St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-10-11
CONFERENCE IS OVER.
It Was Not Like the Good Old
Days Of the Circuit
Rider.
Some Of the Problems Which
Agitated the Methodist
Mind.
The New Faces Installed
Above st. Paul's Metho-
dist Pulpits.
Discussing the Question Of
the Admission Of Women
Delegates.

The soul of the Methodist pastor is at
peace. Even week which would have
been the perfection of weather for
Baptist convention did not dampen the
ardor of the conference at Red Wing;
and come to think of it, the church
ritual does admit of 'springied or
plunged" Everything was discussed,
from the character of those who have
been Indulging in shady transactions to
the division of the conference and the
woman question. How changed every
Ahing is from the days when we were
fhildren and lived ION the frontier"
The kitchen was redolent with good
things, for the coming of the minister
Was a Thanksgiving feast, and
she fact of being seventy-five miles
from a lemon never made any
differenceWith the goddess who reigned
in the region Which'waS then heaven to
us. What a long time it takes to get
over the ideas of our childhood. and
some of US never do. Thanksgiving
still finds US the hungry boys and girls
of we hesitate to tell how many years
ago. And then when the white nose OF
the minister's claybank mare appeared
over the crest of the hill, for he was
what was d6nominated a circuit rider,
the one who had been stationed as sent
incl sang out there he cOmes," and we
all gathered in the front yard-we had
no lawns then-tO welcome the impOr-
tant parsonage. He seemed to our child
ish fancy the very biggest man possible,
as he threw himself off the
weary nag, took his books out
OF the saddle-bagS and smiled
on us all benignly, not emitting the
cha hac
my hand ache for hours; but it was
pain which was a pleasure, for did nos
the preacher cause it? We stood af
much in awe Of his small library as OF
his large person. and only the bravest
dared look at the titles, "Holy Living
and Holy Dying" The Immortality of
the Soul and Final Condition of the
Wicked and Bakers Saints Rest"
Then there was SUPPER with big s.
and the preacher told stories and
cracked jokes until we wondered the
next morning in the meeting house II
that solemn individual with the air of
tombstone could be the man who ate so
many of mothers goodies. Perhaps
this was his first appearance at his new
appointment. and then the meeting
house was full of people who had come
for miles to see the new parSon. L say
all, and say it advlsedly, for the firstly,
secondly, thirdly were in themselves
sermons of a length to endanger mod
ern audience of the rank heresy of
taking a nap" A spider, a la Robert
Bruce, fly which was illus
trating the Bible saying, "the wicked
stand in slippery places,| on the bald
pate of some deacon, or the nodding
head of mother in Israel, were often
instrumental in saving us from parental
+l.. Il ,I,N,, =
was dead secret with the bishop and
few chosen ones as to where a man was
to be stationed, and the intense anxiety
which attended the reading of the APP
pointments was painful. Perhaps it
was some backwoods charge the
preacher had never heard of, or one
which had a reputation for meannesS,
and the man selected for it was no Sam
Jones and had no taste for pugihSm.
In those days fighting was sometimes
held as great means of grace as preach
ing. These were the diSapDointmentS,
but when a man was promoted to fat
position the smile which overspread
his countenance was enough to
put the lights from the flick
ening tallow dips to very shame.
All these things are changed and the
slate is usually cut-and-dried affair.
Determined because the condition and
need of each church are so readily as
certained, and if church has a special
choice she sends committee of deacons,
which so hound the good bishop that he
feels like donning the ermine of the
unjust judge and give them their de-
sire, ''lest by their continual coming
they weary me-" The assigning of
charges isn't an enviable work, and in
Minnesota, where there are over 400
places whose spiritual needs and tenn
pOral goods are in inverse ratio, the
matter becomes a complicated affair,
and requires statesmanlike ability.
However, the bishop is still autocrat
and his decision is seldom called into
question.