The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1919-08-09
HISTORICAL FACTS
AND SPIRITUAL VALUE
OF old RDGGLES
Publicity Man Of Ruggles Camp
Grounds Answers Letter Of Old
Timer Telling Actual Value
Of the Camp.


We have been much interested In
the letter from A. T. Seaman Of Nor
man, Oklahoma, which appeared in
your columns last week. Having been
almost a constant attendant at Rug
giles Campmeetipg since the year 1892
and having been historian of the As
ISOLATION for several years coming in
possession Of all the historic records
of the campmeeting, we feel tempted
to say few words in reply to the let
ter Of Mr.. Seaman. In the first place
he has his dates a little mixed. He
states something about enjoying the
campmeeting away back in 1872. Now
the facts are about as follows as we
CLEAN them from the historical rec
ords In 1872 Rev. H. c. Northcott
who was the real founder of Ruggles
Campmeeting, tried to find a suitable
location in Robertson county near Mt.
Olivet to establish a campmeeting. In
this he failed. The following year,
1873, with the late Rev. H. ]. Ramey
pastor of Tolesboro Circuit and Rev.
Northcott as Presiding Elder, an eff
fort was made to find a location In
Lewis county. Securing the consent
to hold campmeeting near Forman's
Springs, two or three miles from the
present location, they prepared to hold
campmeeting. AS the time drew
near for the meetings to begin consent
to hold 1t on the grounds promised
was withdrawn. Not to be disappoint-
ed in their efforts this year they held
the first campmeeting at Canaan
church, about one mile from the pres
ent camp ground. During the progress
of this meeting William Ruggles came
forward with an offer to lease the
present campground to those in
charge The offer was accepted and
in the following year, 1874, the first
campmeeting was held on Ruggles
Campgrounds. SO much for the early
history of the organization. Now as
to the real effective results. Mr.. Sea-
man seems interested to know why
the exact number Of conversions were
not reported daily and rather infers
that the campmeeting is not accom-
plishing the spiritual results 1t did in
early years. We feel little timidity
in expressing our opinion on this the
all-important mission Of the camp
meeting. But really we do feel that
there Is as much If not more real con-
structive work done for the Kingdom
of God in these latter years than the
earlier years Of our attendance at the
campmeeting. Referring again to the
historic records we note at the con-
illusions of the account of one camp
meeting, 1.-THE religious exercises
closed without any apparent success.
l saw no tears Of repentance and no
shout of joy. The results of many
of the campmeetings were summed
up with the declaration that Gods
power was manifest in all the meet
ings." One or two years large num-
Der of conversions were reported.
It seems from the records that the
(Northern) Methodists had quite a 10,
of prejudice to live down in the COM
munity at the start. A campmeetine
run by the Methodists was looked up
on with great degree of curiosity
Then in those early years when
booze" was SO plentiful quite lot of
trouble was had with lot of rowdyish
fellows. 1t was necessary TO keep
large police force. Now If we are to
estimate Christianity by what 1t does
for a community what better evidence
could be given of the good accomplish
ed than this a few years ago 1t was
necessary to have four or five police
men on the grounds on Sundays. This
year we had two. and with nothing to
do but walk around and enjoy
seeing the crowds like other peo-
pie. There may not be as much
shouting as there used to be and while
we believe lots of good people shout
for Joy in religious meetings. while on
the other hand we remember very dis
tinctly of some who shouted loudest
doing some very unChristian acts IN
their own neighborhood. And while
it is very true that "Out of the abund-
ance of the heart the mouth speaketh'
as II is recorded in Holy Writ, 1t Is
nevertheless just as true that out OF
the abundance of the Heart the LIFE
speaketh." A true, sincere follower OF
the lowly Nazarene will not only give
expression of his religion in camp
meeting services but will 80 live that
his family and neighbors know
about 1t. This being true, and
being somewhat familiar with the
results OF our campmeeting for years
we do believe there Is a better brand
of Christianity produced In these lat
ter days than ever has been. Mr. Sea-
man refers to the good reports from
the children's meetings under Miss
Hurd. Right there is one of the great
secrets of the change that has come
over the modern campmeeting from
that of early years. In these days we
are giving more attention to the child