Read Ebook: Bishop Joseph Blount Cheshire: His Life and Work by London Lawrence Foushee Penick Edwin A Edwin Anderson Author Of Introduction Etc

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After his summer's work under William Ruffin and some three months' study in Judge Howard's office, Cheshire was ready to try for his license. On January 1, 1872, he went to Raleigh to be examined by the Supreme Court Justices. It was an oral test and, in Cheshire's own words, was "a very slight and superficial examination" in comparison with those given today. The day after the examination he was informed that he had passed and was granted his license.

There were three sisters, the Gorgons, who dwelt in the Far West, beyond the stream of ocean, in that cold region of Atlas where the sun never shines and the light is always dim. Medusa was one of them, the only mortal of the trio. She was a monster with a past, for in her girlhood she had been the beautiful priestess of Athene, golden-haired and very lovely, whoseepted the offer because it gave him an office and a small salary and did not interfere with his law practice. The company's business was not extensive, and required only a few hours of his time each day. While holding this position he was also treasurer of the Tarboro Building and Loan Association. Again this office demanded little of his time, merely requiring that he receive the money from the secretary weekly and pay it out upon his order.

Cheshire continued the practice of law until the early part of 1878. In summing up his work at the bar, he observed: "I made a living and saved a few hundred dollars. I had no very interesting or important cases, so far as I recall." During his last year of practice, however, he made a little over fifteen hundred dollars, which, for a young lawyer of that period, was doing quite well.

Since leaving St. Clement's Hall in June, 1871, Cheshire had not by any means devoted all of his time and thought to the study and practice of law. He accomplished a great deal more in the summer of 1871 than the study of common law under Mr. William K. Ruffin. It was then that he renewed his acquaintance with his cousin, Miss Annie Huske Webb, who lived in Hillsboro. He had seen this cousin but little since her visit to Tarboro in December, 1865. He always remembered the first time he saw her upon her arrival in Tarboro for that visit and described the meeting thus: "When I looked at her, as she came in out of the rain, and lifted the veil from her face, I thought her the most beautiful person I had ever seen. I think that first impression was never effaced."

In the course of the summer spent in Hillsboro Cheshire saw a good deal of his cousin. It was not long before he realized that he was in love with her. While not possessing a particularly romantic nature, Cheshire was a man of deep emotions and fine sentiments. During his courtship of Miss Webb he composed for her this little poem:

A. H. W.

My Love is a fair white Lily, And she loves not the day's full glare, But she seeks out a quiet valley, And she lifts up her sweet face there. The blue heavens through the branches Look down with their kindly light; And she smiles back a gentle greeting When the stars look through at night. The song-birds sing to her sweetly, And she's rocked by the gentle breeze; And she hides from the storms of Winter 'Midst the roots of the giant trees. She peeps in the crystal streamlet, As she nods in the breezes light: And she knows not her own fair beauty, But is glad that she's pure and white.

With this, the greatest event in his life up to that time, we close the first phase of Cheshire's career. During the period he had grown to manhood, received his scholastic and collegiate education, taught for two years, studied law and practiced it for six years, and had some little part in the business world. All of this training and varied experience gave him a rich background for the great work which lay ahead of him.

It was Cheshire's original plan to attend the General Theological Seminary in New York for a year or two, but Bishop Atkinson and his father dissuaded him from this course because they objected to the Dean of the Seminary and because they felt that its ritualistic influences were too strong. Bishop Atkinson thought that, since Cheshire had had a good classical education, had pursued intellectual interests, and had been reared in a clergyman's family, he could quite adequately do his preparatory work at home. Cheshire accepted the Bishop's advice, and at once began a well laid-out course of reading. He had already read a good many ecclesiastical works, since he had been contemplating this step for some time.

At the end of 1877 he gave up his connection with the Pamlico Insurance and Banking Company, and soon afterwards concluded his legal affairs. In September, 1877, he went to Raleigh to stand his examinations for the diaconate before Rev. Dr. Matthias M. Marshall and Rev. John E. C. Smedes. Having passed his examinations acceptably, Cheshire was ordained deacon by Bishop Atkinson on April 21, 1878, in Calvary Church, Tarboro. His father presented him for ordination. The following Sunday he assisted his father in the morning service and preached his first sermon. Thus he was launched upon a new career in which he was to rise to heights far beyond his modest dreams.

When Dr. Kemp Plummer Battle, President of the University of North Carolina, heard that Cheshire was studying for the ministry, he asked Bishop Atkinson to send him to Chapel Hill. Dr. Battle was a native of Edgecombe County and had known Cheshire and his family for many years. Since the revival of the University in 1875, Rev. Robert B. Sutton, of Pittsboro, had from time to time held services in the Chapel of the Cross. The Chapel Hill churchmen, however, felt that the parish needed a regular and resident minister. The Bishop complied with Dr. Battle's request and informed Cheshire that he was to serve his diaconate in Chapel Hill under the direction of Dr. Sutton. This was a disappointment to Cheshire, for he had hoped he would be able to remain in Edgecombe County and strengthen the church's position there. The Bishop also directed him to hold a regular appointment in the rapidly growing town of Durham, where as yet there was not even an established mission. This was a difficult assignment for a young deacon just beginning his ministry. In Chapel Hill he had to revive an old parish which had fallen somewhat into decay during the hard years of the reconstruction period, while in Durham he had to build from the ground up, commencing with only a handful of church people.

Cheshire came to Chapel Hill in May, and on the nineteenth of that month held his first service in the Chapel of the Cross. President Battle invited him to make his home at his house until he could find a suitable place. Cheshire accepted this generous offer and spent several weeks with the Battles. In consequence of a long illness, contracted soon after his arrival, he did not hold another service in Chapel Hill until the last Sunday in June. The next Sunday he was able to keep his first appointment in Durham, but following this service, he had a serious relapse and was unable to continue his work until early fall.

For a few weeks that fall Cheshire boarded at the hotel, while his wife visited her family in Hillsboro. This gave him an excellent opportunity to come into close contact with the students, many of whom took their meals at the hotel. In this way he came to know a number of students who were not members of his church. Throughout his rectorship in Chapel Hill he made it a point to know all the students who were in any way connected with the Episcopal Church. In a comparatively short time he was on friendly terms with most of the small student body.

Cheshire frankly confessed that in the first exercise of his ministerial duties among the students he felt "great embarrassment" and even some "timidity." He explained: "I had not been accustomed to speak much of my own religious feelings; and I was at a loss how to make a proper approach to the subject of another person's religious duties and convictions." He visited the boys in their rooms when he thought they liked it, but never sought to force himself upon them. Cheshire later declared he did not remember ever approaching a student on the subject of religion without receiving a serious and courteous hearing. Many students seemed to appreciate the interest he took in their religious life. Cheshire himself was only a few years older than many of the undergraduates and, therefore, could understand their point of view and enter sympathetically into their problems. The effectiveness of his first year's work in Chapel Hill was demonstrated when Bishop Lyman made his visitation to the Chapel of the Cross in May, 1879. Cheshire presented to the Bishop for confirmation nine students and two girls of the village. In later years he remarked that this was "one of the most interesting and satisfactory classes I ever presented."

When he first began preaching, Cheshire took great pains in the preparation of his sermons, writing them out in full. He freely admitted he had "no special gifts or talents as a speaker." In discussing the problem of preaching with Cheshire just after his ordination, Bishop Atkinson said he would give him the same advice which Bishop Johns, of Virginia, used to give his young deacons: "Choose a pretty long text, so that if they persecute you in one city, you may flee to another." Cheshire began, in time, to memorize his sermons and then to attempt to preach extemporaneously, but he always felt that his written sermons were better. Concerning the reception of his sermons in Chapel Hill, he stated: "My Chapel Hill congregation seemed to me most considerate and appreciative of my attempts at preaching, even the students of the University, so far as I could judge."

In his congregation Cheshire had some of the most distinguished members of the University faculty. President Battle was his senior warden and sincere friend, who gave him "judicious praise" as well as sound advice as to the pitfalls which a young clergyman might expect to encounter. Dr. J. de Berniere Hooper, Professor of Greek, was in Cheshire's opinion, "the most scholarly and highly cultivated" member of his parish. Professors Ralph Graves and George T. Winston, both young men who were later to win fame, were also members of his congregation. He lived on friendly relations with these and other members of the small faculty.

When Mrs. Cheshire came to Chapel Hill, she and her husband moved to the home of Dr. William P. Mallett, where they lived until the early part of 1879. They then took over the parish rectory, a small four-room house with a kitchen in the back yard. It faced Rosemary Lane and was situated on a two-acre lot, on part of which stands the present rectory. Their families and parishioners furnished the house for them quite comfortably. There was a small debt on the rectory, and, prior to Cheshire's coming to the parish, it had been rented to assist in retiring the obligation. When he moved into the rectory, he agreed to pay the interest on the debt, notwithstanding that his salary was only five hundred dollars a year. It was not easy, even in those days, to live on such a small income, but Cheshire often remarked that his years in Chapel Hill were "as happy, I believe, as possible in this world." He was fortunate in realizing his happiness at the time and often spoke of it to his wife. To make their happiness complete, a second child, Elizabeth Toole, was born to them in the summer of 1879.

Although the parish in Chapel Hill was his chief charge, Cheshire did not think that it had an exclusive claim upon him. He regarded it as a center from which to work. In the fall of 1878 he began to lay definite plans for what was to be an important missionary work in Durham. After surveying the prospects there Cheshire, with the co-operation of his little flock, was able to rent a hall on Main Street which was ordinarily used for public entertainments. Here he held services on the first Sunday in every month. The work in Durham prospered remarkably, considering that the congregation had no church building of their own. Cheshire and his congregation soon realized, however, that if much progress was to be made, they must have a church. The greatest difficulty at first was to find a lot within their means. Finally, one was purchased at a low price because of its undesirability from a business standpoint. In the spring of 1880 the foundations of the little church were laid.

Cheshire never expected, nor did he ever receive, any compensation from the Diocese for his missionary activities. Concerning extra parochial work, he said: "I did not look upon work outside the parish as extra work, for which I should receive extra remuneration or special commendation." Shortly after Cheshire began his work in Durham, the Treasurer of the Diocese sent him a check for twenty dollars, which he promptly returned, saying that he "did not desire to receive anything from the Diocesan Treasury." During his three years of service in Durham the little mission paid him small amounts from time to time, which approximately covered the expenses he incurred. He looked upon his labors for this mission as "a pure work of love and missionary enterprise." In recalling this experience, he declared: "I believe I worked harder and with more enthusiasm in my Mission of St. Philip's, Durham, and afterwards in establishing St. Mark's Church, Mecklenburg County, than in any other work I ever undertook...."

During his ministry in Chapel Hill Cheshire received calls from several parishes, all of which offered him a better salary than he was then receiving, but he usually declined them by return mail. In the winter of 1881 the vestry of St. Matthew's, Hillsboro, and the church in Burlington asked him to take charge of their parishes. This prospect appealed to him strongly, since he would live in Hillsboro, his wife's old home, where they had many kinsfolk and friends. Before taking any action, however, he consulted Bishop Lyman, who replied that he preferred Cheshire to remain in Chapel Hill where he was doing a good work. He accepted the Bishop's decision and declined the call to Hillsboro.

Cheshire quite naturally regretted leaving Chapel Hill, for he had been happy in his work there. He was also reluctant to part with his mission in Durham, which was created in a very real sense by his own labors. Recalling the first three years of his ministry, he declared: "I look upon my life at Chapel Hill as my pupilage, the completion of my training for my life work."

Cheshire entered upon his work in Charlotte with a feeling that here he had an excellent opportunity for extending the influence of his church, particularly in the missionary field. He did not feel any fear or trepidation at the thought of this larger and more difficult work, although he had no great confidence in his own ability. He went to his new parish with the determination to give to it his best, and throughout his rectorate there he never lost sight of that ideal. When some of his friends heard that he was going to St. Peter's, they told him he was taking over one of the hardest and most undesirable parishes in the Diocese. This was indeed a discouraging description of his new work, but after serving twelve years at St. Peter's, Cheshire remarked that he had found nothing which would justify such a characterization of that parish.

Cheshire did not bring his wife and children to Charlotte at once but left them in Chapel Hill for the summer. During this time he lived with Mr. John Wilkes, the senior warden of the parish, and took his meals at a boarding house. Finding no parish rectory in Charlotte, he bought a house on North Church Street. This purchase took all he had saved from his law practice, plus an additional thousand dollars which he had to borrow. His salary from St. Peter's being twelve hundred dollars a year, he was able to carry a debt of this amount. With a salary this size he felt that he had been "raised to a condition of affluence." In an exuberance of generosity he offered to become responsible for the support of an orphan in one of the foreign mission orphanages. For some reason his proposal was not accepted. It was not long, however, before he found that his salary was little if any above his actual needs.

One of Cheshire's predecessors at St. Peter's was the Rev. Benjamin S. Bronson, rector of the parish from 1867 to 1878. He had been greatly interested in institutional work, and had begun several enterprises in the course of his ministry in Charlotte. None of these, however, was carried to a successful conclusion under his direction. Mr. Bronson's capacity seemed to be limited to merely initiating worth-while projects. His efforts were not futile, for he instilled in his congregation a deep interest in this type of work. Cheshire often said that what he was able to accomplish in Charlotte was due in part to the enthusiasm for institutional work which Mr. Bronson had aroused in his parishioners. He confessed that he did not have the type of mind which readily produced original ideas: "I think I can only methodize and put into practice ideas I get from others." Although he exaggerated his lack of originality, he was strikingly successful in taking a good idea or suggestion and making it work.

When Cheshire came to Charlotte he found one of Mr. Bronson's charities still in existence, although in a sadly neglected condition. This was a four-room house which was known as St. Peter's Home and Hospital. The good work which was being done in a very small way by this institution strongly appealed to Cheshire. He regularly visited the sick there, and soon began to lay plans for enlarging its usefulness. For this purpose he enlisted the aid of a retired clergyman, Rev. Lucian Holmes, who was then conducting in Charlotte a small school for boys. Mr. Holmes visited the people of the city, soliciting contributions ranging from ten cents to one dollar a month. His efforts were successful, and in a comparatively short time the little hospital was assured of a modest monthly income. It was planned that the women on the Board of Managers of the hospital should collect the pledges. Thus, under Cheshire's direction, St. Peter's hospital was firmly established and has continued to grow in usefulness to the community from that time to the present day.

Shortly after becoming rector of St. Peter's, Cheshire began to take an active interest in the church's work among the Negroes. He found among a large Negro population only one communicant. Prior to the Civil War Negroes had worshiped with the whites, sitting in galleries erected for their use. Following the war and reconstruction, however, the church had of necessity been forced to curtail its work among the Negroes. He recognized in this condition an opportunity for a great work. Since his parish was large and demanded the greater part of his time, he asked Bishop Lyman to send him an unmarried clergyman who could devote all his efforts to the Negro work. The Bishop complied with his request, and in the spring of 1882 sent Rev. Charles C. Quin to Charlotte. Quin received a stipend of two hundred dollars a year from the Diocese, which Cheshire supplemented with fifty dollars out of his own pocket. In addition, Quin lived with the Cheshires, who gave him his room and board.

After securing an assistant for the Negro work, Cheshire's next step was to find a place in which to worship. He found an old house in the Negro section of Charlotte, which he bought and remodeled sufficiently to make it serve as a mission. He named the little chapel St. Michael and All Angels. Although Quin was placed in charge of this mission, Cheshire held an evening service there every second Sunday. In this way he was able to keep in personal contact with the congregation.

The work progressed so well that it was not long before the need for a larger church was apparent. Seeing this need, Cheshire solicited contributions for a new church from his parishioners and from various churchmen throughout the Diocese. He sent Quin to Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut with letters to his friends in those states, asking for assistance. Cheshire and Quin were fairly successful in their efforts to raise funds for the new church, and in the spring of 1883 the cornerstone was laid. In the course of the year the nave and chancel were completed, while the transepts were left to be finished at some future time. It was a well-built brick church and large enough to allow for considerable growth in the congregation. It stands today as a testimonial to Cheshire's zeal in advancing the work of the church. Shortly after it was built, Quin resigned and was succeeded by Rev. Primus P. Alston, a colored clergyman, who remained in charge of the parish for over twenty years. St. Michael and All Angels was now practically independent of St. Peter's, although it was still under Cheshire's general direction.

While in the process of establishing St. Michael's, Cheshire was at the same time engaged in another missionary enterprise. He found in a section of Charlotte, known as Mechanicsville, a number of families who were members of the Episcopal Church but were not connected with St. Peter's parish. Seeing an opportunity to extend the work of the parish, he determined to bring the services of the church to these people. He began by establishing a Sunday school in an abandoned schoolhouse in this section. The Sunday school gradually expanded into a little mission, which he called St. Martin's. Not long after the mission was started, the building in which the services were held was destroyed by fire. Not permitting this misfortune to discourage him, he began almost at once to lay plans for the erection of a chapel on the same location.

After negotiating with the Charlotte school board, he was able to buy the property for fifteen hundred dollars, to be paid in three installments. Cheshire himself paid the first installment of five hundred dollars, while two of his parishioners guaranteed the remainder. He procured his part of the cost by selling a lot in Tarboro which his father had given him. When the land was bought, he began the work of raising money for the erection of a chapel. His loyal friend, Mr. John Wilkes, came forward as usual and supported him generously with both time and money. Other friends came to his assistance, and work was soon started on the building. Cheshire organized the Guild of St. Martin to help him in carrying forward the work on the chapel. Some time before it was completed, he began to hold a service in the little church every Sunday night. This service was in addition to three others which he held each Sunday at St. Peter's. Thus, Cheshire had literally built from the ground up the mission of St. Martin's. It maintained a steady growth and in time became one of the larger parishes of the Diocese.

There seems to have been almost no limit to Cheshire's missionary fervor. He was not content to confine his labors to the bounds of Charlotte. Shortly after coming to St. Peter's he visited Monroe, and there he found a number of churchmen who at one time had been served by the rector at Wadesboro. At the request of these churchmen Cheshire gave them a monthly service, being assisted for a time by Mr. Quin. In 1885 the work at Monroe was turned over to Rev. Edwin A. Osborne. During his rectorate at St. Peter's Cheshire also held services from time to time at Rockingham, Mooresville, Mount Mourne, and Davidson College. He did not, however, succeed in establishing a permanent mission at any one of these places. If he had had more time to devote to this distant missionary work, he might have met with better success.

In the fall of 1883 there came to Cheshire an opportunity to do what he later characterized as "the most entirely gratifying and successful work of all my missionary undertakings." Columbus W. McCoy, of Long Creek Township, Mecklenburg County, invited Cheshire to hold a service in his community, stating that a number of people in his neighborhood had manifested an interest in the Episcopal Church. McCoy had formerly been a Presbyterian, but having become acquainted with the Book of Common Prayer, he expressed a desire to join the Episcopal Church. Cheshire accepted the invitation, and on November 18 held his first service there in the community schoolhouse. He passed the night with Mr. McCoy and spent the next day in visiting the people of the neighborhood. He felt that "very little can be accomplished in a new field by merely having a service, even a Sunday service, unless time is given to personal familiar visiting from house to house, to know the people, and to establish some influence among them." He held a second service that night, and returned to Charlotte the following morning. This same procedure was followed in his subsequent visits.

In December Cheshire went again to Long Creek, but in consequence of bad weather, he did not return again until the spring. Beginning in May, 1884, he held monthly services in the Long Creek community. Observing the growing interest of the community in the church, he decided to hold a series of services for them from August 12 through the 16th. He secured the assistance of Rev. Dr. George B. Wetmore and Rev. Mr. Osborne. The services were held in Beach Cliff Schoolhouse and were so well attended that part of the congregation was forced to sit out-of-doors. Cheshire and his assistants took turns in preaching in the morning and evening. In the afternoons they visited those families who had shown an interest in becoming members of the church. In the course of the week they baptized sixteen persons, for the most part children, and at the end of the services fourteen adults signified their desire to be confirmed. At the close of the week's preaching Cheshire was presented with a petition signed by eleven persons who asked that they be organized as a mission under the name of St. Mark's Chapel. This was indeed a successful conclusion to the week's work.

On October 25 Bishop Lyman visited Long Creek and confirmed sixteen persons. Following the confirmation he organized the congregation as a mission to be known as St. Mark's. Cheshire continued his monthly visits to the new mission until January, 1885, at which time he turned this work over to Rev. Edwin A. Osborne, who had already taken charge of Cheshire's congregation in Monroe. Upon assuming this work Mr. Osborne moved from Henderson County to Charlotte. During the remainder of Cheshire's rectorate at St. Peter's, he and Mr. Osborne became intimate friends and co-operated generously in each other's work.

Although Cheshire devoted most of his time and energy to St. Peter's parish and its missions, he did not neglect his duty to the Diocese. He attended all of the diocesan conventions and took an active and significant part in their deliberations. Probably the most important action taken by any convention during his ministry was that relating to the division of the Diocese. The question of dividing the church in North Carolina into two dioceses had been discussed from time to time by the conventions since the election in 1873 of Bishop Lyman as assistant bishop. Bishop Atkinson had favored a division at one time, but when the question was placed squarely before the convention of 1877, he came out strongly against it. The large number of clergy and laity who favored division dropped the proposal for the time-being out of deference to Bishop Atkinson, who, they felt, did not have much longer to serve. Upon his death in January, 1881, the question was again brought forward. At the convention of 1882, held in Calvary Church, Tarboro, Dr. M. M. Marshall, rector of Christ Church, Raleigh, introduced resolutions declaring the sentiment of the people on division and calling for a committee to consider proposals for the erection of a new diocese. The convention approved Dr. Marshall's resolutions, and the Bishop appointed a special committee to report upon the subject.

After some study of the proposal this committee submitted a majority report calling for a division of the Diocese. Bishop Lyman, who during Bishop Atkinson's life-time had advocated the formation of a new diocese, now reversed his position. Upon hearing the report of the special committee, the Bishop delivered "an impassioned attack upon the report." The opposition of the Bishop led to a long and, at times, acrimonious discussion. When the question was finally voted upon, the committee's report was adopted by a large majority of the clergy and laity. The convention appointed a committee of clergymen and laymen to confer with the Bishop upon the details of the division, to obtain his consent, and to report to the next diocesan convention. Cheshire was made a member of this committee.

St. Peter's parish, Charlotte, was host to the diocesan convention of 1883. The most pressing and important business of this convention was the question of forming a new diocese. On the second day the Committee on Conference with the Bishop made its report. The committee stated that after a consultation with the Bishop it found that he was opposed to a division of the Diocese because he felt that one bishop in good health could do the work for the entire state, and that the church in North Carolina was not financially able to support two bishops and two diocesan organizations. The Bishop told the committee, however, that he would consent to the erection of a new diocese provided a large majority of clergy and laity desired it, the line of division to be satisfactory to him, and the permanent funds to be divided equally between the two dioceses. Following the report the convention voted on the question: forty-two clergymen voted for division, and eleven against; twenty-nine parishes voted for, and ten against. Cheshire voted for the creation of a new diocese, as he had done in the convention the year before.

When the question of a territorial division came up for discussion, Cheshire moved that the new diocese be composed of the counties of Hertford, Bertie, Martin, Pitt, Greene, Wayne, Sampson, Cumberland, and Robeson, and all that part of the state located between those counties and the Atlantic coast. Cheshire later withdrew his motion when the special Committee on a Line of Division presented an amended report which embodied in substance his recommendation. The convention unanimously adopted the amended report. Cheshire was in favor of placing the counties of Edgecombe and Halifax in the eastern Diocese and retaining Cumberland in the old Diocese. When he saw, however, that Bishop Lyman would not give up Edgecombe and Halifax, he recommended that Cumberland should be included in the new division. This was the arrangement finally adopted.

After an agreement had been reached on the line of demarcation, Cheshire offered the following resolutions: that the convention of 1883 ratify the work of the convention of 1882 relative to a division of the Diocese; that the Bishop of the Diocese and the General Convention of the church be requested to give their consent to this procedure; and that all the securities and properties of the church in North Carolina be equally divided between the two dioceses, as should be agreed upon by a committee representing both. Cheshire's resolutions were voted upon separately, and were all adopted. Following their approval the convention received a letter from Bishop Lyman announcing his consent to the formation of a new diocese. Thus was decided an important, and vexing, problem of the church in North Carolina.

The convention of 1883 was the first in which Cheshire had taken a significant part, but from that time forward his influence and counsel became increasingly important. He was made chairman of the committee on the division of diocesan properties. His committee had a difficult task in dividing the permanent funds of the church to the satisfaction of both dioceses. The problem caused a few very bitter discussions in several succeeding conventions. Cheshire usually led the discussions, often taking the side of the new diocese against Bishop Lyman and a majority in the convention. More often than not he won his point, since his opponents rarely took the pains to make themselves fully acquainted with the facts. Cheshire was sometimes accused of being discourteous in his manner towards the Bishop when they disagreed. It can be fairly said, however, that he was never intentionally so. In a letter to the Bishop he remarked that he often spoke excitedly and impetuously upon any subject about which he felt very strongly, and that this characteristic was sometimes interpreted as discourtesy. Cheshire had the highest respect for Bishop Lyman and admired him both as a bishop and a man. Nevertheless, it was almost inevitable that two such decided and forthright characters as Lyman and Cheshire should have pronounced disagreements.

One of Cheshire's most valuable contributions to the diocesan conventions was his services on the Committee on Canons. He was a member of this committee from 1884 through 1893, with the exception of 1887-88, serving as its chairman for several years. He made himself thoroughly acquainted with the canons of the church, and while serving on the committee, he did most of its work. During these years debates on the canons occupied much of the time of the annual conventions. Long after becoming bishop, Cheshire remarked that he was happy to observe that this was no longer true, and that "We have come to be interested in more important business." He did not mean to belittle the value of canonical law, but rather to emphasize the importance of other work.

In 1887 Cheshire made a revision of the canons, expecting the convention of that year to call for a revisal. He also carefully annotated the canons and the articles of the diocesan constitution. The convention of 1887 did call for a revision to be made and be presented to it the next year. However, Cheshire was "surprised and disappointed" when the Bishop did not reappoint him to the Committee on Canons. Hearing of the work Cheshire had already done on the canons, Dr. Kemp P. Battle suggested that he should present to the next convention his revision as a substitute for the one to be proposed by the committee. Cheshire decided to follow this suggestion. When the committee presented its report to the convention of 1888, he rose to say that he had prepared a revision of the canons the year before and had been advised by some of his friends to offer it as a substitute. Several requests were made from the floor that he should explain his work. Following his explanation a motion was made that his revisal be adopted in place of that of the Committee on Canons. The motion was carried by a large majority, and after making several minor changes, the convention adopted Cheshire's revision. Its action was a signal tribute to the high character of Cheshire's work.

From time to time Cheshire served on other regular and special committees. He was a member of the Executive Missionary Committee from 1885 to 1891, and a member of the Board of Managers of the Thompson Orphanage from 1886 through 1893. In all his activities he manifested a zealous interest in the affairs of the Diocese. In consequence of his work in the diocesan conventions and his productive ministry in Charlotte, he came to be recognized as one of the outstanding clergymen of the state.

The sense of youth in it all was perhaps the dominating impression--the youth that was yet old as the world in experience and discovery of the true meaning of life. The young Christ was rejuvenating the world, and all things were being made new by him.

This is the climax of the book. He meets Lucian the aged, who for a moment darkens his dawning faith, but that which has come to him has been no casual emotion, no forced or spectacular conviction. He does not leap to the recognition of Christianity at first sight, but very quietly realises and accepts it as that secret after which his pagan idealism had been all the time groping. The story closes amid scenes of plague and earthquake and martyrdom in which he and Cornelius are taken prisoners, and he dies at last a Christian. "It was the same people who, in the grey, austere evening of that day, took up his remains, and buried them secretly, with their accustomed prayers; but with joy also, holding his death, according to their generous view in this matter, to have been of the nature of a martyrdom; and martyrdom, as the Church had always said, was a kind of Sacrament with plenary grace."

The spiritual stages through which Marius passes on his journey towards this goal are most delicately portrayed. In the main these are three, which, though they recur and intertwine in his experience, yet may be fairly stated in their natural order and sequence as normal types of such spiritual progress.

The first of these stages is a certain vague fear of evil, which seems to be conscience hardly aware of itself as such. It is "the sense of some unexplored evil ever dogging his footsteps," which reached its keenest poignancy in a constitutional horror of serpents, but which is a very subtle and undefinable thing, observable rather as an undertone to his consciousness of life than as anything tangible enough to be defined or accounted for by particular causes. On the journey to Rome, the vague misgivings took shape in one definite experience. "From the steep slope a heavy mass of stone was detached, after some whisperings among the trees above his head, and rushing down through the stillness fell to pieces in a cloud of dust across the road just behind him, so that he felt the touch upon his heel." That was sufficient, just then, to rouse out of its hiding-place his old vague fear of evil--of one's "enemies." Such distress was so much a matter of constitution with him, that at times it would seem that the best pleasures of life could but be snatched hastily, in one moment's forgetfulness of its dark besetting influence. A sudden suspicion of hatred against him, of the nearness of enemies, seemed all at once to alter the visible form of things. When tempted by the earth-bound philosophy of the early period of his development, "he hardly knew how strong that old religious sense of responsibility, the conscience, as we call it, still was within him--a body of inward impressions, as real as those so highly valued outward ones--to offend against which, brought with it a strange feeling of disloyalty, as to a pehe participated was the founding of the Good Samaritan Hospital for Negroes. The movement for the hospital was initiated by Mrs. John Wilkes, with whom Cheshire co-operated in every way. He devoted much time to raising the money for the purchase of a lot. In 1888 he laid the cornerstone of the hospital and three years later officiated at its formal opening. The Good Samaritan was the first hospital for Negroes to be established in North Carolina.

In the course of his pastorate in Charlotte Cheshire was on the friendliest of terms with the ministers of the other denominations, although he sometimes strongly differed with them. He was a member of the local Ministerial Association, serving for a time as its vice-president. The association often passed resolutions inviting popular preachers to hold revivals in Charlotte. Cheshire, not in sympathy with professional revivalists, customarily opposed this procedure.

When the association once invited the well-known preacher, Sam Jones, to hold a series of services in Charlotte for ten days, all the ministers except Cheshire closed their churches during the revival. At the time, he was criticized rather severely for his lack of co-operation. Some eighteen months later Jones announced he was returning for a second revival, although he had received no invitation. Hearing of his plans, the Baptist pastor, at the next meeting of the Ministerial Association, proposed a resolution that the ministers of the town should not close their churches during Jones' visit, nor co-operate with him. He declared that, while his church had gained a good many members immediately following the revivalist's services, most of them had by this time deserted him, and the whole effect of Jones' preaching had been to lower and demoralize the religious life of his congregation. The other ministers concurred in his opinion. Cheshire, however, objected to the resolution on the grounds that he would not oppose any man who, as far as he knew, was "honestly trying to preach the Gospel as he understood it." He opposed it also as a matter of policy, since, in his opinion, nothing would please Jones more than to be able to say that "a lot of little two-by-four preachers got together, and voted to keep Sam Jones out of Charlotte." Cheshire's argument convinced the other clergymen that he was right, and the resolution was dropped. The incident well illustrates his keen sense of fairness and good judgment.

Cheshire's domestic and social life in Charlotte was happy and interesting. Although his salary was not large, he was able to make his family reasonably comfortable. When he and Mrs. Cheshire left Chapel Hill, they had two children, Elizabeth and Sarah. During their twelve years in Charlotte four other children were born to them--Joseph Blount, Annie, Godfrey, and James Webb. This was a large family to support on a clergyman's salary, but by good management they were able to make their life pleasant. The Cheshires were hospitable people and enjoyed entertaining their friends. The Dean of the Convocation of Charlotte and the Diocesan Evangelist, as well as many other visiting clergymen, usually stayed with them when visiting St. Peter's parish.

Cheshire made many friends in Charlotte outside of his congregation as well as among his parishioners. He accomplished a great deal in building up a more friendly attitude on the part of the other denominations towards the Episcopal Church. The fearless and positive stand he always took on questions involving the principles and policies of his church, while antagonizing some people for a time, in the end won him many admirers and the respect of all.

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