قراءة كتاب Cyrus W. Field; his Life and Work
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on your soul.”
From the church the prisoner was led, clothed in a long, white robe, to the scaffold. It is said that on this occasion the rope was cut by the militiamen in attendance as a guard.
In May, 1819, Dr. Field accepted the call to the church in Stockbridge, and on August 25th he was settled there as a pastor. In those days the moving of a household from Haddam to Stockbridge was a formidable undertaking. Teams were sent to Connecticut, a journey of several days, to bring on the household furniture, and, most important of all, heavy boxes piled with the volumes that comprised the pastor’s library. The clearest statement of the impression made upon the youth of his flock by the ministry of Dr. Field is furnished in these words, written nearly fifty years after his settlement in Stockbridge, and a fortnight after his death, by the venerated president of Williams College:
“Williams College, April 30, 1867.
“Cyrus W. Field, Esq.:
“My dear Sir,—On my return I comply at once with your request to write out the remarks I made at your father’s funeral. In writing to me, Mr. Eggleston simply said he should like to have me take some part in the services, but he did not say what, and under the circumstances I did not think it best to attempt anything but a few remarks bearing on my personal relation to him. I give them below as well as I can.
“ ‘On coming here I was not aware what the order of exercises was to be, or what part I was expected to take in them; but as I am drawn here by a deep personal regard to the departed, the few words that I shall say will have reference to him chiefly in that relation through which this regard was awakened.
“ ‘It was under the ministry of Dr. Field that I first united with the Christian Church. By him I was baptized in this place.
“ ‘For a long period my mind was in a state of solicitude and careful inquiry on the subject of religion, and during much of that time I sat under his ministry. Well do I remember his sermons and his prayers; we worshipped in the old church then, and the whole town came together. His sermons were lucid, logical, effective, and his prayers remarkably appropriate and comprehensive. One of his texts I remember particularly. It was this: “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the son of the living God.” From these words he preached several discourses of great power showing that Jesus was the Christ, and that there was no one else to whom we could go. I regarded them then, and still do, as among the ablest discourses I ever heard. They had a powerful effect upon my mind.
“ ‘In respect to feeling he was not demonstrative, and some thought him cold. No mistake could have been greater. On sitting near him I remember to have been struck by noticing the big tears rolling down his cheeks when he came to the more touching parts of his discourse, while there was scarcely a sign of emotion in his voice or in the lines of his face. Perhaps intellect predominated. Probably it did; but he was a man of deep feeling, and under the impulse of it, as well as of principle, he was a faithful, earnest, laborious pastor. It was in that relation that I feel that his character and life and preaching and prayers were an important formative influence with me for good, and I have never ceased to regard him with affectionate veneration, and never shall.
“ ‘And what he did for me he doubtless did for multitudes of others. There is no higher educating power than that of a pastor thoroughly educated and balanced, earnest by proclaiming God’s truths from Sabbath to Sabbath and dealing fairly with the minds of men. This he did, and in doing it was eminent among a body of men who have done more to make New England what it is than any other. In clear thinking, in able sermons, and in earnest labors, he was altogether a worthy successor of the eminent men who had preceded him.
“ ‘I see some here who will remember those earlier times. I am sure, my friends, you will verify all I have said, and that with me you do now and will continue to cherish with respect and with love the memory of our former pastor. It only remains to us now to emulate all in him that was good, and in deep sympathy with these mourning friends to aid in placing his dust where it will rest with so much other precious dust that makes this a hallowed valley, and where it will await the resurrection of the just.’
“In reading over what I have written I can only say that it seems to me altogether inadequate as an expression of the sense I have of your father’s worth and of the benefit he was to me, but having promised to do so I send it.
“With great regard, yours,
“Mark Hopkins.”
The recollection that his grandchildren have of him is of a quiet, dignified old gentleman, who seemed quite lost when his call for “Mis’ Field” was not answered at once by his energetic wife, upon whom he was very dependent. Occasionally he would gather his children’s children about him, and seemed to enjoy showing them how “the lady’s horse goes,” and the tumble that followed “and by-and-by comes old hobble-de-gee,” was looked upon as great fun. He would also delight his youthful audience by repeating a few of Mother Goose’s Melodies, and they never tired of hearing him.
Life in New England in those days, and especially the life of a pastor’s family, was earnest, with an earnestness that to the young, with the eagerness of youth for enjoyment, may well have seemed repulsive. The Puritanic rigor that has been so much relaxed during the past half-century was then much what it had been in the earliest colonial times.
IN MEMORY OF
David Dudley Field,
Pastor of this Church.
Born in Madison, Conn., May 20, 1781.
Settled in Haddam, 1804-1818.
In Stockbridge, 1819-1837.
Recalled to his Charge, he Preached
again in Haddam till 1851,
When he returned here
To spend his last days.
Died April 15, 1867,
Aged nearly 86 years.
The Hoary Head is a Crown of Glory
when found in the way of
Righteousness.
TABLET IN THE CHURCH IN STOCKBRIDGE
DAVID DUDLEY FIELD
Born May 20, 1781
(From a Crayon by Lawrence)
Morning and evening the entire family gathered in the sitting-room for prayers, each one with a Bible, and all were required to join in the reading. A chapter was never divided, and in turn the verses were read; often comments were made. Afterwards came the long prayer, when all, except Dr. Field, knelt; he stood, with his hands on the back of his chair, and one of his favorite expressions, and one which greatly impressed the younger members of his family, the more because they did not understand it, was that the Lord would “overturn, overturn, overturn ... until he come, whose right it is.”
That the Puritanic atmosphere was no harsh and unmirthful thing in this parsonage is shown by the story told by one who was a boy in Stockbridge at the time. A hen was sitting in a box in the woodshed; each morning Cyrus looked for the little chickens. One day in an adjoining box he found the