NEW ENGLAND 227 



becoming more and more obviously inevitable, 

 an intellectual and religious turmoil of world- 

 wide scope was evoked by the pronouncements 

 of Darwin and Wallace, which seemed to shake 

 the fundamental notions as to man's creation, 

 his past history, and his destiny. 



These disturbing questions of national policy 

 and intellectual and spiritual welfare were part 

 and parcel of our everyday life in Lancaster 

 during the years when I was passing from 

 boyhood into adolescence. 



As a child, I listened eagerly to the discus- 

 sions long before I could more than half under- 

 stand them, when on not rare occasions a visiting 

 minister or lecturer was entertained at my 

 father's table. Only the eager desire to hear 

 these discussions overcame the awe of a strange 

 face that led me always to dread the coming of 

 a stranger even though I longed to hear his 

 message. 



I well recall how even in somewhat later 

 years I cringed before the kindly scrutiny of our 

 visitors and was dumb before their questionj, 

 though drinking in their words with eager inter- 

 est so long as they were not addressed to me 

 in particular. 



I shall always feel that I was sent to school 

 far earlier than was good for me. This, of 



