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716 lines
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Plaintext
11 page printout, page 1 to 11
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This file, its printout, or copies of either
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are to be copied and given away, but NOT sold.
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Bank of Wisdom, Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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A Biographical Appreciation of
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ROBERT G. INGERSOLL
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by Herman E. Kittredge
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**** ****
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INGERSOLL
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A
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BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
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by
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HERMAN E. KITTREDGE
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1911
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**** ****
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CHAPTER 1.
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FROM EIGHTEEN THIRTY-THREE TO
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EIGHTEEN FORTY.
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England has her Stratford, Scotland has her Alloway, and
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America, too, has her Dresden. For there, on August 11, 1833, was
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born the greatest and noblest of the Western World; an immense
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personality, -- unique, lovable, sublime; the peerless orator of
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all time, and as true a poet as Nature ever held in tender clasp
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upon her loving breast, and, in words coined for the chosen few,
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told of the joys and sorrows, hopes, dreams, and fears of universal
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life; a patriot whose golden words and deathless deeds were worthy
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of the Great Republic; a philanthropist, real and genuine; a
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philosopher whose central theme was human love, -- who placed "the
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holy hearth of home" higher than the altar of any god; an
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iconoclast, a builder -- a reformer, perfectly poised, absolutely
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honest, and as fearless as truth itself -- the most aggressive and
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formidable foe of superstition -- the most valiant champion of
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reason -- Robert G. Ingersoll.
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Dresden, Torrey Township, Yates County, N.Y., lies a tranquil
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village on the western shore of Seneca Lake. Passing over its
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history, which would take us back to the stirring days of redskin
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and Tory, -- to "old, unhappy far-off things, and battles long
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ago," -- we may note that it is a hamlet typical of the hundreds
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which have gradually arisen from the modest wants and necessities
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of rural New York and New England.
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In this handful of buildings with a classic name, there is
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little to recall the splendor of the Saxon city. No palace "of rare
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and nameless marble" tells of imperial grandeur; and in no church
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or gallery has any master left his wealth of art. Its finest street
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would never remind one of the Schloss or the Prager; and through
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its midst no Elbe flows dreamful of the sea. Indeed, there is
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nothing, either within or around, which would lead one oblivious of
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its name to associate the Dresden of the American lake with the
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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1
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INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
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Dresden of the German river, nor to suspect that it was entitled to
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a special place in the memory of mankind -- nothing in its
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embellishments, its environment, its quiet atmosphere, to suggest
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the origin of him whose unheralded coming was destined to transform
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a humble hamlet into a shrine for many millions of the human race.
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As at Stratford there is nothing outward to indicate the source of
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that "intellectual ocean whose waves touched all the shores of
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thought"; as at Alloway no muse or goddess stands ready to tell why
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the world will forever keep green with its tears "the banks and
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braes o' bonnie Duon"; as in the "woods of Kentucky" no century --
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storied rock reveals the secret of him who broke the shackles of a
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race and preserved the sublime unity of a nation: so at Dresden, --
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that veriest misnomer, -- there is naught to account for him who
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possessed at once the language of Shakespeare, the tenderness of
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Burns, the justice and wisdom of Lincoln -- the genius, the
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goodness, the heroism, to strike the mental manacles from millions
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of his fellows and create an epoch in intellectual progress.
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2.
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Ingersoll himself has said, that "great men have been
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belittled by biography." He might have added, that great
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biographies have been belittled by genealogy. Why? Because, in the
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present state of knowledge, the utmost possibility of genealogy,
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namely, the establishment of heredity, is irrelevant in biography,
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the story of a life. Primarily, biography deals with the what and
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the how. The why, that is, the inherent causes of the phenomena
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produced, -- the secret of genius, -- belongs in the province of
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natural science, -- of anatomy, physiology, and histology, -- of
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pathology, physiological chemistry, and psychology.
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By proving that a man resembled his mother, what do we
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accomplish? We prove that she resembled him. We merely add to the
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evidence for heredity. If we are to demonstrate the real origin, --
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the ultimate cause, -- of his genius, we must next show why she was
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as she was. It will not do to say that he was metaphysical because
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she was Scotch, nor that he was witty because she was Irish. Maybe
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the Scotch are sometimes witty. So the question still is, Why was
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she metaphysical? or Why was she witty? And until we are able to
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answer such questions, our dealings with genealogy cannot rise in
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importance and dignity above mere curiosity.
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Why is it, that, while a vast majority of mankind merely
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vegetate, -- manifest only so much mental power as is requisite to
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provide for the gratification of their physical appetites, -- there
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occurs, once in a few hundred years, such a combination of the
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elements as to produce a Shakespeare, a Burns, a Lincoln, or an
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Ingersoll? We do not know; and if we could demonstrate that the
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ancestors of such men are invariably great, we should still be in
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darkness. In the undiscovered vaults of being, nature has locked
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the secret of genius, and into the Styx of human ignorance has she
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cast the key.
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Beyond the fact that the brain is the exclusive organ of mind,
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we can scarcely go with certain step. Of the exact origin of
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thought, or even of consciousness, we have no knowledge. All that
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we positively know, can be told in few words. We know that the
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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2
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INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
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brain of the average adult male (Caucasian) weighs about forty-nine
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and one-half ounces; that, usually, a brain weighing from twenty-
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three to thirty-four ounces belongs to a very inferior person; that
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a brain weighing less than twenty-three ounces belongs to an idiot;
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and that, usually, a brain weighing sixty-five ounces or more
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belongs either to a very wise man or to a fool. Perhaps we may be
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somewhat more definite and say, that, between the two extremes of
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normality (thirty-four ounces and sixty-five ounces), the
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manifestations of a brain depend upon its form, the number and the
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depth of its convolutions and sulci, and, probably above all, upon
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its chemical composition. But the physicochemical constitution that
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is essential to any particular form or degree of genius, or,
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indeed, to mediocrity, is unknown.
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There is cause to believe, that an exact knowledge of the
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latter will some day be acquired and if reduced to intelligible
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terms. Then, may genealogy reasonably occupy a conspicuous place in
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biography. Meantime, it seems that, in telling the story of a life,
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we should concern ourselves chiefly with what the subject did, and
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how he did it.
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Ingersoll himself clearly recognized the present futility of
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attempting to account for genius with a tedious list of ancestral
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names. Without denying that genius is the necessary and inevitable
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fruit of the ancestral tree, he saw that the fruit was, to say the
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least, no more mysterious than the tree itself; and he felt the
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uselessness of trying" to account for one mystery by another." This
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explains his indifference to genealogy when he said, that he knew
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as much of his ancestors as they did of him; and it is in harmony
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with the following extracts from his lecture on Shakespeare: --
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"It has been said that a man of genius should select his
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ancestors with great care -- and yet there does not seem to be as
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much in heredity as most people think. The children of the great
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are often small. Pygmies are born in palaces, while over the
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children of genius is the roof of straw. Most of the great are like
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mountains, with the valley of ancestors on one side and the
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depression of poverty on the other."
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We account for this man as we do for the highest mountain, the
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greatest river, the most perfect gem. We can only say: He was."
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3.
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But while the several reasons indicated in these quotations
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and the paragraph preceding them must be accepted as the basis of
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his belief in the futility of endeavoring, in the traditional way,
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to discover the secret of genius in general, and of that of
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Shakespeare in particular, they afford no explanation of his lack
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of interest in a personal biography, nor of his decided aversion to
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autobiography. We must look further for an explanation of the
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regrettable fact, that, after one of the most eventful and
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important lives of the nineteenth century was "rounded with a
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sleep," the world was not vouchsafed the privilege of perusing,
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with the additional pleasure born of the assurance of perfect
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intimacy, candor, and authenticity, the most instructive and
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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3
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INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
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inspiring of stories. But such explanation is by no means hard to
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find. Indeed, it is instantly apparent to all who are familiar with
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the personality of Ingersoll. It stands out, with a clearness that
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almost transcends modesty itself, in that inherent modesty of true
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greatness which was his, and in a serene, abiding content to be
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known through his works alone. We need no stronger proof of this
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than is contained in his invariable oral reply, "No biography," to
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writers, who frequently besout him for personal data, and in a
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private letter answering a communication in which the present
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author had inclosed, for authorization, the manuscript of an
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article of a biographical and complimentary nature. Aside from the
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contents of the letter itself, from which I quote, its date, August
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19, 1898, clearly indicates how great was its writer's indifference
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to biography and contemporary praise; the author's communication,
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written in the early spring, evidently not having awakened
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sufficient interest to prevent its being mislaid for some three
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months: --
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"Do not trouble yourself about this business. It will all come
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out right at last. Of course, I am greatly obliged to you. At the
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same time, I know how far I fall short."
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And an examination of his posthumous " Fragments" shows that
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he had already written (ten years previously) the following lines:
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--
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"I have never given to any one a sketch of my life. According
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to my idea a life should not be written until it has been lived."
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4.
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As perhaps a majority of geniuses belonging to families of
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more than two children were either the oldest or the youngest of
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those families, it may or may not be interesting to note that
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Robert G. Ingersoll was the youngest of five, -- two sisters and
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three brothers; but it certainly is interesting, and amusing as
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well, that fate, with wonted irony, should decree that his father
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was to be an orthodox preacher, and that a part of his own name was
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to be borrowed from another preacher, -- Rev. Beriah Green.
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Rev. John Ingersoll, upon whom destiny bestowed by far the
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greater of these honors, -- the greatest that was ever bestowed
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upon a clergyman, -- was born at Pittsford, Rutland County, Vt., on
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July 5, 1792, his parents being Ebenezer and Margaret (Whitcomb)
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Ingersoll, both of English descent. He graduated from Middlebury
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College (then and still non-denominational), Middlebury, Vt., with
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the degree of bachelor of arts, in 1821. On September 25th of that
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year, at Ogdensburg, N.Y., he married Miss Mary Livingston. Having
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studied theology with Rev. Josiah Hopkins, D.D., New Haven, Vt., he
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was ordained a Congregational preacher, in 1823, and was pastor of
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the Congregational Church at Pittsford from that year until 1826.
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In addition to the education and culture ordinarily implied by
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the regular collegiate and the private theological studies above
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indicated, Rev. John Ingersoll possessed superior native
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endowments, and was most proficient in Hebrew, and in the Greek and
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the Latin classics. Moreover, he was an extensive reader, -- withal
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a man of wide and profound learning.
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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4
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INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
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However, that he was, in the beginning of his ministerial
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career, as absolutely orthodox, in spite of all his learning, as
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Jonathan Edwards, for example, had been in spite of his, is
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certain. That he was intellectually hospitable in his later years
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is equally certain. "He was grand enough," writes Robert, "to say
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to me, that I had the same right to my opinion that he had to his.
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He was great enough to tell me to read the Bible for myself, to be
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honest with myself, and if after reading it I concluded it was not
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the word of God, that it was my duty to say so." (v 148) We have
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another statement by Robert, that, for many years, he and his
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father were wont to discuss with each other the questions in which
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both were so profoundly interested, and that, "long before" the
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father's death, the latter utterly gave up," as unworthy of a place
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in the mind of an intelligent man, the infamous dogma of eternal
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fire; that he regarded with abhorrence many passages in the Old
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Testament; that he believed man, in another world, would have the
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eternal opportunity of doing right, and that the pity of God would
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last as long as the suffering of man." (v 149). Even more
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significant is the fact that, on his death-bed, the father
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requested Robert to read to him, not the Hebrew nor the Christian
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Scriptures, but pagan Plato on immortality.
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It has been widely stated, and perhaps as widely believed,
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that Rev. Mr. Ingersoll was harsh and tyrannical, particularly in
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his domestic relations, and that it was this circumstance which
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caused his gifted son to rebel against the faith. On this point, I
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quote, as far as pertinent, a letter from Robert to a friend: --
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"The story that the inkindness of my father drove me into
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infidelity is simply an orthodox lie. The bigots, unable to meet my
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arguments. are endeavoring to dig open the grave and calumniate the
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dead. This they are willing to do in defence of their infamous
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dogmas. * * * My father was a kind and living man. He loved his
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children tenderly and intensely. There was no sacrifice he would
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not and did not gladly make for them. He had one misfortune, and
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that was his religion. He believed the Bible, and in the shadow of
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that frightful book he passed his life. He believed in the truth of
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its horrors, and for years, thinking of the fate of the human race,
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his eyes were filled with tears. * * * My father was infinitely
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better than * * * the religion he preached. And those stories about
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his unkindness are maliciously untrue. * * *"
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And elsewhere:
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"He was a good, a brave and honest man. I loved him living,
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and I love him dead. I never said to him an unkind word, and in my
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heart there never was of him an unkind thought."
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However, it is admitted that, with all his excellent
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qualities, Rev. Mr. Ingersoll, like so many other parents of his
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generation, was unduly exacting; that he adhered too literally to
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the biblical injunction concerning rod and child. There is good
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evidence that this attitude, doubtless always unjustifiable, was
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particularly so in the case of Robert. That the youngster in whom
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maturity found a sense of humor and a command of wit and raillery
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which would have obliged the Reverend Ingersoll himself to laugh at
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the Mosaic cosmology (even while he proclaimed its divinity!), was
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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5
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INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
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aglow with life, and given to fun and pranks, there is no doubt.
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But there certainly was nothing wanton or perverse in Robert
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Ingersoll the boy. There were the same good heart and the same
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great candor with which Robert Ingersoll the man appealed, as by
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irresistible magic, to the goodness and the candor in others. To
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his playmates, the boy was known as "Honest Bob"; and the fitness
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of the epithet his father at length came to recognize. Some of the
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ever-dutiful (numerous enough in every age and community!) were
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wont to inform the clergyman of the doings and sayings of his
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iconoclastic son. Confronted with charges,Robert would enter a
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demurrer; but the clergyman's faith in his informants was
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sufficiently strong, for a time at least, to bring the proverbial
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rod into immediate requisition. Afterwards, he would discover that
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Robert had told the truth, just as many another clergyman has since
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discovered. The effect of these chastisement was anything but good.
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With most boys, it might, perhaps, have been at least indifferent.
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But the mere thought that an own parent could inflict him with
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physical suffering, whether or not, in common parlance, he
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"deserved" it, was itself a greater punishment than should have
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been imposed upon the uncommonly sensitive and affectionate nature
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of Robert Ingersoll. Nevertheless, the clergyman's parental love
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(no doubt reciprocated by the rest of his children also) was, as
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already shown, returned in generous measure by Robert; and when, on
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Sunday May 1, 1859, at Peoria, Rev. Mr. Ingersoll breathed last, at
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the home of another son, it was in the arms of the future's "Great
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Agnostic."
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Robert G. Ingersoll's mother, Mary Livingston Ingersoll, was
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burn at Lisbon, St. Lawrence County, N.Y., on November 9, 1799. Her
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parents were Judge Robert Livingston and Agnes Oceanica (Adams)
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Livingston. The former was of the noted colonial family from which
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Livingston Manor, Livingston County, etc., derived their names. To
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this family belonged Philip Livingston, who was one of the signers
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of the Declaration, and Robert R. Livingston, who was one of the
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committee of five appointed to draft that document, and who, as
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chancellor of the State of New York, administered the oath to
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Washington as the first president of the United States.
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If Robert G. Ingersoll resembled any of his ancestors, either
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direct or collateral, it was Edward Livingston, the jurist,
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statesman, and philanthropist. At any rate, it is interesting to
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note, at this late day, the opinion of one who was competent to
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pass judgment on such a matter, and who had observed both
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Livingston and Ingersoll. John Church Hamilton, the biographer and
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historian (a son of Alexander Hamilton), once came upon the
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platform, at the conclusion of a lecture by Ingersoll, and, in the
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course of the ensuing conversation, assured the latter of the
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resemblance just mentioned. At this the orator was by no meat's
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displeased, since the ancestor referred to was one (and the only
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Livingston) for whom he entertained high admiration. He was always
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inclined to believe that it was from her mother, Agnes Oceanica
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(Adams) Livingston, that his own mother chiefly derived her noble
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qualities.
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Be the latter as it may, we are bound to record here, if we
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attach anything like normal credence to the many statements
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concerning her character and attributes, that Mary Livingston
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Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
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6
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|
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INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
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Ingersoll was one of the greatest and most charming of women. For
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it is said that her intellect was exalted, that her sympathies were
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wide and profound, that her love of liberty was intense. Of the
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latter, there is ample evidence in the fact that, shortly before
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the birth of Robert, she prepared and circulated, in the state of
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New York, a petition to the Federal Congress, praying that slavery
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in the District of Columbia be abolished. It is claimed that this
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petition was the first of its kind to be prepared in America by a
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woman.
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We are therefore inclined, after all, to think that fate was
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not, as we supposed, the sole arbiter in the decision that the
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middle name of the epoch-making babe should begin with "G"; for
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Rev. Beriah Green was an "uncompromising abolitionist." But whether
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our supposition was correct or not, we do know that fate soon
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proved to be as inexorably cruel in this case as she had been
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ironical in it, or in any other; for Mary Livingston Ingersoll, at
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Cazenovia, Madison County, N. Y., on December 2, 1835, -- scarcely
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more than two years after the decision mentioned, -- passed into
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the great shadow, not with the proud memories which might have been
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hers, but with only a mother's dream of her marvelous child. --
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"Nearly forty-eight years ago, under the snow, in the little
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town of Cazenovia, my mother was buried. I was but two years old.
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I remember her as she looked in death. That sweet, cold face has
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kept my heart warm through all the changing years."
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5.
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After the death of the wife and mother, the life of Rev. Mr.
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Ingersoll and family was destined to run, as indeed it had already
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run, -- even before the birth of Robert, -- a shifting and
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precarious course. For, orthodox though this clergyman was,
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especially in his earlier days, -- heartily though he favored
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mental slavery, -- he was as strongly opposed to physical slavery
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as were even his wife and Rev. Beriah Green; and as he had "the
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courage of his convictions," he was continually at odds with the
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pro-slavery element of the church. Furthermore, he was, by native
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aptitude and acquired reputation, an evangelist. Under those
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conditions, it was of course inevitable that his "calls" should be
|
||
many and near between.
|
||
|
||
In endeavoring to trace the resulting career, one is only too
|
||
often reminded of the statement of Robert, that 'history, for the
|
||
most part, is a detailed account of things that never occurred.'
|
||
And one is finally forced to ask: If so little can be positively
|
||
ascertained about a Christian clergyman who lived and labored
|
||
extensively during the middle decades of the nineteenth century,
|
||
and who, moreover, was the father of one of the most widely known
|
||
men of that century, how much of the history of individuals and
|
||
events antedating by hundreds and thousands of years the invention
|
||
of printing, was made by the historians themselves? How much of it
|
||
consists, indeed, of "a detailed account of things that never
|
||
occurred"? But in the case of Rev. Mr. Ingersoll, there is very
|
||
meager "account" of any sort. This, however, is easily explained.
|
||
The Congregational denomination, of which he was a minister, had
|
||
fewer organizations than the Presbyterian (particularly in rural
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
7
|
||
|
||
INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
|
||
|
||
communities); and, consequently, he was often obliged to accept
|
||
"calls," more or less temporary, from Presbyterian churches. The
|
||
services incident to suck calls, being performed by one who had not
|
||
been regularly "received" into the presbyters concerned, were not
|
||
recorded by the latter, nor in the minutes of the annual general
|
||
assemblies. If the local churches, or societies, themselves kept
|
||
any written records, such records have been, in many cases,
|
||
destroyed by fire, mislaid, or otherwise rendered unavailable. The
|
||
same is true of the Congregational church. or societies, that he
|
||
served, whether permanent as pastor, or temporarily as evangelist.
|
||
Despite these difficulties, however, we shall be able, by means of
|
||
the following outline, prepared after diligent research and
|
||
extensive correspondence, realize how shifting and precarious, as
|
||
already hinted, was his career and, consequently, the childhood of
|
||
him who, while perpetuating the name, was so totally to eclipse the
|
||
abilities, of the father.
|
||
|
||
From some unknown date in 1831, until the spring of 1833, Rev.
|
||
Mr. Ingersoll was pastor of a Congregational church at Hanover,
|
||
then in the town of Marshall, now in the town of Deansboro, Oneida
|
||
County, N.Y. There, in a house (and room) still pointed out, was
|
||
born, on December 12, 1833, his second son, Ebenezer Clark ("Ebon"
|
||
or "Clark," as he was familiarly called), who became a Republican
|
||
representative in Congress, from Illinois, in 1864, succeeding Owen
|
||
Lovejoy, deceased, and being thrice reelected.
|
||
|
||
From Hanover Rev. Mr. Ingersoll removed to Pompey, in Onondaga
|
||
County. Remaining only a month or so, he was called to what is now
|
||
Dresden, Torrey Township, Yates County, where, on August 11th, as
|
||
already stated, Robert first saw the light. The village was then
|
||
known as West Dresden. There the father was pastor of the
|
||
Presbyterian Church; also of the Presbyterian Church at Bellona,
|
||
both West Dresden and Bellona then being in the same town, Benton.
|
||
|
||
After a stay of scarcely six months, or about three months
|
||
subsequent to Robert's birth, the clergyman again obeyed the
|
||
familiar summons. Whence it came cannot be positively stated; but
|
||
on the 2d of the following April (1834), he was installed as
|
||
associate pastor of the Second Free (Presbyterian) Church, New York
|
||
City.
|
||
|
||
Rev. Charles G. Finney had been the regular pastor since
|
||
September 28th (or October 5), 1832, but at the time of Rev. Mr.
|
||
Ingersoll's installation, the former was on a voyage to the
|
||
Mediterranean, for his health. This church, which was organized on
|
||
Tuesday February 14, 1832, with forty-one members, mostly colonists
|
||
from the First Free (Presbyterian) Church, had, as its first place
|
||
of worship, Broadway Hall, just above Canal Street. It soon leased
|
||
and fitted up, for its exclusive use, at a subscribed outlay of
|
||
about $10,000, the Chatham Street Theater, which, on April 23,
|
||
1832, was dedicated as Chatham Street Chspel ("Chstham Chapel"). It
|
||
wss there that Robert G. Ingersoll was baptized, by his father,
|
||
probably in 1834. Six years later this Sccond Free (Presbyterian)
|
||
Church had evolved into the present Broadway Tabernacle
|
||
(Congregational) Church. Rev. Mr. Finney returned from abroad and
|
||
resumed his duties late in October, or early in November, 1834; but
|
||
Rev. Mr. Ingersoll continued as associate pastor, or co-pastor,
|
||
until February 4, 1835, when he resigned.
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
8
|
||
|
||
INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
|
||
|
||
To what place he removed cannot be positively stated; but he
|
||
probably went directly to Cazenovia in Madison County, where, in
|
||
the year last mentioned, he was pastor of the Congregational Free
|
||
Church, and where, on December 2d of the same year, as we have
|
||
already seen, the wife and mother died.
|
||
|
||
It is interesting that the church at Cazenovia, which was
|
||
organized about two years previously, by revolting members of the
|
||
Presbyterian church, stood especially for a free pew, and for a
|
||
free platform to any one who desired to speak on moral questions.
|
||
It advocated temperance and the abolition of slavery.
|
||
|
||
From Cazenovia, in February, 1836, Rev. Mr. Ingersoll was
|
||
again called to Oneida County, this time on special evangelistic
|
||
service with the Congregational church at Hampton (now
|
||
Westmoreland). While a revival was in progress, the regular pastor
|
||
withdrew, Rev. Mr. Ingersoll remaining as "stated supply," from
|
||
March, 1836, until March, 1838.
|
||
|
||
In the following year, he was preaching to the Preshyterians
|
||
of Belleville, in Jefferson County.
|
||
|
||
Be had moved again by 1840, being a resident of Oberlin, O. Be
|
||
does not seem to have been regulady connected with any church, but
|
||
to have preached occasionally in Oberlin and adjacent places.
|
||
|
||
From Obedin he removed, in 1841, to Ashtabula, succeeding Rev.
|
||
Robert H. Conklin as pastur of the Presbyterian Church, and
|
||
supplying the pulpit at Saybrook. The house which he occupied in
|
||
Ashtabula is still pointed out, at No. 242 Main Street, as one of
|
||
the landmarks of the city, it having been for sixty-three years in
|
||
the possession of Mr. John P. Robertson and family. Mr. Robertson
|
||
was one of the trustees of the church, took part, as such, in
|
||
engaging Rev. Mr. Ingersoll, and taught the Sunday-school class,
|
||
Robert Ingersoll being among the pupils.
|
||
|
||
After a residence of about one yesr in Ashtabula, Rev. Mr.
|
||
Ingersoll removed to North Madison, to become pastor of what is now
|
||
the First Congregational Church, which was founded in 1819, and
|
||
which was called the "Bell Church," because it was the first in the
|
||
township of Madison to possess a bell. Having served "two years or
|
||
more," at a salary of two hundred dollars a year, he transferred
|
||
his pulpit elsewhere, probably to Illinois.
|
||
|
||
In 1851 he went to Greenville, in Bond County, as pastor
|
||
("stated supply") of the Congregational Church, remaining about a
|
||
year.
|
||
|
||
From Greenville he removed to Marion, Williamson County,
|
||
where, during 1853 aud '54, he was pastor ("stated supply") of the
|
||
Presbyterian Church, preaching also at Mouut Vernon and Benton.
|
||
|
||
In 1855, four years before his death, he was residing at
|
||
Belleville, St. Clair County, "without charge."
|
||
|
||
During his ministerial career, he preached also in Wisconsin,
|
||
Michigan, Indiana, and Kentucky, and possibly at some other points
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
9
|
||
|
||
INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
|
||
|
||
in Vermont, New York, Ohio, and Illinois; but the itinerary thus
|
||
far given is sufficient for the purpose indicated in the beginning
|
||
of this section.
|
||
|
||
6.
|
||
|
||
Not the least interesting fact concerning the father of Robert
|
||
G. Ingersoll was his facial resemblance to one who, in most things,
|
||
was doubtless his exact opposite. Call to the mind's eye a
|
||
characteristic portrait of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, extinguish
|
||
the spark of humor with the "sinfulness" of joy, weight down the
|
||
curves with "foreordination," and you have a close likeness of Rev.
|
||
John Ingersoll. That the latter, however, would have consented to
|
||
be seen through the features of another, no matter how
|
||
distinguished, is quite unthinkable. Indeed, carefully weighing the
|
||
preceding personal history and the testimony of relatives, friends,
|
||
hosts, and converts who came into close relations with him, we are
|
||
able to synthesize a very distinct individuality. That he was an
|
||
individuality -- that you would have had to count him as a separate
|
||
and sovereign unit in taking a census of the universe -- there is
|
||
no doubt. He was always himself -- dignified, reticent, austere.
|
||
People, -- young people in particular, -- "looked up" to "Doctor"
|
||
Ingersoll. He was regarded as a learned man. Exceedingly pious and
|
||
devout, even for a clergyman, he spent an unusual amount of time in
|
||
prayer, and insisted on keeping the Sabbath in the strictest
|
||
orthodox way. He was very abstemious, following, at least for many
|
||
years, the diet of the Grahamites, and always strongly condemming
|
||
the use of liquor and tobacco.
|
||
|
||
He was a zealous and outspoken abolitionist. His experiences
|
||
in New York City, iu 1834, when abolition-leaders and clergymen of
|
||
anti-slavery sentiment were subjected to mob-violence, did not
|
||
dampen his ardor nor bridle his tongue. He would never allow
|
||
anything derogatory of the negro to be uttered in his presence.
|
||
|
||
He was a man with strong convictions, and he spoke them
|
||
fearlessly, whether as friend, as citizen, or as pastor.
|
||
|
||
As a preacher, he was earnest, eloquent, impressive. Many whom
|
||
he converted remained so until they heard his son; then they paid
|
||
substantially the following tribute to the powers of both: "Your
|
||
father gave me religion, and now you have taken it away." Surviving
|
||
members of Rev. Mr. Ingersoll's congregations recall his
|
||
"restlessness" in the pulpit, or rather, perhaps, around it; for
|
||
often, in hermeneutic fervor, he would leave the pulpit, stepping
|
||
down in front and pacing alternstely to the right and the left, and
|
||
sometimes even walking dowu an aisle. Now and then he would
|
||
suddenly pause and "look right at you."
|
||
|
||
At Hanover (Deansboro), N.Y. he established the reputation of
|
||
"an eloquent and masterful preacher, with great personal magnetism,
|
||
-- stirring his audience to the depths." One of his converts once
|
||
said: "When I went to hear 'Priest Ingersoll' [as he was there
|
||
called], I could scarcely take time to eat my dinner. I knew my
|
||
soul was in jeopardy, and, fearing lest I lose one moment, I ran
|
||
all the way back. He made salvation seem so plain, so easy, I
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
10
|
||
|
||
INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
|
||
|
||
wanted to take it to my heart without delay." He is also said to
|
||
have possessed great physical endurance, sometimes preaching from
|
||
morning until nearly sunset, with only a brief intermission.
|
||
|
||
The records of the Congregational Church at Westmoreland,
|
||
N.Y., fortunately afford what probably may be safely accepted as a
|
||
view of his average ministerial work and environment. After setting
|
||
forth that he came to the church as an evangelist, and that while
|
||
his meetings were in progress the regular pastor withdrew, the
|
||
records coutinue: --
|
||
|
||
"The meetings were in no way interrupted, Mr. Ingersoll
|
||
assuming entire control; and on the 26th of the same month
|
||
(February) there were added to the church, on profession of faith,
|
||
about thirty members. About the same time, now new and considerably
|
||
modified articles of faith were adopted. Mr. Ingersoll continued to
|
||
accupy the pulpit as stated supply. He was an able and attractive
|
||
preacher, his audence never tiring on account of long sermons, to
|
||
which he was not a little liable. His forte was doubtless as an
|
||
evangelist. Few men can read character with the accuracy that he
|
||
did. * * * It was during his ministry that the church was called
|
||
upon to meet the widespread craze of perfectionism, which it did
|
||
sffectually. This was the theory that Christ was in its subjects in
|
||
such a way that they could not sin, which constituted a fundamental
|
||
principle in Oneida communism, where it was permitted thoroughly
|
||
and nauseatingly to expend itself. During the time Mr. Ingersoll
|
||
was with the church, the subject of slavery was seriously agitated,
|
||
resulting in its condemnation, without any per se proviso."
|
||
|
||
There is equally interesting evidence that, as a clergyman,
|
||
Rev. Mr. Ingersoll, in at least one respect, was far ahead of his
|
||
time -- that, even in the early forties, he was an occasional
|
||
exemplar of what is now termed "muscular Christianity." While
|
||
residing at Nonh Madison, Ohio, knowledge of his earlier feats as
|
||
a wrestler became curreut. A mile or so from the place lived a
|
||
notorious wresder weighing about two hundred and twenty five
|
||
pounds. One day, by a mischievous prearrangement of the village
|
||
boys, the two men met, and, after some talk, engaged in a wrestling
|
||
bout. The clergyman was victorious! The saints were scandalized;
|
||
they demanded an apology from their pastor. On the following Sanday
|
||
he complied, in substantially these words: "Dear friends, I was
|
||
tempted to wrestle this man, which was not becoming in a minister;
|
||
but I threw him in less than a minute." This closed the incident.
|
||
|
||
The physical prowess of Rev. Mr. Ingersoll was doubtless
|
||
reflected in the heroic presence of his youngest sun.
|
||
|
||
**** ****
|
||
|
||
|
||
Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Bank of Wisdom is always looking for more of these old,
|
||
hidden, suppressed and forgotten books that contain needed facts
|
||
and information for today. If you have such books please contact
|
||
us, we need to give them back to America. If you have such old
|
||
books, please contact the Bank of Wisdom.
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
11
|
||
|