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Rev. H.C.
Bradbury


From the Lincoln Beacon, Oct. 27, 1887

From the Junction City Union: There is a simple minded, sincere and honest preacher out in Lincoln County by the name of the Rev. H.C. Bradbury. We think he belongs to a family of means back east, and as it its 10 or 12 years since we met him we may be mistaken, but we think he started as a missionary at Five Points, N.Y. A correspondent of the Hiawatha World writes that he is a "missionary" and travels about his county holding services at churches without a pastor and at school houses. His salary in a year amounts to less than $100 and yet he is the happiest and most contented man in the State. The Newton Republican says:
This is true of one of the most simple-hearted and devoted of men. A little party of political tourists years ago accepted the hospitality of Mr. Bradbury’s roof. One of the party said, "Mr. Bradbury, in all of your long residence in Kansas, have you never secured a homestead?" to which the man responded in a voice which divested his answer of every suspicion of cant: "I hope I have a claim above." One of the party became reflective, and when Mr. Bradbury had left the room, said, "You bet he has; and he has proved up on it, too."
The Beacon responds: We cannot resist the temptation to scrape the mould of oblivion from one of Mr. Bradbury’s sayings for the benefit of those who know a funny thing when they hear it. Some 10 or 12 years ago a Universalist minister visited this place and one of his friends suggested to Mr. Bradbury (who was conducting a protracted meeting) the appropriateness and convenience of his holding a joint meeting with the Universalist, to which Mr. Bradbury objected, saying, that "there was too much difference between Presbyterianism and Universalism to make such a proceeding consistent." Well," said the proposer of the joint meeting, "what’s the essential difference between you? Don’t you and he preach the same Christ and the same essential points of salvation?" "Well," said Mr. Bradbury with great seriousness, "that isn’t what’s the matter," and then, his face lighting up with a sudden appreciation of a full-blown joke which his jovial nature could not repress, he concluded, "the fact is, there’s a hell of a difference." There was no joint meeting. Only those who have known Mr. Bradbury for years can fully reconcile the above observation with his – almost – fanatical distress over any sacrilegious remark or action from any source. He jokes for about the same reason that he breathes; because he can’t help it, and his jovial, cheery presence is an inspiration to heavy hearts and has been a light in many a dark pathway.

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