



Produced by Richard Hulse, David E. Brown, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive)









TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:


  Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.

  Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

  Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been retained.

  Archaic or alternate spelling which may have been in use at the time
    of publication has been retained.




  SCENES IN THE WEST,

  OR

  The Sunday-School

  AND

  TEMPERANCE.

  [Illustration]

  BY A MISSIONARY.


  PHILADELPHIA:
  LUTHERAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION,
  42 NORTH NINTH STREET.
  1873.




  Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by the
  LUTHERAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION,
  in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States in
  and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

  Lancaster, Pa.:
  INQUIRER PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY,
  Stereotypers and Printers.




PREFACE.


The author of this volume has brought together a few incidents in
_real_ life to illustrate the power of godliness in the individual, and
the blessings of the Sunday-school, the influence of the prayer-meeting
and the cause of temperance in the church and in the community.

That the God of all our mercies may bless this little book to the
reader, is the prayer of the author.




[Illustration: CONTENTS]


CHAPTER.                                                          PAGE.

      I. THE MISSIONARY                                             13

     II. MISFORTUNES                                                27

    III. RELIEF OBTAINED                                            39

     IV. AN APPOINTMENT                                             45

      V. THE MISSIONARY PREACHES                                    56

     VI. MR. STEELE’S MEETING                                       62

    VII. MR. MASON AND MR. WILSON                                   69

   VIII. MISSIONARY VISITS                                          78

     IX. OPPOSITION                                                 84

      X. SUNDAY-SCHOOL ORGANIZED--LOCAL PREACHER                    92

     XI. MR. KERR AND HIS FAMILY                                    98

    XII. THE TEMPERANCE CAUSE                                      109

   XIII. MR. TRUMAN--MISSIONARY’S DEPARTURE                        118

    XIV. WORKINGS OF THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL AND TEMPERANCE SOCIETY      123

     XV. GEORGE AND MARY                                           134

    XVI. MR. BROWN’S FAMILY                                        140

   XVII. MISSIONARY AGAIN VISITS THE WEST                          145

  XVIII. DEATH                                                     152

[Illustration]




[Illustration]

SCENES IN THE WEST.




CHAPTER I.

_THE MISSIONARY._

  “The melancholy days had come,
  The saddest of the year.”


All nature seemed to be resting in a quiet dreamy slumber. The bee
had well nigh laid up its winter store, and many of the birds were
preparing to leave for more genial climes in the sunny south. All these
were but the harbingers of the cold storms that were lingering behind
the snow-covered mountains of the north. Indian summer, the season of
romance, like the life of a humble Christian, leaves its loveliest
scenes to its departing hours. It was in the midst of these balmy days
that you might have seen a traveler with a worn satchel in one hand
and a staff in the other coming up a narrow lane leading to the home
of a prosperous Western settler. He walked slowly, for he had left
behind him many weary miles; his countenance, though calm, was pale and
languid; yet his eye seemed to bespeak the hope that here he might find
the much-needed rest.

Two men were standing beside the gate at the end of the lane when the
stranger came up. The one was a kindly disposed person with but little
force of character, and deficient in moral courage, whom we shall know
as Mr. Kerr. The other, whose name was Steele, was the owner of the
premises.

He was a large man, selfish and resolute, a conceited formalist,
bigoted, exceedingly headstrong, and greatly prejudiced against all
Christian zeal.

No sooner did Mr. Steele notice the approach of the stranger than he
turned to Mr. Kerr and exclaimed: “There, I’ll bet you, comes that
Sunday-school, temperance loafer I’ve heard so