Just why the reverend presiding elder (David Sherman, D. D.) fixed upon the day usually given over to the patron saint of All Fools we have never known, but on the evening of April 1, 1872, he appeared, in company with the pastor of the First M. E. Church, in response to our call. He had designated the residence of Brother Mann, where the preliminary meetings had been held, as the place where he would meet the petitioners. All but one were present and a few in addition. After an earnest prayer for divine guidance and an address to those present, he proceeded to the business of a ‘Quarterly Conference,’ according to the ‘Methodist Discipline,’ thus organizing and recognizing the petitioners as the Second Methodist Episcopal Church of Medford. A board of ‘stewards’ was then chosen, with one of their number (M. W. Mann) designated as ‘recording steward.’ It may be noticed that these officers do not bear the titles of the Congregational order, but the duties are similar. (For the information of those unacquainted, we say that this body composed of stewards, trustees, class leaders and Sunday-school superintendents, duly chosen and meeting quarterly, is the governing body of each local church in the entire denomination the world over. Its fourth session is the annual meeting, at which officers and committees are chosen for the ensuing year).
