Henry Horace Webster..."The story of a busy life for busy men."

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Preface

One evening in August, 1891, a company of gentlemen were dining together in New York, They had met, as the Board of Managers of the Twenty-third Street Branch of the Young Men's Christian Association, to tender a complimentary and farewell dinner to their retiring secretary, Mr. James McConaughy.

The evening was a most agreeable one, for those present were old fellow-workers in Christian Association fields, and story and incident had crowded fast upon one another. Yet, underneath all their visible mirth, there had run an undercurrent of sadness, for they were to lose their secretary, whom they all loved. Then, too, there was another cause for this quiet strain of sadness: we missed a familiar face, a cheery voice, the form of one who was almost always present at our meetings.

Our guest at the close of a speech spoke of Henry H. Webster, and the great loss we had suffered in his death. ''It is not too much to say, gentlemen," he continued, ''that with the death of Mr. Webster, our association has met with a loss that is well nigh irreparable. I think I have felt his absence more this summer than at any other time since he left us. During June, July and August so

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many of our workers go away, as to seriously inconvenience our committees. Not so, howev^er, with Mr. Webster. He was always on hand, and the going away of so many, only seemed to stimulate him to greater exertion. Now, I have been thinking, lately, a good deal about him, his unselfishness, his constancy, his supreme desire to be always working for the Master, and it seems to me that such a life as his should not be permitted to pass unrecorded. Young men like Mr. Webster are scarce; we do not often meet with them. It has struck me that if some one among us were to collect the simple facts of his life and publish them, it would do a great deal of good. I think that many young men would read such a book and be greatly helped thereby."

In response to the suggestion of Mr. McConaughy, concerted action was speedily taken toward the publication of the life of Mr. Webster. His friends, many and warm, responded gladly to the appeal for facts and incidents in his life, and the result of their contributions is the present volume.

Among those who so kindly contributed, there may be mentioned the following gentlemen: Messrs. Robert R. McBurney, Richard C. Morse, Cleveland H. Dodge, Mornay Williams, Cephas Brainerd, Jr., of New York City; Prof. Edsall Ferrier, Easton, Pa.; Rev. Wm. R. Collins, Philadelphia, Pa.; Arthur G. Merriam, Springfield, Mass.; James McConaughy, Northfield, Mass.; and John Nicol and C. C. Fulton, Mauch Chunk, Pa.

New York City, 1892. Jasper van Vleck.

Prefatory Note

The writer of the following sketch of the life of Henry Horace Webster requests from me something by way of introduction to his narrative, I think from the material at his command, Mr. van Vleck has drawn, with sympathetic and loving hand, as complete a picture of Mr. Webster as can well be produced, when it is considered how short a period he had for service, and the character of the service which he rendered.

Mr. Webster made no attempts in any of the lines usually adopted by college graduates; he did not seek literary fame; he did not aim for wealth; he did not aspire to social distinction, nor did he seek political influence or professional renown. The reader of Mr. van Vleck's sketch will findthat Websterseems to have possessed but one ambition, and that was to accomplish within the sphere of his influence, within, the range of his capacity and power, the most of good possible to the persons with whom he might come in contact from day to day. And so, therefore, he sought two things; first, access to the largest number of persons the most in need of the influence which he desired to exert; and secondly, to acquire those qualities and that knowledge which would make him thoroughly effective. To these

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things he gave himself without stint, regardless of considerations personal to himself, and perhaps not always in the exercise of the greatest wisdom, for many of his friends feel that he would have accomplished more had he addressed himself to a broader range of study and investigation than that which he adopted; that he would have lived longer and secured larger results had he confined himself less strictly to the fields of service which he one after the other selected. This question, however, cannot be decided; he may have been wise; others may not be wise in their present judgment. At any rate, this is true; he was satisfied with his choice.

In his work in his college; in his work after graduation; in his work in the New York Young Men's Christian Association, there was always the one single object before Webster. He aimed, in his dealings with men, to produce the highest and the completest of reforms; he was not content with good resolves; he was not content with good talk; he was not content with promises; he was content with nothing short of the consecration of the entire man to the one Savior and to the promotion of His cause. He believed that nothing save this radical reform was reform at all. He sought to secure this result, not by rhetorical effort in meetings, larger or smaller, not by sentimental suggestions, but by a plain, manly and sincere presentation of the truth as disclosed in the Bible. Those who heard him in public speech, those who heard him in

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his dealing with individual men, those who witnessed his efforts of any sort or kind, know this very well, and none know it better than those who accepted his leadership and became, like him, followers of the Lord.

He was to me the best living illustration of the doctrine of that wonderful sermon by Cardinal Newman, entitled, " Personal influence the means of propagating the truth" (the fifth of his University Sermons), a sermon so striking in the breadth of its teaching, as well as in its beauty, that it is often referred to in books treating solely upon secular topics. Of this sermon, Mr. Bagehot, after recommending it to the attention of his scientific readers, says: "They will there see the opinion of a great practical leader of men, of one who has led very many where they little thought of going, as to the mode in which they are to be led; and what he says, put shortly and simply, and taken out of his delicate language, is but this: 'That men are guided by type, not by argument; that some winning instance must be set up before them or the sermon will be vain and the doctrine will not spread,' * * * and, after all, I can but teach the commonplace, that it is the life of the teachers which is catching, not their tenets."

It is very true that, with the progress of years upon each of the fields v/ith which Webster was connected, he became an important leader of men. He did not, however, become such a leader because he possessed what is ordinarily understood to be the quality of command; he never sought, in my judg-

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ment, to command; but he became a leader because in his life and in his treatment of others, he conformed to the principles and doctrines which he •sought by his lips to teach. In other words, his life and conduct were in harmony with his words, and for that reason he influenced individual men, and companies of men.

Again, he was content to work with the material and in the place where he happened to be; his conduct in his college course shows this; his conduct in the short time which he spent at the home of his parents after graduation, and especially in his connection with railroad men; his conduct in the association in New York, not only while he was associate secretary, but after he became a member of its Committee of Management and of its Board; he did always the work, according to the best of his ability, that was placed before him.

So far as I am able to judge, Mr. Webster looked upon the Christian work that he performed, and which he was fitting himself in that performance to do better and upon a more extended field, on a larger stage, as constituting his career. I do not believe that he looked upon business as any other than a subordinate occupation. That he attended to business with strictness and care, that he did the work in it which his engagements called for faithfully and well, neglecting nothing, is conceded by all. He did not, however, aspire, as I think, to great business success. Every young man anticipates a career, some in j^rofessions, some in business, some

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in society; Webster selected a life of useful service in the elevation of individual men, and especially young men. Business was to him but a means for his support while working out the things he had set for himself. He died at thirty-eight, and few men of that age have done as much in the fulfillment of their purpose in life as did Henry Webster.

Francis Horner, who died about the same age, a member of the British parliament and the most loved man of his party at that time in England, had done less toward the rounding out of his career than had Henry Webster at the time of his death. That selected by Hornerinvolved masses of correspondence, parliamentary speeches and the like, and his written life fills two octavo volumes. That chosen by Webster contemplated quite another service; it involved neither parliamentary speeches, platform efforts, or large correspondence; that is to say, the life work of Francis Horner contemplated things in a certain general sense earthly, of which earth takes notice, and of which earth gladly preserves, so far as earth may, a permanent record. The work of Henry Webster took hold of things unseen and eternal, of which a very inconsiderable record is kept on earth; of which earth takes but little notice, and of which it has little means for preserving a record That record is known only in part even by those most intimate with him; they can never know it fully unless at last they be with him where he is. But if the service which concerns things everlasting is of more value, is more enduring, than that which touches only on

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things which are temporal, then is Henry Webster's career greater, more enduring and more beneficent in its influence than the other. And yet, few can rise to the position occupied by Francis Horner at the close of his life, but many, if they will seek the wisdom which Henry Webster acquired, can rise to that which he occupied, and to his present home. " And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever." In this lies the appeal which his life makes to young men.

Every man who really knew Henry Webster is grateful for what he did; appreciates the breadth and the reach of his accomplishment; is satisfied that he could not have done better in other lines with the faculty and power which he had. Those, however, who knew him well regret most profoundly his early death, because they saw in the later years of his life a development of power, an increase in strength, an enlargement of faculty which those who saw him in early years, just after graduation, never anticipated he would exhibit. Indeed, at the time of his death, few men of his age promised more future, better future, than Henry Webster. Sorrowing as they do for the loss of what he was, they sorrow most of all for the loss which Christian service suffered in what Henry Webster might have been. Probably no better testimony was ever furnished to the power, influence and usefulness of a young business man than that exhibited on the occasion of the memorial service in the hall of the New York asso-

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ciation; and it was not so much in the testimonies of those who spoke, as furnishing evidence of his greatness and his goodness, as in the attendance of a body of men, almost wholly young, filling that large hall to the full, who exhibited by their sympathetic interest in the service their appreciation of his character and their sorrow at his death.

Webster was to me a dearly loved friend and fellow worker, who grew not old with advancing years, who grew not vain with increasing knowledge; who grew not conceited with the increase of his power with men; who seemed ever able to say as did Standfast, ** I have loved to hear my Lord spoken of; and wherever I have seen the print of His shoe in the earth, there I have coveted to set my foot too."

Cephas Brainerd.

Contents

CHAPTER. PAGE.

I. Parentage and Early Life - . .. . i

II. School and College Days - ■• • • - ii

Chapter I. Parentage And Early Life

Before the foot of primeval man trod this continent, a beneficent Providence had stored away in the bosom of mother earth the materials, which, in the process of time, were to become the great coal bearing fields of Pennsylvania.

As time passed by and civilization drifted in from the seaboard, this region became sparsely settled; some of its nooks, sheltered from the winds by a favoring mountain, appealed more forcibly to settlers, and several gathering there formed a little hamlet. Roads, rough in their way, were cut between these hamlets and in process of time an intermittent kind of communication was established between them. The discovery of "stone coal," as it was called, about 1750, drew to this region a considerable population. Wherever the black diamond was found in paying quantities, there was sure to be a little settlement.

Into this growing community there came in October, 1835, ^he Rev. Richard Webster, a young man only twenty-five years of age, and a recent graduate of the Theological Seminary of Princeton, N. J. He had been invited to preach at South

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Easton, Pennsylvania, at the recommendation of the Rev. Dr. McDowell, then secretary of the Board of Missions. He expected to preach one Sabbath at South Easton, a new village across the Lehigh river, and one Sabbath at Mauch Chunk, with a view of being permanently settled at Easton. It was at Mauch Chunk, however, that he finally settled, remaining there until his death.

Mauch Chunk, proper, was a small settlement at this time, composed of the homes of the mine owners and the mine operatives, a country store or two, and a general supply store, dealing chiefly in the materials used in the mines. The village consisted of a single street laid out on the west bank of the Lehigh river at its passage through Mahoning and Sharp mountains. The houses were built in a single line in the valley, through which flowed the river, and the narrowness of the place allowed only the most diminutive of gardens. What was lacking in space, however, was amply atoned for in beauty, for the little plots were gardens indeed, and from early spring until late fall blossomed out a mass of color and sweetness. The hills rose majestically on every side, in some places from seven hundred to one thousand feet, sheer up, and the scenery was most picturesque. Directly in front of the village, Mt. Pisgah reared its lofty head, its slopes wooded so thickly as to make progress through them a difificult matter. At the foot of Mt. Pisgah, the highest peak in the Sharp mountains, the Lehigh river ran, pursuing its way quietly, but at times, notably in

PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE. D

the spring of the year, when swollen by the melting snows from the sides of the mountains, it became a raging torrent, overflowing its banks and bearing destruction in its path. The air was peculiarly cool and pure, and the excellence of the water proverbial

The Rev. Richard Webster, the newly settled pastor of this town, brought with him to his work great energy, rare intellectual powers and thorough preparation for his work. His ancestors came originally from England and were among the first settlers of the Colony of Connecticut, and it was from them that he inherited all those sterling traits of character for which the New Englanders are so justly celebrated. Very early in life he elected to enter the ministry, and all his studies were carried on with that end in view. He was educated in his native town, Albany; graduated at Union College in 1829; went to Andover for a short time to study theology, and then to Princeton, where he took a three years' course in the Theological Seminary graduating from there in 1834.

Mr. Webster was settled over the First Presbyterian church of Mauch Chunk as its first pastor in 1835. into this new life he threw himself with all the energy of his nature and in a few years had gathered about him a goodly congregation. The following year he married a Miss Cross, the daughter of a Baltimore merchant, a lady in every way worthy to be his helpmeet.

From this time on, his work among the people was constant and his success most wonderful, for all

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with whom ne came in contact learned to love him. Being a man of a most catholic spirit, Protestant and Romanist alike shared his love and bounty, his genial, kindly spirit seeing in every man a brother. His charge was a large one, extending in either direction for twenty miles, and yet he never suffered storm or distance to deter him from going where he was called, feeling that to relieve suffering or sorrow was his duty and pleasure. He knew everyone in the mountains, and if perchance he learned of a death or an accident in a family, it was sure to draw him to the spot. In spite of his excessive labors among the people he found time to do a large amount of literary work, the most notable of which is his " History of the Presbyterian Church," published after his death.

In his home as well as in his church he was greatly blessed, and in the love of his wife and family he found refreshment and grace for the daily struggle. He was very fond of his home, returning to it after the pastoral duties of the day with unqualified delight. He entered into the life of his children as thoroughly as if he were one of them, encouraging them to talk to him of their games, pleasures and school; and taking an interest in every little thing in which they were interested. In this way he held their confidences and was to them an elder brother as well as a father.

For twenty-one years he labored incessantly, attending not only to the duties of his own church but doing a surprising amount of missionary labor in

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the surrounding country. Never very strong, his great exertions finally began to tell upon him. Death came very suddenly, but found him ready. He died surrounded by his family, in the month of June, 1856, leaving a wife and six children. At his funeral a most touching incident was related of him. Rev. Andrew B. Cross, who delivered the address, said of the deceased: "He was pre-eminently a man of prayer, and one who made it a personal matter to pray for his friends and relatives, for every kind of people — persons with whom he met — and carried these cases before the mercy-seat with an earnestness that showed his interest in them, and his confidence in God as the hearer of prayer. Why, it was said of him that he had privately and personally prayed for every person that attended upon his ministry; and, on the very day he died, he had been praying for an opportunity to speak to a man who had been neglecting attendance upon public worship, which prayer God answered, giving him the opportunity before he died."

At the time of his father's death, Henry Horace Webster, the subject of our sketch, was barely over two years of age and entirely unable to realize the great loss which he had sustained. He was the youngest child of the family, and to him on his death-bed the love of the dying pastor went out, commending him, especially, to the care of the Father of the fatherless.

Believing implicitly in Him in whose care the fatherless family had been left, the young w^idow

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took up the labor of rearing her children, with a strong heart. In this work she was ably assisted by the children themselves, and that which in other families would have been a difficult task, was in hers a comparatively easy one. She ruled with love, trying to make her children love the right for right's sake. Speaking of these times, the successor of her husband in the church at Mauch Chunk, writes to one of the children, as follows:

"You know that I went to Mauch Chunk very soon after your father's death, and your brother Henry was a very small child, and when I left in 1865 he was not ten years old. I remember him as a sturd}^ round-faced boy, active and fond of play, and such a contrast to his more sedate brothers that your mother was sometimes apprehensive that his natural spirits might hereafter carry him too far. But there was no reason to fear. He, from the first, was easily controlled by your mother and very early adopted her principles, which became afterward so characteristic of him. Your mother's faith, strength of character, and influence over her children, surprised me at our first interview. Her sudden bereavement had thrown the whole responsibility upon her of the training of her large family. She fully realized this, but her faith in God's grace and in His covenant with her and her children, sustained her. No change was made in the object or method of the home discipline. Baptism had not been to your parents a mere form, but a real consecration

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of their children to the Lord and therefore the object of home training was the conversion of each child, and preparation of him, not for the world, but for Christ's service. To accomplish this was your mother's prayer and effort. Pleadings of some for a laxity of principle or for questionable indulgences did not move her. I cannot recollect any restiveness or dissent on the part of her children, for they appreciated her motive, had adopted her principles, and approved her method. It could not be otherwise. With her, religion was the principal thing; her daily instruction and example made it intelligent and attractive and her love commended the love of Christ. I have seldom, if ever, seen better realized the Christian home and true mother's influence. The results are not surprising — the early conversion of each child and his consistent, godly and useful life. Nothing else would have been possible under God's gracious covenant. I delighted to watch the effect of your mother's training upon little Henry during the eight years I was at Mauch Chunk and am sure that he was always ready to acknowledge what was so true, that all he was and had accomplished for Christ, was due, under God, to his mother's influence. 'Her children rise up and

call her blessed.' "

Under the loving care of such a mother, Henry lived a happy child's life. Speaking of his very early years, it is said of him that he was possessed of one of the happiest of dispositions. His mother he>;ky hukace avkbstek.

gave him great freedom, trusting him implicitly, and she never had cause to regret so doing. Speaking of her brother, his eldest sister says of him, that as a child he was the delight of his family and of all who came to the house.

Notwithstanding the fact that Henry was but two and a half years old when his father died, yet he retained a faint remembrance of him. That unselfish, devoted life made a deep impression upon him. Living in the home so full of precious memories of the blessed life and peaceful, triumphant death of his father, and in the town where his work and memory were held in loving remembrance, that impression deepened as the years passed away. Often while yet a boy he was wont to exclaim, "If

1 am only worthy of my father and mother I shall be satisfied;" and following out this desire, it was his custom, when at home, to repair frequently to his father's grave, and, standing there, pray that his life, too, might be a blessing to others.

Great influence for good was exerted on his life at this early formative period by his father's friends, who frequented his home, and he often spoke in later years of the great pleasure and help their sympathy in his youthful tastes and plans had been to him. Another beneficial influence on his early life was his implicit confidence in his mother. To her he came for sympathy and guidance in all the affairs which went to make up his childish life.

Henry Webster was a thorough boy, a true boy with a bright sunny disposition and perfect health,

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He delighted in all the games and amusements of the place. The day was never too long for him. The pure air of the mountains was considered by his mother better for him than the close school-room, so on especially bright days he, with his brothers and sisters, was given a holiday. He loved everything connected with his mountain home and would spend hours in climbing and rambling through the woods.

In his home life his mother combined loving training and wise care. She made religion attractive to her children, and Henry learned from her his love for pure and holy things. The Sabbath to them was a bright and happy day; in the evening she gathered her children about her and together they repeated chapters of the Bible, hymns and the catechism. Henry's favorite hymn at this time was :

'•Sweet is the work, my God, my King,

To praise thy name, give thanks, and sing, To show thy love by morning light And talk of all thy truth at night."

Even at this early day, the lovely traits of his character, afterwards so fully developed, were noticeable. He was the personification of childish unselfishness; no thought of himself ever seemed to enter his mind; a pleasure was never perfect unless he could share it with others; when he read a book his first thought was to lend it, that some one else might have the same enjoyment. His pleasure in a

HENRY HOKACE WEBSTER.

game or an excursion was doubled if he could but have his little sister or one of his- little friends with him.

His early mental training was conducted by his mother, and by her hand he was guided until fitted to enter the high school of Mauch Chunk. As a child and boy he was never a close student, but he was a keen observer of all passing around him. From his father he inherited a most retentive memory, a wonderful faculty for remembering not merely the names and faces of the persons he met, but the circumstances and interests connected with them. He took a genuine interest in all whom he knew, and it was that kind remembrance and quick sympathy which endeared him to so many. While yet a boy he became known to all in his native town. He was greatly interested in railroad matters, the shops of the Lehigh Valley road being situated in Mauch Chunk. He knew' the railroad men not only by name, but could tell the names and numbers of the different engines, and the names of each individual "crew." As a train chanced to pass, he would wave his hand to the men in the cab, and salute them with some words of friendly greeting. He always retained a warm interest in the people of the town, notwithstanding the fact that he left it when little more than a boy.

CHAPTER 11.

SCHOOL AND COLLEGE DAYS.

Henry Horace Webster was pre-eminently a mountain-boy. Born amidst the picturesque ranges of Pennsylvania, as he grew in years, he grew, in the pure air of the hills, strong and rugged in body and mind. Alert, active, energetic in temperament, his healthy and overflowing spirits exulted in his natural surroundings, and whether it was the gently flowing river, hard by his home, or the blue mountain peaks, seeming to meet the heavens in the distance, one and all seemed to elevate and incite him to high and pure living and thinking. He was familiar with every road, pass, or peak connected with these hills that surrounded his home. The wild flowers of the section were his special love. No dell was too dark or secluded and no nook too well hidden to keep from him the shy flowers growing therein. True to the earliest of his impulses, which led him to share each of his pleasures with others, he was never alone on any one of these mountain rambles, but was always accompanied by some one of his youthful friends. His most frequent companion was his youngest sister, who, with a favored girl friend, roamed with him over all the hills and valleys