The Cecil Whig., 1877-07-07
For The Cecil Whig

For The Cecil Wing.
QuiIp'S Diary, that He Kept as a Bohemian.
QuIp Goes to Church with His Friend.
Our friend Samuel Tosh, being a pious
and church going man, invited us to 90 to
church with him to day, and we did not
hesitate to accept his invitation. Indeed,
we stopped at his place because we knew
he would invite us to go to church with
him. He, like his parents, who have long
since entered into the crest that remains
West Nottingham Presbyterian Church.
We started early and took stroll through
the large and beautiful cemetery. 1t is
kept in excellent order, and in the bright
sunshine of this sweet May morning, looked
lovely and beautiful, and as we and our
friend stroled along its shady walks, we
thought of the sweet fields of green pas
lures on the other side of the dark river.
and of the sainted ones who wait to well
come us there "when this fitfull fever of
life is over" and our head, like theirs,
shall be pillowed upon our mother earth.
Here sleep the ancestors of the Toshes,
Ewinss, Magraws, and many others un-
known to us. We felt just little sad as
We stood beside the grave of the father of
our old friend f. f. Ewing, late Editor of
The Wig, and wondered if we would ever
have the pleasure of grasping Eds honest
hand and hearing the music Of his mellow
voice again. Should these lines meet his
eye, in his far-of Western home, lie will
be reminded that one friend has not for
gotten his virtues and his kindness. On
headstone at the grave of Sarah Haines,
who was at one time Quakeress, but
afterwards became a member of this
Church, we found this eptaph. We thought
it pretty and copied it:
"Stranger she that's buried here,
Was humble, piOuS and sincere;
And lived with death before her eye,
AS one who did not fear to die;
She died as one exchangin' breath,
For Immortality in death"
This seems the proper place to speak of
the old churches and graveyards near the
village of Rising Sun, though We did not
visit them till the next day.
From the historical sketch of West Not
tinghan Church, written by the Pastor,
Mr.. Gayley, and published by the congre-
CATION some years ago, We learn that the
congregation had meeting house here
anterior to 1929, and that in minute of
Tresbytery made in that year, it is called
The Old Meeting House." The Church
here was divided about the time that
Whitfield made his celebrated tour through
the United States. He preached here in
the woods to congregation said to num-
Der eight thousand, in 1141, and his preach
ing is thought to have had much to do with
the division of the congregation and the
erection of new meeting house. The old
church stood in the field of Barclay Reyn-
olds, a short distance northwest of the
Sun, and the other one-built after the
division-in the field Of Reuben Reynolds.
They were both probably near the old
graveyards, and were so near each other
that each congregation could hear the
other singing. The Presbyterians of this
ancient church, as its history shows, have
always been ready to do battle for what
they believed to be the "faith once deliv-
cred to the Saints" and to resist with
indomitable energy any departure from it,
the Rev. DR.. Magraw taking prominent
part in the controversy that rent the
Church in twain in 1887.
We visited the old graveyard on the top
of the hill, in the early morning, and were
surprised to find a grave apparently but
few months old, and there amid the music
of the merry birds, as they chanted their
early matin song while yet the morning
mists hung lightly over the valleys, we
mused upon this strange mingling of the
dust of a century gone by and that of this
poor wandering waif of later times, so
lately laid beside these ancient graves, to
sleep till the hand that swings the worlds in
space shall lift the mist that shrouds futur-
ty and time shall be no more. We copied
some of the inscriptions upon the old
moss covered slabs aud tombStones. On
an ancient slab, partly covered with earth
and headed with two single and inverted
hearts, with a double heart between them,
we read with much difficulty this inScrip-
ton: "Rebecca Hindman, who departed
this life, August ye 14th, 1865" On an
other slab, headed with Bible and hour
glass, was this inscriptions: "Rev'd John
PAUL, who departed this life, Sept. ye 30th,
1889, aged 33 years. Some of these graves
were once in the shade of an oak tree,
whose decaying trunk now lies PROSTATE
on the ground, large limb pointing up
ward, and quite near it the ground hogs
have burrowed among the graves and
found a home amid the dust of decayed
humanity. Near this old tree we found
part of a broken slab, which had cut upon
it's surface rude figure of a human head.
One of the dates on it was 1747. The
frosts and storms of century had obliter-
ated all but this.
On the west side of the rill that mean
ders along the quiet valley near the pleas
ant home of Barclay Reynolds, in the field
of Reuben Reynolds, we found the other
graveyard, and in it the headstone of Mrs.
Sarah Finley. She was the wife of Rev.
DR.. Samuel Finley, the Pastor of the New
or Second West Nottingham Church, the
founder of West Nottingham Academy,
and afterwards President of Princeton Col
lege. The headstone has this inscription:
"In memory of Mrs. Sarah Finley, who
departed this life, July 30th, 17G0, aged 10
years. She was a virtuous wife, fond par
ent, constant friend, lover of God and