AND THE KING SAID UNTO HIS SERVANTS,
KNOW YE NOT THAT THERE IS A PRINCE AND
A GREAT MAN FALLEN THIS DAY IN ISRAEL?
Elder William Taylor Maupin, born in
Callaway county, Mo., August 30, 1831; died
at Hennessey, Okla., March 2, 1911.
That is the brief announcement of the
birth and death of a great man and a prince
who has but recently fallen in Israel. With
eyes dimmed by tears, and with fingers that
falter as they touch the keys, it is difficult to
express even feebly the tribute that the son
would pay the father now. He was even
more than father; he was the playmate of
my earliest boyhood, the comrade of my
adolescent youth, and the kindly companion
and advisor of my maturer years. Always
a strict disciplinarian in his own household,
the strong hand was always gloved with a
warmheartedness that appealed even more
than his reprimands; a minister of the gos
pel, he believed in the manhood of the min
ister and enjoyed life at its best; a member
of the church militant, he resented any in
sult to his profession with the stern decision,
of a man willing to fight for the faith that
was within him. By nature a peacemaker,
he never failed to stand firmly for what he
deemed to be his duty ; by education a cos
mopolitan, he was at home in any company
but never lost sight of his duty as one who
preached the gospel of the Nazarene.
It is hard for a son to undertake the task
of writing of a father's virtues, for strive
as he may to be fair and impartial he is sub
ject to the charge of being biased and partial.
Yet I believe I will have the corroborating
testimony of thousands of witnesses when
I say that it has been given to few "country
ministers" to wield the influence for good
that my father wielded. During the past
thirty years in which I have wandered to
and fro over the earth. I have seldom been
in a neighborhood more than a day or two
ere some one asked me :
"Are you related to Elder W. T. Maupin
who used to preach for the Christian church
at such-and-such-a-place?"
And when I replied that he was my father
my questioner would tell me things of him
that made me proud to be the son, though
unworthy, of such a sire.
Wherever he lived, he Avas a forceful
character for good in that neighborhood.
Men instinctively turned to him for advice
and help ; his kindly nature was evidenced
on every hand by the fact that he was ever
a favorite with children and young people ;
he radiated goodnature as the sun radiates
heat, and a warm welcome awaited him in
countless homes, in business circles and in
the common walks of everyday life. Dur
ing the last three or four days of his illness,
when his loving wife and his own boys
w iited for the coming of the inevitable, the
whole community in which he had lived but
a brief decade felt an indefinable repression,
and the first thing that neighbor asked
in the morning, and the last thing asked in
the evening was: ''How is Elder Maup
in ?" A continuous procession of people,
from the lad in knickerbockers who knew
him ?s a laughter-loving old gentleman, to
the gray-haired fathers and mothers who
loved him for his influence upon their sons
and daughters, streamed constantly by the
doer to ask in whispered tones: "How is he
now?" And when the news went abroad
that this gentle, loving soul had left its tene
ment of clay, there were tears of sympathy
fhed in practically every home in that
splendid little community. And why not?
FATHER:
AN APPRECIATION
By One of His Boys
Had there not passed from among them a
man whose every influence was for good,
whose cheery greeting was an inspiration,
whose varm handclasp was a beneditcion?
Realizing full well that the machinery of
his body was well nigh worn out, he faced
death as one who had achieved a victory
over the flesh ; who had fought a good fight,
who had almost finished the course, and
who had laid up for himself a crown of
righteousness and so feeling, when his last
illness came upon him he calmly and with
out a tremor made every arrangement for
his own funeral. The good old songs of
Zion he had so often helped to sing he
scanned once and again and finally selected
those he wanted sung. He selected a faith
ful ministerial comrade of many years to
preach his funeral sermon, and repeated the
verse he, would have for the text of that
sermon. ' From among the close church
companions he had known and loved for a
few brief years he selected his pallbearers,
and he asked that the fraternal order of
which he was the honored chaplain be asked
to take charge of the services at the little
cemetery. His worldly affairs took but
little time in settlement, for all his treasures
had been laid up in heaven ; none upon earth.
Having thus prepared himself for the end,
he dozed away into a sleep from which he
never awakened on this side of the sullen
river where we of the flesh must bid a long
farewell to the loved ones as they embark
one by one for the further shore. In his
death he gave a demonstration never to be
forgotten by those about him of the beauti
ful lines of Bryant's in "Thanitopsis" :
"So live, that when thy summons comes to
join
The innumerable caravanv which moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall'
take . .
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and
soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach they
grave,
Like one who' wraps the drapery of his
couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant
dreams."
It was thus that this splendid old gentle
man, this courageous warrior for righteous
ness, laid himself down and with closed eyes
waited for the summons.
It may be that in the fulness of time the
hands of his sons and his daughter may erect
above his mortal remains a monument of
marble. But though that marble column
pierce the sky, it will have crumbled into
dust ere time shall have dimmed the monu
ment he erected for himself in the hearts
of men. As the pebble dropped into the
placid bosom of the millpond creates rip
pling circles that constantly widen until the
break themselves upon the near-by banks,
so his kindly deeds radiated in constantly
widening circles circles tliat are confined
by no shores save those of eternity.
For upwards of half a century he preached
the gospel throughout the length and
breadth of the land. He fought evil with
an intensity of purpose that lighted his face,
but it was not with the weapons of denun
ciation but the weapons of truth that ever
sought to turn men to the better way by
portraying the joys and happiness of the bet
ter life. Ready at all times to defend his
principles, he was the most tolerant of men,
liberal in his views and ever opposed to
foisting opinions upon others through
statuatory law. jQnce decided upon his
course he pursued it without flinching, car
ing nothing for censure and unswerved by
praise. But woe betide the man who
sought to impugn his motives. His caustic
wit flashed like a rapier and cut to the very
quick. A case in point :
In 1888 father lived at Hastings, Ne
braska, being the pastor of the Christian
church. He was a life-long republican and
had no patience with those who sought to
make a political issue of prohibition. He
was unanimously elected president of the
Hastings Harrison and Morton club and
made several speeches in central Nebraska
for the republican national ticket. After
the close of that memorable campaign the
club held a big ratification meeting at the
opera house, and at the close of the meeting
the president was presented with a gold
headed cane suitably inscribed and a hand
some purse of money. His refusal to join
the third party, aroused the ire of the fa
natics who saw in prohibition the only issue
worth while, and one of them, a physician,
wrote for a prohibition organ then published
in Lincoln a biased account of the presenta
tion of the purse and this account was
headed in big letters, "Judas Gets His Sil
ver." It was a bitter attack, but it never
ruffled the. goodnature of the kindly gentle
man against whom it was directed. "Bob"
Wahlquist, editor of the Hastings Democrat,
and father's warm personal friend though
ardent political opponent, offered him space
in which to reply. The offer was accepted
with thanks, and in the next issue of the
Democrat the following appeared over
father's signature:
"I see by a prohibition paper published
in Lincoln that Dr. calls me Judas.
This is a mistake, for my name is Saul, son
of Kish. I am about looking for my father's
asses, and methinks I have located the lead
er thereof by its bray."
Dr. 's residence in Hastings was
thereafter of short duration, for he was
literally laughed out of town.
Again : During that same campaign
father attended a state meeting of the Chris
tian church in Lincoln, and found practically
every minister but himself wearing Fiske
and Brooks hats. He was subjected to con
siderable joking because he was not wearing
the same kind of headgear, some of the jok
ing being goodnatured, but more of it being
flavored with rancor that comported ill with
the Christian spirit. Finally one of the
visiting ministers asked him if he would
wear a Fiske and Brooks hat if one were
given him. Father said he would, and his
questioner agreed to buy him one during the
noon hour. After dinner the two appeared
at the church, father still wearing his favor
ite slouch hat. Immediately he was ac-
