The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1901-11-14
THRIFTY SOUTHERN
BUILDS A CHURCH.
Detroit Free Press

81 have heard how thrifty the Yam
KEGS are" remarked the man who
goes about from place, sbut the
thriftieSt man l ever came across lived
considerably south of Mason and Dix
on's line. AS far south, in fact, as
Georgia. He was farmer i'm the poor
part of the State-thOugh GeorgianS
may say there are no poor parts in
their great and glorius state-and,
unlike most of his neighbors, he had
a little money ahead. Not a great
deal, perhaps, but enough t. allow
him some swing if anything turned
up worth considering. One Of the
sore needs of the community was a
church building, but for years they
had not seen their way clear. to the
erection of one. There were people
enough in the neighborhood to have
put up house, but there were de-
nominational differences, and they
could not unite, and unless they did
no one denomination could raise funds,
sufficient for the purpose. Thus the
case stood for long, long time, SER
vices being held in the woods in sum-
mer and in the cabins i'm winter.
''Now, it happened that the thrifty
man was not member of any church,
so that he could look upon the matter
dispassionately, and he did. He
made calculation or two, and finally
concluded he would take business
risk and build a church of his own.
He got few assurances from the
Methodists and Baptists, but they
were not very encouraging. He knew,
however, that the human kind Is slow
to catch on, especially to the unseen
and unknown, and he took long chances
and went ahead with his proposition.
''He found that he could put up
very good building for the purpose
for $500, which would cover the cost
of stove to keep it warm and cup
ola with a small bell in it. He picked
out a favorable site in grove near
the road on his farm, and before
Thanksgiving he had his house ready
for occupancy. He opened it on that
day with an all-day service, inviting
the Crackers for miles around to come
and bring their baskets. They weren't
much on Thanksgiving, as rule,
but this was a new departure, and
they were there in force, regardless of
denomination. The Methodist and
Baptist preachers delivered sermons
in the morning, and there was union
meeting of all denominations after
dinner, which was handed around to
the people in their seats by the sisters.
1t was day of thanks and rejoicing,
and everybody went home feeling good
and very happy that a real church
house was in their midst.
"Before the next Sunday the thrifty
man was visited by the Methodist
brethren to know if they could use the
building on. that day. The thrifty
man said they could, the price for the
day was S., they to furnish heat and
light. The terms were accepted, after
some higgling, and the next Sunday
was great one for Cracker Method
ism. The next Sunday the Baptists,
determined not TO be outdone. had the
church at the same figure, and there
was big time. Then came the Epis-
copalians for Sunday, aad then one
or two scattering, and it was time
again for the Methodists, who were
just as game as ever. In the mean
time, to show That he meant well,
the thrifty man offered the church
free for an hour and half every Sum-
day morning for the holding of a union
Sunday school for the children. This
was boon and pleased the thrifty
man nightly. And so it kept up,
with services every Sunday by some
denomination or other at a price that
they could pay and no church debt,
and at the end of the year the owner
made calculation and discovered that
his investment had paid so per cent
net. When / heard of it last the
church was still paying at that rate,
and the thrifty man had got bis
money back and was thousand dollars
ahead of the deal.