Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1893-02-03
rOrIrinal1


this church. Elder White is good. He
is so blamed good that / gravely sus
pect his badness arises from wearing
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
take to from the first. Don't you see?"
"Do you know him personally,
colonel?' asked Wilson, the youngest
member of the committee.
We'll, no; | cannot say that ] do.
But Bevans told me about him, and /
have confidence in Bevsns' judgment.
That Bevaps is the best judge of a
steer -cvS-r-uTeJ-
"You inveterate old rancher, do you
average up men as you would cattle on
the range?'
"a person that is good judge of a
COW is likely to be good judge of a
man"
But see here, colonel, you forget
that Almo is no longer mining camp,
but civilized, high-toned metropolis
We want scholar, a gentleman and a
man of dignity to preside over the for
tunes of Trinity church"
"Yes, yes, sonny. you know a blamed
sight more than ordinary folks, but the
old colonel has had more experience in
this vale of tears. ! have been with
this church from the start, and have
watched its growth and prosperity
until the present, and it is my judg-
ment that hustle beats dignity all hol-
low in religion as well as in politics
OF course we don't want holy circus
in Trinity church, but we do want
something livelier than congress
sional re cord"
by the way, colonel" said Jones, II
once heard that Trinity church had a
rather unusual beginning. You say
YOU were one of the founders. Per-
haps you can tell us the truth OF the
matter"
"Wen, don't mind, il it is under
stood that it goes no further than the
present company. There are not
many now living who know the facts
abou: the founding Of the first church
of Almo, and, for reasons that will
manifest themselves before long, IL
would be well il the whole matter
were forgotten, for you see, il was un-
usual, and, looking at it from the ex-
perience Of years, am led to believe
| that it was hardly creditable begin
ming. Hardly the proper thing" added
the colonel. in Il tone of thoughtful re-
greet. so you'll say nothing about it,
boys"
"Oh, certainly not"
at was in ~ or '73, 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 n
mining camp then-dance halls, sa-
looms, gam bling houses and all sorts OF
devilment going on. / had made
pretty good strike out in the hills that
summer and was spending few weeks
in camp. expecting TO go on visit o
| the east One evening ] was standing
in front of the Accidental hotel-a slab
| shanty then-tallsing 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 a rough-looking customer. but ]
never heard any bad of him. The 9th.
er passenger was q young man. pale
and thin, dressed in black. He wo-o
spectacles and carried a consumptive-
oolsir.-- bag in one hand and few
books in the other. Book agent or
missionary, said to Mart, and he said
| he guessed So Bascomb-the other fell
lows name was Bascomb--came up and
shook hands with us.
"'Who's that tenderfoot you brought
along with you?' asked Iarrigan.
"I got an idea from what he said
that he was a sort Of n parson. Wants
| to start n church down here. Didn't
! say much to me Too tough for him,
reckon
"'Sec here, colonel said Harrigan,
times has been powerful quiet around
here lately Couldn't we have little
fun with the l,id-just initiate him
then do the square thing by helping on
the good work
- 4 tell you boys, I've got the proper
| lay says Bascomb. The fellow let it
out that he had several hundred dollars
with him, shat the missionary society
had given for a starter in building the
J church. Now we might get him into a
little game, clean him out, and, after
letting him grunt alittle, stake him for
his gospel works.
"'It's a 60 says Harrigan and /.
well, we organized and laid our
plans The boys decided that / was
| the sIiclsest looking of the crowd. and
must get in with the fellow, pump him
and SO on. 1t worked beautifully.
After supper he came out and sat down