[This is a continuation of a series of posts on Elders being attacked with eggs instead of guns]
In April 1900.
During the past week Elders F.W. Karren, R. R. Humpherys, Charles McNeil and Thomas S. Karren, who are laboring in the city of Jackson, Tenn., have been doing much good. They have been holding street meetings with much success. To be sure they have met opposition, and that in an un-American-like way. At the close of one of their meetings a few nights ago, eggs were showered upon them. [Another report noted that the eggs fell short of their mark, doing no damage.] They did not expect to have bonnets thrown at them, inasmuch as they preach such an unpopular doctrine, yet eggs were unexpected. An appeal to the chief of police was of an encouraging nature, and let it be said to his credit, he promised them protection. He assured them if he could find the guilty parties, they would be punished. [And offered a reward for information leading their conviction. Another report claimed the opposition was led by an unnamed "santified preacher"] The leading citizens of the town feel grieved that such a thing should happen within their community. The street meetings will be continued. These four brethren have been busy as the following report will show:Two hundred families visited, 120 families revisited, 400 tracts and dodgers distributed, 144 books sold, 24 of which were O. P. works, 14 meetings and 200 gospel conversations.
7 comments:
I'm enjoying this series, if that's the right word, because it highlights a category of difficulty that is overlooked: It falls far short of anything that could be called personal injury, despite the damage to clothing, as long as it's eggs and not rocks, yet it is far more than words. Assaults on personal dignity fall in the middle of "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me." Do you complain and risk being brushed aside because there was no "real" harm (you kind of risk that from your descendants, too -- "Grandpa didn't get tarred and feathered like a real martyr, he just got pelted with eggs"), or do you let it go despite the disruption and unpleasantness and mess and indignity?
Thanks, Ardis. I get the feeling from the earlier journals that when missionaries would get this lesser kind of persecution, they didn't even record it. Doing so would amount to complaining.
I was ward mission leader a few years ago in Jackson. The missionaries were treated better, but one outlying town passed a no proselytizing ordinance for any church not in town. Of course the missionaries kept going out since there were members in town.
Nice! When were you there?
I was there earlier this century. Another family member had been a missionary there about 40 years ago.
I was egged in my first mission area (Kristiansand, Norway)in 1972. I had to buy a new suit!!
I suspected that eggs could not be cleaned off a suit.
I knew someone who was glad when he got spat upon on his mission. It meant he was being persecuted like the missionaries of old.
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