Southern Illinois Camp-Meeting
By J. M. Rees
THE Southern Illinois camp-meeting was held August 17-28. About forty tents were pitched, and about two hundred camped on the ground. Elders S. N. Haskell, Allen Moon, and E. A. Curtis, and Brother J. B. Blosser were with us. All our home laborers were present, and did efficient work. Elder Haskell was with us from the beginning of the meeting till almost the close. The Lord greatly blessed his servant, and the studies given by him were greatly appreciated, not only by our own people, but by others as well. Sister Haskell gave some very interesting studies on the subject of the sanctuary. Brother Blosser did all he could for the canvassing work and for the canvassers. Quite a number of new ones will enter the field. From the first, the deep moving of the Spirit of the Master was seen. The business sessions of the conference passed off very pleasantly. The following officers were elected: President, J. M. Rees; Vice-President, Chas. Thompson; Secretary and Corresponding Secretary, Nettie Eaton; Treasurer, Southern Illinois Tract Society; Recording Secretary, Pearl L. Rees; Auditor, W. H. Edwards; Executive Committee, J. M. Rees, P. G. Stanley, Chas. Thompson, C. L. Taggart, and P. Rothrock. Two new churches were received into the conference,—the Farmington and Second Springfield churches, one with a membership of twenty, and the other with twenty-five. The Lord has greatly blessed the work in the Southern Illinois Conference the past summer. The work of all the laborers has borne fruit. Two new churches will soon be organized from the past summer’s tent efforts. We passed through two very severe storms, one of which blew some of our older tents to pieces, leaving the inmates at the mercy of the wind and rain. Yet not a word of complaint was heard, neither did any one go home on account of the storm. Just after the storm, we met, and had no trouble in raising four hundred and sixty dollars to put into new tents for our next camp-meeting. Near the close of the meeting, the campers repaired to the water, where twenty souls were buried with their Lord in baptism. Wherever we have gone since the meeting, we have found our people greatly strengthened, and rejoicing over victories gained.