t impossible for him to be heard. Calmly he
stood and faced the storm like a giant oak for a period of one hour to
one hour and a half, at each one of these three great meetings, before
the audience would listen to anything which he said; gradually sentence
after sentence began to reach them, and here Mr. Beecher showed his
great power as an orator. He slowly quieted the mob until they listened
to every word he said, and when he closed, the applause which greeted
him was greater than the groans and the howling with which he had been
received. He had met the enemy and conquered.

He had an easy road afterwards in following up this victory, speaking in
different towns and cities all over England, and everywhere the people
received him with respect and enthusiasm. By degrees he succeeded in
slowly changing the opinions of the people from favouring the cause of
the Confederate States to indorsing the struggle of the North for Union
and Liberty. Returning to London before sailing for America, he was
received with great honours by the most noted men in that city,
including royalty. Dinners, breakfasts, and receptions followed one
another in quick succession until he took his departure.

Upon his return home he was tendered a great reception in the Academy of
Music, Brooklyn. The people of the North had been watching every step of
his course in England with deep anxiety, for it was a serious time in
the history of this nation. The service which he rendered his country at
that time earned the gratitude of the American Government and people,
and made him the most popular man of the North. I may add that this
period of Mr. Beecher's life was the one of his greatest power and
influence, and marked one of the greatest epochs in his history.

_THE BEECHER TRIAL_

Following the Civil War came the reconstruction days, and into all those
experiences Mr. Beecher entered with full energy, but even more than
before he devoted himself to his work as a preacher and writer. He was
in demand everywhere for addresses and lectures, as well as for articles
from his pen. Churches, lyceums, theological seminaries, public meetings
of all sorts tried to secure him. He took up editorial work on the
_Christian Union_, now _The Outlook_; he gave the first of the famous
series of lectures on "Preaching," at Yale Theological Seminary.
Indeed, it seemed as if he was ubiquitous. How he got time for it all
was a marvel, even to those who best kne