The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-05-09

largest number of these in the last four
years are the bishops who were elected
nearly quarter of a century ago.
That these men should still be capable
of so much hard work is a fact which
fits in most happily with that tenacity
of life which, since the death of Bishop
Harris nine years ago, has kept the
existing board without break. This
is an astonishing record, in which, of
course the whole church rejoices, al
though asplrants for Episcopal vacan-
cies find it somewhat inconvenient.
The bishops preside in the order of
seniority. To the left of the one in
charge sits the prelate who will take
his place on the day following, and to
the right is the one whose turn will
next come In this way, by a sort of
preliminary canter, they get warmed
up and gradually broken in for the
great struggle in which they must fig
ure presently as star performers. And
in truth it is a struggle to guide the at
fairs of such body, and especially to
satisfy the would-be orators. How a
bishop can tell when fifty men are yell
ing, Mr.. Chairman" simultaneously,
which voice he heard first, is a great
Episcopal mystery, But they do it
right along without hesitancy, if not
with unerring impartiality. BY some
this great gift is regarded as a special
inspiration, and if so, it surely suggests
that the Methodist bishops afterallmay
be in the apostolic succession.
But venerable and noble men they
are, as even those must admit who
have tried vainly fifty times since the
conference began to secure at their
hands the privilege of the floor. Bish-
op Bowman ranks as senior. He could
pose easily as a model for our great
American statue of John Wesley, being
of short, frail build and very benig-
nant, intellectual features. Bishop
Foster, on the contrary, is large and
solid; as thorough and strong in his
venerable manhood as are the weighty
volumes he is still turning out on Sys-
tematic Theology. Bishop Merrill is
the great church jurist, and has cast
of head not unlike that of Ohio's candi-
date for the presidency. He is sub
stantial looking, and carries himself
with a gravity which smacks of wis
dom. Bishop Andrews is the suave,
polished gentleman, affable and unc-
tious Bishop Warren is a mastery
rhetorician and has a manner in the
chair which savors of the breeziness of
his Rocky Mountain home. Bishop
Foss admirably perpetuates in Phila-
delphia the gentle spirit of his prede-
cessor, Bishop Simpson, and though he
lacks the moving eloquence of the lat
ter, he is quite his equal in genius for
administration.
Bishop Hurst is stately and dignified,
as we might naturally expect in one
whose residence is at the capital of the
nation. If his face were turned upside
down the pointed chin beard would
form the apex of a very symmetrical
pyramid. and if the great American I'M
iversity he is building shall rest upon
as good a foundation as that pyramid,
and have an apex as perfectly trimmed,
it will be great monument indeed.
Bishop Nlnde is the saint of the board.
He has one of the mildest of faces, yet
there is no trace of weakness in tia
seraphic man, somewhat distracted in
look, as saint might well be, but al
ways ready for business and model
preacher.
residence and to a measure of the gen.
tleness of Simpson, the personal ap-
pearance of that great bishop is in
creasingly reflected as the years pass in
Bishop Walden, who, by the way, is
fulfilling the prediction of Bishop Wi
ley, that he would prove to be one of
the, most practical and useful men on
the board. Bishop Mallalieu represents
admirably the stalwart principles of
New England. He was the first ever
elected to the Episcopacy with an UNI
shaver upper lip, and until that time it
was an article of Methodist faith that a
moustache was a sort of bar over
which it would be impossible for any
man to leap into this high office. But
Bishop Mallalieu went in, bar and ALL
and since then two others have done
the same.
If the x rays were turned upon the
top of Bishop Fowler's head they would
meet with little obstruction from any
hirsute adornment, but would discover
an abundance of gray matter on the
inside, for it is common to speak of him
as the brainest man on the board.
Bishop Joyce has q stalwart frame and
head to match, with that straightfor-
ward brotherliness in administration,
and ferVor in sacred address, which
mark him as a stalwart man through
out. Bishop Vincent is a captivating
speaker, with a large initiative capaci-
ty, fine intellectual grain and a big
pull of the very best kind with religious
people outside the pale of his own
church. Bishop Fitzgerald is closely
elbowing Bishop Merrill as great con-
st1tutional lawyer. He is one of two
bishops wearing full beard-all the
others try to improve on nature, with
has Websterian face and head, with
marked intellectual development, very
bushy eyebrows and the bearing of a
man of high distinction; while the good
three hundred avordupois of Bishop
Goodsell is distributed over so ample a
frame and topped off with such gent
al and expressive countenance that his
material weight serves admirably to
advertise an altogether weighty per-
sonality
The two Missionary bishops are lit
tie lower in dignity, some think; GER
talnly they are more restricted in their
powers than the others. But they are
in the mission work by the predetermi-
nation of great missionary adaptability
and achievement. Bishop Taylor,
rugged old hero, who seems to fight the
fever of equatorial jungles no less sue
cesSfully than the forces of the wicked