Kentucky -- Fiction; Older women -- Fiction; Widows -- Fiction
"Me and Abram was there, for the country churches and the town
churches was friendlier then than they are now. If the Goshen church
was without a preacher Brother Wilson'd come out every third Sunday
and preach for us, and if the weather and the travelin' was good, the
Goshen folks'd go to town to preachin'.
"Now here I am tellin' about the dedicatin' of the church before I git
through with the buildin'.
"Well, when the church was about half done, things begun to go wrong
amongst the congregation. Somebody give a dancin'-party at the tavern,
and two o' Judge Grace's daughters was there, and the old judge
himself dropped in and looked at the dancin' a while; and before
folks'd got through talkin' about that, here come the news that Squire
Schuyler had taken a journey on the Sabbath day, and, besides that,
he'd been heard usin' profane language. Of course it all come to
Brother Wilson's ears, and as soon as he heard it he didn't lose any
time callin' a meetin' of the session, and they summoned the old judge
and the squire to appear before 'em and answer to the charges that was
brought against 'em.
"The session was in the habit o' meetin' in old Doctor Brigham's
office, and when they come together Judge Grace was on hand, and he
explained how he'd gone to the tavern to bring his daughters home, and
the gyirls wasn't quite ready to go home, and he had to stay and wait
for 'em; and says he, 'I acknowledge that I did go into the hall where
the young folks was dancin', and I stood and looked at 'em a while.
And,' says he, 'I might 'a' patted my foot, keepin' time to the music,
for they was dancin' a Virginia reel, and it's mighty hard for me to
keep my feet still when there's a Virginia reel goin' on. But,' says
he, 'that was the head and front of my offendin'.'
"Then Brother Wilson asked him if his daughters danced at the party,
and the old judge he looked over at one o' the elders and winked, and
then he says, as solemn as you please, 'Not while I was there.' Says
he, 'I forbid my children to dance, and if I had known the nature of
that party I would 'a' forbidden 'em to go to it. But,' says he, 'I
can't say that my forbiddin' 'em would 'a' kept 'em from goin', but
not bein' church-members,' says he, 'my daughters can't be disciplined
for dancin', and if you're going to discipline the parents for what
the children do,' says he, 'there's some ministers that'll have to be
summoned to appear before the session.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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