, 1885-10-11

ei'Ai6 e''cu'IuI " my laluS my memory
became a little confused aud that made
me assume a very gawky attitude, Of
which ! became conscious in a moment.
Then memory entirely fed and | did not
know whether | was at the end of firstly
or the beginning of fourthly. But |
thought, if thought at all, that | would
turn a leaf and see what was on it. | did
SO, and began to read. but found that
what | was reading did not harmonic
well with what | had said last. | then
became worse confused than ever and
turned blind, so blind that | could not see
the words, much less the letters. | then
thought | would try to talk independently
Of paper or memory, but it was of no use,
my tongue would not move and | had to
stop. And to think after all that long
time of suffering the clock indicated that
| had been standing there only seven
minutes. 1t seemed two hours,
Rev. G. NJ. Sanders, of the Congrega-
tional church, returned last night from
Pueblo, and the reporter had very little
time to see him. He said that he got
into preaching by degrees and there was
nothing very startling about his first ser
He was about 30 years old, mar
ried, and his eldest daughter was born
before he got into the ministry. lie had
been brought up in his father hardware
store, but being deeply impressed with the
idea that he would like to work for the
church he engaged in city mission work
in Boston. lie was employed in a hard
locality and some roughs were determined
that religious services should not be held
there. Mr.. Sanders, however, procured
four rooms in Carney Place. with en-
frames from an alley, and having the par
titions taken out he had quite a good sized
chapel into which he placed a little organ
and having obtained the assistance
of some young ladies to sing and a big
man who had been a policeman for usher,
he began to hold meetings which were oc-
casionally disturbed by a drunken man, but
the big ex-policeman was there to settle
them and did it. During this time he was
invited by DIR. Dexter, the pastor of the
Berkeley street church under whose au-
spices he was doing his chapel work, to
deliver an address at the church. He was
on hand when the time came, but not un-
til the reverend gentleman had finished
the preliminary services, and he got in
just in time to be pushed into the pulpit
and to go to work without a moment to
gather himself together. lie delivered
an address rather than a sermon and sue
cseded so well that the mission insisted on
his'going to the Union Park theological
sem mary in Chicago, where he gradua ted
in 1867, and was ordained and sent to
take charge of Il church at Lyonsyille, III.
About the third Sunday after he had been
there, six babies in the church took the
floor, and despite the fact that one OF the
mothers ratified keys to keep the young
ster still, his sermon was cut
off short. Since that time, however,
his pulpit work has gone on smoothly.
Rev. DIR. Geo c. Rafter, rector of st.
Marks Episcopal church, preached his
first sermon in the seminary at Nashota,
Wis. when he was a theological student,
and he was glad that he had on a surplice
50 thai his audience couldn't see his knees
knock together. He was about 81 years
old and was six feet five inches tall and
weighed only lag pounds, and he took for
his text the words, "Jeshuron waxed fat
and kicked" lie hadn't thought until
he gave out the text what a contrast there
was between him and Jeshuron, but
despite the smiles of his fellow students
and the faculty, he read his sermon to the
end, but even to this day he frequently
suffers from nervousness upon trying occa.
sions in the pulpit. He was ordained in
June, 1866, and preached his first regular
sermon in his brothers church at Kanka-
kee, Ill, having then a vacation, and
during this vacation, which was to give
him rest, he preached at several other
churches in Illinois and five Sundays in
the Chicago cathedral, and one Sunday
saw in his congregation the bishop who
had given him the vacation to get rested
in. The bishop afterward asked him if
the cathedral was a good place to obtain
rest. His first parish was Connellsyille,
Pa, and the church membership was
fifteen, and as he stood upon his high
pulpit, with his great length, he felt con
siderably above his congregation in one
sense, but while he stayed there the mem
bership grew to sixty. and that parish has
always been very dear to his heart.