The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1901-10-12
THREE SUCCESSIVE COLLECTIONS.
Proceedings That Puzzled . Visitor in q
Country Church in Holland.

Country Church in Holland.
"A Sunday among the staid burghers
Of Holland gave Mr.. Clifton johnson
an opportunity to see three church col
lections taken in rapid succession. He
had asked to be directed to charac-
teristic church in an outlying village.
AS result he went by train from Ley
den to O little place where there was q
church as severe in its simplicity as
the meeting houses Of colonial New
England.
It resembles them, too, in Its chilli
ness, for there was no attempt at
warming it, and the people were de-
pendent upon foot stoves Of the old
fashioned type that was beginning to
60 out Of vogue in America hundred
years ago. Several scores of these lit
tie boxes stood in the church entry,
neatly piled against the WALL ready to
be filed with smolderlng peat and sup
piled to the wOrshipers as they came
in.
When the time for the collection ar
rived q man started out from the
railed-off space before the pulpit,
which space was occupied BY the cid
ers, and with black pocket at the end
Of an eight-foot pole proceeded to his
task. With this accessory he could
reach clear to the end Of pew,
only he had to be careful not to hit
some worshiper with the butt end
while making his short reaches.
Everybody in the congregation put
In something and the collector made a
little bow every time a coin jingled in
the pocket. He had gone about half
way round when another elder started
out with another bag and pole. The
writer wondered he had not started
before. His purpose, however. was
not to help bis fellow collector finish
the work. Indeed, he started just
where the other had begun and passed
the bag to the same people. and every
one dropped in coin as faithfully as
he had done the first time.
Nor was this the end for the second
collector hatl no sooner got a good
start than third stepped out from the
pulpit front with bag and pole and
went as industriously over the ground
as the two others had done. He was
just as successful as his predecessors.
Things were getting serious. The
stranger had put silver in the first bag,
but fearing that the collection might
continue indefinitely, he dropped cop
per coins in the second and third bags
and was not a little relieved when he
saw that the rest of the men in the
elders seats kept their places.
Later he learned the secret Of the
process. The first man collected for
the minister, the second for the church,
the third for the poor. AS each men,
Der of the congregation contributed
one Holland cent to each bag it seemed
as If a little calculation might have
saved much collecting. The sum Of
the three deposits would. in ohr money,
be about one and one-ffth cents for
each person.
At the moment when the bags began
to pass the minister gave out q hymn,
but the congregation finished singing
it long before the collection was over.
1nere did not, however, ensue one of
those silences during which you can
hear pins drop and flies buzz, for the
minister ignored the collectors, who
were still making their hating pro-
gress through the aisles. and promptly
began his sermon.-Youth's Compan-
ion 81