Five Years in the Alleghanies

by Jonathan Cross

As soon as I was out of sight, I drove rapidly, and made the first five miles in an hour, when I began to breathe easier.

But all at once I heard the most unearthly yelling behind me that had ever greeted my ears. My horse was frightened, and tried to run off. In a few moments I heard the clatter of horses’ feet, and concluded all was over with me. In a moment I was surrounded with some eight or ten of the most desperate looking men, and told to stop; that they wanted to know what I was loaded with. I told them I was loaded with good religious books, which I was distributing among people that had none. I was then ordered to give them all up to them, and they would scatter them on the other side of the mountain, for there were no books over there. I told them I knew they were too generous to take all that I had.

I then told them to listen to me, and I would tell them what the books taught. So I began and preached them the most earnest sermon that I ever preached. One of them said, “Give me your hand, sir, for I never had a preacher by the hand in my life.” I held his hand firmly, and preached on, although the muzzle of his gun was frequently in very dangerous proximity to my person.

It was evident they began to feel uneasy under my wayside sermon, and for fear they would leave me without tracts, I began the distribution, and gave each one a number of the most suitable I could find. They invited me to come over the mountains and preach, and I would get plenty to come and hear me. Some of those tracts were found more than a year after by one of our colporteurs, carefully preserved and highly prized.

CHAPTER XIII.

Another case that seemed more threatening than the last mentioned, occurred soon after in the county of G——. I was on my way to meet a Sabbath appointment. About two o’clock I came to a river which was much swollen by the late rains. The man who kept the ferry-boat lived on the opposite side of the river, where some four or five men were pitching quoits and making a great noise. I called a number of times before they even condescended to answer me; and when they did answer, it was with curses, telling me they would come when they were ready. I had then sixteen miles to go to B——, the place where I expected to lodge. They kept me waiting two hours before they came with the boat, consequently it was late when I got over. They were drunk and very profane, charged me four prices, and cursed me for troubling them. I gave them some tracts, and the best advice I could.

Soon after I met two women: one seemed to be about thirty, and the other sixty years old. I offered them some tracts, which they at first declined, for fear I might be the sheriff. Neither knew a letter, or could tell who was the Saviour of sinners.

Soon after I passed them a terrible rain came on, and the roads were so deep my horse could scarcely draw my buggy. I saw night would soon overtake me, and the prospect of lodging looked unfavorable. I stopped at a cabin by the roadside to inquire the way, and leave some tracts. A man came out who looked as if he was ready for any crime, and came right up to my buggy, and began to look in with a scrutinizing eye. He either could not or would not give me any satisfaction about the road. After an earnest exhortation about his soul, I gave him Baxter’s Call. All the conduct of the man was of a very suspicious character.

It was now late, and raining hard, and in a little time would be very dark. I drove on as fast as possible, until it began to get quite dark, when I met a man on the road walking; whether he was a white man or not, I could not tell. I stopped him to inquire if there was any place near where I could lodge. He immediately began to examine the inside of my buggy as fully as the darkness would permit. He told me there was a man on the other bank of the creek, about half a mile ahead of me, who kept lodgers, and that it was a good place to stop. I handed him a book and thanked him, and drove on, he following a short distance, asking me questions which were not calculated to allay my anxiety.

I soon reached the creek, which seemed to be very high and rapid, and it was so dark I could see no object on the other side of it. The road entered by a narrow ravine, and there was no way to back out. I lifted my heart to God for protection, and drove in. In a moment the water was up in my buggy, but thanks to God, I got through safely, and in a few moments my horse was standing by the door of a miserable cabin.