“But why did not Mr. Holmes tell me about my being a sinner, and about pardon through the Saviour, as you have, and as Mr. Redman does?”
“Because Mr. Holmes was not only a good man, but a man of sense, all good men don’t have common sense. You were a child then, and he did not mean to burden your mind with things that, not understanding, you would forget, but he knew if he told you not to lie, steal nor swear, and taught you the commandments, that you would know what that meant, and he put the idea of God in your mind. He knew that you loved him and would do as you promised him you would, and that if you kept clear of those sins it would keep your conscience alive, and that if you said the Lord’s prayer it would give you the idea of going to God, and though you might not understand it would finally have its effect, and as you grew older that influence would grow stronger.”
The religious interest increased not only there, but extended to other towns in the county, and was part of that wonderful religious movement called “The Great Awakening” that pervaded Kentucky, was more or less felt in every state then in the Union, and which provided Christian pioneers for the new settlements constantly forming.
CHAPTER XVII.
REDEMPTION YEAR.
It was now planting time. James, this year, planted his patch with corn, as he had planted it with potatoes two years, and the boys planted potatoes. The weather proved very dry and so favorable for farm work that the planting and sowing were finished much earlier than usual.
“Now, boys,” said Mr. Whitman, “if you handle yourselves, you can burn your lot over and plant corn before hoeing comes on: and, after harvest, you can knock the sprouts from the stumps and kill the fire-weeds.”
They put in the fire, and got an excellent burn.
They now determined to make a log-rolling and invite the neighbors, far and near, to come with axes and oxen to cut and roll and twitch the unburnt logs into great piles to be set on fire and burned entirely up. The old gentleman was busily at work in the shop, when Maria came running in, and said,—
“Grandpa! George Orcutt is coming up the road, and he looks as though he was coming here.”
“I hope he is; and if he turns up here, you tell him the men-folks are all in the field, except me, and that I am at work in the shop.”