6 The Winning of the West 



The tired Baptist was not overpleased with Har- 

 rodstown, though he there listened to the preaching 

 of one of his own sect. 6 He remarked "a poor town 

 it was in those days/' a couple of rows of smoky 

 cabins, tenanted by dirty women and ragged chil- 

 dren, while the tall, unkempt frontiersmen lounged 

 about in greasy hunting-shirts, breech-clouts, leg- 

 gings, and moccasins. There was little or no corn 

 until the crops were gathered, and, like the rest, he 

 had to learn to eat wild meat without salt. The set- 

 tlers, as is always the case in frontier towns where 

 the people are wrapped up in their own pursuits and 

 rivalries, and are obliged to talk of one another for 

 lack of outside interests, were divided by bicker- 

 ing, gossiping jealousies ; and at this time they were 

 quarreling as to whether the Virginian cabin-rights 

 or Henderson's land-grants would prove valid. As 

 usual, the zealous Baptist preacher found that the 

 women were the first to "get religion," as he phrased 

 it. Sometimes their husbands likewise came in with 

 them; at other times they remained indifferent. 

 Often they savagely resented their wives and daugh- 

 tres being converted, visiting on the head of the 

 preacher an anger that did not always find vent in 

 mere words ; for the backwoodsmen had strong, sim- 

 ple natures, powerfully excited for good or evil, and 

 those who were not God-fearing usually became ac- 

 tive and furious opponents of all religion. 



It is curious to compare the description of life 

 in a frontier fort as given by this undoubtedly prej- 



6 A Mr. Finley. Hickman MS. 



