104
LIFE OF ROBERT CARTER.
friend some years after. This gentleman met Mr. Carter at a watering place, and became well acquainted with him. The following winter he came to New York to attend a convention of the Unitarian Church, and stayed with Mr. Carter for about a week. He was always present at family prayers, but did not kneel, as he had not been accustomed to such a service. When he was bidding farewell he said to his host: “I have been much interested in your custom of family prayer, and it seems to me an invaluable one. I mean to follow the practice myself when I go home, and I shall try to introduce it into our denomination as far as I am able.”
The following allusion to his prayers appeared in the Presbyterian of January 8, 1890, just after his death.
“There are a great many persons in this land and other lands who know well the name of the late Robert Carter. They found it imprinted, perhaps, on the title page of some of the volumes most precious to them,―of the books which lie near them in sickness, or in hours of secret devotion. Others came to know this name by its association with some beneficent deed, done quietly and revealed unto them accidentally. But there are others, and of these many are ministers and elders in the churches, who will forever associate the name of this well beloved man with the prayers which they heard him utter. He was often a member of the General Assembly; he was unfailing in his presence at the devotional meetings of the Assembly, and by those who knew his power he was often called upon to lead these meetings in prayer. Always excellent, these prayers at times were wonderful. There was no wandering, no hesitation, no lack of well ordered words, Then there was such a large comprehension of the Gospel of Christ, and of its truths as wrought into the personal experience of the man; while through all there ran a tide of emotion which touched all
