A mother's curse.

Finds the Harpers.

father if he would give him ready money enough to take him to America. His brother gave him the necessary aid, and he left his native land.

His mother was a woman of strong feelings, and bitterly opposed to his going away. She was grievously offended with him for leaving the store, and even more for going abroad, and in the spirit of her Church had him cursed from the altar. A few years afterward, when she heard that he had become a Protestant, she had masses said for the repose of his soul, and regarded him as dead. She died without, so far as he ever knew, breathing a word of forgiveness or regard for the boy who lived to be the crown of her house, and a rich blessing to the world.

The curses of a priest that followed the lad as he went to Dublin to embark for America did him no harm.

He had about twelve dollars in money when he came to New York. Finding lodgings, he began to search for business, going from place to place in the city, willing to work, and resolved to do any thing that was honest for the sake of support. It was a kind Providence that directed him to the printinghouse of the Messrs. Harper, who were then in business in Pearl Street.

Unlike many employers, these men felt a deep responsibility for those whom they employed, and the most of their apprentices at that time were boarded and lodged under their own roof. Young Murray was thus immediately introduced into a Protestant Christian family, into associations with young men of

An apprentice.

The mother of the Harpers.

his own age who had been religiously educated; and the influences were eminently favorable to his own moral improvement.

Few, if any, boys ever came into the establishment of the Harpers with less promise in their appearance and manner than Murray. His education and associations in the old country had not fitted him to fill any position that required culture; but he was ready to turn his hand to any thing useful. He worked at the printing business and at the press with a steady cheerfulness that won for him the favor of all around him. Even at this period in his history, a vein of humor, technically called Irish humor, ran through his conversation, making him a lively, genial companion.

The Harpers were and are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The partners were then the brothers James and John. Two younger brothers, Wesley and Fletcher Harper, who are now with them in the firm of Harper & Brothers, were then working at the business with Murray and others. They were also his companions by night and day, occupying the same room with him in their mother's house. This mother of the Harpers was a mother indeed: : a woman full of faith and the Holy Spirit, a living witness and example of the power of that religion which she loved, and commended to all in her house. Dr. Murray has often said that the first misgivings that he felt after coming to this country as to the reality of the religion in which he was born and taught were caused by the holy life and conversation of this venerable and pious woman. She was then

Reminiscences by one who knew him.

making an impression upon the mind of one who was afterward to make his mark upon the mind of the world.

One of his fellow-apprentices is now the Rev. P. C. Oakley, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He also lodged in the same room with him and the younger Harpers. Mr. Oakley says,

“I remember his fine ruddy countenance and hair as black as a raven. His voice and appearance clearly indicated that he came from the Emerald Isle. Being myself a Protestant, and associating with him constantly, we had frequent and earnest controversies on the subject of religion. He often became greatly excited. On one occasion, after I had gone to bed, he became so out of patience with me in one of our doetrinal controversies that he exclaimed, 'I would not be a Methodist or a Presbyterian if I knew they were right!' Of course that silenced me for that time. He, however, became modified in his views and feelings, and ultimately became first a Methodist, and then a Presbyterian. There was at this time a gracious revival of religion in progress in the John Street Methodist Church, then under the pastoral care of the Rev. Tobias Spicer. Young Murray attended the meetings, became deeply interested, and professed to be converted to God."

From the moment that his mind was awakened by the religious exercises in this Christian household, and by the discussions he had with the young men around him, he determined to look for himself into the truth of the system in which he had been trained in his

Ignorance of the Bible.

His own account.

childhood. He went to the Bible, not doubting that he should find it all there. But he was so ignorant of the Bible, though eighteen years of age, that he did not know the difference between the Old and the New Testaments; he could not tell whether Moses was or was not one of the apostles, or Paul one of the ancient prophets! His education had been in the rites and ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church, but not in the word and doctrine of the Bible. In after years, when setting forth the reasons that induced him to leave the Church of Rome, he gives an account of his own personal experience that will be read with even intenser interest in this connection:

"I was born of Roman Catholic parents, and received my early education in the full faith of that Church. I was baptized by a priest-I was confirmed by a bishop-I often went to confession-I have worn my amulets, and I have said my Pater Nosters and my Hail Marys more times than I can now enumerate. When a youth, none excelled me in my attention to Mass, nor in the performance of the penances enjoined by the father confessor; and, whatever were my occasional mental misgivings, I remained a true son of the Church until I had at least outgrown my boyhood. Then, on as full an examination of the subject as I could give it, I came to the conclusion that I could not remain a Roman Catholic. I first became an infidel. Knowing nothing of religion but that which was taught me by parents and priests, and thinking that that was the sum of it, when that was rejected, infidelity became my only alternative. Could it be other

Drunken priest.

Father B

wise? Subsequently, by the reading of the Bible and by the grace of God, I was led to embrace the religion. of the Gospel.

"Although the son of intelligent parents, and educated from my youth for the mercantile profession, the miraculous power of the priest is yet associated with my earliest recollections of him. Two things greatly shook my faith in the possession of this power. There resided not far from my parental residence a priest, whose fame as a miracle-worker was known all over the county in which he resided. The road to his house (called in that country a bridle-road) went by our door. I frequently saw, in the morning, individuals riding by, with a little keg resting before them on the saddle, or a jug hanging by the horse's side. I often asked who they were, and where they were going. I was told that they were going to Father C-'s to get some of their sick cured. I asked what was in the keg or jug. I was told that it was Irish whisky to pay the priest for his cures. I asked why they went so early in the morning. I was answered that unless they went early they would not find him sober. The tabernacle of poor Father C was made of dry clay, and needed a daily wetting.

"In one of the large interior towns of Ireland where I resided, the bishop of the diocese met his priests, or a part of them, once a year. Their meeting was always held in the house where I resided, and over the store in which I was then a clerk. Among the priests that always met the bishop was the rollicking Father B, whose fame as a miracle-worker was extensive.