Further Labors
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had come to the meeting bringing their children with them to receive
the blessing. Brother Ball arose and made humble confession that
he had not lived as he should before his family. He confessed to his
children and to his wife that he had been in a backslidden state, and
had been no help to them, but rather a hindrance. Tears flowed freely;
his strong frame shook, and sobs choked his utterance.
“Brother James Farnsworth had been influenced by Brother Ball,
and had not been in full union with the Sabbathkeeping Adventists.
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He confessed with tears. Then we pleaded earnestly with the children,
until thirteen arose and expressed a desire to be Christians. Brother
Ball’s children were among the number. One or two had left the
meeting, being obliged to return home. One young man, about twenty
years old, walked forty miles to see us and hear the truth. He had never
professed religion, but took his stand on the Lord’s side before he left.
This was one of the very best of meetings. At its close, Brother Ball
came to your father and confessed with tears that he had wronged him,
and entreated his forgiveness. He next came to me and confessed that
he had done me a great injury. ‘Can you forgive me and pray God to
forgive me?’ We assured him we would forgive him as freely as we
hoped to be forgiven. We parted with all with many tears, feeling the
blessing of heaven resting upon us. We had no meeting in the evening.
“Thursday we arose at 4 a.m. It had rained in the night and was
still raining, yet we ventured to start to ride to Bellows Falls, a distance
of twenty-five miles. The first four miles was exceedingly rough, as
we took a private track through the fields to escape steep hills. We rode
over stones and plowed ground, nearly throwing us out of the sleigh.
About sunrise the storm cleared away, and we had very good sleighing
when we reached the public road. The weather was very mild; we
never had a more beautiful day to travel. On arriving at Bellows Falls,
we found that we were one hour too late for the express train, and one
hour too early for the accommodation train. We could not get to St.
Albans until nine in the evening. We took seats in a nice car, then took
our dinner, and enjoyed our simple fare. We then prepared to sleep if
we could.
“While I was sleeping, someone shook my shoulder quite vigor-
ously. I looked up, and saw a pleasant-looking lady bending over me.
Said she: ‘Don’t you know me? I am Sister Chase. The cars are at
White River. Stop only a few moments. I live just by here, and have
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