Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1909-07-29
Arcadia Heights.
tst. Louis Globe-pemoerat. July g5thl

"Three companies" as in Gid
cons army in the Book of Judges,
are to take the Arcadia Valley,
ninety miles from st. Louis. in the
spurs of the Ozarks. The figure of
speech was coined by one of the
generals" Rev. Fuller Swift of
Arcadia, Mo, and it has caught
the popular fancy as an expression
to describe the remarkable Coop
erative movement among churches
of different denominations and
representing the whole State of
Missouri, which is causing the
people of the sleepy villages of
the valley to ''take notice." 1t
bids fair to be widely spoken Of as
a unique experiment in Christian
fellowship, maintaining at the
same time the boundaries of de-
nominationalism. 1t will give to
Missouri BapJists, Presbyterians
and Southern Methodists (for these
are the ''three companies") a
chance to carry out the wholesome
advice to Christian people recently
uttered by Archbishop Glennon
not to spend their vacations "like
savages," but, to be near the
church's influence.
Ordinary Chautauqua methods
are surpassed in the plan of Area
dia Heights. The four or five we'll
wooded, gently sloping small
mountains, each from 1900 to 1900
feet above sea level, are being
opened for settlement after this
fashion: A religious denomina-
ton receives free a generous tract
for Assembly purposes-usually
about forty acres-with the UNDER
standing that the adherents of this
denomination, so far as possible,
will buy summer homes on that
hill, around the Assembly grounds.
AS the choicest land on the hills
is selling at $500 an acre, and as
labor unions are unknown in the
peaceful valley or it's hills, maxi
ing the cost of building very light,
the proposition is an easy one,
and the average homestead here is
five acres. Bungalows are being
built of rough logs, "chinked"
with concrete, with very artistic
effect. The logs are felled from
the homestead, and there is plenty
of stone on an acre of ground to
furnish foundations.
The "three companies" have
entered into their possessions, but
others, as Christian Scientists, and
the Methodist Episcopal and
Christian churches, T negotiat-
ing plans, each on its own basis,
so that there is little doubt that
within a season or two more each
of the leading religious denomina-
tions of the state will be represent
ed with a dominion and COM
munity of it's own. Old Pilot
Knob, mighty sentinel of this
mountainous region, has been
trodden by more feet within the
last fortnight than it had known in
years before, and the singing and
talking, the well-trodden new
roads and the busy hotel and
restaurants of the hitherto unten-
anted adjoining heights, give
color to the prediction that future
summers may bring 10000 people
of every faith to camp under the
mountain pines and oaks and
naples.
Concrete illustration of the plan
began with full success last week.
1t has been scarcely a year since
the general project was evolved,
but in that period tho Baptists OF
the city and state have rapidly
worked together, and have built a
$4,000 tabernacle and have cleared
away some of the timber on their
forty acres. Blue grass is natural
to these heights and the grounds,
outside the beaten paths, already
appear as a park. The Missouri
Baptist Assembly, with Rev. DR..
w. j. Williamson, pastor of the
st. Louis Third Baptist Church,
as it's chairman of programme,
began its sessions on Tuesday,
July 20, and is to conclude them
on Wednesday, July %.
The Baptist Assembly is very
frankly a Baptist affair. 1t has
none of the "chalk- talk" artists,
or minstrel singers or, acrobats,
or sleight- of-hand entertainers
who som eAmes are sought to give
'life" to outdoor gatherings in
tended as centers of culture and
religious life. The Baptist young
people-and young people are
greatly in the majority among the
700 or 800 who are attending the
Assembiy-are seeking straight
Baptist edifcation and training.
Their WE'LL known educator, Rev.
DR.. J.. P. Greene, president of
William Jewell College at Liberty,
Mo-, pours unequivocal Baptist
doctrine into willing Baptist ears,
twice each day, at IL o'clock and
at S:15 in the evening. His talks
are solid and informing, illumed
by his scholarship and his spirit
uality rather than by any light
touches of anecdote or reminis-
cence. **
What the Baptists consider as a
great asset on their hill is "Sunset
Rock" a great mass of porphyry,
at the point of which the sunset
over the battered crown of Pilot
Knob is a glorious sight. "No
one, even the most hardened"
says DR.. Williamson, "can view it
without tears" The young peo-
pie gather on the spot every even
ing, just as the sun goes down,
and perhaps this is the most de-