The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1904-03-24

best field; but Tor SLOW man, Win
taste for a large family and a dull
life, doubtless the Church is best"
These words plunged my father and
me into great confusion of mind. 1t
is true they were spoken by one VINO
knew little or nothing Of the circun-
stances of the Rev. Mr.. Fuller-who
indeed had never so much as heard Of
that gentleman until IN hour before
but their effect was NONE the less dis
nstrous. My father couShed. choked.
and aunt Gertrude asked me to obll2e
her by passing the water.
II suppose the collections in place
like this are very trifing.' said uncle
Sam.
I'VE collected Is last Harvest
Thanksgiving" answered the Rector.
What became Of the money! asked
my uncle.
"All our COLLECTIONS are given away
in charity. The IS Of which l spoke
the largest collection Of the year-was
paid over to the Royal Agricultural
Benevolent Society,"
"Oh. | see" said uncle Sam. Now
this matter of collections in churches
is one of the many things which we
manage better on the other side u
the Atlantic | am not thinking OF
HoldenhurSt. for of course there IS
no money here to collect anyway:
am thinking of New York and London.
Why. | remember when / was boy
in England in some churches the col
lecting boxes were fixtures at each
side of the door. Could anything have
been more absurd? Any effect which
the eloquent begging Of the preacher
had produced died away like the mem.
DRY of 4 dream as one walked along
the aisles. and the posts supporting
the money-boXeS We're passed as heed
lessly as the lamp-pOSts III the street.
After that, if | remember rightly, the
plan was to place plateholder at
each side Of the door. This was better;
but the plan had two glaring defects:
nothing was easier than for the people
in the middle of the stream Of pass
ers-out to affect not to see the plates,
neither was there any check on the
doings of the plate holders. The next
plan to be adopted, which / recollect.
was the passing Of a bag in front Of
each person present in church. This
plan. though an improvement. was not
without serious defect. A penny,
skillfully dropped into the bag, chinked
as loudly as half-a-erown or SOW
ereign, and produced as good an effect
upon the other occupants Of n pew
as would have been produced by one
or other Of the more valuable coins.
After q while, plates were substituted
for bags, only partly removing this
objection; and this, think. is as far
as you have got in England"
How are collections taken in Amer
lean churches" inquired Mr.. Fuller,
with evident interest.
BY the envelope system. Two dea-
cons pass round the church, the first
calTyin&t tray full of envelopes and
Il penc3T the second an empty tray.
Each contributor places his contribu-
tion in an envelope, seals it. and writes
his name ON the outside. Deacon num-
Der two collects the filled envelopes,
and at the next service the name Of
each contributor. and the amount Of
his contribution is publicly announced,
the giver Of the largest amount first;
and so on. When there are several
persons who give Il like amount. their
names are announced in alphabetical
order. 1t is Il perfect plan. and have
unqualified admiration for the man
who conceived 1.-THE read human ma
ture well. 1t meets all requirements,
and nothing in it can be objected to.
The man who wants to advertise him.
self is invited, us it We're, to assist the
Church equally with the simple-mind-
ed giver-for assume that the motive
for giving signifies nothing so long as
the dollars are scooped. Fraud is
checkmated, and it is impossible to
eXaggerate the Importance of that;
for surely no one will so abuse his
intelligence as to deny that in every
congregation Ananias and Barabbas
find more imitators than any other
Biblical characters"
There is certainly great deal of
villainy in the world" confessed Mr..
Fuller sadly.
You would say so with greater en-
phasis If you were a member Of the
Stock Exchange" said uncle Sam.
At this stage my father made CON-
nendable but not very successful ef-
fort to change the subject Of conver.
sation. Aunt Gertrude sat silent and
neglected, and every body in the room
except uncle Sam appeared i'll at ease.
AS for myself, l was desperately un-
comfortable, and desired nothing so
much as the termination of this men,
orable meal. Ny uncle, 1 knew,
would not prolong it by one minute
that was not one Of his faults-but
the Rev. Mr.. Fuller, who was a mira