Bright skies and dark shadows

Front matter

LIBRARY OPCONGRESS.

Sliell'-v-r

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Preface

Migration to the South at the approach of Winter, has become almost as regular as the migration of birds. A journey that is so familiar needs little in the way of description ; and if I linger here and there, or turn to some out-of-the-way place like Jupiter Inlet, it is not to magnify slight accessories, but to prepare a larger canvas for a principal figure, as these troj)ical surroundings furnish a background, the more effective by contrast, for the dark subject of my story. It is under these " bright skies " that the " shadows " creep on the scene. Out of the palms and the orange groves starts up a spectre, the ghost of something gone, that, though dead and buried, sleeps in an unquiet grave, and comes forth at midnight to haunt us in our dreams. The Race Problem is the gravest that ever touched a nation's life. The subject at once fascinates and repels by its tremendous import, its difficulty and its danger. I have been so oppressed by it that I could not keep from speaking, even if it were only to ask questions. That is the way to get light, by groping after it. Confession of ignorance is the first step towards knowledge. To one in perplexity of mind on a difficult question, it is a help to talk it over in a friendly way : to exchange suggestions with those who give as well as receive. Ideas which were extremely vague, crystallize in expression, and are useful if only to draw forth something better from others. With this frank statement, I give my thoughts for what they are worth, but do not ii PREFACE.

assume for one moment to set myself up as an authority. I boast no superior wisdom : I only claim to have a few grains of common-sense, an earnest desire for the good of both races, and a boundless charity.

After this grave discussion of a question that has been the brooding mother of all our woes, last and greatest of which was the late civil war, it is not a violent transition to a stirring event in the war itself, the Battle of Franklin. As I went oyer the field with those who had a part in the scenes of that terrible day, I have tried to tell the story in a way to be just alike to friend and foe. Then, by way of contrast and relief, we turn to a quiet old mansion on the banks of the Cumberland, where one of our earlier heroes, Andrew Jackson, lived and died.

Beturning home across the mountains, it came in my way to visit the graves of Lee and Stonewall Jackson, in writing of whom I have not sought to revive recollections that could stir up bitterness, but to contribute at once to the truth of history and to the cause of peace. These very sketches serve to show us " how near and yet how far " is the great drama in which these distinguished actors bore a part — so near as to be remembered vividly by the living generation, and yet so far as to have removed all irritation, so that we can write of these recent events with the calm, judicial temper of posterity. Cau we make a better use of history than to learn from it this double lesson : to honor all the heroic dead, and to think kindly and generously of the living ?

Makch, 1890.

Contents

I. Sent Aw ax. The Consolations of Exile S

II. Over the Mountains: Asheville and Knoxvillb.

A Reminiscence of the War 16

Chapter I. Sent Away— The Consolations Of Exile

"Go! go! go!" said the doctor. "The sooner, the better ! " This was sending me into exile at a moment's notice. I did not Kke it. There is no place like home, and though it may not be qmte orthodox, I have always been of the opinion that the angel of the household was as good as an angel with wings. But the doctor was peremptory. He did not give advice, but command, and in such a case there is nothing to do but to obey. It would have lightened the matter a httle if I could have had so much as a pleasant day to depart ; but it was raining heavily as I crossed the Hudson, and one's spirits are apt to sink with the barometer. In such a mood, a ferry-boat is not the place of retirement that one would choose to indulge his sombre reflections ; and the station at Jersey City, dark as a half-lighted tunnel, seemed almost like a cavern leading to the shades below. But even in the shades one may recognize some famihar faces, and as I stepped into the drawing-room car, whom should I see in the opposite seat but an old friend who had just been elected Vice-President of the United States ! It is more than thirty years since I first knew Levi P. Morton : we recalled the very time and place at which our acquaint-

10 RESTFUL PHILADELPHIA.

ance began. He was then living in Fourteenth street, in a house twelve and a half feet wide ; but small as it was, it was full of brightness, and he was then the same gentlespoken, quiet-mannered, and evcn-temj^ered man that he has been ever since, with a natural courtesy that makes all men his friends, and none his enemies. It is with a personal gratification that I see this true American gentleman elevated to the second position in the government of his countr}^, and that he has at his side one who wiU do as much to grace the social life of V/ashington as any of her predecessors.

Pleasant company makes time pass quickly, and it was not long before the train rolled into the station at Philadelphia. The rain was still j^ouring, but there were bright lights and welcoming faces, and we were soon carried off, willing captives, to uaste the hospitality of the Quaker City.

When I am banished from feverish New York, I betake me to restful Philadelphia, the very sight of which, with its rectangular streets and slow-moving people, subdues me to a feeling of quietness and peace. If I were a doctor, and had a patient who was suffering from insomnia, I would prescribe for him a change to Philadelphia. It is a perfect anodyne. At once the heart beats more slowly, the pulse becomes more measured and regular, and the tired brain finds the welcome rest that brings life back again, and the weary pilgrim starts on his journey anew, with fresh courage and hope.

A Sunday in Philadelphia is next to walking the golden streets. The great city rests from its six days of labor. Men gather their families about them, and walk to the house of God in company. Angels are abroad, and we can almost hear the soft stirring of their wings.

In this city of churches I feel very much at home. If one is looking about for a sight that is at once unique and

A FAMOUS SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 11

inspiring, he may find it in the famous Bethany Sunday-school, the largest in America, founded by Mr. John Wanamaker, whose partner, Mr. Bobert C. Ogden, not to be outdone in good works, has set up another, not in opposition, but in imitation. Mr. Wanamaker, at the head of his Bible-class, which includes many hundi'eds of mature age, who are still eager in their study of the Holy Book, is in his element. He loves to teach and to preach the Gospel, and he does a good deal in the way of practising it, too. When I saw him the next day in his place of business, which is such a centre of activity as would keep most men's heads in a whirl, he was as calm as a Summer's morning — not troubled in mind by the attacks upon him because of the pai-t he took in the late election, nor carried* off his feet by any political ambition. Indeed I believe he would rather be at the head of his Sunday-school than in the Cabinet of President Harrison, though he might be both. The fact that he has wrought so faithfully in the one, certainly does not unfit him for the other. I envy him, not for his wealth or worldly success, nor any political distinction which he may attain, but for the good that he has done among those for whom the rich generally care but little ; so that at the last, when he comes into the heavenly kingdom, he will not come alone, but will have a great multitude of children, and of the poor and the lowly, to keep him company.

But Philadelphia is setting New York an example in other things than Sunday-schools, the last and greatest of which is a Tabernacle for Working-men, an immense structure, in which there is not only a church for religious services, but reception-rooms, a hall for popular lectiires, and an infii-mary for the treatment of diseases of the eye and ear, the throat and lungs — a treatment which, as it requires the skill of speciaHsts, is on that account so costly

12 THE BEACON CHURCH,

as to be beyond the reach of working men, but which is here provided without cost. This j^art of the general plan has been in operation for two years, in which time, even with the limited accommodation, it has furnished relief to over seven thousand patients.

The planting of such a structure right against the walls of the sanctuary, with doors opening from one into the other, is a combination of the religious with the humane, which carries out the spirit of Him who went about doing good to the bodies as well as the souls of men. The church itself is so arranged as to invite the working classes. Instead of being patterned after the stiff and stately style of architecture, in which elaborate carving and florid decoration, and the general air of costHness, sei've as a warning to all who may be " in vile raiment " to keep away, this " Beacon Church " is constructed for a popular assembly, its seats being ranged in the form of an amj^hitheatre, with great galleries into which crowds can pour, and in which a working-man would not hesitate to take his seat in his work-day clothes, if he had no other, with his wife and children, to hear anybody who has the art of speaking so as to touch his heart. And yet there is nothing about it cheap and mean-looking ; on the contrary, it is quite grand from its size and massiveness. In short, it is a church good enough for the best, and not too good for the humblest, to which therefore both extremes of society may gravitate by a common impulse, so that "the rich and the poor may sit together, and feel that God is the Maker of them all."

But the design of course was chiefly for the working-men, as is indicated by the location, in a distant part of Philadelphia — perhaps four miles fi'om Chestnut street. It took us nearly an hoiu" to drive there. But for all that, it is not beyond the reach of a dense population,

DESIGNED FOR WORKING-MEN. 13

as it is in the midst of large manvifactories, that employ thousands of working-men and working-women, for whom this is intended to be a rallying centre, and a fountain of all good influences.

The carrying out of this grand idea is due to the unwearied labors of Dr. Francis L. Eobbins, who has given his whole heart to it for several years, and who must have felt rewarded as he saw the great demonstration of Sunday evening. The church, which will hold three thousand people, was not only filled, but blockaded — floor and galleries and aisles, and every passage-way to the outer doors. On the platform sat ]\Ir. Morton, who is the uncle of IVIrs. Bobbins, and who had come on from New York especiall}' to be at this service ; and beside him, Mr. Drexel and Mr. George W. Childs, Mr. Wanamaker, and others who are well known as men who put their hands to every good work. I have rarely looked in the face a more inspiring audience, and the tone of all the speeches was one of hope and congratulation. All felt that this was a step in the right direction ; that it tended to solve the problem of reaching the masses with the Gospel ; that it bridged the chasm between the rich and the poor, bringing them nearer together, and both under the influence of that Religion which is the only solid foundation of social harmony and national prosperity.

After the Sabbath was past, I lingered awhile in this goodly city to inhale the air of a place that is always restful to me. There are no ups and downs to cause unwary feet to stumble : all is plain and straight before my face. The city Heth four square, like the heavenly Jerusalem, and its surface is plain and smooth, as all the ways of life ought to be ; and the streets run at right angles, and are so carefully named and numbered that " the wayfaring man need not err therein." There is a quaint harmony in

14 THE CITY OF PEACE.

the domestic architectiii-e, there being some hundreds of thousands, more or less, of houses, all with the same brick fronts, the same dooi's and Avindows, and the same white doorsteps, the daily washing of which is the badge of respectability, if it be not indeed " the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace." It is a moral lesson to watch the people in the streets, who do not rush about with undue precipitation, but walk with measui'ed steps, in which there is a kind of slow rhythm, that insensibly subdues the stranger to the same dignity and repose. All these things work in me a calm and equable frame of mind ; and when I have been up to the Presbyterian House, and talked with " all the holy brethren," and been assured that every department of our ecclesiastical machinery is in perfect order ; and to the editorial rooms of " The Presbyterian " and " The Journal," and meekly inquired as to the prospects of union between the Chui-ches North and South, and have them both (though their views are exactly opposite) tell me confidentially that *' it is aU coming out right," I am greatly reUeved in mind. Then I need only to ride down town, and look into the untroubled face of that model gentleman, George TV. Childs ; and to sit with Mr. Drexel in- his banking house — a man who is as simple as if he were not a king in the world of finance — and hear him speak hopefully of the prospects of the business world ; to be quite reheved of any fears for the country, under whatever administration it may be. It is thus that PhiladeliDhia quiets my nerves and cools my blood, and leads me to think that the world is not going to the bad, after all. God bless the dear old city of Franklin and of WHUam Penn, whose spirit of peace and of brotherhood abides upon her still — a city rich in its commerce and its accumulated wealth, but richer still in its noble men and women !

WASHINGTON AS A PLACE OF EXILE. 15

Washington is another city of refuge for me, when I am ordered away from home in search of a milder climate. There, hard by the Capitol, is a wide, roomy house, in which everything is, like its possessor, large and generous, with a great library, which is the very paradise of a scholar. Here the sunshine pours in all day long, and the weary pilgrim can enjoy the " sunshine cure," for there is sunshine without and within. The master of this hospitable mansion, when in college, bore the proud title of Magnus Ager, to distinguish him from a smaller edition of the same stock, who, being the very least, or httlest, of the tribe of Judah, had the diminutive appellation of Parvus Ager. These college names indicated the relations which existed between the two, and which continue still, for never am I " in any trouble of mind, body or estate," that I do not turn to him who is " older and wiser " ; and to this day, when I find myself in the arms of this big-brained, bigbreasted, big-hearted brother, I feel that I am about as near " the realm where love abides " as I expect to be tiU I pass over the river.

The afternoon that I arrived the large house had been the scene of a reception at which there had been a brilliant array of Washington society, in which Mr. Blaine, who attracted all eyes, divided attention with the Chinese Ambassador. For aU this I came too late, for which I was not sorry, as nothing fatigues me so much as a crowd, and there were over four hundred guests. So I was content to hear aU about it, and to receive the report as one listening to the faint murmur of the outer world, when it is BO soft and gentle as not to disturb the peace and happiness within. These are the consolations of exile. And so I find that to be banished is not a cruel punishment, if one may chooce his place of exile, in which case I should certainly choose Washington.