ELDER JOHN KLINE AND ISAAC LONG VISIT PENNSYLVANIA.

THURSDAY, August 12, the two brethren started on their journey.  They attended council meeting at the Flat Rock.  Here they took leave of the Brethren, and started on a journey that was to occupy about five weeks.  Brother Kline, as was his custom when his spirit stirred him to go on a journey of this kind, had sent many appointments ahead; and many were eagerly expecting and hopefully awaiting his arrival.

The imagination can find much pleasure in accompanying these two brethren on this protracted visit to the churches.  Both on horseback, they had every opportunity to view the country as they passed along; and many must have been the remarks and observations suggested by things along the way.  Brother Kline’s mind was peculiarly active, and his temper and social disposition genial in an eminent degree.  It was never my privilege to be with him on one of these protracted excursions, but from the short ones I occasionally took with him in later years, I feel sure that each day, all else favorable, was a sort of heavenly delight.

Seeing a fine looking tree in the forest, whose leaves and branches and general appearance showed that it was solid to the core, straight grained, and deeply and firmly rooted in the soil, he would say:  “That tree is a fair representation of a good church member.  He stands upright.  You see he does not lean to one side or the other.  He holds his head high in the perpendicular line of justice and truth.  The squirrels that run up and down on his trunk and over his Branches do not annoy him:  these are his little charities.  They feed on his fruit, to be sure; but a pleasant smile is all the account he takes of them.  You tap him with a mallet, and his trunk gives out a dull but certain sound of solidity to the core.  There is no wind-shake about him.  His thrifty appearance proves this.  The storms, in the church and out of the church, have never disturbed the solid texture of his faith and Christian integrity.  He is not twisty.  The fibers that compose his huge trunk are just like his principles; they all run straight up and down.  You always know how to take him, and what to depend on when you have him.

“But there stands another tree of a very different character.  Tap that tree, and the drum-like sound tells you at once that it is hollow.  You can see, too, by the furrows in the bark not running up and down in perpendicular lines, that it is twisty.  It can hardly be said to be wind-shaken, for there is not enough solid timber in it to be affected in that way.  The few nuts or acorns which it bears are worthless; for there is not sufficient vitality about it to mature its fruit.  It would have been to the ground long ago but for the support given it by that other tree on which it leans.  I leave you to form your own opinion of the church member represented by this tree.  I hope there are not many such, for if there were I fear we would not be able to find enough solid material to build a house that would stand.”