which
the Church will give you as Bishop are greater than your parish.
Think of Trinity, Boston, at Brooks' election and its result
today. Spaulding of Utah brought into the House of Bishops a
breeze of fresh air, a new life and courage which abide there
still--You will do the same.

Think of the cheer that your election will bring to Vincent,
Reese, and the whole Diocese.

Let them have your name and your life. I never wrote such a
letter before and no one knows that I am doing it now.

Yours affectionately,

William Lawrence.

At the succeeding convention another concerted effort was made to induce
Mr. Nelson to become Bishop. It was refreshing to find the office
seeking the man, especially a man who had never sought for himself
positions of prestige, a man never found in the society of office
seekers. Although he was gratefully aware of the well-meaning intentions
of his friends, and felt in the proposed honor the warmth of their
personal affection, he did not want it said that he had permitted the
election and then declined it. In as tactful a manner as possible he
labored to prevent the Committee on Nominations from presenting his
name. During a stormy session of the Committee a movement was under way
to over-ride Mr. Nelson's wishes and present his name as the nominee of
the Committee anyway. At this juncture Dr. Hicks, his close friend and a
Vestryman of Christ Church, rose and protested with considerable
indignation, "Gentlemen, this means you simply do not know Frank
Nelson." The debate went on, but Mr. Nelson remained firm, saying on the
Convention floor, "I _may_ not be Bishop of Southern Ohio," and he used
the word _may_ in the ancient sense of having "power to prevent." "I
cherish the tribute, but I tell you without recourse to thought or
prayer that I cannot do it." Finally, the Convention proceeded to the
happy election of Henry Wise Hobson, and the Diocese of Southern Ohio
remembers with gratitude that it owes Bishop Hobson to Frank Nelson.

From 1916 until his death, Mr. Nelson was a deputy to the triennial
meetings of every General Convention, and became the principal
spokesman in the House of Deputies. This body is not always as decorous
and staid in its deliberations as the House of Bishops, but Mr. Nelson
at all times commanded a respectful hearing among the deputies. He came
to be one of the leaders who, as a veteran church-paper correspondent
put it, "could r