My  father  was  a  poor  miner,  an  ore  digger,  and  my  mother  carried  her
wood  on  her  shoulders;  and  after  this  sort  they  supported  us,  their  chil-
dren." The  glorious  day  of  modern  missions  was  heralded  in  by  a  shoe-
maker, or,  as  explained  by  himself  when  some  high  official  asked  another
if  "Cary  had  not  been  a  shoemaker?"  "No,  sir,"  Gary  answered,  "only
a  cobbler."  So,  when  God  was  about  to  inaugurate  the  same  missionary
scheme  in  this  country,  he  passed  by  all  ministering  in  costly  churches,
with   their  "long-drawn  aisles  and  fretted  vaults,"  up  to  the  three  young


220  LIFE    OF     PRESIDENT    ALLEN.
