CHAPTER XIII.
IN the course of the year 1877 the opinion gained strength among the office-bearers and members of the church that assistance of a permanent and substantial nature ought to be afforded to Dr Stuart to enable him to overtake with somewhat greater ease and comfort the arduous and multifarious pastoral duties so readily undertaken by him. This matter was cordially taken up by a number of the ladies of the congregation, and in a short time a sum of money was raised sufficient for the purchase of a suitable horse, carriage, and equipments. Dr Stuart was prevailed upon by his friends to accept the gift of the ladies,[1] but it was felt at the same time to be due to the minister that steps should be taken at an early date to procure relief for him from a portion of his ever-increasing pastoral work.
In the beginning of 1878 the minister, with the concurrence of the Session, inaugurated a system of catechetical instruction to the
- ↑ The ladies took Mr C. H. Street, for many years the willing servant of the church, into their confidence. On his suggestion the carriage was built with accommodation for two persons only, to prevent the minister's overloading the horse by giving stragglers a lift. I am not sure that he did not really use the words "old wives." It is quite possible that the minister in his heart was grateful to Mr Street for limiting the capacity of the carriage. It is a sample of the thoughtfulness of my friend.—D.M.S.
Dr Stuart's friends are decidedly of opinion that the limitation of the capacity of the carriage was a wise and necessary precaution. At funerals and on other occasions it is quite a usual practice of his to dismiss his coachman and take up beside himself some one or other who in his opinion would be benefited by relief from walking. The following story is told of one of the Doctor's adventures:—Soon after the presentation of the carriage he was driving alone to North Taieri to preach for his friend Mr Sutherland. On his way across the Taieri Plain he overtook a man laboriously rolling a keg along the road. He drew up, and accosted the wayfarer somewhat as follows:—"My man, that is rather a hard job you are at. Could you manage to lift the keg up beside me? I shall be glad to take it along a bit." The offer was thankfully accepted, with a request to set the keg down at the road-side post-office. "Conceive my astonishment," said the Doctor, when speaking of this incident, "on being informed by the postmaster that I had assisted in conveying a barrel of beer for the use of a sly grog shop on the Otago Central Railway, then in course of construction, while under the delusion that it was a keg of winter butter!"—J.H.
