USA > Nebraska > Congregational Nebraska > Part 9
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Orphan Home till in 1866 I was called back to take charge of my Pawnee school. There being an Episcopalian in charge of the agency at that time, Bishop Clarkson of blessed memory asked the rector of the Columbus church, Rev. Mr. Goodale, to look after the lambs in the Pawnee school. As he was the son of a Congregational minister, we wrought together most pleasantly. During his stay with us, coming each month to hold service in the school build- ing, there was a large class desiring baptism, and by his request properly to instruct them as to the meaning and design of the solemn sacrament, I used a catechism prepared by his society for instructing the young, and found it very helpful.
"The Sabbath morning when the ceremony was to occur, as I passed through one of the halls, a small girl who had been present during the training of the class, but had not been reckoned as one, met me and in beseeching tones said, 'Mrs. Platt, I want to be baptized.' 'O Maria,' I said, 'I am afraid you do not understand.' With pathetic tone and look she answered, 'Yes, I do.'
"Consulting with Mr. Goodale, we decided if a lamb stood bleating at the gate, we would not forbid her entering the fold, and she was baptized with the twenty-seven.
"While absent on my vacation that summer she died, and my assistant teacher told me that the morning of her death she said to Maria, 'Do you know we think God will call you to Himself .to-day ?' Her answer was 'I am ready.'
"Our good helper continued with us till Grant's Quaker policy was inaugurated, when his church thought it honor- able to withdraw, and he left the field for others to occupy.
"The Rev. Mr. Elliott, who was a home missionary sta- tioned at Columbus twenty miles distant, soon visited me, he being a Congregationalist, and I a charter member of the church in his care. With his wife he often came to hold service and give aid and courage to those of us con-
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nected with the school. While he was thus assisting us one of our caretakers asked for baptism, and two of our Indian boys wished to unite with her. They were brothers, and the elder was one who was obliged to assist the men on the reservation farm. The younger was a gentle, loving brother. They hesitated about presenting themselves, as the elder brother feared he should dishonor the Savior by getting angry when the farm men swore at and kicked him, but as the younger refused to go without him they at last pledged themselves to the service of our Lord in the coveted rite. The younger, our gentle Richard, was soon after called to leave us for, his Heavenly Home.
"Our Quaker agent was catholic in his views, and the years we wrought together were those of Christian friend- ship. But at last there came an editor from the East to view our work, and on his return he commenced his report by writing, 'It is just two years since an effort was com- menced to christianize and civilize the Pawnees,' and closed by adding, 'It is very incongruous that a school under the rule of the Friends should be in charge of an orthodox Congregationalist.'
"It was not long before I was requested to leave my children, and with a heart full of sorrow I went.
"Between these lines lie veiled volumes of broken govern- mental treaties, of robbery and deceit and treachery and uncleanness practiced by those sent to the Pawnees to teach them the arts of civilization which proved to be to them a curse, and which, if uncovered, would lead us to feel it were better that they had been left in their wildness and ignorance.
"Yours in Christian bonds, "MRS. E. G. PLATT."
Mrs. Platt's severe arraignment of government officials only shows that in too many cases the government has been
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as treacherous in its dealings with the Indians as have been the Indians before their christianization in their rela- tions to the whites.
The treatment of the Indians by the government is a sad chapter in American history, and Mrs. Platt's experience
REV. C. S. HARRISON
among the Pawnees shows how politics enters in to disturb a work which, if protected, would result in great good.
REV. C. S. HARRISON
All Nebraskans know Rev. C. S. Harrison as a cultivator and propagator of beautiful and rare plants and flowers.
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But the pioneers know him better as a courageous, bold, successful, and devoted pioneer preacher and worker. By request Mr. Harrison has furnished the following
REMINISCENCES
"In the fall of '71 while pastor of the Congregational church of Earlville, Illinois, I received a request from George S. Harris, land commissioner of the Burlington & Missouri railroad, to take charge of a colony. I came out to look the ground over.
"Lincoln was but a village with plenty of room to grow. The railroad terminus was Sutton. I rode out on a load of railroad ties. The track was so rough the bell rang of its own accord. Sutton had three shanties; two of these were saloons, and I noticed that towns started that way were tainted for a long time after if not permanently.
"Finally York was settled upon. The place had six shan- ties, and one of these was built of sod. I believe I preached the first sermon in York, November, 1871. Service was held in an unfinished store, and it was very cold. There were fourteen persons present and the service was short. The county was new and raw; hardly a house to obstruct the vision, and those that were seen were miserably built of sod. The Congregational church was organized with only a few members in an unfinished land office in the spring of 1872. Soon after a little schoolhouse was built.
"THE ACADEMY
"One of the inducements offered a colony was that an academy should be built. For this purpose forty acres of land were donated, and in those early days, when the locust invasion was the worst, a fine building went up as a glorious hope in the midst of despair.
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"On account of its proximity to Crete it was thought best not to open the academy. It was used for our church. About this time the Methodists located their college at York, and we freely gave them the use of the building. It was eventually sold at half cost, and the proceeds went into the church building. I think in the year 1873 I organized the church at Arborville with six members, in the parlor of Deacon Twichell, the son of a faithful pioneer missionary, Rev. Royal Twichell, who did heroic work in Minnesota. The old man was a father to me when, sick and discouraged, 1 went to that new state in 1857. I attended his funeral in Arborville. It was like burying a father.
"Having organized a church I knew it was necessary for them to have a home, and so we erected a building 26 x 40. That was then the largest in the county. I held at different times two series of meetings there which resulted in quite an ingathering. We had to haul the lumber thirty-six miles. I gave much time and a block of land, and preached a year or two without a cent of salary. The people were very poor. But now they have a fine new church, an able and beloved pastor, and the work and sacrifice paid. Six churches were organized in York county, and those I or- ganized and fostered are the only ones alive.
"THE LIQUOR WAR
"Yes, it was war! I was the means of bringing in about 600 people into the town and county and these were mostly in favor of education and temperance. But 'Satan came also,' and we determined to keep him out, and so there was war.
"At first, knowing the tremendous malignity of the liquor power, we were afraid to prosecute. Finally I suggested that seven of us should unite. We did so, and with such a backing there was dismay in the ranks. That, however, was
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the timidity under the first fire. When they threatened to kill me and started out to do so, and nearly killed a witness, all fear was banished, and I entered prosecutions thick and fast. I raised $1,500 one night with which to fight it out. We fought to the finish. The thing seems settled. The matter does not come up at all at our elections.
"Crete and Seward had a far better start, and far better locations, but York went ahead two to one because it kept clean., It has over 6,000 population to-day.
"It was hard to give up the academy idea. Our edu- cators had not yet realized the importance of having feeders for the college, and it was a long time before the present attitude was reached.
"In the last of the 'zos I was helping Rev. Mr. Strong in a series of meetings in Bloomington, Nebraska, and the idea of an academy came up. We talked till midnight over it. 'Where should it be?' 'At Franklin,' a new town with six houses, no saloon, and the right kind of people. I was so much impressed that I walked down, wading through snow- drifts, got the leading people together, outlined the plan, and the academy was located there. I was called in 1883 from the pastorate of Pueblo, Colorado, to become pastor at Franklin. I put in there eight of the most important years of my life. It was a work of faith, in ways new and strange. The Lord opened unseen gates for us, and money rained down upon us, twice $500; once $1,000.
"I was called thence to be Field Secretary of the Educa- tion Society at Boston. I continued in that work two years, till my health failed.
"Rising from the borders of the grave from rheumatic fever, I was called to the pastorate of the Weeping Water church. There I had the hardest work in my life. The church was about $10,000 in debt, and discouraged. The times were the hardest. The academy was worse than
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bankrupt. The church debt was paid. The academy was placed on the list of the Education Society, and a good deal of money was raised. Buildings were hired and furnished, and to crown all, a blessed revival added over 100 to the church within a month.
"Now the nation on Thanksgiving Day, 1904, celebrates my seventy-second birthday, and I bless the Lord that He has permitted me to live and work for Him.
"When a boy in 1844 I hunted the dirty little village of Chicago over for a peck of potatoes. I have seen the mighty West grow up from babyhood.
"In 1857 I began work in Minnesota; was often nearly frozen; once a horse sank with me three times and I was nearly drowned. I have had the bitter with the sweet.
"To sum up: I helped to found two academies; built and paid for ten churches ; have been in above forty pre- cious revivals, and I hope to meet a thousand souls in glory. And I now wait on the hither shore among my flowers, adorning Beulah Land, making it prophetic of the glory beyond.
"Yours, "C. S. HARRISON."
REV. A. A. CRESSMAN
Rev. A. A. Cressman served in the work of the churches for twenty-five years, most of the time as a home mission- ary. A brief sketch of his work in Nebraska is here given :
"I came into Nebraska from the Presbyterian church in Monroeville, Ohio, in March, 1879. I took charge of the Congregational church at Camp Creek, where I remained one year. I organized a church at Sheridan which after- ward disbanded; was called to Congregational church at Albion. The organization was small, having no church
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building. I served also every alternate Sunday the churches at Boone and Cedar Rapids for several years. Both churches later disbanded. I was at Albion six years; while there a house of worship was erected and the church brought to self-support. During this time I also served as county
REV. A. A. CRESSMAN
superintendent of schools for four years, and preached at a number of schoolhouses.
"A more devoted and loyal people I never served. In April, 1886, I took charge of the Congregational church at Wahoo, having a membership of some twenty-five. We paid a debt of $300 on building, and built a commodious parsonage. The church contributed $goo for benevolent
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objects other than her own work, and received eighty-six members, of whom sixty-six were received on confession of faith. I resigned, April 1, 1892, after serving the church six years. While at Wahoo I was secretary of the city school board.
"I commenced my pastorate of four and a half years with the church at Fairmont, April 1, 1892. There we built a parsonage, paid a church debt, raised over $700 for benevolences. The church was self-supporting. I also served during this pastorate the churches at Strang, Shick- ley, and Bruning, preaching at all three churches once a month, for which I received home missionary aid. I was also a member of the Fairmont school board for two years. While pastor here ninety-six members were received, sixty of whom came into the church on confession of faith.
"I resigned September 1, 1896, to become state secretary of Doane College, which position I held until September I, 1901. While secretary the first two years I supplied every Sunday the church at Grafton, and the next two years the church at Waverly, and for a few months the Rokeby church. As secretary I visited and addressed nearly all the high schools in the state, and most of them a number of times, traveling over 65,000 miles. I preached in nearly all the Congregational churches in the state, and lectured over 200 times in the interest of institutes and high schools. I served as chaplain in the state senate of Nebraska during the sessions of 1899 and 1901.
"I took charge of the church at Grand Island, September I, 1901, and remained as pastor until March 1, 1904, when I left to take charge of my present field, Farragut, Iowa, rounding out just twenty-five years of service in Nebraska. During this time I received into the church by letter II0; on confession of faith 180; total 290. I officiated at 130 funerals and 65 weddings, was Moderator of the General
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Association at Holdrege in 1899, and have been elected delegate to five National Councils.
"When I went to .Albion in 1880 most of the houses out- side of town were built of sod, and so were the schoolhouses. It seems to me my happiest days were when visiting in, and preaching to people crowded into these sod houses. The people in those early days were eager to listen to Gospel truths. They did not remain at home on account of poor clothes or distance from place of preaching. They came in all sorts of clothes and vehicles. Many walked three and four miles to the sod schoolhouse where the Sun. day school and services were held. A large number of the young people in the Sunday school then are now the fore- most leaders in our churches. The seed sown is yielding fruit in many cases a hundred fold."
One must read between the lines in such a rapid survey of work to appreciate fully the busy life of a pioneer pastor.
DR. GEORGE SCOTT
Rev. Dr. Scott is an Englishman who came into Ne- braska in an early day, worked with a sister denomination for a time until he finally "came unto his own." He has also served the government as United States consul in Odessa, Russia, from 1884 to 1886, and is well known in affairs of state. He served as chaplain of the Nebraska house of representatives in a special session in 1882, and in the regular sessions of 1883 and of 1903.
Dr. Scott writes as follows:
"While I was engaged in missionary work among the coal miners in the north of England, the call came for men to preach the Gospel in the great West to the large body of immigrants who had gone to the states after the close of the Civil war.
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"I felt perfectly sure that a man could be secured to fill my position in England very much easier than for the work across the sea. So although I had been in this par- ticular work for six years, and was much attached to it, I decided to heed the call, and in May, 1871, I, with my wife and infant son, started for Nebraska.
"We entered Nebraska from Sioux City, Iowa, at Cov- ington, and thence toward the frontier, fifty miles from railroad, with the mail carrier in his open democrat wagon ..
"The people had not had a minister for a year, and al- though they were anxious for one, they had not expected one and had made no provision for him. There was no parsonage nor any house that could be rented, so we lived around among the people in their poor narrow quarters. The hearty welcome accorded us compensated for the rough- ness of the living.
"I found that the only place for holding meetings was in a poor log schoolhouse with rough home-made benches. But the old schoolhouse became a Bethel to many.
"That winter we held a series of meetings lasting for thirty nights, to which many came regularly, even as far as twelve miles, and great numbers were converted. We knew that there could be no permanent success without a church home, so every one put his shoulder to the work, and the next summer a church building and parsonage were built and dedicated, out of debt. .
"When we got into the new clean church the men kept up their old practice of chewing tobacco and making the floor a cuspidor, as they had in the old schoolhouse. I made up my mind that this must be stopped, so before preaching one Sunday morning I said, 'You people used to chew tobacco and spit all about the schoolhouse, but now we are in a beautiful church building and I wish you would not do it. I know it will be hard work for some of you to
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quit for an hour, but if you make an effort I believe you can do it. If you can not succeed we will get a log of wood and place it outside the door, on which you can place your quid when you come in, and it will not be considered an interruption of the service, if you find you can not endure the abstinence, if you retire and take your quid and chew it a few times and then return to the church.' I added, 'I'll guarantee that you will find your tobacco where you placed it, for there is not a hog in town that would touch it.' The cure was perfect.
"Next summer the grasshoppers came in such numbers that the heavens were darkened. Wherever they alighted, in a few hours the crops were destroyed. The people were helpless; nothing to sell; no money to be had. Many be- came subjects of charity. For a long time I had not enough money to buy a postage stamp. Friends in England offered to send money to take us back again; our answer was, 'We have made our choice to preach the Gospel to this people, and we will continue to work here.'
"These were hard times, but it paid. Sixteen years after this I returned to visit one of the settlements. I preached to them two evenings and held a fellowship meeting. In the experiences that were given, numbers testified that they were converted in the old log schoolhouse sixteen years be- fore. Among those giving experiences was the pastor of the church, who said, 'I was converted at the close of a meeting held by Brother Scott in my father-in-law's house.' His wife bore the same testimony. It pays to make sacrifice for the Lord.
"The harness that I was required to wear for seven and one-half years in Nebraska never did fit me, so I determined to put it aside and chose a system of church government that was more in accord with my views.
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"In the fall of 1878 I made application for admission into the Columbus Association of Congregational Churches. After dute and strict examination I was accepted.
"The Rev. Hiram Gates, who was then Superintendent of Home Missions, asked me what. I intended to do and where I expected to preach. My answer was that I did not come to the Congregational church for financial consid- erations, nor to step into work commenced by others, but intended to go to West Point and Wisner to organize two Congregational churches and bring them with me into this fellowship. And under God's leadership and blessing this was accomplished. The church building which now stands in West Point was erected during that pastorate. After serving three other churches I am back again at Wisner, one of my first Congregational fields."
REV. JOHN GRAY
Rev. John Gray represents still another type of pioneer life and work. From a lengthy communication, for all of which there is not place, the following extracts are taken :
"At the suggestion of Superintendent Gates I went to Sutton and preached for them on Sunday, and then visited Kearney, where I invested in land. Coming back to Sutton, I returned to my home in Lyndon, Illinois, and there de- cided to accept my call to Sutton. 'Grasshoppers or no grasshoppers, I would go there.'
"I preached my farewell sermon in Lyndon from the text, 'The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.' The next day, riding with Simeon Gilbert, the axle of the buggy broke, and stepping out on a rolling stone, I broke my ankle, and was laid up seven weeks. 'How about that step ?' said one of the facetious. 'Oh, it is all right,' I replied. The saints collected $75 for me to help me in this calamity. The sinners said, 'We have never done anything for Mr.
Rev. John Gray Rev. Geo. E. Hall
Rev. J. E. Storm Rev. G. W. Wainwright
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Gray ; let us do as well as the saints,' and so they brought mne $75 also.
"After seven weeks of inaction I thought I was well enough to travel. The people said, 'Do not go out West where you will have to feed your children on grasshopper soup.' But I said, 'I must go to those poor people as I promised.' 'Well then,' they said, 'we will put vegetables and provisions on your car to provide some living for you. So they brought potatoes, squashes, and other vegetables to supply our needs. Alas! they were all frozen. During the grasshopper winter friends from Illini, Illinois, sent barrels of wheat, oats, corn, and potatoes as their contribu- tion to Congregationalists in Nebraska.
"When I reached Sutton there was no decent house to be obtained, so I had to pack my wife and six children and furniture into an unpleasant shack 12 x 14 feet which had been used for a stable. I began to preach in the courthouse and afterward we hired the Odd Fellows' hall. People came to the services.
"That winter, after New Year's, was three days' storm, three days finer weather. The week of prayer I began meetings and continued them every fine night for seven weeks. There was quite a revival, and the membership of the church was increased from about thirteen to thirty.
"During December we had a series of fellowship meet- ings, Brothers Bross and Platt traveling on train, Brother French and I by team. We held one all-night meeting at each town from Ashland to the first station beyond Hastings encouraging the people and doing good.
"As soon as spring came we started to build a church at Sutton, though impoverished by the grasshoppers. I said, 'We can build. The C. C. B. S. will help us $500.' This . enthused thent so that saint and sinner started into the work. One man opposed. A profane man with an oath
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replied, 'Go home; little Gray has started into building a church, and we are going to help him, and don't you talk against it.'
"One told me several years afterward, 'Gray, you came to me about the third one for a subscription for the church building. I put down a liberal sum, but I never expected to pay it. You were so smart in earnest, that I did not dare to discourage you, but I thought when you got further along you would get discouraged and give it up.' 'But you found,' I said, 'I was not that kind of man, but went through with the thing, till it was done and paid for, and you remember that the lumberman in Omaha said that he had never been paid as promptly by any church as he had by the church at Sutton.'
"Having finished the church at Sutton I raised a sub- scription of $1,000 for a church at Harvard. During all this time I had not neglected preaching in every school- house about four miles apart in all the northern part of Clay county. North and south, east and west of Harvard I established Sabbath schools and preaching stations, and liad I had more experience I would have organized churches. But I was new to the West, and simply wanted to preach the Gospel to all the people I could reach. Sometimes I preached five times on a Sabbath. My good team got the schoolhouse habit and would stop of their own accord at every schoolhouse, supposing of course that their master would hold a service.
"While at Sutton the grasshoppers had so impoverished the people that times were hard. The merchants could give no credit. I was refused trust for a bag of flour. A wealthy Russian loaned me $100. There was no bank at Sutton in those days. A great many of the farmers suf- fered severely. I went to see the sick, and as long as my pocket would stand it, I would take a parcel of meat and
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groceries with ine, and while I was praying with the sick my boy would manage to convey the parcel into the house where they would find it after we were gone. In many cases sickness was caused by lack of nourishing food. When my own pocket gave out I wrote eastern friends who furnished me with clothing and money, so that I could supply the needs of the people. Men came to church with their feet tied up in rags to keep them warm. It was hard times indeed.
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