I have not attempted to write a complete biography of my father,
but merely to supplement his "Recollections" with a few of my own
reminiscences. He was a man who said little in his family about his
early years, or about any of the occurrences of his eventful life. Nor
did he ever keep any journal, or any account of his meetings, or of the
number that he baptized. He seldom reported his meetings to the
newspapers. I think it was only during the few years that he was
employed by missionary societies, that he ever made reports of what he
accomplished. He had even destroyed the most of his old letters. And so,
for nearly all information outside of my own recollections, I have been
indebted to the kindness of relatives and friends.

The later chapters have been written by men who knew my father
intimately, and men whose reputations are such as to give weight to
their testimony.

To all of these friends I now offer my thanks for their kind assistance.

And to the public I offer this book, not for its literary merit, but as
the tribute of a daughter to a loved father, whose earnest devotion to
duty was worthy of imitation.

MRS. ROSETTA B. HASTINGS.

_Farmington, Kansas, April 23,1889._




INTRODUCTION