Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-01-21

the gallery above supported by huge pillars
with seats on three Sides in tiers like the
theatres now; the lower front seats were
filled with the choir singers. I can recall
each face as saw them that last Sabbath.
There were men singers and women singers.
and instruments of music; the singing was
grand. When the choir of forty singers arose
| and sang the grand old Doxology it left an
impress not easily erased. In all nv wander.
ings never forget that last Sabbath in the
East. And then the prayer in which the
congregation stood, with heads bowed. while
the minister poured out his soul the eiyer of
all good, then the sermon, finally the bene-
oictlon. must not forget to mention one
important member of those old churches:
the man who watched the conduct of each
one during the service. If he saw anyone.
old or young, male or female, conducting
themselves improperly, he took them i'm
medlately under his care, and on the NOR.
row brought them before the grand iurv for
trial there was standing jury to try every
dlsturber of peace), and if found guilty, TAX
EN- to the whipping post and publicly whip
ped. But that was a rare occurrence. For
If boy saw he was watched bv the t,ding
man he was very apt to quiet himself I
never heard of any one being whipped but
once. That was enough to last a lifetime I
nave, good many times i'll the last few
years, thought it would not be q bad thing
to have such a thing in existence now, |
have been to concerts, lectures. etc., when l
thought 1t would be nice thing to have
some OF the independent spirit subdued a
little. 1t would be more to the comfort of
the Older persons. 1t is not very pleasant or
agreeable to most persons to hear such nois-
es as have heard at public gatherings. 1
love to see the young-the boys-enjoy them
selves, but at the same time they ought to
remember there is time and place for all
things. But to return to my subject. There
were evening meetings appointed at each
schoolhouse where all the neighhors could
gather to sing and pray. And as each fami-
ly came in, one of the number would set the
candle on the table. You could almost tell
the character of the family by the looks of
their light. The leader came in with tin
lantern In which was a lighted candle, by
this all the other candles were lighted. Don't
forget that there were no matches then. The
neighbOrs used to borrow fire of each other
when it happened to 90 out in their homes.
Most families bad flint, a steel and "a box
of finder to strike fire. While the candles
were being lighted some good old grand
mother would start the old tune, ''Lite is
the time to serve the Lord.'' I used to en-
JOY going to those evening meetings. l must
say with all the shortcomings of those peo-
pie, breaking the Sabbath was not one of
them, for they were strict Sabbath keepers.
And then there were some other things that
those forefathers taught their children,
which would not be out of place at the pres
ent time: to honor their parents, and es-
pecially older people. The children were
taught, when on the way to school, to raise
their hats when met by an older person. |
Now don't think l am featuring you, but |
don't you think it would look better to be |
respectful to persons older than yourself? | |
don't think it is because you think the less |
of them, but you forget. R.P.T,