The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1898-05-04
+ Montana Divorces Suit
By ". L. ALDEN.

faI4kUatOQilu DisUi w oulU
By ". 1. ALDEN.
Copyright. 1891. by VI. L. Alden.]
. You saw that tail chap standing on
I The rear platform of the express when
she went through here this morning."
said the Jericho station master. Hes
She Athensyille Baptist preacher, and
he's on his way to Chicago to give his
testimony In the great divorce suit.
What never told you about any d.
vorce suit: Well, you surprise me, for
that there divorce suit is Just the big
sgest thing of the kind we have ever had
an this section Of the country.
That Baptist preacher hasn't any
thing TO dowith it except to swear that
she married the plaintiff and the defend
ant. There's nothing crooked about the
Rev. Mr.. Humphreys He's as good as
shey make lem, though I say it myself,
and ] den 4 think much Of Baptists as a
general thing, having been brought up
Methodist, though I resigned from
them when I was made conductor,
winch is berth that man can't do
anything with unless he can swear a
blne streak when the occasion arises.
This hyer preacher took charge of
the Athensville Bapti 8 echurch q matter
o fVe years ago, and, being wonderful
man for managing charcs, and max
ing It attractive to the es al public,
It WASH t long before he b. me largest
congTegation of any preacher III the
place The Presbyterian minister fels
that he had 10 do something to main
tain his position, so he preached q Sc
ries Of sermcns on baptism, proving, as
he thought, chat sprinking was the on
IL authorized way Of baptism and that
immersion was all a mistake. In one OF
his sermons he made pretty good
pmnt By showing that on one OCCASION
John the Baptist baptized 50 many peo-
I pie IN the course Of a day that he must
have aTeraged three to the minnie.
THIS, the preacher claimed, would have
been impossible if he had done il in any
other way than by sprinkling. Mr.
Humphreys only laughed when they
told HIM about this sermon and said,
just wais Till we have our regular
spring baptiMng season. So the next
spring, when there we're about 20 peo-
pie young and old waiting TO join the
Raptists Mr. Humphreys, he takes the
whole lot down to the creek and im-
r.eTses every one Of them in less than
ten minutes, breaking the record and
beating John the Baptist's best time.
( This made him more popular than ever,
and that year the people built him a
new church twice as big as the old one.
It stands on the hill about mile ont
OF Athensvile, for when 1t was bCilt it
was cal'lated that the town would grow
that direction. which somehow it
hasn s done.
&c 81 tell this just to show what an en-
tezprising man the parson was He IN
sisted on having the ta1lest steeple to
his new church that could be found
anywhere lin Montana territory, and
bsgoah he got it. People used to come
from miles away to climb up in that
steeple and see The view. There wasn't t
:anysyiew to speak Of. the country being
TOO hilly in those parts 70 have much
scenery, bat forall that people were anx-'
ious to say that they had been to the
top of the steeple.
There wasl an old maid in Mr..
Humphreys congregation who was
more determined 30 get married than
any woman you ever saw. She wes one
ef these thin, perseEering looking wo-
men, and mighty dangerous sort they
are. Miss Payson, which was this lady's
name, was bound to marry youug man
by the name of Halsey, who had never
done her any harm and was about as
sensible and well behaved chap as
there was in all Athensville OF course
ha didn t have the least idea Of marry
ing the woman, but he vas one of those
good tempered chaps that are always
afraid to say no when a woman asks
them to do anything. Good temper is
the ruin of lots of folks. It's kept me
down. ] know that. If I'd been one Of
these erussy. rampageous fellows that
Eever do kind action if they can help
il, should have been superintendent
of this road instead OF being only sta
ton master at one of the smallest sta
tons in the territory. Never you be too
coed tempered. OF the two it ruins
more men than whisky.
One day Miss Paysoh she gets young
Halsey to take her up in the steeple of
the Baptist church. You see, visitors
were always going up that steeple be-
tween the hours Of 10 and 5, during
which the sexton staid at the chu-ch to
attend to things and see that they
conducted themselves as they should.
At 5 o'clock he locked up the door that
led to the steepie. and then he locked
up the church deer and went home for
the night.
Miss Payson and her: young man
went up the sseeple about 3 O'Clock in
the afternoon, but she said she enjoyed
it so much that Halsey was prevailed