By Northern Lakes; Reminiscences of Life in Ontario Mission Fields (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1896 Excerpt: ...disturbed the worshippers. For some time we did not like to say anything lest they all take offence and discontinue attending the meetings; but at last it became intolerable, and one night right in the middle of the sermon we stopped, and said, " Now, in the past we have relied upon the honour of those present to conduct themselves properly, and we discovered that they had honour in most cases at least. But if there are any who prove themselves to be utterly destitute of this element, we will at any cost compel them to remain quiet throughout the service." A large, powerfully-built, rough-looking young man, over six feet high and weighing over two hundred pounds, who was the bully of the entire neighbourhood, leaped to his feet at the close of the above words, and in thundering tones said, " Yes, there must be order, or me and the preacher will lick the whole crowd." It is scarcely necessary to add that the people present, knowing the character of the man, and that he would in a moment back up his words by force if required, gave no further trouble, and from that time forward the best of order prevailed. The meetings continued for a period of two weeks, and the congregation suffered considerably from the almost unbearable heat. The reader can imagine forty persons or more huddled together in a small room, with ceiling so low that a tall man could not stand perfectly erect, and a large old-fashioned stove with high oven kept almost at white heat. We had indeed a melting time each evening in more ways than one. The result of the services was that about fourteen persons of both sexes professed a change of heart, among them two or three of the men from the lumber camp; one of whom went home suffering from that dread disease consumption, havi...