06 DEPUTATION WORK
Chapter 6
DEPUTATION WORK THE year 1864 was one of direct preparation for the mission field. Events moved rapidly now. His course of study in medicine and surgery drew to its close, and he added one more degree to those which he had already won. He traveled much, visiting the various churches of his denomination, and endeavoring to arouse in others something of that missionary spirit which burned so fiercely in his own breast. By his earnest appeals he raised large sums of money, not only to defray the cost of his own going forth, but also to set the affairs of the mission upon a more permanent and satisfactory financial basis. He was diligent in season and out of season in the proclamation of the Gospel. He completed all the arrangements for his own departure, and last but not least a happy marriage resulted from the friendship which had its beginning beneath the snow clad pines of New Hampton. The records of this busy year are unfortunately only too scanty, but as far as possible we give them in James Phillips’ own words, quoting from letters and diaries without distinction.
"Feb. 21st, 1864. — I have had a letter from the senior mission secretary saying that we must take the long voyage round the Cape, as it is much less expensive. Thus we shall not visit England. The Board wishes me to raise 2000 dollars (£400), so I shall visit the churches as soon as possible. This war is making it most difficult to leave the country as gold is so high, 2 dollars 50 cents to the gold dollar."
"March 14th, 1864. — To my surprise there came the other day a note from a friend in England, saying that 400 dollars, and more if required, would be paid for my passage. The parties do not belong to our denomination. How good God is to me and to mine, and how unworthy I am of it all ! I have a friend on the lookout for vessels going via the Cape of Good Hope to Calcutta. Our secretary prefers that we shall sail from Boston. Somehow they seem to think New England to be the whole of God’s creation, and that nothing can be done outside that sacred ground! The church folks here will not listen for a moment to the proposition that I should sail from Boston."
"April 7th, 1864. — We have just had a glorious Board meeting. A unanimous vote was passed to send father and mother back to India. I sent a telegram to father at once. How happy he will be. I returned and held a farewell meeting with the children of Five Points.
" There are hells in Five Points, New York, which are not safe to enter by day or night, and yet from this district a hundred dear little children have been gathered into a home where they can stay until permanent homes are found for them."
" April 9th, 1864. — Today General Lee has surrendered the remnant of his gallant army, only 26,000 men. This cruel war is over. The slaves are free. Public rejoicings fill the land, and thanks are going up from every heart. I am glad I could stay to see the end, and can now go to India full of joy."
James Phillips continued to take a lively interest in all the affairs of the day. A keen politician and a strong patriot, his first interests always centered in the extension of the kingdom of God, and his political interest was always subordinated to his intense love of that righteousness which alone can exalt a nation. It need not be added that this enthusiastic foreign missionary took a no less keen interest in the progress and development of mission work at home. It is interesting in view of the work which was to occupy the closing years of his life, to find that already the work of Sunday School development and extension had arrested his attention, as may be seen from the following extract from the Morning Star : —
" May has been, as it always is, a month of anniversaries in New York. The anniversary exercises of the New York Sunday School Union were among the most interesting. Addresses were delivered to immense gatherings of children. The Sunday School enterprise is acquiring wonderful strength, and is increasing to vast proportions in our great city. Still there are hundreds of thousands within the precincts of New York who never darken the doors of the sanctuary. There is no surer way to bring in these almost heathen thousands, than by working for their children, and by getting these little ones into evangelical Sabbath Schools."
"May 17th, 1864. — I have made my last visit to our Western home. Father and mother are seeking new homes for our dear little sisters. Brother John will be a father to them all. He has visited the province of New Brunswick."
"Fredericton, N. B., July 8th, 1864 -- " We are having a charming day, and I am feeling so much at home among these good British friends. This morning after a spirited and enthusiastic discussion these brothers voted to organise a missionary society, as an auxiliary to our own Foreign Missionary Society, and they have further voted to make vigorous efforts towards raising funds for our support. That is, these brothers have, so to speak, adopted me to be their representative in India. I have no doubt these British Christians will do nobly in this matter, and they seem to look upon me as a subject proper of the British Crown."
"Portland, Maine., July 26th, 1864 -- " I have just met John. We had only a few hours together, as his furlough had nearly expired. May God keep my dear brother. From here I go to Brunswick to take another look at my dear old college home, thence immediately to Rhode Island. I have my medical thesis to write out next month for graduation." The visit to Rhode Island to which he alludes in the above letter, was for the purpose of his marriage, which took place there on August 10 th. Unfortunately we have no particulars of this interesting event, with the exception of a brief letter which lies before us as we write :—
" New York, Aug. 11th, 1864 -- " My Dear Father and Mother, Yesterday was a charming cloudless day. Wedding at church at 10 am. The Rev. William Fitz officiated, and he and his wife drove down to Providence with us. We took the 7 pm.train for New York, reached Stormington at 9 pm and found the bridal room No. 28 reserved for us on the steamer Commonwealth. We have just had a stroll in the Central Park. Our home is still with Dr. Perry just now." His old friend who caught the lobsters with him at Bowdoin was now married and settled at Yonkers, and from thence he wrote the following letter : —
"Yonkers, New York, Sept. 5th, 1864 -- " This is such a charming place. The beautiful Hudson rolls on towards the bay, only a few rods from us. The ’ Palacaides ’ on the opposite bank present a magnificent appearance, and yet these are hardly worth mentioning when compared with this lovely little family. The household all full of sunshine and happiness is to me the most lovable thing on earth. One of the sweetest little voices that made this home a welcome one to every lover of children was hushed nearly two years ago. The image of little Nell is always present with me whenever I am here. Her hearty loving welcome I shall never forget, nor her earnest pleading that she might accompany me to my Indian home. You may wonder why I allude to this, but among the hundreds of dear little ones whom I have known in America, there is not one to whom I grew so attached. Such was her mild and loving nature. It always seems to me that parents who lose these tender plants from their earthly guidance should rejoice in the thought that they may thus be contributing towards the beauty and bliss of heaven."
James Phillips was already Master of Arts and Bachelor of Laws of a reputable university, and the time now came when, upon the completion of his medical course, he was to graduate in that Faculty also. He merrily records the fact in a letter.
"September 15th, 1864 — " I have been extremely busy since the Sabbath with my thesis, examination, etc., but now all is over. I have passed through the ordeal successfully, and have gained those two letters M.D. I am sure I feel very much like myself notwithstanding the affix. Do you suppose you could identify me now? As a favour only a nominal fee was charged."
"Oct. 29th, 1864 — I have had high fever and intense headache, the result of working over some bones which have been macerating for a long time. They came from Southern battlefields, and I have been preparing them for our cabinet at college. They illustrate gunshot wounds. All I am now earning is 200 dollars (£40) a year for work in an office, and I have to pay half of it directly back for preceptors’ fees, and the rest will hardly pay college expenses."
Dr. Phillips, as we must now call him, continued to minister at the chapel in 28th Street in the absence of a pastor, but before he sailed to India he was able to report that the financial affairs of the congregation had been placed on a satisfactory basis, and that there was a prospect of steady and permanent work in the future. How busily he was occupied during the time which still remained before his embarkation for the mission field, will be seen by the following letters. Incidentally they serve to show with what keen interest the writer followed the political events of his day : —
" Nov. 7th, 1864 — My name is duly registered, and so I propose to cast the first vote for Lincoln in our ward at sunrise tomorrow. Our city was never more quiet and orderly. General Butler and staff are at the Hoffman House. Telegraph wires come directly into his room from every ward and district in our city, from every engine company, from every town in the State, and from Washington, D.C. The General talked an hour with Secretary Stanton by telegraph this morning, and is it not a wonderful thing, that although not a soldier is seen on the street, at a single tick of the magnetic wire, thousands of armed men can he summoned to duty ? "
" Washington, D.C, Nov. 10th, 1864 -- My vote was one of the very first cast in our 21st Ward, after which I started for Philadelphia. This morning we came through Baltimore, and I saw the very spot where the traitors fired into our Massachusetts boys three years ago. Now that city gives Lincoln a large majority. I am now writing in the Post Office in the Senate Chamber of the Capitol in its north wing. How strange it seems to be here! Here where the noblest and ablest men have stood up in the advocacy of liberty and justice, and here, too, where the supporters of slavery have pleaded for sin. I think of Sumner, as he fell under the blow of Brooks, and his blood crimsoned this very door. The cane of Brooks has become almost like the rod of Moses to open the Red Sea before the millions of redeemed bondsmen. Thank God that no such days are ever likely to come again to this Republic! " From Washington he visited Gettysburg, whence he wrote —
"Gettysburg, Pa., Nov. 14th, 1864 -- Don’t you wish you could have been here today? I rode over this most renowned of American battlefields. I visited the national cemetery, now beautifully laid out in a section of the battlefield. More than 3500 Union soldiers are buried there, the graves being arranged according to the States. The ’ Rebs ’ lie buried in trenches in every part of the immense field. I saw one containing sixty-five, all thrown in promiscuously in a heap, and near by another mound covered twenty, another thirty-five, and so on. I passed a corn-field in which many ’ Rebs ’ fell, and were interred. In one instance 105 in one long trench. It is by no means a wild estimate that upwards of 7000 U.S.A. troops lie buried in different parts of this sanguinary field. I can give you no adequate idea of this battlefield, which even now, after sixteen months, exhibits many and sad tokens of that terrible conflict. The houses of the village, the trees in the streets, and the neighbouring woods, all bear the marks of bullets, shell, grape, canister, and shrapnel. Some of the forests and houses are completely riddled with these shots. Our friendly and intelligent driver pointed out to us General Mead’s headquarters, and also General Lee’s. We saw the spot where our gallant Reynolds fell by a sharpshooter’s bullet when rallying his comrades to the attack, and a thousand and one things could I mention, but the fact is I am too full for expression. A good fellow has given me a Confederation musket."
He now returned to New York, whence he wrote on November 16th —
" Messrs. Tudor & Co., Boston, have chartered a vessel for Calcutta, which will take our party about the 1st proximo. Let us give thanks.
" I am very glad that mother has decided to take Ida with her to India. She will thus have her youngest child with her to comfort her in this hour of keen partings." In December they sailed, the event being laconically expressed in Dr. Phillips’ diary —
" Dec. 17. — Went on board."
" Dec. 10. — Wrote all night."
" Dec. 20. — Weighed anchor."