Autobiography of Elder Joseph Luff ...

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ELDER JOSEPH LUFF.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Preface

Emerson has said, "There is for every man a statement possible of that truth which he is most unwilling to receive— a statement possible, so broad and pungent, that he cannot get away from it, but must either bend to it or die of it."

Looking out upon the world as we find it to-day, upon the mind of the thoughtfully observant individual, (the individual who knows that in the gospel plan of salvation the truth and righteousness of God is revealed,) is forced the conviction that there is no truth men are so unwilling to admit as this great fundamental one upon which the destiny of the human family depends.

For the world's great and urgent needs, men are seeking, in every direction save this, a remedy. Of the stupendous social problems growing out of these urgent needs they are diligently seeking solutions ; and, above all, because inseparably connected with all, they are seeking to quench their thirst from broken cisterns and refusing to draw from the wells of living water.

It is because of these deeply seated convictions that this volume is published; and the hope nearest the heart of its author in giving it to the world viii

PREFACE.

is that in it the statement of the grand and soulinspiring truths of the gospel of Christ may be put in such a way as to make it impossible for some, at least, to "get away from them."

Various minds are reached in various ways. The writer of this preface remembers well the fascinating power which biography always possessed for her, especially in her youth, and hence has urged the author to preserve his plain, unvarnished story in a more lasting form than that of a magazine article.

In these pages the author, taking you by the hand, leads you side by side with him along the rough and thorny paths of toiling poverty, sure pledge to those who do not know him (for those who know him do not need this pledge) that his tender sympathies are ever enlisted upon the side of those who toil and suffer; that to him the knowledge of another's need ever comes as a. personal appeal.

An eminent writer has said, "If I wanted to teach a man, I would let loose a life at him. Words are weak, but the logic of a life is irresistible.'" In these pages the reader will company with one upon whom "a life was let loose" while yet a boy, one who very earlywas compelled to assume the responsibility which Wendell Phillips calls "educating" and to contend with the poverty of which Garfield said, "It is uncomfortable, as I can testify,"' and in the outcome of this history they will

PREFACE.

ix find an added proof of the assertion, ' 'but in nine cases out of ten the best thing that can happen to a young man is to be tossed overboard and compelled to sink or swim for himself. In all my acquaintance," he adds, "I never knew a man to be drowned who was worth the saving."

In this kind of literature, our church is all too poor, and we ought, as a people, to welcome gladly this addition to our meager supply; for each separate chapter will be found rich in experiences all tending to the encouragement of those who are climbing upward along life's uneven pathway.

Nor is this all, but in its pages will be found a tribute so tender and true to woman as mother and wife as can but inspire in the hearts of those who read an earnest desire to be worthy of the same from their own sons and husbands.

It is a book which from the first page to the last cannot fail of carrying with it the assurance of earnestness of purpose and adherence to the truth of convictions, no matter how trying the circumstances, and it is our firm conviction that it will be blessed of God to the enlightening of many and to the bringing many to a knowledge of the truth.

Frances.

Contents

ENGRAVINGS.

Page,

Elder Joseph Luff (Frontispiece).

Chapter I. An Ominous Greeting

There's something in a noble boy,

A brave, free-hearted, careless one, With his unchecked, unbidden joy,

His dread of books and love of fun, And in his clear and ready smile, Unshaded by a thought of guile, And unrepressed by sadness —

Which brings me to my childhood back,

As if I trod its very track, And felt its very gladness.

N. P. Willis.

Has the evening of October 31 in any of the years of the last half century ever found the reader in a Canadian city? If so, his memory will be revived by what is here recited. If not, he will, perhaps, be surprised to learn that on that night, throughout the Dominion and also in all other places where Scotch and English traditions obtain, things

terrestrial get into a strange uproar. 1

The monotony of a year's associations and quietude is suddenly broken, and every movable thing seems to be seized with an irresistible impulse to go off at a tangent. Wagon wheels start from the old familiar axle, round which they have contentedly revolved for a year, and are found next morning sheltered among the spreading branches of some distant oak or chestnut tree. Wheelbarrows climb to the top of neighboring barns, garden gates and shed doors go off on a pilgrimage and only return upon arrest by their original owners, their whereabouts having been learned after days of diligent quest. Balls of twine climb out of the merchants' store drawers and find their way to some dark street, where they attach to door-knobs on one side and bell-knobs on the other. Chimney flues suddenly refuse to conduct the smoke from fires below and transform themselves into resting stools for renegade window-shutters, or furnish shelter to some fugitive garden hose that has sought refuge in their sooty retreat.

Nor are these strange phenomena confined to things inanimate. The family horse becomes discontented with his native stall and normal attitude, and, wandering off at midnight, seeks a neighboring woodshed or factory, into which he deliberately backs himself and pulls the

ELDER JOSEPH LUFF.

door close after him, There he meekly stands till invited out by the astonished host in the morning. Goats effect an entrance to distant cellars and familiarize themselves with the glassware and canned goods therein, for which liberty they bow their apologies next morning and obtain permission to leave unmolested. Cows become bewildered and mistake the velvety lawn adjoining some convenient parsonage for their accustomed pasture and assume the liberties of the place. Pigs go picnicing in biped reserves, and fowls are frequently found roosting on office desks at late hours on November r. Cats varnish their tails with coal tar, tie their feet in pairs, and quietly drop backward into grandpap's overcoat pocket, where they instantly begin a solo that thrills the air with its melody to the tune of "Mortals heed my plaintive cry," with variations, till the atmosphere is blue and grandpapa's hands are black, as he responds to the appeal. Then the tune is changed, for the old gentleman begins where the emancipated feline leaves off, and in staccato tones breaks into a melody that ends with, "Hades! quick! thy vengeance hurl," or something equally expressive. Here and there an odd dog escapes the contagion; but it is only where he has been assigned a special post of duty, and where the witches (for prudential reasons, unnecessary to explain) do not exert their subtle influence.

Even vegetation is found in sympathy, for cabbages wrench themselves from the soil and turn up their stalks appealingly to the passing hordes of boys, as if agonizing to be relieved thereof. Touched by the earnestness of such appeals the generous lads rush in, and, with an alacrity unknown to our jury system, sever the Gordian knots, thus relieving the suppliant head; then, seizing the divorced stalks with which to arm themselves against the floating elves, they parade the streets, shouting, "Halloween ! Halloween ! !" to warn the inhabitants. This course is pursued through the principal ; streets ; but, upon entering those avenues where the balls of twine have adjusted themselves, as already intimated, the juveniles post themselves, each before a door, and, at a given signal, the cabbage stalks begin an irregular tattoo on the panels. This lasts less than a minute, but the inhabitants thus aroused rush to the doors, and all along either side of the street they busy themselves in ringing up their neighbors over the way. Merchants respond to the hoodlum cry that rends the street air, and dump the contents of their apple barrels on the outer pavement to

ELDER JOSEPH LUFF.

be scrambled for and consumed hurriedly, by the clamoring juveniles.

Early in the evening children gather in the kitchen round a wash tub, half filled with water, on the surface of which floats a number of apples. Kneeling on the floor, and with hands bound behind them, they reach their heads over the sides of the tub and duck for the apples, each vying with the other in an effort to catch the dodging fruit and bring it out in their mouths. In the dining room apples are suspended from the ceiling at the end of long cords, and set in motion. At either end of the sweep stands one or more boys or girls, with jaws distended, eager to seize the oscillating fruit, but more frequently doomed to develop a lump or blister through miscalculation, as the apple plants itself with emphasis on the upper lip. At midnight the maidens rise and perform some antiquated ceremonies requisite to getting a glimpse in dream of prospective husbands, while old wives try to swallow red herrings whole, at a single gulp, to exorcise the stalking demons and obtain release from the fiats of fate. In fact all nature seems agog.

Days and sometimes weeks elapse before the country recovers fully from the effect of this annual masquerade of the witches ; and sometimes the wandering objects referred to forget the landmarks of their journeying and fail to ever return.

Such were the events and such was the commotion in progress in Toronto, the capital city of Upper Canada, when the writer — forty years ago — made his advent among mortals; and, without fail, in rain or shine, the celebration of his birthday has been thus faithfully observed each following year to date. Who, then, among those to whom his present faith is such a delusion, can wonder that one born in the midst of such baneful surroundings, with superstition thickening the very atmosphere, should become, in later years, an easy prey to the "mysterious influences of that crowning superstition which ensnared so many thousands of earth's innocents." Surely if people were better informed as to the character of the goblins that heralded my coming they would condone the eccentricities that characterize my stay. Or, on the other hand, they might conclude that if

Demon spell and human skill, Combined, could not disturb us,

It must be that, in Sovereign will, We've been spared for a purpose.

However it may be, the writer is here, and in the following chapters will be found a brief

ELDER JOSEPH LUFF.

mention of some of the circumstances by which the course of his pilgrimage has been influenced. No effort will be made to extol or debase himself in the readers estimation. No attempt will be made to meet the exactions of literary critics. The bad with the good may be unskillfully interblended, yet, if the medley but represents in miniature the facts of 2L life, and that life be the writer's, it is at least true to its design. The consciousness that a divine hand has led him. and the hope that his brief recital may help to nerve the faltering trust of his youthful readers, together with the intent that some older eyes may detect hopeful signs in other boys whose effervescent mischief invites upon them so many maledictions, are the incentives to the publication.

Chapter II. Kith And Kin

Sometime when all life's lessons have been learned,

And sun and stars forevermore have set, The things which our weak judgment here has spurned,

The things o'er which we grieve with lashes wet, Will flash before us out of life's dark night,

As stars shine most in deeper tints of blue; And we shall see how all G-od's plans were right,

And how what seemed reproof was love most true.

Anon.

My father, John Luff, was born in Sussex, England, in 1 8 1 8, and at a very early age left his home, migrated to America, and settled in Toronto, where he remained till his death, in 1865. Of his parents I know nothing, save that they were reported to have been poor but industrious people. His father died while he was but an infant and his mother a few years later. Even of my father himself I remember but little ; for my seventh year had not been completed when he left our home; and, though we met occasionally, he did not return until the beginning of the year in which he died. Just five months after his return he was taken sick with what would now be called pneumonia, and in one week

ELDER JOSEPH LUFF.

thereafter, on the twenty-third day of May, while I was absent at my place of employment, he passed away. What I had been in point of benefit for years I was now in fact — fatherless.

I do not know that my father had any religion. I learn from mother that he favored the Episcopalian form of faith and died in its professsion. His long absence from home (about six years) had the effect of alienating the affection of his children, to a limited degree at least, so that his command and influence over them was not recognized by me as fully after his return as it might otherwise have been. With the circumstances that attended his leaving and long absence I never sought to become fully acquainted. Being too young to sense the seriousness of the matter at the time, I never made inquiry, nor have I ever done so to this day. I know he returned and died at home, and with his dying breath bore testimony to the faithfulness of the good wife he was leaving a widow, expressed sorrow that her goodness had not been fully rewarded by him, and urged the children to honor and obey her. These things I learned from the lips of friends who watched by his side when he closed his eyes in death.

Some time after his marriage he was thrice stricken with paralysis, which resulted in the loss of his hearing, and my memory does not recall a time when he could hear a sound of any kind distinctly. All communication with him was conducted by writing, except when he could detect the words uttered by the motion of the speaker's lips, at which he became quite expert.

He was for years engaged solely in the manufacture of shoe blacking and lucifer matches, his chances for success remaining quite fair until a large firm, backed by ample capital, entered the field and left him without ability to compete in the market with its wares. He continued, however, to follow his business in a limited way as long as he lived, engaging at intervals in such other work as gave promise of remuneration to one in his condition. Afflicted as he was he was an object deserving sympathy, and as memory portrays him before me to-day, I wish I had loved him more, and that my boyhood history contained no record of impudent retort or stubborn resentment toward him; but it dees, and that which my riper years and better sense condemns as having been wrong, (though I was but a child,) may God in his tender compassion forgive. He was my father, and no mistake of his could ever justify an unfilial word in me. It would be consolation to me also could I know that he was now aware of my repentance.

My mother's maiden name was Ann Garbutt. She was born in Yorkshire, England, February 6, 1831, but was brought by her parents, Joseph and Mary Ann Garbutt, to Canada when she was but three years of age. They settled in what was then known as Muddy York, but what is now known as the beautiful city of Toronto, situated upon the Toronto Bay (or harbor) of Lake Ontario. Her parents were poor ; but by dint of economy and perseverance they succeeded in raising their quite large family to manhood and womanhood before the hand of death removed them. Of the family left when they died there were three sons and four daughters.

James, the oldest son, appears dimly before my mind as I saw him once in Toronto, and afterwards in Cincinnati, Ohio ; but of his record I cannot speak from personal knowledge as of others. His death occurred some twenty or more years ago, neither the exact date nor the cause being known to me. The members of his family, at last account, were in Cincinnati, where they probably still remain.

Joseph, the second son, a man whose intel-

V2 lectual competency was such as to have fitted him to grace almost any important position, had opportunity or fortune even shown an inclination to smile upon him, lived during the greater part of his life in his native city ; and many were the happy hours spent by the writer in company with him, in conversation upon such themes as called out the results of his profound thought and extensive research. He was a good man, and under the writer's influence was led to unite with the Primitive Methodist Church, where he remained in fellowship till 1882, when he too was taken hence by death's hand, leaving a widow and three sons. One of the sons remains in the home city, one is in the new State of Washington, and the other in Detroit, Michigan.

Benjamin C, the youngest son, was of a roving disposition and remained in one place no longer than was necessary to wear off the novelty of its attractions. When in the city he always made his home with my mother, and this gave me excellent opportunity to get acquainted with him. He had a temper characteristic of the family, or at least all the members of it with whom I enjoyed intimate acquaintance. It was prolific in words, vehement in expression, and collapsed before it had well started, always followed by deep regrets, if ought of damage had been done to the feelings of another. He was as generous as he was jovial, and I used to think him the "jolliest man alive." Finding me to be a "chip off the Garbutt block," in point of mischief, he took a peculiar fancy to me, and I was generally found at his heels when it was possible to have me there.

In return for my child service in running short errands he gladdened my heart with many a penny, and took delight in making odd articles for my amusement. Only one real bad thing do I remember of him. The family cat had been guilty of some depredation in the room he occupied, and upon its discovery, he seized the unsuspecting feline by what he called its "narrative," and, going outside the door, whirled the poor thing around his head several times and then let go hurling Tabby to the other end of the garden. As I stood watching that cat sail through the air, without fin or feather to propel her, I thought it would be safest for me not to make Uncle Ben mad while I was small and wingless, and I didn't.

He never married. In 1869 or 1870 he left Canada for California. He also left a blank in the writer's heart and life that long remained unfilled. O, how I secretly wished that I was big enough to go with him, for California had a wonderfully fascinating sound in my ear after hearing him talk about it.

Ten years afterward — in 1879 — when the Reorganized Church sent me as a missionary to the Rocky Mountain mission, I gathered together several documents and letters recently received, determined on going to Carson City, Nevada (where I learned he had located), before coming East again. My love for him was still alive, and I wanted him to see his nephew a man, and let him hear from that little boy's lips the story of the restored gospel ; but in this I was grievously disappointed, for I had not been three months in Utah before the tidings reached me that Uncle Ben was dead. A stranger at Bodie, California, wrote and sent papers certifying to the fact, also forwarded his Bible to my mother. Mother then raised money and sent it to put a headstone over his grave. Whether it has been placed there or not I have not learned ; but whether marked or unmarked, there is a spot of earth in Bodie that is dear to my thoughts and must ever remain so till the trumpet's blast shall call forth the sacred relics it entombs. By his merry spirit and generous hand many a gleam of sunlight was turned in upon my boy-life ; and while memory holds its seat, 'twill always reserve a verdant spot for jolly Uncle Ben.

Rachel, the oldest daughter, married John Goodall, a thrifty farmer, residing near Toronto, but afterwards removed to the township of Garafraxa, close to where the town of Bellwood is now located. There they settled on a tract of land and remained till their retirement recently from the toil and responsibility incident to farm life. The old farm is rented to their Son Thomas, who is at present mayor of Bellwood. Another son, James, conducts a grain and cattle business in the same town, and one daughter, Dillie, is the wife of William Hamilton, and resides somewhere in Washington. The other remaining daughters, Rachel and Mary Ann, are happily married and located near their parents' present residence and close to the old homestead. Prosperity smiled upon the toil, patience, honesty, economy, and perseverance of my aunt and uncle, and they are to-day exempt from the necessity to work and worry. May they long continue to enjoy their well-earned rest is the wish of the nephew whose religious notions they have such grave suspicions about.

Martha, the next daughter, married a Mr. Spencer, with whom I never became, acquainted, and who afterwards died. Later, she married a widower named Neil C. Love, one of the best men I ever knew, and to whom reference will be made further on. His business in Toronto was that of a chemist and druggist, in which he prospered and accumulated considerable wealth. He also held prominent positions in the city's gift, being alderman for fifteen years, also magistrate, and was frequently solicited to accept various other honorable positions, but declined. Through the extremities of our early home life I frequently obtained views of his generous nature, and as years passed had opportunity to learn that he was one of the number whose history proves the correctness of the words of inspiration, "The liberal soul shall be made fat." A man against whose record no word or hint of suspicion was ever heard; and when, with the suddenness characteristic of apoplectic attacks, his earthly career was terminated a few years ago, the immense city was in tears and mourned its irreparable loss, while the newspapers teemed with unstinted eulogium of the dead. A good man — a noble spirit went to the reward of its earth-service.

His widow and seven children remain, three of whom were the fruits of his former mar-

ELDEK JOSEPH LUFF. 17 riage. With a possible exception, all of these are in positions of honor and emolument, and, with wealth like a luxurious garden around them, they pass their years free from the cares incident to reverse conditions. To their pleasure and plenty the writer only hopes there may be added the richer possessions that strew the pathway of obedience to Christ and his gospel, the undimmed realities of which stretch far beyond all mortal limitations and remain coequal with the years of God.

Mary, the youngest daughter, married Mr. Wallace Millichamp, of Toronto, one of the shrewdest and most successful business men of that city, a man whose sole capital not many years ago was his remarkable business sagacity and indomitable will, by force of which he has earned a fortune for himself. He, also, has served as city alderman and been connected with numerous public enterprises. His immense showcase and silver plating, also mantle and tile works, are among the leading establishments of the country, to which he has added other branches of business. His success in wealth accumulation has been phenomenal. Still in the prime of life, his business energy shows no sign of abatement, and just where ambition's goal is by him located we may not surmise.

Quite a large family has been given to them, of whom four sons and two daughters are still living; all of the former occupying places of trust and profit, and promising to follow close upon the heels of their fortunate sire. The daughters are beautiful and promising, and they carry well the accomplishments with which wealth and refinement of spirit have so liberally endowed them. Could all of these but see and feel the splendor of God-life that is revealed in the ancient gospel as again committed to earth, how absolute would then become the completeness of their possessions. We wish for them no less of earth's, but more of heaven's wealth. May it be theirs to acquire eternal truth and reap its final glory.

The object of this brief reference to the standing and character of my immediate relatives may indistinctly appear as the reader continues his perusal of the life-story thus introduced. There is sometimes a measure of satisfaction to be drawn from comparisons such as this permits me to make. As I grew up under the pressure of poverty's environments and looked out upon the condition and surroundings of the relatives referred to, whom I knew were free from the weights that held me down, I frequently indulged in soliloquies that were full of complaint, dissatisfaction, bitterness, and even envy. My ambition strengthened however, and my determination as a lad became fixed to some day be the peer of them all. I never lost sight of that resolution till the gospel of the Son of God subdued me.

As I take a retrospect now I stop to thank God for interposing such events as deflected the current of my life-purpose, and changed my will. I still delight in reflecting upon those earlier days ; but I look with different eyes and feelings than I once did. We look back, ofttimes, from the higher plane of matured experience and see the effects of early contact with people and things; and the intolerable mysticism that hung around the awful then finds ample and satisfactory explanation in the development of the great now. How plain the lesson, but how slow are we to learn it ! To-day will soon be to-morrow's yesterday, and, if the past continues to repeat itself, we shall, from the loftier plane of to-morrow, look back upon the severe conflict and apparently unnecessary inflictions of this hour and discover to our delight that God's disciplinary programme comprehended all the hidden necessities of our character.

Let us but be sure that our righteousness is of the kind that entitles to a place in his hand, then with an uncomplaining trust we may patiently toil and wait for the dawn of explanation day. "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." So said Jesus to Peter, and so the writer believes. If the little advances in knowledge and wisdom we make here justify such material changes in our judgment of the past, and if it be found that the crucible of earlier years contributed most liberally to the spiritual* wealth of the present, may it not be believed that in the distant future, when it becomes the eternal noiv, the true saint will stand side by side with his "elder brother," and, from the supreme heights of the celestial hills, look back over the valley where his or her feet now bleed, and, in the clearer light of divine interpretation, see that the rocks of human extremity, which once seemed so barren and * cold and cruel, were the spots where God stood closer than at other times, and the soul from thence took on immortal fatness, while fed on manna fresh from heaven. Those times, those places, will then challenge higher estimate, and, as we scan the map of our mundane pilgrimage, I verily believe that whenever the eye shall fall upon those Gethsemanes we shall there dwell most lovingly and praise most fervently.

MRS. ANN DEVINE.

Elder Luff's Mother.

Chapter III. Earliest Recollections

The bravest battle that ever was fought,

Shall I tell you where and when? On. the maps of the world you will find it not,

'Twas fought by the mothers of men.

Joaquin Miller.

Such as this Is many a poor one in her humble home, Who silently and sweetly sits alone, Pouring her life all out upon her child. What cares she that he does not feel how close Her heart beats after his — that all unseen Are the fond thoughts that follow him by day And watch his sleep like angels?

N. P. Willis.

The marriage between John Luff and Ann Garbutt occurred on the 26th day of May, 1847, the latter being but sixteen years of age. As a result of this union seven children were born, four of whom remain. Two of the others passed away before their ages were numbered by weeks, and one, William James, lived to be nine months old, when the ailments incident to teething terminated his earth life.