Among the first buildings to be erected in any frontier community was a "meeting house''. It was often used as a home for women and children until the pioneer cabins could be built. It was then used for church, or as they generally called it, "meeting". In the same building they also had other community gatherings, even using it as a school house sometimes. They were never expensive and the church was never pressed for "offerings" or should I say, "collections"? They cared not for finery and the church was never financially embarrassed.
In the earlier days they were usually built of logs but sometimes of lumber sawed with a whip-saw or small saw-mill, operated by horse-power or a water wheel. All the labor was donated and people gladly gave it as a labor of love. Of course they gave the material also.
They were given such names as Mount Olive, Mount Pleasant, Mount Pisgah, Mount Moriah, Mount Nebo, Pleasant Grove, Bethel, New Jerusalem, Sharon, etc. Sometimes they were nicknamed by the irreverent and given such appellations as "God's Barn," "Board Shanty," and sometimes these names became more common than the real ones.
Old Sharon was a rural church located in a splendidly shaded grove. It was a fairly well constructed frame building about thirty by forty feet, and every piece was worked out by hand. Even the flooring, ceiling and weather-boarding were hand-dressed. The altar or pulpit, as it was called, was a good piece of architecture and was approached by "three upright regular steps".
The seats were common benches. The corner to the right of the preacher was called the "Amen Corner," and was reserved for the old men. If the old church were still standing, I could go back and hang my hat on the very nail on which my father used to hang his. For lack of a better name the opposite corner was nicknamed the "A Woman Corner" by some wag. On one side they had seats for the boys and men, and on the other they had seats for the girls and women, and let us say that this rule was sacredly adhered to. In one case a young man went in and sat down with his best girl. The preacher politely told him to move to the other side. He was reluctant but obeyed.
Let me digress here long enough to say that the boys seldom accompanied their girls to church, but often went home with them from the night service. Sometimes they had no previous arrangements and had some very ingenious ways of asking for the privilege of accompanying the girl home. A boy might say, "Do you love chicken?" and if she wished to give a favorable reply, she said, "Yes, sir". He would then extend an arm and say, "Take a wing". Again he might say, "The moon shines bright, Can I go home with you tonight"? If favorable, the answer was, "The stars do too. I don't care if you do." Not every fellow of the crowd that stood in waiting at the door like a gang of unweaned calves was favorably considered and a negative answer was called a "sack". Most of the boys accepted that without a word and, greatly embarrassed, got out of the crowd as soon as they could, but others were "game" and gave rejoinders. Once I heard this dialog took place:
Boy: "Can I see you home tonight?"
Girl: "No, sir."
Boy: ' ' Give me a string. ' '
Girl: "Ain't got any."
Boy: "Give me your garter, then. That will
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| Deep River Pioneer Lutheran Church, National Resgister of Historic Places. Typical architecture of early churches in U.S. |
Of course, they had to be governed by the weather, but in the summer, in particular, the young men gathered in the grove and "swapped yarns" until some one in the house began a song which was the signal to come in for the services to begin. Some of the young men would come in, but the rowdies stayed outside. The sermon was usually very long, the services often lasting from 11:00 o'clock until after 1:00 o'clock. Once a young fellow came out from town hoping to go home with one of the girls, and he tarried with the gang outside. If nothing else made him unpopular, the simple fact that he was wanting to pay his respects to one of the "country girls" would make him so, and he had to be the victim of all their jokes. He expressed a wonder at the length of the sermon and asked how long it lasted. They told him that it would last until time to go home and do up the chores late in the evening. He believed it and left just in time for some other fellow to get to go home with the girl.
They had no organ and no choir (war department of the church), but usually some old man with his coarse gutteral voice, or a woman with her high-pitched nasal voice led the singing. There were few song books and the preacher would "line the hymns", that is, he would read a line or a stanza and then they would sing it, and thus on thru the song. In many churches there was, and in a few there is yet, a prejudice against any kind of musical instrument in the church, and it was so strong that some times it was a rock upon which the church was wrecked.
Sometimes they had revivals and while some preacher or layman would be praying, others would be saying such things as "Lord grant it," "Yes, Lord," and "Amen," all in a groaning tone that people could hardly understand. I presume the Lord did. Once, while such a performance was going on a venerable, gray-haired brother was picking his nose and saying some of these things. It looked like he was taking on about his nose. Some boys saw it and laughed. One of the deacons reprimanded them. His attention was called to it and even he had to laugh.
The preacher was sometimes one of their number but usually he was some man with a great big heart and little ambition to accumulate money, and whose reputation as a preacher extended far beyond the confines of his own community. He was always reverent and sincere and his every word and act proved it. The best people of the community loved him and the others respected him. He always had the power to drive his message direct to his hearers. "A man he was to all the country dear," but he was not getting rich at forty pounds a year, for the collections were usually small.
"But in his duty prompt at every call,
He watched and wept, he prayed and felt for all;
And as a bird each fond endearment tries,
To tempt its new-fledged off-spring to the skies,
He tried each art, reproved each dull delay,
Allured to brighter worlds and led the way.
"Beside the bed where parting life was laid,
And sorrow, guilt and pain by turns dismayed,
The reverend champion stood. At his control.
Despair and anguish fled the struggling soul;
Comfort came down the trembling wretch to raise,
And his last falling accents whispered praise,
"At church with meek and unaffected grace,
His looks adorned the venerable places-
Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway,
And fools who came to scoff remained to pray.
The service past, around the pious man,
With steady zeal each honest rustic ran.
His ready smile, a parent's warmth expressed;
Their welfare pleased him and their cares distressed;
To them, his heart, his love, his grief were given.
But all his serious thoughts had rest in Heaven.
As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form,
Swells from the vale and midway leaves the storm,
Tho round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,
Eternal sunshine settles on its head."
I have described here my old home church. Of course, my experience does not date back to pioneer days, but many of the old customs still prevailed and I recall that my father and other old settlers told me many of the things that made the memory of the old church a sacred memory to them.
This church was built about 1840, and destroyed by a cyclone in 1889. A new one was erected on the spot, but is now unused. I believe the rural church entered more into the social and religious life of the communities than did others. Waller
Medley of old-time country hymns...
