The star-independent. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1904-1917, 1914-11-24

How Our Forefathers Went to Church
In those early days, when the sparse
population was widely scattered and
churches were far apart, Sunday was a
red-letter day of the calendar to the
toiling yeoman. Then the hard tolls of
the week were thrown aside for day,
of rest and humble folk, in their best
homespun garb, wended their way, past
farm and clearing and through mighty
forests, for many weary miles, to reach
the nearest house of worship. The we'll
to-do farmer and his family went
horseback or in some rude conveyance
of the farm, for carriages were then an
unknown luxury. But the great mass
were obliged to travel on foot. often
distance of ten miles or more, to the
nearest tabernacle of God.
But no one, no matter how poor or
how lowly, ever came to these rural
churches of the olden time that he did
not receive a royal welcome from the
brethren living near the edifice who
wed with each other to see who could
obtain the greatest number of the
brethren from distance to accompany
him home for dinner.
Meantime at homes near by, one or
more females of the family, in each,
were preparing banquet, fit for a
King. 'Tis said that the custom in the
old German churches, which is still
maintained, think, in st. Michaels
church, ON State street, of ringing the
bell about the conclusion of the SER
mon, had its origin, principally, in the
desire to notify the folks at home that
their guests of the day would soon ar
rive. 1t is quite likely that such is the
case for this was an era when time
pieces like many other conveniences of
our modern life, were not very plen
! tiful article.
How the Visiting Brethren Were En-
tertained:
Well, did the Brethren from dis
tance who were urged and importuned
ito go along for dinner" get anything
to eat! Did people live in those dayst
| rather guess. True, the folks of hun
dred years ago were trifle short on
fashion, but they made it up in grub.
The Susquehanna and every tributary
stream abounded in fish, or you could
drive down to Havre de Grace and buy
two-horse wagon load of the finest
shad for what you now pay in our mar
kets for one disreputable, slab-sided
specimen.
The hogs ran wild in the woods in
droves and fed on acorns. And that
pork they produced was fit. for an EN-
peror. None of your fiably, insipid Chi
cago stuff from diseased swine bloated
upon rotten refuse brewery mash. Oh!
the hams, the sausages, the puddings of
that period as they came ON every farm
and village table! You juniors that new
er tasted them don t know what living
is. Each farmer and wellto-do deni-
zen of the olden time towns killed one
or more beeves annually. Those ami
mails were from the fresh meadows, now
hauled two thousand miles packed in
cars, like sardines in q box, till crazed
from thirst and brutal prodding.
And game! Don t talk! There were
deer and rabbits; pheasants and par
tridges 'possums and 'coons; squir-
rels and wild pigeons, wild turkeys,
wild geese, and what not! And not a
game law or a game warden ill all the
broad State
Yes the streams were alive with fish,
the wide forests alive with game,
whilst beaver and otter basked in the
sunlight amid the mud of Paxton creek
and every other little confuent of the
Susquehanna.
Did the rural danes of that period
and their buxom daughters know how
to prepare these and a hundred other
things from farm and forestP Golden
apples and golden pumpkins alike fur
nished luscious pies. And the cakes,
the tarts, the jams, the jellies, the pre-
serves! The midsummer berries that
grew luxuriantly in the fields and
thickets, the nuts of autumn gathered
by the farmer boys by the bushel, all
were called on to add sweet viands to
loaded tables. But I've written my
self hungry, and I'll stop I'd like
you all to see one of those country
dinner tables of hundred years ago.
would like to sit down to one myself
right now.
The Church Bells Of Long Ago