Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-11-13
GLIMPSE OF GEORGIA LIFE;
OLD-TIME CAMPMEETINGS
!. az &c. c. .sMlTH, Q. o, vINEvILLE, MACON, ca.

a good supply of water, and pitched
their tents. Methodists, Baptists and
Presbyterians invited These meetings
began I'm Georgia in 1902, after little
while they were everywhere and after
several years had passed were made
permanent by the securing of large
bodies of land, and the building of
wooden tents, and large board taber-
nacle. About che middle of August, in
the early thirties, all over Georgia
great wagons laden with straw with
furniture, with supplies, came to the
camp ground. The tent holders had
already come together and cleared up
the ground, and built up the fire stands
and arranged for the meeting. The
dirt floor of the tabernacle was COW
cred with straw; loads of fat pine
wood were put by the fire stands; box
es Of tallow candles, were provided for
the lights under the arbor, as the
tabernacle was called. On Wednesday
the people moved in, and by night
time, there was quite populous viii
lage.
The first service was generally pre-
paratory. on Wednesday night.
At sunrise Thursday the notes of the
horn rang out from the stand, and the
fox and deer hounds who had come
with the tenters responded by their
loud yelping TO the familiar call to the
chase. Then everybody was expected
to rise from the bed of straw, and
while the cooks got breakfast ready,
the young folks arranged themselves
for prayer 10
The preachers dressed in straight
breasted coats, with white cravats
and wearing broad-brimmed hats,
came from the church where they
slept, to the tent, a hymn, generally
"a Charge to Keep 1 Have or 'fChil-
dren of the Heavenly King was sung,
ard as they reached the last two lines,
every one turned his back to the
preacher and when these lines were
repeated all fell on their knees, and
then there was a fervent prayer, and
after that was breakfast-and, oh,
such breakfasts as the mistresses OF
the tents in Green and Putnam spread!
It makes one sad to think they will
be seen no more.
Then the horn sounded again and the
eight o'clock sermon began. This was
the sermon when the juniors held the
pulpit. Then there was an interval, and
again at Is minutes to eleven, the horn
sounded, and at II the presiding elder
preached. He was somebody in those
days. He was expected to preach an
hour and a half. If it was a Methodist
campmeeting and the presiding elder
was a strong man, he was expected
at least once during the meeting to
roast the Calvinists, and If it was a
Baptist meeting they were apt to sing
loudly of the liquid grave" and Ell
ders Mercer or Sanders, or Clubax
Davis, or the scholarly Sherwood were
apt to give the Arminians attention
and prove that John was the miners
err and the dignifed Presbyterians at
campmeetings showed how a camp
meeting could be conducted decently
and in order, but often doctrinal views
had been stressed moderately, the
main work was on the sinners.
Oh, how DIR. Pierce and DR.. Olin reas-
oned with them, and how Old Jimmy
Dannely and John Collingsworth rak-
ed them and how lurid were the flames
as John Howard uncovered the lake of
fire and birthstone and how the ear
nest, eloquent appeals of Jas. 0. Ar
mold rang out. At one of these meet
ings the celebrated exhortation of
VIM Capers, of which Father Shorter
speaks, was heard. I do not find any
mention of this sermon in the bishops
life, but 1 have heard of it so often
and read accounts Of 1T elsewhere, so
1 give the story as have heard it:
1t was in 1921. Putnam had been
settled about Is years and ii was far
more populous in the country sections
then than now. The population was
of the finest order of people. AS Col.
Chappel1 says. it never had an infan-
cy. They had high school In Eaton
ton and a Masonic lodge, but no
church The people were largely i'm
migrants from Virginia, and many OF
them were very orthodox, and very
wicked. The Methodists were even
then strong and this campmeeting was
a famous one. The ablest men of the
church were present, among them was
DR.. William Capers, who was then sta
toned at Milledgeville. He was
South Carolina gentleman of the finest
type, and at this time the only college
trained man I'm the large conference.
He was very eloquent and very inn
pressive. He believed in hell. He be-
lieved in mans danger Of its fires, and
one day he was put up to exhort and
invite sinners to the altar. He was
urging the great multitude to escape
the woe of the lost, and when he de-
scribed the cry of a lost soul, his
emotion was uncomfortable.
The congregation was overpowered
and one poor fellow whose mind was
not strong. became violently insane,