44 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



free from encumbrance, save balance due on 

 a small tract of land purchased near the insti- 

 tuition. The State appropriates annually six 

 thousand dollars for maintenance of the institu- 

 tion. Many men might consider themselves for- 

 tunate if they had done no more than to have 

 been an instrument in the hands of God in es- 

 tablishing such an institution. 



2Sr. ^fjeparb ag ^asJtor 



From what has already been written, it would 

 seem as if Dr. Shepard excelled along all lines. 

 His manly character, his splendid record, his 

 affable disposition, made this largely true; but 

 he was never so fully satisfied, and suited, as he 

 was in the pastorate. If there was ever a man 

 who loved home and home comfort, it was Dr. 

 Shepard. The pastorate afforded him the op- 

 portunity of this enjoyment. Much of his splen- 

 did powers as a speaker came by natural in- 

 stinct, and growing out of the earnest, consci- 

 entious Christian life that he led ; but much of 

 it came as a result of hard, faithful, unceasing 

 study and preparation ; his home life afforded 

 him this opportunity. 



Uniquely, he was a Gospel preacher of the 



