exemplary men, for it must have been their influence that led him to select the ministry for his vocation, and that in his boyhood. Mr. Parker sets this inference with an amusing incident. "As in after life, Alonzo had his troubles at school. He came home one day very much excited and said to his mother: A boy told me I lied. I should swore at him if I wasn't going to be a minister.' She calmly looked at him and said: 'Alonzo, I am very glad you are going to be a minister if that kept you from swearing!'" Mr. Parker has more to say of the favorite animal:

"Old Sorrel was Alonzo's favorite horse. In the winter he would hitch her up and take his sisters and neighbors' children to school. When he had safely unloaded them, he would turn the horse around, do up the reins, pack everything snugly in the sleigh, and with a kind pat say, 'Old Sorrel - Go home.' She would go directly to the barn!

"Once upon a time his father let a 'Singing Master' have the horse to drive a few weeks in visiting his schools. Alonzo and his sister concluded to visit one of the schools held eight miles away. They reached the place in good season but the master was late. When he drove up 'Old Sorrel' was in a sorry plight - not a dry hair on her. Alonzo was indignant but did not 'swear.' He followed the horse to the stable and worked rubbing her half the evening. He preferred to care for that poor willing servant, rather than to attend the singing school. His father immediately ordered Old Sorrel' to be taken home. Being brought up on a farm among horses, cattle and sheep, he had a peculiar sympathy for them, and could never hold his peace when he saw them abused. He always had a voice to champion the cause of those poor and oppressed creatures who cannot speak for themselves."

This incident will surprise no one who in later years knew Alonzo A. Miner. But there are not a few who will find it difficult to repress the tears as they read Mr. Parker's touching words. "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast."

"Alonzo was an only brother with four sisters one older and three younger. The oldest was married in early womanhood when her brother was but a boy and developed into a staid matronly old-fashioned New England housekeeper, looking well to the ways of her household and bringing up her five children with daily admonition and careful oversight. In this home and among these children her brother was a welcome guest.

"The sister next younger than himself was, from age and circumstance more intimately associated with him than any of the others. She was a bright, energetic, and witty girl and was with him in his School at Unity, N. H., both as teacher and scholar. She also became one of the notable mothers and housewives of New England.

"The other two sisters were many years younger, and were children when Dr. Miner was a young man. One of them much resembled him in personal appearance and characteristics.

"The other and the youngest was one of the sweetest and loveliest of women. How great was the influence of these surroundings on his character and temperament we cannot tell.

But these four sisters with their affection for their only brother, their gentle, intelligent and womanly ways, their attractive personality and the beauty of youth, could but have a softening and elevating power on any human heart."

There is another incident of Alonzo's youth that will interest every reader. For all the world loves the

lover!" Maria Perley now comes into the narrative, and there is the not very uncommon experience of "two hearts that beat as one." Mr. Parker's pen

is

"In the same school district lived the Perley Family, which occupied about the same social position as the Miner family. The Perley homestead is a mile and a half north of the birthplace of Dr. Miner. Capt. Edmond Perley was as firm a believer in the doctrines of the Methodist church as was Capt. Ames Miner in the doctrines of Universalism. Each was a leader in the church of his choice. Mr. Perley had an intelligent, interesting, and accomplished family. Rarely does one find young ladies more attractive in person, endowed with sweeter and richer musical voices, or more cultivated in mind and heart. Two of them married Methodist clergymen

one, the late Bishop Osmond Baker, who lived in Concord, N. H., and occupied much the same relative position in the Methodist church that Dr. Miner did in the Universalist. All the Perley children went to school at the Red SchoolHouse. Maria was one of the older girls of the family. Here Alonzo first saw her, and when little children they became strong friends. Their friendship grew into a tenderer feeling as the years advanced; but there was an icy barrier between them. They had entirely different views about religion! While the other children were at play, engaged in their usual games and sports, Alonzo Miner and Maria Perley were seated in a quiet corner of the dressing-room discussing religious subjects such as the Trinity, Vicarious Atonement, and Endless Punishment. By the revelation of after years, it is evident that the icy theological barrier between them melted away through the clear arguments which young Alonzo used, and the intense interest of the heart with which they were enforced. Within two years of her death Mrs. Miner said to Dr. Miner's sister, in answer