Thirty Years in the Itinerancy

by W. G. Miller

My colleague had rendered effective service, proving to be a true yoke-fellow in every particular. Besides taking his full share of the regular appointments, he also gave a large portion of his time to the special labors of the charge. He was not expected, at the outset, to give his whole time, but he soon became so fully identified with the work that he was almost constantly employed. In the severe labors of protracted meetings, and in the wide travel of the circuit of appointments, he was equally self-forgetting and faithful. He was a man of good attainments, kind spirit, studious habits, and an acceptable preacher.

The charge being in a formative state, and the necessities of the preachers small, the financial receipts from the people were very limited. My own were only thirty-six dollars, and those of my colleague could not have been greater.

In tracing the work on Green Lake Mission, I have been thus specific for two reasons. I desired, in the first place, to give the reader an inside view of the relations of the Itinerancy to frontier life, and in the second, note the beginnings of a list of charges that have since constituted a Presiding Elder's District.

The Rock River Conference met this year in Galena, Ill. And as it was necessary for my father to attend the Conference to receive Elder's orders, we decided to make the journey in a buggy. The first day, passing through Beaver Dam, we reached Fountain Prairie, where we were entertained by Rev. E.J. Smith, of whom further mention will be made hereafter.

At noon on the following day we reached Madison, and were entertained by Rev. R.J. Harvey, the Pastor of the charge. Madison at this time was a small village, but, besides the Capitol, contained several buildings of respectable size and appearance.

The first Methodist sermon preached in Madison was delivered by Rev. Salmon Stebbins on the 28th day of November, 1837. Brother Stebbins was then the Presiding Elder of of the District, which extended along the western shore of Lake Michigan, from the State line to Green Bay. On visiting Madison, he was entertained by the contractor, who was erecting the State House, and who also kept a hotel. On learning that Brother Stebbins was a minister, this gentleman invited the entire population to a meeting in his bar-room, and here the first sermon was preached. And I am informed that the people were so pleased with the services that on the following morning Brother Stebbins was presented with a collection of fourteen dollars.

Brother Stebbins again visited the capital July 15th, 1838, and spent the Sabbath, preaching twice to respectable congregations. But as Madison, now in the West Wisconsin Conference, has fallen more directly under the eye of Rev. Dr. Bronson, and will doubtless appear in the Western Pioneer. I need not anticipate its historical incidents.

Passing on our way we were entertained the following night by a gentleman residing on the line of travel, some twenty miles beyond the Capital, by the name of Skinner. The following day we reached Platteville, where we were to spend the Sabbath.

It was now Friday night. Early the next morning, we received an invitation to spend the afternoon, in company with others, at Major Roundtree's, with Bishop Hamline. We went. The company was composed mostly of preachers, on their way to Conference. Among them were the Mitchells and Haneys. Of the first, there were Father Mitchell, a grand old Patriarch, John T. James, and Frank. Of the latter, there were the Father, Richard, William, Freeborn, and M.L.

But the central figure among them all was the good Bishop. Of full form, compact frame, broad forehead, and strong features, he would be selected in any group as a princely man. And yet, withal, his spirit was as gentle as that of a child. Though one of the intellectual giants of the country, and one of her greatest orators, he still seemed so humble in spirit that I felt myself drawn towards him at once. In such a presence the conversation was necessarily restrained. Dismissing, for the time, the freedom of debate, anecdote and repartee, that so often characterize ministerial gatherings, the interchange of thought took on a more serious tone. Only once was there an exception. Referring to the labors of some distinguished man of his acquaintance, one of the leading brethren and prince of story tellers, whose name I need not mention, proceeded to relate an anecdote. Immediately the tides of feeling began to rise, and, as the story advanced to its climax, they broke over all restraint. An immoderate laughter followed, in which no one joined more heartily than the brother himself. The storm of merriment, however, had hardly passed, when the Bishop, in one of those indescribably solemn tones for which he was distinguished, said, "Brethren, I always find it difficult to maintain the proper spiritual equilibrium without a good deal of prayer." Then, turning to the offending brother, he added, "Brother, will you lead us in prayer?" The entire company instantly fell upon their knees. But the poor brother! What could he do? Pray he must, for the entire company were on their knees, waiting for him to begin. So, making a virtue of necessity, he made the venture. But, I am free to say, it took a good deal of coasting before the good brother could get his craft well out to sea, and headed towards the desired haven. During the balance of the visit anecdotes were at a discount.