Evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1907-1913, 1907-11-15
Keep Up The Country Church.

/ ton unite in deploring the condition
of rural churches. They show alarm
ing statistics in their columns. Civ
ing the decline in membership and
other signs of decay, that should cause
country people all over the land to
fredouble their diligence toward keep
1 ing the sanctuaries open for Worship
and the people alive to the refining
and elevating influences OF these tenn
pies of worship.
4 1t must not be supposed that the
country is the only place where peo-
pie are Indifferent to religion. The
rich, who have six days in the week
for pleasure, unblushingly profane the
Sabbath in every city and refuse to
go to church. In small towns the
churches have their own problems in
getting people into them, and in the
hmiddle-class cities wickedness openly
flourishes. But there is something
about the peaceful and prosperous
country that leads one to suppose far
mers and their families should espec-
tally be drawn to the house of God
Sunday after Sunday, that makes the
decline in the matter all the more con-
spicuous.
In the old days when the rural maii
service, the telephone, the steam rail-
road and the trolley had not brought
the country into close touch with the
great business marts people were mode
devoted TO church than now. There
were fewer places to go. Sunday ex-
cursions were not so numerous and
religion was a more vital matter than
today Our forefathers may have
had stern, incorporating kind of
religion that looks forbidding as we
view it through the haze of years
gone by, but they had something to
live and die by, whereas many of their
descendants have nothing for either.
In summer the Sunday excursion is
The great foe of rural churches, and
when winter comes, the habit of stay
ing. away is so fixed that people do
not take the trouble to hunt UP an ex-
cuse when Sunday comes. Then, too,
with many people, Sunday is a day of
visiting and entertaining company to
such an extent that church services
are out of the question. In some barn
yards it is a common sight on Sunday
to see from three to five buggies, while
a swarm of children play noisily and
the women tire themselves out with
extra cooking 1t is no wonder that
the Sunday school languishes and a
mere handful of people gather 70 listen
to thed iscouraged minister.
And when the Sunday services are
abolished, is the community bettered
Not If we are to judge by the neigh
borhoods where churches have fallen
into decay In one community where
the church has been closed for years
the young people are notorious for
their wild, bold deeds Even the young
women are vulgar and profane, while
the whole place seems to be sinking
into decay.
In direct contrast to this dark pic
ture is a happy neignborhood where
the church is filled every Sunday with
eager, attentive listeners. Young and
old unite in making the Sabbath de-
, light, and the social and intellectual
, life of this community is far above the
/ average The young people are REIN
ed and cultured, and the farms in thai
vicinity sell for more than where the
young men and young women are ig-
Z norant and immoral. Instead of being
day for breaking colts, pitching
t hcrseshoes, wild races and hunting
, woodchucks, as in the community
where the church is closed, the Sab
J bath is filled with music, worship
good deeds and pleasant thoughts
Many man who does not want to helI
along with the religious life Of a neigh
borhood, yet hesitate to take his chill
dren into loose, careless set OF
voury foIlxa He aI1nvvs others the nriy