The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-11-18
M EN, w 0 MEN
 AMI T H IN G 5

l I never miss 8 chance to meet with and they are as companionable set of men as there is in all the world; and get it out of your head that they are a long faced bunch, as they are about as joyous a crowd as ever come together. i When light wines. beer and mixed drinks were banished many said it would be the death of banquets, for no dry dinner could never be a success without the sparkle of champagne. III admit it takes quite a lot of stimulants to warm up some folks. but it has been discovered that good time can be had without running the risck o fhaving bad head on the morning after. 1 I put in the above paragraph because the preachers had learned years ago that good fellowship could be had with out the use of intoxicants. and that it was not at all necessary to get loaded { in order to fraternize at conferences. I am not throwing off on any particular icrowd, but I well recall the time when Tit would have been thought impossible to run convention in dry territory. 1 .
 Preachers somehow have the happy faculty of enjoying themselves with natural flow of spirits without calling { into aid the rectified variety. It was a jolly party on the train, the crowds in tho hotel lobbies were joyous, and 1 the smaller groups around the hospita- ble firesides of Decatur were beaming / with comfort, while even the meetings on the streets were hilarious. for there is no word which is freighted with more real friendliness thanl is that of brother" as it. falls from the lips of preachers.
 1 l arrived at the church after Dr, James E. billiard. pastor of the South side Baptist church, Birmingham, had delivered his stirring talk on "Evangel- ! ism in the Sunday school" a subject very dear to his heart, as he is one of the city pastors whose heart is wrappd ! up in. bringing into the church the boys
 
 | Bible school. He made a decided sensa- 1 ton with his presentation of the sub { iect.
 1 got into the midst of a much needed and impressive talk on the need of CO., ] ordinating the forces of the state in order to carry on the enlistment work. My old friend, Sam Bennett, at one time associated with the saintly Davidson at the Southside Baptist church<in Bir- mingham, but now at the head of the department of enlistment under the { state executive committee of the Bap- 1 lists of Alabama. was giving facts and figures to arouse the preachers to strive i to help him cover the need and the fields.
 I think, however, the talk which cre- ated the most enthusiasm was that of my friend, Price, pastor of the Besse- mer Baptist church. There was rea- l son." flor hiss subject was both catchy and a.l live one; being ''The Preacher and His Finances" and he got his preacher | brethren at the start by saying in ef- 1 feet that they were the finest ever. and each one present was ready to ad- init it without argument and so he didn't have to waste any time in prov ing it.
 1 He affirmed with enthusiasm and conviction that the preacher was the greatest financier on earth, and gave many apt instances to prove his state ment. l was ready to give assent with one exception, for maintain it's the preachers wife who has the whole world beat when it comes to making a dollar do its full duty. I am always willing to grant that preachers are
 heroes. but many of them are what they are because they are backed up ' by heroic wives. The epic of the preachers wife is yet to be written. ss
 I think, however, the thing which caused the greatest outburst of laugh ter was when he said: T have two brothers, one a lawyer and the other
 q doctor and have more sense than either of them, and yet both of them put me in the shade when it comes to making money. He was driving home
 the point that in the ministry brains were not rewarded in dollars and cents
 as in the secular professions. At this point of his speech there were many fervent amens!
 He then gave this concrete illustra- tion: Not long ago my lawyer brother was in my home and in talking over things remarked: I have just made a fee of sl5,000 in excess of my regular income.'" This was not out of the or- dinary for a successful advocate, but the thing which struck home to every preacher who heard him was his con- fession: Brethren. that one fee was more than I made all put together in
 the first 15 years of my career as a preacher"
 He made a terrific indictment of rich I churches whose slogan in calling pas T tor was. How cheap can we get him ?" He gave out some interesting and start ,' ling statistics on the salaries of Bap- tist pastors in Alabama. Being a Bap-
 tist l am ashamed to give them pub- ,licity. With voice ringing with emo-
 tion, he exclaimed: Some of you old