Russell H. Conwell | Page 4

the Conflict Raged. Lincoln's Call for One Hundred Thousand
Men. Enlistment. Captain Conwell. In Camp at Springfield, Mass. The

Famous Gold-sheathed Sword.
Chapter IX.
--In the Thick of the Fight. Company F at Newberne, N.C. The Fight at
Batchelor's Creek. The Goldsboro Expedition. The Battle of Kingston.
The Gum Swamp Expedition.
Chapter X.
--The Sword and the School Book. Scouting at Bogue Sound. Captain
Conwell Wounded. The Second Enlistment. Jealousy and
Misunderstanding. Building of the First Free School for Colored
Children. Attack on Newport Barracks. Heroic Death of John Ring.
Chapter XI.
--A Soldier of the Cross. Under Arrest for Absence Without Leave.
Order of Court Reversed by President. Certificate from State
Legislature of Massachusetts for Patriotic Services. Appointed by
President Lincoln, Lieutenant-Colonel on General McPherson's Staff.
Wounded at Kenesaw Mountain. Conversion. Public Profession of
Faith.
Chapter XII.
--Westward. Resignation from Army. Admission to Bar. Marriage.
Removal to Minnesota. Founding of the Minneapolis Y.M.C.A. and of
the Present "Minneapolis Tribune." Burning of Home. Breaking Out of
Wound. Appointed Emigration Agent to Germany by Governor of
Minnesota. Joins Surveying Party to Palestine. Near to Death in Paris
Hospital. Journey to New York for Operation in Bellevue Hospital.
Return to Boston.
Chapter XIII.
--Writing His Way Around the World. Days of Poverty in Boston. Sent

to Southern Battlefields. Around the World for New York and Boston
Papers. In a Gambling Den in Hong Kong, China. Cholera and
Shipwreck.
Chapter XIV.
--Busy Days in Boston. Editor of "Boston Traveller." Free Legal
Advice for the Poor. Temperance Work. Campaign Manager for
General Nathaniel P. Banks. Urged for Consulship at Naples. His Work
for the Widows and Orphans of Soldiers.
Chapter XV.
--Troubled Days. Death of Wife. Loss of Money. Preaching on
Wharves. Growth of Sunday School Class at Tremont Temple from
Four to Six Hundred Members in a Brief Time. Second Marriage.
Death of Father and Mother. Preaching at Lexington. Building
Lexington Baptist Church.
Chapter XVI.
--His Entry Into the Ministry. Ordination. First Charge at Lexington.
Call to Grace Baptist Church, Philadelphia.
Chapter XVII.
--Going to Philadelphia. The Early History of Grace Baptist Church.
The Beginning of the Sunday Breakfast Association. Impressions of a
Sunday Service.
Chapter XVIII.
--First Days at Grace Baptist Church. Early Plans for Church Efficiency.
Practical Methods for.
Chapter XXXI.

--The Manner of the Message. The Style of the Sermons. Their Subject
Matter. Preaching to Help Some Individual Church Member.
Chapter XXXII.
--These Busy Later Days. A Typical Week Day. A Typical Sunday.
Mrs. Conwell. Back to the Berkshires in Summer for Rest.
Chapter XXXIII.
--As a Lecturer. Wide Fame as a Lecturer. Date of Entrance on Lecture
Platform. Number of Lectures Given. The Press on His Lectures. Some
Instances of How His Lectures Have Helped People. Address at
Banquet to President McKinley.
Chapter XXXIV.
--As a Writer. Rapid Method of Working. A Popular Biographical
Writer. The Books He has Written.
Chapter XXXV.
--A Home Coming. Reception Tendered by Citizens of Philadelphia in
Acknowledgment of Work as Public Benefactor.
Chapter XXXVI.
--The Path That Has Been Blazed. Problems That Need Solving. The
Need of Men Able to Solve Them.
Acres of Diamonds.
Personal Glimpses of Celebrated Men and Women.
[Illustration: MARTIN CONWELL]
CHAPTER I

ANCESTRY
John Conwell, the English Ancestor who fought for the Preservation of
the English Language. Martin Conwell of Maryland. A Runaway
Marriage. The Parents of Russell Conwell.
When the Norman-French overran England and threatened to sweep
from out the island the English language, many time-honored English
customs, and all that those loyal early Britons held dear, a doughty
Englishman, John Conwell, took up cudgels in their defence. Long and
bitter was the struggle he waged to preserve the English language.
Insidious and steady were the encroachments of the Norman-French
tongue. The storm centre was the Castle school, for John Conwell
realized that the language of the child of to-day is the language of the
man of to-morrow. Right royal was the battle, for it was in those old
feudal days of strong feeling and bitter, bloody partisanship. But this
plucky Briton stood to his guns until he won. Norman-French was
beaten back, English was taught in the schools, and preserved in the
speech of that day.
It was a tale that was told his children and his children's children. It was
a tradition that grew into their blood--the story of perseverance, the
story of a fight against oppression and injustice. "Blood" is after all but
family traditions and family ideals, and this fighting ancestor handed
down to his descendants an inheritance of greater worth than royal
lineage or feudal castle. The centuries rolled away, a new world was
discovered, and the progressive, energetic Conwell family were not to
be held back when adventure beckoned. Two members of it came to
America. Courage of a high order, enthusiasm, faith, must they