Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1919-05-07

and their training and fitness for the
work. Mr.. Gill suggests that the
short period of ministry in Orleans
county is similar TO that of Windsor
and may possibly indicate that the
Windsor conditions studied in the
Country Church" are closely paral-
leled IN Orleans, though no work has
been done along that line
The Windsor county work is well
summed up in the following: From
being an active uplifting force it has
become conserving influence mere
ly. What the rural church is now
doing cannot be measured by positive
advance, but only by the amount Of
deterioration which it helps to pre-
vent" The opinion of rural author
tiles who do not wish to be mention
ed is that similar conditions obtain in
Orleans county. As a suggestion of
the work the country church can do
in a Vermont community the follow
ing account of Mr.. ellis work in a
country parish in Vermont, is taken
from the Country Church"
For Is years he (Mr. glib has
been a country minister. One of his
tasks was to establish a church in
country community in Vermont which
had been without one for more than
20 years. When Mr.. Gill came to it
the moral and social laxity of the
whole community was fragrant. Dis
belief in the existence of goodness
appeared to be common, public dis
approval of indecency was timid or
lacking, and religion in general was
in disrepute. Not only was there no
day of worship, but also no day of
rest. Life was mean, hard, selfish,
small and covetous. Land belonging
to the town was openly pillaged by
the public officers, who held it in
trust; real estate values were low;
and among the respectable families
there was a general desire to sell
their property and move away.
Then a church was organized.
The change which followed was
swift, striking, thorough and endur-
ing. The public property of the town,
once a source of graft and democrat
ization, became a public asset. The
value of real estate increased beyond
all proportion to the general rise of
land values elsewhere. In the decade
and a half since the church began its
work, boys and girls of a new type
have been brought up. The reputa-
ton of the village has changed from
bad to good, public order has great
" improved, ana the growth OF the
place as q summer resort begun. 1t
is fair to state that the establishment
of the church under Mr.. Gill began
new era in the history of the town"
Greater county cooperation along
religious lines is needed. There is
already a county ministerial associ-
alton, and both county and district
Sunday school associations, but what
IS needed is a stirring of public senti-
ment such as an undenominational
worker like the Y. NJ. c. A. secretary
can produce. At present each church
and Sunday school lives in world
apart from the others and workers
from the different sections rarely |
meet A live annual gathering, sucn |
as the Windsor Play Festival or the |
Bennington County Sunday School
Picnic is needed. The religious fore I
es of the county should begin to
think in terms of the county COM |
munity and and the lack of knowl- /
edge and sympathy between the va |
rious sections should cease.
1915 Church Denominations
CT7Dn1iad PoSiInp& Total |