is life and
work were seen, and at such a price that the poorest in the land might
secure a copy.

We dare not forget the work of our fathers, and we must not permit the
memory of William Black to be lost in oblivion, for he builded better
than he knew, and we are heirs of his work and influence, and his
example is a stimulus to us all. In that spirit have these pages been
written, and we hope that they will help keep alive the memory of a
great and noble man, a pioneer and patriot, who gave his life for
Christ and his fellow man.

JOHN MACLEAN.

WESLEYAN OFFICE,
Halifax, Nova Scotia.

CONTENTS.

_Chap._ _Page._

I. The Birth of a Movement 9

II. Making the Man 17

III. The Maritime Itinerant 24

IV. The Intrepid Pioneer 33

V. Black and Wesley 40

VI. Personal Characteristics 49

VII. Last Days and After 57

_WILLIAM BLACK._

I.

THE BIRTH OF A MOVEMENT.

Had Longfellow the poet extended his studies a few years later than
the time of the event which formed the subject of Evangeline, he would
have come in contact with another race of men, of different breed,
language and faith, than that of the Acadians, who were as brave as
any of those who sailed away from the valley of the Gaspereaux. For
almost coincident with the expulsion of these hardy folk from the
fertile fields of the Annapolis Valley, there came visitors from the
New England colonies, induced by offers of land, but these were
deterred from settlement on account of a fear lest freedom of
religious worship should not be accorded them.

Brought up under the influence of the descendants of the Pilgrim
Fathers, they prized too highly their religious liberty to barter it
for lands or gold, and not until a second proclamation was issued,
granting liberty of conscience and worship to all Protestants, did
settlers come in large numbers. Five years after the Acadians were
expelled emigrants began to arrive in considerable numbers from New
England and from Great Britain and Ireland. This was the beginning of
a new era, in which the principles of the Protestant Reformation were
to be tested, upon soil consecrated by the faith and piety of the
Roman Catholic exiles, and an opportunity was found for the expression
of the new faith in the moulding of individual chara