Eighteen years have now passed since these labors were performed, and sufficient time has elapsed for all the dust and excitement to pass away; and on a calm review of that period of my life and labors, I look on it as the most important of any through which I ever passed: not in actual results, but in the development of a great system of evangelization, which has carried salvation to thousands who had never been reached by saving truth. A few had previously entered this field of Christian effort for the destitute, and done much, north and west; but this was the beginning of the work in the middle and southern states, which has reached millions of all classes and conditions, both bond and free. As to myself, I found it the best school I ever entered for spiritual and intellectual improvement, and if I have since been the instrument of any good to my fellow-men, the labors of the little time referred to prepared me for it. At the close of this month’s work, two gentlemen called on me one evening, and requested me to take a walk in the village of P----. I was soon led into a tailor’s shop, and had my measure taken; and then from one store to another, till a fine new suit, from head to foot, was selected, costing near fifty dollars. CHAPTER VI. April 1, 1845, I commenced my labors in the town of F----, in Western Virginia. As soon as the object of my visit to that region was known, I received a cordial welcome from a large majority of the people, who did all they could to aid me in my work. Mr. P----, a young lawyer at that time, and since governor of Western Virginia, volunteered to go with me to every house in the town. His high position and universal popularity made the work pleasant and successful. In three days my buggy load of books were circulated in the village. I immediately replenished my stock, and commenced my work in the country among the mountains. It was like a translation from sunlight into darkness--from a high civilization into one of ignorance and superstition, with here and there a family of wealth and refinement.