INCIDENTS #40 - ELIZABETH RUSSO
Subject: INCIDENTS #40
From: ELIZABETH RUSSO
Date: November 03, 1998

INCIDENTS AND CHARACTERS IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF METHODISM

By

The Reverend John Elmore DuBois

Edited by Elizabeth A. DuBois
(c) 1998  DuBois Publishing Co, Simsbury, Connecticut. All rights
reserved.

FOURTEEN

The Road from Selma to Greensboro

	In this chapter I propose to notice the missionary operations of the
M.E. Church, South, among the colored people of the "blackbelt" of
Alabama.  But, as an introduction, it may not be uninteresting to notice
some of the changes that have taken place in this region in the past
half century.

	Three miles south of the old stage road that leads from Selma to
Greensboro, the prairies set in, blooming in beauty and rejoicing in
exuberant fertility.  In 1825 it was an unbroken solitude, and had not
yielded to the pioneer implements of civilization-- "the rifle, axe and
saddlebags"--but was still the home of the wild sportsman and his wilder
game.

	In the year 1827, a few settlers broke the solitude, reared their
cabins, cleared small fields, and opened the way for progress and
development in one of the finest sections of the South.  

	A few miles further on were the hammock, or hummock lands, so densely
covered with cane as to prevent all passage, except along the beaten
paths made by the browsing cattle, which in large droves reveled in lazy
fatness in these rich pastures, the gift of a bountiful hand.

	Horses and other stock were raised with little care and less expense,
nothing being necessary except to salt them, and to bestow such
attention as was required to keep them on intimate relations to man, the
superior animal.

	The deer, bear and wolf ranged at large in great numbers, as well as
turkeys and other wild fowls, all of which added to the stock of
communism and greatly enriched the larder of the rustic pioneer.

	Even for years after, wolves prowled around, and by their hideous
howlings admonished the settlers to take care of their flocks, while the
bear would occasionally help himself to a fat pig, and as soon as the
young corn was in roasting ear, would freely gorge himself at the risk
of furnishing a nice steak to the owner of the field.

	Bear hunting was a sport which gave rise to the wildest enthusiasm, and
enlisted the patronage of all classes of men, while the wolf was trapped
with equal alacrity and zest, but was not so high a prize.

	I saw on of these in chains for the purpose of being tamed; but after
biting the hand of a young man so severely that he lost it, his wolfship
paid the penalty with his life.

[To be continued tomorrow]

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