| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
CHAPTER XIII |
||
|
IN THE SUMMER OF 1848
"I would not die in summer time
When hearts are light and free."
—Song, Stephen Foster
I.
T
HERE was an episode in the summer of 1848 which, beyond its factual importance in Stephen's story, illustrates the spirit of the Foster family. This was the illness of Morrison Foster in the far South in late May, his journey northward accompanied by Dunning Foster, and a stay in Cincinnati from July 1 to 11 when Morrison, Dunning and Stephen were with their mother, who had come on from Pittsburgh.
Writing many years later about the influence of their mother upon the Foster children, Morrison, in pardonably heightened language, declared that "no unkind word ever passed between any members of that family, for strife was repelled and anger washed away by the pure stream of love that emanated from her presence":1
Her discourses abounded in illustrations of the goodness of God and the necessity for our recognizing the fact that dependence on Him alone |
||