Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1869-09-09

| in school were often both cruel aud
needIessly disgraecfuI; while out o
school the boys administered jus
tice" upon each other according (
the example Of their seniors in thu
court house and at the whir"ing-post
CHURCHES, PUBLIC WORSHIP AND
MINIgTERs.
| II was the custom for the select
men to seat the congregation annual.
| ~, putting the heads Of families By
themselves into the old square pews,
according to their position in society
the single men and single women
into pewsin different galleries; while
the older children were allowed to
seat themselves up stairs in sips,
and the little children sat on benches
in the aisles below and on and near
the pulpit stairs. There were no
furnaces or stoves Except foot-ssovesI
in those days; and the minister, in
very cold weather, would preach in
his great-coat and mittens. Both he
and the tithing-men would ocasion-
ally speak aloud to the noisy ones in
inc congregation; while the deacons,
who were seated in row beneath
the pulpit, attempted to keep the
urchins in order by not infrcqucnt
RAYS ON their heads, OF which l have
perfect remembrance. OF course a
congregation thus seated did not pre-
serve 80 much good orderor decorum
as was desirable-at least the youth
full and Juvenile part. AS for the
morals Of Church members, if the
Church records Of those days should
be consulted at the present time by
inquisitive persons, it might be asccr-
tanned that breaches Of vows were a.
fragrant as at the present day, and
perhaps more SO, as the terms OF
Church fellowship were then quite
as easy as ut present, If not easier.
The conduct Of ministers of tho
gospel touch upon thcsubject with
due caution-was not more exempla
ry, / think, two-thirds of century
ago Iiiaii IL - HOW, ~ sdy enc i>sss.
Witness the quality and variety o
intoxicating drinks provided for or
dination councils, etc. In Boston, Il
the beginning Of the present century
there was a notable humOrist named
Batch, who kept hatter's shop il
old CornhilI, where ministers am
leading lawyers were accustomed t
assemble once or oftener every week
from eleven o'clock to noon, to smoke
drink punch, talk politics and hca
father Batch tell stories. In the la'
ter part of the preceding century
the Rev. Mathew Byles was distin
guished metropolitan preacher !
Boston, of whom 1t was said: "Whe
he is in the pulpit everybody wishe
that he would never leave it, an,
when he is out of 1t no one desire
that he should ever again enter It.
| His, jokes, specimen Of fun, hay
been handed down to the presen
generation, as has the name Of al
other celebrated clergyman who at
cornwall party happened to exchang
his own cooked hat for the hat of tn
Governor, which he wore home dul
Ing the day time, with the revolt
tionary cockade and gold eagle, {
the amusement of his tOwnsmen, q
they passed him on the streets. Il
all who are mourning over the delir
quencies of men at the present day
and lamenting that society is not s
pure as 1t was in the days0f the fail
ers, would say in the words of tn
ancient preacher: essay not thor
what Is the cause that the forme
days were better than these? Ft
thou dost not inquire wisely concern
ing this"
EFT cETERAS.
Space does not admit of much el
largement, but l will allude brief
to some other matters. When / WI
q boy, fifty-six hogsheads Of rul
were annually retailed at the shol
, of my own native town, (Northaml
) ton, Mass.,) the number of inlab
tants being then about 1900. At II
present time, the population bcinl
/ think, upwards of 5000, not a sill
gle cask Of liquor IL retailed In I'll
place, thanks to an improved publ
sentiment and the prohibitory law.
} Party spirit was more rancoro,
then than now. It ran SO high Thu
men Of different politics were scare
ly on speaking terms, and even tt
women would have no social int
! course with the wives and daughtel
Of political opponents. In the new
paper of Northampton was an adve
tisement, by the leading Inn-keep,
Of tho town, whose flip-iron was
constant use, of house to be sold I
let, with an IN. B.--N0 Deinocr'
needlapply."
How little was done in those Ola,
4 for the cause of Christian benev'
lence! The women, it is true, dl
venture on Scent Societies." IL
members obliging themselves to pa