Eli and Sibyl Jones Part 10

"If, on the other hand, it should be determined that my election is a little in advance of the times, I am willing, as a good citizen, to bow to the majesty of law, and, as a member of the Legislature, to consult its dignity and decline the exalted position tendered me by the House; and I will now decline it. With pleasure I will surrender to the House this trust and the honor and retire to private life."

This speech was delivered amid interruptions of loud applause, and made a great sensation throughout the State. And not in Maine only; it was commented on in many of the newspapers and appeared in the columns of English journals. Pictures of the fighting Quaker were made, with the order to his troops printed below. It even came out in an African journal; so that what seemed like an unimportant pleasantry on the part of the members of the Legislature gave Eli Jones an opportunity to preach peace to a very extended audience, and his voice was heard far beyond the little State capital. From this time he was regarded with much respect by all the members, and he received encouragement and support in whatever he desired to accomplish.

At the close of the session he called to thank the governor for his kindness to him and his help in different ways, and he remarked to the latter that he had been in rather a peculiar place during the winter and had felt somewhat like a "speckled bird." The governor said, "Mr.

Jones, what you call being a 'speckled bird' has given you more influence than anything else could possibly have done." Whatever he may have accomplished in other lines during his term of office, he gave powerful testimony in favor of peace and temperance and against the use of oaths, and he went back to his quiet farm in China thoroughly respected by all with whom he had been a.s.sociated.

OAK GROVE SEMINARY.

It may be a fitting place to speak of his connection with Oak Grove Seminary, as he was at work for its interests not long after this time. As I have in my possession a letter written by him in regard to the beginning and early days of the school, I will insert it here:

"Oak Grove Seminary was started about the year 1850 by John D. Lang, Samuel Taylor, Ebenezer Frye, Alden Sampson, and Alton Pope. They had in view the guarded and religious education of the children of Friends. It was to be a '_select_' school. William H. Hobbie was the first princ.i.p.al. I visited his school and thought him a wonderful teacher. He stood before his cla.s.s without a book, and seemed to be himself the book. Up to that time I had never seen the like. Franklin Paige, the present publisher of the _Friends' Review_, followed William Hobbie in the princ.i.p.alship. Financially, the undertaking after a while proved a failure, and the school was closed.

"At a meeting of the yearly meeting's committee on education, held in China in the autumn of 1856, I advocated an effort being made to open Oak Grove Seminary again. It was opposed by some on the ground that we needed primary schools more than high schools: to that idea my answer was, We must first have high schools to prepare teachers for the primary schools. A meeting of the original proprietors of the seminary was called, and the question put to them, 'Are you willing to have other Friends join you in opening the seminary?' Samuel Taylor replied, 'We want to know first what you will do; we do not want to depend upon a rope of sand.'--'What are the conditions on which we can join you?'--'Do as much as we have; give $2500.' To this Alden Sampson replied, 'It is useless to think of opening the school with $2500; we must have $15,000. If you will raise that amount I will give $1000.'

Ebenezer Frye responded as liberally. A committee was appointed to raise the fifteen thousand dollars. Eli Jones, William A. Sampson, Joseph Estes, and Thomas B. Nichols were the chief workers in raising the proposed sum. They were successful. It was nearly all subscribed by six hundred Maine Friends. They const.i.tuted an a.s.sociation for the opening and management of Oak Grove Seminary.

"In the summer and autumn of 1857 the boarding-house was built. James van Blarcom was chosen princ.i.p.al, and Sarah B. Taber of Albion teacher. It was found that James van Blarcom's engagements would not allow of his occupying the place for one year, consequently Eli Jones took this position for the first year. The school opened in the 12th month, 1857. The season had been wet, and the building and preparation for the school proceeded slowly. Much hard work devolved upon the princ.i.p.al and teachers. The pupils were numerous, and the spring term brought 140. A case of scarlet fever, resulting in the death of a lovely girl, rapidly reduced the number, which has not been reached since.

"At the opening of the second year Albert Smiley became princ.i.p.al and James van Blarcom governor and boarding-master.

"Albert Smiley was followed by Augustine Jones, and he by Richard M.

Jones.

"Oak Grove has furnished princ.i.p.als for Friends' School at Providence for nearly a quarter of a century, and to the Penn Charter School of Philadelphia for about thirteen years. Ten or twelve of its pupils have been or are ministers in the Society of Friends; some are to-day leading business-men.

"The writer of this notice has been connected with the management of the inst.i.tution for the last thirty years, sometimes influentially, sometimes wellnigh powerless. As the record has been made, so it will stand. I have rejoiced in the times of its prosperity; I have wept over the ashes of its fine buildings, its library, its geological museum. I now see the second temple rising from the ashes of the first with an unlooked-for splendor. May it long stand for the benefit of our race and the glory of G.o.d!"

CHAPTER XI.

_IN WASHINGTON._

"Follow with reverent steps the great example Of Him whose holy work was 'doing good;'

So shall the wide earth seem our Father's temple, Each loving life a psalm of grat.i.tude.

Then shall all shackles fall; the stormy clangor Of wild war-music o'er the earth shall cease; Love shall tread out the baleful fire of anger, And in its ashes plant the tree of peace."

WHITTIER.

Sybil Jones was at work in the Southern States during a part of the year 1860, and returned to her Northern home only a few weeks before the attack on Fort Sumter. The sound of war carried sorrow to the hearts of herself and her husband. They were loyal to their country and the great cause of human freedom, but they were loyal also to the Prince of peace.

"They prayed for love to lose the chain; 'Twas shorn by battle's axe in twain!"

For years they had longed to see the light of freedom break in on the South, but they had hoped no less for the day "when the war-drum should throb no longer" and universal peace should gladden the long watchers for its dawn. Now they saw the oncoming of a most terrible civil war, threatening the life of the nation. They mourned for mothers and fathers who must see their boys go to the field; they thought of the homes shattered for ever; but they did not yet realize that their eldest son was to go forth to return only on his shield--that the son who had urged them to go forward in the work of love in Liberia, their n.o.ble son, was to be demanded as a sacrifice.

The war was hardly begun when James Parnel Jones resolved to volunteer. President Lincoln's call seemed a call to him. He had been a logical reader of Sumner, and had closely watched the development of slavery, and to his mind the war to save our nationality would necessarily free the slaves. He wrote from the South: "Did I not think this war would loose the slave's chains I would break my sword and go home."

That it was hard for him to go when his parents were praying for peace there can be no doubt, but his mind was filled with the thought of saving the life of a nation, and he certainly felt that the path of duty was in that direction.

The members of the Society of Friends felt almost universally that they owed allegiance to two fatherlands. "There was a patriotism of the soul whose claim absolved them from the other and terrene fealty,"

and there was a manifest inconsistency between being members of "Christ's invisible kingdom" and taking arms in support of a dominion measured by acres.[7] Some felt otherwise, and they took upon themselves the hard duty of turning from society and friends to do battle.

[7] Whittier thus gives the position which the Society of Friends held:

"Nursed in the faith that Truth alone is strong In the endurance which outwearies wrong, With meek persistence baffling brutal force, And trusting G.o.d against the universe; Are doomed to watch a strife we may not share With other weapons than a patriot's prayer;

"Yet owning with full hearts and moistened eyes, The awful beauty of self-sacrifice, And wrung by keenest sympathy for all Who give their loved ones for the living wall 'Twixt law and treason."

James Parnel came home wounded, but returned to his command before his furlough had expired. He went back with the feeling that the days left him were few: he indistinctly saw what awaited him. In an engagement to carry a strong point held by the enemy at Crystal Springs, near Washington, he was struck by a ball from a sharpshooter. The ball had glanced from a tree and brought him a mortal wound. The two hearts deeply wrung to have their son go into the war at all were pierced at the news of his death. We can hardly conceive their grief for him for whom they had so earnestly prayed and agonized in his absence.

Henceforth whoever wore a soldier's uniform had a place in Sybil Jones's heart. Her unspent love went out to all who were suffering on the field and in the hospitals, and she could not rest at home.

Obtaining the needful credentials, she took up in a new form the arduous service of her active and consecrated life, bearing the gospel cheer to the wounded and dying in Philadelphia and Washington. She could tell the soldiers of her own son, and so touch their hearts, and her sympathy and love brought joy to many a poor sufferer. The aggregate of her visits shows that she preached and talked to thirty thousand soldiers. To and from the field of her labor, at the depots, wherever she saw a uniform, she went to speak gentle words and to bear good news; and only those to whom the balm came can tell the good accomplished. Once more she met a kind reception from all. Soldiers and prisoners welcomed her, and those high in power listened with respect to her messages. She comforted the widow of President Lincoln, and twice stood before his successor, President Johnson, and faithfully warned him to rely on the Ruler of the universe for counsel in guiding the helm of state.

She left home in 1st mo., 1865, with a certificate for service. On her way to the field in which she felt called to labor she visited her children in Philadelphia, and attended meeting at Germantown, where she was favored with a gospel message. She also attended Twelfth street meeting and the large quarterly meeting in Arch street, where she was constrained to speak for her Master. She then proceeded to Baltimore, accompanied by Lydia Hawkes of Manchester, Maine. In this city she met her dear husband, who had been separated from her for three months. He was much worn by his labors as distributing agent of the New England Friends. He had distributed to the necessities of the freedmen food, clothing, beds, etc., according to the quant.i.ty sent to the mission. He had visited them from hut to hut, administering as well to their spiritual as to their temporal needs. They together attended Baltimore quarterly meeting, and on the 9th of 2d mo. arrived in Washington.

Sybil Jones rested a few days, and then commenced the labors for which she was liberated. Her first service was in Judiciary Square. She, with her companion, was taken there in an ambulance, and they were preceded and introduced by their dear friend Jane James, who often gave them like aid. They were pleasantly received, and permission was granted them to perform any religious service. They visited nine wards and had service in the chapel, speaking words of comfort to those confined to their beds. Much seriousness and tenderness was apparent.

They also went to the hospital at Armory Square, visited all the wards of the sick and wounded, and had chapel service. It seemed that some were turning to the Lord.

Eli Jones went for a short time to Philadelphia to try and gain a little strength, being very weary with his labors among the colored people. The mud was very deep and the work of distributing very hard.

Their son, Richard Mott, accompanied his father, having spent the vacation from his studies at Haverford College with his parents at their post of duty.

Camp Hospital was also visited. They were taken out in an ambulance by Dr. Upton, who was courteous in every way. The poor wounded ones seemed thankful for the interest exhibited for their souls' welfare.

Carm Hospital was visited, and all freedom was given them to point the sick and suffering to the Lamb of G.o.d. Many were in tears at the close of service in the chapel. Her own torn mother's heart gave Sybil Jones great earnestness in prayer for the bereaved ones in the far-away homes as she was called upon to attend the funerals of the soldiers.

Often more than one coffin stood on a form before them, and the occasion was made a solemn admonition to the survivors to be ready when the Lord should call. One of the meetings was attended by a surgeon who had led a profane and dissolute life. He was reached by the Spirit of G.o.d, and in a meeting rose and said, "I have been living for h.e.l.l; I looked toward it as my home, and fully expected it; but G.o.d has had mercy on my soul and pardoned my sins, and I mean to serve Him the rest of my days." Nearly all were in tears. When the service was over the soldiers rushed to his arms weeping with joy. He said to them: "I have treated you badly and sworn at you, but by the grace of G.o.d I will never swear again." His conversion had a wonderful effect and was a powerful testimony for the truth.

Columbia Hospital was visited. They found a very conscientious, loving superintendent in one of the wards, a lady named O. L. Pomeroy. In this ward they held a most blessed meeting and made an appointment for another.

They were obliged to move from their lodgings on account of sickness in the family, and were most kindly received by their good friends William and Jane James. They found it a great privilege to be so cared for.

They went to Lincoln Hospital, where were five thousand men. Their ministrations were much blessed: at a later visit they found four hundred more wounded soldiers from City Point. The afflicted men were all broken down with suffering and were ready for the consolation of the gospel. The field indeed seemed white unto the harvest. A lad told them that he had been in the Crimean War, and had served two years in this. He was an Englishman. He showed them a silver medal gained by valor in the former war. Sybil Jones said, "I hope thou art seeking a crown in that higher warfare?" He quickly replied, "I am pressing after it with all my might; I am looking to Jesus as my Captain."

She sighed for "universal peace to reign" as she witnessed the untold miseries of cruel war. It was wonderfully touching to hear the bright testimonies of those poor feeble ones who had lain for months on their emaciated backs. Many were pa.s.sing away. No one could bear to tell one poor dying youth that he could not live, and in all tenderness Sybil Jones said to him, "I think thou cannot get well; what is thy hope?"

He replied, "In Jesus I believe; he has forgiven my sins. Tell my father and mother I have gone to heaven." Some seemed insensible of their danger, but were faithfully warned to prepare to meet their G.o.d.

As these faithful messengers of good tidings saw the terribly mangled brought in, and beheld their patience and tenderness, they were sick at heart and prayed for the terrible tide of war to be stopped. They met with much kindness from Surgeon-general Barnes, who gave Sybil Jones a pa.s.s to all the hospitals in the United States, and a special one for the department of the South, with half-fare on Government transports.

Sybil Jones was presented to General Auger, the military commander of the District of Columbia. He said that he was much pleased with her mission. He was spoken to concerning the interests of eternity. She was presented to Secretary Stanton and Colonel Harder, and was pleased with their demeanor and readiness to aid her work in every possible way. The Centre Guardhouse was visited and its four hundred inmates lovingly warned to be ready.

On 4th mo. 1st, 1865, great excitement was felt in the capital city, as the President was personally directing affairs at Richmond, and the fall of the rebellious city was hourly antic.i.p.ated. On the morning of the 3d came the joyful intelligence that the Confederate capital had been evacuated, and a great tide of rejoicing swept over the loyal States. Sybil Jones describes the scene in Washington as follows:

"I was very fearful the inhabitants would be too full of joy to remember their great Deliverer and give thanks unto His name. We went to Camp Fry, and had to press our way through the throng, often pausing to note the variety of emotions exhibited--all joyful, but neither ridiculous nor profane. A subdued awe seemed to hold in check the lawless and dissipated, and tears of joy suffused the eyes of pa.s.sers-by. The whistles of the engines, the roar of cannon, the music of the various bands, and the shouts of the mult.i.tude, mingled with the prayers, praises, and hallelujahs of the colored people, some down on their knees in the dust of the street, others dancing like David before the ark of the covenant on its return to its place,--all commingled in one mighty jubilant song which I trust was not devoid of the grateful tribute of praise to the great G.o.d of heaven and earth.

We at length entered the ward of the sick and wounded of two regiments, about two thousand men. As we pa.s.sed in I said, 'To-day is the nation's jubilee, and we have come to present our thank-offering with you, as you cannot join the street celebration.' A smile and 'Thank you' went round and brightened up the scene. We read a beautiful psalm and bore a testimony to the power and goodness of G.o.d, not only in hope of the full and entire emanc.i.p.ation of the slaves, but in disclosing to us to-day, behind the folds of the dark war-cloud, the silver lining of peace. We besought them to come to the Lamb of G.o.d, seeing his mercy and loving-kindness had been so great to them as to spare them amid the din of battle when their comrades had fallen all around them."

Sybil Jones and her friends visited Seminary Hospital, and found among the wounded a young Friend from Illinois, who was much comforted by hearing the gospel tidings from a member of the Society he loved so well. A sad scene presented itself in Douglas Hospital. There had just arrived three hundred terribly mangled soldiers, some pa.s.sing away, some in agony with lost limbs. It was an indescribably painful scene, and the one "Physician of value" was recommended to the poor sufferers.

They addressed many prisoners of war, deserters from the South, and refugees. They were listened to with seriousness, and many were in tears. On a visit to Stanton Hospital, Sybil Jones met a young man from Maine named Eben Dinsmore. He told her that her son, James Parnel Jones, had been his captain when he first enlisted, and afterward his major. He spoke in the highest terms of his kindness to the men and his unspotted name, and said he heard a soldier of the same regiment say that he was with him from the time he was wounded until his death, and never saw a person die so happy, singing as he pa.s.sed away.

At this time Sybil Jones and friends moved their lodgings, at the kind invitation of their friend Isaac Newton, to make their home with him for a while.