at New York and forwarded by him to St. Paul. A short time after the clothes arrived I attended a prayer meeting, held near where we lived. The topic in the meeting was "The Joy of the Lord.'' Our anti-secrecy friend was there, and after several had talked and prayed he arose, spoke a few words on the subject for the evening and then, suddenly clapping his hand on my shoulder, exclaimed: "By the way, is this the suit of clothes you smuggled?"

I made no reply, as I knew him to be peculiar in some ways, and thought perhaps he was merely making an illustration. But a woman sitting in front, who knew us and understood what was meant, turned and said to him, "You're not God." He then immediately sat down. In a few moments I saw what he meant, but was utterly astonished at the way he had taken to reprove me, since the Bible declares we must first talk to our brother privately. The friends who had brought our new clothes from Ireland had paid no duty on them, as they were packed in along with their own clothes. Upon my going to the Customs House officer in St. Paul to inquire if this was smuggling, he informed me that it was, and in reply to my query as to what was to be done to get the matter straight he informed me that if the guilty party would come and make confession no legal steps would be taken, but that a certain percentage would be charged on the clothes. The next day I took the clothes, paid nine dollars duty, and got my receipt, so that I was fully prepared should any one tackle me on that subject again. Much of this kind of swindling of the government is carried on by professed Christians, and I am glad my attention was drawn to the matter, even if it was in a somewhat rude and unscriptural way.

Following the camp-meeting at Hebron, it was decided to pitch the district tabernacle in Saint Paul and hold a series of meetings there. The tabernacle was finally located in West Saint Paul, and the Rev. David McLeod with his devoted wife (now gone to her reward), was sent there to conduct the services. District Chairman Dake was also present occasionally to lend his aid. The counter-attractions of the city were

so numerous and strong, however, that comparatively little was accomplished. During these special services, however, a stout but rather small German woman (Catherine Zimmerman) and her husband one day ventured into the tabernacle and became interested in the services. The Lord blessed them much. Here too they met and formed a liking for young Agnew. They became attached to him, in fact, with such a devoted and practical friendship that when he was out of money in earlier experiences in Africà they sent him at one time one hundred and fifty dollars, at another time a hundred dollars, and other sums at other times, greatly to the encouragement of his heart and the strengthening of his faith.

Harry contributed liberally toward the expenses of the tabernacle meeting, and when he saw so little accomplished the tempter made it appear to him that his money had been wasted and his liberality had been bestowed in vain. Such was not the case, however, and he used afterward to say, "God saw it was spent for his glory, and took care that it should be paid back with more than compound interest at a time when I needed it most.". Is it not written by the pen of Inspiration, "Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days?"

There being a small class of Free Methodists at Minneapolis without a pastor, Harry was appointed to look after them. He used to drive up there Sundays to look after this work, and, as best he could, feed the shepherdless flock. He also found an abundance of wayside work to do for Christ in and about Saint Paul, and so apt was he in all these kinds of service that Chairman Dake desired to detain him there, and could

hardly believe when Harry received his call from the missionary board to go to Africa that it was in order for him to go. In fact he protested against his going, though he afterwards became convinced of his error in so doing, and finally went to West Africa himself in the interest of the foreign work, where he soon found a grave in Sierra Leone.

So firmly did our consecrated young brother believe, in view of subsequent developments, that his call to the foreign mission field was from God that, to the close of his life, he would say: "I have never regretted leaving St. Paul, even in times of greatest trial and difficulty. I have ever felt that, no matter who was called to stay at home, my call was to the foreign field, although at the time of my first starting out I had but little real conviction in the matter."

CHAPTER V.

THE CALL TO AFRICA-APPOINTMENT TO THE FOREIGN

FIELD.

"My soul is not at rest; there comes a strange

And secret whisper to my spirit, like

A dream of night, that tells me I am on
Enchanted ground. Why live I here? The vows
Of God are on me, and I may not stop

To play with shadows, or pluck earthly flowers,
Till I my work have done, and rendered up
Account.'

Mr. Agnew's call to cngage in foreign missionary work was not of that extraordinary character which many tell of having received, although, as noted in the preceding chapter, it developed into as firm a conviction that his God-given work was in that direction as though his call had come audibly from heaven attended by miraculous phenomena. His own narration of this experience is as follows:

In the summer of 1884 Mr. D. W. Abrams, of Michigan, published in the Free Methodist an appeal from King Tappa, of Liberia, West Africa, for a missionary to teach him "God palaver." It was stated that this king had agreed to build the missionary a house, give him a boy as servant, and furnish him with rice and fish. This was thought to be a magnificent offer.

I remember of thinking at the time that Tappa must be an extraordinary man. I have since found out that such an offer on the part of an African chief, or king, generally amounts to very little. Scores of African chiefs will make such promises, but do they mean by it that they really want the missionary's gospel? By no means. Not only do many of them,

when they make such promises, have no intention of sticking to them, but the promises are made simply because they think the presence of the missionary means more cloth and gunpowder, not to speak of more influence. Some chiefs may be very willing to furnish a missionary with fish and rice, but they will take good care that they beg enough from him to more than pay back what was given. This kind of talk may seem severe, but its truth has been proven many times.

Mr. Abrams invited correspondence from those who felt called to go to Africa. The matter did not appear at all as being of particular interest to me, but a friend of mine became interested in it and wrote to Mr. Abrams. This stirred me up also to write, and finally the Rev. T. B. Arnold, of Chicago, was appointed by the Free Methodist mission board to go to St. Paul and consult with us. Up to this time I could speak of no particular call to foreign field, although I felt that several things were favorable to my going. First, I had a strong constitution, and hence, so far as health was concerned, I was as likely to stand the climate as any one. In the next place my brothers had all been in foreign climes and were all living, and so there was a strong probability that I likewise would be able to remain on the field.

When writing to the missionary board about myself I was constrained to use guarded language, as there was neither vision, dream nor any particular impression on my mind that I could write about. The nearest I could get to anything like these was an assurance I finally received that God would be pleased with my going. Not until I arrived at Inhambane, Southeast Africa, and saw the field did it come to me clearly that God wanted me there, and that for me to abandon the place would mean the loss of my soul. If I had no remarkable call to go, I had a most imperative call to stay, after getting there, and that was the most important after all.

So peculiar were Mr. Agnew's leadings in respect to entering upon the foreign work, and so mistaken and inconsistent appeared to him in later years the supposed call of some to similar fields of service, that he further expressed himself on the subject as follows: