The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1910-11-25
WEDDING fees
PAID PREACHERS
Amount Received is Never
Excessive.
Outlines Minister is Called on to
Do Work Without Com
pensation.

article in the Christian Herald r,1la
ting to THIS Size Of Wedding Fes.
that topic has bssn mach discusset
by pastors and newspapers AL ovs
the country. The writer in the Ha
aid confirsi his observations TO EaS
tern cities. where it WIS stated So
is considersd a large f.e, and tha
$1,000 o. $1,000 will ,asily oover tn.
any Ia. tor in .he course OF y,ar.
St Louis pastors. in a sort Of sym
postum recaaotly published by tn,
Post-DisI a.ch are unanimous in tn
opinion THAT most bridagNooms they
have met basin early in life 30 Irac.
tice econCmi Is, in fact, they beSir
at the alter
"BridegDDms are stingy with theil
wedding i-ss', say TIE Missouri par
sons, bu,, i,ahaps the miniss lis plac,
too high valuation ON tn Ser
vices, Tor the avcIage fss in St Louis
is given as $40, ard Louisville minis
tens seem To consid = a $40 biil a
lair reoomrense fer the average cere-
mony.
OF course u the " 5dding is a bril-
liaLt social event. requiring the PAS
tor TO appear IN full regalia, cleT-
cal or formed, it is only fitting that
he should reso-iye larger Zee than
when h. simply Performs a cere-
mOny in his study, without trimmings
For thu latter s. is considered rea
seasonablv remuneration; for a full
dress society affair referred to as
"nuptials." H., of s25 is not I'M
common.
1t is said At thu Courthouse that
DIR. +. l.. Powell p5rfcrnis mora mar
rage Ceremonies than any oth.r min
lister in this city. DR.. Powell admits
that h. nlarydes a good many cou-
piss, but thinks thai an average OF
about thirty ceremonies a year will
sasaly cover hish maneal services.
AS far as my eXpsrincso goes. said
Dr. Powell, Il may say that bride
grcoms are vaTy liberal | think SO
is about an aYeIag. OF the foes
HANDED 70 me; som tics s. rar7ly
loss than that. though | have rcc.iv-
III 81 and 81 f.es and ever qu -st.on-
I'd the literary OF the groom at that
4 s25 fee is not unusual | pick up
number in the course of a year,
ard | hay. received $50 ON several
occasions. but those fees Were for
ceremonies performed out of the city.
Usually when a pastor is called 10
another city - . rform ceremony
his fee is SUPPOSED to cover his
travelling eXPeRaes and a good mar
gin bssidass
Last w.k | Performed a ceremony
for a man in moderate circumstances.
] would have considered $40 gem
erOus fee, but his envelope contained
4 ten dollar bill and five in addition.
! get a gO1d many fifteen dollar
f"s but in tho years work should
estimate the average f,a at $40.
About year ago | had a funny
expe1fenc"," continuid DR.. Powell. II
received a l@,tter from a prosp .ctivn
bridegroom maaiing M the coolest
business proposition I've ever met.
lie stated In affect. that h, would
arrive In Louisville on a given train,
accompanied by the bride. He wish
cd me 10 have a room engaged for
him al a hotd. TO mcot them in
carriage at rie station, accompany
them to the hptel and perform the
ceremony. Halt "a dozen minor de-
tails were suggested for me to at
tend to and it seemed as IL the only
essential he was prel AIRED to furnish
was the brida. For all this h. stat
I'd he would make me Dash payment
but he didn't state what amount b.
felt would rocompense me for my ST.
VICES. | wrote him that 1 could not
the Personal conduct OF his
venture, that my PROVING
began and ended with the religious
roremOny, and heard no more from
him.
I've had only on, man approach
me- with the plea that he wanted to
commit matrimony, as one would |
speak of cmnnibiEg "A murder. That |
vas in Missouri. years ago. A young |
country chap came TO me in great
and finally STAN
neTed, "Weli panson, what | want
o say is this. Iye decided TO COM
nit matrimOny, but | 90. him at case
nd told him would help him In his
espeTate intent.
"On the whole marriages are pleas
mt experiences for the pastor" con-
Iuded DIR. Powell. The happy
room or his best man extends every