The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-07-23
TO THE BISHOPS CREDIT
Some Stories of Early Days in
Missoula.
A CRACKERJACK VESTRY
A Promising Set of Notables Who Never
Attended Church The Story of
Gun and Watch-It Was
Tough Game.

Missoula. July 22.-The presence of
to the oldtimers many of the incidents
of the days when his diocese included
Missoula and when he was laboring to
maintain a church in this town, then "A
small settlement. 1t is needless to say
that all of these stories that are be-
ing told are much to the credit of the
bishop and serve to indicate that the
Missoula church was not the banner
parish, by any means, of the jurisdic-
ton over which the bishop presided
Bishop Tuttle's chief trouble seems to
have been with the vestrymen They
were good citizens and realized the ne
ceSSity of having a church in the city.
They We're willing to and did contribute
to the maintenance of the church, but
they Were too busy and had been too
long i'll the Wilderness to fall easily
into the practice of strengthening the
infant parish by their presence at serv-
ices. One set of vestrymen after an
other was tried and each was a little
bit worse than the one that had pre-
ceded it. From all accounts, the ban
ner vestry was the one that was com
posed of Judge Frank H Woody,
Henry McFNarlane. 1t is not altogether
easy at this remote distance to believe
That these men ever served on a church
board, but the records are indfsputable
They We're regularly appointed by the
bishop at the time of one of his visits
here and they served their term--sor1e
of them held over for other terms, too
The story goes that the bishop return
ed to Missoula after an absence of a
year or more, after he had secured this
promising Vestry. and, after the servic-
eS had been held and the bishop had
talked things over and looked about
somewhat. he called a melting of the
Vestrymen. All hands turned out and
the meeting was held in the office of
Mr.. Wolf. The bishop spoke pleasantly
Of the progress thar the church had
made and then brought up some mat
tiers to which his attention had been
called during his visit. They We're
questions of Importance that pertained
directly to the church and its work.
He asked the opinion of the vestrymen,
at first collectively, and then. when no
response was ELECTED. individually. All
of the vestrymen and then each of the
Nestrymen looked solemn and said moth
ing. The bishop persisted in his ques-
tion and Mr.. Worden said: We'll.
bishop, We might as well tell the truth
Not one of us has been to church since
Hou were mere year ago BISHOP
futile smiled. II is said that he could
smile in the face of all kinds of dis
couragement. He smiled and then
changed the subject. Before he left the
town, however, he had made some
changes in the vestry.
Judge Woody is staunch defender
of that vestry. He says that it was a
good one, despite appearances, which,
he admits. are a little against the mem
bers. He says that while ut is true
that none of the members of this YES
try ever passed the plate at church
service. they at least attended to the
business affairs of the church and spent
for its benefit the money that other
people collected. He AYERS solemnly
that two members of the next vestry
that was formed bought a Parkes shot
gun and gold watch with the pro-
ceeds of the plate collections. AS one
of these members is now absent from
town in the service of the governments
forest reserve system and as the other
has worn out the gun, it is perhaps
best not to mention their names bur
THE judge says that his vestry has al
ways been given "a reputation that it
did not deserve. Whether or not the
tale of the judge is true-and the
Standard has no desire to stand in con-
tempt Of court by saying that it is not
it is certain that these two Nestry-
men bbuSHlr pht d Z IN dUu the Olltf a
watch. about the time that the plate
collections had amounted to a goody
sum.
These little incidents go to show the
kind of game that the bishop found
himself up against when he attempted
to get the Mssoula church started.
That his nature is an admirable one
and his disposition altogether ITO be ad
mired is proved by the fact that he has
met these men, those of them, at least.
who are alive and has grasped them by
the hand and smiled at them a differ
ent sort of a smile from the one that
he used in that Vestry meeting. And
the vestrymen have stood pat. Thy
have returned his greeting as cordially
as if they had always pulled in line
with the bishop and have recalled TO
his mind without blushing the days
when they worked so hard to get the
young church well started. Il is to
the credit of the bishops keen judg-
ment of human nature and his con-
of the feelings of others
that he has not asked any one of these
vestrymen If they have attended
church since he was last here, many
years ago. He would have been fully
justified in doing so and he would have
evened things up in good style.