RURAL LIVING CONDITIONS 321 



mestic, for halls and auditoriums belong to a more 

 prosperous period. Just when the "bowery dance'' 

 appeared is not in the record, but it afforded a quasi- 

 natural pavilion that had cheapness if not other 

 qualities to commend it. 



Intellectual stimulation was derived through the 

 debating society. In a rude structure of logs oc- 

 curred the weekly meetings of "the Atlas Debating 

 Society/' in primitive Oakland County just as Michi- 

 gan was entering on statehood. Hither came the 

 young men from the farms far and near for those 

 jousts of wit and wisdom that would prepare them 

 for their destined career at the bar, on the bench 

 and in the halls of legislation. Hung from the beams 

 overhead or standing in the corners of the room were 

 the rifles, whose serviceableness was suggested by the 

 bowlings of the hungry wolves outside that accom- 

 panied the voices of the debaters within. The great 

 fire-place in the foreground gave illumination. It 

 was useless to speculate whether the farmer's Satur- 

 day night in town, now spent at the movies and the 

 ice-cream parlor, is as productive of human qualities 

 equally as noble and creative. Circumstances are 

 the masters of men now as then.^ 



Sparse as was the population in its pioneer epoch, 

 it was at intervals decimated by malignant pan- 

 demics, that brought dread and pitiful suffering to 

 communities only too inadequately provided with 

 facilities for dealing with these fearful visitations. 



'Account of Eno9 Goodrich: "Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Soc. 

 Collections," XI, 263. 



