sign;" and he was conveyed back to prison, amidst the shouts,
laughter, and ribaldry of the mob.

I am not fond of hanging, but there was something in all this
that did not look like the decent dignity of wholesome justice.

CHAPTER 15

Camp-Meeting

It was in the course of this summer that I found the opportunity
I had long wished for, of attending a camp-meeting, and I gladly
accepted the invitation of an English lady and gentleman to
accompany them in their carriage to the spot where it is held;
this was in a wild district on the confines of Indiana.

The prospect of passing a night in the back woods of Indiana was
by no means agreeable, but I screwed my courage to the proper
pitch, and set forth determined to see with my own eyes, and hear
with my own ears, what a camp-meeting really was. I had heard it
said that being at a camp-meeting was like standing at the gate
of heaven, and seeing it opening before you; I had heard it said,
that being at a camp-meeting was like finding yourself within the
gates of hell; in either case there must be something to gratify
curiosity, and compensate one for the fatigue of a long rumbling
ride and a sleepless night.

We reached the ground about an hour before midnight, and the
approach to it was highly picturesque. The spot chosen was the
verge of an unbroken forest, where a space of about twenty acres
appeared to have been partially cleared for the purpose. Tents
of different sizes were pitched very near together in a circle
round the cleared space; behind them were ranged an exterior
circle of carriages of every description, and at the back of each
were fastened the horses which had drawn them thither. Through
this triple circle of defence we distinguished numerous fires
burning brightly within it; and still more numerous lights
flickering from the trees that were left in the enclosure. The
moon was in meridian splendour above our heads.

We left the carriage to the care of a servant, who was to prepare
a bed in it for Mrs. B. and me, and entered the inner circle.
The first glance reminded me of Vauxhall, from the effect of the
lights among the trees, and the moving crowd below them; but the
second shewed a scene totally unlike any thing I had ever
witnessed. Four high frames, constructed in the form of altars,
were placed at the four corners of the enclosure; on these were
supported layers of earth and sod, on which burned immense fires
of blazing pi