Still, if you ask me in what direction the descendants of the early Welsh settlers-those whose inhabitants are now firmly and for all time established here-can best exert their influence and power, I would say to aid the more complete establishment and the preservation of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia. That, as I understand it, is the aim of your trustees. Their motive is not the preservation of the Welsh language in our midst-it is the motive of affording to those unaccustomed to English speech, and inheriting and using their natural tongue-the Welsh language-an opportunity to listen in that language to the inspired words of the Bible and to the guidance and admonitions of their own ministers. It is the duty of those who have found fortune and comfort in this new land to welcome their relatives and race from the old, assist them as rapidly as possible in the practical acquisition of the English language, and in the meantime see to it as a solemn obligation, that the opportunity of religious instruction from the pulpit is furnished

moral nature, mingle his thoughts and his ambitions, and influencing him, exert an influence on all with whom he comes in contact.

The Welsh Church of Philadelphia must be maintained as long as there is a person in our city needing its ministrations, and that will be so long as there is any one that speaks and thinks in the Welsh as his natural language. I confess with regret that I have not taken the interest in this religious institution, which is being fostered, that it deserves from one who has a common ancestry with yourselves; but the example, the steady enthusiasm and labor of your trustees and pastor exert their influence upon me as they do upon you. The establishment

and maintenance of a distinctive. church is a great work. It is such a work in which they are engaged. It is a generous, an unselfish, a Christian effort. It will be crowned with success. So long as this church, in its special field, needs to exist, it will surely be upheld, and its history, when it is finally written, will be descriptive of one of those forces that quietly assisted in improving the character of the Welsh people, and took a modest but effective part in the advancement of the civilization of the noble city, in the foundation and early development of which Welshmen bore such a conspicuous part.

There are titled names in Wales to-day hardly known outside the county they live in; titles which honor those who wear them more than they honor the titles; but lives there a Welshman who has not heard of Thomas Gee of Denbigh, and does not honor and revere his memory as that of a peer, a prince? We have a nobility in Wales that has been forced upon us as a people; landholders who have through the ages figured as our leaders in religion and politics; but the people of Wales have never recognized them but as invaders. The people have had their own nobility-often poor, despised, oppressed, but yet the true representatives of their rights and aspirations, and they form a peerage of their own, among whom we find Thomas Gee. Although they wear their own simple Christian names, they are dearer to the Welsh heart than princes and lords, and they deserve the title of dukes (leaders) far more richly than those who wear their names like mantles. Jones Llanddowror, Thomas Charles of Bala, Williams Pantycelyn, John Elias, Thomas Gee, &c., are the "Lords Spiritual" of Wales.

The true leaders of the Welsh are moral and spiritual. A lord temporal, a mere wordly leader can

never strike the imaginative heart of the Welsh as anything but mercenary and vain; and this accounts for the fact that the ideal leader of the people in Wales is touched with the spiritual. Thomas Gee was a man that served God in all his work. He possessed the true secret of genius, as Emerson, described by "which suffers no fiction; which exacts good faith, reality and a purpose; and first, last, midst and without end, honors every truth by use." His activity through life was an honest expression of his personality; his works were an expression of a whole nature which was far removed from the common motives of men; the many interests and extensive activities of his untiring life show the greatness and strength of his heart; his great spirit made Wales its bride, which he honored, loved and labored for incessantly. "The retrospect of his life swarms" not with lost opportunities, but with accomplished

facts.

Falstaff's boast that he was not only witty himself, but the cause of wit in others points to a great truth. True power breeds power, and the greatness of a man is not to be judged by the amount of work he accomplishes himself, but by what he is the cause of accomplishing.

the press he was instrumental in educating and enlightening his country; mere fame was not his infirmity, for a higher purpose and a purer inspiration alone can account for “a consistent career," as Mr. Rendell, M. P., said at his funeral, marked by every private and civic virtue." He was not magnificent branches and foliage alone, but a veritable royal oak, gnarled and deep rooted in the love of God and man.

A few years later Thomas Gee, the elder, having become owner, and devoting his energy to mastering the Welsh language, founded the Gee establishment, which has done immense service to Welsh literature. Our hero was first educated at a school kept by a Mrs. Williams, of Castle Hill, Denbigh, and later at Grove School, Wrexham, under a Mr. Jackson. When a mere lad, he returned to his father's office to learn

to

the printer's trade, attending in the afternoon a school superintended by Rev. John Roberts. In 1836, when just of age, he went to London, where he soon commenced preach. During his sojournment in the metropolis, he was a fellow-student of the late Sir Hugh Owen at the Sunday School connected with the Welsh Methodists in the Boro. In 1842 he married Miss Hughes, of Plas Coch, who still survives; and five years ago they celebrated their golden wedding. To them were born five daughters and three sons; two of them are Thomas and Robert, solicitors, and the third, Howell, successor to his father in the publishing business. The daughters are Mrs. Matthews, Matthews, Amlwch; Mrs. Humphreys Roberts, J. P., the Hollies, Denbigh; Mrs. R. H. Williams, Government Auditor; Mrs. Davies, Manchester; and the eldest daughter, Miss Gee, for years her father's constant companion in his public journeyings on political and religious missions. He died September 28, 1898, in his 84th year.

The Monday following was as fine a day as one may see in Wales. Providence, as one said, seemed to smile on the thousands who had arrived from far and near to pay their last tribute of love and respect to one who had been their brave guide and champion of their rights. Being a man of the people, all classes turned out to pay him the last honors. In that procession was high and low, some of the highest families, scores of professional

men,

wealthy merchants, and a mighty number of farmers, tradesmen, artisans and others. The death of the great man, whose life had served them all, had touched them all. Two beautiful incidents were noticed during the funeral services at the church and the graveyard. As soon as the family had assembled at Capel Mawr, a ray of sunlight-the only such beam, and that of unusual brilliancy-shone through one of the windows right on to the plate on the casket. The plate was too bright to look on, and the wreaths were beautifully flooded with light; this and the incident of the choir of birds which sang sweetly on the oak tree over the open grave reminded the Bible-loving crowd of mourners of the words uttered by the descending Spirit over the Great Master.

Thomas Gee's life is crowded with instruction to the character student. His make-up was strong in every element. His love of right was overpowering; and his fidelity to duty was unchangeable. He was not a respecter of persons. His love of justice and purity is a perceptible element in all his activities. In the performance of duty on the lines of justice and purity his preserving strength was admirable. Once he took up a duty he persevered to work at it, slowly, continuously and faithfully like the proverbial "old ox." His steadiness was always reliable, and his principle always active. He simplified

all into love of God and man; from God he had purity, which in relation

to man became general justice. He did not believe in castes-a layman was as good as a priest, and a farmer as good as a landlord. He had no

patience with artificial distinctions among men. He was the consistent opponent of the Established Church, not that he was opposed to its religion, but because it was established

on

un-Christian principles being supported and bolstered up by artificial means. He might have entered the Church, and his ability and strength of character would have been an honor to the establishment: yet even in his young days he saw the false position the Church held, and he adhered to that early view until his death. There were no priests to him in the Christian dispensation; the servants of Christ are all laymen; the sacrificial priest is an anachronism and a relic; and the minister or preacher who aspired and professed any exceptional spiritual patronizing or mediating powers between God and man was regarded by him as a pretender. Although an ordained minister himself, he, as one of his biographers has said quaintly, never "neckclothed himself like a butler," coated himself like a clergyman, nor tolerated himself to be "Reverended.” To him Christ was the only priest and sacrifice, and all Christians are lav-brothers.

This intense love of man is seen in all the lines of his activity as a pioneer, publisher, journalist, preacher, reformer, patriot, champion of Welsh education, farmer's

man.

friend, anti-tither and nationalist. They were branches on the same tree-his love of God and his fellowman. His attitude in all these characters was perfectly consistent, and inspired by his love of justice to He was the life-long opponent of landlordism and State Churchism, which have been the most serious obstacles to progress in Wales. The landlords and the churchmen have continuously and stubbornly fought against the political, religious and educational emancipation of the people.

Throughout his life we meet with the same practical traits. He was thorough in everything. He has never been known to perform that contemptible feat of American politics, that of being perched on the fence an interested neutralist. In every movement he was a pioneer. This is seen in the thorough way he took to the temperance question. The temperance pledge of 1830 allowed "beer," but no "spirits." To improve on this half-hearted reformation, Thomas Gee, then a mere boy, drew out an original pledge of his own, a pioneer pledge, including beer in the list of prohibited beverages; and kept it faithfully throughout life. The same independence, individualism and power of initiative are seen in him until his death. As a preacher and minister and also as a practical worker, devoting his services towards the development of the Sunday School system, his constant purpose was not to pose as a man of priestly importance, but as a useful