Ecclesiastical History. 53 



inquisitive passengers had time enough to try their experiment. They 

 took three or four pieces and put them upon the live coals, and expected 

 them to blaze very soon. Fifteen minutes passed, and the coal was as 

 black and almost as cold as ever. The bellows were brought and began 

 to do their best, but no signs of ignition. Another pair of old bellows 

 was pressed into the service, and two strong young men began to blow. 

 The fun now commenced. Out of twenty passengers, half of them at 

 least proposed some new way of setting fire to the queer stuff. Every 

 way that promised the least success was faithfully tried, and yet not the 

 slightest appearance of fire could be discovered in the black masses ! 

 The experimenters reasoned rightly about it. They said, if it was capable 

 of ignition, fire would ignite it ; and as they had fire enough to melt iron, 

 they could ignite that coal, and several of them resolved to work upon it 

 till they arrived at the wharf ; and they did so. The fun which these 

 operations produced was great indeed, and ought to have been saved by 

 some historian as part of the queer triumphal entry of Lehigh coal into 

 Hingham. The tardy packet at last reached its wharf in the Cove, and 

 as the passengers went down to take a last look at the undisturbed black- 

 ness of their inexplicable subjects, there was a general verdict against 

 the wisdom of the minister, and as general a desire to see the coal burn, 

 if that phenomenon could ever be witnessed. This matter became a town 

 talk, and was better for Lyman & Ralston than all their advertisements. 

 If those three or four pieces of irresistible Lehigh had been saved, I 

 should certainly put them into the Cambridge Museum. 



On the next Monday morning, the tinman came with a few pieces of 

 new funnel, and my stove was properly prepared for the great event. 

 First shavings, then charcoal, then Lehigh and then a match, and the 

 thing was done. In one hour I had my stove full of ignited coal, and I 

 kept it replenished a week without its going out. The news spread, and 

 visitors enough I had ; and such laughable exclamations and raw wonder 

 as my experiment elicited were truly refreshing to me. One anxious 

 friend, after examining the fire, lugubriously said, " Those red-hot stones 

 may give out some heat, but I am afraid they'll set fire to your house." 

 A gentleman said, " I '11 not take any insurance on your house." Another 

 asked, " Do you think you can cook with your red stones ? " A good 

 neighbor said, " We shall not sleep contentedly while we know you have 

 such a fire going all night." A brother minister from another town came 

 to see it, and though he liked it, he could not help saying, " It is lucky for 

 you that you have a good salary ; for if you hadn't, you'd find that eight 

 dollars a ton for such stuff would empty your purse before April." 



Thus, my dear sir, you see what fiery trials I went through ! My 

 Lehigh, in the mean time, burnt itself into popularity — and you know 

 the rest. 



Hoping to see you at the next meeting of the Historical Society, I am, 

 with kind regards, 



Yours, Charles Brooks. 



Medford, March 10th, 1862. 



Rev. Oliver Stearns, the third minister, was born in Lunenburg, 

 June 3, 1807, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1826. 

 Mr. Stearns was ordained at Northampton, Nov. 9, 1831, and 

 after short terms of ministerial service in Northampton, New- 



