Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-10-11

cult task and prosecuted it in the
spirit of the Master. They rented
two small rooms in the rear of a
saloon building, which they occupied
as temporary home For church
they secured long room connected
with the same building, which had
been used as a dance hall. 1t was
in that hall that | conducted the first
Quarterly Meeting ever held in Gut
tenberg. | had suggested before
opening the work there that it might
be we'll to secure a preacher who
would be able to speak in German as
we'll as in English, but the sugges-
tion met with no favor An Ameri-
can physician whose wife was a
member Of the Congregational
church, and our chief support at
first, strongly advised against my
sending them German preacher, or
conducting services in that language.
He said We could only hope for sue
cess among the younger element, and
they had all the German they wanted
already. They proposed to be Ameri-
cans. not Germans, and would at
tend Methodist preaching in the Eng
lish language only, view which
found to be entirely correct.
During the second year of Mr..
Linn's pastorate an eligible site was
secured and nice little church
erected. Rev. Linn was succeeded at
the end of his second year by c. A.
Parkin, an energetic young man, who
had been a clerk in the store of Mar
shall Field in Chicago, but feeling
himself called to the ministry, had,
through mutual friend, applied to
me for work in Iowa and had come
direct from his clerkship. During
his pastorate, a parsonage was built
on lot adjoining that on which the
church stood. giving us fairly good
holu Oh outlCHuCiS, iido pCCh
maintained to the present time.
In the spring of 1893 | was hon
ored with the degree of Doctor of
Divinity, which was conferred upon
me by the Iowa Wesleyan University.
and the University of the Northwest,
now Morningside College.
1t was during that summer that
my wife and / visited the great
Worlds Fair at Chicago, accompan-
led by the Rev. l.. N. Green. a,
preacher on the district and his wife.
1t was wonderful show, and was to
us a constant delight. A marvellous
advance it was over the Crystal
Palace | had seen when boy in
London, forty-two years before.
Nothing could have more clearly
the advance the world had
made in the arts, sciences, commerce
and in all material fields of endeavor
than the great exhibition of 1898.
Truly we are living in an age of
revelations, wherein the most amaz-
ing strides succeed each other with
rapidity. The memory
of our visit to the Columbian Expo
sition will remain with us, cherished
as one of the most delightful expert
ences of our lives. 1t was there in
the Transportation building that
met my cousin, George Green, OF
whose existence | was ignorant but
month previous His father, my
uncle David had come with his FAM
lily to the United States in 1851, and
had settled in Ohio. had not known
of this and was of course surprised
when | learned of it through an ac-
quaintance of both families, resi-
dent of Lyons, who had been visiting
some friends in Troy, Ohio, where
my cousin was living. George and
two of his brothers had been in the
army, members of an Ohio regiment.
One of them was killed at the battle
of Resaca, George had lost leg in
another engagement. and the other
returned to Ohio at the close OF the
war and at the time Of the exposi-
tion was living at Dayton in that
state.
Dying as he had hoped to die,
quickly and without pain, Admiral