New Britain herald., 1916-01-27


 1 excursions to the church serious un- | dertakings for many. 'Jt is Sab
 bath morning in that lonely wilder ness," wrote Rev. John H. Denison of Williamstown, Massachusetts, at one
 time the beloved pastor of the First Church of New Britain. The sun
 has yet already found it's way above
 the tops of the tall forest trees that
 form the margin of this natural clear
 ing. We can see the little groups of
 houses huddled together; the tall
 sharp pickets af the stockade; a drum
 is beating; from one cabin after
 another armed men are gathering; a
 phalanx is formed; the order,
 'March' is given. What Is this ?
 A foraging party An expedition
 against one hostile Indian tribe? No,
 when men go to battle they leave
 their families at home. Between the
 front and rear ranks walk the wo-
 men, many of them with children in
 their arms All take their course
 northward, and strike into the woods.
 where now a beautiful grove stands as the only representative of that vast forest. There is no broad com fortable wagon road, but the trail of the Matta abesett Indians, which winds through the dense timber over Os- good Hill to Pennington. They strike the trial and march steadily on, the men with guns we'll loaded, the eyes of the leaders searching the underbrush with many a keen and anxious glance. It is a strange scene, that company of men and women, and little children threading the wilder ness with firm, set face and resolute tread. That Indian trail from Great Swamp to Pennington must have
 been eight or ten miles long; yet they march on uncomplainingl till they reach the Pennington meeting house. There Samuel Hooker, tho minister of that church, prea ches to them the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ"
 Just think of those good people toil- ing all the week to wrest a living out of fields which needed much tilling and from forests that needed felling and then going from the remote set dement's here over the mountain 70 Pennington to worship God in His house. Think of it! We, who find a little effort on a Sunday morning sufficient excuse for absence from the church service of the week. isn't it. that we who cherish every piece of really good, strong ser -iceable colonial furniture, who talk slibly of colonial houses and their l inmates, should so easily forget-or 1 f mbering-ignore, colonial ex- :! lmple in the matter of church at 1 endance. I would not make a fea- l, ish of going to church or forget the l hanged conditions which make 1 ,roh 0tf nf opportunities for worship, social ser ice and friendly exchange of ideas. And yet, as we think of the endur- 'nce and loyalty to principal-as hey understood it-which our col ,nial forebears showed in this mat CT, l wonder if there was not somc- hing heroic in their plain lives which we are losing in our easy going days. They overcame obStacles-and he who oVercomes is always a winner or nero. The descendants of these pion- eers have known how to overcome obstacles to material progress They Ire the men who, in great part, have made of this inland town. with no water power or natural advantages, great manufa curing center-all lonor to them-descendant of home spun hereOs-and themselves winners n the fierce competitions of this com nercial age
 What wonder that in time the long tourney from Great Swamp, after wards Kensington and Hart Quarter over the mountain to the Pennington cnufch seemed 1rksome and that in | 'of' the general association in New maven was petitioned for another par lsh and meeting house Still another
 
 later on and in 1754 the Society of New Britain was incorporated. Please note in passing that New Britain's beginning as an Independent Parish was the result of religious necessity. Not Tor a factory site or even for a school house, but for a Meeting House dld the Society of New Britain como Into being. Small wonder that we still cherish our churches with a loyal a,,- lection new residents can hardly rn- derstand Let us, however. reioice and be glad that a spirit of toleratio a very genuine human interest in ali forms of faith and a proud satisfac- ton in our great industries supnle- ment these churchly interests. we are still glad to look up to steep1es and towers, but how lonely and i'll balanced they would seem without the commanding smoke stacks-vos steeples and smoke tacks-we need them all and we are grateful for then,
 Let us never forget, here in our town, where justice and integrity are the rule-Whatever exceptions may prove ft-that we owe far more than Yankee shrewdness to associations with the great Hebrew race received through our Puritan ancestors. T have been told in, ,pa,,y carly homes of this vicinity, the Bible was read through twice a year as part of the family life and that any, thing less than one reading of if would have been considered a serious lapse from duty. True it was read somewhat indiscriminately. Psalms of If