Thirty Years in the Itinerancy — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Thirty Years in the Itinerancy
John Stuart Mill · en
Flushed with the achievements of the previous few weeks, and still
sighing for conquests, I now resolved to make a sally in the direction
of Lake Apuckaway, lying to the northwest of Lake Maria. I found, on the
southern shore, a few families, and made arrangements for an appointment
in connection with my next round. I then started to return, but had not
gone far, when I found I had lost my reckoning. I looked for my compass
as eagerly as Christian for his roll, but I could not find it. This was
a double misfortune, to lose both the way and the guide at the same
time. I resorted to the device of the backwoodsman, and tried to
determine my course by the moss on the trees, but I found this to be a
great perplexity and abandoned it. I traveled in divers directions and
devious ways until nearly overcome with fatigue and hunger, when I
suddenly came upon a newly erected log cabin. The logs had been rolled
up to form the body, a roof of "shakes" had been hastily put on, there
was no chinking between the logs, there were no windows, and the only
door was a blanket. The floor was made of earth, and the fireplace was
merely a pile of stones in one corner, from which the smoke ascended
through an opening in the roof, at one corner of the building.
I knocked for admittance, and was kindly received. The good man and his
wife had but recently come into the country. He had succeeded in
erecting his cabin and putting it in its present condition, but had been
taken ill with the ague and compelled to suspend operations. He had now
been so long confined at home that provisions had become scarce. It was
meal time. A few potatoes were taken from the embers and placed on a
chest, as a substitute for a table. I was invited to join them in their
repast, using a trunk as a seat. Grace was said, under a special sense
of the Divine favor. A little salt was added, and the meal was one of
the most relishable I had ever eaten. Several years after, I heard the
good brother relate the circumstance in a Love Feast, when he took
occasion to say the visit was the most refreshing he had ever
experienced. It was certainly such to me. The village of Kingston has
since sprang up in the vicinity, and has become the head of a circuit.
Returning again to Waupun, I now decided to look over the territory in
the more immediate vicinity. Going to the south of the village five
miles, I found Mill Creek, where a small settlement had been made. The
most central house of the neighborhood was the residence of Brother
David Moul, who kindly offered it for a temporary chapel. An appointment
was established, and on the 16th day of November a class was formed.
Brother Moul was appointed Leader. The class at the first, consisted of
the Leader and wife, David Boynton and wife, and two others, but in the
revival that soon followed, the number was increased to twenty-two.