Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1909-11-11
THE DEACONS' SITES,
BY M, QUAD.

| hin sect at Charlestown there came
| the question of the site. 1t was a scat
tered village, and there were many old
| people that wanted the building as
close TO them as possible. There were
| others that thought the site that would
| show OF the church to the greatest
advantage and that at the same time
could bt bought the cheapest. was the
one te re selected. II wasn't to be
anything grand, but II located right 1t
would make up for that In q measure.
1t took six months to settle the ques-
tion OF the site. One faction wanted
| it on the crest of q hill and the other
at the end of the bridge over the river.
Deacon Henderson owned one site and
Deacon Frazer the other, and each
wanted 500 for the land. Each be-
came the leader Of n faction.
AT first all the talk was In good
natured way, as becomes such sub
| ject, but as time went on acrimony
crept In and argument became dis
pute, The pastor was anxious TO see
the building under way, but he could
not favor either faction. He could
simply counsel brothery love, and
when brotherly love Is stretched too
far It gets pretty thin and weak.
Deacon Henderson, who owned the hill
site, went about saying:
"You can put a cooper shop most
anywhere, but when Il comes to
meeting house there's only one place
for II, and that's on hill, II there
are any hills around. | most think
that's what the Lord created hills
for"
"Oh, Deacon Henderson may talk
that way" Deacon Frazer would reply,
but he's all wrong. You put meet
Ing house on hill and you make
circus OF IT,"
The dispute finally resulted IN the
hilltop being offered at half price, and
the congregation accepted the offer
The minister went to bed that night
with thankful heart and Il great sigh
Of relief passed over the town. Every
thing seemed TO be settled at last, and
men began preparing the foundations
OF the building. But there are wheels
within wheels. Deacon Frazer had
been defeated on the site, but he had
Il shot In reserve. When the frame
OF the building was up and rooted
over he brought out statistics to show
that ninc-tenths of the church build
lngs struck by lightning were build
lngs standing on hills. There was
every chance that this one would be
struck. He wanted IL understood that
he would never enter II of Sunday
when there seemed the slightest chance
Of thunderstorm. His faction fol-
lowed him In his argument, and there
was another wrangle on hand. If his
site had been chosen there was big
walnut tree that would have detected
and received any thunderbolt on its
way to destroy the church.
! "Yes, we know that building on a
hill Is more exposed to lightning than
n building In hollow" Deacon Hen
derson would reply but we are GO
ing to prepare for that. We shall put
up lightning rod. Itll catch all the
thunderbots that come along ana run
'em into the ground. We don't care
how much ground they tear up, SOS
they let the church alone"
II was the era when men pinned
their faith 10 lightning rods and defied
old Jove to do his worst. II was set
tied that rod on the church would do
the business, and now all disputes
seemed TO be ended. The truce lasted
Just four weeks. The building was
more than half finished when Deacon
| no ~ fpnnt M OF III
things again. He had given the mat
ter OF that lightning rod much thought,
and he had come to the conclusion that
II was flying I'm the face Of Providence
to put one up. 1t was saying to the
Lord that they couldn't trust him.
Deacon Henderson was hard put to
answer these arguments. They were
sort of def to the other faction. If
the church had been built In the hol-
low the Frazer faction would have de-
pended on Providence. Now that 1t
was being built on a hill the Hender-
son faction was going to give Provi-
dence the shake and go TO the expense
OF 500 to put up lightning rod. Were
they whole Christians or half Chris
tians? IL they believed that man was
greater than Providence, then Satan
would be glad to see the building fin
ished and dedicated. Here was u
yawning pit and but one way to bridge
It, The lightning rod faction took that
way by announcing that there woLid
be no rod. Everything would be ct
to Providence. This really ended all
dispute. Deacon Frazer tried hard to
think Of some other point, but nothing
{ would occur. Only when he and the
other deacon would meet he would
, shake his head and say:
II dunno about that church, deacon.
Gimme a church In a holler, with a
big walnut tree five rods away, and
I'll trust Providence for the rest"
"There she Is, right up on the hill, :"
Deacon Henderson would reply, "and
we're asking Providence to protect her
without the Eelp of any trees"
The church had been dedicated u
month when there came terrible
storm one night. First the wind blew
with fury, and then there came rain
and thunder and lightning, and all or
sudden a crash that lifted half the
town out of bed When the storm
ceased it was found that the walnut
! tree In the hollow had been struck and
shivered and that the church on the
hill had been blown from its founda-
lions and rolled down the hillside into
the creek Then at once arose the
question, (Which did Providence hit
flrst?" And TO-DAY, after a lapse OF
I'VE years, 1t Is still an undecided ques
tion.