The life and work of William Augustus Muhlenberg

Front matter

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

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J& -A

Chapter II. 1796-1811

Birth and Childhood. — Early Religious Sentiment. — Death of his Father. — Preference for the Episcopal Church in his ninth Year. — A Quaker School-master. — The Academy. — Exemplary Boyhood. — Inventive Faculty. — St. James's Church. — Disappointment at the Consecration. — Innate Ecclesiastical ^Estheticism. — Boy Journals. — Grammar School of the University, Pa 10

Chapter III. 1811-1815

College Life. — A True Friend. — Youthful Sports. — Confirmation. — Retiring yet Courageous. — The Juniors and the Provost. — Studies. — Church Observances. — Philomathean Society. — College Classmates. — Life -long Friends. — An Impenitent Boy Friend. — Public Affairs. — Closing Events of War of 18 12. — A Day of Military Service. — The Treaty of Ghent. — Peace joyfully Welcomed. — Graduated with Honors 20

Study of Theology. — Interview with Bishop Wliite. — The Theological Seminary Question. — Earnest Preparation. — First Communion. — Self-searching Questions at Close of Year. — Reforming the Organ vi CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Loft. — Office of Clerk abolished. — Removal to Arch St. — A Prayer in Every Room. — Founded a Church in Huntingdon Co. — Proposed Visit to Europe abandoned. — Ordained Deacon. — Bishop White's Assistant. — Extreme Diffidence at Beginning of Ministry. — Bishop White's Meekness. — ■ Anecdotes. — The Sunday Schools. — Church Music. — An Auxiliary Bible Society. — Visiting among the Poor. — Ordained Priest. — Accepts a Call to St. James's, Lancaster. — Letter from Bishop White 38

Chapter V. 1 820-1 824

Religion and Learning in Lancaster. — Apathy of the People. — Mr. Muhlenberg's Activity. — Forms a Sunday School. — Interest in Public Education. — Obtains Passage of Bill through Legislature. — Large School-house erected. — Personal Devotion to this School. — Improves the Monitorial System. — Other efforts for Enlightenment of the Town. — ■ The Special General Convention, 182 1. — Plea for Christian Hymns. — Effort in another Direction. — Church Poetry. — Hymn Committee appointed at General Convention, 1823. — Mr. Muhlenberg a Member. — Faithful Pastoral Labors. — Extracts from Parish Notes. . . 58

Chapter VI. 1824- 1826

Joy and sorrow. — Resoluteness. — An Occurrence several Years latei. — The Roman Catholic Preacher. — Sentiments regarding Celibacy. — His Journals and Prayers. — "I would not live alway.'' — History of the Hymn. — His Dissatisfaction with it. — A Fable Apologetic. — Power of Looking at himself Objectively. — Attempted Emendation of the Hymn. — Another in 1876. — Original Version in full. — Why he wrote these several Versions. — Unexpected Popularity of the Piece. — The Attention it drew. — Burdensome Honors. — A Contemporaneous Effusion. — Might have been a Poet. — Byron and Moore. — Conscious of kindred Power. — A Poet of a higher Kind. — Musical Gift. — A rare double Endowment. — Education prospectively his Vocation. — Resigns Charge at Lancaster. — Passage from his Farewell Sermon 6$

CONTENTS. Vii

Chapter VII. 1826-1828

PAGB

Christian Schools Essential to the Commonwealth. — Originatcr of their Type. — Eventful Sunday at Flushing. — His Hymns of this date. — The Hymn Committee. — Association with Dr. H. U. Onderdonk. — Convention of 1826. — The Hymns passed. — Absence of Party Feeling. — A Dinner-Table Talk. — Taken at his Word. — The Flushing Institute. — Exhilarating Effect of a New Project. — Life - Long Fertility in Plans of Beneficence. — Searching the Ground of his Undertaking. — Opposition of Family. — His Mother's Fears. — A Portraiture. — The Reward he sought. — Visits Lancaster. — Dr. H. U. Onderdonk chosen for Assistant Bishop of Pennsylvania, —Carries the Tidings to the Bishop Elect 79

Chapter VIII. 1828-1835

Flushing Institute in Operation. — Intensity of Religious Conviction. — An Apostle to Youth. — Characteristic Incident. — Theory of the School. — Its Government. — Secretary Forsyth and the Fourth of July. — Not Emulation but Christian Endeavor. — System of Marks. — An Evening in the Institute. — The Church Year. — His Assistants. — Private Interviews with Boys. — Unceasing Efforts for their Salvation. ■ — Little Prayers for Little Things. — " Tabella Sacra." — The Rector's Rules for himself. — The Little Charity Box. — Cold Water Treatment of a Trick 97

Chapter IX. 1835-1839

Preparations for St. Paul's College. — Repute as an Educator. — Reply to Bishop Doane's Proposal. — Purchase of a Farm near Flushing. — ■ Success of the Institute. — Ten Thousand Dollars of Debt. — His Mother's Aid. — No Thought of Surrender. — Ultimately met his Expenses. — Scenery of College Point. — Laying a Corner-stone that Received no Super-structure. — Enduring Work of St. Paul's College. — Why the Permanent College Edifice was not built. — A noble Principle of Action. — Plans for a Sojourn in Europe. — His Brother's unexpected Death.— -Characteristics of Dr. Frederick A. Muhlenberg. — Grief and Tenderness of Survivor. — Turns to Work again. — Temporary Buildings erected. — St. Paul's College begun. — Principles and Discipline of the Same. — The Rector's Increase of Care. — Divine Support. — Tenor of Daily Intercourse with Students. — Tact in Dealing with them. — Skilful Moral Probing 1 17 viii CONTENTS.

Chapter X. 1839-1843

PAGB

Exclusion of Emulation as an Incentive. — How it worked. — No Tolerance of Inferior Scholarship. — Examination of 1839. — Instructors educated in Institution. — The Faculty. — Dimensions of Buildings. — Other Statistics. — Dr. Muhlenberg's Proprietorship. — Physical Culture of Students. — Boating. — A Summer Evening Scene. — Impressiveness of the Place. — Noon-tide Chapel Service. — Religious Efforts beyond the College. — Chapel Services on the Great Festivals. — ^Esthetic not Ritualistic. — Music and Song. — The Wreath -makers' Ballad. — Ode for the Ashburton Dinner. — Unresting Originating Power. — Numerous Educational Plans. — An .Order of Christian Teachers for the Church. — Cadets' Hall. — Prose Compositions. — • A Birthday in Retirement. — Spiritual Exercises. — His Christian Watchfulness 139

CHAPTER XL

1 843- 1 844.

Fifteen Years of unbroken Service. — Onerous Labors. — A Holiday. — Tractarianism. — Its Impression on him. — Notes from Journals. — Voyage to Europe. — Arnold Buffam. — Sight-seeing. — A Breakfast at Oriel. — John Henry Newman. — Dr. Pusey. — Ravished with Oxford. — In Paris. — The Wesleyan Chapel. — The Saintly Professor. — Preparations for Return. — A Sincere Prayer answered. — His Ecclesiastical Position 159

. CHAPTER XII.

1 844- 1 846.

Forgetting the Things behind. — New Subject for Creative Talent. — Contemplates Relinquishment of College. — What he had Accomplished for Christian Education. — The Church of the Holy Communion. — Why not St. Sacrament ? — Peculiar Constitution of Parish. — Architecture of the Church. — Its Interior. — Evangelical Catholic Symbolism. — Church opened for Divine Worship. — Consecration by Bishop Ives. — Last Labors for St. Paul's College. — Its End. — Success of his Educational Work. — Reminiscences of Scholars — Bishop Bedell's Tribute. — Anecdote. — Church Sisterhoods. — A Bow drawn at a Venture. — The First Sister. — Answer to a Young Man asking his Friendship. — "Our Souls must work together." 175

CONTENTS. VS.

CHAPTER XIII.

PAGB

Began Pastorate in New York. — An Educator still. — His Works linked together. — The Locality. — A Congregation formed. — An exceptional free Church. — Its Attractiveness. — Dr. Muhlenberg as a Preacher. — Pentecostal Days. — Festival and Fast. — Care for poorer Members. — A Christian House-warming. — The Pastor's Cloak. — First Idea of St. Luke's Hospital. — Thirty Dollars. — Dearth of Hospital Accommodation. — How to begin a Work of Charity. — No Charitable Organizations in the City. — Dr. Muhlenberg's Influence on Inner Life of the Church. — Opposite Elements.' — Leaf from Journal. — What three Years accomplished. — Origin of Fresh Air Benefit. — First Christmas-tree for the Poor. — Church Seats. — Epigram on Pew Auction. — Origin of Pews. — Bishop Burnet and the Court Ladies 193

CHAPTEK XIV.

1 849-1 85 1.

Impetus given to Hospital Project. — A Day in the Annals of the Church. — Public Plea for a Church Hospital. — St. Luke's Incorporated. — A Hundred Thousand Dollars asked. — Large Subscriptions. — Robert B. Minturn and the Anonymous Five Thousand. — First Idea as to Names of Donors. — Review of Cholera Summer. — Death of Choir Boy. — Labors during Epidemic. — Visiting Cholera Hospital. — Another Chorister taken. — Music of the Church of the Holy Communion. — Boy Choirs. — Mode of Supporting a Free Church. — The Weekly Eucharist and Daily Service. — A Missionary Meeting. — Rubrics not Choke-Strings of the Heart. — The Friday Evening Lecture. — The Sacramental System. — Bishop Ives's Submission to Rome. — Would like to wear coarser Clothes. — Devoted filial Love. — His Mother's last Illness and Death. — The Funeral. — Tender Sentiment. . 214

CHAPTEK XV.

1851-1852.

Projects an Evangelical Catholic Periodical. — Deference to his Mother's Wishes. — Object of the Paper. — What is Evangelical Catholicism ? — General Surprise on Issue of "Evangelical Catholic." — Longings for Christian Unity. — Hints on Catholic Union. — Minor Use of Periodical. — Sisterhood of Holy Communion organized. — Its Principles. — St-. Luke's Hospital. — A Young Physician's first Fee. — Significant

X CONTENTS.

PAGB

Bequest. — Negotiations of Corporation of St. Luke's with Church of St. George the Martyr. — Site consecrated before determined upon. — Urgent Demands for Hospital Shelter. — The Embryo St. Luke's in a Rear Tenement House 235

CHAPTER XVI.

1853-1855-

Memorial to the House of Bishops. — Papers on the Memorial. — A Proper Radicalism. — Dr. Harwood on Origin of Memorial. — Reminiscences by Dr. E. A. Washburn. — Not daunted by Unsuccess. — Ceaseless Efforts for Unity. — A Favor to the Sisterhood. — Infirmary of Church of the Holy Communion. — Happy Service. — Quarantined. — The Pastor's Visits. — Ideal of a Sister of Charity. — Corner-Stone of St. Luke's Hospital laid. — Location. — General Plan of Building. — A Street Incident. — Bearing Injuries 260

CHAPTER XVII.

1855-1856.

A Summer in Europe. — St. Bartholomew's Hospital. — St. Barnabas, Pimlico. — An Hour with Maurice. — Working Men's Bible Class. — A quiet old Town. — Ely Cathedral. — The House of Peers. — The Lords Spiritual. — Home Thoughts. — Switzerland. — The Silber Horn. — A Sunday at Strasburg. — The Lord's Day in Paris. — Refined Godlessness. — Hiibner's Painting. — Delight in his Christmas Gift. — A Reunion. — His Sixtieth Birthday 281

CHAPTER XVIII. 1856-1859.

Individuality of St. Luke's Hospital. — Fundamental Idea. — Impressiveness of Building. — Pleasure Grounds for Patients. — Plan of Interior. — Another Hundred Thousand Dollars. — Chapel opened for Worship. — A Hospital Church. — The Furnishing Committee. — A double good Work. — Prejudice disarmed. — Work begun in St. Luke's. — Solitariness of Building. — The first Workers. — The Hospital a Family. — Ways and Means. — Faith the best Endowment. — Harm of a Million of Dollars. — Arrangement with Board of Managers. — A welcome Handsel. Costly and beautiful Gifts. — First Annual Report. — The Hospital Associations 298

CONTENTS. XI

CHAPTER XIX.

1859-1860.

PAGB

.Takes up his Abode in St. Luke's. — A lofty Prophet's Chamber. — Early Rising. — Elasticity and Strength. — Sixty-three Years old. — Sacra Privata. — St. Luke's a Monument. — Pertinent Words. — The Methodist's Prayer. — Evangelical Catholicity. — Bedside Ministrations. — Three Sketches by his own Pen. — Religious Services. — Use of the Prayer Book. — Household Evening Worship. — Turning passing Events to Account. — Visitors. — Impression on Different Minds. — Sunshine 314

CHAPTER XX.

1860-1863.

An Episode. — Abhorrence of Slavery. — Fugitive Slave Law. — Free Soil Question. — Republican Battle Hymn. — Votes for Mr. Lincoln. — Triumph. — Bombardment of Fort Sumter. — Shock felt in St. Luke's. — Response to Call for Volunteers. — Resident Physician and Surgeon enlisted. — Other Enlistments from Hospital. — Interest in his Soldier Boys.- — National Hymn and Choral March. — A Christmas Morning Address. — A Hundred Thousand Men to be drafted. — Riots. — Colored Orphan Asylum burned. — St. Luke's threatened. — Two Days of Peril. — Dr. Muhlenberg and the Rioters. — The Vigilance Committee. — President's Proclamation for a General Thanksgiving. — The President's Hymn 333

CHAPTER XXL

1865-1866.

Benevolent Activities during War. — The selfish Landlord. — Central Park Splendor. — An unrepining Spirit. — Evening Hours. — Soldier Patients. — Favoring the Poorest. — A Riddle. — Keeping Lent. — Efforts for general Observance of Good Friday. — Co-operation of Ministers of Various Denominations. — Sermon in Dr. Adams's Church. — Bishop Potter's Pastoral. — Letters to a Friend. — Dr. SchafFs Service in Church of the Holy Communion. — Restoration of Church of Augustus. — Growth of exclusive Sentiment. — Death of Dr. Cruse*. —A Pair of Saints. — Anecdotes. — An Olive Branch. — Act of General Convention of 1865 353 xii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXII.

1865-1866.

PAGB

Keeps up with the Christian Thought of the Day. — Literary Ability. — "Christ and the Bible." — "The Woman and her Accusers." — Ten Years without Verse-making. — Later Compositions in Music and Poetry. — Talent for Improvising. — Muhlenbergianse. — Satire and Mimicry. — Old Quin. — Tact in Reproving. — " Deliver us from Evil." — Permission to go to the Theatre. — Ingenious Argument. — The Requiem Mass. — Fluctuations of Temper. — Portrait by Huntingdon. — Mr. Minturn's Death. — "The Poor Man's Friend and Mine." — Mr. Minturn's Distinguishing Traits. — Anecdote by Bishop Potter. — A Short Funeral Sermon. — The Hospital Burial Plot 380

CHAPTER XXIII.

1866-1869.

St. Johnland Begun. — The Benjamin of his Works. — The "Retro-prospectus." — Christian Fatalism. — Purchase of Farm. — Asks ten more Years. — A valued Birthday Gift. — His Golden Wedding. — Letter Congratulatory and Retrospective. — Funds for St. Johnland. — Tact and Principle in Money Matters. — The Spencer and Wolfe Home. ■ — Three Thousand a Year. — St. Johnland's Gaudy Day. — "Glorious Birthday." — " Brotherly Words." — Foundation of St. John's Inn. — The Boys' House. — Church of the Testimony of Jesus. — Munificent Friends. — Laying Corner-stone of Church. — Declaration of Evangelical Catholic Principles. — Verses 398

CHAPTER XXIV.

1869-1872.

Incorporation of St. Johnland. — Diversified Objects of the Society. — Capabilities of the Place. — Not ready for Cottages at first. — Family Life fostered in another Form. — St. Johnland Children. — Evangelical Brotherhood. — Church Services. — " Directory for the Use of the Book of Common Prayer." — Illustration from Supplement. — Dedication of the Church. — St. John's Inn has its House-warming. — A Cottage Tenantry. — Who and What they are to be. — Mistakes Corrected. — Educational as to Family Life. — The Great St. Johmand Text. — iVn Original Charity. — Transfer of Property to Trustees. — Mr. John D. Wolfe's Benefactions. — Anecdotes. — Influence of Dr. Muhlenberg in enlarged Gifts of Benevolence 424

CONTENTS. XlU

CHAPTER XXV.

1872-1873.

PAGH

A summer Holiday. — The Peasantry of Europe and St. Johnland. — London. — Essay on Potentiality of the English Bishops. A Birthday abroad. — Home. — A Sea-Song. — The Bells of St. Thomas's Church. — Unimpaired Sensibility and Sportiveness. — Characteristics of early Manhood unchanged. — Extract from Letter. — The freshest of the Party . 444

CHAPTER XXVI.

1873-1874.

One more Effort for Unity. — Address before Evangelical Alliance. — Representative United Communion. — Hedging in the Lord's Table. — Anticipation. — " Veni Creator." — The Dean of Canterbury, Bishop Cummins, and the Archbishop's Chaplain commune in Presbyterian Churches. — A Word going to the Root of the Matter. — Liberality of the Episcopal Church as to Communion. — An Evangelical Catholic Union. — Bishop Cummins's Secession deplored. — A published Disapproval. — Reformed Episcopal Church. — Not an earnest Religious Movement. — Illness. — Mental Depression. — Spiritual Communion. — A last Writing in Journal 454

CHAPTER XXVII.

1874-1876.

Gradual Convalescence. — Never resumed his Pen. — Gleanings from his Friend's Diary. — "Is it not legitimate? " — Visions of St. Johnland. — People asking his Blessing. — Shrinking from Compliment. — Fear of human Praise. — What People asked of him — Esteeming others better than himself. — "Christ is all." — A Conscience void of Offence. — Last Use of his private Journals. — A Visit to the General Convention. — Improved Health. — Could Enjoy a Trip to Europe. — Counts his Residence in St. Luke's a Favor. — Never such another Christian within those Walls. — Delight in small Services for the Poor. — "Don't be too sharp in finding them out." — Notably Victimized. — Nothing more to take care of. 465

CHAPTER XXVIII.

1876-1877.

Seldom at St. Johnland. — Delight in sheltering Children there. — Dr. Adams's Lunch Party. — Another "I would not live alway." — Fourscore not Labor and Sorrow. — The Youth of the Ansrels. — The right xiv CONTENTS.

PAGE

Side of Seventy. — Does not expect to lie down in the Dust. — The Festival of the Ascension. — Happy Gathering at St. Johnland. — The Chapel Service. — The Founder's Well. — Muhlenberg Endowment. — Eightieth Birthday. — "Let me die in my Nest." . . . .478

CHAPTER XXIX.

1876-1877.

The Shadows lengthen. — Joy and Peace. — Effect of Birthday Tribute. — Public Esteem. — "From Tweed to Dr. Muhlenberg." — His Latest Labors. — Last Visit to his Sister. — Washington's Birthday. — Sudden Illness. — Six Weeks of Trial. — Died as he had lived. — Simplicity of Burial. — The Arrival at St. Johnland. — Impression on Bishop Kerfoot. — A noble Pageant. — His Grave-stone. — The Contributors. — St. Johnland Cemetery 489

CHAPTER XXX.

Conclusion

Effect upon Community of his Death.— Multitude of Tributes. — Extracts from the more important. — The Bishop of Long Island and others. — An Ode "I11 Memoriam." I . 514

THE LIFE

OF

WILLIAM AUGUSTUS MUHLENBERG.

Chapter I. Ancestry

The Muhlenberg Family. — The Patriarch Muhlenberg. — General Muhlenberg's Last Sermon. — The Marriage of William Augustus Muhlenberg's Father and Mother in Connection with the Jay Treaty. — Conrad Weiser. — Question as to Whom he Married.

The Muhlenbergs are associated with the earliest days of the republic as a highly respected and honorable family. Men eminent for piety and learning, for patriotism and public usefulness, grace their annals. The parent stock was Saxon, probably of the historic town of Muhlberg, on the Elbe, but in the course of events, they removed to Eimbeck, in Hanover, then one of the free cities of Germany, and here, in 1711, was born the founder of the American branch of the name, "the blessed and venerable Henry Melchior Muhlenberg," as he is styled in his epitaph at The Trappe, Montgomery Co., Pa., the burial-place of the Muhlenberg families.

This great and good man, owing to the early death of his father and other reverses, had a hard struggle in obtaining the education which ultimately adorned his piety and talents. He passed some time in the orphanage of Francke, at Halle, and was twenty-four years old when he entered upon a collegiate course at Gottingen. After his graduation there he returned to Halle, where he was ordained to the ministry of the Lutheran Church.

During his residence in the universities of Gottingen and Halle, he formed the acquaintance of learned and noble persons who became his warm friends and patrons. In the Heister branch of the Muhlenberg family there is preserved as an heirloom an ancient silver-mounted snuff-box which was given to him, as a token of friendship, by Frederick the Great. Chief in his regard was his early benefactor, the eminent Christian philanthropist and scholar, Augustus Herman Francke, in connection with whose mission house, in 1742, he accepted an appointment as missionary to the German and Swedish Lutherans in the then British Provinces of America. He had supposed himself destined to a mission in the East Indies, and was making ready to go to Bengal, when a seemingly fortuitous circumstance made it plain that Providence had ordered it otherwise, It was reserved for him to be the founder and Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in this land, and to transmit, through his eminent greatgrandson, a more extended blessing.

He was a man of many gifts and of apostolic zeal. With wonderful endurance, he traversed the country from Georgia to the borders of Canada, • building

THE PATRIARCH'S LABORS, 3

churches an.1 schools, preaching and teaching in different languages, and so comforting the scattered families of his people that they called him everywhere "Father Muhlenberg," by which endearing epithet he is still designated among Lutherans. His first church, built in the first year of his mission, at the village of Trappe, Pa., he named "The Church of Augustus," after his friend Fran eke, and he also added "Augustus" to the "Frederick" of his second son's name, whence it has descended to numerous individuals of the Muhlenberg race, and among them to the subject of these memoirs. The latter gratefully remembered to the end of his long life the far-back kindness of Francke to the h^ad of his family, and sometimes when, in his abounding sympathy for some forlorn youth, he thought he might seem to be doing too much, he w^ould say, half apologizingly, "You know my great-grandfather was a poor orphan boy at Halle."

The Patriarch Muhlenberg had three sons: John Peter Gabriel, Frederick Augustus, and Henry Ernst, all of whom he designed for the ministry. He sent them to Halle to be educated for this purpose; but the young men returned to America, just as the long smouldering fires of the Ee volution were ready to" break out in war, and patriotic and high-spirited, the field and the council had more attraction for them than the pulpit. Henry, the youngest, alone fulfilled his father's intentions. He passed his days as a pious and devoted Lutheran pastor, adding to his spiritual cure a close study of the natural sciences, in which he obtained eminence, particularly that of botany. During an enforced absence from his church, through stress of war, he contributed some valuable works to this department.

Peter, the eldest son, took orders, very curiously, both in the Lutheran and the English Church. He had for his parochial charge the so-called " Valley Churches" of the Blue Eidge, Ya., — a hardy, independent flock, with whose spirit of resistance to Great Britain he keenly sympathized. He instructed his people openly in their civil rights, and accepted the colonelcy of a regiment, while yet their pastor. At length, probably through the influence of General WashingTon and Patrick Henry, with both of whom he had a personal acquaintance, he finally abandoned the sacred ministry for a military career.

" His congregations, widely scattered along the frontier, were notified that, upon the following Sabbath, their beloved pastor would preach his farewell sermon The appointed day came. The rude

country church was filled to overflowing with the

hardy mountaineers of the frontier counties

So great was the assemblage that the quiet burial-place was filled with crowds of stern men who had gathered together believing that something, they knew not what, would be done in behalf of their suffering country.

He came and ascended the pulpit, his tall

form arrayed in full uniform, over which his gown, the symbol of his holy office, was thrown. He was a plain, straightforward speaker, whose native eloquence was well suited to the people among whom he labored

GENERAL MUHLENBERG. 5

After recapitulating, in words that roused

the coldest, the stoiy of their wrongs, and telling* them of the sacred character of the struggle in which he had unsheathed his sword, and for which he was leaving the altar he had vowed to serve, he said, that, in the language of .Holy Writ, there was 'a time for all things,' a time to preach and a time to pray, but those times had passed away, and, in a voice that echoed through the church like a trumpet blast, 'that there was a time to fight, and that time had come.' . . . A breathless stillness brooded over the congregation. Deliberately putting off the gown, he stood before them a girded warrior, and descending from the pulpit, he ordered the drums at the church door to beat for recruits His audience, excited in the highest

degree by the impassioned words which had fallen from his lips, flocked around him, eager to be ranked among his followers. Old men were seen bringing forward their children, wives their husbands, and widow.ed mothers their sons, sending them under his paternal care to fight the battles of their country.

Nearly three hundred men of the frontier

churches that day enlisted under his banner, and the gown then thrown off, was worn for the last time."* He rose to the rank of Major-General, and holds an honored place among the patriot heroes of the Revolution.

His brother Frederick Augustus, the Patriarch's sec-

* "Life of General Muhlenberg."

ond son, served his country as a statesman. He was successively Treasurer of the State, President of the Convention which ratified the Constitution of the Unitod States, member of Congress, and First Speaker of the House of Representatives under Washington's administration.*

In the year 1795, while Frederick A. Muhlenberg filled the Speaker's chair for the second time, his eldest son, Henry William, married Mary, daughter of Mr. William Sheafe, a merchant of Philadelphia of German extraction, and William Augustus Muhlenberg was the eldest child of this union.

Henry W. Muhlenberg was paying his addresses to Miss Mary Sheafe at the time that the nation became so frenzied in the fierce agitation which followed the ratification of the " Jay Treaty." The House of Representatives was composed largely of the opponents of the treaty, and it was for a long time doubtful if the bills for the indemnification of Great Britain, which made part of it, would be passed. Mr. Sheafe, a strong federalist, anticipating that the vote would be a very close one, perhaps a tie, when the casting vote of the Speaker would be all-important, is reported to have said to Frederick A. Muhlenberg, "If you do not give us (the federalists) your vote, your Henry shall not have my Polly." It was ascertained that the leaning of the Speaker was in the right direction, and Henry and Polly were married accordingly. The bills subsequently

* Blake.

CONRAD WEISER. 7

passed by a bare majority. William Augustus Muhlenberg was fond of telling tins little story as showing how nearly he might not have been what he was (so high did party feeling run), usually adding, " But the vote went the right way, peace was secured, and here I am."

Both families, from the period of their settlement in the country, having married within their own nationality, he was of purely German descent, unless we accept a tradition, cherished by himself, of a strain of the aboriginal American, through the union of a remote ancestor, Conrad Weiser, with an Indian maiden. He used to say, "I like to think there is a drop of genuine American blood in my veins." Upon this obscure question there is much difference of opinion in the Weiser family.* Conrad "Weiser 1 s fragmentary yet eventful history affords warrant for inferring that there was such a marriage ; a confirmation of which is further suggested by the physiognomy of some of the descendants, and ■ among these, of that of William Augustus Muhlenberg, whose lineaments clearly indicated a not unmixed Teutonic origin.

Conrad Weiser figures prominently in our provincial history. He was born in 1696, in Astael, or Afstaefdt, in the electorate or duchy of Wurtemberg. In 1709 he emigrated with his father and others of the family

* Dr. G. L. Weiser of Pennsburg, Pa., in a recent biography, rejects the tradition, until actual "record" be adduced. On the other hand, Mr. Thos. B. A. Weiser of Brooklyn, N. Y., a grandson of Conrad Weiser' s youngest son Benjamin, entirely accepts it.

to Isew York. At seventeen, a friendly chief inviting him, he was sent to live for a while with the Maquas or " Six Nations " Indians, for the purpose of learning their language and modes of life, and returning thence he acted for some years as a volunteer interpreter between his own people and the native tribes of the neighborhood He became in due time the pioneer of the Germans in the settlement of Central Pennsylvania, and for thirty years served as Indian agent and interpreter for the colonial government of Philadelphia. His record is that of a man of great probity and piety, and of untiring industry in the service of his adopted country. In addition to his arduous official duties, he labored zealously for the conversion of the Indians to Christianity, associating himself, for this purpose, with such men as Spangenberg, Ziesberger, and Count Zinzendorf. To qualify some Moravian brethren to preach the gospel to the Maqua and Iroquois tribes, he instructed them himself in the native tongues. Under all these circumstances, and taking into account an ardent and enthusiastic nature and the primitive manners of those days, it would be nothing incredible that he should choose an Indian convert for his bride. The mention that he makes of his marriage in a brief autobiography, which has been preserved, justifies the assumption that he did so, thus: "In 1720, while my father was in England, I married my Anna Eve, and was given her in marriage, by the Rev. John Frederick Heger, reformed clergyman, on the 22nd of November, in my father's house in Schochary.' : The omission here and through-