Pioneering

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Eld. C. E. Gillett and Rachel E., His Wife, 1912

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PIONEERING

c.

BY

ELD. C. E. GILLETT

Published for the Author

by the

BRETHREN PUBLISHING HOUSE

ELGIN, ILL.

1929

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COPYRIGHT, 1929
BY C. E. GILLETT

1*1 <]

DEDICATION

The author dedicates this book
to the whole wide world, pray-
ing that it may be the means of
accomplishing at least a little
good in the name of the Holy
Child Jesus.

PREFACE

The undertaking of writing a history of my life
work is somewhat embarrassing to me, as it will be
necessary for me to use so many personal pronouns.
Had it not been for this timidity this history would
have been written long ago.

I am not on the witness stand pledging myself to
tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth ; but I do pledge myself to tell the truth, but not
all the truth, as some of the truth might not look well
in print, or be of benefit or interest to anyone, and my
object in view is that, at least, some one may be bene-
fited by my experience on the frontier as an old-fash-
ioned Dunker preacher. I shall endeavor to say very
little of the results of my life's work, as in my opinion
I have accomplished so little good it would not be
worth telling, and I might tell something that might
seem to the reader to be boastful; for when on the
Verde Mission, in Arizona, I was taught one of the
best lessons in my life.

In my correspondence with that old Soldier of the
Cross, the late Elder David Norcross, he wrote to me
thus, " Brother Charley, I read between the lines in
your letter that you are somewhat discouraged in your
work. Do not be discouraged, do your best and leave

6 PIONEERING

the results with the Lord." That advice has tided me
over many hard trials, both within and without.

But as I have declared that what I speak will be
the truth and founded on facts, although I don't claim
infallibility, since I know the mistakes of my life have
been many ; so if the reader should find many errors in
this work, please attribute it to the head, not to the
heart.

Now under our present system of pastors and the
call of college men and D. D.'s, to fill our pulpits, and
the fact that I was not called from college but from
following the plow, and that I am now past the allotted
days of men, threescore and ten, my opportunity in the
pulpit is limited; so I am sending out an account of
some of my life work, supplemented with a number of
my pioneer sermons, praying God's blessing to go with
them and hoping and praying that the reader may take
this narrative in the same spirit in which the writer has
endeavored to give it. Eld. C. E. Gillett.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I gratefully acknowledge my indebted-
ness to Eld. Walter Swihart and Prof. S.
J. Miller for their valuable assistance in
helping me to prepare this work for the
press; and also to Ellen Fricke, of 148
South Mount Vernon Avenue, San Ber-
nardino, Calif., Mrs. Elmer Long and
Miss Orpha Statler, of Glendale, Ariz.,
who have done my typing without money
and without price.

The Author.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page

I. Childhood 11

II. Early Life in Missouri 17

III. First Acquaintance With the Brethren . . 25

IV. The Prodigal 29

V. My Father's Death 33

VI. Home Again 37

VII. A Full Surrender 41

VIII. Elected to the Ministry 47

IX. Lessons Learned 53

X. In the Ozarks 57

XI. My First Trip to Arizona 69

XII. To Texas 75

XIII. Sunny Arizona 79

XIV. Opening the Verde Mission 87

XV. A Fast Ride 97

XVI. Development of the Mission 105

XVII. Cowboys 107

XVIII. Reminiscences Ill

10 CONTENTS

XIX Things Prehistoric 113

XX. Mining 119

XXI. Wayside Barroom 125

XXII. To Northern California 129

XXIII. To Imperial Valley 131

XXIV. Back to Arizona 137

XXV. Our Trip East 143

XXVI. The Golden Wedding Day 149

XXVII. The Golden Wedding Anniversary 153

XXVIII. Reunion Day 159

XXIX. Father's Seventieth Birthday 165

XXX. Sermon on Baptism 169

XXXI. Sermon from 2 Timothy 4 : 7, 8 185

XXXII. Revelation 197

XXXIII. All Kinds of Houses 209

CHAPTER 1

Childhood

I shall start my first chapter by telling something I
do not really know to be true, while I must have been
there, yet I do not remember the event; still, I have
the testimony of my father and mother, and I have
always taken it for a fact, so I shall expect my readers
to do the same. On March 6, 1857, in Prarie Rond
Township, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, about five
miles west of Schoolcraft, then known as the west
woods, I first opened my eyes to the light of day and
claimed a home with John and Mary Ann Gillett. I
don't remember whether there was much display of the
event, but I have some good reasons to believe I was
welcome, from the fact that I was the first boy, and
that they boarded, clothed and educated me to the
best of their ability, without money and without price.
They must have loved me more than I ever realized
until I had children of my own. Oh, that we could
teach children to understand more about the love of
father and mother (and our Heavenly Father), of
their care and protection, and their sacrifices. The
children surely would do more for them than they do,
and we would have a better world and they fewer re-
grets when they are old.

Yes, I was the first boy in our family, but I was

11

12 PIONEERING

preceded by a half sister, Betsey Eleanor Welch, born
to my mother by a former marriage, and a sister Alice,
who was twenty-two months my senior. My father
was the son of Hosea and Hannah Gillett, who moved
from Wayne . County, New York, to Ohio, then to
Hillsdale County, Mich., where he raised a very large
family. I have known only three of my father's broth-
ers, namely, Noah, Albert, and William. My mother's
maiden name was Edmonds, of Old Vermont stock.
Her father's name was Reuben, and she was the young-
est of eleven children, all of whom lived to have fami-
lies of their own. The first great event I remember
was that on Oct. 2, 1862, I had a little brother born.
He was named Willard Franklin, and now lives at
Holtville, Calif.

The next important thing which I remember was my
father going to war. I well remember him and my
Uncle Noah and some others, marching off to the bar-
racks at Niles, Mich. I started to go with them, but
father said I should return home. It must be borne in
mind that my parents were not members of the Tunker
Church, and not overreligious, although at one time
members of the Protestant Methodist Church. Mother
held on until death, but father apostatized and I was
reared to be a war dog ; but remember the old proverb,
" A wise man sometime changes, but fools never do."

I started to school when I was five years old, in an

CHILDHOOD 13

old log schoolhouse. It had slab benches, with no
backs to lean against. Having one and one-half miles
to walk, I became so tired one day that I lay down dur-
ing school time and went to sleep. The teacher pun-
ished me by standing me on the table and putting a
split stick on my nose and a girl's bonnet on my head.
It seemed that this was not enough, for I stood there
brave as a lion; so she had all the pupils point their
ringers at me and shame me. Of course, at this I
wilted and, like a baby, began to cry. The teacher then
also wilted and snatched me from the table in a hurry.
I have often thought she was punished more than I
was. School days were different then from what they
are now. I don't believe there was a lead pencil in the
entire school, and slate pencils were so scarce that if
I got one I had to cut it in two and divide with sister.
Books also were very scarce, so we both had to study
from the same one.

One winter, when I was ten or eleven years old, I
had commenced to study Thompson's Practical Arith-
metic and was still going to the same log schoolhouse
to a teacher by the name of Mary McCain, who after-
wards married Nathan Kinney; both are still living.
One day I was sitting idle in the schoolroom and the
teacher told me to get busy, but I did not heed her.
She told me again, but still I paid no attention to her.
She then stood me up on the floor, and by that time I

14 PIONEERING

became frightened and began to work. I must have
been nervous and, as I had worn my slate pencil down
to about one-half inch in length I lost my finger hold
on it and it slipped and went rolling down to a large
crack in the floor. I was not courageous enough to tell
the teacher, but stood there like a dummy. When the
teacher saw that I was still idle, she asked me why I
was not ciphering. I told her that my pencil had rolled
under the floor. She told me to go down after it. I
said, " I will if you make me." She replied, " I will
make you," and told me to take up the board. I again
replied that I would not, and as the school was in the
edge of the timber she sent out a boy for two whips.
He soon returned with two real hickories. The teacher
again told me to lift the board and get the pencil and
I said, " No." She then took up the board herself, and
gave me another chance, but still I was stubborn as a
mule, so she began to give me what I deserved. Oh,
how she did wallop it on my back, until my nose be-
gan to bleed a stream out of both nostrils ! The teacher
became frightened and sent me out of doors, where I
stuffed snow up my nose until it stopped bleeding. I
was too sore to come back to school for several days.
If I live to be as old as Methuselah I shall never forget
that licking. It was the last licking I ever got in
school, but as I am penning this story, oh, how I wish I
had minded my teacher !

CHILDHOOD 15

Fifty-eight years later I was back there and had
Willie Terry — one of my old schoolmates — show me
the spot where the old schoolhouse stood. I was on
the same spot an old, gray -headed man! As I pon-
dered over the past, I thought of that good teacher and
wished that I had minded her. If I could have found
that pencil I would have kept it for a relic. I visited
the teacher, who is still living, and reminded her of
the incident. She said she had forgotten all about it,
and I replied that if she had been in my place she
would never have forgotten it. •

In the fall of 1868, when I was eleven, we emigrated
to Missouri in covered wagons. I either rode horse-
back or drove a team. We crossed the Mississippi
River at Quincy on a ferryboat on election day, when
Grant was elected for the first time.

We passed over the Missouri River at Boonville on
a ferryboat at the time the Missouri, Kansas & Texas
railroad was in construction. We located in Henry
County, twelve miles west of Clinton, in the fork of
Big Creek and Grand River. We could then drive
from Sedalia to Fort Scott, Kans., without going
through many lanes, just cross-cut. I don't know how
much further we might have gone without passing
through a lane (a Missouri term for a fenced road),
but I suppose we could have continued to the Rockies.

This photo of C. E. Gillett was taken from an old
tintype, which was taken in Schoolcraft, Kalama-
zoo Co., Michigan, in 1864. The author was
then seven years old

CHAPTER 2

Early Life in Missouri

In our new home we were not looked upon with
the greatest favor by the settlers, for we were not their
kind. Those who crossed the Mississippi River from
the East were called (in those days) Yankees. The
North and South had not yet been united. In a literal
sense they were united, but in mind and spirit there
was still a barrier between them. So it was not the
most pleasant place for a boy to live, but I could have
got on better had I known enough to keep my mouth
shut, which was a hard thing for me to do. I sup-
pose those who know me best would say that I have not
altogether overcome this failing. However, it often
is necessary to open one's mouth if he has something
to say which should be said, provided it is at the right
time and place.

I well remember standing on Big Creek bridge, argu-
ing politics with Sam Ferris. He was three or four
years my senior and almost as large again as I was. To
top it off, he held me by the ankles, head down, over
the bridge. If his hold had slipped I would not have
been here to tell the story. He said, " I am going to
hold you here until you promise to vote the Democratic
ticket." I gritted my teeth and said, " Never I"

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18 PIONEERING

He finally lifted me back over the railing and let me
go, and I was, and still am, glad of it. Naturally, after
that we were not very good friends. About three years
later, when I weighed only eighty-five pounds and he
was a man grown, weighing one hundred and fifty
pounds, we were playing blackman at school. With
very little provocation, or practically no reason at all,
he struck me on the side of my head and staggered me
about ten feet. Before I could get my balance he hit
me again in the same place, and my head and shoulders
struck the ground first. Ere I could get up he jumped
on me with his feet and stamped until he seemed to be
satisfied, but he was not, for he repeated this three
times. My, but I was glad when he quit ! He probably
would have ceased sooner if I had said " Enough," but
I was either too plucky or too frightened to say that.
I was pounded until I was mellow and injured in a way
that promised to be for life, but the injury was over-
come in later years. Of course, our friendship was
not improved by the transaction, and from that time on
we did not speak to each other for years.

But time passed on until each of us had a family of
his own. We had moved to different localities, and
so saw very little of each other. I had joined the
Brethren Church and had been put to the ministry, and
was back in the old neighborhood, preaching. One
Sunday, as I stood up to preach, I looked down the

EARLY LIFE IN MISSOURI 19

aisle and whom did I see but Sam Ferris! Just im-
agine how I felt to find him facing me, and to remem-
ber that I had not forgiven him; and I a minister of
the Prince of Peace ! I was filled with consternation,
somewhat, I imagine, as Belshazzar felt when he saw
the handwriting on the wall ; but I thought hard and
fast, and preached as if nothing had happened, for I
had made up my mind as to what I would do. At the
close of the meeting I walked down the aisle, looking
neither to the left nor to the right until I came to
where Sam Ferris stood. I then reached out my hand
and said, " Hello, Sam."

He answered, " Hello, Charley. It has been a long
time since we met," and I said, " Yes, and a good deal
longer since we have spoken."

" Let us let bygones be bygones," said Sam. " All
right," I answered, and we shook hands once more. As
I ponder over the past and look into the future, I
would not have missed that opportunity for the world.

I will now tell of another scrap in which I got the
worst. One Friday evening, after school, while still
on the school ground, I was contending with Milton
Norris, a boy of my own age. He had been jumping
on the back of my brother and other small boys, break-
ing them down to the ground. I was protesting his
action with pretty strong language. Another big boy
was standing between us, facing me, when Milton

20 PIONEERING

picked up a ball club, which had been made out of a
three-cornered rail, and laid it across my head with such
force that it seemed almost a miracle I was spared to
tell the story. I struck the ground so hard that I
fairly bounced to my feet, with blood streaming from
my nose like a stuck hog. I started after that boy with
all the strength I had. But he could run like a grey-
hound, and I could not catch him. I want to state
here that I pride myself in the fact that I never struck
anybody hard enough to hurt him. I never struck a
man, and never ran from one but once, and that was
from a negro who was larger than I was. But, believe
me, if I could have caught that boy my record would
not have been so clean. Oh, how glad I am now that
he could outrun me ! The news of the fight was soon
spread around and the next Monday morning, to my
surprise, when I came to school I found the directors
were on hand to settle the trouble. One of them was
Milton's father. Let me state right here I never had
been in a better humor in my life. I just could not
keep mad at that boy, for he was the biggest-hearted
boy in our whole school.

The directors took testimony of all who had seen'
the one-sided battle, and heard what Milton and I had
to say. They decided that Milton should go to one end
of the schoolhouse and I to the other and meet half-
way, where we should shake hands. I reached out my

EARLY LIFE IN MISSOURI 21

hand, but Milton just stuck out his forefinger at me.
So they made him try it over, but he persisted in stick-
ing his finger out at me. The teacher then said to the
directors, " What can I do ? I can't punish Charley.
He is willing to fulfill his part, so what shall I do?"

They all said, " Give Milton a good flogging."

Now that teacher was a God-fearing man by the
name of Jerome Keptner. He was prepared for the
occasion, so he went to his desk and took out the
hickory. He had Milton take off his coat and held
him by the hand. How he did lecture that boy, with
such kind words that it seemed to me it would melt a
heart of stone. But then the thrashing that he re-
ceived ! I never saw but one like it, and that was when
the teacher tried to make me get my pencil. And, of
course, I both saw and felt that one. After his pun-
ishment Milton was willing enough to shake hands.

A few years ago a nice-looking man in Glendale,
Ariz., stepped up to me and said, " Are you Charley
Gillett?"

I said, " Yes, but who are you ?"

" My name is Norris," he answered.

" Who was your father ?" I asked.

He answered, " Milton Norris."

I then told him how I had been knocked down by
his father with a ball club, and the rest of that story.

22 PIONEERING

But I surely was glad to see the son of one of my
schoolmates.

I am now through telling about my losing battles in
carnal warfare, and later in this work I will mention
greater battles which I have fought — not with the
carnal weapon, but with the sword of the Spirit, which
is the Word of God.

In those days there were lots of wild game — geese,
brants, ducks, swans, sandhill cranes, prairie chickens,
coons, minks and muskrats. One day with two other
fellows I caught ninety-five muskrats. But all this
game proved to my detriment, as I would rather hunt
than go to school or work. However, I could divide
my time and then keep up with my classes in reading,
writing, and arithmetic, which were taught to the tune
of a hickory stick.

I do not wish to cast any reflections on my dear par-
ents, but they did not object to my going to dances,
yet I went to very few. I could take my gun and go
hunting on Sunday, yet I did very little of it. When
only thirteen years old I was allowed to go to Clinton,
which was twelve miles away, with a crowd which they
knew would drink. My father was not a drinking man
and he gave some good advice, but he used no restric-
tions on me. I had read the book, " Ten Nights in a
Barroom," before we left Michigan ; and it surely made
a deep impression on my mind. I did not want to be-

EARLY LIFE IN MISSOURI 23

come a drunkard, and I was determined not to be one.

Yet I did come close to being a tobacco fiend. It
happened that, during the time of the war, my Uncle
Stephen gave me a large chew of fine-cut tobacco.
Now I am glad it was large, for it made me sick.
After the war a man wanted me to try a chew of plug
tobacco. It seemed that in those days a fellow had to
chew and see how far he could spit in order to be a
man. Well, the Missouri boys said that their kind of
tobacco, " Long Green " they called it, was good, and
finally persuaded me to try it. And believe me, it was
good — it cured me for life. I was sure sick. I am
glad it made me sick, for I never tried it again. I
thought I would rather always be a boy than to use the
dirty stuff.

I am bitterly opposed to the use of tobacco, yet I
claim no credit for not using it, as I tried three times
and had to give it up. The fellow who likes it, but will
not use it, certainly deserves lots of credit. I have
reasoned on -this matter all my life, and still I can't
understand why a man who claims to be a child of
God will defile his body, which is the temple of the
Holy Spirit, with filthy tobacco or whisky. Such a
person, if he is what he thinks he is, and if he is guided
by the Holy Spirit, as he claims he is, ought to be
ashamed to shut the Spirit of the living God up in a
tobacco house or a grog shop.

CHAPTER 3

First Acquaintance with the Brethren

It was in 1869 or 1870 that the Brethren commenced
to move into our midst. It was the first we had ever
seen or heard tell of such a class of people. They
were Eld. J. S. Mohler, John Houghendoughler, New-
ton Perry, Una Shutz, John Reish, and some others.
Bro. Mohler taught school one term in our district
and had occasion to give Milton Norris an awful hard
whipping when Milton was almost a man grown. I
think that was the last whipping he ever received. Bro.
Mohler preached four funerals in our. family. We
thought that he was a wonderful man. He baptized
my wife, solemnized our marriage, and afterwards
came to Greenwood County, Kans., and baptized me.
My favorite song in the old hymnals is one of his
composing, number 683, " Meet Me There." I have
requested to have it sung at my funeral.

The first sermon I ever heard by the Brethren was
at the Cornet schoolhouse. I was about fourteen or
fifteen years old. It was by Eld. John Hershey, who
afterwards became the father of the Old Orders in the
West. I could never forget it — not for the good
things he said, since they did not appeal to me then,
but he said one thing that tickled me. There were

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26 PIONEERING

three other preachers present — J. S. and S. S. Mohler
and some one else, I have forgotten or never knew.
But Bro. Hershey got up and in a slow, drawling tone
began to say, " Brethren, I would much rather some
one else would preach today, for I am not well, and if
I should leave the pulpit and go out of doors quite sud-
denly, don't think strange, for such is the nature of my
disease." No boy in my day could ever forget that.
I think he must have said many good things, but my
boyish mind could not grasp them.

If we could remember good things as well as the
funny things, how much better it would be! All of
the Brethren with whom I came in contact in my
younger days were pretty good people and could be
trusted. I always respected them and I could tell one
of them as far as I could see him. The first impres-
sion I received of them was that there was a beauty in
knowing one's brother and sister when you met them.
They were " known and read of all men."

At the age of seventeen I made up my mind to lead a
better life, and having very little knowledge of what
the Bible taught, and being under the influence of the
Missionary Baptist Church, the prevailing denomi-
nation of our neighborhood, I became a member of
that body. As I now look back to that period I must
give the Baptists credit for helping me to make a new
start in life, but in reality I was only partially con-

ACQUAINTANCE WITH BRETHREN 27

verted, and the story of my future conduct will con-
vince my readers of that fact. The Baptists seemed to
have enough confidence in me, for they offered me
a free education in the William Jewell College, of
Liberty, Mo., if I would become a minister. Why I
turned this opportunity down I do not know, but I
did, and I am glad of it, for if I had accepted I proba-
bly would have been a Baptist minister instead of what
I am now. I am very glad that I found something
better.

CHAPTER 4

The Prodigal

In our home the ties between father and myself were
not what they should have been, but I am now willing
to take all the blame on myself. After the third effort
to run away from home I finally succeeded, at eighteen
years of age, but oh, what a mistake ! I stopped around
Louisiana, Mo., and Pleasant Hill, 111. I was up and
down the river from Hannibal to St. Louis. I worked
at whatever I found to do ; chopped wood, railroaded,
and was not afraid of any kind of labor, but very often
I could not get work at any price, so I frequently was
without funds, and went hungry. I was too plucky to
ask for food of anyone, if I did not have the price. I
believe I would have starved first.

There was a very tough element up and down the
Mississippi River in those days. Of course, there must
have been many good people also. I have since been
in the lumber camps of the North and the mining
camps of the West, but I have never seen anything
that could compare with the toughness of the river
towns excepting Mexicalli, Mexico, where the off-
scourings of the United States gather like buzzards
after a carcass. There, in broad daylight, I have seen
things we dare not put into print. In later years there

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30 PIONEERING

was burned one building that housed one hundred
sporting women, and ninety-nine were accounted for
after the fire.

I want to give at least one experience I had in
Louisiana, Mo. You will remember I had decided
when quite young that I never would be a drunkard,
but very often I did get into bad company, and I have
often escaped, by the " skin of my teeth," from falling.
Certainly a mother's prayer must have followed me
the whole world through. On this one certain occa-
sion I was with a bunch of toughs. I was in a saloon
playing cards for the drinks, but when we marched up
to the bar and they asked me what I would have I
said " a glass of water." But once they were prepared
for me, with one on each side of me and one at my
back. When I said " water " the one at my back grabbed
me by the shoulders, put his knee in the small of my
back and threw me to the floor. Two of them held me
down, while the third took a glass of whisky and tried
to force it down my throat. He had nearly succeeded
when one of the bunch by the name of Ike Lanbert,
who had not lost all of his manhood, stepped up and
said, with the voice of command, " Boys, you have gone
far enough. If Charley don't want to drink that is his
business. Let him up." And they did.

I could relate many more experiences in regard
to temptations, trials, and hardships which I encoun-

THE PRODIGAL 31

tered. I have always regretted the trouble and grief
which I caused my parents, and yet I received lessons
from which I have tried to profit all my life in order
fully to sympathize with the other fellows. In all full-
ness you must first travel over the same road yourself.

In my life I have never let anyone — red, yellow,
black or white — pass my door hungry, if I knew it. I
have many times stood on the brink of the pit and come
near falling in, to the destruction of my body, soul, and
spirit. I have seen so many of my comrades fall, and
some of them seemed to have had a better chance in
life than I had. I can't understand why they slipped
over the precipice and I, who came so near, did not.
I can attribute it only to the power of Almighty God,
who, it seems, set the bounds and whispered to me,
" Don't go any farther, Charley ; be a man."

No one could have been guided over the rough places
I encountered and doubt the existence of a higher
power, who has done, does do, and will still do all
things well. Now the lesson I have learned is this:
I can now look with more mercy on the ones who have
slipped and fallen, or, as Paul says, can " condescend
to men of low estate." After battling against my own
conscience and better judgment for one year and three
months I resolved to go home — the prodigal. I was so
happy when I made this resolve, but still happier when
I got started. Oh ! the joy of getting home ! The

32 PIONEERING

words in English have not been coined to express the
joy of that meeting. My father met me at the door
with outstretched hand and welcomed me back to the
fold, and best of all, my dear old mother came fairly
jumping across the house, clapping her hands, exclaim-
ing, " O my boy, my boy, my boy !"

I have often thonght that my home-coming was like
the sinner's process in his conversion: when he gets
the consent of his stubborn will he feels a relief ; when
he puts his will into action he feels better; but when
he gets to the place where God has promised to meet
him, and fulfills his part of the conditions, namely, to
" repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins, and receives the gift of the
Holy Spirit" (Acts 2-38), then his joy is full.

CHAPTER 5

My Father's Death

Well, it was good to be home once more and to feel
the joy and blessings of being among friends, real
friends, the kind I knew truly loved and cared for me.
I could see a few changes since my absence. I no-
ticed the greatest in my father. I saw that he was fail-
ing. I probably realized this in father more than the
rest did, on account of my absence. Now my father
was not an old man, only fifty-two years of age, but
the hardships of the hellish war had left their imprints.

I had been home but a few months when it was de-
cided that my mother should make a business trip to
Michigan, and intended, while there, to visit friends
and relatives. She insisted that I go along with her,
as she had had little experience in traveling. She con-
cluded that she could come home alone in case I
wanted to stay. We left home Feb. 20, 1877, for
Michigan, with ticket, which was to land us in Kalama-
zoo, but we got off at Dowagiac to visit Uncle Amos
Cogill. From there we went to Schoolcraft to visit my
Uncle Obadiah Edmunds. Leaving mother to go home
alone, I went on to Morley, about one hundred miles
further north, to visit my father's brothers, Uncles
Noah and Albert Gillett, and Cousin George. I left

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34 PIONEERING

Schoolcraft March 6, the day I was twenty years old.
I found snow on the ground in Morley and plenty of
cold weather.

While at Uncle Albert's I had an unusual experi-
ence. I remember it very distinctly, the date being
March 31. I went to bed early that night, as I was
lonesome and homesick. I was thinking of home,
sweet home and of a black-eyed girl whom I had the
fond hopes of sometime in the future claiming legally
for my own. Now that was the mood I was in when
I fell asleep. I had a vision. I saw my father get up
from the table and fall to the floor, apparently dead.
I saw two men pick him up and lay him on the bed
for dead. I saw him open his eyes, gasp for breath,
rise in bed to a sitting position and then fall back dead.

Later, in comparing my dream with the circum-
stances, related by my mother, it was exactly as I had
seen it, and as near as we could understand, it must
have been the precise time of my dream. How real
that dream was ! It was so real that when I awoke I
took it for a fact that my father had passed away.
Two or three days later I got a letter from that black-
eyed girl, informing me of the death of my father. The
next mail brought news from my mother, telling me
all about it, and saying that Eld. J. S. Mohler had
preached the funeral sermon.

When I answered my mother's letter I told her that

-a

MY FATHER'S DEATH 35

I had already received the news. She sometimes had
to wonder how I could get news ahead of her letters.
Surely, I had heard two ways, before her letter: one
that supernatural message and the other the letter from
my sweetheart. Can any one explain that first message ?
I have given it much thought and study. My conclu-
sion is this: that through some law, not yet fully un-
derstood by man, this message was transmitted to me
and my mind was in a receptive mood. This is my ex-
planation. There is much to be learned about such
matters. I think of many, many things which have
been found out since that time — the phonograph, tele-
phone, television (thousands of miles away from the
objects, pictures are taken), and radio messages which
are sent to and from all parts of the world.

I want to stop here and record some of my thoughts
along this line. In receiving messages over the radio
the receiving instruments must be in the same key as
the sender, or the message will be lost. We have been
sending messages to and receiving messages from the
great God of the universe ever since the creation. A
great many messages never reached heaven, for the
same reason as with radio: the senders were not in
union or in key with the Great Receiver. I believe
without a doubt that if the whole church were in per-
fect union and in harmony with the Word of God and
in the right key of the Heavenly Father, wonderful

36 PIONEERING

things would happen. Such thoughts may give some
one else something on which to meditate. One thing is
sure, there are only two supernatural stations, Heaven
and Hell, and we cannot tune in to both at the same
time. Let us stop and ponder and be sure to key in
at the right station.

CHAPTER 6

Home Again

I must not linger too long here. It was on July 2,
while I was working on a farm near Vicksburg, Kala-
mazoo County, which joined the farm of my Uncle
William Worthington, that I received a telegram stat-
ing, " Come home ; sister drowned."

I took it over to Uncle William and he gave me some
money and had his son Tommy drive his eight-hun-
dred-dollar trotting horse to take me to the station at
Kalamazoo. The train left about midnight. My!
How we did fly to get there on time. It was indeed a
lonesome, sorrowful trip. I arrived in Clinton, Mo., at
8 A. M., July 4. Word had been left at the depot that
a horse was at Black's livery barn for me to ride home
on. I got the message there that Sister Alice had been
drowned in Honey Creek and had not been found. I
went as quickly as possible to the banks of the creek,
where crowds of men were searching, but she had not
been recovered. I then went home to mother — to poor,
heartbroken mother.

When I returned to the creek Alice had been found.
She was buried that night at 1 o'clock by the side of
my father in the Norris cemetery. J. S. Mohler after-
ward preached her funeral sermon. My Sister Alice

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38 PIONEERING

was twenty-two years of age in June and unmarried.

My half-sister, Eleanor, was married before this
time, so all the ones left at home now were mother,
Willie, and I, a lonely mourning family.

One day mother asked, "Do you and Rachel "(the
black-eyed girl) " expect to be married?" I said " Yes,
sometime, but I don't know when, for I have nothing
to take care of a wife with."

" Well," mother said, " you have." She then showed
me horses, cows, and a forty-acre farm. " They are
yours," she said. " I am so lonely ; you bring Rachel
home and stay here, and I will furnish everything for
one year." Oh, what a mother! Of course, I wasted
no time in putting the proposition up to Rachel and
then to her folks. After asking her father three times,
and insisting, I finally gained the consent of all parties
concerned.

We were married July 25, 1877. What a desperate
chance she ran — for she and her parents were members
of the Brethren Church and I a Baptist, and not a very
good one at that. We have never regretted it, but
have been very glad that in later years our five daugh-
ters did not take such a risk.

My mother gave me the following advice:
"Charley, you know Rachel is a ' Dunker,' dresses
plain, wears a bonnet and a little cap. Now you knew
this beforehand ; don't ever abuse her afterwards for

HOME AGAIN 39

it." I promised her I wouldn't. Later, I almost broke
that promise. This one time it happened like this : We
were getting ready to go to my church. The Sunday
before we had gone to her church. Of course, when
we went to her church I expected her to wear her
little cap, but when she started to put it on to wear
to my church it hurt my pride a little. It was here I
almost broke my promise. I said, " Are you going to
wear that thing to church?"

She said, " Yes, sir, I am, and if you don't like it you
can lump it." I then thought of my promise, and said,
" I don't care, but have you any scripture which proves
that you should wear anything like that?" She then
and there turned to First Corinthians chapter 11, and
read with proper emphasis what Paul had to say. I
said, " Wife, I will never say anything against the cap
again." I have kept my word for fifty years, and thank
the Lord she still wears the cap. Now it might do for
a sister who had the pluck and courage and will power
that she had to take some chances in marrying, but I
have seen some that took the risk and were not strong
enough to hold out and made themselves much trouble.

It was July 25, 1877, that I promised to take Rachel
E. Kuns, daughter of George D. and Margaret Kuns,
to be my lawful, wedded wife. This I promised be-
fore God and witnesses, Eld. J. S. Mohler officiating.
I believe that the two most sacred promises that can be

40 PIONEERING

made are those we make when we are married and
when we join the church. Both are for life, before
God and witnesses, and yet how lightly they are re-
garded by so many!

We agreed to debate the differences between our
respective churches, and that we would take the Bible
for authority. We also decided to pray over the mat-
ter ; that the one who substantiated his position by the
Word would win, and the loser must come over to the
other's church.

We have often arisen after we had gone to bed,
lighted the lamp and gone to the Bible to see who was
right. Sometimes a meal became cold while we were
looking up Scripture passages. Of course, my wife
eventually won, but it was not for some time.

May 9, 1878, our first boy was born and we called
him George Franklin.

Mother, having given us the forty acres with the
house, soon afterward built a neat cottage on fifty
acres she had given to Bro. Willard. Mother and Wil-
lard lived in the new home only six weeks, when she
took pneumonia and died, Dec. 2, 1878.

CHAPTER 7

A Full Surrender

In the fall of 1879 we moved to Greenwood County,
Kans. We settled on the raw prairie, six miles east
and two miles south of Eureka.

Nov. 11, 1879, another boy was born and we called
him Charles Leander.

At the suggestion of my wife we had subscribed for
The Primitive Christian, the Brethren Church paper,
published at Huntingdon, Pa., by James Quinter. Both
of us were working very hard in those days, but what
time I had to rest I wanted to read. When I went to
pick up the county paper from where I had left it, it
was never there, but The Primitive Christian would be
in its place. Of course, I would suppose it was an
accident and would naturally take it up and read some-
thing in it.

About this time the Stein and Ray debate was being
published in the paper and I became very much inter-
ested in it ; also in my soul's salvation, and I nearly was
convinced that the Brethren were right except on bap-
tism.

(Let me state here that my wife confessed to me
years after that she had changed papers with me and
placed her paper where mine should have been, I sup-

41

42 PIONEERING

pose to get me to read it. Whether she did right or
wrong I don't know, but I am now very glad that she
did it.)

Now, coming back to the debate, in Stein's affirma-
tive he analyzed the commission of Matthew 28 : 19,
parsed it, and supplied the ellipses agreeable to the laws
of syntax, and when Ray answered it he said that Stein
had added nine words to the commission to make it
teach the Tunker doctrine. Then in Stein's next speech
he offered to leave it to a learned class of men, neither
Tunkers nor Baptists (say three or five), and let them
say whether he had added or whether, according to the
laws of syntax, the words should be supplied. I
thought that was fair, and I realized that such scholars
knew. Ray replied by saying that he would not leave it
to men or to angels. That surely put me to thinking,
and my thought ran thus : " Mr. Ray, you must think
you are wrong and Stein right, and if you are wrong I
am wrong, too."

Well, in another part of the debate, Stein quoted
from historians to prove that trine immersion was very
ancient. Ray replied by saying there was no such his-
tory, and that the quotations were Stein's historical
fraud.

Stein proposed again to leave it to three or five
men, neither Baptists nor Tunkers, who had access to
church histories, to say whether such history existed or

A FULL SURRENDER 43

not, and Ray again refused to do it. My next move
was to get the history of the leading denominations of
the world, by Belcher. I read it and studied it in con-
nection with the Bible, prayerfully and carefully. My
object was to find which church was the nearest right,
and when I came to the Baptists, Mr. Belcher, being
a Baptist himself, gave them a larger write-up than he
did most of the churches. In addition to the scripture
to prove baptism he referred to certain historians who
gave their evidence to triune immersion. He had
quoted from the same church fathers that Stein cited,
and quoted the words verbatim.

It was right here that the scales fell from my eyes
and I realized that I had been reading the commission
through my Baptist spectacles. I then went to the
Bible and read the commission as I had never read it
before, and I saw, as plain as daylight, that three ac-
tions were required. No one knows, only he who has
gone over the same road, how hard it is to give up a
faith which has been instilled in one's mind when he
was a youth, even if he is convinced that it is wrong.

One time I had an Old School Baptist friend whom
I was trying to convince that the Brethren doctrine
was founded on the Word of God. He said he knew
that, according to the Bible, the Brethren were nearer
right than the Baptists. " But," he said, " I can't get
the consent of my mind to leave the Old Baptists." He

44 PIONEERING

actually wept about it, and as far as I know he lived
and died a Baptist. A person who has never belonged
to any church is much easier to convince of the doctrine
of the Gospel, as we believe it, than one who has en-
dorsed the principles of another church.

Well, when I had made up my mind to unite with
the Church of the Brethren I felt good, but at that
time we did not know of any members in Kansas (of
course there were some), so I wrote an article to The
Primitive Christian, saying that if Eld. J. S. Mohler
would come out he could make a Tunker of me. I
then felt better. I soon received a letter from Bro.
Mohler, stating that he had no desire to make a Tunker
out of me, but if he could be instrumental in the hands
of the Lord in helping me to become a Christian he
would come. I at once wrote him to come and I then
felt still better. Eld. Mohler lived at Deepwater, Mo.,
at that time.

By the time he arrived I had found a few other
members — an old crippled brother by the name of Sam-
uel Hunt, Jacob Pippenger and wife, and Hannah
Dugard. It was in October, 1880, that Bro. Mohler
held his first meetings and baptized me, and then and
there I felt that my joy was full, and I have never for-
gotten his instructions and the promises I made. The
following winter Eld. Sidney Hodgedon and his son,
Merl, and a young brother by the name of Jake Beck-

A FULL SURRENDER 45

ner, came into our midst and held some meetings. It
was here that Bro. Dugard was baptized and we were
organized into a church.

Bro. Dugard was elected to the ministry and Bro.
Pippenger and myself were chosen to the office of
deacon. Bro. Dugard was one of the best of men, but
he lacked as a preacher and the Lord's work seemed
to lag for about two years. At this time Eld. G. W.
Studebaker, of Fredonia, Kans., commenced to come
twice a month, preaching three times each trip. He
was a powerful preacher, a wonderful scripturist, and
made quite an impression on the people. At the very
start some others were baptized. Bro. Dugard had
gone to his long home.

CHAPTER 8

Elected to the Ministry

In 1885, in our part of Kansas, times were rather
hard. I had made up my mind to leave the country
and had traded for a good farm in Holt County, Mo.
I had made all preparations to move, when the church,
on Saturday before the third Sunday in September,
1885, at a love feast in a shed on Bro. John Messner's
farm, held an election for a minister. Bro. Studebaker.
our elder, Eld. Washington Wyland, and C. M. Year-
out were present. At our social meeting the next
morning it was announced that I had been chosen. Bro.
Wyland officiated in the installation services. Among
the promises I made were these : to wear my beard and
comb my hair straight back, or part it in the middle.
I also promised to wear a frock coat with standing col-
lar. I renewed my promise when I was advanced and
later when I was ordained. I have never had any de-
sire to break my word, and besides it appears to me,
that if I did so, it would put me in the category of sin
as Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:3, 4).

Now, after I had been put to the ministry all the
members insisted that I should stay with them. If I
stayed, it seemed to me, it would be at a financial loss,
but to go might mean a spiritual loss. Of the two

47

48 PIONEERING

losses I decided to take the financial loss, and stayed.

When the word reached Missouri that I had been
put to the ministry, Milton Norris, the one who once
knocked me down with the ball club, said to my wife's
sister, Flory, " Is it a fact that Charley has been put
to the ministry ?" and she said " Yes." He then re-
plied, " They must have been mighty hard up for
preachers in Kansas."

Another made the remark that I must be going crazy.
Still another, a stranger, said, before he had heard me
preach, "If that fellow can preach he fools his looks."
Well, we will let some one else judge whether I was
crazy or " fooled my looks."

As to the scarcity of preachers in southern Kansas,
no one can dispute this fact. I see that in the history
of the Brethren Church in Kansas, under the head of
Greenwood County some one has given me quite a
write-up. One thing he said was that I held seventy-
five meetings in the first year of my ministry, which
is correct. As near as I can remember I received fi-
nancial support for that year's work to the total amount
of fifty cents and one big red handkerchief. My
traveling was on horseback when my wife was not
along, and when she went we had a lumber wagon.
There was one thing I was blessed with — one of the
best saddle horses of which the world could boast. He
could trot, fox trot, pace, single foot, double foot rack,

ELECTED TO THE MINISTRY 49

run and walk. I could change his gait whenever I
wanted to, which made it easy for me. His name was
Dock.

Excuse me for a little digresson here, as I wish to
say something I should have told before I was put to
the ministry. On February 14, 1882, my wife pre-
sented me with the first valentine I ever received. It
was a real living specimen in the form of a little girl,
and we named her Margaret, after her Grandmother
Kuns. Her name is Margaret G. Statler, of Glendale,
Ariz. She is the mother of five living children.

In the fall of 1883 I was breaking some young mules
both to ride and to work. I had those of the masculine
gender named after three of the noted infidels, namely,
Voltaire, Tom Paine and Bob Ingersoll. Now Bob
Ingersoll was the prettiest mule I ever saw and about
as mean as he was good looking. Oct. 5, 1883, I went
to jump on Bob's back while trying to lead another
mule. Bob jumped. The other mule pulled back, and
when I got out of the tangle one of my fingers was
broken and split so it would never knit. Even so, I
rode that mule. Well, a few hours later my wife pre-
sented me with ten more fingers, attached to a baby
boy. We named that boy Leroy. Six weeks later I
rode that mule all alone twelve miles to have my finger
amputated.

Reverting to my former subject, it seemed that pet

50 PIONEERING

horse loved me with almost human intelligence. I did
not have to tie him up, but just turned him loose at
church or anywhere I was and he would wait for me.
I swam deep streams with him to reach appointments.
Please excuse me for telling so much about Dock, but
I loved that horse and we were friends. Well, I traded
our farm in Holt County, Mo., for raw prairie in
Kansas and took a big loss.

Dec. 26, 1885, another boy came into our home, and
we named him Ola Edison. His mother had stood at
my side when I was installed into the ministry about
three months before he was born. When I was or-
dained that boy stood by my side and was installed into
the ministry.

I was not getting along very well. I did nearly as
much work as I had been doing, but my mind was
chiefly on something else. My education was limited,
but in those days the church did not make a college
education a qualification for the ministry. We had no
Reverends or D. D.'s. The word reverend was ap-
plied to God alone (Psa. 111:9). Now don't think I
am opposed to an education, for I am not. The more
education, rightly applied, the better, but I do draw
the. line on making it a qualification for a preacher,
when the Bible says nothing about it. Paul did tell
Timothy, a young preacher, to " Study to show thyself
approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to

ELECTED TO THE MINISTRY 51

be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth."
That is what I tried to do. The only books I had that
helped me were the Bible and a pocket dictionary. 1
have since thought they were enough, and that if our
young preachers would study the Bible more and
other books less we would have more Gospel sermons
and less of some one else's opinion. Not that I am
opposed to learning other men's views, but we should
be sure they are right before we take them for facts.
What we need is to develop our own minds (James
1-5), thus solving a wonderful problem in understand-
ing the Scriptures.

During the first two years of our ministry, our meet-
ings were held in schoolhouses. During that time our
elder sent me up to the Flint Hills to hold meetings
where there was one colored brother by the name of
Mark Wright. Probably one-half of the folks of the
neighborhood were colored. I preached at the Lone
Elm schoolhouse, commonly called Blow Hard. I went
back often. I also preached at the Rising Star and also
at Spring Creek. We were well received at all the places.
At Spring Creek I met J. J. Wassam. We had met on a
cattle ranch one Sunday before either of us was a
member of the church. We bought cattle on the Lord's
Day ! In our last meeting both were ministers. Thank
the Lord for the change! The last time I was at
Spring Creek the ladies of the community had made

52 PIONEERING

my wife a fine quilt, with the names of the givers
quilted in each block, though they had never seen her.
On my way home it was discovered that there was an
envelope with $3 or $4 attached to the quilt for me.
It sure was a surprise. Also the people at Blow Hard
gave me a purse, but I think that during the second
year of my ministry I received less than $10. I want
to state right here, that in the forty-two years of my
ministry I have never taken up a collection for my own
benefit nor asked any one for a cent. My family has
often gone without a good many of the comforts of
life, but my good wife never complained.

CHAPTER 9

Lessons Learned

I learned some good lessons from different sources.
I had an old friend who was an Old School Baptist
preacher. He was a wonderful man, a good talker,
could quote much scripture and chew lots of tobacco.
When I commenced to preach, he told me it took three
things to make a good preacher. I asked what they
were, and he said, " The first thing is to know how
to begin a subject, the second, to know what to say,
and the third, to know when to quit."

One time we had a brother who had not been in the
church long. He and I were at a Methodist meeting
and the preacher preached on free open communion.
The brother, after the meeting was dismissed, said to
me, loud enough for all to hear, " Charley, he is right.
We Tunkers are too selfish." My, how bad I felt, but
I said nothing. Later at the same place it was the turn
for the Old School Baptist preacher to preach, and the
brother and I were present. I took the preacher be-
hind the schoolhouse and told him I had a subject for
him to preach on. He asked what it was and I said,
" Close Communion." He said, " It just suits me."
I never heard a better sermon on the subject in my
life. He said, " It is not close communion ; it is close

S3

54 PIONEERING

baptism for baptized believers, and nothing but im-
mersion is baptism," and backed his assertion by the
Word. Later he said, " You may think the way I talk
that nobody is right but the Old School Baptists, and
it's just what I think. But if there were no Old School
Baptists in the world my next choice would be the
Tunkers." Well, he just trimmed the bush. That
brother flopped over to the right side of the question
and lived and died a full-fledged Tunker. This is the
main lesson I learned : " Let the other fellow fight
your battles if he wants to."

I was holding meeting at the Shawnee schoolhouse
at the request of an old Presbyterian friend. One
time there was present a preacher who claimed to be a
free evangelist. I talked on the subject of baptism and
it did not suit him. As soon as I dismissed he came to
me and commenced to abuse me in pretty rough
language. I was just letting him run down, but before
I got to say anything a man rushed up to him with his
sleeves rolled up and stuck his fist in his face, saying,
" Shut your mouth ! Charley has come here and
preached the truth, and if you don't like it, just keep
your mouth shut." And he did.

Once at the same place there was present a Freewill
Baptist preacher, to whom I gave the liberty to pray,
but he took more liberty, and both prayed and talked
loud. In fact, he just hollered. After the meeting that

LESSONS LEARNED 55

old Presbyterian took me behind the schoolhouse and
said, " Charley, we invited you to preach for us. We
wanted to hear you, and don't you ever let that old man
take part in your meetings again. What good did it do
for him to get up and holler like he did ? It is not the
thunder that kills folks, it is the lightning," and I had
learned another lesson.

A little more than one year after I was put to the
ministry, I was advanced to the second degree. But
the church had always allowed me the liberty to make
my own appointments, and in fact gave me more privi-
leges than was customary in those days. About this
time James R. Gish started a church at Stuttgart, Ark.
As we were not getting along very well financially, we
concluded to move there and see if we could do a little
better. We made the start, but for some cause or an-
other we never got any farther than Henry County,
Mo., where we once lived, and where my wife's folks
still resided. We traded for a store and I was ap-
pointed postmaster of the little town of Hartwell. It
was a small store, small town, small trade and a small
business, and it was impossible to live off the profit.

Jan. 18, 1888, another little girl came to live with
us and we named her Mary Ann, after my mother.

While living in Hartwell we held meetings in Hart-
well, Deepwater, and other places; also in Cedar
County.

CHAPTER 10

In the Ozarks

In August, 1888, we moved to Pulaski County, Mo.,
where I had traded for a tract of timber land, but later
found out I had no title to the property, though there
was an abstract showing perfect title. It seems as
though certain parties had forged or made false state-
ments at the land office at Ironton, Mo. Records
showed that that land and many other tracts had been
entered by certain individuals and transferred to some
one else, and finally was sold by the state for taxes and
then sold and resold and eventually got back into the
hand of the party who had concocted the scheme. He
was an abstracter of titles. Of course there were some
fictitious names used. They had selected land that
was lying along the boundary line of other counties and
comprised in all thousands of acres which were still
government land. Then they put the tracts into the
hands of agents in various parts of the country to sell
or trade. How they ever kept out of the clutches of
the law I never could understand. When I had doubts
of my title, I wrote to the general land office and they
replied that my land never had been entered and was
still government land. I went to the man and showed
my letter, and of course, he claimed it was a mistake,

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58 PIONEERING

and said he would rectify it by buying the land from
the government. I told him to just give me the price
that it would cost him and I would settle with him and
he agreed to, but he said he could pay me only in in-
stallments. He was not a responsible man, but I took
the risk. We traded a team for the relinquishment of
a homestead close to the Big Piney River. The im-
provements consisted of a small one-room log house
without any windows, a small log smoke-house, a log
barn and six or seven acres cleared. Then our labors
were begun — six children to feed, clothe and school.
Well, more of our labors later.

We had settled in the bounds of the Waynesville
Church of the Brethren, a small body of members con-
sisting mostly of the families of Solomon Stump, Dan-
iel Stump, Eleazer Barrow, and John Delaplain. Solo-
mon Stump was the elder and the only preacher. He
was a wonderful man. He had settled in the Ozarks
right after the Civil War. He worked hard, preached
much, traveling mostly on foot, and was the best fire-
side preacher I ever knew. He was a wonderful ex-
pounder of prophecy. Our college professors of today
could take lessons from him to their profit. Sometimes
he would start off four or five miles on foot to preach
and, being in a hurry and not having time to study
his subject, he would tear out the leaf of his Bible that
he wanted and read it on his way. Now Bro. Stump,

IN THE OZARKS 59

like many of our old frontiersmen, did not get his name
in the papers very much. He received very little re-
ward in his life, but like many of our old brethren he is
now over on the other side, waiting for his reward in
the resurrection of the just.

There were plenty of places to preach, mostly in
schoolhouses. We held meetings in Texas County, La-
clede County, and Phelps County and in various places
in Pulaski County. Many times we crossed swollen
streams to reach our appointments, going horseback
most of the time or in wagons, but sometimes I went
on foot, after splitting rails and clearing land all the
week. Sometimes on Sunday I would walk six miles
and back, preach two times, and be on the job Monday
morning on the farm. Times were very hard ; wages
were from fifty cents to seventy-five cents a day. Hired
girls got seventy-five cents to one dollar per week.

One fall, when crops were short, my brother and I
took a contract for banking a lot of sycamore saw logs
on the Gasconade River, and were depending on getting
our pay for them as soon as the job was done. But
to our surprise the owner of the logs told us that he
would notify the sawmill man at Arlington, and when
he came down and sealed the logs he would pay us. He
never came. Later, Bro. Bird Stump contracted to raft
them down the river to the mill, but the river got so
high that the raft broke up and he was saved from

60 PIONEERING

drowning almost miraculously. I suppose the river
must have been fifteen or twenty feet deep. Well, we
have not secured pay for those logs yet.

We were depending on the money for the winter
clothing, and it was already frosting every night. One
evening, after the children were in bed and asleep, my
wife said, " What in the world will we do ? The chil-
dren have no shoes, no good clothes, and no goods to
patch their old clothes with." I said, " Don't borrow
trouble." She said she did not. The trouble was al-
ready here. I said, " No, the children are all asleep,
and no trouble until tomorrow." Well, for once, and
the only time, my dear wife lost her pep and wept. The
next morning I saddled Dock and went to Waynes-
ville.

The first man I met was the one who had swindled
me in the land deal, and he handed me $50 that I had
never expected to get. I jumped on my horse, hurried
home, threw the money into my wife's lap and quoted
from the Psalmist David, " I have been young, and
now I am old ; yet have I not seen the righteous for-
saken, nor his seed begging bread."

The next day we went to town and that $50 got
everything we needed. That might seem strange to our
readers, but things were cheap then ; good work shoes
costing $1, calico 5c per yard, muslin 8 to 10c per
yard, jeans for suits 25c to 50c per yard, woolen yarns

IN THE OZARKS 61

75c per pound. Remember, wife made all the clothes,
knit all the stockings and mittens and made caps for
the boys for winter and straw hats for summer.

One time I went to a District Meeting at Gravel-
point, Texas County. I had about an acre of very
heavy hazelnut brush that I wanted cleared. When I
was gone the boys started clearing. Wife took her
knitting and sat down where she could see them, keep
them company and encourage them to work. She
knitted while they worked and, believe me, when I got
home we had one more acre added to our farm land.
Now, if there is a minister in the Brotherhood that
has a wife who can beat that, I want to shake hands
with him.

It was in the winter and spring of 1890, when the
epidemic of la grippe was all over the country, that
our six children took the grippe, whooping cough and
pneumonia at the same time. Oh, how we watched
over them night and day, not knowing which one
would be taken first. The doctor notified us that he
thought at least three would not pull through. All re-
covered but our little Mary Ann.

" What", in a Name "

My little girl with curly hair,
With eyes of jet and face so fair,

Came to us soon in eighty-eight
Far back in old Missouri State.

62 PIONEERING

A blossom fair from Eden dropped
Into our very presence, stopped ;

How quick inclined a name must find,
My mother dear came to my mind.

Her body rests beneath the sod,
Her spirit walks, communes with God.

And thus you can well understand
The why we called her Mary Ann.

The baby grew, waxed sweet and mild —
Our darling, darling, darling child !

The others claim our love the same,
But something sacred is that name.

But he who doeth all things well
Took her to heaven with him to dwell,

While I, through tears must spend the years,
He cares himself, for the angel dears.

Twas March of ninety — bitter gloom,

We laid her in the little tomb,
Short was her stay, but she went away

To a better land — to a better day I

Two given forms to me are dear,
They've shed with me compassion's tear;

Their names I love above all others—
The one, my wife's— the one my mother's.

May 29, 1890, another little girl claimed our pro-
tection. We gladly welcomed her and named her Flory

IN THE OZARKS 63

May. Her name now is Flory May Statler. She is
the mother of two children and lives in Glendale,
Ariz.

In the fall of 1891 fire broke out and burned almost
all of our fencing. I believe that hurt me worse than
any other material loss I ever had. I had made rails
all day, rolled logs, and burnt brush till 9 or 10 o'clock
at night. I had carried some of those rails on my
back, and to see them melted down like wax in that
fire! It actually made me shed tears. My corn was
ready to husk and all outside, with nothing to protect
it. But the good neighbors turned out and put it all
in the crib the next day. Then rail splitting com-
menced anew. One day in making a glut (a wooden
wedge) my ax slipped and cut the cord of my leg off
above my knee, and then I had to lay off for some time.
But the good Brethren came over and made rails for
me. In those times in the Ozarks we had a small mem-
bership and they had little means, but thank the Lord
they all had big hearts !

One time I was expected to be at a love feast in
Laclede County, and the day before I was to start I
found the cattle had broken into my field of corn. I
said to wife, " I will have to give up going to that love
feast." She said no, that she would help me to fix
the fence. I declared it would be impossible, as there
would have to be bull riders cut and put on all around

64 PIONEERING

the field. She still said we would get it done, so I took
my ax and she followed me. We had only fairly
started when she clapped her hands and said, " Charley,
you are going to go." I looked up and saw something
I had not thought of nor expected — three brethren
with axes on their shoulders, Brethren Bird Stump,
John Delaplain, and Burrow. They had come six miles
to fix my fence. They said they thought my fence
was in no condition for me to leave to go to the love
feast. Well, I went to that feast, about thirty-five
miles, in a wagon.

June 4, 1892, another black-eyed baby claimed a
home with us and we named him William Floyd. He
now has a wife and three girls, the youngest one at
this writing being only three days old, and our thirty-
first living grandchild. I am now in his home in San
Bernardino, Calif., writing and recording these facts.

One time Bro. Stump and I attended a love feast in
Laclede County, Mo. Eld. Jordan lived there and had
charge of the church. He was a very zealous man,
much beloved, a friend to everybody and a good
preacher. At the love feast were an old-fashioned
Methodist and his wife, who invited us home with
them, and we accepted the invitation. When we got
there the man said that he had a " crow to pick " with
Bro. Jordan. We asked him what it was about. He
replied by saying, " You know Bro. Jordan used to be

IN THE OZARKS 65

a Methodist." Bro. Stump said " Yes, we sometimes
call him our Methodist Tunker." The Methodist said,
" One time Bro. Jordan was preaching and he stated
during his discourse that his mother was a Methodist,
lived a Methodist, died a Methodist and went to heaven.
Now, what I want to know, is this : if his mother could
get to heaven from the Methodist church, why did he
have to leave the Methodists and join the Dunkard
church to get there ?" Bro. Stump replied, " Don't
bother Bro. Jordan about that. I can reconcile it for
you," and our host said, " I would like to know how."
Bro. Stump suggested, " Let us reason together." The
other agreed. " Then," Bro. Stump added, " Bro. Jor-
dan is now an old man. Probably his mother has been
dead fifty years. Fifty years ago the Methodists had a
better promise than they have now. Fifty years ago
they did not allow their members to belong to secret
orders or go to law. Their sisters wore a cap for a
special covering in time of worship, the same as our
sisters do now, and they were then a plain body of
people. His mother might have died in the Methodist
church fifty years ago and gone to heaven, and Bro.
Jordan might have stayed in the Methodist church
(considering the changes they have made in the last
fifty years), and died and gone to hell." Believe me,
that man was no fool. He saw the point and said, " I
do believe you are right."

66 PIONEERING

One time I was holding a series of meetings in Sleep-
er, a little village in Laclede County, Mo., in Bro. Jor-
dan's congregation. The meeting was in a private
house, the home of Bro. Weed. It was an old-fash-
ioned log structure, having one large room with a fire-
place on one side of the house. A small table was
placed close to the fireplace to put my books on and
to stand behind. There was only one outside door to
the room. About fifty people were there every night.
Attending the meeting was a certain man about twenty
years old, with four or five of his associates. About
the time I would begin to get the crowd interested this
young man would go out and slam the door. Then
one of the other boys would follow and slam the door,
and then another, and they would keep it up until all
would be out of doors, when they would commence to
file in, one at a time, until they were all in the house.
They would file out and in and keep it up until meet-
ing was dismissed. Well, I got tired of preaching to
a traveling congregation. I suggested to the brethren,
after the boys had taken their seats, that it was pretty
warm so close to the fireplace and I would like to move
the table back to the door. I did so, placing the table so
there was room between it and the door for me to stand.
When I was about half done with the sermon, and
had stepped forward toward the congregation and away
from the door, that young man thought his chance had

IN THE OZARKS 67

come to get out, and he made for the door. I saw him
coming and made a gesture and stepped back until my
heel was about one foot from the door. He opened
the door, but there was not room to get through. He
slammed the door against my foot several times, and I
said, " Do you want out?" He said, " Yes." So I let
him out, said " Good-bye," slammed the door shut and
locked it. It was a very cold night. The wind was
blowing, fine snow was falling — in fact, it was a real
Missouri blizzard. I found out later that when I shut
the door it caught his coat tail. He had on his Sunday
coat and did not want to tear it or leave it, and he could
not open the door to get loose or to get into the house,
so he was held a prisoner out of doors in the midst of
that awful blizzard. As soon as the meeting was closed
he came to Bro. Jordan and promised he would never
disturb his meeting again, and I learned afterwards
that he kept his word. I met him four years later and
he told me I served him right. He actually thanked
me for doing it.

CHAPTER 11
My First Trip to Arizona

My brother Willie had been lured to Salt River Val-
ley, Ariz., close to Phoenix, through the advertisement
of B. A. Hadsell, and he wrote me that wages were
good and the country looked fine. He insisted that I
go there, work awhile, and see the country. At that
time I was in debt some and times were hard. Being
possessed of a weak mind and a strong back I yielded,
and in August, 1892, I landed at a place they called
Glendale, nine miles northwest of Phoenix. It was
Glendale only by name, as there was not one house on
the town site, but now it is a village of about 3,500
population. At that time Phoenix claimed a population
of 10,000, but now has about 50,000. Phoenix had no
railroad, except a " jerk water " branch of thirty miles
from Maricopa off the Southern Pacific. There was
no railroad at Glendale. Goods and farm products
were freighted with sixteen-horse teams and wagons
with trailer; and such roads, chuck holes, hub deep,
filled with dust, and hot! I should say it was. But
where they had irrigation such crops I never had seen.

Well, I got work on the Rancho Del Higo, which is
Spanish, in plain English meaning the ranch of the figs,
or fig ranch. I shall never forget my first day's work.

69

70 PIONEERING

It was pitching hay, the first alfalfa I had ever seen. It
was so hot and the water so warm that the more I
drank the more I wanted. While I have admitted hav-
ing a weak mind and boasted of a strong back, after
I had tanked up with a quantity of that warm ditch
water I found that my stomach was about as weak as
my mind and my poor back was fast losing strength.
Finally it was reduced to the common level of my mind
and stomach. There I was, a poor, wretched man, but
one part of myself was still left, and that was my will
power. I would pitch hay awhile, then take a drink,
then throw it up and repeat it over and over again.

Well, my weak mind went back to my home in the
Ozarks — home, sweet home. Oh, how I longed just to
lie down at one of those cool, sparkling springs and
quench my thirst ! I shall again acknowledge my weak-
ness by saying there were actually tears in my eyes,
and I could not help it. If you, my dear reader, had
been in my place, I believe you, too, would have shed
tears. A few River Brethren had been settled in the
community a short time, and some of our Brethren
were there. The first Sunday after my arrival Bro.
Willie and myself went to Sunday-school and preach-
ing, conducted by the River Brethren at Newton Had-
sell's, in an unfinished house, which is now in the town
limits. After Sunday-school their preacher, Henry
Byers, came to me and wanted me to preach. I said

MY FIRST TRIP TO ARIZONA 71

no ; that I had come to hear him preach. But he stated
he had just got up from a sick spell, and if I did not
preach, there would be no preaching, so I consented.

That was the first meeting of the Brethren at Glen-
dale and the first in the territory excepting that of Bro.
Peter Eisenbise, who had settled about six months
prior to this, between Mesa and Tempe, some twenty-
five miles from Glendale. He had held a few meetings in
his locality before I came. At that meeting twenty-
five persons were present, including the babies.

After services Henry Byers said to me, " As some of
your members are here, as well as our members, I
want you to preach every other Sunday." I agreed,
upon the condition that when I attended his meet-
ings he would not call on me to help him in any way,
shape or manner, and I would treat him in the same
way, when he came to our meetings. He agreed and
we lived up to our promise. We got along finely and
are still the best of friends.

Our meetings were held in the homes. Later in the
fall other members moved in, including the Vanhorns
from Oregon. Bro. John Vanhorn was a deacon, and
he and I took it upon ourselves to visit all the members,
both at Glendale and in Bro. Peter Eisenbise's com-
munity. By the consent of all the members a council
meeting was appointed and I presided over it. At that
time it was decided to hold a love feast either at Christ-

72 PIONEERING

mas or New Year's, I have forgotten which, and it was
arranged to organize into a church at the same time.
We wrote to the elders in Southern California for
their consent and requested the privilege to use the
first elder available and they gave their consent. We
were looking for Eld. Peter Forney from Iowa to
be with us soon, and we were not disappointed, for he
arrived in due time for our love feast. The members
were organized into a church with about fifteen or six-
teen members. Now this was the beginning of our
Glendale church, as near as I can remember.

Neither Bro. Forney nor myself was a charter mem-
ber, as we had only traveling letters. Bro. Forney
bought a farm and moved to Glendale later.

Well, I will dismiss the history of the Glendale
church for the present, but I shall have more to say
about it later.

In May, 1893, I started for home, working my way
as far as Nickerson, Kans., on a cattle train. Believe
me, I worked, punched steers much, ate little, and slept
less. From there I got a ticket for Crocker, Mo., took
a stage for Waynesville, borrowed a horse and rode
home. I reached home about 9 P. M. Oh, what a
happy meeting, after nine months of separation from
the dear ones! How we all poured out our heartfelt
thanks to our heavenly Father for his mercies and
blessings and his watchful care over us while we were

MY FIRST TRIP TO ARIZONA 73

separated, one from another. It was so nice to be
home again that I made up my mind to live and die in
the Ozarks. But there is a saying that wise men some-
times change, but fools never do.

We had set out five hundred apple trees and had
expected to stay with them. Then there came a big
rain storm and washed out a ditch through my best
field so deep that a horse could not cross it. The field
was in a hollow about thirty rods wide, only twenty
acres in the field, and the ditch went right through the
center lengthwise and almost ruined the field.

Winter came on and lots of snow. After wintering in
the Salt River Valley, Ariz., one of the best winter cli-
mates in the United States, the cold and snow made me
long for a milder climate ; so I sat down and wrote to J.
J. Wassam at Manvel, Tex., to trade my farm for prop-
erty down there. In less than ten days he wrote me for
a deed, that he had made a trade for twenty acres of
raw land at Manvel. On March 12, 1894, we bade
farewell to brethren and friends and started for Texas.

Wife had been afflicted for some time with chronic
bronchitis. I also had the same complaint. One win-
ter I had a contract for hauling ties and banking them
on Piney River. I worked from fourteen to fifteen
hours a day, boarded myself and team, for $1.55 per
day. I worked six days in the week, through rain and
sleet, snow and cold, and I contracted a very bad cold,

74 PIONEERING

which terminated in chronic bronchitis and later in
tuberculosis.

CHAPTER 12
To Texas

We landed in Manvel, Tex., a low, flat, hog-wallow
prairie, O. K. We found a fully-organized body of
about one hundred members. Eld. George Shively was
the elder in charge. We were well received and got
good treatment, but soon found out that we had
jumped " out of the frying pan into the fire." I have
never seen the like of mosquitoes, nor do I want to.
If it had not been for the sea breeze we had part of
the time, it might have taken nine generations of frogs
to live one year.

July 20, 1894, another baby girl claimed a home with
us and we named her Rachel Elizabeth, after her
mother. Her name is Young now. She lives at Glen-
dale, Ariz., and has one child. I have always called her
my Texas Star.

In August and September, 1894, seven of the eight
children were sick at once with typhomalarial fever.
They sure were a sick lot, but the good Lord spared
them all. After some of them were able to be up, but
were still weak, we were coming home from church one
day on foot on the open prairie. In the crowd were
Eld. Shively, his wife and little girl, myself and four
of our children — eight in all. We met a large Texas

75

76 PIONEERING

bull, which came charging right at us. Say, he sure
was on the warpath proper, and something had to be
done quickly or he would have killed some of the chil-
dren if not us grown folks. Before I really knew what
I was doing I jerked out of my pocket a big red
handkerchief and commenced to wave it. I ran right
toward that roaring, bellowing monster. I got his
attention, and when he had singled me out I started to
run and circled around the crowd. When I was past
the crowd again, I turned, faced him, stood still till he
made the plunge at me, and then jumped to one side
and dodged him. The bull went on. The whole thing
occurred in less time than it takes me to tell about it.
It was just instinct that caused me to act at once, and
that instinct must have been moved by a higher power.
It seems that when a wild bull makes a plunge he shuts
his eyes, and if he misses you he always goes on. I have
dodged a smaller one since that time, and he made the
same movements. Another time on the range a small
bull — and as luck would have it, he had rather short
horns — made for me. I was on a horse. The horse did
not prove to be as quick as I had been and he hit the
horse broadside. I lifted up my left leg and he struck
the horse right under it. The impact nearly knocked
the horse down but no harm was done.

While in Texas my wife got better from her bron-
chitis, while I became worse.

TO TEXAS 77

Well, no crop and sickness soon weakened our finan-
cial resources until we did not know what to do. About
that time I received a letter from Bro. Vanhorn of
Glendale, Ariz., wanting me to come to Arizona. He
said I could make it O. K., and that I would get some
financial aid. So we sold our oxen and a cow and ev-
erything we had except our land, for which we never
did get anything.

CHAPTER 13
Sunny Arizona

We landed in Phoenix in the forepart of February,
1895, with eleven to feed. We had with us an or-
phaned niece, besides our own children, and we ac-
tually lacked fifteen cents of having one dollar in
money when we got to Phoenix. There were three rigs
to meet us and we were cared for by Bro. Willie and
others for awhile. But oh! I do hope and pray that
no other Brethren preacher or anyone else will ever
have to go through with the hardships that we ex-
perienced.

I got very little help from the Brethren, as most of
them were poor, but I do not want to complain. I
think best to refrain from telling some of the worst
hardships endured, but this I will say: I have seen a
house, which belonged to a rich brother, stand empty
for want of a tenant, while at the same time a poor
brother preacher and his family were camped out of
doors because he had no money to pay rent; and be-
sides, the rich brother listened to the poor brother
preach every Sunday. I could not think that was quite
right, but it might have seemed right had I been in the
rich brother's place. Some one did make me a present
of a new suit of clothes, and I never found out who

79

80 PIONEERING

gave it to me, but I certainly needed it. The coat was
of the cutaway style, and wife soon had the collar
changed so that I might still have the appearance of
what we stood for.

We finally bought an old hay baler on credit. The
man we bought it from wanted to know if some of my
brethren would go my security. I told him no, they
would not, and if they would I would not let them.
When I was put to the ministry I resolved not to ask
anyone to sign notes for me, and I never have, and
thank the Lord I have been able to meet all my debts
without worrying anyone else.

Hay was plentiful. We baled hay for $1.75 per ton,
furnished the wire, and boarded ourselves. We made
a living and a little besides.

One hot day in August I started to Phoenix on a
horse that had never had a saddle on before. He had
been raised on the range and was eight years old be-
fore he was caught up. He bucked with me until the
saddle girth broke and I struck the ground with the
saddle between my legs. I thought I was some rider,
since I could stay with the saddle. I borrowed a better
saddle and tried it again. I mounted, held a tight rein
and put the horse in a run. I ran him about six miles,
and he finally got his head down and went to bucking
proper. He was what we called a "winding blade."
That means he would swap ends while in the air and

SUNNY ARIZONA 81

make a crooked jump. Well, on this occasion he must
have done his best, for when he twisted in the air I
failed to twist with him. That put my body in a twist,
and when he came to the ground, something inside of
me popped and I could scarcely get my breath. I really
thought my time had come. After he had made sev-
eral more jumps, I was sitting on him, perfectly bal-
anced, but oh ! what a pain I had in my internal region !
When he squatted to make another jump, I stepped off
and the horse stood still, as docile as a lamb. A man
in the field close to the road came to my assistance, and
another man in a cart came up behind me. They went
to a farmhouse, got some bandages, tied me up, and
the man in the cart took me to Pheonix. I sat down on
the curb, not knowing what to do, when Jim Meadows,
a man that had worked for me on the baler, saw me,
and took me to the home of his brother, Jake Meadows,
and there they cared for me like two brothers. I sent a
card to Glendale that night, and Bro. Harvey Betts
brought wife to me the next morning. In one week
Bro. Jake Parrot took me home in his fine carriage. It
was found that the long ribs on my left side were brok-
en and the short ribs severed from my backbone. For
ten days I lay between life and death. I could scarcely
move. Those ribs would not knit, and for one year,
when I would twist my body I could feel those broken
ribs grit together. But after a year they lapped over

82 PIONEERING

and knit permanently, but there was left a pressure on
my heart and left lung which was of no benefit to my
general health. Let me state right here I have broken
wild horses and mules to ride since that time, and had
some hard buckers, but none to compare with that
" winding blade." I rode once since when the girth
broke, and of course I stayed with the saddle, and that
horse turned on me while I was yet on the ground and
tried his best to jump on me and kill me, but I was too
swift for him. Another time I was riding a mule on a
narrow trail down a steep mountain. I was chewing
a big cud of pine gum when the saddle slipped over
the mule's neck. When I tried to step off the saddle
turned, and being on a side hill, I fell under the mule's
belly across the trail with my head up-hill. How the
mule did buck! — but he had sense enough not to fall
over the precipice. As luck would have it, he came
down in the same place and missed me, but I was still
under his belly and still chewing my gum. Two other
fellows were with me and laughing all the while. I
was not a bit excited and I never missed a chew on
that gum. There were not many horses that I could
not ride, and I believe I could ride any mule that had
hair. A good many other folks had the same opinion.

My son Charley at one time had the credit of being
the best rider on the Mogollon Mountain range, but
that was no credit to him nor to his father, either. He

SUNNY ARIZONA 83

now holds the office of high sheriff of Imperial County,
Calif., and I do not consider that any credit, either, to
him or to his parents. But to his credit and that of the
rest of our dear children is the fact that they are still
so good to their old parents and see to it that they do
not lack anything for their comfort.

We had taken a contract to clear, level and water
320 acres of land for ex-General Churchill. I was to
have twenty acres with water stock for my labor. My
boys did most of the work, and when I had it com-
pleted he came out,.looked it over and said it was O. K.
But in a few days I found that the land was worthless
without water. That was another great disappointment
to me.*

In the spring of 1896 Walter Swihart came into our
midst. He had been elected to the ministry at Wa-
waka, Ind., before he left there. He preached his first
sermon here at Glendale in a tent which had been
erected by the River Brethren to be used jointly by
them and our brethren, alternating every other Sunday.
The same spring the churchhouse was built, but not
fully completed, not being ceiled on the sides. Since
that time there have been additions and improvements
until it is now quite modern. Bro. Peter Forney was
to have preached the first sermon in the new church-
house, but he was not very well and I filled the appoint-
ment. It so happened that I preached the first sermon

* Mr. Churchill died very suddenly and his widow failed to carry
out the contract in regard to the water stock.

84 PIONEERING

at Glendale, the first in the territory except for Bro.
Peter Isenbise, whom I have already mentioned, who
had settled about twenty-five miles from Glendale, be-
tween Tempe and Mesa. I delivered the first funeral
sermon that was given here by the Brethren, which
was for Sister Sally Rhodes. I officiated at the first
marriage that was solemnized by the Brethren here. I
presided over the first council meeting, officiated at the
first love feast, and baptized the first person that was
baptized by triune immersion in what is now the state
of Arizona. The Glendale church has not made the
growth it should have made. It has had its ups and
downs, probably about the same as all other frontier
places. It now has about one hundred and fifteen
members. However, the Phoenix congregation is an
outgrowth of the Glendale church. In December,
1896, I was sent to Globe, Ariz., on a mission. Lee
Ikenbery, the son of a brother in Iowa, had written to
Bro. Forney that he thought there was an opportunity
to do good if a preacher could be sent up there. I
made the trip in an old government stage coach. Well,
the trip seemed to be a failure, only I went with Mr.
Ikenbery on the back of a mule twenty miles to the
McMillian silver mine and solemnized his marriage to
Miss Garlinghouse. She was as fine a specimen of
feminine humanity as ever was seen on the frontiers.
I got acquainted with George W. P. Hunt, who is now

SUNNY ARIZONA 85

serving his sixth term as governor of Arizona. He has
never forgotten me and evinces his friendship by occa-
sionally putting his feet under my table. He also has
shown his confidence in me by taking me with him to
the state prison a number of times to preach to the
prisoners, and also to the reform school at Fort Grant,
where I preached. I have preached in many places and
to many classes of people, but those confined in the
penitentiary outclass in intelligence almost any other
body of people I ever met. They did the singing and
praying. Here is a poem one of them gave me. It is
of his own composition:

"I Found That the Bible Wu True"

Tune, " Two Little Girls in Blue "
1. An old man mused on his sinful past —
Of a life he had wasted for years;
When he spoke of his youth his grandchildren asked

Why the memory had caused his tears.
He said, " My boys, I will tell you a tale,

It may be a warning to you.
I found when too late, now my race is in,
That the dear old Bible was true.

Chorus
" I found that the Bible was true, lads,
I found that the Bible was true :
I read it at morning, I read it at evening,

I read it on Sundays, too ;
But the last of all, when on God I call,
I'll prove that the Bible is true.

86 PIONEERING

2. "A scoffer I lived for years, my lads,

Though many the warnings I had.
My mother, with tears streaming down her face,

Would pray for her wayward lad;
But I laughed at her tears and her warnings,

My money I quickly ran through,
But I woke one day when my hair was grey,

And knew that the Bible was true.

3. " And now, dear children, take warning by me,

Your youth will quickly pass,
Your eyes grow dim, and your hairs turn grey,

The judgment will come at last ;
You'll find when too late to turn, lads,

And do as you ought to do,
That your mother's God is the One to serve,

And the dear old Bible is true!"

—By Jeff. O. Shaw.

CHAPTER 14
Opening of the Verde Mission

In the summer of 1896 William Van Horn and
family, my wife, six of our children and myself went
up to People's Valley, between Glendale and Prescott,
where it was cool, and spent about six weeks. While
there we held meetings. Quite an interest was shown
by the people of the valley. The next summer we went
back, but I thought I might stay and keep out of the
heat, so we drove our cows along with us. At that
time, the way the roads ran, it was about forty miles
across the desert, without water. We had depended on
a water hole about halfway across the desert, which
had plenty of water the year before. We drove off the
road about four miles out of our way, but when we got
there we were disappointed, for there was not a drop of
water, and the supply that we had with us was pretty
well gone. We had to make a dry camp, and how we
did want a drink before we camped that night! Our
good shepherd dog had perished. No one who has not
crossed those hot, dry deserts in August and run out of
water can fully realize what it means. We now have a
highway over the same route, and I can go over it in
one hour's time, but not without thinking of the past.

The Lord was merciful to us and we landed at Has-

87

88 PIONEERING

syampa River at 11 A. M. the next day. There was no
water, but we knew enough to dig for some. There
are so many rivers in the West that are dry on top but
have an underflow, so we dug in the river bed and got
plenty of water.

I am reminded of the Forty-Niners who crossed the
plains on their way to California for gold, and so many
of them perished for water. Had they dug only a little
deeper than they did to bury their dead companions,
they would have had all the water they needed. Also I
have seen many souls perishing for the Water of Life,
and so close to it. How near, how near, and yet so
far ! They don't seem to know where to dig or how to
dig, or rather, they seem not to know where to go or
what to do to get the Water of Life, and some don't
seem to want it and would rather drink the stagnant
water on the lower levels than to climb the mountain
height and quench their thirst from living springs.

We went on to People's Valley and found a flock of
Seventh Day Adventists camping where we had camped
the year before. They had a big tent and were ex-
pounding Adventism to the people. They had two big
preachers in their crowd, Eld. States and Eld. Isles,
very intelligent men who had their lessons well learned.

I have forgotten how it all started, but a debate was
proposed and it was left for the crowd to decide. They

The way I traveled to my appointments
during most of my ministerial career

OPENING OF THE VERDE MISSION 89

all voted for a debate and the questions to debate were
decided.

First : " Resolved, that the Church of the Brethren
possesses the characteristics which entitle it to be rec-
ognized as the church of Christ. C. E. Gillett, affirma-
tive; Eld. Isles, negative.

Second : " Resolved, that the Seventh Day Adventist
church possess the characteristics which entitle it to
be recognized as the church of Christ." Eld. Isles,
affirmative; C. E. Gillett, negative.

The debate lasted a whole week. Shortly after the
debate was concluded Will Van Horn, one of our
party, said to me, " Charley, you did well." Then later
one morning he said to Eld. Isles, the Adventist preach-
er, " Good morning. How are you this morning? The
preacher replied, " I am just as happy as I want to be.
This is a beautiful world and there is nothing to mar
my peace and joy." Shortly Mr. Van Horn came
around to my wife and said, " Well, Rachel, how are
you this morning?" She said, " I would be as happy as
I would want to be, if there were not so many out the
Ark of Safety ; but as it is, how can I be really happy
when there are so many who have not accepted the
Lord ?" He then said, " How can that old preacher
be so happy, then, when he feels that all who do not
keep the Sabbath day are condemned to hell ? He can't
surely have the love for humanity that a preacher ought

90 PIONEERING

to have." This William Van Horn is now a member
of our church.

We went on our way to Prescott, the mile-high city,
and then on to the Verde River. There we got work
for our teams and stayed, and the Van Horns went
home without us. The first Sunday we were there I
went to church on Middle Verde at a schoolhouse. A
Baptist preacher by the name of Bristow preached. He
was an old timer, well respected and known far and
near, but about fifty years behind the times. We took
dinner with him and he requested me to preach the
next Sunday. This was the beginning of the Verde
Mission.

I wrote to the Mission Board of Southern California
and Arizona, explained the conditions, and requested
that some one be sent there to hold meetings, and, if
thought best, to place a man as a home missionary in
the field and let me get away.

My reason for requesting them to send some one
there first was because I did not suppose they had ever
heard, before they received my letter, that there was
such a fellow living as Charlie Gillett. I did not ex-
pect they would be willing to risk my judgment, so I
requested them to send some one there that they could
rely on. At that time Thomas Keiser and David Over-
holzer were on the board. I have forgotten who the
other one was ; anyway, they heeded my call, and they

OPENING OF THE VERDE MISSION 91

surely used good judgment in sending the right man in
the person of Bro. F. Masterson, who held some meet-
ings in Old Camp Verde and got acquainted with us
and the people. He must have made a favorable report,
for I received a letter from the board, saying that if
I would stay with the work, they would give me $20
per month, and I accepted. Up to that time I had al-
ways given more for the cause than I had received.

March 5, 1898, I had just returned from Prescott
with a load of freight, when wife presented me with
another baby girl, whom we named Addie Bell. She
used to think that she was one day older than I was
because her birthday was on the fifth and mine was the
next day. Her name is now Kurtz, and she has three
girls.

Well, the next day after Addie was born, Sunday,
March 6, W. E. Smith was baptized in the Verde
River, the first person ever baptized by triune immer-
sion in the territory of Arizona. Our meetings were
held in schoolhouses up and down the Verde and its
tributaries; viz., Oak Creek, Beaver Creek, and Clear
Creek. I almost always went on horseback.

There were the M. E. South, the Campbellites, and
the Baptist preachers, and time for preaching at the
schoolhouses had to be arranged so as not to clash. I
generally preached three times a week, besides holding
a series of meetings. I leased a small farm for cash

92 PIONEERING

rent, and besides freighted goods from Prescott, the
nearest railroad point excepting Jerome, twenty-five
miles distant, which had a narrow-gauge railroad. The
Verde was a very narrow valley with an altitude of
about 3,000 feet, and Prescott was one mile high. It
sometimes was quite cold, and in freighting I had to
camp out two nights on each trip and sleep on the
ground. One particular night I shall never forget. I
became very thirsty, reached out, took my canteen to
get a drink, and found it frozen solid. It required lots
of bedding to keep from freezing, and my eats con-
sisted of bacon and bread or flapjacks, flour mixed with
water and fried in bacon grease. I have seen my dog
actually refuse to eat the same bread that I ate, but to
me it generally tasted good, for roughing it makes a
man hungry.

We saw some pretty hard times and found it impos-
sible to make ends meet.

The next spring, 1899, I went to the District Meet-
ing, which was held in the college building in Lords-
burg, Calif., now called La Verne. In giving in my
report, I told them all of our troubles and that I was
$100 behind. Eld. S. G. Lehmer made a motion for a
collection to be taken up for me right then, and while
the hat was going around he fairly shouted, "If this
collection does not amount to $100, I will make it out
to that amount myself."

OPENING OF THE VERDE MISSION 93

Well, I got the $100 and two or three over, but I
never knew how much Bro. Sol had to put in and I
guess he has forgotten the amount himself, for that
was ovef twenty-eight years ago. However, that started
something, for the Mission Board concluded to raise
my salary to $25 per month, and the next year they
raised it to $32.50. That was the pay I got. The bal-
ance of the time I was on the mission, which was six
years.

January 9, 1901, our eleventh and last baby was
born. She was a bright little girl and we named her
Elva Etta. Her name now is Schrock. She lives in
California and has one little girl.

If I have not missed counting we have ten living chil-
dren, five boys and five girls, five sons-in-law, five
daughters-in-law (and not a tobacco fiend in the bunch),
thirty-two living grandchildren, two granddaughters-
in-law, one grandson-in-law, and two great step-grand-
daughters. Counting our in-laws there is a little family
of sixty, all strong and healthy. Should the Lord
spare us to see our fourscore birthday, we might have
a pretty good-sized family. Besides raising our own
children, we have had seven or eight orphans in our
home at different times, from one to twelve years of
age. The most of our children have a fairly good
business education, with three schoolma'ams in the
bunch. The eldest son helped the girls through school,

94 PIONEERING

and the whole of them had ambition to assist
themselves and their parents. I never like to hear par-
ents say that children don't ever pay for their raising.
Mine have, and if they had not, I should think it was
my fault, and I would be ashamed to tell it.

Excuse my digression from the subject, but in re-
cording the birth of number eleven, I got to running
down the line and did not know when to stop, for we
surely think lots of our children.

One day, when Elva was about six months old, wife
was going with me to church in Jerome, twenty-five
miles away. We hitched up my saddle pony to a one-
horse buggy. Now that pony was gentle as she could
be, but had never been hitched to a buggy, and had
never had a blind bridle on. We hitched her up and
drove her around awhile. She behaved so well that
finally wife and I started. We got out in the road
about eighty rods from home and she threw her head
around far enough to see the buggy. It scared her and
she started to run, but I held back, and then she com-
menced to kick. My wife was holding the baby. Such
kicking I never saw before nor since. Her heels flew
past our heads time and again, but we managed to
dodge them. She kept on kicking — kicked the dash-
board off, broke the shafts, and kicked herself loose
from the buggy, turned around, and stood and looked
at us as docile as a lamb. We then sat on what was

OPENING OF THE VERDE MISSION 95

left of that rig and sang one verse of " Jesus knows all
about our struggles, he will guide till the day is done."
There was a neighbor boy, or rather a young man, in
the field next to the road, watching the fun. His name
was Ed Mundholland. He said, " Mr. Gillett, go back
and get another horse and hitch to my spring wagon
and go on to your appointment." I did so and lost only
one hour's time. Say, that buggy was so near kicked
to pieces that I never moved it from that place.

CHAPTER 15

A Fast Ride

An old proverb says that truth is sometimes stranger
than fiction.

It was in the fall of 1900 that I had a call to go to
Glendale to hold some meetings. Son Charley had
come up there to the Verde on a rented bicycle. The
distance was 110 miles, over mountains and desert. He
had expected to return, but changed his mind. He told
me that if I would take the bicycle back to Phoenix, he
would pay my way. He had come up in one day and
he thought I could make it in two days, and I thought
so too. Well, he gave me a $20 gold piece and I had
seventy-five cents of my own, so early one morning I
started. The first thing was to push the bicycle up a
mountain road ten miles. I was not in the best of
health. When I got to the top of that mountain I was
awfully tired ; and dark overtook me before I had gone
half of the way to where I had expected to stay that
night. I had passed only one house all that day and
had not seen a single human being. But two or three
miles off the road a friend of mine was living. He was
George Brown, an old timer. So I turned aside and
got to his house quite awhile after dark, a very tired
man. They seemed glad to see me, fed me, lodged me

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98 PIONEERING

and treated me as fine as if I had been a king. The
next morning it was cloudy and looked as if it might
rain. Mr. Brown told me not to go back to the road I
had left, and he would show me a closer cut. So he
accompanied me out on a hill or mountain where there
was a trail which ran around on a backbone of the
mountain, in a curve or rainbow shape, and came back
to the road at a camp station in about fifteen miles.
It seemed all right, so I mounted my bike and away I
went. But before I had gone far it began to rain. The
soil on that mountain was mallapai, something similar
to Eastern gumbo. It stuck to the wheels and I had to
dismount and push. Soon it would not push and I had
to carry that bike, mud and all. The next thing I
knew I was in a real cloud. I wonder how many of
my readers were ever in a cloud on a mountain. I have
been a number of times. I soon discovered that I
had lost my trail. Oh, what a fix, in a cloud on a moun-
tain, no trail and " packing " my bike ! There was one
blessed thing ; I had not lost my head nor my pep, and
I knew my direction. But to cut across that curve or
rainbow and go straight to Bumble Bee (my next sta-
tion) I had to go down the mountain and climb up the
other side. Believe me, I went down that mountain
where I do not think any man had been before or has
been since. But I made it to Bumble Bee at 1 P. M.,
more alive than dead. The town consisted of one

A FAST RIDE 99

house, a little store with about one-half wagon load
of groceries, and a corral. I spent 25 cents for some
crackers and cheese and started on. Now the rain was
over. The soil was composed of granite. The road
was little more than a trail. It took one team to pull
up an empty wagon, for it was a steep grade for fif-
teen miles, and the road very crooked most of the way.
There was a bluff on the left and a precipice on the
right. My bike had only a hand brake. I cleaned the
mud off, mounted and started down hill. But, lo, my
troubles had just begun. My brake broke and away I
went! Well, since that time I have ridden in Fords,
Cadillacs, Studebakers, Lincolns, and an airship, but
believe me, that was the fastest ride I ever had. I
thought my time had come, but did not have to think
very long, for right ahead of me was a short elbow
curve; to the right and straight ahead was a solid
stone wall. I was fairly flying, and I started to make
the turn, but poor me, I could not turn, but went
smashing right up against that natural stone wall. My,
but I was glad to get stopped, but it was too sudden to
feel pleasant, and what a shock ! I managed to pick
myself up and thought sure my leg was broken, but
after feeling and rubbing it awhile I found I had no
fractured bones. When I picked up my bike, I saw
both handles were broken off, and then it was push
again. I waded the Agua Fria River, and that night

100 PIONEERING

reached Goddard, where I should have been the first
night, still a little more alive than dead. I was then
halfway to Glendale. I went to bed without any sup-
per, spent a restless night, ate some breakfast the next
morning, asked what my bill was, and Mrs. Goddard
said "one dollar." I handed her the $20 gold piece
but she could not change it. She told me she knew
who I was, and I could leave it at a certain place in
Phoenix, which I did. It was fifteen miles to the next
station. I made an early start, pushed on, and arrived
there a little before noon. This was New River Sta-
tion, just one house and camp ground in the foothills,
one old man to keep water for the range cattle and en-
tertain travelers. When I reached there he was stand-
ing in the doorway with both hands on the casing
above his head. I said, " Mister, my bike is broken,
and I am sick, and I want to stay with you until I can
catch a ride to the Valley."

But to my consternation he said, " I have no place
for sick folks, and if you are sick you'd better hit the
pike." I replied " I am sick and can not," but he de-
clared, " I can't keep you." As I looked longingly past
him I saw a canvas cot and asked him, " Can't I lie
down on that cot and rest awhile ?" He said, " No, it
is my cot."

Well, I sure was a sick, lame, sore man and I had a
high fever and headache. It was twenty-five miles to

A FAST RIDE 101

the next water. Say, reader, what would you have
done in my place, and what do you suppose I did?
Well, I'll tell you what I did. I had tackled mad bulls,
bucking horses, rattlesnakes, and Gila monsters. I
had gone hungry and cold and I was at that moment al-
most all in, and that old canvas cot looked good to me.
I did not think that one man could keep me from lying
down on it, so I just ducked under his arm and started
for that cot and said,

" I don't care whose cot it is ; I am going to lie down
on it," and I did ; and he neither did anything nor said
a word. In about fifteen minutes I broke the silence by
saying, " Old man, you might turn some kid off on the
desert to die like a dog, but I am too old for you. I
shall stay right here until I get a ride across the
desert."

He said nothing, but after awhile he went to the
kitchen, baked some biscuits, fried some bacon, put it
on the table and finally opened his mouth, saying,

" Stranger, maybe you would feel better if you had
a cup of coffee."

I said I believed I would. Well, after I had drunk
my coffee and had eaten a little I went back to that cot
and I did feel better. He then resumed his silence.
At sundown, as luck or Providence would have it, a
teamster drove into camp, headed for the Valley with
a four-horse team and an empty wagon. I told him my

102 PIONEERING

troubles and he proved to be a real man. He said,

" Don't eat breakfast with the old man, because he
gets up so late, but eat with me, so we can get an early
start."

I ate supper with the old man and when night came
on he showed me to another room, with two beds as
fine as I ever slept in. Before we left the next morn-
ing I handed him that $20 gold piece and told him,

" Take your pay out of it." He had no change and
I said all the change I had was 50 cents. He replied,

" Give it to me ; it will do,"

And I did. I shook his hand and said,

" Good-bye, and if you ever get over to Camp Verde
call on Parson Gillett and you will never be turned out
to die like a dog."

I have been along that road many times since, but I
have never again seen that old man.

The only reason I could think of that caused him to
treat me as he did was that the law was so strict. If
anyone died, there would have to be a doctor's certifi-
cate that he had died a natural death or an inquest
would be held. If I looked as bad as I felt, he proba-
bly thought I might die on his hands and there might
be a murder charge filed against him, so he would
rather I would die on the desert than to run any
chances.

I reached the Arizona Canal about 4 P. M., and the

A FAST RIDE 103

teamster would not take a cent for my ride or board.
I thanked him and said " Good-bye."

I was then about ten miles from Glendale. I found
some baling wire, tied the handles on my bike and man-
aged to ride where Bro. Jim Coffelt lived. I still was
more alive than dead, and was glad of it. But I was
too sore and tired to preach till I had rested a few days.

Now there is an auto highway over that same route,
with some changes, but when I go over it I think of
the trip I made twenty-seven years ago on the bike.

When the meetings were at an end I took the train
for Prescott, expecting to take the stage for home,
but luck favored me, for Dr. Ketcherside was there
with a spring wagon and he took me home. Well,
home again, and I still felt like thanking the Lord and
taking new courage.

CHAPTER 16

Development of the Mission

We had considerable assistance in our ministerial
work on the Verde, as the Mission Board from time to
time sent ministers from Southern California to assist
me and to hold series of meetings. They were, first,
Eld. Ben Masterson, whom I already have mentioned ;
Bro. Joseph Trostle, and later Eld. Simon Yundt and
Eld. Edmond Forney. While they were there they
held a council meeting and I was ordained to the full
ministry. O. E. Gillett, my son, stood by my side and
was installed into the ministry at the same time. W.
E. Trostle and Eld. H. R. Taylor also were sent into
our midst on separate occasions. In the early part of
our mission on the Verde, Bro. George Chemberlen
came into our midst on his own responsibility, held a
series of meetings and cheered us in our work. While
there we visited the Montezuma Castle and the Indian
Wickiups. He made the statement,

" I am more glad that I am a white man than ever
before in my life."

The Verde Valley had prior to this been an Indian
reservation, and Camp Verde had been a government
post, but after it was found that the white man could
make a good living on the land, the Indians were re-

105

106 PIONEERING

moved to San Carlos. But still they were coming back-
on the Verde, until sometimes there were a fourth as
many Indians as there were white folks, and occa-
sionally we lived close neighbors to them. My wife
has been in their camp at midnight, doctoring their
papooses; sometimes teaching their children to speak
English. We have often wondered why the Church of
the Brethren had never established missions among
them, realizing the fact that we owe to them as much as
or more than we do to foreign missions, although I
am not and never have been opposed to foreign mis-
sions. But why have we not done something for the
poor, ignorant, superstitious Indians, who are in our
very midst? And not only the Indians, but there are
thousands of white folks in our state who have never
heard the pure Gospel preached. I have been in homes
that have never had a Bible. I was in one home in Gila
County where a grown girl told me that she never had
heard a prayer offered until she heard me pray.

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CHAPTER 17

Cowboys

Yes, cowboys. I have been among them and learned
their ways and manners, made friends with them and
solemnized their marriages. At two different times I
have had two couples, cowboys and their sweethearts,
on the floor at the same time and solemnized their
marriage. They always showed me the greatest re-
spect. I have been in their camps, have eaten with
them and enjoyed their association. Generally they
wintered at Camp Verde, staying on the mountains
most of the time during the summer. Sometimes they
would be down at Camp Verde, and have a dance ap-
pointed for the same time that I was to preach, and
they would bring their girls to church, pay good atten-
tion and seem to enjoy it, but after the meeting was
out and the old folks had gone home they would have
their dance. Once in particular when Bro. Taylor was
with me, we went to Cherry Creek to the schoolhouse
and made an appointment for meetings a day sooner
than we had been holding services. This was on Fri-
day night. I had an unusually large congregation, and
gave out an appointment for the next two evenings,
Saturday and Sunday. I had wondered why there
were so many cowboys present, but the next month,

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108 PIONEERING

when I came back to fill my regular appointment, I was
told why so many cowboys were there on the previous
occasion. There had been a dance appointed at the
schoolhouse on Friday night, before I gave the an-
nouncement, but when they came to the dance, they
held a caucus and decided they would give way to
preaching, and as I was one day ahead of time, they
thought I would not preach on Saturday night and so
agreed that they would have their dance then. But
when I announced meeting for Saturday night, they
abandoned their dance entirely and came to church just
the same. Bro. Taylor did the preaching, to the satis-
faction of everyone present, and one man was so well
pleased that, not knowing how else to express himself,
he made the remark that Bro. Taylor was a " cracker-
jack " of a preacher. One goat man dressed a goat,
wrapped it up in a sheet, tied it behind my saddle and
had me take it home.

On our way home we were to pass a wayside saloon
kept by a man and his wife by the name of Horn.
Both were never known to be sober at the same time.
Bro. Taylor a few nights before had preached a sermon
about women, telling all about their good qualities and
their moral superiority. He remarked that he never
had seen a woman drunk. Just before we got to that
saloon I told Bro. Taylor I was going to show him a
drunken woman, and sure enough, as we passed by

COWBOYS 109

there was Mrs. Horn. She weighed about 250 pounds.
As we neared she came out to the road, frothing at the
mouth, as drunk as she could be. She stood there and
commenced hollering at us. I said,

" There, Bro. Taylor, look at that, and I'll show you
a drunken woman."

But he said,

" You won't," and he looked the other way and
added, " you are not going to spoil my sermon."

We were riding a couple of small mules and the one
that Bro. Taylor had was named Billy Bryan. Bro.
Taylor was not as used to riding mules as I was, and
he was somewhat afraid of the animal, but I told him
that Billy was perfectly gentle and would not kick.
Afterwards he reminded me of what I had said, re-
marking,

" Billy kicked me just the same."

One of the saddest scenes I have ever seen was
when I was called on to preach the funeral sermon of a
young girl who was not quite fifteen years old who
had committed suicide on a ranch on Clear Creek about
six miles from Camp Verde. I had never seen the
family before. They had moved in from the mountains
recently. Their name was Farrel and the girl's name
was Maggie Bell. The girl had been courted by a
grass-widower whom I did not know and who was
forty years old. He wanted to marry the girl but of

110 PIONEERING

course her parents objected to such an unequal yoke
and protested. But when the girl found that she
could not marry him, she took a dose of strychnine and
killed herself. It so happened at that time that some
of the cowboys were down from the mountains and at-
tended the funeral which was held in the Clear Creek
schoolhouse. The house was full of people and a good
many could not get in. At the close of the meeting,
before we sang the last song, the father and the mother
wailed and lamented, repeating over and over, " Oh,
Maggie, why did you do it?" When I called for a
closing song, the congregation broke down and could
not finish the song. Tears were flowing from big, lit-
tle, old and young, cowboys and all.

CHAPTER 18

Reminiscences

Recently while visiting some of our old friends at
Camp Verde, wife and I and our granddaughter, Es-
ther Statler, and my brother Willie and wife, were in-
vited to attend a banquet in honor of a doctor by the
name of Taylor, who had been there thirteen years. It so
happened that wife and self were seated at the table
also as guests of honor. Such a wonderful feed, which
was served out of doors, it has seldom been our privi-
lege to partake of. The Methodist preacher, who was
toastmaster of the occasion, called on various ones to
make speeches. Among the things he said was this :

" We have with us an old pioneer, who also is a sky
pilot, and we want him to tell us something about his
pioneer days on the Verde."

He then introduced me to the crowd and I did not
know anything better than to respond. I stated that
I would tell of some of the results of my work on the
Verde. So I related this :

" Some of the older ones among you remember a
man who used to live here by the name of Ben Snyder.
He did not believe in man, God, nor the devil, yet he
sometimes attended our church. It so happened that
at one time when I was freighting from Prescott to

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112 PIONEERING

Camp Verde, about halfway between the two, at a place
called Ash Creek, I found a man lying down and wal-
lowing in the dirt like a hog. He looked up and seeing
me said,

" ' Hello, there, parson, don't you know me ?'

" I said ' No.'

" He replied, ' You ought to know me, for you con-
verted me.'

" I answered, ' You look like some of my work. If
the Lord had converted you, you would not be lying
there wallowing like a hog.' "

Also I told them, " You remember Bill Lane, who
kept the saloon. I used to go to his place on Sunday
and say, ' Bill, sober up your old drunks and bring
them over to church tonight.'

" He would say, ' I will,' and he would. They
would pay good attention and behave themselves, but
as far as results are concerned it was another Snyder
case."

CHAPTER 19

Things Prehistoric

In and around Camp Verde are prehistoric ruins,
probably not surpassed by anything else of like nature
in the United States. There are hundreds of Cliff
Dwellers' houses, some of which are in a perfect state
of preservation. One of these — Montezuma Castle —
on Beaver Creek, about seventy-five feet above the
level of the creek, is sheltered under a big ledge of
rock. It contains nineteen rooms. The government
has placed ladders to ascend to the rooms, and also a
building housing a museum. A caretaker is on the
ground to preserve the property and to explain things
to visitors. He should have been there a good many
years ago, for much has been carried away. One man
over twenty years ago sold a collection of relics he had
made for $1,500. This collection, if kept till now,
would have meant a small fortune. Some of the rooms
are excavated out of the body of the cliff, while some
of the front walls are of masonry, plastered with native
gypsum, of which the whole cliff consists. One can
plainly see the finger prints in the plaster, proving that
the workers used their bare hands. Some of the houses
are literally filled with bats. The bats have so obnox-

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114 PIONEERING

ious an odor that some faint-hearted persons cannot
stand to explore the ruins.

These prehistoric people must have attained some
degree of civilization, for among their ruins were
found cloth, lace, pottery, toys, and other things of
interest. Some of them must have been farmers, as
I have already mentioned their irrigation projects. Too,
many corn cobs have been found among their ruins.
Bill Back, the man who owns the Montezuma well,
found, hidden from the teeth of time a few large white
beans, a few of which when planted grew. He now
has quite a start of them, and they bid fair to become
an article of commercial value.

Now, let us stop and think a few minutes about those
beans lying dormant for, no one knows how many
ages, placed in the clefts of the rocks by some human
hand. God only knows who they were or when. But
these beans, discovered in this, the twentieth century,
by other human beings, planted and watered, and com-
ing in contact with the laws of the God of Nature,
germinate and spring forth, develop and produce exact
duplicates of the ones secreted there so many ages ago.
This is not a fairy story, like the bean that Jack
planted, but I have seen them and have related the
facts.

Realizing these facts, can any one doubt the resur-
rection from the dead? A few days ago Bro. Swi-

THINGS PREHISTORIC 115

hart, in preaching the funeral sermon of Bro. James
Coffelt, my brother-in-law, referred to these beans. He
held one of them before the congregation, and after
relating its history, drew from the illustration a very
effective and appropriate truth relative to the resur-
rection from the dead.

Further up Beaver Creek, about eight miles, there
is the famous Montezuma Well. From the level of
rocks it is about seventy-five feet down to the level of
the water. There are only two places where one can
descend from the top to the surface of the water. The
well has an area of about three acres and in the deep-
est part no bottom has ever been reached, although
often sounded. Around the rim of the well, Cliff
Dwellers left a number of their houses, which were
dug back into the rock, and are still perfectly pre-
served. Near the rim of the well on the east side are
the ruins of some mammoth buildings of stone. This
well is situated on top of a hill on the bank of Beaver
Creek. There is a continuous flow of water, never
increasing, never decreasing, going through to Beaver
Creek, which amounts to one hundred and fifty miner
inches. (A miner's inch consists of one square inch
with a four-inch pressure on top of if.) From its ap-
pearance it is thought that at some time this well
flowed over its top, and that the ancients put a tunnel
through to draw the water out below. The tunnel has

116 PIONEERING

fallen in, but the water still finds its course out about
fifteen rods, to where it conies out of the bluff. This
water, being of a limestone nature, was used by the
ancients for irrigation purposes. Their ditches can be
traced for a number of miles ; they were used so many
ages that the limewater formed a solid limestone crust
four inches thick on both sides and at the bottom of
the ditch, which is about three feet wide and three feet
deep. The laterals from this ditch can be traced, and
also are lined with limestone. In later years some
geologists examined the ditch and estimated that not
less than a thousand years has elapsed since it had been
used. Mr. Back, the present owner of the property,
has since discovered another ditch, which ran under
this one, and was probably used long before this one
was built. Now, Mr. Back says, if this one ditch is a
thousand years old, how old may the under one be ?

Anyone traveling through Arizona should not fail
to see the Montezuma Well and Castle, and also should
go one mile up the creek to the Soda Springs. These
springs are owned and kept by a family by the name of
Finney, who are my special friends. Among others
they requested me to write this book. Last, but not
least, about one and a half miles from Camp Verde,
west by south, is what is known as the Salt Mine,
though it contains substances other than salt. It is now
being worked by a chemical company. The salt mine

THINGS PREHISTORIC 117

is practically a mountain of solid salt and other ele-
ments. In putting a tunnel into this salt mine at a
depth of 150 feet they found relics of a prehistoric age.
Among them is a well-preserved pair of sandals. I have
handled these sandals and am convinced that whoever
wore them, wherever they came from, or how many
ages ago, he had a perfect foot like a man and not like
a monkey. I have the testimony of those I can depend
upon that the sandals came out of that salt mine at a
depth of 150 feet. Also at a depth of fifty feet in the
salt mine they found the skeleton of a man with a
battle axe sticking through his skull, with the handle
of the axe and everything intact. That skeleton can
now be seen in the Smithsonian Institution, Washing-
ton, D. C. Will some of my readers please tell me
where these people came from, who they were, and
how they got down there ?

On Oak Creek, in a mound called Sugar Loaf, there
is a rock, in which is the deep impression of a large
lion's foot. There are two other layers of rock on top
of that. Now, when was that lion's track made? I
know of only one explanation : These things belong to
a prehistoric era, and they prove the man's existence in
this world before Adam was created. Else what did
the Lord mean when he told Adam and Eve, to " Be
fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth"? And
if the Lord saw fit to destroy the known world and

118 PIONEERING

save Noah, the eighth person preserved in the ark, and
hand down to us a complete history of the facts, is it
not possible that before Adam's time he may have de-
stroyed another world of people and told us nothing
about it? Again, in the first part of the first chapter
of Genesis he says, " In the beginning God created the
heaven and earth. And the earth was without form
and void." Now, when that beginning was, we know
not, but he did say that darkness dwelt upon the face
of the waters and God said, " Let there be light; and
there was light. . . . and God divided the light
from the darkness. And God called the light Day and
the darkness he called Night." Now there was no sun
or moon or stars to govern the day and the night, until
the beginning of the fifth day, and it seems to me un-
reasonable to say that those periods or those days con-
sisted of twenty-four hours each while there was no
sun to govern the day. Yet I believe with all my heart
that we are the offspring of Adam. I believe the story
of the Garden of Eden to be fact and nothing but fact.
Some might consider me an infidel, but I deny the
charge. I believe that true science and God's Word
go hand in hand.

CHAPTER 20
Mining

The mining wealth in Arizona is very great, as is
shown by the enormous output of ore. The geography
of Arizona is responsible for the statement that the
Bisbee mines have an output of $3,000,000 per month ;
that the Jerome or the United Verde mine, which was
owned by the late Senator Clark, has an output of $1,-
000,000, a month and since that statement was made
other producing mines have been developing at a won-
derful rate. Jerome is situated about twenty-five miles
above Camp Verde, and all along, the Black Hill Range
on the west side of the Verde River is highly mineral-
ized.

One day my wife was standing in the front yard
looking up at the hills and said, " Oh, my, if I were
just a man !"

I said, " What would you do ?"

She said, " I would hunt a mine up in those hills."

I had tried to keep out of the mining game, but it was
so tempting, with mineral ledges close by waiting for
somebody to locate and develop them. Now about 5fo
of all the prospectors are successful. In 1901 I got
interested in a claim in Squaw Peak District, Black
Hill Range. Squaw Peak is the exact geographical
center of the state of Arizona.

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120 PIONEERING

A mining company had been organized by some
Brethren and I deeded to them my interest in the claims
for a one-fourth interest in the company. Then, for
the company, I located a group of mines. Some of
them looked very promising and it seemed that with the
proper development there a mine could be made. To
develop a mine successfully it takes money and brains.
This company was named Inglenook. I was sent East
at one time to interest people in the mine, in order that
we might raise money. In selling the stock, I sold
only $5 worth, and that was to a man in Peculiar, Mo.
But I did interest one person who took an interest in
the company. Soon after I came home from the East
I found that what money had been raised had been
used in developing a road instead of a mine. I was very
much dissatisfied with the way my partners were work-
ing the property, and I soon discovered they had no
use for me and I had less for them. Those who held
stock may have seen my name still used on the certifi-
cates, without my knowledge, and I may have been
censured for being connected or helping to dispose of
stock in the company. When I found the foregoing
condition I walked down and out. What profit I ever
got from the company was principally from the ones
who were responsible for putting the company in its
unfortunate condition. I met, not long ago in La
Verne, one poor old sister who is now a widow, whose

MINING 121

husband had invested in the Inglenook mine, and had
supposed at the time that I was still connected with it.
I still believe that if the money had been judiciously
handled, and part of it used to hire some mining en-
gineer's brains, in which I will admit the company, in-
cluding myself, was very much lacking, there might
have been developed a wonderful producing mine. As
it is, I suppose the Inglebrook mine has gone out of
existence, and all the mining claims, about twenty, have
reverted to the government. All who invested in the
mine doubtless lost their money.

Probably some of these promoters may be excepted.
I have refrained from mentioning the names of any
persons connected with the company except my own.
One has gone to his long home; two more I cannot
account for, and it is not my desire to cast any more
reflection on the promoters than is necessary. I believe
that in the beginning their intentions were good. I
hope that my explanation will be satisfactory to all con-
cerned.

While I was interested in the mining company I was
not on the payroll of the Mission Board, but still was
doing some preaching.

I had, while on the mission, the agency of the Ameri-
can Woolen Mills for selling tailor-made clothing. I
would visit the mining camps, take orders for suits and
make appointments for preaching at night. But I

122 PIONEERING

never used my religion or the church as an advertise-
ment to do business. After I got a man's order for a
suit, and had measured him, I told him where I was
going to preach that night and then asked him to come
to church. I never thought it right to use my religion
to further my business transactions. I did this by be-
ing honest and upright in my dealings with my fellow-
men.

I have always been in favor of the religious debate.
I think it is the best way to get the truth before the
public. It shows the difference between truth and
error. I am sorry that it has become so unpopular. I
have held a number of debates at different places. One
I had at Camp Verde, with Dr. Ketcherside, who was
a Campbellite preacher and a good friend of mine, too,
a very honorable and intelligent man. I have promised
in my introduction to say little about the results of my
life's work, but I will state this: I never held a dis-
cussion at any time but that the general public, when
we had concluded, was on my side of the question.
One time in the debate Mr. Ketcherside took the posi-
tion that the Brethren had no baptism at all, from the
fact that their candidate went into the water on his own
accord and then knelt down until two-thirds of his
body was under the water, and that we baptized only
the remaining third, which he claimed was no baptism
at all. I replied that he took his candidate, or rather

MINING 123

that his candidate of his own will went into the water,
until he was halfway immersed, and then he baptized
the remaining half once by backward immersion.
Hence, I said, " you have half a baptism. But admit-
ting that our candidate kneels in the water until he is
two-thirds immersed, it is a fact that we immerse the
other third three times; three times one-third is three
thirds, and three-thirds make a whole. So we have a
whole baptism and you have half of one." When we
started this debate, to show to the crowd that we were
friends, we shook hands and at the close of the debate,
to indicate that we were still friends, we shook hands
again. In holding debates, if any unkind words had
been spoken, and anyone got angry, I always managed
to let it be the other fellow.

CHAPTER 21
Wayside Barroom

One winter, while living on the Verde River, we
thought we would come down to Glendale to spend
part of the winter and be among our friends once more.
After we had started and had been gone probably an
hour, some one sent for me to preach the funeral of
Mr. Horn. Mr. Horn had kept the wayside sa-
loon that I have already mentioned. He was not only
a bartender but he belonged to the Catholic Church.
That is one time I was glad that I was not at home
when a funeral was to be preached.

We had one span of mules and a wagon, one team of
horses and a spring wagon. We stayed with some
friends on Ash Creek the first night, about halfway to
Prescott. That night there came a snowstorm. The
next day our teams being rough shod picked up the
snow in their shoes and made traveling very slow.
Later in the afternoon as we were climbing to a higher
altitude it began to freeze, and the higher we got the
colder it was, until it seemed almost impossible to reach
Prescott that night. Nine P. M. found us four miles
from Prescott, near a wayside saloon, with no houses
in sight excepting the saloon. The thermometer must
have been away below zero. Besides wife and me there

125

126 PIONEERING

were five of our younger children, and all were cold
and chilled through and through. We stopped at the
saloon, warmed up in the barroom and the fire actually
felt good. The bartender turned over his kitchen,
which was a separate building, for wife to cook our
suppers. While she was getting supper, I stayed with
the children in the barroom. We threw our beds down
on the kitchen floor and slept there that night. We
also had our teams well cared for, and when we paid
our bill the next morning, the man was very reasonable.
While we were there he did not offer any of us a drink
or a cigar.

I have fought saloons and been practically an ab-
stainer all my life, but I believe in giving the devil his
just dues. If it had not been for that saloon and that
bartender, some of us might have frozen to death that
night.

When it comes to what might be called charity, even
church people go to the saloonkeepers and the tinhorn
gamblers for donations, and they generally get what
they go after. Usually these folks are more liberal
than some of the church members. (We want here
to except the Church of the Brethren.) There is some
reason for the foregoing statement. First, it is the
good-hearted boys who are liberal, who find it hard to
say "No," that go in or are enticed by that kind of
business. Second, they can afford it, for they general-

WAYSIDE BARROOM 127

ly have plenty of money, and, having taken money
from the people, they may feel under obligations to be
charitable.

I have seen so many big-hearted men in the West,
and especially some of the cowboys, that I have been
moved to say to them, " I am glad that I am not to be
your judge in the last day, for I do not consider you
good enough for heaven and I feel you are too good
for hell : therefore, if I were to be your judge I would
not know where to put you."

CHAPTER 22

To Northern California

In the winter of 1905-6, an extremely rainy winter
for the Verde Valley, I took a deep cold and bronchitis,
which I contracted back in the Ozarks when I was
hauling ties, returned with severity. It seemed that
every time I had it it was worse than before. We had
always supposed that it was nothing more than bron-
chitis, yet at times we almost felt that it was a worse
malady.

So in the spring of 1906, because of my health, we
moved to Butte County, Calif., close to Bangor. On
our way to Bangor we stopped for a little while in
Imperial Valley, Calif., where I did some preaching.
While I was there I recruited in health a great deal,
probably from getting out of the damp weather into a
dry atmosphere.

Bangor is situated in the foothills of the Sierra
Nevada Mountains. Originally the region was all tim-
ber, but it was cut over in an early day. About one-
tenth of the land could be cultivated. All kinds of
fruit could be raised. We found a small congregation
of believers of like precious faith, with two ministers,
Bro. Benson Myers and Bro. M. Andrews. While there
Bro. Andrews was ordained to the full ministry by
Bro. Crist Holsinger and myself. Bro. Myers was ad-

129

130 PIONEERING

vanced to the second degree of the ministry. Bro. A.
J. Peebler and wife, who were holding the fort in
Chico, about thirty miles from Bangor, still kept their
membership in the church at Bangor, which was known
as the Fruitdale church. Later Chico was organized
into a separate body.

Bro. Crist Holsinger and myself had been authorized
by the elders of the District to go down to Princeton,
on the Sacramento River, forty miles west, where a
band of believers had recently settled, to organize them
into a separate congregation. But Bro. Crist had held
a series of meetings in the Fruitdale church. After get-
ting through, and feeling indisposed, he appointed Bro.
Andrews to take his place, and he returned home to
Laton, Calif. Bro. Andrews and myself went to
Princeton and effected the organization. I was elected
their elder and had oversight of the church as long as I
lived in that part of the state.

During our sojourn in Northern California, Cali-
fornia was divided into two Districts, Northern and
Southern California. This was done at a District
Meeting held in the Oak Grove church, near Laton.

The first District Meeting of Northern California
was held in Reedley. I was chosen moderator of the
meeting. The next year the District Meeting was held
in the Fruitdale church, near Bangor. Bro. Harvey
Ikenberry moderated and I was elected to serve on the
Standing Committee, with Bro. Ikenberry as alternate.

CHAPTER 23

To Imperial Valley

During the winter of 1907-8 it rained almost con-
tinually and I caught another severe cold, which settled
on my lungs, and my old complaint developed twofold,
until it seemed that I was in a dangerous condition.
Bro. Willie of Holtville, Imperial County, Calif., wrote
me to come down to his place, where it was warm and
dry. Soon after I reached there my cold loosened, but
I was left in a very weak condition. A little later my
daughter Maggie and husband and little Orpha took
me to a hospital in El Centro, to have my lungs tested
for tuberculosis. The doctor put my sputum in an in-
cubator, and in twenty-four hours I was to return and
learn what he thought was the matter with me. When
I came back the next day, the verdict was " T. B." I
said, " Doctor, I certainly must have developed T. B.
recently."

However, by the quantity of germs which he found,
he said I must have contracted it a good many years
before. Now in the place of improving I seemed to be
getting worse and worse, until Bro. Willie, unknown to
me, sent for my wife. He did not let me know any-
thing about this until she was in Holtville, eight miles
away, and then he came and said, " Charley, what do
you think about sending for Rachel ?"

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132 PIONEERING

I said, " No. In our financial condition we cannot
afford it. We are in debt, down and out, and have no
means."

A few minutes afterwards he came to my room and
said, " Charley, I have already sent for her," and pres-
ently he came again and said, " She is on the road,"
and again he came in and told me, " She is now in
Holtville." When she came (it was after dark) I was
so low that it was quite awhile before they dared to let
her see me.

Some days later they summoned the children, who
were still at home, to come down if they wanted to see
me alive. This was also unknown to me. We were al-
ready owing a store bill of over one hundred dollars
to Allen Brothers, Bangor merchants. These same
brothers loaned the money to my children, in addition
to what we already owed them, to permit them to come
to Holtville to see their father.

I continued to grow worse. At one time they did not
think I could live twenty-four hours. Bro. Peter
Forney of Glendale, Ariz., visited me, and while there
Bro. Willie Piatt, who had charge of the mission at El
Centra, came over. Bro. Peter and Bro. Piatt anointed
me. I told them, " Brethren, don't pray for me to get
well unless it is the Lord's will. I would rather die
than to live, unless the Lord has something for me still
to do."

TO IMPERIAL VALLEY 133

Well, I commenced to get better. I had notified the
treasurer of the District of Northern California, and
also Bro. Harvey Ikenberry, my alternate to the An-
nual Meeting, that it would be impossible for me to
represent on the Standing Committee, and he would
have to take my place. But I was improving remarka-
bly fast.

The next fall a good brother paid the fare for my-,
self and wife to attend the District Meeting of North-
ern California, which was held in the Oak Grove
church, near Laton. While I was there the members
told me that all the time during my critical illness the
whole District was praying for my recovery. It does
seem that when we comply with the Scripture — the
anointing — when the one anointed and those officiating
are in harmony with each other and with the great God
of the universe, and a whole church District likewise
is in harmony, pleading for the one thing, namely the
recovery of the one anointed, it is almost impossible for
one to die.

I now weigh twenty-five pounds more than I did
before I had the T. B. I have ever since sympathized
with those who are afflicted as I was. If I had the
funds, or enough influence over some one who has
funds, I should certainly start a T. B. sanatorium. (I
know of some wonderfully good places for such insti-
tutions.) I have seen so many tubercular patients who

134 PIONEERING

came out West, ran short of funds, and had so little
care that it was impossible for them to recover, and
some of them died without friends or money. Now,
what I would like would be a sanatorium conducted on
what I would call a gospel plan, letting those pay who
are able to, or rather charge them according to their
financial ability ; those having no funds to receive as
good attention as those who have. I would also have
some good, loyal brother for superintendent. I should
want to give the patients the following recipe; viz.,
" Get in harmony with nature and nature's God," which
I believe would be the first principle of a cure. Any-
way, if it did not cure them and they passed over to
the other side, they would still be in a safe condition
and probably better off than if they had recovered.

This probably would not be a money-making propo-
sition. It does seem very hard, though, for many of
our people to invest a dollar unless they expect to pick
up two dollars in its place. But I would like to leave
this impression on the minds of all our readers, that
there is something in this life worth working for, above
dollars and cents.

I have always taught in my ministerial career that
our helping to save somebody else was a part of the
conditions of our own salvation. Of all the miracles in
the New Testament, these two appeal to my own mind
the most prominently ; viz., the two where once Christ

TO IMPERIAL VALLEY 135

fed the multitudes, broke the bread, blessed it, and
passed it on. In turn they broke to one another, and
when they were through the fragments gathered up
were more than they had commenced with. When we
break the Bread of Life to our fellow-man, or rather
pass out our religion to the other fellow, we have more
religion remaining than when we gave it out. The more
blessings we give, the more we receive.

While we were in Imperial Valley the church at El
Centro was organized, with W. M. Piatt as elder. The
church then consisted of members in the Holtville Dis-
trict, about twenty miles from El Centro. Later the
church was organized in the Holtville District and I
had charge of the same. Bro. Quinter Calvert after-
wards moved into our midst and assisted in the work
about two years.

CHAPTER 24

Back to Arizona

In the spring of 1915 we moved to Benson, Cochise
County, Ariz. I did some preaching, but never could
rally enough members to effect an organization. We
also held meetings at Elgin, Santa Cruz County, where
there were a few members.

After we had got into war with Germany my
troubles there began. First, I was called on to make a
speech at a big war rally. I had to inform the com-
mittee that called on me that we, as a church, were op-
posed to war in any way, shape or form, and that, if I
should make a speech on that occasion, it would proba-
bly bring the wrath of the community upon me. So
my presence was not needed, much less my speech.

During the war I was in Camp Cody, looking after
the interests of some of our brethren. There I found
a certain preacher, with whom I was well acquainted,
preaching in the camp. The judge advocate had him
take me to the officer's headquarters, feed me and give
me a place to sleep as long as I wanted to stay. He
treated me very courteously, but I will have something
more about this preacher later.

The banker in Benson, and others, insisted that I
should buy bonds, and when it came to a show down

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138 PIONEERING

I simply had to tell them, " No, I might just as well
fight, myself, as to furnish money to carry on the war
for some one else to do the fighting for me." Of
course I raised the indignation of my fellow-citizens.
On the start they were my friends, and seemed to be as
much opposed to the war as I was, but when they
found it might hurt their business, they changed their
minds, and in place of being my friends they became
my foes. Anonymous letters were written to me. I
was bawled out in public speeches, and in fact they
dealt to me as much misery as seemed possible, with
the exception of using the rope. The government sent
a man to see me and to ask me whether reports made
to the government were correct or not. The first thing
he asked me was, " Have you been to Camp Cody
lately?"

I told him, " Yes."

" What was your business ?" I told him. Then he
asked me, " Did you ever buy or take flour from a cer-
tain store without buying a substitute ?"

I told him " Yes," and gave him the reason I
bought it and whom it was for.

A family consisting of a man and wife and several
children were camping close to us, and the man was
an invalid. They had nothing to eat in their camp but
beans. My daughter Flora and I went over to Benson,
took up a " pony purse," went to the store and bought

BACK TO ARIZONA 139

substitutes, but not all. I thought it was necessary that
that family have some flour, and when I did not have
enough money to pay for flour and substitutes, I asked
them where the flour was, and I threw down the price
of the flour and helped myself. I said to the officer,

" Sir, whoever reported this to you knows where
that flour went and its purpose. They know I have an
order from the food administrator of Arizona, author-
izing the merchants to sell me my pro rata of flour, for
I own a cornmeal mill and make my own substitutes."

Second, he asked, " Did you ever say this was a
money war?" I told him "Yes." He asked then,
" Have you changed your mind ?" and I told him, " I
have no reason to change !"

He next asked me, " Have you refused to preach
under the U. S. flag?"

I told him, " No, and the people of Benson have
heard me preach under the flag time and again. That
flag is my flag and I am an American first and last. I
belong to a church which has been on record for 200
years or more, whose principles, according to the Bible,
are opposed to the taking of the life of a fellow-man.
I have always preached peace in time of peace and I
am still preaching peace in time of war."

The officer then treated me like a gentleman. He
shook hands with me and bade me good-bye.

The next day or two I went into the bank to transact

140 PIONEERING

some business, and Mr. Smith, the cashier of the bank,
ordered me out of the place. I said,

" Sir, I came in here to get a settlement, and when I
have a settlement I will certainly leave your bank and
not until then, and I will never darken your door
again."

He then told me,

" You're a pro-German and you've been down to
Camp Cody trying to get the soldiers to quit the army
and go back to their farms and other businesses."

I said, " Smith, whoever told you that told you a
lie."

But he said, " Parson so-and-so told me and he did
not lie."

I said, " Smith, I don't believe he ever told you."

But I found out afterwards that he actually did.
Later he came down to Glendale and told Bro. Ronk,
the Brethren pastor at Glendale, the same thing. But
Smith kept on abusing me. Finally I squared up to
him and said,

" I am a better American than you ever were. You
are a gentleman every inch above your head, and one
of three things I want you to do. Either raise a mob
and hang me by the neck until I am dead, or have me
prosecuted according to law, or keep your old mouth
shut. Which will you do?"

He said " Neither," and for once he kept his word.

BACK TO ARIZONA 141

Now, some may think that I should apologize to
Smith for disputing his word about what the preacher
had told, but after the abuse he gave me I don't feel
that I need to give him any apology.

I never thought I was a coward, but we began to
think the best place to live during the awful war would
be in a congregation of Brethren. So we came back
to Glendale, where the Brethren during that awful con-
flict were treated with profound respect.

CHAPTER 25

Our Trip East

In the spring of 1924 wife and myself went to Cali-
fornia to see the children. We were over the line into
Mexico, home again, rested for a few days, and on
May 8, 1924, with our granddaughter, Orpha Statler,
started for the Annual Meeting at Hershey, Pa. On
our route we stopped at Friend, Kans., and visited
wife's brother, Floyd Kuns, who later passed away.
From there we went to Crestline, Kans., where we vis-
ited with her sister, Flora Hutchison, and her children,
whom we had not seen for thirty-eight years. Our
next stop was at Waynesville, Mo., in the Ozark
Mountains, where we had labored thirty years previ-
ously. The church had been disorganized and the meet-
inghouse torn down. We found a good many old
neighbors and friends, who gave us a royal welcome.
At the old schoolhouse, close to where the church had
stood, an appointment was made for me to preach at
3 P. M., the other time being taken by other people.
We had a splendid crowd. The house and yard were
full of people; not only the country folks, but people
from Waynesville, including one lawyer and the
Methodist preacher. The lawyer shook hands with me
and left a ten-dollar bill in my hand. The preacher in-

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144 PIONEERING

sisted that I should fill his pulpit in Waynesville that
night, which I did. From there we crossed the river
at St. Louis, Mo. ; on to Ada, Ohio, where we visited
friends by the name of Long; also filled the appoint-
ment for Bro. Guthrie at the County Line church.

We had only one accident on the road. About ten
miles east of Pittsburgh we bumped into another ma-
chine, hurt my wife, damaged my car, and injured a
little boy who was riding in the other machine.

After having my wife patched up and the machine re-
paired, we went on to Hershey, minus forty dollars. We
attended the Annual Meeting, and went to Gettysburg.
There I met Bro. Lightner, who showed us over the
battlefield and had me fill the pulpit on Sunday. We
returned to Hershey, went to Atlantic City, N. J., and
followed the coast to New York. From there we
crossed to Niagara Falls, then over to the Canadian
side, followed the river up the Canadian side to Buffa-
lo, where we crossed over in a ferryboat; thence to
Cleveland, then to Kirtland, Ohio, where we viewed
the old and first Mormon Temple. Then we proceeded
to Mt. Vernon, Ohio, where Orpha visited a cousin;
then back to Ada, Ohio, thence on to Pioneer, Ohio,
where we found some cousins on my father's side,
whom I hadn't seen since I was three years old and
had not heard of for forty-seven years. We had a
royal welcome. In this place was a congregation of

OUR TRIP EAST 145

Brethren some of whom when they found out that a
Dunkard preacher was visiting Bill Gillett, my cousin,
called on me and I was invited to fill their pulpit on
Sunday, which I did to the best of my ability.

From Pioneer we went to Schoolcraft, Mich., the
place where I was born, and where I lived until I was
11 years old. We visited some of my cousins whom I
hadn't even heard of for a long time, and called on a
few of my old schoolmates. We found four of them
living, and two of them have since passed away. From
Schoolcraft we journeyed to Monon, Ind., where wife
had an aunt still living, who was then 79 years old.
After visiting her we went to Climbers Station, where
my wife lived until she was 14 years old. She found
quite a lot of her old schoolmates. Also we visited
David Flora and visited at the grave of my wife's
Grandmother Kuns. From there we went back to
Monon and then on to Keokuk, Iowa. We had stopped
at Carthage, 111., long enough to look at the old jail
where Joseph and Hiram Smith were assassinated. At
Keokuk Orpha visited another cousin. From there we
proceeded to Henry County, Mo., where I had finished
growing up, and where I had attended school and first
met that black-eyed girl whom I have already men-
tioned in the forepart of this book. Pretty nearly all
the old folks had passed over, but a good many of the
younger ones of our age, and younger still, remem-

146 PIONEERING

bered me, and gave us a wonderful time. They ap-
pointed a meeting for us and had us preach two times.
We visited the old graveyard where wife's and my par-
ents and sisters are buried. We found the tombstones
fallen over and in bad shape. In adjusting one of the
heavy sandstone bases of father's tombstone, it was
necessary to use something to pry it out of the ground.
I went to my car and got a piece of rail which I had
brought from Michigan, which my father had split be-
fore the war of the rebellion. I took that piece and
used it to pry up the base. While there we had to see
to the moving of the remains of Mother Kuns, who
was buried on the wrong lot a long time after we had
left there. We reburied her by the side of Father
Kuns. We went to Clinton and ordered a tombstone
for each of them. From Henry County we returned
to Crestline, Kans., and visited wife's sister again.
From there we went to Garden City, where Bro.
Floyd's widowed wife lived, Bro. Floyd having passed
since we were there. Our next stop was at Wawaka,
Tex., where lived some of the Stumps with whom we
had been closely associated back in the Ozark Moun-
tains of Missouri. We preached three or four times
and from there went back home, having been gone
from home four months and been in eighteen states
and three nations.

Some of my readers may think that we were pretty

OUR TRIP EAST 147

well fixed, financially, in order to take such a trip, but
the fact is that one son had made us a present of a new
Ford car, and with the balance helping we were fur-
nished expenses for the trip. Financially, I am like the
negro since I came to Arizona. The negro said he had
held his own, for he started with nothing and hadn't
got anything yet.

In the spring of 1925, having corresponded with the
Brethren at Wawaka, Tex., it was agreed that wife
and I should go over there and spend the summer,
helping in the church work, as they had no minister in
their midst nor close to them. I was to receive my
actual expenses from the time I left home until I got
back. On our way over on the White Pine Mountain
I became suddenly very ill with pains in my stomach,
until traveling was burdensome and we were longer on
the way than I expected. We stopped at Clovis, N.
M., with Bro. Fager and I was very ill while there. I
was anointed by Brethren Smith and Fager. Bro.
Fager drove the car for me over to Wawaka and came
back on the train. When I got to Bro. D. B. Stump's
I was more alive than dead, but a very sick man. Bro.
Stump sent for a physician. When he had examined
me he said I had a cancer of the stomach, and told
my wife to take me home ; that I would never be able to
preach another sermon. But in a short time I was able
to preach, and if I had a cancer there was a miracle

148 PIONEERING

performed, because I got well. I preached every Sun-
day two or three times and during that time conducted
three series of meetings, one at Huntoon, one at Wa-
waka and one at Griggs, Okla., where lived the Bur-
rows with whom we had been associated back in the
Ozarks. After the summer's work and the cold
weather had set in we went back home to Glendale.
By urgent request we returned to Wawaka the next
spring. But this time it was wife's turn to get sick.
She took very ill Aug. 2 with what might be termed
nervous prostration. The work at Wawaka was too
straining on her nerves. The membership was scat-
tered over a radius of thirty-five miles, and to travel
around seeing the members, holding Bible classes, and
helping in Vacation Bible School proved too much for
her.

When our children heard that mother was sick, three
of them, with their companions, came to see us, and
took mother on the train. I followed with the rest in
our cars and arrived home a few days later. Mother, no
worse for the trip, had commenced to get better.

Now the Brethren at Wawaka made good their part
of the contract and some besides. Oh, how I did hate
to leave them, and especially under the conditions. Bro.
C. H. Brown is with them now, and I understand is
doing a good work.

CHAPTER 26

The Golden Wedding Day

(View of a Friend — Eld. Walter Swihart)

A half century is a goodly span for any two to be
associated in any affair, but for two to be united in
the bond of holy matrimony with never a difference to
mar or jar its sanctity, is very unusual. The union of
Bro. Charley and Sister Rachel, so unostentatiously
entered into fifty years ago, is still unmarred and un-
broken. In looking over our brother's Memoirs you will
readily observe that the voyage, however, has been par-
ticularly easy, flowery, placid, or salubrious; but, on
the contrary, has had many ups and downs. It has
been fraught with many changes. Sickness, poverty,
trials, oppositions, and misrepresentations on the one
side; and spirituality, power, prowess, fidelity, affa-
bility, and faith on the other were so mixed and blended
in their journey that their rounded-out-age is a real
triumph. It seems fitting that the two should now, in
the quiet of old age, have the pleasure of sitting peace-
fully in each other's embrace while the vesper chimes
ring out the fading day.

On July 25, 1927, they enjoyed their Golden Wed-
ding Anniversary. Their ten children, with their com-
panions and families, assembled with them to make it

149

150 PIONEERING

a happy event. Fifty-six descendants marked the steps
made from the like date of 1877. Many other rela-
tives, besides friends and acquaintances, met with them
at their Glendale home. The two, wearing the marks
of long and keen struggles, sat in their easy chairs
under the shadow of their own " vine and fig tree,"
happy in the affluence of love tendered them by their
own and others. True, they were depressed by the
weight of days, yet the fire of the past still glowed in
their well-preserved tabernacles of clay.

In keeping with Job 1 : 5, Bro. D. D. Thomas made a
sincere appeal to the God of the universe for guidance
and direction throughout the day's varied features.

A program, rendered by the various members of the
immediate family — songs, readings, poems, talks, and
musical numbers — with hearty good cheer was fitting-
ly suggestive of the diversity of talent transmitted to
the future. At noon the tables, groaning with lavish
richness and a superabundance of good things, amply
satisfied every comer, whatever his station or age. If
any went away with his wants unsatisfied, I cannot
conceive of a means of accomplishing it. It must be
especially cited that Willie Beaty — an old range cook,
who has asserted from forty years' experience his abili-
ty to bring out the acme of flavor — demonstrated to a
finish his art in a wonderful " pot roast."

Friends remembered the two with many tokens of

THE GOLDEN WEDDING DAY 151

respect. Among the gifts made was $200 in gold
coins.

As the day closed a blessing was expressed, extolling
the patriarchal joys of a gray-haired father and mother
surrounded by a numerous family. It was not that
they had evaded their duties; not that they had side-
tracked the cares and worries of child-rearing; but
that they had nobly shouldered the responsibilities of
fostering a halfscore of children who are able-bodied,
courageous, progressive, law-abiding citizens, and who
attest the thought fulness of this statement by their
abiding love and confidence in the boy and girl who
dared to set this mighty force in action.

CHAPTER 27
The Golden Wedding Anniversary

View by Two of the Daughters, Addie and Rachel

The day had long been planned ; with great antici-
pation each regarded it. The entire family, including
uncles, aunts, and cousins on " both sides of the house,"
and numberless friends, had been looking forward to it
with much joy for years. Even the youngest grand-
child knew of it and wished for the day to come. Busi-
ness obligations and all other duties that detain people
at home had been arranged, so that nothing would mar
the celebration of father and mother's Golden Wedding
Anniversary on July 25, 1927. For years father had
been inviting people to attend. Often in his sermons
he would speak of the great pleasure he expected on
this occasion — his fiftieth wedding anniversary and
family reunion. After requesting the audience to be
present, an analogy was then made to the grand re-
union in heaven, to which Christ had asked " Whoso-
ever will " to come and enjoy the marriage feast ;
where there will be no partings, nor death, and God
will wipe away all tears.

" This," he added, " is infinitely more worthy of
efforts to attend than any earthly gathering."

Thus friends from the Pacific to the Atlantic had

153

154 PIONEERING

been invited to join him on his golden wedding day.
This was the way father did everything; when he had
a pleasure or a blessing he got the most out of it only
when he shared it with all of his friends. Of course,
many from the far distance could not come, but they
sent word by letters and telegrams by the score that
they were with the celebrants in spirit. Even Governor
G. W. P. Hunt sent his regrets.

As time rolled by and the 25th was close at hand, it
found father in such ill health that all hoped and
prayed God would see fit to spare him for " that day,"
at least. The inspiration he got by helping plan for it
was one great factor in reviving his desire to live, giv-
ing him a new lease on life.

According to plans, the reunion was held in Glen-
dale, Ariz. It was a hot month, but Providence blessed
the occasion with a light rain on the 24th, and on the
25th a cool breeze blew most all day. The four daugh-
ters and one son, who resided in Glendale vicinity, with
their families, made arrangements for shade, cool
drinking water, and seats for the guests. The menu
was planned, the pies and ice cream being ordered from
Phoenix, to cause as little work and confusion as pos-
sible, but still give a satisfied feeling.

On the 24th folks commenced to arrive by auto —
there were four sons and one daughter and other rela-
tives coming from California. Then it began to get

VIEW BY TWO OF THE DAUGHTERS 155

exciting. Dad stationed himself at the telephone to
keep the " near-bys " informed. First, it was " The
sheriff and his wife are here." Later came " Bertha,
sister, and some others." Then " Mercy ! Mercy ! I
just can't keep track any longer; come see for your-
selves!" Of the thirty living grandchildren, three did
not come; the one great-grandchild, to the disappoint-
ment of all, was not present ; also one granddaughter-
in-law and one grandson-in-law ; otherwise the circle
was complete. Father's only brother, W. F. Gillett,
and wife, came from California. Mother's sister, Mol-
lie Coffelt, and family, a brother, G. W. Kuns, and a
nephew, Wallace Harbstreet, were there. The latter
came from Kansas City.

The morning of the 25th was filled with last-minute
preparations, mixed with family jokes and stories. By
10 o'clock the friends were gathering. They were
seated under an improvised arbor on the lawn, facing
the front of the house, where, under a rose-covered
pergola, sat the bride and groom of fifty years. Though
aged by time they were lovers still. No groom was
ever more attentive to his bride! As they sat thus,
facing the audience, they saw their ten children en-
semble fnr thg second time! What floods of recollec-
tions must have crowded their memories that day !

The oldest son, George Franklin, was chosen master
of ceremonies. The morning exercises started with

156 PIONEERING

father leading in, " There's a land that is fairer than
day." Then prayer, led by Eld. D. D. Thomas. George
then introduced the man full of years and honor, his
father. He stood, looked at each, and smilingly said,
" You're as welcome as the flowers in May, and we
love you in the same old way." His speech was short,
and in conclusion he reminded them of the heavenly
reunion and hoped that all would meet again, " Over
there." Then he introduced his lifelong companion
with an incident of their school days, in which he had
won a chromo as a prize for good attendance, knowing
that a little black-eyed girl would have won it, had she
not stayed at home to care for a sick mother. He told
his teacher he thought Rachel deserved the card more
than he did. It must be remembered that in those days
picture cards were scarce, hence more appreciated than
now. The teacher approved, and " Rachel Kuns " was
written under his name on the back of the card. " But,"
he added, with a merry twinkle in his eye, " I later won
the girl, and got the card, too! She will now say a
few words."

Mother's speech, too, was short. She praised her
children as only a mother can, forgetting the pain, the
toil, the midnight oil, the worry ; remembering only the
joy, concluding her remarks with, " No matter what
they say, children do pay for themselves, and are worth
more than double their cost."

VIEW BY TWO OF THE DAUGHTERS 157

W. F. Gillett, father's brother, made a short talk.
Then all the ten children, now fathers and mothers,
with their own families, were summoned chronological-
ly to the front and introduced to the crowd.

This was an amusing affair, as George made com-
ments both true and otherwise. Each was glad when
it was the other's turn to come.

The noon hour arrived only too soon. There was an
intermission for lunch. The people were invited to
pass through the rear of the house and help themselves
to the eats, which were served cafeteria style.

After dinner pictures were taken of relatives and
the immediate family. Then the program was resumed ;
fitting songs and readings were given by children and
grandchildren. At the close of the program father
called to the attention of the audience, the grand re-
union " Over there," hoping that all would be present.
The Lord's prayer was prayed by all. A period of
visiting and real old-time family reunion followed.
They gathered in groups and the groups were ever
changing. Some were telling old tales; others were
relating new ; snapshots were being taken of various
ones; the younger ones were playing games. Time
flew ! Darkness began to fall. The day was ending all
too soon. None came prepared to stay for any length
of time, and now the circle was being broken ; by first
one, then another departing, each returning to his own

158 PIONEERING

home. The aged bridal couple left shortly, accom-
panied by the groom's brother and wife, for a trip to
Grand Canyon. When all had gone the old home was
so desolate ! but each carried away a memory like unto
a heavenly vision of a most perfect day.

CHAPTER 28
Reunion Day

Just now I seem to remember

Of times both past and blest,
When I was home with mother

With dad and all the rest.
How much they worked for us

They will never, never say ;
It took them both to keep fires bright

And scare the wolf away.

Their home was blest with children,

And each received a family seat.
Oh, no, not one too many,

I've heard them oft repeat.
Their hearth was freely given

To other children left alone,
And warmth and food and shelter

Were divided in our home.

A picture of each brother, sister

Comes plainly to my mind
As I sit and ponder over

The life that's left behind.
From the oldest to the youngest

They have all had their place,
And now we're glad once more

To look each other in the face.

The first that I remember,

My brother George's fate,
Mother was leaning on his arm

159

160 PIONEERING

Walking through a gate.
He was a soldier boy,

Who sought to win his fame
By fighting for his country

In the Spanish war by name.
Of all the rest the family

He was the last for me to know,
But he gave of his dear self

That I to school might go.

Now " High-law " Charley

Is next to come in view,
He was to manhood grown

When dolls were all I knew.
I remember on his wedding day

I thought him big and grand,
And his wife, the fairest lady

That e'er graced the Verde Land.
Then later with their children

I used to play with Joy,
For Oma was my baby

And Harold was my boy.

I have a second mother

Who is to me most dear;
She is my sister Maggie,

The best the world could rear.
She used to teach me by the hour

The words I ought to say,
And give me cake and pie for dolly.

And never say me nay.
She, too, now is older,

But a second mother still,
And I love her, loved her always

And I always, always will.

REUNION DAY 161

With Roy two years I went to school.

He'd comb my hair and wash my face,
And said the color of my hair

Was like taffy he pulled with Grace.
When my hair he was combing,

And he saw no one was near,
He'd lean over quickly

And whisper in my ear :
" Make it known all over school

This work that I can do,
Then the girls will smile on me

Ethel, Edna, Bess, and Sue."

When Ola was a lad at home

His never-ceasing fun
Was tugging at his sleds

Or riding horses on the run.
On the grass once he was thrown

To the rest the sight was rare,
For he moaned and cried aloud,

" The horse, he did not do it fair."
Then when in his early teens

He tried with girls to go,
Until he stopped playing with his sleds,

Mother said, " No, my son, no, no."

I think it very fitting

To pause a moment here
In memory of the little one

Who was to us so dear.
Although she lived but two short years,

I know 'twas not in vain,
For all are drawn to a higher sphere

Whene'er we hear her name.

162 PIONEERING

A carefree child was Flora,

And always had her fun ;
She used to think of pranks to play

And tried them out on anyone.
When any of our neighbors

I used to go to see,
I wanted her to go along

To talk to them for me.
In the suit case of a stranger

She dared one time to peep ;
She tasted of a bottle there

That made her laugh and weep.
The way she acted was so funny

Mother thought that she was ill,
But Flora knew the reason

And kept very, very still.

With Floyd I used to romp the hills

And go wading in the brook.
The birds, the bees, and flowers

We found in every nook.
But such a restless wiggling fellow

He always was in school,
I never felt exactly safe

Lest he should break some rule.
But when from out the library

A book he would take,
I could safely settle down

For he would then no trouble make.

With Addie, too, we used to play,
It was then our great delight

To play hide and seek
In the dark without a light.

REUNION DAY 163

"Right up there, O brother Floyd,"

She called, " I see your laughing face."
Then how we laughed in fun and glee,

For he was in another place.
In youth she was my comrade

And years no change unfurls,
For we are just as chummy

As when we were little girls.

The last but not the least

Of all our wondrous tribe,
Is our little baby Elva,

Who always tried our dad to bribe.
She knew just how to do

To get the things she wanted.
She'd comb his hair and braid his beard

Then tell a joke that she had hunted.
Knowing then that she had conquered.

While laughing, he would say,
" What is it now my little daughter,

What do you want today?"

No not one too many

They will always, always say,
And kneeling 'round the family altar

I've so often heard them pray
That God would bless their children,

And lead their steps aright,
That in the great hereafter

They'd be with the Lamb, the Light.
Now we have had a glad reunion.

On their Golden Wedding Day ;
May God bless and keep them

And with us much longer stay ;

164 PIONEERING

But when life here is over,

God grant that near thy throne
They may stand together waiting
To welcome each child home.

Rachel E. Gillett Young,
Glendale, Ariz.

This poem was written for the occasion, and was read
by the author at the reunion.

CHAPTER 29
Father's Seventieth Birthday

When an inspiration's ready

It isn't best to wait ;
And put it off and put it off

To another time and date.

I had an inspiration to write

To my dear old dad ;
To tell him that I love him

And to say that I am glad

I am among the destined number

To be his baby girl;
To have him pull my baby teeth

Before I could say " Squirrel,"

So I could bring his glasses
And untie his knotted shoes;

And bring him drinks of water —
I'm glad it wasn't booze.

To run his little errands,

Though sometimes I made a row,
When I had to attend the horses

Or ride the sulky plow.

Now, sometimes I wonder
Since I'm a woman grown ;

And have a little household
And a baby of my own,

165

166 PIONEERING

Why I sometimes would tarry
And take my time and play,

When you were in a hurry
And wanted it right away.

I'm sure I meant to get it done

And not to disobey ;
I always meant to do i'

But still I loved to play.

I didn't aim, I'm sure of that,
To be willful, mean and bad;

I wanted sure to do the right
For how I loved my dad I

It wasn't at all the lack of love,
That I'm sure and know;

It was that childlike Nature
To do things wrong and slow.

Some day my little daughter
Will surely do the same ;

I hope I'll remember
And not give her too much blame.

I know you love me, dear old dad,
Though I don't always do

All the things been taught and
Preached to me by you.

But this one thing will always stick,

I do it day by day,
I cannot let a day go by

But I take time to pray.

FATHER'S SEVENTIETH BIRTHDAY 167

Now my prayer is always thus;

" Father, calm our petty fears,
And let my daddy have good health

For many, many years.

" Let him keep on doing his good work,

Just being our good dad;
We need him, always need him,

To scold us when we're bad.

" But I pray, dear God, when the time

Is ripe we'll all meet in heaven ;
And there'll be room for everyone
Even number eleven. Amen."

From Your Superlative Friend,

Elva Etta Schrock.

CHAPTER 30
Sermon on Baptism

" Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost" (Matt. 28: 19), or "into the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost " (Revised
Version).

This command comes from the Savior when he was
in possession of the combined power of heaven and
earth (Matt. 28:18). And now there is more im-
portance attached to the ordinance of baptism than is
generally supposed by the masses ; so much importance
that there can not be found a promise of salvation to
believers that will reach down to us unless we comply
with the above command. But the promise is to them
that believe and are baptized. (See Mark 16: 16, John
3 : 5, Acts 2 : 38, Titus 3 : 5, 1 Peter 3 : 20, 21.) Now,
with so much importance attached to the ordinance as
the Gospel seems to give to it, we as poor, weak fol-
lowers of the Lamb can not be too careful how and to
whom we administer the ordinance. In this sermon we
want to consult three witnesses: First, the Gospel,
which is infallible; second, common sense; and third,
the early church fathers.

First. Baptism is not an old Jewish rite as some
claim. The first time in the Scriptures that the word

169

170 PIONEERING

is used is Matt. 3:6. It does seem that if the ordi-
nance were an old one the translators would have used
the word at least once in the Old Testament, but as it
seems to be a new rite under the Gospel Dispensation,
and as Christ is the Author of eternal salvation to all
them that obey him, we will go to Christ and those who
were eyewitnesses to his majesty and glory. Now,
Christ says, " The law and the prophets were until
John : since that time the kingdom of God is preached,
and every man presseth into it " (Luke 16: 16). John
the Baptist was the forerunner of Christ, and he taught
baptism for the remission of sins (Mark 1:4). Peter
taught the same thing (Acts 2 : 38), and it is plainly in-
timated by Ananias (Acts 22: 16). What man would
dare to change the design of the ordinance?

That Christ's blood was shed for the remission of
sins (Matt. 26: 28) is true and must not be overlooked.
In order that we may place ourselves in the reach of
mercy, or that we who have come to the years of ac-
countability may claim the blood of Christ, and through
the blood be made free from past sins, we must be
baptized for the remission of sins.

As Christ has done his part we are required to do
our part. And to reach his blood in baptism we, of
necessity, must be baptized into his death, not burial,
while he had blood in his body. While Christ was on
the cross he paid the original debt, the Adamic sin ; so

SERMON ON BAPTISM 171

we do not have to baptize children for the remission of
sins. They are all right ; they are not sinners. Hence,
infant baptism is useless. But we who have become
sinners by our actual transgressions must be baptized
into his death while he still had blood in his body.
Paul says, " We are buried with him by baptism into
death " (Rom. 6:4), not into burial.

And again he says, "If we have been planted to-
gether in the likeness of his death " (Rom. 6:5). Now,
how did Christ die? He bowed his head and gave up
the ghost, and after the soldiers had pierced his side
there came out blood and water. So it must be that
we should reverently bow in baptism in likeness of
Christ's death, while we can still reach his blood which
was shed for the remission of sins. But if we baptize
in the likeness of his burial we cannot reach his blood,
for he had no blood in him. He was a dead Savior.
Backward baptism is contrary both to reason and reve-
lation, for every command of God requires forward
action. There is no exception. Then let us bow un-
der the mighty hand of God, and be submissive to his
Word, and be baptized in the likeness of Christ's death.

" Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Ghost." The verb " baptize "
is not properly an English word, but is taken from the
Greek word baptiso and transferred to the English. I
believe this is admitted by all scholars. Then, to un-

172 PIONEERING

derstand what it means we will go where the ordinance
was first administered and see how it was observed, as
nearly as possible. We find that John was the first ad-
ministrator, baptizing in Jordan (Matt. 8:38). But
objections are raised, that John the Baptist baptized
with water, and to baptize with water the water must be
applied to the candidate, which at first looks reasonable.
But when we investigate, we find that it does not mili-
tate against immersion. For example, you have raised a
crop of wheat. If you were asked how you threshed
your wheat, you say with a machine. Now, did you
have to put the machine on the wheat? No, you put
the wheat into the machine and still you threshed with
a machine. So we can baptize with water and put the
applicant into the water just as well as you can thresh
with a machine and put the grain into the machine. So
you see that does not militate against immersion.

And another objection is raised on account of the
scarcity of water. A geographical outline of the coun-
try is given, which seems to indicate that water was
scarce, or had too rapid a current, or the Jordan was
too deep, which, when properly investigated, in the
light of reason and revelation, proves nothing for
sprinkling or pouring. How often in our short life
have we seen rivers change their channel ! For in-
stance, the Missouri River and many brooks and
springs in our time have failed. With these facts, and

SERMON ON BAPTISM 173

looking back at the Bible lands nearly nineteen cen-
turies, there is no telling what changes God may have
brought about. But to advocate scarcity of water is
contrary to God's promise. For he assured his people
that the land should be a good land, of brooks of
water, of fountains and depths that spring out of val-
leys and hills (Deut. 8:7).

Now, this is the country in which Christianity had its
birth. Again, could not John have baptized in the Jor-
dan as well as Naaman could dip himself in the river
seven times? If there was too much water for one
there was too much for the other. Let us be consistent.
We have seen that there is no direct proof against im-
mersion. As we have already proved, the ordinance
was administered in the river and in water. People be-
gin to guess how it was done. Some guess it was by
sprinkling, some, pouring, and some, immersion. Now,
guesswork is all right if it hits, but if our guessing or
our opinion is in opposition to the Word of God we
should be willing to give up ; to " let God be true, even
if it makes every man a liar." Christ says, " Except a
man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God " (John 3:5).

It is generally admitted that our Savior meant to con-
vey that idea by " being born of water." It is so in-
terpreted by our Methodist brethren in their discipline,
and how can a man be born of a few drops on the top

174 PIONEERING

of his head, when, according to all reason and nature,
the less must come out of the greater in order to repre-
sent a birth ? This may be so represented by immersion
of the actual body in water, but cannot be done by affu-
sion. Paul says, " We are buried with him by baptism
into death" (Rom. 6:4). "We are planted in the
likeness of his death " (Rom. 6: 5). Now, to bury or
plant we must cover, hide or conceal (Webster), and
this may be represented by immersion. And again, bap-
tism is represented as a washing ( 1 Cor. 6:11; Titus
3:5; Heb. 10:22). With all these facts before us,
let us choose to follow in the footsteps of Christ and
the apostles which, when looked at in the light of rea-
son and revelation, will surely lead us down into the
stream where we can represent the figure and the
design that God intended.

It has always been the practice of the Brethren, or
the German Baptist Church, to administer baptism by
a threefold action, as given by Matt. 28 : 19 : " Bap-
tizing them into the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit " (Revised Edition). The
above language is elliptical, and to supply the ellipsis
is not adding to the meaning of the language. Ellipsis
is the omission of one or more words of a sentence.
The words omitted are said to be understood (Har-
vey's Second-Part English Grammar, Page 161, 162,
164). Harvey says that in an ellipsis the omitted

SERMON ON BAPTISM 175

words are clearly implied and must be restored before
the sentence can be analyzed or parsed. For example,
I say that in Alabama they cultivate corn and wheat
and cotton. You understand me when I say it in those
words. By supplying the ellipsis it makes me say as
you understood. Now, " cultivate " is an active transi-
tive verb, and the way I used it in this sentence I ex-
pressed it only once, but it is understood that they culti-
vate wheat and cotton. The omission was simply sup-
plied and did not add to my meaning at all.

Again, when Christ was crucified, Pilate wrote an
inscription and placed it over him : " This is the King
of the Jews," and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek
and Latin (John 19:20). Now, "written" is under-
stood three times, but expressed once. If we supply
the omission it would simply express what is under-
stood by the power of language. The commission with
the ellipsis supplied would read as follows : " Baptizing
them into the name of the Father, and baptizing them
into the name of the Son and baptizing them into the
name of the Holy Ghost." The above construction I
am willing to leave to any grammarian who is unbiased
in his mind.

The is a definite article pointing to some definite ob-'
ject, and is used in the commission three times, point-
ing out the three definite objects, Father, Son and
Holy Ghost. It is God's place to speak and ours to

176 PIONEERING

obey. With the combined power of Heaven and earth
Christ says to baptize in the name of the Father. Then,
if we do as he says we make an action for the active
transitive participle baptizing. The action must pass
over to the object acted upon which must be the can-
didate. Christ said to baptize in the name of the Fa-
ther. We tell our candidate we will baptize him into
the name of the Father. So to do as Christ com-
manded, and as we promised we dip or immerse our
candidate.

Christ also says, " baptizing them into the name of
the Son." We again tell our candidate that we baptize
him into the name of the Son. To obey the voice of
the Son of God, and to make our word good, we make
another action, that is, we dip our candidate. But we
are not done yet, for Christ further says, " baptizing
them into the name of the Holy Ghost," and again, if
we obey the Son of God and do as we promise our
candidate, we will make another action, that is, dip or
immerse our candidate once more. Thus making triune
immersion, for three times one are three. And in so
doing we have not added to his Word but only supplied
what is understood by the power of language. We
thus can represent the plurality and unity of the God-
head.

But if we tell our candidate we will baptize him into
the name of the Father, and remain motionless, and

SERMON ON BAPTISM 177

into the name of the Son, and still remain motionless,
and into the name of the Holy Ghost, and then make
an action or dip our candidate, according to the power
of language we have baptized our candidate into the
name of the Holy Ghost, and not into the name of the
Father and Son at all. We have represented the unity
of the Godhead but not the plurality of it. That the
three are one in a certain sense is true. But in the
same sense that they are one, baptizing into each re-
spective name would make one baptism. For if we dip
into each name and it takes the three names to make the
one God, would it not take three dips to make the one
baptism of Ephesians 4:5: " One Lord, one faith, one
baptism " ?

In this place Paul is using baptism as a noun, the
name of the action after it is done. But in Heb. 6:2
he uses it in the plural. We do claim that it takes
three immersions to constitute the one baptism as com-
manded by our Savior. But, says one, " Are not Fa-
ther, Son and Holy Ghost one?" As I have already
admitted in a certain respect they are. They are one in
love, and unity, united in the same grand work of sav-
ing the human family, the same as Christ's followers
are one. For Christ prays for his disciples that they
may all be one as he and the Father are one (John 17 :
21, 22, 26) . Paul declares, in speaking of the church,
that there are many members in one body, so we be-

178 PIONEERING

ing many are one body in Christ, and every one mem-
bers one of another (Rom. 12: 5). Further on in the
same chapter he tells of the different gifts. And again
man and wife are said to be one (Eph. 5:23:33).

But we see that they hold different offices in the
family. So with the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Though working to the same end, they hold different
offices. The Father is the Creator and Preserver of
all things. The Son is the Mediator between God and
man (John 16: 23; 1 Tim. 2:5). The Holy Ghost is
to reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of
judgment, and to guide into all truth (John 16: 8, 14).
Because husband and wife are one, can our wife eat
our dinner and satisfy our demands?

We say no. On the same plane of reasoning why
should it satisfy the demand of the Father and Son
to baptize into the name of the Holy Ghost, and not
baptize into the name of the Father and of the Son, as
Christ has told us to do? That there is a plurality in
the Godhead can be proved from Genesis to Revelation.
And God said, " Let us make man in our image " (Gen.
1:26). Here we find the Father talking to his Son
(compare Heb. 1:2). Again when Christ was bap-
tized in Jordan there were three made manifest. Two
were seen and one heard (Matt. 3 : 16, 17). And there
should be three manifested in our baptism, who are
Father, Son and Holy Ghost. But Christ is called

SERMON ON BAPTISM 179

God, and Peter directs to baptize in his name.
First. Why was Christ called God? I answer, for
the same reason that I am called Gillett. My father's
name was Gillett, and my name is Gillett, and I can
not help it ; neither do I want to. I inherited my name
from my father and that is not all. I inherited looks
from my father, in so much that I have been identified
at different times by those who were familiar with my
father, and now I am Gillett, the son, not the father,
but sometimes referred to as being the father because
I so resemble him. Now Christ inherited his name
from his Father (Heb. 1:3, 4), and he is sometimes
referred to as such, yet it would be out of all reason to
say he was the real Father, for he prayed to his Father
while on earth, and tells us to ask the Father in his
name.

Second. It is true that Peter commanded to bap-
tize in the name of Christ (Acts 2 : 38). He also com-
manded the lame man in the same name to rise and
walk (Acts 3:6). In fact, all that the apostles said and
did was in the name of Christ or by the authority of
Christ. By the authority of Christ he commanded
them to be baptized, and that will lead us back to Matt.
28 : 18, 19, where Christ so plainly says, " All power
is given unto me. ... Go ye therefore, and teach
all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." If he obeyed

180 PIONEERING

to the letter, this will never fall short of triune im-
mersion.

" Well," says one, " you have represented baptism
as a birth or burial. We take our candidate into the
water only once and out once. But you make three
actions or three immersions in one baptism." A burial
or birth is only figurative, and may be fully repre-
sented by a threefold administration of the ordinance.
Peter says of baptism that it is " not the putting away
of the filth of the flesh" (1 Pet. 3:21). Now, if
affusion had been the primitive mode, Peter would
have had no use for the above language. But as triune
immersion was the practice, and probably looked to
some as though it might be for the cleansing of the
body, to stop the mouths of the gainsayers Peter de-
clares that it is for a more noble purpose.

A sinner can be compared to filthiness, and when
anything is filthy it takes water to purify it — the more
water the better. Baptism is emblematic of washing
away sin (Acts 22: 10). Not that in reality it washes
away sin, or that the power is in the water. The power
is with God. He commands ; if we obey we can claim
a promise of the remission of our sins; not through
merit of the water, nor our own merit, but through
Christ, who gave us the way. For it is " not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saves us by the washing of regenera-

SERMON ON BAPTISM 181

tion and renewal of the Holy Ghost " (Titus 3:5;
Eph. 5:26). Let me give an example: Our wives
generally wash all their soiled clothes once a week, and
put them through at least three waters, but if we ask
how many times they have washed they will say once.
Yet they have put their clothes through three waters,
and so we dip our candidate three times, yet it makes
but one washing or one baptism. Now from the stand-
point of history we will consider the subject.

There is a history written by O. V. Orchard of Bed-
fordshire, Eng., a Baptist minister, entitled " Foreign
Missions." It traces baptism back to the primitive age.
Mr. Orchard gives the church of the first century the
name of Baptist (page 36). He also gives Tertullian
the honor of being a Baptist (page 33), and names his
authority for baptism which, he says, is " plunged in
the water three times " (pages 23, 44).

He says again that the respectable historians affirm
that no evidence exists as to any alternation in the sub-
jects or mode of baptism. During the third century
we have no testimony as to any alteration in the rite of
baptism (page 35). And if there had been no change
up to that time, surely the practice that then prevailed
must have been the same that had been handed down
from the apostles. And on the same page, Mr. Orchard
said, " They generally dipped them thrice in water,
invoking the name of the Holy Trinity." Yet, with all

182 PIONEERING

of this, the learned writer says they were Baptists.

But if triune immersion was right then, it is right
now. Let us be consistent. Suffice it to say that the
following historians have given their testimony in favor
of triune immersion: Tertullian, Basil, Cyril, Greg-
ory, and Ambrose, with others. All agree in giving
testimony in its favor. And A. Campbell makes the
honest admission that not only Mosheim and Neander,
but all of the historians, as well as Professor Stuart,
trace triune immersion to the time of the apostles
(Campbell and Rice debate, page 258, first edition).
We might multiply witnesses, but for the present time
will not permit.

Now, do not treat this discourse as the man did the
rotten footlog, say it may be all right, but we will go
around some other way, for if it is all right for one it
is all right for all. Neither come up with the excuse
that " I have already been baptized by some other way,
and that satisfies my conscience." Remember, the con-
science may be educated wrong. You may have had
faulty instruction, as was the case with those Paul
found at Ephesus who, when they found themselves
wrong, were rebaptized (Acts 19:2, 7). Remember,
there is one lawful way to get into the sheepfold:
" He that climbs up some other way, the same is a thief
and a robber."

Christ declares that he is the door (John 10: 16).

SERMON ON BAPTISM 183

And again he says, " I am the way, the truth, and the
Life. No man comes to the Father but by me." He
being the way, says that we should be baptized " into
the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy
Ghost." And surely he means what he says. Again,
our Savior says, " If you love me, keep my command-
ments." Now, in conclusion, I will say, that by urgent
request and strong desire to see the primitive mode of
baptism restored, I have presented these few broken
remarks to the public, and if they are according to
God's Word, may you accept the same and give God
the glory. May we all at last reach heaven and immor-
tal glory is the prayer of your unworthy servant in
Christ.

/*

CHAPTER 31
Sermon from 2 Timothy 4: 7, 8

" I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me
a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous
Judge shall give me in that day ; and not to me only,
but unto all them also that love his appearing."

This is the language of the Apostle Paul in his de-
clining days. He knew what it was to fight against
the Lord, and he knew, also, what it meant to fight for
the Lord. In the first instance, when he found out that
he was fighting wrongly, he surrendered without com-
promise; he accepted the Lord's terms fully, going
wherever he was sent, obeying whatever he was told.
He must have been a wonderfully brave soldier, too,
for the Lord. It takes a brave soldier of the cross to-
day, as well, to win the crown.

I am going to call this sermon " BRAVE," and I
shall divide it into five parts in the form of an acrostic :

BATTLE for the LORD,

RECRUITS for his army,

ADVANCE toward Heaven,

VICTORY is ours, and

ETERNAL life is sure.
Now, no government of this world would send an
army against the enemy until it was first fully equipped

185

186 PIONEERING

for the battle. The soldiers would first be organized.
There would be a general, captains, and various other
under-officers, including even recruiting officers. The
soldiers would have to be drilled and disciplined. They
would need to be uniformed; and that uniform would
have to be different from that of the opposing army,
or they would not recognize one another upon the bat-
tlefield and, like the hosts of Midian (Judges 7 : 16-22),
would kill their own fellow-men. Accessory to the
army are the doctors, surgeons, and hospital corps to
care for the sick, the wounded, and the dying. Addi-
tionally, every soldier has to stand a physical examina-
tion. For an army, the best men are taken, and the
shame of such a practice is that our best blood is left
dead on the battlefield, crippled for life, or diseased.
And owing to the false idea of war the physical scrubs
are left to rear a new generation ; and logically a weaker
generation than the one that preceded it. In this kind
of an army there are many professed Christians. Many
denominations are at strife on each side. This is es-
pecially true of our late Rebellion. Thus composed
they met on the field of carnage ; Catholic killing Catho-
lic, Baptist killing Baptist, Methodist killing Metho-
dist. In other words, they trampled the peaceable re-
ligion of our Lord Jesus Christ, which they all claimed
to experience, on the level of the brute creation, min-
gling one another's blood. Now, if such work is Gos-

SERMON FROM 2 TIMOTHY 4:7, 8 187

pel religion, I confess I do not have it; and neither do
I want it. I will make no compromise with such
teachings. My motto has always been, " Make No
Compromise with Sin, Flesh or the Devil."

Looking to the Lord's army we find it organized
similarly; but, thank the Lord, it is for a more noble
purpose. The former army is organized to take life
and is headed by the " Prince of the power of the Air."
The Christian army has a different Leader — the God of
Hosts is the General, Jesus Christ, the " Prince of
Peace," is the Captain; the Holy Spirit is the Com-
forter and Guide. Besides these there are various
other officers, such as elders, preachers, and deacons.
Our elders are supposed to be guided in this work by
and through the Holy Spirit. The minister's work is
to help the elder. Thinking of the two we might term
them recruiting officers. The deacons in their particu-
lar service make up the hospital corps to take care of
the wounded, the sick, the weak, the orphans and
widows.

As to the uniform in the Lord's Army the Book does
not say in so many words that we should wear a uni-
form ; but it certainly does imply it. It says, " As
obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according
to the former lusts in your ignorance " (1 Peter 1 : 14).
And again it says, " Be not conformed to this world "
(Rom. 12:2), and again, "Whose adorning let it not

188 PIONEERING

be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of
wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel " (1 Peter
3 : 3, 1 Tim. 2:9). And again, " We should be known
and read of all men."

Seeing then that the Book does teach modesty, plain-
ness, and difference from the world, how shall we
maintain that plainness without rules and order ? The
Brethren have in their General Conferences, from time
to time, decided on certain forms which they deemed
appropriate, and which they had a perfect right to do,
that there might be a complete unity maintained ; that
the Lord's army might be so attired as to be readily dis-
tinguished from the hosts of the world's army ; and that
we might recognize our fellow-soldiers anywhere we
chanced to meet. Most of us have solemnly promised
before God and men that we would conform to the set
order of our army. Especially so have the elders,
preachers, and deacons. It is a sad fact that many of
our elders and ministers are living in direct opposition
to the promises they have made; are in open rebellion
against the Annual Meeting decisions and their prom-
ises. They wear a different garb ; they sport neckties,
and even adorn themselves with jewelry and regalia
until they can not be told from the army of the world
— no, not by outward appearance ; no, not by conduct.
Our young people, going out from our colleges on
deputation teams, are not ashamed of their school em-

SERMON FROM 2 TIMOTHY 4:7,8 189

blems, for they wear their badges and colors clearly for
that purpose. They show just where they belong. When
our young people go out for contests and games they
are not ashamed of their garbs. They show who they
are and to what side they belong. Would it not be just
as easy for them to wear a garb to show that they be-
longed to the Lord? that they were brethren and sis-
ters ? When our members get into government service,
they do not hesitate to put on the uniform Uncle Sam
says to wear. When you ride on the train you do not
have to ask " Who are the conductor and brakemen?"
You can tell them by their garb. The Salvation Army
people are known, and they are not ashamed of their
peculiar dress. And why should we be? What right
have we to break our promises ?

Next in importance are the instruments of warfare.
They are not of the same order as the implements of
carnal warfare ; not swords, nor guns, nor cannon, nor
battleships, nor airplanes, nor bombs, nor poison gas.
Such things destroy the life and property of others ;
they fill cemeteries, make cripples and orphans and
widows. No, no ! Paul says, " The weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strongholds " (2 Cor. 10 : 4). Also he
says, " Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his
might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may
be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For

190 PIONEERING

we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against prin-
cipalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in
high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor
of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil
day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore,
having your loins girt about with truth, and having on
the breastplate of righteousness; . . . Above all,
taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able
to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take
the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God ; praying always with all
prayer and supplication . . . for all saints " (Eph.
6:10-18).

Now, being fully equipped we are ready to go into
BATTLE for the Lord.

And using the language of Patrick Henry, as he
paced restlessly the legislative hall of Old Virginia, he
said, " We must fight ! I repeat it, sir, WE MUST
FIGHT 1" So say I, brethren, " We must fight " if
we expect to win. We must save our souls and those
around about us. God forbid that we should fight as
the Jews did in the year 70 A. D., when Titus sur-
rounded the walls of Jerusalem. Inside the walls were
provisions for years, but instead of fighting their com-
mon foe, they divided into four factions and fought
among themselves. They destroyed one another's sup-

SERMON FROM 2 TIMOTHY 4:7, 8 191

plies and provisions. They struggled like demons, and
when their provisions were exhausted they even ate the
slain bodies of their comrades. Yea, they ravished
the temple of the Most High God and committed mur-
der before its sacred altar. Brethren, stop a moment
and think ! Was not that temple a type of the Church
of Christ (Eph. 2:19-22)?

Paul says, " If ye bite and devour one another, take
heed that ye be not consumed one of another " (Gal. 5 :
15). Shall we help history to repeat itself? The Jews,
as I said, were divided into four factions. The Old
" Dunkard " church is likewise broken into four seg-
ments. The Jews, in consequence of their condition,
lost their battle against the Romans. May we not take
warning ? May we not learn the lesson ? Again, I cite
you to old Jericho — stronghold of Jordan. But said
God, " March around the city once each day for six
days, and the seventh compass it seven times. Then
blow your trumpets of ram's horn and shout." They
did and the walls fell flat before them. Why? The
army did just what God had said to do. Israel took
the city — it was theirs. God had also said, " Take none
of the booty to yourselves." But one man, Achan, dis-
obeyed. He took a wedge of gold and a beautiful
Babylonish garment. He hid them in his tent. But
when the victorious army marched against Ai they
failed. Why? They had lost their great Commander.

192 PIONEERING

God hid his face from them. One man had sinned.
When that man was found out, he was put to death
with all his household. In a figure, when sin had been
put away the city was taken. Brethren, beware of the
golden wedge and the Babylonish garment!

But brethren, we must fight the good fight of faith :

" Onward, Christian soldiers,
Marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus,
Going on before."

" Hold the fort for I am coming,
Jesus signals still ;
Wave the answer back to heaven,
' By thy grace we will.' "

But it is not enough simply to hold the fort. We
must

RECRUIT for his army.

We must not only fill up the ranks, but we must
have more recruits in reserve.

" Mighty men are around us falling,
Courage almost gone."

Many of our best soldiers have served their time,
and the Lord has given them their honorable discharge.
" They have fought a good fight ; they have finished
their course; they have kept the faith." And many
more like myself are only waiting for the summons to
quit the ranks ; and their places must be filled.

We get our recruits out of the world ; the devil gets

SERMON FROM 2 TIMOTHY 4: 7, 8 193

his from there also. He and his agents, which are
legion, are doing their utmost. Their tactics and de-
vices are legion, also. Their ranks are full, but they
are striving for more. They have no conscience ; they
respect no sanctity; no home is immune. They enter
even into the rank and file of the church. Even of our
own sons and daughters do they take. We are appalled
at their daring, but what can we do ? This only : rally
to the standard of our Great Captain ; close our ranks
and fight. It will levy our time ; take our money ; ques-
tion our talents; it will tax our courage, our endur-
ance, our longsuffering, and our integrity. Every one
must realize that it is a fight unto death — a fight of
perfect unity. Division of forces is failure — volunteers
are needed:

" A volunteer for Jesus, a soldier true ;

Others have enlisted, why not you?

Jesus is our Captain, we will never fear;

Will you be enlisted as a volunteer?"

Now, having enlisted under the blood-stained ban-
ner of King Immanuel, and having put on the whole
armor of God ; and having fought for God, for heaven
and for the good of humanity, as brave soldiers of the
cross, and having helped to recruit the Lord's army,
we must now

ADVANCE toward Heaven.

Now, the enemy is in our way, and all along the
road that leads to the Glory world will we find our ad-

194 PIONEERING

vance blocked and abutted with evil devices. So I
repeat again, " We must fight," and at the same time
advance toward " the prize of the high calling of God
in Christ Jesus." And the general of our foes has not
lost any of his adroitness. But through his six thou-
sand years' experience in the destruction of souls of
men he is the better qualified to deceive. He knows
his doom is sealed ; he sees the bottomless pit yawn be-
fore him; yet will he drag with him all the innocent
blood he can to his death. If he can't get enough re-
cruits outside of the walls of Zion, he will even scale
the battlements of the sacred enclosure, and play havoc
with the flock within. Jesus said, " Verily, verily, I
say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the
sheep fold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is
a thief and a robber." Even though he may not con-
sume them, he destroys their morale, and they become
weak and sickly. As Paul says, " For this cause many
are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep " ( 1
Cor. 11:30). Ah! That "sleeping sickness," the
worst of maladies. One dreaded disease among us is
infantile paralysis. Those that have spiritual infantile
paralysis, like the natural, never develop; always a
babe. They must be taken care of, though it impedes
our progress. Now our

VICTORY is at hand.

SERMON FROM 2 TIMOTHY 4:7, 8 195

When we were convicted of sin; accepted of the
testimony of the Son of God ; repented of our sins and
were baptized into the name of (or by the authority of)
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and received
the gift of the Holy Ghost, we entered into victory.
The fact that all our sins are forgiven, and that we
have the Holy Ghost for our Guide is a most Wonder-
ful Victory. But there are victories all along the way —
victories every day for our arch foe is still pitted
against us. James was right when he said, " Resist the
devil and he will flee from you ; draw nigh to God and
he will draw nigh to you " ; so why allow the devil the
privilege to grapple with you, when you can have the
Great General by you?

But it is at the end of the race, after we have fought
many good fights, finished our course and kept the
faith. It is only then

ETERNAL LIFE is fully assured.

It is then that we hear the welcome plaudit, " Come,
thou, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre-
pared for you from the foundation of the world," and
receive the crown of life. The crown will be given to
all them who " overcome." Then for the first time,
with Paul and Peter and John and all the faithful,
who have gone on before, can we join with them in
the great Redemption Song, " Great and marvelous are

196 PIONEERING

thy works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are thy
ways, thou King of saints."

" Then palms of victory, crowns of glory,
Palms of VICTORY we shall bear."

CHAPTER 32
Revelation

The Book of Revelation is recognized by all Bible
students as a book of prophecy, or prophetic book. All
prophecy is in the future at the time the prophet re-
veals it. Events foretold which have now been fulfilled
become history. John records in Rev. 4:1," After this
I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven:
and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a
trumpet talking with me ; which said, Come up hither,
and I will show thee things which must be hereafter."

Now, many preachers and writers in trying to ex-
plain Revelation place what should be future when
John saw it as though it were in the past; some of it
even before creation, and to my mind make it seem
much more of a mystery than it really is. Some of it
may be in the past now, and I believe it is, but it was
not so when John saw it. With this explanation, I
shall proceed to give my view on chapter 12. John says
he saw another wonder, in heaven, " a woman clothed
with the sun and the moon under her feet." Most
writers say the woman represents the Virgin Mary,
but as that would be in the past we will have to make
some other application. Now, as the church is always
represented in the feminine gender, I shall say that

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198 PIONEERING

the woman represents the church, clothed with the
Son of Righteousness, or in other words, the Gospel
of Jesus Christ. The moon under her feet, undoubted-
ly means the old law, while the crown of twelve stars
on her head are probably the same stars as in verse 4.
(I will let the reader make his own application as to
what the stars may represent.) Verse 2: "And she
being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to
be delivered." Verse 3 : " And there appeared another
wonder in heaven ; and behold a great red dragon, hav-
ing seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon
his head." Verse 4 : " And his tail drew the third part
of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth :
and the dragon stood before the woman which was
ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon
as it was born." Verse 5 : " And she brought forth a
man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of
iron : and her child was caught up unto God, and to
his throne."

Now, the dragon must represent Satan the Devil.
(Compare verse 7, chapter 17:3, 9, 10; Dan. 8:9.) It
could not possibly have been Herod, as some would
have it, and the man child not have been our Christ,
for his mission was not to rule the nations with a rod
of iron. Besides, the birth of Christ was in the past,
so this child must have been the Antichrist. You will
find the same person described by Paul.

REVELATION 199

" Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together
unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be
troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter
as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let
no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall
not come, except there come a falling away first, and
that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. Who
opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called
God, or that is worshiped ; so that he as God sitteth in
the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God "
(2Thess. 2:1, 4).

Constantine ascended the throne of the Roman Em-
pire in A. D. 323. During his reign he caused a com-
promise to be made between Pagan Rome and Christi-
anity. Many pagan rites were introduced in the church
and the true church committed spiritual adultery. Still
there were a remnant left who remained true and did
not compromise. Now, it was no more Pagan Rome
but Papal Rome.

It is a fact that the true church gave birth to Roman
Catholicism, headed by the man child — the pope (Rev.
12 : 5, who it was prophesied would rule all na-
tions with a rod of iron, and he sure did. Now
the woman, or church, was not delivered of the
man child (or Antichrist) all of a sudden. It took
travail pain and trouble before the real pope got into

200 PIONEERING

full power. It came about by one bishop gaining more
power than another and finally resulted in one bishop
gaining all power and supremacy. Hence the pope,
who ruled with the rod of iron, probably about the
middle of the fifth century " was caught up to God
and ' his throne,' " a metaphorical term meaning self-
exalted. And the woman (the true church) fled into
the wilderness where she had a place prepared of God
that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred
and threescore days. (See Rev. 11:3.)

In prophecy one day stands for a year (Ezek. 4:6),
so the church was cared for in the wilderness 1,260
years. Now, it is a fact that the true church was se-
cluded or lost succession as a church for that or about
that many years. But, thank the Lord, she kept her
identity. It must have been about the end of the 1,260
years that the true church, or, at least, a church which
had the exact identity of the New Testament church,
built on the same foundation, came forth out of se-
clusion, organized in a working body at Schwarzenau,
Germany, in 1708, calling themselves Brethren. Some
of our old Brethren believed that, at least, one of that
number was a baptized Waldensian. I believe that had
the Brethren written their own early history, it might
have been so proven. Verse 7 : " And there was war
in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the
dragon ; and the dragon fought and his angels." Verse

REVELATION 201

9 : " And the great dragon was cast out, that old ser-
pent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the
whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his
angels were cast out with him." And now this, too,
was in the future, as John saw it, and I am inclined to
believe it still is in the future.

Let us locate where that battle took place. I am
striving to get away from war and I want to go to that
heaven John describes in Rev. 22. In 2 Cor. 12 : 3,
Paul speaks of the third heaven. Then there must be a
first heaven and a second before we get to the third, so
let us reason out which one the war is in.

A kingdom must have a king, subjects and territory.
Christ was born King. When he called his first dis-
ciples and they followed him, his church kingdom was
started, though only a little stone. But it was to roll
and get larger until it filled the whole earth. Jesus
says the kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the
sea, catching all kinds of fishes; the good are pre-
served ; the bad are cast away. Again, the kingdom of
heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.
When he slept an enemy sowed tares. They were to
grow together until the harvest and then be separated.
By this Christ must mean the first kingdom or church
kingdom, and the second kingdom must be the millen-
nium kingdom, in which we reign with him for a thou-
sand years. The third and perfect kingdom must be

202 PIONEERING

the New Jerusalem, the eternal abode of the saints.

Now, it seems to me that the most reasonable place
to locate that war would be the first heaven (the
church), and the war is still in progress. Are we not
divided? Are we of the same mind and same judg-
ment as Paul says we should be ( 1 Cor. 1 : 10) ? It
seems now, as in the times of Job, when the sons of
God came to worship, Satan comes also. I am so glad
he is going to be cast out, but when that time comes, if
we have fought on the right side I think we will be
ushered into the millennial or second kingdom.

As further proof that the war was not in the third
heaven, read verse 11. That seems to establish the fact
that death will take place in that conflict. In the latter
part of that verse it says, " They loved not their lives
unto the death."

Now, who is this Devil ? Where did he come from ?
I believe there is a Devil. I believe him to be a per-
sonal being; a being in opposition to God and every-
thing that is good. I believe he can transform himself
into an angel of light. I believe that through his agents
(angels) he can even perform miracles (Ex. 7: 11 ; 8:
7, 18; 1 Sam. 28: 11-14). I believe he still can and
does perform miracles and does them under the cover
of religion.

I believe that Joseph Smith and some of his follow-
ers actually performed miracles, and by so doing de-

REVELATION 203

ceived many. Like John Alexander Dowie, Aimpe
Semple McPherson and hosts of others have done the
same thing, but by what power? It couldn't have been
the power of God, for they did not and do not comply
with the conditions that are laid down in the New
Testament, which brings them into the relationship
with our Heavenly Father (joint heirs). I believe that
many think they are doing right, "because they re-
ceived not the love of the truth, that they might be
saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong
delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all
might be damned who believed not the truth, but had
pleasure in unrighteousness" (2 Thess. 2:10-12).
Now, where did such a powerful personage originate
and how was it brought about? It has always been
thought that he originated in heaven, that God made
him an angel and he sinned and God cast him out and
he became a Devil. The main scripture to prove this
argument is taken from the 12th chapter of Revelation
which I am now trying to explain.

Let me again draw attention to the fact that this was
still future when it was revealed to John and there
was sure a Devil long before that. In fact, when God
put forth his first creative act, the Devil was on the
job as his opponent. Now, I never thought that God
would create or make his own opposition. I am sure I
wouldn't, neither do I think anyone else would; and

204 PIONEERING

again, if that particular angel sinned who tempted him ?
What caused him to go wrong? There must have been
an evil influence somewhere.

You may call me a heretic, but I deny the charge. I
don't believe that God made his own opposite, nor do
I believe that an angel made himself a devil.

Come, let us reason together. I believe I am safe
in saying that everything you can think of has its oppo-
site. Night is opposed today, darkness to light, bad to
good, and negative to positive. Now, when God, in the
first creative acts (Gen. 1), said it was good, what
would the word good qualify, if there had not been
some bad some place or somewhere? It must be that
the Great God of the universe is a self-existing per-
sonal Power. It follows that his opposite must have
existed always. He must always have had his opposite
or negative. Hence the Devil must be a self-existing
power. But, says one, " When the disciples returned
after performing miracles, did not Christ say he saw
Satan fall from heaven ?" Well, let us read just what
he said and then we can come to some conclusions as
to what he meant to teach. " And he said unto them,
I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven " (Luke
10: 18). But compare Satan's fall or overthrow to the
lightning falling from heaven, not from the kingdom of
heaven, but from the firmament above. When did
Jesus see this, at that particular time or did he see it in

REVELATION 205

the future ? I am inclined to believe it was the future ;
and it may have been the same event that John saw. It
couldn't have been at the time when Jesus made the
statement, because he had been on earth long before
that. So there is no argument in that statement to
prove that he was a fallen angel. Lucifer is supposed
by some to mean the Devil, and may be he is. Isaiah
says, " How art thou fallen from heaven ; O Lucifer,
son of the morning [" O day star " is marginal read-
ing] , how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst
weaken the nations " (Isa. 14: 12) !

" For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into
heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God :
I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in
the sides of the north : I will ascend above the heights
of the clouds; I will be like the most High " (Isa. 14:
13, 14).

" Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the
sides of the pit" (Isa. 14:15). Notice Lucifer (or
Day Star) says, " I will, I will do so and so," which is
future, which proves nothing opposite to my idea of
Satan. Some think Ezekiel is referring to Satan in
speaking of the king of Tyrus (Ezek. 26: 3; 28: 12).
In the 28th chapter and 2nd verse he refers to him as
a man. Now Tyre and Tyrus mean the same, and
there was such a place and the prophet must have been
speaking of some self-exalted king.

206 PIONEERING

I don't think that it is essential to our salvation to
know or to believe that he was created or was a fallen
angel, or a self-existing power, but I do think, to be
consistent, it gives me a better understanding. I do be-
lieve the scriptures are a common-sense book, God's
revealed will to common man. I believe it was A.
Campbell who said that " a revelation that needed to
be revealed was no revelation at all."

One time, as I stood up in the pulpit I quoted my
text from Job : " And it came to pass when the sons of
God came to worship, Satan came also." Just as I
was quoting my text a drunken man came staggering
in through the door hunting for a seat. It caused quite
a sensation ; the congregation looked at me and then at
the drunken man. I suppose they thought I took my
text on purpose to fit the occasion. I did not, but it fit
just the same. As one common family, we believe
there is a God, but we may differ as to how to ap-
proach him. We all agree that there is likewise a Devil.
We realize that he is doing his best to defeat the plans
of Almighty God. James says, " Resist the Devil and
he will flee from you; draw nigh to God and he will
draw nigh unto thee." So we all must do our best to
resist him and keep out of his clutches.

I want to relate a story I read in a book entitled,
" Replies to Ingersoll." I can't vouch for the truthful-
ness of the story. It could have happened, and maybe

REVELATION 207

it did not. Anyway, it teaches a wonderful lesson.
The story, as related, is as follows : In the days of slav-
ery there was an infidel who had a slave that was a
Christian. One time the master took the slave with
him to hunt. The slave was telling his master about
his troubles. The master said, " Sambo, how does it
come that you Christians have so much trouble ? Now,
I am no Christian ; I don't believe in Christ and I don't
have the troubles you Christians have. Why is it?"
" Don't know, sah, can't tell you," said Sambo. But
finally the master shot into a flock of ducks, killed one
and crippled one. He told the slave to go and get them
and the slave picked up the dead duck and stood looking
at it while the crippled duck was getting away, and the
master hollered at him : " Let that dead duck alone, run
after the crippled duck." And when the darky had
caught the live duck and had picked up the dead duck
and returned to his master he said, " Massa, I can now
tell you why us Christians gets in trouble and you
don't. You told me to let the dead duck alone and run
after the crippled duck. De Debel got you plum dead,
he just got us Christians crippled, and is still after us."
Dear reader, are you dead or crippled?

CHAPTER 33
All Kinds of Houses

A house is a place in which to live. There are all
manner of houses. Some are brick, some stone, some
wood, and some are snow ; some are big, some small,
some modern and some crude; some have solid foun-
dations, some poor, and some no foundation at all.
Also the occupants differ as much as the houses and
foundations; some are rich, some poor, some white,
some black, some neat, some filthy, some peaceable,
some quarrelsome, some saints, and some sinners.
Some own their houses and some are tenants. Now,
it is the tenant house and the tenant that I wish to
talk about.

A family is frequently called a house. Paul, also, in
1 Cor. 3: 15, represents the church as a house. He
says, " But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how
thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God,
which is the church of the living God, the pillar and
the ground of the truth." Of course Paul refers to the
one and only church which was built upon a sure foun-
dation ; viz., on the foundation of Christ and the Apos-
tles and Prophets — Jesus Christ being the chief Corner
Stone (Eph. 2:20). And the Great God of the uni-
verse is the Architect. But since then many more houses

209

210 PIONEERING

have been built (or churches organized), so there may
be some doubt as to their foundation, their material,
and their architect.

Now, there are as many grades of churches as there
are of the temporal houses we have mentioned. And
some say that one is as good as another. Think; is
there no difference in our temporal houses? Were
you buying or renting a house in the city, would you
not exercise a choice? If you were buying would you
not look at the foundation? examine the material? get
the price? and most of all see if the title were clear?

Were you renting only would you not exercise cau-
tion as to the price and time you might stay? Oh! if
people were only as particular about their house — the
church — as they are about titles and lands and homes,
it seems to me it would be better here in this life and
much more assuring as to the Heavenly Mansion.

Now, we come back to the tenant house. The tenant
is to a great extent at the mercy of the landlord. The
landlord may want to sell the place, and may show it a
hundred times, to the annoyance of the tenant. The
tenant lives in suspense lest the landlord may compel
him to move. At last the house is sold and he gets his
orders to vacate at once. The orders may make him
put up with many inconveniences, for he may not
have the price to get a better. Your humble servant,
under such conditions, has even been compelled to camp

ALL KINDS OF HOUSES 211

out, because he could not secure the price. Oh! how
my heart goes out for the man with wife and children
and no money and no place to go ! How I pity the old
man without wife or children, packing his blankets!
God pity ! But some with homes and plenty say, " It's
their own fault." Maybe it is, and maybe it is not.
Maybe if we had been reared amid their environments,
with their chances, we might be in the same fix, or even
worse. Anyway, I do pity them, and I believe our
Heavenly Father does.

Going back to the tenant, we find the landlord may
have other reasons than sales for notifying the tenant
to vacate. It may be the tenant is not desirable ; per-
haps he does not take good care of the property; pos-
sibly he lets the weeds grow and neglects the fence ; the
hogs and cows may break into the door yard and de-
stroy the shrubbery and plants; maybe the good wife
neglects the interior ; and sometimes the children mark
the walls, break the window panes, or do sundry other
things. Of course, occasionally the landlord is dis-
agreeable or unreasonable and doesn't do the right
thing. At any odds, it is annoying.

Let me say right here it pays the tenant to take care
of the landlord's property ; and it pays the landlord to
be reasonable with his tenant. Now, I want to raise
this question, and desire that my readers pay strict at-
tention. Read it over twice, for I shall have occasion

212 PIONEERING

to refer to it later. Question: Did you ever know a
landlord to notify a tenant to vacate and and have a
better building prepared for him to move into without
any rent to pay?

Sometimes the tenant has to move because of con-
ditions — the house may have been shattered by storm
or earthquake and has been condemned. I was in San
Bernardino once watching a wrecking crew tear down
the old courthouse. I had seen that building a good
many times. I had thought it was a wonderful struc-
ture. It was made of the very finest granite rock. It
looked as if it could stand for ages. It would have
been a credit to any county seat. Well, I wondered
what was the matter, and I inquired, " What is
wrong?" The answer was, " Condemned." Sometime
before an earthquake had practically wrecked Patton, a
village about ten miles away. San Bernardino was in
the edge of the disturbed zone. The walls were cracked,
the structure injured and the authority had said, " Con-
demned — vacate." Well, it set me to thinking. Our
bodies are only places in which to live, and we are
merely tenants. " If our earthly house of this tab-
ernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens "
(2 Cor. 5:1).

In writing to the church at Corinth Paul says,
" Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that

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the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile
the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the tem-
ple of God is holy, which temple ye are " (1 Cor. 3 : 16,
17).

So it behooves us to take good care of the house in
which we live; for all have to move out sooner or
later: and it depends on the way we have cared for
the house how soon it will be. Anyway, it's high time
we are finding out where we are moving to when we
go. Yea, doubly so, for our next residence will be for
eternity. Again, as Paul says, I say, " I pray God
your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved
blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ "
(1 Thess. 5:23).

The above scripture, without a doubt, proves that
man is a threefold being — soul, body, and spirit. Now,
the spirit and soul are not one, as some believe and
teach, for the Word of God separates them. " For the
word of God is quick and powerful, . . . dividing
asunder soul and spirit " (Heb. 4: 12). The beast has
a spirit but not a soul. " Who knoweth the spirit of
man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast the
goeth downward " (Eccles. 3 : 21) ?

Suppose we substitute the word " life " for spirit.
Then it reads, " The life of man that goeth upward or
the life of the beast that goeth downward," and in
Eccles. 12 : 7 use the word " life " instead of spirit.

214 PIONEERING

Does it make sense? Now ghost and spirit mean the
same thing. When Christ was crucified he bowed his
head and gave up the ghost. John 19 : 30 in some trans-
lations is " gave up the spirit." Now use the word
" life," " He bowed his head and gave up his life." Is
that not what he did? And again Ananias and Sap-
phira gave up the ghost (spirit), or it is understood,
gave up their lives (Acts 5 : 5, 6). Wherever the word
" spirit " is used, which pertains to man, use the word
"life" and it makes good common sense. And when Paul
prays that the whole " spirit and body and soul be pre-
served blameless," he must mean our whole life. Now
our life consists of more than brain action and heart-
beat. It means our motive and actions — our character.
Hence we read of the lives of great men; and their
lives consist of the good that they have done for hu-
manity. An old proverb says, " Actions speak louder
than words." So if Paul's prayer is answered in us
our lives will be blameless. The soul must be a coun-
terpart of our body. It is the real man, and the old
body is a house in which it lives. We're only tenants —
the body only a home.

Our soul-sleeping friends claim the soul and the body
are one, and that in the resurrection this old body shall
come forth; but Paul says, speaking of the resurrec-
tion, " Thou sowest not that body that shall be, but
bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or some other

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grain : but God giveth a body as it hath pleased him "
(1 Cor. 15:37, 38).

Those prehistoric beans I told about in another chap-
ter, when planted did not bring forth the same bean,
but a bean just like it. It was a natural body; it is
raised a spiritual body. " There is a natural body, and
there is a spiritual body, and so it is written, The first
man Adam was made a living soul ; the last Adam was
made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first
which is Spiritual, but that which is natural, and after-
wards that which is spiritual. The first man is of the
earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from
heaven. . . . And as we have borne the image of
the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heaven-
ly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood can-
not inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 15:42-50).

I believe it was Daniel Webster in his latter days
that made the following statement : " I am a tenant liv-
ing in a rickety house. The foundation is decaying
underneath it. The door creaks on its hinges. The
window panes rattle, and my landlord positively re-
fuses to make any further repairs." But, thank the
Lord, our Landlord has prepared a mansion for us to
move into ; so when this earthly house is past living in
and we have had a long rest we go to occupy the other
(Rev. 6:9, 10). Then we shall be done moving — no
more notices to vacate. There will be no rent to pay,

216 PIONEERING

no trials, no pain. Oh ! it pays to be a good tenant ; it
pays to keep our house in order, for the time will soon
come when " thou shalt die and not live."

The storms of life have had their effect upon my
poor old body ; my house is nearly shaken to pieces ;
my term of occupation is almost spent. I have already
told you of some of the things I have endured ; but on
the 2nd day of January, 1927, I was taken by a strange
malady. It came while I was in services at our home
church. Bro. Israel Young of Hickory Grove, 111., was
preaching. All at once my old house began to quake
so violently that my folks had to take me home. They
put me to bed and held me there. My jerking was not
continuous, but by spells. Sometimes one side was in-
volved, sometimes the other; sometimes my head only,
and sometimes my whole body. It generally com-
mences when I am sitting quietly or lying down and my
body relaxing. Sometimes my hat will even be shaken
from my head. While I am writing these items I
scarcely ever shake, but let me stop and begin to relax
and I am likely to be shaken like an earthquake. The
sensation I experience is very similar to that of coming
in contact with a live wire. I have had eight doctors
examine me. None of them knows what to do for me.
They say there is not another case like it recorded in
medical annals. Of course, it is my nerves. I don't

ALL KINDS OF HOUSES 217

tremble. I am not nervous, but I simply quake like the
old earth, by spells.

Last summer we went to the mountains and stayed
a month. While there I became better ; but when I re-
turned home I got worse again. Last fall we went to
the coast. I improved immediately and was able to do
some preaching. We came home to Glendale for
Christmas ; I became worse. The only remedy I know
is to go again to the mountains or to the coast. I don't
suffer ; I am not sick, only afflicted. I eat well and am
holding my weight, but I am weak and can do scarcely
anything. Oh, but I do get tired quaking ! I can't at-
tend church, for I am likely to take one of my spells at
any time ; and it not only disturbs me but it interferes
with the services. It seems that my Landlord doesn't
intend to make any further repairs ; and I am patiently
waiting for his summons to vacate. Then I shall move
to a better mansion.

I know the mistakes of my life have been many, but
I have put up a hard fight for the truth. My dear
readers, this may be my last message. Be sure you
comply with the conditions of salvation. Jesus is stand-
ing outside knocking and waiting for admittance. Will
you let him in ? He says, " Behold, I stand at the door
and knock; if any man hear my voice and open the
door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and
he with me " (Rev. 3 : 20) . " The Spirit and bride say,

218 PIONEERING

Come, and let him that heareth say, Come. And let
him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him
take of the water of life freely." I feel that I have
" earnestly contended for the faith once delivered to
the saints" (Jude 3), and like Paul, I say, "I have
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have
kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, shall give me at . . . his appearing" (2
Tim. 4:7, 8).

I bid my readers Good-bye.

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