ontributions had been to secular periodicals, but in
that year I ventured to send from Burlington, N.J., where I was then
preaching, a short article to the "New York Observer," signed by my
initials. This was followed by several others which, falling under the
eye of my beloved friend, the Rev. Dr. Cortland Van Rensellaer, led him
to say to me: "You are on the right track now; work on that as long as
you live," and I have obeyed his injunction. Within a year or two I
began to write for the "Presbyterian" at Philadelphia. Its proprietor
urged me to accept an editorial position, but I declined his proposal,
as I have declined several other requests to assume editorial positions
since. I would always rather write when I _choose_ than write when I
_must_, and I have never felt at liberty to hold any other position
while I was a pastor of a church. My contributions to the press never
hindered my work as a minister, for writing for the press promotes
perspicuity in preparing for the pulpit.

In the summer of 1853 I was called from the Third Presbyterian Church of
Trenton to the Market Street Reformed Church of New York City. As a
loyal Dutchman, I began to write at once for the "Christian
Intelligencer," and have continued in its clean hospitable columns to
this day. At the urgent request of Mr. Henry C. Bowen I began to write
for his "Independent," and sent to its columns over six hundred
articles; but of all my associate contributors in those days, not a
solitary one survives. In May, 1860, My first article appeared in the
_New York Evangelist_, and during these forty-two years I have tested
the patience of its readers by imposing on them more than eighteen
hundred of my lubrications. As I was preparing one of my earliest
articles, I happened to spy the blossoms of the catalpa tree before my
window, and for want of a title I headed it "_Under the Catalpa_." The
tree flourishes still, and bids fair to blossom after the hand that pens
these lines has turned to dust. I need not recapitulate the names of all
the many journals to which I have sent contributions,--many of which
have been republished in Great Britain, Australia and other parts of the
civilized world. I once gave to my friend, Mr. Arthur B. Cook, the
eminent stenographer, some statistics of the number of my articles, and
the various journals in which they had appeared in this and other
countries. He made an estimate of the extent of their publication, and
then said