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Show A REVEREND MASCOT. Good tnck to the New OU Field Laid at Pastor Beacom's Door. The Forest Grove Presbyterian conere-ptionis conere-ptionis inlnck. The little one story frame chapel in which the members worship is located right in the center of the new Groveton oil field, between Uhartiers and Coraopolis. The stately oak trees in tho immediate vicinity of the church are being rapidly felled to furnish the foundations for a forest of ou derricks. Already there are thirty derricks surrounding the original Van-dergrif Van-dergrif t gusher, which came in on the Young farm last April, and which is still flowing about 700 barrels a day. The Forest Grove congregation owns several acres of the best territory in the district. When the Vandergrift well was struck oil men rushed into the field to secure leases. They found the good deacons knew how to drive a good bargain, bar-gain, and for three small patches of ground the congregation received $3,700 cash bonus. Three good producers have been brought, with an aggregate output of about 1,000 barrels a day. These give the church people a daily income of $125 from royalties, in addition to the cash bonus. Rev. J. L. Beacom and family live just across the road from a gusher that produces pro-duces 600 barrels a day, and already the congregation have had visions of a stately state-ly brown stone edifice to supplant the present modest wooden structure. Two more rigs are being erected on the parsonage par-sonage lot, and in all probability wells will be put down on the "hitching lot" a plot of ground just opposite the church, where fanners hitch their teams while attending services. If these wells come in as good as the others the church will have an income from royalties amounting to $7,500 a month, or at the rate of $00,000 a year. The staying qualities quali-ties of the Vaudcgrift well leads the members to believe that they are none too sanguine. "Pastor" Beacom, as the oil men refer to him, is looked upon as a "mascot" by drillers, who cite numerous instances of luck which they now ascribe to providential provi-dential interference, possibly due to the preacher's petitions. One of the new wells has been dubbed "Old Hundred," because of the following revised version of the familiar hymn which one of the drillers has tacked up on the derrick: Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him for putting oil below: Praise Him, ye drillers, give hearty thanks, Praise Him for the overflowing tanks. He says he wants to get within the circle of Presbyterian influence at least so far as the oil business is concerned. While there is considerable jesting on the subject, it is nevertheless apparent from the talk that the drillers trace some connection between the rich strikes at Groveton and the little church on the hill. Pittsburg Commercial Gazette. |