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VOL. III. RICH
The Old Guar
By I
As we sat in Synod in Charleston, on a dav
back in the 'nineties, my companion, a Northern
man, said to xne, "Who is that speaking?"
"That's Dr. Henry White, of "Winchester
Presbytery," 1 answered.
"That's a fine face," my friend continued.
"That's a very fine face. Look at that profile!"
I did, and a thought came into my mind; and
I got up and went over to Dr. White, who had
now taken his seat.
"Look here," I said, or words like r ~r~
that, "I want you to do me a favor."
"Well, what is it?" 'ij"I
want you and Dr. Graham and
n- ? J
t.-i. xiu|/i\inn in gr ruuiHi iu me pnotographer's
with me, and have your picture
taken."
And they did. The three of them got
up then and there, and went with me j ?j
as smilingly as if I had asked them to v'i
dinner. The picture here on this page
was the result, and is, in the original
photograph, a group it would be exceedingly
difficult to match. I have al- ^
ways intended to have it published, and
only regret that 1 ha\e delayed until
one of the three has put on the "heavenly
likeness."
These three men, perhaps 1 may be
allowed to say, have always been to me . I
the "first three" of Winchester Presbytery's
"mighty men." They were
not the only three. At the time when, .
fresh from my theological course, I came ?
into the Presbytery, and, indeed, for a
long term of years after, here was gath- Rev. .J
ered a body of men that have rarely
been equaled in anv Presbvterv. In addition
to the group here pictured, were the other
White, Woodworth, Scott, Finley, Johnson, F.
M. Woods, Fleming, and others, to say nothing
of several unusually active and useful ruling
elders. Judge Armstrong, of Romney, W. Va.,
for example, was a debater no man not thoroughly
furnished could venture to engage. No
where have I seen intellectual fencing swifter
and keener, or truth set forward with more momnr?fnm
f Vion in 4-V? a rlnim a?av? ? ^ TTTi?
nivutum, u 11 u 11 ill Iflic UOJB guuc uy 1X1 U1U WillWol
Chester Presbytery. "We who were youngsters
_ in that body, soon came to feel that a question
, \ )c?0 thoroughly threshed out on the floor of Presbyy
^ tery was rarely lighted by subsequent discussion
in Synod, or elsewhere. The strength of
f\0- ^ the Presbytery lay in the unusually large number
of men of first-rate ability, and not in the
presence of any one man of pre-eminent powers.
MOND, NEW ORLEANS. ATLANTA, JU
d of Winchest(
\ev. William Hervy Woods, C
There was 110 man among them who was always
the equal of Thornwell, or Palmer, or Dabney,
it is true. But when there are in the same body
a dozen men, more or less, any one of whom
may be, on his great occasion, as good as the
Dest^bj^tlnngsTand interesting things, are
likely to happen every day. There was no one
among us who could preach six of Palmer's sermons.
or rage through six of Dabney's debates;
but we had men who could do either of these
I
Rev. A. C. Hopkins, D. D.
. R. Graham, D. D. Rev. H. M. White,
tilings one time, or may be, two or three times,
and our rejoicing was accordingly.
Ilow clearly some of these old discussions, and
the manners of the men who made them, come
hack to mind! "Who that ever knew does not
remember Brother Woodworth's snapping eyes
and nodding head, as he made his point? Or
I)r. Henry White's inimitable turkey-story,
when, after a hot debate, we had outvoted him?
'' Well, old fellow,'' said he, in the words of the
hunter to the broken-winged gobbler, running
away from him in the brush, "I didn't get you;
but you'll have to roost mighty low all the rest
of your life." That was Dr. White to a t. If
he was oecasionally worsted in debate?as who
is not??he never betrayed the slightest knowledge
of the fact himself. Other men, too, linger
pleasantly in the memory. John Johnson, for
instance, with the hint of a delicious brogue in
mg%* m
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THEftN PRESBYTE R/AN
NE 21, 1911. NO. 25.
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his speech, and a still more delicious Irish wit,
the class-mate of a far more famous, but scarcely
more able, man, Dr. John llall, of Fifth Ave
nue church j Dr. George White, stateliest of
men, and most genial of gentlemen, and Dr. Finley,
some time lieutenant C. S. A., as fair a man
in an argument, and as knightly and chivalrous
a soul everywhere, as ever stood in a pulpit,
or carried a sword. These men, and their
companions, it was a delight and a privilege to
know; and that the hands of such men
set one apart to the ministry, is matter
ot pride for which no preacher need ever
repent. One man, at any rate, who was
thus ordained, 1 know; and he is not
only proud of it, but proud of his pride.
The meetings of Presbytery in those
days were of a leisurely length now not
oiten allowed; and we had time for
plenty of preaching, and a mind for
abundant good cheer. The coming of
the body to the chosen place of meeting
(that happy town, Mooretield, for
,' instance u-jiu oh ??? > 1 1?
, ,.uu uu VTbUI/ UYCX J'UUUJ' 111
the community made ready for beforehand,
and every man in Presbytery reft??^
numbered alter. We had our pleasures,
too, coming not unseemly between our
prayers. We had them on the floor of
Presbytery. W hen Brother Sangster,
the Stephens City elder, took the floor,
for example, we were sure of a good
time, doubly sure of it in his case, bev
cause to the mingled shrewdness and
simplicity of his own opinions, he was
certain to add his wife's, as well. And,
D. D. moreover, there was always that most
agreeable of all companionship, that
which grows out of community of interests, sympathies
and activities. It is this that makes any
church court, or gathering of ministers, a pleasant
place; and Winchester Presbytery, as I used
to know it, lacked the little hidden acerbities
that sometimes spoils even a meeting of brethren.
"Moss-backs" these men have been called by
an irreverent man of my own generation. Perhaps
they were "moss-backs." I am not sure
u T 1
i i* ?t iwu name. 1 nave seen the moss growing
on big old boulders in the woods, and could
never see that it made them anything else or less
than stones. T have seen it creeping above the
marble that covered a sleeping dust infinitely
more precious than dust of gold. T have seen
it circling with its emerald fringes the crystal
pool of some tiny limestone spring, on the hillsides
of Kentucky. But I never saw it in the