The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1907-10-04
DEFENDS THE CHURCHES.

Rev. j. IS. Lowe of st. PauPs Uni
versalist church, La Crosse delivered a
sermon Sunday evening in reply to
the criticism of churches for inhospi-
table treatment accorded Miss Smith a
representative of an eastern magazine,
who visited $50 churches in large cit
les in the guise of poor working girl
and almost without exception was not
welcomed by either pastors or ushers.
In replying to the indictment of the
church contained in the last two num-
bers of the magazine, Mr. Lowe said
in part:
"Miss Smith was instructed to visit
$50 leading churches. She dressed
herself as working girl might and
made the rounds. Her recorded treat
ment ranges all the way from warmth
and freindliness through polite def
erence and stilted dignity, down to in
difference, GOODNESS and frigidity. No
doubt in the main she has told the
plain unravished truth.
LET us look into the merits of the
case. In the first place it is one
sided experiment. 1t is an attack up
on the church, not a test of it. 1t ad-
vertises the fault of the church SER
vice and says nothing of its virtues
Indiscriminate people will conclude the
church is wholly bad.
in the second place, it is not a
fair test of one side. 1t leaves the i'm
preston that all church services are
sordid, Indifferent and inhospitable
But all churches have not been Wis
tied. Only the metropolitan churches,
where auditoriums are spacious and
the audiences large and unwieldy
were visited. An impartial test would
include visits to churches in small
twon and small cities. The smaller
churches were left, and perhaps Miss
Smith would have told different
story, and that was not what Mr.. Box
the editor, was after.
"In small churches in cities often
to tewnty and even fifty thousand in
habitants the congregations are not
excessively large. The members are
at least specifically acquainted with
each other There is a maximum de-
gree of sociability. The presence OF
the stranger is quickly noticed and in
most cases warmly welcomed, espe
cially if he comes two or three times
in succession, and not once only, as
was the case with Miss Smith. But
in metropolitan churches, where the
auditorium is spacious and the au
dience is large, the people are not wei
acquainted with each other and there
in minimum degree of sociability
The presence of a stranger is not
quickly noticed and he may very cas-
lily come and 60 once, perhaps severa
times, without attracting attention.
"No Catholic churches were vicitet
Why? Mr.. Box knew there would b.
no handshaking there, The Catholic
church allows no conversation within
its walls. But when you get down tt
the question of right and wrong in
volved here, Catholic and Protestant
churches are in the same boat. If il
is wrong for protestant churches tt
not welcome strangers after the ser
vice it is equally wrong for the Cath
Ollie churches to fatty refuse to do it
And if it is all right for Catholic
churches in the spirit of Christ to re
fuse to do it, it is equally right TO-
Protestant churches not to do it.
"In the third place Miss Smith wal
sent to church seeking the last thing
that ought to be the thought of in con
nection with such place, an intro
duction to a dozen or half dozei
members and social chat after thu
service, People should go to Church