536 RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT-II 



outside. Heresy-hunters did not daunt him. Humor 

 played over much of his sermonizing; wit coruscated 

 through it; but there was at times a pathos which per 

 vaded the deep places of the human heart. By virtue of 

 his poetic insight he sounded depths of thought and feel 

 ing which no mere theological reasoning could ever reach. 

 He was a man, indeed, a great man, but to the end 

 of his life he retained the freshness of youth. Gen 

 eral Grant, who greatly admired him, once said to me, 

 6 1 Beecher is a boy a glorious boy. 



Beecher s love of nature was a passion. During one of 

 his visits to Cornell University, I was driving through the 

 woods with him, and he was in the full tide of brilliant dis 

 course when, suddenly, he grasped my hand which held 

 the reins and said peremptorily, Stop ! I obeyed, and 

 all was still save the note of a bird in the neighboring 

 thicket. Our stop and silence lasted perhaps five minutes, 



when he said, &quot;Did you hear that bird? That is the 



(giving a name I have forgotten). You are lucky to have 

 him here; I would give a hundred dollars to have him 

 nest as near me.&quot; 



During this visit of his to my house, I remember find 

 ing, one morning, that he had been out of doors since day 

 light ; and on my expressing surprise at his rising so early 

 after sitting up so late, he said, &quot;I wanted to enjoy the 

 squirrels in your trees.&quot; 



Wonderful, too, was his facility, not merely in preach 

 ing, but in thinking. When, on another visit, he stayed 

 with me, he took no thought regarding his sermon at the 

 university chapel, so far as one could see. Every waking 

 moment was filled with things which apparently made 

 preparation for preaching impossible. I became some 

 what nervous over this neglect; for, so far as I could 

 learn, he had nothing written, he never spoke from mem 

 ory, and not only the students, but the people from the 

 whole country round about, were crowding toward the 

 chapel. 



Up to the last moment before leaving my house for the 



