St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-09
DEDICATED A BETHEL.
Honoring the Memory of an Old
COmrade.

Honoring the Memory of an Old
Comrade.
The large fat barge lying at the foot
of Sibley streetwas yesterday afternoon
dedicated to the use of the Bethel asso-
citation with appropriate services, car
ried on beneath boiling afternoon sun.
The exercises were announced to be
given at p. m, and at that hour large
number of people, among them many
ladies and children, had congregated on
the float, and the necessity for the no.
tice issued by the officers of the occa-
sion Yesterday, that visitors should
come provided with camp stools, was
made painfully evident before the cere-
mony was half over. Enough chairs
had been secured. however, to accom-
modate most OF the ladies, and the rest
of the assembly stood UP. The exer-
cises were opened with prayer by
Chaplain Pierce, after which a hymn
was sung to an panlment on
portable organ secured for the occasion.
Rev. Benjamin FARMLAND, of Chicago,
superintendent of bethelS for the North
west, in his address said that the object
of the gathering was to celebrate the
beginning of practical bethel work in
st. Paul. He saw about him small
body Of people who had assembled.
some from curiosity and others from
genuine interest in and understanding
of the work. A hundred years hence
he would prophesy that thousands OF
people would gather together in st.
Paul to celebrate the anniversary
of this day upon which a
few earnest people had come
together in the cause of charity and hu-
mainly. Upon the hull which now lay
beneath his feet would be erected
Bethel home which should be the pio-
neer work of the Bethel association in
st. Paul, and which would, from the
good resulting upon its operation, be
the means of a continued extension OF
the association in the Northwest
He had in his notebook the names of
all those Immediately connected with
theexercises Of the afternoon, and felt
certain that each participant, from the
lady who played the organte the mem
bers of Acker post who were present to
do honor to the memory of a lost
comrade, would one day find that
their connection had made them fa-
nous. The speaker, in closing his re-
marks, introduced Col. James IL. David
son. who delivered an address COM
memorative of the death of George A.
Sweet, the member of Acker post who
was drowned at the foot of Sibley street
last week. and whose body was found
floating near the hull upon which yes
tefday7s services were held. He re-
fefred to the dead soldiers army rec
ord, which was shown to have been an
exemplary one, to his subsequent life,
made we'll nigh unbearable by the COM
plications resulting from hard service
and ailments contracted while en-
gagged in 1T the defense of his
country. The colonel made strong
appeal to those. present to labor for the
cause of temperance, saying that the
worst fault which could be alleged
against the man who had so suddenly
met his death near where they stood
was that he was given to drinking,
sometimes to- excess. There was no
time in a mans life which demanded
that he should be in full possession OF his
faculties so much as when great troubles
came upon him. and it was at such
tune that men were apt to seek forget
fulness in drink. A committee pre-
viously appointed submitted approprl-
ate resolutions on the death OF Sweet,
which were adopted as read, and after
another hymn had been sung and
prayer offered by Chaplain Pierce the
meeting dispersed.