the
homage of the ages. His words, most welcome to me, came to us like
reconciling harmony after a succession of discords.

A singular over-appreciation of the value of the spoken as compared with
the written word led Mr. Channing to speak always or mostly without a
manuscript. It was much to be regretted that he in this way failed to
give a permanent literary form to the thoughts which he so eloquently
expressed, reminding some of his hearers of the costly pearl dissolved
in wine. The discourse of which I have just spoken, while arousing
considerable difference of opinion among those who listened to it, did
nevertheless leave behind it a sweetening and elevating influence, due
to a fresh outpouring of the divine spirit of charity and peace.

In this connection I may speak of a series of discourses upon questions
of religion, mostly critical in tone, which were given at Horticultural
Hall on Sunday afternoons in the palmy days of the Radical Club. I had
listened with pain to one of these, of which the drift appeared to me
particularly undevout, and was resting still under the weight of this
painful impression when I saw William Henry Channing coming towards me,
and detained him for a moment's speech. "What are we to say to all
this?" I inquired.

"Be of good cheer," said he; "the topic demanded a telescopic rifle, and
this man has been firing at something ten miles away with a
blunderbuss."

I was always glad of Mr. Channing's presence on occasions on which
matters of faith were likely to be called in question. I felt great
support in the assurance that he would always uphold the right, and in
the right spirit.

It was in the strength of this assurance that I betook myself to Mrs.
Sargent's house one evening, to hear Mr. Francis E. Abbot expound his
peculiar views to a little company of Unitarian ministers. Mr. Abbot, in
the course of his remarks, exclaimed: "The Christian Church is blind! it
is blind!" Mr. Wasson replied: "We cannot allow Brother Abbot to think
that he is the only one who sees." I remember of this evening that I
came away much impressed with the beautiful patience of the older
gentlemen.

I must mention one more occasion at the Radical Club. I can remember
neither the topic nor the reader of the essay, but the discussion
drifted, as it often did, in the direction of woman suffrage, and John
Weiss delivered himself of the following utterance: "When man and woman
shall meet at the polls, and he s