Brother Cooper is a good specimen of the Itinerant Preacher.  His manner is affable, his spirit genial, and his hand diligent.  In all his charges he is deservedly popular.

At one of the Quarterly Meetings of this charge, I was approached, at the close of the morning services, by a gentleman who enquired whether I came from the State of New York.  On learning that I did, he further enquired whether I attended, when a boy, Prof.  McLaren’s Academy at Gallupville.  I informed him that I was there several years.  “Well,” said he, “are you the one who measured the shote?” I replied, “Tell me about it, and we will see.”  He then related the following incident:  “At the time to which I refer there was a boy about thirteen years old who was very proficient in figures, and the Professor took great pleasure in giving him difficult problems to solve during the dinner hour.  On one of these occasions, as the Professor was going across the green for his dinner, the boy met him and asked for a problem.  Looking up, he saw a half grown hog near by, and quickly replied, ’Give me the cubic inches of that shote.’  And, supposing he had got a good joke on the boy, he passed on.  But as soon as he was fairly out of sight, the boy called together several other boys, and stated the case to them, adding, ’Now, boys, if you will help me to catch that shote, we will show the Professor a thing that they have never done in Edinburgh.’  The boys consented, and his hogship was soon made a prisoner.  Under a vigorous vocal protest, he was then dragged to the back end of the Academy building, and plunged into a half hogshead of water.  After his release, of course, the vacant space in the hogshead, caused by the displacing of the water, represented the actual size of the shote.  In five minutes more, the cubic inches were obtained, and on the return of the Professor the answer was ready for him.”  The story was well told, and I was obliged to confess to the impeachment.

During this, the last year of my second term on the Fond du Lac District, my strength was taxed to its utmost.  Besides the regular Quarterly Meetings, I had made it my earnest concern to aid all the Preachers on the District in their work as far as possible.  During the winter this service was largely rendered in protracted meetings, and during the summer in Church enterprises.  In fact, the latter branch of labor had been made a specialty during the entire term.  And as a result, two Churches had been dedicated in Fond du Lac, three on the Chilton charge, three on the Hingham work, one on the Byron, two on the Markesan, one on the Brandon, one on the Rosendale, one on the Fox Lake, one on the Empire, and one on the Horicon and Juneau, besides quite a number that were remodeled and largely improved.  Including both classes, we had had on the District during the term twenty-two Church enterprises.  Extensive revivals had occurred, and we were now able to report an increase of eight hundred and seventy-seven members.