The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-29
From the Chicago Tribune.

OMEWHERE In this age or ma @N terialism and in the present race 0 after wealth it has become ap- parent that the minister of the gospel, as he was known and recognized thirty years ago. has been displaced The doc tor of medicine has taken precedence of the doctor of divinity in the worldly course of sentiment. Four women may attend church services to each man to be found there, but this general ooserva- tion holds good regardless of the age appearance or married or single condi- tion of the minister.
 To the Misunderstanding young woman and her determined and ambitious mother the young minister of the gospel today holds a possible fifth place.
 Bishop Samuel M. Merrill of the Meth odist Episcopal church was asked to sub stantiate the general applications of these assertions. As to the romantic side or the preachers life, however, he holds that it was always the romance of the man himself, regardless of his cloth; that where the preachers position was con- sidered pro and con in the arrangement of a wedding the situation was only io- cal and meaningless as applied to the profession of the ministry.
 In the middle west especially there are hundreds of thousands of observers Of the churches of generation ago who re- call when frequently the mere considera- ton of married clergyman in the fil- ing of a pulpit vacancy would cause a
 fzf l.. faction, of mothers with marriageable daughters to enter such vigorous protest as sometimes to split the church. The position of most of the sober-sided mem- bers of the flock would be against the engagement of a boy preacher, while certain of the mothers with daughters eligible to matrimonial adventure would find the young candidate especially 'elo- auent" or spiritual or sympathetic. This condition prevailed particularly in those churches which made their own votive choice of the minister.
 Today, save in the smaller rural churches off the railroads and away from touch with the great money centers of the country. the question of the young preacher was never less provoking of factions.
 When the young preacher was the mark of especial favor with ambitious mammas there were fewer representatives of the profession to draw from in rural com ministers. As a rule four preachers could find livings of some kind in town that could support perhaps only two doctors There would be one druggist, perhaps; a cashier in the one bank of the place. a railroad station agent and a postmaster The lawyer of the place could be upon acknwdingly thin pinkings and most like ly already married Beyond these the choice of son-in-law would lie in the groc- cry and dry goods stores, hardware stores and the coal dealers office.
 To-day one not familiar with the con ditions in the smaller towns of the coun- try would be surprised to know how sharply they are reflecting the life of the cities" said traveller who has made observations in the country towns of lhe middle west especially For instance there Is scarcely wealthy man in one of these places who has not made his ven lures upon the boards of trade and the stock exchanges of the big cities.
 He can talk about millions with all the natural ease that comes to Wall street frequenters. The seeming ease with which promoters and corn kings and wheat kings have made fortunes has impressed tho man in the country town quite as strongly as the impression has been marked 1T the population of the cities, and to tall to him now of a local man whose claims to wealth are in paltry s15,Ooo or s2OOO Is to provoke smile of patient consid eration. Tn general, too, the whole country ha! increased in wealth, and as this has com, about, and the intricacies of civilization have multiplied room has been made fol towns. and nearly every one of these hal profited more than has the ministry. I seems in these small places that as nor money Is accumulated. which ought g' to the struggling ministers already in tn town. the disposition is. instead of collect ing to the gocd of those already there, t build two or three more debt incumbere' churches and create half living for tw or three more preachers.
 Tt Is pretty well recognized that tn worldly lot of the preacher in the smal town Is not to be entied by any youni woman who is not as much welded t the cause of his mission as he is himself All else being equal. it is pretty certai