Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1917-10-14

occurred at HALEY instead of st. An
thony, for the people at Shelley and
st. Anthony, in the church and out are
the cream of the earth, and we will
always remember them. My wife was
not able to stand the work after the
fire and we sent her away until the
parsonage was rebuilt and then had
her return, but she only remained a
few days as the strain of the fire and
the year at HALEY were too much for
her, and we had to send her away
again. ] said very little to anyone as
l was discouraged for l had taken such
pains to have things in nice shape for
her and then. the work was growing
nicely and l thought some of remain :
Ing and patching it, but my nerves
were shattered more than most people
knew. and l felt that a change might
help me, and also enable me to meet
my obligations sooner.
When I reached California, ! called
on a former district superintendent,
saying that he wanted me to let him
know If wanted to take work. This
shows how I stood in this conference.
replied that I wanted to do secular
work until l had met some obligations.
/ supplied a small church for while,
but had to borrow money to pay some
of the creditors in order to keep my
credit good and the salary was small,
so l have been trying In secular work
to get ahead. but l have met with
failure, as living is so high. My cred
itors have bounded me, and I have
spent sleepless nights until have to
give up, and now ] take the advice of
my attorney and take steps to protect
myself.
SAYS NO SQUARE DEAL.
have not had a square deal, and my
friends know it, and they are many,
and will stand by me here.
In my seven years of ministry I have
had various experiences. l first sup
piled small church in another de-
nomination, and the church was torn
in pieces because the pastor accused
an elder of unholy conduct with his
wife. The next place was a small com
munity of about 35 families and they
were trying to maintain three denomi-
atoms there, and were hypocritical
enough to sing Blessed Be the Tie
That Binds" There was continual
strife among the different churches.
next was sent to a place where the
church had been shamefully torn to
pieces by a fight which started by the
minister charging for a funeral and the
members took sides.
On another charge they sent me to
serve. the church was sadly hampered
by the i'll feeling because they had got
ten into a dispute over a small sum
of money. less than dollar as ! re-
member It, and sides were taken and
about all found was the building and
a half dozen people. One Sunday
morning the superintendent Of the
a cigar showing very conspicuously In
his coat pocket and it remained there
during the service.
on the next charge, the work grew.
and we needed more room, and the
trustees said they could not afford 1T
as the room I wanted would cost four
hundred dollars. They promised me
they would build If raised the mon
ey, | secured the money, and they
had a secret meeting and decided they
could not build after they had prom
ised me. On this same charge, I
changed the seating plan during the
building operations, for | finally won
out, and a lady came to me and said
they did not like the new arrange
nent of seats. I asked who she meant
by they" and she then reduced the
number to two persons, and she began
TO get shaky and excited for ! told her
would go and explain the matter to
these two persons. ] went to them as
they lived across the street and they
we're surprised, saying they had not
seen this party that day nor said any
hing about the seating arrangement.
Now this and other similar experiences
nave lessened my faith in church peo-
pie and ! have not the confidence In
hem | should have to continue the
work.
MORE TROUBLE.
While here in California l supplied
1 Congregational pulpit for a while,
md had abundant success and reached
great many outsiders, and the church
was crowded on Sunday evenings and
great interest shown. The young peo-
pie all came and the work prospered
md we secured some splendid results.
Two or three elderly persons did not
like it because | did not preach dog
matte sermons all the time instead of
Up to- date sermons that drew the peo-
ole, and one of these persons wrote
he uperintendent, saying the people