Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1881-01-04
THOSE WICKED TOWNS.

place OF public worship, and l35 children
40 not attend any Sabbath School. lu the
towns the amount contributed 10 the Bible
cause was not sufficient 10 pay for the cost
OF making the Bibles given 10 the destitute.
-Portidad Press.
The above item appeared in the Press
abou, two months ago and was widely
copied through this and other States
Though the writer was careful to state
that the figures represented three towns
in Oxford County. the general impression
conveyed BY the item was, that Oxford
County was remarkably devoid of church
going people and contained an unusual
number of families destitute of the Bible.
Always Jealous of the good name of Ok
ford County, we picked up the item,
questioned It's accuracy, and offered TO
furnish the destitute in those three towns
with Bibles if that state of affairs existed.
The item appeared To be one OF those
floating bits which travel IN the press.
whose authorship Is unknown and whose
accuracy Is unvouched for. During the
past week. Mr.. T. Is. Stilson, agent OF
the American Bible Society, has been
canyassing the town of Paris. tie called
at this office and claimed 10 be the author
of the statements contained in this item.
Mr.. ). is doing good work in the Bible
field He makes a thorough canvass OF
his territory. calls at every house and
ascer,ains by undoubled evidence the facts
which his records show The work OF
supplying Bibles to the destitute by sell
ing a, cost, or by presentation to the
poor, Is a good and noble charity. The
statistics in regard to church attendance.
and concerning Bible restitution even at
the doors of the churches, must awaken
christian people and clergymen TO the
need OF more active personal effort.
Ii We had known the author OF the
item which heads this article, We should
no; have 20 sharply criticised it, state
ments. At the same time, wrong I'M
preston vas conveyed by It IN regard TO
the moral and religious condition OF Ok
ford County. One would naturally tx
pect that such statistics would be given
concerning representative towns-and
this was the generally accepted view As
will be shown bv the comments OF the
press upon the figures. Or, II these
were exceptional towns it should have
been 80 stated The fact Is these sta
tistics. though undoubtedly correct. DO
not represent Oxford County, but refer to
two back towns, sparsely settled, and 10
a third town, whose interests ere divided,
and whose people find associations, trade
and religious privileges in two or three
adjoining towns The towns IN question
are Byron. RoNbury and Mexico.
Byron Is the most north easterly town
in Oxford County. \ portion Of It's
western boundary i Andover town line,
and the balance i the line OF Andovcr
North Surplus, an unincorPorated town.
ship OF woodland The town is hilly,
and the settlers are located on roads
which pass through the mo-, accessible
aud level routes. They az, thu, sepa-
rA;ed from one another. and the inhabi-
ted portions OF the town are divided by
nils. 80 tina, the people find their com
muuicAtlOn with the outer world IN diff
trrent directions There Is little in CON-
mon between the people Of the north
eastern section OF Byron ana those OF the
southwestern section Those IN the
uo,.Lea>, travel 10 Weld. in the County
ot Franklin. while those IN ;he other
section, lind their trading pot, a. Ando-
,er. Mexico and DiNhe.d. Byron c.n-
,ain> abou, nifty square miles OF territory;
aud in this the agent found forty
families, OF whom he reports thirty eight
as non-chUrch-goe Forty families,
scattered over such territory, and find
my outlets az such distant points, could
not supper, stated preaching. This i
the case in all new towns, and IN sparse
IL settled districts Now let Us see why
these families are not regular attendants
az church A few families find church
privileges in Andoyer, at a distance OF
from six 10 eight miles but the church
nearest a majority of the people J. at
Eas, Rumtord. az least seventeen miles
from the most northerly inhabitants, and
from eight TO eleven miles from the most
southerly inhabitant OF the town. Ii
would be out OF the question for people
10 travel such distances over bad, hllly
roads, and De regular attendants at church
Sometimes there Is preaching at Mexico
Corner. but that Is from nine to twelve
miles from Byrons people. II We sup
pose that these people are irreligious above
all men because they do no, attend church,
we should commit grave error. They
are a good, reliable class OF citizens, and
in the whole town the agent reports that
he found but four families without a
Bible. Many of these people attend
preaching in the school house when an
itinerant preacher or missionary visits the
place.
Roxbury, the second bad town, is To-
Gated south easterly from Byron. The
same range OF hills divides this town, and
the roads send her people on one side to
Andover, and on the other TO Rumford
and Mexico 1t Is six or eight miles TO
Andover, and about the same distance to
RumforG and Mexico. The citizens OF
this town are in in the same fix that the
people of Byron are in. The town con.
iains as reported by the Bible agent, for
" families, and they are scattered over
thirty FIVE or forty square miles of terri
tory. Thirty-twO OF these families are