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1869); "Ministry for the Times" (1852); and " Theism," in the " Ingham Lectures " (1872). He is also the author of " Beyond the Grave," in which he discusses with force and freedom profound ques- tions in Christian eschatology (1879) ; "Centenary Thoughts for the Pulpit and the Pew of Method- ism " (1884) ; and " Studies in Theology " (1886).

FOSTER, Robert Sandford, soldier, b. in Ver- non, Jennings co., Ind., 27 Jan., 1884. He was educated at the Vernon common-school. During the civil war he fought with Indiana troops, and was made brigadier-general of volunteers on 12 June, 1868. He was brevetted major-general of volunteers on 13 March, 1865, resigning on 25 Sept., and being appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 27th regular infantry, but declined. Since the war he has resided in Indianapolis, was its treas- urer from 1867 till 1872. He was U. S. marshal for the district of Indiana from 1881 till 1885.

FOSTER, Stephen, educator, b. in Andover, Mass., 15 Feb., 1798; d. in Knoxville, Tenn., 11 Jan., 1835. He was graduated at Dartmouth in 1821, and at Andover seminary in 1824, was ordained at Box- ford, Mass., on 30 Sept., 1824. went as a teacher to Virginia, and after remaining two years near Estill- ville, Scott CO., was chosen professor of Latin and Greek in Greenville college, Tenn. In 1827 he took the same chair in East Tennessee college (now the University of Tennessee), at Knoxville, and be- came president of the college in 1834.

FOSTER, Stephen Collins, song-composer, b. in Pittsburg, Pa., 4 July, 1826 ; d. in New York city, 13 Jan., 1864. At the age of thirteen he was sent to school in Towanda, Pa., and afterward to Athens, Pa. At fifteen he entered Jefferson col- lege at Cannonsburg, Pa., but soon returned to his native place to pursue his fa- vorite studies with private tu- tors. Possessing a natural fond- ness for music, he learned, un- aided, to play on the flageolet, and thrummed the guitar and banjo as an ac- companiment to ditties of his own composition, But he soon realized the limitations of musical self-

instruction, and

thereafter devoted several years of study to the voice and to piano-forte music. In 1842, when he was a merchant's clerk in Cincinnati, Ohio, his first song, " Open thy Lattice, Love," appeared in Balti- more, Md. Two othei-s, " Uncle Ned " and " O Su- sannah !" were immediately taken up by travelling negro minstrels, and became universally popular. This success fixed Foster's destiny ; he relinquished his career in business and devoted himself entirely to musical composition. In 1850 Foster married and removed to New York city, but the coxiple soon tired of their new home and returned to Pittsburg. About this time he composed his "Old Folks at Home." For the privilege of singing it in public, Christy's minstrels paid him $500. In 1861 ap- peai-ed " Old Black Joe," the last of his negro melodies ; thereafter he confined himself to the composition of sentimental ballads. In 1860 Foster, with his wife and child, returned to New York city, where the family remained until he died. He wrote in succession about 125 pieces, one fourth of which were negro ditties, and the others home ballads. So popular did many become, both here and abroad, that they were introduced at concerts by the most eminent vocalists, and rendered into foreign languages. Of " Susannah ! " " Nelly was a Lady," " Uncle Ned," " Nelly Bly," " Old Dog Tray," " Old Kentucky Home," " Willie, we have missed You," and " Old Folks at Home," hundreds of thousands of copies were printed. The last- named was by far the most profitable piece ever published in this country. Foster wrote both the words and music of all his pieces. His method of composition was to jot down the melody as it came to him, and thereafter invent suitable words. He adhered to simple chords for accompaniments, and kept the airs within the range of ordinary voices. The subjects appeal to home life and popu- lar taste, and the versification is smooth and musi- cal. His negro ditties are characterized by arch- ness, humor, and unusual refinement. In some of his compositions, notably so in the beautiful sere- nade " Come where my Love lies Dreaming," Foster rises to a higher plane than that of a writer of dit- ties, and commands the admiration of scientific musicians. He was a man of culture, familiar with the French and German languages, and a respectable artist in water-colors.

FOSTER, Stephen Symonds, abolitionist, b. in Canterbury, N. H., 17 Nov., 1809 ; d. near Worcester, Mass., 8 Sept., 1881. He learned the carpenter's trade, then studied with the intention of becoming a minister, was graduated at Dart- mouth in 1838, and studied theology in the Union theological seminary. New York; but, because he was precluded from advocating abolition in the pulpit, he deserted that profession in order to en- gage in the anti-slavery contest. He was an earnest orator, a master of denunciation and invective, and was frequently the victim of mob violence. He is desci'ibed in one of Lowell's anti-slavery poems as

"A kind of maddened John the Baptist,
To whom the harshest word comes aptest.
Who, struck by stone or brick ill starred,
Hurls back an epithet as hard.
Which, deadlier than stone or brick,
Has a propensity to stick."

While in the theological seminary he induced some of his classmates to join with him in a meeting to protest against the warlike preparations then going on, arising from the dispute with Great Britain over the northeastern boundary. The refusal of the faculty to allow the chapel to be used for such a meeting made him dissatisfied with the churches because they countenanced war, and when he be- came an anti-slavery agitator of the moral-force school, instead of a Congregational minister, he directed his attacks chiefly against the church and the clergy, because they upheld slavery. Since the people of the New England towns could not be induced to attend anti-slavery lectures, he was accustomed to attend church meetings and claim there a hearing for the enslaved, and was often ex- pelled by force, and several times: imprisoned for disturbing public worship. Other abolitionists adopted the same plan of agitation, which was very effective. He lived for many years on a farm in the suburbs of Worcester. He published articles in periodicals on the slavery question, and in 1843 a pami)hlet entitled " The Brotherhood of Thieves, a True Picture of the American Church and Clergy," in the form of a letter to Nathaniel Barney, a re- print of which was issued by Parker Pillsbury