Thirty Years in the Itinerancy by Wesson Gage Miller
page 39 of 302 (12%)
page 39 of 302 (12%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
effort took on the nature of a trial sermon, as it was my first effort
after I had been duly licensed to preach. Whether I succeeded fairly or not in the estimation of my critics, I am not able to say, for I kept my ear during the balance of the meeting turned the other way, lest I might "have my feelings hurt." Returning to Brothertown, I now determined to hold a camp-meeting, under "our own vine and fig tree," in July. The arrangements were accordingly made, and at the appointed time, the Presiding Elder and several other ministers came to our assistance. They were Rev. Messrs. H.R. Colman, Stephen Jones, Joseph T. Lewis, G.N. Hanson, S.B. Whipple and my dear father. The attendance was large, the order perfect, and the results of the meeting specially satisfactory. Among the converts were several persons from Calumet, a small village of white people adjoining Brothertown on the south. We now established an appointment in the village, formed a class and opened a Sunday School. But the time had come in the history of the Mission when a new and larger chapel must be erected. To further this object, several boxes of goods had been forwarded to the Mission by Ladies Benevolent Societies in the east. They were accordingly opened out in the rooms of the vacant Parsonage, and, when not otherwise employed, I installed myself as a salesman of merchandise. It was not a little amusing to begin the erection of a church after this fashion, but this was not the only queer thing about the building of the Brothertown Church. In addition, the Missionary put his own hands to the actual labor of preparing the materials. It was done in this wise. It was ascertained that a man in Stockbridge, who owned a fine grove of timber, proposed to |
|