Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1914-04-08
THE RECOGNITION
OF JESSE BADLEIGH
BY H. II. GREEN
BY II. h. GREEN

Ezra said Jasper Grimes. 1T
SHOWS there's more sides than one
to some questions all right. I've
been thinking while we've been talk
ing here about what 1 once heard of
a preachers doing, in a town not fur
from where l used to live, back in
Connecticut. 1t seems a sort of an
offset to the performances of Petrie's
Ichurch. 1t appeared that there lived
in that town widow who was known
to be very rich and influential. She
was an elderly woman, a member of
one of the churches. but at the time
speak of, her church happened 70
I be in distress. For some reason,
discussions had arisen among the
members, which caused the church
a lot of trouble, threatening it's very
existence. One after another had
left it and gone elsewhere; in most
part the kind Of people who are not
Influenced by any very strong ties.
Well, one day the widow Goldfinch-
who had for several weeks been at
tending one of the other churches
went to its pastor and asked his ad-
vice about leaving her own and join
ing his church that is she said,
If you would like to have me?'
| hn tint
reply, for several minutes he remain
ed silent, as if bordering over the
matter, finally he said-Mrs. Gold
finch you know we would be delight
ed to have you with us. How could
it be otherwise? there is every rea-
son in the world why it would be ex-
ceedingly pleasant to our people to
number you among our members, and
for many reasons it is hard for me
to say what under the circumstan-
ces, l feel l must say, if your church
was in prosperous condition and
things were moving along pleasantly
l should have no hesitancy about well
coming you to our communion, pro-
vided you felt that you had good and
sufficient reasons for wishing to come
to us. Much, therefore, as l regret
! to be obliged to say it, under the
circumstances, / cannot honorably
advise you to change your member
ship from them to us, and | doubt
: not upon further reflection you will
| feel that / am right.
What come of her?' asked In
ness, did she quit where she was an
go to them other folks?"
''No, Frank, she stayed right
where she was, but when people got
to know about it as they soon did,
for though neither the preacher nor
his wife ever mentioned the matter,
it leaked out all right, and want
to tell you that that preacher stood
a lot higher not only in her estima-
ton, but in the respect of the whole
fcommunity than he ever had before"
That was mighty fine thing to
do, and that preacher was a gentle
man as sure as you live, but maybe
Petrie's church thought it was doing
the right thing by sending out its
shepherd to hunt up the lost sheep
of the house of Israel" said Ezra
Finch.
| In the first place the sheep were
not lost, as understand it," retorted
John Armstrong. They had not
strayed away from the fold, they
were all the time under the eye OF
the chief shepherd, though for the
time being they were out of sight of
the under-shepherd of their own
particular flock, whose voice they had
long been familiar with. 1t was not
so much the work of the shepherd
| as the work of few of the sheep,
who were thought by some to be on
| ly wolves in sleeps clothing, al
though it must be admitted the shep-
hCiu oCiuOlu, IL ever, ulu al LHlHS W
/ discourage it. If they could have
heard some of the things people were
saying about them, like enough they
wouldn't have been so fast to let
down the bars that led into their
isheepfold," remarked Petrie.
Inness and Pettus had become so
indignant over what they character
| lied as d-low-dOwn-d oins',
that Pettus spitefully spit straight at
a hole in the stove where a screw
! had dropped out, and Inness uncon-
sciously reached after the raisin box,
which, however to his great disap-
pointment, Hiram Schockey had
thoughtfully placed beyond his reach
again.
"Consarn it," blurted Pettus, for
my part l don't see much difference
between tryin' to coax man to leave
his own church an jine another,
when there amt no reason fer 1t
'septin' them you've bin a tellin Of
Steve, than between tryin' to git a
man to desart his own wife an fam