Little Abe

Little Abe, by F. Jewell

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Title: Little Abe Or, The Bishop of Berry Brow
Author: F. Jewell
Release Date: December 2, 2006 [EBook #19990]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE
ABE ***

Produced by Al Haines

[Frontispiece: Abraham Lockwood.]

LITTLE ABE;
OR,

THE BISHOP OF BERRY BROW.

BEING THE LIFE OF
ABRAHAM LOCKWOOD,
A Quaint and Popular Yorkshire Local Preacher in the Methodist New
Connexion.

BY
F. JEWELL.

TWENTY-SECOND THOUSAND.

London:
PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETOR,
ROBERT CULLEY,
25-35 CITY ROAD, AND 26 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.

Abraham Pilling, Esq.,
ASTLEY BRIDGE,
BOLTON,
I DEDICATE TO YOU THIS RECORD OF THE
LIFE AND LABOURS OF ONE WHOSE WORTH YOU KNEW

AND APPRECIATED, AS A
MARK OF ESTEEM FOR YOUR ZEALOUS EXERTIONS
TO
ADVANCE THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST.

PREFACE.
I desire to express my thanks to all those friends who have kindly
assisted me in collecting materials for these pages; and I am especially
indebted to my friends the Rev. T. D. Crothers and the Rev. W. J.
Townsend for the cheerful services they have rendered me in preparing
the little work for printing.
Whilst trying to give a faithful account of the life and character of
Abraham Lockwood, I have done my best to make the narrative both
readable and profitable; but I am sensible that there are many faults in
the volume. Such as it is, however, I humbly offer it to the public, with
the earnest prayer that it may prove a blessing to many.
F. JEWELL.
BETHEL VILLA,
HULL, 1880.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
BIRTH AND PARENTAGE
CHAPTER II.

EARLY INCIDENTS
CHAPTER III.
HIS CONVERSION
CHAPTER IV.
ABE A NEW CHARACTER IN THE VILLAGE
CHAPTER V.
IN MEMBERSHIP WITH THE CHURCH
CHAPTER VI.
"FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE"
CHAPTER VII.
WIND AND TIDE AGAINST
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CLOUDS BEGIN TO BREAK
CHAPTER IX.
SALEM CHAPEL
CHAPTER X.
ABE BECOMES A LOCAL PREACHER
CHAPTER XI.
IN PRACTICE

CHAPTER XII.
"BUTTERFLY PREACHERS"
CHAPTER XIII.
VARIOUS WAYS OUT OF DIFFICULTIES
CHAPTER XIV.
ABE'S TITLES AND TROUBLES
CHAPTER XV.
A BASKET OF FRAGMENTS
CHAPTER XVI.
"I AM A WONDER UNTO MANY"
CHAPTER XVII.
ABE AS A CLASS LEADER
CHAPTER XVIII.
"WORKING OVERTIME"
CHAPTER XIX
METHODIST LOVEFEAST
CHAPTER XX.
PATIENT IN TRIBULATION
CHAPTER XXI.

"THE LIBERAL DEVISETH LIBERAL THINGS"
CHAPTER XXII.
USED UP
CHAPTER XXIII.
"BETTER IS THE END OF A THING THAN THE BEGINNING"
CHAPTER I.
Birth and Parentage.
Abraham Lockwood was born on the 3rd November, 1792. His
birthplace, also called Lockwood, is situated about a mile and half out
of Huddersfield.
It makes no pretensions to importance in any way. The only public
building which it boasts, is the Mechanics' Institute, a structure of
moderate size, yet substantially built. Its one main street is lined with
some very excellent shops, some of whose owners, report says, have
made a nice little competency there. It still boasts a toll-bar of its own,
which is guarded on either side by two white wooden posts, that take
the liberty of preventing all cattle, horses, and asses from evading the
gate, and of unceremoniously squeezing into the narrowest limits every
person who prefers pavement to the highroad. Lockwood is also
important enough to receive the attention of two or three 'buses which
ply to and fro between there and Huddersfield, as well as to have the
honour of a railway station on the L. and Y. line. Of course years ago,
when Abraham Lockwood was brought into the world, this locality was
not so attractive as it now is; only a few cottages straggled along the
level or up the hill towards Berry Brow, mostly inhabited by weavers
and others employed in the cloth manufacture of the neighbourhood.
Among these humble cottages there stood, on what is known as the
Scarr, one even more unpretentious than the rest: it boasted only one
story and two or three rooms in all; it was what Abe used to call a

"one-decker."
In this little hut dwelt the parents of Abe Lockwood; the fact of their
residing in such a humble home, shows sufficiently that they were poor,
perhaps poorer than their neighbours. However, in that same
single-storied cot in Lockwood, Abe Lockwood was born, a
Lockwoodite by double right, and though age has seriously told upon
its appearance, it stands to this day. We sometimes see little old men
living on, and year by year growing less and less, until we begin