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Beginning of the story

REMINISCENCES OF H.M. WALLER . . . Continued

THE WAITSBURG, WASH. MEETING

The brethren sent from Washington urging him to come and hold a meeting at Waitsburg. The church there had had some trouble for some time - the parties being headed by Bro. Boli on the one side, and Bro. Elledge on the other.

There is a profile of Daniel W. Elledge.

Bro. Boli was the pastor of the Baptist brethren there, and he and his people becoming somewhat dissatisfied with the name Baptist, had determined to study the Bible and learn and adopt the Scriptural name for the individual and the church. He came so near our people that a union of the two bodies was being arranged.

Bro. Elledge thought that Bro. Boli did not come over quite near enough to the Biblical standard, so he made further concessions. The result was, a hardness sooner of later grew up, and the union was not consummated. Some followed Boli, and some others followed Elledge. Soon the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus were quarreling over some mint, anise, and cumin. Soon the work was languishing.

One preacher after another went to gather these disgruntled sheep together, but every time, so far, the old bucks had butted the life out of them. Bro. Waller's church advised him not to go, for he would surely meet with defeat, and he might lose more than there was a possibility of gaining.

He determines to go, at last, and soon he lands from the boat at Wallula Junction. From here he goes by railroad about half way to Walla Walla. The old railroad ties had been made of cow-hide, but now the railings were removed, and iron rails are taking their place. At the end of the renewed railroad, he meets the stage from Walla Walla that has special charge to bring Bro. Waller, whether any one else comes or not.

At last when they are about to start, they find that one lady is left, for no room remained in the stage for anyone more. Bro. Waller sees her standing there with her children weeping, and asks her what her trouble is, and gets the reply: "I have come from California to meet my husband at Walla Walla; but here I am to be left with no place to stay, and no room in the stage."

Bro. Waller said: "You shall take my place in the stage. I will try to get along some other way."

She is soon on her way in the stage, and Bro. Waller finds a young man who is freighting, and secures a nice place in his new clean wagon, and a price settled to get him to Walla Walla by the next morning. Soon he is sailing along in the freight wagon, all snug and warm, toward his destination.

He and his young freight man soon are deep in Scriptural conversation. The young man ties up his lines, gets into the wagon and lets the horses take their own gait. Sometimes the are creeping along and again they rush along pell mell, till Bro. Waller is half out of his wits lest they be dashed against a stone on the slope and given the grand bounce down the hillside.

They pull up in Walla Walla on time, and the young man says: "Mr. Waller, you don't owe me anything. I got many times the price of your ride in Bible information. No, sir; you don't owe me anything."

This young man turned out to be the genial son of Bro. Boli, the preacher. Here at Walla Walla he meets some of the Elledge people, who without delay proceed to inform him what their wishes were relative to the Boli men; and that if he should stay at any time ask any part of the Boli party to take any part in the meeting there would be war - and that to the knife.

He was informed that if would kill the meeting, sure, just as soon as he attempted to show any favors toward the Boli folks. He then tells them that he is not there as the representative of either the Boli or Elledge party; that he knew little or nothing of their troubles and didn't want to know any more. He had come among them to preach Jesus and him crucified, not to know any party.

Before he leaves the stage for Waitsburg, the Boli party makes an onslaught very much like the Elledge devotees had. He counsels them as he did the others. He sees deep seated hatred rankling among the factions, and begins to feel the atmosphere growing perceptibly cool. He sees some warning is needed very bad, but whether it is to be a heavenly trade wind of Master-like gentleness, or a dynamite bomb, he is yet unable to determine.

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