Thus equipped, these two brethren started on their journey.  Their spirit in all this reminds one of what passed between two ministering brethren of another persuasion who were traveling together, neither so well equipped nor mounted, but on foot.  Trudging along in the face of foul weather to meet an engagement, Comer said to Proctor: 

  “I don’t mind the rain
  If souls I may gain.”

To which Proctor instantly replied to Comer: 

  “I can face every storm of rain and foul weather,
  When I and my Lord are walking together.”

Wherever Brother Kline and his companion went they were recognized, whether personally known or not, as DUNKARD PREACHERS.  No doubt the sneer was sometimes thrust at them, and the lip curled with contempt by those whose stolid ignorance and stupid brains had locked the door against the inflow of good breeding and truth.  But in the eyes of all honest, sincere-minded people their mission was one of mercy, truth and love; and they were loved and respected accordingly.

Near the close of the third day of travel, they passed

HARPER’S FERRY.

Brother Kline’s experienced eye took in the whole scene at one view.  He says:  “The scenery here is greatly surpassed by that of many places within the Allegheny ranges.  It is not nearly equal to the South Branch Gap below Petersburg in Hardy County, Virginia; nor does it at all compare, in sublime grandeur, with the Rocks at the mouth of the Seneca, in Pendleton County, Virginia.  It is tame in comparison with either of these places.  But so goes the world.  It is with places as with people.  When one gets a name by being lauded high by some distinguished personage, as Thomas Jefferson, for example, he soon has the eyes and the ears of the world; whilst others, more worthy, perhaps, in all the elements of true greatness, are left unnoticed and unknown.  This thought awakens my recollection of a stanza in Gray’s ‘Elegy.’  It touches tenderly and beautifully upon the neglect and lack of appreciation often experienced by real beauty, virtue and goodness.  Here is the verse: 

  “’Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
    The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear;
  Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
    And waste its sweetness on the desert air.’

“But we must tone our criticisms down to a just standard.  The lack of fame with many justly meriting it is not their own fault, nor is it the fault of the world; but the trouble lies greatly in the place of their birth and in the surroundings of their lives.  If the South Branch Gap had had its birth at Harper’s Ferry the summit of its fame would reach the clouds; whilst Harper’s Ferry, born among the rugged recesses of the Alleghenies, would never be thought of.  The world is not so partial and full of favoritism as we think.  It readily takes up what suits its uses and its tastes, without stopping to inquire whether there might not be something better found.”