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��Windham, N. H.
��and mountains and fastnesses of Scotland with a fortitude and heroism unsurpassed. Many had laid down their lives to secure Its preservation ; many struggled bravely on during the troubled years, bearing aloft the en- sign of their faith, which they believed to be the only true faith, and their banner the only true standard of the cross.
The foot of the persecutor followed the faithful to Ireland, and there they felt the avenging arm of resisted and arbitrary power. Some of those who had taken part in the brave defence of Londonderry, Ireland, owned land here which was occupied by their sons. The story of the past, of the conflicts in Scotland, the flight to Ireland, the endurance and suffer- ings and sacrifices and final triumph at the " siege of Derry," were fresh in their memories ; they were en- graven on the tablets of their souls, and the lessons influenced their lives. So the faith of the stern, grim Cov- enanter was transplanted to Wind- ham. It took root and flourished on this soil, and grew with a strong, steady, solid growth in this town. The Scotch settlers were a conserva- tive and thinking people, and their institutions were the result of thought. Many of the characteristics, senti- ments, and much of the feelings of the Covenanters were here, and these have not entirely died out of their descendants. The religious side of the characters of the first residents was largely developed.
The town has been strongly ortho- dox from the beginning. Many fam- ilies attended meeting at what is now East Derry. After attending to their morning duties, the whole family, —
��men, women, and children, — would walk eight or nine miles to meeting, listen to two long sermons, and then return to their homes, seldom reach- ina; them till after dark. So they prized the sanctuar}', and appre- ciated and dearly loved the faith in which they trusted.
The first religious meetings were holden in barns during the warm sea- son for eleven years, when, in 1753, the first meeting-house was built, on a hiffh elevation south-east of Cobbett's pond, now known as " Cemetery hill."
Our Scotch ancestors, exiles from the lochs and glens of Scotland, could not forget the customs of the dear old father-land. So they located the burial-place of themselves and their kindred in the shadow of the kirk. It is a beautiful spot. The lovely lake nestles at the foot of this wave-washed hill, shimmering with brightness in the summer sun, and in autumn mirroring in its bosom all the beauty of the forest trees. It is a pleasant place on which to pitch one's tent after the weary march, when with folded arms the silent ones will rest undisturbed till the reveille call at the great awakening. So the dead rested near where the living wor- shipped, where in summer days, through the opened windows which let in the sunshine and the breath of flowers, the words as the}' fell from the lips of the living preacher might be borne b}' the breezes which gently waved the grass that grew and the flowers that bloomed on the mounds of the peaceful sleepers.
The first pastor was Rev. William Johnston who received a call to settle here July 12, 17-16, but was not in-
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