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

When 1t had been finally decided
to erect q church building for GER
hin sect at Charlestown there came
the question of the site. 1t was 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 or the church to the greatest
advantage and that at the same time
could b, bought the cheapest was the
one te &c selected. 1t wasn't to be
anything grand, but IL 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
IL on the crest Of a hill and the other
at the end Of the bridge over the river.
Deacon Henderson owned one site ana
Deacon Frazer the other, and each
wanted 500 for the land Each be,
| came the leader of 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 brotherly love- and
when brothcrly love Is stretched too
far II gets pretty thin and weak.
Deacon Henderson, who owned the hill
site, went about saying:
"fou can put cooper shop most
Nyhn h,yk
meeting house there's only one place
for II, and that's on hill, IL 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 n hill and you make
circus of It,"
The dispute finally resulted I'm the
hilltop being offered at half price, and
the congregation accepted the offer
The minister went TO bed that night
with thankful heart, and great sigh
OF relief passed over the town. Every
thing seemed TO be settled at last, and
|
OF the building But there are wheels
within wheels. Deacon Frazer had
been defeated on the site, but he had
a shot In reserve. When the frame
OF the building was up and rooted
over he brought out statistics to show
that nlne-tenths OF the church build
lnga struck by lightning were build
| gin ina llI
every chance that this one would be
struck. He wanted Il understood that
he would never enter II OF n Sunday
when there seemed the slightest chance
Of thunderstorm. His faction fol-
lowed him In his argument, and there
was another wrangIe on hand. If his
site had been chosen there was a 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
a building In a hollow" Deacon Hen
derson would reply, but we are go-
ing to prepare for that. We shall put
up a lightning rod. TIN catch all the
thunderbolts that come along and run
'em into the ground We don't care
how much ground they tear up, sos
they let the church alone"
1t was the era when men pinned
their faith TO lightning rods and delied
old Jove to do his worst 1t was set
tied that rod on the church would do
the business, and now all disputes
| A.. 4. lac "a
just four weeks. The building was
more than half finished when Deacon
Frazer came to the front to stir up
things again. He had given the mat
ter Of that lightning rod much thought,
and he had come 10 the conclusion that
1t 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. IL
the church had been built In the hol-
low the Frazer faction would have de-
pended on Providence. Now that 1t
was being built OH 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
Eould be glad to see the building fin
ished and dedicated. Here was Il
yawnlng pit and but one way to bridge
1t. The lightning rod faction took that
way by announcing that there woLId
be no rod. Everything would be 1t
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:
IL dunno about that church, deacon.
big walnut tree five rods away, and
I'll trust Providence for the rest"
"There she is, right up OH the hill,
Deacon Henderson would reply, "and
we're asking Providence to protect her
without the help of any trees
The church had been dedicated a
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
n sudden crash that lifted half the
town out of bed. When the storm
ceased it was found that the walnut
tree I'm the hollow had been struck and
| shivered and that the church on the
hill had been blown from it's founda-
lions and rolled down the hillside into
the creek. Then at once arose the
| GsUyhtoh IiI prayi1nnpa lit