rayers, exhortations, and altar
services. The young people were scarcely less interested, but from
mixed motives--partly religious and partly social. Ever since Adam
courted Eve under Eden's trees God's woods have been places for lovers
to woo in, and one of the best things connected with the "protracted
meeting" was the occasion it made of bringing young people into one
another's society and starting friendships which ripened into love and
matrimony.

Through the influence of Costello Nebeker a small church was built some
distance from his house in the noble forest. It was composed of logs
cut smooth with axes on two opposite sides. These logs were placed one
above the other, and the chinks between were closed up with mortar made
of clay and water. The roof was of heavy beams upon which were nailed
coarse clapboards. The building could boast of two small windows and a
single door. The inside arrangements were as simple as the outside. A
common wooden desk answered as a pulpit, and instead of pews wooden
benches were placed in front of the stand. A large cast-iron stove,
placed near the center of the room, gave heat when the weather was
cold. The building was called the "Bethlehem Church."

The "protracted meeting" was appointed to begin early in January. The
preachers who were to conduct it were Jasper Very, John Larkin, and
Ezra Thompson, an old minister, grizzled and toughened by time and
exposure.

This history has to do with the Sunday evening service which Jasper
Very was to conduct. It was a beautiful winter evening. The orb of day
had scarcely descended behind the unbroken line of forest trees in the
west ere the full moon appeared in the east, rising in majesty through
the trees. The silvery globe stretched from the base almost to the tops
of the trees. Slowly and serenely she climbed on her upward way, the
tree tops now marking the line of her diameter; then in a few minutes
she was free from their obstruction and hung above the earth a great,
shining ball, sending upon river, forest, plain, and plantation a light
so full and soft that one standing in it would become charmed by her
magical rays.

In the falling darkness it was easy to walk or ride to the evening
appointment. Because of the distance most of the people rode on
horseback. When they had all assembled, the sight was one to remember.
Horses were hitched everywhere to racks which had been placed near the
church, to branches of trees, and to smal