So far as their personal interest and faith in Mr. Beecher were concerned, nothing could illustrate it better than the action of the society in helping him to meet the extraordinary expense, and the visit to his home in Peekskill of the members of the three Sunday Schools. While Mr. Beecher had a most liberal salary, he was free and even reckless in expenditure. The result was that the cost of the trial went far beyond his resources. At its close, and even before he had had time to realise what that cost had been, the society which has charge of the finances of the church, met and voted that his salary for that year be one hundred thousand dollars. It was a great relief to him financially, but still more grateful as a taken of the love and confidence of the people. Not less touching to him was the tribute from the Sunday Schools.
He was at the time living in his summer home at Peekskill, N. Y. Without any knowledge on his part, until the very day, it was arranged by the teachers and officers of the Plymouth, Bethel and Mayflower Schools that the scholars should go to Peekskill to congratulate him on the outcome of the trial, and emphasise the feeling of the church already expressed in the salary grant. The steamer Blackburn was chartered and about three hundred joined in the excursion up the North River. Mr. R. D. Jaques, an old, active and honoured member of the church, describing the scene, says that Mr. Beecher met them standing under a tree, his hat off and his long hair flowing in the wind. The visitors formed in line so that each could shake his hand. As the little ones came, Mr. Beecher would lift them up in his arms and kiss them. Then the house was thrown open and they were welcomed to every part of it. Refreshments were provided and the social festivities continued until the time came to return. It was a happy company that sailed down the river, but it is doubtful whether anyone was happier than the host, as he realised what the visit meant of their love and honour.
THE CHURCH TESTED
n March 8, 1887, a little less than forty years after he had been called as pastor of Plymouth Church, Henry Ward Beecher died. The end came suddenly. There was no lingering sickness, no wasting of his powers. If the impassioned delivery of earlier years was somewhat lacking, there was still a power and vigour fully as effective. The year before he had been to England on a lecture tour and received an ovation as marked as the disapproval attending his first attempts. He had been in demand all over the country for addresses and lectures. The columns of papers and magazines were everywhere open to him, and while it may be true that his popularity was not of the intense sort that it had been at times, when he was almost the idol of the people, it probably was of a more substantial character. It is probable, too, that at no time in its history had Plymouth Church been more closely identified with him, or the opinion been so prevalent that neither could prosper without the other. The services were as fully attended as ever, and church work had settled into the harmonious routine which always bodes good for a church's life.
All this was suddenly broken up. On Wednesday evening, March 2, Mr. Beecher suffered an apoplectic stroke and on the following Tuesday he died. No one who attended the services, held almost continuously during that week, can ever forget them. The dominant tone was one of the personal loss of a friend. There was grateful recognition of a magnificent service done for humanity, and for the building up of the Kingdom of God, but the greater work was almost lost sight of in the individual remembrances, the personal testimonies to the man who had helped men. On Sunday of that week came the regular communion service of the church. The usual sermon was omitted and only the Lord's Supper was commemorated. There were several evening meetings, mostly for prayer and mutual sympathy.
The manifestation of public sympathy surprised even those who knew best how widespread was the interest in the beloved pastor. As the coffin lay in the church on Thursday there was an unceasing line of those who wished to show their regard for him. On Friday the funeral services were conducted by Rev. Charles H. Hall, D. D., pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, to which Plymouth Church had succeeded in ownership of its site. As it was manifest that Plymouth Church could not possibly hold the crowds that wanted to come, simultaneous memorial services were held in other churches. Most of the business houses were closed, as were also the public offices of the city and the schools. Everywhere there was manifest the recognition that a great man had gone.
