The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-06-05
DUNkARDS OBSERVE
SOLEMN CEREMONIES
At NATIONAL SESSION

EATON, o., June 5-Feet washing
one of the solemn ceremonies of the
church. was observed Sunday, at the
National conference of the Old Order /!
Dunkards, which is being held on the
Jesse Brubaker farm, three miles |
southeast of Eaton. The ceremony
formed part of holy communion
service.
Attendance at the conference Sun
day was variously estimated from
5000 to 5000 The general public
throughout Preble county and adjacent
territory constituted large part Of
the crowd. Hundreds of automobiles
were parked in the immediate vicinity
of the meeting place.
At the morning service, at 10 o'clock
Elder Mlcheal Montgomery. of Fair
view, Mo, and Elder Charles Rumble
preached Elder, w S. Noe, of As
toria. H., and Elder Charles Rumble.
of Modesto. Cal, preached at an ar
ternoon service, beginning at o'clock
The days program opened at s o'clock
with prayer service and worship. fol
lowed by serving of the morning meal
Conduct Communion Service.
The communion service was con-
Quoted in the evening, the only even
ing session of the conference to be
held. Beginning at 6 o'clock and con-
tinuing four hours, the ceremony was
attended by pronounced solemnity.
Examination service preparatory to
communion, feet washing, serving of
the Lords Supper and other customs
Of - Oh Yv~aH OHc cd ldar
quoted the Scripture while each Gus
tom was in the process of perform
ance The kiss and handclasp of
brotheriy love passed from man to
man and likewise from woman to
woman.
The preaching services are conduct
ed in tent having seating capacity
og approximately 5000 Another tent
equally as large serves as an eating
place. The communion service was
conducted in the dining tent. The
public and non-members were priv
ileged at this as all other services
making up the conference.
Genuinely democratic is the church
government and its customs. At the
religious service the elders are seated
upon either side of a plain board
bench or table probably 80 feet in
length, The elders occupy the same
position as the ministers in the other
church denominations. There are up
ward of 100 elders attending the meet
ing here.
Feed Large Crowd
Two meals We're served Sunday, at
which between $500 and 1000 persons
stere fed The dining tent seats 720
persons at one time. All the food is
prepared upon the grounds, which en-
braces about 16 acres of pasture land,
and is an ideal place for such a meet
ing, as an abundance of water is avail
able and electricity for lighting pur-
poses is provided.
While Sunday was the big day in
point of attendance, Tuesday will be
the important day in the affairs of
the church, as on Tuesday the bust
ness session of the conference will be
conducted Organization for this was
scheduled to take place today A
standing committee of IL members,
all elders. and various subcommittee
were to be named today The COM
mittees are selected by the 125 or $50
messengers or delegates to the con-
ference. Each church congregation is
represented by two messengers The
matters laid before the conference
and in turn, they are passed on to the
standing committee, which presents
them in open meeting for discussion
and disposal. Elder Montgomery, OF
Missouri, is expected to have promi
nent part in the business session
Tuesday, which will mark the close
Of the meeting if disposition of al
matters coming before the meeting
is made.
The church has no moderator OF
similar head, such as other denomi
nations have Capability and Ions
service naturally mark some of The
elders as leaders, but no one leadel
occupies a higher position in thu
church than another.
5000 In Country
The entire membership of the churcl
in this country is approximately 5,Oou
Most of the membership resides II
the states of Ohio and Indiana.
The messengers or delegates an
visiting members are being housed II
homes of local county members an
otherwise. Barns in the immediat
vicinity of the meeting place have bee
transformed into sleeping places. A
many as 100 and $50 are quartered /!
these buildings.
In preparation for the four or ffv
DAYS meeting, which opened Saturday
eight beeves were slaughteher. Prot
ably two or three more head will b
butchered to meet requirements of tn
remainder of the meeting. accordin
10 those in charge of preparation c
the food
At this time it is not known wher
the conference will be held next yea
1t is never held two years consecutive
~ at the same place.
FLOOD DAMAGE 100000