The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-05-23

| Chestnut Ieet church and congregation to
Rev. DR.. c. NJ. Parsons. and his wife. The
attendance was very large, completely 1ll-
ing the vestry. The following gentlemen
acted as ushers: e. 4. Burrowes. F. H..
Hazellon, Il. II. Turner. j. A. Locke, Chas.
Day. W. 7. Doten. G. II. Lord, Tlleo. A..
| Josselyn. E. S. Everett, E. W. Noyes, ]. n.
Halliday. W. W. Cole, T. NJ. Srout, George
Il. Allen. L. B. CLARK, George II. Buxton,
M. G. Palmer, B. +. Kinds, G. H. Davis, E.
B. Coffin, E. g. Delano. A. d. Pierce and
C. H. Baker.
Dr. and Mrs. Parsons were assisted in re-
| ceiying by Mr.. and Mrs. ], B. Donnell and
Mrs. 7. Luce. Among the ministers present
were Rev. d. B. Randall. d. D., Rev.
Charles f. Allen, D. D.. Rev. George d.
| Lindsay. Rev. Mr.. Clifford, Rev. L. C.
Rogers and Rev. Mr.. Leitch.
Dainty refreshments were served by the
ladies'.
There were four tables pret.lly decorated
in blue. violet. yellow and pink. presided
over by Mrs. E. IL. Hazelton, Mrs. r. H.
Turner. Mrs. f. NJ. Strout,, Miss Hattie
Moody, Mrs. Thomas Laughlin and Mrs.
Theodo A. Josselyn. Mrs. Cummery and
Mrs. Curtis symonds.
After DR.. and Mrs. Parsons had been in
troduced to most of ihose present, c. H..
| Baker raped to order. He referred to the
fact that only few weeks ago they met to
ay-good bye to Mr.. Hughes, and now SIS
loyal Methodists. they had met to welcome
DR.. Parsons. "Men come and men go. but
the Methodist church goes OH forever" He
read a letter from Rev. l. Luce, warmly
welcoming DR.. Parsons to the church.
7. e. Mcdonald, was called upon by Mr..
Baker to speak for the church. He said
Doctor Pars ms, We come here this evening
to get acquainted with you, and the most
of us have succeeded. We have 5een around
to see you individually. and now l am asked
to speak for the members collectively. We
of the Chestnut street church are inclir ed
to be very fond of our pastors, in fact we
treat them better than they do us, for they
keep us six months on probation when we
enter the church. and we admit them at
once to full membership, and so Doctor,
you can regard yourself as a full iedged
mem Der of :he church. (Laushter.) Then
our fondness for our pastors leads US to
look after them and 10 keep them straight.
of course that won't be necessary in your
case.
Dr.. Parsons-"My wife attends to that
Mr.. McDonald-lm glad of it. That Will
leave you the more time in which to keep
us straight, and we expect you TO do that.
There are still some things we don't know.
but what we do know we can't be argued
out of and what we don't know we shall be
willing to learn. The Chestnut street
church may be made up of all classes, good
bad and Indifferent, but if so have beer
asked to speak only for the good people
and speaking for them / will say: ''W,
will do our part, we know you will do YOU
part, and to common Lord shall b,
given the glory"
Rev. f. G. Rogers of the Zine street
church, welcomed DR.. Parsons to the city
"You come in by the broad front door," he
said. He spoke of Lor gfellow. General
Dow and Hon. Thomas B. Reed. his allusion
to Mr.. Reed calling ont prolonged applause.
Mrs. DR.. Files gave finely renderedfsolo
Dr.sFiles playing the accompaniment.
Rev. George D. Lindsay, wecomed DR..
Parsons to Portland speaking for the
evangelical ministry of the city.
DR.. Parsons then rose to reply and was
given most cordial reception. He proved
himself bright off-hand speaker, original
and witty. had expected, he said, three
or four more speakers before my turn would
come but l thank you for this reception.
thank my brother who has spoke for the
ministers. for his words and thank my
brothers who SPOKE for the city and for the
church. If this is eastern conservatism
what would eastern enthusiasm be? l have
been sent to churches South and West. nu
| never received a mora hearty welcome.
reception like this is one of the consolation:
OF the itinerancy. / have been in tn.
church all my life, not all the time as
, preacher. but minister's son sees some
things, and sometimes has reputation lie
doesn't deserve. tLaug h ter.)
! DR.. Parsons spoke of the fact that his
father, Rev. George Parsons was many
years ago a professor at Kent's Hill. ant
that he first joined the Maine Conference
and referred to the pleasant relations O
the annual conference. He said he hat
never been "a transfer man. and yet il
twenty years it had been his fortune to b,
transferred four times, in each instance
without any effort on his part, and as i
had happened, each time to the larges
church of the conference, and had some
times felt that he was an intruder. bu
there was no room for that thought in thi.
case. II never before felt at the end OF fl ve
days as feel now. l know that 1 have
eight hundred people at my back. l felt al
home last sunday, and I feel at home now
DR.. Lyman Beecher said that the grea1
power of the Litchfe pulpit grew out ol
the fact thut he preached on Sunday, anc
four hundred church members preached dur
ing the week. G cd help us all to do il.
, Rev. DR.. Alien, twice pastor of the
church, and Rev. DR.. Randall the oldes
> member of the conference. welcomed DIR
{ Parsons TO the conference, the exercises
closing with the singing of BLESS Be tn.
( Ties that Bind.'' Tie entire reception
seemed to have been originated and carried
through in the spirit OF the motto over til,
piano: 'All at it, and always at it,
The platform was cbarmingly decorated
: with potted plants and flowers.