The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1883-06-28
GOINGTO CHURCH.
The Hardship Of 1t Early In the
prosant ContnPv


Present Century.
In the "Memoirs of John A. Dix"
just published, the following autograph
ical experience is related, giving pic
ture of the discomforts incident to wor-
ship in the injecting house" during the
first decade of this century. The village
of Boscawen, G. H., furnishes the ma
terial for the sketch:
The period was approaching whom I
was to be sent away from home for my
classical education; but, before I enter
upon it, let me cast back some glances at
my native village. have spoken of the
meeting house at one of its extremlties.
The society was congregational in its
form. 1t acknowledged no earthly head.
I.had a distinct idea of this popularity
in its doctri me from the conversations
mother was sincere, devout and trust
full Christian. My father was believer,
but not q member Of the Church.
sometimes thought his views did not &C
cord with those of the preacher; but he
said nothing to warrant such an inference.
No man was more regular than him
self in his attendance on divine worship
on Sundays, and they were the only
days in the year for which any religious
exercises were observed, except the first
Monday of every month, on which eve
ming prayer.meetingw was held. de-
ri:ed no agreeable impression whatever
from these religious observances. The
Westinghouse was, like most others Of
shingles. full of windows, with plain,
plastered walls inside; it was cold and
dreary in it's aspect within and without.
sun moved round the building in sum-
mer the congregation moved about in
their pews, to escape from tho burn ing
rays. The winters were awful; the
thermometer often fell twenty or thirty
degrees below zero. There was no fire.
place or furnace, not even stove. To
this arctic temperature we were exposed
two hours in the morning and two hours
in the afternoon. The sermon was al
most always On hour long, and the pray
ers and psalms, and reading of the scrip
lures, occupied about the same time. In
my whole life l have never suffered 80
much from cold. My mother always
took foot-stove with her, and it was
more frequently under my feet than
hers. In the sleigh on our way to meeting
we were always comfortable, for we were
enveloped in buffalo-skins. But we
could not take them with us into the
meeting house. VIII en the wind was
high the cold was merely insupportable.
The window sashes vibrated and ratified
in their loose frames. and the cold air
poured upon us through numberless in
lets. My feelings were anything but de-
votional; and pray God to forgive me
the many secret irreverences of which I
was guilty. The preacher was a learned
and conscientious man; but hated his
long discourses drawn out, as it seemed
to me, with malicious perverseness)
when I was perishing with cold: The
my mind. had read in some book in
my fathers library that certain holy
men had voluntarily submitted to the
severest infections. One, whose name
does not occur to me, lived on the top
vi column for number Of years, ex~
posed IT, all the vicissitudes of the sea-
sons. Surprising him to have lived in a
good climate, I wondered whether he
suffered as much as our preacher, holding
forth by the hour in an atmosphere fifty
degrees below freezing point. I Won
dered whether the latter, like the holy
father, was acting on principle of self
infection, or whether he was Furnishing
his congregation for their stubborness in
sin. If his motive was merely personal,
then wondered why he could not dis
miss the congregation and perform the
penance by himself instead of making
us the companions and the victims of his
martyrdom. I could not help secretly
wishing on these wretched occasions,
that he might freeze his feet, that his
arm might become so benumbed with
cold that he could not gesticulate, or
that his tongue might cleave to the roof
of his mouth. It was not because I had
any malice against him in my heart, but
because he was; BY nrot.scting his ser
suferings too great to be borne. knew
him better in after years, and became
sincerely attached to him; and if he had
not been ignorant of all that passed
through my mind during those winter
services, would have confessed my un.
charitableness and implored kis forgive
ness. But there never could have been
any reconciliation between me and the
meeting-h house. I always detested it; I
never looked upon it as the house of
God. Town meetings and elections were
held in it. had seen it de6led with
tobacco-juice; had seen it desecrated
by fsticufingi in the heat of political
conflicts; had heard its bare walls ring
with tumultuous laughter, when some
man, who had been prosperous in
money-making and assumed airs, was
elected hog: constable by reclamation.
These scenes were too often upper1nost
in my thoughts when the sermon was
in progress, and a devotional frame of
lr,ind WAS imnOssiDlo