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primary education learned only to read, write, and cipher a little. He was ardently devoted to all the amusements of the country, and his father made him the happiest of boys by presenting him with a race-horse and a pack of cards. His mother sorrowed over the dissipated tastes of her son. She was a woman of strict piety; she had been converted to Methodism in Virginia, and she kept herself constantly in cordial relation with the Methodist preachers who visited from time to time this remote corner of Kentucky.

His mother's remonstrances finally awakened conviction in the soul of young Cartwright, and he had been for months in great distress of mind, when a camp-meeting was held some three miles from his father's house. He went thither with the crowd who were attracted by the reputation of the celebrated preacher John Page, and here under the preaching he found relief. He was taken into the Methodist Church at sixteen years of age. His natural ardor soon displayed itself in the direction of religion. At the assemblies which he thenceforth regularly attended he felt irresistibly impelled to speak; he would mount a bench, pray aloud, or make an address, the fervor and emotional tone of which deeply moved his auditors. So some months afterward, at a quarterly meeting in the spring of 1802, the preacher in charge came to him, and, to his great surprise, bestowed upon him a regular exhorter's license. He vainly essayed to decline; the preacher was convinced of Cartwright's call, and made it a case of conscience for him to pursue the ministry. In the autumn of this same year Cartwright's father, in a process of speculation usual with the pioneers, sold his existing establishment and passed beyond the River Cumberland into a region quite new, where cultivation was but just begun. Although his residence was now at least thirty leagues from the route of any preacher, Cartwright did not fail to seek out John Page in order to obtain a certificate of membership for himself and several of his family. Page immediately granted Cartwright a license, which authorized him to travel over the region whither he had emigrated, to convoke meetings, form classes, and, in a word, to organize a circuit, while account of these labors was to be rendered at the quarterly meeting of the following autumn. This was to invest Cartwright, who had yet hardly passed his eighteenth

year, with all the functions of a traveling preacher. The young man shrank from this responsibility; he pleaded the meagerness of his education and his need of further preparatory study. Page responded that preaching would be the best school for him. During the winter he could do nothing on the farm; he might then pass the time at a school if one were accessible; but on the opening of spring, as soon as it was possible to travel, he must put himself upon his work of preaching and leave the result to the Lord. The young man could not avoid compliance; he felt, indeed, an inward fire which was devouring him, and which must have vent. He went to Lexington and studied in the academy, where, besides the elements of an ordinary education, the dead languages were taught. Here he studied with eagerness, but his stay was short; his severe manners and strict life invited much persecution, and he gladly returned home to prepare for his mission. These few months at Lexington furnished all the regular education that Cartwright received. Let it not, however, be supposed that he remained an illiterate man. All his leisure hours were thenceforth devoted to study; he pursued his reading during winter and on his travels under direction of older brethren in the ministry; and besides acquiring with such aid, a knowledge of the dead languages and of theology, he studied privately law, mathematics, and natural philosophy.

Cartwright at first regarded his mission as only a local and temporary one; but the success which followed his first year's efforts caused him to look upon it differently. The elder on the circuit was not willing to lose so valuable a recruit; he went to Cartwright's father, and in the name of religion besought him to let his son devote himself to the ministry. It was a great sacrifice for a pioneer to lose the labor of a son at eighteen who was tall, robust, intelligent, and an excellent plowman. Therefore the father refused; but the mother, whose conscience was alarmed at the idea of resisting so manifest a call of God, intervened, and obtained by her entreaties the desired consent. Cartwright himself was very hesitant. If he found it a joy to preach in his own neighborhood, to renounce his home-life for the rough experiences of an itinerant was another thing. His mother decided him.

Behold, then, this child of the woods, apparently destined

only to wield the mattock and the ax, now, without a previous thought of it, and, with no preparation, enrolled, almost despite himself, under the banner of militant Methodism. Whether he has well discharged his trust the résumé which he himself makes of his labors may show :

I have traveled eleven circuits and twelve districts; have received into the Methodist Episcopal Church, on probation and by letter, 10,000; have baptized, of children, 8,000; of adults, 4,000. For fifty-three years, whenever appointed to a circuit or district, I formed a plan, and named every place where and when I preached; and also the text of Scripture from which I preached; the number of conversions, of baptisms, and the number that joined the Church. From these old plans, though there are some imperfections, yet I can come very near stating the number of times that I have tried to preach. For twenty years of my early ministry I often preached twice a day, and sometimes three times. We seldom ever had, in those days, more than one rest day in a week; so that I feel very safe in saying that I preached four hundred times a year. This would make, in twenty years, eight thousand sermons. For the last thirty-three years, I think I am safe in saying I have averaged four sermons a week, or at least two hundred sermons a year, making, in thirty-three years, 6,600. Total, 14,600.

Cartwright's success honored the judgment of John Page, who had seen in him a popular preacher. His extreme youth imparted an additional attraction to his speech. There was soon but one opinion of him in the West, and the people flocked from great distances to hear the Kentucky boy. He himself spared no travel nor labor. One of his first circuits embraced a large part of Ohio, having not less than a hundred leagues circumference. Cartwright was obliged to cross the Ohio River four times at each quarterly round.

He had often still more extended circuits, and must travel over one hundred and fifty leagues to be present at the annual conferences of the preachers. During fifty-three years he missed only one of these conferences by reason of sickness. His allowance as salary was $80 a year, and very often he did not receive half of it, and would have lacked the necessities of life without assistance from his family. Many preachers after some years of this hard experience abandoned their pursuit, located, and adopted some occupation which would afford a living. Cartwright, unmoved by discouragement, looked upon

his empty purse without fear, and trusted in Providence to fill it.

I had been from my father's house about three years; was five hundred miles from home; my horse had gone blind; my saddle was worn out; my bridle reins had been eaten up and replaced (after a sort) at least a dozen times; and my clothes had been patched till it was difficult to detect the original. I had concluded to try to make my way home and get another outfit. I was in Marietta, and had just seventy-five cents in my pocket. How I would get home and pay my way I could not tell.

But it was of no use to parley about it; go I must, or do worse; so I concluded to go as far as I could, and then stop and work for more means, till I got home. I had some few friends on the way, but not many; so I cast ahead.

My first day's travel was through my circuit. At about thirtyfive miles' distance there lived a brother with whom I intended to stay all night. I started, and late in the evening, within five miles of my stopping-place, fell in with a widow lady, not a member of the Church, who lived several miles off my road. She had attended my appointments in that settlement all the year. After the usual salutations, she asked me if I was leaving the circuit.

I told her I was, and had started for my father's.

"Well," said she, "how are you off for money? I expect you have received but little on this circuit."

I told her I had but seventy-five cents in the world. She invited me home with her, and told me she would give me a little to help me on. But I told her I had my places fixed to stop every night till I got to Maysville; and if I went home with her it would derange all my stages, and throw me among strangers. She then handed me a dollar, saying it was all she had with her, but if I would go home with her she would give me more. I declined going with her, thanked her for the dollar, bade her farewell, moved on, and reached my lodging-place.

By the time I reached the Ohio River, opposite Maysville, my money was all gone. I was in trouble about how to get over the river, for I had nothing to pay my ferriage.

I was acquainted with Brother J. Armstrong, a merchant in Maysville, and concluded to tell the ferry-man that I had no money, but if he would ferry me over I could borrow twenty-five cents from Armstrong, and would pay him. Just as I got to the bank of the river he landed, on my side, with a man and a horse; and when the man reached the bank I saw it was Colonel M. Shelby, brother to Governor Shelby, of Kentucky. He was a lively exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and an old acquaintance and neighbor of my father's.

When he saw me he exclaimed,

"Peter, is that you?"

"Yes, Moses," said I, "what little is left of me."

"Well," said he, "from your appearance you must have seen hard times. Are you trying to get home?""

"Yes," I answered.

"How are you off for money, Peter?" said he.

66 Well, Moses," said I, "I have not a cent in the world." "Well," said he, "here are three dollars, and I will give you a bill of the road and a letter of introduction till you get down into the barrens at the Pilot Knob."

You may be sure my spirits greatly rejoiced. So I passed on very well for several days and nights on the colonel's money and credit, but when I came to the first tavern beyond the Pilot Knob my money was out. What to do I did not know, but I rode up and asked for quarters. I told the landlord I had no money; had been three years from home, and was trying to get back to my father's. I also told him I had a little old watch, and a few good books in my saddle-bags, and I would compensate him in some way. He bade me alight and be easy.

Cartwright saw the conversion of the tavern keeper who would take nothing from him; he met still other friends, and found new converts who were glad to entertain him gratuitously.

Next day I reached home with six and a quarter cents unexpended. Thus I have given you a very imperfect little sketch of the early travel of a Methodist preacher in the Western Conference. My parents received me joyfully. I tarried with them several weeks. My father gave me a fresh horse, a bridle and saddle, some new clothes, and forty dollars in cash. equipped, I was ready for another three years' absence.

Thus

See this man, always ready and always cheerful, as he strives to obey the precept, "Be instant in season and out of season." He feels, indeed, a little hesitation when he is sent, for the first time, to preach to the Yankees, since he had never seen one, and these people were supposed to be special enemies to religious zeal, very orderly and ceremonious in their habits, accustomed to fine language, and quick to criticise; but seeing that duty calls, he goes forth boldly to confront these sharp tongues. At the least invitation, or even at the slightest chance of winning a soul, he mounts a table, a bench, or trunk of a tree, and begins to preach. If traveling in a public conveyance, he draws the conversation to the subject of religion, and is sure to make some converts among his companions. If he asks the hospitality of a house, he solicits permission to pray with and for the occupants. If an infidel host locks him. into his chamber, he begins to pray with a loud voice, so that

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