The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-30
cuLpEppER FRANKS.
At Camp Meetings and Such When .
 Boy.

l CULPEPPER FRANKS.
 At Camp Meetings and saeh when .
 Editor The Advertiser:
 S thought to be writing to you side of our Southern Baptist Conven- nion. l could have. gone as a mes senger, You would, no doubt. say Drought up, ip a church patterned af.; We Baptists draw the line against del sssas saite Tne word like fals in whe the wrote to me, is not in our book. And. to be consistent, we have to stick to the
 Book Our very habits savor of the old times. I don't like some of the habits and am congratulating myself on be- ing In the bosom of my family Tar rom the madding crowds ignoole little cool for the time O year" believe Paul and BarnAbas, who were distinguished preachers a few years @ haS sSss sfns e out ff sS%e and may sGT haes come to blows as far as I know, for the reporter seems to have left out the ness I oon.t recoilect just now whsth- CT these old preachers were going to q meeting. but reckon they were. And, we may safely argue our own Apos- tolic Succession if we can successfully snow that our Baptist preachers, now nuss. come to blows or pistols and. Iike French duelists come out unhurt:
 reckon 1t escaped you or you would nave given us a strong editorial about those Texas Doctors of Divinity fighting Southern Baptist Convention. Forum ately the fight didn't happen in our state and originated no cause for call ing out the militia or Circuit Judges.
 What posters me, in the matter, Is to imagine why a Divine, burdened only about the heather, should be so much like that ancient Goddess who ssprang was a messenger" on his way to our greatest Convocation and-instead of singing psalms and old time From Greenland's Icy Mountains" airs, he was engaged in the lovely pastime of pistol practice. on his beloved brother and co- worker Why did he do 1t? Was the devil in him? I've about made up my mind that I'll stay away from these big religious meetings or go armed with an Accident Policy. I do hope ings. will request Ticket Agents to sell no tickets to brethren who conceal pis- tois about their persons or baggage.
 Scary brethren ought not to go about at all. because they are liable to carry arms and good men are liable to get hurt. Why I have been to Methodist camp. meetings without a pistol and real. old-fashioned camp meetfng2 The first one went to joined in the "holy laugh. which was an old-time express l was quite young and along with
 MoSngrel, puppy. whelp and hound
 had unconsciously drifted to the open space about the altar. This was com fortably covered with pine straw. 1 was soon engaged in some amateur performances of standing on my head, tieing my legs around my neck, etc., which I afterwards learned was against and JfxrgB tNH c., which I paid the penalty on my return
 After awhile I noticed long benches of fellows. old mtddle-aged and ugly, laughing fit to kill themselves. 1 thought they were laughing at me and joined in. I didn't know it was holy" till got home. My recollection is that like the pictorial advertisements of the drummers' periodicals I may have told you of. the poor fellows. abnormally ugly who got religion" in public. A man of that cast of countenance ought never to let 1t strike in' when sensi- tive men are around. This poor fellow fell into tears, which are pardonable If unaccompanied with grimaces. A sensitive deacon who had imbbed the sentiment of
 "A thing of beauty Is joy forever"
 took notice of the fearful brother-es- pecially Of the facial contortions-and he immediately arose and approached the new convert with these eonsolatory words, T fought through the war 1 have traE~Bed through all the States. that crying becomes you: the least of any man that I have seed" Sometimes laughing has the same effect, especially in the holy laugh" effort.
 As the years rolled on l got to be a little older. without any effort on my part. It became necessary for me at RsTe Ee to te ft @p straight ESc6 ana dS Hs
 And then at another camp meeting 1 was sitting by the side of a middle aged gentleman who was ay bachelor
 kood said was not his fault, and this leads me to say that we ought never t9 be nasty in judgment against bach elors. And, I reckon, we justAAs wesl extend the observation to law e eSnkers
 since to put the laws machineryfn mo ton Is considered unpropitious of jus tiee. But, this bachelor was a very gcod fellow, more or less, and had so impressed the heads of families in the community, with his. correct deport- ment. that he was frequently, if not nftener, called upon to take care of bundles. bandboxes and good little chill dren and go on errands at his own expense and make himself useful as well as ornamental, and ring the church bell. etc. He was good and kind and correct and sedate and was, at times
 taken to be member of the church. reckon that was why I was sitting with him at the camp meeting. 1t was at the '1even o'clock service" and the sermon was over. In those days, when the II o'clock sermon was over 1t was in the neighborhood of or o'clock for the preachers then were as enter taining as politician now. The bach elor and were sitting on the end of the bench abutting the aisle. Mourn CTS were flocking to the altar like doves to their windows" /" l hardly An1w what all the noise was about. l enly know tierC was mighty singiEc., a mighty Swinging of arms and clap
 dns of handS Q mighty invitation to "Comer and t1ey were coming. Tae bachelor and ' wero unmoved possibly because ] Nas of a Baptist family anu know what $ to happen. Presently, euS tn 9hefs passed gs youth. (somethlng rier that is. hc looked detcrmined), wore no coat Sut there were straps under his shoes Qt was fashionable to secure the pants to the foot in those days.) They were strong straps and tho yahowscs were strong and seemed Q DC holding in place the brooches of year before last; The poor youth was tall enough and broad enough for long CT and larger pants but his very hu- mantty kept him in ignorance of the fact that he was too big for his brooches" He walked like one with the string-halt which may have come from the length of the man, the short ness of the pants the gallowses and the straps When he kneeled at the altar the heels of his brogans rested