The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-09-13
Woman Occupies Pulpit Of Church
 Al Po1 Chester

Port Chester, N. r.. Sept. 13.-On Sunday, for the first time in the his tory of the King Street Methodist Church, a woman preacher occupied the pulpit. She was Mrs. Charles Pittman, wife of the pastor of the church. She was filling her husbands E position because he had been suddenly called to England, to the bedside ot his dying mother.
 Although it was not until the lat ter part of the week that the an- nouncement was made that Mrs. Pitt man and not MT. Putnam would preach on Sunday, the news was quickly passed around and as a result the cosy little church. contained a large congregation on Sunday morn ing. In fact it was the largest con- gregation that has been present in some time There were about five women to every man and among those present were many school teach CTS. Many people outside of those who regularly attend came to hear the woman preacher and there were Port Chester people among them. as though they wished to miss noth- ing.
 It may have been curiosity that brought some, but with the congrega- tion made up mostly of women, it ap- peared that the members of the gen. tie sex had come to hear one of their number, because it is not often that they can sit and listen to a woman preach from pulpit. But Mrs. Pitt man was in no way affected by the large congregation before her, and from the time she announced the first hymn until she recited the benediction. the service was carried out without a hitch In no way did the work of preaching seem to effect Mrs. Pittman.
 She wore a cream colored gown with short sleeves and a square cut neck, and her hair was done up in a knot effect and rather low on the head. Her pronounced English ac- cent magneticaMy held the attention of every one in the assemblage, from the opening to the close of the service At times the preacher waxed eloquent as she became enthused with her theme and emphatic gestures added force to her statements.
 As Mrs. Pittman was about to open the service, some one placed a bou- ouet of roses on the communion ta- ble. The lady preacher stepped into the choir loft and borrowed a watch from one of the male singers, in or der that she might not preach too long. She opened the program of morning worship by announcing the hymn, "Oh, for Thousand Tongues. When the hymn had been sung, the regular order of service was continu- ed. {.
 For the lesson, the preacher read the twenty second chapter of Genesis and commented on the verses as she read.
 When she had finished, she briefly announced the reason for her being in the pulpit. She said that there was d great work for the person in the pew as well as for the person in the pulpit. She appealed to the congre- gation and articularly to the mem bers of the church to do all that they could towards making the work go along smoothly during the pastors absence and towards making it fruit ful.
 Mrs.. Pittman preached for half an hour She said among other things that sermons would be more effective if those in the pews would pursue the old custom of following the lesson with their own bibles. She lamented the fact that this custom has be- come a thing of the past, and eaIso