>INCIDENTS AND CHARACTERS IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF METHODISM > >By > >The Reverend John Elmore DuBois > >Edited by Elizabeth A. DuBois >© 1998 DuBois Publishing Co, Simsbury, Connecticut. All rights >reserved. > >Ten >Camp Meetings > > Before closing my papers on Perry county incidents, it may not be amiss >to say a few words about camp meetings, for perhaps nothing has done >more to advance the cause of Methodism, to increase its members, to >develop its strength and to distinguish its piety than these. Thousands >have been attracted to them by their novelty, that perhaps might never >have been brought under the influence of the Gospel in any other way. >Some went through curiosity; others to criticise; while many of every >class were taken into the fold, and went away faithful Christians. > > The time for the camp meeting was usually in the early part of the >fall; an idle season, just after the crops were "laid by" and before the >cotton had opened to any considerable extent. > > The spot was selected by a committee. The preacher would announce that >on a certain day everybody that had an interest in the coming meeting >must assemble at this spot for the purpose of clearing off the grounds, >building the arbor and fixing the spring. On the appointed day, in the >early dawn, the father of every family in the community that was to take >part in the meeting, would shout, "All aboard for the camp ground!" And >immediately the noisy boys and cheerful Negroes, with axes and ringing >hoe, responded; and soon the mule team or the ox wagon with its merry >group, was rattling along at rapid rate for the scene of action. > > After all have assembled a foreman is appointed, and the work begins. >A short time reveals a beautiful spot, with a spacious brush arbor in >the center, while under the hill are deep tanks of sparkling water as >clear as crystal. This done, the time had arrived for tent building. >These were arranged in a circle, square or semi-circle around the arbor. > > The building of the tent then was no great labor. Corner posts were >set up and bagging tacked around. The cover was boards, pine bark or >brush, as best suited the convenience of the proprietor. The arbor was >furnished with a rude stand for a pulpit. The seats were split logs set >on blocks of wood with holes bored in them for the candle to rest in. >The whole encampment was brilliantly lighted by rude stands covered with >sod on which glowed heaps of pine knots. These rude contrivances far >outshone the flashing jets and gilded chandeliers of these more polite >days. > >[To be continued.] > > >==== ALABAMA Mailing List ==== >If you need to contact the list manager, please send your e-mail to >mmanson@snet.net >