BristolSherman18780520_002

Page 2d

That is the reason why my name & that of [Sedley?] Stickney
Eaton & nearly fifty more may not be found among
the graduates. But we did practically graduates & went
thence without further preparation & [crossed out] were rcd into
the Colleges to which we applied. I went to
Oberlin in Ohio & was admitted as a member of the Freshman Class. I graduated from Oberlin Coll.
in the Autumn of 1840. Entered the Theol.
Sem. at New Haven and [?] there one year.--
Spent the remaining years of Theol. Study at
Oberlin. From which Seminary I was graduated
in the fall of A.D. 1848. The [business?] of my life
has been preaching the Gospel. The most of the time
in Green Lake Co. Wisconsin. I have won
no higher or dsearer honor than that of being an
[?] of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am now
63 years of age. More joyful & buoyant in Spirit
than when a youth at your school. Pretty nearly
worn out by over 30 years of solid preaching but my heart is
my labor. No employment pays like a successful ministry
But Souls are a ministers proper hire--the salary a bagatelle.
I send you greeting from the Pacific Shore. Where I am sitting now
awaiting the boat which is to bear me to the better [?]. S. Bristol