wisdom, he invariably looks 
to the chaplain for the organization and con- 
trol of religious assemblies, even of those in 
which he himself may be the principal actor; 
"for," he says, ^'I'm nothing but an old shep- 
herd dog, and I try to help the pastors in 
tendino; their flocks." But after the meeting: 
has been set a-going. Uncle John, "assisted," 
as he would say, "by the good Sj)irit of the 
Lord," is the very life of it. 

The first time I ever saw him was last win- 
ter, near B , in a chaplain's meeting in 

the log church of the brigade. The quaint 
sprightliness, the overflowing brotherly love, 
the humility and Christian readiness of the 
good man, were apparent. Ever since the 
completion of the log chapel in our brigade, 
an increasing interest in religion had been 
manifested among the boys, and Uncle John 
promised to attend one of our meetings. He 



IN THE ARMY. 15 

came, and moved us all by his earnest words 
and fervent prayers. After this I ^vas going 
away for ten days, and asked him to look 
after my boys in my absence. He consented 
at once. On my return I was prepared for 
something of a revival, but not to learn that 
the chapel was crowded, and that meetings 
were kept up three times a day. • And when 
I entered the chapel that afternoon, what a 
scene presented itself! The place was half 
Babel, half Bochim. Such a murmuring of 
confused sounds never before had greeted 
my ears. Most of the soldiers were kneeling 
by the benches, several were engaged in 
prayer, and sobbings and groanings, loud 
responses, and fervent ejaculatory petitions, 
resounded in every part of the building. 
Uncle John was in the midst of the congrega- 
tion, kneeling in the aisle in front of the pulpit, 
and seemingly the most engaged of all. 

After the principal prayer was over, he 
rose, and in his sweet tenor voice began a 
favorite hymn ; all joined ; and the swelling 
praise went up through the white trembling 
canvas roof. Other prayers were offered, 



16 UNCLE JOHN. 

interspersed with verses of hymns and with 
remarks by Uncle John and the chaplain ; 
and before the meeting was dismissed, all 
present were earnestly invited to attend the 
evening service. It seems that he had insti- 
tuted the morning assembly for inquirers and 
young converts, and that in the afternoon for 
the prayers and exhortations of Christians 
generally, while more formal exercises occu- 
pied the meeting at night. The excitement 
and confusion at first seemed to me excessive 
and injurious : but I found that they were to 
a certain extent the natural consequences of 
religious feeling among the soldiers, and that 
they were rather checked than stimulated by 
Uncle John ; for our soldiers sometimes re- 
mind one of those ancient warriors — ''homi- 
nes Tustici Clique militares'' — whom Cicero 
mentions as having given vent to their enthu- 
siasm in loud shouting. Besides, the other 
chaplains did not find the noise objection- 
able. The evening meeting was the most 
important. Generally there was regular ser- 
vice, including a sermon by one of the chap- 
lains, after which those who loved the Lord 



IN THE ARMY. 17 

and those who desired to do so, were request- 
ed to remain. Commonly very few went 
away; and then Uncle John's work began. 
After some prayers and hymns, he would 
make a short address, and conclude by ask- 
ing those who felt themselves in need of sal- 
vation, and who desired Christians to pray 
for them, to stand up. And then what ear- 
nestness in persuading sinners to declare for 
Christ. He would continue making his re- 
marks, and looking over the assembly, per- 
haps for a minute, till some one rose, " There's 
one," says Uncle John with, visible emotion. 
"Oh, bless the Lord ! There is joy in heaven 
over one sinner that repenteth." Then, after 
a short pause, he would add in the most in- 
viting tones, "And is there no other precious 
soul here that w^ants a Saviour? Yes, there 's 
another. God bless you, dear brother. Oh, 
it was for such that Jesus died — Jesus the 
Son of God !" and Uncle John would sing : 

"He died for you, 

He died for me, 
He died to set poor sinners free. 

Oh, who 's like Jesus, 
That died on the tree ?" 

rncleJihn 2 



18 UNCLE JOHN. 

Another pause. '' AdcI is n't there any more 
Avlio want to love this blessed Saviour ? Yes, 
I see you, dear brother. I knew there would 
be more. I feel that God is here to-night. 
And there's another, and another, and an- 
other. Oh, hallelujah ! Praise the Lord !'* 
Another pause. "Now come, dear friends; 
don't be afraid. The Lord is waiting; and 
Oh, he is waiting to be gracious. You do n't 
suppose }'ou 're too great sinners to be saved, 
do you ? The blood of Jesus Christ cleans- 
eth from all sin. Yes, precious Saviour, pre- 
cious Saviour, thy blood could cleanse a uni- 
verse from guilt." In this way he would go 
on till perhaps a dozen or twenty had risen; 
after which, in order to intensify good resolu- 
tions, he would invite them to the front seats, 
Avhich were vacated for them. This he did 
often, not always. After more prayers and 
hjmms, the audience were dismissed, only the 
inquirers remaining; and then Uncle John 
and the chaplains conversed and prayed with 
each individual according to his case. 

" Talking meetings," designed chiefly for 
remarks, exhortations, and relations of per- 



IN THE AiniY 19 

sonal experience, sometimes took tlie place 
of these that I have described ; they proved 
very useful. Uncle John participated in them, 
as he did in all the rest. The revival interest 
continued with little abatement for five or six 
weeks, and resulted in the establishment of 
small congregations of believers in those regi- 
ments that had chaplains. Nearly one hun- 
dred and fifty — about one-tenth of the whole 
brigade — professed faith in Christ, either 
renewedly or for the first time. Yery few of 
these dear boys are with us now ; many are 
in soldiers' graves; many are sick or wound- 
ed at home; some are in southern prisons; 
and some have finished their term and been 
discharged. But so far as I know, the great 
majority have shown that their profession 
was well-founded. 

In all our meetings, Uncle John's singing 
did excellent service. To use an expression 
of his own, he is "a walking hymn-book." 
He has a large variety of hymns at command, 
set to appropriate tunes, and a wonderful 
faculty of instantly producing in a meeting 
the verses and notes specially suitable to 



20 UNCLE JOHN. 

each particular conjuncture. How often have 
r heard him, so soon as a prayer or address 
might end, strike up the hymn needed to cor- 
rect or to carry out the impression of it. He 
N^'ould seldom sing the whole hymn; but if 
one or two verses satisfied the occasion, he 
would cease, that the meeting might go on. 
This tact often helped to render the interest 
of our exercises continuous and progres- 
sive. 

Uncle John's voice is not strong, but it is 
clear and pleasant; and as he sings with ear- 
nestness and truthfulness of expression, his 
lips sometimes seem to clothe old verses with 
new beauty, and to impart a striking and 
unexpected fulness of meaning to words that 
have long been familiar. Those who have 
heard him will not forget with what joyous 
faith he sings, 

"Jesus shall reign where'er the sun 
Does his successive journeys run ;" 

nor how invitingly and solemnly he renders 

' ' There is a fountain filled viith. blood, 
Drawn from Immanuel's veins ;" 

nor the tenderness of those lines, 



IN THE AllMY. 21 

"Come, trembling sinner, in whose breast 
A thousand thoughts revolve ; 
Come with your guilt and fear opprest, 
And make this last resolve ;" 

Dor the heartiness of the verses, 

"Come, ye sinners, poor and needy, 
Weak and wounded, sick and sore ; 
Jesus ready stands to save you. 
Full of pity, love, and power." 

How boldly he raises that Christian battle- 
song, 

' ' Am I a soldier of the cross ?" 

What thankfulness and love he puts into that 

grand hymn, 

'• Oh for a thousand tongues to sing 
My dear Eedeemer's praise!" 

With what plaintive melody he sings, 

"Did Christ o'er sinners weep? 
And shall my tears be dry':" 

and with what affectionate longing, 

"Jerusalem, my happy home." 

These and many other old hymns, and the 
tunes which accompany them, are weapons 
of power with Uncle John. Besides these, 
he has a collection of modern religious melo- 
dies, generally lively in character, and very 



22 UNCLE JOHN. ^ 

popular with soldiers. Those beginning, 
"My heavenly home is bright and fair;" 
" There 's a light in the window for thee, 
brother;" "Must Jesus bear the cross alone ?" 
" A beautiful land by faith I see ;" and those 
which tell of the " Sweet hour of prayer," 
and of "The gospel ship," which is "sailing, 
sailing," and of " The heavenly shores," to 
which we are "homeward bound," are fair 
examples. They commonly have a chorus, 
which adds to their effect. 

I shall not soon forget the delight with 
which I first heard him singing a song, whose 
lively notes and cheerful rejoicing confidence 
accorded admirably with his own spirit. It 
was towards the close of a crowded meeting 
in the log-chapel. He rose after a prayer, 
and turned round in the aisle so as to face 
the congregation. His right hand held the 
left by two fingers, and kept it out of the way 
behind his back. Standing in his humble but 
easy manner, he began in a clear voice, 

"We are joj'onsly voj'aging over the main, 

Bound for the evergreen shore, 
• "Whose inhabitants never of sickness complain, 
And never see death any more. " 



IN THE ARMY. 23 

Warming as lie went on, lie kept looking 
over the audience to observe their feeling ; 
and before he had finished, he was clapping 
his hands quietly in time to the tune, and 
leading us all in the chorus, like an enthusi- 
astic singing-teacher. The hymn, though 
familiar now, was then new to most of us, but 
we could not help joining with Uncle John 
to the best of our ability in the chorus, 

" Then lot the Inirricaiie roar, 
It will the sooner be o'er ; 
TVe will weather the blast, and we '11 land at last 
Safe on the evergreen shore." 

Few, perhaps none, went away from the meet- 
ing that night without resolving to secure 
transportation in that good ship, for which, 
according to his wont. Uncle John was look- 
ing up passengers. 

Some striking qualities of Brother Y 's 

character are exhibited in his dealings with 
others relative to their religious state and 
duty. His earnestness of manner, his un- 
feigned and affectionate interest in one's per- 
sonal welfare, and his entire freedom from 
any sort of conventionality or constraint, 



24 UNCLE JOHN. 

soon make the heart trustful, and beget open- 
ness of conference and confession. During 
a time of religious awakening, he labors with 

inquirers night and day. At B , all who 

witnessed his zeal marvelled that flesh and 
blood could endure such incessant excite- 
ment and activity. Three meetings a day, in 
all of which he prayed and spoke and sang, 
seemed in no degree to diminish his energy 
for special and private exertions. For weeks 
he spent his spare time in going from tent to 
tent conversing and praying with every one 
who manifested any concern regarding reli- 
gion. As he set out one morning to follow 
up the impressions of the preceding night, I 
went with him down into the company streets. 
Entering a tent where two out of the four 
occupants were Christians, he addressed him- 
self to each man in suitable inquiries and 
exhortations, and led in a short prayer. Then 
he asked for a sergeant whom he knew to be 
under deep conviction. The young man came 
in as we were going out to find him. Uncle 
John instantly read the trouble of his face, 
which expressed the most profound melan- 



IN THE ARMY. 



25 




cholj ; and laying his hand affectionately on 
the shoulder of the young man, exclaimed 
with sadness and tenderness, " O Albert, 
Albert, my dear boy, have n't you given your 
heart to the Saviour yet? "What is the mat- 
ter, Albert ? Why do n't you throw every 
thing else away, and trust only in the Lord 
Jesus ?" The young man answered that he 
was trying to do that, but could not find any 



26 UNCLE JOHN. 

peace. Every thing seemed dark, somehow. 
Uncle John replied, " Then you must pray 
to God to make it li^jht. He can cause liirht 
to shine in darkness. And now, dear boys, 
let us all pray for Albert, for nobody but 
God can help him, and let Albert i^ray for 
himself. Chaplain, lead us in prayer." We 
all knelt down in the little shanty, which 
barely held us. The chaplain prayed, and 
then Uncle John said, "Now, Albert, you 
pray." The lad offered a few simple and ear- 
nest petitions. We left him with some words 
of encouragement. Several days afterwards 
I met him going to one of the meetings with 
a shining and happy face. " Well, Albert," 
said I, "how do you feel to-day?" "Oh, 
bright as a shilling," was the singular but 
expressive repl}-; and bright ever since has 
been his Christian character and course. 

Uncle John, without being exactly abrupt, 
is wonderfully quick and direct in personal 
appeaL His preparatory remarks, if he makes 
£inj, are very short ; sometimes merely the 
manner and evident spirit of the man intro- 
duce what he says; but, in any case, the first 



IX THE AEMY. 27 

startling seuteuce clears the way for any that 
may follow. "Here," said I, as we went 

down the street, " is Sergeant M , Uncle 

John." "How are you, sergeant?" says the 
ever-ready man, taking the sergeant by the 
hand. "And I hope, chaplain, this good 
soldier has enlisted under the banner of King 
Jesus? Dear sergeant, how is it? Now 
just tell Uncle John. Are you trying to be 
a faithful servant of God? Have you given 
yourself to that blessed Saviour who died for 
you, and who bought you ^^ith his precious 
blood ?" As these words were uttered with 
great earnestness and affection, the sergeant 
looked thoughtful. He confessed that he 
was not a Christian, but said that he often 
desired to be one. " Oh, why then delay ? 
Why risk your eternity ? Who knows how 
soon the whizzing bullet or bursting shell 
may lay one low ? And then, to enter God's 
presence unprepared ! Oh, sergeant, will you 
not seek the Lord now, and secure that glo- 
rious hope which is full of immortality?" 
With such words, spoken by the way, Uncle 
John has moved many to seek Christ. 



28 UNCLE JOHN. 

The treatment given to Lis approaches and 
exhortations by different parties is very vari- 
ous; but he is equal to any emergency. He 
instantly appreciates the nature of each case, 
and gives the instruction, encouragement, 
reproof, or reply which is needed. I have 
been astounded sometimes to hear officers, 
of whose profanity, drunkenness, gambling, 
and dishonesty, I was well aware, and who 
never to my knowledge showed even decent 
respect for religion, tell Uncle John that they 
were Christian men. I suppose they meant 
that they had been church-members while in 
civil life. They seldom deceived him. His 
interviews with such miserable men are gen- 
erally made brief. Without even insinuating 
distrust, he utters a few awakening words, 
and is gone. " Oh," I have heard him say, 
"how solemn a thing it is to be called by 
the name of Qheist. What a responsibility 
lies on us to adorn the doctrine of God our 
Saviour in all things; and how hard it is to 
be a Christian in reality, in deed as well as 
in name. Yes, dear fi'iends, we must strive 
to enter in at the strait gate. I often think 



IN THE AEMY. 29 

what a mercy it will be if Uncle John ever 
gets to heaven. It will be by the triumph of 
grace divine. Oh, the riches of the grace of 
God !" AVith such sayings he leaves the 
backsliders thinking and ill at ease. Con- 
sistent believers, on the contrary, seldom 
meet him without enjoying some bright view 
of heavenly things, by which their hearts are 
strengthened in faith and hope and love. 

The skill and spirit with which he replies 
to the pretences of unbelief and to the ex- 
cuses of the unconverted, could not be sur- 
passed. While maintaining the best temper, 
and exhibiting overflowing kindness and affec- 
tion for souls, he attacks every form of sinful- 
ness and error with unsparing fidelity. " O 
dear captain," I heard him say, " how I wish 
you would make up your mind to give your- 
self to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to become 
a faithful soldier of the cross." " Well, Uncle 
John," said the captain, "I try to do my 
duty, and I think that is all that is required 
of me." "Why, captain," answ^ered the hon- 
est man in tones of astonishment, " how can 
you say so? No man does his duty who 



30 UNCLE JOHN. 

does not give liis heart to God, and live in 
God's love and service. What would you 
think of a man brought up by a kind father, 
and provided by him with every means of 
happiness, who should be a good brother 
and husband and neighbor and citizen, and 
yet be a heartless and un dutiful son ? Don't 
you think his wickedness would be unspeak- 
ably great?" "But the cases are different," 
rejoins the captain. " No, they 're not," said 
Uncle John. " That man would be con- 
demned by the moral sense of the commu- 
nity ; and the godless sinner, you may depend 
upon it, will be condemned by the public 
opinion of the universe." Thus boldly does 
this humble servant of God contend with the 
adversary, and assert the prerogatives of his 
Master; and he is as ready to do this with 
officers in high command as he is with pri- 
vate soldiers. Colonels and generals have 
received faithful admonition from him on 
things vital to their eternal peace. 

On one occasion, I cannot say whether I 
was more amused to see the familiar yet 
respectful assurance, or gratified to witness 



IN THE ARMY. 31 

the startling directness with which he inter- 
rogated a brave colonel whom he had never 
seen before. A meeting had been concluded 
in front of the headquarters' tent, and Uncle 
John had conversed and prayed with a young 
man who had shown deep conviction and 
anxiety regarding his sins. Utterly uncon- 
scious of human presence, and with a sim- 
plicity and earnestness which rose above all 
influences of time and place, and surrounded 
themselves with their own proprieties — 
silence, solemnity, and attention — he knelt 
with the lad in the midst of a crowd of by- 
standers, and prayed for him, for his com- 
rades, for the officers of the regiment, and 
for the whole army. The vigorous colloquial 
language of the prayer, and its particular- 
izing petitions, in which names and places 
and circumstances were freely mentioned, 
interested and impressed the hearers of it. 
Conventionalities plainly had little to do with 
Uncle John's reUgion. The young man went 
away comforted, and trusting in God; and 
the crowd dispersed. Then we entered the 
colonel's tent, in which we found one or two 



32 UNCLE JOHN. 

officers of the command, together with their 
chief. After a few words of conversation 
regarding the history of the regiment and 
its part in the summer's campaign, in which 
it had lost heavily, Uncle John remarked that 
it was a blessed thing to have a hope that no 
bullet or cannon-ball can touch, and a life 
indestructible and immortal. Then turning 
to the colonel, he said in a confidential and 
coaxing way, " And now, colonel, just tell 
Uncle John how^ it is wdth you. We are all 
perishing creatures, and must soon be iu 
eternity together. Have you, dear colonel, 
a good hope in Christ ? Can you say that 
you hnoit' that your Redeemer livetli ? You '11 
pardon Uncle John for asking you ; he 's a 
poor dying old man that loves your soul, and 
wants it to be saved." This aj^peal, made 
rapidly, without any apparent premeditation, 
and with great tact and tenderness, evidently 
affected the colonel. Uncle John proceeded 
in the same manner as before : " You know 
what I mean. I do n't mean. Are you a pro- 
fessor of religion ? for there are many unwor- 
thy professors; but, has your heart been re- 



IX THE AKMY. 33 

newed by grace divine ? That is the point. 
Have you become a new creature in Christ 
Jesus? Have you experienced that change 
of which our Saviour speaks when he dechxres 
that a man must be born again before he 
can see the kingdom of God ?" The colonel 
expressed a hope that he was a Christian; 

and Brother Y replied that he rejoiced 

to hear him say so; that he prayed the Lord 
to bless him and make him faithful to the 
end; and that he wished before God that all 
our leaders were earnest, believing men." 

I have not spoken hitherto of Uncle John 
as a public speaker, because the peculiarities 
•of his character are better illustrated by other 
topics, and perhaps also from a consciousness 
of inability to describe correctly his more 
sustained efforts. During the revival of last 
winter he frequently moved tlie audiences in 
the log chapel with short but thrilling strains 
of extemporaneous eloquence. Few of those 
who listened to these addresses regarded 
them in a rhetorical aspect ; criticism is not 
in the line of soldiers ; but all felt his power, 
and agreed that "he knew how to talk." 



34 UNCLE JOHN. 

Those of us, lioweTer, who were accustomed 
to notice mental metliocls, could not but won- 
der at the man's gifts. For myself, I listened 
to passages in liis oratory sucli as, I think, 
are seldom heard from either pulpit or ros- 
trum. His style at times reminded one of 
the more serious and moving utterances of 
Gough. But his discourses showed more 
argument than is commonly attempted in 
those of that interesting lecturer. Thought 
after thought was presented and illustrated 
with admirable though untaught adherence 
to the rules of art. The logical order of the 
ideas, their progressive continuity of impulse, 
their practical development and application, 
were faultless. Homely condensed language, 
natural and striking metaphors, unexpected 
similes, antitheses, and turns of expression, a 
becoming gesticulation, and a voice wonder- 
fully persuasive and rich with sympathetic 
feeling, engaged attention, awoke the heart's 
best emotions, and excited new interest in 
the saving truths of Christianity. The sin- 
cere and humble earnestness of the man was 
also a chief element of his power. Xot a 



IX THE ARMY. 35 

word was uttered for oratorical effect. Every 
senteuce manifested 3'earning love for souls, 
vivid conceptions of eternal things, and a 
solemn sense of the presence of God. Suc- 
cess too, though confidently looked for, was 
expected solely through the divine blessing. 
What wonder was it that such speaking pro- 
duced results that have been visible ever 
since ? For my part, I doubt not that it was 
instrumental of everlasting good. 

During the early part of last summer he 
labored in the arni}^ of the James, among the 
colored regiments, and as might be conjec- 
tured, was very successful in arousing the 
lively African soldiers to the duties and 
attractions of religion. Nowhere were his 
visits more welcome, or the results of his 
efforts to lead men to the Saviour more 
apparent, than among the colored troops. 
They prepared a place in the pine woods 
with seats and a stand for speakers, where he 
often addressed them. From one thousand 
to fifteen hundred souls were frequently pres- 
ent at these meetings. It was a scene wor- 
thy of a painter's skill, when the little man, 



UNCLE JOHN. 




in his own tender and telling way, addressed 
the gathered hundreds of his sable brethren ; 
and when he led those assemblies in one of 
his stirring hymns, I think that the loud notes 
of praise rivalled in sjDirit and grandeur any 
that ever echoed from cathedral roofs. 

After a time he was induced to have his 
headquarters with us, and to make our divis- 
ion the principal field of his labors. In this 



IN THE AKMY. 37 

way I had the i^rivilege, several times during 
the summer, of heariug him speak in pubHc. 
His addresses are invariably extemporane- 
ous. He says that deliberate composition is 
very difficult and irksome for him; which, 
indeed, might be inferred from his vivacious 
and emotional temperament, and his want of 
Hterary training. His efforts too, though 
always interesting to his hearers, are not 
always of equal power. I was particularly 
pleased with an address which he made one 
September evening in the plaza of Fort Da- 
vis to a regiment drawn up before him in 
line. The colonel had directed a notification 
of the companies for a prayer-meeting which 
we proposed to have; but the adjutant, 
thinking, I presume, to do the business thor- 
oughly, ordered out the whole command, as 
if for dress-parade. Uncle John stood with 
his hands behind him, leaning against a tree 
in front of the headquarters, while company 
after company filed past him, faced to the 
rear, and dressed into correct position. The 
men evidently were wondering what was 
going on; and some of the officers seemed to 



38 UNCLE jonx. 

think that a joke was being perpetrated on 
the chaphains and Uncle John. However, we 
were ready for the emergency. A prayer- 
meeting was out of the question; so we re- 
solved on some public exercises. After an 
introductory address, a hymn, and a prayer, 
Uncle John was invited to speak. He began 
by expressing his gratitude to the colonel for 
that opportunity of addressing the officers 
and men of "the dear old Seventh." He 
had come expecting only to attend a jDrayer- 
meeting, but was glad to meet so many brave 
men. As he looked on the faces before him, 
and saw how very few were present of those 
whom he had seen last winter, the thought 
arose, "Where were those brave boys that 

left the old cafop at B ?" They are 

gone ; they lie on the battle-fields of the 
Wilderness, and of Spottsylvania, and of the 
North Anna, and of Coal Harbor— all along 
the way from the Kapidan to Petersburg. 
Some are at home in the North, or in hospi- 
tals; but how many occupy their long, last 
home — a soldier's grave! Scarcely one is 
left of the famihar faces. Ah, well did he 



IN THE ARMY. 39 

remember some of those noble boys that he 
used to see in the old log chapel, and whom 
he should see never more on earth. But, 
blessed be God, he had a bright hope of 
meeting them in heaven. They were heroes 
of Christ, and of his cross. Now they have 
fought their fight, they have finished their 
course, and they have received their crown. 
Oh, how he wished that every soldier was a 
ti-uly Christian man, and prepared for any 
chance that might befall him. He knew 
many brave men who were not Christians; 
but it was always a mystery to him how any 
man could face death without a hope in that 
blessed Saviour, who had triumphed over 
death and the grave. He supposed a sense 
of duty would do much, but how much bet- 
ter was it to be sure that one's soul has been 
saved with an eternal salvation. Then the 
king of terrors is dethroned, and death be- 
comes the gate of heaven. Did you never 
think, he asked, against what love you ofiend 
while you remain unreconciled to God ? Oh, 
it filled all heaven with wonder, when God's 
glorious Son took on him our salvation, and 



40 UNCLE JOHN. 

offered himself for our sins. Never was love 
like His love. How can 3-011 refuse jour 
hearts to that loving, dying Saviour? Surely 
you will not suffer it to be that Christ should 
have died for you in vain. 

"The Sou of God in tears. 
Angels with wonder see ; 
Be thou astonished, my soul 
He shed those tears for thee. 

"He wept that we might weep ; 
Each sin demands a tear. 
In heaven alone no sin is found, 
And there 's no \^ eeping there.' 

Dear soldiers, if I know my own heart, I ear- 
nestly desire the welfare of you all. God 
knows that I love you, and want to see you 
happy. And when I think of the fatigues 
and exposures and dangers which soldiers 
must undergo, Oh, how" I wish to have them 
sustained and comforted by the hopes and 
consolations of the gospel. I would that 
every one of you had a sure title to a man- 
sion in the skies. I would that you could all 
look from these scenes of conflict and suffer- 
ing and death to that blessed land where 
there is war no more. Oh, yes ; no whistling 



IN THE ARMY. 41 

minie ball, no bursting Parrot shell shall dis- 
turb the peaceful inhabitants of that heav- 
enly country. In that land there shall be 
rest for the weary ; pain and grief shall not 
enter there; 

"No groaus shall mingle with the songs 
That warble from immortal tongues." 

Now let me say a few words to those of you 
who are Christians. Dear brethren, you are 
surrounded by temptations ; but strive to live 
faithfully; hold fast your profession; let no 
man rob you of your crown. Trust not in 
yourselves, but in One that is mighty. Keep 
looking up to Jesus, and you will be conquer- 
ors, and more than conquerors, through him 
that loves you. Recently, by the bedside of 
a dear corporal that formerly belonged to 
your regiment, but that now sleeps in Jesus, 
I felt what truth, what power there is in the 
religion of Christ. All was peace with him, 
perfect peace. He knew that he was dying; 
but he rejoiced in the hope of a better life, in 
the sure prospect of a glorious immortality. 
"Oh, let me die the death of the righteous, 
and let my last end be like his." And as for 



42 UNCLE JOHN. 

you, dear friends, who are without Christ, will 
you not seek an interest in his salvation? 
Will you not begin to love and serve that Re- 
deemer who can save and bless you for ever? 
Yes, Jesus is the Saviour that you need. 

'• None but Jesus, 
None but Jesus 
Can do helpless sinners good." 

Oh, then, do not hesitate. To-morrow may 
be too late. Who knows how soon the bolt 
of death may come ? Now, while it is called 
to-day, give your hearts to God, and kneel 
before him in penitence and prayer. Dear 
soldiers, I thank you for the kind attention 
with which you have listened to me. May 
the Lord bless you all, and bring you to his 
heavenly kingdom. 

Such, as nearly as memory serves me, was 
the course of thought and style of language 
employed by Uncle John. But the forego- 
ing sketch can give no adequate idea of the 
living power with which he spoke. His allu- 
sions to the uncertainty of life and the near- 
ness of death had a peculiar significance Avith 
those whom he addressed. Several of their 



IN THE ARMY. 



43 



Dumber had been iustantaneously killed, not 
long before, on the picket line in front of the 
fort; and a day or two subsequently to our 
meeting, one poor lad was struck by a minie 
ball and died in five minutes, a few paces 
from the spot where he had listened to Uncle 
John. The summer's campaign had made us 
all too much accustomed to these things. 

Uncle John's labors during the summer 
with the sick and wounded of the army were 




44 UNCLE JOHN. 

abundant. He went with the trains and the 
steamboats laden with the disabled of the 
great battles, and exerted himself incessantly 
for the welfare of both body and soul. He 
considered no service too laborious or too 
menial to perform for the helpless sufferers. 
Many owe their lives to him, and by him 
many have been led into the way of life eter- 
nal. The large tents which constitute the 
hospital wards receive daih' visits from him, 
and any special want of their inmates enga- 
ges his immediate attention. He is particu- 
larly ready to converse and pray with those 
who are dangerously ill, or who express spir- 
itual anxiety. Every evening also, if duty 
does not call him elsewhere, he assists a 
chaplain in conducting short exercises. The 
wards, to the number of eight or nine, are 
successively visited, and in each of them two 
or three verses are sung and a prayer is offer- 
ed. In these services Uncle John's gift of 
song is most happily emj^loyed. His choice 
variety of hymns, his tact in selecting verses, 
and his admirable use of tunes, both old and 
new, contribute greatly to render this even- 



IN THE AKMY. 45 

ing worship interesting and profitable. I 
Lave noticed, too, that occasionally he gives a 
line according to a version of his own, no way 
inferior to the variations of the hymn-books. 
Besides these employments at the hospi- 
tals, a great part of his time is taken up in 
visiting the camps, where he distributes re- 
ligious reading and sanitary comforts, and 
helps the chaplains at prayer-meetings and 
public services. These journeyings call into 
play his powers as a pedestrian, which are 
most extraordinary. He thinks nothing of a 
stretch of eight or ten miles; and one hot 
day of last summer I knew him to walk fifteen 
miles and back again, with very little appear- 
ance of fatigue. Everywhere, and among all 
classes, he finds a cordial welcome. Many 
chaplains particularly, and among them the 
writer of this, feel themselves under profound 
obligations to him ; for we are generally 
agreed that it would be difficult, perhaps 
impossible, to find another- man in the coun- 
try so well qualified as he for religious labor 
among soldiers, at least for that kind of labor 
which Uncle John performs. And certainly 



46 UNCLE JOHN. 

no one could enter upon sucli work with more 
self-devoting zeal than that which animates 
this singularly-gifted man. The camp and 
hospital, the march and the bivouac, the 
siege-line and the battle-field, have witnessed 
his untiring energy in the service of a Divine 
Master. Ten thousand thanks to the Amer- 
ican Tract Society for sustaining such a man 
in so blessed a work. 

When I look upon Uncle John as he is 
now, a ready and mighty laborer in the 
cause of man's regeneration, and compare 
him with what he was sixteen years ago, the 
lively and driving manager of work in a 
brewer}^, I exclaim, "How powerful is the 
grace of God; what changes it can effect; 
how marvellously it fashions the most un- 
likely materials into blessed instrumentali- 
ties of good !" Under its influence, abiUties 
and habits developed in a life of eager world- 
liness are employed with singular efficiency 
in the pursuit of heavenly objects; the want 
of early preparation and instruction is com- 
pensated by the improvement of a devoted 
mind ; and a holv consecration of purpose is 



IN THE ARMY. 47 

UDflinchiiigly sustained for years, and crown- 
ed with ever-increasing success. Such an 
instance is rare; so that none should pre- 
sume to squander precious time in the hope 
of future faithfulness; but what encourage- 
ment it contains for those, of whatever age or 
condition of Hfe, who feel themselves called 
to some special department of the service of 
God. How surely he can sustain and pros- 
per us, while in some fitting sphere we labor 
earnestly for him ! 

I now bring to a close my intellectual com- 
panionship with Uncle John; and I do so 
with regret. It has pleasantly occupied some 
evenings, which otherwise might have passed 
unimproved in the bomb-proof and the wall- 
tent. Fare ye well, dear, good man. You 
have sometimes been a sad reproof to me for 
my want of resolution and fidelity in the dis- 
charge of a holy calling — a reproof none the 
less potent because all unconsciously admin- 
istered : but for that I bear you no ill-will ; I 
rather render thanks to Heaven that I have 
seen the living power of Christianity brightly 
illustrated, and I pray God for a baptism of 



48 UNCLE JOHN. 

his Holy Spirit, that I may more successfully 
emulate the example of his devoted servants, 
in closely following the footsteps of our divine 
Saviour. Fare je well, dear Uncle John. 
May God long spare you, a blessing to your 
kind, and at last take you gently to his heav- 
enly home. And when separating years shall 
have passed away; when the great war, now 
nearing its end, shall have been succeeded 
by times of national prosperity; when 3*our 
friend the chaplain shall have attained his 
desire, and be the pastor of some peaceful vil- 
lage flock ; when your moving and persuasive 
voice shall be hushed in death; when your 
face and form, now welcome and familiar, 
shall present themselves no more for cordial 
greetings; and when your triumphant spirit, 
freed from earth's fetters, shall be rejoicing 
on high, in the activities of an immortal 
life — then it may give pleasure to review 
these pages, the souvenir of the acquaint- 
ance of a twelvemonth; to recall lovingly 
the most cherished memories of one's army 
life, and to think of a sainted Uncle John. 



AMONG THE FREEDMEN. 49 



AMONG THE FREEDMEN. 

Such is the record of this faithful, earnest 
seeker of souls, as given by Chaplain E. J. 
Hamilton, ^vho watched his course as an 
army missionary of the American Tract So- 
ciety in the Army of the Potomac. He was 
actively engaged in this work to the close of 
the war, ministering to the temporal and 
spiritual wants of his beloved soldier-boys 
through the terrible battles of the spring of 
1865, that resulted in the capture of Peters- 
burg and the evacuation of Bichmond. 

The active work of campaigning being 
over, his heart turned with ardent longing to 
relieve the spiritual necessities of the people 
that had been so long desolated by the pri- 
vations and ravages of war. Over one-third 
of the land, schools and colleges had been 
broken up, the churches were closed or dis- 
mantled, the congregations dispersed and the 
pastors gone, and the religious literature that 
for years had been accumulating in the fam- 

Uncle John. <4 



50 UNCLE JOHN. 

ilies and churclies and Sabbatli-scliools had 
been scattered or destroyed during the Avar. 
At the anniversary of the Tract Society in 
May, 1865, the question, How shall the ruin 
thus wrought be overcome, the schools be 
regathered, the churches reopened, the pas- 
tors recalled, the libraries of ministers and 
people be supplied with a Christian litera- 
ture, and all the agencies for evangelization 
be again set fully to work ? pressed with 
painful weight upon the committee and offi- 
cers. Realizing that the Society possessed 
peculiar facilities for an immediate and most 
beneficent work over the whole South, they 
proposed the following resolution for the 
adoption of the meeting : 

^^ Resolved, That the desolated South reopens to 
the missionary colportage of this union Society a 
field of labor vast and needy ; and in Chi'ist's name 
we will strive, with all good men, to make it a garden 
of the Lord." 

The sentrment of this resolution met a 
hearty and prompt response, and the way was 
opened at once. for renewing the work which 
in former years had been so useful, and which 



AMONG THE FREEDMEN. 51 

seemed now so peculiarly fitted for the emer- 
gency. 

Immediately after the anniversary, Eev. 
George L. Shearer was commissioned as 
District Secretary of the Southern Atlantic 
states, and with a large supply of books and 
tracts was sent to Eichmond, and authorized 
to prosecute colporteur operations as the 
way should be opened. When the plan was 
proposed to Uncle John Yassar to engage in 
the work witli Mr. Shearer, he replied with 
characteristic promptness, "I am ready to 
go; my heart is in Kichmond; I long for 
their souls." He reached that city on Sat- 
urday, and the next day entered on the Avork 
of winnincr souls to Christ with all the ear- 

o 

nestness of his loving heart. 

In his first communication, after giving 
details of his interesting work, he says, " By 
the help of God, I would plead for the poor 
white and colored people of this desolated 
part of our country, until every Christian 
and friend of his country shall feel the re- 
sponsibility God has rolled upon us to hel}) 
them in this hour of need. What shall bo 



52 UNCLE JOHN. 

the character of this population ? How may 
we labor to stamp the image of Christ on 
the hearts of thousands ? These are weighty 
questions with me. Oh for youthful strength 
and heavenly grace to labor for my dearest 
Lord." 

He has since continued his labors in that 
Agency, making repeated visits to various 
portions of Yirginia, North and South Caro- 
lina, ascertaining the necessities of the peo- 
ple, supplying them with books, organizing 
day-schools and Sabbath -schools, holding 
religious meetings, and laboring wdth great 
zeal in many revivals of religion. While his 
tender sympathy is ever quick to respond to, 
and as far as possible to relieve, the physical 
suffering so general and widespread over his 
field, his absorbing concern is for the educa- 
tion of the children and youth, white and 
black, and particularly for the conversion of 
the souls of all. And in these efforts his 
labors have been richly blessed. 

Soon after the commencement of the work 
in Kichmond, he wrote: "I am busy every 
day and night among the colored people. A 



AMONG THE FKEEDMEN. ",3 

large number are under conviction, and need 
constant instruction. I find a good opportu- 
nity to reach the children, and labor for their 
good at the close of their schools. Quite a 
number of our scholars in our Sunday-school 
have found Christ, and it is blessed to see 
their happy faces on Sunday morning as they 
make their way in haste to school. Hun- 
dreds know me, and cry, ' Uncle John, how 
do you do ?' I am getting more and more 
interested in the children. I have thousands 
of nephews and nieces, and feel no shame as 
they recognize me as 'Uncle John.' All I 
want is to meet these thousands in the house 
of many mansions. Jesus will have many 
jewels set in dark caskets to stud his crown. 
"The success of the colored schools has 
awakened the interest of the white churches 
for the education of the blacks. I am doing 
what I can to put the Bible and our good 
books into the hands of the colored children 
that have learned to read. Some of our 
meetings are largely attended, as many as a 
thousand having been present. I am com- 
forted in the assurance that a good religious 



54 UNCLE JOHN. 

interest is arising in all tlie cliurclies. Let 
prayer be offered continually for tliis great 
object. In the widespread influences of the 
religion of Christ, I see the only great and 
permanent jDrosperity of the South. 

" The great field among the whites is found 
on Oregon Hill, a village in the suburbs of the 
city. A little be3'ond the village, I passed 
over a large field of graves, where lay so 
manv of the men of both armies. I thouG^ht 
of the many hopes buried with the bodies of 
the poor boys sleeping away from friends and 
home. My heart was touched with the re- 
membrance of the past; but another feeling 
filled my bosom as I saw crowds of living 
forms, small and great, passing before me as 
I entered the city, and to-day I look out 
upon the thousands I have been mingling 
with, and feel impelled to lift my heart to 
heaven for their salvation. Oh that the 
church of Christ was awake to the interests 
of these unnumbered souls that are ready to 
perish in the midst of poverty. 

" Such a field as we find in Yirginia is sel- 
dom looked upon by Christian men. There 



AMONG THE FREEDMEN. 55 

are thousands of colored people who need to 
be taught to read and to be led to look to 
Jesus for salvation. In their unsettled state 
they need God-fearing men to encourage them 
religiously, and teach them in temporal mat- 
ters what is for their good. The Tract Soci- 
ety has already done a work in its colporteur 
labors that is priceless. While the Freed- 
men's Bureau is doing much to feed this class 
of the suffering at the South, the Tract Soci- 
ety is meeting a want that has not been met 
by any other to any great extent. Thousands 
of the colored people thank us for our labors 
and our prayers, aiid the poorer class of whites 
receive us gladly when they know our object 
in coming among them. Could we only have 
the books and men to reach the different 
counties of this great state, God only knows 
the good that might be done." 

While laboring in Eichmond, the Spirit of 
God was poured out upon the colored peo- 
ple. He engaged in the work with all the 
ardor of his soul, devoting his efforts partic- 
ularly to the First African church, the great 
church of the colored people, where the work 



5G UNCLE JOHN. 

continued for a long time with deep interest. 
At one period almost the entire body of the 
church was given up to those inquiring the 
way to Jesus. He met the members of the 
church in prayer at daybreak, visited and 
prayed in the families until noon, conversed 
with the children in the schools who were 
awakened from 12 to 1 oVlock, met the in- 
quirers with the pastor at 4 p. M., and in his 
simple yet direct and effective way addressed 
the body of the people at 7 o'clock. Over 
three hundred were added to the church as 
the result of this revival. His labors here, 
and in his frequent A'isits to other parts of 
his field, were very arduous ; but his heart 
was greatly cheered by the anxiety of the 
people to learn, and by the constant eviden- 
ces of the Holy Spirit. "Two things," he 
says, "keep me from fainting by the way: 
the children learn so fast, and many are com- 
ing to Christ. Sometimes as many as fifty 
have united with the colored churches on a 
Sunday. They organize churches in the 
woods, and build log-houses to worship God 
in, and teach their children to read. Every 



AMONG THE FEEEDMEN. 57 

visit to the country convinces mc that Ave 
have the grandest mission field in America." 
The desire manifested by the colored peo- 
ple, old and young, for education, which is 
justly prized by them as the highest boon of 
their newly-acquired freedom, and which has 
known no abatement till the present time, 
affected Uncle John from the very first with 
peculiar interest. He has not regarded it as 
a matter of transient importance, but with 
far-seeing wisdom has. discovered in this new- 
born zeal a solution of the problem that has 
awakened so much solicitude : What shall 
be the future of that large class so suddenly 
introduced into the duties and responsibili- 
ties of freemen ? Deeply impressed that 
they are to be the teachers of their own race, 
if they are to be extensively taught, he has 
been earnestly at work, under the direction 
of the District Secretary, in organizing and 
encouraging schools among the colored peo- 
ple, sending repeated appeals to the North, 
that the friends of the African should do all 
in their power to supjDly them now with the 
means of education. 



58 rXCLE JOHN. 

While none have been more cleliglited at 
the repeated and remarkable instances of 
progress in the acquirement of knowledge, 
his rejoicing has not been so much at the evi- 
dence of personal improvement, as at the 
prospect that these scholars were thus pre- 
paring to become teachers, and would thus 
aid in the diffusion of knowled^^e so essential 
to the elevation of their race. 

" This is the way," he says, "that much of ' 
this great field must be reached. If we have 
to depend on teachers from the North, and 
money to support them in every part of the 
South, we should never see half of the field 
occupied. "\Ye get every colored man and 
woman to work that can read or spell. They 
must be encouraged to help one another. 
Millions of money could not do this work if 
we have to depend on Northern teachers 
alone. Several schools have been started to 
fit young persons to go to the country as soon 
as possible, and teach their race. We shall 
have thousands of young colored people to 
take these little schools in rural districts ; 
and who can tell the results of this wonder- 



AMONG THE FREEDMEN. 50 

ful work ? A door of usefulness like this has 
never been opened to the church in our land." 

He has also been gratified in noticing the 
awakening desire on the part of many young 
men, after becoming interested in their stud- 
ies, to make preparation for the gospel minis-* 
try. This desire he has always encouraged, 
believing that their people, as they realize 
the advantages of education, will demand a 
higher order of preaching than that with 
which they have been supplied. 

Thus is this earnest man indefatigably en- 
gaged in the work so dear to his heart, of 
spreading the gospel in the South, through 
the instrumentalities placed in his hand by 
his " good old mother," as he always affec- 
tionately styles the American Tract Society, 
in whose service he has labored for seven- 
teen years. His work has been most fruitful 
in removing prejudice, in melting down hos- 
tility by the ardor of his Christian love, in 
disseminating widely the privileges of educa- 
tion, and in building up the kingdom of 
Christ, gathering into it from the waste places 
long desolated by war many souls, the tro- 



GO UN'CLE JOHN. 

pliies of bis faithful, personal, ceaseless activ- 
ity, AvLo, liad it not been for his missionary 
colportage, might have remained in sin, un- 
sought, unwarned, unsaved. 

We have thus brought down to the present 
time the record of this useful man, who, as 
Army Missionary and as Missionary Colpor- 
teur, has written his name and stamped the 
impress of his soul-loving spirit imperishably 
upon many hearts. 

Following his example and imbibing his 
spirit, more than forty others -have joined 
him in this colporteur work of the American 
Tract Society, to elevate and save the neg- 
lected and the lost in that wide portion of 
our land. No field ever more needed this 
personal, hand-to-hand and heart-to-heart 
method of supplying the people with the 
blessings of education and religion, and on 
no field have the results been more signal 
and evident, testifying to the wonderful adap- 
tation of colportage to this emergency. 

The situation of the South at the close of 
the war was truly deplorable. Four years 
of strife had caused great impoverishment. 



AMONG THE FKEEDMEN. 61 

Desolation marked the path or the sojourn 
of the armies ; plantations were devastated, 
churches burned, congregations scattered, 
and Sabbath-schools broken up. Children 
were growing up in ignorance, the prey of 
idleness and vice. The sudden emancipa- 
tion of a third of the people placed them in 
pressing need of sympathy and Christian 
instruction. The general impoverishment of 
the peoj^le rendered the support of the min- 
istry entirely inadequate, and left large dis- 
tricts without stated preaching. Christians 
on the field who longed to see their children 
taught God's word, were unable to purchase 
the requisite elementary books. 

Such was the character of the field pre- 
sented to the American Tract Society, which, 
in the Lord's name, entered upon its work of 
evangelization. The dearth of religious lit- 
erature that prevailed, and the religious des- 
titutions that everywhere abounded, called 
for just such labors. 

Something has been done to relieve the 
great need; but in the districts remote from 
the lines of travel, ince:isant and highly sue- 



62 UNCLE JOHN. 

cessful labor for two years has scarcely begun 
the great work to be accomplished. A short 
thne since a colporteur in Xorth Carolina yis- 
ited in a single week forty-three families, of 
whom twenty were desiitute of the Bible and 
all religious books. Another in the same 
state reports a thickly-settled district, where 
one may travel seventy miles without finding 
a Sabbath-school. A clergj-man in Virginia 
tells of two whole counties, whose population 
in 1860 exceeded six thousand, in which there 
has never been a Sabbath-school. 

The colporteurs in their work visit every 
family in the community, and converse with 
nearly every individual on personal religion. 
Sometimes they succeed in organizing a 
prayer-meeting, and sometimes can induce 
the people to make provision for the regular 
preaching of the gospel. But the usual and 
most successful means of relieving the great 
destitution is the organization of Sabbath- 
schools. The children are gathered, and 
such as are ready to engage in teaching 
them, whether among the white or colored 
people, are furnished with books, cards, etc. ; 



AMONG THE FREEDMEN. 63 

SO that all desiring to learn to read the Bible 
are freely offered the necessary elementary 
education. 

A colporteur in North Carolina, who estab- 
lished schools in several prominent places, 
says : " The first Sabbath I organized a flour- 
ishing school of twenty-four scholars and six 
teachers; and what is remarkable, not one is 
a member of any church. On my arrival 
there, I stated the object of my visit to some, 
who at once opposed it, saying it was too 
cold, and no comfortable house could be ob- 
tained. I soon found many were disposed to 
discourage it, which only assured me that 
God had sent me there to do good. 

"So I commenced by asking some little 
boys if they did not wish to have a school, 
like other places. They were delighted, and 
said they would get me a house by morning. 
Sure enough, on Sabbath morning by sun- 
rise, thirteen children called on me with 
smiling faces, and informed me that they 
had a house and a good fire. I soon found 
my way there, and a crowded house. Sev- 
eral young ladies accompanied me, who said 



64 ' UNCLE JOHN. 

the boys begged so hard they could not re- 
fuse, saying, 'Miss E , please, madam, 

come help us start our school; I know you 
can.' 

" On arriving at the house, I read a chap- 
ter, prayed with them, and lectured the best 
I could. I then registered the names of 
twenty-four, praying in my heart for God to 
also record their names in his book of life ; 
and such were my feelings, that I found my- 
self in tears in spite of me. Six offered them- 
selves as teachers, and I gave them all, as the 
first lesson, the Lord's Prayer and Ten Com- 
mandments. 

" I called on the teachers a few days ago, 
when they informed me the school was in- 
creasing, and a doctor was aiding it, saying, 
'We are collecting money, and want as large 
a hbrary as any school has in the state.' The 
merchants said to me, ' We wish now to build 
a church and an academy, and we will want 
you to get a teacher for us after a while.' 

"XI Q ^ I met with a joyful school 

when I' delivered the libraries there. The 
superintendent said, ' Children, save all your 



AMONG THE FKEEDMEN. 65 

change, and we will get the colporteur to fill 
our bookcase.' I patiently visited all tlie 
houses in the place, and must say that they 
did all they could, and parted Avith the last 
cent. It was court week, and taxes to pay, 
but nearly every one begged me to call again. 
I saw ten wagons from the mountains with 
tobacco and butter. Many of the teamsters 
I knew, and they were glad to see me, and 
purchased some books. 

" I went next to W , where I delivered 

the libraries and books to the teachers, the 
preacher being absent. It is a flourishing 
town, noted for its Hberality. This place was 
not molested by either army. The people 
are happy here, are kind to the freedmen, 
and give them good wages and homes, and 
in return are blessed with faithful laborers." 

The cooperation of Christians in this work 
has been encouraging. The whole number 
of teachers in secular and Sabbath-schools 
thus provided with the implements of labor, 
furnished by the Richmond Agency, is about 
four thousand. The whole number of schools 
organized, resuscitated, or aided in these 

Uncle John. 5 



66 UNCLE JOHN. 

two yeai'S exceeds one thousand and fifty, 
with about seventy-five tliousand scholars, at 
an expense of about a third of a dollar to 
each scholar. Most of these are entirely 
dependent on this mode of instruction. A 
friend in North Carolina, acknowledging " a 
donation of books admirably adapted to our 
purpose," says: "There are probably more 
than three thousand children and young 
persons in this county to whom a door of 
access is now open, and who will look to and 
must rely upon colportage, not only for reU- 
gious but elementary instruction." Similar 
testimonies might be added from all parts of 
the field. 

Peculiar as is the adaptation of colportage 
to supplying the wants of the families and 
neighborhoods and schools of the white pop- 
ulation, THE FEEEDMEX are even more de- 
pendent upon it. Just entering on their new 
life of freedom, they have displayed an almost 
insatiable desire to learn to read, and a re- 
freshing readiness to receive the truth of the 
gospel with a simple, child-like faith. Through 
the various benevolent agencies of the North, 



AMONG THE FllEEDMEN. 67 

and the self-sacrificing labors of many noble 
teacliers, common schools have been estab- 
lished in most of the cities and larger villages. 
The Freedmen's Bureau reports that one hun- 
dred and fifty thousand scholars have been 
tau-ht in these schools, at a yearly expendi- 
tur^ exceeding $1,200,000, in addition to ap- 
propriations made through that Bureau. It 
is evident that a very small portion of the four 
millions of freedmen are thus brought under 
instruction ; nor can the benevolence of the 
churches support a free school system for the 
far larger part of this population who reside 
in the rural districts. 

How then are they to be furnished with the 
means of education? If this is to be done, 
the scholars already taught must engage in 
the work. Many of them are now employed 
by the colored people on the plantations, 
who are so anxious for instruction, that from 
their scanty resources they contribute cheer- 
fullv for their support. The. colporteurs of 
the"^ Society have aided extensively in the 
organization of these schools in the country, 
which through want of suitable buildings are 



68 



UNCLE JOHN. 




often held under the shade of forest trees or 
of brush-arbors, making grants to them of 
the Society's elementary books. Where it 
has been impracticable to organize schools, 
for want of buildings and teachers, the col- 
porteurs have enlisted members of planters' 
families in the work of teaching those in their 



AMONG THE FREEDMEN. G9 

employ, and their yoluntary aid lias been a 
feature of marked and increasing interest. 
The progress in this direction has been mar- 
yellous. Indiflerence has passed away, and 
now the principal obstacle to Sabbath-school 
instruction among the colored people is the 
■want of bool's. The Society has already dis- 
tributed two hundred and thirty-four thou- 
sand of its "United States Primers;" but 
what are they among so many? 

The spirit of these yoluntary teachers is 
best understood from a few facts connected 
with their efforts. A colporteur in Virginia 
T^Tites : " I feel that my labors haye not been 
altogether in yain, having organized a large 

Sabbath-school for the freedmen at W . 

I found one gentleman willing to engage in 
the work of teaching them, who assured me 
that he could get the cooperation of some 
others. As he made an appointment for me, 
I preached on the second Sabbath to a good 
congregation, principally of freedmen. They 
were all interested in the subject, and an- 
other gentleman promised to assist in teach- 
ing them. Not haying suitable books with 



70 UNCLE JOHN. 

me, I appointed the fourth Sabbath to organ- 
ize the school. I was met by a large con- 
gregation of freedmen, with some whites. 
Another gentleman assured me that his heart 
was in the work, and that the female mem- 
bers of his family would also assist. He at 
once entered into the organization ; and hav- 
ing formerly ov/ned a large number of the 
freedmen present, knew them and rendered 
valuable assistance. I was also told that his 
father would materially aid the enterprise in 
every way he could. These gentlemen, who 
took such ready hold of the work, were for- 
merly large slaveholders. 

" It was deepl}' interesting and touching to 
see the anxiet}^ to learn that was manifested 
by the negroes. Gray -headed old men were 
there, and gave their names as scholars 
wanting to learn to read. There were those 
from near eighty years of age down to ten, 
or perhaps younger, evincing the greatest 
satisfaction and pleasure at the prospect. 
One man said to me that he did not expect 
to learn much himself, but he wanted his 
children to be taught. I am deeply interest- 



AMONG THE FREEDMEN. 71 

ed in this work, and believe that Christians 
have a large and inviting field of usefulness 
open before them in this direction. I rejoice 
that so many of the most influential of our 
citizens are lending their influence to the 
work of educating the blacks." 

A young lady of fine literary attainments, 
bearing a name eminent in the annals of 
Virginia, endeavored to establish a school 
among the freedmen in the neighborhood of 
her mother's plantation. After writing to 
the various sources for books without suc- 
cess, and vainly endeavoring to persuade the 
neighbors to allow her to use one of their 
barns for a schoolroom, she finally estab- 
lished her school on the side of the road 
under a few old oaks, near an old black- 
smith's shop, the scholars being seated on 
some rough planks. The teachers who aided 
her were five schoolboys and two little girls 
of seven and nine. She then wrote to the 
Society's agency at Richmond for books, 
which were promptly forwarded to her from 
funds given by a Sabbath-school in New 
England. In acknowledging their reception, 



72 



UMCLE JOHN. 



she says, "Until last Sabbath, Avlien jour 
First Lessons and Primers were distributed 
to a happy crowd, we averaged two books, 
generally different in kind, to a class. I have 
rhe A-B-C department, and have had but one 
book to sometimes over thirty scholars; so 







we made a blackboard of the sandy road be- 
fore us, in which we traced the letters, and 
twenty of my class have learned their letters, 



AMONG THE FREEDMEN. 73 

large and small, in the sand, and on man- 
uscript cards wliicli they had taken home." 

In a letter from this lady asking for more 
books, she says : "All my books are exhaust- 
ed now, and a number of new scholars are 
unsupplied, although I have used all the 
Tract Primers which were to have been re- 
served for prizes for the highest attainments. 
I wish the children who sent the books could 
see the crowd pressing up and begging for 
them, as if they were begging for bread: 
'Give me one.' 'Give me a book.' 'Oh, 
please give me one.' ' You promise me one 
las' time,' etc. Yesterday I noticed among 
the new-comers a very bright boy, about 
eii>ht vears old, who watched the distribu- 
tion of the books with intense interest. Just 
as the last were given out of the basket, 1 
asked him if he had a book. The little fel- 
low burst into a bitter cry, and hiding his 
face in his sister's apron, sobbed out, 'You 
never give me none.' Fortunately I found a 
picture-alphabet book, which soon dried the 
tears on little Joe's cheeks, and sent him 
home happier than ever before in his life." 



74 UNCLE JOHN. 

She continued her school by the wayside 
until near Christmas, when it became so cold 
that she was unable longer to teach in that 
place. Mr. H. E. Simmons, one of the Soci- 
ety's agents in New England, having become 
acquainted with the history of this interest- 
ing school, was able, through the benevolence 
of a gentleman in Boston, to furnish her the 
means of building a log schoolhouse, which 
he presented to her in } erson at her home in 
Yirginia. 

A Yirginia pastor, after successfully con- 
ducting Sabbath-schools for the freedmen 
within his parish during the summer, was 
unwilling that instruction should cease when 
the schools closed for the winter. By sys- 
tematic and persevering effort he organized 
a school in nearly every family, taught by 
the white members of his churches; and thus 
the work so prospered, that the short winter 
was found even more favorable in its results 
than the long summer. 

From every portion of the field assurances 
come that the best Sabbath-school teachers 
in the churches are either already engaged 



AMONG THE FKEEDMEX. 75 

in tliis work, or can be secured. Nothing is 
wantiiiiT: greatly to increase the number of 
those ready to devote themselves to the ser- 
vice of the Lord in this direction icithout ]p(nj, 
but the means to furnish them with the 
books required, which they in their poverty 
are unable to buy. Will not the friends of 
the Tract Society who can appreciate the 
importance and the wide extent of the work 
that can thus be done for Christ, cheerfully 
furnish the Society with means, so that all 
willin": to encraoje in this benevolent work 

o o o 

may be supplied with the facilities for carry- 
ing it successfully forward? 

We might give many illustrations of the 
good realized from the donations of individ- 
uals or Sabbath-schools, as they have been 
furnished to needy schools, or to those vol- 
untary laborers, to aid them in their good 
work. The following incident, related by 
by Uncle John, shows the far-reaching influ- 
ence of a small donation of fifteen dollars 
intrusted to his care. 

In midsummer of 1865, travelling south- 
ward from Richmond, he left the train at 



76 UNCLE JOHN. 

C station, bearing upon his slioulder a 

heavy package of books. He was not long 
in learning that a large number of freedmen, 
employed in the coal mines near at hand, 
were without a school, and that no one was 
caring for their spiritual wants. Continuing 
his visitation and inquiries, he met, three 
miles distant, a planter ready to devote his 
Sabbaths to the religious education of the 
negroes. He also found a convenient build- 
ing, circulated an appointment, and on the 
next Lord's day met over one hundred schol- 
ars. Immediate use was made of the con- 
tents of the package, from which Uncle John 
presented spellers, primers, and a card large 
enough to be seen by all in the house. He 
gave them their first lesson in concert. It 
was laying the foundation of a mighty work. 
A few months later, the colored people, not 
content with Sabbath- school instruction, 
hired a godly brother of their own race to 
teach their children during the week. The 
Spirit wrought through him; many souls 
were converted, a church was organized, and 
the teacher has become an ordained minister." 



AMONG THE FREEDMEN. 77 

At a subsequent visit Uncle John was 
much encouraged by the progress of the 
school, and wrote : " Many of the colored 
people of that vicinity evince much talent ; 
most of the children can read, some write, 
and one class is doing well in arithmetic. 
Several girls will soon be able to go out and 
teach ; so we hope to furnish help for other 
l^laces next year. The best of all is, that 
many are seeking the Lord. One hundred 
souls have recently professed to give their 
hearts to Jesus. I feel thankful that I was 
ever permitted to visit that place. I wish 
the friends that gave the fifteen dollars' worth 
of books that started that school, could see 
the progress made by the children. They 
surely would praise God, as we did yester- 
day in visiting the place." 

What a blessing upon so small a gift to 
the Lord. Were ever fifteen dollars invest- 
ed which brought greater gain? Over one 
hundred children educated; several teachers 
fitted for blessing others ; J^ut above all, one 
hundred precious souls saved from death to 
enjoy God for ever; and a church already 



78 UNCLE JOHN. 

organized for the edification of these behev- 
ers, and the salvation of other deathless 
spirits. 

An English mother, who has been thirty 
years in Canada, sent seven dollars for the 
freedmen, through the Bochester Agency of 
the American Tract Society, desiring to hear 
of the manner of its appropriation. It was 
given to a colporteur in North Carolina, 
who sent the following account of its dispo- 
sition : 

" I have iiot given it to a colored Sabbath- 
school, from the fact that our Sabbath- 
schools among the freedmen cannot be car- 
^ried on in tlie winter for the want of suitable 
irouses. In the warm season, their schools 
were conducted in the open air, in a grove, 
and some under a brush-arbor. The same 
is also the case with some white Sabbath- 
schools. I have made use of the lady's char- 
it}^ however, in a different, and I hope more 
profitable manner. I have visited the poor 
negroes in th^r own cabins and around their 
firesides. I have sat and taught them, par- 
ents and children, to spell and read, and have 



AMONG THE FREEDMEN. 79 

freely given them Primers and Testaments ; 
and when they would commence giving me 
many thanks, I have told them that they 
were not indebted to me, but, under God, to 
a lady in Canada who wished them well. 
Their astonishment was great. AVith tears 
of gratitude in their eyes they have said, 
* God bless the lady, and God bless the Tract 
Society, and God bless you.' 

" On one occasion, when I gave Primers 
and First Lessons to som© children, and told 
them w^ho was their benefactress, the mother 
expressed an anxious desire to see the lad}^, 
that she might thank her for her kindness. 
I told her that it was not probable she could 
ever see her in this life, but if she would be a 
faithful Christian here, she would no doubt 
be permitted to meet the good lady in heav- 
en, where there would be no distinction of 
color, but all would be alike transformed into 
the glorious image of our blessed Saviour. 
At this idea a shout of rapturous joy burst 
from the lips of the old colored woman. The 
colporteur caught the spirit of universal love. 
We all knelt in prayer, and drank copiously 



80 UNCLE JOHN. 

of the fountain that flows from the tlirone of 
God." 

A lad of twelve years, a member of a Sab- 
bath-school in Buffalo, N. Y., made a dona- 
tion of twenty dollars, his missionary money, 
to be used at the South through the Eich- 
mond Agency of the Tract Society. It was 
used for the organization and aid of four 
Sahhath-schools in the vicinity of Ealeigh, 
N. C, and was expended for books. Before 
twelve months had elajDsed, many of the 
scholars in these schools had learned to read, 
and from twelve to fifteen souls had obtained 
a saving knowledge of Christ, and were labor- 
ing for the instruction and salvation of others. 
Surely in the last day these redeemed souls 
will rise up to call that child "blessed" who 
was thus the means of giving' them a knowl- 
edge of Christ and his love. Will not many 
others make use of the same instrumentality 
for doing good, thus extending the privileges 
they enjoy to many of the ignorant and neg- 
lected, and blessing many homes with Kght, 
knowledge, and salvation during their lives, 
and meeting at last the welcome plaudit, 



AMONG THE FREEDMEN. 81 

" Inasmueli as ye have done it to one of the 
least of these my brethren, ye have doue it 
unto me?" 

The crowning feature of the whole is the 
manifest token of God's presence and ap- 
proval in the conversion of souls. The first 
book uniformly desired by those who have 
newly learned to read is the New Testament. 
Revivals have been in progress in many of the 
schools that have been founded, and in sev- 
eral places churches have arisen in less than 
a vear after the organization of the school. 
No record has been kept of the number of 
those who have been led to Christ by the 
colporteurs, or in the schools they have 
formed or aided. Their record is on high ; 
and in the last great day, when the books are 
opened, it shall be said of many, "This man 
was born there." 

Such is a. brief sketch of the w*ork which 
the benevolence of Northern Christians has 
enabled the American Tract Society to ac- 
complish in the South. The work has barely 
commenced. But two years have elapsed 



82 UNCLE JOHN. 

since the first colporteur began his Christian 
visitations, and abeacly with gratitude we are 
compelled to say, " What has God wrought !" 
What may we not hope for, if, through the 
continued benevolence and enlarged liberal- 
ity of those who bid Godspeed to the work, 
the agencies for extending it are greatly in- 
creased, and the stores of educational and 
religious literature j)repared by the Society 
are wddely diffused where they are so urgent- 
ly needed ? 

The work commends itself to the heart of 
every patriot, philanthropist, and Christian. 
The evils to be removed are immense and 
appalling ; the system here presented is sim- 
ple and effective. When it was explained in 
a public meeting in Washington, and the 
results it had already accomplished were 
reported, Hon. Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, 
United States Senator from New Jersey, in 
an eloquent address claimed that these ear- 
nest laborers in the Tract Society had caught, 
as by inspiration, the one great need of the 
nation. Their evangelizing efforts must be 
effective in allaying strife and promoting 



AMONG THE FREEDMEN. 83 

peace and good-will between the different 
sections of the hind. He woukl have colpor- 
teurs sent into every county. He would have 
every Sabbath-school in the North sustain 
from one to six Sabbath-schools in the South, 
and would have these laborers and their 
cause liberally supported. 

Hon. Henry Wilson, United States Sena- 
tor from Massachusetts, followed him, warm- 
ly commending the design and purposes of 
the Tract Society, and the excellent adapta- 
tion of its means to the end to be accom- 
plished. He greatly valued these truly Chris- 
tian influences for settling our national diffi- 
culties. Turning to members of Congress 
many of whom were present, he said with 
emphasis, " These men and this agency are 
doing more for reconstruction than all of us'' 
He endorsed the wish of Senator Frehnghuy- 
sen, that the Sabbath-schools North would, 
through the Society, send down their means 
by thousands for founding Sabbath-schools 
all over the South. 

We trust that the generous sympathies of 
the members of Northern churches and Sab- 



84 UNCLE JOHN. 

batli-scliools may respond to this desire of 
these eminent statesmen, elicited by the con- 
vincing evidence presented to them, that God 
has called the American Tract Society to 
occupy the vast and needy field at the South. 
"With a system of lay effort which can reach 
every family; with the cooperation of resi- 
dent Christians of every class in the work of 
Sabbath-school instruction ; with a literature 
full of Christ, and suited to the wants of the 
people, and a depository in the needy dis- 
trict; and with the blessing of God's Spirit 
leading hundreds and thousands by this 
means to salvation, Ave have every encour- 
agement to carry out the spirit of the resolu- 
tion adopted at the anniversary at the close 
of the war, " in Christ's name to strive, with 
all good men, to make the desolated South a 
garden of the Lord." 




DESCRIPTION 

OF 

THE TRACT HOUSE 



The following ai:)preciative notice of the Society's house 
and work, appeared August '21st, in the Xeic York Evening 
Gazette, edited by Chakles H. Sweetser. It contains in- 
formation of interest to the friends of the Society. 

Of the multitudinous societies established by Chris- 
tian charity, and for civilizing and Christianizing 
purposes, we believe the two that rank the highest 



S6 UNCLE JOHN. 

for the thorough system with which their affairs are 
managed, are the American Bible Society and Amer- 
ican Tract Society, With both these organizations 
our readers are in a good measiu-e famihar, so far as 
their general field and results are concerned. Very 
few, however, understand how great is the machin- 
ery, and how extensiye are the practical details at- 
tendant upon the working of these two great institu- 
tions. At some future time we i:)ropose to give an 
extended description of the Bible Society, and its 
practical working. Our present sketch will have to 
do with the Tract Society only, to chronicle the vari- 
ous facts, concerning which we have taken note-book 
in hand, and passed through the entire establishment. 

A GLANCE BACKWAED. 
This national institution was organized forty-two 
years ago, the other tract societies then existing be- 
coming auxiliary to it, and is the same to-day in its 
plan and purpose that it was at the start. At the 
time of its founding, the receipts of all the tract soci- 
eties in the country did not exceed 820,000 per an- 
num. Last year the receipts of the American Tract 
Society were over five hundred thousand dollars ! 
The offices of the Society have always been in this 
city, and where the Society's building now stands. 

THE BUILDING. 
The building owned and occupied by the Society, 
is located at 150 Nassau-street, just opposite the Tunes 
building. It was erected in 1825, the year the Soci- 
ety was formed, by funds contributed in New York ; 



DESCEirTION OF TEACT HOUSE. 87 

and rebuilt ami enlarged in 184G by a loan secured 
by mortgage on the premises, to be paid from pro- 
ceeds of rents of parts of the building not occupied 
by the Society. It is eighty feet by ninet3--fonr, and 
five stories high, besides basement for storing paper, 
and sub-cellar for coal. The first floor is occupied by 
the Society's general depository, sales-room, treasur- 
er's office, and stores ; the second furnishes rooms 
for the American Messenger and Child's Paper, and 
other offices ; the third contains the Committee-room, 
executive offices, and composing-room ; the fourth 
is the bindery, and the fifth the press-room. The 
printing and hydraulic presses, and other machinery, 
are propelled, and the entire building is also heated 
by steam. The central court is excavated, and forms 
a boiler-room. 

THE MEN WHO DO THE TVORK. 

The working force in the House consists of a Sec- 
retary and Assistant in each dej^artment. 

Of the Publishing Department, Rev. Wm. A. Hal- 
lock is Secretary. He is the founder of the Society, 
has watched over all its interests with incessant care, 
and has been its most prominent officer, holding the 
most responsible position in it, as editor of all its 
issues. He is a man of singleness of purpose, strength 
of ^-ill, and an unswerving adherence to what he con- 
siders right. Few men have performed as many 
years of unceasing labor as he, and with such wide- 
spread and beneficent results. 

Rev. W. W. Rand, his Assistant, is the scholar, the 
practical editor of the Foreign as well as the English 



88 UNCLE JOHN. 

publications ; and the musical critic, composer, and 
compiler of the Society's hymn-books. The Bible 
Dictionary and Hapjiy Voices were prepared by him. 

In the Financial Department, Rev. O. Eastman is 
Secretaiy, and O. E. Kingsbury, Assistant Secretary 
and Acting Treasurer. They have been connected 
with the Society from the second or third t^ar of its 
existence. They are laborious, j)ainstaking, rigidly 
economical, and of sound judgment. To them, un- 
der the supervision of the Financial Committee, the 
public are chiefly indebted for the wise and uniformly 
safe management of the pecuniary interests of the 
institution. 

In tlie Colportage and General Bistrihidion Depart- 
ment, Eev. John M. Stevenson is Secretary, and S. 
E. Warner, Assistant. They arc occui^ied in securing 
and supervising colporteurs, examining, and, with 
the Distributing Committee, deciding upon unnum- 
bered requests for grants, j)reparing articles for the 
periodicals, and attending to the details of a multifa- 
rious and world-wide correspondence. 

W. B. Bodge and J. W. Bro\\-n have charge of the 
printing department, and Mr. Foot of the binding. 
Their skill and taste are seen in the style of the pub- 
lications of the Society. 

S. W. Stebbins is General Depositary, and forwards 
the pubhcations to all the agencies. 

WHAT IS DONE. 

Four thousand bound volumes, pamphlets, tracts, 
and papers are turned out by the Society every work- 
ing-day of the year. In July last the total number 



DESCRIPTION OF TRACT HOUSE. 89 

of volumes received at the depository from the vari- 
ous departments, exehisive of tracts, etc., was niiicty- 
iiiue thousand seven hundred and sixty -two. Of the 
little Sabbath-school hymn-book known as Happy 
Voices, 240,000 copies have been published. Of the 
Bible Dictionary, 124,000 copies. Of the Christian 
Almanac, 120,000 copies are printed annually. Of 
the Amei^ican Messenger, there are printed 163,000 
copies monthly ; of the German Messenger, 32,000 
copies; and of the ChilcVs Paper, 353,000 copies. 
The Society has published, during its existence, 
22,000,000 volumes ! This will give some idea of the 
vast amount of work done at the printing-house of 
the Society. 

THE COMPOSING EOOM. 

In the composing room there are nine composi- 
tors, of whom one is employed entirely on German, 
and one on Spanish, French, and other foreign lan- 
guages. There is one proof-reader, one female to 
read copy, and one man employed in repairing stere- 
otype plates. All works are either stereotyped or 
electrotji^ed, except the German Messenger and An- 
nual Report. 

In the composing room some fifteen languages are 
set, and the music for the xiublications of the Society 
is also set here. Mr. Bodge has had charge of this 
department for twenty-one years, and conducts it 
with great care and success. 



90 UNCLE JOHN. 

THE ENGRAVING DEPARTMENT. 

Here are produced all the illustrations used in the 
publications of the Society. Seven engravers are 
kept constantly employed, and many others a portion 
of their time, in prej^aring new pictures on wood or 
steel for the numerous books, tracts, etc., issuing 
from the presses of the Society, prominent among 
which is that favorite of Sunday-school children — 
and older heads too — The ChikVs Paper. 

The designs are made by the best artists in the 
country, and paid for liberally. The Society has on 
hand a large accumulation of beautiful engravings, 
amounting to several thousand, which they are con- 
tinually using in the reproduction of their books, 
papers, etc. 

It may be said here that the Society many years 
ago resolved to illustrate their cheap books in as 
handsome a manner as they could by first-class de- 
signing, engraving, and printing. That they succeed- 
ed in outstripping all others is well known ; and the 
fact that the j)oorest in the land have been able to 
purchase a book — no matter how small the size or 
price — whose pictures, whether many or few, would 
compare with the very finest illustrated works pro- 
duced in this country, has had no small influence in 
educating the taste of the people and creating a 
desire for finely illustrated books, thus giving a high- 
er standard and impetus to the book-trade greater 
than is generally acknowledged. This department is 
skilfully conducted by Mr. Elias J. Whitney. 



DESCKIPTION OF TllACT HOUSE. 91 



THE PRESS ROOM. 

There are employed in the press and sheet room 
fifty-eight persons — forty-two males and sixteen fe- 
males. There are eighteen Adams presses, two cyl- 
inder presses, and one hand press. Mr. John W. 
Brown is foreman in this department, and has been 
for twenty-one years. 

THE DRYING R003I. 

This is an important adjunct to the establishment. 
Here all the sheets are dried before they pass to the 
bindery. There are four hydraulic presses in this 
room. 

FOLDING ROO:\I. 

It is no small matter to fold all the sheets that go 
into four thousand issues daily. Seven are employed 
constantly in folding jDapers, and sixty are engaged 
in folding the sheets of books. 

THE BINDERY. 

There are employed in the bindery ninety-five girls 
and forty-three men. A book passes through many 
hands beiore it is ready for delivery at the depository. 
Mr. Andrew Foot is superintendent of the bindery, 
and is introducing improvements which cannot fail 
to make the work of this department still more 
acceptable. 



92 UNCLE JOHN. 

HOW THE WORK IS DONE. 

The printing done by the Tract Society is not sur- 
passed in the world. Mr. Baker, of Baker k God- 
"vvin, the well-known printers, testified to this after a 
tonr among the foreign iirinting houses. He said : 
* ' I think it safe to say there is no secret known to 
the European i^rinters which we are not in posses- 
sion of. Perhaps I may be mistaken ; but I believe 
we can duplicate the most sumptuous work of the 
English, French, or German press. 

"And in this connection I cannot forbear speaking 
of the rapid advancement which has been made, com- 
paratively recently, in printing here, gi'owing out of 
the increasing demand for better and more expensive 
books. Perhaps no press has done more than the 
Tract House to develop this taste ; and I have often 
expressed my gratification that an opportunity was 
afforded this Society to exhibit the capacity of our 
workmen to develox? the beautiful in our art. I am 
sure the objects of this Society have not been per- 
verted in thus elevating the tastes of the peojile, and 
also in directly, softening the hearts of the pubUshers, 
who, if not mentioned in the Society's preamble as 
subjects of their mission, have yet, fortunately, been 
reached by the tract printer's excellence." 

MAILING DEPARTMENT. 

Five persons are engaged all the time in mailing 
the ChikVs Paper and Messenger. Mr. Thomas M. 
Lawrence has had charge of this department for 
twenty-five years. 



I^ESCKIPTION OF TRACT HOUSE. 93 

THE DEPOSITORY. 

The depository and store on the first floor is in 
charge of Mr. S. W. Stebbins. The sales at the store 
amount to about $50,000 per annum, aside from the 
general work of the Society. 

COEEESPONDENCE. 

The correspondence of the Society is very large. 
About ten thousand letters are received every year. 
All the letters are preserved, and have been since the 
founding of the Society. They are bound up in 150 
volumes, containing 1,000 letters each, all ready for 
reference. 

UNION BASIS. 

The publications of the Society are all based upon 
the truths and duties generally received by evangelical 
Christians. The Publishing Committee is composed 
of Presbyterian, Congi-egational, Baptist, Episcopa- 
lian, and Dutch Reformed, and without the assent of 
aU no book is issued. The book department sup- 
ports itself. 

BENEVOLENT DEPAETMENT. 

The donations given to the Society last year 
amounted to 3160,000, which was expended, except 
what was given to increase the stock of publications, 
in three ways : 

I. Cash to foreign missionary boards. 

II. By grants of books and tracts to seamen, sol- 



94 UNCLE JOHN. 

diers, chaplains, literary institutions, humane institu- 
tions, mission Sabbath-schools, missionaries, and to 
individuals to do good with. About one third of the 
benevolent receipts of the Society are thus spent 
yearly. Since the Society began, forty-two years ago, 
$1,120,000 have been sjDent in this way. 

III. By colporteurs — men who combine with the 
circulation of Bibles, books, and tracts by sale and 
gift in the destitute parts of the land, religious con- 
versation, prayer, formation of Sabbath-schools, pro- 
motion of temi^erauce, etc. 

Colportage originated in 1841. Colporteurs of the 
Society have performed 4,000 years of labor, circula- 
ted 11,000,000 volumes, and made 9,600,000 family 
visits. Grand results. There are at jDresent one hun- 
dred and sixty colporteurs. Perhaps one half of the 
benevolent funds of the Society are exj)ended annu- 
ally in tliis way. 



RARE BOOK 
COLLECTION 




THE LIBRARY OF THE 

UNIVERSITY OF 

NORTH CAROLINA 

AT 

CHAPEL HILL 



Wilmer 
524 



