New-York tribune., 1891-09-27
ANOTHER CLERICAL HORSE FANCIER.

ANOTHER CLERICAL HORSE FANCiER.
The recurrence OF incidents Of o like nature IS
sometimes puzzny; other things besides sorrows
often come not single spies. but In battalions AT
present the country seems TO be in o wave OF
what we may perhaps apty term fast-horse minis
ters We have already spoken of the Reverend
Mr. Arney Of the Muskeg0n tMich) circuit. and
his horse Samson, with the road record of :3s.
The issue containing our remarks this case
had scarcely reached our subscribers on the Pa
cific Coast, when there comes a dispatch from
Fort Dodge. Iowa, telling of another clergyman
who has fallen from his high estate as the direct
result of associating with fast horses. 1t is in
the air, and the minister of the gospel having q
horse that can trot would better sell him or send
him to the heather before the crash comes.
It is the Reverend r. c.. Stres who is in trouble
in Iowa He is pastor of the First Methodist
Episcopal Church at Cherokee. He has the
courage Of his convictions: the Reverend Mr. Amey
had not "Gentlemen,' the Reverend Mr.. Stires
is reported IN the dispatch as saying to the con-
ference at Fort Dodge, Gentlemen, if / can't go
down the homestretch TO glory at 2 80 clip,
| want to walk" committee was appointed TO
labor with him, but to no purpose. "Two-thirty,"
he replied, "two-thirty, OF foot it The COM
mittee reported that he positively refused to give
up the practice of owning and speeding fast horses
He was accordingly practically suspended from the
conference.
This Iowa case seems TO he much clearer than
the ono in Michigan. The Reverend Mr.. Arney
lets OUT old Samson every time he gets the
chance. 1t matters not what he overtakes on
the road-it may be leading member of his own
church-he simply drives past If he can-and
throws dust all over the unfortunate person with
the slow animal This is clearly hoTse-
racing, and if horseracing is against
the rules Of the Church, then
there seems nothing else for the reverend gentle
man to do but to get ont. But il is different with
the Reverend Mr. Stires. He does not race horses
He will let a man with milk.cart pass him. He
was even known on one occasion to allow man
with yoke Of twO-year-old steers to trot past
the off steer utterng defiant b-r-r-r and kicking
sideways at his horse, which latter animal could
trot inside OF . :25 any day. What tie Reverend
Mr. Stires does is to own few fast horses ami
10 speed them occasionally on the road while making
pastoral calls. He says himself that he would not
feel in "proper condition TO serve the Lord ehec.
lively unless he owned the fastest horse in town
That he did own the fastest horse in town and did
feel in proper condition is shown by the report of
his charge" at Cherokee, which makes the best
showing of any in the district
We have no desire 10 manage the affairs of the
Fort Dodge Methodist Episcopal Conference, but
it seems to us at this distance that the Reverend
Mr. Stires should be retained There can be
nothing so immoral about horse that can trot in
. 80 that simply owning him, or even driving
from place to place behind him, should disqualify
man for the ministry. If the reverend gentle
man frequented racetracks and bet on horses
especially il he often bet on the wrong horse-it
would be another thing. Or even il he were
in the habit OF racing horses the road-of rush
ing past his neighbors with his horse on the run
and three of his buggy wheels up in the air-it
might make further church work on his part super
Huous But he has done none of these things, 50
why should he he suspendedS If owning 80
horse dlsqualifles a minister, what says the Fort
Dodge Conference to . 40 horse, or to a 80
animal? The conference should issue an order
stating just how fast horse one of it's ministers
will be allowed 70 own and use, Ii an Iowa lnin-