CHAPTER V.
Immediately on obtaining my claim, brethren had sought me out and made
my acquaintance, and soon it appeared that there were enough Disciples
in the settlement to constitute a church. But the times were stormy, and
we delayed making any movement in that direction. It had now come to be
the month of June. There had been refreshing showers. The singing birds
had come, and the bright sunshine. The prairie had put on its royal
robes, the forest its richest garments, and the people had become
impatient with their long isolation from religious meetings. The Lord's
day was almost ceasing to be the Lord's day to them, and they demanded a
sermon. We, therefore, came together in the timbered bottoms of Caleb
May's claim, on the banks of the Stranger Creek. The gathering was
primitive and peculiar, like the gathering at a Western
camp-meeting--footmen, and men and women on horseback, and whole
families in two-horse lumber wagons. Some were dressed in
Kentucky-jeans, and some in broadcloth; there were smooth-shaven men and
bearded men; there were hats and bonnets of every form and fashion; all
were dressed in such ways as best suited their convenience or
necessities.
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