in
front of each ear, with its keen, dark eyes and large, firm mouth and
jaw. Samson lifted the preacher and set him on the back of his horse.

"God blessed you with great strength," said the latter. "Are you a
Christian?"

"I am."

They rode on in silence. Presently Samson observed that the preacher was
actually asleep and snoring in the saddle. They proceeded for an hour or
more in this manner. When the horses were wallowing through a swale the
preacher awoke.

"Glory be to God!" he shouted. "I am better. I shall be able to preach
to-night. A little farther on is the cabin of Brother Cawkins. He has
been terribly pecked up by a stiff-necked, rebellious wife. We'll stop
there for a cup of tea and if she raises a rumpus you'll see me take her
by the horns."

Mrs. Cawkins was a lean, sallow, stern-eyed woman of some forty years
with a face like bitter herbs; her husband a mild mannered, shiftless man
who, encouraged by Mr. Cartwright, had taken to riding through the upper
counties as a preacher--a course of conduct of which his wife heartily
disapproved. Solicited by her husband she sullenly made tea for the
travelers. When it had been drunk the two preachers knelt in a corner of
the room and Mr. Cartwright began to pray in a loud voice. Mrs. Cawkins
shoved the table about and tipped over the chairs and dropped the
rolling-pin as a counter demonstration. The famous circuit rider, being
in no way put out by this, she dashed a dipper of cold water on the head
of her husband. The praying stopped. Mr. Cartwright rose from his knees
and commanded her to desist. On her declaration that she would not he
laid hold of the woman and forced her out of the door and closed and
bolted it and resumed his praying.

Having recorded this remarkable incident in his diary Samson writes:

* * * * *

"Many of these ignorant people in the lonely, prairie cabins are like
children. Cartwright leads them on like a father and sometimes with the
strong hand. If any of them deserve a spanking they get it. He and others
like him have helped to keep the cabin people clean and going up hill
instead of down. They have established schools and missions and scattered
good books and comforted sorrows and kindled good desire in the hearts of
the humble."

* * * * *

As they were leaving Mr. Cawkins told them that the plague had broken out
in the settlement on Honey Creek, where the qu