After performing the promised marriage ceremony, Cheshire went to High Point to spend the night. When he arrived, he found several telegrams from friends congratulating him upon his election. Describing his reaction to the news, he said that he "could not comprehend what they meant, and thought there must be some mistake. I was more deeply agitated than I could have anticipated." The following day he wrote his father: "The one thing in the election at Raleigh which gives me unmixed satisfaction is the knowledge that it would be a happiness to you and to mother. In every other respect my feelings are of so confused a kind that I hardly know myself what to do or say.... I feel that this election has its human cause and origin in your life-long labor for the church, and in the name and good will of our people which I have derived from you and not made for myself."[27] This sincere statement of his thoughts about his election was characteristic of Cheshire. He felt profoundly the great responsibility which had been placed upon him, and wrote a friend that he could never have undertaken it had he not felt that he had the "sympathy, co-operation, and prayer"[28] of his people. The month following his election Cheshire received more than two hundred letters and telegrams of congratulation. They came from clergymen and laymen in and outside of North Carolina, and a great many were from persons who were not members of the Episcopal Church. One of the most common sentiments found in these letters was the pleasure and gratification expressed at the election of a North Carolinian as assistant bishop. It is a noteworthy fact that Cheshire was the first native clergyman of the state to be elected to the Episcopate of the Diocese of North Carolina. Dr. Francis J. Murdoch, as well as many of his adherents, sent their sincere congratulations. In a circular letter to his supporters, thanking them for their efforts in his behalf, Dr. Murdoch said of Cheshire: "The election has ended as I wished. Other men may tremble as to the outcome. I have not one misgiving. Neither love for Dr. Cheshire nor prejudice against any man can warp my judgment in this matter. I say now (as I said when I nominated him) that we have made no mistake."[29] This warm praise from a man of Dr. Murdoch's high character and ability must have been very encouraging to Cheshire. An amusing and interesting tribute to Cheshire's election as assistant bishop were some verses by Rev. John E. C. Smedes. Dr. Smedes, a former clergyman of the Diocese, had been one of Cheshire's examiners for deacon's orders and had presented him for ordination as priest. His lines are as follows: CONGRATULATIONS TO A BISHOP-ELECT