REMINISCENCES.
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��cording to custom, like the sheep and the goats, one on the right hand the oth- er on the left of the quaint old pulpit — our mothers were on the right ; here was the seat of honor due to gray hairs by- love and reverence ; next, down the long unpainted slips, were ranged those of middle age and youth, women and maid- ens on the north side and the men facing them from the opposite ; while the boys' corner was jnst at your right as you en- tered the wide-open door, as many a rude mark and roughly carved name will show to this day upon the backs of the tell-tale seats. Here they were under the immediate eye of that stern old tith- ing-man, " Uncle Sam B." Do you not remember, boys, the threatening shake of that long cane of his, and how we were kept in awe of it and its austere posses- sor? But the order-making rod is laid away, and the kindly old man who wield- ed it in the name of the Lord has gone to his reward long since. In the fullness of time he, too, in his turn, was borne to his grave in the midst of those his own hands had digged — for his were the spade and mattock, too, and for years here he had helped to "gather them in."
Do you reeollect the good Deacon Johnson, with his bent form and trem- bling gait, but a happy smile upon his face and a heart brimming full of love and charity? Full of years, he went away, mourned by children and grand- children and all who knew him. Two generations of his have since joined him over there, and I have no doubt that there their voices unite in songs or joy, even as here we heard them singing the songs of Zion in the choirs of earth.
Chiefest in dignity and purity of char- acter, to my young mind, among those oldmeu who are seen no more here, was Esquire Montgomery, owner and posses- sor for many years of the lake-side farm. How well we remember now, through the long, dreamy past, with what vener- ation we watched him enter the house of God, always with bowed head uncovered and countenance serene and calm. There was no rude, boyish talk or noise from young lips as he passed up the broad steps with his goodly wife, fit companion for so noble a man and good. We think
��of her in these later years as an earnest leader in the Sunday class, and a gentle advisor and cheerer of our young hopes.
More than a score of years the grass has grown green above them. He passed on before, but she could not tarry long Avithout him. In the little graveyard on the south hill the stars look kindly down and the winds sigh among the forest branches above the mounds that mark where they were laid. A daughter, too, left ere long and followed the aged cou- ple ; and as she passed from the gaze of those to whom she bade adieu, a beckon- ing hand called a beloved grandchild, and Ann went to join the family reunion "up yonder."
It is with no slight emotion that we re- fer to those whose records form a part of the history of our young days; gray haired men and women, who had been our early friends and counsellors, and whom we had been taught to love and respect. There were many of whom we sometime may speak; some still walk the earth in pursuit of what the world calls happiness, and many others, too, dwellers in the little city of "polished white mansions of stone," and it is get- ting over-tenanted — the shadows of the tombstones are lying thick.
Do you remember, Frank, of reading somewhere that the covering of the whole earth had been at sometime or other dis- turbed to make room for dust that once was mortal ? I have read or heard it ; but I think the projector of the idea must have possessed a lively imagination, and did not base his statements upon calcula- tions or a second thought, for if all the dead, from the victim of Cain's cruel w T rath in the Armenian valley down to the last stifled soul, were laid side by side among the hills and vales of New England, they would find room to lie in and turn without jostling.
There is another unforgotten grave in the midst of that sleeping congregation. It is marked by a white stone with taper finger earnestly pointing up to God. You may know it ; the first as you en- tered the high arched gateway; only the simple inscription. "Our Father."
Forty years ago Win. Dodge was one of a long procession which, on a dreary
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