n of God, to behold the fairly-decked array of people, drawn from a
circuit of some ten or even fifteen miles in extent, on the sabbath,
neatly dressed in their choicest apparel, men and women alike well
mounted, and forming numerous processions and parties, from three to
five or ten in each, bending from every direction to a given point, and
assembling for the purposes of devotion. No chiming and chattering bells
warn them of the day or of the duty--no regularly-constituted and
well-salaried priest--no time-honored fabric, round which the old
forefathers of the hamlet rest--reminding them regularly of the
recurring sabbath, and the sweet assemblage of their fellows. We are to
assume that the teacher is from their own impulses, and that the heart
calls them with due solemnity to the festival of prayer. The preacher
comes when the spirit prompts, or as circumstances may impel or permit.
The news of his arrival passes from farm to farm, from house to house;
placards announce it from the trees on the roadside, parallel, it may
be, with an advertisement for strayed oxen, as we have seen it
numberless times; and a day does not well elapse before it is in
possession of everybody who might well avail themselves of its promise
for the ensuing Sunday. The parson comes to the house of one of his
auditory a night or two before; messages and messengers are despatched
to this and that neighbor, who despatch in turn to other neighbors. The
negroes, delighting in a service and occasion of the kind--in which,
by-the-way, they generally make the most conspicuous figures--though
somewhat sluggish as couriers usually, are now not merely ready, but
actually swift of foot. The place of worship and the preacher are duly
designated, and, by the time appointed, as if the bell had tolled for
their enlightenment, the country assembles at the stated place; and
though the preacher may sometimes fail of attendance, the people never
do.

The spot appointed for the service of the day was an old grove of
gigantic oaks, at a distance of some five or six miles from the village
of Chestatee. The village itself had not been chosen, though having the
convenience of a building, because of the liberal desire entertained by
those acting on the occasion to afford to others living at an equal
distance the same opportunities without additional fatigue. The morning
was a fine one, all gayety and sunshine--the road dry, elevated, and
shaded luxuriantly with the ov