st that I
apply for ordination in his Church--the Methodist Protestant. To leave
my Church, even though urged to do so by its appointed spokesman, seemed
a radical step. Before taking this I appealed from the decision of the
Conference to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
which held its session that year in Cincinnati, Ohio. Miss Oliver
also appealed, and again we were both refused ordination, the General
Conference voting to sustain Bishop Andrews in his decision. Not content
with this achievement, the Conference even took a backward step. It
deprived us of the right to be licensed as local preachers. After this
blow I recalled with gratitude the Reverend Mark Trafton's excellent
advice, and I immediately applied for ordination in the Methodist
Protestant Church. My name was presented at the Conference held in
Tarrytown in October, 1880, and the fight was on.

During these Conferences it is customary for each candidate to retire
while the discussion of his individual fitness for ordination is in
progress. When my name came up I was asked, as my predecessors had
been, to leave the room for a few moments. I went into an anteroom and
waited--a half-hour, an hour, all afternoon, all evening, and still
the battle raged. I varied the monotony of sitting in the anteroom by
strolls around Tarrytown, and I think I learned to know its every stone
and turn. The next day passed in the same way. At last, late on Saturday
night, it was suddenly announced by my opponents that I was not even
a member of the Church in which I had applied for ordination. The
statement created consternation among my friends. None of us had thought
of that! The bomb, timed to explode at the very end of the session,
threatened to destroy all my hopes. Of course, my opponents had
reasoned, it would be too late for me to do anything, and my name would
be dropped.

But it was not too late. Dr. Lyman Davis, the pastor of the Methodist
Protestant Church in Tarrytown, was very friendly toward me and my
ordination, and he proved his friendship in a singularly prompt and
efficient fashion. Late as it was, he immediately called together
the trustees of his church, and they responded. To them I made my
application for church membership, which they accepted within five
minutes. I was now a member of the Church, but it was too late to obtain
any further action from the Conference. The next day, Sunday, all the
men who had applied for ordinati