A fruitful life

Contents

PAGE

Introduction, by Rev. C. L. Goodell, D. D. ix-xiv CHAPTER I.

BOYHOOD AND MARRIAGE.

Chapter II. Brought Into Sunday-school

Mr. Paxson removes to Winchester — His Fondness for Dancing — The "Mississippi Valley Enterprise " — A Sunday-School at Winchester — Mr. Paxson's First Day in Sunday-School — His Conversion — Becomes a Volunteer Missionary — Organizes a County Sunday-School Convention — Overcomes his Stammering - 28-46

Chapter III. Missionary Work In The Wilderness

John Adams — He Recommends Mr. Paxson as a Missionary — Removal to Hickory Hill — The

VI CONTENTS.

Boy and the Book— The Sunday Scholar and ** the Man of Fifty 47-60

Chapter IV. Sunday-schools On The Frontier

The Missionary at Work — Helpers on the Farm —The Waiting Wife at Home— Chasing a Superintendent Four Miles — A Fourth of July Speech— A Tobacco Story— The " Very Same Chap " — A Cloud over the Home — The Peach- Basket Story 61-80

Chapter V. Robert Raikes, The Missionary Horse

The Democratic Objector— The Offer of a Horse — In a Blacksmith's Shop ... 81-90

CHAPTER VI. a missionary's experiences.

Removal to Summer Hill— A Missionary Letter —A Talkative Lady— Might have a Methodist School — " Corn-bread on a Log " - - 91-104

CHAPTER VII. roses and thorns.

Appeals in the East— Speeches in Boston, New York, Brooklyn, Bangor and Philadelphia- Returns to his Field—" Jowler " and the Missionary—The Dog Fight— The Yankee Trick- Panther Creek — Hazel Switch Dell— The Wealthy Widow's Gift— Encouraging Teachers—The Secret of his Influence - - 105-130

CONTENTS. Vli

CHAPTER VIII.

MASS-MEETINGS AND CONVENTIONS. PAaB

The Bush-whackers — Robert Raikes,Jr. — The Antioch School — The Wigwam Convention — Indianapolis Convention — Convention in Canada — Qualifications of Teachers - 131-143

CHAPTER IX.

THE NEW WORK.

Sunday-School Scholars in Active Life — St. Louis Depository — Results of Frontier Work — A Commentary for Fifteen Cents — Labors in Texas — At the Iowa Convention — The Missouri Convention — Work on the Cars — The Record of his work — Visit to the Centennial — Speech at Atlanta .... 144-167

CHAPTER X.

CLOSING LABORS.

A Debtor to Grace — His Golden Wedding — The Books he Studied — His Scrap-books — His Last Hours - - 168-185

CHAPTER XI.

TESTIMONY OF FRIENDS AND CO-LABORERS.

From Rev. B. W. Chidlaw— Rev. S. B. S. Bissell— Prof. C. W. Jerome— Rev. Robert West— William Reynolds — B. F. Jacobs — Nelson Kingsbury— S. B. Pratt— Rev. H. Clay Trumbull, D. D.— George H. Stuart - - - 186-217

Introduction

The life of Stephen Paxson here presented will be widely read, I believe, by the boys and girls from seven years old to seventy. That it will be very useful in building character and promoting Bible instruction among the young, I am sure; so that he shall do as much in his dying, it may be, as he did in his living.

That the book will be enjoyed intensely by the reader as he turns the vivid pages, I have not a doubt. I wish I were young again long enough to read it through, and catch the glow of enthusiasm for a fruitful life, and to kindle under the inspiration of noble deeds, as I did when years ago I was first held captive by the charm and fascination of the remarkable story from his own lips.

What can God do for the world, by means of a boy that is poor, and lame, and

(ix)

INTRODUCTION.

stammering in his speech? Great things! Read this volume and see : and then go and do what it teaches. Let your heart be soil for the good seed, for this book is the Sunday-school missionary sower, going forth to sow by life and example after his spirit has passed into the skies.

The scenes among which this life was spent, have lively interest for the young. Frontier life in our country, east and west, has always been one of hardship; and these hardships in the west, no less than in the east, have been encountered in the spirit of a noble heroism. Every furlong of the way, from the Atlantic shore to the Rocky Mountains, has been won to christian light and privilege, at great cost of suffering and trial. Wilderness, wild beasts, want, Indians, fever and ague, and paths of bottomless mud, have had to be overcome. The foundations of the little prairie churches and log-cabin Sunday-schools have been laid, for two thousand miles westward from the ocean's rim, in poverty and tears. The east has its Pilgrim Fathers ; the west also has its fathers

INTB 01) UCTION. x {

who have been pilgrims and cross-bearers on the earth fo» Jesus' sake. It is the privilege of a christian people to hold its benefactors in grateful remembrance. This is sufficient apology, if any were needed, for putting this book before the public — to embalm a worthy name, conspicuous in the service of Christ when such labors were better than gold in the wilds of the west.

Every section has its men eminent for usefulness, whose names it is a delight to honor. Such a man was Stephen Paxson in the Mississippi Valley. Every worthy cause has its distinguished founders and promoters; lives we hold up for imitation, and whose memories we preserve as household treasures. Such a man was Stephen Paxson in the work of the Sunday-school. For forty years he was a notable landmark in the west in Sunday-school work, and came to be known and esteemed as a veteran in Sunday-school service throughout the entire land. He fairly won his good name by devoted and heroic service on the field. Few christian workers have fought their battles against greater x ii INTRODUCTION.

odds, or have had more speedy and brilliant victories to record. He came to his work when the sabbath in the west was a howling moral wilderness. When his heavenly Father called him home, he left whole states, like empires for size, completely organized for Bible instruction, and a generation of youth, unborn when he commenced his itineracy, studying the Word of Life every Lord's day.

The American Sunday-School Union, among the large benefits it has bestowed on the nation, has rendered no single service greater than this — that of recognizing the vast power of usefulness in this man. If the state were to build its monuments to those who preside over childhood — the fountain of its power — to keep the waters pure and sweet, surely the name of Stephen Paxson would be among the first which the rising marble would be charged to bear in grateful remembrance. Out of his schools organized in the lowly new settlements in the backwoods, men have come forth to seats in our national Congress, and to places of usefulness everywhere among us.

INTR OD UCTION. x \ [[

Many who never saw Father Paxson will wish to know what it was, after all, that enabled him to work such wonderful results. The secret of power in men can never be caught with a pen and put on paper. The dew-drop, when touched by the hand, becomes common water.

Externally, the secret of his power was partly in his eye, like an eagle's — partly in his noble bearing and commanding presence — partly in his fiery energy — and much also in a voice which was like a silver trumpet, and in his magnetic speech, which arrested attention and laid hold of the deep places in the soul. But more than this he was a man of God. He came down to his work every day from the mount where he had been in communion with his Lord. The Highest spoke through him, and anointed him with wisdom, and endurance, and patience. He had for his daily manna, the love of Christ. He had for his daily work, power from on high. The world is at the feet of such a man.

The history of this Sabbath-school missionary is told in this book by a beloved xi v INTR OD UCTION.

daughter with conscientious fidelity, with commendable directness and condensation, and with a vividness adding zest and warmth of interest to matter which, however put, could not fail to attract the reader.

Stephen Paxson was at his death a member of Pilgrim Congregational Church, St. Louis, and for several years its beloved and honored senior officer. An excellent bas-relief in bronze, by the artist Kretschmar, hangs in .the prayer-meeting room of the church where his voice was so often heard, and the Sunday-schools of the west are contributing toward a monument to his memory, which it is proposed to erect in Belle Fontaine during the next year.

As his pastor, knowing him but to love him and revere his memory, it is given to me as a privilege to lay this wreath upon his sepulchre. He sleeps well in the heart of the Great Valley of the continent, which he labored with all his soul to put in the coronet of his Lord.

C. L. Goodell, Pastor of Pilgrim Church.

St. Louis, December 9th, 1881.

Chapter I. Boyhood And Markiage

A little lad accompanied his mother to a store one day, and, finding a bit of bright-colored paper on the floor, he picked it up and carried it away with him. When a little distance from the store, his mother discovered his gaudy treasure, and inquired where he had gotten it. He replied that he found it on the floor. She immediately returned and made him offer it to the merchant, who said : " Let the child have it, for it is of no value whatever." " No, sir," was the response, " he had no right to take what did not belong to him, no matter how worthless, and you must allow him to return it." That lad was Stephen Paxson. Little Stephen, though taken early away from home, was old enough to remember his mother, and how tall and queenly she looked ; and this single circumstance, which happened when he was just old enough to understand, fixed itself indelibly in his mind.

Stephen Paxson, the eminent pioneer Sunday-school missionary, was the son of Joseph and Mary Lester Paxson. He was born November 3d, 1808, in New Lisbon, Ohio. Three brothers of the Paxton family — the name was spelled originally with a t — came to this country at an early date from England ; so Joseph Paxson, who was born in Virginia, was of English origin, as was also his wife, Mary Lester, who was a native of Maryland.

They were married in Virginia, and removed thence to Ohio. They had seven children, of whom Stephen was next to the youngest. The father died while the children were young, and circumstances forced the mother to seek homes for them among strangers. But each one became the child of Him who has made a special promise to the fatherless.

Another of the earliest of his recollections was of being taken to church by his Quaker grandmother, Sarah Paxson, the first woman who ever preached in that part of the state. He often told in after years how his heart was stirred as his grandmother, in a great Quaker bonnet, and white kerchief crossed over her plain dress, rose and began her address in deep, mellow tones, pronouncing each word so slowly and tenderly that the opening sentence — always the same, no matter what the theme of her discourse — sounded like a benediction : " Obey the Spirit within, and be at peace with God." This sentence so deeply fastened itself in his childish memory that long afterward, when the Sunday-school had shed its benign influence upon him, it became a ruling maxim for his own conduct. The devout old lady did not live to know that the youngest of her auditors in the old Quaker meeting-house was consecrated by her earnest, fervent words to a life of remarkable usefulness.

But a lonely, struggling, suffering boyhood, and an early manhood devoted to things of time and sense, were slowly to intervene before the seed sown by such gentle, loving hands could spring up into beauty and fruitfulness. 2

The child soon became an inmate of the home of Harman Fagan. The conditions of his indenture required that he should be sent to school for three months in the year. The lad, whose heart was heavy with the sense of loss of mother-love, always so needful to the happy growth and expansion of tender minds, consoled himself by recalling his mother's assurance that he would have some opportunity to go to school, and perhaps some day would become educated and able to care for his mother in her old age. So he took courage, and ran barefoot over the briery hills to bring home the cows, or gather rosy apples from under the orchard trees, while waiting expectantly the winter term at school.

But' all his bright anticipations of school life were ended in a day. The child had an impediment in his speech, which, under the least excitement, was fatal to any effort to make himself understood. His first appearance at school — an event looked forward to through a long summer of toil and loneliness — produced such a state of nervous trepidation that, when called upon, he could not give his name, or age, or any intelligible account of his mental acquirements. The children all laughed — the very children the social little fellow had so longed to meet — while the teacher, the man who had occupied so many of his reverential thoughts, and whom he had expected to find as sympathetic as his mother, as serene and helpful as his Quaker grandmother, had never a placid " thee " or " thou " in his speech, stamped his foot impatiently, and harshly ordered the boy to go home, and sent by his hand a note requesting the people who had him in charge to teach him to talk before they sent him to school.

This occurrence was sufficient excuse for the farmer's subsequent failure to provide for the boy's education ; so he was kept steadily at work, without even a picturebook to gladden his active mind. The only pleasure he enjoyed lay in his intense love for nature. He roamed with delight through the grassy woods where birds and insects flitted, his music-loving ear charmed by every sweet country sound.

While yet a lad, however, he was attacked by a painful disease known as white swelling, which made him a helpless cripple for a long time, and partially lamed him for life. Long, weary months of suffering passed slowly away. Euphemia Fagan, his mistress, was a Quaker, and felt sympathy for the orphan boy in the loneliness of his solitary garret, and one day she kindly offered to read to him. He hailed the proposal with such gratitude that her heart was touched, and she read entirely through to him the only book she had which she thought could possibly interest a boy.

The story was an account of Oelar, a Quaker preacher, who went about doing good, exhorting beggars in the streets, and caring nothing for worldly advantage, but with eyes ever turned toward the Celestial City. Much of it was written in verse — mere doggerel — but the eager mind of the boy only caught it the more readily for the rhyme. Every word was so impressed upon his retentive memory that, though he only heard it once, and it was of considerable length, he remembered it through life, and repeated many verses of it only a few weeks before his death at the age of seventy-three.

As the boy tossed restlessly upon his bed of suffering through the painful nights and the monotonous days, the story of this man's wandering life of self-forgetfulness was his only food for thought. He resolved that if he ever became able to walk he would travel all over the world ; though as he was ignorant and now lame besides, and unable to talk well, he did not hope to be helpful to others like the good man in the story.

Later, when he heard the grander story of him who wandered with weary feet over Judea's hills, a living sacrifice, his heart was touched anew and to higher issues.

The circumstance of the boy's lameness made a change in his occupation necessary, and he was apprenticed to learn the trade of a hatter. He now entered the home and service of a certain Mr. Clapsaddle. In his master's shop he became at once the butt of ridicule on account of his stammering speech. The young apprentices showed him little mercy, and invariably called him " Stuttering Stephen." Little did he or any of them think that there was a resolute energy in that young breast which would avail to conquer nature's infirmity; that this very voice, so slow and hesitating now, would one day stir the hearts of the people as by the call of a trumpet.

Again an intense desire to learn to read, was awakened in his mind by the sight of the various signs painted in staring letters over the shop doors, and of the posters fastened on the fences. When work hours were over, as he hobbled up the street he would ask his companions the names of this letter and of that, until he could decipher every sign in the town. He occasionally found an old castaway newspaper, and it was a proud day for him when he could read its title, printed in large letters at the top. With no help but an answer once in awhile, to the question, " What do you call this letter?" he was at last able to read, though slowly and inaccurately.

Sometimes a traveling hatter with a big covered wagon halted at the shop for a load of hats. He would often tarry for hours, singing songs and telling stories of his adventures. Never a song was sung, but the lame youth had learned the words and caught the tune by the time the singing was ended. Never a story was told but it was treasured up in the mind of " Stuttering Stephen," who, while he could not repeat the stories well, sang like a lark, to the surprise of those who heard his stammering speech. The spirit of song seemed to subdue his infirmity, and to inspire him with the power of musical utterance.

The time at last arrived when the young apprentice could make a hat as well as his master. He had already determined to travel, though he knew he should often be obliged to walk, and his weak ankle might prove a serious drawback. But he was well and strong in other respects, and thought that with the help of a stout cane, he might accomplish many miles a day.

He walked to the Ohio river and engaged to work for a passage down the river. He had seventeen cents in his pocket, the skill of a good trade in his hands, and a cheerful, hopeful heart, with which to face the world. If at any time he felt a dread of the unknown and untried future which he had started out to meet alone and unaided, he would console himself by listening to and learning some new song. The day he first heard " Highland Mary " and " Bruce's Address," was an epoch in his life. He learned to love the songs of Burns with an absolute devotion.

Travelers were attracted by the young fellow who was so social, so fond of song, and interested in every thing he heard said, and they took special pains to answer clearly all his hesitating questions. Thus making friends at every turn, and learning something from every one he met, he wandered from state to state. He would often stop at some hatter's shop and ply his trade until he had replenished his empty purse and secured means to supply his simple wants; then he would pass on to see new places, until at the age of twenty-one he entered the state of Tennessee.

His personal appearance was prepossessing. He was tall, well-proportioned, and had remarkably fine black eyes, ravenblack hair, and complexion dark as that of an Italian.

He came one day, in the course of his travels in that state, to the bank of a stream. He wished to cross to the other side, but found that the man who kept the ferry-boat was absent from his post. On the opposite side of the small river sat a comely girl in a skiff. He beckoned and called to her to row toward him. She did so, and then paused for his message. It was of course an apology for interrupting her, and a request to be carried over the stream in her boat. She hesitated, looked up into his expectant face, and consented. Gallantry compelled him to take the oars, but as he was entirely inexperienced in boating, the frail bark went round and round, and at last darted recklessly down the current. The young lady resumed the oars, and soon the boat was deftly landed.

The blue eyes and golden curls of his fair boatwoman — above all her quiet composure when in danger — impressed the heart of the stranger. Both were young and romantic, and believed :

" He never loved, who loved not at first sight."

Rapid in every mental decision, the young man was equalty prompt in carrying his plans into execution. He discovered, upon further acquaintance, that his newfound friend was the much-loved daughter of 'Squire Pryor, an English gentleman, and a man of importance in that community. Nothing daunted by the superiority of her social position to his own, he won her for himself in a few short months. Though the portly squire talked of disinheritance in true English style, in vain was every effort to win back her affections from the black-eyed stranger, whose stammering question with its tinge of Quaker accent: " Sa-a-rah, dost thou love me ? " had its own quaint charm.

They were married October 18, 1830, and went at once to live in Virginia. Here a little daughter was born to them, who was destined in after years to lead the feet of her father into paths of blessedness and peace. Soon the family removed to Alabama. In the course of a few years a son was added to the family circle, whose future mission it was to make many returns to the sunny land of his birth, on embassies of love tending to the religious culture of the young.

Chapter II. Brought Into Sunday-school

In the year 1838, Mr. Paxson moved with his family to Winchester, Illinois. Here he continued to ply his trade with industry and success. He secured a pleasant home, and provided his growing family "with the best educational advantages the place afforded, though he took no time for self-improvement.

The thought of God was not in his heart. He was fond of worldly pleasures, and especially of dancing. Despite his lameness, he became very proficient in this art, and was proud of being called the best dancer on the floor. He employed a fiddler, giving him a yearly salary to be ready at any time to supply him with music. He never entered a church, or paid the least regard to religious observances.

About four years previous to Mr. Paxson's removal to Illinois, an event occurred in Philadelphia, which was to affect the whole future life of this obscure man in a far-away western village.

At the sixth anniversary of the American Sunday-School Union, held in the Washington Square Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, it was resolved, " That the Union, in reliance upon divine aid, will, within two years, establish a Sunday-school in every destitute place where it is practicable, throughout the Valley of the Mississippi."

The persons who passed this resolution did not realize the magnitude of such an undertaking, and how many years it would require to accomplish the desired result. Nevertheless, that resolution was destined to work great good.* The next morning

*This "Mississippi Valley Enterprise" was one of the most important events in the history of the planting of Mission Sunday-schools in America. It created a wave of popular enthusiasm which swept over the whole country, and was felt even in Great Britain. Prominent ministers of all denominations, able statesmen, and noted merchants, vied with each other in promoting the grand scheme. Their masterly addresses and liberal gifts indicate that some of them, at least, had some conception of the magnitude of the enterprise, and its important bearing upon the moral character of the people speedily to fill that vast valley.

after the meeting, Mr. Tappan came to the rooms of the Society and said : " I was very

The reader must remember that their plans and ideas are not to be judged by the population and christian wealth of 1882, but of 1830. Then the population of the whole United States was less than 13,000,000, and of the great Mississippi Valley, including Ohio^nd Louisiana, was hardly 3,000,000. Michigan and Arkansas were mere territories, Missouri had barely 160,000 people, Wisconsin and Iowa were unknown even as territories until half a dozen years later, Chicago was a mud hamlet, not then having attained the dignity of a Western village, and most of Illinois was a wild prairie, or a " howling wilderness." For their day, these men of 1830 had wonderful foresight, magnificent plans for God and our country, and they gave and worked upon a scale corresponding with the grandeur of their scheme. A record of their noble doing is worthy of the attention of the generation of to-day, and ought to inspire us to plan and execute mission enterprises of similar magnitude.

The sixth anniversary sermon of the American Sunday-School Union in 1830 was preached by the Rev. Francis Wayland, D. D. (Baptist), President of Brown University, R. I. ; the " Mississippi Valley Resolution" was presented to the annual meeting by the Rev. Thomas McAuley, D. D., LL. D. (Presbyterian), of Philadelphia, and warmly advocated by him, and by the Rev. Lyman Beecher, D. D. (Congregationalist), then of Massachusetts, and the Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, Sr. (not then a D. D., Protestant Episcopal), of Philadelphia; by the Hon. William Milnor, Mayor of Philadelphia ; the Rev. G. G. Cookman (Methodist Episcopal), of Philadelphia, and many others. Three or four additional meetings were held in the same city in that and the week following the anniversary. At one of them, pledges for the organization of 150 new schools, and for the supply of 32 counties (exclusive of the 150 schools), and subscriptions of over $12,000 in money were received.

In New York, similar meetings were promptly called. At one much interested last night, and I would like to go to the Valley of the Mississippi as

held in Masonic Hall, June 9th, 1830, Chancellor Walworth presiding, the crowds were so great that hundreds were unable to gain admission ; the subscriptions at the meeting exceeded $11,000.

The popular enthusiasm swept into New England, and a large meeting was held in Boston at which the Hon. William Keed, the Kev. Dr. Wisner, the Rev. J. D. Knowles, the Rev. Dr. Cornelius, the Rev. Robert Baird, and others, advocated the measure with signal ability.

Early in 1831, a large and representative meeting was held in Washington, attended by the most distinguished statesmen of that day. Senator Grundy, of Tennessee, presided over the assembly, and St. Clair Clark, Clerk of the House of Representatives, acted as Secretary.

The "Mississippi Valley Enterprise," as proposed by the American Sunday-School Union, was eloquently and ably advocated on the broadest principles of christian statesmanship, by the Rev. John Breckenridge, Hon. William Wirt, Hon. Elisha Whittlesey of Ohio, Hon. N. D. Coleman of Ky., Hon. C. E. Haynes of Ga., Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen of N. J., Hon. Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, and other members of Congress and prominent statesmen. The Hon. Thomas S. Grimke, South Carolina's most eloquent orator, earnestly advocated the vast importance of the plan before a brilliant audience in Charleston.

Nor did those christian statesmen of half a century ago, nor the Sunday-School Union, let this scheme end in speech-making and empty enthusiasm. Within the first year after the adoption of the resolution, the Society, then be it remembered only six years old, received nearly $25,000 in cash for the Mississippi enterprise alone, while it expended in supporting missionaries, and planting schools in the great Valley, nearly $39,000. Within two years, the contributions to the " Valley Fund " exceeded $60,000. These may not seem large sums now, but they were princely gifts one of your missionaries ; but as I can not go myself, here are a thousand dollars with which to employ some man who can go."

The person chosen was B. J. Seward, a cousin of the late Secretary of State, the Hon. Wm. H. Seward. He made his way to Illinois, and organized a number of schools. He found Rev. John M. Peck, and had him also employed as a missionary of the American Sunday-School Union. Mr. Peck organized, among others, a union Sunday-school at Winchester, Illinois, as the different church organizations in that place were not strong enough to sustain schools of their own. After a time the school declined, but was revived and reorganized by Dr. John Adams, of Jacksonville, Illinois, who was also in the employ of the Union. Dr. Adams had been Teacher at Phillips Academy for thirty years, and it was said that he had prepared more men for the ministry than any other person then

then. The total contributions to the Union for mission work, the year previous, 1829, were less than $2,500. Hence the benevolent contributions were increased ten-fold in a single year. If this should be done now, it would receive upward of $1,000,000 for its Mission work next year. — Editor American S. S. Union.