er up. In this respect,
therefore, the people acted unjustly towards their minister.

It should be noted that the minister was well trained and of high
character; that he lived in the community he served; that he was given a
long term of service; and that he cherished a right conception of the work
of minister and church.

Such work as this is badly needed in multitudes of communities in Ohio. It
is the only thing that can preserve or restore their wholesomeness and
make them suitable places for the rearing of children. The church, as a
whole, should spare no effort in providing large numbers of such men to do
this kind of work, for the total result of so doing would be an increase
of untold value in the strength of the very foundations of Christian
civilization in America.

4. _Christian Unity by Necessity_

In Ontario, Springfield Township, Richland County, there were three
churches,--Presbyterian, United Presbyterian, and Methodist Episcopal.
Because many of the best families had left, the Presbyterian churches have
held no regular services since the year 1900. For a time the Methodist
Episcopal Church shared a resident minister with three or four other
churches, but from 1912 Springfield Township was left without a resident
minister for three years. Under these circumstances it was inevitable that
social and moral decline should begin, for the modern community's needs
cannot be met by the old-fashioned circuit system. More and more the
better families moved away or relapsed into the background, and the less
moral elements became conspicuous. A dance hall became the haunt of
disorderly people from neighboring towns. Drunkenness grew apace, while
bad language on the streets was altogether too common. Pilfering the
property of the railroad was more or less open. It was high time to act.

Accordingly, the people of all the denominations and the non-church people
who lived in the township, realizing that it was going from bad to worse,
joined in deciding that a resident minister was necessary. Money was
raised, and the future support of a minister was promised if the Methodist
Episcopal Conference would send them a good man.

The new minister began his work in the autumn of 1915. The total budget of
the church had been about $500, of which less than $250 went to the
minister's salary. During his first year, $1,540 was raised, $900 of which
went for the support of the minister. In the second year no less than
$7,5