The Committee also appointed the following Commit

tees:

On publishing proceedings-I. S. Warren, G. E. Noble, Charles Davis, W. W. Kinder, Dr. J. L. Noble.

On securing subscriptions to the published proceedings -Charles S. Lewis, Mrs. C. K. Corbin, S. M. Noble, J.T. Davis, Charles Davis.

On Registration-Hon. T. N. Rawlins, Linden Noble, W. J. Warren.

Ushers-Fred H. Noble, C. L. Warren.

The Committee also recommended that Dr. J. L. Noble be elected to preside at the Re union, and that I. S. Warren be elected Secretary and S. M. Noble, Treasurer.

The Committee also adopted the following program:

PROGRAMME

9.30 Organization, by election of Dr. J. L. Noble, of Preston, President; I. S. Warren, of Oak Grove,

Secretary; S. M. Noble, of Federalsburg, Treas

10.45 History of Kinder Family. S. W. Kinder, Esq.

11.05 History of Davis Family.

11.25 History of Noble Family. 11.35 Singing. 235 Hymnal. Announcements.

Call to Refreshments.

Charles Davis, Esq.

I. S. Warren.

2.00 Singing. Duett.

Clara Payne.

Mrs. Dr. J. L. Noble and Mrs.

2.15 Introduction of Visitors. (2 minute addresses). Address. Rev. W. S. Robinson, D. D., of Newark, N. J.

2.30 Address.

3.00 Singing.

3.15 Address.

Herbert Noble, Esq., of New York.

3.45 Closing Exercises, conducted by Rev. S. M. Morgan, D. D.

Singing. "Blest Be the Tie that Binds."

Owing to the unfavorable and threatening state of the weather on Oct. 26th, the program was not carried out as completely as it could have been wished, i. e., we could not begin on schedule time and several of the speakers who had been invited to officiate at the opening exercises were not present. Rev. J. L. Johnson, Pastor, who was to have made an address of welcome, has however kindly furnished manuscript which will be found in proceedings; Rev. P. H. Rawlins, who was expected to reply, has kindly furnished the accompanying letter. Rev. W. S. Robinson, D. D., who made a very eloquent and suitable address, spoke extemporaneously, therefore the reader will be unavoidably deprived of the pleasure of reading his address. The address of Mr. Herbert Noble, which will be found in these pages, speaks for itself. Taken as a whole our Reunion was a success and very enjoyable, and the Committee regrets that the threatening weather prevented so many from being present.

Address of Welcome

BY REV. J. L. JOHNSON.

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Noble, Davis and Kinder Families; Ladies and Gentlemen:

I have been selected by your committee to speak the word of welcome on his occasion though that is hardly the proper term to use, for many of you brought your welcome with you when you came into the world.

I, with a great many others realize, one of the greatest mistakes of my life is; that I was not born either a Noble, a Davis, or a Kinder, but when I was born I did not know there existed such a historic family trio, had I, it might have been otherwise, no one however told me, so I am not to blame. I have partially overcome my mistake by a certain species of adoption; and today I find myself thrice blessed, for I claim now to be related to all three of the families.

This is not the first time you have received the greetings of Bethel Church and been the recipients of the hospitality; you know the warmth of the one and the unbounded generosity of the other, and I voice the sentiment of each member of this Church when I say that each of them appreciates the presence of such a grand assemblage of representative men and women; and they rejoice in the privilege thus accorded you in visiting this historic spot under such happy auspices. Our hearts welcome you and our hands are extended in fraternal greetings.

We wanted you, and we sent for you, and you have come and already our anticipations have been realized; we hope you will sit among us not as strangers but as welcome guests, as neighbors, as friends and brothers and sisters, after the lapse of years, coming home to sit around the family fire-side and eat at the family board.

Yours has been a noble past. It is not my purpose or promise to enter into a discussion of the history of the families or pro nounce eulogies on their work. The streams of your unostentatious honesty, industry and sobriety have leaped the boundaries of States and flowed out into many sections of our fair land, East, West, North and South, bearing upon its bosom the same virtues

and refining qualities that characterize it at its fountain head, nor has it been retarded by the artificial distinctions of society. In whatever State or community a member of these families has been found they have taught their lessons of honesty and uprightness, and by their fruits they are known of men. "The wilderness and the solitary place have been made to blossom as the rose' under the magnetic touch of your hand; you have taken the unsightly and polished it into a thing of beauty; you have sawed and planed and hammered the forests into dwelling places; you have given character and distictiveness to this section of country. until it stands second to none in the whole State. For what you have been, for what you are and for what you are destined to be, I greet you.

You meet today among a generous people and amidst historic surroundings.

Here in the ancient days people of your own blood and kin laid the foundations of a mighty work, the history of this church is interwoven with the history of these families.

Like the Pilgrim Fathers, your ancestors must worship God, and being staunch adherants of the Weslyan Doctrine their homes were open and their hearts welcomed the early Missionaries sent out by the Weslyan Societies. In the home of one, William Davis, a Local Preacher, and for 62 years a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, situated less than a mile from where I now stand, Bishops Asbury, Whatcoat and Waugh preached the Word of Life. In 1781 on this very ground the first Chapel was built, then called Brown's Chapel, afterwards called Bethel, this being the 2nd M. E. Church built on this Peninsula. The same year Mr. White Brown, a leading spirit in the community, who owned the farm adjoining the Church Lot (now belonging to the heirs of the late John H. Twiford) built the brick dwelling which is still standing (and over the door are cut in the brick the initials W. B., 1781). Mr. Brown was so much engaged in the work of building his own house and the church, he proposed that Jacob Kinder should take his, Brown's hands, and his own, and cultivate both farms so that he, Brown, might give all his time and attention to the building of his own house and of the church, which was done. Thus we see the spirit of sacrifice as found in these two men; willing to sacrifice their own interests that God's Temple might be erected. This spirit did not die with them; it was of the hereditary type; it descended to the sous and daughters to the third and fourth generation. It is preeminently fitting that you should assemble upon this historic spot and upon this consecrated ground in this family re-union, no

place like it, historic to you because of the sacred memories that cluster about it; to the Church because of the ministrations of such men as Asbury, Whatcoat, Waugh and George, the very founders of our beloved Methodism; consecrated because here your fathers labored, toiled, sacrificed and conquered; from here they ascended and were glorified; their ashes remain with you and their memory still abides, while their spirits basking in the golden light of the Eternal World hover round us. And in their name I greet you.

The committee who had charge of this affair, in my judgment, exercised a very wise discretion, they have recognized the fact that man does not live by bread alone, but that there are other senses to be gratified than mere taste, and it has been, evidently, their desire that all five senses should have their proper share of enjoyment. You have already felt the warm clasp of a brother's hand. What is more pleasing to the eye than this array of youth, grace and beauty that I see before me? And our ears have been and will again be charmed by the concord of sweet sounds, but you say where does the fifth sense come in? We have no sweet incense, but listen, "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity; it is like the precious ointment on the head, Who will say that this precious ointment does not pervade this whole assembly ? It would be unpardonable in me now to make further remarks; I will only renew our thanks to you all for your presence with us, and when you depart, if you are able to carry away with you the slightest conception of the pleasure your company has given us, then we shall feel amply repaid for any feeble effort we may have put forth towards your enjoyment.