John Clark

“ The next week they obtained their discharge from the ship, and Thomas Halyard went into the country to find some distant relatives, and John Clark entered a coasting vessel and sailed along the coast of England and Scotland, and up the Moray Firth to Inverness, on his way to his native parish.
Mr. Clark had not heard from his surviving friends for several years. He learned the news of the decease of his father when he visited his brother in Jamaica, but his mother and two sisters were then alive and well. ”

“ They were taught to do justly, love mercy, and always speak the truth.
The father of our John Clark was named Alexander, who, in the early part of his life, owned and worked a farm. He had a brother named Daniel, who was educated for the ministry in the Presbyterian church; but he had no taste for that business, and became qualified for a merchant. In this capacity he sailed for South Carolina; then went to Georgia in company with some Scottish traders by the name of Macgilvary, who monopolized the trade with the Creek Indians. ”

“ The mother of John Clark became a very religious woman, and taught him to pray in early childhood, and that he was a sinner against God, and must have his heart changed, be converted and saved through Jesus Christ. Before he was eight years of age he had many serious impressions about his salvation, many alarming fears about death and hell, and thought he experienced a saving change at that early period of life. He often declared to his Christian friends, that to the instruction and prayers of his mother at that tender age, as means under God, he was indebted for his salvation. ”

“ More and more frequently the old cavalier retired to his rustic arbour in the garden.
"I must hunt up father, he will take cold," William would say; and there on a moonlight night, on his knees in prayer, the old man would be found, among the cedars and honeysuckles of Mulberry Hill.
"Why do you dislike old John Clark," some one asked of a neighbour when the venerable man lay on his death-bed.
"What? I dislike old John Clark? I revere and venerate him. His piety and virtues may have been a reproach, but I reverence and honour old John Clark." ”

“ The nefarious agreement to sell out all the Clark equity in the Field which John Clark had executed prior to his departure for the Grand Army Reunion, and which Judge Orcutt had forced the elder Bright to produce, was evidence enough that the little girl needed some strong defender if she were not to be fleeced utterly of her property. For she was heir now to nearly three fourths of what the Clark estate might bring, and her aunt to the remaining portion—so said the law. ”

“ And John Clark was not forgotten in Kentucky for many a year, nor his singular ways, neither. There are a few old people still living, who attended school under his instruction, who, as they express it, “never seed the like on’t.” They do not believe, with all the “new fangled179 ways,” and “heap o’ larnin,” and practical wisdom teachers now have, that they can come up with preacher Clark.
CHAPTER X.
Journey to Illinois.—Story of the Gilham family, captured by Indians.—Hard fare.—Mr. ”

“ The first preacher that brought the gospel, as understood and taught by the Methodists, across the mighty Mississippi, was the Rev. John Clark. While this country was under the Spanish Government, it was an illegal act;—but not in reference to that law which makes the minister of God a debtor to the Jew and to the Greek; to the wise and the unwise. Having received a commission to preach the gospel to every creature, God sent him not on a warfare at his own cost. Seals to his ministry yet remain in this circuit. ”

“ S. W. Clark was the second of ten children, and the eldest of four sons. His brother, Rev. William Clark, was several years pastor of the 1st church in Wells, Me., and has since been extensively known, in his agency for the A. B. C. F. M. Rev. Mr. Clark of Greenland married Frances M., daughter of Dea. Robert Clark, for many years an elder of the Presbyterian church, in New Boston. She deceased July 12, 1832, leaving one child, Frances Wallace. Mr. Clark's second marriage was with Rebecca Elisabeth Howe, a descendant of the Pilgrim, John Alden. ”

“ Resolved, That the thanks of this society be presented to the ladies of Lofton’s prairie and vicinity, for their generosity and benevolent feelings in constituting Rev. John Clark a life member of this society.
By order of the President. Moses O. Bledsoe, Secretary.
56 The author tried the practice of bathing the feet in cold water in the morning, while traveling on these frontiers, and found it invariably injurious to him. The application of cold water to the feet and body of more than one-fourth is positively injurious. To others it is highly beneficial. This depends on the temperament. ”

“ Before he left Scotland he heard of the untimely death of his brother Daniel in the island of Jamaica.
Next morning Mr. Clark left his hospitable host, and directed his course to his birth-place, the parish of Petty. He had learned that his only surviving sister was there, in comfortable circumstances, and managing the farm (held by a lease-hold) with the aid of a laboring man and his wife as domestics. He felt a desire to find out if his sister knew him, before he gave any intimations of relationship. ”

“ The tide of immigration was now setting strong from the Atlantic States to Kentucky, while a class of its population were on the move to the territory north-west of the Ohio, and even to the province of Upper Louisiana. Infidelity, combined with liberalism, came in like a flood and threatened to sweep away every vestige of Christianity.
Under these circumstances, and on the solicitation of many worthy citizens, Mr. Clark believed it to be his duty to teach school. This would not prevent him from preaching the gospel, for he would have Saturday and Sabbath in each week for that purpose. ”

“ I think he’s managed some of this last business. He humbugged us. It isn’t the devil; it’s this Italian. We must look out; he’ll be around here again perhaps.”
Clark’s eyes brightened.
“The next time,” said he, “I’ll load my pistols fresh, and then see if he’ll escape me!”
At this a noise was heard in the hall. Potts went out. The servants had been scouring the grounds as before, but with no result.
“No use,” said John. “I tried it with my dog. He went straight down through the gate, and a little distance outside the scent was lost. I tried him with Mrs. Compton too. ”

“ These antiquarian vagaries were not in themselves of any harm, but unfortunately Clark advocated them with an energy worthy of a better cause, and thus through him two utterly unfounded ideas were very generally accepted as true. Much more useful were Clark's endeavours to obtain for the singing men and choristers of cathedrals the ancient privileges of which in course of time they had been deprived. In 1841 he returned once more to the subject of John Bull, and issued a prospectus for the publication of all the extant works of the Elizabethan composer. ”

“ The value of the mountain air in prolonging life is well examplified in Mr. Clark’s case. While working in the mines he contracted a severe cold that settled on his lungs and finally caused severe inflammation and bleeding, and none of his friends thought he would ever recover. The physicians told him he had but a short time to live. It was then that he repaired to the beautiful sugar pine woods at Wawona and took up a claim, including the fine meadows there, and building his cabin, began his life of wandering and exploring in the glorious mountains about him, usually going bare-headed. ”

“ Of course with Father Clark, it was a subject of daily prayer that God would direct him to that field of labor He desired him to occupy. He expected and received satisfactory impressions, or a full conviction of mind, after much174 prayer, examination of the field in Illinois and the Spanish country so far as he could obtain information, and watching the leadings of providence. The pathway of duty became plain, and to that country he must go, and see what the Lord would have him do there. We never knew a man who consulted his personal convenience less, and the entire will of God more. ”

“ There was more of puritanical strictness, form, and rigid orthodoxy, than active piety and the outpourings of the religious emotions, in the Church of Scotland at that period, and young Clark neither felt nor manifested those feelings of ardent love to the Redeemer, and comfortings of the Holy Spirit, that had been awakened in his young heart at the early age of eight years, or which distinctly marked his religious character in after life.
Our youthful friend became an enthusiastic lover of liberty and of the rights of man, at an early age, and which continued the ruling passion during life. ”

“ Clark’s first experience with the Kid was on June 3, 1887, two days after his shooting of Al Sieber. At the time, Clark was living at his ranch, the Oak Grove, in the Galiura mountains, about twelve miles east of the San Pedro river, but was absent, his two partners, John Scanlan and William Diehl, being at home. ”

“ The vast congregation were melted, and many voices became so tremulous that the singing almost ceased.
But “the end of all things is at hand.” The friends of Father Clark saw the infirmities of age pressing on him. His walks were limited, his preaching less frequent, and his visits to families were fewer and at longer intervals.
He had gained a home in every family he visited, and a place in every Christian heart. There was no murmuring; nor fretfulness; no complaining of the degeneracy of the age, which is the common failing of old men. ”

“ After much urging, he consented to keep one spoon, and two or three other little articles, and told his sister to keep the rest, and to use the money for her comfort, or to relieve the poor and distressed. He had enough for present wants, and his trust for the future was in the same beneficent providence that covers the earth with herbage and is kind and bountiful to all his creatures.
Time fled away rapidly in their affectionate intercourse. Mr. Clark visited such of his old acquaintance as were living in the vicinity, amongst whom were several distant relatives. ”

“ After considering themselves out of danger, they leisurely plied two oars, while Clark sat in the stern and steered. Not a word had been spoken by the party, until one of the men broke silence in a low but emphatic tone, “Lord, have mercy on us—there’s a boat close on us—put ashore—put ashore!”
Clark instantly put the boat towards the shore, struck the muddy bank, and all plunged into the swamp but Stewart, who turned down stream. A palmetto swamp, when covered with water, is a horrible place in day-light—what must it have been to these wretched wanderers in a dark night! ”

“ It was a terrible affair for a sick man to travel through the swamps, cane-brakes and pine forests, and cross the rivers and creeks that lay in the route. On several occasions the sick man, in despair of reaching the end of his journey, lay down to die, when the recollection252 of the prayers of Father Clark, and the assurance he gave of seeing home, inspired him with new vigor, and urged him onward. He reached his brother’s house in the American bottom, under the firm conviction that his life had been spared, and preternatural strength given him in answer to the prayers of that good man. ”

“ Clark, while sitting around their camp fire at night, deserves a place in our narrative.
Mr. James Gilham was a native of South Carolina, where he married his wife Ann, and commenced the battle of life as a frontier farmer. He removed his young family to Kentucky, and pitched his station in the western frontier settlements of that district. There he purchased a claim to a tract of land, and cleared a farm, cheered with the hopeful anticipations of a peaceful and happy life ”

“ Females rode on horseback to Kentucky and Tennessee, to see their friends, on journies from four to eight hundred miles. But Father Clark had some singular scruples against using a beast of burden; and to one of his personal friends he intimated a religious vow while on the circuit in Georgia, that so long as man oppressed his fellow man, he did not feel free to use a horse. He was never accustomed to the management of a horse, as every frontier man has been from childhood, and he felt unhappy, if not in real fear, while269 riding one. ”

“ And yet, as if to show us that a young man so amiable, kind-hearted, and philanthropic as Clark, was far from perfection, or even consistency of character, he engaged in the business of privateering; a business now regarded by civilized nations as barbarous and immoral. ”

“ The others made34 some delay, as Clark was to turn on his back and wait for them. He found, on trial, the salt water so dashed over his face, that he was compelled to swim for his life. His situation became extremely perilous; the rippling waves dashed in his face and he began to despair of life. And now he became alarmed at the prospect of immediate death, and his sins rushed on his conscience to that degree that even in the perilous condition he was, he dared not to pray for deliverance. ”

“ M——, twenty-five years after the interview.
M. “My friend, John Clark, is in the country, on a visit to his friends. He is a good man, peaceably disposed, and will behave as a good citizen should. The American people desire to hear him preach at my house occasionally. Will the commandant please give permission, that we may not be molested? We will hold our meetings quietly, make no disturbance, and231 say nothing against the king of Spain, nor the Catholic religion.” ”