Iron County register., 1888-11-15
a PREAcHER.s STORY.
dow Good Mother wickham Rrcasv.d
the New Circuit Rider.


oow GOOD Mother Wickham Recetved
the New Circuit Rider.
A number of young clerrymen. all
graduates OF the Methodist Theological
Seminary at Evanston, met down town
the other day and were relating to each
other anecdotes of their experience in
the various fields to which they had
been assigned. ..My most amusing
experience, said one young brother,
was In little village in Iowa where
the conference sent me to begin INV
ministerial work. My circuit includ-
ed three or four little villages and as
many school-houses, and 1 tried to
preach a sermon at each place once
every two weeks. In the village of
Edgewood dwelt a good old lady named
Mrs Wickham, an emigrant from the
Green mountains and one of the pill
lars of the church. had just been
married before going on the circuit.
and the next day after our arrival in
Edgewood Mrs. Wickham sent for my
wife and myself to come to her house.
I'm the afternoon we went and were
warmly greeted by the old lady. q am
so glad you've come, Brother l.,
and brought your wife, said she I've
been waitin' and waitin' you don't
know how anxiously ever since Broth
'er Jones went away, which is nigh un-
70 three months, and there hasn't ben
a preacher in this house since. I've
got some little things to do that I've
ben a-savin' till the minister come, and
now you've brought Sister L. Let's
get them off'n our hands and then we
can sit down and have a good, long
talk"
81 confess l was little puzzled at
this reception, not knowing exactly
what the people on my circuit had been
in the habit of saving up for the min
lister to do. However, was not long
left in the dark The old lady disap-
peared into the kitchen and soon called
for us to follow. We did so, and found
the room Uttered with two or three old
bedsteds that had been taken to pieces
and spread about the floor. In the
middle of the floor stood Mrs. Wick
ham, with big kettle of boiling water
at her side.
"Now, Sister L. jest you take
this here apron of mine, or you'll spoil
your Dress she said to my wife. The
pesky bugs have been so bad in these
bedsteads that 1 have sometimes felt
jest as if l couldn't wait till you come
to give 'em good scalding.'
This, then, was a part of the cir
cult riders duties in Iowa, thought L;
but the old lady seemed to take it so
entirely as a matter of course that the
work that couldn't well refuse. My
wife laughingly put ON the apron and
went to work and / took off my coat
and cuffs and took hold, too. 1t was
long job and after we had got the
bedsteads thoroughly scalded they had
to be carried upstairs, set up, and
corded for they were the old fash
ioned kind of bedsteads in which ropes
did duty in lieu of springs or stats.
for on coming downstairs the
old lady remarked that the stove
was little warm. yet, but that if was
careful / could black it without burn
ing my hands. This was little too
much, and / was about to rebel, but my
wife whispered to me that we might as
well make day of it. So we went at
that stove and polished it till you could
see your face in it, and then helped the
old lady clean up the kitchen. By that
time the sun was down, and our hostess
kindly permitted us to withdraw. Did
we stay to supperP Why, bless you, the
good soul in her Joy at getting her
house cleaned up forgot to say any
thing about supper. We were glad
enough to get home without being
asked to dig up the potatoes or build a
calf pen. But ever since that day my
wife and l have always had a prior en-
gagement when asked to visit Mrs.
Wickham. y Chicago Tribune.