NINE months in the East again.

Ellsworth was the sphere of my ministerial labors. This town is twenty-four miles south-east of Bangor, and plaseantly situated on either bank of Union river. I have heard it called by a traveller the handsomest town on the shore road from Halifax to Boston. All towns much larger must not be brought into the comparison. Ellsworth is a small town containing no more than fifteen or sixteen hundred inhabitants. Its local situation however will not suffer much compared with that of any of the eastern towns. Along the banks of the rapid river are some bold beetling crags, and a wild woody eminence on which the wigwams of the Penobscot Indians are seen at certain seasons of the year, where it would not be difficult to get up a little romantic sensibility. The view from some parts of the town of the Schoodic hills on the North East, of the broad blue waters of Patten's bay and the Mount Desert Chain on the South, is such as deeply to impress the imagination of the lover of nature.

The village contains about five hundred inhabitants and has an appearance of newness. Out of the

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CHARACTER OF THE INHABITANTS.

village the town exhibits all the evidences of long settlement. The inhabitants are remarkable for resolution, enterprize, and natural vigor of understanding. Every thing is taken up with warmth; and almost all subjects, especially trade, politics and religion, give rise to competition-the first two, at times, to bitter jealousy and its evil consequences. The social circle is very good, though small. Several families, some of which are from Massachusetts, have given considerable attention to literary pursuits and would be deemed cultivated any where. The inhabitants generally are something uncouth and do not appreciate what are denominated the humanities of life. Among Eastern towns however E*. is not alone in this respect. When I went to E*. there were two religious Societies in the place, a Baptist and Trinitarian. Liberal Christianity had never been preached, and its character was hardly known. The old minister of the Trinitarian Society (who is now living and is a man of liberal mind and genuine Christian feelings), though not regarded by the Orthodox clergy as perfectly sound in the faith, never was an acknowledged Unitarian. His successor, who was for some years a preacher to the seamen in Portland, and whose urbanity, intelligence, and social harmony are still among my pleasant recollections, is, I believe, regarded as sound without blemish and without spot. I do not mean by this that he is bigotedfar from it. He has too much of the milk of hu

OUR PLACE OF WORSHIP.

man kindness in him for that.

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Being the first to

enter the place as the representative of our denomination, I expected to meet with much prejudice and opposition, and was told that such would be the case. Το my surprize and very agreeable disappointment it was not so. The only place for worship that could be obtained at the outset was a school-room in the second story of a building near the bridge that crosses Union river. Every thing that passed over the bridge shook the building and pulpit very much and not perceiving the cause at first, I thought it was an earthquake. In a few Sabbaths we obtained the use of the Baptist Church for a little while, and at length removed to the Court House which was to be our permanent place of worship. This was a new building and but partially completed. The Society finished the Court-room, erecting open pews, a very convenient pulpit and and singing-seats, at an expense of five hundred dollars. The larger part of this sum they expected the town would refund. A Sabbath School was formed which flourished very well, and a Benevolent Society among the ladies-which was the means of doing considerable good. A subscription for the erection of a church was started at the expiration of a few months, and an amount of twenty-seven hundred dollars easily obtained.

The Lyceum producing, as is thought, a very- favorable influence upon the moral and religious as well as intellectual character of a people, one was

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set in motion.

ery week.

LYCEUM.

There was a debate or lecture ev

It was continued without intermission and without assistance from abroad for a period of four or five months, and with an interest and success hardly to be expected. Let it be recollected there were but five hundred inhabitants in the village. I have little doubt that an abler Senate might have been formed out of the acting members of the Lyceum than that at Augusta.

Neither the audience nor the Sabbath School was large. Perhaps they were as large however as could be expected in a town of this size. Since I left the Society has settled a minister and, I believe, continues to increase and strengthen.

Some odd events. One warm afternoon in August when our service was held in the Baptist Church, which is situated on an eminence commanding a view of the village and the country beyond, a somewhat singular event occurred. The windows of the church were thrown up and the door spread wide to admit the fresh airs of heaven. It was a lovely season. The winds were asleep. The birds were chanting on the trees, and all was fair and tranquil as if the bridal of the earth and sky." The sermon was finished and the last hymn had just been given out, when during that dead pause which precedes the swelling forth of the music of the choir, a tall young man, in his shirt-sleeves, entered the church in a calm and dignified manner, and marched up the broad-aisle. I presumed that, whoever he

was, he would take a seat in one of the pews. But no! his mission seemed to be onward. I heard his footsteps on the pulpit stairs,and in a moment or two he presented himself before me. He reached out his hand I gave him mine. He shook it and asked me how I did, then took a seat on the cushion close beside me. All eyes were turned in amazement towards the pulpit. It was natural I should be a little astonished, Though unable to comprehend the purpose of this unexpected visiter and hardly knowing what to do, I was not disconcerted. I turned towards him and gave him a sharp look to read, if possible, his intent in the expression of his countenance. He appeared perfectly at home and was taking a leisurely survey of the audience and choir. I said to him with some firmness, im. plying no great satisfaction with his presence in the pulpit, Had n't you better, sir, take a seat in a pew below?' He looked at me for a moment rose bowed descended the stairs, and went into the first wall pew. He remained there quiet through the service and also the exercises of the Sabbath School, and then left the house. I was somewhat curious to find out who he was and what he intended by such sort of conduct, and learned that he was a stranger an unfortunate young man actuated by no evil purpose,nay, much to be commisserated. Some time before this event, he accidentally ran something into his foot, which severed some of the cords, and ever since he had been sub.