FOOTPRINTS OF THE PIONEERS © R. & H. PUB. ASSN. 1944 HARRY ANDERSON. ARTIST HERALDS OF THE BLESSED HOPE Joseph Bates (rear); James White (left); John N. Andrews About 1850 ootprints of the PIONEERS By ARTHUR WHITEFIELD SPALDING Author of Man of Valor Pioneer Stories of the Advent Message Christian Storytelling and Stories Printed in the U.S.A., and Copyrighted 1947 by the REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, WASHINGTON 12, D.C. NBli ENGLAND SANITARUM CHURCR M. V. SOCIETY Contents 1. So Great a Cloud of Witnesses 7 2. Go and Tell It to the World 18 3. The Cradle of the Sabbath Truth 29 4. The Lone York Shilling 40 5. Deacon John's Son 49 6. Out of Weakness, Strength 59 7. The Potato Patch Preaches 68 8. The Day Dawn 74 9. Fort Howland 83 10. One to a Thousand 91 11. The Large Unfinished Chamber 99 12. Shiloh of the Message 109 13. The Peripatetic Press 117 14. Grit of the Granite State. 123 15. The Firsts 130 16. The Apostle and the Blacksmith 139 17. Samuel Zelotes • 148 18. The Most Honest Man in Town 157 19. Hill of the Man of God 164 20. The House of A. Hilliard 170 21. Home on the Hillside 177 22. Beautiful for Situation 187 23. Camp in the Sugar Bush 195 24. The Room on the Side of the House 203 25. The Sons of Grandfather Mountain 209 26. The Valley of Vision 220 4 A First Word IN the summer and early fall of 1946 it was my privilege, in the company of friends, to visit the principal places of his- torical interest to Adventists in New England, New York, Michigan, and a spot in the South, covering the first two or three decades of our history. This was in pursuit of information and atmosphere for the writing of a two-volume history of Seventh- day Adventists, a work which is now half completed. But it was felt by some of my friends that a series of sketches portraying the arenas and the incidents connected with them, written in a more informal style, would be of service to possible visitors and many more who will see these scenes only through the printed page. No least part of the pleasure of the trips was the companion- ship of friends who already were versed in the lore, and who not only guided me to localities and informants, but themselves added much to my store of knowledge. In Maine the conference president, Roscoe W. Moore, took me in his car to the points of interest in Portland and the country round about within a radius of thirty miles; and he and A. F. Ruf accompanied me on a great swing around a circle far- ther north. In New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, and around the head of Lake Champlain in New York, I had the company of my indefatigable and encyclopedic friend, Clifton L Taylor, with whom I traded stories right royally. In Massachusetts I was generously helped at South Lancaster by Miss Rowena E. Purdon, the historian of the town and the school; and in New Bedford the pastor, J. F. Knipschild, was most helpful in introducing me not only to particular sites but 5 6 FOOTPRINTS OF THE PIONEERS to friends who, like Mrs. Eliza B. Bradford, of Acushnet, proved sources of unfolding information. In New York State the longest trip, 1,100 miles, east, north, and west, was taken in the happy company of Bertram M. Heald, who knew the country and many of the people, and behind whose courtly mien and address I often found refuge. In Michigan I was accompanied on several expeditions by my son, Ronald W. Spalding, a physician resident in the midst of historic spotS in that State; and I was given much information by a history-minded veteran, William E. Videto, and by his wife, daughter of pioneers. In North Carolina I was conducted by Arthur and Mar- guerite Jasperson, long-time teachers and ministrants in the mountains. Later, in May, 1947, it was my pleasure to accompany the art director of the Review and Herald Publishing Association, T. K. Martin, on a trip to many of the above places, to obtain the best pictures for illustrating this series. These all with one accord gave me liberally of their time - and energy and knowledge, and my readers are indebted to them quite as much as to me. Not all the places visited are brought into the picture, for the list would be too great, but the more significant are included. I have arranged the articles not exactly in the order of my visits, but rather in the order of historical occurrence, as the message spread from East to West. Because the men and women herein mentioned are our spiritual forebears, because they set us an example of self-sacri- fice and devotion which should never be lost, because the ground they trod holds for us sacred memories and the mes- sage born in them is our heritage to give to all the world, these accounts of their habitations and their handiwork may help to hearten their sons and daughters. A. W. S. CHAPTER 1 So Great a Cloud of Witnesses Stephen N. Haskell BILDAD the Shuhite spoke at least one word of wisdom in his rather futile debate with Job. "For enquire, I pray thee," he said, "of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers. For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing." Job 8:8, 9. The current generation is inclined to believe that it knows everything. So every generation. Very naturally. "The world is so full of a number of things," remarked Robert Louis Steven- son to his child audience; and as children we throw our net about a little corner of the sea, and the number of things we catch in it are to us the world and all the works therein. But beyond us and behind us are many nets, and many days, and many seas. Should we enquire of the former days, and ask counsel of our fathers? We Seventh-day Adventists have cultivated in our- selves the attitude of the forward look. At least we see our toes. And we remember Lot's wife. It has been to many, and it still is to some, a denial of our faith to look behind, to treas- ure the records of our fathers, to ready a shrine where their feet once trod, to erect a monument at the unmarked burial place of a pioneer. "Forward, march!" are the orders, "Eyes front! Charge!" And the ranks stiffen, and the eyes peer, and the spears level, and we plunge forward into the dust of battle. Beyond is victory, and the Kingdom. 7 8 FOOTPRINTS OF THE PIONEERS All very good. Our warfare is before us, not behind. But may it be that in the midst of the moil and the wrestling, of the tears and the sweat and the blood, there might come to us in the battle a vision, had we in our preparation looked back, a vision of the power and the wisdom and the glory with which our spiritual forebears fought? And seeing the vision, might we not take new courage, perceive more clearly, plan more wisely, and execute more truly than if we merely trusted to hacking our way through? "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses." They march with us, these legions of the past; they march in memory and they march in the music of angel bands that go before the Last Legion of Christ—before, and on flank, and in rear. Happy is he whose eyes are opened to behold the host, the chariots and the horsemen of God. "For they that be with us are more than they that be with them." Every American, and every lover of liberty of whatever nationality, walks on hallowed ground when he enters the Bay State. Plymouth, Salem, Boston, Lexington, Concord!—this ground, these monuments, speak the faith "that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with cer- tain unalienable Rights, . that whenever any Form of Gov- ernment becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Govern- ment, laying its Foundation on such Principles and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." Succeeding eras of civilization have in many places crowded the ancient shrines into tight cysts, yet these keep their vitality and speak still in the tones of vigilant freedom. And it is re- markable how much of the wild and free still marks the terrain of Massachusetts. A few miles out of the city, by train or auto, you find vast stretches of woods, of swamp, of copse and sedgy SO GREAT A CLOUD OF WITNESSES 9 field. The open prairies of the West early siphoned off the surplus population, and left the badge of freedom on the land of the Puritans. And the stamp of the Englishman transplanted to America is still on the homes. Outside the metropolis the characteristic dwelling places which housed the generous families of our fathers and mothers dominate the landscape. Foursquare, solid, far-spreading even to the attached barns, the great white houses stand like the ample matrons of a past century, starched, crino- lined, and possessive, clutching the land to their bosoms as one who would say: "Land where my fathers died, Land of the Pilgrims' pride, From every mountainside Let freedom ring!" The little and ancient town of South Lancaster is a focal point from which the student of Seventh-day Adventist history may look to south, to north, to west, even a bit to the east, to find the footprints of our pioneers.