WALCOTT’S BOAST

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 March 1922, Page 7

WALCOTT’S BOAST

NO GAOL—NO CHURCH. It is the proud boast of Walcott, the richest town per head of its population in lowa, that it has neither churches nor a gaol. The town, says the “New York Central News” correspondent, is unique. For more than fifty years it has been without a church. It once had a gaol, but, like its only church, established sixty-fivo years ago, it is now discarded. While the gaol building still stands, there is no vestige of a church edifice. But there are no locks to the gaol, and its hinges have rotted off. It is never used. “Wo are free thinkers, and believe in free American citizenship seven days a week. We do not need preachers to dictate to us. We are better without them,” says the ilayor. “We are getting along very well as we are—much better than with churches. We like to be let alone. There is no more peaceful or law-abiding town in the whole United States than Walcott. Why should we want churches. They bring strife and dissensions —we want peace and quietude.” It is no secret how Walcott residents spend their Sabbath. “Shows and dances are our principal Sunday amusement,” the Mayor added. “Then in summer we enjoy baseball and automobile riding.” In case of weddings most of the couples go to Davenport and look up a justice. In very rare instances a minister is called in. 3lost of the funerals in the town are conducted by Johannes Kreeger, who delivers th& oration in either German or English, as the mourners desire. Kreeger possesses no church affiliations or religious beliefs. In other words, he is a pastor without a creed. Baptisms are unknown in the town.