LETTERS TO THE TREASURER.
The pastor of the church at Rehoboth, Mass., writes as follows: “The enclosed five dollars was handed me after our missionary concert last evening by a young brother who told me that he had set apart a small piece of ground on his farm, resolving to cultivate it for the Arthington Mission in Central Africa. This five dollars is the first proceeds.”
SAMUEL GORDON HALEY.
Our Treasurer received recently two thousand dollars for a scholarship endowment fund for the Fisk University, which was from Mrs. A. M. Haley, widow of Samuel Gordon Haley, and was acknowledged in the September American Missionary. We publish the following obituary notice of Mr. Haley as an illustration not only of the excellent character of the man, but also as a testimonial to the conscientious act of his widow, who is a worthy Baptist lady, in bestowing in honor of his memory this amount to promote educational work under the auspices of our Association, which was dear to him.
Samuel Gordon Haley, son of Dea. Thos. Haley and Eliza Whicher, was born in Charlestown, Mass., May 7, 1832. He died in Oshtemo, Mich., January 14, 1881. At the time of his birth his parents were not Christians, but they so earnestly desired that Samuel, their first-born, should have eternal life that they prayed that God would early bring him into His kingdom. Mr. Haley was well known as a successful educator and genealogist; he was also deeply interested in historical research. In 1836 his father moved to East Andover, New Hampshire. There in the picturesque Switzerland of America, with its skies filled with light, its green plains and valleys, its bold and its undulating hills, its grand old pines and their dark mossy retreats, its bald-headed Kearsarge in the near distance, in full view of a quiet N.E. village, with its church spires and school-houses, nestling close at the side of Highland Lake, childhood merged into boyhood, and boyhood into early manhood. We may well suppose that such scenes would awaken the imagination of a mind formed by nature to appreciate and sympathize with the truly grand and sublime in the external world, and would help to impart to that mind a loftiness of purpose and purity of thought not otherwise, perhaps, attained. And now, amid those scenes so loved in childhood and admired in maturity, near the revered one who bore him, lies his noble form awaiting the resurrection morn. His paternal home was one of singular good sense and piety; it was sincere, unworldly, unartificial. Tender deference was taught toward the aged, and thoughtful regard toward childhood, the unfortunate, the afflicted. He loved to dwell on the tender recollections, kindred ties, early affections and hallowed associations connected with his home; he eagerly sought every historical incident of his family; and to his father, the aged sire, who still lives to bless, was he indebted for many incidents relating to his predecessors. Mr. Haley graduated from Meriden Academy, Meriden, New Hampshire, in 1856.
He graduated from Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., in 1860. Having chosen teaching as a profession, he at once entered upon that work, and for ten years his labors were in academies and high schools in N.H. During the war he spent his summer vacations in Washington, D.C., and vicinity, in the benevolent work of the U.S. Christian Commission. And as we turn the pages of his private writings, and learn of the spirit which actuated him during those dark, bloody hours of our nation’s history, we find renewed proofs of the true greatness of his soul. In 1870 he found work in the public schools in Illinois, where he labored till a short time before his death.
As a teacher, his life was one of untold usefulness. The moral and religious development of his pupils was of first importance. He regarded our schools as a place, not so much of learning, as of preparation for learning; a course of discipline to draw out and sharpen faculties; a means to bring the student up to manhood with ability to perform thenceforth the hard work of a man in his allotted sphere. To that end no part of fundamental study could be spared. A thorough, exact scholar himself, he was satisfied with nothing less than thoroughness and exactness in those whom he taught. Patient, forbearing, forgiving, he held a high place in the hearts of his pupils, and with all his gentleness of spirit he ever maintained a purity of discipline.
Mr. Haley first made a public profession of religion and united with the Congregational church while at Meriden Academy. But so true and pure had been his life that little change could be seen in him after this profession. He subsequently became a member at Hopkinton, N.H., then at Dover, N.H. He united with the church at Providence, Ill., in 1872, and was a member of that church at the time of his death.
As a Christian, he was undemonstrative, but he was faithfulness itself. In all his relations of life did he sow the seeds of love to his Master. He was unsuspicious, resented no evil, indulged in no gossip, perpetrated no slander, exaggerated not his statements, never wore two faces, nor spoke with two tongues. He was guileless. A sectarian, a partisan, a demagogue, a sycophant, a hypocrite, he abhorred. He would do nothing with them but in matters of necessary business. His finer sentiments were not projected. He restrained them through natural diffidence, but when reached they were responsive, pure, refreshing, tempered with Christian meekness and sobriety.