Page:Robert Carter- his life and work. 1807-1889 (IA robertcarterhis00coch).pdf/156

140. They both regarded Milton and Young as favorite poets, and were drawn together by a fellow feeling in that respect.

A short time before, there had been a very “animated” correspondence between the Archbishop and Dr. Nicholas Murray (Kirwan) in the public press, and it was rather strange that they should be spending some weeks at the same hotel. They did not seek each other’s society, and Dr. Murray was a wee bit scandalized that Mr. Carter should be so intimate with the prelate.

When Mr. Carter first went to Sharon, there was no church in the place, and services were held in the parlors of the different hotels. He became a sort of ruler in the synagogue, arranging that such services should be held with the utmost regularity Sunday morning and evening, seeing that the chosen parlor was got ready, arranging that a minister should always be provided, seating the congregation, and having everything done decently and in order. There was always the best of preaching from some of the most prominent clergymen in the country. After a time churches were built and services kept up the year round.

While at Sharon, in June, 1859, Mr. Carter received a letter from Dr. J. H. Thornwell of Columbia, South Carolina, with whom he had long been on terms of intimacy. It gave an account of the sudden death of his daughter on the eve of her marriage. The letter was so remarkable that Professor Mitchell asked to be allowed to read it on Sunday evening at a religions service in the parlor of the hotel. Two years later Dr. Thornwell and Professor Mitchell were prominent leaders in the great struggle between the North and the South. Both passed from earth in the heat of the conflict, and met