Starr King in California | Page 2

no longer a young man. It is now
afternoon with me, and the shadows turn toward the east."
There was abundant reason for this premature feeling of age. Even at
thirty-five King had been a long time among the most earnest of
workers. Born in New York City, December 17, 1824, of English and
German ancestry, son of a Universalist Minister who was compelled to
struggle along on a very meager salary, the lad felt very early in life
labor's stern discipline. At fifteen he was obliged to leave school that
by daily toil he might help to support his now widowed mother and five
younger brothers and sisters. Brief as was his record in school, we note
the following prophetic facts: he displayed singular aptitude for study,
he was conscientious yet vivacious, he was by nature adverse to
anything rude or coarse. Joshua Bates, King's last teacher, describes the
lad as "slight of build, golden haired, with a homely face which
everybody thought handsome on account of the beaming eyes, the
winning smile and the earnest desire of always wanting to do what was

best and right."
This is our earliest testimony to the lovable character of the man whose
life-story we are now considering. It will impress us more and more as
East and West, Boston and San Francisco, in varying phrase tell again
and again, of "the beaming eyes, the winning smile, and the earnest
desire of always wanting to do what was just and right."
A bread-winner at fifteen, and for a large family, surely this is the end
of all dreams of scholarship or of professional service. That depends on
the man - and the conditions that surround him. Happily King's mother
was a woman of good mind who knew and loved the best in literature.
Ambitious for her gifted son, she read with him, and for him, certain of
the masters whom to know well is to possess the foundations of true
culture. It is a pretty scene and suggestive - the lad and his mother,
reading together "till the wee small hours" Plutarch, Grote's History of
Greece, Bullfinch's Mythology, Dante and the plays of William
Shakespeare. Fortunately his mother was not his only helper. Near at
hand was Theodore Parker who was said to possess the best private
library in Boston, and whose passion for aiding young men was well
known. He befriended King as he befriended others, and early
discovered in the widow's son superior talents. In those days very
young men used to preach. Before he had reached his majority, King
was often sent to fill engagements under direction and at the suggestion
of Parker. The high esteem of the elder for the younger man is attested
by the following letter to an important church not far from Boston.
"I cannot come to preach for you as I would like, but with your kind
permission I will send Thomas Starr King. This young man is not a
regularly ordained preacher, but he has the grace of God in his heart,
and the gift of tongues. He is a rare sweet spirit and I know that after
you have met with him you will thank me for sending him to you."
This young dry-goods clerk, schoolmaster, and bookkeeper, for he
followed all of these occupations during the years in which he was
growing out of youth into manhood, was especially interested in
metaphysics and theology. In these, and kindred studies he was greatly
impressed and inspired by the writings of Victor Cousin, whose major

gift was his ability to awaken other minds. "The most brilliant meteor
that flashed across the sky of the nineteenth century," said
Sainte-Beuve.
When Thomas Starr King was eighteen years old, William Ellery
Channing died. Of that death which occurred amid the lovely scenery
of Vermont upon a rare Autumnal evening, Theodore Parker wrote,
The sun went toward the horizon: the slanting beams fell into the
chamber. Channing turned his face toward that sinking orb and he and
the sun went away together. Each, as the other, left 'the smile of his
departure' spread on all around: the sun on the clouds, he on the heart."
Channing's "smile on the heart," his pure philosophy, his sweet
Christian spirit so influenced King that his best sermons read not unlike
the large, calm utterances of Channing when he spoke on the loftiest of
themes. To other good and great men our student preacher was deeply
indebted. To Dr. Hosea Ballou (2d) for friendship and wise counsel. To
Dr. James Walker for the inspiration of certain notable lectures on
Natural Theology. Most of all to Dr. E. A. Chapin, his father's
successor in the Universalist Pulpit at Charlestown, Mass. Dr. Chapin -
but ten years King's senior - was then just beginning his