The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-09-13
Frederic Haslkiin's Lette,
THE PREACHERS OF clMARRoN.

idea that . preacher must be q
rather solemn and dignifled-look-
ing person. wearing . Prince Albert
coat and an expression OF inefable
Godliness. is sharply contradicted
In act and word by the divine who
cares for the. few hundred souls In
this town, and . few thousand more
scattered over the several thousand
square miles Of his wilderness
parish.
The Rev. Gilbert B. Traveller
calls himself q frontier preacher
and lives and dresses up to the
part. He has no church rs yet and
no plans for building one. He is
first going to establish q commun-
ity center where his pensioners
can have feasts, see movies, read
books, play games and incidentally
hear the word Of God expounded by
. young man who looks, talks and
rides like a cowpuncher.
The regular garb Of Rev
Traveller consists Of a flannel shirt
pair Of khaki trousers. high-heel-
ed riding boots and an enormous
felt hat. He spends most Of his
time riding from one mining camp,
ranch or COW camp to the next
For this purpose he has two fine
saddle horses, which are spotted
black and white, and are as like as
two peas. The preacher can be
recognized a mile away by the un-
usual color schemes Of his mounts
for which he has refused $500. He
has also q good car for reaching
such points as are accessible by
road. Incidentally, he lives in one
OF the best brick houses in town
and has an attractive wife and q
large family of little Travellers.
Few Born, None Die.
A circuit rider is supposed to
hold services when he can get to-
gether enough people, and also to
marry couples. bury the dead
christen the babies and comfort the
bereaved. Rev. Traveller per.
forms all of these functions as
much as possible, but that, it ap.
pears, is not very much. In few Of
the places that he strikes are there
enough people to justify a formal
/ sermon. Worse yet, when these
people get married they go of tt
some large town to have it done. II
appears that they seldom have
children and never die. This makes
,, the conventional duties of the cir.
cult rider very light. but he make.
lot of duties for himself. He act.
as . sort Of general friend anG
councillor to all and sundry, and
this Interpretation of his clerica
function seems very acceptable tt
the people of Cimarron, for thu
preacher is popular.
Furthermore, he does not allow
his religious duties to become Z
bore. He carries a rife as we'll a.
a bible when he rides the trails
and although he is looking primar,
lily for souls in need of salvation
he has a quick eye for a bear or &
coyote. In the hunting season HI
brings home now and then a will
turkey and a deer. And when the
Lords business is slow he cuts 9
good willow pole and snakes q
mess Of trout out of some stream
He holds strongly by the idea tina
there is no reason why a preacher
shouldn't have a good time.
Mr.. Traveller. it should be added
is only 80 years old and wears Z
grin which causes him to look still
! younger. He grew up in the bee
business and knows horses and cat
tie at least as we'll as he does tn,
scripture. That is one reason h,
is SO welcome at ranches ant
round-ups. He can throw a rop,
just as well as he can throw thu
fear Of hell into a sinner.
PerilOus Preaching.
II you imagine that Rev. Travel
Ter has sinecure you have only tt
listen to the story he can tell you O.
his predecessors in this parish. l,
the course of the fifty or sixt,
years that this country has beer
settled, there have been severa
| preachers here. all OF them lik,
Rev. Traveller, Methodists, but no
all Of them SO well-fitted for theil
Jobs. None of them stuck. Severa
Of them left very hastily, and a
least one OF them was speedet
straight from here to heaven b,
ungrateful members of his flock.
The earliest of these pionee
divines was here back in the six
ties, when Lucien B. Maxwell, tn
famous land baron, who wa