“Look how we grovel here below.”

Certainly the chariot wheels of Pharaoh did not roll more heavily than the numbers from that orchestra.  I remembered old Balerma, and felt deeply for them.  But our young knight of the tuning-fork was not to be vanquished.  With a dash he brought the fork down upon the desk, and gave the key again.  But alas! for all human expectations!  The choir dropped down to a dead monotone, as they went on with the next verse: 

     “In vain we tune our formal songs,
       In vain we strive to rise;
     Hosannas languish on our tongues,
       And our devotion dies.”

Both the choir and congregation felt a relief when the Minister said, “Let us pray.”

Having completed the first round of the District, I returned to Fond du Lac to begin the second.  But it is not my purpose to give the details of each round or year, as the labors of a Presiding Elder are too monotonous to furnish a record that would be entertaining to the general reader.

CHAPTER XV.

Fond du Lac District Continued.—­Baraboo Conference.—­Lodi Camp Meeting.—­Fall River.—­Revival at Appleton.—­Rev. Elmore Yocum.—­Revival at Sheboygan Falls.—­Revival at Fond du Lac.—­Rev. E.S.  Grumley.—­Revival at Sheboygan.—­Rev. N.J.  Aplin.—­Camp-Meeting at Greenbush.—­Rev. A.M.  Hulce.—­Results of the Year.—­Janesville Conference.—­Omro.  Rev. Dr. Golden.—­The Cowhams.—­Quarterly Meeting.—­My Father’s Death.—­Close of the Term.

The Conference of 1852 was held at Fond du Lac, Sept. 1st, and was presided over by Bishop Ames.  This was the first Conference held by the good Bishop after his election to his high office.  The visit was also the first the good people of Northern Wisconsin had enjoyed from a Bishop of the Church.  Both parties appeared delighted with the acquaintance.

On the Sabbath preceding the session of the Conference, the new Church in the upper town was dedicated by the Bishop, the preachers of the Conference generally being in attendance.

At this Conference I performed my first labor in the Cabinet.  I felt the responsibility to be one of great gravity, but sought to bear it in the fear of God.  In fact, the adjustment of the appointments had been the subject of careful thought and earnest prayer during the last three months of the year.  From the first I felt that the adjustment of the Ministers and their work required the nicest discrimination and the most absolute self-abnegation.  Resolving to discharge my duty fearlessly, and yet fully in the spirit of the Golden Rule, I entered upon the responsibility.  Whether I succeeded or not, is a matter I have referred to the day when “The Books” shall be opened.

There were but few changes made in the appointments in the District, as I then cherished, as I have since, the conviction that changes, other than by limitation, should only be made for grave reasons.