festivals
on different dates. At Christmastime, they were especially careful to
plan their carol programs so that the entire community could attend both
services. As there was a great deal of intermarriage between the two
churches, this also reduced family strife.[253] Both groups welcomed
members of other faiths. One Presbyterian recalled an occasion when his
father greeted a new family just moving into the neighborhood and
invited them to attend the local services. "This man said, 'Well, you
know I'm a Roman Catholic.' My Dad said, 'It doesn't make any difference
what you are, we'd sure like to have you come if you can.' This was the
general attitude."[254] Indeed, so ecumenical had the organizations
become that the General Conference of the Methodist Church became
somewhat alarmed. As early as 1905 this body noted that although its
members were leading quiet, orderly lives and attended church services
frequently, still the congregation was "not satisfactory in some very
essential respects." "Our people have been in the past and are now very
negligent and indifferent as to the duty of informing themselves about
our doctrines and church policy," stated the minutes of the church's
quarterly conference. "There must be a more general study of the church
discipline and a larger circulation and a close and careful reading of
our church papers."[255]

The churches were rarely used for political purposes. Instead, the
farmers relied on their farmer's clubs to exert this kind of pressure
and seemed to feel that the religious bodies should concentrate on
paving the spiritual road to heaven rather than the connecting road to
the market. In addition to the regular activities of Sunday school,
Bible classes and regular worship services, however, these institutions
fulfilled a strong need for fellowship and social interaction.

Sunday school picnics and ice cream socials were perennial favorites
sponsored each summer by the churches. The picnics were frequently held
on attractive parts of neighboring farms, or sometimes as far away as
Seneca or Great Falls. Each family would bring a large hamper of food,
but the fried chicken, watermelon and pies were spread out on the tables
to be shared by everyone. While the parents gossiped or talked politics,
the children played and sometimes went swimming. These picnics, like
other community events, were held jointly by the Methodists and
Presbyterians.[256] The ice cream socials, however, w