Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 11.pdf/427

 394

William C. was "cousin to Lord Brougham and Lord Erskine, they and Patrick Henry being nephews of Robertson, the Scotch historian." Thus we see that the subject of this sketch had a noble ancestry. Mrs. Campbell, who afterwards became Mrs. Russell, was a lady of wealth; but having manumitted her slaves, she kept but few ser vants. Like her distinguished brother, she seems to have been endowed with the gift of eloquence. She was a devout Methodist, and led in prayer, and took part in classmeetings and love-feasts. Her eloquence on such occasions was marked. William Campbell Preston was born in Philadelphia, on Dec. 27, 1794, where his father was in attendance upon Congress, which was in session there. He was reared in the mountains of Virginia amid an atmos phere of patriotism and piety. When a boy he is said to have spent a good deal of his time — more than any other of the grand children — with his good old grandmother, Mrs. Russell, whose house was the preachers' home. In this pious Methodist home little William often heard prayers offered with fervor and unction by such men as McKendree, Whatcoat, and Asbury. The latter spoke of Mrs. Russell as "that elect lady." We shall find that the holy example, the re ligious conversation, and the fervent prayers of these godly men made their impress upon young Preston and were destined to bear rich fruit years afterwards. He himself tells us that when these good preachers would visit his grandmother's home, his services were often in demand to assist in waiting upon them. One of the chores which usu ally fell to his lot on these occasions was to bring corn from the mill for their horses. The seed sown in his heart, which was to fructify later on, was the blessed reward he received. Mrs. Russell was a woman of marked in dividuality. Mrs. Martin, the wife of Rev. William Martin, wrote an interesting sketch of Mr. Preston's life, which was publ1shed in

1871, in "The New Monthly Magazine," and to her I am indebted for many of the facts mentioned in this paper. In speaking of Mrs. Russell, Mrs. Martin tells us that after Mr. Preston's return from Europe, whither he had gone to complete his educa tion and widen his views, as soon as his good old grandmother met him she said: "Now, let us pray!" The prayer which she offered was after her usual eloquent style — "among other things giving God thanks for that William had not married ' a paltry French woman!'" In Mrs. Martin's sketch we find the fol lowing : " At the ' Centenary of Methodism,' commemorated by ' the people called Methodists' all over the world, Colonel Preston was one of the first to lay his offer ing on the altar in memory of his sainted grandmother, and as an acknowledgment of his indebtedness to the teachings of Methodism . . . ' My grandmother,' said Colonel Preston, ' I think, might have pre ferred the Church of England, had such been accessible to her in those times.' ' Pshaw!' said I, ' what would such as she ever have done in the Church of England?' 'Burst her boiler, I verily believe!' said he, with one of his contagious peals of laughter." Dr. H. Baer, in an address before the alumni of Wofford College, speaks of Mr. Preston's birth and the home of his child hood as follows: "A tradition in the fam1ly states that Mrs. Washington was the first person to hold him in her arms, and that Mrs. Madison listened to his earliest cries. He was cradled on the slope of one of the green hills of as lovely a spot as can be found in all this land of beauty. Saltville, in Smith county, Va., near one of the forks of the Holtson river, where his parents were living, o1lers a landscape unequalled for beauty. Here you have a valley, little over a mile in length, shut in apparently on all sides, with hundreds of cattle, sheep, and horses peacefully browsing on these grassy slopes. I used to stroll through the woods,