Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1876-06-09

Resumption Or Improvements m BdrneSCtte-
Religious oral-In Dress, Manners, address
- Crops, SC.
GAINESVILLE, June 6, 1876
Mr.. Editor Referring to our improve
ments it may not be out of the way 70 say
something Of the improvement in the general
| manners, morals, aud other finer qualities of
our people 1t is gratifying to note that such
Improvement has been quite marked.
The first in order to be mentioned is the i'm
provement in attendance ON and mnistration
of religious worship. Six or seven years ago
Sabbath after Sabbath passed by and no church
open, no preaching, no prayer-meeting, no
Sunday-school Now let that be compared
with last Sunday when there were appoint
ments for public worship at four churches in
the village. Here, however it must be ad-
| mitted that to one of these appointments The
preacher came, but the congregation didn't.
While at another neither preacher nor congre-
CATION appeared, perhaps on account of the
weather. The other two churches were sup
| piled both with preachers and congregations
and the preachers followed an example st Paul
set at one time, they came not to us with en-
| ticing words of mans WISDOM" but one of
them expressed a holy horror of cremation as
practiced in this world and the other an
equal horror of it as praeticed in the world to
come Let il not be thought that because
there was no services Al two places where ser
vices were appointed that it shows lack of i'm
| provement, for it was intended there should
be, while at the time refer to- several years
| ago, they didn't even have even the intention
| Then we had no Sunday but now we
| have, and it is not the fault os those who at
tend it that il is not in more prosperous con-
dtion than ii is, but the fault of those who
do not attend it.
In morals the most smarked feature is the
! decrease in drunkenness Ii is a rare thing to
see a citizen of GAINESVILLE Except those who
are citizens under the constitution as amend
| ed under the influence of LIQUOR while form
erly it was daily sight. When you see any
one drunk now it may be set down as pretty
certain that he is some one from the country,
who has not yet been brought under the NOR
| alizing GAINESVILLE influences. can't ex-
| plain what these influences are, because do
not know, but am sure they exist. There is
class of people. you know, who are always
growing about the degeneracy of the times
croaking that in by-gone days people were
more honest, that they were better Christians
that they loved each other more and talked
about each other less, that they can't live
cheaper and better, and that whiskey and to-
bacco were better. This class has existed ever
since, and perhaps before, the days of Solo
mon for we find he refers to it with words of
reproof, ''Say not tina, the former days were
better than these is what he saws SO we
have serpiural proof that the croaker family
is one of very ancient, though not honorable,
descent. II is a good thing everybody does
not believe these croakers. for i! they did they
could not bnt conclude that all that has been
done for the amelioratIon of humanity by
| Gods own instrumentaliiies was done IN The