CHAPTER XXIV.

Conference of 1869.—­Stationed at Ripon.—­First Visit.—­Rev. E.J. 
Smith.—­Rev. Byron Kingsbury.—­Sabbath School.—­Early Record of the
Station.—­Church Enterprises.—­Rev. William Morse.—­Rev. Joseph
Anderson.—­Revival.—­Church Enlargement.—­Berlin.—­Early History.—­Rev.
Isaac Wiltse.—­Conference of 1870.—­Returned to Ripon.—­Marriage of our
Second Daughter.—­A Happy Year.—­Close of our Labors.

The Conference of 1869 was held September 23d at Appleton, Bishop Scott presiding.  My term on the District had now expired, and a new appointment must follow.  Several of the strongest charges opened their doors, but for reasons that were quite satisfactory both to myself and the good people, I was stationed at Ripon.

The following week I started for my new field of labor.  As before stated, I had visited this locality in 1845, it then being known as Ceresco.  But, besides a casual visit and a week’s stay during the session of the Conference, I had enjoyed limited opportunities to maintain an acquaintance with the people or the charge.  I reached the city Saturday afternoon, and immediately, satchel in hand, started down Main Street to find some one who might invite me to lodgings.  I had not gone far when I saw a gentleman hastily crossing the street to intercept me.  On approaching I found it to be Rev. E.J.  Smith, a Local Preacher, to whom reference has been made in former chapters in connection with Fall River.  I had learned of his removal to Ripon, but was hardly prepared to meet my old friend so suddenly, and receive such a hearty greeting.  An invitation to lodgings immediately followed, and I joyfully accepted, remembering the kind hospitality this noble family had given me in other days.

After chatting over the past, and taking some refreshments, my old friend took me out to a multitude of introductions among the brethren.  I found them all cordial, and began to feel quite at home among them.  Passing down Main Street, we visited the Church, a building of respectable size and comparatively new, and passing down still further into the borders of what was formerly known as Ceresco proper, we found the Parsonage.  This little walk of Saturday gave me an outline of the lay of things, and helped me to poise my head and arrange my thoughts for the Sabbath.

The Sabbath gave me a fair congregation, and at the close of the service we enjoyed a good Class Meeting, Led by my old friend, E.J.  Smith.  And as one of the living members of the class, I found also an old acquaintance of my boyhood and later years, Albert Cook.  There were also a few friends of other days still residing in Ripon, and several who had come from other places to reside in the city, to join in the cordial greeting that was given me.  The Sunday School, under the charge of Rev. Byron Kingsbury, so well known throughout the State in the Sunday School work, met also at the close of the morning