Letter from James Shaw, U.S.A.
LETTER FROM THE UNITED STATES. Clinton, Illinois, 1861. GENTLEMEN,- The IRISH EVANGELIST has found its way out here in Illinois, 5,000 miles west of the place of its publication. The names of its editors, agent, and correspondents, and the names and places to which they often refer, call to my mind past scenes, and former friends, and friendships, which are still indellibly impressed on my memory. ...At our last Conference, in October (the Minutes of which I sent you), I was appointed to this charge (Clinton Station). On coming, we found a good Church and Parsonage; 200 members all living within an hour's walk from the Church; and an excellent Sabbath School. Clinton is a country seat or town, having about 1,600 of a population, and is located about the centre of Illinois, and upon the Illinois central railroad. The inhabitants are the representatives of different nations: English, Irish, Scotch, German, American, &c., - so are our congregation. ...About the middle of January last we commenced a protracted meeting in our Church, which has lasted about two months. ...A young couple, (the husband from Cork, and his wife, and her brother, from Bandon, Ireland), have been made happy in Christ. ...Having spent five years in the Irish Conference, and six in this, I feel prepared to say, that there is no more important field of ministerial labour in the world than Ireland; or one that has yielded richer or brighter fruits.... JAMES SHAW Clinton, Illinois.Close