before the Travelers' Aid Society was organized, a mother and
two children arrived at the railroad station in some sort of pressing
difficulty. Not knowing where to go, the mother inquired of the
telephone operator, who suggested "Rev. Nelson." The woman in her
distress went to the rector's home on Pike Street. Mr. Nelson was out of
the city, but in characteristic fashion, his wife took them in and kept
them overnight. Mrs. Nelson's interest and work in the parish,
particularly with the young candidates for the Girls' Friendly Society,
was of a notable quality, and her fine understanding of their problems
was not only an important factor in the effectiveness of that
organization, but also happily supplemented her husband's unceasing
labors.

Frank Nelson was continually sensitive to his good fortune in possessing
adequate means, in contrast to the deprivation and financial
difficulties of many others. He was incapable of concealment and there
was a refreshing frankness to his acknowledgment one Sunday morning
when, speaking on the parish budget, he facetiously told his
congregation that his salary was too large but he did not have the moral
courage to refuse it! He was also fortunate in many other ways, such as
being free from illness the larger part of his life, and from personal
bereavements, for his parents lived to a ripe age. His gift of
imagination in dealing with many problems not experienced by him
personally was, therefore, the more unusual. "Genius is the power of
getting knowledge with the least possible experience, and one of the
greatest differences between men is in the amount of experience they
need of anything in order to understand it."[21]

The even tenor of his lot in life did not produce in him
self-satisfaction and complacency, but often did make him uneasy. He had
inherited his father's sternness of conscience and moral fibre. At one
time when a parishioner sold a piece of property and asked Mr. Nelson to
use the money to buy his first car, he was sorely perplexed as to the
appropriateness of accepting such a gift and allowing himself the luxury
of an automobile. He wondered what some of the people in his parish
would think. When calling in the "Bottoms," he often wore an old, blue
serge suit. He was acutely aware that his salary came in part from many
who had little, and to the end of his days his conscience troubled him
about this, wanting as he did to share the life of the least of his
people.