The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1872-06-07
MAKING METHODIST BISHOPS.

AS We sat in the Brooklyn
Academy of Music, one of great
throng that watched the General
Conference make Bishops, we
could not repress two questions.
The first was suggested by the
pale faces and FESTIVE behavior of
some who were hoping for an cleo
ton. It was, what does any man
want with the office? It is O
grand source of influence, doubt
less, and conscientious man call
ed to such position might well
feel obliged to accept so wide a
field. But there are ambitious
men whose motives are not the
highest, who are understood to
want an election. What any man
wants with an office that sends
him travelling around the world
like Noah's restless dove, and
keeps him always settling the
questions in which the personal
and vital interests of men are in
volved in the most delicate way
what a man wants with it as q
matter of self-interest, we do not
see. There are no emoluments
but a salary of thirty five hundred
dollars year, and all sorts of diff
ficulties.
And the second question we ask
ed was, what makes this crowd feel
so much interest in the contest;
From an early hour till three
O'Clock the densely packed aisles
and galleries stand dinnerless,
watching the slow-moving election.
They feel, doubtless, that interest
in human crisis that all men feel
the interest that makes people
read novels and biographies and
all that. And people are excited
by any sort of a con test, from a
baseball game to the election of q
president or bishop.
The depth of interest in the
Conference was shown by the pre-
liminary skirmisking. All sorts Of
regulations were passed, calculated
to guard the accuracy and pui ity
of the election. At last the last
order was passed, and Bishop
Simpson, ringing his loud gavel
upon the table, said: "Prepare
your ballots for eight bishops -
Then it took an hour for the tel
lers to collect the votes of four
hundred delegates, each mans
name being called as he voted.
And then all sorts or speaking
went on while the hours wore
away, during which the tellers
tardily counted thirty-two hun
dred and sixty-four names, written
on four hundred and eight ballots.
But long before the tellers came
back, somebody whispers some
thing to the general secre-
tary, and one flash of radi-
ance, Immediately controlled,
lets the most observant of his
friends understand that DIR. Har-
ris has been elected. And before
the vote is read it is whispered all
over the room. that Bowman, Har-
ris and Foster have been chosen
on the first ballot. This does not
decrease the impotence of the au-
dienee to know the state of a vote
that Is a pretty certain index of
the final result, result not reach
ed until after two more sessions.
Rev. Thomas Bowman. D. D.,
who was chosen by the largest
vote on the first ballot, has been
for years President of the Indiana
Asbury University. He is an ex-
cellent educator, a preacher Of elo-
quence and great popularity, a
polished scholar, and a refined
gentleman.
Rev. William L. Harris, D. D.,
has been for many years the Sec
rotary of the General Conference,
and a more efficient secretary a
deliberatiye body never had. He
has also been the active cores
ponding secretary of the Mission
airy Society. He was for years q
professor of mathematics in the
Ohio Wesleyan University, and is
a most genial and delightful chris
tian gentleman and an eminent
scholar. He does not possess any
gifts as an orator, being slow, de-
hberate, and sometimes hesitat-
ing in preaching, though he is a
keen debater. But he has the rar-