Woodville Republican., 1903-04-11
RURAL NEW ENGLAND
Bill arp Reads Of Sad State Of De-
cadence There.
Thisks TAaf aiEht BE . Good Place
90 sssa tie sssre Fr-aeheFs Nd
uestsd ~ sersherH AossI--A
slanaef 90 TeEas.

rianarf 90 irAaa.
Last night ! read TO my family por.
iions of long article by q preacher
describing the nad condition Of q peo-
pie be has recently sisited. Out Of
i6s towns 30 the state be visited 20 Of
them that are Of from she railroad.
and al II these have dccreafed IN
population since 1870. None of these
towns have settled pastors or preach
ere, and the churches are abandoned
or have preachers at irregular inter.
walls, and the attendance hardly ever
exceeds Is persons. The Sabbath
schools are equally deserted. The
once busy plants Of small industries
are dead and the people farm only for
the bare necessities Of life. Houses,
barns and fences are going 20 decay,
and the little mills that were on the
creeks have tumbled down and the
dams have washed away. Here and
there you have seen stately mansion
sheliering some degenerate family In
the back rooms while fhe vacant front
grecis you with the silence ~ the
tomb. Sometimes you will fnd an old
man aud woman alone IN an old an
eestral home. found a mother and
her two Sons and two old maids IN one
house. not one Of whom could read.
The intermarriage Of near relatives
or not marrying at all Is common and
bachelors aud divorced men and wild.
overs have housckeepsrs, and they
unblishingly cohabit with them and
young girls become grass widows by
the time they are 10.
"Wherc ~ all this?" said my wife.
II don't believe q word of Il. II Is
some newspaper lea fake made up
BY some reporter" read on. In one
town found the usual Saturday night
dance going on In an old vacated tay-
ern, and they danced and deyelled and
drank until sunday morning. Sunday
Is no more observed than II il IN Chi
rsso, for they hoe and dig and gather
hay OIL The same as on week days IL
ibtefncy, insanity and imbccilIty are
very marked; found one family in
which both parents we're idiots and
had raised up family OF idiots. In,
another home or house found a poor
old father tnking care Of three moth
erlets children. all idiots"
II don't believe word of IT," said
my wife. There Is no such people
IN this country. What paper are you
reading from?''
One can hardly conceive of the filth
aud vice reigning In these country
places called home-a barbarism diff
fering from the city slums only in lis
stagnant inertia aud touched as little
by church influences as II in the heart
OF Africa The country people all over
the state are generally without ambi-
tion, improyident, ignorant, not able
to read or write. loose IN their family
relations, socially corrupt. given 10
drink, and some to The opium habit.
And these are the towns where. half
century ago, lived the hest families OF
the state. Among them the Fields ICY
rus and his brothersl, the Abbotts. the
barnes and Donald @. Mitchell and
others.
And now LET me tell you, my dear
wife, ! am reading from the Hartford
Times and this is only short portion
~ the report read in New Haven re-
Gently BY Rev. Mr.. Hutchins, Bible
eolporteur. Of Connecticut,
This report Is fully accredited TO be
true and the editor OF the Times tries
TO tone u down By saying. "rhe same
conditions described by Mr., Hutchins
for Connecticut are common to all the
Older states" Rev. George Horr. OF
Massachusetts, Is also a bible colpor-
teur for that state and he said in Bos-
ton the other day. 81 have driven an
over New England with my own horses
and my conviction Is there Is no immor.
aliiy Ia any western mining town that
will compare with what you find FEW
miles from any New England town.
Mr. lIutchins' observation corresponds
with my own
Good friends, kind friends, what Is 10
be done about this. But the editor of
the Times is mistaken when he says the
same conditions are common 10 all the |
older states. We have no such people |
IN Georgia, IN some Of our mountain
counties the people are illiterate. but
they are honest and moral and attend
church and observe the marriage rela-
tion and obey the LAWS Of the land and |
make the best soldiers the world ever |
saw. They have courts twice a year and |
i takes only half a week TO clear the
criminal doclsets.
Now, was thinking that as Boston