The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-03-18
Leaving Both Ends Open.
The following, from an old number of Il

The following, from an old number Of Har-
per's Magazine, will repay perusal:
The Rev. DR.. W. F. B., of Virginia, (whose
name, by the way, is household word in his
native State,) was one of the successful COM
pounds of the wag and the saint. In his early
life he lived and labored in the State Of Ken
lucky, where the following incident occurred
1t may be necessary to premise that the
country churches in the South and West, at
that time, were more or less weak, not very en-
terprising, and, withal, little stingy. Hence,
they managed to keep up more the name OF
public worship than the reality by generally
employing one minister among four churches
and meeting once month.
DR.. B. had received and accepted unani-
nous call to one Of these societies; but, as
usual, nothing had been said about his salary,
or the time Of his monthly visit; and to ar
range these matters he attended the next busi.
ness meeting of the body.
When the meeting had been organized O
prominent member of the church arose, and,
after eongratulating the brethren upon having
secured the valuable services of DR.. B., pro-
ceeded to say that as his pay would necessarily
be small, it ought at least to be paid regularly,
and that the church should now pledge to him
some definite amount. He acknowledged that
it was an innovation, but gave several reasons
why it should be done and took his seat.
Another brother then took the floor, who,
after surprising the other in his compliments
to Dr. B., recurred to the subject of salary.
For his part, he said, he could not see the pro-
priety nor the necessity, of paying the broth
er's salary in this methndical way. He thought
it much better to leave the whole matter OPEN,
perfectly open. He thought it would answer
to pay the money whenever it should happen
to be in the treasury that it was unnecessary
to say now when the payments would I've made,
or to pay the same amount every time. Some
months the brother would be paid more, sono
less, some none at all, perhaps; but he thought
this way had less sordid and worldly appear
ance, and. he did not doubt that, in the long
run, the pastor would receive more by this
means thaneany other.
This talk struck the brethren present so ia
vorably that, after little vaccillation, they
adopted the views of the speaker unanimously.
The next business in order was the choice of a
Sabbath on which to have preaching; and this
they agreed to submit entirely to the conven-
ience Of the pastor. DR.. B., who had been an
attentive listener during the whole debate con-
cerning his salary, now arose to state on what
Sabbath in the month he would preach Tor
them.
After expressing great love for his charge
and an ardent desire to be useful to them, he
remarked that as to the day on which he should
preach for them he deemed it unnecessary to
speak very definitely. Some months he would
come on the first Sabbath, some on the second,
some on week day, and some not at all. There
was no use in having cast iron rules about
thing of that kind that it was inconvenient
and had too much of sordid, worldly appear
ance to act in regular, methodical manner,
and that he did not doubt, in the long, run,
that they would get a greater amount of ser,
vice in that way than any other. They had
proposed to leave the matter OPEN as to his
salary, to which he had no objection and for
his part he thought it best to leave the matter
open at BOTH ENDs-ENTIRELY OPEN. Hay
ing thus arranged and Mortified his audi
tors he quietly resumed his seat.
This speech wounded the feelings of the
brethren dreadfully. They sat for some time
overcome with pique and modification. But
little reflection soon enabled them to see that
the Doctor had caught them in their own trap,
and at last they acknowledged the corn and
agreed to pay the Doctor one hundred dollars
per annum, and he agreed to preach on the
second Sabbath in each month, and good feel
ing was restored.