Stephens City star. (Stephens City, Va.) 1881-1883, 1883-05-05

since joined his comrades. "They rest
from their labors, and their works do
follow them" PIONEER.
In connection with the above, we
give description of Methodist din
ner party in "ye olden time" as des-
cribed by Rev. James Quinn, who was
then laboring on the Winchester Cir
cult. He says
An arrangement was made for
Bishop Asbury to rest day or two at
the house of his friend, Rev. Elisha
Phelps in the vicinity of Stephens
burg, where he would receive his
friends. Tuesday, August "a, at an
early hour, most interesting COM
pany convened at the lovely country
residence. AS soon as the company
was seated in the neatly arranged
paror, the Bishop in his persuasive
style, addressed the throne of grace.
The prayer concluded, the company
resumed their seats, and what then
light cht-chat, mixed with peals Of
laughter, in which all persons talk and
no one hears? No, no, it was the
feast of reason and the flow of soul.
In food of conversation on variety
of interesting topics, chiefly of a moral
and religious character. A descrip-
ton of that social band is deeply in-
teresting Well then, here is Rev. E.
, Phelps and wife, at whose house the
following were the welcome guests
He had been a traveIing preacher
His heart was still in the work. His
deeply pious lady, without the tinsel
and flppancy of modern etiquette, her
countcnance beaming with good ma
ture, said to her friends, Feel your
selves welcome. There was Mr.. As
bury, in better health and spirits than
usual I never saw him in more
cheerful and pleasant mood, for the
, Lord was pouring out His Spirit in
, many places, and this always cheered
the heart of the good man.
"That tall and swarthy southerner
. Rev. Philip Bruce, brought good news
from the south of Virginia; his dis
trict was all in fame. That fine
. looking gentleman, with black band
: in Virginia homespun, that was Rev
Samuel Mitchell. He was a whole
souled Virginian. His heart was al
on fire. The news Of the great worl
: of God had Just come to hand by pri
vate letters from Kentucky and Ten
nessee.
;, But there is another interestin,
: figure. Well, that is DR.. I. Tilden,
local preacher. He had been a cap
tain in the Revolution. He was in
- teresting in conversation.
THAT aged lady in black dress wa
DR.. T. s mother. She had lived NOR
than seventy years. She was waiting
for her change, and ripening for heav
en-. Here was DR.. VIM. Mcdowell, il
the prime of life, his raven locks o
hair hanging in ringlets. He hac
,, been a successful travelling preacher
but had retired from the field of toll
There was Bro. Mason, the watch
maker, and that meek, neat lady O
! Quaker appearance was Sister Mason
In her we had pattern of neatnes
and piety. Here too was the piou
widow of Rev. B. Talbot. Her coun
tenance we'll expressed resignation
1t seemed to say, Pity me, pity me
, oh, ye nay friends, for the hand of tn
!, Lord hath touched me. And Their,
! is my colleague, Rev. Edward Mat
thews. He was modest and reserved
THAT which added much to the re
ligious sociability of the day was mu
sic--sweet, spirit-stirring music 1
charmed the ear and warmed tn,
heart. We had six or eight intellec
tual musical instruments in our com
pany, which the Lord himself hac
strung and tuned. The Methodist,
used only such in that day. Will
these we occasionally made melody il
our hearts to the Lord.
,. an due time we were summoned te
the dining room. Upon approaching
the table the Bishop tuned his musica
powers-a deep-toned yet mellow bass
to-
"Be present at our table, Lord,
' Be here and everywhere adored;
= Thy people bless, and grant that we
May feast in Paradise with Thee"
q "The blessing asked, and all wer,
! seated-old Virginia for all the world
5 and for once we psrtook of our foot
and eat our bread with singleness o
q heart. The decanters with wine O
strong drink were neither on the tabl