Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1886-02-26
THE CAMP MEETING.


tFrom Charles Egbert Craddock's serial "Gn the
Clouds" now running in the Atlantic Monthly.1
All unmindful OF the rain, a row Of young
men aud half grown boys perched on a rail
fence in crouch ng attitude not unlike Rigan-
tic roosting fowls. Now aud then a subdued,
drawing voice sounded from among them,
and smothered laugh was attestatiou Of
calow humanity. They we're not devoid of
interest in the proceedings Of the camp-meet-
ing, but it was in the impersonsl quality OF
spectator, and they held aloof from the tab
ernacle as if they had no souls to be saved.
They turned to look down at Rood as he dis.
mounted and htched bis horse and he heard
his own name passed along the row, II being
self constituted register of all who came
AMI went. The little gate dragged and
creaked on its hinges and resisted as If il
grudged the spiritual opportunities to which
1t gave access, and desired to point the fact
that salvation WAS not easy to come by. As
it yielded aud Rood entered the inclosure
there we're more yellow lights showing with
misty haos in the olive. green dusk. They
came from tue doors Of row of shauties,
hoorless and windowless, which served as
quarters for the crowd at night and with
the Intervals between, they looked like
string Of glitteTing beads, a rosary Of gold
There was a great haring lamp in the rear OF
each cabin, with lespng red tongues sur
rounded by busy, lowering figures that cast
huge distorted shadows against the encom-
passing foliage, as if some uncanny phenom.
enal beings were stalking a solemn round
among the trees. These fires had less COM
Portable spiritual suggestions. But they is.
sued merely from the kitchen, the most
cheerful things at camp, and here saint and
sinner were equally heartily represented
Supper WAS over, however. The hymn ris
ing even now from the tabernacle was far
from cheerful; one of the long-drawn, mel
anchoy songs, with wild, thrilling swells and
sudd, n falls and monotonous recitative pas
saRes, sometimes breaking into a strange, &C.
sta &c chant The serrled vertical lines of rain
seemed TO vibrate with 1t like the strings of
harp. Far away the thunder rolled in its
pauses More than once the sudden light
ming illumined the grounds with a ghastly
CLEAN, and the rhythmic solemn song went
on Ike part of the storm. 1t was a grave
asseuiblage under the great roof of the rude
structure, shown in the dim light OF six or
eight kerosene lamps fixed against the posts.
At one end WAS platform with bench, on
which sat some FIVE or six Of the preachers
participating in the exercises. Brother Jeth-
ro Sims, hOary headed patriarch, was walk
ing slowly up and down the main asles clap
plug his hands aud singing with look of
ecstasy in bis upturned eyes which a sophis-
finding that his superior attainments and ad-
vanced theories had bereft him Of the power
to even comprehend such faith, such piously
president joys The ground was covered
with deep layer of straw, deadening the
stir among tho rows Of benches Many of
these, having no backs, served to acquaint
their occupants with martyrdom and to offer
premium to the naturally upright. There
were numbers OF little children present, for
as yet the lenient rule of the mountain
churches tolerates their babble and even their
crying in reason. Here and there one OF the
humbly clad young women, with her Sleep
ing infant in her arms, the yellow light fall
log upon its head and on her solemn, listen
ing almost holy face, might remind one Of
another peasant mother whose Child is the
hope of the world. The extreme seriousness,
the devout aspiration, the subimity of the
unquestioning faith, that animated the meet
ing could annul ignorance, poverty, uncouth-
ness.
There were many canine figures on the out
skirts OF the crowd, now aud then peering
from the darkness without with woidsh green
eyes aud weird I q ct among the laurel, which
was beginning to sway and sound with the
wind. Those in the full light, standing even
beneath the roof and looking, with lolling
tongue and wagging tail, upon the proceed
ings, seemed peculiarly idle here and to incur
the imputation Of loafers, despite that they
are never very busy else here. Others we're
more selhshly employed, creeping about un-
der benches and among the feet of the con
gregation, searching in the straw for the bits
of bread and meat thrown aside by the fire.
quenters of the meeting who did not camp
on the grounds, but brought their lunch for
midday, aud went home at night One small
and dapper yellow dog had bounded on the
and NJ tba mnuFnerfa hanah and fhara
gravely gazing about him with small, afable
eyes, all unnoticed by the elders, but threat.
ening the gravity of au urchin, who grinned
and coughed to hide the grin, breaking out
with a Wild uncomfortable vooalization, relic
of the whooping- cough, not long over past.
He was finally motioned out of the taberna-
Gle, and scudded across in the rain to the
shanty, while the little dog sat demure and
uumolested on the mourners bench.
Larger sinners were gathering there pres
emily, albeit slowly.
Come Come" cried the old man sono-
rously over the singing. Delay not My
brethren, hev never seen meetin' whar
the devil held sech a strong hold Come !!
He'll yawns fur YEP Come Yer time is
short Grace beckons Come The fires
| O. perdition air kindled The flames air
| red :"
And as his voice broke forth once more in
the chanting, the thunder rolled as an echo
to his summons, the lightning glared. all the
mountains became visible over the woods of
the abrupt declivity toward the east and
higher still above the heights was revealed
vast cloud-vista in the midst of the black
night, vividly white, full of silent surging
motion, with strange suggestions of bending
FORMS OF an awful glister at the vanishing
point-darkness enveloped it, and once more
the thunder pealed.
As the gathering storm burst, the monot-
| onously ch hlnting voices seemed keyed to an
swed undertone, lisping with this mighty
| psalm of nature-the thunder and it's echo
in the mountain the wild voices Of the wind
and the persistent beat of the rain. In the
intervals Of its splendid periods, one might
| feel it a relief to hear the water timdly
splashing in the little bitches that served to
drain the ground on either side of the taber-
naole, and the continual whisper in the pines
| above the primitive structure. Here and
there two or three boughs hung down fur
ther than the rest, fringing the caves. Ben
| Doaks noted, when the lightning hared again,
| that Just between them the distant peak of
Thunderhead loomed dimly vsible-or was
it a cloud Strain his eyes as he might he
could hardly say.
For Ben Doaks was there, the first to re-
| spond to the earnest exhortatons to the sin
look as he shambled up and took his seat on
the mourners' bench, while the little dog sat
unnoticed at the other end. Doaks was
| quick, however, to observe that one Of the
preachers eyed him sharply, ands spoke
to another, who shook his head with a ges.
ture indeed of negAtion, but an expression
of reluctant affirmation, and he felt sure that
they recognized how often he sat there, and
that they we're saying to each other that it
was of no use-he was evidently rejected by
| grace.
Now and then low voices sounded in the
midst of the singing-the Christians urging
those convicted of sin to go up and be pray
| ed for. Others came forward. There was
more stir than before a vivid curiosity was
on many faces turning about to see who was
| going up, who was resisting entreaty, who
ought to be convicted of sin, being admira-
bly, supplied with obliquity of which to re-
pent
NJ N