PAGE

Stephen M. Griswold Title

Henry Ward Beecher 15

Lyman Abbott 105

Newell Dwight Hillis 133

Beecher Statue, City Hall, Brooklyn 153

Interior of Plymouth Church 173

Chair Used by Henry Ward Beecher in 187
Plymouth Church

* * * * *

_PREFACE_

For some years past I have been repeatedly urged to record my
recollections of Plymouth Church and Henry Ward Beecher. One after
another the original members of the church have passed away until now I
am almost alone, so far as the early church connection is concerned, and
I have been told that there is really no one left who could give the
personal value to such a record. At first, as I thought of the task, it
appeared too great. Business duties pressed and left little time for
such a work. Then out of the flood of recollections, which should I
select? Recently a period of convalescence, following a somewhat
serious illness, during which work was forbidden, gave me leisure which
I occupied in recording such incidents as I thought might be of interest
and value. These were arranged not in the form of history but as a
series of sketches setting forth different phases of the church history
and the church life, as well as illustrating Mr. Beecher himself as a
preacher and pastor, but still more as a man. These are chiefly personal
in their character. Fifty-three years of service as an usher in Plymouth
Church brought me into closest touch with those services which have made
Plymouth so well known not only in America, but throughout the world.
Very precious are those memories to me, and as I have dwelt upon them,
I have felt it not less a privilege than a duty to share them with
others and thus bear testimony to a church life of great beauty and
power.

[Illustration: HENRY WARD BEECHER]

_COMING TO NEW YORK_

The great metropolis of the East has ever had a great attraction for the
sons of rural New England, and I was no exception to the rule. In 1851 I
made known to my parents my ambition to see and know more of the world,
and to this end I purposed to make my way to New York in search of fame
and fortune--a wider horizon and a larger life. I had spent my
uneventful days thus far on my father's farm, and both he and my mother
were filled with dismay at my determination to go t