uliarly
sensitive temperament over into the extravagant. Now in such cases, one
of two things must be accepted. We must be content to leave the great
aggregate unmoved, or we must endure the irregularities that are
sometimes seen, not only at Camp-Meetings, but in all revivals of
religion. We cannot accept the former, for it involves the ruin of
perishing souls. Then, accepting the latter, we may not condemn what
cannot be avoided, if the great end of Christian effort shall be
realized. Human nature is a very strange combination, and it must be
taken as it is. The religion of Christ proposes to save men, and to do
so it must take us as we are. The wonder is not that it can make so
little out of us, but rather, that it is able to make even a few fair
specimens, while the balance of us are only indifferent ones. Yet I
rejoice to know that even the poorest of us are vastly better than we
would have been had it not been for the revelation of Christ in us.

CHAPTER XX.

Whitewater Conference.--Report on Slavery.--Election of
Delegates.--Whitewater.--Early History.--Rev. Dr. Bannister.--General
Conference.--Member of Mission Committee.--Conference 1860.--Rev. I.L.
Hauser.--Mrs. I.L. Hauser.--Rev. J.C. Robbins.--The Rebellion.--Its
Causes.--Fall of Sumter.--Extract of Sermon.--Conference 1861.--Rev.
J.H. Jenne.--Rev. S.C. Thomas.--Rev. G.C. Haddock.--Colonelcy.--Close
of Term.

The thirteenth session of the Wisconsin Conference was held Oct. 13,
1859, in the village of Whitewater, and was presided over by Bishop
Ames. The year had been of less than seven months duration, as by
request of the Conference, the time of holding the sessions had been
changed back to the Fall. When the change was made in the first place,
from Fall to Spring, it was believed by many that such an arrangement
would be a benefit to the Preachers, by giving them, for the winter, the
products of their gardens. But, after a trial, it was found that the
roads were generally much worse in the Spring than in the fall, and if
the Conferences were delayed so as to find good roads for moving, the
Preachers would reach their new fields too late to plant their gardens.
Hence, after trying the experiment, it was thought best to return to
the Fall.

At this Conference the election of delegates to the General Conference
again occurred. The slavery question was now rife, and of course this
election could not be held without making it an issue. During the early