Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-07-07

From McMasters History of the American Pco-
pie, Vol. II.
On sudden this LKentuckyl community,
which the preachers had often called Satsn's
stronghold, underwent a moral awakening
such as this world had never beheld.
Two young men began the great work in
the summer Of 1893. They were brothers,
preachers, and on their way across the pine
barrens TO Ohio, but turned aside to pc present
at sacramental solemnity on Red river. The
people were accustomed TO gather at such
times on Friday, and by praying, singing,
and hearing sermons, prepare themselves for
the reception Of sacrament on Sunday. At
the Red river meeting the brothers were
asked TO preach, and one did 10 with aston
ishing fervor. AS he spoke, the people were
deeply moved, tears ran streaming down
their faces, and one, woman far In the rear
| of the house, broke through order and began
| to shout For two hours after the regular |
| preachers had gone the crowd fingered /
and were loath to depart While they |
| tarried, one of the brothers was irresist- |
| IDLY impelled to speak. He rose and told |
them that he felt called to preach
| words which then fell from his lips reused |
the people before him +" to a pungent sense
of SIM" Again and again the woman
beS o"% Sos Se
| to turn back. Something within him urged
him on, and he went through the house
shouting and exhorting and praising God.
"was covered with the slain" Their cries
for mercy were terrible to hear Some found
forgiveness, but many went away "spiritu-
ally wounded" and suffering unutterable
| agony of soul. Nothing could allay the ex-
element Every settlement along the Green
| river and the Cumberland was full OF
religious fervor. Men fitted their wagons
with beds and provisions, and travelled ffty
, miles TO camp upon the ground and hear
him preach. The Idea was new hundreds
adopted 1t and campmeeting began There
was now no longer any excuse to stay away
} of houses, nor scarcity Of food, nor daily
occupations prevailed. Led by curiosity, by
, excitement, by religious zeal, families Of
/. . every Protestant denomination-B -Baptists,
, hurried to the camp ground. Crops were left
= | half gathered; every kind of work was left
4 | undone; cabins were deserted in large settle
v ments there did not remain one soul. The
. | first regular general campmeeting was held
at Casper River church, in July, 1900; but
the rage spread, and dozen encampments
i followed In quick succession. Campmeetng
was always in the forest near some little
church, which served as the preachers lodge.
> At one end of a clearing was rude stage,
a and before 1t the stumps and trunks Of hewn
trees, on which the listeners sat. About the
clearing were the tents and wagons ranged
!, | in rows like streets. The praying, the
u preaching, the exhorting, would sometimes
d last for seven days, and be prolonged every
], day until darkness had begun to give way to
h | light. Nor were the ministers the only ex-
'. hSrters. Men and women, nay, even chill.
20 | children, took part. At Cane Ridge little
- | girl of seven sat upon the shoulder Of a man
y and preached to the multitude till she sank
is | exhausted ON her bearers head. AT Indian
1t Creek lad OF twelve mounted stump and
ID exhorted till he grew weak whereupon two
ct men upheld him, and he continued til
m speech was impossible A score Of sinner
" fell PROSTATE before him.
u AT no time was the "falling exercise 81
c- prevalent as at night Nothing was ther
n wanting that could strike terror into minds
r. weak, timid and harrassed. The red glar,
of Of the camp-fires reflected from hundreds o
!. tents and wagons the dense blackness Of tn
= flickering shadows, the darkness Of the sur
rounding forest, made still more terrible b,
H. the groans and screams of the " spiritual,
sh wounded" who had fled to 1t for comfort
Ia the entreaty Of the preachers; the sobs an,
,r- shrieks of the downcast still wal King throug
na the dark valley of the shadow of death tn
AZ shouts and songs from the happy ones VIII
en had crossed the delectable mountains, ha
gone on through the fogs of the enchante
. ground and entered the land OF Beulah, wer
ny too much for those over whose minds an
mt bodies lively imaginations held full sway
nj. The heart swelled, the nerves gave way, tn
IN. hands and feet grew cold, and, motionles
,Ia and speechless, they fell headlong TO th
-. ground. In moment crowds gathere
III about them TO pray and shout Some Ia
nat still as death. Some passed through frightfr
we twitchings Of face and limb At Cabin cree
1t so many fell that, lest the multitude shoul
,si. tread on them, they were carried to the NEE
No. ing house and laid in rows on the floor.
is Cane Ridge the number was three thousan'
hu The recollections Of that famous meeting
ZEN still preserved in Kentucky, where, m
ed | many years since, old men could be foun
w. whose mothers had carried them to the cam
md ground when infants, and had left them
40 the roots Of trees and behind logs while Il
preaching and exhorting continued. Car
ION Ridge meeting house stood on well-shade
are well-watered spot, seven miles from the tow
in OF Paris There great space had bee
hat cleared, a preachers stand put up and hug
in tent stretched TO shelter the crowd from Il
,,, sun and the rain. But it did not cover u
iu' twentieth part of the people who cam
au- Every road that led to the ground is d
TIL scribed TO have presented for several days q
ges almost unbroken line of wagons, horses al
men. One who saw the meeting when 1t hs
just begun wrote home to Philadelphia til
of wagons covered an area as large AZ that b
', tween Market street and Chestnut Secor
.esl .esl and Third. Another, who counted ther
inc declared they numbered eleven hundrt
i've and forty-iive Seven hundred and fif
lead tokens, stamped with the letters A.
IL. were given by the Baptists TO commur
eants and there were still upward
four hundred who received none Old sc
'ers diers who were present, and claimed to kno
something OF the art OF estimating Il
'ful numbers of great masses of men, put dow
,rts those encamped at the Cane Kidle meetir
in as 10000 souls. The excitement surnlss,
.t; anything that had been known. Men wi
/ cdIuo W scOu Teillalileu 10 preach. All uf
re and all night the crowd swarmed to and fro
ing preacher to preacher, singing, shoutin
,re- laughing, now rushing oil to listen TO son
of new exhorter who had climbed upon a STUN
'ps. now gathering around some unfortunate VIII
ed. In their peculiar language, was ''spiritual
is slain" Soon men and women fell I'm su,
for numbers that it became impossible for d
an multitude to move about without trampliI
ble them, and they were hurried to the meetir
cot house. At no time was the floor less la,
pite half covered. Some lay quiet, unable
her move or speak. Some talked, but could n
move. Some beat the floor with their hee
yri- Some, shrieking in agony, bounded about,
eat IL said, like live fsh out OF water. Maj
nth lay down and rolled over and over for hou
an at time. Others rushed wildly over Il
stumps and benches, and then plunge
shouting nL,ost! lost y into the forest