travelling Methodist preacher of the period. He wore a suit of
"parson's grey," the coat having a straight collar and being
somewhat rounded away in front. His buckskin leggings, which
descended to his stirrups, were splashed with mud, for the day had
been rainy. He was well mounted on a light-built, active-looking
chestnut horse. The indispensable saddle-bags, containing his
Greek Testament, Bible, and Wesley's Hymns, and a few personal
necessaries, were secured across the saddle. A small, round,
leathern valise, with a few changes of linen, and his coarse
frieze great-coat were strapped on behind. Such was a typical
example of the "clerical cavalry" who, in the early years of this
century, ranged through the wilderness of Canada, fording or
swimming rivers, toiling through forests and swamps, and carrying
the gospel of Christ to the remotest settlers in the backwoods.

Our young friend, the Rev. Neville Trueman, afterwards a prominent
figure in the history of early Methodism, halted his horse on a
bluff jutting out into the Niagara River, both to enjoy the
refreshing breeze that swept over the water and to admire the
beautiful prospect. At his feet swept the broad and noble river,
reflecting on its surface the snowy masses of "thunderhead"
clouds, around which the lightning still played, and which,
transfigured and glorified in the light of the setting sun, seemed
to the poetic imagination of the young man like the City of God
descending out of heaven, with its streets of gold and foundations
of precious stones, while the rainbow that spanned the heavens
seemed like the rainbow of the Apocalypse round about the throne
of God.

Under the inspiration of the beauty of the scene, the young