The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1892-12-15

1Sl tHSIS was III the society as 1t existed
here geniallty and sociality and
general sense of equality that does not
exist at the present time.
Fot many weeks after my arrival here.
Rev. Elmer was sent here as Presbyteri-
an minister. He was pleasant, Gull
tured, genial christian man, and we
never had any controversies. We
made mutual arrangements in regard to
Que services and held union meetings in
the evening. But as the Presbyterian
congregation was small and did not
show much signs of growth, Mr.. Elmer
was removed to Moorhead in the fall of
1871, and the church left vacant The
next year committee OF Presbyterians
visited the place, the result of which was
that the way was open for such a union
of the two churches as could be effected.
Soon after we agreed to take the Presby
terrain church property and pay the
amount which had been received from
the Presbyterian church erection found
with interest at seven per cent. which
amounted to about one thousand dol
lars. We also agreed to pay several
smaller bills and we received qui.
claim deed from the trustees of the
church, We raised money by subscrip-
llOh-SSNulSo oouS R&Oo houI dOlodu
with which we put brick foundation
under the house. replastered the inside.
put in new pews and purchased bell,
the whole repairs costing to the best of
my memory some eight or nine hundred
dollars. The records Of the expense were
lost The renewed and repaired church
was dedicated Dec. IS. 1S72-sermon by
Rev. H. A. Stlmson, then of Minneapo-
&c of Ct R1f did
enjoy the new house OF worship long be-
fore we discovered that a judgment lien
had been filed upon the lots before their
purchase by the Presbyterians, and thus
the property was Ield for several hun
bred dollars of debt. We had not paid
anything to the Presbyterian board be-
cause we had not realized upon the
property we had to sell. We refused to
make any payment till we could have a
clear title to the property. Thus the
matter rested for several years, when the
Presbyterian board took the matter in
hand, went through the necessary legal
process and paid the demand of the
judgement lien, and the result was that
they owned the property and we had no
legal claim upon it whatever. But they
were ready to give us title upon our
paying the grants made by the Preshy.
terrain board with interest at seven pei
cent. annum which amounted to $1,000
This sum was paid and the title secured
some seven years after we first took the
church.
When came upon the field there was
a small Sunday school of which Mr..
Dean Stabler was superintendent while
he was here. / have no means of know
ing the date of the organization, prob
ably early in the year 1867. l took
charge OF the Sabbath school the follow
ing spring and retained it several years.
1t was my custom to teach a bible class
| and give blackboard illustration of the
lesson at the close of the school, During
the first year the Sabbath school some
times had as many as forty-hve present.
This number gradually increased and in
| the.years 1S76-77 there were frequently
from 100 to 11S in attendance. The
congregation also gradually increased
SO that in 1871 an attendance of from
100 to 100 was not unusual The con-
| gregations grew in the winter of 1S76-77
when from 100 to 16O was not neon.
mon. 1t should be said however that
these congregations included the children
most of whom attended the morning
service.
| The first year that 1 was here ]
preached several Sabbaths at Bishops
| Grove and also in the Irish district
/, After that for time / preached regular.
| ly on alternate Sabbaths at Fairy Lake
For two or three years preached regu
larry on alternate Sabbath afternoons
at Birchdale and in the last years of my
pastorate preached regularly in the
| ,t IA
the commencement of my work here
began to hold ch1ldren's meetings or
| Friday evenings. At these meetings
gave familiar talks upon Bible subjects
| with questions and answers-had the
| ing and had some one read an article
that had selected from book or paper
These meetings were kept up during my
pasturate. Soon after they were com
menced the attendance grew to 80 or &C
and III the last years that l was here the
general attendance was about seventy
five. The weekly PRAYER meeting was
regularly kept up from the beginning
But III the first years the attendance was
small, probably not averaging over &
| dozen and on some unpleasant evenings
we had only the scriptural two or three
In the first years of my passionate there
were some additions to the church but
the number was not large. There was
not during my nine years OF labor here
what would be termed general revival
and no extensive revival services were
held. But the church had growth cor
responding to tue growth OF the country
and the work of the church in those
years seemed to be preparatory for tn,
large additions of young people which
has since occurred.
From the first contributions were reg
ularly taken for benevolent objects
though of course the collections were
small. When l first came the commun
ion service was a pitcher and tumblers
The service which the church now ha:
was presented by my brother, Rev
Gustavus D. Pile, who died in 1884. H,
also gave fifty dollars toward the repair
of the church.
| The first musical instrument that W,
heard was violin in the hands of U. r
Heath. To those who know the maj
and his talent l need not say that the
music was perfect of its kind. 1t wa.
not long however before melodian wa:
procured hch few years afterw arc
was exchanged for an organ. failur,
OF health which kept me out of the pulpit
several years was the cause of my clos
ing my pastorate here in the fall of 1877
after labor of a little more than min,
years.
Alter Mr.. Pike left there was no regu
lar preaching through the fall anc
| winter The Sabbath school ,yoc I,a,,