Mexico weekly ledger., 1921-02-03
Mexico Boy
Tells Story
OF The East

@G14co D1yp WIN - uoW pAcgOh VI Ch'
Of the largest Baptist churches il
Hartford, Conn, writes the Ledge
the following interesting letter whicl
viii be read with much pleasure b!
his many friends in this city:
166 Sigourney Street,
Hartford, Conn.
January End, 1920
Dear MITCHELL
/ have moved to Hartford. Please
change the address Of my copy Of the
Ledger to the street number at the
head of this letter. / have been here
nearly six weeks and the only thing
I have missed is the usual copy Of
your excellent paper, without which
life is not worth living for n who
once claimed Mexico as his home.
You once told me you were inter-
ested in former Mexico boys who had
made good in other parts of the coun-
try, and you wished / would write you
something about my work in the East
i don't know whether / have made
good or not. 1t is embarrassing for a
man to sit in judgment upon his own
achievements, but / seem to be NOV
ing in that direction anyway and if
] live long enough may reach the
goal.
When / went to Boston l took
charge of the Tabernacle Baptist
church, which was really a continual
ton Of the old Second Baptist Church
of Boston, organized in 1740 by some
people who went out of the First Bap-
list Church because it was no orthodox
enough to suit them. This church had
a wonderful history, but when I wenet
there was facing the hardest sort of
downtown conditions in an Eastern
city. After two years of very sue
cessful work, it semed to me and
many other of-the two churches that
the First Baptist Church and the Old
Second ought to be reunited and
ought to put their united resources
into one great effort to meet the new
conditions. After about six months
of negotiations we brought the union
and as soon as the united church got
well under way l retired, leaving the
pastor of the First Baptist Church in
charge.
This was a piece of work that need
ed very much to be done and / was
happy to see it finished before ] left.
It was a great privilege to work
Iy three years in the Hub" and live,
the while, in the beautiful town of
Brookline, which although practically
within Boston, still refuses to be taken
in or to incorporate itself as a city.
Brookline is still governed by the old
time New England town-meeting. 1t
is inhabited for the most part by very
select people who have their business
in Boston. 1t used to be the richest
town in the U. S. but think Hartford
has dosed it out of first place now
OF course / learned to eat baked
beans. You have to learn to eat baked
beans of get out of Boston, However
! baked when it came to eating them
cold for Sunday morning breakfast.
A lot of oldtimers out here eat pie
for breakfast and some Of the worst
mes eat a piece Of pie before break
fast as a sort of appetizer-this is no
fiction-I have seen it happen.
They do talk funny" out here as
you perhaps know and to save my
neck, Il cawn't" initiate. They say
my speech is just as queer to them as
theirs is to me, so we stand around
and mutually amuse each other with
our provincial peeuliarities. People
out here don't have any use for r"
except to put it where it doesn't be-
long, at the end of a word that ends
with an open vowel as for example
ridear." / am too deeply immersed
in good old Missouri language to fall
in with any of this sectional lingo.
| am in Hartford now at the best
Baptist church in the city (~excuse a
little boasting.) We have a great
group of strong business men back
ing the church. Most of them are
prominent in insurance as this is the
insurance centre of the world. We
also haveseveralof theleading bankers
of Hartford (more boasting)-but II
/ don't tell you how are you going
to find it out. Plans are now under
way to greatly enlarge our plant 81
that we can do a greater social worl
and specialize in religious education
The church pays me a salary which
would have been a fortune in my boy
hood days but which in these days o.
II. C. L. Just about enables me to "gei
by" ! find that is about all the great
majority is doing right now. How
ever | am iuekier than some In thes,
days when houses are scarce for tn,
church furnishes me an $4,000 par
sonage thoroughly modern in every
particular and tonight / am toastins
ms toes at a big CRATE fire and think
ing Of Mexico. But / am not as lucky
MS all this sounds, for It takes a small
fortune to keep q bighouse going since
coal has become almost as scarce al
fresh eggs and both are still moving
skyward.
Hartford is a great city though per.
haps you people back there never hear
IA Rn,,rS.1 H., a