Disciples of Christ in Texas;

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST
IN TEXAS

CHALMERS MCPHERSON

BXT3H

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2014

https://archive.org/details/disciplesofchrisOOmcph

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST
IN TEXAS

A partial history of Disciples of Christ in Texas
during the past forty-one years, together with
personal remembrances of both the living and
the dead, addresses, forms, etc.

BY

CHALMERS^McPHERSON

Brite College of the Bible Texas Christian University
FORT WORTH, TEXAS

CINCINNATI, O.

THE STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY

Copyright, 1920,
The Standard Publishing Company

DEDICATION

TO one who has patiently borne with my peculiarities,
overlooked my foibles, smoothed many of the wrinkles
from my being; who has been suggestion to my mind,
nerve to my heart, muscle to my soul; who has brought
sunshine when days were dark, was an anchor when
storms were raging, a hand pointing forward when the
way was rough,

TO MY WIFE
This volume it dedicated in love.

A REQUEST

I CRAVE the indulgence of those who read these
pages, that you be charitable when you see what
you consider too frequent references to myself. Having
been identified with the work of our people in Texas
for more than forty years, I could not altogether elimi-
nate the offensive pronoun. I shall appreciate your
kind indulgence. CHALMERS MCPHERSON.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Introduction, L. D. Anderson 7

Forty-one Years Ago 15

Organizing the Work.

Some Beginnings v 35

Texas Missions Enlarging, J. B. Holmes... 55

Texas Bible-school Work, S. W. Hutton 64

The C. W. B. M. in Texas, Mrs. G. D.
Smith _ 71

Educational.

Texas Christian Ui iversity, E. M. Waits 77

Brite College of the Bible, Colby D. Hall... 90

Carlton College, The Carltons 101

Midland College, J. T. McKissick 108

Carr-Burdette College, Cephas Shelbnrne...ll6
The Texas Bible Chair, Frank L. Jewett...l24

Jarvis Christian Institute, J. N. Ervin 129

Tithing Among Texas Disciples, Arthur

A. Everts 139

Texas Christian Lectureship 145

Benevolences.

The Juliette Fowler Homes, M. Boyd

Keith 151

5

CONTENTS

Our Remembered Dead.

Preachers of Older Class in 1879 (Ten) 161

Younger Men Here in 1879 (Sixteen) 170

Preachers Who Began Here After 1879

(Fifty -nine Arranged Alphabetically) 187

Those Slightly Known to the Author

(Fifty-two) 222

Four Living Preachers 229

A Few Women (Twenty) 233

Our Contributors (Thirteen) 247

The Company Unnamed 255

Studies.

Buried with Christ (a study) 259

A Search for "Our Plea" 268

Worth-while Gleanings (Twenty-two) 279

Rhymes.

To the End of Your Row 291

Keep Going 291

Forms.

Ordination of Ministers of the Gospel 295

Ordination of Elders, Deacons, Deacon-
esses 299

Dedication of House of Worship 306

Dedication of Building for Christian

Education 308

Laying Corner-stone of Church Building...311

Charles W. Gibson 317

6

INTRODUCTION

NO history of the Disciples of Christ in
Texas, however brief, would be complete
without some reference to the life and work of
Chalmers McPherson, a man who, for more
than forty years, has occupied a place of honor
among the leaders in the church, and by his
unswerving integrity, untiring service and un-
sullied honor has contributed much to the ad-
vancement of her interests. Not only individu-
als, but families and communities, find life
sweeter, richer and happier because of him.
His friends are legion, and he "hath been a
succorer of many."

Chalmers McPherson was born at Thorold,
Ontario, Canada, about seven miles from Niag-
ara Falls, on the 20th day of January, 1850.
His father came from Scotland, his mother
from England, to make their home in the New
World. They were pioneers who helped in the
transformation of the continent.

That home, so full of happiness and hope,
was sorely stricken by the death of the husband
and father when the lad was in his fifth year.
Soon after this bereavement, the mother, ac-
7

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

companied by her two children, went to Ken-
tucky to teach. It was here that the children
were reared. During the years of the war be-
tween the States the mother's responsibilities
were multiplied, and her burdens greatly in-
creased. Being upon the border between the
North and the South, she was called upon to
endure unusual hardships, and to face the
gravest dangers. But her heroism was equal
to the need. Her task, though hard, was nobly
done.

The education of the boy naturally began,
and for some years was carried forward, in
his mother's school. Later he attended George-
town College in Kentucky, Asbury (now
DePauw) University in Indiana, and East-
man's Commercial College in New York. His
mother encouraged, and to the utmost of her
ability helped him to utilize every available
opportunity for self-improvement. Like many
another, destined for large power and excep-
tional service, this youth obtained valuable
discipline by "working his way through
school." Even in those early days it was
recognized that his was a mind of rare quality.

When about the age of twenty he started
"West," with a companion, "to get rich."
He was the proud possessor of thirty dollars.
His associate contributed ten dollars toward
their venture. Their combined capital was soon
8

INTRODUCTION

exhausted, and the young men left St. Louis
on foot, still journeying westward. They
walked 110 miles. They soon determined to
accept the first employment obtainable. They
were rewarded by an offer of twenty dollars
per month each, with board furnished, by a
firm of farmers and traders, Messrs. McCracken
and Smith, who lived on the "Three Mile
Prairie," in Calloway County, Missouri. The
companion tired of the work after a couple
of weeks, and departed ; but Brother McPherson
stuck to the task for a full year. His em-
ployers sought to continue his services for
another year, but he decided to return to Ken-
tucky— Mount Vernon — and teach school.

Soon after returning to Kentucky, in Mount
Vernon and Campbellsville, he read law, and
in the latter place was examined in open court
and received license to practice in the courts
of that State. He settled in Burksville, and
devoted himself to the practice of law for
about four years. With high ideals, careful
preparation and indomitable energy he began
what gave promise of becoming a remarkably
successful career in his chosen calling. His
friends entertained hopes, and no doubt the
young lawyer himself dreamed dreams, of po-
litical preferment and patriotic service.

He had become a Christian while in Mount
Vernon. The man under whose preaching he
9

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

obeyed the gospel was Henry Tandy, who
"happened" to pass through the town one
Sunday afternoon, an utter stranger. A local
disciple of the Lord, having learned of the
preacher's presence, proceeded to ring the
courthouse bell, this being the customary
method of notifying the townspeople that a
preacher had arrived and was to speak. Mr.
McPherson did not attend the service, but on
his way home paused by the door and heard
the closing portion of the sermon. To his
amazement, his closest young man friend went
forward and confessed Jesus the Christ. He
was very deeply moved. During that night
and the following day the claims of God were
seriously pondered. Mr. Tandy remained and
preached on Monday night, at which time Bro.
McPherson began his Christian life.

Brethren began to suggest, and erelong
to persuade, that he devote his life to the
preaching of the gospel. For a time he re-
mained undecided, but the appeals became
more numerous and insistent. After much
serious thought and fervent prayer, he yielded.
He preached his first sermon in his home town
(Burksville) in June, 1877. One of his inti-
mate friends advised him to "go out into the
country and preach the first time"; but he
replied: "No, I shall preach where there are
friends to sympathize with me if I make a com-
10

INTRODUCTION

plete failure." Needless to say, the service
was a success, and marked the beginning of an
unusually long and fruitful ministry. It will
be evident that the young preacher was not
influenced by the hope of material reward
when it is known that during the first eighteen
months of service his preaching netted him
only thirty dollars. This income was supple-
mented by teaching school in order to support
himself and wife.

On April 20, 1875, he and Miss Ella
Sheegog, a talented and attractive young
woman of Nashville, Tennessee, who was teach*
ing piano in the Burksville School, were mar-
ried. Mrs. McPherson has proved a true help-
mate, and is justly entitled to a generous
credit for the marked success of her distin-
guished husband. Four children were born
of this union, of whom the two younger, Miss
Hallie and Capt. Albert McPherson, are now
living.

In January, 1879, Brother McPherson and
his wife came to Texas. He began his work
in the State in Ellis County. His first sermon
in Texas was preached at Ennis. His first
preaching-points were Ennis, "Waxahachie,
Houston Creek and Union Hill. His pastorate
at Waxahachie, where he served the church for
twenty years, is one of the most noteworthy
among our people. During this period the con-
11

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

gregation grew in numbers and grace, keeping
pace with the rapid development of the city
and State.

Though pre-eminently a preacher, Brother
McPherson has not restricted his service to
preaching. Indeed, some of his most important
work has taken other forms. He has been
an active and enthusiastic factor in all the
general enterprises of the church. He was
prominent in the organization and direction of
our State missionary work, as well as our edu-
cational and benevolent institutions. For three
years he was editor of the Christian Courier,
which service he rendered with credit to him-
self and profit to the churches. He resigned
this important post only when his physical
condition forbade the exhausting labors re-
sulting from a combination of the duties of
editor, business manager, proof-reader, adver-
tising man and general roustabout.

Brother McPherson was the first field secre-
tary for Texas Christian University, and his
labors contributed much toward placing the
institution upon the secure financial basis upon
which it now rests. Subsequently he spent
three years delivering a series of Bible lectures,
known as "Foundation Stones," in Texas,
Oklahoma, New Mexico, Tennessee, Ohio and
Canada. Through these messages he brought
faith to many who had been troubled by
12

INTRODUCTION

doubts, and strengthened the faith and clarified
the vision of thousands.

During the past six years he has occupied
the chair of New Testament Christianity of
Brite College of the Bible of Texas Christian
University. Here he wields an ever-increasing
influence over that growing host of young men
and young women who are fitting themselves
for efficient Christian service. His intimate
knowledge of, and unquestioned loyalty to, the
Bible, coupled with his rich practical experi-
ence, fit him admirably for the important
work. Friends of the church hope that he will
be spared for many years to help in training
the young people who are to be leaders to-
morrow. L. D. Anderson.

13

FORTY-ONE YEARS AGO

FORTY-ONE YEARS AGO

O-DAY I am in a reminiscent mood, and

1 those who do not enjoy such things should
turn aside. On the third day of January, 1879,
with a wife and baby girl — the latter now at
home with her Lord — I stepped from a train
to a platform in Ennis, Texas. Snow was
falling rapidly, and a "norther" was blowing.
I had left a temperature of eighteen degrees
below zero in Kentucky, and remarked, much to
the disgust of those who met me, "The weather
has moderated considerably." One of those who
greeted me was Bro. A. J. Soape, now in Okla-
homa. Some months afterwards he laughingly
told me that, being curious as to what sort of
preacher the four little Ellis County churches
had contracted with for a year without so much
as a glimpse of him, he "sized me up" for the
first few minutes, and then said to himself,
"We're bit." However, he treated me well,
as did all those Texas strangers, and our work
began. My first sermons in Texas were given
in Ennis. There was a confession at the eve-
ning service. Baptisteries were, in those days,
unknown here, and I whispered to a brother:

15

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

"Where can we announce for the baptism?"
His reply was, "Mulhall's Tank," which was
all Chinese to me. I said to the audience :
"Brother Soape will announce the place of
baptism." In our room, I remarked to my
wife that "a tank" was a most ridiculous place
for a baptism, adding I was glad the candidate
was not a lady, as I supposed we should have
to climb by ladder from the outside, and de-
scend on the other by a similar route. Imagine
my surprise when I discovered that the "tank"
was only that which I had all my life been
familiar with as a "pond." The water was
covered with two inches of ice, which was cut
for my first baptism in the sunny South.

My four preaching-points were Waxahachie.
Ennis, Houston Creek (near what is now Italy)
and Union Hill. To ride my circuit I bought a
forty-dollar pony, a Texas saddle, saddle-bags,
spurs and a "stake-rope." I knew no differ-
ence between the "keep" of a mustang and a
Kentucky thoroughbred, and kept my pony
for four days in a stall, well fed and groomed.
Then I mounted him in Waxahachie, near a
woodpile of about ten cords which Brother
Trippett had in the street. My horse, true to
his ancestry, reared and humped and pitched.
I was pulling off a first-class Wild West show
altogether unplanned by me. I held on with
amazing grip until I thought of the woodpile,

FORTY-ONE YEARS AGO

and had visions of a mixture of mangled flesh
and broken bones and cordwood. Deciding
"discretion to be the better part of valor," I
released my feet from the stirrups, and, select-
ing a spot some distance from the wood, threw
myself from the saddle. When I had collected
myself, the pony was far away. Mr. Will
Briggs, who was near, gave chase and lariated
the mustang, and I remounted and rode away
in triumph.

Much of my preaching was done in school-
houses, in private residences, under arbors,
under trees — anywhere I could find those who
would hear me. Many heard our preaching
for the first time, and some wild rumors were
afloat. Perhaps I was not so careful as I
should have been. At any rate, I recall that
during a sermon at Thomas' Schoolhouse I was
trying to show that the spiritual and the fleshly
heart were not the same, and said : ' ' This heart
of flesh has no more to do with our religion
than has our heel." For ten years I faced the
charge of having preached that "a man has
no more religion in his heart than in his heel."

There were noble men and women in my
field in Ellis County, in that early day. I
wish I had space to pay tribute to each.
Among them were Dr. and Mrs. R. P. Sweatt,
R. V. B. Sweatt and wife, James McCartney
and wife, Aaron Trippett and wife, Tate Miller
2 17

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

and wife, J. B. Meredith and wife, J. W.

Embry and wife, Brock and wife,

McCoy and wife, G. G. Higgenbotham

and wife, T. B. Chalmers and wife, A. J. Soape
and wife, Dr. Jennings, John Couch and wife,
James Couch and wife, Quincy Sweatt and
wife, Anson Rainey and wife. These were
members of the four churches for which I first
labored. Others in the field were Dr. Roebuck
and wife, Luther Wells and wife, Jacob Hen-
dricks and wife, Henry Hendricks and wife,
William Ricketts, and a few others. None
of the above were preachers except that
Bros. Henry Hendricks and Ricketts did
local preaching. All of those here named
have passed into the beyond with the exception
of Mrs. Dr. Sweatt, Mr. and Mrs. Miller, Mrs.
McCoy, Mr. and Mrs. Soape, James Couch,
Mr. and Mrs. Rainey, Dr. Roebuck, Mr. and
Mrs. Wells and Mrs. Jacob Hendricks; the last
named at this writing has just reached her
ninety-second anniversary, and is still a
regular attendant upon the services of the
Lord's house. Mr. Rainey is Chief Justice of
the Civil Court of Appeals sitting at Dallas,
and is president of the Texas Christian Mis-
sionary Board.

For twenty years, all told, I preached for
the church of Waxahachie. We were almost
twins — certainly a pair of babies. The church
18

FORTY-ONE YEARS AGO

was four months of age when we met, and I,
as a preacher, fourteen months its senior. I
have always felt that the two children being
thus thrown together was a fortunate thing
for me. Neither expected much of the other,
and neither was disappointed. The congrega-
tion, which had been organized by Addison
Clark, numbered about twenty souls. The
church grew; the preacher— well, let that pass.

In January, 1879, among the Texas preach-
ers were A. C. and A. P. Aten, "Billy" Alex-
ander, A. J. Bush, Jas. Beard, T. R. Burnett,
Kirk Baxter, Thomas Barrett, H. D. Bantau,
J. A.. Addison and Randolph Clark, T. W.
Caskey, Charles Carlton, E. B. Challenner,
R. 0. Charles, W. C. Dimmitt, A. M. Douglas,
Ed Dabney, Walter Dabney, S. R. Ezzell, J. B.
Faulkner, John Ferguson, R. M. Gano, W. K.
Homan, W. E. Hall, R. C. Horn, W. L. Harri-
son, W. J. Jones, B. F. Hall, John A. Lincoln,
E. H. Major, Henry Pangburn, David Pen-
nington, John T. Poe, Alfred Padon, J. H. 0.
Polly, W. P. Richardson, John Rawlins, Ed
Stirman, V. I. Stirman, T. M. Sweeney, W. Y.
Taylor, J. L. Thornberry, J. J. Williamson,
J. J. Hall, C. M. Wilmeth, James Wilmeth.
Perhaps there were others whom I never met.
Also, there were some itinerants who had no
definite abiding-place. Of those named, A. C.
and A. P. Aten, A. J. Bush, Randolph Clark,
19

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

R. C. Horn, David Pennington and B. F. Hall
are, at this writing, alive.

At that time we had three churches in the
State which supported preachers for their
entire time — Sherman, Austin, Dallas. There
were not exceeding ten of our preachers in the
State who were wholly supported from preach-
ing. Salaries were, of course, meager. The
sum promised me for my 'first year was sixty
dollars per month, and I was styled a "stall-
fed preacher" by some. I remember a meeting
which I conducted for ten days, baptizing a
number of persons, traveling eighty miles in
my buggy going and returning, for which I
received the handsome sum of fifty cents. I
preached once a month for a church (my
second year in Texas) which gave me $150,
two brethren paying $120, and the remainder
of the congregation $30. The two mentioned
moved elsewhere, and the $30 company asked
for my services for another year, which honor
I could not well afford. In one of my meetings
there were two rival leaders of song, so called
— husband and wife. I recall an invitation
song which was excruciating even to my un-
cultured ears. The wife was the first to begin,
making a heroic effort, but missing every note
in the song. When the husband entered the
game he was several words in the rear, but
plunged terrifically, and soon had passed the
20

FORTY-ONE YEARS AGO

partner of his joys and sorrows. Each was
singing on an independent key, and it seemed
as if they were working off rival tunes. The
remainder of us remained neutral spectators,
wondering which would reach the close first,
as that seemed to be the chief purpose. She
skipped and he jumped. Never once were they
attempting the same word at the same moment.
The whole thing was somewhat like a scenic
railway journey, or a kaleidoscope, or the
mingling of a bagpipe and a jew's-harp. Com-
pare it as one might, it was excruciatingly
funny, if such a thing is possible. There were
no additions to the invitation from the preach-
er. Later both of these worthies were violent
in their opposition to instrumental music in
the church. Perhaps they feared for the fate
of their own leadership.

Speaking of instruments in the church
house reminds me of two or three incidents.
One of the first organs placed in one of our
Texas churches was treated a la George
Washington-cherry-tree by a good sister. The
work was done thoroughly. In the long ago,
one of our very best preachers, and one of the
most prominent, held a meeting at Palestine,
where an organ had been introduced. The
meeting did not result in much apparent suc-
cess, and the brother was discouraged. Report-
ing to the Christian Preacher what he thought
21

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

to be a failure, and attributing the lack of
results to the presence of the organ, he gave
due notice to all churches using the instrument
that none such need ever call upon him for
services, as such call would only meet with
refusal. Later he preached many hundreds of
times in the presence of the instrument, and
that without quivering. One of our truest men
was addressed by F. D. Srygley, then pastor
of the church at Paris, and a most ardent
advocate of missionary societies, asking his co-
operation in the formation of a Texas mission-
ary society. He replied : "If I know what a
missionary society is, I am opposed to it."
Later, he became a hearty supporter of all our
missionary organizations, while Brother Srygley
became one of the editors of the Gospel Advo-
cate, of Nashville, and opposed such organiza-
tions with all his splendid abilities.

Here is a story which I have heard Bro.
A. J. Bush relate. He was in Texas before
me, and this incident was ahead of my time
here. Bush had an engagement for a pro-
tracted meeting quite a long distance from his
home. This was in the day when cattle-stealing
was a capital offence if the guilty fellow should
be caught, but the stealing was quite a success-
ful business when conducted without detection.
Bush drove to the place, and when he ca
to the neighborhood inquired for the home of
22

FORTY-ONE YEARS AGO

the brother with whom he had corresponded,
but whom he had never met. He arrived and
saw a number of men in the yard. One came
to his buggy and introduced himself, and told
Brother Bush to get out and go into the house ;
that he would be gone for a little while, as
the group had a cow-thief to hang, and as soon
as that should be over he would return, and
they would talk over plans for the meeting,
which was to begin on the next morning. I
have never heard Brother Bush report results
from his meeting.

Railroads in Texas, forty years ago, were
few and crude. The fare was five cents a mile.
I heard the first whistle of a train entering
Waxahachie. The road ran from that village
to Garrett, twelve miles away. The engine
bore the name "John C. Gibson," named for
the father of C. W. Gibson, whom all our
Texas brotherhood knows. To go to Dallas, we
changed at Garrett. Frequently eight or nine
hours were consumed in making the trip be-
tween the two towns — "Waxahachie and Dallas
— a distance by rail, then, of forty-two miles.
To make the round trip cost $4.20. The little
road had a record of its train running off the
track one hundred times in a single month.
The road with which it connected at Garrett
was the Houston & Texas Central, which had
been christened "The Angel Maker," because
23

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

of its numerous accidents. Upon one occasion
about ten of us waited in the station of Gar-
rett, without food or bed or fire, from an hour
before sunset to an hour after sunrise of the
following day, and the only consolation we
received was : "It may come at any minute. ' '
One death caused by that road was mourned
far and wide. A preacher had just closed
a most successful meeting in Dallas, and was
on his way to McKinney for another. He and
two other preachers — a Baptist and a Disciple
— were engaged in conversation when this man
said: "It is a glorious thing to rally the people
to the cross of Jesus Christ." At that moment
the train left the rails, and rolled over an
embankment, and the evangelist passed into
eternity. He was a great preacher in every
sense of the word. His sermons, exhortations,
songs, faith — all were marvels of power. He
did not confine himself to conventionalities.
Sometimes he was on the rostrum, then at the
door of the room, later walking through the
aisles, sometimes sitting at the organ as he
sang a song which reached every heart. Bro.
T. W. Caskey heard him in Dallas — that last
meeting — and the great tears streamed down a
face unused to such. Often he had been heard
to say : ' ' The fountain of tears is dry ; I shed
them all over the Lost Cause." After the
service a brother asked Brother Caskey about
24

FORTY-ONE YEARS AGO

the dry fountain, and he replied : ' ■ He took an
unfair advantage of me, and sang a story
about a little baby dying when I wasn't look-
ing for it." Of course, by this time, every
reader knows who the great preacher was — -
Knowles Shaw.

Bear with me a little longer. That which
is now one of our very best of Texas churches
was exceedingly feeble. The time of this story
was after several of our Texas churches had
introduced the organ into its services, and
among these was that where I was laboring —
"Waxahachie. A few women and a solitary man
at Longview conceived the idea, somehow, of
asking me to assist the church in a meeting.
None of them were on "the official board."
I accepted their invitation, being altogether in
the dark as to the fact that I was invited un-
officially. The ladies called upon the "ruling
elder" with a request for the "meeting-house."
This was promptly refused. The elder was
then informed that I had accepted their invi-
tation, and, if the house was not available,
other arrangements could be made. Supposing
he could carry his point, he agreed to leave
the matter to the small congregation. The
ladies "got busy," and secured a majority vote.
When I arrived — totally ignorant of all that
had happened — the elder was out of town. To
avoid being "stuck," the people had plastered
25

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

the seats, which had been painted with ever-
lasting paint, with newspapers. On one of
these I saw a full page from the Firm Founda-
tion, containing a column article of which I
was the text. Modesty forbids my quoting
therefrom. For fifteen days I preached with-
out an addition, but there was something per-
haps better than additions at that time. "The
people had a mind to work," and they worked.
They employed L. A. Dale, a young man of
Lake Charles, La., as their preacher. When he
began his work the elder locked the church
door. Some one entered by an open window,
removed the lock, put a new one in its place,
took the key in his pocket, and Dale continued
his work as if nothing at all had occurred.
Two elders entered suit against "the digres-
sives, " and these employed W. K. Homan as
their attorney. Then it was that honors thick
and fast were conferred upon me. Homan
told me he asked one of the witnesses if he
knew who had been the originator of all the
disturbing things he had mentioned as "inno-
vations." such as organs, Endeavor societies,
ladies' aid societies, to which question he
promptly replied: "Yes. It was that fellow
McPherson, of Waxahachie. "

The church houses used by our people in
1879 were thoroughly up to date for what was
practically a frontier region. They would not

26

FORTY-ONE YEARS AGO

be so designated to-day. The largest and best
equipped did not have more than two rooms;
one had a basement. We often preached to
congregations in the country where our only
light was from one small brass lamp without
chimney. With such a light in front of the
speaker, he could not distinguish his nearest
auditors; he could not so much as discover an
outline of those who sat a few feet away. The
majority of us were traveling preachers, which
is to say we rode Spanish ponies, wore spurs,
conveyed our Bible and change of clothing in
saddle-bags, and took our stable along with us.
The last was a lariat — a rope about forty feet
in length, carried in coils over the "horn" of
the saddle. With this rope we "staked out"
the pony.

In 1879 — that first year in Texas — I at-
tended the "State meeting" held at Thorp's
Spring. Add-Ran College was located there.
Something like one hundred visitors were in
attendance. The villagers graciously received
us into their homes, where we lodged and
breakfasted. Dinner and supper — we had not
yet arrived at the lunch and evening dinner
stage — were served in the open, on home-made
tables, under an arbor covering, and the liberal
Texas winds abundantly furnished all the sand
necessary. There I met, for the first time, the
Texas preachers of that day. We were rather

27

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

short on "system," and our organization was
doubtless exceedingly defective. In fact, we
had no organization at all beyond a very
meager one in the local congregation. There
was no co-operation of forces whatever. We
met and preached and sang and prayed, and
loved one another, and went to our fields of
work the better for the experience. There were
deep faith and holy enthusiasm. Perhaps our
vision was narrow, but those men and women
believed something, and that with the whole
heart. Their labors did not cover large terri-
tories, but they stood for something definite,
and for that definite position they dedicated
their all. Neither position, promotion nor
larger salaries characterized the spirit which
stirred them to labor. I am not minimizing
the value of organization nor of well-laid plans.
For these I have contended through the years,
and on them we must insist, but never should
they be the object of faith nor the goal of
ambition. For the zeal, the piety, the devo-
tion, the faith, the life of those heroes and
heroines of yesterday there can be no substi-
tutions. And it had just as well be said that
for their faith, their labors, their methods,
their consecration, we may find no cause for a
blush. He who points to them with a sneer,
sneers at men and women of the type that laid
foundations for the possibilities of to-day. For

28

FORTY-ONE YEARS AGO

them let a prayer of thanksgiving go up to
God.

These reminiscences could be continued at
great length, but this is near the place to
close. They have their value, and this is
large, but he who has come to live in the past
rather than to visit there, lias ceased from
usefulness. Those days were pioneers for the
present ; to-day is the pioneer for to-morrow.
The toilers of yesterday laid the foundations
for the builders of to-day ; we must lay foun-
dations for larger things. "Face the future"
must be our motto, and "forward" the com-
mand which we heed.

It is barely possible that the reader of
these pages of reveries may raise that meddle-
some, never-to-be-downed question, "How old
is he?" "He" is not "old" at all. His youth
may be of the stretching sort, but it is youth.
And that youth has on this day — January 20,
1920 — touched the line of seventy years.
Seventy years is but a span of life. I have
no faith whatever in that theory which seems
to please the occasional one, that I have lived
in other days and in another sphere. The
conclusive proof for this seems to be a passing
nutter of "It seems as if I have seen or heard
or felt this before, sometime, somewhere." I
look back to no "previous existence" save that
which was found in the divinity when God
29

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

"breathed the breath of life." Then, and not
till then, did "man become a living soul."
These seventy years have been the first span of
my personal being. Mingled with those years
have been opportunities, temptations, invita-
tions, inspirations. They point to a future.
' Twould be but an idling of precious time if I
should repine now because of the failures which
I have brought to pass. Let the faults and the
virtues, the wrongs and the rights, the weak-
ness and the strength, the sins and the redemp-
tions of that span of years become an inspira-
tion to that which is calling — the work for
to-day and for to-morrow. May He whose
hand has touched and guided His people in
the other days be with us even to the end.

On this anniversary, counting you, my read-
ers, as "my loving nieces," I appropriate these
lines from Walt Mason, copied from the Amer-
ican Magazine. Under the title of "The Sere
and Yellow Leaf" he wrote:

"I'm all in, or pretty near it, so many
years would indicate ; but time can not daunt
my spirit, or my youthful airs abate. Not for
me the carpet slippers, garments long since
out of style, predigested food in dippers, or a
sickly graveyard smile. Till my system goes to
pieces, falls apart beyond repair, I'm on deck,
my loving nieces, with my coat-tails in the air.
You can't shelve your frisky uncle; you
30

FORTY-ONE YEARS AGO

can't back him off the street, though he has a
large carbuncle and two ring-bones on his feet,
I am old as years are counted, but I'm young,
in fact, my dears, for my soul is not encum-
bered with the cobwebs of the years. I'm not
ever backward gazing, with a dotard's vacant
stare, claiming that all things amazing, all
things great, are buried there. I am living in
the present, and the present is the stuff, and
I find this world so pleasant I can hardly get
enough. Oh, my whiskers may be snowy, and
my step be kind o' slow, and my bald spot
rather showy, but I'm young, I'd have you
know. I'm not one to thirst and hunger for
the aspect of a sage, and I'll keep on getting
younger till I haven't any age."

31

Organizing the Work

1. Some Beginnings

2. Texas Missions Enlarging

3. Texas Bible-school Work

4. The Christian Woman's Board of

Missions in Texas

3

33

/hoW 9ffi gnixirusg

ORGANIZING THE WORK

SOME BEGINNINGS

IN ye olden time, before I ever set foot on
the soil of Texas, I know not who conceived
the idea of a "State meeting." My first
association with this was at Thorp Spring, in
1879. Disciples came together for social and
religious contact. No committee was appointed
save one '. ' on resolutions, ' ' whose duty it was
to thank citizens, newspapers and railroads,
and dissolve. No business of any kind was
attempted beyond the selection of the time and
place for the next meeting. We chatted, sang,
preached, prayed, said "good-by" and sepa-
rated. No program had been prepared beyond
the announcement of subjects for sermons, the
speakers being selected after arrival. Bro. J.
A. Clark was in charge of this at my first
meeting. The subject announced for one of
the afternoon sermons was "The Inspiration
of the Scriptures." Brother Clark asked me
to take this period, and, in the goodness of his
heart, suggested that I would be free to choose
a different theme if I should so desire. But
why should I so desire? I was sufficiently
young and uninformed to attempt anything.
35

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

The picture of Bro. C. M. Wilmeth and other
brethren serenely sleeping through the address
is still vivid. My mental commentary was:
"You men do not know a good thing when it
comes to your very doors. ' ' Since then, others
have slept through my sermons, but I under-
stand better now.

In 1880 we met at Waxahachie. William
E. Hall, of Austin, offered a resolution pro-
posing church co-operation in State missionary
effort. He and I made the only talks in favor
of the resolution. Gen. E. M. Gano opposed it
in a fervent speech. The vote was about a
half-dozen for, and all others against. In 1881
the assembly was at Bonham, and the year
following in Fort Worth. Here, F. D. Srygley,
of Paris, proposed a plan that individuals and
congregations place funds in the hands of the
elders of a local congregation, for use in State
missionary effort. This was adopted and Waco
was chosen. Dr. Thomas Moore was in reality
"the board," though no one dared to use such
a word. He employed C. M. Wilmeth as evan-
gelist. The work accomplished but little, be-
cause we were a set of infants in such matters.
However, it was the germ of co-operation. In
1883 we met in Ennis, and the program for the
first year was renewed. Brother Wilmeth was
editing and publishing a small paper known as
the Christian Preacher. Some of us felt that
36

ORGANIZING THE WORK

either he should turn the paper into other
hands, or some one else should undertake the
evangelistic work. The year following, the
meeting was at Bryan. A private meeting was
held. I recall some of those who were a part
of it; Charles Carlton, W. K. Homan, Homer
T. Wilson, G. A. Faris, J. S. Kendrick, W. C.
Dimmitt, Judge Spencer Ford and I were
there. Perhaps there were others. I am the
only surviving member of the group. We
agreed that in making our pledges for the work
we would each make the condition that the
evangelist employed should give his entire time
to that work. Brother Carlton led in making
the first conditional pledge, and we followed.
The work was placed in the hands of the elders
of the Sherman Church, which meant that
Brother Dimmitt was the new board. This
was with the approval of Dr. Moore. He
employed F. S. Young, now deceased, who
served for two years. A small advance was
made in the way of rendering assistance to
what was then the new and struggling little
band of San Antonio. This church had
previously been planted through the labors of
Bro. David Pennington, now of Taylor.

Returning to the Bryan meeting, Brother
Dimmitt offered a resolution requesting the
ladies of the churches to organize themselves
into local groups in aid of State Missions. At
37

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

once the atmosphere became "blue," the clouds
rolled heavily, lightnings flashed and thunders
cannonaded. C. M. Wilmeth was the center
of it all. Eloquently and earnestly and pa-
thetically he pointed out breakers ahead. As
soon as he could get the floor, Brother Dimmitt
quieted the storm by withdrawing the resolu-
tion.

At this meeting a wee step was taken to-
ward organized State work. A committee, con-
sisting of G. A. Faris, John C. Gibson and
myself, was named to call together the workers
in Bible schools for the purpose of more ad-
vanced work. How such a resolution ever
passed has always been a cause of wonder to
me, but it did pass, and that without a dissent-
ing vote. This will be mentioned again in this
article.

In 1885 the State meeting assembled in
Sherman. Here a strong effort for more effi-
cient organization was made. Resolutions to
this effect were presented, and for an entire
day were discussed. C. M. Wilmeth, R. C.
Horn and W. H. Wright led the opposition.
The two last named later most heartily co-
operated with organized missionary work. We
believed we had come to our opportunity.
Brothers Carlton and Caskey, both ardent
friends to the movement, thought the time was
premature. One offered a motion to table the
38

ORGANIZING THE WORK

resolution; the other seconded it, and others
of us yielded. They were our beloved fathers,
and we would not oppose their judgment. The
next year (1886) we met in Austin.

Leaving the history for a time, let us return
to our Sunday-school Committee appointed at
Bryan. That story forms an important link
in the history. The committee called a meeting
to be held in Waxahachie during the autumn
of 1884. This was attended by about twenty-
five persons, not including those of us who
lived in "Waxahachie. I now recall W. H.
Bagby, Henry Pangburn, R. T. Skiles, Luther
Wells, C. M. Wilmeth, A. J. Soape and C. C.
Cline. Brother Cline was from Kentucky. G.
A. Faris was one of the Waxahachie company
present. I had the honor of being selected
as chairman. G. A. Faris was named as chair-
man of the Committee on Resolutions. The
committee reported favoring the organization
of a Sunday-school convention, with a Board
of Directors and the employment of a Sunday-
school evangelist. This was strenuously op-
posed by two persons — C. M. Wilmeth, of
Texas, and C. C. Cline, of Kentucky.

An amusing thing took place during the
discussion. One section of the resolution was
to the effect that the Executive Board should
consist of five persons — the president, vice-
president and secretary of the convention, and
39

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

two others to be named by the Chair. W. H.
Bagby, now of California, made the point that
the resolution was inconsistent in that it called
for a board of fi.e, and yet specified the three
officers and two others to be named, adding :
"That does not make the proper number."
The chairman asked if he was to understand
that three and two did not make five. After
a moment's hesitation, Bagby replied: "Mr.
Chairman, that is a perfect illustration. I
clearly saw an inconsistency where none ex-
isted. Brothers Wilmeth and Cline think they
have found something radically wrong with
our proposal. The wrong is on a par with
that which I saw — altogether in the imagina-
tion." Bagby was accused, by his friends, of
a plot ab initio. This he denied. The resolu-
tion was adopted. So far as I recall, the only
vote cast against it was that of Brother Wil-
meth, Brother Cline being a non-resident.

James H. Rosecrans, now of Breakabeen,
New York, was called as Sunday-school evan-
gelist. This he accepted, and remained with
the work for four years with increasing suc-
cess. He had a difficult time getting started.
Brethren were afraid of anything like a con-
vention or a board. Even those who favored
such things seemed afraid to be the first to
move.. Bro. Rosecrans began to grow dis-
couraged as he drifted from point to point
40

ORGANIZING THE WORK

without finding an open door. Add-Ran Col-
lege, of Thorp Spring, was the first to agree to
receive him, but this was immediately followed
by a letter saying to Rosecrans: "We have
been informed by a prominent brother, . . . and
if these things are true, we do not want you
either in Thorp Spring or in Texas." Rose-
crans promptly demanded a complete investi-
gation, which was made by Addison Clark, and
the charge was proven to be false in every
particular. The exoneration was perfect. It
was a shameful effort to wreck one of God's
noblemen, but the guilty party was fully ex-
posed. A few weeks later a most successful
institute was conducted at the college. In the
meantime. Rosecrans' first work in the State
was made possible by A. 0. Riall, who was
teaching at Denton, and preaching both there
and at Pilot Point. Two weeks' work was
given to the two places. Thus it was, in a
sense, that A. 0. Riall became the father of
our organized missionary work in Texas. A
worthy service rendered by a worthy man.
At the close of four years Rosecrans resigned,
and the State organization in the interest of
Bible-school work soon began to wane. But the
influence of that effort did not cease. The
success of the first eighteen months went very
far toward making the organization of our
State missionary work possible.

41

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

As stated above, the Sherman State meeting
adjourned to meet in Austin. This gathering
was July 7-9, 1886. In advance of the meeting,
a call was issued, signed by Dr. W. A. Morris
and D. Hardin Walsh, elders of the Austin
congregation, containing these words: "All
churches in harmony with this movement are
cordially invited to send their delegates or
representatives." The "movement" referred
to was in anticipation of an attempt to organ-
ize forces for more effective labors in missions.
The original program prepared by those
brethren for the meeting lies on my table as
I write. This provided for devotional services,
organization, appointment of committees, re-
ports, miscellaneous business, six subjects and
speakers to be later announced, one address
on "How to Raise Money for Missionary Pur-
poses," the speaker to be chosen later, and
three addresses for which both subjects and
speakers were announced. These were "Ad-
dress of Welcome." by Dr. W. A. Morris:
"The Wants of the State." by W. C. Dimmitt,
and "Mission Work," by Chalmei's McPher-
son. Many assembled, including those who
were not "in harmony with this movement."
Indications of a coming struggle were every-
where manifest. W. K. Homan was selected as
chairman — the very man for the place. The
Committee on Resolutions consisted of B. F.
42

ORGANIZING THE WORK

Gooch, J. S. Kendrick, D. W. Pritchett, J. H.
Rosecrans and Chalmers McPherson. All these
were ardent advocates of organized work. In-
stead of reporting the usual resolutions, the
committee submitted a series of seven para-
graphs intended to be the basis of co-operative
effort. I know of no existing copy of those
resolutions. They should have been preserved,
as they were the makers of history. The oppo-
sition leaders were C. M. Wilmeth, W. H. D.
Carrington, J. D. Tant and Dr. Carroll Ken-
drick, the latter being a former citizen of
Texas, but then of California. Those who
favored the resolution agreed privately to allow
the opposition to do all the public speaking.
The committee reported on the forenoon of
Wednesday, July 7. Immediately a motion
was made to postpone action until the third —
the final — day, "to give time for considera-
tion." The only speech made by the friends
of the measure was from the chairman of the
committee in opposition to postponement. The
motion was lost. A resolution was adopted
limiting each person to one speech of five
minutes on each section of the resolution. It
soon became evident that the opposition pro-
posed to kill the movement by continually
offering amendments, substitutes, etc., and
speaking on each until time for final adjourn-
ment. The chairman nipped this plan in the
43

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

bud by ruling that a person who had spoken
on any phase of a section had made the only
speech to which he was entitled while that sec-
tion was under consideration. The speaking —
all one-sided — continued to near the close of
Wednesday afternoon. Each section was
adopted without change. When the vote on
No. 7 was announced, a brother began the
song, "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name."
Bro. Charles Carlton arose, tears and smiles
mingling, motioned the company to arise, and
led the song to the close. The next issue of
the Christian Preacher said of this song and
of the singers : ' ' They sang as lustily as niggers
at a corn-shucking, while good men and women
sat and wept."

Something like twenty-five hundred dollars
was placed in the hands of the Board. A. J.
Bush was chosen as our first Corresponding
Secretary. He served with efficiency for about
nine years.

There is another chapter connected with
this history which must not be left unrecorded.
Following the adoption of the resolutions, W.
H. D. Carrington called for all "who wish to
do missionary work on the Scriptural basis"
to meet him in the basement of the church
immediately. The convention adjourned for
the afternoon, and we who favored such mis-
sionary work as Brother Carrington had de-
44

ORGANIZING THE WORK

scribed repaired to the basement. I say "we,"
because I have always favored Scriptural work.
I was a part of the work which had been
started, and, if there was other such work to be
done, I wanted a share in it. Hence I went
to the basement with others, doing so over the
protest of many of my brethren. But, why
should I not be there? And I was. Brother
Carrington and Brother Tant were selected,
respectively, chairman and secretary. I asked
if I were permitted to enroll as a member.
The reply from the chairman was in substance :
"Yes, if you are willing to contribute finan-
cially to the work." Thus, those brethren, at
their first step, went beyond anything which
we had done, in that they placed their mem-
bership on a money basis. I made my pledge,
and was thus initiated. The assembly ad-
journed to meet in Weather ford a few weeks
later. As I recall the incident now, those
brethren only pledged one or two hundred
dollars for their work, and this was never paid,
as no work was ever attempted. Only a very
few persons attended the next gathering at
Weatherford, and those adjourned to meet
with the "First Christian Church" of Dallas
at the same time we were to meet with the
"Commerce Street Church" of the same city.
The two "conventions" assembled. C. M.
Wilmeth, R. M. Gano, W. H. Lemmon and
45

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

R. C. Horn were the prominent ones of the
First Church assembly. W. K. Azbill was
present, attending sessions of both bodies. His
laudable purpose was reconciliation. At his
instance, each body appointed a committee
for conference. After hours of consideration,
a report was agreed to. This was adopted by
both bodies. The agreement was, in substance,
for a union of the two upon the basis that the
annual gathering should be known as a "meet-
ing ' ' rather than a ' ' convention ' ' ; the ' • Exec-
utive Board" should give place to a "com-
mittee," and those participating should be
known as "messengers." C. M. Wilrneth voted
"No" in one of the assemblies, and J. D. Car-
ter, S. Y. Trice and I did the same in the
other. The following forenoon was named as
the time for the united body to assemble in
the Commerce Street Church. R. M. Gano,
W. H. Lemmon and R. C. Horn came — no
others. Brother Lemmon, a noble Christian
business man, died soon after ; Brother Gano
met with us the next year for the last time ;
Brother Horn is with the work, and has stood
by it loyally through the thirty-one years
which have elapsed.

Our State conventions have met as follows
since that time : Austin, 1886 j Dallas, 1887 ;
Waco. 1888; Fort Worth. 1889; Taylor, 1890;
Dallas, 1891 ; Dallas, 1892 ; Terrell, 1893 ; Hills-
46

ORGANIZING THE WORK

boro, 1894; Gainesville, 1895; Austin, 1896
(this in celebration of the first decade) ; Waco,
1897; McKinney, 1898; Fort Worth, 1899;
Paris, 1900 ; Waco, 1901 ; Dallas, 1902 ; Mineral
Wells, 1903; Greenville, 1904; Waco, 1905;
Waxahachie, 1906; Fort Worth, 1907; Thorp
Spring, 1908; Corsicana, 1909; Dallas, 1910;
Fort Worth, 1911 ; Houston, 1912 ; San Angelo,
1913; Gainesville, 1914; Dallas, 1915; Waco,
1916; Austin, 1917; Sherman, 1918; Paris,
1919. The announcement is that the conven-
tion will go to Galveston this year — 1920.
Neither A. J. Bush nor Chalmers McPherson
has been absent from either of the thirty-four
consecutive conventions, and both are planning,
by the grace of God, to attend the one to be
held at Galveston in May, 1920.

The following brethren have served as Cor-
responding Secretary — now known as "Super-
intendent of Missions"— in Texas:

A. J. Bush was the first of the list. For
several years he had dreamed and spoken and
written and hoped for something which might
mean a forward advance in the work of primi-
tive Christianity in his adopted State. He
was at the first gathering where this work was
inaugurated, and was active in its accomplish-
ment. When the committee began to look for
the proper man to inaugurate the work, all
eyes turned to him, and no other person was,

47

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

perhaps, suggested. For nine years he labored
most faithfully, and organized work multiplied
its friends rapidly. Some time after his resig-
nation, a work which had been inaugurated,
but little more than this having been done,
the caring for orphans, was appealing more
and more to the brethren. A farm had been
secured and held for this purpose, near Thorp
Spring, for a few years previously, but this
was not considered the best place for perma-
nency. Again Brother Bush was called upon
to lead in a great enterprise, and for a number
of years he did so with marked success. The
result is that which we now have in the Homes
for the children and for the aged in Dallas.
This splendid advancement in the time required
for its accomplishment was made possible by
the legacy of Mrs. Juliette Fowler, of Dallas,
who left lands and money for this purpose.
The Homes bear her name as a monument
to her gift and memory. Sister Fowler died
a number of years ago. Brother Bush is still
with us, and at work for the Master. He has
attained, perhaps, the age of seventy-three.

B. B. Sanders led the work for a con-
siderable while. Before accepting the leader-
ship of Texas Missions, he served, under the
auspices of the State Board, as an evangelist.
Churches were established, and many persons
obeyed their Lord. When he assumed the
48

ORGANIZING THE WORK

leadership, he brought ripe experience and de-
votion to his task. Perhaps no man among us
in the State ever had a larger number of ex-
ceedingly close friends than he. He was one
of the strong preachers of the brotherhood.
I remember hearing one of his sermons; the
subject was "Embodiment." He was my
guest, and we spoke to each other with perfect
freedom. In the home circle, I said in jest:
"Sanders, confess. Where did you steal that
sermon ? ' ' He laughed most heartily, and said :
"I'll tell the truth. Brother [I have forgotten
the name] and I were sitting on a log in
Florida, and he gave me the thought." At
once I proceeded to follow his example, and
many times I preached the same thing; perhaps
with less power than did Sanders. Brother
Sanders has gone to his reward, the only one
of the leaders in this work who is not still
with us.

J. W. Holsapple — I may not give the list
in order — began the work following the great
convention which was held in Gainesville,
where he was, at the time, pastor. Holsapple
had had experience, if I mistake not, in the
missionary work of Kentucky prior to his com-
ing to the State. He rendered excellent service
during the years of his administration, and
has, ever since, been a loyal supporter. I have
not the reports of the different years at com-
4 49

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

rrtand, and can not give such reports as I
should be glad to present, but all these men did
faithful work.

G. S. Kimberly was an employee of the
Board for one year. A suitable man was being
sought, and no one in Texas who was con-
sidered as the right man was available. It
was tendered to several who were at the time
in the State, but these declined the offers. The
committee wrote to Bro. F. M. Rains, and
asked advice. He recommended Brother Kim-
berly, who was an entire stranger to the
brotherhood. He was called, and accepted.
After trying the work for a brief time, he
resigned. His home is now, I think, in the
southern portion of the State.

J. C. Mason has been called "The War-
horse of Texas Disciples." This must not be
taken as meaning that he is pugilistic in his
ways, as he is not. He is forceful, brainy,
persevering, gentle, Christian. I was thrown
in very close relationship with him during his
years of service, being a member of the State
Board during the time. Frequently we dif-
fered as to policies; we never differed in
brotherly relations. I was always glad to have
him in my home, and was a frequent guest
in his. When his dear wife was called to her
final home, I was called from Fort Worth to
lead the funeral services. I have a letter be-
50

ORGANIZING THE WORK

fore nie of very recent date from which I take
the liberty to quote: "Very often I think of
the patient, faithful work which you have
given to our common cause. I knew that you
were unselfish in your desire to see the cause
of Christ in Texas succeed. Even when we
differed, as we often did, I felt sure that you,
were honest, and I was right. I think that
we can say, without egotism, we have laid the
foundation and others build thereon." In the
same letter he spoke of his work as Superin-
tendent of Missions, and said: "In 1912 our
men raised $67,000 for Texas Missions. We
passed the $50,000 mark each year from 1909
to 1914. A few well-meaning brethren talked
of 'padded reports,' but these reports were
made on the basis laid down by the A. C.
M. S., on blanks furnished by the Home Board,
and were all on the square." Speaking per-
sonally, he said: "January 10 next [the letter
was dated December 29, 1919] will bring me
to my seventy-fifth anniversary. I am em-
ployed regularly as pastor by the Bald Knob
and Forrest City Churches, Arkansas." Mason
will live till he dies, and work while he lives.

A. D. Rogers succeeded Brother Mason in
the work, and served for several years. I have
known this faithful servant of the Lord for
years. When he served as District Evangelist
for years, I was a member of the Board, ami
51

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

knew his work from the inside. I counted him
as one of the men who accomplished things.
During the days of his service under the State
Board, some thought that he was perhaps mis-
understood, and, hence, did not receive the
credit which was due his labors. Certainly
he did not have the co-operation which he
needed from some of the churches of the State,
and no man can do his best without this. If
I were to offer a criticism on my brethren
concerning their relation to the various efforts
at co-operation in Texas, it would be that far
too many of us have held hands off when the
men at the helm were not working along the
lines which we thought to be the ideals. Cer-
tainly there is to be no compromise as to the
message or the work, but, in the presenting
of the one and the furthering of the other,
there is large room for both charity and com-
promise. Perhaps the plans of the "other
fellow" may not be nearly so wise as are our
own, but even a poorer plan can be made, with
hearty and cheerful co-operation, more efficient
than a better one without it. But I did not
intend to moralize here; it just "said itself,"
and what is written is written.

J. B. Holmes succeeded Brother Rogers.
We are now in modern history, and I shall not
devote space to this more than to say that we
have, in Holmes, one who is firm in his faith
52

ORGANIZING THE WORK

in the verities of the gospel; wise in his in-
sight into the needs of the field and how to
meet them; persistent when difficulties present
themselves, even when they appear for a time
to be insurmountable; courteous in his dealings
with all, whether they be of or against his
way of thinking; Christian in his thought and
life. He is making a splendid success, if I
have the right sort of a measuring-rod. May
he stick to the job for many years to come.

Before this bit of history closes, one must
be mentioned who, though never one of the
superintendents of missions, was in reality our
first of all leaders in directing our organized
work in the field — James H. Rosecrans. As
stated elsewhere, our first organized work in
the State was that of Bible schools, and Rose-
crans was the first man employed. He served
in this capacity for four years. The work is
mentioned in another place, but a few words
here concerning the man will not be deemed
amiss. Everywhere he went he came to be
known as "Rosey. " Every one who learned
to know him, loved him more and more as
acquaintance grew. All the children flocked
about him and were never rebuffed. His songs
have been sung in thousands of services, and
imbedded in hearts innumerable His last work
in Texas was with Carlton College, where he
taught the Bible for several years — and he
53

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

taught the Bible. He was and is a strong
preacher, always speaking the truth, and doing
so in love. The home always brightened still
more when "Rosey" was within. He is now
on his farm near Breakabeen, Schoharie Coun-
ty, New York. The only really serious offciu-
of which I ever knew Rosecrans to be guilty
was in his having such a post-office address
as that. Whenever I write it, I either guess
at it or look it up in the geography, and then
generally miss the spelling.

The articles by Brethren Holmes and Hut-
ton give the more modern history of Texas
Missions.

54

ORGANIZING THE WORK

TEXAS MISSIONS ENLARGING

J. B. HOLMES, Superintendent of Missions

THE writer is very poorly prepared to give,
as requested, a sketch of Texas Missions
even under the administration of his two pred-
ecessors in office. The records on file are very
meager and incomplete, and, aside from this
fact, I simply can not find the time for proper
research. The suggestion of Brother McPherson
that I write in "general terms" is, therefore,
very welcome.

On June 10, 1903, Bro. J. C. Mason began
his service as Superintendent of Missions. He
continued in office for eleven years. The
financial records for this period are fairly com-
plete, but it would take weeks of time for one
to discover just what part of the money was
for "service rendered." and what part was
given by churches and individuals directly for
State Missions. During the years 1905, 1906
and 1907, Brother Mason published Texas Mis-
sions, a splendid little monthly, in which may
be found detailed information for that period,
but for the most part we are forced to depend
upon our personal knowledge of the work done.
55

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

Evangelism was especially stressed. Summer
campaigns, meetings conducted by pastors who
volunteered for the work, and campaigns con-
ducted by evangelists, were the order of the
day. Probably more meetings were held, more
people were baptized, and more congregations
were organized then, than in any period of
our history. The genial smile and hopeful
spirit of J. C. Mason won friends everywhere,
and in every nook and corner of this great
state there are disciples who never tire of
singing the praise of this good man who gave
the best years of his life to this work.

The administration of Brother Rogers
covers a rather unsettled, restless period. He
began June 6, 1914, and served three years
and one month. The Auditor's report shows
that he collected a total of but $15,757.50
strictly for missions, and that the total amount
handled was a little less than $30,000, in-
cluding all other receipts. There seems to have
been several hundred dollars of debt when he
began, but the record is very indefinite. No
man could succeed with such meager financial
support. Brother Rogers continued to stress
evangelism, and especially emphasized the
"doing of the work by districts"; he sought
to have a District Superintendent over each of
the ten districts. Seventy-five per cent, of the
money raised was to be expended in the district
56

ORGANIZING THE WORK

from which it came. This system, coupled
with the meager financial support given,
seemed to force the men employed as District
Superintendents and Evangelists, to become
practically "financial agents," and left the
impression with many that their first and
foremost duty was the collection of enough to
pay their own salaries. And yet, in spite of
these and other handicaps, much good work
was done. I note that in 1915-17 nineteen
churches were organized, and more than sixteen
hundred were added to our membership.
Brother Rogers raised much of his salary by
holding meetings himself. He turned over to
me $676.64 in cash, and debts amounting to
about $3,000 — some of which was covered by
pledges due our society. Nearly half the
amount of the debt was collected from pledges
received from Brother Rogers, but it cost us
fully fifty cents on each dollar to make the
collections. For some reason, Brother Rogers
did not secure the full co-operation of the
Texas brotherhood, and no man could succeed
without it. I marvel that he did as well as
he did.

More or less of uncertainty comes with each
change in leadership. The church desires to
know something of the methods of work as
well as the objects to be attained, before giving
very generous support; at any rate, I found it
57

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

so. On account of the debts, a number of thos'>
employed under the administration of Brother
Rogers resigned, either just before or soon
after he closed his work. Our constituency
■was discouraged, and money came in very
slowly for several months. We only raised,
in actual missionary money, $9,330.19 by the
close of our first convention year. Only a few
of the former employees remained with us.
Among these were A. K. Scott, who has served
our Board for fourteen years, and G. N.
Weaver, who also has a long period of credit-
able work back of him. Brother Scott has
assisted in erecting some church houses during
this time. During the last year of Brother
Rogers' administration, the writer was asked
to serve as superintendent of the Galveston
District, while at the same time serving as the
missionary pastor of the Galveston Church.
After making a careful survey of that field,
the situation was placed before that splendid
Christian business man and creditable "lay
preacher," Bro. A. D. Milroy, of Brenham,
Texas. He readily agreed to put $100 per
month back of a pastor evangelist for this dis-
trict, and in October of 1916 Bro. Albert T.
Fitts was employed. This arrangement is still
in operation, and as a result the district, as
a whole, is probably in the best condition of
any in Texas. The method of work is no
58

ORGANIZING THE WORK

longer an experiment, but has proven the best
way to meet the present need, and is our chief
method of working to-day. Of course the pecu-
liar conditions of each field must be met, but
as we have developed the plan it may be out-
lined in general terms as follows : The pastor
evangelist must himself be a man of consecra-
tion, in whom the usual abilities of both pastor
and evangelist blend. As a rule, he will be
sent to some pastorless field. Beginning with
a survey of the field, he is expected to build
up the attendance of the church and its aux-
iliaries ; to organize, or reorganize, same as may
be needed, and, after due preparation, to con-
duct evangelistic services. He is then to put
on the Every-member Canvass for both current
local expenses and world-wide missions, intro-
ducing the Duplex envelope and budget system.
He is still to remain on the field until a pastor
is called and placed in charge. This method
has been made all the more necessary by the
intense evangelism of the past, which left us
with nearly three hundred struggling, pastor-
less congregations. These congregations con-
stitute at least one-third of our strength in
the State. They are capable of supporting at
least one hundred more pastors, and of in-
creasing our missionary offerings for all causes
at least 25 per cent. It will take fifty pastor
evangelists five years to meet this need, that
59

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

the needy churches already started may become
permanent evangelizing agencies in their local
communities, and may form the proper base
of supplies for the evangelization of the world.
Most of the men now employed are of the
pastor-evangelist type, and yet we do not mean
to neglect the old-time evangelism from which
came most of our growth.

Bro. J. W. Holsapple is now employed to
give all his time to evangelism, and he is doing
this work with marked success, while there is
a conspicuous absence of anything of the sen-
sational type.

We began the present missionary year
April 5, 1919, with all debts paid, and a
balance in war-savings stamps, bonds, and cash
on hand amounting to $5,641.73. The largest
individual church offering, not including in-
dividual gifts, in 1917-18 was $347, paid by
the First Christian Church of Fort Worth.
In 1918-19 the largest regular offering was
again made by this congregation, the amount
being $450. It should be said, however, that
Central Church. Dallas, gave $603.56, and East
Dallas, $780, when their offerings to City Mis-
sions are included; and that Central Church,
Austin, is credited with $950 from the offer-
ings of the Reed brothers; and, further, that,
including the offerings of A. D. Milroy, in
support of Brother Fitts. the Brenham Church
60

ORGANIZING THE WORK

is credited with $1,250. No one yet knows
what this year's record will be, but up to date
there are more than twenty churches that have
subscribed $1,000 or more each, if they are to
be credited with what they have given through
the co-operative campaign in which Texas Mis-
sions is interested.

We are also beginning the work of evan-
gelizing our cities. Dallas has made a good
start in the employment of E. T. McFarland
as city evangelist. Houston and San Antonio
are already organized for the task, and our
Board expects to join them in employing men.
No doubt Fort Worth and other cities will soon
fall in line.

We have long neglected the rural problems.
We can probably meet this need best by the
employment of county evangelists in counties
where we have a number of country churches,
most of which are pastorless. There are
probably fifty counties that would raise half
the support necessary for the employment of
such a man, but in one way or another, by
direct designation or suggestion as to the use
of the offerings made, for the most part our
funds come to us already committed to certain
uses, and we have not been able to enter this
needy field. It seems our only hope of meeting
this need will be in the raising of an endow-
ment fund.

61

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

To meet this need of rural evangelism, and
to meet the overhead expenses of our organized
work so that every dollar contributed may be
spent in actual missionary work, we are hoping
soon to enter a campaign to raise not less than
a half-million dollars for endowment. Such a
fund would give us an independent income
of from $25,000 to *30,000, and could be used
so as to produce double the amount in the field.

The last State Convention appointed a com-
mittee for the revision of the Constitution, and
also named a committee of two to incorporate
the State Convention, that permanent funds
may be handled to better advantage.

We are now in the thirty-fifth year of
our history as an organized missionary agency.
Our people seem only now to be awakening
to the necessity of caring adequately for the
base of supplies. The future success of our
world-wide enterprises depends on how effi-
ciently our State organizations function. We
must evangelize and develop Texas, not for
Texas alone, but for the sake of the world.
The future looks bright. There is no strife
or dissension among us. In the judgment of
all who have spoken to me, the work is well
organized. We are employing the best men
we can secure for their given tasks. It now
looks as if, for the first time in the history
of Texas Missions, we are going to have suffi-
62

ORGANIZING THE WORK

cient money to meet the normal needs, and if
our endowment campaign succeeds, we are cer-
tain of that much-desired condition. We hail
this good day with delight, and desire to ex-
press our profound gratitude to all who have
joined in making this situation possible. We
are entering a new era ; may it indeed be a
period of worthy victory in the name of our
Lord, to whom be all the praise.

63

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

TEXAS BIBLE-SCHOOL WORK

1 work dates back to the superintendency
of J. H. Rosecrans. About 1893-4 the work
was under the leadership of Bob Banton.
Further than these two statements the writer
does not have at hand any definite information
concerning the work until the State Convention
in 1910, when Edward Owers, then pastor at
Graham, was chosen to give full time. In
this position he served faithfully and efficiently
until August, 1912. He began the work with-
out records or even a list of schools, but left
the work with a reasonably accurate record
of the schools and their leadership. To these
he had imparted higher ideals in religious
education.

Following the services of Brother Owers,
the work was without leadership until January,
1913, when W. A. Boggess, then general evan-
gelist under the State Board, was called to
take up the work. He had only been in the
work about five weeks when his health failed,
and he was never able to take up the field

S. W. HUTTON

Texas Bible-school

04

ORGANIZING THE WORK

work again. He served as far as strength
would permit until the State Convention in
May, when his resignation was accepted. He
departed this life July 9, 1913, just a few days
after the present superintendent began active
direction of the Bible-school work.

Briefly stated, the purpose of this form of
service is to increase the efficiency and broaden
the vision of our Bible-school leadership, as
well as the whole church constituency, along
the line of elementary religious education. To
accomplish the desired end, we have been en-
deavoring to serve through rallies, promotion
of teacher-training and missionary instruction,
upholding the Standard of Efficiency, prepar-
ing exhibits for the State Convention, urging
the adoption of Graded Lessons, stressing evan-
gelism, and seeking, through distribution of
leaflets, books and other means, to stimulate
the schools to go forward in their task.

Since July, 1913, this work has been sup-
ported through the Bible School Department
of the American Christian Missionary Society,
through offerings received from Bible schools,
and has been under the direction of a com-
mittee of five, the majority of whom are mem-
bers of the Texas State Missionary Board. L.
D. Anderson, Fort Worth, has been chairman
of this committee for several years, and with
him at the present time E. C. Boynton, Colby
5 65

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

D. Hall, J. W. Kerns and H. R. Ford are
associated. It is a pleasure to serve with
these men, and with Robt. M. Hopkins, General
Bible-school Secretary, Cincinnati.

In 1914 the Southwestern District was
created, which includes Arkansas and Louisiana
in addition to Texas, giving a territory twelve
hundred miles across two ways. Since the
above date the writer has endeavored to serve
as superintendent of this enlarged territory,
with a Bible-school enrollment of sixty-five
thousand.

The policy of the Bible School Department
of the American Christian Missionary Society
provides for a specialist within reach of every
school in the brotherhood. This is now an
achievement so far as the United States is
concerned, and for the first time every State
in the Union is provided for through a corps,
thirty-one men and women giving full-time
service. Canada and Alaska are now prac-
tically neglected territories. Additional work-
ers are sorely needed.

Volunteer district and county superintend-
ents have rendered valuable service in the
Texas work since 1915, among whom the names
of Edward Owers, John C. Welch, 0. Alvin
Smith, and others, should be mentioned with
an expression of gratitude for their valued
services.

66

ORGANIZING THE WORK

Three divisional superintendents have
served faithfully and well, when time would
permit, since the 1917 State Convention. This
group of three are Mrs. D. C. Mangum, Ele-
mentary ; J. C. Welch, Secondary, and P. F.
Herndon, Adult.

An outstanding service rendered during
the past five years has been the holding of
twenty-five schools of methods, enrolling 1,404
students, representing 317 Bible schools, and
graduating 535 leaders. Of these 1,404 stu-
dents, 153 were ministers, 73 superintendents,
87 departmental superintendents, 95 other
officers, 539 teachers and 457 pupils.

For several years prior to the 1918 State
Convention in Sherman, the conviction had
been growing among Bible-school leaders in
Texas that a Chair of Religious Education
should be established and maintained in Texas
Christian University. While our ministerial
students, and other students, were making
good, it seemed imperative that they be trained
in practical Bible-school service.

After a meeting of the State Bible-school
committee together with Robt. M. Hopkins,
plans were consummated, and in the Sherman
Convention tentative pledges were secured
from schools amounting to nearly $15,000 on
the basis of five annual payments, and in view
of the creation of a $30,000 Endowment Fund.
67

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

A large share of the Southwestern Bible-school
Superintendent's time during the following
year was given to personal visitation of Bible
schools in securing definite pledges toward the
end mentioned. With the closing of the Paris
Convention (1919), pledges totaled nearly
$27,000. Other pledges have been secured since
that time, until at the present writing 140
schools and nineteen individuals have registered
fellowship in this enterprise through cash and
pledges amounting to about $27,500. With the
completion of the $350,000 co-operative cam-
paign, and the securing of a few other pledges
from schools, the total pledge of $30,000 is
practically assured. When this work is es-
tablished, all students entering Texas Christian
University will have access to a practical and
profitable training that will fit them for re-
ligious educational work in the local church.
Nearly $6,000 has been collected on the pledges
to date.

During these nearly seven years national
workers and volunteer State workers have been
associated with the writer in recording the
progress mentioned above. For two years the
contract included the services of Mrs. S. W.
Hutton. The past two years we have had
efficient stenographic help for a few hours
each month in the persons of S. J. Shettles-
worth and Miss Lelia Jolle, students in Texas
68

ORGANIZING THE WORK

Christian University. An imperative need just
now is that of one or more additional work-
ers. We hope soon to announce the employ-
ment of an Elementary specialist, who will
render both field and office service. Our plans
for the future include the employment of a
Secondary Division • specialist and full-time
office help, in order that we may adequately
meet the heavy demands for efficient Bible-
school service.

Offerings from Texas schools, the field and
individuals have increased during seven years
from $546 to approximately $3,000 annually.
The Texas aim for the present year is $5,000.
The national goal is $100,000.

The last annual report of the Southwestern
Superintendent reveals the following facts :
Schools visited, 281 ; addresses given, 213 ; con-
ferences held, 215 ; conventions attended, 26 ;
schools represented, 455 ; training diplomas
issued, 13 ; letters writen, 5,725 ; leaflets dis-
tributed, 15,411; miles traveled, 20,754; field
and office expense, $995.20 ; expense offerings,
$781.12; school offerings (Texas), $2,053.21.

The State Program of Work for 1919-20 is
exhibited here to give readers of this article
a general survey of our present ideals for this
work :

I. Organization : 1. State Bible-school Com-
mittee of five. 2. Three divisional superin-
69

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

tendents. 3. District and county superintend-
ents.

II. Extension: 1. Fifty new schools. 2.
Visit new schools. 3. Revive dead schools.

III. Evangelism : 1. Five thousand souls
for Christ. 2. Easter decision service. 3. An-
nual revival.

IV. Education: 1. Teacher-training class in
every school. 2. Missionary instruction in
every school. 3. Ten schools of methods (one
in each district). 4. Graded lessons used in
every school. 5. Exhibit at State Convention.
6. Subscriptions for Christian Courier.

V. Standards: 1. Fifty schools reaching
Standard of Efficiency. 2. Two hundred
schools contributing to American Missions.
Foreign Missions and Benevolence, and making
annual report. 3. Every district reaching
Banner District Program.

VI. Divisional Aims: 1. Seventy-five per
cent, of schools with Cradle Roll. 2. Fifty per
cent, of schools with organized Secondary
Division class. 3. Fifty per cent, of schools
with organized Adult class. 4. Fifty Home
Departments.

VII. Finance: 1. $3,750 from schools for
American Missions. 2. $500 from one hundred
individuals. 3. $750 in field receipts.

VIII. Completion of Bible-school Chair En-
dowment Fund.

70

ORGANIZING THE WORK

THE C. W. B. M. IN TEXAS

MRS. G. D. SMITH, State President

THIRTY-FIVE years ago— in March, 1885
— in a small frame church building on
Commerce Street, Dallas, a missionary society
was organized with a membership not exceeding
ten or twelve women. Miss Kate Hanson, a
godly, consecrated woman from Missouri, came
into our midst. After much persuasion upon
her part, we finally promised to unite with her
in the work. Thus was formed the first society
of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions
organized in Texas. Five of the charter mem-
bers are still active workers in the Central
Church of Dallas.

In the autumn of the same year (1885), the
second society was formed in Sherman by Bro.
W. C. Dimmitt. After four or five years we
numbered about twenty societies, and felt as
if we were growing rapidly. But we knew
so little about the work, and what we ought
to do; our gifts were small, and we were not
able to do a large work. I remember when
my own society in the Central Church of
Dallas observed Easter week of prayer with
71

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

but six or seven women to take part, and with
an offering of a few dollars. Now we have
an attendance of one hundred or more women
in an all-day meeting, with an offering of
several hundred dollars. It was for lack of
knowledge that we accomplished so little for
so many years. Not only do people themselves
perish for lack of knowledge, but they suffer
others also to perish. Opposition to missions
comes, usually, from the uninformed or the
misinformed. One of the chief purposes of the
missionary society is to educate the people
along missionary lines, to encourage them in
sj'stematic giving, and to cultivate a missionary
spirit throughout the whole church.

The Christian Woman's Board of Missions
has several important works in Texas. The
Mexican Christian Institute in San Antonio
is much needed, and is being successfully car-
ried on by our missionaries. Brother and
Sister Chiles, who have been leaders there for
quite awhile, have done a splendid work. Our
Bible Chair at Austin, under the direction of
Brother and Sister Jewett, is doing a most ex-
cellent work. Words can not express the good
which these consecrated workers are doing for
the young men and young women who come
under their influence. Several years ago,
Brother and Sister Jarvis, of Fort Worth, gave
about 140 acres of land at Hawkins, Texas,
72

ORGANIZING THE WORK

upon which to establish an industrial school
for negroes. This school has been in operation
for several years, and much is being done
to educate the negroes along useful lines of
work. Thus we have grown, until now, at
the end of thirty-four years, we number, in the
State, 150 societies, in addition to Triangle
clubs, Little Light-bearers and Junior societies,
all of which work under the direction of the
C. W. B. M. "We have almost four thousand
members in Texas.

At the close of the missionary year, Sep-
tember 30, 1919, the good news came to us that
our societies of the State had gone far beyond
"Our Aim" in gifts, which was to raise
$22,000; the total was $31,817.19. This brings
rejoicing. Five thousand dollars of this is our
"Love Gift," in memory of one of our most
faithful workers in years gone by. It is to
be used for a scholarship in the College of
Missions, to educate some of our own Texas
boys and girls who are willing and anxious
to go as missionaries to the foreign field. Let
us be encouraged, and, with faith in God and
faith in each other, go forward with joy and
gladness and enthusiasm in the spirit of unity
and of prayer.

"Not it, but Christ, be honored, loved, exalted;
Not it, but Christ, be known, be heard ;
Not it, but Christ, in every thought and action ;
Not it, but Christ, in every deed and word."
73

Educational

1. Texas Christian University

2. Brite College of the Bible

3. Carlton College

4. Midland College

5. Carr-Burdette College

6. The Texas Bible Chair

7. Jarvis Christian Institute

8. Tithing Among Texas Disciples

9. Texas Christian Lectureship

75

EDUCATIONAL

TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVER-
SITY

EDWARD McSHANE WAITS, President

A GREAT master of phrase once described
a university as a place "which attracts
the affections of the young by its fame, wins
the judgment of the middle-aged by its beauty,
and rivets the memory of the old by its asso-
ciations." It is our desire to accomplish for
Texas Christian University this threefold pur-
pose. Our hope and ambition is to make the
Texas Christian University a university in
fact as well as in name ; to make it serve in
an increasing way the educational, social and
religious interests of our city and State, and
to include in its program the development of
an institution second to none in our great
Southwest. As the architect of some noble
cathedral, whose eyes are closed ere his work
has scarce begun, lives on in the growing piles
unfolding, so the noble work of Christian edu-
cation is to find its completion. Others have
labored, and we have entered into their labors.
There is a mystical verse in Holy Writ that
77

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

finds fit expression at this hour ; after the
author of the Book of Hebrews, like "Old
Mortality," had cut deeper the fading in-
scriptions on monuments that had endured
through four thousand years of history, he
said: "Apart from us their lives should not
be made perfect." So it is ours to complete
the tasks of the fathers. We are to add stone
to stone in the building, note to note in the
music, glory to glory in the achievement, until
the very heavens rain their gold and their
fire. Such men as Addison and Randolph
Clark, "Uncle" Charlie Carlton, Maj. J. J.
Jarvis, T. E. Shirley, C. W. Gibson, T. E.
Tomlinson, and others too numerous to catalog,
have laid well the foundations, and have left
the institution many noble traditions. These
were men large of heart and of soul ; men of
vision and of power; true knights-errant who
went out to fight the battles of Christian edu-
cation in behalf of the young men and women
of the Southwest, and whose memories will be
linked with the institution and embalmed in
the hearts of all true lovers of God and hu-
manity as long as time lasts. They were men
who were willing to "rise on stepping-stones
of their dead selves to higher things." Truly
they have left us a mighty heritage, and we
pray God daily that He may grant to us, their
successors, a double portion of their spirit, and
78

EDUCATIONAL

that we may be worthy to wear the mantle of
their stainless and unselfish lives.

Texas Christian University has had a his-
toric and a noble past. It is at present enjoy-
ing an unprecedented era of prosperity, and
its future is radiant with hope and promise.
It has equipment valued at over half a million
dollars, an enrollment during the current year
of eight hundred students, a Faculty of fifty
members of recognized training and efficiency,
and a campus of fifty acres adorned by five
magnificent buildings of brick and concrete.
Its libraries are well equipped, its laboratories
well ordered, and its residential halls most
comfortable. It is recognized as a standard A
plus university. With the College of Arts and
Sciences are combined the special Colleges of
Law and of the Bible; there are also depart-
ments of education, domestic science, music,
painting, oratory, business and the commercial
branches.

Texas Christian University has as its aim
Christian character, Christian scholarship and
Christian culture. In common with other
church schools, it places Christianity as its
corner-stone, and is endeavoring to surround
the students with every possible influence that
will lead to development of the spiritual as
well as the intellectual and physical. Texas
Christian University stands for Christian
79

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

faith. Christian character and Christian service.
It is reaching toward the highest educational
ideals, and the broadest and most thorough
intellectual culture. Its supreme task is to
furnish Christian leadership, and to inculcate
Christian idealism based upon the fundamental
morality and spirituality of the Bible, and the
kingship and lordship of Jesus Christ. The
world was never so fully convinced as it is
to-day that scholarship must be linked with the
highest moral and spiritual aims if the world
is not to be plunged into another avatar of
blood. The conflict out of which the world is
emerging was not simply a clash of arms, but
a clash of ideas and convictions. In its last
analysis it was a battle royal between two types
of education.

The old education was based on reason,
evolution and individualism ; the new educa-
tion, with Christianity at its heart, is based
on faith, hope, unselfishness and service for
others. True education is constructive indi-
viduality; it is self-realization. The great
Teacher has said, "You shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free," and there
is no freedom worth while that does not liberate
every power of the soul. The call of this new
day is for an education that will develop leaders
of life who are constructive, who can find a
great moral equivalent for war. The demand is
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EDUCATIONAL

for men and women who are possessed with the
spirit of a new unselfishness that will enable
them to thrust their lives out into the trenches
of our modern warfare ; who, in answer to the
call of the new spiritual patriotism, will wage
war against social injustice, industrial unrest,
commercial greed, political corruption, personal
impurity and religious indifference — enemies
more atrocious than the hideous Huns who
went forth from German universities destroy-
ing churches and libraries that were the heri-
tage of a thousand years of civilization, making
cities desolate, destroying commerce and rob-
bing civilization of eight million men who went
down in the red burial of battle as a tribute
to a false culture, and miseducation of a
mighty nation of people.

It is the glory of the church college that
it became the pioneer in higher education ;
that it has furnished seventy-five per cent, of
all the college students of America; that it
has maintained three out of four of all our
standard American colleges, and is educating
more than one-half of the 361,270 students;
that it has furnished fully seventy per cent,
of the leaders in every department of human
life. Texas Christian University realizes that
the leaderless church is a lost church. It
would be a sad thing for the church to fail
in membership, but it would be a greater
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

tragedy for the church to fail in leadership.
It has been the church college that has inspired
men to service and noble living, and brought
them to follow the Lord of all through many
days of fear and superstition ; that has sus-
tained them in the face of discouragement, and
nourished them in all true manliness. Out of
the halls of the church college come the minis-
ters, the missionaries, the secretaries and the
great leaders in every department of human
endeavor.

Xot all education is Christian. Here is a
State University president who declares that
"it is possible for a man to become a Bachelor
or a Master in any one of our best State insti-
tutions of higher learning with no more knowl-
edge of the true God than if he had been
educated in a pagan land." Here is the
president of Brown University, the venerable
and illustrious Dr. W. H. P. Faunce, who
declares that "fully fifty per cent, of the
students of his institution are acquiring habits
of life during their undergraduate days that
will disqualify them for any real service.'' If
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wis-
dom, many of our American educational in-
stitutions are still sitting in Egyptian dark-
ness. The rightly trained college man is ever
a force to be reckoned with, and never before
has so large a percentage of our nation's young
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EDUCATIONAL

people been found seeking equipment for life
through educational institutions in our several
States. Between the ages of fifteen and twenty-
four there are about twenty million persons,
and 360,000 are actually in college. This is
one in sixty. If only one in ten graduates, the
next generation will find every 600th man a
full graduate, and every sixtieth with some
acquaintance of college life and ideals.

The church that fails to reach its young
people through its colleges, and thus create
a proper leadership, will inevitably become a
disappearing brotherhood. The church's rela-
tion to its young people should be threefold ;
it should express itself in discovering, con-
serving and utilizing this splendid young life.
There are many young people in every congre-
gation who would give earnest and splendid
service to their day and generation if only
they could get the vision of life which it is
the privilege of the college to quicken. Many
of them are unaware of the methods by which
a college education may be had; many do not
know the value of such education, and very
few are able to detect their own talents. It
is the duty of the church to discover their
talents, discover them to themselves. It is
furthermore the duty of the church not only
to discover, but to conserve and utilize ; to see
to it that the college keeps the faith; to see
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

to it that the college does make idealists and
altruists of the young people committed to it,
and cause them to feel that they have enjoyed
priceless opportunities, and in turn should be
willing, in the spirit of altruism, to serve the
higher interests of their fellows and their God.

It will also be observed that where the
college is strong, the church also is strong, and
where the college is weak, the church also is
weak. They must stand or fall together. The
church will never build up great institutions
until its members learn to patronize their own
colleges. The Disciples of Christ have twenty-
five standard colleges in America. The latest
figures at hand show a total enrollment in
these institutions of 7,839. We are told that
only one in ten of our students attends our
own schools. We must, therefore, have 70,555
of our boys and girls in other schools — State
schools, schools of other religious bodies and
private schools. Not one in a hundred of our
children ediicated in other schools ever renders
any service to the church. Therefore, we are
losing in our churches and our homes the
religious influence of 69.846 of our best young
men and women. Assuming that a student
pays an average of $300 a year, or $1,200 in
his college career, to the school he attends,
our schools lose in cash from this source alone
the sum of $21,165,300 every year, or the
84

EDUCATIONAL

staggering amount of $88,661,200 every four
years. This sum we not only take away from
our own schools, but actually contribute to
others. These figures not only answer the
question why our colleges are struggling for
need of funds, but are answering the further
question of why our churches lack preachers,
Sunday-school superintendents, teachers and
other helpers. Last year we gained 335
churches, and during the same period lost 201
preachers. In other words, we added 536
preacherless churches to the three thousand or
more already in that class. We must either
gain preachers and workers, or lose churches.
The remedy for this state of affairs is simple
enough. We must educate our own children
in our own schools. We must bring this whole
matter to the conscience of the Christian
parents of the pew. Our college presidents
and our secretaries can not go over the parents
to get these boys and girls. The responsibility
for this fearful condition is upon the fathers
and mothers of the church. It is not in the
standards of the colleges of our brotherhood.
The schools of our brotherhood maintain the
full standards of other schools, and our higher
institutions are the equal of any in the country.

Texas Christian University has had a noble
and historic past. It is not our purpose to
pierce the veil of the future, and play the
85

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

role of a prophet. It is necessary, however,
in the interest of true progress, to have a
program. Texas Christian University should
have, by 1923, which will be its semicentennial
or great jubilee year, $1,000,000 in property
and $1,000,000 in endowment. It is the modest
and the possible goal which we have set for
ourselves. It is a great dream, but one easily
to be accomplished in view of what our re-
ligious neighbors are doing at the present hour.
Texas Christian University now has a half-
million dollars invested, and is planning during
this present year to erect a church, a gym-
nasium, a library and other structures which
will easily aggregate $300,000. The money is
almost in sight for this expansion, and we are
confident that the brotherhood will respond
in an ample way when the need is fully ex-
pressed, and the testing-time comes. There
is no department of the University that is not
overcrowded with students, and there is need
for larger equipment in the classrooms as well
as larger housing facilities for the students.
The time is coming when men are going to
become so aroused that they will respond in
terms of whole buildings, like a Science Hall,
a Fine Arts Building, a hospital, a dormitory,
an observatory, or even so humble a gift as
a dining-room or power-plant. Moreover, the
hour is at hand when the institution must
86

EDUCATIONAL

be endowed. Adequate equipment simply
means additional professors and added over-
head expense, unless some provision is made
for endowment. The time will come when
crops are bad, panics will threaten, and the
church will not respond in gifts sufficient to
meet the annual deficit which must continue
to abide. Higher education requires that for
every dollar that a student lays down in tuition
and fees, somebody else must lay down four
other dollars to make the privilege of higher
education possible. In the State institutions
this is secured by appropriation, in many of
the large independent colleges it is secured
by foundations and endowments, but in our
brotherhood colleges it must be secured by gifts
from individuals and churches. Endowment
or death may have a kind of doleful sound,
but it is the ultimatum which is being de-
livered by the heartless logic as it exists in
the educational world to-day. A million for
endowment in the next three years! That
sounds reasonably possible in a country where
wealth is increasing at a phenomenal rate,
where single Disciples have increased their
accumulations a hundred-fold within the last
twelve months.

Another urgent need for endowment is to
provide for the greatly increased cost of living.
There is already an appalling shortage in the
87

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

supply of teachers, and this is going to become
more and more acute unless adequate provi-
sions are made for the bare living necessities
of our Faculty members. The U. S. Govern-
ment declared recently that it requires at least
$2,250 to support a man and a small family
wth any comforts and efficiency. This is far
in excess of the salaries paid to our best pro-
fessors, and perhaps one-third more than the
average salary paid at the present time.

The church needs to be made aware of the
debt it owes to the colleges, for all that they
have done for the church, for the sacrificial
way that they have walked from the begin-
ning. It needs to know that out of these
colleges have come those who are blazing new
pathways of light into the pagan darkness;
that out of these colleges have come a vast
number of consecrated laymen who are the
pillars of their churches. The hour has struck
when the church should awaken to these facts,
and pour into Texas Christian University the
money with which to do its work as it should
be done. The way has been long and the
struggle hard, but let us trust that the day of
victory is at hand.

"We men of earth have here the stuff
Of Paradise — we have enough!
Wp need no other stones to build
The stairs into the Unfulfilled—
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EDUCATIONAL

No other ivory for the doors —

No other marble for the floors —

No other cedar for the beam

And dome of man's immortal Dream.

Here on the paths of every day —

Here on the common human way —

Is all the busy gods would take

To build a heaven, to mold and make

New Edens. Ours the task sublime

To build Eternity in Time! "

80

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

BRITE COLLEGE OF THE
BIBLE

COLBY D. HALL, Dean

LTHOUGH the Brite College of the Bible

i\. was chartered in 1913, and moved into
its Administration Building in 1914, its history
really began many years before these dates.
For it is the fulfillment of one of the original
dreams of the founders of Texas Christian
University.

To rebuild a shattered Southland was the
dream of the Clarks in 1873 when they found-
ed Add-Ran College ; and their contribution to
this statesman's task was to train men of high
character as leaders. Both of these men were
preachers, and both believed the gospel to be
the fundamental power of God in the world ;
so they planned to train teachers as an es-
sential part of their great nation-building pur-
pose.

And they did train them. During the
Thorp Spring period of twenty-three years,
including the class of 1896, eight preachers
were graduated, and nine more of the students,
without graduating, became active preachers.

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EDUCATIONAL

These include : Graduates : R. H. Bonham, '83 ;
J. B. Sweeney, '85; Geo. L. Bush, '86; W.
B. Parks, '87; E. E. Faris, '94; Frank G.
Jones, '90; Geo. H. Morrison, '95; D. A. Leak,
'95 ; Bertha Mason Fuller, '96. Not graduated :
H. M. Bandy, '84- '86; W. H. Bagby, 76-77;
G. W. Bonham; C. S. Watson, '91; Claude L.
Jones, '93; W. W. Phares, '93- '94; J. A. Chal-
lenner, '94; B. J. Forbes, '94- '95; A. W.
Jones. During these years practically all of
the Bible teaching was done by Addison Clark.

Shortly after the move of Add-Ran Uni-
versity to Waco, in December, 1895, a forward
move was made to afford more adequate train-
ing for preachers. Bro. J. B. Sweeney was
called to head a special Bible Chair, and to
raise $40,000 as an endowment for it. The
announcement of this new move brought in a
new group of ministerial students, and the
energies of this wonderful man were invested
for two years in the task. That was in a day
when the school was struggling for an exist-
ence, and when the churches were accustomed
to giving only in small amounts, so the under-
taking could not be pushed to success at the
time. But during the seven years from 1896
to 1902 — lean years they were, and full of
hardships — there were six preachers graduated,
and eleven went on to other schools to complete
their training, or went to preaching without
91

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

graduation. This group includes : Graduates :
J. T. McKissiek, '97 ; R. H. Simmons, '98;
E. R. CoekreU, '99; J. N. Wooten, '01; E. J.
Bradley, '02; J. C. Mullins, '02. To other
schools or to preaching: V. L. Graves, Colby
D. Hall, W. S. Knox, C. E. Chambers, E. D.
Hamner, S. G. Inman, Macon Howard, J. F.
Posey, W. 0. Stevens, Jewell Howard and
A. H. Miller.

"With the coming of Pres. E. V. Zollars, in
1902, a new impetus was given to the preacher-
training work of the school ; for he had not
only emphasized this work greatly before the
churches, but also taught in this department
himself, and secured one other preacher (Prof.
Frank H. Marshall) for full time. During his
four years there were sent out eighteen gradu-
ates and ten non-graduate preachers. The first
four graduates of the period were a part of
the former group who received most of their
training under J. B. Sweeney or A. Clark.
These were H. E. Luck, W. F. Reynolds, L.
G. Ament and E. S. McKinney. The others
were: Graduates: H. R. Ford, '04; C. C. Peck,
'04; Polk C. Webb, '04; Frank Beach, '05;
Elster M. Haile, '05; Jno. W. Smith, '05; L.
D. Anderson, '05; Chas. M. Ashmore, '06; E.
C. Boynton, '06; C. P. Craig, '06; A. J.
Saunders, '06; J. H. Sheppard, '06; M. G.
Smith, '06; Tolbert F. Weaver, '06. Non-
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EDUCATIONAL

graduates: W. M. LeMay, J. N. Darnell, Theo.
Edwards, \V. L. E. Shane, Cord Spurgeon,
M. B. Yewell, T. H. Mathieson, A. H. Smith,
J. A. Arnold and Jas. W. Groom.

Under the presidency of Dr. Clinton Lock-
hart, beginning in 1906, the importance of
preacher-training was still recognized, while
the emphasis was put on the matter of a higher
grade of scholarship. Advanced courses were
added leading to the degree of B.D. Besides
the teaching of the president, which was for
practically full time, and altogether in the
Bible Department, Prof. Walter Stairs gave
full time during several years, specializing in
Greek.

From 1906 to 1912, a period of seven years,
there were sent out nine graduates and four
non-graduates as preachers. These were:
Graduates: R. V. Calloway, '07; Frank C.
Buck, '07; J. F. Quisenberry, '07; W. O.
Dallas, '07; John C. Welch, '07; Nona Boege-
man, '08; O. Alvin Smith, '10; John Pyburn,
'10; S. W. Hutton, '11. Non-graduates: Add-
Ran Little, A. H. Snider, Pearl Gibbons and
A. L. Munyon.

During this period, there was added to the
Bible teaching corps, during 1910, a quiet,
scholarly, energetic soul with determination
for larger things. Dr. G. A. Lewellyn, after
the school moved to Ft. Worth in 1910, started
93

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

out in the field to secure money for a preacher
boys' home. It was a plea that reached the
hearts of the brethren — and sisters, for it was
a Mrs. Goode, of Bartlett, who gave the $5,000
that assured the success of the campaign. And
so Goode Hall was built. It was consecrated
in blood, for, soon after the campaign was com-
pleted, Dr. Lewellyn succumbed to an illness
which was hastened, if not caused, by over-
strain in his travels. It was through his influ-
ence, also, that the first endowment for Bible
teaching was secured, Bro. L. G. Brite giving
$25,000 as an Endowment Fund for the teach-
ing of the English Bible in Texas Christian
University.

These steps of growth were gratifying, but
yet inadequate. "Wliile preacher-training was
the very heart of T. C. U.'s mission, it was
represented only by a department, so small as
to be overshadowed by the superior numbers
in the many other departments. The dream
of the leaders was to have not a department
merely, but a College, which should rank as a
constituent part of the University, and give
prominence and power to this work of minis-
terial training.

It was under the presidency of Dr. F. D.
Kershner, and by the faith and gift of Bro.
L. C. Brite, that this dream was realized. In
1913, Bro. Brite, having already endowed a
94

EDUCATIONAL

chair, paid an additional $34,000 to erect the
Administration Building for the Bible College.
A separate Board of Trustees was formed, a
charter secured, a Faculty provided, and the
new institution, an integral part of T. C. U.,
began to function in the fall of 1914, moving
into its new home in 1915. In recognition of
the great service of the man who had pioneered
in giving, and who set the example for others
to follow, the school was named "The Brite
College of the Bible."

The brethren chosen to act as the first set
of trustees are : Dr. Bacon Saunders, President ;
L. D. Anderson, Secretary; James Harrison,
Treasurer; L. C. Brite, Millard Patterson, Van
Zandt Jarvis, C. W. Gibson, Jno. W. Kerns,
Eugene Holmes.

Dr. F. D. Kershner, as president of T. C.
U., was made president of the College. He
gave some time to teaching, in spite of his
heavy duties as executive.

As an executive to handle the business,
classification and inside organization of the
College, and to promote the attendance, Colby
D. Hall was called from the pastoral work to
serve as dean. He also teaches English Bible
and Social Service classes.

Realizing that young preachers need to be
grounded thoroughly in the essential principles
of the gospel in order to make them effective,
95

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

practical preachers of evangelistic power, the
trustees selected another pastor, Chalmers
McPherson, as teacher of New Testament
Christianity. His long experience in pastoral
and evangelistic work enables him to develop
the students in those "first principles" that
have made the Disciples powerful in evangel-
ism. His services have been valuable, too, in
securing assistance for the Employment Fund,
and other agencies of the school.

For the linguistic work of the Faculty, a
teacher of national influence and most com-
plete training was already at hand in the per-
son of Dr. Clinton Lockhart. He was chosen
as Professor of Hebrew and Greek.

The coming of E. M. Waits as president
brought another active pastor, who, although
doing no teaching, has led in such a way as
to give the fullest development to the Bible
College.

This Faculty, with varied attainments, has
been able to furnish to the students an all-
round training, and, by offering some classes
in alternate years, has been able to cover the
whole ground of standard preparation for the
ministry. As the number of students increases,
however, it becomes necessary to offer all
courses each year, and to provide more range
of election so as to permit of specializing.
Hence the number of the Faculty must be in-
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EDUCATIONAL

creased. Already provision has been made
for the addition of the Bible School Chair.
The money for this endowment is being raised
by the Bible schools of Texas under the leader-
ship of the Southwestern Superintendent, S.
W. Hutton. It is thought that this work may
begin in September, 1920. Two additional
chairs are needed, and will await only the
generosity of some consecrated donors.

The matter of increasing the number of
students preparing for the ministry has been
one of great concern. The first line of efforts
to accomplish this was to bring the cost within
the reach of every worthy student. To this
end, the Goode Boarding Hall was developed
and firmly established, to furnish board at a
minimum rate ; the Employment Fund was
started, to guarantee work to any boy who
needed it ; some scholarships were secured
especially for missionary girls. To this end,
also, the McPadin Ministerial Loan Fund was
founded. By soliciting others to add to his
own gift, Bro. D. G. McFadin, of Austin,
brought the fund up to about $10,000. This
has proven to be a most helpful feature.

Under these conditions, the attendance of
ministerial students gradually Increased from
the twenty-two in 1913-14, until there were
forty-two in 1916-17. Then came the setback
by the war. Most of the boys volunteered in
7 97

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

spite of their clerical exemption, and the pros-
pective new pupils were subject to the draft,
so that the attendance in 1918-19 was made
up largely of married students and women.
The enrollment was only twenty-five, and that
included several who had returned from the
army in the spring term.

"With the closing of the war, the College
took upon itself the duty of arousing the con-
science of the churches to the duty of furnish-
ing volunteers. New interest was stirred
through a campaign with the slogan. "A Com-
pany of One Hundred Volunteers in Brite
College." The result was an attendance of
fifty-eight in 1919-20, the largest in the history
of T. C. U. It is worthy of note that, with
slight exceptions, the preacher boys who went
into the army came back preachers, with faith
in preaching intensified.

The graduating classes from 1913 to 1919
have furnished the following preachers for
A.B., B.D. or English Bible course: Grover
W. Stewart, '13; W. C. Ferguson, '13; J. W.
Cockrfll, '13; J. E. Evans, '13; N. C. Collins,
'13; T. J. Dean, Jr., '13; R. F. Cantrell, '14;
Ray Camp, '14; R. A. Highsmith, '14; S. F.
Houtchens, '14; Buford Isaacs, '14; M. Molina,
'15; J. A. Crain. '16; W. L. Thornton. '16;
W. B. Higgins, '17; B. S. Smiser, '18; Miss
Ruth Musgraves, '18; John W. Shockley, '18;
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EDUCATIONAL

Ben M. Edwards, '19; Ben Hearn, 19; Miss
Carrie Correll, '19.

During that time the following non-gradu.
ates have gone out : Henry Hagemeier, Leo
Johnston, Grady Twyman, J. H. Monk, Logan
Martin, Patrick Henry, F. W. Strong, V. R.
Hughes and D. McCarroll.

Even so condensed a history would be un-
excused if it should omit a summary of the
summary of the school's contribution to the
field of Foreign Missions. This contribution
is yet on a small scale, but it contains worthy
names, and these are but a promise of the
greater future. Several in the list have served
for a term of years, and for various reasons,
usually health, have returned. Others are still
on the field.

1. Ellsworth E. Faris, pioneer at Bolenge,
Africa.

2. Bertha Mason Fuller, two terms in
Mexico.

3. Frank Beach, a term in Jamaica.

4. Mrs. Frank Beach, also a term in Ja-
maica.

5. Frank C. Buck, about ten years, and
yet in China.

6. Samuel Guy Inman, Mexico and Latin
America.

7. Miss Pearl Gibbons, teacher in Piedras
Negras, Mexico.

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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

8. Miss Nona Boegeinan, one term in India.

9. Miss Ruth Musgraves, began in Africa
in 1919.

There are seven in the 1920 graduating
class of T. C. U. who will preach, three of
them going to foreign field. From the present
stndent body will go one or more out of every
year's class for the foreign field.

Many plans for the enlarged usefulness of
Brite College are now in the minds of the
leaders, which, under God's blessings, will be
soon translated into history.

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CARLTON COLLEGE

C. T. CARLTON, GRACE CARLTON,
SALLIE JOE CARLTON

CARLTON COLLEGE was founded by
Charles Carlton, September, 1867, in
Bonham. It was not his purpose to found a
college in Texas; it must have been providen-
tial that he was induced to undertake the
work. There were in Bonham many pioneer
families of education and culture who dedred
a good seminary for their daughters, being far
removed from schools of the older States.
These families had erected a building, engaged
teachers, and opened a seminary with one hun-
dred girls. The teachers would stay for a few
years, and return to the older States. How-
ever, Mr. and Mrs. Sias remained for six years,
winning the love and esteem of all, and then
returned to New York. The number of pupils
had decreased because of the Civil War.
Colonel Cole, of Dallas, and a Mr. Keeler each
taught for one year and left. The citizens of
Bonham were at a loss whom to secure.

Near Bonham. in the obscure village of
Kentuckytown, Charles Carlton was teaching
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

a coeducational school, waiting for conditions
in southwest Missouri to grow better. In 1861
he had left a good school and home, in an ex-
cellent community, and refugeed to Texas. His
purpose was to return, resume his teaching and
preaching, and make his home permanently in
Springfield. The little school in Kentuckytown
proved that there were many young men just
cut of the army, and many young women who
had remained out of school during the war,
who were eager to attend school. Among these
students was one destined to exert a great in-
fluence on the educational life of the State —
Addison Clark. He had heard Mr. Carlton
preach at the headquarters of Fitzhugh's regi-
ment, and later said: "His voice, his looks, his
manner, his sermon, all captivated me and fixed
the man firmly in my memory and admiration.
I remember his theme — 'The Christian AVarfare
and Armor.' " Mr. Clark did not see the
preacher again until he and his brother, Ran-
dolph, entered the school • in Kentuckytown.
Every family in town, who could do so, took
students into their homes. Three young men
slept in one bed in the back room of "Uncle
Ben" Earnest's store through one winter.
Mr. Addison Clark said: "These young men
took their meals at 'Aunt Sallie's' table, such
meals as only she could have prepared to suit
those hungry boys. We had found the man
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EDUCATIONAL

who was as inexhaustible as our thirst for
knowledge was unceasing. The day sessions
were from 8 A. m. to 6 p. m., in addition to
regular classes after supper and many irregular
classes." This glimpse of the teacher, given by
a model pupil, helps us to understand why the
Bonham people sent a committee to interview
him with reference to his coming to Bonham.

Mr. Carlton decided a change would be
advisable if he could own the property and
the dwelling near. All things worked favor-
ably ; the contract was made and school opened
in September, 1867. It flourished from the
first, attracting students from all parts of
Texas, and from several other States. Those
teachers, students and home-makers lived busy,
strenuous lives. In spite of this, the young
people found time for social pleasures. On
Sunday afternoons the young men would visit
the young ladies in the College parlor. Often
they would attend the evening services together.
Pleasures were simple, but enjoyed. There
were nutting expeditions, strawberry gather-
ings, picnics, with, occasionally, an orator, an
artist or a circus. One of the early romances
was that of Addison Clark and "Cousin
Sallie" McQuigg, a member of our own house-
hold. In due time this ripened into a happy
marriage. On the evening of this event, which
was in the College auditorium, the groom led
103

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

his bride to a seat, removed his wedding
gloves, entered the pulpit and preached his first
sermon. Other young men found their life
partners in the classroom. Mr. Randolph
Clark and Miss Ella Lee began their romance
about this time.

Many good speakers visited the College,
thus giving the students glimpses of the great
world of action for which they were preparing.
However, no visitors were more beneficial or
more appreciated than our great preachers
who came and remained for two or more weeks
giving great Bible lessons. Preachers, mission-
aries, temperance lecturers, musicians, dramatic
readers, were frequently entertained in the
College that students might feel the personal
touch of their culture and consecration. These
influences helped to strengthen the principles
taught by the teachers.

President Carlton organized a Sunday
school and preached in the auditorium of the
school building, after the first year. On May
31, 1868, the twenty-seven members of the
church were organized into a congregation, and
regular services were conducted from that time.
In July of that year several were added by
confession and baptism. This was the humble
origin of the large congregation now occupying
the magnificent church building on North Main
Street, known as the First Christian Church.
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EDUCATIONAL

There were but few high schools at that
time, and no public schools in towns the size
of Bonham. Later, under the community sys-
tem, a free school was introduced into the Col-
lege for such part of the school year as the
money apportioned justified. At first, citizens
were opposed to "free schools," but they soon
became popular and added greatly to the pros-
perity. This system assisted many to secure
a common and high-school education who
would, otherwise, have been deprived of it.

In 1882 a charter was obtained under the
name "Carlton College." Charles Carlton, C.
T. Carlton and J. B. Abernathy, and others
as these should select, constituted a Board of
Trustees. In 1888, Carlton College ceased to
be coeducational, and was devoted to the edu-
cation of girls and young ladies. At this time
the town took charge of the public schools,
which necessitated the erection of a new Ad-
ministration Building. Additional rooms for
girls were included, thus enlarging the board-
ing department. Continued prosperity fol-
lowed the erection of this building in 1895.

On January 8, 1900, Mrs. Charles Carlton
passed to her reward. She had been in the
home life of the pupils what President Carlton
had been to the school and church life of the
student body and community. The loss was
irreparable, and told greatly on the spirit of

105

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

President Carlton. Yet, he strove mightily to
go on as before, and did wonderfully well, in-
sisting on keeping up his school duties. In the
winter of 1902 he contracted a deep cold and
gradually weakened until, on February 13,
1902, he fell asleep.

The great burden he had borne fell on the
shoulders of his son, C. T. Carlton, who had
been vice-president for twenty-seven years.
Grace Carlton became vice-president, and Sallie
Joe Carlton continued at the head of the
Music Department. Mrs. C. T. Carlton took
the management of the College home, and,
though frail of body, filled the place most effi-
ciently. For two years she instructed the class
in domestic science.

Our father's last request was that we con-
tinue the work of the College. This we did
to the best of our ability. A few years later,
the trustees of Texas Christian University de-
cided to take over the property, and make this
the first of a number of secondary schools to
serve as feeders to the University, the Carltons
to remain in charge. Brother Zollars was a
man of great vision, and he heartily approved
the plan. However, the brotherhood of the
State did not catch the vision, and the neces-
sary sum needed for the University to keep
the contract was not forthcoming, and the
school reverted to the Carltons, they assuming
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EDUCATIONAL

the indebtedness. In 1914 the trustees of Carr-
Burdette and of Carlton College decided to
consolidate the two schools. Just after the
contract was made, the World War was de-
clared, which greatly hampered the work. The
plan proving unsatisfactory, the Carltons re-
signed at the close of the 1916 session. It
was through the services of C. T. Carlton that,
in 1914, the Men and Millions Movement
granted $25,000 to Carr-Burdette.

The work of Carlton College is finished,
but we trust its influence will be felt through
time, as those educated on this hallowed spot
live up to the ideals implanted by their' earnest
Christian teachers. We should love to mention
those pupils who have attained positions of
honor in the world as teachers, preachers, phy-
sicians, lawyers, editors, business leaders,
ranch-men, farmers, bankers, home-makers,
etc., also the many faithful teachers who
labored with us from 1867 to 1916. We feel
we must mention J. H. Rosecrans, who re-
mained twelve years, doing work with the
students and exerting a great uplift in the
school and community. He was of inestimable
value as a friend and counselor.

Carlton College, with its forty-nine years
of uninterrupted service, is the contribution of
Charles Carlton and family and their colaborers
to Christian education in the State of Texas.
107

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

MIDLAND COLLEGE

J. T. McKISSICK, President

MIDLAND COLLEGE was founded in
1910, largely through the efforts of Frank
P. Elkin and A. C. Parker, the latter being
minister of the church at that time. They
saw a large section of the "Great Staked
Plains" country without a college, and the
institution was started to give proper educa-
tional facilities for a great and growing section
of the West.

The Board of Trustees met in 1908, and,
by special invitation, Chalmers McPherson was
present as representative of the Board of Trus-
tees of Texas Christian University; he offered
many valuable suggestions as to proper plan
of procedure. At a subsequent meeting a
building-site was selected by a joint committee
of both schools, C. W. Gibson, T. E. Tomlin-
son and Colby D. Hall representing the latter
institution. Midland raised a popular sub-
scription of $25,000, four-fifths of which was
subscribed by members of the church, and
$10,000 was given on the annuity plan by
E. F. Elkin, without whose generosity the
108

EDUCATIONAL

school would have suffered more than once
since its beginning. H. N. Garrett and others
donated two hundred acres of land, a part of
which was sold in lots in order to secure the
$65,000 necessary to erect the Administration
Building. Among others who have made sub-
stantial gifts to the school are Burl Holloway,
S. W. Estes, Dr. W. K. Curtis, Roll Dublin,
C. C. Johnson, J. D. Jackson, Millard Patter-
son, L. L. Farr, L. C. Brite, H. L. Magee,
W. B. Elkin, J. V. Stokes, Mrs. Cora M. Hart-
grove, Price Bush, Mrs. Leslie Bush, and others
whose names are not known to the writer.

Midland is situated on the Texas & Pacific
and Midland & Northwestern Railroads, half-
way between Fort Worth and El Paso, and in
the heart of the great cattle-raising section
where the climate allows work and play nearly
every day in the year. Not only is the location
most healthful, but the moral environment is
almost ideal. The people are noted for their
large-heartedness and patriotism.

The school opened in 1910 with C. W.
Reeves as president ; after one year, he was
succeeded by H. R. Garrett, who served faith-
fully until 1913, when Franklin G. Jones was
chosen. He is the son of an honored minister,
and was educated at Add-Ran College at the
feet of the lamented Addison Clark and his
gifted brother Randolph, than whom the State
109

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

has produced no greater educators; later he
took his Master's degree at Texas Christian
University, and has, this year, received
the same honor from Columbia University.
During his temporary absence from the school
his place is filled by the writer, who has been
closely associated with the school for three
years.

Midland College stands four-square on every
moral proposition, and every effort is made
to induce the students to form the best habits
of life. It aims to give the youth who attend
its halls the right idea and ideals of life; to
fit them for Christian service ; to adequately
equip them for the duties of Christian citizen-
ship. If a student forms the habit of honesty,
industry, economy, punctuality, thoroughness,
politeness and kindness, and if he abstains
from habits of wastefulness, gambling, swear-
ing, tobacco-using and kindred vices, he is well
along the road to success in the world. Unless
he has the will power to quit these evil habits,
he will hardly succeed in after life. Right-
thinking parents share these ideals, and schools
and colleges should put forth every effort to
weave them into the fabric of character. It
is tragic beyond expression for a young person
to leave the parental roof, and return with
distorted and wrong conceptions as to the real
meaning of life. Their education is an ex-
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EDUCATIONAL

pense, and they are in no way fitted to do
their bit in the great workaday world into
which they are to enter.

Midland College is a junior college of "A"
rank. The special field of the junior college
is the last two years of high school and the
first two of college work. Because of the im-
maturity and lack of settled character of the
average boy and girl of the later "teens," it
is fitting that they attend educational institu-
tions where they may get not only thorough
and standardized courses of study under capa-
ble, consecrated and cultured instructors, but
where emphasis is laid on moral rectitude, and
conditions are most favorable to the same. At
this time the mind is perhaps at the zenith
of its acquisitive power, and character most
receptive to life-directing influence. It is a
most perilous time of life. The slant one takes
during this time is apt to be permanent. Under
the guise and ^prestige of education there often
lurk subtle and ruinous influences. There is a
type of education, of the alleged scientific
variety, that eliminates God from His universe;
which creates a false and unbecoming pride
which eliminates its possessor from the world
in which he must live and labor; one of an
easy-going complacency which forever bars
successful achievement, and a Bohemian type
which regards the priceless boon of human life
111

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

as a period of self-indulgent pleasure. During
this period of life the student is apt to decide
what vocation he shall follow ; he makes his
most lasting friends; he may, and often does,
choose his life partner.

Emerson says that an institution is but the
lengthened shadow of a man. Certain it is
that we associate certain ideals with men and
schools, and the very mention of their names
brings to our minds a general idea of their
outstanding features; this general idea is based
on what knowledge we may have of them,
whether it be complete or fragmentary, and it
is usually the latter. That which stood and
stands in the minds of those who founded and
fostered Midland College is Christian character,
which finds expression in worthy service to
humanity. To best further this end, the Bible
is a daily text-book, excerpts being read from
it, and its truths impressed, line upon line and
precept upon precept. Since "character is
caught as well as taught," much care is exer-
cised in the selection of a Faculty, ability,
consecration and culture being prime requisites.
In fact, the Faculty and the student body and
their proper co-ordination constitute the school ;
this made Garfield say that Mark Hopkins on
one end of a log and a student on the other
was a university, but both a "Hopkins" and
a "student" are needed.

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EDUCATIONAL

The study of the Bible, by far the best
book known to mankind, promotes mightily
the development of character by implanting
the principles of righteousness, and encourag-
ing their practice. Mere knowledge of morality
is not enough ; a Christian institution should
abound in constraining incentive to practice
right-doing. Seneca, the Roman moralist, was
preceptor to Nero, the tyrant. That which
stands out clearly, not only in the instance
cited, but in every experience of the world,
is that not only must there be the precept for
good, but there must accompany it the impulse
for its practice, else it becomes a mere plati-
tude void of dynamic and effect, hurtful to its
possessor and harmful to the world. The late
war, which took such frightful toll of the first-
fruits of the world's manhood, was conceived
and carried on by those who theoretically knew
the ideals of Christ, but practically were
wholly at variance with them. The war apol-
ogist should remember that its results are
ghastly battlefields, shell-torn bodies, sorrowful
souls, the orphan's cry and the bleeding,
broken hearts of widowhood and motherhood,
who, like Rachel of old, weep for their loved
ones, and will not be comforted because they
are not. This is the immediate result, not to
mention the national enmities, bankrupt and
tottering governments, burdensome debts, odi-
s 113

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

ous indemnities and many other evils, too
numerous to mention, but too heavy to bear
without groanings which can not be uttered.
One evident corollary may be adduced from
consideration of the war, and that is as old
as the Book, "Except the Lord build the
house, they labor in vain that build it." Any
man or institution which neglects God may
count on failure in the end.

Education, rightly considered, means the
harmonious development of the whole man,
physically, intellectually, morally, socially. A
great Frenchman said: "Better unborn than
uneducated." Another said: "Better unedu-
cated than unprincipled." Education without
righteousness is but quickened knavery. Rightly
viewed, it prepares one to perform all the
duties of life, public and private, justly, skill-
fully, magnanimously. Its design is to give the
soul all the beauty and perfection of which it
is capable. These things being true, the im-
portance of right education can hardly be esti-
mated. Addison says: "What sculpture is to
the marble, education is to the human soul."
Plato says that the difference between the edu-
cated and the uneducated is as the difference
between the living and the dead.

Schools which stand for these principles can
hardly be too numerous. They should be lo-
cated at strategic points, and manned by com-

114

EDUCATIONAL

petent leaders who stand uncompromisingly
for these principles. Every student ought to
be impressed with the thought that life is a
stewardship, proceeding from and returning
to God, and not to be lightly regarded, but
soberly, discreetly and in the fear of God.
The sorrows of the world are brought on by
those who do not regard the rights of their
fellow-men, who violate the Golden Rule of
the relationship of man to man. "Man's in-
humanity to man makes countless millions
mourn." The cradle, the college, the church,
should work together in the molding of the
character of the man.

[After this manuscript had gone to press,
F. G. Jones resigned the presidency to accept
a position with a State institution, and J. T.
McKissick was elected as his successor. — c. m.]

115

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

CARR-BURDETTE COLLEGE

CEPHAS SHELBURNE, President

■> ARR-BURDETTE COLLEGE, in its loca-

tion, grounds, buildings, equipment, ideals
and purposes, is the realized dream of Mrs.
0. A. Carr, and stands as a monument to her
memory. Mrs. Carr was endowed by nature
with special gifts, and with the added culture,
zeal and experience that fitted her for the work
of an educator. She was a woman of refine-
ment, intellectual culture, energy and disci-
plinary powers that peculiarly fitted her to
have charge of girls and to be the head of a
female college.

Her husband, Dr. 0. A. Carr, was a scholar,
an able minister of the gospel and classroom
instructor. He and Mrs. Carr spent some years
in missionary and educational work in Aus-
tralia, and traveled extensively in the Orient —
an experience that richly fitted them for the
after work that came to them as educators.

Returning to America in 1873, Mrs. Carr
began to look about her for a suitable location
for a school for girls — the ideal and passion of
her heart. In 1874. Mrs. Carr was elected to

116

EDUCATIONAL

the position of principal in Hocker College
(now Hamilton College) in Lexington, Ken-
tucky, of which Robert Graham was president.
Here she delivered a series of lectures extend-
ing through the College year, on the wonders
in many lands.

Hocker College did not afford the oppor-
tunity she sought, and later, in 1876, she es-
tablished Floral Hill College for girls in Ful-
ton, Missouri. In 1878, Floral Hill was united
with Christian College, Columbia, Missouri, a
college of longer standing, and handsomely
equipped. Mrs. Carr became associate prin-
cipal, with George B. Bryant as president.

But Mrs. Carr was a born leader, and
original, and so definite were her ideas of
management and discipline that her position
as associate principal could never have been
satisfactory in any school ; and, dissatisfied
with the restraints upon her, she severed her
connection with Christian College. In Septem-
ber, 1879, Mrs. Carr became, through the solici-
tation of Dr. S. S. Laws, president, Professor
of English and dean of the young ladies' de-
partment in the University in Missouri.

This position Mrs. Carr held, with marked
success and ability, for ten years. During
this period, besides her work as instructor, she
delivered lectures in the University chapel,
contributed to the University magazine, and
117

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

was vitally connected with, and consulted in,
all the work and perplexing problems of the
University management and life. Mrs. Carr's
educational work and experience in Melbourne,
Australia ; Floral Hill College, Hocker College
and Christian College, and her ten years in
the University of Missouri, and her travels in
the Orient, had eminently fitted her for the
work of an educator, and for carrying out the
dream of her life — the establishment of a select
home school for girls.

Pushing this ideal, with a determination
to bring her passion to ultimate success — to
build a college for girls and leave it as a
bequest to the church — Mrs. Carr began to
search for a location for such a school. She
spent a year in this search, visiting towns and
cities in Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky and
Texas, and finally came, with her husband, to
Sherman, Texas. Learning of Mrs. Carr's de-
sire to found a college for girls, some promi-
nent citizens expressed a desire to have the
school located at Sherman. A proposition was
submitted to the Carrs, and soon the affairs
relative to the establishment of a school for
girls began to crystallize in and about Sher-
man, Texas.

A site was chosen for the proposed college
"on a beautiful elevation in her eastern suburb,
overlooking a wide circuit of country as charm-
118

EDUCATIONAL

ing as the blue-grass region of Kentucky."
A mass-meeting of the citizens of Sherman
was called, which Mrs. Carr addressed in the
interest of the enterprise. This was in 1891.
The story is a long one, for, as is usual in
such undertakings, it called for courage, sacri-
fice and almost superhuman effort. The success
of the enterprise depended upon the sale of
lots. Two hundred and fifty lots must be sold
at $200 each, and the proceeds from J;hese sales
($50,000) paid for the erection of the "Girls'
Home" and the original equipment. In selling
these lots, Brother and Sister Carr traveled
over five States, and worked two and a half
years. It was a great undertaking, a work
that demanded enormous courage and indomi-
table will power and persistence, but Mrs. Carr
was a woman of vast energy, courage and
determination, and in her vocabulary there was
no such word as "fail."

At last the ground was broken for the
foundation of the College building, Mrs. Carr
herself guiding the plow that made the first
furrow. On January 1, 1894, the corner-stone
was laid; the 250 lots were all sold, the money
all raised. That was the proudest day in Mrs.
Carr's life when she faced the expectant multi-
tude and told the story of her striving and
achievement. "Of all the glad New Years,"
she exclaimed, "this, to me, is the gladdest;
119

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

but a gladder time is yet to come in the com-
pleted College and its opening, when this edu-
cational institution and home shall be lighted
with the faces of happy girls. Nothing will
then be lacking to perfect our joy in the crown-
ing work of our lives." The building was
finished, and in September of the same year
Carr-Burdette College was opened to girls.

For fourteen years Mrs. Carr was the lead-
ing spirit of the school — she was president,
dean, professor and business manager ; firm in
her government and rigid in discipline. Mrs.
Carr died October 31, 1907, and was buried in
"West Hill Cemetery, Sherman. In one of the
beautiful parlors of the "College Beautiful,"
is a marble slab with this inscription :

By the Students of 1907-1908
To the Memory of Our Dear Teacher
Mrs. 0. A. Carr
Taken from Us to Be with Christ
October 31, 1907.
If You Seek Her Monument, Look Around Tou.

Dr. Carr continued the College as its head
until the year 1913, when he turned the
management over to Prof. J. F. Anderson. Mr.
Anderson was building up the school, and, but
for his untimely death, would have continued
its usefulness. In May. 1914, the Carlton Col-
lege of Bonham and Carr-Burdette College
120

EDUCATIONAL

were consolidated, and the session of 1914-15
opened as Carr-Carlton College, under the di-
rection of the Carltons, with Charles T. Carlton
as president and business manager. In the
summer of 1915 a new and commodious Admin-
istration Building was erected and equipped
and paid for by the citizens of Sherman. The
College was closed the following session. In
September, 1917, the school was again reopened
with James A. Crain as president and Robert
J. Cantrell as dean and business manager. The
College was again closed to students the follow-
ing school year.

In 1919, Carr-Burdette was incorporated, a
new Board of Directors was elected, with Sam.
J. McFarland as president, and Cephas Shel-
burne was elected president of the College
and Mrs. Shelburne dean of the Girls' Home.
The session of 1919-20 opened September 17,
with a full Faculty, both in the Literary and
Fine Arts Departments, and one of the largest
enrollments of students in its history. Prac-
tically all of the rooms in the "Girls' Home"
or Dormitory have been taken, and plans are
being considered by the management and
Board of Trustees for additional equipment
and improvements in the grounds and build-
ings, and for increasing the capacity for a
large number of girls. The outlook promises
a bright future for the College.

121

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

Carr-Burdette College is the property of
the Christian Churches of the State of Texas,
and is under the direct control of the brother-
hood. The property is valued at $150,000, and
is free from any indebtedness. It is a junior
college for girls and young ladies, and offers
four years of standard high-school and two
years standard college work ; with a Fine Arts
Department, giving music, art, oratory, do-
mestic science, typewriting, shorthand and
book-keeping.

Carr-Burdette College is, first of all, a home
for girls and young ladies. It was conceived,
planned, built and equipped, and deeded to the
Christian Churches of Texas, as a college home
for the education and culture of young ladies.
In its eight acres of College campus, in a
quiet resident section of East Sherman, "beau-
tiful for situation," and everywhere in the
beautiful College Home, there are the sugges-
tion and feeling of the "home life." The
dean, president, teachers and students all live
in the "Girls' Home," and make up our Col-
lege family.

It is the aim and policy of the president,
dean and Faculty, in all their government,
discipline and social life, to make Carr-Bur-
dette a home for girls — a safe, refined, happy,
Christian home. No mother need fear to send
her daughter to Carr-Burdette College ; she will
122

EDUCATIONAL

be just as safe and cared for here as in her
own home. Apart from a thoroughly efficient
mental and physical culture, training and edu-
cation, Carr-Burdette College proposes to give
your daughter the protection, individual care
and love of a refined and well-ordered Chris-
tian home. The education of your girl is a
most serious problem, and causes our mothers
no little anxiety. The critical period comes
when you feel that you must send your girl
away from home to school. Probably the most
momentous decision you will ever make for
your child is the choice of her school, as her
whole future will be directed and influenced
by her school life. You want your girl edu-
cated to become a scholar and a cultured
woman, and return to you a pure, sweet and
true woman ; and you say : "If I could only
go with her, if I could just know that she will
be safe and well taken care of." With a
mother it is "safety first"; and this shall be
the policy and watchful care of Carr-Burdette
College.

123

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

THE TEXAS BIBLE CHAIR

FRANK L. JEWETT, Bible Chair Instructor

BEGINNINGS of the Bible Chair were made
in the years 1903 and 1904. At that time
Miss Bertha Mason, now Mrs. J. H. Fuller,
was State secretary for the C. W. B. M. She
was deeply interested in the Bible Chair proj-
ect, and worked diligently for it. Other
women deeply interested at the time were Mrs.
M. M. Blanks, Mrs. Clara Walden, Mrs. Ida
V. Jarvis, Mrs. Annie D. "Wilkinson, and quite
a few others. Dr. E. V. Zollars was asked to
deliver a series of Bible lectures and spy out
the situation. There was no property at that
time, so Dr. J. W. Lowber, pastor of the Cen-
tral Christian Church, invited him to use his
pulpit, and from the beginning encouraged
the movement in every possible way. During
the winter and spring of 1904. Prof. Wal-
lace C. Payne, from the University of Kansas
Bible Chair, made two visits to Austin, deliv-
ered lectures, and solicited funds in Austin,
but best of all secured a $10,000 gift from
Mrs. M. M. Blanks, Lockhart. Texas. Property
was bought on a most favorable site, and ar-
il 24

EDUCATIONAL

rangements were made for a permanent work.
Mrs. Helen E. Moses went over the whole situa-
tion with me, and the work appealed to me,
and I accepted the leadership of the work for
an indefinite period. I had just finished eight
years' work in the University of Kansas, Har-
vard, and the University of Chicago, and as
a consequence I had great confidence in such
work for students. I have had charge of the
regular work from the beginning, fourteen
years ago.

The record of those fourteen years is a
most interesting record. The work at first
was very modest. There was too much at stake
to make blunders. Feelingly, the work was
carried along. For about five years the only
Bible classes held were classes made up of
volunteers. Of these there were a good many,
but of rather uncertain regularity and even
existence. In every possible way there was
co-operation with all religious associations and
religious bodies. It was realized that life could
not exist unless by the closest sticking to-
gether of all religious forces, and with the
most perfect harmony. Gradually, a large
student Sunday-school class was built up. At
first this class met at the Central Christian
Church. But the distance of a mile soon made
it apparent that the class must meet in the
Bible Chair property near the University, so

125

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

the change was made and as a consequence the
class rose in numbers by leaps and bounds.
By the end of five or six years, I think it is
fair to say that the work of the Bible Chair
commended itself to the University as a useful
institution. We were anxious to do a more
permanent and more telling work. So along
with the Presbyterians and Paulist Fathers
the University authorities were asked to recog-
nize our work, and to give students carrying
Bible courses credit for the same towards
their University degrees. The Bible Chairs and
the University people went over the matter to-
gether very carefully, and as a result of many,
and sometimes quite lengthy, conferences, it
was agreed under certain conditions to give
the recognition desired. After this recognition
was granted, the number of students taking
Bible courses was exceedingly small. As the
years passed by, however, the classes grew
until in one year, the year before America
entered the World War, there were enrolled in
these classes nearly 150 students. It was never
contemplated that with this recognition of the
University there should be a let-up on the
voluntary and personal and Sunday-school
work. Rather it was the intention to use the
standing in the community given us by the
recognition as a strong lever for still more of
the popular work.

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EDUCATIONAL

During the last ten years or so the work
of the Texas Bible Chair has been along four
very distinct lines as follows: Credit work,
volunteer work, personal conferences, and an
unusual strong Sunday-school work. Along
these lines the work has been pushed with
vigor. I am inclined to think that the most
vital work has been that of the personal con-
ferences, for in this way the student has been
met face to face with personal problems.

In 1908, through the generosity of Mrs.
M. M. Blanks, who gave a second gift of $8,000,
it was made possible to build the two splendid
buildings we now have. At once this made the
work spring into greater prominence, but better
than prominence was the ability to do a much
finer type of work for the students in every
way. Provision was also made by the National
C. W. B. M. Board for a small endowment of
$10,000. The State auxiliaries have always
shown a great willingness to do their part in
the maintenance of this student work. Indeed,
it is a work in which they take a most healthy
pride. The good words that hundreds of
students have had for the Bible Chair as they
have finished their University work and gone
out into the school of life have been most effec-
tive in keeping up a whole State interest in this
worthy work. Friends for it have been made
everywhere. It has strengthened our educa-
127

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

tional work throughout all our churches. It
has been a rich blessing to every church having
only a small part in its promotion.

Fourteen years ago the idea of a Bible
Chair at the University was very novel. We
were pioneers. To-day there are six Bible
Chairs established in the following order: Dis-
ciples of Christ, Presbyterians, Paulist Fathers,
Methodist, Baptist, and Church of Christ. The
working together of the leaders of these bodies
is a marvel of modern times. Such under-
standing and such co-operation will hasten
mightily the answer of Jesus' prayer that we
all may be one. The reflex influence of this
work on the churches will have a most healthy
influence.

128

EDUCATIONAL

JARVIS CHRISTIAN INSTITUTE

J. N. ERVIN, President

A HISTORY of this work would be incom-
plete unless a word be said of the early
workers of the church in Texas. From the
beginning, these good people understood that
no real progress could be made in the recon-
struction of the negro race until schools be
established for the education of children after-
ward to be the leaders. Fathers and mothers
prayed for some one to see as they saw, under-
stand the needs as they understood them, and
work with them along these lines for God and
for humanity. These prayers were answered
through the generosity of Major and Mrs. J. J.
Jarvis, of Fort Worth. Mother Haley and
scores of other devout disciples had prayed for
this particular work to be established some-
where in Texas. Mother Haley lived in Green-
ville, and was a member of the little band of
Christians there. She did not pray with empty
hands. Her soul overflowing with love, she laid
$25 upon the altar, this representing her entire
savings for a whole year. Others followed
her lead with their gifts. Only a few of those

9 129

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

who so generously gave in those earlier days
were permitted to see the work inaugurated.
Mother Haley and the others lived, not for
self, but for others. With gratitude for the
work of those Christian pioneers, we approach
the future with a new sense of our respon-
sibilities, and" a stronger faith in God, and a
more resolute determination to serve in His
kingdom.

Jarvis Christian Institute, a religious and
industrial school, is located in northeast Texas,
one mile from Hawkins and five from Big
Sandy. It is on the Texas & Pacific Railway.
Out of love and respect for Major and Mrs.
Jarvis, who gave 456 acres of land, sprang its
name. The Christian Woman's Board of Mis-
sions took control of the school, and, in 1913,
bought 182 acres on the east side of the Jarvis
tract, making a total of 638 acres in the
school plantation.

The writer never had the pleasure of meet-
ing Major Jarvis, but has had the advantage
of splendid advice and encouragement from
Sister Jarvis, who comes frequently to visit
and to strengthen our work.

Pres. J. B. Lehman, Secretary of Negro
Education, visited the site in 1910, and recom-
mended the beginning of the school. On De-
cember 15, 1912, Prof. T. B. Frost, of Edwards.
Mississippi, was sent to begin the work. Much

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EDUCATIONAL

had to be done at once: a home to be arranged
for, a barn to be erected, the forest to be
cleared, the attention of a strange people to
be enlisted, and a school to be opened. Pro-
fessor Frost labored in a manly way for the
principles characteristic of his life. The
family soon followed, and occupied the rude
cabin which had been erected. The school was
begun, with an enrollment of seven pupils,
the Frost family furnishing three of the num-
ber. This was on January 13, 1913. In addi-
tion to Mr. Frost, Prof. C. A. Berry and Miss
Cecilia Hurt, of Virginia, composed the
Faculty. On January 1, 1914, the writer made
his first visit, remaining two weeks. On
August 12, 1914, I returned with my three
children to take the leadership so nobly begun
by Professor Frost. God, who had taken my
dear wife to Himself, strengthened, comforted
and sustained. We set ourselves to the solution
of the problems. A school building was to be
completed, living quarters provided, and school
to be opened in September. Another teacher
was added — Miss S. I. Ellis in charge of the
music. On the opening day thirteen pupils
were enrolled, three of whom were my own
children.

The work prospered with each teacher and
student happy in the growth. Then came a
disastrous fire, destroying our school building,
131

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

on December 16, 1914. The writer lost all his
personal property, including the library, the
accumulation of twenty years, barely escaping
with his life and his two boys, and of other
boys occupying the hall as sleeping quarters.
The laundry then consisted of a single room
very rudely built. Here we made common
bunks for myself and my boys and such boys
as we could keep. There we slept at night,
and the girls laundried during the day. As
early as we were able to obtain clothing for
the boys who had lost all, the school was
reopened ; the dining-hall and the private
rooms of Mrs. Frost, in the Girls' Hall, were
used for the work of the school. Those were
trying hours, but every teacher kept faith and
worked as if nothing had happened. A saw-
mill was soon secured. Then came cutting
trees, hauling logs, cutting into lumber. A
temporary building was erected in a very brief
time. Professor Howard, of Southern Chris-
tian Institute, came to our teaching force.
Commencement Day arrived in the midst
of great rejoicing. Buildings have been
added as rapidly as the work demanded.
We now have ten frame buildings on the
campus. The school has taken its place
among the sister schools in raising money
for educational purposes. The students are
taught to give as God has prospered them.

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EDUCATIONAL

Every interest of the church — local, State,
national — is responded to by teachers and
pupils. During the war the school raised Red
Cross money, bought War Savings Stamps,
invested in Liberty bonds, and did its share in
food-saving. Some of our boys went over the
top, and others were ready to go. Our students
and teachers have been called to take part
in State and national meetings, the Glee Club
having been heard on many occasions. Best
of all, we are happy to see results which we
have so earnestly sought — young men and
women offering their lives for Christian service.
Few pupils ever remain here for so long a
time as one year without having made the good
confession. Seven States have been represented
in our student body.

God has given us friends. The Christian
Woman's Board of Missions has stood nobly
by the work. Individuals of our own race
are helping, some in a small way. Mr. Wiley
J. Fuller, of Greenville, has begun the work
of a library fund for the school by contributing
$100 cash, and placing $500, the interest of
which may be thus used. The first emergency
campaign for the negro Disciples of the United
States was launched at Jarvis Institute, iu
May, 1919. Since that time more than $20,000
has been subscribed by the colored brotherhood
of Texas, and about $2,000 paid in. Of this
133

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

last sum, about $600 came from the teachers
and students of this institution.

A recent acquisition is the Dixie Overland
Highway, which passes through our campus,
bringing large convenience for travel, and as-
sisting in beautifying.

We rejoice in the fine feeling here between
the races, and in the realization of the evident
spirit of helpfulness on the part of the white
citizens. Many of them are registered daily
as our visitors.

The present teaching force of the school is
as follows: J. N. Ervin, C. W. Smith, T. B.
Frost, Z. H. Howard, A. C. Jackson. Mrs. W.
Ervin, Mrs. C. W. Smith, Mrs. M. B. Frost,
Mrs. C. B. Howard, Mrs. L. G. Smith, Mrs.
G. V. Bryant, Mrs. Theodore Ripetoe, Mrs.
Lizzie Woodard, Misses L. A. Smith, A. S.
Smith, E. S. Fuller, B. A. Blackburn, S. V.
Hollingsworth, Floy Johnson and John Finch.

The prime purpose of the school is to train
young men and young women for true citizen-
ship. Realizing that a struggling mass of our
race is constantly looking upward for leader-
ship, the school faces a keen sense of respon-
sibility, and is doing what it can to meet the
opportunity. Many students have gone from
here to their homes with new ideas of life and
service. While some do not complete any pre-
scribed course, we feel they can not come in
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EDUCATIONAL

personal contact with that which is here, even
for a short while, without learning some of
the important lessons for their life's work. We
try to teach them to be independent in the
matter of bread-winning, and to train them-
selves for usefulness in life, by each rendering
the best service in his special line.

The course of study is so arranged that
careful attention is given to physical training
and to the general well-being of the student
life. We teach the laws of sanitation. We
teach that people who are clean, honest, in-
dustrious, intelligent and self-sustaining, are
assets to the country, and contributors to civili-
zation, while those of the opposite class will
always be liabilities.

One of the fixed policies of the school is
to train the students in strict religious ob-
servances. They must know there is no true
success where Christ is not incorporated in
their lives. Our aim is to teach them to ex-
emplify the life of Christ in their daily living,
so that religion with them becomes a righteous
and practical experience, both wholesome and
progressive.

In connection with the religious life, those
who may be leaders should have the advantage of
taking special training in strong Bible Courses
that they may be fit as ministers, mission-
aries, teachers, and general community workers.
135

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

Unless our hopes for this special work shall
bear fruit, we shall feel that our efforts have
been partly in vain. Our race needs leader-
ship, not only in other lines, but in the church
as well. The school will fall far short of its
aim if it fails to produce such leaders — those
who shall have a vision of the work to be
done, and the moral courage to work with
heart, hand and soul to bring things to pass.
We encourage home-seeking and home-building,
so that we may contribute to the nation and
to the world at large something of value in
service. The church must give the opportunity
for such development. Until it fulfills this
solemn obligation through Christian education,
we may expect the worst from every section.

We have needs which are as yet unsupplied.
A Bible College is very much needed, that we
may train young men for the Christian min-
istry, and young women for real missionary
work. Texas alone needs fifty well-trained
young men to take the work with as many
congregations which are being scattered for
lack of leaders. We need well-equipped aca-
demic and industrial departments that we may
prepare teachers to go into the schools of the
South, and train our people to become con-
tributors to civilization by purchasing homes,
clearing the forests, ditching the land, enrich-
ing the soil, erecting better buildings, giving
136

EDUCATIONAL

more modern schoolhouses, furnishing better
rural churches, and learning and observing the
laws of health. Through the school, we need
to send out expert farmers, dairymen, swine-
breeders, poultry dealers, truck gardeners,
brickmasons, carpenters, engineers of various
kinds, trained wives, cooks, domestics, dress-
makers, laundresses, milliners, trained nurses
and missionaries, that they may add not only
to the commercial and educational value of
the negro, but to the entire South as well.
When this is done, the negro will not be a
disturber of the peace and happiness of himself
and others, but an asset to the entire country.

Some progress has been made toward secur-
ing funds for the establishment of a hospital
for students and the community. It would be
very much appreciated if some one, who has
the money, would supply this great need. It
would mean a perpetual blessing upon the
school, and otherwise far-reaching.

We need a well-equipped library where
students and teachers may resort for reading
and research. This is absolutely essential. We
need books, saws, axes, squares, song-books,
Bibles, hammers, planes, chisels, daily papers,
magazines, school journals, wall pictures,
sheets, pillow-cases, sewing-machines, hoes,
shovels, thimbles, needles, spades, typewriters,
scholarships. In the suggestion of our needs
137

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

we do so in hope that those who read may not
overlook that which is true, that before we ask
of others we first help ourselves to our limit.
And we have a great deal of self-reliance. But
when this has been used we feel that we have
the right to call upon others, not for our-
selves, but for those whom we are trying to
help. Our Mecedonian cry is, Come over and
help us for the good of our people, and for
the good of your own race.

138

EDUCATIONAL

TITHING AMONG TEXAS
DISCIPLES

ARTHUR A. EVERTS

THE paying of one-tenth of income as
acknowledgment of divine ownership of
all our possessions, seems, until recent years,
to have had little popularity among Texas
disciples in general. And this, strange to say,
notwithstanding the fact that we are supposed
to speak where the Scriptures speak about all
things vital to the kingdom's advancement.
Due to the fact that money makes the mare
go, and the man go too, and where a man's
treasure is, there will his heart be also, we have
not advanced as far as we might have ad-
vanced had not Satan sidetracked us from
this divine principle of tithing with its great
spiritual and financial force, which makes the
Lord Jesus a partner in every single transac-
tion. Therefore only one-third or one-fourth
of our membership are regular church attend-
ants, largely because only one-fortieth of our
money reaches the church treasury. While, in
years gone by, such men as A. J. Bush and
Randolph Clark have been faithful in this
139

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

stewardship, there were many others whom we
may never know, who paid the tenth for God,
and were thereby a blessing to many a scat-
tered band of disciples. Through encourage-
ment of the money of these tithers, and their
consequent and deepened spirituality, preach-
ing was provided in many congregations, the
membership was built up, and the little,
struggling bands saved. For, left alone, they
would have gradually been strangled by the
devil's stewardship plans for the undoing of
our great plea. Escaping from this noose,
however, a few churches were able to shine for
God in the far-away places of our great State.

About the year 1887, through the influence
of the Young People's Society of Christian
Endeavor, many became members of the Tenth
Legion, thus starting a revival of stewardship.
Due to the influence of tithers, the Central
Christian Church of Dallas became a living
link in the Foreign Christian Missionary So-
ciety, supporting Bessie Homan Faris in
Africa. From this same Tenth Legion influ-
ence at the Central Christian Church, Elsworth
Faris says he taught Bible stewardship of
money to our first church on the Congo at
Bolenge, so that every Lord's Day morning,
as they sang their song, these former canni-
bals walked forward and laid their tithe and
offering-money of brass-rod money in the
140

EDUCATIONAL

basket on the communion table. Thus far this
was the only wholly apostolic church among the
Disciples of Christ, every ten members sup-
porting an evangelist. Every one testified for
God publicly at least once each week, so that
to-day more than two hundred evangelists are
supported by this church.

When the panic of 1907 came to America, and
our Foreign Society was hampered for funds,
on the Congo the work went forward without
interruption, because when the Bolenge Church
mass-meeting was called one morning, to con-
sider the promised forward work and shortage
of funds, every one of the more than twenty
evangelists stood and said: "Teacher, take one-
third of my salary to keep our promises to
send the Christ to those away in the great
forests." And when that sum was found in-
sufficient at the afternoon called meeting, those
who had possessions, even to garden tools and
cooking-vessels, sold them, and, emulating the
first tithing church at Jerusalem, brought the
price and laid it down at Mr. Faris' and Dr.
Dye's feet. And so the work went on.

The missionaries dared not tell these former
heathen that the churches of Christ in Texas
were giving at that time less than one-fortieth
of their income for God, and less than one-half
of one copper cent for the unity of God's
people, for which Christ so earnestly prayed.

141

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

Largely through the influence of the tithing
members of the Dallas Central Church, the
East Dallas Church was established, and imme-
diately became a double living link. Every
member of the official board became a tither.
The Foreign Society used the picture of the
little frame East Dallas building in their stere-
optican all over America, to great advantage,
as one of the churches which thought of others
before themselves. The mission on Thomas
Avenue, afterwards the Ross Avenue Church,
the Third Avenue Church and the South Dallas
Church were also established largely by tithers
from Central.

Recently, at the dedication of the South
Dallas Church, a workingman and his wife,
of the original tithers, having saved through
the years enough money to buy a rent-house,
turned this house and lot over to help pay for
the new church building, saying: "We have
one house, and can get along without the
other." A tither— Mr. Harbour, of Ft. Worth—
who went to Oklahoma City in the early days,
had a prominent part in building up that great
church.

A notable forward stewardship movement
was made in Texas when the Austin State Con-
vention authorized a committee to employ a
State stewardship secretary, Claude L. Jones,
who was secured for this place, and his first
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EDUCATIONAL

seven months' work resulted in signing more
than a thousand tithing stewards. This work
made plain to the churches their opportunity
and responsibility, and made far easier the suc-
cess of the several financial campaigns follow-
ing. When Secretary Jones went to France,
H. E. Beckler was secured for secretary, and
has already done a phenomenal work. In some
places 85 per cent, of the audience have signed
the stewardship covenant — in loving loyalty to
their Lord, and as an acknowledgment of His
ownership — to pay the tenth of their income
for God, and to administer the remainder of
their possessions as faithful and wise stewards.
They have also covenanted to be faithful
stewards of their personality and their power
of prayer. In four months of the secretary's
actual work, including the work of the chair-
man of the committee, more than sixteen hun-
dred have signed covenants. More than one
hundred stewardship sermons have been
preached by the ministers of our churches in
Texas in the past four months of 1919. Twenty
thousand pamphlets and folders have been sent
out by the workers. These have gone to more
than twenty States of the United States.

The appointment of a national stewardship
secretary was authorized at the Convention
meeting in Cincinnati. This fall of 1919,
Christian stewardship, through tithing, is being
143

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

taught to the ministerial students in Texas
Christian University. Prizes are being offered
for best essays and addresses on this subject.
These teachers are doing a monumental work
for stewardship. Nearly one-half of our
preachers in Texas are preaching and talking
of this vital work. Few oppose it, and nearly
every week finds new names of ministers upon
the list of covenant signers. Some churches
have multiplied their offerings by three since
adopting this plan. Every one who has tried
it is happy in the partnership, and the satisfied
user of this divine principle is its best adver-
tiser. Bible stewardship is the one hope for
the early completion of the task of the Dis-
ciples of Christ.

144

EDUCATIONAL

TEXAS CHRISTIAN LECTURE-
SHIP

THIS institution was begotten in the I. &
G. N. Railway station, in Taylor, Texas,
in 1888, and born in the Commerce Street
Church building, in Dallas, some two or three
months later. A. J. Bush, J. B. Sweeney and
the writer chanced to meet in the depot men-
tioned, and, in a conversation of an hour or
so, developed the plan for the Lectureship.
They constituted themselves into a committee
on program and arranged one, writing to J. T.
Toof, pastor of the Commerce Street Church,
requesting the privilege to announce the first
session to be held there. This request was
readily granted ; the meeting assembled, and
the Lectureship was born. It lived through
twenty-nine years, and did, as many thought,
a most excellent work. The purpose was pri-
marily investigation. All kinds of problems
were studied — that is, problems related to the
religion of the Christ. These questions were at
times doctrinal and at others practical. A
wide range of study was conducted. Many
persons were anxious for the Lectureship who
10 145

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

rarely attended any other of our general
gatherings. The attendance fluctuated from
year to year. Sometimes only a few would be
present, but at other meetings the attendance
was large — once reaching as many as three hun-
dred.

At twenty-two of the twenty-nine sessions,
a chief lecturer, as he was known, was em-
ployed. With one exception, he came to us
from another State. These were always men
who were leaders in the line they were asked
to discuss. Still, it was true that the largest
of all the Lectureships, so far the attendance
was concerned, was when we had no chief
lecturer.

The gatherings were as follows: In 1888,
with Commerce Street Church, Dallas; 1889,
with the same congregation ; 1890, Pearl and
Bryan Street Church, Dallas; 1891, Waco, with
B. B. Tyler as lecturer; 1892, Thorp Spring,
with J. B. Briney; 1893, Waxahachie, with J.
H. Garrison; 1894, Austin, with H. R. Pritch-
ard; 1895, Corsicana; 1896, Bonham; 1897,
Fort Worth; 1898, Waxahachie, with J. W.
McGarvey; 1899, Greenville, with C. L. Loos;
1900, Taylor, with F. D. Power; 1901, Waco,
with H. L. Willett; 1902, Weatherford, with
Burris Jenkins ; 1903, Cleburne, with J. W.
McGarvey; 1904, Temple, with D. R. Dungan;
1905, Denton, with Hiram Van Kirk; 1906,
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EDUCATIONAL

Palestine, with H. L. Calhoun; 1907, Abilene,
with Clinton Lockhart; 1908, Waco, with H.
L. Calhoun ; 1909, Dallas, with Charles S. Med-
bury; 1910, Sherman, with E. L. Powell; 1911,
Denton, with B. A. Abbott; 1912, Longview,
with R. A. Crossfield; 1913, Fort Worth, with
Peter Ainslie; 1914, Waxahachie, with George
H. Combs; 1915, Vernon, with A. B. Philputt;
1916, Fort Worth. Where no name as chief
lecturer is mentioned, there was none.

Prior to the 1916 Lectureship, the question
of abandoning these annual gatherings was agi-
tated. A motion to this effect was offered
during that session. The attendance was small,
perhaps not more than thirty being in attend-
ance. The vote on the resolution was a tie,
and the chairman, Cephas Shelburne, gave the
deciding vote which sent the Lectureship into
oblivion. Perhaps it had accomplished its task.

147

Benevolences

The Juliette Fowler Homes

149

BENEVOLENCES

THE JULIETTE FOWLER
HOMES

M. BOYD KEITH

"To us it seemed her life was too soon done ;
Ended, indeed, while scarcely yet begun.
God, with His clearer vision, saw that she
Was ready for a larger ministry. ' '

THUS felt the hosts of friends when Mrs.
Juliette Fowler was snatched away by
death. When her heart interest for the aged
and orphaned was made known, and in the
now fully worked-out plans, we are made to
feel "God moves in a mysterious way his won-
ders to perform." She was a devoted Chris-
tian from ten years of age. Her married life
was a tragedy, in that she was early deprived
of her husband and little ones. She conceived
a passionate fondness and tenderness for all
motherless and homeless children. As a
natural outgrowth from this, she began to plan
the founding of a Home. She accumulated
property with this purpose in view. Success
attended her efforts, and she planned to begin
the work in 1889. This was prevented by her
death. Her sister and executrix, Mrs. Har-
151

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

wood, with true devotion, gave her time and
strength to the trust. In 1903 she handed a
deed conveying the property at the east end
of Columbia Avenue, Dallas, designated by
Mrs. Fowler as the permanent site of the
Homes, money and other properties, and a
charter from the State of Texas, to the con-
vention of Christian Churches assembled at
Mineral "Wells. They were asked to provide
suitable buildings and sustenance for those who
should find homes therein. The convention
accepted the charge.

Mrs. Harwood was the first president of the
Board, continuing to the time of her death.
The country was thought, by many, to be the
best place for the Homes, and a farm of two
hundred acres was bought for the sum of
$10,000. No buildings were on this tract, and
a small piece adjoining was leased, on which
was a two-story frame building. A. J. Bush,
with his wife and daughter, and Miss Pace
were placed in charge. They at once set them-
selves to the task of making a real home for
the children. For more than a year this build-
ing was used. This was the first effort of the
brotherhood to provide for helpless children,
in a co-operative way.

On July 7, 1904, the Homes were affiliated
with the National Benevolent Association of
Christian Churches. January 26, 1904, "Faith
152

BENEVOLENCES

Cottage," a two-story brick building, erected
on the farm, had been dedicated. This pro-
vided for seventy children. Difficulties multi-
plied readily with the attempt to manage the
farm. This was sold and suitable buildings
were erected on the fifteen acres donated by
Mrs. Fowler for this purpose. The proceeds
from the sale of the farm were $30,000.
The transfer of the orphans to the new build-
ing was in 1915. This Home, with the interior
unfinished, cost $45,000. In 1911 the Home
for the Aged, known as "Sarah Harwood
Hall," had been erected at a cost of $30,000.
Fifty aged saints have been ministered to
through its efficient service. They spend their
declining years in a well-equipped Home, in
comfort and ease. Religious services are held
in the Home, and those who are able to do so
have the opportunity to attend the churches
of the city. The brotherhood can have no
greater cause for rejoicing than that they have
made possible this splendid refuge for those
who, otherwise, would be forced to spend their
lives in penury and want.

More than forty cases of scarlet fever
among the children, and six months' quaran-
tine for the entire household, stressed the neces-
sity for facilities for isolation. Physicians and
health officers said our fourth floor, an un-
finished attic, could be made into desirable
153

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

hospital rooms. Ten thousand dollars was used
in finishing and equipping this department.
The best possible medical care has been fur-
nished by Dr. Leslie Moore and his splendid
staff of twenty of the leading physicians of
the city. Hundreds of children have been
cared for and nursed through all manner of
contagions; yet, in seventeen years, there have
been but two fatalities.

For years, the baby ward was a dream
eagerly looked forward to. When its comple-
tion seemed a certainty, and a name plate was
to be placed on the door, the Board unan-
imously and eagerly insisted that no name was
so appropriate as that of our Bro. A. J. Bush.
This ward they would dedicate in loving tes-
timony of their appreciation of the oldest and
most faithful in this service, one who from
the very beginning of the work was its heart
and soul, and who, in his old age, gave liberally
of his limited means that the work might be
completed.

Nowhere can the same full measure of re-
joicing be found as in review of a baby life
spent in most immoral surroundings, com-
pletely orphaned at an early age, and turned
to our Home for guidance and care. There
the girl learned all the household arts, led a
class of four hundred in physical training by
five per cent., and graduated from the high

154

BENEVOLENCES

school at the age of seventeen ready for a
special course in physical training to fit her
for a position in the open field of physical
directors. This is one of the really worth-
while things over which to rejoice in the life
of one of our older girls. This fitting for life
and home and citizenship is the return which
those who have made it possible are now receiv-
ing on their investment.

The children have all the advantages of
the public schools and churches of the city.
They come in touch with other children, and
learn a self-reliance and self-assertiveness
which they could not secure elsewhere. Our
children live a normal life, growing up as
brothers and sisters with a splendid loyalty
for each other. Our aim is to get as far from
the institutional life, and as near to the home
life, as possible.

During the school term, study hours are
observed in the auditorium, or "living-room,"
as we prefer to call it. Here it is that com-
pany is received, games played and music
from piano or victrola furnished. They live
the lives of American lads and lassies. The
noise and romp are all worth while, and will
be a sweet memory in later years.

No mention of these Homes could be com-
plete without reference to Mrs. J. C. Mason,
whom to know is to love and to appreciate.
155

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

For eighteen years she has been the chairman
of the Admission Committee, and has listened
to the heart-breaking stories and the life trage-
dies of the poor unfortunates, and often for
lack of room she could give no more than
comforting words. At no hour of day or night
lias she been too busy to come to either of
the Homes when called. During one con-
tagion, when help was impossible, and when
both hospital wards were full to overflowing,
she left home and family and came and worked
with us faithfully for a week. On every Sun-
day for more than a year she has taken two
or three home with her for the day, and a
wonderful day it always was as she and her
family gave themselves to the entertainment
of the youngsters.

Neither would this brief history be at all
complete unless something is said of the appre-
ciated matron, Mrs. E. D. Vawter. In this
work she has invested her life. The children
love her for her own worth, and the Board of
Directors take supreme pleasure in acknowledg-
ing the great value of all which she has done.
Largely has she been the guiding hand of the
management of the enterprise since the day of
her coming to the Home. She has reproduced
herself in the lives of many who have been
with her, and many others are being molded
into splendid types of men and women because
156

BENEVOLENCES

their lives have touched hers. No one could
have predicted what would be in the making of
' ' Billy Sunday, ' ' when as a weak and orphaned
lad he went timidly to a Home for orphans
for rearing. It paid to take this orphan lad
into open arms and hearts, and give time and
thought and labor and money as investments.
And so it is that Mrs. Vawter and all who
have had any share in this work are molding
lives for humanity and for God.

"Who gives himself with his gifts feeds three,
Himself, his hungry neighbor and Me."

157

Our Remembered Dead

159

OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

I WRITE not of those whom we have "loved
and lost," but of those who said, "I am
ready as much as in me is," and who are still
present "in the spirit." They need no monu-
ments of stone that their memories may live
with those who knew them during their labors
here. We were inspired by their faith, and
their heroism pointed us to larger and higher
service. Those whose names appear in this
list by no means complete the company "of
whom the world was not worthy." I have
separated them into four groups.

I. Preachers who were of the older class
in 1879, my first year in Texas. The names
of some of these will not be familiar to some
who read these pages. I knew them personally,
and was glad to count them among my friends.
They lived and labored when their number
was few, but helped nobly to prepare the fields
for the laborers of to-day. Well may we ask
ourselves the question whether or not we appre-
ciate the faith and toil and sacrifice of these
men as their lives deserve. They made our
task possible for us; they blazed the way and
11 ifil

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

opened the path; we have "entered into their
labors, and their works do follow them." Their
names may not have a familiar ring, but you,
my brother, owe to them a debt which you can
repay only by faithful loyalty to the mission
for which they lived and toiled until God took
them hence.

H. D. Bantau labored in Parker and adja-
cent counties. He was a man of culture. True
to his convictions, he gave his life to their
service. His age, at the time of his death, must
have approached seventy-five or perhaps more.

J. M. Beard was one of the great pioneers
among our people in Texas. He toiled in
various portions of the State, but the churches
of Lamar and adjoining^ counties are, in a large
measure, monuments to his consecrated service.
His children and grandchildren are, to-day,
faithful disciples of their Lord.

Alfred Padon labored in eastern Texas,
with his home in Shelby County. This was
the first county in the State to banish the
saloon from its borders, and he was one of the
factors in that pioneer achievement. East
Texas heard his voice for many years as he
proclaimed the message of the gospel. Many
of the congregations of that section were helped
to their degree of usefulness by him.

162

OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

Henry Pangburn came to Texas from Ken-
tucky, settling on a farm in Dallas County,
near Hutchins, in the 70 's of the last century.
He was one of the most Christly men whom
I ever knew, and I had every opportunity to
know him well. The ring of every sermon was :
"I believe, and therefore I speak." During
the first four months of the history of the
church at Waxahachie — September to Decem-
ber, 1878 — he supplied the pulpit, going there
from his farm. Following his work there, mine
began.

T. M. Sweeney lived in Houston County,
and his labors as a preacher were chiefly in
that portion of the State. He was the father
of J. B. Sweeney, who will be mentioned later
in these memoirs, a worthy father of a worthy
son. Always modest in his manner, he never
imposed himself upon others, but was ever true
to that which he believed to be the messages
of his Master, whether they were calls for
teaching or for service.

Gen. R. M. Gano was born and reared in
Kentucky, son of John Allen Gano, one of the
pioneers and strong preachers of the early days
of the Restoration movement. He served four
years with the armies of the Southern Con-
federacy. Many times have I heard old soldiers
who had served under him speak of him in
163

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

terms of tenderest affection. He came to Texas
a few years after the close of that war. An
incident illustrating his emotional power in
evangelism is related in the sketch of T. W.
Caskey. Many responded to the gospel invi-
tation from his lips. There is a statement
which seems to be well established that Gen.
George Washington Was baptized by his father.
He lived at Dallas to his death.

J. A. Clark, father of Addison and Ran-
dolph, was, in his early life, a successful law-
yer. He relinquished his profession for the
work of the gospel ministry. The story of
sacrifices made by him and others in pioneer
days is a thrilling one, but can not be related
here as it is a history within itself. With
Addison and Randolph, he planted in Fort
Worth what was, later, Add-Ran College in
Thorp Spring, afterward Texas Christian Uni-
versity in Waco, and still later returning to
the place of its birth. For a time he edited
and published, in Thorp Spring, the Texas
Christian, the immediate forerunner of the
Christian Courier. He died at his home in
Thorp Spring, at an advanced age.

S. R. Ezzell traveled and preached in
Texas for many years. Perhaps no man among
us ever preached "first principles" with
greater clearness or with larger results than
164

OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

did he. "The Great Legacy," a book written
by him, was widely circulated and read by
thousands. This led a large number of persons
to correct views concerning things funda-
mental. I have known, personally, several
active and successful preachers of the Word
who were inspired for their life-work through
the study of this book. As a young preacher,
I was greatly helped by a study of that, and
of his chart. He was many years my senior,
and yet we were close friends, and I officiated
at his second marriage — to Mrs. Quincy A.
Sweatt. He was about eighty years of age
at the time of his death.

T. W. Casket came from Mississippi to
Texas. In many ways he was one of the most
remarkable men who have preached the gospel
in the State. With but small opportunities
during the days of his youth, he was highly
educated — his education came not from com-
mon schools or from colleges. His sermons
were logical, rhetorical, poetic, Scriptural. His
powers of description were marvelous, and
audiences were swayed from smiles to tears
and from tears to smiles. When Caskey had
completed his argument, reason stood con^
vinced. He was chaplain in the Confederate
service, and was known as "the fighting par-
son." Tn 1866. soon after the close of that
165

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

war, he attended a convention of Disciples of
Christ held in a Northern city. The war spirit
had not yet ceased. Caskey was the only
Southern preacher present, and perhaps the
only person from that side of "Mason and
Dixon's Line." One of the finest orators of
the churches of the North turned his guns
against the late Confederacy. The Southern
preacher's blood boiled furiously. At the close
of the address he arose and delivered what
has been characterized as the greatest speech
of his life. I once asked him to reproduce it
for publication, and his reply was: "I would
cheerfully give all that I possess to be able
to do so. That speech was begotten and born
of the hour and the occasion. It departed after
its delivery just as it came — suddenly. From
that moment to this day [twenty years later]
I have never been able to recall a single sen-
tence."

The reader will pardon the relation of some
incidents which show some of the many sides
of this wonderful man. He was never a re-
cruiter as a preacher. At the close of one of
his colossal sermons, the gospel invitation met
with no response. Bro. R. M. Gano was
present, and followed with an earnest exhor-
tation mingled with tears which streamed
down his cheeks. A number of men and
women pressed eagerly forward, and gave
166

OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

their hands to the preacher. Brother Caskey
looked on with amazement, and, after the con-
fessions had been taken, he said aloud :
"Brother Gano, cry some more."

During a session when the Texas Christian
Missionary Convention was in the throes of
birth, in Austin, 1886, when discussion was at
high tide, Brother Caskey arose to his height
of six feet three inches, and, addressing the
body, said: "Mr. Chairman, I arise to express
my supreme contempt for this whole concern.
I have a contempt for Brother Homan [the
convention chairman] and for those who are
with him, because they can not see that they
can do missionary work just as effectively on
another plan as on this for which they are
contending. And I have a supreme contempt
for Brother Wilmeth [the leader of the oppo-
sition] and his followers, because they can not
see that there is no more differencce between
these resolutions and the plan which they ad-
vocate than there is between tWeedledee and
tweedledum." A reporter who was listening
to Mr. Caskey for the first time made great
"copy" from the speech, and a half-dozen
morning papers of as many towns published
"stories" of the "split" and of "the withering
rebuke administered by the venerable Dr.
Caskey." Some of us who were among the
younger men suggested to Bro. Charles Carlton
167

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

that he, being near Brother Caskey's age, and
a very close friend, could induce him to make
some statement before the convention which
the papers would give to the public, and pre-
sent the situation in a more favorable and, as
we thought, a juster light. On the following
morning we were delighted to see Brother
Caskey arise, and listened eagerly for the ex-
pected speech which never came. He said :
"Mr. Chairman, I arise to a question of per-
sonal privilege. I wish to make an apology.
Yesterday I said I had a supreme contempt
for this whole concern, and for this I apologize,
because I did wrong in saying it. I do not
mean, sir, that I apologize for feeling the
contempt. That I could not avoid. I had it,
and it has been increased tenfold. I should
not have mentioned it."

"Uncle Charlie," as so many familiarly
called Bro. Charles Carlton, emigrated from
England to the United States while he was
still a lad, "working his passage." He was a
member of the Baptist Church, and hoped to
become a minister in that brotherhood. Dis-
covering his great desire for an education, and
seeing in the boy possibilities worthy of culti-
vation, a gentleman, whose name I have never
learned, proposed to see that a way would be
provided for him to complete his college educa-
168

OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

tion if he would go to Bethany College. This
was during the days of Mr. Alexander Camp-
bell's prime. Gladly the boy accepted and,
for several years, sat at the feet of that won-
derful man, and those who were associated
with him. The beauty, simplicity, consistency
and Scripturalness of the religious teaching
captivated him, and he became a devoted ad-
vocate of the principles of the Restoration
movement. From these he never, for a mo-
ment, swerved. Coming to Texas, he settled in
Dallas, where he taught for a time. From
there he went to Kentuckytown with his school
and then to Bonham, where "Carlton College,"
a co-educational school, began its course of
large usefulness. The school later became "a
school for girls." Of this he was the president
until his death. Hundreds of young men and
women received that from him and his wife
and children which made them strong Christian
leaders. Addison and Randolph Clark were
among this number. "Aunt Sallie," as Mrs.
Carlton was lovingly called, was a worthy
helper to this useful, godly man. They were
the beginning of the great Bonham Church,
where F. "W. O'Malley now so successfully
ministers, as well as of numerous other con-
gregations.

It was my privilege to conduct the services
at the funerals of both these beloved disciples
169

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

of our Lord, in one of which Bro. Addison
Clark was with me. Sister Carlton preceded
her husband into the "Great Beyond," but for
only a few years. Pardon the recital of an
incident which is a precious one in my memory.
A message came from his daughter, Miss
Grace, "Father can not live for many days."
I took the first train to Bonham, and when I
entered the chamber — so soon to be one of
death — his daughter said: "Father, Brother
Mc. is here." His vision was almost gone, and
he asked, "Which Brother Me.?" He opened
his arms and called me to him. I bent over
the form of one whom I loved as a father.
His arms encircled me as he drew me to him
and kissed my cheek. On the next morning I
said to him: "Brother Carlton, the physician
tells me that you are stronger. I shall return
again soon and see you." He replied: "Yes,
we'll meet again. We'll meet again." To this
day I carry with me the precious words, and,
after the years of separation, I am looking up
and whispering: "We'll meet again."

II. Younger men who were here in 1879,
and have entered into rest.

William E. Hall was the popular pastor
of the congregation in the capital city of Aus-
tin when I arrived in Texas. He was perhaps
the most magnetic public speaker in Texas at
170

OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

that time. Large crowds flocked to hear him
wherever he spake. I once heard him say that
his ambition was to be a greater preacher than
any man living at that time in the State, and
he wished that all his preaching brethren
might outstrip him in the upward climb. I
had not heard of his death until so informed
by Bro. A. J. Bush. He left Texas a number
of years ago, going to one of the churches
of St. Louis, where he was, for a time, a
brilliant star. He was not a practical man ;
rather, he was a dreamer. He dreamed
of standing at the top of three peaks —
preaching, lecturing, editing. Before coming
to Texas, he had established a paper — in New
Orleans, I think — known as The Iron Preacher.
Upon his coming here, this was consolidated
with a small paper being published by C. M.
Wilmeth, known as The Christian, and the
combined paper was designated The Christian
Preacher. In later years, he published, from
New York, a paper known as The International,
and dated "New York and London," though
no copy of it, perhaps, ever crossed to the other
side of the Atlantic. While attempting its pub-
lication, he traveled and lectured. T remember
hearing from him, in our church in Waxa-
hachie, four remarkable addresses. One of
these was "The Resurrection," and another,
"How to Get Married and Stay So." After-
171

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

wards he had domestic trouble, his wife sepa-
rating from him. Both of them married again,
and he continued giving his lecture on ' How
to Get Married," etc. As mentioned on
another page, he presented the first resolution
after my arrival in Texas, before the old-time
"State meeting." in the interest of an organ-
ized effort for missionary purposes. This was
in my home town — vVaxahachie. The resolu-
tion "got nowhere," as not over a half-dozen
persons voted for it. I am not informed either
as to the place or the time of his death.

R. 0. Charles was the first preacher whom
I met in Texas. His home was at Ennis. He
was a younger man than L Having weak
lungs, he felt that he would not be able to
give many years of service to his Lord, but
he gave those years with splendid devotion,
until his Master called him to "come up
higher." I believe that if his life could have
been spared, he would have become one of our
greatest and most useful preachers. He loved
the truth, and was ready for either life or
death.

T. R Burnett was a newspaper man of
Bonham. and a Methodist. After hearing a
number of Brother Carlton's sermons, he ac-
cepted the plea to which he had been giving
careful attention, and soon after changed his
172

OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

secular paper into an advocate for primitive
Christianity. He was a racy, spicy writer,
and always interesting. His paper was known
as the Christian Messenger. After several
years he moved the publication from Bonham
to Dallas. Later he discontinued the periodical
and became a member of the staff of the Gospel
Advocate, of Nashville, Tennessee, his residence
remaining in Dallas. Later he severed his con-
nection with the Advocate, and launched a
monthly known as Burnett's Budget. He was
fond of debates, whether oral or written. It
behooved one who met him to study his ques-
tion with great care.

C. M. "Wilmeth was also an editor. His
paper was The Christian Preacher. For several
years, this and the Christian Messenger were
cotemporary. At that time the field could not
give adequate support to one paper, and The
Christian Pre'a'cher had a checkered career. The
editor was a ready writer, and wielded a facile
pen. He was an excellent public speaker, and
passionately fond of discussion. His greatest
obstacle to success in any line was that he was
visionary beyond all due grounds. Great things
which proved to be mirages were always just
ahead. Nazareth University he launched in
an exceedingly small room in "West Dallas, and
then moved to some point in Arkansas, where
173

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

it died a peacefxd death. His scheme for
Christian colonization in Mexico, and other
projects, were among the attempts which at-
tested the lack of practical thought. As a
preacher he was a man of great value. His
sermons were fruitful of vast good. For a
number of years his influence as a preacher
was extensive. He died penniless in Mexico.
Friends brought his body to his old home,
where it lies awaiting the morning of the resur-
rection.

W. Y. Taylor taught school and preached
in "Weatherford and other places. He was a
man of great strength of character, of clear
thought, and of large faith in the things of
God. His life was pre-eminently useful, al-
though he did not attain a degree of eminence
as a public speaker. His thought and prepara-
tion were always good, but his address was
rather too deliberate for the greatest efficacy.
He was teaching and preaching at Beeville at
the time of his death.

W. C. Dimmitt was, for a number of years,
minister for the church in Sherman, where he
was universally beloved, and his memory is
revered to this day. His picture is on a me-
morial window of the present church building.
He was conservative in the sense that he was
never "foolhardy" in his attempts in the direc-
174

OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

tion which he thought he should move. He had
ideals and aims, but bided his opportunity. As
a preacher, he stirred the intellect, the heart
and the life, while his own life was ever an
eloquent sermon for righteousness. The growth
and usefulness of the Sherman congregation
were, and are, a monument to his faith and
service. The latter years of his life were spent
in what is known as "The Panhandle" section
of the State.

The name of John A. Lincoln will never
fade from my memory. While I was still in
Kentucky, with my eyes and hopes turned
toward Texas, a letter came to me from one
whom I had never seen — a letter filled with
information which I needed, and with invita-
tion which allured me. That letter was one of
a link of things which brought me to Texas.
From the moment I read those pages, I counted
the writer — John A. Lincoln — as my friend,
and that friendship grew without the semblance
of "the sere and yellow leaf." Brother Lin-
coln was an apostle for primitive Christianity
throughout Texas for many years. The multi-
tudes baptized by him, and the congregations
planted through his labors, bear witness to his
energy and devotion and faith and loyalty.
Pages might be filled with the story of the life
of this man of righteousness — this son of God.
175

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

J. B. Faulkner lived and preached foi
years in Collin County. He and R. C. Horn
(who still labors there) and A. M. Douglass
were intimately associated in the work in that
section of the State. He was a devout lover
of the gospel, and preached its message with
power. His memory will long linger affec-
tionately in the hearts of many.

"W. J. Jones, father of F. G. Jones, of
Denton, Tex., labored in the middle-south-
ern portion of the State. During the active
years of his ministry, I met him only a few
times, as our fields were far apart. Those who
knew him well spoke in the highest terms of
both his personality and his work.

"William Alexander preached in the Lam-
pasas and San Saba sections of Texas. He
was a typical Westerner, and was known far
and wide as "Bill Alex." His heart was as
big as the great West where he lived ; I never
knew a more genial or more cordial man than
he. "When his preaching brethren visited his
field of labor, his great delight was to enter-
tain them in his hospitable home and in his
cordial manner. He preached the truth, but
always in love. He had no use for the shil-
lalah, but he found no place for a compromise
with anything which he believed to contravene
the teachings of the Word of the Lord. He
176

OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

was sorely missed when death came to call him
away.

A. M. Douglass lived at Melissa for many
years. When I came to the State he was one
of the best known evangelists here, and his
services were called for from many sections.
And there was a reason for these calls — he
did faithful and fruitful work. It was a joy
to be called to labor with him, and to share
the hospitality of his home. Not a night could
be spent there without the conversation trend-
ing toward the movements of the kingdom of
the Lord. The closing years of his life were
spent in comparative obscurity by reason of
the feeble condition of his body. He loved
the cause and the brethren to the last.

J. R. Darnall lived and labored and died
in Collin County. He was a graduate from
Bethany College. After coming to Texas, he
settled on a farm which he had bought, and
for the remainder of his life successfully con-
ducted its business. He was one of the really
strong preachers of Texas, but was severely
handicapped by the growing deafness which
became almost complete. His son is now a
representative of Phillips University, of Okla-
homa, and a diligent and useful gospel
preacher.

12 177

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

Dr. W. L. Harrison was a successful prac-
titioner of medicine, but he surrendered this
for service as a minister of the Word. His
home was in Bell County, and his labors were
largely in that section of the State. His
pulpit efforts were fruitful, and he was a
ready writer. For years he was a familiar
figure at the State conventions. He died at his
residence in Troy.

A. J. Bush. After the manuscript for these
pages had been forwarded to the publishers.
Brother Bush joined the ranks of ctOur Re-
membered Dead." How worthily he adorns
the place. Truly, one of the choicest spirits
among our Lord's disciples has passed from his
earth's labor to reward. Like the great apostle,
he fought the good fight, finished the course
and kept the faith.

Many years ago a preacher reached a small
town in Missouri to bear the message for which
he was giving his life. A miller from a near-
by community happened to be in the village,
and was told. "A man from Virginia will
preach here to-day." The miller heard the
sermon, and. after reaching his home, said to
his wife: "There is a man in town preaching,
and he tells it just like it reads in the Book ;
we must hear him." They heard him, and,
at the close of the first sermon, accepted the
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OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

invitation. The preacher was Alexander Camp-
bell, and the man and woman were the grand-
parents of A. J. Bush. These two became
faithful disciples of the Lord, and lived to see
their own son preach the same message "just
like it read in the Book." Later, the son of
this man — A. J. Bush — became a devoted,
faithful, successful preacher of the same gospel,
and, still later, his son, George L. Bush, of
Missouri, dedicated his life to the proclamation
of the very same glorious message. What a
wonderful line of work Mr. Campbell inaugu-
rated on that day in the little Missouri town
when he preached that sermon "as the Book
told it."

Bro. A. J. Bush began his work in Texas
in the very sparsely settled regions of the
State, in the year 1876. He traveled over vast
scopes of country, on horseback, in a buggy,
on foot, and slept wherever he could find a
place to lay his head, which at times was by
the roadside far from the habitation of man.
My introduction to this man came from read-
ing a brief article from him, in the little paper
known as The Christian Preacher, in which he
pleaded for co-operative effort in giving the
gospel to the needy portions of Texas. Some
of us thought he was setting his traps to lead
the church of Jesus Christ into the snares of
Babylon. He persisted ; others began to open
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

tlieir eyes, just a little bit at a time, until that
for which he pleaded and prayed and worked
was inaugurated. The story of the organiza-
tion is related in another place. Brother Bush
was selected as the logical first apostle for
tins work. For nine years he led us, and the
cause rapidly advanced. He was wise, gentle,
patient, peristent, godly. After the nine
years he believed the task should be given into
other hands, and he entered another field of
service, but was soon called to that of establish-
ing a home for the orphan, and, later, another
for the aged. The part which two noble sis-
ters had in this is told elsewhere. The insti-
tutions stand as monuments to the memory of
the three. Without the two sisters, he could
not have done his work ; their hopes, without
his labors, would have been fruitless.

Brother Bush was near the close of the
seventy-fourth year of his life when he left
us, after having kept his bed for two days.
"With his family about him, he said: "Would
not it be glorious if God should take me now?"
In a little while he peacefully fell asleep. His
burial was on the forty-fourth anniversary of
his marriage to her who shared with him the
toils and the glories of service. The funeral
was held in the Oak Cliff Church, where he
had his membership. During the service the
utmost quiet and reverence prevailed, so well
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OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

did the people love him. There were no un-
controlled expressions of grief from his family.
They knew in whom the husband and father
and friend had believed, and rejoiced, in the
midst of their quiet tears, that he was with
his Saviour and at rest.

Addison Clark was a native of Texas. His
education came from the early schools of the
State, from his father, from Carlton College,
and from his own later research. He was a
scholar in the true sense of that word. He
confessed his faith — so I have heard the story
— in Palestine, Texas, under the preaching of
Dr. Carroll Kendrick, when he was a bare-
footed boy of ten years of age. Such a story,
standing alone, would mean but little to the
most of men, but wrapped in that "barefooted
boy of ten years" were — what? What an un-
folding of possibilities and of realizations
there was through the years which followed.
There stood the student, the writer, the preach-
er, the president, the force in hundreds of lives,
the man. As stated in another place, he and
his brother Randolph and their father began
at Fort Worth that which is now Texas Chris-
tian University. As Add-Ran College, it served
the world for years at Thorp Spring, and dur-
ing that time Addison Clark was the president.
He was noted for a strict discipline which was

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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

well mingled with sympathy and gentleness,
always kind and always firm. Some interest-
ing stories have been related. I ask that we
pause for the relation of two ; of the first I
am personally cognizant.

At a chapel service, he spoke something
like this: "There have been a nnmber of notes
passed between young men and young ladies of
this student body. This is a violation of our
rules. I desire to see in my classroom all who
have either received or sent such notes, as well
as those who have been the bearers. No guilty
person will remain away." The young people
were in a dilemma. If those of whom the
president had no information should report,
their guilt would become known ; if those of
whom he had knowledge should fail to report,
they would be subject to severe punishment.
On the whole, the safer course was to report.
By Brother Clark's invitation, I was present
and saw the room crowded with students. After
a most appropriate talk closing with admoni-
tions and announcements, the president said:
"And now. young gentlemen, if you have not
sufficiently unbosomed yourselves, you have
that opportunity. Proceed to speak, to whom-
soever you please, the things which struggle
for utterance." A few painful, embarrassing
moments followed, when a young man broke
the stillness by asking: "Mr. Addison, do you
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OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

mean that we retire and speak those words in
private ? ' '

Some of the students planned for a mid-
night chicken dinner. Two were delegated to
furnish the fowls, which were to be taken from
a near-by roost. One was to deliver the chick-
ens from the limb as the other held the birds.
"Mr. Addison," who had heard of the plan,
crept through the darkness to the tree. The
lad on the ground fled at the near approach
of the president, but had no opportunity to
give warning to his chum. The president took
his place at the base of the tree, and received
the chickens from the unsuspecting boy above,
who was somewhat embarrassed when he de-
scended and discovered the change of partners.

A sermon from Brother Clark, heard by me,
has remained with me through the years. This
was in Waxahachie, during the first year of
my ministry in Texas. The subject was "The
Gospel Message," and near its close the preach-
er said something like this : ' ' And some would
tell us this gospel is but a delusion. If so,
what a precious delusion — one which goes with
redemptive power to men and women in the
depths of sin, and wonderfully saves; which
carries to hardened souls the cheer of light and
hope ; brings inspiration to the discouraged,
dispels the gloom of the tomb, envelops the
grave in glory, and forms a rainbow from the
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

tears of those who mourn beside their dead.
A delusion — let me press it to my soul till
death shall call me hence." As these words
were being spoken, Mr. John C. Gibson could
not wait for the song of invitation. Climbing
over the knees of those between him and the
aisle, and scrambling over Anson Rainey — now
Chief Justice of the Civil Court of Appeals —
who sat in a chair in the aisle, he rushed to
the front. Dr. R. P. Sweatt, an old friend,
ran to meet him, and the two held each other
in a glad embrace. It seemed, that evening,
as if heaven and earth had kissed each other.
Brother Gibson continued as a power in the
church until his death. He was the first of
his family to identify himself with the Disci-
ples. Later many of his family were baptized
by me there. C. W. Gibson, of the Board of
Trustees of Texas Christian University, and
whom the Texas brethren know and love for
his work's sake, is a son of the convert of
that evening.

There remains at least one other in this
class who is to be mentioned — W. K. Homan.
Though small in physical stature, he was a
giant in intellect and in soul. He was among
the ablest of Texas lawyers, and a preacher of
ability. For years he was editor of the Chris-
tian Courier, being the first of the list — and
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OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

may I not say "the best"? If I were not in
the list of editors myself, I should hesitate to
speak so candidly. Others have been great,
but Homan was great. Speaking of his stature,
calls to mind a story which he was fond of
relating. Two men were charged with incen-
diarism, and Homan was attorney for the de-
fense. The prosecuting attorney was long and
lank. A man who knew neither the prisoners
nor the attorneys came to hear the trial, en-
tering the room when there was a pause in the
proceedings. In his attempt to study the situa-
tion he made the mistake of supposing that
the well-groomed prisoners were the attorneys,
and Homan and the other attorney the prison-
ers. One of the lawyers, discovering the man's
mistake, whispered to him : ' 1 Friend, what do
you think of the pair?" Shifting his quid
to the other side of his mouth, and squirting
the saliva in several directions, he thus de-
livered himself: "I been a-studyin' them thar
fellers, and I'll tell you just how it is. That
thar long, ganglin' feller — he ain't pretty, but
he's smart. He planned that whole business,
and that little, dried-up chap he sot the
match. ' '

Homan was a lifelong, sworn enemy to the
saloon and to the liquor traffic. For years he
closed every article with the words "the saloon
is doomed." This was the close, regardless of
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

the nature of the article. This began when
men were counted as "fanatics" and "cranks"
if they dared to speak a word against that
entrenched power of iniquity. The prophecy
seemed to the many to be foolish words. The
saloon doomed — preposterous ! But Homan
was a torch-bearer in the darkness of the night.
I can imagine the delight which mingles with
the otherwise heavenly glory of his face as he,
to-day, looks upon the spot where he fought
battles for the generations to come, and sees
his prophecy fulfilled. This was the begin-
ning of his warfare — a beloved brother had
fallen a victim, and Homan swore that his
sword should never be sheathed until the saloon
should be no more. Before the day of victory
came, the sword fell from his weakening grasp,
weakened not by loss of courage or of resolve
or of faith or of hope, but by death. Before
the weapon touched the earth, it was grasped
again, and the battle waged to victory.

I sat beside a lawyer on a railway train,
and heard this story from him: "During a
State prohibition campaign, my father was one
of the champion orators for the antis. He was
billed to speak in Fort "Worth. You know
him to be a popular and influential speaker.
The prohibitionists asked for a division of time,
which was granted. Mr. Homan, whom my
father had never met, was the chosen opponent.
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OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

When they were introduced, father took what
he supposed to be the measure of 'his man,'
but made the serious mistake of estimating
only that which was in sight. He felt perfectly
safe. As he spoke, Mr. Homan listened, but
made no notes, and father's confidence grew
by bounds. He changed his mind later. I tell
you, sir, that he did not leave so much as a
grease-spot of what there had been of pa."
Such was Homan 's record whenever he en-
gaged in debate with a defender of the saloon.
He who met him, and at the same time at-
tempted to endorse the iniquitous institution,
was playing with death.

During his life, the occasion was rare when
Brother Homan and I disagreed upon any
proposition. However, this did occasionally
occur, and once or twice we differed widely.
He always defended valiantly that which he
believed ; Homan was ever a Christian gentle-
man, and altogether too big for contemptible
flings. When I stood, for the first time, beside
his grave I bared my head and felt that a
royal soul stood near. Death came to him in
Colorado, Texas.

III. In the third list are the names of many
preachers who have passed from the company
of Texas workers. I wish I had the space for
such tributes as these men deserve. I knew
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

them all personally. They moved bravely in
the ranks of service, and left for their heavenly
home at the close of the day. These I shall
mention in alphabetical order:

J. A. Abney lived in Lampasas for years,
but preached at various places. One of the
last points of his service was Italy, Texas.
He was a man of large physique and of strong
mind. His work was confined, principally,
to small towns and rural sections, combining
business affairs with his ministerial labors.
This part of his work perhaps prevented his
having as large a part as he would otherwise
have had in the actual planning and perfecting
of the program for the larger work in the
State.

D. D. Boyle was a Texas product, having
been reared near Denison. He began his min-
istry in this State, and then left us for a
number of years, later returning. He devel-
oped into an evangelist of considerable influ-
ence, and achieved much success in that work.
He died in the southern part of Texas, where
he was making his home, only a short while
ago.

R. W. Boggess was one of the most untiring
workers whom I have ever known. He was.
for several years, in the employ of the Texas
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OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

Christian Missionary Board, during the period
when J. C. Mason was the superintendent. I
was a member of the Board at the time, and
knew much as to the merit of his work. There
was not one of the employees whom Mason
held in higher regard for his work's sake. He
never saw a proposition so fraught with diffi-
culties which he dreaded to undertake if it was
offered to him and should be done. In passing
some pleasantries, I once said to him: "Bog-
gess, if you were to meet a stone wall in your
path, I think you would have no more judg-
ment than to go straight through it head fore-
most." His widow, daughter of A. J. Bush,
is now matron for girls in Trinity University,
Waxahachie. This is no intimation that she is
a Presbyterian — only that when this excellent
institution needed a first-class matron, the
managers had the good sense to look for, until
they found, what J. C. Mason calls "a plain
Christian."

C. L. Cole. No man in Texas was ever
more beloved by those among whom he labored
than was he. His home, during the closing
years of his life, was at Garland, where he
preached for years, and laid the foundation for
the excellent work now being done by that
congregation, led by "one of my boys," Logan
Martin. His sermons were true to the gospel
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

message, because he was true to the Christ.
This he preached with great heart power. His
physical frame was weak, but his brain and
soul were strong. A large concourse gathered
for the funeral service, many traveling for
long distances to bear testimony of their love
and their sense of his worth. He held many
protracted meetings which resulted in leading
many souls to the Christ, many of these being
to-day active workers in the kingdom.

George Clark. Only those who were here
years ago will remember this brother. His
labors were in Kaufman and Ellis Counties,
chiefly. I knew him well, and we were thrown
together frequently in our work. He preached
once a month for a certain church which is
now dead — not the fruit of his preaching —
but made, during that year, no effort whatever
to induce persons to attach themselves to the
congregation. Some of the brethren approached
him, inquiring as to the reason for this unusual
course. He sent them away fully informed
with his thought. Whether or not it satisfied
them may be considered doubtful. His reply
was : "I do not ask men and women to become
members of this congregation, for the reason
that if I should induce them to do so they
Would be in danger of becoming tenfold more
the children of the devil than they are as it

190

OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

is." Clark loved the church and the Christ.
He may not have always been as politic as
conditions would have justified. But he was
as honest as the day was long.

Stephen Collier was one of the saintly
men among us. When I was a very young
man, in the mountain town of Mount Vernon,
Kentucky, he came occasionally and preached.
I heard him then, and always respected and
loved him. Many years later he came to Texas
and settled, I think, in Bell County. His
health was poor, and this hindered his activity
as he longed it to be. During his stay in the
State, I saw him only one or two times. He
died quite a number of years ago.

R. F. Carter's Texas work was largely in
Ellis County, though I think he preached for
the church in Marshall. In Ellis County he
ministered to the congregations in Italy, Mil-
ford and Midlothian. His death occurred at
the last-named place. He was always a most
faithful servant of Jesus Christ. His weakened
body could not keep pace with the desires of
his spirit. Those who knew him the best loved
him the most. In places where he 'labored, his
name is frequently mentioned, and always in
love.

Wiley B. Carnes and I preached our first
sermons in the same house, though his was a
191

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

number of years later than was mine. This
was in Burkesville, Kentucky, in the same
building where I was also ordained and mar-
ried. This is a first-class, small village nestled
in the foot-hills of the mountains of southern
Kentucky and northern Tennessee. I did not
meet Brother Carnes for several years after
he began to preach, and this was in Texas.
At the time he began his ministry, he was
editing and publishing the village paper in
Burkesville. His labors here were chiefly in
central-north Texas. He died at McKinney,
one of the most useful citizens of the town,
serving as secretary to the Chamber of Com-
merce, and preaching at points near by.

J. J. Cramer was a saintly man — not that
he was long-faced, not that he bore the appear-
ance of the would-be-counted-overrighteous,
but that he was saintly in the New Testament
sense of that word. Every fiber of his being
was consecrated to the service of his Lord,
and of the children of the God of heaven.
His Texas field of labor was at Lockhart, and
there he did a monumental work, leaving it
only when rest was the only known possibility
for a little longer continuance of life. He did
not live long after leaving Lockhart and the
State. He sought diligently for strength that
he might give it to humanity and to humanity's
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OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

God, but this was not to be granted to him.
A large portion of his library was, after his
death, donated by his wife to the Brite College
of the Bible, where it does such service as
he would have wished for it to do. The church
of Lockhart remembers him in tenderest affec-
tion.

William Bayard Craig was with us but for
a very few years — perhaps not longer than for
two or three at most. He was a rare spirit
and an excellent preacher. Men spoke of him
as "a live wire," and that he was. The city
of San Antonio felt the power of his life and
of his pulpit teachings. He went from Texas
to Colorado — to Denver.

W. H. D. Carrington was a lawyer preach-
er. He was one of the strong men of the
brotherhood, though his preaching was confined
to his own immediate vicinity. His home was
in Austin. His part in. the attempted forma-
tion of a missionary work which was to be
according to certain policies which he thought
of as "the Lord's plan," is mentioned else-
where.

J. L. Crane preached for the churches at
Bryan, Lancaster, and, possibly, other points.
He died in Fort Worth, after being with us
for several years. We did not live in Fort
Worth at the same time, and my acquaintance
13 193

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

with him was only casual. It was never my
opportunity to study his work at close range,
and I can not, therefore, speak with accuracy.
However, I have frequently heard him spoken
of as being a most acceptable preacher of the
Word.

0. A. Carr was president of Carr-Burdette
College at Sherman. This institution was
founded by him and his wife. He was a clear
thinker and writer. His writings were more
popular than were his spoken addresses. The
last sentence should not be understood as mean-
ing that he was dull or prosy in the composi-
tion of his speeches. This was far from being
true, but he was not popular in the style of
his delivery. The thought of all which he pro-
duced, spoken or written, was excellent. The
school which bears the original name is at
present presided over by Brother and Sister
Cephas Shelburne.

S. W. Crutcher spent but a few years in
Texas, and died in Missouri. He was a genial
character, and his companionship was always
enjoyable. He did not consider a good laugh
as being contrary either to nature or to the
principles of Christianity. My impression is
that his last work in this State was with the
church of Van Alstyne. His sermons were
thoughtful, well prepared and well received.
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OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

Ciiallenner was a graduate of

Bethany College of Virginia. He lived and
died at Taylor, Texas. He was one of the best
thinkers with whom I ever conversed, and his
favorite themes were those associated with the
kingdom of God among men. A weakened
body prevented his doing, during his sojourn
in this State, the work for which his soul
yearned. Often has he sat in the audience
where I was speaking, and always an inspira-
tional auditor.

J. T. Eanes came to Texas from Tennes-
see, and settled in Italy, where he and R. L.
Barham and a Brother Sites took charge of a
school which had been planted and fostered
by Alexander Holt. The school thrived for
years before the firm dissolved. Barham is, I
understand, with Johnson Bible College of Ten-
nessee, and Brother Sites died years ago.
Brother Eanes did much evangelistic work, and
always with success. He was one of the most
acceptable preachers among the younger class
of the State. When he died, Texas and the
South lost one who would have counted for
large things in the church of the Redeemer.

John Ferguson was one of several preach-
ers who went out from the Rock Church, not
far from Manor and Austin. When I knew
him first he was pastor of the congregation at
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

Taylor. There was no intention, of being cler-
ical in his bearing, and yet he had such an air.
His tone of voice and motion and gesture were
of that type, but he was sociable and genial
and comfortable in any company. He was one
of the true servants of the Christ, and to
labor with him was indeed a joy.

George A. Faris came from Tennessee to
Texas in the year 1882, and settled and prac-
ticed his profession in Cleburne. He was a
dentist. In the spring of 1883 he accepted the
pastorate of the church of Waxahachie, where
he preached for about two years. Later he
was county evangelist of Navarro County, and
then preached for the church at Italy, together
with other points. As I now remember, he was
pastor at Abilene, Weatherford, Corsicana,
Paris, McKinney and Gainesville. For nine
years he published and edited the Christian
Courier. Following this work, still residing
at Dallas, he preached for near-by congrega-
tions for a time, and then went to Hereford
for pastoral work. After closing work there,
he preached at Plainview. Resigning that
work because of ill health, he went to the
southern portion of the State, and then to the
residence of his son in Ennis, where he died.
Brother Faris possessed an exceptionally
strong mind, and was an extensive and careful
196

OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

reader. His sermons were of a high order.
He grew in strength through the years. As a
writer, he always commanded interested at-
tention. He served on various Boards con-
nected with the work of the Disciples in the
State, being himself a part of the work here
for thirty years.

J. N. Gibson may have been a preacher in
Texas when I came. Not being sure as to this,
I place him in this list. He labored chiefly in
the middle and southwestern portions of the
State. His work was principally in the rural
districts, and in the smaller towns. He was
ever known as a diligent and consecrated and
unselfish worker for the cause which he perhaps
loved above all others. While his fame may
not have reached so far as that of some others,
he was certainly known and honored by the
King.

Baxter Golightly perhaps preached at a
larger number of places in the State, as regular
preacher, than any other man among us. This
was not because the people tired either of him
or of his work, but because he felt that his life
could be made of larger service by such a pro-
gram. His labors ranged from the central
portion of north Texas to the far west, and
from the north to the south. He was exceed-
ingly genial, and counted as a prince among
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

men. The men of the ranches of western Texas
always counted him among their best friends.
He loved humanity, his work and his Lord.
He died but a brief while ago, honored by all
who knew him.

J. P. and E. B. Holmes were, I think,
brothers. Their labors were chiefly in the west-
ern portion of the State. Although I knew
both, I never was with them intimately in
their work, and my knowledge is, therefore,
limited. In a general way, I know them both
to have been diligent workers for primitive
Christianity.

Dr. William Hale began his work as a
preacher when he was nearing middle life, and
later still began the practice of medicine.
During his work as a preacher I was editor
and manager of the Christian Courier. No
other person sent such long lists of subscribers
to the paper as did he, and always accom-
panied by the money. As I now remember it,
he never received a cent for his commission.
It seemed to me as if practically every family
represented in the lists of new recruits also
became members of the Courier family. He
was a remarkable evangelist in the rural sec-
tions and smaller towns, large numbers of per-
sons obeying the gospel under his ministra-
tions. His purpose was always the greatest
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OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

possible accomplishment for the kingdom. He
died in Oak Cliff. Of his death I had not
been informed until it was told me by Bro.
G. D. Smith. I hold his memory as precious.

Jesse B. Haston lived in the State for
quite a number of years, and died in Califor-
nia. He preached at Huntsville, and other
places which do not now occur to me. He
was one of the close students of the Texas
brotherhood — a student of books. His sermons
were always carefully prepared. It was never
my opportunity to hear him preach. Although
he was ever a friend to all advance movements
of the brotherhood, he was not closely iden-
tified with any of these, more than, as many
are, through co-operation in contributions, etc.

J. W. Higbee preached for the church in
"Waco, but was in the State for only a brief
time. He was frail in body, but strong in
mind, in heart, in interest in things good for
humanity and in faith. His short time here,
and the condition of his health, prevented his
being actively enlisted in the work of a general
character. Always was his interest in those
things made manifest to the limit of his
strength.

Harry Hamilton was an Englishman —
born and reared there. His first Texas home
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

was in the vicinity of Lovelady, where he lived
and died. He was a licensed Methodist preach-
er, but gladly accepted the plea of the Restora-
tion movement when he understood it. He was
one of the most versatile of men — could sing
or make shoes, build a house or make pictures,
make a set of harness for his horse or a dress
for his wife, work with delicate fabrics or shoe
a horse, doing all with a near approach to
perfection. As a preacher, he was a giant,
whether he moved in logic or in poetry or in
word painting. He was exceedingly social with
those of his inner circle, but cared not for
its widening — if you got on the inside, you
either climbed the fence or forced the gate ;
he did not throw open the entrance and invite
you. He preached about two years for the
Waxahachie Church, and about the same length
of time in Sherman. He was ever beloved by
those who really knew him, and none were his
enemies, so far as I knew.

William Holloway, familiarly known as
"Billy," was one of the genuinely consecrated
preachers of the gospel of eastern Texas. None
knew him but to admire and trust and love
him. He was a soulful man, with his being
aflame with devotion to truth. His home was
at Longview, and his field of labor in that
section of the State. Members of his family
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OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

are now pillars of strength for the cause of
primitive Christianity in the same vicinity
where he lived and labored and died. Al-
though he has been gone from the earth for
many years, men and women speak frequently
of "Billy Holloway, " and repeat words which
he spoke, and refer to deeds which he did.
His memory is a hallowed one.

: Haines was in the State but a

brief time. It was never my privilege to be
intimately associated with him. Frequently
have I heard most favorable mention of his
sermons and of his work and of his life. I
regret that I had not known him better. He
was pastor of the church at Mineral Wells, and
died in Fort Worth in a hospital after a pain-
ful illness.

R. R. Hamlin — there was a prince in Israel.
He preached for the churches of Piano, Pales-
tine, McKinney, Fort Worth (First) and
Wichita Falls. At the time of his death he
was minister to the congregation of Johnson
City, Tennessee. He did much work of an
evangelistic character, and always successfully.
If he ever experienced a lazy hour, no one
seems to have discovered it. He constantly
planned and worked to some new achievement.
His people counted him as true to both them
and to his Lord. An example of this devotion
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

was given impressively when the news reached
Wichita Falls that he had died at a sanitarium
in Michigan. Sister Hamlin was on her sad
journey with the body to Johnson City for
burial, when she was intercepted by a telegram
requesting that she divert her course and bring
the body to "Wichita Falls for burial, tenderly
and lovingly requesting the privilege of being
permitted to bear all the expense of travel
and burial. This appeal of love could not be
resisted, and his body lies in the cemetery of
that city.

G. W. Hollingsworth lived and died in
the part of the State in the vicinity of Pales-
tine. His home was at Grapeland, and there
his widow and daughters live at present. He
was a devoted and worthy disciple of our Lord.
His life was a message as well as the sermons
which he spoke from the pulpit. His memory
is sacred to-day where he was known and
where he labored, though many years have
passed since he was taken away. I knew him
personally, and loved him for his many lovable
traits of character, as well as for his devotion
to the common cause for which he stood.

A. L. Johnson lived and died in Fort
Worth, having come to Texas from Kentucky,
where he had taught and preached for years.
It is a pleasure to be able to pay a just tribute
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OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

here to this worthy man. We have heard it
said that sometimes a former preacher makes
trouble — of course, unintentionally — for a
preacher who comes later. Brother Johnson
had been a minister to the First Church of
Fort Worth, and was, during my more than
five years there as pastor, an elder of the con-
gregation. I was thrown in contact with him
frequently and intimately. During that time
the congregation passed through some of its
history which has had much to do with its later
advancement and usefulness. More than one
noted forward step was taken by the congre-
gation. Never did a pastor have a more loyal
support from a brother minister than I had
from him through those years. There was not
the slightest suggestion of opposition. I do
not mean that he tamely submitted to dicta-
tion ; far from this was his nature. The record
of the period was that every proposed move-
ment was thoroughly discussed in the joint
meetings of elders and deacons, at the ma-
jority, if not all, of which he was present and
participating; and during those years, when a
final vote was taken on any proposition, never
was a negative vote cast by any member of the
Board. For harmony, those years could not
be surpassed. And for this harmony Brother
Johnson was largely responsible. When the
time came for me to stand over his dead body
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

and speak words of tribute, I felt not the least
twinge of conscience for speaking as I did.
His life was one of blessed memory.

J. S. Kendrick sojourned, for a few years,
among Texans, preaching for the Commerce
Street Church of Dallas. That was his only
field of labor in the State. He came to us
from Kentucky, and returned to his native
soil, preaching for the church of Danville,
where he died. He was in Texas at the time
of the organization of the Texas Christian
Missionary Convention, which achievement was
accomplished in Austin, in 1886. An account
of that is recorded elsewhere in this volume.
Kendrick was a member of the "Committee on
Resolutions," which departed from all prec-
edents of its predecessors, bringing in a re-
port very much out of the line of reports
which we had been accustomed to hear, result-
ing in the organized work which has followed
in the State. He was a most genial companion,
an earnest preacher, a diligent worker, and, at
all times, a faithful man of God. Texas re-
gretted being forced to surrender him, but the
lure was beyond his power to resist. He
carried back to his old home the love and
respect of his brethren here.

G. W. Lewellyn was a teacher in one of
the schools of Kentucky when he accepted a
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OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

call from Texas Christian University. From
the first day of his arrival his popularity began
and grew with students and teachers as well
as with those "on the outside." It was upon
his shoulders that the mantle of J. B. Sweeney
seemed to fall, although those brethren never
knew each other face to face. Their souls
were stirred by the same great impulse- — op-
portunity of advancement for the preacher
boy. Brother Lewellyn made a canvass of the
State for the purpose of erecting a building
in which ministerial students might lodge and
board at much cheaper rates than could other-
wise be provided. He secured from Mrs. Goode,
of Bartlett, the sum of $10,000 for this pur-
pose, this being supplemented by others, and
"Goode Hall" stands as a monument to
Brother Lewellyn and Sister Goode. He was
named as dean of the College of the Bible.
His students loved him devotedly, and honored
his sincere devotion to the truth as it is to be
found in the New Testament Scriptures. At a
time when it seemed as if his great work had
only begun, he was called to his reward above.

J. J. Lockhart was one of the most indi-
vidualistic men I have known. He told me
that when he was a young man, beginning
his efforts as a preacher, a well-meaning
brother came to him with the advice: "Brother
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

Lockhart, I advise you to give up all hope
of ever becoming a preacher, and attempt some-
thing else. You can never succeed at this."
He listened, but was not convinced, and said
to his own soul: "I will show him some day
that I have made a preacher." And he did.
His sermons were strong, clear, forceful, per-
suasive, Scriptural, fruitful. His last pastorate
was at Marshall, Texas. Other points in the
State where he toiled were Ennis, Palestine
and Greenville. He was married three times.
I had known his second wife, but had not seen
the third until he came to Waxahachie for
the State Convention. When he introduced me
I said : ' ' Lockhart, how did you manage to find
such a splendid woman for a wife?" Instantly
he sprang to his feet, and, in the presence of
his wife and a number of others, said:
"McPherson, as a marryist, I am a success."
I have been with him in the hours of his
Gethsemanes and in the days of his Hermons,
and always found him to be the same. I loved
him as a brother.

E. F. Major I never saw, but have been
so closely associated with his family that it
seems to me that I knew him well. His home
was in Rusk County, where he farmed and
preached and died. He was the father of the
Peatown Church, preaching there for thirteen
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OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

years, closing this with his death. Although
he has been dead for almost forty years, he
has not been forgotten. Those who knew him
treasure his memory. The church which he
planted, and for which he labored through
those thirteen years, still lives and serves. A
most notable circumstance is that Bro. J. A.
Livsey, who married his daughter, is to-day
the preacher for that same church, and has
been thus engaged for twenty-five or thirty
years. He has taught and preached in the
community during the time. Recently he at-
tempted to close his work as teacher, after
twenty-five years of continuous service, but a
petition signed by every patron of the school
throughout the entire district urging him to
continue forced his acceptance.

R. E. McKnight left Texas many years
ago, and died in California. He served the
First Church of Fort Worth. He was frail
in body, but diligent in service. The chief
hindrance to his greatest success was a disposi-
tion to look for other fields where a more
roseate hue seemed to be on the things which
were distant.

D. R. Pickens' home was, during the larger
part of his stay here, in Tyler. It was there
that he died. Serving for small salaries, he, by
careful management, saved $20,000, which he
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

invested in Church Extension. His sermons
were well prepared, and his life was clean, and
his influence right.

D. W. Pritchett was one of our strong
preachers, and a singer of wide reputation.
His services in song were in frequent demand,
and it was difficult for him to tear away from
such calls to do the work which lay nearest
his heart. He served in many evangelistic
campaigns before he succeeded in saying "No"
to these calls. He and B. B. Sanders were
coworkers in many campaigns, and always with
large success. As a preacher, he labored in
Van Alstyne, McKinney, Greenville and other
points. The splendid building at Greenville
was constructed during his pastorate. His
closing days were marked by ill health. The
loss of physical strength, which compelled him
to relinquish the work he loved so dearly,
brought gloom to his soul. His body lies in
the Van Alstyne Cemetery.

A. 0. RiALL was of a family known well by
me in Kentucky, though my first association
to any large extent with him was in Texas.
He was both a teacher and a preacher, and he
always expressed to me the opinion that the
field for his greatest usefulness was in the
schoolroom. However, he was a strong preach-
er, and was most acceptable as such to his

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brethren. He served a number of good church-
es as pastor, the last of these in Texas being
that of Tyler. He was president of the Cam-
den Point (Mo.) School for Girls for several
years, and, for a time, held a chair in Texas
Christian University. He was a man of ster-
ling worth, and was appreciated by those who
knew him. This was made manifest at the time
of his funeral, when a large number of persons
of different religious organizations from a town
thirty miles distant came to pay their tribute,
and appointed one of their number to express
their own appreciation of his true worth as
they saw it. He closed his earth life at Grape-
land, where he was buried.

J. Rodecker was not known by face to a
large number of his Texas brethren, because
he persisted in remaining within the lines of
his own field of service. His brethren would
present him with purses containing sufficient
means for him to pay all expenses in attend-
ance at conventions, but these were always
declined. And yet he was in hearty accord
with all our organized work. His friends made
repeated efforts to induce him to change this
life policy, but to no avail. At the time of
his death, he was preaching for the churches
of Lindale, Mineola and Big Sandy. Neither
of these congregations for a moment harbored

14 209

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

the thought of exchanging him for any other
preacher. And so he remained and preached
with fervor and with power, and built up the
waste places in his own vicinity, and served
his Lord in the smaller field, because he would
not go to the larger. He died at Lindale,
where loving hands and hearts paid tributes
to his memory.

F. D. Srygley came to Texas from Ala-
bama. He was one of "The Larrimore Boys."
He was a speaker and writer of force and
power. He edited and published T. W. Cas-
key's "Seventy Years in Dixie." In Texas
he was minister to the church of Paris. He
was a genial gentleman, and I was glad to
hold such close relationship with him as ex-
isted between us. From here he went to
Louisville, Kentucky, as a member of the staff
of the Old Path Guide, a periodical founded by
Frank G. Allen. While in Texas he was an
ardent advocate for the organization of a State
missionary society. Later, he became one of
the editors of the Gospel Advocate, and op-
posed with zeal all organizations for missionary
or other church purposes more than the local
church organization. He died during his term
of service on the Advocate.

R. T. Skiles was a Texas product, and a
young man of large promise. He died in early
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OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

life. He was minister to the church in
McKinney and the Commerce Street Church of
Dallas, and died in that city. Brother Skiles
was one of the few who took part in the or-
ganization of the Texas Christian Sunday
School Convention, which preceded the Texas
Christian Missionary Convention one year.

Lawrence W. Scott was counted as "pe-
culiar." He lived and died a bachelor. Upon
one occasion he announced, in Corsicana, that
he would preach a sermon in which he would
give his objections to the various churches of
the town. He did so, including the Baptist,
Methodist, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic and
Episcopalian. As he introduced each, he an-
nounced his objection as being: "They place
too much stress on baptism." The Catholics
made it a saving ordinance, the Methodists and
Presbyterians and Episcopalians forced it on
the babies, as if a few drops of water could
be of any help to them, and the Baptists named
their church after the ordinance. He then
proceeded to present the Bible teachings con-
cerning the ordinance, as he understood it.
During a portion of his ministry he opposed
having either song or Scripture reading or
prayer at the opening of the services. His
position was that "Peter arose and said, 'Men
and brethren,' and proceeded to preach."

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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

Scott followed that order, but, after a time,
surrendered that " peculiarity . " His sermons
were always instructive. He was author of
several books — one, "The Texas Pulpit," con-
taining sermons from about thirty preachers
who were here at that time ; another, ' ' Chris-
tian Evidences," a most excellent production,
and a third, "The Mooted Question," for
which I never cared.

J. 0. Shelburne preached for the Central
Church of Dallas, and later at Lancaster. He
was an evangelist of considerable power. For
a brief time he was associated with his cousin,
Cephas Shelburne, and with J. C. Mason as
proprietors and editors of the Christian Cou-
rier. Many of his sermons and other addresses
were of very high order. His service in the
State was brief, but most acceptable. He died
at Lancaster.

V. R. Stapp was a long-time resident of
Texas. He had learned the trade of carpenter,
and occasionally served in that capacity. His
sermons were thoughtful and well prepared
and Scriptural. It is perhaps true that his
greatest and most successful service was in
the schoolroom. He was reputed to be a teacher
of marked success. He was well educated,
keen in thought, clear in expression, apt in
instruction. The testimony of neighbors,
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OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

wherever he lived, was that his life was a per-
petual sermon for godliness. He died in Gran-
bury, at the age of sixty-eight.

B. B. Sanders was a successful business
man who surrendered excellent financial oppor-
tunities for the sake of preaching the gospel
of the Son of God. He served for a time as
pastor of the church at Bastrop, but his place
was in the field of evangelism. There he was
a mighty force for God and for humanity. He
was strong in winning men for the Lord. There
are, to-day, numerous churches and multitudes
of men and women who count Sanders as a
large factor in their lives. For a number of
years he was superintendent of the work of
State Missions. He never saw a place for any
sort of compromise where his Lord had spoken.
Texas will long remember him, and pay tribute
to his memory.

Ed Stirman was a preacher in Texas when
I came to the State. He was not what the
world calls "a practical man," but he was a
preacher of great ability. He had but one
message for the people — the word of God. A
phrenologist, while examining his head, he be-
ing blindfolded at the time, turned to a gentle-
man and said: "Do you know this man?"
When informed that he did, and without re-
ceiving information as to his identity, the
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

phrenologist said: "I would give this man
more to talk for me than any other man whose
head I have ever examined." Brother Stirman
was a giant in debate. It was my privilege
once to hear him in debate with a Mr. Kil-
gore, who was, at that time, the champion of
the Seventh-day Adventists in the State. I
was a young man at the time, and the occa-
sion was a schooling for me which has been
with me through the years.

G. L. Surber preached for one of the
churches of Dallas, and evangelized extensively
in the State. He was one of our strongest and
most polished preachers. I remember a story
he told of an experience he had with one of
the Kentucky preachers (now deceased), who
was a speaker of wide reputation — I shall call
him Brother "Walker, because that was not his
name. He bore himself with great dignity and
pomp. Sui'ber was. on one occasion, to occupy
his pulpit, and Brother "Walker was anxious
that said pulpit should lose none of its usual
importance. Before they left the pastor's
home. Surber received minute instruction as
to the manner of walking from the study, along
the aisle to the pulpit, the dignified way to
enter the same, how the pastor would step
aside and offer the seat of honor to the visitor,
how each should bow to the other, etc. And
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OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

Surber seemed to have followed orders to per-
fection. At any rate, after they were again
in private, the pastor grasped his hand with
great fervor and said : ' ' Excellently performed
—excellently done — you acted with exquisite
dignity — Dr. Walker could not have done it
better himself."

Brother Surber was with us at Waxahachie,
in one of our meetings, and did work which
time can neither measure nor erase. Very
much of the later history of the church was
fruitage from that meeting, and from the in-
fluence of the godly evangelist.

J. B. Sweeney. No one of the men of my
acquaintance who have preached the primitive
gospel in Texas was more consecrated than was
this man; no one has been a more genuine
friend to the young man or woman who wished
to dedicate the life to definite Christian ser-
vice. As a pastor, he was loving, wise and
tactful. He served the churches at Taylor and
Gainesville. Both of these congregations are
to-day living monuments to his life. This does
not mean that no other men have been factors ;
they have. In my judgment, Brother Sweeney's
monumental work was during his connection
with Texas Christian University. This was
during the darkest days of the institution, and
while its location was in Waco. At that time
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

the Faculty accepted the receipts of the school,
after expenses were deducted, as their com-
pensation. And what a compensation it was!
I was in a position to know the inside of the
story. If those men received as much as an
average of $30 per month, they began to feel
themselves in affluent circumstances. It was
then that heroism saved the day for the school,
and "Jim" Sweeney was one of the heroes.
That was prior to the organization of Brite
College of the Bible, but foundation work for
it was being performed. He was the leading
spirit in this. How his heart rejoices, if he
can see what is here to-day— and I think he
can — when he sees the opportunities for the
work to which he gave so much of his life.
He died during his pastorate at Gainesville,
and there lies his body. Sister Sweeney is
now connected with Texas Christian University.

T. D. Secrest was one of the best informed
men along many lines with whom it was ever
my privilege to converse. It was a pleasure to
feel that he was one's close and intimate friend.
I have felt tempted to copy some extracts
from personal letters received from him, but
that would, perhaps, do injustice to others
from whom I have letters filed — letters which
will always be a source of strength and joy.
Those letters from Secrest were so full of joy
216

OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

and hope and cheer and faith and love. And
yet he was one of the most intense sufferers
whom I have ever known. Never did I hear
a moan escape his lips, nor a hint of complain-
ing. He died at Marfa, where he had labored,
and where his memory is, to-day, a benediction.

V. I. Stirman. I did not know of his death
until Bro. R. C. Horn sent his name in a list
of departed ones. I knew him most intimately.
In past years we were colaborers in the Mas-
ter's vineyard. During the later periods our
paths divided — not because of personal differ-
ences, but my work lay along a different line
from his, and I was always closely identified
with all our great organized efforts, while his
views were different. I always esteemed him
highly for his work's sake, as well as for his
own. He lived to an advanced age, and, I
doubt not in the least, has been welcomed by
the Saviour in the home above.

J. T. Toof's work was with the Commerce
Street Church of Dallas. He and his wife
were most estimable people, were diligent labor-
ers for the kingdom of the Lord, and much
beloved by disciples of Christ, and by those
of the world wherever they were known. Dur-
ing the term of his service in Dallas the plans
were made for the erection of the building
in which the Central Church now meets. This
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

church was the successor of the Commerce
Street Church. After the laying of the foun-
dation for the new building, the pastor yielded
to the persuasion of his uncle in Connecticut,
who had long been a father to him, to take a
place in his large business enterprise. Not
long afterward he met his tragic death in an
explosion wrecking the building in which the
office was located.

Dr. A. P. Terrell was an osteopathic phy-
sician, and a minister of the gospel. He served
the church at McKinney as well as churches at
other places. He loved the truth, and was
eager to contend for that which he believed
to be the revelation of Jesus Christ. Perhaps
some thought he was overanxious for discus-
sion for the sake of discussion, but those who
knew him better than did others, never thought
this of him. He was a master in debate. As
an evangelist he did considerable service suc-
cessfully. He died in Fort Worth. His widow
was his partner in his professional work, and
has continued the practice since his death.

B. F. and Homer T. Wilson were brothers.
They were Kentuckians, coming from that
State to Texas. The former preached at
Bryan, Arlington, Sherman and other points;
the latter at Dallas, Fort Worth and San
Antonio. Both were close students, but along
218

OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

different lines. The predominating study of
the one was books; that of the other, the daily
papers and men. One was logical and careful
in arrangement of his material ; the other was
poetical and eloquent and magnetic. One was
reserved ; the other, progressive. B. F. was
considered by the careful thinker as the
stronger preacher ; while Homer was an ideal,
not to say idol, of the masses. Homer was
a popular lecturer, and was, for years, the
chaplain of the traveling-men of the State in
their organization — T. P. A. He organized
that which is now the Magnolia Avenue Chris-
tian Church of Fort Worth. Each of the
brothers performed the task which he assigned
to himself, and each in his own individual
way.

David Walk was one of the great preachers
of the brotherhood. A portion of his last
years upon earth was spent in Texas. At one
time he had been in comfortable financial con-
dition, but reverses changed this, and at the
time of his death, while not in penury, he was
a poor man. He belonged to the day of
McGarvey, Graham, Loos and Errett, and
ranked among the leaders of the Restoration
movement. Among his many charms as a
preacher were clear enunciation, simple style
in communication of thought, systematic ar-
219

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

rangement great thoughts and loyalty to the
teaching of the New Testament as the revela-
tion of Jesus Christ.

J. J. Williamson's name will not be fa-
miliar to those of to-day save among those
who were here as long as thirty years ago.
This does not mean that he was not able or
useful or pleasing or true, because he was all
of these. He was not an assuming person, and
did not push himself to the front. His ser-
vices were always in demand, but this was
within a limited range, because of the reserve
of his nature. He was among the most jovial
of men. He never shirked responsibility be-
cause the duties demanded hard work. He
was arduous in service and unselfish in de-
mands. Williamson related to me, on one
occasion, how it happened that he made an
enemy of a woman for life. He was con-
ducting a protracted meeting at a certain
place, and at the close of an evening service
one of the sisters invited him to dine with her
the next day, adding that she would have
"turkey." Williamson accepted the invitation
most graciously, but he did not know who she
was, intending to ask some one as soon as she
turned away. But fates sometimes work
against preachers as well as other folks
Some one else engaged him in conversation,
220

OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

and when he asked for information the lady
had disappeared. He was not an adept in
describing the clothes or appearance of women,
and could not make any one understand suffi-
ciently to help him from his dilemma. Finally
some one said, "That was Sister Jones" —
fictitious name, of course. On the next day he
reported at the home of Sister Jones, only to
find no one there except the man of the house,
who declared there was no turkey on his lunch
table, but told him she must have been Sister
Brown. To Sister Brown's he hied himself,
and found the lady engaged in her week's
washing, and not at all expecting company.
However, she hospitably invited him to share
her "wash-day dinner," which he declined,
and went to Sister Smith's as now directed.
And so it went for an hour, and the place
where the turkey and an irate lady were await-
ing him was never found. That evening at the
services she approached and notified him that
never again would she invite him to sit at her
table, because — etc., etc., etc. And she meant
every word which she spoke. No explanations
were acceptable, because not to know her was
an unpardonable sin.

F. S. Young has been mentioned under
"The Texas Christian Missionary Convention."
His labors were limited because of his early
221

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

death. He was an acceptable and useful min-
ister of Jesus Christ.

E. V. Zollars was lovingly known among
his students as "Pa Z." No school president,
perhaps, ever came nearer to a universal ardent
student love than did he wherever he labored,
and his work was wide in scope. He was presi-
dent of Hiram College, Texas Christian Uni-
versity and Phillips University, the latter be-
ing founded by him. He was a fluent, attrac-
tive, instructive writer and speaker. None ever
seemed to tire of listening to him when he
spoke. He was the author of a number of
books which at once took a leading place,
especially among our own people. His work
in Texas covered only a few years. He died
while president of Phillips University, at Enid,
Oklahoma.

IV. The fourth list embraces the names of
more than a half-hundred preachers. Some
of these I never met; others I knew only
slightly. My limited knowledge forbids an
attempt to write concerning them as their
memory to others doubtless deserves. Caleb
Burns, Wade Barrett, Walter Dabney, John
King, J. S. Muse and J. B. Wilmott— these I
never knew. I knew Thomas Barrett as an
aged man, but not during the days of his
service. He was one of the notables in the

222

OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

locality where he lived. Dr. A. Cartwright
I saw once or twice, and was much impressed
with his strength of mind and heart. He died
many years ago. Ed Dabney lived near Bren-
ham, and preached in that section for years,
and his memory lives there to this day.
Brother Elgin was a successful evangelist who
died just prior to my arrival in the State.
His name was on many tongues, and always
to his praise. B. F. Hall's body lies in the
Van Alstyne Cemetery. He was a remarkable
preacher. I never knew him, as he died just
prior to my coming to the State. Many times
have I heard those who had heard him, speak
of his sermons and of incidents connected with
his life. Some seemed to think that, during
his closing days, he was the object for bitter
and unnecessary opposition and persecution.
Of this I can not speak, as my information is
only "hearsay." At any rate, he was a mas-
terful preacher, and a man of wonderful power.
Dr. Carroll Kendrick was a physician and a
preacher. His home was at Palestine, and he
was one of the pioneers of the work in that
section. In his early days, he favored a more
systematic co-operative work, but when this
was being inaugurated he opposed it. Al-
though he was not a citizen of Texas at the
time (1886), he was present when the organi-
zation was accomplished, and united with Bro.

223

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

C. M. Wilnieth in leading the opposition. To
him is due large credit for advances made by
the churches in an early day in the State.
I never met him except at the Austin meeting,
to which I have just referred. His closing
days were spent in California. Washington

Lyles, Marquis, Mansell Matthews, Dr. J.

H. 0. Polly — these I never knew, but have
heard much of their work and faithfulness.
John Rawlins and Willian Stewart I have met
only a few times. They worked more in their
own localities than in a larger way, and those
who knew them well appreciated their loyal
services. N. Van Horn was not one of the
very early workers here. He came later and
lived for a few years, making his home, for
the greater part of the time, in Fort Worth,
although he never ministered to one of the
churches there. He preached to the church in
Decatur, and did a most excellent work in
assisting in the exposition of one who came to
Texas wearing the garments of a saint of light,
but bearing a record of infamy and shame.
Let the name of this man remain where it
now is — in oblivion. James L. Thornberry
was in Texas when I came. He was "a charac-
ter, ' ' and one of his peculiarities was his appre-
ciation of — well, let me relate a story. Once
he was a visitor in my home. He and I were
engaged in conversation. My mother (a Bap-

224

OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

tist) was in the room reading — that is, sup-
posedly reading. Brother Thornberry did not
know of her church relationship, and, in com-
menting on some of our preachers who did not
suit his ideas, said: "Brother McPherson, they
haven't any more sense than the fool Baptists."
In the same conversation he was speaking of
President Garfield, who had recently been
elected, and said: "Yes, that was a great
achievement. Last year I made quite a number
of addresses on the necessity of placing moral
men in office, but did not dream, at the time,
that they would bear fruit so early." He had
been having some trouble with editors of papers
because they failed to publish some of the mat-
ter he sent in — he was an abundant writer.
His remark was: "They pigeonhole my articles,
and after a year or two bring them out as
editorials." Perhaps the saying which im-
pressed me more than any other I ever heard
from him was in the following incident. I
had just arrived in Texas, but had heard of
Brother Thornberry, and of his scorn for the
young preacher — and I was a young preacher.
I had, prior to leaving Kentucky, read a little
discussion between Brother Thornberry and
Isaac Errett in the Christian Standard, and
thought to use this as a means of making him
like at least one young preacher. I introduced
myself thus: "Brother Thornberry, I read with
15 225

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

much interest your discussion recently in the
Standard." At once his face brightened, and I
found hope begin to form that I had won my
way to his heart. He said, with a smile : ' ' Yes,
yes. I tell you, Brother MePherson, Isaac
Errett is a wonderful man." To this I agreed.
"He is head and shoulders above any other
of our editors. ' ' And I assented. Then : ' 1 But
didn't I everlastingly thrash him in that dis-
cussion?" Just what I replied has faded from
my memory.

Also, there were L. S. Ridgeway, J. t B.
Wilmeth, Frank Wilmeth, J. R. Wilmeth, Knox
P. Taylor, Philip Miner, John M. McKinney,
W. C. McKinney, W. H. Scott, T. J. Austin,
Bryce Austin, William Barnett, G. F. O'Con-
nell, W. Reynolds, W. H. Duke, C. W. Sewell,
Robert Henderson, R. A. O'Brien, T. J. Hun-
saker, Hugh Gerhart, Benton Sweeney, Bass
Sweeney, Dr. Adkins, A. J. Toole, S. W. Ken-
nedy, William Thompson, John T. Holloway,

Harbison, W. P. Richardson, W. D.

Darnall, Frank Rawlins, Addison King, and

Carnes, Sr. Some of these it was never

my privilege to meet face to face, and they
were known, if at all, only at a distance, as it
were. Some I knew better, though slightly.
They are all spoken of as men true and tried.

This list of 125 of "Our Remembered
Dead" has been prepared with great care,

226

OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

aided by A. J. Bush, R. C. Horn, Randolph
Clark, G. D. Smith, J. C. Mason and J. W.
Holsapple. If there have been any omissions,
they were certainly not intentional. Still,
there may have been such. Memory sometimes
plays us tricks which we can not understand.
The first list, which I prepared without help,
I later discovered did not include the names
of several of my most intimate friends — men
whom I loved as brothers indeed. If any one
has been overlooked, his friends will be chari-
table, because they will understand.

There were others — some of these I knew
well — who labored only incidentally as minis-
ters of the Word, but who were faithful
servants of the Master, each in his own con-
gregation. Their works still follow them.

I have called the names of men who have
preached the everlasting gospel of the Son of
God within the borders of Texas, and who
have gone home to glory. Many of these were
my intimate friends. One by one I have seen
them pass from view into the seeming mists,
and yet I knew they were not in the mists.
It only appeared so to us as we looked from
where we stood. As I think of them, one by
one, I realize "there were giants in those
days." But I am not in the least depreciating
the men of to-day. And still it is true that
we who are now in the service could "not be
227

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

made perfect" without those of yesterday.
And may we remember that if we should prove
to be unfaithful to the opportunities which
those men left as our legacy, the largest possi-
bilities of their work will fail of realization.

With the lives of those men my own life
has been intertwined to a greater or less de-
gree. It was my lot to speak over the dead
bodies of Brothers Cole, Carter, Riall, J. B.
Sweeney, Stapp, Lockhart, Johnson, Pritchett,
Bush and Carlton; I missed this privilege with
several of the others because I was beyond reach
at the time. More than fifty of these men
have contributed something which I count as
precious to my own life, and I owe to them
debts of gratitude which I can repay only
through an increasing service to the cause for
which they lived and died. Have I felt a
sense of loneliness growing as these have passed
away? Yes and no — yes, when I think only
of the past; no, as I look to the present and
the future. "We may pause to think of that
which they have been and done, and then
breathe a prayer of thanksgiving and of peti-
tion, and look to the field and to the future.

To this list of men of the pulpit might be
added the names of many who were indeed
preachers, noble and true, who would never
have thus designated themselves — a host of
gracious, godly heroes and heroines. These

228

OUR REMEMBERED DEAD

will never be forgotten ; their names live in
memory; their deeds live in multitudes of
lives ; without them, the achievements of those
whose names are above enrolled would have
been impossible. For them we mourn, but not
as do others who have no hope ; assured as we
are that our Lord died and rose again, we
rejoice in the confidence that these who have
fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.

Of those who were pulpit advocates for prim-
itive Christianity in Texas when I came to
the State, January 3, 1879, four remain who
have, through the more than four decades, con-
stantly labored for the cause which they love.
These are

RANDOLPH CLARK, STEPHENVILLE.
A. C. ATEN, ROUND ROCK.
R. C. HORN, "VTNELAND.
DAVID PENNINGTON, TAYLOR.

I rejoice in the confidence that each of these
is my close, personal friend, as well as my
brother in the Lord, and to each would I say:

'Tis true, my friend, that every cloud

Has a lining which is bright;
And just as true that every day

Is followed by its night.
And, oh, what joy and gladness

In this for me and you,
This mingling of the somber

With God's ethereal blue.

229

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

For many years have you and I

Been friends and workers too ;
We've felt the darkness of the cloud

And the brightness of the blue.
We've seen the hand that leadeth us,

We've felt His heart beat true;
We know the gladsome blessedness

He's granted me and you.

230

A Few Women

1. Mrs. A. A. Johnston

2. Mrs. Clara Walden

3. Mrs. Annie Wilkinson

4. Mrs. Juliette Fowler

5. Mrs. Sarah Harwood

6. Mrs. Charles Carlton

7. Mrs. Taliaferro

8. Mrs. O. A. Carr

9. Miss Kate Hanson

10. Mrs. M. M. Blanks

11. Mrs. E. E. Chevalier

12. Mrs. J. Z. Miller

13. Mrs. Frances Cooke Van Zandt

14. Mrs. Ida V. Jarvis

15. Mrs. G. D. Smith

16. Miss Grace Carlton

17. Miss Sallie Joe Carlton

18. Mrs. Terry King

19. Miss Tyler Wilkerson

20. Mrs. Anna D. Bradley

231

A FEW WOMEN

A FEW WOMEN

O write even a fragment of the history

1 of Disciples in Texas, or elsewhere, with-
out a tribute to woman would be like the much-
referred-to play of "Hamlet," with Hamlet
left out. What our work would have been
to-day if woman had not laid "her hands to
the spindle" no one can say.' And yet every
man can say that it would have been far short
of what it is. What she has done can not be
tabulated in statistics, nor written up in well-
worded articles. Her influence has done the
largest part of its work when she has silently
striven through the lives of others. The
mothers, the wives, the sisters, the daughters,
the women in the Bible school and in the pew,
and wherever they have been — who can com-
pute the influence they have exerted? To
attempt to make a list of those who have helped
in such worthy ways to lead us to where we
are would be unjust because it would of neces-
sity omit many of the choicest of all. And
yet woman must be mentioned ; and now I am
wondering where to begin, where to close, what
to say, how to say it, who should be included

233

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

not to make the list overlong — these and
many other things are struggling in my
mind.

I shall draw my bow and shoot at a venture.
There are women who have been prominent
factors, and who have been recognized as lead-
ers in many lines of service. I shall attempt
to mention only a few.

Mrs. A. A. Johnston was a woman of most
precious memory. Her home was in Dallas,
where her influence still lingers in the hearts
of hundreds, and where a society of young
women bears her name. To the preacher she
was always a friend, and to the young preacher
she was a perpetual encouragement and bene-
diction. Here I speak from delightful ex-
perience.

Mrs. Clara Walden lived and died in Fort
Worth. For years she was a teacher there,
and always one of the leaders of women in
missionary service. I remember one of the
mottoes which she had hung in one of the
rooms of the First Church, where she held her
membership before going with the Tabernacle
Church — now Magnolia Avenue: "I am always
glad when the Father gives me something hard
to do." She led at least one young man to
dedicate his life to the Christian ministry —
George W. Morrison, of Mineral Wells. Her

234

A FEW WOMEN

death was tragic — killed by an automobile, in
Fort Worth.

Mrs. Annie Wilkinson was State president
of the Christian Woman's Board of Missions.
I knew her personally for years, and was fre-
quently a guest in her home. She was one of
the most charming women of my acquaintance
— cultured and kind and consecrated. Former-
ly her home was in Denison, and later in
Austin, where her husband, Judge A. E. Wil-
kinson, is reporter for the Supreme Court of
Texas. It was in Austin that she passed
from us.

Mrs. Juliette Fowler was the principal
mover in what are now our Orphans' and Old
People's Homes in Dallas. Her benefactions
made these works possible, and hundreds of
children and older people have already learned
to call her name "blessed." She was retiring
in her life, but her thoughts were always for
the help of the suffering. Not for many years
will the time come when Texas Disciples shall
ask : " Who was Mrs. Fowler ? ' '

Mrs. Sarah Harwood was a sister of Mrs.
Fowler, and took up the work which her sister
had planned, and gave her energies and life
until the day of her death. Those who knew
her personally remember her as kind, loving,
gentle and Christian in every way. I recall
235

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

that she said to me once that which I have ever
treasured, and which has helped me in moments
of severe struggle: "Brother McPherson, you
are growing more gentle as the years come to
you." That little sentence has helped me to
gain victories over self when the struggle was
hard. How much thousands of lives have been
aided by just such words as these ! Why not
speak them more frequently than we do?

"Aunt Sallie" — that was what hundreds of
her acquaintances called her, and all because
they loved her. ' ' Aunt Sallie ' ' was, in the home
of Carlton College, and in the hearts of all who
ever visited there, and of many, many others,
the delightful inspiration and help to life.
This I knew both from my own experience and
from the words many times told by my own
dear daughter, who was in Carlton College as
student and as teacher for several years, and
who is now with "Aunt Sallie" in the land of
light and of glory. It is not necessary to say
to any one who lived in Texas, and was identi-
fied with our own work so long as fifteen years
ago. that she was the wife of Bro. Charles
Carlton, president of Carlton College, in Bon-
ham. She lives to-day in the loving memory of
many hundreds of students and friends.

Mrs. Taliaferro, whose initials I do not
now recall, was the mother of the wife of
236

A FEW WOMEN

Philip S. King, pastor of the church at Marfa.
She was the wife of Dr. Taliaferro, who died
many years ago. She was one of the giants
intellectually, among the women of Texas. For
a number of years she taught in Hillsboro
and in other places, and was matron of girls in
Texas Christian University. Not only was she
a giant in mind, but in heart and soul as well.

Mrs. 0. A. Carr was one of the women
who could not be conquered by difficulties,
and who was never satisfied with the achieve-
ment of small things. She was the wife of
0. A. Carr, one of the strong writers and
preachers of his day. She achieved what was
perhaps the fondest dream of her life in what
is now Carr-Burdette College, a school for
girls, presided over by Mr. and Mrs. Cephas
Shelburne, in Sherman. When she began her
plans but few thought they could ever be
accomplished ; that is, among those who did not
know her well. She began with almost nothing,
but the work was done, and chiefly by her own
personal efforts. She and her husband were
the heads of the institution until her death,
and he continued until his own life closed.

Miss Kate Hanson was the mother of the
Texas Christian Woman's Board of Missions,
and was mentioned in the article on that or-
ganization by the present State president. She

237

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

lived in Dallas, and, in a most quiet and unas-
suming way, inaugurated a work which has
broadened and deepened since that day, and
which is still growing in usefulness and power.
She died in Dallas a number of years ago.

Mrs. M. M. Blanks' home was in Lockhart,
where she and her most excellent husband —
Dr. J. G. Blanks — were among the strongest
leaders of the forces for both primitive Chris-
tianity and righteousness in the largest sense
of the word. Both were exceedingly liberal,
and were always ready to help good works
in every possible manner. Sister Blanks gave
her influence largely to the advancement of
the work of the C. W. B. M. Her deeds
of benevolence through this channel are men-
tioned in articles written by others in another
part of this volume. She died in Austin, where
her home was during the last several years of
her life.

Mrs. E. E. Chevalier was another of the
stalwart, though not masculine, women of the
State. She was feminine in every true sense
of the word, and was an inspiration to higher
things in the lives of those who were thrown
into personal touch with her. She was a prom-
inent figure in the missionary conventions of
the State, and always honored. She died, I
think, at her home in Belton.

238

A FEW WOMEN

Mrs. J. Z. Miller was another Belton
woman who was always, though in a quiet way,
a leader among the forces for righteousness in
the larger works of the brotherhood. She was
the wife of Col. J. Z. Miller, whom we all
know, and was ever a partner with him in
many departments of work for the advance-
ment of the kingdom of Christ in Texas and
elsewhere. She died while still comparatively
young in years, and her leaving was felt by
all who had been in co-operation with her in
the work for humanity and for Christ.

Mrs. Frances Cooke Van Zandt was never
a public worker in one of our State organiza-
tions, and yet her name deserves especial men-
tion because of what she did in influencing
many works in many ways. She was one of
the most extraordinary women whom I ever
knew. When we stood at her bier, after she
had died at the age of ninety-four, we were
impressed with the thought that indeed a
mother in Israel had fallen asleep. In her
early life, she was a member of the Baptist
Church. That was a time when many of the
church organizations thought they were called
and sent to kill each other, and most of them
attempted to faithfully live up to their con-
victions. Mrs. Van Zandt early saw the evils
of denominationalism, and heard with delight
239

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

the plea made by the early Restorationists,
which she gladly accepted. In her explanation
of her course she used to say that she was pre-
sented with the alternative "of getting out of
denominationalism or of being kicked out,"
and she preferred the former mode of pro-
cedure. She was the mother of Maj. K. M.
Van Zandt, Mrs. L. V. Clough, Dr. I. L. Van
Zandt, Mrs. Fannie Beall and Mrs. Ida V.
Jarvis, all of Fort Worth and all still alive.
These were present at her funeral service — the
eldest, Mrs. Clough, being at that time seventy-
six years of age.

Those whose names have been mentioned
have passed from our ranks. There are many
who still live among us whose names should be
mentioned, but the list must necessarily be
abbreviated for want of space.

Mrs. Ida V. Jarvis. If Texas Disciples
were asked to make lists of the women among
us in the State, still living, who have been
and are active and prominent for the large
works of the brotherhood, the name of Mrs.
Jarvis would perhaps head the lists of a large
majority. Her husband, Maj. J. J. Jarvis,
who was one of the most useful men we ever
had among us, was accustomed to say to us
that at conventions he was known "as the
husband of Mrs. Jarvis." She seems to have
240

A FEW WOMEN

had a hand in an important way in almost all
of the movements which have ever been in-
augurated among us for the uplift of human-
ity. She has served as State president of the
C. W. B. M., as a member of the Advisory
Board for T. C. U., and as a leader in almost
all the organizations of women in Fort Worth
which labor for the uplift of humanity. She
has been, for years, an active worker in the
W. C. T. U., and is to-day actively engaged in
several important works in Fort Worth and
elsewhere. Her work for the industrial school
for the colored people has been mentioned in
other places of this work.

Mrs. G. D. Smith, State president of the
C. W. B. M., is and has been one of the wise
and faithful and diligent and unselfish workers
for the cause of Christ in Texas. Her home
is in Dallas, where she is a member of the
Central Church. Her husband served for many
years as the secretary of the Board for the
Texas Christian Missionary Convention, and
was ever at his post in the faithful discharge
of his duties — always without a cent of re-
muneration. I have known Sister Smith per-
sonally for many years, and have never once
heard of her being absent from a meeting of
the Disciples where she was one of the factors,
either locally or in a general way, unless there
ie 241

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

was some exceptionally well-recognized reason
for this. Not only has she been present, but
her presence has always counted for something
worth while. She and Brother Smith have
been pillars in both local and general work.

Misses Grace and Sallie Joe Carlton. No
two sisters in the State have done more for
the cause of Jesus Christ than have these two.
No one woman has, perhaps, done more real
constructive work for the Master than has been
done by either of these. For many years, they
were the coworkers with their father and
brother through Carlton College. Many hun-
dreds of men and women, living and dead,
have given lives to bless humanity — men and
women who were largely influenced by these
and their fellow -workers. Miss Grace served
for several years as president of the Texas
C. *W. B. M., and her final resignation was
received with great regret. After the death
of Brother Carlton, they, with their brother,
conducted the school which he had established
and conducted for so many years. Their work,
as seen in the history of to-day, is a noble
monument to their lives. They are still with
us, and, though not conducting the college,
each is working hard, for others more than self.
Many interesting incidents could be related in
illustration of the splendid character of their
242

A FEW WOMEN

work. Texas is far better because of their
lives.

Mrs. Terry King was, for a number of
years, the State secretary for the C. W. B. M.,
and she was constantly diligent and faithful in
her service to that organization of women.
Recently she has been made regional secretary,
with her headquarters in Ft. Worth, being suc-
ceeded by Mrs. McMasters in the Texas work.
The women of the societies speak in high praise
of her work in the State, and their best wishes
go with her to her larger field.

Miss Tyler Wilkinson would be shocked
if she were to be told that her name is to
appear on the pages of this work. If she
were asked what she had done, worthy of
special mention, for the general work of Texas
Disciples, she would be surprised at the ques-
tion, and say "Nothing." But that is where
all who have known of her work would beg
leave to differ from her. As State secretary
for the Christian Endeavor, as matron for girls
in Texas Christian University, and as helper
in the State work of the C. W. B. M., she has
over been an invaluable worker. Perhaps no
one has ever been more generally favorably
received in these works than has she. Those
who really know her love her for her own sake
as well as for her works' sake.

243

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

Mrs. Anna D. Bradley has not lived in
Texas during the past twenty years. Her
home is now in Chicago. During her stay
among us in the State her influence for all
which was for our good grew by bounds. She
was a frequent speaker in our conventions, and
was always heard with delight. But her great-
est field for the exercise of her powers was by
means of articles contributed through the press.
She had a most happy faculty of taking the
little, every-day things of life, and causing
them to shine with lessons which were read
with eagerness by thousands. She wrote for
the home department of the Christian Standard
as well as for the Christian Courier. To this
day many ask, "Why does not Mrs. Bradley
write for our papers?" Sure enough — why?

244

Our Contributors

1. L. D. Anderson

2. J. B. Holmes

3. S. W. Hutton

4. Edward McShane Waits

5. Frank L. Jewett

6. Colby D. Hall

7. J. T. McKissick

8. Cephas Shelburne

9. Misses Grace and Sallie Joe Carlton

10. J. N. Ervin

11. M. Boyd Keith

12. Arthur A. Everts

13. Mrs. G. D. Smith

245

OUR CONTRIBUTORS

OUR CONTRIBUTORS

I WISH to express my appreciation of the
1 assistance which those named in the list
below have given in the preparation of this
volume. They have most cheerfully accepted
the task asked of them, notwithstanding they
are busy people. They laid aside their other
work for a time, and gave us that which the
readers will receive with pleasure.

L. D. Anderson is known in and out of
Texas for his work's sake. His first preaching
in Texas was at Athens, then at Ennis, at
Palestine, and with the First Church of Fort
Worth. At the two last-named places, es-
pecially, he did monumental works. In Fort
Worth I have been closely associated with him,
and know of the difficulties which never dis-
couraged him ; of the aims which he has always
had for large things for humanity, and which
have been, and are, being worked out to suc-
cess; of the bigness of the faith of the man,
and of his splendid loyalty to all which his
Lord either said or did. In the "Introduc-
tion," he has, probably, somewhat stretched his
utterances, moved by long friendship; they
247

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

should be taken with a degree of allowance.
He could not write otherwise of any one than
in great kindness.

J. B. Holmes has been the Superintendent
of Missions in Texas for about two years, and
the work has been made to move in that time,
and that in the right direction. His thought
is threefold — efficiency, permanency, loyalty.
He is cultivating the co-operation of the
churches in a remarkable way. Of course the
zenith has not been reached, but his work is
headed in that direction. The churches of the
State have confidence in the man and in his
work. That which he has contributed to this
volume in regard to the missionary work in
the State, will prove to be exceedingly inter-
esting reading for all who turn these pages.

S. W. Hutton came to Texas as an assistant
pastor to J. E. Dinger for the First Church
of Fort "Worth, and there his splendid worth
was discovered by Texans. His work, his life,
and all that he gave, were found to be worth
having. He accepted the pastorate of the
Riverside Church in the same city, and, during
the time, pursued his studies with Texas Chris-
tian University, taking his A.B. degree. From
that he entered the State Bible-school work,
and then the same for the Soii.thwest, which
he is now conducting. His article concerns

248

OUR CONTRIBUTORS

the history of the important work with which
he is connected, and which he so dearly loves.
During the past year or so he has led the
movement for the endowment, by the Bible
schools, of a chair for Bible-school instruction
in Brite College of the Bible. This last is
now completed.

Edward McShane Waits is the worthy
president of Texas Christian University. His
first work in the State was as pastor of the
church at Ladonia. From there he went to
El Paso in response to a call from the Central
Church, and from there went to Fort Worth
as pastor of what was known as "The Taber-
nacle Church." As that and the First Chris-
tian Church were thought to be too near to
each other's territory, under his leadership
the Tabernacle congregation sold its property,
and built on its present site. He remained
with this church — the Magnolia Avenue Church
— for several years, and then accepted a call
from a congregation in California. Before
leaving, he yielded to the entreaties of the
trustees of the University to allow them to ask
for a release from the California church that
he might accept the presidency of the institu-
tion. He has occupied this position for the
past two or three years, and has been growing
during the time in all that goes to make a
249

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

college president. Texas loves him for his own
sake as well as for that of his service.

Frank L. Jewett writes most interestingly
of the Bible Chair work in connection with the
State University, under the auspices of the
Christian Woman's Board of Missions. The
growth of the work has been quite satisfactory
to the promoters, and to those who are closely
connected with it. The Bible Chair seems to
have made a gratifying appeal to the manage-
ment of the University, judging from all the
reports which have reached the outside world.
Brother Jewett has been with the work for a
number of years, and the indications are that
he will continue for years to come.

Colby D. Hall is dean of Brite College
of the Bible, Texas Christian University. I
have been closely associated with him in the
Bible College work for the past six years, and
in other capacities for a number of years pre-
viously. All who know "Colby D.," as he
is frequently familiarly called, love him because
he is lovable. His interest in the young men
and women who are preparing themselves for
definite work in the kingdom of Jesus Christ
never flags. He is always on the alert for
anything which will conduce to their welfare
or for their usefulness. He is tactful, kind,
efficient, Christian. Read that which he has to
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OUR CONTRIBUTORS

say concerning the work which lies so near to
his heart.

J. T. McKissick is one of the really big
men of the State. He is modest and unassum-
ing, and herein lies one of the elements of his
real bigness. His first work as a preacher
was in Texas, though he came from Tennessee.
He was educated, partly, at Italy, under Alex-
ander Holt, who conducted a school there.
From there he went to what is now Texas
Christian University. He labored most effi-
ciently as pastor of the church at Weatherford.
He returned to his native State, and became
Superintendent of Missions there. But, even-
tually, the lure of Texas drew him here again,
and he is serving as pastor of the church at
Midland and as president of Midland Col-
lege. He has given us a most excellent article,
which should be carefully read by all. Therein
are revealed some of the true ideals of a Chris-
tian college, and of the education which should
come from such institutions.

Cephas Shelburne first labored, in the
State, as pastor of the East Dallas Church.
Then he became editor and publisher of the
Christian Courier; then pastor of the church
at Lancaster, from which work he was called
to the presidency of Carr-Burdette College of
Sherman, where he is now doing most excellent
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

work. Brother Slielburne is one of the most
attractive writers among us, and all which
he says carries the ring of loyalty to all which
is true. There is never any mistaking as to
the meaning of his words. No one needs to
ask, "Where does Cephas Slielburne stand?"
on any question which touches the moral or
the Biblical from any standpoint. This is his
first year as president of the college, but he
and his splendid wife are making things move.

Misses Grace and Sallie Joe Carlton and
their brother, Charles T. Carlton — these
three have been among the genuinely true and
diligent workers for Christian education and
for true Christian principles In Texas for
years. Succeeding their lamented and noble
father with Carlton College, they struggled for
years against tremendous odds. At present,
the sisters are still in Bonham. doing faithful
service. They are among our highest types of
women. Their article will be read by every
one who takes this volume in hand, and the
reading will be marvelously repaid. They
relate many incidents of which I had no
knowledge until it was read from their manu-
script.

J. N. Ervin is the diligent and accomplished
president of the school known as Jarvis In-
stitute, at Hawkins. This is for the education
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OUR CONTRIBUTORS

of hand and mind and heart of the colored
youths of the State and elsewhere. All who
have visited the institution speak of it, and of
the work and of the Faculty, in inspirational
terms. "When the representatives from the
school visit our State conventions, they thrill
us with their songs, talks and other messages.
The people of the vicinity of Hawkins testify
to the splendid worth of the president, and of
those who are associated with him, both as
helpers and as students. Read what Brother
Ervin has to say, and you will understand why
his work is deemed so meritorious.

M. Boyd Keith insists that he is not a
writer. And yet he writes to the delight of
those who read. He vows that he is not a
speaker, but we sit in the deepest interest when
he speaks. He is one of the ever-jovial-and-
always-sunshiny sort. He has a heart which is
far bigger than is his body, and he is no dwarf
physically. He is the man-of-all-work for our
benevolent institutions — the Juliette Fowler
Homes for orphans and aged people. This is
his business, and he sells autos as a side line
by which he can earn something upon which
he and his family can live. That which he
says will repay your reading. Try it.

Arthur A. Everts. Well, we all know
"Brother Everts." His first public message to
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

the people was, "Pay your tithe to the Lord."
He has never changed his text nor his sermon.
Always and forever he says, 'Pay your tithe
to the Lord." And we have begun to hearken
to the message, and to pay our tithes. He
induced others to tithe by first tithing himself;
then by giving his word to us at conventions;
then by writing to us; then by scattering
literature ; then by engaging men to go to the
churches and to preach the gospel of the tithe.
Everts can think of more ways to reach the
hearts of the people without changing either
text or sermon than can many living men with
multitudes of texts and sermons. Read what
Everts says — tithe.

Mrs. G. D. Smith, of Dallas, ladies and
gentlemen. All Texas knows her, and we all
love her, and her husband as well. Those two
Christians always attend conventions, both
State and general. Always are they at the
services of the local congregation. Always are
they taking a hand in every sort of good work;
always are they busy for humanity and for
humanity's God. Sister Smith is the excellent
president of the Texas C. W. B. M. Unless
she fails in physical strength, she will, doubt-
less, occupy this important position for — well,
forever. In this volume she tells an interesting
story of the beginning and growth of the or-

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OUR CONTRIBUTORS

ganization over which she presides, and of its
work. Read it and you will be anxious to
learn still more.

THE COMPANY UNNAMED

Forgotten? Assuredly not. Their name is
legion, and their deeds are worthy. Without
them, the work of the kingdom in Texas would
not have yet reached the proportions which
have been attained. These men and women
have been hands and feet and tongue and
brain and purse and heart. They have planned
and prayed and toiled, and the fruit has been
largely theirs. Among these are some known
as "preachers," and others who would shrink
from being so classed; yet preachers they are
in deed and in truth. Some are still among
us, while the bodies of others lie beneath the
sod. Let us not say "ministers and laymen."
Too noble have been their lives, and too far-
reaching their influence, to mar it with so
ignoble a word as "laymen." I am tempted
to write a list of these heroes and heroines;
but it must not be. To attempt a record of
their names and deeds — I am persuaded that
even Texas itself might not be able to contain
the books which could be written. "Hyper-
bole?" Read John 21:25.

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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

The Unnamed — Great is this company both
in numbers and in deeds. We remember with
gratitude their eloquence, their diligence, their
wisdom, their faith, their hope, their loyalty,
their heart power, their charity, their sacrifice.

These disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ —
the unnamed company — we salute in the name
of the Texas brotherhood.

256

Studies

1. Buried with Christ — A Study

2. A Search for "Our Plea"

17

257

STUDIES

BURIED WITH CHRIST— A
STUDY

' ' We were buried, therefore, with him, through bap-
tism into death: that like as Christ was raised from
the dead through the glory of the Father, so we, also,
might walk in newness of life. ' ' — Eom. 6 : 4.

IS the apostle simply saying that, in Christian
baptism, the bodies of penitent believers are
buried beneath the water? What is buried in
baptism with the Lord? The physical body?
Is there truth in the statement that a physical
action can not attain to the significance of
being "buried with Christ" if there is nothing
more to the burial than an external act, al-
though the person thus buried may be a peni-
tent believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? Is,
or is not, the burial with Christ a spiritual
one? I shall assume that it is not necessary
to offer proof to my readers that a burial with
the Christ includes a submergence of the entire
person in Him. Then, what constitutes "the
entire person ' ' ?

Observe these three teachings of the pas-
sage: (1) Baptism is into death; (2) the bap-
tized are raised from the dead; (3) the resur-

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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

rected one walks in newness of life. These
things could not be spoken of the burial of a
material body. The death and burial and
resurrection must be of the spirit of man.

What is the "newness of life"? Can it be
attained unless there be first a newness of pur-
pose and of affection and of thought ? ' ' Burial
with Christ" involves the burial of our thought
in His thought, of our affection in that which
He loves, and of our will in His will. These
are included in "the entire man." The sub-
mergence of our thought and affection and
purpose must be more than a doctrine — it must
be a reality, if we are to walk, as He walks,
in newness of life.

Is not this the meaning of "faith in Jesus
Christ"? Have we attained to even a fair
degree of faith in Him when we have intel-
lectually admitted the truth of the facts of His
pure life, His marvelous wisdom, His supreme
love, His miraculous power, His resurrection
from the grave, His glorification and His divin-
ity? All this "the demons believe" while they
"shudder." Faith in the Christ must not ex-
clude this, but must include this and more.
It means the molding of ourselves — our
thoughts and ideals and visions and hopes and
fears and purposes and prayers — in His ideals,
in His will. Nothing less than this can ever
be a complete burial with Christ.

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STUDIES

But why this burial with Him? Why
should man, an intellectual being, bring his
thought into subservience to that of another?
Why should he sit at the feet of any man?
Can not he probe into and discover all that
lies within the great realm of thought, and
that without help or direction from without
himself? Can not man, by searching, find
out even God, with all that God can mean?
Does he not form his own God from his own
ideals, and does not his God grow as his con-
ception grows? Was not Colonel Ingersoll
right when he said : ' ' An honest God is the
noblest work of man ' ' ?

The reply to these questions depends upon
that given to others. "What think you of
Jesus of Nazareth? Whose Son is he?" If
Jesus of Nazareth was Jesus of Nazareth alone,
then man should never sit at His feet more
than at the feet of Socrates, or of Shakespeare,
or of Woodrow Wilson, or of Darwin. If He
is only Jesus of Nazareth, no one of us should
ever say to Him: "Lord, what wilt thou have
me to do?" If He is Jesus of Nazareth alone,
He has no more power to lead us to the highest
realms of the soul than have other men, and
there is in Him no power to redeem.

A group of men were approaching Cassarea
Philippi, when one asked an unusual question :
"Who do men say that I am?" And men have
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

been trying to solve that very question. "Who
is he?" they asked one of another. And some
said, "He is John the Baptist" — John who
emptied the cities as men flocked to the wilder-
ness, drawn by his burning messages; John,
a blazing star, leading the way to repentance
and promising remission of sins ; John, whose
bold loyalty to truth caused sinful men and
women, whether of high or low degree, to
tremble with fear; John, who gave his life
because of his adherence to the right, and went
from the executioner's block to glory. This
Galilean is John, whom God chose from among
His glorified ones because none on earth was
equal to the task, for a new and large work
needed to be done among men. Others said
"Elijah," or "Jeremiah," or "one of the
prophets; we can not determine which." On
one thing all agreed — "He is a messenger
from above; one who formerly lived on earth
and so faithfully discharged his duties here
that the God of heaven chose him for a second
and a larger mission."

Viewed from their standpoint of oppor-
tunity, these men paid to this Galilean the
highest tribute possible from them, but He of
whom they spake offered not one word of
comment. Perhaps they had failed to reach
the true answer to the question. Speaking
more personally, He said : ' ' Who do you say

262

STUDIES

that I am ? ' ' And one of the company replied :
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God." No longer were the lips of the Galilean
sealed. If His questions were unusual, what
shall we say of His commentary on the reply
of His friend? Hear it: "Blessed art thou,
Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood hath
not revealed this unto thee, but my Father
who is in heaven ; and I also say unto thee that
thou art Petros, and upon this Petra I will
build my church, and the gates of Hades shall
not prevail against it; and I will give unto
thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and
whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt
loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." And
the historian added: "Then charged he his
disciples that they should tell no man that he
was the Christ."

May I digress? To-day there are polished
gentlemen, scholars, men of wisdom, who are
quick to reply to the question of the Man of
Galilee, and their words run something like
this: "Jesus of Nazareth, you are a man
worthy of honor, a teacher of keen insight, a
leader of thought who lived in advance of your
day. Notwithstanding your early death, you
surpassed many of your elders, and some even
of greater opportunities. Your ideas were
noble. You drew inspiration to a remarkable
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

degree, and that from the infinite. You had
your frailties; mistakes were scattered through
your life ; we censure you not, because you
were, in this, as our brothers — all men err.
"We greet you in our circle as one of the
favored sons of God; we honor your memory."

These men fall far short, in their tribute,
of that of the men of nineteen centuries ago,
who pronounced Him as one of the old proph-
ets returned to earth. If the Master had no
word of comment for those of the long ago,
what shall He say of these? Their judgment
was one of human wisdom — does this rise above
that standard, or does it fall below their
measurement ? Theirs was false — is this true ?
The announcement made by Peter was from
the Father in heaven — unless either Jesus or
Matthew, or both, have attempted to deceive —
and upon the truth there uttered rests the
church of God, and all which it means to men.

And it is for this very reason — because
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God ;
because it is on this Rock that His church is
to stand; because that which is loosed or boun<l
by this truth is loosed or bound in heaven —
that our thought and affection and purpose
and life should be buried in Him ; that we may
be united with Him in the likeness of His
death ; that we may walk with Him in newness
of life.

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STUDIES

Shall we say, then : ' ' The spiritual side of
Christian baptism is the essential thing, and,
therefore, the form is of no consequence, and
we are at liberty to alter it or to substitute
for it as may please our fancy or suit our con-
venience"? If we are inclined to thus reason,
should we not study anew the words "a true
likeness" in 1 Pet. 3:21? Let us come to-
gether and open our Bibles and carefully read
verses 18-22. Perhaps we have now read these
words, and are ready for meditation. On the
wall of our room may be "a true likeness"
of a sainted mother. Certainly it is no more
than cardboard and shadow, but no other
picture in all the world must be substituted
for that of mother ; we would firmly resist
its being changed by false shadows, and
our blood would boil at the slightest attempt
at mutilation. The burial of the body of a
penitent believer is a "true likeness" of the
burial of his Lord, and also a "true likeness"
of the burial of his spirit and thought and
will and life in the will of the Christ of God.
Shall this "true likeness" be marred?

Observe how intimately this Christian or-
dinance is, in the Scriptures, associated with
things of the divine: "Baptizing them into
the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit;" "He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved;" "Repent, and be baptized
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

in the name of Jesus Christ, and ye shall
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit;" "Was
Paul crucified for you or were you baptized
into the name of Paul?" "Eight souls were
saved through water; which also after a true
likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not
the putting away o- the filth of the flesh,
but the interrogation of a good conscience
toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ." Collect them — "name of Father,
Son and Holy Spirit," "salvation," "remission
of sins," "gift of the Holy Spirit," crucifixion
of our Lord, "interrogation of a good con-
science toward God" — think you that men of
faith would dare to declare as of small signifi-
cance anything which either the Christ or the
Holy Spirit has used in such relationship?
Would they not, rather, say: "That which
God hath joined together, let no man put
asunder ' ' ?

There are two classes of extremists in the
interpretation of Rom. 6 : 1-11. Both are false
teachers, because of that which they omit.
Both give limited, and. therefore, false, inter-
pretations. Each teaches truth, but neither the
whole truth of the passage. One sees nothing
but "form" in baptism in water; the other
fails to discover the beautiful symbol expressed
by an outward action, and fails to appreciate
the importance of retaining the symbol just as
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STUDIES

it was given by our Lord. One follows the
Pharisee in external formality; the other fol-
lows the Quaker friend in bringing a divinely
given symbol into disuse.

In Christian baptism there is an envelop-
ment of the entire being — body, soul, spirit.
The "inner man" is in spiritual burial with
the Lord; the "outward man" gives impressive
expression of this spiritual burial by its own
immersion in water, as the Lord directs in His
word.

Like faith and repentance, Christian bap-
tism never ceases. The burial is one for all
time and for all eternity. "Our life is hid
with Christ in God."

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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

A SEARCH FOR "OUR PLEA"

REFERRING to those people who have
made the claim of being engaged in a
movement for restoration, for what are we
distinctively pleading? Is the expression "Our
Plea" to be tabooed? Most certainly so — if
the "plea" is primarily "ours." Most cer-
tainly not — if we have accepted a plea given
to us from above. In the same sense in which
the church of Christ is "our church," or the
gospel of Christ is "our gospel," is the plea
for which we contend "Our Plea." Is that
plea for "restoration," or for "union," or for
both?

A recent newspaper article expatiated large-
ly in criticism of a political orator who at-
tempted to hold before the people as a goal
the theories of government laid down by
Thomas Jefferson. The writer reminded us
that the world is no longer living in the time
of Jefferson, but in the tremendous present.
While Thomas Jefferson's thoughts may have
been wise for the days of Jefferson, some of
them are out of date to-day. These statements
were applied to the church, and it was insisted
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STUDIES

that some church people, in order to be use-
ful, were pointing us to the ways of the an-
cients, rather than thinking in the thought of
to-day, and looking to the things for to-mor-
row. Was the illustration apt ? Are the cases
parallel ?

If restoration is our plea, what do we seek
to restore? Is it obsolete forms which could
serve no purpose save that of being sacredly
preserved in glass cases for the gratifying of
the curious? Is it to think and live in the
ways of the ancients, simply because all wis-
dom was with them? Or, may it be possible
that we are striving and praying for a restora-
tion of the fullness of the truth which was
given to the world by Jesus Christ — truth upon
which no human thought or discovery can im-
prove? May it be that we are trying to con-
tend "for the faith which was once for all
delivered to the saints"? May it be that we
are striving to restore a full recognition of
the authority of that name of which it was
said: "There is no other name given under
heaven or among men by which we may be
saved"? Is it possible that there has been an
obscuring of the teachings of the great com-
mission of Him who possessed "all authority
in heaven and on earth," and that we have
been, in a humble way, attempting to scatter
the clouds which have gathered about it?
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

If it should be said that we are attempting
to restore the church of the first century, what
is meant? "Were there blunders and false
teachings and sins in that early church,
brought about by the weaknesses of men, and
is our plea for the copying of those blunders
and false teachings and sins? Are we attempt-
ing to copy or to ask others to follow the
teachings or lives of any man or set of men
who acted upon their own initiative, or who
were moved by their own weaknesses? Is
there to be a differentiation between the prin-
ciples and commands and examples of men who
taught as they were moved by the Holy Spirit,
and of those who departed from those same
teachings? Are we to suppose that the teach-
ing of the brethren who insisted that all Gen-
tiles must be circumcised before they can be
saved, and those of Paul claiming that these
men were destroying the very things for which
Christ died — are both of these to be counted
as examples in our attempts for restoration?
In order to be "apostolic" may we choose
between the manner in which the church of
Jerusalem observed the Lord's Supper, and
that of the church in Corinth? Is it possible
that those who sneer at the thought of copying
the teachings and examples of the primitive
church can not discern the difference between
the two?

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STUDIES

If we are to live in "the glorious present,"
in the sense in which this is sometimes urged
upon us, and if we are to seek primarily the
inspiration which the now has to offer, in what
direction shall we look for guidance? There
are many voices from the mountains, or the
wildernesses, or the deserts, crying, "Lo,
here," or "Lo, there," is Christ! To which
of these shall we turn? Shall it be to the
"seers" of the darkened room and of the mys-
terious writings? Shall it be Mrs. White, or
Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, or Emanuel Sweden-
borg, or Madame Blavatsky, or Joseph Smith,
or the "modern prophets" of "The New The-
ology," or to our own "inner consciousness,"
or to John Alexander Dowie, or to the
"Holy Rollers"? May we determine that
one or more of these are honest, and all the
others are frauds? By what standard shall
we choose between these? Or, if all are
to be discarded, where shall we turn and
what better reason have for going else-
where ?

All schools of "modern prophets" agree
at one point; they all, some to a greater and
some to a less extent, repudiate some of the
things which were taught by the Man of Galilee,
and by those to whom He is reputed to have
said that He would send to them the Holy
Spirit, who should bring to their remembrance
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

all things which He had said unto them, and
would lead them into all truth.

If our plea is for restoration, are we seek-
ing a person — for example, the Man of Galilee
— and His words as our polar star? Is it
possible that, if we should be found to be thus
"looking backward," we are to be classed
among those church people who "should have
lived one hundred or five hundred years ago
in order to be useful," because we have been
exposed as "pointing to the ways of the an-
cients"? Are such persons looking to a moss-
covered past for their inspiration? Has any
one or all of the "modern prophets" surpassed
those teachings and examples in so much as a
single particular? Is it at all probable that
he who throws alike all modern prophets into
the discard, and accepts as his infallible guid-
ance the things spoken by men to whom the
Son of God promised He would send the Holy
Spirit, who would "guide them into all truth"
— that these may be looking, not backward nor
downward, but forward and upward, notwith-
standing the intervening of nineteen centuries?

Lest some one should still ask, after what
has already been said. "If we are to attempt
to follow only the Man of Galilee, how may
we know what it was that He really said to
men?" we quote, at the risk of repetition. His
words to them. Hear Him: "All authority
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STUDIES

hath been given unto me in heaven and on
earth. Therefore, go ye. . . . Ye shall bear
witness because ye have been with me from the
beginning. . . . These things have I spoken to
you while I was yet abiding with you, but the
Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in my name, he shall teach
you all things, and bring to your remembrance
all that I said unto you. All things whatsoever
the Father hath are mine, therefore I said that
he shall take of mine and shall declare it unto
you. . . . Make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them into the name of the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have com-
manded you; and, lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the world."

We are to seek for Him, and for that which
He spoke, as our only basis for restoration,
and His teachings may be known only through
those whom He authorized to speak to the
world for Him. To the Father He said, "The
words which thou hast given unto me, I have
given unto them," and He prayed "for them
who believe on me through their word."

If our plea is for union, what do we seek
to unite? Are we to look for a great coming
into one of the ecclesiastical bodies of Christen-
dom? Is one powerful organization to be
reached through agreements entered into by
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

denominations as such as to what each shall
surrender or have imposed upon them by
others? Is this the union for which we plead,
and for which the Master prayed? Are we
seeking to evolve through mutual concessions
a ground for union which is to be possible,
workable and desirable? Shall we attempt to
force a combination, regardless of all standards
beyond those of our mutual agreements? Will
federation of denominations accomplish that
for which the Lord so fervently prayed?

Numerous plans for union are in the air.
There is no dearth of desire for union, and
this is to be appreciated. But the church of
Christ must look beyond a formal unity alone.
One must never be charged with marring the
fellowship of the brotherhood because he
pauses to ask whether plans proposed are plans
for which the Saviour prayed, and which will
accomplish His will. If some should ask to
be excused from following new and self-ap-
pointed leaders who claim to be blazing a new
and untried way to union, they must be given
credit for at least pausing to ask: "Lord, what
wilt Thou have me to do just now?" If
churches and individuals should be told that
the glory-paved way to the long-sought-for
union of the people of God is to be found
through "open membership," surely they may
be pardoned if they should ask of those who
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STUDIES

thus earnestly plead, for some evidence that
those who have already been practicing this
have found it workable and successful. Many
have not yet ceased to read the history of the
contentions of those who disclaimed the action
of Barton W. Stone, insisting that he had
thrown away one of the fundamental bases
upon which Christian union might be built.
And many have not overlooked the fact that
there have been those who have announced
themselves as "liberal" in the matter of bap-
tism in that they "give to each his choice as
to form," and that there has been no over-
whelming rush to those bodies for the sake of
Christian union ; indeed, they have been
struggling for almost three-quarters of a cen-
tury to induce their own brethren — those who
wear their own denominational names — to
throw away barriers which divide, and with
but exceedingly small success. Many have not
overlooked the fact that if sentiment and the
recognition of character, wisdom, culture and
piety are to be made gates into congregational
fellowship, we shall be compelled to extend
this to Quakers, extreme Unitarians, and to
many "Freethinkers," and substitute an en-
tirely new program for that which the inspired
apostles were taught by the Holy Spirit to
follow. Those who are not ready to throw
away all lessons from past history and from

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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

all inspired teachings on these points, are glad
to seek for mutual understandings, to engage
in all proper co-operation, to study in love
for the way to union, but, with them, these
things should be attempted under the fullest
realization of the supremacy of Jesus the
Christ. They can enter no agreement or alli-
ance which does not take cognizance of the
revealed teachings of Him who spake with "all
authority."

Has the search for our plea led us into the
proverbial ''blind alley'"? Let us hope for
something better than this. Not as an ulti-
mate statement, but for us to consider. I ask
whether that given below looks in the direc-
tion of the plea for which our Lord would
have us to stand.

"We plead

For a people united in complete submission to
Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God.

For a people engaged in the proclamation of
that gospel which is ' ' the power of God unto
salvation," which He "spake to us in his Son, . . .
the heir of all things, . . . the effulgence of his
glory, . . . the image of his substance, who sat
down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. ' '

For a people united in the service of human
beings as the Master served them.

For a united discipleship seeking the restora-
tion of the only gospel — its faith, its ordinances
and its life — that the world may be redeemed.

276

Worth-while Gleanings

277

WORTH-WHILE GLEANINGS

WORTH-WHILE GLEANINGS

ONDON Christian: It is the lifted face that

l—i feels the shining of the sun.

The Christian: Speaking without thinking
is like shooting without taking aim.

Author Unknown : Wisdom is knowing what
to do; virtue is doing it.

Anonymous : He who never changes any of
his opinions never corrects any of his mistakes.

Charles H. Parkhurst: Better say, "This
one thing I do," than, "These fifty things I
dabble in."

World Outlook: If the war has taught the
world anything, it is that the destinies of men
and nations are determined by what they are
in their minds and hearts.

W. J. Bryan : There is no new way ; it is
the old, narrow way. Temptations are the
same in substance that they were in the past,
and the prodigal son of to-day tells a like story
of husks and hogs to a father as anxious and
forgiving.

Robert Stuart MacArthur: Jesus Christ is
the pearl and crown of humanity; He is the
loftiest specimen the race has produced ; He is

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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

the fullest manifestation of divinity God has
given the world; He is the effulgence of God's
glory, and the very image of His substance.

Unknown : Forget the class and remember
the man; forget the price and remember the
pearl ; forget the labor and remember the fruit ;
forget the temple and remember God.

Jude: "Now unto him who is able to guard
you from stumbling, and to set you before the
presence of his glory without blemish in ex-
ceeding joy, to the only God our Saviour,
through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory,
majesty, dominion and power, before all time,
now and for evermore."

Soliloquist Unknown :

The Lazy Man's Soliloquy.
I wish I was a rock, a-settin' on a hill,
I wouldn't do a thing all day but just sit still;
I wouldn't work; I wouldn't think; I wouldn't even
wash ;

I'd sit right there a thousand years, and rest myself,
begosh.

Joyce Kilmer (who gave his life in France) :
The Tree.
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree;
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair ;

280

WORTH-WHILE GLEANINGS

Upon whose bosom snow has lain
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

Henry Van Dyke: Let not the church falter
and blush for her doctrines. Let her not turn
and go down the hill of knowledge to defend
her position in the valley of ignorance. Let
her go up the hill, welcoming every wider out-
look, rejoicing in every new discovery, gather-
ing fresh evidences of the truths which man
must believe concerning God, and new motives
to the duties which God requires of man.

My brethren, we must work and pray for
a true revival of Christian doctrine in our age.
We must deepen our own hold upon the truths
which Christ has taught us.

Job:

"Oh that I knew where I might find him!
That I might come even to his seat!
I would set my cause in order before him,
And fill my mouth with arguments.
Behold, I go forward, but he is not there;
And backward, but I cannot perceive him ;
But he Tcnoweth the way that I take;
When he trieth me I shall come forth as gold."

Peter Welshimer: "If thou knewest the gift
of God." That's the trouble. The world does
not know. The Samaritan woman did not
know; neither did her people. God's gift is
life eternal, and it comes through conforming
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

to His will. The means by which this gift is
procured is in Jesus Christ, in His own divine-
ly appointed way. "We call it the great plan
of redemption, and a plan it truly is. It makes
its appeal to both mind and heart ; there is
absolutely nothing unreasonable. The pity is
that men have mutilated it by additions and
subtractions, and have robbed it of some of its
attractiveness and power. It is the business
of the Christian to lead the world to know this
gift of God.

Alexander Campbell : Christianity can not
be reformed. Every attempt is like that to
create a new sun, or to change the revolutions
of the heavenly bodies — unprofitable and vain.
In a word, we have had reformation enough.
. . . A restoration of the ancient order of
things is all that is necessary to the happiness
and usefulness of Christians. ... To bring the
societies of Christians up to the New Testament
is just to bring the disciples, individually and
collectively, to walk in the faith and in the
commandments of the Lord and Saviour, as
presented in that blessed volume; and this is
to restore the ancient order of things. Cele-
brated as the era of reformation is, we doubt
not but that the era of restoration will far
transcend it in importance and fame.

Anonymous : "I have not time to pray. If
my lifp was not so full. If you knew how
282

WORTH-WHILE GLEANINGS

hard I work from morn to night. What time
is there for me to think and to pray?" This
is as if an engine had no room for steam;
as if a tree had no room for the sap; as if
a man had no room for soul. It is as if the
ocean had no place for the tide, or a life had
no time to live. Prayer is not something added
to life — it is life. Let no one say, I have no
time for prayer.

George D. Barrett, of the Congregational
Union of England and Wales : There is no little
peril in the broadening of theological thought,
in the present day; of its being tacitly as-
sumed that the differences which separate those
who affirm and those who deny that Jesus
Christ was the personal manifestation of God
in human flesh, the God-man, are trivial and
unimportant. For many who are unable to
worship Christ as God I have the deepest re-
gard and respect. Their moral life and charac-
ter, their sincerity and conviction, their intel-
lectual elevation — these win no reluctant ad-
miration from me ; but the theological and
doctrinal differences which divide us are vital
and profound. The chasm which separates one
who affirms and one who denies the Godhead of
Jesus is not to be bridged by personal regard,
however real and deep. If Jesus be in very
deed, and in a sense true of Him alone among
all the sons of men, the Son of God, then this
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

tremendous fact alters and colors all my rela-
tion to Him. The homage I pay to Him, the
reverence I owe to His supreme authority, are
His alone. I look behind the darkness and
desolation of the cross, beyond the empty tomb,
to the throne and the crown ; I fall down
crying, "Worthy is the Lamb that hath been
slain to receive the power, and riches, and wis-
dom, and might, and honor, and glory, and
blessing, ' * and, all through my earthly life, as
I follow Him whom I trust and whom I serve,
there is the whisper in my heart of a silent
adoration: "My Lord and my God."

M. B. Ryan ("In Quiet Places"): Moses—
amid the silence of the wilderness for forty
years, much of it in getting an unexaggerated
estimate of himself; much of it in unlearning
that "wisdom of the Egyptians" for which he
had become famous ; all of it getting ready for
that vision of the burning bush, that commis-
sion from Jehovah, that ministry by which he
created a nation, and put his impress on the
ages. Elijah — hiding in remote ravines, and in
homes of the humble, and darting out from
his concealment, with face of flint and tongue
of fire, to summon people and princes to judg-
ment, and to reverse the currents of history.
John the Baptist — living the hermit life amid
the crags and caverns of Judea 's waste places ;
then, like an apparition, coming forth as a
284

WORTH-WHILE GLEANINGS

conscience for his nation, summoning them to
repentance, and to readiness for the King.
Paul — wrenched from a fruitless warfare
against the eternal councils ; given time within
the deeps of Arabia's solitudes, for healing,
for readjustment, for filling with that dynamic
which was to carry him, on an ever-widening
field, to unmatched lengths of service and
heights of achievement. To some such seclu-
sion, some time or other, must every life come
that would realize itself. We find ourselves
only when the world has lost us. How many
miss the fair promises of life's morning be-
cause they refuse this hiding.

Miss Isabel B. Holbrook (A word of expla-
nation : This selection is considered as among
the "Worth-while Gleanings," not because of
the truth which it brings, because this may or
may not be there, but because of the excellent
example which it furnishes of the far-away-ed-
ness to which folks can go when they begin
to follow the jack-o '-lanterns of the marshes.
Miss Holbrook is a lecturer for Theosophy,
and this excerpt is taken from a lecture which
she delivered before the society of her faith or
un-faith, in Kimball Hall, Chicago) : "By a
proper application of education and Karma,
combined with gestation, and in line with the
higher understanding of the interrelationship
of the involutional and evolutional theories, or,
285

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

rather, principles, we will soon be bearing chil-
dren full grown."
Unknown :

It's easy to stride where the road is wide

And the pavement is firm and fine;
It 's easy to skip at a good, stiff clip

When the road is a long, white line;
It 's jolly, good fun down the hill to run,

If there isn't a chance to fall —
But the man's true blue if he just plugs through

Where there isn't a path at all.

Harry Lauder in Interview by Fred Lock-
ley, of the Oregon Journal: Men can no longer
say that the birth, the life, the crucifixion and
the death on the cross of the Son of man do
not concern them. He made the supreme sacri-
fice that men might have life. Possibly I could
not understand its full significance a few years
ago ; but I do now. My own laddie, my only
bairn, laid down his life for his fellows; he
made the supreme sacrifice. Thousands of
other parents, like Annie and myself, have
had their Gethsemane. My boy John lies on
the hillside beyond Hamel, in Picardy, where
he fell. . . . Am I a Scotch Presbyterian? Yes,
but at the front, in France, I got a new vision
of life and what it means. It means service —
service for others. I am for the simple re-
ligion of Jesus Christ. I want no man nor
creed to come between me and my God. We
286

WORTH-WHILE GLEANINGS

have too many creeds. We pay so much atten-
tion to our doctrines and creeds that, some-
times, I think we forget God. We are all
serving under the same great Commander, and
all marching forward and upward toward the
same destination. . . . The day has come for
the wiping out of religious intolerance and
animosities.

Roy Moulton:

If I had my life to live over again,

And could know all the things I know now,
I 'd tower with all of the proudest of men,

And make folks take notice, I vow.
I'd start making money when seven years old;

I would pinch, I would scrape, I would save;
I'd scheme and I'd plan for a fortune untold;

I would work, I would toil, I would slave ;
By trickery dark, by deceit and by stealth,

I would pile up the gold my life through ;
I would sadden the world by power of wealth —

And then, maybe I wouldn't. Would you?

Perhaps I never would have time to enjoy

The glories of nature and life,
But would use every moment that I could employ

In the whirl of the money-mad strife.
Perhaps I never would take time to feel

A small bit of compassion for those
I relentlessly crushed 'neath my grim iron heel,

Or to lessen their torture and woes.
Perhaps I never would find time to gaze

Into heaven's superb vault of blue,
Or to hear the birds warble their glorious lays —

But I guess that I would — wouldn't youf

287

Rhymes

1. To the End of Your Row

2. Keep Going

in

289

I

RHYMES

RHYMES

(Written (or my Student*.)

To the End of Your Row.

The row may be long

And the hoeing be tough ;

The sun may shine hot
And the walking be rough;

The boss may be grouchy
And the pay not enough —

But hoe to the end of your row.

To "strike" may look pleasing,
To "quit" seem the word:

To ' ' loaf ' ' be inviting
With loins all ungird ;
' ' The work is too irksome ' '
Be everywhere heard —

Yet hoe to the end of your row.

Be a man, then, my lad;

Be a woman, my girl ;
Mix a smile with your tear

And stay in the whirl ;
Have God for your star,

Success for your goal —
And plug to the end of your row.

Keep Going

Take this motto with you, lad —

Keep going;
If you'd drive away the sad —

Keep going;
If the day is full of joy,
Or your life seems all alloy —
No matter what it is, my boy,

Keep going.
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

Companions mar be rough, my lad —

Keep going ;
And others ' ' awful tough, ' ' my lad —

Keep going;
Every teacher may be glum,
Every student may be bum,
You the only one- — well, eome ;

Keep going.

"When the clouds are dark and low,

Keep going ;
Tho ' there be no sign of glow,

Keep going ;
Tho' the gold all seems as dross,
And your life seems only loss,
Smile beneath the heavy cross —

Keep going.

If rank doubts disturb your soul

Keep going;
If to fail appears your goal,

Keep going ;
When God seems to hide His face,
And no glimpse of Him you trace,
Stiffen with a cheerful grace —

Keep going.

The battle's for the brave, my lad —

Keep going;
The victory to the true, my lad —

Keep going;
See ! yonder is a God of might ;
Above you is the God of right ;
So near you is this God of light,
Who points a destiny that's bright —

Keep going.

292

Forms

Ordination of Ministers
Ordination of Elders, Deacons, Deacon-
esses

Dedication of House of Worship

Dedication of Building for Christian Edu-
cation

Laying Corner-stone of Church Building

293

FORMS

FORMS

(Ordinations, Dedications, Laying Corner-
stones. Inserted at the suggestion of L. D.
Anderson, pastor of First Christian Church,
Fort Worth.)

Ordination of Ministers

1. An Appropriate Sermon (with candidates
for ordination seated in front of the speaker).

2. Scripture Readings (1 Tim. 1:18, 19;
4:15, 16; 2 Tim. 2:15; 4:1-4; Tit. 2:7, 8).

3. Charge to Candidates (candidates stand-
ing).

My brethren, you have announced your
purpose to dedicate your lives to the ministry
of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. I
charge you to bear these things well in mind:

(1) Your ministry as a gospel preacher
should be for two purposes:

a. To win men and women to Christ.

6. To build them up in Christ.

When properly considered, these will be
found to cover your entire work. Do you ac-
cept this as your mission ?

(Answer.)

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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

(2) Your field is the world. Personally,
you can not touch every spot of earth, nor can
you preach to every soul. Still, your field is
the world. You should reach all which your
opportunity presents, whether by means of co-
operation or otherwise. Do you accept the
world as your field?

(Answer.)

(3) Your authority lies not in yourself, nor
in any other human being, but alone in Him
who said, "All authority hath been given unto
me in heaven and on earth." Do you accept
this as your only authority?

(Answer.)

(4) Your instruction from Him who holds
all authority is to be found in His words and
in those by His chosen apostles, to whom He
made the promise that the Holy Spirit would
bring to their remembrance all things which
He had spoken, and would guide them into all
truth. These teachings are to be found in the
New Testament Scriptures. Are you willing
to accept these writings as your source of in-
struction ?

(Answer.)

(5) Your constant Helper will be the Holy
Spirit, whom the Lord promised should be
with all those who believe on Him — that from
within them should flow rivers of living water.
Tarry until you be clothed with this power

296

FORMS

from on high; not through the revelation of
new truth, not in the gift of unknown tongues,
not that you will be empowered to work mira-
cles, and yet, in a very real sense, power from
on high. Will you look to this divine source
for strength and guidance?
(Answer.)

(6) Is it your fixed purpose to give your
life to the ministry of the gospel of Jesus
Christ ?

(Answer.)

(7) Do you fully understand that the work
which you now assume is not to be for ease or
for selfish purpose?

(Answer.)

(8) Is it to be your prayer that you may
preach to the world the gospel of Jesus Christ,
unmixed with human philosophy or traditions
of men?

(Answer.)

(9) Is it your determined purpose, the Lord
being your helper, to study with diligence the
revelation which He has given us in the book
which we call the Bible, that you may receive
from it your commission and instruction?

(Answer.)

(10) Do you believe yourself to be willing,
God helping you, to face discouragements,
difficulties, oppositions or other things which
may seem to impede your work, while you labor

297

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

to faithfully preach the Word of the living
God to a needy world?
(Answer.)

Because of your expressed desire to devote
your entire life to the ministry of the Word ;
because your brethren of your home congrega-
tion have expressed their entire confidence in
you as being suited to this sacred service; be-
cause of your replies to the questions asked
of you ; because of the crying need for conse-
crated toilers in the fields already white unto
harvest — I take pleasure in publicly introduc-
ing you to the church of Jesus Christ and to
the world as worthy men and servants of our
Lord for the proclamation of His gospel.

May you never be swerved by the entice-
ments of ease, or fame, or wealth, or worldly
power, from these blessed vows which you have
taken. You will please kneel.

(Placing hands on the heads of the candi-
dates, the prayer of ordination will be offered.
Then they will arise end the entire congrega-
tion be requested to stand as the following is
given in unison, as indicated.)

Elders — Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but prove the spirits whether they be of God.

Congregation and Candidates — Hereby know
we the Spirit of God; every spirit that con-
fesseth that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
is of God.

298

FORMS

Elders — Humble yourselves under the
mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in
due season.

Congregation and Candidates — Casting all
anxiety upon Him, for He careth for us.

Elders — Take up the whole armor of God
that you may be able to withstand in the evil
day, and, hav'ng done all, to stand.

Congregation and Candidates — May we be
strong in the Lord and in the power of His
might.

All in Concert — Unto Him who is able to
guard us from stumbling, and to set us before
the presence of His glory, without blemish, in
exceeding joy, to the only God our Saviour,
through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory,
majesty, dominion and power, before all time
and now and for evermore. Amen.

(As a song of consecration is being sung, a
number of selected persons should give to the
candidates the right hand of fellowship in
behalf of the congregation ; if preferred, this
may be done by the entire congregation. As-
signments for different parts of above — read-
ings, prayer, charge, questions — may be made
to different assistants, as desired.)

Ordination of Elders, Deacons, Deaconesses

(This form is for a joint ordination of
elders, deacons and deaconesses. If but one
299

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

of these groups is to be ordained, this can
easily be adjusted.)

1. An Appropriate Sermon (with candi-
dates for ordination seated immediately in
front of the speaker; the elders seated in the
center of the line).

2. Scripture Reading for Elders (1 Tim.
3:1-7; Tit. 1:5-9; 1 Pet. 5:1-4).

3. Charge to Candidates for Eldership (can-
didates standing).

Brethren (calling name of each elder),
your brethren and sisters of this congregation
have manifested their confidence in you as
worthy servants of the Lord and of His church
by selecting you as their leaders and bishops.
We are told in our Bibles that the Holy Spirit
selected men as overseers for churches of Jesus
Christ. Let us hope and pray that you may
indeed be the choice of the Spirit of God for
this holy work. You are not to "lord it over
God's heritage." Remember this church is
God's heritage, not yours. You are officers
only in the sense of being servants of the Lord
and of men. The truest leader, the safest
overseer, is the one who serves as in the sight
of God. Take heed unto yourselves first of all.
You are to be in the limelight of public inves-
tigation. Unless you yourselves are true, you
can not lead others aright. Take heed to the
flock. Feed the church of the Lord which He
300

FORMS

hath purchased with His own blood. Remem-
ber the price of this purchase — His own blood
— and count not your task as a trivial thing.
Grievous wolves may enter among you, not
sparing the flock — men arising and speaking
perverse things that they may draw the disci-
ples after themselves. Watch ye. And now
we commit you to God and to the word of His
grace which is able to build you up and to give
the inheritance among all them that are sanc-
tified. Help the weak and remember the words
of our Lord when He said: "It is more blessed
to give than to receive."

Are you, each answering for himself, willing
to now accept the sacred trust which this
church has committed into your hands?

(Answer.)

Is it your purpose to earnestly, diligently
and prayerfully seek every opportunity to dis-
charge your duties as elders or bishops of this
congregation to the best of your ability and
opportunity ?

(Answer.)

Do you fully understand that the office of
an elder, a bishop of a church of Jesus Christ,
is not to lord it over God's children, but to
help to lead them to the highest plane of
Christian piety and service?

(Answer.)

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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

Is it your wish and purpose to constantly
look to Him who giveth liberally and up-
braideth not, for your help and strength and
guidance in this sacred task ?

(Answer.)

By reason of the action of this congregation
in selecting you; because of your satisfactory
replies to the questions asked; because we hope
it may prove to be true that you have indeed
been chosen by the Holy Spirit for this task —
in the name of this congregation, we now de-
clare you to be elders of (give the local name
of the congregation). May you ever seek to be
true to the work and to the people and to the
Lord, and may you have strength and wisdom
from above. You will please kneel.

(Placing hands on the heads of the candi-
dates, the prayer of ordination will be offered.
They will then be asked to stand, also the
entire congregation, and the following will be
given in unison, as indicated.)

Elders — Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but prove the spirits whether they be of God.

Congregation and Candidates — Hereby know
we the Spirit of God ; every spirit that con-
fesseth that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
is of God.

Elders — Humble yourselves under the
mighty hand of God. that He may exalt you in
due season.

302

FORMS

Congregation and Candidates — Casting all
anxiety upon Him, for He careth for us.

Elders — Take up the whole armor of God,
that you may be able to withstand in the evil
day, and, having done all, to stand.

Congregation and Candidates — May we be
strong in the Lord and in the power of His
might.

All in Concert — Unto Him who is able to
guard us from stumbling, and to set us before
the presence of His glory, without blemish, in
exceeding joy, to the only God our Saviour,
through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory,
majesty, dominion and power, before all time
and now and for evermore. Amen.

Will you (calling names of newly ordained
elders) please take your places with us. (Places
should be previously assigned to these, on the
right and left of those who have conducted
their ordination. This is that they may take
part in the ordination of the deacons and
deaconesses.)

4. Scripture Reading (on work of deacons
and deaconesses — 1 Tim. 3:8-11; Acts 6:2-4).

5. Charge to Candidates (candidates stand-
hag).

Brothers and sisters (calling each by name),
the (give name of local congregation) has
chosen you to act in the capacity of deacons
and deaconesses. Too often have these import-

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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

ant offices been regarded as positions without
service, by those upon whom the work has been
laid, and who have solemnly promised to at-
tempt a faithful discharge of the same. I
solemnly charge you that, unless you purpose,
by the help of God, to do faithful service, you
at this moment step aside from the line of
chosen men and women rather than to bring
disrepute upon an honored position in the
organized work of the Master's church. Your
duties can not be specified in detail, as they
will vary from time to time, but, generally
speaking, you are to take oversight of all tem-
poral interests of the congregation, and to
provide for the needy and distressed within
your borders, and to do your utmost to en-
list the full and hearty co-operation of the
entire membership of the congregation in these
duties.

In view of these opportunities and respon-
sibilities, do you, each for himself or herself,
promise each other, the congregation and your
Lord, to faithfully attempt to discharge these
duties ?

(Answer.)

Because of your selection by this congre-
gation, and of our perfect confidence in you as
faithful disciples of our Lord, and of your
replies to the questions asked of you, I take
pleasure in announcing that, by the authority
304

FORMS

of this congregation, you are deacons and
deaconesses of the (local name of the congre-
gation). May you be true; may you look to
the hills for your strength; may you prove
your worth and your faith in service. You
will please kneel.

(During the ordination prayer, hands are
to be placed on the heads of the candidates,
the newly ordained elders taking part in this.)

6. Ordination Prayer.

(After ordination prayer and as the entire
congregation stands, the following is to be re-
peated in unison.)

To Thee, almighty God, our Father, we
come as a band of Thy children, imploring Thy
help for this congregation, for these who have
dedicated themselves to special service, that
all of us together may strive for the faith and
for the service of the church of Jesus Christ,
Thy Son and our Lord. Give us strength and
wisdom and patience and endurance and
courage and power, we pray in the name of
Thy Son. Amen.

In the name of (insert name of local con-
gregation) we now extend to you, as deacons
and deaconesses, the hand of fellowship and
co-operation. (All, including newly ordained
elders, extend to deacons and deaconesses the
hand.)

20 305

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

Dedication of House of Worship

1. An Appropriate Sermon.

2. The Dedication Service (the congregation
standing) .

(There should be two suitable persons desig-
nated as leaders — Leader No. 1 and Leader
No. 2. These should be persons who can, in
an impressive way, take the parts assigned to
them. No mistake should be made in the
selection.)

Leader No. 1 — Lord God of Israel, there is
no God like Thee, in heaven above or on earth
beneath, who keepeth covenant and mercy with
Thy servants who walk before Thee with all
their hearts.

Congregation — He is our God, our King
and our Redeemer.

Leader No. 2 — Behold, the heaven of
heavens can not contain Thee; how much less
this house which we have builded.

Congregation — Our God is great. His glory
covers the whole earth.

Leader No. 1 — When Thy people shall sin
and turn again to Thee, and confess Thy name
and pray in this house, 0 Lord, hear Thou in
heaven.

Congregation — And forgive us freely. This
we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, Thy Son
and our Lord.

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Leader No. 2 — When great sorrow shall
afflict Thy people, if they turn to Thee, hear
Thou their prayer, 0 God.

Congregation — And to Thee will we ascribe
all praise and glory.

Leader No. 1 — The supplication made by
any one who shall know the plague of his own
heart, and who shall lift his voice in this house,
wilt Thou hear in heaven, Thy dwelling-place,
and give to every one according to his heart,
0 Lord.

Congregation — Help us to know our hearts,
our God.

Both Leaders in unison — May the Lord our
God be with us ; may He not leave us nor
forsake us ; may He incline our hearts unto
Him that we may walk in His ways, and keep
His commandments and obey His statutes.

Congregation — And may all the people of
earth know that our Lord is God, and that
there is none other.

Both Leaders in unison — Amen and Amen.

All in concert, with bowed heads — "With
gratitude and thanksgiving for Thy bounties, in
faith and with love, we, Thy people, dedicate
this house to Thy service and worship, 0 Lord
of heaven and of earth. Help us also to dedi-
cate ourselves to Thee, in the name of Christ,
our Saviour. Amen.

(All remain standing.)

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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

3. Dedicatory Prayer.

4. Dedicatory Sang.

Dedication of Building for Christian Edu-
cation

(This was used in the dedication of Brite
College of the Bible, Texas Christian Univer-
sity, Fort Worth, Texas.)

1. An Appropriate Address.

2. The Dedicatory Service (as all stand and
so remain throughout the service). Brief
statement concerning purpose of the service by
the president.

The President— What should be our chief
question as we serve in this building?

Trustees and Faculty — Lord, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.

Congregation — Amen.

A Member of Faculty — What seed should
be planted in the minds and hearts of our
students ?

Trustees and Congregation— The seed is the
word of God.

A Member of Faculty — What should be our
attitude toward this Word as we teach it?

Trustees and Congregation — Let the Word
of Christ dwell in you richly.

A Member of Faculty — Are words which
were uttered centuries ago to be counted as of
authority to-day?

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FORMS

Trustees and Congregation — Heaven and
earth shall pass away, but His words shall
never pass away.

A Member of Faculty — Can not the cul-
tured and wise prophets of later centuries
speak words of authority equal to that of the
Man of Galilee?

Trustees and Congregation — Never man
spake like this man.

Faculty — Your words have been fitly chosen.
They are like apples of gold in networks of
silver.

President — Into our hands, as instructors,
is being entrusted that of which the value is
far above rubies. Young men and women
taught here will go from us to teach others
also. Our work will be reproduced and multi-
plied. In the face of this, what shall we of
the Faculty attempt to teach?

A Member of Faculty — While we are to in-
spire our students to reach for the richest
scholarship possible to them, to open their
minds to truth from whatever source it may
come, and to be tolerant to all, we are to recog-
nize, as supreme above all else, the words of
Him who said: "All authority hath been given
unto me in heaven and on earth ; go ye, there-
fore, and make disciples of all the nations,
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever

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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

I commanded you; and lo, I am with you al-
ways, even to the end of the world."

President — In what spirit shall we teach
His word?

A Member of Faculty — If we speak in the
tongues of men and of angels, but have not
love, we are become sounding brass or clanging
cymbal ; if we have the gift of prophecy and
know all mysteries and all knowledge, but have
not love, we are nothing.

President — If difficulties confront us, and
wild beasts beset our pathway, and adversity
threaten to destroy; if we are misunderstood
and misrepresented ; if friends grow cold and
forsake us — what shall we do?

A Member of Faculty — May we not seek to
emulate him who, at the close of a life of faith,
could write: "I have fought the good fight; I
have finished the course ; I have kept the faith ;
henceforth there is laid up for me the crown
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, shall give me at that day, and not to
me only, but also to all them that have loved
His appearing"?

Congregation — May the God of all grace
ever remain with these, our brethren; may His
love o'ershadow them, and His Holy Spirit
direct them; and may they be able to rejoice
in the victory of their faith. May we, as their
brethren, stand loyally beside them. When

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war shall rage in Rephidim, or when Amalek
shall oppose, may we be found standing on
that side and on this, keeping their hands
steady until the going down of the sun.

All in unison — Almighty God, with grati-
tude and thanksgiving, in faith and love, we,
Thy people, now dedicate this house to Thee.
We pray for strength and courage and wisdom
and the spirit of love, that we may be diligent
and loyal in the opportunity to equip men and
women for labor in Thy service. We hope-
fully ask this in the name of our Lord and
Saviour, Jesus Christ.

3. Prayer of Dedication.

4. Song of Thanksgiving.

Laying Corner-stone of Church Building

(This form was used in laying of corner-
stone of First Christian Church of Fort Worth.)

PROGRAM.

1. Hymn (congregation singing "How Firm
a Foundation").

2. Scripture Lesson (1 Cor. 3:10-17).

3. Prayer.

4. Brief Address ("Team Work").

5. Brief Address ("Consecration").

6. Responsive Reading.

Master of Ceremonies — Brothers and sisters,
we have just laid the foundation for a building
which we hope soon to dedicate to the service

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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

and worship of God. To-day we are to lay its
corner-stone. Eight little children will render
this service. How appropriate when we remem-
ber that our Lord said, "Of such is the king-
dom of heaven."

"While the building will be nearing comple-
tion, may we remember that the material house
can only be a means which children of God
can use for service ; that the real temple of
God is the child of God. In him dwells the
Holy Spirit. In him is the light which must
scatter darkness. He is the power-house of
God on earth. It was to human beings — disci-
ples of Christ — to whom the Master spoke when
He said, referring to His own wonderful works,
"Greater works than these shall ye do;"
greater work than giving sight to the blind,
causing the lame to leap, cleansing the leper
and raising the dead. Greater work than these
is done when the church of God. with the
power of Christ, moves through a sin-cursed
world, opening the eyes of men that they may
turn from darkness to light, and from the
power of Satan unto God, that they may re-
ceive remission of sins, and an inheritance
among them who are sanctified through faith
in the Redeemer of the world.

Elders and deacons and deaconesses of the
(insert name of the congregation), why have
you called us together to-day?

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FORMS

Elders and Deacons and Deaconesses — That
we may lay the corner-stone of a house later
to be dedicated to the worship and service of
our God.

Master of Ceremonies — Does this corner-
stone signify to you more than the stone which
we see?

Elders and Deacons and Deaconesses — Yes.
And yet it is but a faint symbol of the true
Corner-stone.

Master of Ceremonies — What do you mean
by "the true Corner-stone"?

Elders and Deacons and Deaconesses — The
true Foundation and the true Corner-stone are
one. "Other foundation can no man lay than
that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. . . .
Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-
stone. ' '

Master of Ceremonies — This house will
furnish an equipment for what has come to be
known as "A Workshop."

Officers and teachers of the Bible school,
what are your plans?

Officers and Teachers of Bible School — Our
hope is to become more efficient in teaching
the Word of God to others. To this end may
we all strive and pray.

Master of Ceremonies — Pupils of the Bible
school, what of you?

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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

Bible-sehool Pupils — May our instructors so
effectively bring the message of divine truth to
us that we. in turn, may be able to teach
others also.

Master of Ceremonies — Fathers and mothers,
may the church expect your co-operation in the
work planued to be done here?

Fathers and Mothers — Our sons and daugh-
ters are precious heritages given unto us in
trust. May God help us to rise to our oppor-
tunities.

Master of Ceremonies — Young men and
young ladies, these older ones will soon pass
from the scene of opportunity ; some of these
will go with barrenness of life. Into your
hands is already being placed the responsibility
of to-morrow. Will you try to be worthy
of the same?

Young Men and Young "Women — May God
help us to do so.

Master of Ceremonies — The proper persons
will now place in the stone the articles selected
for this purpose.

(Here, have those selected for the purpose
place in the corner-stone such things as may
be chosen.)

Master of Ceremonies — The corner-stone
will now be laid.

(Previously, the stone must have been ar-
ranged so that it may be moved by levers and

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placed in its proper place. While it is being
lifted, the children chosen for the purpose will
place their hands upon it, moving it to its de-
pository. As they do this, they will speak the
words next given.)

Eight Children — With our small hands, we
now lay the corner-stone of this house of God.
May we be as firm in our faith as it will be
in its service.

7. Closing Prayer.

315

CHARLES W. GIBSON

(Mr. Gibson died after the matter for this
volume was in print.)

THE list of "Our Remembered Dead" in-
cluded only the names of preachers, but,
for many reasons, the rule is departed from
here. Personally, I never had a more intimate
nor a more genuine friend. When I first went
to Waxahachie, in 1879, I met Charles W. Gib-
son for the first time. He was not a man who
formed intimacies quickly ; always kind and
courteous, but making close friendships slowly.
At that time, no member of the Gibson family
in Waxahachie was a member of the church.
His wife and other members of the home circle
preceded Mr. Gibson there.

In 1888 a child was laid low, and, for weeks,
a beautiful little life hung in the balance. At
this bedside I first felt that "Charlie" Gibson
and I were, in reality, becoming friends. The
little life faded away, and I stood with the
bereaved ones in their time of Gethsemane.
Three months later, in a meeting held with
"home forces," Mr. Gibson responded to the
invitation, and a life of large and glorious
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DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN TEXAS

Christian service was begun. In a few years
he became a deacon, and, later, an elder in
the "Waxahaehie Church. Never did a pastor
have a more royal nor more loyal support than
he always rendered. It is not putting other
worthy persons into the discard to say that for
thirty years he was among the very chiefest
of the local congregation. As trustee of Texas
Christian University for twenty-one years
(1899 to his death), he was one of. and a leader
among, the veiy few who. more than once, saved
the life of the institution. As trustee of Brite
College of the Bible from the day of its birth,
member of the Board of Directors of the Texas
Christian Missionary Convention, director of
Christian Courier, he was always at his post —
not merely to answer "Present"" when the roll
was called, but as a mighty factor in each of
these enterprises.

He was among the choicest of friends. This
was made manifest in days when true friends
were needed. More than this, he was a true
disciple of his Lord. Never presumptuous, he
was always useful.

"When we lowered his body into the tomb.
I felt as if a part of myself went with him to
the other side, and that a part of him remained
with me. To-day T rejoice in the confidence
that this was more than a transient feeling;
that it was. and is. a blessed reality.

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CHARLES W. GIBSON

He and I began the earth life in the same
year of our Lord, though more than a thousand
miles apart. He has preceded me into the Over
Yonder, but we shall meet again. For the in-
tervening time, my friend, my brother, farewell.

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