Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1895-02-18
shoulder hitting son of Belial in the

shoulder hitting son of Belial in the
country.
Their meetings did not lack for vi
yacity from other causes. In those
| days no man stirred abroad without
his gun and his dog, and q concourse
of people was the occasion also for q
concourse of dogs. Generally ours of
low degree, they had neither patience
nor pedigree, and dog fights at meeting
were matters Of by no means infre-
quent occurrence. When they took
place outside, the ours were generally
left to settle their dispute among them
selves, unless it became too noisy, but
when this occurred some man seated
| near the door and armed with good
sized whip, quietly slipped out to act
ns umpire, and moment later q series
of yelps, followed by silence, gave in
lication that the war was over. More
Of an incident were they when they
took place within the limits of the con-
gregation, for every other exercise was
at once suspended until the belligerents
could be parted. The brethren united
their forces, however, and by kicking
one and half-strangling the other, gen.
orally accomplished the desired end in
q few moments. When the church had
a floor raised a few feet from the
ground, the space beneath was not in
frequently used by vagrant swine as
place of temporary abode and when, as
sometimes happened, the dogs took into
| their heads the notion that the hogs
were trespassers and ought to be evict-
ed, the trouble was more serious from
the difficulty of reaching the battle
field, difficulty that was finally sur
mounted by sending in a boy with q
cowhide to eject both dogs and pigs.
Such tritles as crying babies were never
noticed in a congregation of this klndi
crying was popularity supposed to be
good for the lungs of the infant, ana
the mother let it cry, with such efforts
to soothe 1t as occurred to her on the
spur of the moment, or were suggested
by interested friends.
TO the people of the present time
with their $500,000 churches and $4,000
preachers, with organ and choir and
Sunday school appointments of the
most elegant description, such services
seem farcical and lacking in proper
reverence. But it should not be forgot
ten that all these things are merely
comparative, and that to the people of
the latter part of the eighteenth and
the early years of the nineteenth CEN
tury, the religious elegances of the
present would have seemed just as in
appropriate The preachers and the
singing were to their taste. To them
he eloquence Of Talmage and the mu-
sic of Handel would have been only
words and noise. They could under
stand their preacher, and could sing
their "himes," and were satisfied with
both. To them separate hymn books
would have been superfluity, for
many Of them could not read, and one
hymn book, held by the preacher, who
lined the hymn, that is, gave out two
lines of the hymn at time for the peo-
pie to sing, was enough for the whole
congregation.
The old preachers have mostly passed
away, but the results of their works
are seen in the thousands of churches
that everywhere dot the country dis.
tr!cts, many of them on the Identical
spots where the log cabins once stood
that were sanctlfied by the presence
and labors of the early circuit riders.
And the system still continues, and
some readers may be surprised to learn
that many thousands of country peo-
pie in the North West and South have
now no other religious services than
those conducted by the circuit riders.
The times have changed for these, too,
and now they wear broadcloth and ride
In buggies instead of on horseback, to
their appointments. Their churches
are of boards, or even of brick, and
have choirs and cabinet organs, and
the women wear feathers in their hats,
and the men polish their boots, and
the girls have earrings and finger rings
and beauX, but the principles are tho
same, and the system is almost iden.
teal with that known to our grand
fnt hprs