Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1933-09-14
The A STORY
s. - Bristol Township Folk
- 04AGLIIkO/ g By B..
By C. B. RAY

etery story. Theodore married Til
lie Boyd; Nancy, Henry Bucey
Emanuel and wife, after selling out
here, went to Kansas. Theodore
and wife, after living at Sharon fol
time, followed his father to Kan
sas.
Henry Bucey. If he wasn't the
one we have written about in a
previous section, then he was an
other.
We want to say at this time that
we have been surprised at the great
number of folks who have read the
Sycamore. Not at the ones who liv-
ed and knew and were a part of this
goodly land, but at the large mum
ber who never knew any of the ac-
tors in this great drama. Mayhap
you have never thought Of it. This,
not our writing, but the thing we
have been trying to pencil has been
the greatest drama the world has
ever known. Love, marriage, births,
| deaths, war, peace, tragedy, all on
| the stage of Bristol township, 1904
1888. The actors did not have to
buy wigs, robes and so on to play
| their parts. Flannel, buck skin,
calico, denim. They were always
dressed-always ready for the act
they were to play. The setting of
the stage was changed as each gen
Grafton labored and won. Even now,
after months of writing, we feel
that the task to which we set our
selves has been and is stupendous
one Perhaps in the coming years
someone of your blood or mine will
take up the pencil to write of these
people, and may find our feeble eff
fort of some value to them in their
work
Mr.. McGrath thinks the first
church house in the township was
on the j. J. Evans farm, near where
Harry Campbell and family live, on
inquired in regard to the sect, he
was not sure, but thought it was
free for ALL At any rate, the
church was there-built of logs,
and they called it "Zoar." And that
makes us think of that portion of
Holy Writ wherein it says some
thing like this: Take off thy shoes,
for this is holy ground. There was
a time in the history Of Bristol
township, when folks had deeper,
IL;
of worship. Nothing but things
holy were allowed in these houses;
but we are stopping here, as some
of our readrs would rush in and try
to pat us on the back, and give US
the glad hand; and on the other
hand 681a percent would meet us
with mallets and mauls-and be
afraid to use them. In other words,
you get the devil if you do, and the
devil if you don't. What we start
ed to say-that we never pass one
of these closed churches, but
imagine we can hear the songs of
hallelujah, the fervent earnest
prayers resounding through the
walls. Only recently we opened the
door of church. While the inter-
ior has been changed, we did not
notice that we saw or seemed to see
our Sunday school class as they
were back more than a quarter of a
century ago. Then the congregation
gathered for the preaching service.
We could seat one in their accus-
toned places. Oh no, there were no
hired pews, but somehow each one
knew his or her seat, and the ven-
cradle Arthur Crisman, Y. Pdicord,
and so on. would have locked out of
place anywhere except in their
accustomed places. But new faces
look up into the faces, or new
teachers and preachers, and we
can't help thinking as we pass by
these places that have been dedi-
Gated to Almighty God and His
work, that the VOW holds good.
In our boyhood, some grandmas
smoked pipe. The habit was nev-
er fashionable. In fact, many of |
them never carried pipe with !
them. In this day, some Of the
fashionable ladies smoke cigar
cites. Only the exclusive" sets do |
this. Perhaps little later all the
church folks, ladies' aids, and so on
will fall in with the practice. This
will help to aid the unemployed, in
picking worms and so on. After
due consideration, we have decided
that if Mrs. Ray smokes, it will be
a pipe Sen-sen. When we boys
used to take on a little liquor, we
chewed sen-sen, to keep folks from
smelling the liquor on our breath.
1t worked all right; but of late
years the new varieties of liquor call
for something stronger-caustic
balsam, asafetida, or something of
that nature.
Grandpa and grandma never knew
about tooth paste, vanish
ing creams, rouge and so on, and
bigger percent of them had their
old family teeth than folks of the
present age.
Just when spectacles came into
use in Bristol, we are unable to
state. In our childhood only a few
of the aged used them. We well
that we, having been
born with defective vision, got our
first glasses in the fall of 1889. We
attracted more attention among not
only the children, but our elders
looked at us in wonder, and we
thought we were disgraced. There
are today very few families in the