Evening journal., 1919-03-27

Brother Poole Il. e., The church be-
ing closed, wrote messages OF comfort
and hope and had them printed in the
local papers, as. the people were de-
privcd Of the comforts OF the services
OF the sanctuary. No wonder that In
every such case when the churches
were finally opened these pastors found
increasing numbers both In the con-
gregaiions and in the sunday schools
making even The epidemic yield in
crease Of fruit for The Master.
Church War Work Campaign.
Immediately on adjournment of Con-
ference last wear came Bishop Ilender-
sons appeal for siOOOO00 for Church
war Work. Desiring salisbury District
90 have ils share i'm every good thing
going we set The machinery In motion,
and which the campaign closed May ~,
we found our loyal pastors had secured
s. .336 for this worthy cause.
mot only did we have a part in The
raising Of The money. but we also un-
derl0ok some practical war work on
our own district. For months we had
been considering the growing import
ance Of our little church at phOebus,
Va. 10 is the only Methodist church IN
"a town OF more than 5000. 70 IS only
ten minutes walk from Fortress Mon
roe. the largest fortress I'm the United
States and one OF the most important.
phOebus is but a few miles from Lang
ley field, where we were told the United
states Government plahs 10 build a
permanent aviation plant using 1900
s.afnrnNaaf NrHuNr nN fnU
church Is the Old Soldiers Home, a
government institution, built for Civil
War veterans, and where they have
now fitted up a hospital 20 acc0mm0-
date 1000 wounded sailors and soldiers
from Europe. 10 is right on the banks
of the Hampton Roads, the most useful
and most historic waters in The United
States from a military aud naval view
point The town OF phoebus was
thronged day and hight with soldiers
and sailors. tens Of thousands Of whom
were in the fortress, at the ileld, In the
ships and i'm the embarkatiOn camps at
Newport News, for whom our church
at Phoebus was doing very little. / was
anxious that the work should be taken
hold Of In a large, sane way, worthy or
our great church and the noble young
men who were Offering themselves 20
the country for the great adventure.
50 In company with Bishop Mcdowell
and Dr. j. A. Holmes, the head Of War
Work for Our Church, we visited phoe-
bus. and studied the situation. The re-
suit of this survey was that In October
the Rev Dr. W. %. Hurst was removed
from P0c0moke City and appointed to
nf..rhfr- rnafnrs rnfnfmfnu fnn Roy
W. r. Atkinson as assistant 90 the pas
tor and with the understanding that the
usual duties OF pastor would be cared
for by the assistant, while Dr. Hurst
would Doe free 90 develop the church
along such lines as would make it most
useful TO the men in the army and
navy.
"The appointment was not secured
until OciOber-right ih the midst OF the
inducnza epidemic, Brother Atkinson
being I'm when Dr. Hurst arrived and
the church closed. However, Dr. Hurst
busted himself In surveying the work
and laying his plans. As soon as the
church was opened ne was ready. and
started INTO the work in his usud
masierful way. I'm three weeks after
starting his campaign the attendance
Of enlisted men at the church increased
greatly Then came November II, 1918
when The armisiice was signed, and the
bottom fell out Hundreds OF The men
that Dr. Hurst had registered by card
index were demoblized and scattered 10
the a STATES ahd 81 denominations
whence they had come.
"But while the work has changed
Phoebus still has a large and imp0r-
tant service 90 render 10 tie soldiers
and sailors. and TO the men returning
from Overseas-especially TO the wound
ed sent 90 the big hospital in the Old
Soldiers Home. DR.. Hurst and the
chaplain are working side by side, and
there is abundant work for both men.
Phoebus ought 20 be made and I be-
lieve can be made a great blessing TO