location than to pay an old
debt of this magnitude. But there were other interests to be considered.
The money for the erection of this Parsonage had been given in good
faith by the people, and if it were now permitted to pass out of the
hands of the Trustees, there would be a shock to the confidence they had
reposed in the administration of the Church. And in the next place, this
money had been borrowed of innocent parties, and it was but right that
it should be returned.

With these views, I undertook to save the property, but I am free to
say it was the most thankless financial task I had ever undertaken. I
gave the first one hundred and fifty dollars, and then divided the
balance among the charges of the District. In passing around to my
Quarterly Meetings, the amounts in most cases were pledged, and the
larger portion finally paid. Yet the collections were not fully
completed before the end of my term.

Milwaukee at this time still retained its three charges, and they were
now in charge respectively of Rev. J. M. Walker, Rev. E. Cooke, D.D.,
and Rev. A.C. Manwell. As stated in a former chapter, Brother Walker had
served his full term on the Beaver Dam District, where he had been very
popular. He entered upon his field with great spirit, but found himself
greatly embarrassed by the unhappy financial condition of the charge.
Besides the indebtedness remaining on the Church, there remained
considerable arrears on the salaries of preceding Pastorates.

This paying a Pastor at the end of his term in notes, that shall come
back to haunt his successor, is not in keeping with the financial genius
of the Church. I once had some sad experience in that line, and since it
was not in Milwaukee, I will take occasion to refer to it in this
connection. It was at a time when the slip rents were not large,
averaging only about two hundred dollars a quarter. In the case referred
to, the two hundred dollars of the first quarter of my year, had been
absorbed to meet the claims of the outgoing Pastor. And then, as he was
still behind two hundred dollars, a note was given him for the balance.
By this arrangement, the first half year of my term had been
anticipated, and had not the people, finding out the state of the case,
come to my aid with a good donation, I must have been greatly
embarrassed.

Nor does such mismanagement affect the one man alone. The system
entails disaster upon the successive Pastors of the charge. Each man
fee