TO THE FRIENDS IN INDIANA
As the foregoing article was about going to press, the following was received from Bro. Waggoner just in season to appear in connection with it. TO THE FRIENDS IN INDIANA.
I again address a few words to you to inform you of the state of the work. Bro. Lane and myself, after we decided that the tent was not to be depended upon for a long meeting, went to Jefferson township, near the south line of Owen County, about three miles from Farmer’s Station, where Bro. Sands H. Lane held meetings last winter, and where I spent a short time in April last. We were offered a situation in a grove near the meeting-house from which Bro. S. H. Lane was excluded. The place selected was so well protected from winds, that we thought we could safely pitch there for a meeting of a couple of weeks. We found, as the news of our operations spread abroad, that the interest to hear was deep and general, and on every side we heard the hope expressed that we would remain longer than we intended. Also, invitations came from several places to visit them. Under these circumstances, we congratulated ourselves over the favorable opening presented. But on Friday afternoon, June 7, the wind struck our tent and left it a complete wreck. One breadth was almost entirely taken out of the circle, from the top to the wall, and several others badly torn. It was impossible to mend it, and it was so rotten that it would be of no service if mended. We continued meetings till Sunday night, when we felt it duty to close. The weather in that part of Indiana has been very stormy for some time past; heavy rains and high winds; and we could not take the responsibility of calling the people together under a tent which offered no protection, and which, by reason of so large openings, was completely at the mercy of the winds. We closed up there with much regret, but our action was of necessity. I regret that the cause in Indiana is not prepared for such an emergency. The Scriptural system of raising funds has been but recently adopted by most of the friends, and many have not learned to be prompt or do not realize the necessity. It is now too late to remedy the difficulty for this season, and tent labor in Indiana will have to be abandoned this summer. Bro. Lane will immediately return to the tent in Michigan, for which he was engaged. There is in Ohio a good tent with plenty of means in the treasury to keep it running, and they have been earnestly pleading for help to run it. My mind has been to go and start that tent, if no more urgent duty calls in another direction. Our prayers are still for the cause in Indiana. Our interest has not abated in this work in your midst. There are excellent openings, and urgent calls in many directions. But without a tent these calls can be better answered at another season of the year. It is our earnest hope that another season may open with a good tent in Indiana, and a spirit of consecration with the brethren to sustain it. Howard Co., Ind., June 12, 1872.