On the evenings of the 1st and 2nd of March, he preached again at the Tabernacle; held a meeting at the Second Presbyterian Church on the evening of the 3rd, gave an address at the lecture room of the First Congregational Church on the 4th, and on the 5th held a farewell meeting at the lecture room of Dr. Goodwin's Church. Before our departure the German pastors stated that his ministry had been made a great blessing to their congregations.
On March 6th we left Chicago for Milwaukee, the commercial capital of Wisconsin, 85 miles distant, which contains a population of 130,000, two thirds of whom are Germans. On the following day (Sunday) Mr. Müller preached both morning and evening at Immanuel Church, held a meeting on the 8th at Plymouth Congregational Church, and on the evening of Tuesday, March 9th, addressed a mass meeting of Germans at the Second Congregational Church. During our stay at Milwaukee, he held three other German meetings, and on the evening of the 11th preached at the Methodist Episcopal Church, which was his last service in that city.
On March 12th, at midnight, we left for St. Paul, Minnesota, 324 miles from Milwaukee; and, after travelling for many miles along the banks of the Upper Mississippi through a beautiful district, reached our destination on the 13th, at 1.25 p.m. After our arrival the cold became so severe, that the thermometer registered 10 degrees below zero, that is, 42 degrees of frost. The next morning (Sunday, 14th), at Immanuel Church, Mr. Müller held a meeting for the Germans, who form more than half the population of St. Paul; and in the evening a mass meeting of Germans assembled at the Opera House, where he addressed them in their own language for an hour. On Monday morning, the 15th, he attended a meeting of pastors, and on that evening and the next, preached to large congregations of Germans. During the remainder of our stay at St. Paul, he preached in English also at the Congregational, Methodist Episcopal, and Baptist Churches, and gave an address at a meeting of ladies one afternoon.
"St. Paul, the capital of Minnesota, is on the river Mississippi, 2,082 miles from its mouth at New Orleans, and is the largest city in the State. The Mississippi rises in Minnesota; at its source it is 3,160 miles from its mouth, and passes over more than 18 degrees of latitude."
During our visit to St. Paul the weather was intensely cold, but the air was of the dryest, purest, most invigorating character, and is considered particularly healthy even for invalids.
On March 20th, we went to Minneapolis, where, on the morning of Sunday, the 21st, Mr. Müller spoke at the Hall of the Young Men's Christian Association, and preached in the evening at the Plymouth Congregational Church, to about 1,800 people. On March 22nd, at a pastors' meeting, he addressed 50 of his brethren in the ministry, by whom he was most affectionately received; preached on the 24th at East Minneapolis, on the opposite bank of the Mississippi; held a meeting for the Germans on the 25th; answered written questions at the Methodist Episcopal Centenary Church the following evening, which had been handed in; and on the 27th, addressed the students of the College at Minneapolis, 275 in number.
The following note from a pastor at Minneapolis was received after our departure:—
"Dear Brother in Christ,—I cannot express to you the pleasure I have enjoyed in listening to your addresses in this city, all of which, in the English language, I have heard. My faith in God, as the hearer and answerer of prayer, has been greatly strengthened, and I feel that, through his abounding grace, I have, during the last week, enjoyed especial nearness to Him, and have been better fitted for the ministry I love. I shall ever be thankful for your visit to Minneapolis, and think of you and your work with affectionate interest. For twelve years I have ministered to the church which I now serve, and God has been pleased to give me some souls as seals of my ministry; but I long to be more like my Master, and more successful in my work. God bless you, dear Mr. Müller, and your beloved wife, your Orphanage in Bristol; and may He abundantly prosper all the labours of your hands. If it shall never be my privilege to meet you again in this world, I shall hope to be filled with your company in our Father's house above."
The State of Minnesota, in which St. Paul and Minneapolis are situated, is remarkable for the richness and fertility of its soil. The land is divided into sections which contain many hundreds of acres each, and the field operations carried on are conducted by hundreds of men, who form a little army, and work at the same time, with military order and regularity. The harvesting machines used are so constructed that the corn is reaped, gathered into sheaves, bound into bundles, and thrown aside by one single machine; and as there is no ploughing by hand—at the time of seed sowing furrows, seven miles in length, are made across the prairies by ploughing machines which turn up the soil, deposit the grain in the earth, and then cover it over.