This book makes no pretence of expounding the doctrines of the theologian or analyzing the methods of the artist. It is simply a remembrancer of a quaint and winning man for his intimate friends and parishioners; for the boys who have delighted in his stories; for the sailors whose lives he saved from shipwreck; for the college students who learned from him a wisdom not to be found in books; for all, in fact, to whom the memory of his unique personality is dear. With the story of his life, with anecdote and reminiscence, with selections from his speeches, sermons, letters, and journal, it aims to recall Elijah Kellogg as he really was: the boy, tingling with life and full of fun to his finger tips; the college student, genial, prankish, and zealous; the farmer-preacher, devout and resourceful, making pen and book, scythe and hoe, seine and boat, all his ready servants to do God’s work; the author, finding his way straight to the heart of the growing boy; the aged man, fond as ever of the soil and the sea, and after all the rubs and chances of a long life, still young in spirit, strong in faith, and free from bitterness and guile.

Acknowledgment is here due to Mr. Kellogg’s son and daughter, Mr. Frank G. Kellogg and Mrs. Mary C. Batchelder, and to many of his intimate acquaintances in Harpswell and Brunswick for information relating to his early Harpswell life. Special acknowledgment is also due to President William DeWitt Hyde for valuable advice concerning the preparation of this book.

W. B. M.

Brunswick, Maine,
November 23, 1903.