The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1906-12-07
WILL HOLD A JUBILEE
Methods SITS of St. Peter to Celebrate
Fiftieth Anniversary

Fiftieth Anniversary.
st. Peter, Dec 3.--In few weeks
members of the Methodist church will
celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the
organization of their congregation. Plans
are being formulated for the golden jubi-
lee, and in the course of the ceremonies
many tributes will be paid to the MEM
DRY of Rev. Edward Eggleston, famous as
a novelist and historian, who was one of
its early pastors.
Comparatively few people know that
the celebrated author, who began his
career as a circuit rider and became one
of Americas foremost men of letters,
was ever resident of st. Peter. He
came here in territorial days and lived
i'll the town nearly five years. The
house he occupied and the church III
which he preached both remain, but the
latter has been converted to other uses.
After serving his ministerial appren-
ticeship in his native state of Indiana,
Mr.. Eggleston was selected by the
Methodist Bible society as a missionary
to the territory of Minnesota. He came
out west in 1857 and was given the
pastorate of the newly established church
at Traverse DIES Sioux, one of the first
to be opened by his. Denomination.
With st. Peter, however, it Was a case
of entertaining ge..hIius unawares, for the
young minister had no idea of taking up
literary work at that time and did
not develop his talent for writing until a
dozen years later. While his pastorate
continued he attended to the spiritual
needs of his congregation and, forced
thereto by necessity, added to his income
by selling soap of his own manufacture
Mr.. Eggleston left st. Peter after the
Indian outbreak of 1862, and was given
a congregation in st. Paul. Eight years
afterward he went to indianapolis to
take editorial charge of magazine call
ed Hearth and Home, and in 1871 leaped
suddenly into fame with "The Hoosier
Schoolmaster," the original dialect novel,
which he first gave to the world in serial
form in his publication. A year later
he wrote ''The End of the World" and
in 1872 "The Mystery of Metropolis.
VILE
'Metropolisville" was only another
name for Traverse DIES Sioux, and the
scene of the book is laid in that village
and st. Peter. 1t is, primarily, a des-
criptiOn of the great Minnesota land
boom, the author telling of the mania
for investing in town lots and reprinting
the Joint resolution introduced in
the territorial legislature, which read:
Resolved, That not more than two
thirds of the area of this territory shall
be laid out in townsites and territorial
roads, the remaining one third to be
sacredly reserved for agricultural use"
The plot of the tale revolves about
stolen deed many of the incidents are
recorded in local history, and several of
the characters are but thinly disguised,
so thinly that they can be recognized as
early tlers-acquaintances of the au-
thor.
Following the three books mentioned
came ''The Circuit Rider and 'RoXy."
and he then wrote series of juvenile
biographies of famous American Indians.
In 1888 Mr.. Eggleston returned to India
ma fiction, producing 'The Hoosier
NSchool Boy" ''The Graysons," 'The
Faith Doctor" and "Duffels" His more
serious works, such as 'The Beginners
of Nation and ''The Transit of Civil.
zation," scame later, and he remained be.
fore the public as writer and lecturer
until his death four years ago.