He was full of a quaint humor, which seemed to burst out from every line of his features, and twinkle merrily in his bright eyes.  Often in the midst of his most exciting revivals he could not resist the desire to fasten his dry jokes upon one of his converts.  No man loved a joke better, or was quicker to make a good use of it.  He was traveling one day on his circuit, and stopped for the night at a cabin in which he found a man and woman.  Suspecting that all was not right, he questioned the woman, and drew from her the confession that the man was her lover.  Her husband, she said, was away, and would not return for two days, and she had received this man in his absence.

[Illustration:  CARTWRIGHT CALLING UP THE DEVIL.]

Cartwright then began to remonstrate with the guilty pair upon their conduct, and while he was speaking to them the husband’s voice was heard in the yard.  In an agony of terror the woman implored Cartwright to assist her in getting her lover out of the way, and our preacher, upon receiving from each a solemn promise of reformation, agreed to do so.  There was standing by the chimney a large barrel of raw cotton, and as there was no time to get the man out of the house, Cartwright put him into the barrel and piled the cotton over him.

The husband entered, and Cartwright soon engaged him in conversation.  The man said he had often heard of Peter Cartwright, and that it was the common opinion in that part of the country that among his other wonderful gifts our preacher had the power to call up the devil.

“That’s the easiest thing in the world to do,” said Cartwright.  “Would you like to see it?”

The man hesitated for awhile, and then expressed his readiness to witness the performance.

“Very well,” said Cartwright; “take your stand by your wife, and don’t move or speak.  I’ll let the door open to give him a chance to get out, or he may carry the roof away.”

So saying, he opened the door, and, taking a handful of cotton, held it in the fire and lighted it.  Then plunging it into the barrel of raw cotton, he shouted lustily, “Devil, rise!” In an instant the barrel was wrapped in flames, and the lover, in utter dismay, leaped out and rushed from the house.  The husband was greatly terrified, and ever afterward avowed himself a believer in Cartwright’s intimacy with “Old Scratch,” for had he not had ocular proof of it?

Riding out of Springfield one day, he saw a wagon some distance ahead of him containing a young lady and two young men.  As he came near them they recognized him, though he was totally unacquainted with them, and began to sing camp-meeting hymns with great animation.  In a little while the young lady began to shout, and said, “Glory to God!  Glory to God!” and the driver cried out, “Amen!  Glory to God!”