Sixty years with Plymouth Church Part 4

The plan of the _Quaker City_ Excursion, made famous by Mark Twain, originated in Plymouth Church, when Mr. Beecher contemplated writing a Life of Christ. He expressed a desire to visit the sacred places of Palestine, where our Lord lived and where He was crucified, and wanted several members of Plymouth Church to go with him. A committee was formed to arrange for the journey, composed of Captain C. Duncan, John T. Howard and Rufus R. Graves. A very beautiful and substantial side-wheel steams.h.i.+p, the _Quaker City_, was chartered for the journey, and the number of pa.s.sengers was limited to one hundred and fifty. The price of the pa.s.sage for each person was fixed at twelve hundred and fifty dollars. Mr. Beecher engaged pa.s.sage, but at the last moment decided not to go.

The Secretary of State furnished us with letters commending us to the attention of the foreign governments which we might visit, and on the eighth day of June we sailed out of New York harbour. Our first stopping place was at the Azores, then we went to Gibraltar and Ma.r.s.eilles, where time was given to the pa.s.sengers to visit Paris and London; next to Genoa, from which port we made visits to Milan, Venice and Lake Como.

The next stopping place was Leghorn, where we turned aside to Florence and Pisa and visited Garibaldi, who was then at his home. From Leghorn our course took us to Naples, giving time to see Rome, Vesuvius and Pompeii; then on through the Straits of Messina, across the Ionian Sea, through the Grecian Archipelago to Athens, Greece; through the Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmora to Constantinople. After one week's stay in that Oriental city, the route lay through the Bosphorus, across the Black Sea to Sebastopol. After visiting the famous battlefields of the Crimea, we sailed to Odessa, in the northwest corner of the Black Sea, ours being the first American steams.h.i.+p which ever entered that harbour. While staying there a telegram was received from the Emperor of Russia inviting us to visit him at his palace, Livadia, at Yalta. Yalta is a very beautiful place on the slope of a mountain, overlooking the Black Sea, about two hundred miles east of Odessa, and is the summer home of the imperial family of Russia. The Grand Duke Michael's palace, Orianda, the Grand Duke Vladimir's, Worondow, and their grounds join those of the Emperor. The invitation was accepted. Mrs. Griswold's story of the visit as given in the "Pilgrimage" is as follows:

"On the way from Odessa to Yalta, several meetings were held by the gentlemen in the saloon for the purpose of preparing an address to be presented to the Czar; at the same time the ladies were gathered in groups conversing about the coming event.

"This morning we dropped anchor at Yalta. The Governor-general conveyed to us a message from the Emperor 'that we were welcome, and he would be pleased to receive us the next day at twelve o'clock.' Word also came that carriages and horses would be in readiness to convey the party to the palace, which is about two miles from the landing place.

"All was astir on board preparing for the great occasion. The porters are overtaxed in getting out the stored-away trunks for the pa.s.sengers, as the most _recherche_ wardrobes must be selected. The ladies' purchases through Europe are now brought into requisition.

Paris dresses, laces, coiffures, and jewelry are to be worn for the first time. At ten and a half o'clock we saw the s.p.a.cious rowboats belonging to the Emperor nearing our s.h.i.+p. How gaily they were decked out with scarlet cloth and fringe hanging over the sides almost touching the water; each boat was rowed by twelve men dressed in white caps and uniform. They approached the vessel's side with extreme caution, owing to the heavy sea, which was rolling in. As the boat would rise upon a wave and sink away, one person stepped in after another until it was filled, when another boat would take its place. In this way all were safely landed. We left the boat by crimson-carpeted steps leading up from the water into a picturesque canopied landing. The ladies occupied the carriages and the gentlemen rode on horseback. We formed quite a procession, numbering over sixty persons.

"The gates were thrown open to admit us to the palace grounds. A company of mounted Cossacks were drawn up on each side of the gate, and we pa.s.sed through in military order, escorted by the Grand Duke Michael, brother of the Emperor, who had met us on the way.

"At precisely twelve o'clock we formed in front of the palace. The smoothly cut lawn around us was like a velvet carpet, with a profusion of surrounding flowers. Immediately the Emperor and the Empress appeared, accompanied by their daughter Marie, and one of their sons, the Grand Duke Serge, followed by a retinue of distinguished persons.

"The American Consul who had come with us from Odessa stepped forward and read a short address to his Imperial Highness Alexander II, Czar of Russia, which had been prepared and signed by the pa.s.sengers. The Emperor replied to it by saying 'that he thanked us for the address and was very much pleased to meet us, especially as such friendly relations exist between Russia and the United States.' The Empress further replied by saying 'that Americans were favourites in Russia,' and she hoped her people were the same with the Americans.

"The Emperor is tall and well-proportioned, with a mild yet firm expression. The impression of the beholders is that he is one born to command. He wore a white cap and a white linen suit, the coat confined with a belt around the waist and ornamented with gilt b.u.t.tons and elaborate epaulets.

"The Empress is of medium height, fair complexion, and although delicate looking she appears young for one of her age. A bright, welcoming smile lit up her face. Her dress was white foulard silk, dotted with blue and richly trimmed with blue satin. She wore a small sleeveless jacket, a broad blue sash, and around her neck was a tie made of swiss muslin and valenciennes lace. On her head was a straw hat trimmed with blue velvet and black lace. Her hands were covered with flesh-covered kid gloves, and she carried a light drab parasol lined with blue silk.

"The Grand d.u.c.h.ess was attired in a dress of similar material to that of her mother, only this was more tastefully arranged with blue silk and fringe, a belt of the same material as the dress, fastened by a large rosette, and a straw hat also trimmed with blue silk.

"The Grand Duke Serge is quite young, and a well-appearing youth.

He was dressed in a scarlet blouse and white pants.

"Individual introductions followed. Several of the ladies, including myself, had an opportunity of conversing with the Empress. All of the Imperial family speak English very well.

"We were escorted through the buildings by the Emperor and Empress, entering a door which was on either side a bower of flowers.

Almost all the apartments were thrown open. The floors were inlaid and polished, and the furniture was curious and costly. The Emperor took special pains to show us the chapel, where he and his family wors.h.i.+pped. It was very handsome, and connected with the main building.

"Every effort was made by the Imperial family to welcome us, and really the Pilgrims seemed to act as much at home as though they were accustomed to calling on Emperors every day.

"I could not realise that we were being entertained by a ruler of more than eighty million people, and whose word was the supreme law of the most powerful nation on the globe.

"At eight o'clock in the evening the anchor was lifted and we sailed by the Czar's palace, which was brilliantly lighted, and amid the booming of cannon, and the shooting of rockets, and a blue light illuminating our s.h.i.+p we bade farewell to a scene which I shall treasure as one of the brightest remembrances of my life."

From Yalta the steamer sailed across the Black Sea, through the Bosphorus, down the coast of Asia Minor, to the Gulf of Smyrna, anchoring in the harbour of Smyrna. A delay was made to give time to visit the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus. Pa.s.sing the coast of the Isle of Cyprus the next landing place was Beirut, where several days were spent, affording the pilgrims opportunity to visit the Mountains of Lebanon, the ruins of Baalbec, and the city of Damascus. From Beirut we sailed down the coast of Palestine, pa.s.sing Tyre and Sidon. The steamer anch.o.r.ed off the harbour of Jaffa. Three weeks were given to visit Jerusalem, Bethany, the River Jordan, the Dead Sea, Jericho, and other places in the Holy Land. At Jerusalem one of the Plymouth Church pa.s.sengers, Mr. Moses Beach, purchased an olive tree at the foot of the Mount of Olives near the Garden of Gethsemane, had it cut down and transported to Jaffa, where it was placed on board the _Quaker City_, brought home, and through the generosity of Mr. Beach was made into furniture which now stands in Plymouth pulpit. The next landing place was Alexandria, Egypt, giving an opportunity to visit Cairo and the Pyramids. From Alexandria the voyage was continued homeward, stopping at Malta, Gibraltar and Bermuda.

It was a great journey, as it afforded a majestic and sublime panorama of the different nations, kindreds, and tongues of the world, and may well take its place among other great events of Plymouth Church.

_PERSONALIA_

A great deal of the power of church life, as well as of personal life, centres about personal items. Without seeking to arrange them chronologically or even to a.s.sociate them topically, I wish to gather up in this chapter some of the incidents that do not well belong in the preceding chapters. Some of them it is easy to locate, others have lost their setting, as the years have gone by, and stand out with an individuality that is their own. It is no reflection on Mr. Beecher's successors, n.o.ble and true men, that he figures so prominently in them.

The memory of those early days when, as a country lad, I came to Brooklyn, naturally centres around the man who from my boyhood, through early manhood and into middle age had a mighty influence upon my life.

One event I recall, in the very first year of my new life. In itself it was no more significant or important than many others, but it meant much to me, opening up as it did a broader vision of world-wide interest, and particularly of the close connection between things called secular and religious. The slavery question had a profound religious bearing, and touched the very core of Plymouth Church life, yet even that does not stand out more vividly in my memory than the scene when Louis Kossuth landed at the Battery from an American man-of-war, and rode up Broadway escorted by a hundred or more prominent citizens. We boys knew little about him, but none the less eagerly we hurried along, barely escaping the horses' feet, and none the less l.u.s.tily we joined in the shout.

Later, through Mr. Beecher's references to him and his work, and by seeing him in Plymouth Church, we came to know that the fight for liberty was the same, whether in the South or in Europe, and whether it was for black men that we knew or for Hungarians of whom we knew nothing, scarcely even the name. Another lesson that we learned was that the whole world is kin, and that even far-off lands cannot suffer oppression and wrong without other lands suffering with them. So Plymouth pulpit became a platform for the presentation of every form of appeal to the best Christian consciousness of the church and through the church of the nation.

Another scene, after I had grown to manhood, ill.u.s.trates the same chivalry that was bound to a.s.sert the claims of any person or any cla.s.s.

Mr. Beecher was always an advocate of women's rights. He could never see why women should be debarred from so many of the privileges, or duties, of social life. During the first Lincoln campaign there appeared upon the lecture platform a woman who brought a woman's plea for the cause of liberty and human rights. No one who ever heard Anna d.i.c.kinson speak could forget her, or failed to be moved by her eloquence. Of course Mr.

Beecher was her friend, and welcomed her a.s.sistance in the contest that was growing more and more severe. She drew great crowds whenever she spoke.

I was then president of the Central Republican Club, and we engaged Miss d.i.c.kinson to speak in the Academy of Music, where we were then holding meetings. Some days before the meeting was to take place the secretary of the board of directors of the Academy called at my office with a notice that the directors could not allow Miss d.i.c.kinson to speak in that building.

I did not know what to do. The meeting had been extensively advertised.

I finally decided to go and see Mr. Beecher. As I recited the facts to him I could see the expression of indignation and the colour come to his face. He thought a moment and said, "Wait until next Sunday morning."

The next Sunday the church was packed. When Mr. Beecher gave the notices and came to Miss d.i.c.kinson's lecture, he called the board of directors to account for this action in refusing to allow a woman to speak in the Academy of Music. One of the directors, who was present, being ignorant of the situation, took it up and denied the action of the directors.

Then said Mr. Beecher, "I take back all that I have said." I was there in the west gallery, and at once decided not to allow a misrepresentation like that to pa.s.s, and, mounted on the backs of two pews, I recited to the audience all of the facts and the official notice which I had from the directors, that the Academy could not be used for this woman to speak in.

[Ill.u.s.tration: INTERIOR OF PLYMOUTH CHURCH]

When I had finished, the congregation broke into great applause. Mr.

Beecher then went on with his remarks, scoring the directors of the Academy, and created such a sentiment in the community that the directors rescinded their action, and the great ma.s.s meeting, with Miss d.i.c.kinson as speaker, took place.

Since then, not only the Academy of Music, but other public buildings throughout the country have been open for women to speak in, upon any subject.

Stories of Mr. Beecher's sayings might be gathered by the thousand, indeed they have been, and published in a book for the use of ministers, teachers, and public speakers. Fortunately or unfortunately the reporter was not quite so ubiquitous then, especially in the earlier days, as now, but still there was a sufficient amount of newspaper enterprise, and I often wish I had kept a record of the incidents and trenchant remarks that were gathered up. A good many, however, never got into the papers. Whether or not the following did I cannot say.

Certainly I did not get them from the press.

One day the evening papers announced that a terrible accident had happened to Mrs. Beecher, that she had been thrown out of her carriage in lower Fulton Street, been dashed against the steps of the Long Island Bank, and so seriously injured that she was not expected to live, and some said that she had been killed. That evening at the prayer meeting no one expected to see Mr. Beecher. He came as usual and the people crowded around him asking about Mrs. Beecher, as she had been reported killed. He seemed quite disturbed by the persistent inquiries of those around him. In a half impatient manner he said, "It would have been serious with any other woman."

The same cool, imperturbable bearing so often manifest in his experiences in England came out again and again during the stirring scenes in this country. When the Civil War broke out and the riots in New York took place for several days the city was almost in the hands of the mob. It was given out that Plymouth Church was to be attacked the next Sunday evening. Crowds of rough-looking men came over the ferry and mixed with the congregation. John Folk, superintendent of the police force of Brooklyn, with forty of his men was in the lecture room and back of the organ to protect Mr. Beecher, in case of an attempt to reach him, amid the intense excitement of the audience. Mr. Beecher came upon the platform calm and cool and proceeded with the services as usual.

During the sermon a stone crashed through the upper windows from the outside. Mr. Beecher stopped, looked up to the windows, and then to the great congregation, and said "Miscreant," and calmly went on with his sermon.

He was always glad when he could be, so to speak, off duty, and be free to do whatever occurred to him to do, whether anybody else would ever have thought of it or not. One Sunday evening when his pulpit was occupied by some other pastor he was seen sitting in the third gallery.

When asked why he was up there, he replied "that he wanted to see how the preacher looked from that point of view."

The boys on the Heights all knew Mr. Beecher and liked to meet him because he always had a word with them. In coming to church one day he met a group of boys. They hailed him in this fas.h.i.+on: "There goes Mr.

Beecher, he is a screecher." When he reached the church it seemed to please him to tell the story to the congregation.

Whenever Mr. Beecher crossed the ocean he was very sea-sick, and after landing he would say that those whom G.o.d abhorred He sent to sea. This was probably the reason why at the last moment he decided not to to take the trip in the _Quaker City_, referred to in a previous chapter. The expedition would never have been organised but for Mr. Beecher, and yet it had to go without him.

While in a very real sense Mr. Beecher was a true cosmopolitan, and a genuine citizen of the United States, he was specially fond of New England, was grateful that that section was his birthplace, and always glad when one opportunity or another called him there to lecture or preach. The New England people fully reciprocated the feeling and in turn Mr. Beecher used to declare that "New England was the brain of the nation." Little wonder that so many New England boys found their way to Plymouth Church.

In a similar way he was very fond of Brooklyn as the city of homes. He was interested in New York, with its bustle and rush, as the "work shop," but Brooklyn was the "boarding house," and many a semi-homeless boarder found a warm welcome in Plymouth Church. Perhaps it was these people that he had in mind when Plymouth Church could not hold half the people who desired to attend the services, and he appealed to the pewholders to stay away evenings and give their pews to strangers, inaugurating thus a custom which has continued to the present time.

While preaching upon the greatness of G.o.d's work as compared with the works of man, he said man can tunnel mountains, build s.h.i.+ps to cross the sea, span the world with the telegraph, cross the continent with the iron horse, build cathedrals and capitols, machines to fly in the air, and explore the depths of the sea, but with all of man's greatness and skill, "he cannot make a fly."

In a vivid description of a thunder storm ill.u.s.trating some part of his sermon he closed with a most beautiful piece of word painting in describing the pa.s.sing away of the clouds after the storm, picturing the sun s.h.i.+ning upon the edges of the clouds making a pathway as he said for "Angels to walk to and fro when they came down from Heaven."

Intensely practical as he was in his conception of religion, Mr.

Beecher had a very profound sense of the future life, and there was always a sub-stratum of that thought in his preaching. In a sermon on the Darwinian theory he said, "I do not care where I came from; it is where I am going to that I am interested in."