The State Meeting at Emporia, in 1877, in his absence, elected him President of the Society.  Unable to find a State evangelist who would undertake the difficult task of reviving the old churches that had perished—­which he thought was the work most needed at that time—­he took the field himself.  At the State meeting held at Yates Center the next year, he made the following report:  “Time spent, five months; sermons preached, one hundred and fifty; churches organized, two; compensation received, $186.36.”  He also revived many scattered churches and Sunday-schools, and obtained regular preaching for some of them.  He was greatly worried over the churches of this part of the State.  They had been much weakened, and some of them nearly broken up by the tide of emigration that set into the southern and western counties.  Attempts at co-operative State and district work were impeded by conservative papers, which prejudiced the brethren against missionary societies, and hireling pastors.  He spent much time, both with tongue and pen, in answering these sophistries, and teaching the churches their duties.  Many of the churches were really too poor to support regular preaching, and many that were able, thought themselves unable to do so.  Yet someone must care for them, or they would perish.  He resolved for the rest of his life to preach, without remuneration, where such preaching was most needed.  And so the last eight or nine years of his life were spent in preaching on Saturdays and Sundays for weak churches, and the remainder of the time in working and writing.  If a church was building a meeting house, and felt unable to support a preacher while doing so, he preached for it until it was built.  If a church had already built, and felt oppressed with debt, he preached for it until the debt was paid.  If, from any cause, a church was weak or disorderly, he preached for it until it was again in good order.  Then he said to the brethren:  “I have helped you on your feet, now raise the money and hire some one else to preach for you, and let me go and help some other needy church.”

Mr. Hastings and I were married in 1870, and had settled at Farmington.  From that time Mr. Hastings had taken much of the care of the Farmington church.  The church at Pardee had revived, and had been doing well under the care of Prof.  N. Dunshee; and, later on, by the assistance of Prof.  J. M. Reid, and of Mr. Hastings.  But, about six years ago, being left without a leader, they begged father to take charge of them, although they were unable to offer him much remuneration.  He told them that it would cost them nothing, so far as he was concerned; but that, if he took charge of them, they must promise to support the Sunday-school liberally, and to build a church.  He, and his family, therefore, changed their membership from Farmington back to Pardee, where he was elected elder—­for he believed that every pastor of a church should be one of its elders—­and he preached for them five years.  He not only gave largely of his means to build the church, but spent the whole summer in collecting the money, and overseeing the building of the house.  He looked after the buying of the materials, and sent his teams to do much of the hauling, and never stopped until the building was furnished, the insurance paid, and his own hands had put the stoves in place.