1843 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT PAIR [2] OF FOLDED STAMPLESS AUTOGRAPH LETTERS HANDWRITTEN BY A MISSIONARY TO HIS FRIEND IN WATERLOO NEW YORK WHILE HE TRAVELS TO BE ONE OF THE FIRST MEN IN INDIA PREACHING CHRISTIAN GOSPEL

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On offer are two [2] super, original manuscript relics of Christian outreach and missionary work handwritten by Reverend Walter Gunn, one of the first missionaries to India, addres sed to Frederick Schott of Waterloo New York. [Bio notes follow.] The first is a one [1] page letter written by Gunn dated 1843 while in Baltimore. The second letter is written by Rev. Gunn while on the boat "The Charles" heading to India in 1844. He has been at sea for 138 days. This is a 3¼ page letter. Here are snippets: 1) "Baltimore, May 24, 1843 Dear Brother in the Lord, I should like to write a long letter to you and enter into many particulars but I have but only a few moments to spare as Bro Selmser is soon to leave B. and I have a press of business on hand. Well how do you do. How is your family and how do your souls prosper. Is Christ precious, are you actively engaged in his service. O my brother watch your heart, your words and your actions and strive to live so that the flame of love may burn brightly in your heart to God. How pleasant it would be for me to enjoy the hospitalities of your table again, to bow with you again around the family altar, to walk to the house of God in company but instead of walking the street of Waterloo I shall soon be walking the deck of the vessel that bears me to the heathen land. But shall I ever forget you and the beloved brethren of W. No. Even now while going from house to house among the brethren, in imagination, the tears fall upon the paper and bedew these lines I write….Your brother in Christ, Walter Gunn." 2) "Ship Charles, Indian Ocean March 25th, 1844 Dear Brother Shutt, While penning these lines I am sailing up the Indian Ocean towards the shores of Hindustan. I have crossed the equator twice, doubled the Cape of Good Hope and shall in a few weeks I trust, reach my field of labor. But though I am separated from you by a distance of so many thousand miles I have not forgotten you, no, in imagination I often walk the streets of Waterloo, visit the houses of the brethren and join in your acts of worship in the congregation. The different articles of apparel that I wear at this moment remind me of you and many others in W. While contemplating the interesting scenes that transpire in your place one year ago, my eyes often fill with tears. Were not those precious and heavenly seasons when you and so many of your associates and friends took a stand on the Lord's side. Though I am now denied the privilege of witnessing such glorious displays of the power and grace of God in the conviction and conversion of sinners, I do not on that account conclude that I am out of the path of duty. True it would be a pleasing task for the minister of Christ to be engaged daily in the work of directing the inquiring to the Savior and strengthening those who had just commenced running the Christian course. But that privilege at present is denied me. From no one for the last few months, have I heard the inquiry, "What must I do to be saved." Except the missionaries who are going with me to the heathen. I am surrounded by those who seem to think but little of their undying souls…..You will undoubtedly wish to know how I feel now that I am so far away from kindred friends and natives land with but little prospect of ever seeing them again. To answer for the most part I feel cheerful, contented and happy. Often have I seen the ocean all lashed into commotion, the vessel at one moment raised upon the top of a mighty billow and the next plunged into the fearful chasm below; at such a moment it seemed as though we must all be engulfed beneath the troubled ocean but even then my mind has been calm and unruffled…..Tell your sister Mrs. Bean that the pantaloons she made me became very spotted by the damp weather around the Cape of Good Hope but that the spots did not make them any the less comfortable. Tell Jackson that I hope and pray that he may become a minister. Tell Mrs. Mayer that my wife often speaks of her and the pleasant time that they spent together in Johnstown and Whitesboro. Tomorrow or next day we expect that our vessel will anchor in the harbor of Amherst in Burmah. One hundred and thirty eight days I have been tossed upon the billows of the ocean without setting my feet on land and many more anxious days will pass before I reach Guntur, the field of my labor. Pray for me and my companion that we may be preserved from the temptations to which we are exposed and that we may be the faithful servants of Christ among the heathen. Yours in the bonds of Christian love, Walter Gunn. Near the shores of Burmah, April 3rd, 1844." BIO NOTES: "The Rev. W. Gunn. The Missionary was a graduate of Union College, N.Y. in 1841; studied theology at Gettysburg; was ordained by the Hartwick Synod in 1843 at Johnstown; appointed missionary to India in the same year; arrived at Guntur on June 18th, 1844, and was a faithful and an indefatigable colleague of the Rev. Mr. Heyer until 1851, when, after a period of seven years service in the cause of Jesus, he departed this life at Guntur esteemed and loved by all who knew him. He is spoken of as a good man full of zeal for the Lord, so much so that on one occasion in the Guntur bazaar, he became so indignant at some idolatrous performances of the heathen, that he lifted up his voice in great earnest against the idolaters who became exasperated at him and consequently proceeded to pelt him with stones. But he prudently withdrew from the enraged rabble, only to return on subsequent occasions to continue publishing the message of salvation to them. His remains rest in the Guntur Cemetery until the day of the resurrection. He died while in Guntur in 1851 from Tuberculosis." "Reverend Adam Long went to India almost immediately after being ordained. The Lutheran mission to India was still in its early phases when Long arrived, it have been started in the Andhra region by Rev. John Christian Frederick Heyer, in 1842, who at 48 and widowed was an anomaly compared to other missionaries. He was joined by the Rev. and Mrs. Water Gunn, another Gettysburg College and Seminary graduate, in 1844, and by Rev. George Martz in 1849. There these men, and Gunn's wife, Lorena, began the task of educating and converting Indians. In a country that is dominated by the polytheistic Hinduism and Mohammedanism, this was not an easy task. Traveling from village to village, these men and women counted their accomplishments by the individuals that they could convert and the schools and churches that they built. Show more