are exposed to danger, it will comfort your heart that Christ holdeth the stars (his ministers) in his right hand, and none can pluck them thence. If any hurt them, they must strike them there. And, therefore, you can suffer nothing but what He permits for gracious ends; and from destructive evils you are altogether safe. And now, my dear sir, as you are appointed an instrument to plant the Heavenly world, may you be honored in begetting many souls to Christ, and saving those who shall be your crown of rejoicing in the day of our dear Lord Jesus. Nor will you fail of endless glory, though your hearers should perish by their own fault. From, dear sir, "Your obedient, affectionate friend, "JOSEPH SMITH. "Cross Creek, Jan. 16, 1790. "REV. MR. PATTERSON." Such were the views and sentiments of this western pioneer of the gospel ministry, and "though dead, he yet speaketh." If the foregoing account of this eminent servant of God be rendered in any measure instrumental in promoting amongst the rising ministry an increased degree of devotion to their sacred work and of love to the souls of men, it will be an abundant compensation for the time and trouble expended in the preparation of this article. To the divine blessing, for this purpose, we commend our humble offering. If this paper shall meet the eye of any of the descendants of the venerated subject of this Memoir, may it contribute to quicken their steps heavenward. J. S. Note. The partner of Mr. Smith's joys and sorrows, who was truly a crown to her husband, Mrs. Esther Smith, survived him for twenty-eight years, and did not reach the goal of her life till she had almost touched the boundaries of fourscore. She was a remarkable woman. Often it might be said "she was an Israelite indeed, and a mother in Israel." She was the daughter of Mr. William Cummin, merchant, of Cecil County, Maryland. Early in life she knew the Lord, and devoted herself to him. In the twenty-second year of her age she was united in marriage to the subject of the foregoing memoir. They had eight children three sons and five daughters; all hopefully the children of God. Six of them gave comfortable ground of hope that they entered the heavenly rest of God's people before their mother. Mary, the wife of the Rev. James Hughes, and Esther, the wife of the Rev. William Wylie, D. D., survived her. But both have long since joined their pious parents in the heavenly Inheritance, as we confidently and joyfully hope. Mrs. Smith lived with, and sustained, and blessed her husband, more than twenty years, saw him triumphantly depart, and pursued her widowed pilgrimage for a still longer period, before she in turn reached the margin of Jordan, on whose banks she had seen her husband enjoying the visions of the Celestial City. The latter part of her life, particularly after her removal to the State of Ohio - for, having selected the family of the Rev. James Hughes as her earthly home, she went with them to Ohio-was peculiarly useful. Being without any particular charge or incumbrance, she spent a great part of her time among the poor, afflicted, and those who were under exercise about the state of their souls. She did much to relieve and procure relief for their distress. A steady member of female praying societies, she did much to unite Christian females of different denominations in these societies; one of which she attended weekly until a few days before her decease, when she became too weak to walk. She gradually declined, without much pain or sickness. Near the close of life, she sometimes wondered why the Lord continued her so long in the world: she feared that she had in some way offended him; and this was a reason why he did not take her home to himself. She said, a short time before her death, that she had no hope but through the perfect righteousness of Christ. She had so often (she thought sincerely) given herself to the Lord, she believed he would not cast her off. She slept sweetly in Jesus on the morning of the 7th of October, 1820, in the 78th year of her age, while the family were engaged in their morning devotions, in which the following hymn was sung, though her death was not at that time immediately expected: "Ye fleeting charms of earth, farewell: Your springs of joy are dry: My soul now seeks another home; "Farewell, ye friends, whose tender care Has long engaged my love; "Cheerful I leave this vale of tears, Where pains and sorrows grow: "No more shall sin disturb my breast; "Fly, then, ye interposing days; Lord, send the summons down: The hand that strikes me to the dust Shall raise me to a crown." CHAPTER II. MANNERS, CUSTOMS AND DOMESTIC CIRCUMSTANCES OF EARLY FRONTIER LIFE. WE cannot suppose that some account of the manners and customs and domestic circumstances of the people among whom our early ministers labored, would be unacceptable-or be deemed out of place in this work. On this subject, however, we shall draw largely, though not exclusively, upon Doddridge's "Notes on the Life and Manners of the first Western Settlers." In a few cases, Mr. Doddridge's descriptions are not alike applicable to every section of the early settlements. He was more conversant, from his residence, with the habits and manners of the Western Virginians; yet, though the inhabitants of the "Pan-Handle," perhaps, principally sat for the picture drawn by his graphic pen, much of his account is equally applicable to all Western Pennsylvania eighty years ago. They were all involved in the same privations, and were obliged to adopt similar personal and domestic usages. The settlers had to depend, for many years, principally for their necessaries, such as iron, nails, salt, and many other things, upon the towns of Chambersburg, Hagerstown, and Winchester; whither they resorted with their pack-horses, carrying furs, ginseng, snake-root, &c., to barter. In 1787, several stores, with what was then considered good stocks of goods, were established at different points, by enterprising men; who found it their interest to supply the articles necessary for a new country. The people themselves being thus accommodated, soon gave up their own eastern trips for such supplies. The merchandise, salt, &c., were still brought out on pack-horses: two men would manage ten or fifteen horses, carrying each about 200 pounds, by tying one to the other in 94 MEANS OF GETTING WAGONS DOWN THE MOUNTAINS. single file-one of the men taking charge of the lead-horse, to pioneer; and the other the hinder one, to keep an eye on the proper adjustment of the roads, and to stir up any that appeared to lag. Bells were indispensable accompaniments to the horses; by which their position could be more easily ascertained in the morning, when hunting up, preparatory to a start. Some grass or leaves were inserted into the bell, to prevent the clapper from operating during the travel of the day. The first wagon-load of merchandise that was brought over the mountains on the southern route, or that now nearly traversed by the national road, was in 1789. They were for Jacob Bowman, who had settled at Brownsville, as a merchant, in 1787, and is deceased but a few years ago. The wagoner was John Hayden, who also resided in Fayette County until his death. He drove four horses, brought out about 2000 pounds, for which he received $3 per 100, and was nearly a month making the trip to and fro, from Hagerstown, Maryland, a distance of about 140 miles. By means of the great improvement in the road, six horses will now haul 7000 or 8000, between the same places, in seven days, for $1 per 100.-Day's Hist. Coll., p. 343. The perilous character of the roads across the mountainsand for some years there were but two, that of Braddock's, and the other cut for General Forbes, leading from Bedford, by Ligonier, to Pittsburg, rendered the management of a loaded wagon no child's play. So precipitous was the descent on the northern route, that it was usual to attach a small sapling, with all its brushy boughs, to the hinder part of the wagon, to act as a drag, to the foot of the mountain. These, in time, accumulated there, by the road-side, to the great puzzlement of those travellers who were not aware of the cause. The task of making new establishments in a remote wilderness, even in a time of profound peace, is sufficiently difficult; but when, in addition to all the unavoidable hardships attendant |