The southern aegis, and Harford County intelligencer. (Bel Air, Md.) 1862-1864, 1863-10-23
OCTOBER ga 1866" laA1'o24
Taking u u, q Collection.

ter told story, than this, from o reverend
gentleman in Missouri:
The life Of preacher in. a new country,
from, a secular point Of view, is hardly as
smooth and free from difficulty a. posi-
ton in more cultivated populous commu-
mites usually appears to be. The people
are thinly scattered here and there, in diff
ferent pursuits, through chiefly agricultur
al Being collected from all parts of the
older States, and gathered from every
class of society, they meet upon the same
common ground, upon terms of, easy ia
miliarity, and restrained by no .irksome
conventionalities. People in new coun-
try generally have pretty. hard time of
it. They live a sort of a trough and tum-
ble'' life, wearing their, best efforts in a
struggle for existence. Under these cir
cumstauces the material sometimes absorbs
the spiritual = and the people not unfre-
quently 'get so far behind' with the
preacher that they have frequently to be
powerfully "stirred up'' from the pulpit
On one occasion we had visit from the
presiding elder of our district at one of
our quarterly meetings. We had not paid
our circuit preacher 'ary dime, as the boys
say, and we expected, a scoring from the
elder. Well, we were not disappointed
The elder preached us a moving discourse
from the text, "Ooe no man anythsaq.Yi
At the close of his sermon he came at
once to the "subject in hand" Breth.
rel" said he, "have you paid Brother
anything this year? Nothing at all, 1
understand. Well, now, your preacher
cant live on air, and you must. pay up
pay up, that's the idea He needs TWEEN.
ty-6ve dollars now, and must have it -
Steward, we'll take up o. collection now"
XSH Here some of the audience near the
door began ''to slide out" ,oi.aas ,gs.l
Don't run don't run p exclaimed
the elder. "Steward, lock that door and
atah 81 b k er pubf taxing f ss
by the stand table in front. s,c qG. L,a.
| The steward locked the door, and then
deposited the key on the table by the side
| of the elder. 49, ~, IA .,,or5 gdl
""Now, Steward" said he, Ego round
with the hat. l must have twenty-five
dollars out of this crowd before one Of you
shall leave this house, ,.;1r.t 17gfai4l3!3
Here was FIX, The congregation were
taken all aback. The old folks, looked as
tonished; the young folks Uttered. The
steward gravely proceeded in the discharge
of his official duties. The hat was passed
around, and at length deposited on the 81.
der's table. =. -,.. s,,e,2 la1,yg-
The elder poured out ''the funds on
table and counted the amount. u IA bngl
"Three, dollars and half! A SLOW
start, brethren Go round, again, Stew.
ard, We must pull up q heap stropge,
than that - ...st...',,,,.qa1o .,.s,;.ju
Around went the Steward with bis he,
again and finally pulled up at the elder''
stand, ,.,,,, ..,5 4oaqa,t,, ...ao,;u m
"Nine dollars and three quarters No
enough yet Go around, again, Stew,
ard !. ~. H.. W IL al, t. ,e,a
Around went the steward again. ,a.,,.
Twelve dollars, and half! Mighty
slow, brethren 'Fraid your dinners vii
all get cold before you get home to ca
'em. Go round again, steward ~
By this time the audience began to b.
6dgety. They evidently thought the joks
was getting to be serious. But the elder
twas relentless Again and again sireula
ted the indefatigable hat, and slowly, bu
surely the pile on the table swelled TO
wards the requisite amount. yslunta> "a
Twenty -four dollars and. q half! Oul!
lack half dollar oigopna again stew
lard !Sk!J iIgf 9airI liza odH aga2ilasxs
!, just then there was . tap on the win
dow from the outside q hand was thrus
in holding half dollar between the thum
and finger, and a young fellow outside ez
claimed 1880 a.,,,-..,..,
"Here, Parson, here's your money
let my girl out o'there TIM tired wit
waiting for her ~ s. ..f..g.; = :.
II was the last hair that broke the can
els back ]; and the preacher could exchil
lin the languages Of IKE Turtle" ETH
ERE meetin's done bustup." s4n9 !. 3
DE Send your little child to bed hdf
nv. Whatever cares press, give IL . war
, goodnight kiss as il goes TO its pillow
, The memory Of this, IN theAstormy yea
- . = -.