Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-08-23
DUNKARD LOVE-FEAST.
PECULIAR AND BEAUTIFUL 40
CIABiLIrisS AND sAUxAMENT.
washing Each Others Fest-sacramsnta
supper and Com mmunion-The m Passing Of
the eK,ss-uospitaiity to Spectators.
Especial Corrcspondence.1

the guests at the exemplary religious festi-
val at Franklin Grove, Ills, were spread
with cloths so white that there was no need
of plates for the simple meal, and there
were none All the more was IL like the
classic pictures of that Oriental supper,
which all Christians to this day commemo-
rate. Bread, such bountiful chunks, disap-
peared, and were rcsupplied by
passing and well loaded brother. Butter
Such butter as the prairie pastures OF
Lee county, Illinois, can produce. lknow
not what other spot in the world grows the
rich fodder and furnishes the pure dir, and
I suppose the honeyed blossoms, and l know
not what all elements that give an In
describable, unsurpaSsable, delicious, deep
golden hue, and flavor to match
Pickles never did dote on pickles But
even to one who would gladly swallow the
worlds sweet, and cvade the sour and the
bitter, those cured cuc,umbers had a per-
sunsivc power that introduced now item
of delight 10 the sense Of taste. And
"arple butter |" dainty creation with an
absurd name-in my native district we
called il malmalade was perfectly
toothsomc. Coffee Pen faileth-Hygeia,
health goddess, would ever he the COM
panion of human kind who could abide just
there in those circumstances; not the least
of which was the warm welcome. boun-
teous conduct of our Christian entertainers
In even these minutiH they wero exempli-
flying the manners of the Oriental land OF
Christ and the Disciples.
In the mi lst of the meal a smiling face
came fastening toward ne. 1t was my new
friend tn. sister stranger with whom had
talked for few moments before the meet
ing, who showed me the great coffee
kettle on tho stove. She came to see whether
!, as all were not had been served with
coffee, or whether l wished it. Like this
supper had been the midday lunch OF the
sisters and brethren that they might be fed,
have a social hour, AMI not go fasting or
faint or greedily hungry TO the later and
substantial sacred feas.. Refreshed l went
upstairs betimes to get slightly seat for
what was to come, viz. all that was best Of
the festival-the consummation and center
ing exercises
The approaches to the sacrament were so
long, tho details so graduated, that the mind
became quieted and prepared, the attention
was drawn and fastened, the intelligence
cleared by explanations and reasons for
each detail, and finally the sympathy was
so absorbed that ceremonies, which coolly
and suddenly told, might seem to contain an
element of comedy, became a harmonious
part Of the entire sacrament.
A young lady who did not adopt the cos
tune nor b,long to tho religion Of her
family, only because, as thought, she was
remarkably pretty and could not bring
herself to seclude it, used to these scenes
from childhood, was surprised when asked
if never there were spectator boys and
roughs inclined to make light Of it,
She answered. "a don't see how any ono
could. Sometimes there is not dry eye in
the room; according to the capacity for
tender feeling and pathetic e!oquence in the
speaker who conducts the ceremonies"
All day and evening" through preaching,
praise and prayer, aud in the most solemn.
emulematic rites, there was scarcely a time
when there was not the ringing patter Of
little tot footsteps from uncarpeted aisle to
aislc or the wailing of a young infant, or
the aloud prattling or tired tretting Of a
two-and-a-haIf-year old. Never but one OF
these occupied the floor at a tins, strange
to say. There were not great many little
ones there. And when the first one, a
small boy in petticoats, with the brightest
Of eyes and fair, infantile complexion, came
trotting by again and again ! was ready to
seizs and bind him over to keep the peace
But after awhile finding that nobody
minded it, forgot II too especially as the
speakers were in no wise disturbed, being
domestic patriarchs, used to large house,
holds of children. As for the little hand
some trotter, he continued his rounds until
within "Pollock's Course Of Tine," his
guardians got him, and the juvenile feature
at last really fell into harmony with the
occasion-an impossible to be frustrated,
religious, family festival.
An elder urged again the propriety of
coming to the feast with a clean conscience
II hear that there be divisions among you,"
said Paul to the Corinthians. The speaker
enlarged on that theme.
Dunkaris never have lawsuits Such an
event would he subject for church dis
cipline The two branches of the denomina-
ton, indistinguishable to the stranger, how
ever wide they feel themselves from each
other, are alike in this respect. Individual
difficulties are settled among themselves; IL
necessary, with the aid Of elders.
If the Dunkards could convert everybody
TO their persuasion, the struggling profess
sion Of the law would have TO adjust its
own bankrupt affairs and dig its grave.
In the Dunkard ministry, the preachers arc
neither hired nor paid. Thus two Of "the
three learned professions" would be exter-
minated And the hearty looks Of tha con
gregation indicated that also the doctors
would have to take their own prescriptions,
and the apothecaries' doors would rust on
their hinges. The milliners, too, and the
dressmakers would have to dip into the milk
pans and the churn Most Of the mer-
chants and the fancy goods manufacturers
would be turned out to pasture. and find
fortune in the furrow that follows the plow.
A veteran brother ut Franklin Grove, Of
eG0, 900 wealth, for attending q fat cattle
show, was about 10 be churched. He quietly
withdrew. He did not fight 1t out, as many
churchman does In other religious bodies.
An accident In the little village Of Ashton
broke the leg of Dunkard sister, "a lady not
wealthy, but In comfortable circumstance.
She was carried into the nearest house, Mrs.
Smiths paper curtain store and dwelling.
A doctor was called In, who set her leg; hi,
bill was 500. Tho sister was distressed by
the fracture-not by the bill The church
paid 1t. Such things are done all the time
and there is no oiious ''charity'' about n
But - - matter Of course az children oi
one father, they hear each o.hsrs burdens
"Confess, II ye have aught against ea..l