The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-12-18
tOrigfnaL1

This church. Elder White Is good He
Is so blamed good that gravely sus
pect his badness arises from wcering
his halo to bed with him He is too
eternally good for Almo. Now ! have
just the man for you- Young, SMART
full of .snap. and just the sort of man
you like to meet, the sort of man you
sake to from the first. Don't you seq"
do you know him personally,
solonelP'' asked Wilson, the youngest
rns1n Der of the committee.
swell, no; cannot say that ! do.
But Bevans told noe about him. and 1
haze confidence in Bevans' Judgment.
That BevsDs is tho best judge OF a
steer over met"
"You fnveterate old rancher DO you
average up men ns you would cattle on
the ranger
"a person that Is good judge of a
COW is likely TO be good judge of a
mal-"
But SEQ here, colonel, you forget
chat AImo is no longer mining camp,
butya civilized, heightened metropolis
We want scholar, a gentleman and a
fnan OF dignity to preside over the for
sunes Of Trinity church.
Eyes, yes, sonny, you know blamed
siCht,more than ordinary folks, but tho
old colonel has had more experience IN
this vale of tears | have been with
shischurch from the start, and have
watched its growth and prosperity
until the present, and it is my judg-
rnent that hustle beats dignity all hoI-
low in religion as well as in politics.
OF course we don't want holy circus
in Trinity church, but we do want
something hvelier than a congress
sional re cord"
Blythe way, colonel" said Jones, 'I
once heard that Trinity church had q
gather unusual beginning. You say
YOU were one of the founders. Per-
hays you can tell US the truth of the
matter"
well, don't mind. If it is under
stood that it goes no further than the
present company. There are not
many now living who know the facts
about the. founding Of the first church
of Almo, and, for reasons that Will
manifest themselves before long. it
would be well If the whole matter
were forgotten, for you see, it was I'M
usual, and, looking at it from the ex-
perienoe of years, l am led to believe
that it was hardly creditable begin
ming. Hardly the proper thing, added
Ghe colonel. IN tone Of thoughtful re-
greet. so you'll say nothing about it,
boys"
''Oh, certainly not.7
cit was in - or rs, forget which,
IN the fall of the year, that the singular
circumstance occurred which laid the
foundation for the building OF the first
church of Almo. The town was only a
mining camp theu-daEce halls, sa-
looms. gambling houses and all sorts Of
6evilment going on. l had made Z
pretty good strike out in the hills that
hummer and was spending q few weeks
In canp. expecting to GO on a visit to
the east One evening | was standing
sn front Of the Accidental Eotel-a Sla b
shanty then-talking with Mart Har-
rigan,. when the stage came by and
dropped two passengers One of them
knew by sight, having met him in
Denver a couple of years before. He
was rough-looking customer, but !
never heard any bad of him The 9th
er passenger was q yourg man, pale
and thin. dressed IN black. lie wore
spectacles and carried consumptive-
looking bag in one hand and a few
books in the other. Book agent or
missionary, said TO Mar, and ne said
he guessed so Bascom b-the other fell
lows name was Bascomb-came up and
shook hands with Us
WHO'S that tenderfoot you brought
alamo with vnu% asked Uarri-au-