The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-01-19
"REMINISCENCES
In the History of the EARLY Days of Stark
County.
Continued From Last Week

sNYDER'S SCHOOL DIsTRICT-LAKE TIP.
The moral sentiment of the communi.
ty in the Snyder district was excep.
tiOnally good, notwithstanding the
presence of that most demOraIizing of
all institutions, the "still-hOuSe," To-
Gated in its very heart. And although
the bottle of rye or herb bitters, with but
teW exceptions, occupied a most con-
splcuOus place in every household, and
the reception of a neighbOrly call would
have been considered very shabby had it
not afforded "pull' at the bottle if only
for hOspitality's sake; still there was
comparatively little drunkenness, even
at raising" or lOg-rOlling, as the OBJ
ject, that of neighbOrly help, was rarely
lost sight of. All this was due to the
existence of strong religious element.
the influence of which was felt long
| prior to the erection of the first church
In the neighbOThOOd- standing
| winch took the name of Snyder's Church.
| rms building was erected, if we are not
mistaken, i'll the year 1897, Jointly by
| Che representatives of the old and the
| reformed Lutheran bodies. Every strong
sense of the sanctity of the house of
| GOd prevailed among the wOrshipers and
| The StrlcteSt decOTum was observed dur-
| Ing service; no whispering or leyity
| being permitted, and on more than one
| occasion have the fellows who failed to
| observe proper respect for the place
| been seized by each arm and unceremO-
| nlOuSly hustled out by vigilant deacOns.
The modern custom of males and fe
males being seated prOmiscuOusly
| throughout the church was then not
thought OF, and any violation of the rule
| OF the women entering the one door and
| occupying one side and the men the
| other would have been summarily dealt
with. The late j. j. Fast was, we be-
| lieye, one Of the first to Oaiaiate as
pastor, and served his people faithfully
and acceptably. For several years mat
| terS moved along pleasantly with moth
Ing occurring to create a ripple of
trouble, until on a certain Sabbath
morning, the large congregation having
| assembled, the arrival of the pastor with
suspicious looking package attracted
universal attention, which he proceeded
to open, and slowly drew forth a long
black gown, and before entering the
pulpit, To the intense disgust of both
sides of the hOuse-theTe being no ante
rOOm-pTOceeded in the presence of the
congregation assembled to don the long
trailing teminine-lOOking garment with
It's great flowing sleeves. The intense
feeling of scarce suppressed indignation
was visible in the features of all pres
ent, which the pastor did not fail to OBJ
serve, and which Yisibly embarrassed and
interfered with the delivery of the ser
mon. Perhaps no act, however i'm
moral, could have created a more in
tense feeling of Indignation to the
plain, simple-hearted wOrshipers assem-
bled than this first attempt to introduce
what SaVOTed of high church display,
and without attributing any such motive
to the pastor it was a most unfortunate
affair and resulted IN his being waited
upon Immediately at the close of the ser
vices and told in no mild terms that
nothing of the kind would be tolerated
| in the future. As a result, the cOrdiality
previously existing between pastor and
| people was never fully restored, even to
| the close of Mr.. Fasts pastOrate.
The tenacity with which these people
clung to the political faith of their
| fathers, and the zeal with which they
were inculcated into the minds and
| hearts of their children is shown by the
| large congregation which still assemble
at the Snyder church, and the almost
unbrOken front shown by each election
| return.
An amusing circumstance-as the
story gOes-shOwing this strong attach
ment to church and party occurred in
| the near neighbOrhOOd many years ago
| and runs as follows: A Well-tO-dO
| farmer was the father of several mar
riageable daughters, whose charms so
| strongly impressed a certain young man
in the neighbOrhOOd that after coming
to a satisfactory understanding with the
young lady, the dreadful task yet re-
manned of asking the consent of pap"
His religion and political leaning not
being exactly in line with that of the
old gentleman, many miSgiYings were
lndulged in; but having screwed up his
temper to the sticking point, backed by
the young lady, presented himself and
the question was prOpOunded. Hanging
his head for a few moments in reflection
the reply at last came: IF you will
swear before me, Jesus Christ and my
daughter that you will vote the Demo
cratic ticket and join the Lutheran
church, you may have her" The oath |
was duly administered and the happy |
couple retired with light hearts.
The representatives of other denOmi- |
nations in the neighbOThOOd were few, |
there being but three Methodist fami- |
lies. Primitive MethOdists were pro-
verbally noisy and demOnStratiVe in |
their worship, while to the strict and |
orderly Lutheran the apparent cOnfu- |
sion OccasiOned by the hearty response |
and loud prayers, grated harshly on the
ear. Hence considerable ridicule and
repTOach naturally attached itself to
those who were of that persuasion,
Wnlcn tOunu expression In many ways,
not for the purpose of giving Offense,
however, but thOughtlessly. One little
cOuplet in Pennsylvania Dutch ran thus:
Glory in de wilderness
Der difel hOhl de metodis.
The writer has alluded to this matter
only for the purpose of showing the
odium which attached itself to the
name of Methodist in some localities,
and to illustrate what in another
chapter might not otherwise be fully
appreciated power of ridicule in |
bringing to terms a refractory people
when all else failed. There was, how
ever, but little of this in the Snyder
district, and that soon gave way to
better feeling, in which all were accord
ed the right to worship as their con-
sciences dictated.
The shooting match and rafting
party were among the few amusements
which were indulged in in early days,
and were of a sufficiently exciting
character to attract large crowds, in
which the trials of skill with the rifle
for some temporary prize, was sufficient
to induce many fine maTksmen to enter
the list. These gatherings usually took
place after the season of farm work had
closed, and everything was well Sc