Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1908-02-19
ELDER POORLY PAID.
MISSOURI PREACHER TolLED IS
YEARS AT $40.
Travelled $4,000 Miles on Horseback or
Foot Officiating at Weddings,
Funerals and Services with
Practically No Re-
naneratIon.

/ n1Ineration.
Elmer, Mo-How many young
theological students would line up to-
day If confronted at the age of "a with
the prospect OF 45-year job of preach
ing, in not one single year of which
would their salary exceed $40? Elder
J. w. Cook, aged SO, white haired and
| feeble, has just written a book In
! which he describes such ministry.
! No cathedral chimes ever called the
( shirt sleeved worshippers to whom Mr..
Cook preached No organ was used
to add melody to the songs his peo'
pie of the hills and prairies sang. Not
line of manuscript fluttered on the
stump or goods box from which he
preached. On this point he says in
| his book:
Dear reader, l want to say a few
words in regard to these sermons,
which numbered far into the thou.
sands. Listen-not one of them was
written before it was delivered. ! be-
lieved in a call to the ministry and
went to God for knowledge. The SER
mons were scattering sometimes, but
the Lord blessed them just the same
I fred 'em off as He directed, and He
attended to the targets!"
Elder Cook toiled like galley
slave ~ decades for an annual wage
that wouldn't have contented a self
respecting janitor or capable office
boy for a month. And he was glad
to do it.
How did he live? He plowed;
raised corn on a little patch. Here's
the way he was sometimes rewarded:
"a good brother lost his wife and |
was called to preach the funeral. |
was very sick and not really able to
go, but the friends insisted so that |
rallied what little strength | had and
made the trip-14 long, hot miles and
back.
II preached the sermon in the for
est, as there was no church. When 1t
was all oyer the bereaved brother
} came to me with tears in his eyes and
wanted to know what that long jour
] WIN
him that was for him to say. He gave
me so cents. 1 took it because
; needed it.
Sometimes l would get a pair of
socks for a trip like that, sometimes
, a pair of gloves, but more frequently
; nothing. Many times we would run
out of provisions and have no money
with which to buy them.
/ "Then l would run my face for a
few groceries until I could plow the
! corn over or haul load of ties, OF
} perhaps do few days work for a
neighbor at 30 cents a day, knowing
that Saturday would be meeting day
t and trusting that some member would
t pay me dollar so could settle with
: the grocer. Saturday would come,
( would hold meeting as usual, but that
badly needed dollar would not come
3 Then / couldn't look the merchant in
r the face for fear he would think me
| dishonest"
| During all these years Elder Cook
t endured such privations. He was the
! regular minister for a number Of
/ churches and kept his appointments
Q regularly, whether they paid him OF
/ not. Half of his time he was out or
the road or at preaching appoint
! ments
k This record will be his passport tt
the better world: Sermons preached
. 5,7S4; miles Travelled, 95,S4O; wed
dings performed, 7S0; miles Travelled
to oficiate at weddings, 15,6OO-all OF
!. horseback or on foot; funeral ser
4 mons preached 1885, miles travelled To-
j. funerals, 1920
k Turning to the lighter side of thu
Y book one finds the following:
7, Some 25 years ago, one Sunday aft
9 ernoon, as | was travelling along thu
road, CHANGED to meet young coupl
s who were carrying a bucket of pro
vender to the hogs / knew they ha'
u been neighbors and sweethearts TO
r years, and as came up could see h
was urging her to do something whicl
.. she appeared to bashfully oppose.
'Sallie's just said YES" parson
r how'd it do to iine us right wher
we're at?'
<, Il suggested perhaps we'd better g
IN the house, but he seemed to b
5, afraid she'd change her mind. So
q called horseman--a stranger-to &C
I. as witness.
THE bride and bridegroom wipe
their hands on their clothes an
10 stood up there, with a lot full of hog
g for background, and a wayfare
r. whom nobody knew as witness, an
/. were married as safely as If in tn
c. homes of wealth. The young ma
,r said thank you,' kissed his brid'
Ie They picked up their bucket and +,
1t sumed their errand."