THE EARLY LIFE OF E. J. PECK 3 



Soon after this, young as he was, Edmund Peck 

 manifested a spirit of fearlessness and a desire for 

 truth in matters of religion. He was surrounded 

 by many Roman Catholics, and noticing among 

 other things their great neglect of the observance 

 of the Sabbath, though only eleven years of age, 

 he would speak to some of them about it, and express 

 a decided opinion that a religion which did not 

 bring forth the fruits of holiness must be worthless 

 in God's sight. In other ways also, especially in 

 conversation with his father, the same kind of 

 attitude was evident. And though this zeal for 

 God was lost for some years afterwards in a careless 

 life, it is interesting as pointing to the real bent of 

 his character, and proving the truth of the old adage 

 that " the child is father to the man." 



When he was thirteen years old another sore trial 

 befell the boy the death of his father. Speaking 

 of that time, he says : " The most vivid and sorrow- 

 ful picture of my life was when I stood by the open 

 grave of my father, with the tears rolling down my 

 cheeks, as I remembered that I was now left utterly 

 orphaned in a lone, lone world." Perhaps this was 

 a foreshadowing of his future loneliness in a world 

 of ice. 



But help was at hand. Edmund Peck had at- 

 tended the church of St. Matthias ; he had also been 

 a member of the Sunday School of that church. 

 The clergyman was the Rev. Maurice Day, after- 



