ment each citizen was authorized to file a
certificate of non-membership with the clerk of the society of which he
was a member and thereafter he was free from any contract or obligation
of such society thereafter made.

The little town of Lunenburg participated actively in the contest. My
father advocated the amendment. At the ancient meetinghouse the
ancient doctrines of future punishment were preached and the literal
inspiration of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation was not questioned.
Those who denied the one or doubted the other were denounced as
infidels. Religious topics were the leading subjects of conversation,
and the fruitful source of personal and neighborhood controversies. My
father rejected the doctrine of physical punishment in another state of
existence, and he came to regard the Bible as a record of events, and
the expression of human thought and feeling, rather than as a message
of the Divine will.

Perhaps as early as 1820 the Methodists had organized a church and
secured a place of meeting in the north part of the town on a by-road.
The building was not as good in quality or style as is a modern barn.
My father separated himself from the old society and joined the
Methodist society. In that organization each one paid what he chose.
I recollect attending meetings in the old barn, but the distance was
great and the inconveniences were numerous. The converts could endure
the inconveniences, but as my father was not a convert nor a believer
his interest was slight. Afterwards, however, the Methodists built a
meetinghouse in the village, and for several years we had seats and
attended the services. Once in two or three years the denomination
held camp meetings in the autumn and the work of conversions would go
on rapidly. The scenes were such as are now reported of the negro
race in the states of the South. Young girls would shout, crying out
that they had found Jesus, fall down, and lie senseless, or at least
speechless, for many minutes. After brief periods of excitement many
of the converts returned to their old ways of life, neither better nor
worse.

During these years the Universalists held meetings at Shirley Village,
quite eight miles away. My father attended occasionally, and not
infrequently I went with him. I had therefore the opportunity to hear
the great preachers of the denomination--Russell Streeter, Sebastian
Streeter, brothers; Thomas Whittemore, the editor of the _Trum