Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 09 - Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Reformers by Elbert Hubbard
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page 15 of 295 (05%)
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prison, with the poor wretches flocking around him telling their woes.
In a good many instances prisoners were given their liberty on the promise of Oglethorpe that he would take them to his colony. The heart of Oglethorpe was with the troubled and distressed; and while his philanthropy was more on the order of that of Jack Cade than it was Christian, yet he at once saw the excellence in the Wesleys, and strong man that he was, wished to make their virtue his own. He proposed that the Wesleys should go back with him to America and evolve an ideal commonwealth. Oglethorpe had with him several Indians that he had brought over from America. They were proud, silent, and had the reserve of their kind. Moreover, they were six feet high, and when presented at court wore no clothes to speak of. King George the Second, when these sons of the forest were presented to him, appeared like a pigmy. Oglethorpe knew how to march his forces on an angle. London society went mad trying to get a glimpse of his savages. He declared that the North American Indians were the finest specimens--intellectually, physically and morally--of any people the world had ever seen. They needed but one thing to make them perfect-- Christianity. The Wesleys, discouraged by the small impress they had made on Oxford, listened to Oglethorpe's arguments and accepted his terms. Charles was engaged as Secretary to the Governor, and John Wesley was to go as a missionary. And so they sailed away to America. On board ship they methodized the day--had prayers, sang hymns and studied, read, exhorted and wrote as |
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