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FIELD NOTES

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 10, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 44.

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FIELD NOTES.

By Editor

AT Hanford, Cal., August 11, Brother Baxter Howe organized a Sabbath school of thirty-four members.
BOOK sales by canvassers in the Southern District for two weeks, ending August 10, amounted to $2,698.
ELDER URIAH SMITH, editor of the Review, who is now in Europe, will visit Palestine in October, and Egypt and Italy in November.
ELDER R. S. OWEN recently spoke twice on the labor question in the Presbyterian Church at San Pedro, Cal., and reports good audiences.
A CHURCH of seventeen members has been organized at Spartanburg, S. C., as a result of the labors of Elder E. W. Webster and Brother J. O. Johnston.
A REPORT from Bloomsburg, Pa., by Brethren Guy R. Ruggles and Henry Leader, states that they have taken 300 orders for “Bible Readings,” and delivered most of them.
ELDER R. M. KILGORE, superintendent of General Conference District No. 2, reports a visit to Knoxville, Tenn., July 28 and 29, when six members were added to the church.
ELDER D. T. BOURDEAU reports encouragingly of his labors among the French in La Crosse, Wis., which have been mainly in the lines of Bible readings and visiting from house to house.
Of the tent work in Monticello, N. Y., Elder H. G. Thurston says: “Hundreds of people from New York City are here for a vacation during the hot weather, but many prefer a carnival to the gospel.”
THE local camp meeting at Eureka, Cal., closed on August 26, and Elders McClure, Gates, and Ings arrived in this city on the 30th. They report a good meeting and an unusually large attendance, both of our own people and from the outside. There were nineteen baptized.
AT the camp meeting held at Auburn, N. Y., about a month ago, twenty-three persons were baptized, and two new churches were added to the Conference. Elder S. H. Lane was reëlected president of the Conference and of the missionary society, and Elder A. E. Place was reëlected president of the Sabbath School Association.
AT a special meeting held at Santa Ana, Cal., last week, by Elder R. S. Owen, the sum of $408 was raised toward clearing off the debt on the house of worship in that place. It was expected that the remainder, of $152, would be secured by the time of the Los Angeles camp meeting (October 4–14), so that the house would be dedicated at that time.
AT the recent camp meeting at North Indianapolis, Ind., the census of regular campers numbered 960. Thirty-three persons were baptized. The Conference officer selected for the ensuing year were: President, J. W. Watt; Secretary, W. A. Young; Treasurer, Dr. Wm. Hill. Executive Committee—J. W. Watt, D. H. Oberholter, H. M. Steward, F. D. Starr, J. W. Johnson.
IN course of the tent meetings held last month in South Park, Wash., by Brethren J. E. Fulton and Wm. Potter, some of the Catholic population were stirred up by the expositions of prophecy, and the anger of the dragon was manifested in the stoning of the tent and cutting ropes. An attempt was made one night to cut the center rope, but the parties were frightened away before accomplishing their purpose.
A SERIES of tent meetings held at Alamosa, Colo., by Elders G. W. Anglebarger and V.H. Lucas, was closed a few weeks ago by the baptism of twenty persons in the Rio Grande. A large number of people witnessed the scene, many of whom had never before seen a real baptism. They had seen sprinklings, but a scriptural baptism, an immersion, was something new, and made a marked impression.
AT the recent camp meeting at Lincoln, Neb., the camp consisted of 234 tents of all kinds, and over 1,200 campers, besides many regular attendants who had rooms in the vicinity. Of leading laborers from outside the Conference there were Elder J. H. Durland, Prof. W. W. Prescott, Elder C. McReynolds, of Kansas, Elder N. W. Kauble, of South Dakota, and Elder W. H. Wakeham, of Battle Creek, Mich.
THE faculty of Healdsburg College suffers a break in its ranks just on the eve of the opening of the new school year. This break is caused by the death of Lena E. Howell, wife of Prof. W. E. Howell, which occurred at Battle Creek, Mich., August 28. Mrs. Howell was to have occupied the position of assistant in mathematics, her husband being professor of classics and higher mathematics. Deceased was a daughter of Elder R. M. Kilgore, of the General Conference Committee.
A COMMON experience of our field laborers is to find ministers of other churches instituting socials and other attractions of a worldly nature in order to keep their people away from our meetings. It does not speak well for the character of their religious instruction to see their flocks so easily enticed away from the word of God to scenes of carnal pleasure. It shows, too, that such ministers have less confidence in their own ability to make the gospel attractive to their members than they have in the drawing power of sensual gratification.
BROTHER W. R. BARROW writes as follows to the Southern Review:—
The would-be friends of Brother W. B. Capps, who is imprisoned at Dresden, Tenn., for Sunday work, or rather for keeping the commandments of God (Rom. 12: 17), knowing that he is wrongfully treated, propose to take him out by petition. I understand this has been presented to Brother Capps, and they told him they would take him out if he wouldn’t work any more on Sunday. Thus Satan tried to get a compromise, and Brother Capps saw it, and kindly said, No. I haven’t heard up to this time what the parties have done. This brother is of good courage, and claims his God-given rights (Ex. 20: 8–11), and says with Bunyan and others, “If you turn me out to-day, I will preach tomorrow.”
A PRIVATE letter from Elder O. A. Olsen, president of the General Conference, dated Hamburg, Germany, August 12, says of the work in Europe that “the past year has been a very successful one in every respect.” He was then attending a workers’ institute which followed a general meeting held at that place. Elders S. N. Haskell and Uriah Smith were also there. After the institute Elder H. was to proceed to South Africa. Elder Olsen speaks of the students at the institute as a “very nice company, the larger number of them being young people between twenty and thirty years of age. All seem to be devoted, bright, and intelligent, earnestly studying to fit themselves for a part in the work.” There were representatives from Bohemia, Hungary, Roumania, Holland, and from different parts of Austria and Germany, also nine from Russia. The foundation of the new chapel was being laid. The first story is designed for the school and depository, and the second story as a meeting hall. At the close of the institute Elders Olsen and Smith designed to attend some meetings in Northern Germany, and then go to Denmark to attend the dedication of our school buildings at Fredricks-havn. An institute is to be held here, and laborers will be present from all parts of Scandinavia.
THE indictments against Elder McCutcheon and Professor Keck, for Sunday labor, at Gainesville, Ga., have been quashed, and the cases dismissed. The people had evidently become heartily ashamed of the affair, as they became acquainted with the accused and their good work. The camp meeting in the vicinity of Gainesville made a good impression upon the people, and the city authorities kindly bestowed courteous favors. Several prominent citizens appeared before the prosecuting attorney and asked the dismissal of the cases pending against these brethren, urging that they were “good, loyal citizens, and should not be treated so disgracefully.”
CONCERNING the recent trouble on Kent Island, Md., heretofore mentioned, Brother J. F. Jones writes as follows to the Union Record:—
It is unpleasant to relate that the threat to rotten-egg any person who is a resident of the island, if they were seen to visit the tent, has served its purpose, and prevented anyone coming to our meetings. It has also served as a barrier against our visiting the people at their homes, they being afraid to receive or entertain us, lest they be rotten-egged when out upon the roads. As nothing could be said or done to allay their fears, it was useless for us to remain there. We have secured a lot at Carroll, in the outskirts of Baltimore, where we expect to pitch the tent. There has been quite a number of books sold in Carroll the last few years, and we hope, by the blessing of God, to gather some fruit there.
WE hear a good report of the Virginia camp meeting at Mount Jackson. The outside attendance on Sunday was very large, and five discourses were given, as follows: Elder Allen Moon, of Washington, D. C., spoke on “Religious Liberty,” and Elder I. D. Van Horn, superintendent of General Conference District No. 1, followed with “The Sabbath in the New Testament.” Then Elder G. B. Tripp, president of Virginia Conference, spoke on the “Change of the Sabbath,” which was followed by a discourse on “Christ; His Relation to the Scriptures, the Law, and the Sabbath,” by Elder A. E. Place, of Rome, N. Y. In the evening Elder Van Horn spoke again on “The Present Crisis.”
THE Missouri Conference has six tents in the field. One is at St. Joseph, in charge of Elder C. Santee, with six helpers, and a late report states that twenty were rejoicing in the truth who but a few weeks ago knew nothing about it. At Springfield, where Brethren J. H. Coffman and Jacob Wilbur have charge, twelve converts are reported, with encouraging prospects. A like report is made of the tent work at De Soto, under the labors of Elder A. P. Heacock and Brother L. W. Terry. Elder W. S. Hyatt, president of the Conference, also reports a good interest at Palmyra, where Elder Willis and Brother Wm. Cochran are laboring; also at Republic, under direction of Brethren H. L. and T. A. Hoover; and in Sullivan County, where Elder C. H. Chaffee is in charge.