The Portland daily press., 1896-05-09
CLEVELAND CONFERENCE.
story Of the Great Methodist Gath.
Sring Now in Session.
PEN PICTURES OF TIE BISHOPS
Of THE CHURCH.

Characteristics of Each..of These High Of
hcials-Tle Hall in which the Gather
fngIs HeM-Roomy and with Brilliant
Surroundings But Uncomfortable,
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF THE PREss9
Cleveland, o., May Upon only one
occasion in rs years, which is as far back
as my personal knowledge will carry me,
has tho General Conference been SO i'm
pressiyely housed as it is in its present
session. Balconies skirt the entire room,
that leading up from the platform and
the one in the rear being very deep and
having convenient incline. These are
almost constantly filed with interested
spectators, while the two side galleries,
divided by a railing into boxes, are rent
ed for substantial sums to rich laymen or
TO a syndicate embracing a number Of
well-to-do families. In these the wives
and daughters of Bishops and leading
delegates hobnob with other influential
visitors, and thither in the brief periods
OF recess is there stampede of men from
the floor, for the interchange of ucclesias-
tioal gossip and social civilities. In the
pit are the performers. But it isn't a
bear pit, though there is plenty of wrang-
ling in it. Rather let US call it gladia-
torlaI arena, in which the struggle Of in
tellectual giants is the chief feature,
while the music of wind instruments
affords the principal diversion.
In spite, however, of their roomy situa-
ton and brilliant surroundings, the
members of the Conference were never
less comfortable. ga question of privi-
iege, having reference to the comfort of
tnls body-ls it in order?' has sbecome
a proverhial appeal tot the chair, and it
has become now joke which scarcely
proVokes smile for the chair to reply,
Yes, II 1t shall only be effeotual. For
once these intense debaters have toe
much light on the proceedings The
conference isn't exactly in glass house,
though 1t has many faults both individ-
ual and collective. but il has q glass root
over its head, and there's the rub; liter
ally so, for light and heat blaze down so
forcibly upon the devoted heads of the
brethren that they are Kept busy rubbing
off the resultant beads of Precipitation.
There are something like so good, hon.
est bald-heads In the body and as many
more who are prominent candidates for
that distinction. These are the greatest
sufferers and it affords the visitor a
unique spectacle to see the various head
coverings brought into use. Many keep
their hats on, and others balance copies
Of the Daily Advocate on their afflicted
pates, while not a few use their hand
kerchiefs in suoha way as to suggest the
sort of night-caps our grandmothers used
to wear. Still there are only few old
grannies in the body, and most of the
delegates endure with tolerable good
humor what.sa faoetious brother called the
double affection of the heat and the
speeches. -
This Conference, which will occupy
public attention with increasing interest
as the month of May hastens toward the
June roses, is composed as follows: The
total number of ministerial delegates is
3S7. Of these 176 are presiding elders, 80
are pastors, 80 are college presidents and
professors, % are church officials elected
by the General Conference and IA are
persons in unofficial or semi-oficial re-
lations. The total number of glaymen is
200, and their occupations are: Mer-
chants, 20; lawyers, 20; teachers, 90;
bankers, 10; physicians, 5; farmers. s.:
real estate, 4; missionaries, 4; judges 3;
treasurers, 3; editors. 3; printers, 8;
clerks, 2; superintendents of public
schools. 2; managers, 2; local preachers,
Q; jewellers, 2 United States mail service,
2; depository agents, 2; Government en-
ployes, 2; retired, 2; architects, q; and
one each of the following: bank teller
TAILOR, broker, music dealer advertising
agent engineer, cashier. furniture dealer,
barber, consul, mining engineer, lumber
dealer, druggist, sea captain, railroad
employe, fruit grower, miller, undertake
er, lieutenant governor. book business,
tanner.
This list is so generally inclusive that
iu shows the Conference to be world
within itself capable of self support for
an almost indefinite length of time, and
such a thought, while the seemingly in
terminable wrangle over woman drags
its weary course, is not without its COM
fort. The fact that the1e are only two
delegates whose occupation is given as
retired" may account for the ire pressi-
BILE activity Of the brethren in trying to
get the floor. 1t also suggests two fine
strokes of Conference hun.or. President
Harris of Maine introduced his speech by
saying that if any had looked to the GEN
eral Conference as a place where the
wicked cease from troubling and the
weary are at rest" they would bettor
go home. This was during the great
woman debate, when on the expiration
of each 10-minute address the chalrman's
gavel as it fell seemed to bring to their
feet about third of the members, whose
rival yells for recognition from the chair
would put to shame the competing hack
drivers at Western railway terminus.
The other touch of humor at which the
SOulCI6uCS IOdIOo was ebhOVAoI
speaker said as he began, "God made the
worldsand rested, then he made man and
rested, and soon after he made woman,
since which time neither God nor men
has rested" At last. however, q brief
rest has come in the four days debate On
this question, for as write the question
itself has followed the action of the four
elect women; that is, it has gone out
from the body, to return, it is hoped,
only when it has been satisfactorily re-
ylsed and repaired. For the smallest
favors let US be thankful.
In the personnel ofthis great body the
most conspicuous figures are the Bishops
They are peerless as presiding officers.
With SO large and SO lively a body to hold
IN check they need to have ntheir wits
about them and to keep the same con
stantly on tap. Fortunately these men
nave had large experience. In the quad
rennlum just closed some Of the Bishops
nave presided over more than 200 sessions
OF Annual Conferences. 1t so happens,
too that those who have met the lnrgest
number OF these in the last four years are
uhe Bishops who were elected nearly
Quarter of century ago. That these
men men should still be capable of 40 much
hard work is a fact which fits IL most
napplly With that tenacity of life which.
a.. -