The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1921-04-22
RECALL CIRCUIT RIDERS
TRIALS OF PIONEER RELIC
IOUS WORKERS TOLD
They Braved PeriIs and Hard
- ships incident To the
Frontier Life
:Associatea Press Dispatch. !

Madison, Wis, Arril 15-The work
oc the circuit riders, those hardy
Characters who Century ago were
securing with the Gospel the freshly
opening middle west, Has appraised
today by the historian al the Mis-
sissippi Valley Historical association
Injecting here.
Prof. w. NJ. Gewehr of Morning
side College told the association that
the needs of frontier religion of the
period were best met by. iiinerant
system Of early. western Methodism,
and that the success, or the itin-
erancy depended above all on the &C
tiyities OF that Jealous and devoted
army of circuit riders who braved
every peril, hardship, suffering and
privation incident to frontier life.
On every tb hishwsy r Professor Se
straight breasted coats, short
breeches and long stockings, the oil
skin covering for the hat, the leath-
er saddle bags, and the hair clipped
short in front and allowed to hang
down the back of the head to the
shoulders.
The Circuits Were Large
Such was their faithfulness.'
Prof. Gewehr said, 'in filling their
so bitterly cold as to drive most per-
sons indoors it was a proverbial say
ing, There is nothing out today but
crows and Methodist preachers.
The circuits were large, often four
or FIVE hundred miles in circumfer7
ence and requiring three to six
weeks to travel. They swept over the
whole country touching at neighbor;,
hoods that were very remote. and
distant from one another.
"ln the course OF a four weeks
circuit the itinerant would meet
from twenty-five to thirty five ap-
pointments and preach on an average
of once a day. The number. of
preaching places was constantly be-
ing increased as new societies were
collected and circuits had to be d.
vided
His coming was the occasion of
general turn out of the Methodist
families and the itinerant was al
reached his appointment.
ITO enter the itinerancy, as is
we'll known, was almost equivalent to
taking the vows of poverty, chastity
and obedience. From 1900 to 1916
the salary of travelling preacher
was placed at $50 year and travel
ing expenses, with the same allow
ance for wife and SIG for each
child up to seven years and $24 for
each child from seven to fourteen
years. ...
Wore Patched Clothes.
! '"Small as the amount was the
preacher was fortunate if he could
collect half of his own allowance
while on provision for the family
the Discipline was a perfect dead
letter. Often the preachers did not
get enough to buy a suit of clothes
or an overcoat while it was a most
serious misfortune to have to buy a
new horse. Had it not been for the
fact that now and then the circuit
were, presented with home spun
clothing, many preacher would
have been forced to abandon the
itinerancy in order to earn enough
to clothe himself.
GAS 1t was their clothes were often
but patch on patch so that the orig
| inal cloth could scarcely be detect
ed. in 1906, when Asbury was at the
Westeron Conference he found the
brethren in want and could not
suit ~(clothe) themselves; so I parted
shirt Notwithstanding their abject
poverty these men were never too
| poor to deny themselves for someone
who might be worse off. Their lives
were indeed examples of the spirit
of Christ The poverty of the timer
| ancy made it almost out of the Ques-
| ton for the circuit rider to marry
| and establish a family" ..