II. THE HELL QUESTION AND THE REV. JOHN WESTLOCK 12
XI. WITH REFERENCE TO A MAN WHO WAS SENT WEST TO GROW UP WITH THE COUNTRY OR GET KILLED 112
XIII. THE FLOCK OF THE GOODE SHEPHERD 134
XVI. MORE OF THE VILLAGE OF TWIN MOUNDS 165
XXI. THE PECULIARITIES OF A COUNTRY TOWN 228
XXII. A SKELETON IN THE HOUSE AT ERRING’S FORD 244
Ours was the prairie district out West, where we had gone to grow up with the country.
I believe that nearly every farmer for miles around moved to the neighborhood at the same time, and that my father’s wagons headed the procession. I have heard that most of them gathered about him on the way, and as he preached from his wagon wherever night overtook him, and held camp-meetings on Sundays, he attracted a following of men travelling the same road who did not know themselves where they were going, although a few of the number started with him, among them my mother’s father and his family. When he came to a place that suited him, he picked out the land he wanted--which any man was free to do at that time--and the others settled about him.
In the dusty tramp of civilization westward--which seems to have always been justified by a tradition that men grow up by reason of it--our section was not a favorite, and remained new and unsettled after counties and States farther west had grown old. Every one who came there seemed favorably impressed with the steady fertility of the soil, and expressed surprise that the lands were not all occupied; but no one in the great outside world talked about it, and no one wrote about it, so that those who were looking for homes went to the west or the north, where others were going.
There were cheap lands farther on, where the people raised a crop one year, and were supported by charity the next; where towns sprang up on credit, and farms were opened with borrowed money; where the people were apparently content, for our locality did not seem to be far enough west, nor far enough north, to suit them; where no sooner was one stranger’s money exhausted than another arrived to take his place; where men mortgaged their possessions at full value, and thought themselves rich, notwithstanding, so great was their faith in the country; where he who was deepest in debt was the leading citizen, and where bankruptcy caught them all at last. On these lands the dusty travellers settled, where there were churches, school-houses, and bridges--but little rain--and railroads to carry out the crops should any be raised; and when any one stopped in our neighborhood, he was too poor and tired to follow the others.
