Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-08-16
WORSH|P|NG IN TENTS
Camp Meeting Held Between
Mountain and River.
TYPICAL REVIVAL SERVICE
Farmers Gather From Large Area to
Take Part.
WIVES AND CHILDREN, ALSO
s'Uncle Koot'' and His Collection of
Campaign Medals-Sturdy
West Virginians.
Special Correspondence Of The Star.

i ROMNEY, w. Va, August II, 1909.
/ Every farmer in this section attended
the camp meeting held on a fiat space be-
tween mountain and river at Graces las
week The printed handbills, spread
broadcast over a great section, had beer
treasured, and during the week Of meet
ings and revivals there was a constant
stream of Hampshire county people to-
ward the tent on the fiat.
/ Going to camp meeting up here il
somewhat different from taking wali
on Connecticut avenue in Washington
The people from this town drove nine
miles, crossed a river by ford, and haG
none of the finest road to travel, either
Men, women and children came from their
farms, which are hidden by the tremen-
dous trees on South mountain. Some OF
| them came down paths that would seem
ingy make mountain sheep think twice
before descending.
| Probably every one in this section took
! a day off during the week to attend the
meeting and hear the revivalists and
| church league missionaries. The great
attraction among the evangelists was Miss
Jennie Smith of Washington. whose mis-
| sionary work along the Baltimore and
Ohio lines has gained for her the title
| of railroad evangelist
Sunday was the great day, though.
| Two hundred and seventy people We're al
the morning meeting. and that is ire
mendous crowd for d section where houses
are mile apart. One reason why camp
meetings are so enthusiastically attend
ed is the very natural one that they are
| the greatest news centers imaginable. The
/ neighbor one side of the South branch,
who has not seen his friend twelve miles
down the mountain since last court day
up in town, has d lot of questions to ash
| about how the peaches are standing the
! yellow" (Which is the orchard scourge).
| The other fellow wants to know how the
: tanbark IS stripping this season, and
truly, in the hours intervening between
| the morning and afternoon meetings
| there Is more knowledge of current con-
ditions and events exchanged than could
| be CLEANED by reading the personal col
umns OF hundred country newspapers.
/ Plain Old Mountain Road.
The road from Romney to the section
| known as "Grace's'' is d plain old noun
tain road, broad enough for one buggy, if
no more: but may good luck attend the
horse that meets rampaging automo-
bile on that road. There are places
where big rocks project from the road
| bed, and brooks have eaten into IL in two
CT three places: but altogether il is Il
| nice old road, with a cruel-lookinG noun
| tain rising on one side and a fertile little
valley slopinS off to the other side.
| The ford is All adventure for the city
man. That nice. ladylike ford in Rock
Creek Park, through which the finest
French limousine car may trip along
! without Wetting much more than its rub
Der tires, Is about as comparable to this
! ford in the South branch as a cup of
weak tea is to a gallon OF the awful
moonshine whisky that can be had in the
mountains-used for sandpapering" the
| throat.
| The bed of the river is composed chiefly
of large round stones, and crossing in d
| buggy makes nervous man feel as if he
would be jolted into Bright's disease be-
| fore the roadbed is reached again.
| Nor is that all This ford is not a
| shallow one by any means. The Rev.
Roy Busler, who drove a Washington
man across il last Sunday, forgot to take
| the feed bag in his lap before They
plunged in. and out in the middle of the
| stream, when the parson and his friend
| were seated in the buggy, with their feet
| in the air and the South branchs rush
| ing tide feeling for their hip pockets, the
| paper feed bag burst and the oats scat
| tered
-'Tain.t so deep as il was" remarked
| the parson
| from the ford. A large tent held the con-
| sregation. and two shanries hastily built
| at one side contained camp stores and
dishes. Two evangelists had pitched
4 small a. tents near at hand and had
1 camped there for several days.
/ The parSon and his friend from the city
| were late. The folks in the tent were
! singing Il Live on HalleluJah Street.
| with a happy vim when belated ones tied
| the horse to shady oak tree. 4 young
! man of thirty-two years was leading the
singing with one OF those compelling