Produced by Suzanne Shell, Matthew Wheaton and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) MEMOIRS OF _Mrs. Rebecca Steward_, CONTAINING: A FULL SKETCH OF HER LIFE, WITH VARIOUS SELECTIONS FROM HER WRITINGS AND LETTERS; ALSO CONTRIBUTIONS FROM BISHOP CAMPBELL, D.D., PROF. B. F. LEE, OF WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY, B. T. TANNER, D.D., EDITOR OF THE _Christian Recorder_, REV. T. GOULD, MRS. ELIZABETH LLOYD, AND WM. STEWARD, BY REV. T. G. STEWARD. The motto I taught my boys was "Aim at the Sun! If you do not bring it down, you will shoot higher than if you had aimed at the earth."--REBECCA STEWARD. "Her children shall rise up and call her blessed." PUBLISHED AT THE _Publication Department of the A. M. E. Church_, No. 631 Pine St., Philadelphia, Pa. 1877. _Copyright, 1877, by Rev. T. G. Steward._ To DANIEL A. PAYNE, D.D., Senior Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church: IN RECOGNITION OF HIS LEARNING, TALENTS AND PIETY: AND AS A TESTIMONIAL TO HIS HIGH APPRECIATION OF FEMALE EXCELLENCE, THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED. THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS. Introduction, In Memoriam, Poem, PART I. CHAPTER I.--Ancestory and Parents, CHAPTER II.--Birth, Home, etc., CHAPTER III.--Wife, Mother, Writer, CHAPTER IV.--Children all married, CHAPTER V.--Retrospection, Reminiscences, by Bishop Campbell, My Recollections,--Prof. B. F. Lee, Mrs. Rebecca Steward, by Dr. Tanner, Mrs. Rebecca Steward, by Rev. T. Gould, Aunt Rebecca Steward,--Mrs. E. Lloyd, PART II. "Two years on the Brink of Jordan," Sanctification, by Mrs. R. S., " " " " conclusion " " Story, " " Poetry, " " INTRODUCTION A life finished, is a proper subject for contemplation and study. To the Christian, whose eye is ever turning to the end of life, nothing can be more interesting than the life and death of the saints. It is never difficult to secure a large congregation to the funeral services of a well known Christian. In looking upon a life closed, from a Christian standpoint, we see the Divine and the human blended. We see human nature moulded by divinely cast circumstances; we see character developed and displayed through these occasional circumstances. The "hidden man of the heart" is brought out, and we are able to see the _inner_ through the _outer_ life.