“I hae but ae son, my ain dear Donald,
Had I ten I wad gie them a’ to Charlie,”—
and then he appealed to Christian mothers to devote their sons to the service of a nobler Prince.
The speeches of Dr. Duff produced a most profound impression in America, and caused a great awakening of interest for Foreign Missions. On the 13th of May he embarked for Liverpool on the steamship “Pacific,” on which Mr. Carter had also taken passage for himself and family. Just before the steamer left the wharf, Mr. George H. Stuart, of Philadelphia, in the name of a very few American friends, placed in the hands of Dr. Duff a draft for five thousand pounds, for the benefit of a college the Doctor was founding in Calcutta.
The ten days’ voyage gave opportunity for much delightful intercourse with Dr. Duff. Mr. Carter, after consultation with his fellow passengers, went to the captain, and proposed that Dr. Duff should be invited to make an address in the cabin every evening during the voyage, and the captain courteously and cordially agreed, and himself attended the meetings as regularly as was possible. One of Mr. Carter’s sons overheard a gay young passenger saying to a group of his companions, “Dr. Duff and that man Carter are bound to get up a revival before we get to Liverpool.” Nothing would have pleased better Dr. Duff or Mr. Carter. The Doctor gave a most interesting series of lectures on the life of Abraham, and the passengers attended with scarcely an exception, as did also the sailors who were off duty. Dr. Duff suffered terribly from sea-sickness, yet night after night tottered into the cabin, hardly able to hold himself erect; but in a very short time he forgot all his disabilities in the earnestness of his eloquence. He frequently spoke for two hours, and no one ever wearied.
