onders for the Sanitary Commission.

A large part of 1863 he gave to the building of the beautiful church in
Geary street near Stockton. It was dedicated in January, 1864. He
preached in it but seven Sundays, when he was attacked with a malady
which in these days is not considered serious but from which he died on
March 4th, confirming a premonition that he would not live to the age of
forty. He was very deeply mourned. It was regarded a calamity to the
entire community. To the church and the denomination the loss seemed
irreparable.

To Dr. Henry W. Bellows, of New York, the acknowledged Unitarian leader,
was entrusted the selection of the one to fill the vacant pulpit. He
knew the available men and did not hesitate. He notified Horatio
Stebbins, of Portland, Maine, that he was called by the great disaster
to give up the parish he loved and was satisfied to serve and take the
post of the fallen leader on the distant shore.

Dr. Bellows at once came to San Francisco to comfort the bereaved church
and to prepare the way for Mr. Stebbins, who in the meantime went to New
York to minister to Dr. Bellows' people in his absence.

It was during the brief and brilliant ministry of Dr. Bellows that good
fortune brought me to San Francisco.

Dr. Bellows was a most attractive preacher, persuasive and eloquent. His
word and his manner were so far in advance of anything to which I was
accustomed that they came as a revelation of power and beauty. I was
entranced, and a new world of thought and feeling opened before me. Life
itself took on a new meaning, and I realized the privilege offered in
such a church home. I joined without delay, and my connection has been
uninterrupted from that day to this. For over fifty-seven years I have
missed few opportunities to profit by its services. I speak of it not in
any spirit of boasting, but in profound gratitude. Physical disability
and absence from the city have both been rare. In the absence of reasons
I have never felt like offering excuses.

Early in September, Horatio Stebbins and family arrived from New York,
and Dr. Bellows returned to his own church. The installation of the
successor of Starr King was an impressive event. The church building
that had been erected by and for King was a beautiful and commodious
building, but it would not hold all the people that sought to attend the
installation of the daring man who came to take up the great work laid
down by the preacher-patriot