ing among the people."
On the last Sunday of Alline's stay at Sheffield the concourse was so
great that he preached in the open field. "I had so much to say to
them," he writes, "and they seemed so loth to part that I was almost
spent before we parted; and then I went ten miles down the river. But
after I had refreshed the body, I preached again in the evening; and
it was an evening much to be remembered."

[135] That is the portage to Marble Cove, or Indiantown, above the
falls. This portage is shown in Champlain's plan of Saint
John. It was used by the Indians long before the coming of the
whites.

Mr. Alline's opinion of the spiritual condition of the community in
the vicinity of Fort Howe seems to have changed but little, for he
writes under date, June 29th., 1782, "When I came to the port at the
mouth of the river, there appeared no passage from thence; and I
thought I could not content myself long in that dark place; but the
very next day four or five vessels came in, all bound for Cumberland
where I wanted to go."

The story of Alline's illness and death, which occurred in the town of
Northampton, New Hampshire, February 2nd, 1784, is pathetic in the
extreme, but we must pass on.

When Rev. Wm. Black visited Sheffield in 1792 the results of Henry
Alline's labors were yet in evidence, and were not entirely acceptable
to Mr. Black, who says that he found among the people "many
New-Lights, or more properly Allinites--much wild fire and many wrong
opinions."

In the year 1805, in answer to a petition from Sheffield, the Rev.
James MacGregor, a Presbyterian minister of Pictou, visited the River
St. John, and has left us an entertaining account of his visit. He
stopped at a house not far below the Grand Lake, where the following
colloquy with the good woman of the house ensued.

Woman--Who are you?

Doctor--I am James MacGregor, a minister from Pictou.

Woman--Are you a Methodist?

Doctor--No.

Woman--Are you Church of England?

Doctor--No.

Woman--Then you must be a New-Light.

Doctor--No, I am not a New-Light.

Woman--Then what in the world are you, for I do not know any more?

Doctor--I am a Presbyterian.

Woman--Well, I never saw a Presbyterian minister before, but my mother
used to tell me that they were the very best in the world. But what do
you hold to?

Doctor--I do not understand what you mean.

Woman--Do you hold to conversion?

Doctor--Don't they all hol