Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1871-12-21


unhesitatingly, and ! may well say
unanimously"-he laid great stress on
this word-"unanimousiy determined
upon securing your services for this
lprtsent year and many succeeding ones
/ it b to be hoped"
He paused again, he wiped his brow,
he proceeded.
But with provision, my dear sir,
yes, our determination is based upon
provision, and that provision is in re-
gard toyour salary. We have deter
mined to secGpe your services, ,provi-
ded the church can agree with you
upon salary. And mind Mr.. Fair
view, you VIII please say what amount
you can afford to preach for-by the
wear, / mean-and the church will at
once decide whether or not you be
engaged as the pastor of L---.orE
The young Clergyman, after a mo
ments deliberation arose and said as his
wants were but few, and that the
church In itself WIS 50 small, he would
not place his services, fer the first year,
] IabOve his actual expenses, which would
be but tr7fiing sum, say a hundred
| and fifty dollars. He very well knew
by experience, he said, that it would
require this amount to support him;
and of course they could not desire his
labor any cheaper. gt,.l ;
Thereiwas considerable lengthening
of faces all over the house when Mr..
Fairview made his statement; and Per
ley Saunders, who still stood up, quick
lily said, addressing the clergy
mani:
/ "Wht, positively, my dear sir, your
ldemand Is ftnredsondbley A hundred
land fifty doilarsl The. church will not
engage you at such an enormous price
las that sir. Our old pastor. Meekman,
Ionly received forty dollars and that
fsapported him handsomely the whole
4 year round. No, no, no, Mr.. Fairyiew
1--we eannot-we will not engage you at
/ tflat.n
! And the old man sat down with a
very stern visage. sss,.,.4Cl y.sfs.ti a9i
With meaning smile, such As only
they can understand who have expert
enced like circumstances, the young
minister told the church that he was
Isorry, very sorry, they differed so wide
lly. but he could not think for a mo-
ment of deyiating from the sum he had
named, which was in fact, comparative
| ly nothing, and which would not even
support him without the most rigid
Feconomy on his part. q
Its plain how this would have end
led had not acother, who had eeen at
tentively silent throughout the whole
leveRing, opportunely interferred. II
Twas Isaac MoFelock, the miller L.,
j who in point of this worlds goods, was
one of the poorest that b longed to that
iiittle flock. - Llssa.4J
"Gentlemen," he said, "I have a
proposition to make. You all know
that we have searched long and faith
full Tor one to fill the PASTORAL chair;
that one we have at length found in
j Mr.. Fairvie'Y; and we cannot afford to
loose him. Now, my proposition is
this If each and every member of the
Iehureh will faithfully promise to at
tend service herespunctually the whole
year around, 1 will take upon my own
Shoulders the responsibility of paying
the minister for this year. What say
.iyou to it?n .,s i,f' li371'.- IRE =
T. All, without one exception, without
1.-The least hesitancy, willingly agreed,
land forthwith Hezekiah Fairview was
ordained as pastor of L..
Some people-church members they
] we're too-laughed at the miller for
,fthis act; Others again called him fool
ISL; out he, never mindful of all this,
faithfully performed what he had un-
deftaken.
h Meanwhile, the year rolled by. An
Iother me ting of members was convok-
ed to decide Whether or not the pres
ent pastor would beretained for the en-
suing year.
When tilay wereaIl assembled in the
little church, and the minister had
can1e, Isaac Morelock was the first to
break the silence. He arose and
said:
Ia ssGentieman, that you are all salts
fed with the past conduct and earnest
ness of our pastor, since he has been
With you, / am fully aware, and it. is
needless to ask you anything respect
ing that. But would ask the minis
ter question, and that is if he is not
satisfied with what / have paid him du-
ring che year?" = -
Mr.. Fairview politely acknowledged
that he had.45 rrafs Cifsall f7We
Turning e the people Mr.. Morelock
again said:
"Have any of you given the minister
anything this past year?Y a-sa
"No;" none had given him anything
lfthey said. ...5 rs,. ..st5sEe-S
"You would not credit my assertion
if was to tell you thatit was not me
alone who had paid him, but that you
all had given a proportionate part to-
ward sustaining him." a
The house remained silent.
Gentlemen y he presently contin-
ued, with some warmth, sit is so; you
have all contributed an equal share, al
though not one of you seem to know
it-seem to miss it. In my mill, bee
sides my regular toll, / for the past
year, have Kept another, a pint cup.
When each man brought in his grist,
/ always measure outof it this cup full
for the minister. / did the same with
my own. The result is, that at the end
of the year the minister who you
would once have turned away because
/ of what you thought was an unreason-.
able demandof his, is paid, and still
not one mi ;se5 single farthing.n
A murmer ofsurprise rose. through
ieut the house.. :.
IT am not done yet,n he pursued.
"What I did was simply for an exper-
iment. l have kept a faithful ac-
count of each mans corn that 1 have
thus taken, and if they wish it, and
will come forward, ! will fully satisfy
them for it."
Not one left their seats; not even one
moved.
"You wish nothing in return then,"
he said. snow, gentlemen, with this
fact before you, 1 hope that you will
not have any hesitaney in deciding
the matter that brought you together
this evening. Surely you will not
cast away beloved pastor whom you
can still retain for a small pittance,
which even that you throw away as
useless, if properly disposed Of would
equal" e, ,sa,-.