LIFE IN ALEXANDRIA. 283 was such a large turnout at the burial that some one passing on the cars asked the name, and being told that it was a Packard, mentioned it to my kin at the North, and they heard of it first in this way. I give extracts from my son's letter after hearing of his death. "I am just commencing to realize what it is to lose a brother-to think of the thousand things of the past in which he is associated in my mind and of the future in which I shall so miss him. I was always so proud of him. I remember how we enjoyed hearing him tell of his first experiences and with what pleasure we marked his enthusiastic devotion to his duty. He was so generous, so gallant, so pure-hearted. And we have the blessed assurance that he sees God face to face, for he was not ashamed of Him in his life and in his death in the absence of earthly comforts and earthly friends, Jesus was near him." The winter of 1863 and 1864 was passed without any great change in our situation. Alexandria was the headquarters of the Union army. The hospitals and bakeries were there. A train of cars left daily to carry loaves of bread to the army. The music of the dead march was often heard, as funerals from the hospitals were of almost daily occurrence. One hospital adjoined our house, and there was another across the street. We were often disturbed at night by the bringing in of wounded. Every morning the bugle would blow the reveille in front of them, and when the cars came in the ambulances would often be seen bringing in the sick and wounded. We were living in the house of Mrs. John Lloyd (Mr. C. F. Lee's sister), corner of Queen and Washington streets. The whole air was infected by hospitals. There was a great deal of sickness in Alexandria, and in my own family. I was sent for to many funerals. During the two years I spent in Alexandria I recorded in my book sixty-three burials, chiefly of infants. I had a Bible-class in my house on Sunday afternoons for ladies, which was well attended, and I preached when I could in halls, and performed baptisms and burials for Methodists, Lutherans and Presbyterians, as well as for my own people. I often used to walk with Mr. Bolling Robertson, whose wife was a Miss Fairfax, and whose son Henry now lives in Alexandria. The assassination of Lincoln produced intense excitement in Alexandria. I felt it was not safe to go upon the streets. A squad of soldiers came to my house the morning after the assassination and insisted upon our putting out crape above the door. 284 LIFE IN ALEXANDRIA. That night a large stone was thrown into one of the front windows, breaking the sash and glass. In the spring of 1865 I was ill with the jaundice and was very weak. After the surrender I took the first opportunity to go to Fauquier. Mrs. Dr. Peyton, my sister-in-law, came down and took me back with her in a wagon. On our way to Fauquier I spent the night at Mr. Rumsey's, just outside of Fairfax Court House, and there I heard the note of the whippoorwill, which was sweeter to me than the sound of any nightingale, for it brought back memories of my country home-I had been shut up in Alexandria very long, not even able to walk out of its limits. I revived in Fauquier, and in the fall entered upon my duties at the Seminary, which opened with eleven students, Dr. Sparrow and I doing all the teaching. On looking back upon my sojourn in Alexandria, upon my history during the war, I have great occasion for gratitude. Having no means of support, I received many unexpected gifts from many quarters-sometimes from persons I did not know, and from other churches, among them that of Rev. Dr. Stuart Robinson, a distinguished Presbyterian divine of Kentucky, so that we lacked nothing. The Church people of Alexandria, too, though I had no claims upon them, as I was not the minister of any church, yet contributed something regularly to my support, and I received many generous gifts. Mr. Charles Hooff, my good friend for many years, was very kind to me. The Rev. Henry Wall (1852), an excellent preacher, was in charge of the church people in Alexandria, but not long after I came he went to Canada, afterwards returning to Maryland, where also his son, Rev. Edward Wall, has served acceptably. He was a native of Ireland and a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. [Rev. Dr. W. M. Dame, once Rector of Christ Church, Alexandria, has given the following account of my father's work in that city.-EDITOR.] "One interesting and admirable episode of his life should not be forgotten-his life in Alexandria, 1863 to 1865. Here he found a people and a community who were in evil case! Their city was occupied by the enemy; their young and middle-aged men had departed to the war; many of their best citizens were gone into exile; all their life was full of uncertainty, fears and dangers. "In the simple, fearless, manly way that was so natural to him Dr. Packard tried to steady, hearten and comfort the people strug LIFE IN ALEXANDRIA. 285 His gling with all this trouble. He had anxieties of his own. beloved home was broken up, his family separated; the dear old Seminary that he loved so intensely probably doomed to destruction; with little means to provide for his household; with two beloved sons exposed to the perils of battle; with all the future and all the interests that were dearest to him dark and uncertain; in daily danger of arrest and imprisonment, he, with unselfish love and the shepherd instinct of a true minister, laid his own burdens on the Lord and and spent his time, care and strength in helping others. "He went about from house to house, caring for the sick and the troubled, the lonely and the anxious, advising, consoling and cheering them. When no church building was available he had cottage services in private houses, gathering such neighbors as could come, preaching the Word and ministering the Sacraments. Many people who were in Alexandria at that time have told me how cheerfully and faithfully, with what tender sympathy, he did this, and how much he helped them, and they never forgot how as pastor and friend he stood by them in that dark day." CHAPTER XXIII. THREE MIGHTY MEN AND ANOTHER. AVID had thirty-seven mighty men, valiant warriors for the were mighties, captains over the thirty-one. When David longed for the water of the well of Bethlehem, "the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem." I am going to speak particularly of four mighty preachers in our Church, who were, like Saul, from the shoulder and upward taller than any of the people, and who drew the living water from the well of Bethlehem and gave it to thirsting multitudes. Lyte's lines on this subject are beautiful: "Three gallant men stood nigh, and heard "They come again; and with them bring A single cup from Bethlehem's spring And through the densest of the train "There is a well in Bethlehem still, "Oh, did we thirst, as David then, Had we the zeal of David's men To please a higher king, What precious drafts we thence might drain, What holy triumphs daily gain !” I will not say that these were the three mightiest, or that others were not as useful, but knowing them well, I speak of them more STEPHEN H. TYNG. 287 fully. They were long lived. Dr. Stone attained nearly eightyseven years, Dr. Tyng nearly eighty-six, and Dr. Vinton nearly fourscore, and they were all noble-looking men. Dr. Tyng comes first in date of ordination, March 4, 1821, when just twenty-one. His early life showed his character and bent of mind. He was sent to boarding-school when six years old at Quincy. When eight years old he and two other boys went across the Boston harbor on the ice, some nine miles, reaching home at nine o'clock Saturday night, where he received a whipping and was sent supperless to bed. The next day they were returned to school in a sleigh, and there received another severe whipping. Boston was then a town of less than thirty thousand inhabitants, very rural in aspect, most of the houses having gardens, and the citizens pasturing their cows on the Common, whence they drove them home every evening. His father, Judge Dudley A. Tyng, was born a year before my father and within a few miles of each other in the same State. Of Judge Tyng this remarkable circumstance is related by Bishop Stevens in his sermon at the consecration of Bishop Benjamin H. Paddock: "Shortly after Bishop Bass' death there occurred the only instance in the American Church where a bishopric was tendered to a layman. Among the honorable men of Massachusetts there was one who, like Ambrose, in the fourth century, was early entrusted with the judicial office; like him truly godly and zealous for Christ, and to whom, as to Ambrose, was tendered a bishopric while yet engaged in secular duties. That man was Dudley Atkins Tyng. Ambrose, despite his reluctance, was consecrated Bishop of Milan. Judge Tyng refused the solicitation of Dr. Dehon, afterwards Bishop of South Carolina, who in the name and at the request of the clergy of Rhode Island and Massachusetts asked him to 'receive orders as Deacon and Priest, that they might, with as little delay as possible, elect him their bishop.'" Stephen Tyng made such progress that when thirteen he was admitted to Harvard College, the youngest of a class of eighty-six, and he graduated when seventeen. He spent two years with his uncle Perkins, of the large East India firm of Sam. G. Perkins & Co., Boston. The morning of July 19, 1819, he awoke early, and as he lay awake an impression was made on his conscious mind, sounding in his ear as if a voice had actually spoken, "Stephen Tyng, what a wasteful life you are leading!" He replied im |