CHAPTER XV. 



W 



Give me the faith which can remove 

 And sink the mountain to a plain ; 



Give me the child-like, praying love 

 That longs to build thy house again — 



The love which once my heart o'erpowered, 

 And all my simple soul devoured. 



(Charles Wesley.) 



ILLIAM CAPER S was descended from a f am- 

 ily of iLuguenots, who emigrated from France 

 and settled in South Carolina. He w^as a son of Will- 

 iam and Sarah (Singletary) Capers, and w r as born in 

 St. Thomas Parish, in South Carolina, on the 26th of 

 January, 1790. His father served as a captain in the 

 Revolution under General Marion; w r as one of the 

 defenders of Charleston in the battle of Fort Sullivan; 

 was in the battle of Eutaw T , and at the siege of Savan- 

 nah, where Pulaski fell, and was always distinguished 

 for his patriotism and bravery. His father became a 

 member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1786, 

 and his own mother w r as a lady of the finest natural 

 and Christian qualities, but died when he was two 

 years old; but in 1793 his father gave him another 

 mother, who well supplied the place of the departed 

 one, and w^atched over him with uniform and tender 

 solicitude. 



In the spring of 1801 he w T as sent to school on the 

 Pedee, some thirty miles from Georgetown, where his 



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