Case of Hannah More
619
She being dead yet speaketh. Her letters, which I have given, will
be read with deep interest by those who have read her obituary in
a recent number of the Review. She might have been a blessing to
any Sabbathkeeping family who could appreciate her worth, but she
sleeps. Our brethren at Battle Creek and in this vicinity could have
made more than a welcome home for Jesus, in the person of this godly
woman. But that opportunity is past. It was not convenient. They
were not acquainted with her. She was advanced in years and might
be a burden. Feelings of this kind barred her from the homes of the
professed friends of Jesus, who are looking for His near advent, and
drove her away from those she loved, to those who opposed her faith,
to northern Michigan, in the cold of winter, to be chilled to death.
She died a martyr to the selfishness and covetousness of professed
commandment keepers.
Providence has administered, in this case, a terrible rebuke for the
[675]
conduct of those who did not take this stranger in. She was not really
a stranger. By reputation she was known, and yet she was not taken
in. Many will feel sad as they think of Sister More as she stood in
Battle Creek, begging a home there with the people of her choice. And
as they, in imagination, follow her to Chicago, to borrow money to
meet the expenses of the journey to her final resting place,—and when
they think of that grave in Leelenaw County, where rests this precious
outcast,—God pity those who are guilty in her case.
Poor Sister More! She sleeps, but we did what we could. When
we were at Battle Creek, the last of August, we received the first of
the two letters I have given, but we had no money to send her. My
husband sent to Wisconsin and Iowa for means, and received seventy
dollars to bear our expenses to those western convocations, held last
September. We hoped to have means to send to her immediately on
our return from the West, to pay her expenses to our new home in
Montcalm County.
The liberal friends West had given us the needed means; but when
we decided to accompany Brother Andrews to Maine, the matter was
deferred until we should return. We did not expect to be in the East
more than four weeks, which would have given ample time to send
for Sister More after our return, and to get her to our house before
navigation should close. And when we decided to remain in the
East several weeks longer than we first designed, we lost no time in