The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1908-05-09
lCoDyrighl. BY Joseph b BowlesJ

they growed thirselves.
Then the doors OF the church would
open and the people inside would
slowly emerge for the last rites IN the
drama of Uncle Billy"
Country churchyards are generally
very beautiful spots, and flowers grow
in them on all sides. The sense OF an
! eternal Sabbath seems brooding
among the white headstones and over
the soft. grassy mounds that heave
between the quiet paths.
When We did not go to church We
used to drift on to the woods and lie
down under the century old oaks and
watch the sunshine sift down on the
grass and the leaves There was an
indescribable sense OF perspective in
looking into the tops Of these wood
land elders and wondering just what
life and color and motion had passed
before them in long review since the
time when the tree first sprung as
sapling from the hillsides
One OF these oaks slanted from an
abrupt slope towards a shallow creek
and under It spring bubbled up
where watercresses grew, and where
the meadou-frogs rendezvoued. To
this spring resorted sundry catbirds,
jays and robins. fitting their heads
back and draining the cool water with
a particular relish Fox squirrels
scampered up and down the broad in
cline Of this great tree, and occasional
ly wayfaring crows perched in the top
most branches. The grass beneath II
was thick and soft and a continual
breeze seemed everpresent in its up
per twigs, however still the air was at
its base. 1t was veritable cloister
The groves were Gods first temples. ere
learned
To hew the shaft. and lay the archi-
traye."
And many an hour We dreamed and
mused under the shade OF this forest
leviathan until the waning sun threw
shadows down from western battle
ments.
In the pastures and meadows the
sheep nibbled, huddling in woolly
mass at the approach of any intruder.
and dashng away in panic at the sight
of a dog. Cattle grazed on the slopes.
or. at the approach Of noon. chewed
the cud in the shade OF elms and
naples.
After church was over the Sunday
schools took up and the children sang
Sunday school hymns and studied OF
recited their lessons until the time
came for them to go home. The usual
custom after church was to go visit
ing This meant another hitching up
of the horses and trip OF from three
to seven miles to some neighbor's.
there to unhitch and stay to supper
and to sit around and discuss all the
news of the neighborhood.
The morning sermons are thrashed
over, the funeral. If there has been
one. carefully gone over, and the ante
cedents of the deceased. and of his
immediate relatives commented on
Crops always furnish a fruitful theme
for argument or prophecy. and the
men and the women invariably sep
arate and talk in different groups. The
men often gravitate to the barn. the
women to the parlor, and the children
usually play in the yards. Visiting"
Is one OF the tokens of society among
the married folks, and the organ is
generally pressed into service and
little Sunday music and singing in
dulged in. A girl who can play the
organ well has an accomplishment
which is considered an enviable one
in the country.
The advent OF some one from a dis
tant settlement always is hailed with
great interest. and | have seen such
an arrival ross-questioned at length
by group Of interested bystanders A
man like that usually has a grist of
fresh news to dispense and until he is
pumped dry is an object Of general in
terest.
One OF the peculiarities in life in
the country is the fact that a great
many families are related to one an
other by marriage, and nearly every
body is everybody elses thirty second
cousin. The result is that there is
sort of tab" kept by each person on
all the births. deaths and marriages
that occur in the surrounding counties,
and the interest manifested never
grows less on account OF this distant
relationship.
Even when a man takes his family
and moves to another state he general
ly takes his old paper. Just to see how
things are progressing in his old coun-
ty. and when he comes back, as he
often does. to take up his residence in
the same ne.ghborhood from whence
he formerly departed. he is "up to
date" as to the neighborhood happen
ings, and can tell just who has died,
who's been married. and all other
items OF local moment
These Sunday "visitings" are the
free-for- debating societies OF the
district. and friendships are cemented
or feuds started at them. according to
circumstances.