The New York herald., 1922-10-22

ern colony. Like the reports of the
Southern settlers 1t, too. was not written
for its own sake. It was the Bay Psalm
Book andit was written by several minis
ters to use at church service 1t was
typical of almost the entire writing of
colonial New England Though there were
some diaries and two fine histories and
some descriptions Of life in the new coun-
try. most Of the writing there was on re-
ligious subjects. And most of this might
have been written in England, so little did
It reflect the life OF the pioneer. The life
that was going on inside of them seemed
much more important than the world
around them.
We cannot realize to-day how large
part in this LII, was filed by religion. But
1t was, unfortunately, religion which was
neither sunny nor peaceful. Instead. it
was one of fear and endless dispute. They
seemed genuinely to believe that the gloom
Ter they were the more religious they were.
AS for disputing. there was nothing thew.
would not eagerly dispute about in the
whole field of belief and of behavior. They
even disputed about singing in church.
Though their first book was the Psalms
chopped up so that they might be sung in
church. you must not imagine that they
PAID much attention to the way they sung
tnem- The people used to sing entirely by
ear. repeating after the minister. 1t final,v
grew so bad that people with more sensi
tive ears began to object Even some of
the ministers. who were not only opposeo
to chapges of any kind but particularly
to those which lessened their own impor-
tance. joined in the revolt Then arose
bitter warfare of words between the rote
singers as they were called and the note
singers. who wanted to have the tunes
printed also. When the note singers finally
triumphed the custom Of singing schools
began; and for many years these remained
about the only amusement of the small
towns So. in every particular. the Prri-
tan preachers tried to stop the progress of
human thought and to prevent all inno-
Vanons. They were so powerful that they
eouid even have any one publicly whipped
who criticized their sermons.
But few people wanted to criticize tba;r
sermons however long they were. A vonDs
man at Harvard College, a boy we sboul6
call MIN now. wrote that the students had
listened gladly to a prayer two hours lon,
and were sorry 1t hadn't been three Can
you imagine any boy feeling that way to-
day! And in those days, too, the congre-
CATION had to stand during prayers; thew
could only sit down to the sermon. In tb.
winter, too, there was no fire in the meet
Ing house. Some people thought that re-
lig1on was going to pieces when a few
very progressive ones, as late as 1874
began to put in the new stove which Ben
Franklin had just invented and which still
bears his name. But people were used to
being cold in those days. for while the
open fires sizzled their faces their backs
we're shivering. The foremost writer and
minister of the entire Colonial period.
Cotton Mather. tells of the ink freezing on
his pen as he sat within the chimney
place; and as he wrote prodigiousIv and
seemed never to have to stop for a word
you can be sure the ink did not stand on
his pen very long.
He came of family which always had
its pen In hand His grandfather had
landed In 1886 and had written all the time
he wasn't preaching. and he lived long
enough to have carved on his tombstone
Under this stone lies Richard Mather. who
had son greater than his father and
exc grandson greater than either" And
the middle Mather had written ninety-two
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