Morning journal and courier., 1891-01-08
No. 7
TRIALS OF APRKAcHKR.
Incidents in the Life Of a Methodist Minister at . Poor Appointment.
 IErsnnn tha Na-r N.,-a- lIo-nidn

 From the New York Heraldl One of the clergymen in the New York
 conference of the Methodist Episcopal
 church tells this story about himself: "When I was the pastor of a small
 church in Delaware county, this state, I
 had hard time in trying to keep soul and
 body together. My labors were arduous
 and the salary only s400 year, and if we
 had not received various donations of pro-
 visions from psrishioners almost equally
 poor as ourselves, we would in all proba-
 bility have starved to death. ''It is what is known as a 'backwoods
 appointment, being eighteen miles from railroad, and located in a valley created by thickly wooded hills. To give you an idea of our reduced circumstances, I am compelled to say that there was but one white shirt in the house, and that was shared in common by my eldest son and myself. When he wore it went into the pulpit without one, and made up for the deficiency the best could. "One Sunday we had the presiding elder of the district with us. He had come the previous night. Early in the morning he was disturbed by this ques tion:
 "'Father, father, who wears the shirt to-day, you or meF
 ''Well, I was in doubt who was entitled to incase himself in that useful garment on that occasion, but in a spirit of self-sacri- flee, l shouted from the confines of my room: I think its your turn, my boy II thought no more about the matter until after breakfast and family prayers were over: then the elder took me aside and asked if there was only one white shirt in the house. Of course it was an embarrassing question. and I tried to evade making reply. but he was persist ent, and I finally was forced to admit the truth. Tears welled up in the elders eyes, and he offered to part with some of his meager hoard of money, but I assured him that I did not need it and as refused absolutely to accept a cent he did not press the matter further.
 ''Still, although the elder was a kind hearted man and received but little more salary than myself, yet he loved to indulge in practical jokes. On another occasion he accepted an invitation to dine with us and my wife, who always seemed to stand ] in awe of the big, dignified elder. made an extra effort to prepares tempting repast Oysters were scarce and very high in that section and consequently luxury, but my wife concluded that for once we should have oysters.
 ."Well, thanks to recent wedding fees, she was able to buy them. Then she exer- ! cised all her ingenuity to place them on | the table in every conceivable form that
 would please the eye and gratify the taste ''WelI, when we sat down to the table
 we saw oysters stewed, oysters fried. oys- ters roasted and oysters on the shell. It | was literally a wilderness of oysters. Outside of oysters there was, in fact, | but little to eat except bread, butter, ap- | pie sauce, and, believe, some sage cheese. Still the little woman sat with beaming
 countenance, eagerly anticipating the el | der's delight at the unexpected treat.
 'tAfter blessing had been invoked I, as
 a matter of form, turned to our guest and
 inquired:
 "'Elder, will you permit me to help you | to some of the oystersl'
 ''The elders face assumed a severe ex-
 precision as he slowly and deliberately re- piled:
 "'Well, dominic, hate to say it, but the truth of the matter is very seldom eat them
 'I glanced at my wife Her face was | almost a crimson hue and tears were start | ing from her eyes. I think I felt a trihe i savage, but betrayed no sign "After few seconds of the most pain ful embarrassment l ever experienced the
 elder broke the silence by saying with un-
 ruffied deliberation:
 You see, dominic, very seldom eat oysters because I very seldom get them,' and he burst into a tremendous roar of laughter that almost made the dishes rattle.
 'tOf course he did ample justice to the
 dinner, which at the best was frugal
 enough, but don't think that my wife
 ever quite forgaye him for those painful
 moments of suspense"