he bare ground, brave all the dangers of a frontier life, and,
if necessary, thrash any one who dared to insult him. Such was the man
for these sturdy, simple Western folk, and such a man they found in
Peter Cartwright.

Peter went at the task before him with a will. The country being
sparsely settled, people had to travel a long way to get to church, and
it became a matter of expediency for the clergy to hold religious
gatherings at stated points, and to continue them for several days, so
that those who desired to attend might be able to avoid the necessity of
going home every evening and coming back next day. Church edifices being
scarce, these meetings were held in the woods, and a large encampment
was formed by the people in attendance. This was the origin of the
camp-meeting system, which for many years was the only effective way of
spreading the Gospel in the West. It was at a camp-meeting that Peter
obtained religion, and he has ever since been a zealous advocate of, and
a hard worker at, them. From the first he was successful. The fame of
the "boy preacher" went abroad into all the land, and people came in to
the camp from a hundred miles around to hear him. He had little
education, but he knew his Bible thoroughly, and was a ready speaker,
and, above all, he knew how to deal with the people to whom he preached.
He made many converts, and from the first took rank as the most popular
preacher in the West.

Peter not only believed in the overruling power of God, but he was
firmly convinced of the active and personal agency of the devil in human
affairs. Many of the follies and faults of the people around him took
place, he averred, because they were possessed of devils. Each
camp-meeting was to him a campaign against Satan, and in his opinion
Satan never failed to make a good fight for his kingdom. Certainly some
very singular things did occur at the meetings at which he was present,
and, naturally, perhaps, some persons began to believe that Peter
Cartwright possessed supernatural powers. The following incident,
related by him, not only explains some of the phenomena to which I
allude, but also the manner in which he was regarded by some of the
unconverted:

"A new exercise broke out among us, called the 'jerks,' which was
overwhelming in its effects upon the bodies and minds of the people. No
matter whether they were saints or sinners, they would be taken under a
warm song or sermon, and seized with a convuls