The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-05-09
THE GENERAL CONFERENCE
ITS PRESENT SESSION is MOST I'M.
PRESSIVELY HOUSED.

ops Venerable, Noble and Stately Men.
Cleveland, o., May Z.
Upon only one occasion in sixteen
years, which is as far back as my per-
sonal knowledge will carry me, has the
general conference been so impressive
ly housed as it is in it's present session.
Balconies skirt the entire room, that
leading up from the platform and the
one in the rear being very deep and
having a convenient incline. These are
almost constantly filled with interested
spectators, while the two side galleries,
! divided by railing into boxes, are
rented for substantial sums to rich lay
men or to a syndicate embracing a
number of well-to-do families. In these
X the wives and daughters of bishops and
leading delegates hobnob with other
I influential visitors, and thither in the
brief periods of recess is there SIAM
! pede of men from the floor, for the in
Il terchange of ecclesiastical gossip and
4 social civilities. In the pit are the per-
4 formers. But it isn't bear pit, though
there is plenty of wrangling in H.
Rather let us call it a gladiatofial are
I ma, in which the struggle of intellectual
giants is the chief feature, While the
4 music of wind instruments affords the
4 principal diversion.
In spite. however, of their roomy sit
i uation and brilliant surroundings, the
n members of the conference were never
III less comfortable. "A question of privi-
II lege, having reference to the comfort OF
u this body-is it in order?" has become
proverbial appeal to the chair, and 1t
n has become now a joke which scarcely
II provokes smile for the chair to reply,
Eyes, if it shall only be effectual" For
once these intense debaters have too
much light on the proceedings. The
y conference isn't exactly in glass
house, though it has many faults both
4 individual and collective, but it has a
N glass roof over it's head. and there's the
\ rub; literally so, for light and heat
4 blaze down so forcibly upon the Ndevo-
Il ted heads of the brethren that they are
N kept busy rubbing off the resultant
beads of perspiration.
n There are something like fifty good
\ honest bald-heads in the body and as
\ many more who are prominent candi-
4 dates for that distinction. These are
n the greatest sufferers, and It affords the
H visitor unique spectacle to see the va
II rious head-coverings brought into use.
y Many keep their hats on, and others
balance copies of the Daily Advocate
n on their afflicted pates, while not a few
a use their handkerchief in such a way
Il as to suggest the sort of night-caps our
Il grandmothers used to wear. Still there
n are only a few old grannies in the body,
and most of the delegates endure with
q tolerable good humor what tacetious
II brother called "the double affection of
II the heat and the speeches"
81 This conference, which will occupy
Ipublic attention with increasing inter-
II est as the month of May hastens to-
Nward the June roses, is composed as
Afollows: The total number of ministe-
Mrial delegates is 337 Of these 176 are
presiding elders, 80 are pastors, 80 are
Racollege presidents and professors, % are
Mchurch officials elected by the general
saconference and IA are persons in unoffi-
Sacial or semi official relations. The to.
h tai number of laymen is 200, and their
occupations are: Merchants, 20; law
Eayers, 20; teachers, %; bankers, 49, ply
|Isicians, 10; manufacturers, 10; insur-
Aance, 5; farmers, 8; treasurers, g.; edi-
Rltors, 8; printers, 8; clerks, 2; superin~
E3tendents of public schools Q; managers,
Hl2; local preachers, 2; jewelers., 2;
Hunted States mail service, 2; deposito-
Try agents, 2; government employees, 2;
|lretired, q; architects, 2; and one each of
1.-THE following: bank teller, tailor, lrok-
Her, musicdealer, advertising agent, en-
Hgineer, cashier, furniture dealer, bar
Eber, consul mining engineer, lumber
EdeaIer, druggist, sea captain, railroad
Eemploye, fruit grower, miller, UNDER
[3taker, lieutenant governor, book bust
mess, tanner.
b This list is so literally inclusive that
Hit shows the conference to be a world
within ITSELF capable of self-support for
/ an almost indefinite length of time, and
Hsuch thought, while the seemingly
wrangle over woman
ldrags its weary course, is not without
Fits comfort. The fact that there are
Ionly two delegates whose occupation is
#given as retired" may account for the
activity of the brethren in
|trying to get the floor. 1t also suggests
1.-TWO fine strokes of conference humor
president Harris of Maine introduced
| his speech by saying that if any had
HOOKED 10 the SEIlcIdl toIleIellCe dS d
Iplace "where the wicked cease from
| troubling and the weary are at rest"
they would better go home This was
during the great woman debate, when
on the expiration of each ten-minute
address the chairman's gavel as it fell
seemed to bring to their feet about a
third of the members, whose rival yells
flor recognition from the chair would
put to shame the competing hack-driv-
ers at a western railway terminus. The
other touch of humor at which the con-
iference roared was when another
speaker said as he began, God made
1.-THE world and rested, then he made
man and rested, and soon after he
made woman, since which time neither
God nor man has rested" At last,
however, a brief rest has come in the
four days debate on this question, for
as | write the question itself has fol-
lowed the action of the four elect wo-
men: that is, it has gone out from the
body. to return, it is hoped, only when
lit has been satisfactorily revised and
repaired. For the smallest favors let
us be thankful.
In the personnel of this great body
the most conspicuous figures are the
bishops They are peerless as presi-
ding officers. With so large and so
lively abody to hold in check they need
to have their wits about them and to
keep the same constantly on tap. For