, 1875-01-31

Who, then, is to be the Bishop Of Illinois?
Iuay be DR.. Fulton, or Or. Leeds, or Bisho
| Hare, or any other sound and conservatiy
churchman in whom the whole Church has conf
dence, but an acknowledged or a suspected Ritu
| allat-neTer. CONSERVATIVE.
! MRS. MAGGIE VAN COTT.
| THE CHAMPION WOMAN PREACHER.
The greatest female preacher OF the age
now in Chicago, and is advertised to spend a
least the next month in the work Of eYange1iziul
the city. Her name has gone over the who'll
country; and her success as a reviyalist is prob
ably not second to any masculine preacher il
her own denomination. The members of tht
Methodist Church converted by her persuasive
eloquence are counted by several thousands
| although she has been engaged in the work bu
seven yeara.
Mrs. Van Cott was born in 1880, aud is there
fore IS years OF age. Sha Was brought mp ir
New York City, in a home which WAS in easy cir:
cumsrances, and married when quite young
| against her mothers wishes, 8Ir. Peter Van Cott
who died about the year 1866, Of pulmonary CON
! sumption. She has borne two children, bott
girls, one Of whom died in infancy. The other
survives, aud has attained to womanhood.
For seyeral years. while Mr. Van Cott was de-
/ cliuing in health, the wife had to undertake md
! carry on her husbands business which Was the
! agency for a Wholesale drug house in New York.
| Ii this work she had wagon fitted un with
| sample drugs which She drove about Staten
Island and Long Island during the day. return
1ns to her sick husband at night. She sue
| ceeded remarkably, however, and developed
| Ier husband she Determined after q little to
| compound her own drugs, and thus to save the
| commissions of tha iqbber. In this sue also
| succeeded, transforming her home into o real
] chemical laboratory. Eut sha founf] tl,a cor,.
pounding aud the selling we're two classes Of
business that could orly be- we'll done by two
t claages of neoplo and 40 she Abandoned tha
alempic, AMI devoted herself to the commercial
branch Of the business. After Z time the agent
of the Singer Sowing Machine Company. dis
covering her talents ID business, prevailed upon
her to tnke IN the sale Of these machiues. In
this work sllo also succeeded, mixing nbout
81 900 in nine mouths.
Before the death Of her husband. her
mept began to appear. She was brought
IN as member OF the Protestant Episcopnl
Church, but one day q good Methodist c1ass-
lender, knowing her skill in singing, invited her
to attend the ciass-meetinr Eba rare an eu1
phat1c refusal. Recommended with a sort Of a
turning mn of the nosa at such A nronosition
from y lowly 3Tethodistl Dut the Nethodist
brother finally preyai]ed upon her to po. nrou,is
ine not to cali mon her to gneak If sfe woni1
lead tle singing. WhiIe in In c1ass-1near;,,,-
her imnressihle soul Was stirred hv tha relate3
eynoriences and sl,o aIsn snnka and in sncb a
manner "a to astonjsh and delight the class and
jts icatiar Sba heean tn like t}e Matnodists
and at Ienetf anplied for admission to the BODY
She waa ofToreli fnll meInhers,in from the start
but nrafarreG. sha said to woTk her way in from
the fowest ranks-tha nrohat;nnprs-
IIer vay into tina miuistry I,as been a rosd
which ahe had not foresaen hefore it wns tray-
eled. Her whole youth was imbued with the be-
lief that it Was shame for woman to nreach.
Rnt her dauehter VAS asked one fay tn rn to the
Five Points Mission. New York tn NAV for tha
deeraded outcasts there She at first reyoIted at
the idea but at length consented. and deter
mined to 60 herself alao. When there she suz-
eested to the leader revival of tha Mission, AMI
he preya1led upon Mrs. Van Colt to undertsie it.
She did 40. and her succese was nerfect soon
after this she was in little town near Newburg.
n. Y, md was called upon to speak, She CON-
Piled, and, after much urging. took the
p,1IDlt Her addresses drew 1nree crowds
Of noonle and a creat revival there first
made her conscious of a new power.
She enthusiastically followed this new line Of
effort with great success eyerywhoro aud, at
length. in 1853. was cranted 3 local preachor's
license by a Quarterly Conference IN New York.
Since then she has preached in nearly all the
larger cities of the Union,
She is large, powerful, good-looking woman.
Bishop Haven, m intelligent critic dwelling
Her dress is elegant to tho ton Of propriety.
but not whit beyond Not one LADY il thou
eand equals her in that French bow-todo-it eift
OF appropriate dress at once unnoticed and most
noticeable" James Rcdpath is quoted as say-
ing that Mrs. Van Cott is tue best dressed
woman that appears on the platform" But thla,
it should be remembered, WAS before an other
woman had made a similar claim Airs. vanCotts
cIoauence appears to defy ANALYSIS and explapa-
ton. Critics all differ nbout the reason why she
exercises such power over her hearers. She
has no systematic theology, and little learning,
the most skilled rhetorician OF the schoola. Her
earneseness, hor dramatic power, her magn1hcenI
physique are d"ele upon as FACTORS OF ner sue
!. Gess Mno 'nes no uouos aie oo'oo not ptoooce
T,ers !. 1tt,a xvo,ar That 1,er hro+hro. ~ 4bo
sterner sex are. Jealous Of her. The common
people hear her gladly; but the scribes and ell
ders reluct. Inc latter quote savings OF Paul
~ seEal ~ moun p;eaeaels, 9nu sny hsr po1PL
frient1s roanond that t1,o sarnoons nf Petar md
Stephen we're unfinished also; and that, in fact,
the most finished sermons are not always the |
most @ Impressive:
d. 1