The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-07-29
From ne ". 7. World,

of that weak minded and morally
overwhelmed New England preacher,
Rev. s. NJ. Merrill, contains a commen-
tary on the situations and trials OF
country preachers in general which
ought not to be overlooked. The mis-
erable Merrill recounts that during the
first wear OF his ministerial life he IRE
ceIyed only four dollars and his
board;" that at the end OF the second
yenr "he found that his income had
been less than one hundred dollars;
that, two years afterwards his salary
was increased TO two hundred dollars;
but that, in the meantime, the lex
penses of a horse and carriage" on va
rious circuits, and OF getting married.
lad brought him six hundred dollars in
debt. This career was continued from
bad to worse. The poor preacher was
regularly assigned, at the annual
church conference, TO different and dis
tant posts; and. having no money to
pay his own and family expenses, was
forced to sell his possessions, accept
charitable donations of clothing, bor-
row means wherewith to travel and
subsist, and thus. he declares. increase
his financial embarrassments until IT
seemed to him that he must sink and
go distracted" Finally, being tor
mented by his poverty and debts Into
indifference OF duty" he "sought the
more joyous and worldly persons for
compauy to drown his trouble of
mind;" and became guilty of the care
less and imprudent step" which lost
him his reputation and drove him from
his home.
II is not all wonderful that n man of
MerriIl's evident calibre should have
gone distracted and committed an "im-
prudence" under such circumstances.
The wonder Is that more preachers in
Massachusetts, Vermont, and elsewhere
in the Northeast, are not untrequently
driven TO do likewise. The treatment
of the provincial clery in that region
is generally scandalous. A village
minister without a good deal OF execu-
tive ability and the persuasive power
of "A Spurgeon, can hardly exist with
out getting into debt. If his conscience
or desires impel him to fulfill what he
deems to be the law of God, by taking
to himseIfa u wife and begetting child
rem, IL is SO much the worse for him in
a worldly sense that even the affection
OF his suffering household cannot al
ways preserve him from self.apProach.
His "pay," such as it is, is as acci-
dental and spasmodic as the revenue of
a peddler of a worn out patent. The
conferences rarely provide him with
anything; and the village church has no
fund. He applies to the trustees. Those
impassive deacons refer him to insol-
vent debtors for pew rent. From the
latter, perhaps, he manages to obtain
wherewith to temporarily stay the i'm
petus of grocers' and butchers duns.
But sometimes sickness prostrates him.
Then cOnclave of fStingy deaconS re
solve" that from one half to one-third
of his meagre stipend shall be "deduct-
ed" while he is lying helpless, with
half.starved family about him, in his
Aa huN nrnnnPfi0n nf his wnUnR
has virtually been deducted already,
his debts are merely increased by the
sum OF II DOCTORS bill.
At the end OF the year, regard for GUS
tom and Il fondness for am usement IN
spirs the congregation to "do some.
his ''sweet family" in the way of a do
nation party. The evening Is appoint
ed, and during the previous afternoon
donations are sent in. Farmer Doo-
good contributes barrel of flour,
minus IL considerable number OF bak-
ing patches that farmer Doogood's
helpmate has previously moulded into
goodly loaves, for farmer Doogood's
frugal dinner table. Deacon Many
acres authorizes his hired man to de-
posit u cord of water.logged fuel on
the scrupulously kept grass plot before
the minister's front gate. Lamb, the
butcher, sends "A leg of mutton and
EOhSIs LhG NA4AhtsO
store keeper, forwards a hideouslY old
fashioned piece of calico, "to make the
little ones set of nice new dresses"
The tinsmith, Clatterware, who has just
made vain attempt to solder up the
dozen or moro rust holes in the preach
er's ancient coffee pot, conceives the
bright idea of dispntching him new
one. The wives and gossips of the
place have in the meanwhile provided
enough provender of various kinds TO
satiate very large picnic party, and
as night comes on, there is general
rush of donors and self-invited guests
to the preachers dwelling. The faded
figures of the tidy parlOr carpet are
trampled into indistiDguishable
hierographs by filthy soIes, and
as for the dining room, that
is the scene of an onslaught
upon "dOnated" victuals, which might
reasonably inspire the minister's pi-
ming cons0rt to arouseher offspring from
their trundle beds and set them on to
gIut themselves with supper pending
the famine of tomorrow. There is a
box in which, as in the chapel box of a
convent, the people, who have turned
the preachers house into hotel, may
drop douceLEr unseen. Such retiring
charity is not apt to be the virtue OF
New England villagers, and the bits of
ragged currency which are subsequent
Iy Cleaned by the poor minister from
the bottom of this receptacle can De
summed mp into nothing more than
mockery of his indulgence. The one
grateful and affecting relic OF the eve-
nlnH's visitation lies upon the centre
table, moistened by a woman's tears.
Iii receipt in full for the cost of a
years medical attendance, and bears
the signature of Frank Hearty, Jr., NJ.
D. II exercises one haunting arlth-
metical calculation from the preachers
brain. II, haply, the winters stock OF
-four in the Doogood household does
not fall so low as to impel that estima-
BILE tiller OF the soil to return and levy
a half bushel tax upon his gift, another
calculation, based on bread, will also
have been erased for a little time. But
! debt, a very sword of Damocles. still
hangs above the preachers head. Want
grins at him from the future. Comfort
| and contentment-these he is called
upon to preach to others, even though,
like the exiled singer OF the Song OF
Home, he has never known whereof he
| tells. o. - u ~
The WOrkInEmen in Baltimore.
From the Balttnore Sun.
a 1arya Onmhar of tha f0urneVman