The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-12-08
Goshen"


The little town of Goshen had queer,
independent notions. Indeed, it was no
uncommon thing to hear neighbOring
villages say, "TEat is GOsheny-no ap-
peal from that ~ This same OpiniOnated
town would not build on its central
greenn any other than a Grammar
School, because a century before Squire
Smith had bequeathed a sum Of money
for that one purpose. What was it to
the Goshenites that other villages
boasted of their academies, high schools
or public schools? just nothing, so a
Grammar School was built after a
model suggested by the memory of the
oldest inhabitant, who chad heerd them
tell that lived nigh to Squire Smith,
what his idees was and how he wanted
'em carried out to the letter. This
same town was intolerant toward all
churches save it's own peculiarly sacred
one, the Baptist. Again provision was
made for the support of this institution.
Half a century before, thoughtful dea-
con left the bulk of his property in trust
for "the maintenance of a preacher;
also to keep the Westinghouse and par
sonage in repair, and once in ten years
to add fifty books to the Sabbath School
library, which have been written by
pious, Baptist writer's" Every item of
the will had been faithfully managed,
and so the brethren in that lucky church
went to heaven on f1Owery beds of ease,
so far as dollars and cents are concerned.
Convenient to Othemeeting-house, Hunt
ley's Creek summed itself and lazily
!. stretched along between low, willow
fringed banks. 1t was a very proper
stream; it never Overf1owed-it never
hurried-it never answered the sun in
bright sparkles, nor fidgeted when the
moon sent thrilling glances into its
depths. If aught inanimate can give
one to understand that it is charged
with mission, that stream so expressed
ITSELF Anybody could read on its sur
, face, 81 am the Baptist Church, and tue
, Baptist Church is No one entereth it
save through me !' In times of deep re-
ligfous fervOr, Huntley's Creek seemed
to express moTe-even this: 81 am the
e gate of heaven! No one entereth it save
o through me W Had Goshen possessed
any other church, this assumption of
> the stream would have been very de-
e pressing, if not exasperating; but as it
: was, the Baptists had it all their own
q way, and hugged the sweet delusiOn to
their souls.
should not say they had it all their
= own way, for they did have some sharp
D thorns in the flesh, which vexed them
8 sorely at times. To the western edge
of the town, few Universalists clung
t and laughed to scOrn ParsOn Cooks
D hebdomadaI visions of the bottomless
e pit. These "reprobates" were very re-
+ spectacle people, if voting the Republic
can ticket, if being strong temperance
t men, kind to the poor and Obedient to
h the sum of all the commandments, can
!. make Que respectable. They even went
n, so far as to have a Missionary Society,
80 as if they themselves were not greater
Z, heathens than any they could find in
" foreign parts | give the opinion of Oh
st i've Ann SpoOner, the village spinster,
!, who had great authority in church. To
the eastern edge of the town clung one
d lone, lorn Spiritualist, and piled a mixed
ir business in heaven and on earth. For
IF a 'Iawful shilling' he would summon
=. any spirit, prescribe for any disease, tell
% your fortune, and for "five and six
l. pencen would ferret out any ordinary
ID thief and bring him to justice. The
! Goshenites gave him no cOuntenance,
but so far as possible Ostracized him.
ie But the dwellers in the next village be-
ID ing somewhat curious to know the Sc
crets of the spirit world, came often to
n, the isolated home of the clairvoyant and
gave him so much of their substance
Il chat he was fast laying up treasures
rs somewhere, whether in heaven or on
X earth, no one ventured to guess. There
o- is an air of mystery and uncertainty
about an individual who seems to be
u equally at home in the body and out ol
ID the body
Ie While the two extremities of the
10 town were ripe for divine Judgments
9, the middle was miniature New Jer-
H. usalem. Not a refOrmer of either sex
OF had ever disturbed its sweet serenity
a not hereto had ever prOfaned its sane
m tuary. But for newspapers, which are
so hOspitable toward every new sensa
as ton, Goshen would never have known
Is, of the terrible unrest among womeI
.et and their still more terrible demand fo
:. the ballot. They would never hav,
known the steady inroads women ar
'e- making into the professions hitherto
held sacred to men. Deacon ArnOt
10. gasped for breath as he read of the or
~ dinatiOn of woman! Squire Board
vi man, the male oracle of the village
le' said "that when men got so feeble tha
in they could not dispense the bread o
life, let the world starve-better starvt
- than feed on such panada as a woman
=" would give! Before would let WON
ne an teach me-" and down came. his can
ire by way of emphasis, 81 would wOuli
~ The sentence was never verbally
finished, but the Squire's look, as b
calmly surveyed his listeners, impresse
them with a sense of theUtter incapaC
w. ity and wOrthlessness of women. T
ic- speak of women lawyers, doctors, min
ess listers, and voters, was like red flag t.
ad bull. 1t was Brother Knapp's favor
we ite quotation: "YOu can't touch coal
ds, without bein' burned; and you cam
ng hear or read of these new-fangled theo
Mt, ries without some fool among US will
YER pitch in headIong and believe the Who'll
it abominable stuff! No, friends, there i
at no safety but in shutting our doors agin
Ow every body who don't square his life b.
ud the apostle Paul, and if Paul dom
TX shut down on women, will you, in tn
ler name of common sense, tell me VIII
or does ?'
the -~~~--
au- The subjects of pictures in Art Exh
ing bition in Memorial Hall continue t