Life and Labors of Elder John Kline, the Martyr Missionary Part 26

MONDAY, 21. Do not feel entirely relieved yet.

TUESDAY, 22. Take another course of medicines, and am much relieved.

WEDNESDAY, 23. Brother Benjamin Wampler takes me in the carriage to Brother Buck's, two miles off, and back home.

THURSDAY, 24. Much rain to-day. Cannot ride out.

FRIDAY, 25. Brother Benjamin takes me to Brother Samuel Myers's to-day, and back home. Rain in the afternoon.

SAt.u.r.dAY, 26. Paint the top of carriage, and do some other work to it.

SUNDAY, 27. Visit Brother Reuben Pinkerton and return home. How very kind all of these dear people have been to me! They will accept nothing in return for all their kindness to me, but my grat.i.tude and love, and, heaven knows, my heart is full of that.

TUESDAY, 29. Go to Brother Jonathan Gaines's for dinner; then to Wooster, and stay all night with Dr. Overholtz.

WEDNESDAY, 30. Go to the bank in Wooster and attend to some other business. Dine with Dr. Overholtz, and in evening get back home to Brother Jacob Kurtz's.

THURSDAY, October 1. Fix to start towards home.

FRIDAY, October 2. Take leave of my very dear Brother Jacob Kurtz and family, who have nursed and cared for me through all of my sickness.

Such kindness as he and his family have shown me relieves affliction of half its distress. It is almost a luxury to be sick where so much love is shown. I can never forget Brother Benjamin Wampler. He is so calm and gentle in the sick room that his very presence is a comfort to the sick.

The Diary does not contain anything of special interest on their way home. Brother Kline noted the distance traveled over each day, from the time they left Brother Jacob Kurtz's till he arrived at his own home. According to his report the whole distance was 264 miles. This they made in eleven days. Their average daily rate of travel was just twenty-four miles. They arrived at his house on the evening of the twelfth, having left Brother Kurtz's the morning of the second day of October. Brother Kline often notes some reference to the satisfaction of getting back home after a long absence; and it is painful to find a record the exact reverse in this instance. But no murmur at the Divine Will, or word of impatience or complaint against any one is to be found on the page of the Diary.

From this time to the close of the year Brother Kline never went far from home. A few marriages solemnized, funerals preached, neighborhood medical visits, and near-by meetings attended make the sum of his work from home. His afflicted wife required his daily attentions.

THURSDAY, January 21. Perform the marriage ceremony of Josiah Wampler and Mary Kline.

TUESDAY, February 23. Go to Michael Wine's and perform the marriage ceremony of Isaac Harpine and Barbara Wine.

THURSDAY, March 4. Perform the marriage ceremony of William Andes and Catharine Miller, at the widow Miller's in the Forest.

WEDNESDAY, March 31. Dr. Newham is at my house to-day. We start my new electro-magnetic machine, and give Anna an electric shock, in the hope of its vitalizing her enfeebled nerves. Dr. Newham regards her case as not being out of the reach of relief by a course of protracted and judiciously applied medical treatment.

THURSDAY, April 1. Council meeting at the Brush meetinghouse. Perform the marriage ceremony of Seth Alger and Rosina Fifer.

SAt.u.r.dAY, April 3. Abraham Knopp and I go to Page County. Call to see old Sister Gibbons who has reached a very high age. We read and prayed with her, and her heart seemed to overflow with joy. She said: "I love all the friends of Jesus. Brethren, I will soon be gone; but I hope the Lord may leave you here many years yet to do his blessed will, by calling many sinners from darkness to light, and by comforting his saints as you have comforted me this day." When we took leave of her she said: "Farewell: and may the G.o.d of love and peace be with you."

Sister Gibbons is the mother of Samuel Gibbons, and is now living with him on the Hawksbill Creek, not far from the town of Luray, in Page County, Virginia.

SUNDAY, April 4. The brethren and sisters meet us very early this morning for prayer and exhortation on the visit; after which the regular public meeting opens. John 5 is read. Dine at Isaac Spitler's, and stay all night at Henry Gander's.

FRIDAY, April 16. Abraham Knopp and I go to Lost River. Attend the burial of Celestine Whitmore's child. Age, seven years, four months, and one day. In afternoon Jacob Pope and I go on to the visit. Stay all night at Henry Moyers's.

SAt.u.r.dAY, April 17. After getting through with the visit we have council meeting. The reports brought in by the visiting brethren are mostly encouraging, and show a good spirit existing in the Brotherhood.

SUNDAY, April 18. Meeting at the meetinghouse. Luke 12 is read. After meeting perform the marriage ceremony of Was.h.i.+ngton Cook and Anna Jane Parker at Brother Whitmore's; then come to William Fitzwar's and perform the marriage ceremony of Frederick Na.s.selrodt and Catherine Weatherholtz. Get home at nine o'clock in the night.

THURSDAY, April 29. Perform the marriage ceremony of William Halterman and Elizabeth May, at Samuel May's, in the Gap.

SUNDAY, May 2. Meeting at Na.s.selrodt's in the Gap. I baptized Lotty Koon.

TUESDAY, May 18. On this day Brother Kline starts to the Annual Meeting. He takes Anna and Sister Betty Knopp with him. They get to the widow Nipe's in the evening of the nineteenth. He left Anna and Sister Betty at this place, whilst he went on to the Annual Meeting at Brother Jacob Deardorff's, which opened Friday, May 21. The business features of the meeting closed on Sat.u.r.day, May 22; and on Sunday, May 23, he started back after the eleven o'clock service. He found Anna somewhat more cheerful than usual. She stood the trip remarkably well.

From some cause, I know not what, he gives not a word of comment on the state of feeling, matters considered, or anything else pertaining to it.

FRIDAY, May 28. We have a love feast at our meetinghouse. _Union in the evening._ A fine day and good behavior. Some of the older Brethren will no doubt know what Brother Kline means by the word _union_, here and elsewhere used in the Diary in a specific sense.

TUESDAY, June 8. To-day I attended two buryings in one graveyard.

Christian Eversole, age, sixty-nine years; and Samuel Bowers, age, twenty years; both buried at the Brush meetinghouse.

SAt.u.r.dAY, July 3. Cross the Blue Ridge mountain to-day, and get to Henry Coverston's late this evening.

SUNDAY, July 4. Meeting in the Methodist meetinghouse. John 4 is read.

I spoke as best I could on the Water of Life and kindred topics, but in this country we feel sadly the want of encouragement and sympathy which we are used to in our own houses and congregations. Our doctrinal views and practices as a denomination are not well understood in Albemarle County, Virginia. The prevailing denominations here are Baptists and Methodists. We have one consolation, however, even here. We can preach the Gospel to the poor, and they are ready to hear it. But there is one barrier between us and the wealthy cla.s.ses which will continue, G.o.d only knows how long; and that barrier is African slavery. Many, seemingly good and reasonable people, in this country justify themselves in their own eyes, even on scripture grounds, for taking part in and encouraging the holding of slaves. I fear, however, that the G.o.d of this world has blinded their eyes, so that seeing they see not, and hearing they understand not.

A gentleman whom I met here and who said that he had traveled a great deal in the slave-holding States, told me that he witnessed the sale of some slaves in a town in North Carolina. A mother and her three children, two boys and a girl, were put up for sale separately. It happened that the mother was bought by one man, the two boys by another, and the daughter by a third. The daughter was twelve years old; and the boys respectively eight and ten. They were now to be parted, never to see each other more. There was no hope left them of ever hearing from each other again. The gentleman said the little boys did not seem to mind it so very much; but, said he, the agony of the mother, and the distress of the daughter were past description. It is to be hoped that such heart-rending scenes are not often to be witnessed; and I do believe that the time is not far distant when the sun will rise and set upon our land cleansed of this foul stain, though it may be cleansed with blood. I would rejoice to think that my eyes might see that bright morning; but I can have no hope of that.

TUESDAY, July 6. On this day Brother Kline made arrangements to move to Orkney Springs with Anna. Some account of this place is given elsewhere in this work, and need not be repeated here. He and Anna staid here about five weeks, and he reports her general health as being much improved by the use of the different waters, as well as by the cheerful society she enjoyed. Whilst staying at this place Brother Kline reports some interesting acquaintances made with several noted persons whom he had only casually seen before. Among these was the Rev. Henry Brown, a Presbyterian minister of Harrisonburg.

SAt.u.r.dAY, July 17, he says: Take a walk over some of the surrounding eminences with preacher Henry Brown of Harrisonburg, Virginia. Mr.

Brown is a very sociable and pleasant man to be with. Whilst we differ on a good many points of Christian doctrine, we can still walk and talk together sociably; and I enjoy his company very much. It would be pleasant to believe, did the Scriptures warrant the conclusion, that all the differences which mark the divisions of Christians here will melt away in love and be forgotten there. Of one thing I am sure: No one will ever have a just right to boast of his own goodness, or lay claim to preferment on the score of his own obedience. "When ye," says our Savior, "have done all these things that were commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which it was our duty to do." Whilst it is true that the Presbyterians are zealous advocates of education and moral improvement, and as a people exhibit in their daily lives many Christian virtues and graces, still I fear they are occupying dangerous ground by rejecting some of the plain commands of our Lord Jesus. "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the disobedient appear?" I know of no righteousness but that of obedient faith, or, as Paul puts it, the righteousness of faith that works or obeys from love, and in this way purifies the heart. A hungering and thirsting after this righteousness

"Gives exercise to faith and love; Brings every blessing from above."

If this dear Christian friend is in darkness as to the nature of obedience and its blessed fruits, himself misled and misleading others, I pray that the scales may drop from his eyes, that he may see clearly the whole truth which G.o.d has placed in the line of our duty to do and teach.

SUNDAY, July 18. Friend Henry Brown preached to-day. He is a very clear and pleasant talker. In his discourse, however, he made me think of some beautiful birds that hop over what they do not wish to touch, and take hold gracefully of what they are pleased to alight upon.

THURSDAY, August 12. This day Brother Kline moved back home. He says: Anna much improved in health. The season at the Springs has been quite pleasant, with the exception of atmospheric dampness from the abundance of rain we had while there.

MONDAY, August 23. This day Brother Kline started on another journey to Pennsylvania. It may be irksome to the general reader to follow his daily steps from this date to the thirteenth of September, the day on which he returned home, so I will only name the families he visited or stayed with all night, in the order given in the Diary. His habit on this was the same as on other journeys of like motive; he preached as he went, and never failed holding family wors.h.i.+p where he stayed all night, when well enough to do so. Few of those that were fathers and mothers then are living now; but their children and grandchildren may be living, to whom these reminiscences will, doubtless, be pleasant.

Reflections like these instinctively impress us with a consciousness of time's rapid flight; and make us, who were young then, realize, with more or less acuteness of perception, the impressive truth that we, too, are growing old. To such of my readers as find no pleasure or profit in things of this kind I gently say: Pa.s.s over it as you would an advertis.e.m.e.nt in which you feel no interest, in a newspaper you may be perusing: Daniel Fahrney's; John Shank's, near Greencastle; William Etter's; Allen Mohler's; John Sollenberger's; George Copp's; Dr.

Fahnestock's, in Middletown, Pennsylvania; Abraham Gipe's, near Lebanon; Jacob Gipe's; Abraham Balsbaugh's; Peter Miller's, this side Harrisburg; George Deardorf's; Daniel Longenacre's; Widow Bowman's, near Middletown, Maryland; John Garber's, Jr.; John Garber's, Sr.; Jacob Rupp's; Nathaniel Bondsack's; Jacob Saylor's; William Deahl's; David Reinhardt's; Sherk's, near Sharpsburg; Fahnestock's, near Winchester, Virginia; George Shaver's, in Shenandoah County, Virginia.

Some may say: This reads like a bill of goods with the prices omitted.

But think a little, my friend. Let us suppose that business would compel you to mount the back of a horse away off in Rockingham County, Virginia, and travel day after day, until you had completed the round of visiting every family above named; and in addition to this attend a meeting of some kind every day or two, and yet be compelled to do all this in the short s.p.a.ce of twenty-one days; would you not think it a task worthy of mention? Now Brother Kline did all this, but not on the score of any business interest whatever. Instead of seeking any worldly gain by it, the direct opposite was the truth, for he came home with less money in his pocket than he started with. It was just what he expected and felt a.s.sured would be the case. But he went. And what induced him to go? The love of Christ constrained him. The love of doing good to others by pointing out the way of salvation to them.

Have I, have you, such love?

Between the last date given and the twenty-first of October Brother Kline attended a love feast at Beaver Creek, Virginia; one on Lost River; and one at Flat Rock. Besides these, he attended the regular Sunday meetings, council meetings, and visited, medically, a considerable number of patients. He reports much rain in October, and several times his life was endangered crossing high waters.

FRIDAY, October 22. On this day he started on a journey across the mountains of western Virginia. He followed a line of love feasts and other meetings through the counties of Hamps.h.i.+re, Virginia; Garret, Maryland; Preston and Monongalia, Virginia, to Dunkard Creek in Pennsylvania, not far this side of Wheeling. He returned over nearly the same route by which he went, filling appointments he left on his way out. He reports, on this journey, 371 miles traveled on horseback, over some rugged mountains and bad roads much of the way. He arrived home November 4, after an absence of two weeks.

TUESDAY, November 30. Attend the burial of old Mother Horn. Age, ninety years, two months and two days.

SUNDAY, December 5. Attend the burial of old Mother Conrad. Age, eighty-five years and nine months.

WEDNESDAY, December 15. Louis and Samuel Kline, of Pennsylvania, visit us. I take them around to see their and my kindred.

TUESDAY, December 21. Perform the marriage ceremony of Samuel Hinegartner and Catharine Ralls, at Christian Crider's.