Chapter 31

HENRY WARD BEECHER.

A Connecticut boy--The minister's family--A gloomy childhood--Ma'arm Kilbourn's school--The loss of his curls--The dull boy--A bad voice for an orator--His first religious impressions--Aunt Esther--The Sunday catechism--Sent to boarding school--Love of nature--Enters his sister's school--The hopeless case--An inveterate joker and an indifferent scholar--Removal to Boston--Gets through the Latin school--The sea-going project--Dr. Beecher's ruse--Life at Mount Pleasant--Conquers mathematics--Embraces religion at a revival--Resolves to become a minister--Removal to Cincinnati--Course at the Lane Seminary--How he learned to preach--Marries--His first charge--Life at Lawrenceburg--Removal to Indianapolis--Life in the West--His popularity--His theory of preaching and its success--Conversion of his brother--Mr. Beecher accepts a call to Plymouth Church in Brooklyn--Political record--Literary labors--Pastoral work--A large audience--Government of Plymouth Church--Description of the edifice--The congregation--The services--Mr. Beecher as a preacher--Sympathy between the pastor and his hearers--His ideas of religion--How he prepares his sermons--His prayers unstudied--The social receptions--The Friday evening meeting--A characteristic scene--Labors during the war--Visit to Europe--An unpopular sermon in a good cause--Personal characteristics.