minister made an address, and a judge of the city led in prayer. Part
of my address was a series of serious questions: "Will this movement
raise the tone of society? Will it increase mutual confidence? Will it
diminish intemperance? Will it find the people uneducated and leave
them educated? Will the voice of its leader be lifted in the cause of
justice and humanity? Will it tend after all to elevate or lower the
moral sentiments of mankind? Will it increase the love of truth or the
power of superstition or self-deception? Will it divide or unite the
world? Will it leave the minds of men clearer and more enlightened, or
will it add another element of confusion to the chaos? These are the
tests we put to this new church and to our personal lives."

We had an old hall in the outskirts of the city, on a railroad bank.
There we opened our Sunday School and began our church activities. I
got a band of Yale men to go to work at the hall. The son of Senator
Crane, of Massachusetts, became head of the movement, but that plan
was spoiled by a man of the English Lutheran persuasion, who was an
instructor in Yale. It appeared that the church of which this man was
a member had been trying to rent this old hall and, not succeeding in
that, they claimed the community. This instructor complained to the
Yale authorities, and without a word to me the Yale band was
withdrawn. A few weeks after the Lutherans claimed another community,
and went to work in it.

In the middle of our first year our little church received a
staggering blow in the death of Mr. Philo S. Bennett. We had become
very intimate. I dined with him once a week. He was about to retire
from business, and after a rest he was to give his time to the church
idea. He inquired about buildings, and he had fixed his mind on a
$25,000 structure. He spoke to others of these plans, but in Idaho,
that summer, he was killed in an accident. Mrs. Bennett sent for me
and I took charge of the funeral arrangements. Mr. Bryan came on at
once and helped. After the funeral he read and discussed the will. I
was present at several of these discussions. The sealed letter written
by the dead man was the bone of contention. Then the lawyers came in
and the case went into the courts. The world knew but a fragment of
the truth. It looked to me at first as if a selfish motive actuated
Mr. Bryan, but as I got at the details one after another, details the
world can never know, I developed a profound