In looking back upon the records made by Squirrel Hunters in early days there may be seen a most wonderful faith in the providences of practical religion—that religion which stays with the individual throughout his daily occupations of life. A simple instance of this old-fashioned piety is sufficient to illustrate its meaning and spirit of the times, taken from the biography of one born in the Quaker Church, written by himself:
“I owned two hundred acres of choice land, heavily timbered and well watered with springs and brooks. Of this, only five acres were cleared for cultivation. My family consisted of wife and two small children. Of domestic animals, I had two horses, a cow and a dog. One evening, in the spring of 1813, the cow failed to come home. Her pasture was an unfenced wilderness. The bell could not be heard, and search beyond its sounds was impractical after night. Three days were ineffectually spent without obtaining the least clue to her location; and bodings of bad luck seemed standing in the high way to prosperity.
Man of Special Providences.
“I gave the cow up for lost and resumed the work of grubbing and burning brush to enlarge the five acres a little. In the afternoon, while busily engaged with my thoughts in smoke and brush, my wife and two children appeared on the ground. She came to tell me there was a man at the house with a sad story. He had been burned out, and lost everything, and wanted help to start again. I told her we were too poor to help any body; that the half dollar in the house was all the money we had, and I did not think it best to part with the last cent; that he should go to work and earn something and not spend his time begging of people who have nothing. My good nature had got around on the north side.
“As my wife turned toward the cabin, she observed, ‘The man looks much distressed.’ And either her words, spirit, or something else, brought before my eyes in large capital letters the creed or motto of my life, ‘Do right and all will come right.’ And I called her, saying, ‘Give the unfortunate man the half dollar, and tell him we feel for him.’ The beggar left rejoicing. And while at supper the sound of the cow-bell was at the door—the lost had returned, and we were all happy again.”
Pioneer preaching was most satisfactory and successful, and piety appeared quite as lasting in members of the Methodist Church as those in churches holding “once in grace, always in grace.” It was remarkable, as stated, that in a sparsely settled country congregations would assemble in numbers so great no house could accommodate more than a small fraction of the multitude. And out-door preaching became a necessity; and camp-meetings held in “God’s first temples” were inaugurated in the very commencement of the settlements, and a meeting of the kind in the pleasant season of the year would bring together the inhabitants from a large area of country. And under the supervision of such eminently spiritual divines as Bishop Asbury, McKendree, and others, it was not strange the old lady entertained the opinion that “dogfennel and Methodism were bound to take the country.”
Methodism and its methods were better adapted to the religious wants of the people than any of the many sects that found missionary encouragement in the North-west, and it was well said by Warren Miller, of New York, recently, at the Methodist Social Union, held in Chicago in honor of John Wesley—“that Methodism has exercised a greater influence for good over the institutions of our government, from its origin, and over the lives and character of the masses of our people than any other branch of the Christian Church, can not be questioned by any one who has carefully studied the inner history of our government and of our people.”
Religious and educational interests were not neglected, and where the population was too sparse and poor to afford a week-day school, children were taught to read and write in Sunday-schools, which were open in summer in most every neighborhood. Church buildings were few, but preaching and religious services were seldom overlooked, and in warm weather were held in the groves, and in winter in private houses, bar-rooms, country taverns, school-houses, courtrooms, and other places obtained for the occasion. Protracted, tented, or camp-meetings increased, following the settlements, and becoming very popular with preachers and people—usually lasting over a week—attended by large congregations and great revivals.
Stated preaching places were free to all denominations.
Church, Residence, and Court-house.
Of the numerous log-cabins used for this purpose, only a few have been preserved as familiar objects in the history of early settlements. A house that served as a family residence, hotel, church, court-house, and school-house—a humble log cabin, of which the above drawing is a faithful likeness—is still standing.
Dwellings, school-houses, churches, “meeting-houses,” hotels, and court-houses, resembled each other so closely, it required a knowledge of the purpose to apply the correct name. And quite frequently cabins were dedicated for general purposes, but without change of pattern.