The same day, our whole party were invited to address a meeting of Lady Workers, who carry on a Mission in the Chinese quarter of the City. A report was given, and some Converts from the Flowery Land sang hymns to Jesus. It was joyful to see this spiritual life;—for tokens were not awanting of a darker and sadder picture all around us, in the dens of vice and misery.
Guided, but not very wisely, by Cook’s representative, we left San Francisco on 5th September. Though now travelling night and day, we halted a few hours at the famous Mormon Settlement on 7th September. While looking at the grave of Brigham Young, a well-dressed old lady approached us and volunteered much information about her departed husband. He was one of the first settlers in the Salt Lake District, and had taken an active part in the building of the city and the Temple. She herself was a Mormon, and mourned that their glory was departing under the influence of the American laws. She was fervent in her defence of polygamy, but I noted that, with the Mormons as with the South Sea Savages, a separate house had to be provided for each wife! We saw their vast Temple, said to accommodate 15,000 persons, with tradesmen toiling busily to finish it, for the reception of Brigham Young on his speedy return to this Earth.
Replenishing our provision basket, as it was too expensive to take all our meals on board the train, our next run was to Chicago, which we reached on 10th September, and where we rested at a Hotel on the Sabbath Day. It was a day of tremendous storm and rain and no one of us ventured out even to Divine Service, especially as no Place of Worship was nigh at hand. Amongst our fellow-passengers from San Francisco had been a very kindly Christian man belonging to Chicago. He gave us every information, and on Monday showed us round the whole City by boat and car. We saw the Exhibition Buildings, lavishly expensive. The Horticultural Gardens were extensive and most interesting. In the Zoological Enclosure we saw a few remaining specimens of the Buffaloes, which once in myriads roamed the Prairies, but which Civilization has swept away.
Leaving Chicago, we arrived at Buffalo on the evening of the 13th September, and returned next day to Niagara, whence by train and steamboat we were bound for Toronto. We had already had a glimpse of the Falls, where the train halted for a few minutes at a convenient spot, and the view was grand! When next I gazed on the spectacle, nigh at hand, I am afraid almost to admit that I was rather disappointed. Too transcendent expectations beforehand, I suppose!
I left Mrs. Paton and our daughter at the Falls for a day, whilst I went on to Toronto to arrange for accommodation. What a blessing that I was guided to do so! A great Agricultural Show was being held there; and, on arriving in the evening, I found every Hotel and Lodging so crowded that I walked till midnight from one end of the City to the other, seeking in vain for a bed. At last one manager of a Hotel proposed to give me a “shake-down” in a Common Room, where twenty-two were to sleep that same night. But the Hotel-Keeper taking pity, and protesting that he could not allow me to “tumble into that crowded place,” gave me the address of a private family who took in lodgers, to whom he commended me. With much difficulty, at that late hour, I found the street and the number. The owner, on hearing my appeal, said he had already “turned away thirteen,” and that he had not a corner to receive me. I offered to pay him the highest charges, “merely to rest in the Hall all night,” rather than to tramp the streets. Calling his wife, he said: “I have not the heart to turn this old man away! May he not sleep on the floor of our new empty Room?” Her answer was: “I have neither bed, nor bedclothes, nor even a pillow to give him.” But I was glad of the shelter over my head. A chair was brought in and placed in the middle of the floor. Kneeling, I thanked the Lord, and my hosts. Then, utterly worn out, I placed my travelling handbag for a pillow, rolled my clothes tightly round me, lay down, and enjoyed a most refreshing sleep.
Next morning I found my way to the Presbyterian Church Offices, where a cordial welcome awaited me, and news of ample accommodation for our comfort, all generously provided. Several invitations were pressed on me, but I accepted that of Mrs. Park, who had in the old days been a member of my Bible-class in the Green Street Mission, Glasgow, and it was a great joy to meet once more her sister and herself. The attention of many other friends was also very great, and far too devoted, making us feel ashamed at the love lavished on us.
At the Pan-Presbyterian Council I met and became acquainted with representative Ministers and Laymen from all parts of the world, but in specially large numbers from Canada and the United States. Along with Fellow-Deputies, I addressed the Assembly on Foreign Missions, and on the urgent reasons for my present visit to America. A Minister from the United States at once rose and protested that there must be some mistake, that it was “an insult to their honor” to insinuate that they declined to join with Britain in such an International Prohibition! I repeated my statements, showed my Commission, and affirmed that it was certainly as I had represented. He telegraphed to the Authorities at Washington, and next day he courageously stood up in his place and admitted that he was wrong, and that I had correctly stated the facts. The action of that good and brave man, once for all, made the issue plain and cleared my future course.
I was proud of our Professor Rentoul, of Ormond College. He at once took a leading place in the Council. In wisdom, in vast learning, and in eloquent debate, he was the equal of the best men from all Presbyterian Christendom. I envied the Students who sit at the feet of such a noble Master in the School of Christ.
In response to my appeals, Ministers from Canada and the United States began informing me how many collections they had given “for the New Hebrides Mission,” and subscriptions “for building the new Mission Ship.” I had never heard of these, and inquired to whom they had been given. They replied that it was my “alternate,” commissioned from the Presbyterian Church of Victoria! I assured them that my Church appointed no alternate, and that this person must be an impostor. A Committee was appointed to look into the matter. The eloquent pleader turned out to be a Roman Catholic student who had joined the Victorian Church, had been licensed and ordained as a Minister, had broken down in character, and disappeared from the Colony. Now, under a false name and forged credentials, representing himself as a Minister in full and honorable standing, and a Missionary who had been thirteen years in the New Hebrides, he was raising large sums of money ostensibly for our Mission, but applying it all to his own uses. His lectures were cleverly compounded out of my Autobiography, with wild adornments and fancies of his own. He had Collecting Cards for children and for adults, the minimum subscription on the latter being half-a-dollar! His New Ship was to be sheathed in brass, and every subscriber of not less than $5 was to have his name engraved thereon! One man informed us of giving $25 to have his Family Register completed on the sheath of brass!
Dr. Rentoul, by appointment, officially exposed and denounced this impostor on the floor of the Council. But, in these vast countries, a lie is hard to overtake and to extinguish. Letters continued to reach me from many quarters, and urgent appeals that I should sanction his arrest. At one place he drank for a week, after a series of Mission Meetings. The Ministers of Buffalo at length caused him to be arrested; and the Public Attorney, founding on his so-called credentials as my assistant, summoned me to appear before the Grand Jury at his trial. In a “blizzard,” I travelled two nights and a day—one night the severest and coldest I ever endured—and reached my destination in time.