The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1870-03-18

that day, and l was greeted by my
acquaintances with warm cordiality
Although some of them were better
dressed than their old friend, they
lid not as 1 have seen city folks do,
/ turn. the cold shoulder to him. l
would mention an instance, if l had
time, Of two young ladies, bosom
| friends, who could scarcely spend
the night apart, and between whom
there was no secret, and yet when
they were married and removed from
the small village in which they had
lived to a neighboring city, they
never visited each other-their calls
were but annual, brief, formal and
heartless. One Of them had married
into the uppertendom, whose code
of etiquet required that she should
theme forth ignore all former a ssocia-
/ ties of humble station, and the other
was too proud to yield her, that syc-
ophantic homage which her higher
! position warranted her in demand
ing. There must have been long
and desperate struggles, stout and
stubborn heart resistance, before the
chilling atmosphere of the ice-house
of aristocratic propriety could freeze
the fresh, fragrant, beautiful flowers
of early friendship; but the change
was complete-those two old-time
boon companions came to have as
little affection for each other as two
icebergs they could meet as distant
ly and coldly as two rival queens.
If had not already intimated nv
want of time, I would follow the
course Of their lives to the point !
which Mrs. Naughty, from reverses
in her husbands business, began to
fall from her high estate, while Mrs
Humble steadily rose in the social
scale till the two had exchanged
places, But this is hardly a fitting
theme for Sunday.
l asked ifthe minister had come,
and if we would better not 90 into
the house. "He is just coming down
the road" said one, pointing in that
direction. Looking, 1 saw in the
distance man on horse back, whom,
on his arrival, 1 recognized to be a
farmer that resided some three miles
| the other side of the village, on a
piece Of land so poor as to be almost
barren-''oak openings'-like self
| righteousness, "the more you have
Iof it, the worse you are off" COM
pretended the situation at once, as a
general would say:. Those pioneers
in religion, the Episcopal Metho-
dists, held church in this out-of-the-
way place, and enjoyed the minis
trations of this former exhorter.
True, his education had been sadly
neglected, and his language was
neither classic nor grammatical; but
his ideas were quite original. the
"quarterage" they paid him was
small and agricultural rather than
monetary, and the produce thus
contributed supplied a sad want at
his home. Besides, what he lacked
in gracefulness and rhetoric, he more
than made up in volume of voice and
height of key. Though past three
score, he had lungs like Stentor and
a fist like a prize-fghte2. His SER
mons were impressive, if not persua-
sive. If he did not win his uncon-
verted audience to the Savior, by
dwelling upon the gentleness and
forbearance and warmth of divine
love, he sought to drive them to their
knees by unfolding the terors of the
law.
The exercises were much like
those in velvet-seated churches, as
to kind and order Of succession, but
differed in degree and finish. The
hymns were read in that singing
tone which is the terror of teachers,
and were sung with that nice disre-
gard Of time ald dynamics, which
drives choristers out Of choirs if not
stark mad; the scripture was read
with IN innocent ignorance of the
rules of enunciation and emphasis;
the prayers were feeling and ample
in their scope, literally, interspersed
with brief exclamation points from
the "amen corner" and the exhor-
tation Git did not anogate to itself
the dignity of a sermon) though
loosly constructed, and at times an
tagonistic in its bearings, was the
earnest utterance of a plain, humble,
commonsense, piOus man. His au-
dience gave him that respectful, un-
divided attention which proved their
good manners ifnot their good iudg-
ment Of ministerial discourses. And
/ could not help asking if such
preaching under the circumstances,
does not as much good as labored
lplatitudes from richly finished pull
pit to an audience whose chief Occu-
patton is to observe how those in the
next pew are dressed?
l have given the particulars of my
trip to, and labors in that neighbor-
hood, and remarking that my return
was not coupled with any notewor-
thy event, and thanking my readers
for their good nature, and intimat-
IiIg that they may hear from me
again, I now bid them goodbye.
And the morning and evening
were the seventh day. Focy